The Cowboy's Quintuplet Surprise - A Western Romance Read online

  The Cowboy’s Quintuplet Surprise

  Holly Rayner

  Contents

  1. Susie

  2. Susie

  3. Sam

  4. Sam

  5. Sam

  6. Susie

  7. Sam

  8. Susie

  9. Sam

  10. Susie

  11. Susie

  12. Sam

  13. Susie

  14. Susie

  15. Susie

  16. Sam

  17. Susie

  18. Sam

  19. Sam

  Epilogue

  Also by Holly Rayner

  Copyright 2021 by Holly Rayner

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the explicit written permission of the author.

  All characters depicted in this fictional work are consenting adults, of at least eighteen years of age. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased, particular businesses, events, or exact locations are entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Susie

  Carolyn called as she always did—first thing in the morning, before Susie had even gotten dressed.

  “Have you seen Rachel’s pictures yet?” she asked.

  Susie stifled a yawn and pulled a sweater over her head. “Rachel’s not back from vacation yet,” she pointed out.

  “I know that,” Carolyn said, with exaggerated patience. “But I was—Jason, stop that!” She sighed. “Thank your lucky stars you don’t have children, Suze. I love them, but they’re little nightmares sometimes.”

  Susie sort of wanted to hang up on her sister, but she suppressed the urge. She knew Carolyn was trying to include her when she said things like that. She was trying to relate to Susie, the only sibling in their family to still be childless, still unmarried.

  But was relating really that hard? Did she really have to make it all about how lucky Susie was to be on her own, when both sisters knew that Carolyn didn’t actually feel that way at all?

  “So Rachel’s pictures?” she prompted.

  “Right,” Carolyn said. “I was online this morning—I was posting a picture of Felicity’s outfit, you know how I told you I was going to let her dress herself for the first time?” She didn’t stop to wait for an answer. “Anyway, Rachel put up pictures from her trip. She must be somewhere with internet.”

  “She’s in Norway,” Susie said. “Norway has internet.”

  “I know Norway has internet, Suze. Jeez. I meant, like, a hotel with internet.”

  Susie had known what Carolyn meant. Sometimes she wondered why she took such pleasure in needling her sister.

  Then again, she knew—it didn’t need to be said, really—that Carolyn hadn’t only called to convince Susie to go look at their sister Rachel’s pictures. She knew Carolyn well enough to know that what she really wanted was engagement on the picture of her daughter’s outfit.

  And Susie would give it to her. She loved her niece. And she loved her sister, even if the two of them did hassle each other sometimes.

  “I’ll get online and check it out,” she promised. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Are you going on a second date with Colin?”

  Carolyn had set her up with Colin, a coworker of hers, the previous weekend. Colin had been perfectly friendly, but boring. Susie didn’t think she could take another evening of listening to him talk about computer programming.

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “But thanks for the fix-up.”

  Carolyn sighed. “If you would stop being so picky,” she said, “it would be easier to find you somebody.”

  Susie repressed the urge to remind Carolyn that she had never asked her to play matchmaker. Most of Susie’s siblings—even some of her siblings-in-law—seemed to see it as their duty to find her a husband.

  Susie had been wondering lately whether her morning routine would be any different if she were in a relationship.

  Every day was exactly the same, as things stood right now. Up before six. Straight into the shower. A breakfast of yogurt, granola, and whatever fruit was on sale. Yoga in front of the television.

  She had perfected her routine over the years, and she was happy with it—almost.

  But what would it be like, she wondered, if she had a partner?

  Instead of getting right out of bed each morning, she would roll over into the arms of someone she loved. She would lose herself in his touch. She would wake up feeling happy and adored instead of stressed about the day to come.

  It was first thing in the morning that Susie always felt the most lonely, the most longing for someone to share her life with.

  “I should run,” she told Carolyn, even though she was in no particular hurry—she still had plenty of time before she needed to leave for work. “I need to get ready.”

  “Okay,” Carolyn said. “Well, check those pics out if you have time.”

  “I will,” Susie promised her sister.

  Deep down, Susie wondered whether Carolyn was still insecure. She was the second youngest in the family—only Susie herself was younger—and Susie occasionally wondered if her decision to marry and have children young had been driven by a belief that those things would validate her life somehow.

  Even when Susie felt lonely, she couldn’t say she ever felt like she needed someone else in her life to make her feel worthwhile. All things considered, she was doing well. She loved her job as cheerleading coach for the West Wichita High Whirlers. She loved her apartment, which she had spent a long time decorating and getting just the way she wanted it. And she loved her three cats, Carlos, Stripe, and Bandicoot, who felt like a little family to her.

  It was just—occasionally—that loneliness that her furry friends couldn’t fill.

  As if on cue, Stripe jumped up onto the kitchen table and padded over to her, curling up and resting her head on Susie’s arm.

  Susie laughed. “Morning, Stripe,” she said. “You don’t want me to get anything done, do you?”

  Stripe stared at her.

  “I know, you’re hungry.” She got up from the table, opened a few cans of cat food, and dumped them into the cats’ bowls. “Carlos! Bandicoot!”

  They had already been summoned by the sound of the cans opening, and now they wove around her legs, mewling hungrily. Susie laughed and put the food bowls on the floor, and a moment later she was rewarded with the sounds of the cats eating happily.

  She returned to her own meal, scrolling absently through her social media page as she ate, looking for the pictures Carolyn had asked her to take notice of.

  She stopped at a picture of Rachel, her oldest sister, with her husband, John. Rachel had married and had had her two children young, and now they had both gone off to college. Rachel and John had taken advantage of that fact to travel the world.

  They were in Norway this week, on a tiny island in the Arctic Circle. In the picture Susie was looking at, they had stopped on a frigid-looking beach. They had their arms around each other. Rachel was beaming.

  It must be so nice to have someone to do things like that with, Susie thought.

  She shook her head. There was nothing stopping her from going to the Arctic Circle, if that was what she wanted to do. There was nothing stopping her from having an adventure. You didn’t need a boyfriend or a husband for that.

  In fact, maybe a new adventure was just what she needed.

  Her eye caught on a post one of her friends had shared. The picture was of a little brown dog with floppy ears and big, pleading eyes.

  ‘Twelve Labrador puppies are looking for their forever homes. These good boys and girls need adopting ASAP—they are ready to leave their mother and begin their next adventure!’

  There was a name and a phone number to call, but Susie’s mind hung on the word ‘adventure.’

  This had to be fate. She had just been thinking about how she needed an adventure, and here was someone who needed the same thing.

  She looked down at Bandicoot, who was kneading her foot. “What do you think?” she asked him. “Could we use a puppy around here?”

  Bandicoot meowed.

  She scribbled down the name and phone number on the ad. She would call later. It was probably too early in the morning for a phone call to a stranger, and besides, she needed to finish getting ready for work.

  She went through her morning yoga routine, feeling slightly more invigorated than usual as she did so. Every time the routine called for a ‘downward facing dog’ pose, she thought of the picture of the cute little puppy she had seen. Though Susie loved her cats, she had always thought that a dog might be a good addition to the house. She imagined him frolicking in the grass, imagined a full-grown Labrador lounging next to her on her bed.

  There was no doubt that her home would feel more full with a dog.

  She changed into the tracksuit she wore for work and drove to West Wichita High School. Like most of the athletic coaches, she did her part by supervising study hall during the day. She took her usual seat in the library and pulled out a mystery novel she had been reading. The kids in first period study hall tended to use the time catching up on sleep, if they weren’t studying, and Susie didn’t begrudge them that. The real misc
hief makers wouldn’t be along until later in the day.

  Georgia, her assistant coach, sat down beside her. “Morning,” she said, cracking open an energy drink.

  “How can you drink that stuff?” Susie asked, glancing at the energy drink. “I tried one once and I felt like my brain had turned into a helicopter.”

  “Graphic,” Georgia said, taking a sip. “I don’t know. It gives me energy. And I need energy to get through eight hours of study hall.” She gestured to a table of teenage boys. “They’re the lucky ones. They get to sleep through it.”

  “They also have to go do AP History after this,” Susie pointed out.

  “Touché,” Georgia said. “I guess I wouldn’t want to go through that again.”

  Susie pulled out her cheerleading folder and opened it, pulling out a diagram she’d drawn the night before. “Here’s a new toss I want to try,” she said. “The Superman Flip.”

  “Do you think our kids are up for this?” Georgia squinted down at the page. “It looks kind of tough.”

  “I think we can handle it,” Susie said. “We’ve got a strong team this year.”

  More boys had come out for cheerleading at West Wichita than at any other school in Kansas, and that strength was going to give the team a huge advantage in competition—but only if they took advantage of it by planning some really flashy skills.

  She and Georgia spent the rest of the day studying and planning the Superman Flip together. There was a brief distraction in fourth period, when a girl tried to sneak out of study hall to take an extra free period, but Susie spotted her trying to leave and sat her at a table right in front of herself and Georgia in order to keep a closer watch on her. The girl spent the rest of the period sulking and glowering, but Susie didn’t take it personally; it was all part of the job.

  The exciting part of her job didn’t begin until four o’clock. That was when she and Georgia went down to the gym and began to prepare for cheerleading practice. They helped the team lay out the mats, then put them through some warm-up tumbling drills.

  When everyone was warmed up, they gathered on the mats and Susie pulled out the rolling chalkboard to diagram the Superman Flip she wanted them to work toward.

  “We won’t be doing this today,” she said. “There are a lot of pieces to put together. Today I want a few of our flyers to practice some basic tosses, and then I’ll pick two or three to work toward this one based on how well you do.”

  They broke into small groups, the bases gathering to toss the flyers for some basic catches. Susie and Georgia circulated the room, marking on their clipboards how well everyone was doing, making sure everyone was using safe procedures.

  Practice went by quickly. When it was over, Susie gathered the team once more and congratulated them on a job well done. She reminded them of the football game on Friday night and told them to wear their uniforms to school on Friday in a show of team spirit. Then she dismissed them.

  As she was driving home, she remembered the ad she had seen online that morning, and the adorable puppy that had been pictured. She couldn’t believe she had gone all day without thinking about it. She fished in her pocket and found the phone number.

  She wanted to call right away, but it would be better to wait until she was off the road and able to focus. She pulled into her apartment parking lot, hurried inside, and sat down at the dining table to call.

  The phone was answered after three rings. “Hello?”

  “Is this—” She checked the paper. “Sam Cranston?”

  “Speaking.” He had a rough, rugged voice with a trace of an accent she couldn’t quite place. “How can I help you?”

  “My name is Susie Avery. I’m calling about an ad I saw online,” she said. “You have Labrador puppies looking for homes?”

  “That’s right,” he said. “Twelve of ’em. Are you looking to adopt?”

  “I might be,” she said. “I’d like to meet them and see how I feel about it.”

  “Sure, absolutely,” he said. “I’m here every day. Do you want to come down tomorrow?”

  “Where do you live?”

  “About forty minutes west of Englewood.”

  Susie bit her lip. That would be almost a four-hour drive from Wichita. “I won’t be able to make it until the weekend,” she said. “I have work during the week.”

  “Sure,” he said. “I understand. Saturday?”

  “I can do Saturday.”

  “Okay,” Sam said. “What time should I expect you?”

  “About noon? It’s going to take me a while to get to you.”

  “Where are you coming from?”

  “Wichita.”

  “Wow, that’s a haul,” he said. “I’d offer to meet you halfway, but I can’t exactly pack up twelve puppies and take them to a rest stop on Highway 160.”

  Susie laughed. “That would be a sight, wouldn’t it?” she said. “A bunch of Labrador pups running around in a convenience store.”

  “Grabbing bags of chips off the shelves and shaking them open,” he added.

  “Peeing on the floor,” she joked.

  He answered her with a deep chuckle.

  “Anyway, it’s not a problem,” she assured him. “I find long drives relaxing. And it will be a good opportunity to catch up on my podcasts.”

  “All right,” he said. “In that case, I’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday.”

  He gave her directions to his house. Susie copied them down carefully, folded the paper into a neat rectangle, and tucked it into her wallet. Then she thanked him for his time and hung up.

  She got back online and scrolled through her social media feed until she’d found the picture of the puppy she’d seen this morning. Its head was cocked to the side as if it was asking a question. Its ears were still small, little triangles on either side of its head, but she knew they would get bigger as it grew.

  She wondered whether there was any chance that this very dog would end up being hers.

  Don’t get ahead of yourself. You haven’t even met the dogs yet. There’s every chance that, once you get there, you’ll decide not to take one home after all.

  She tried to convince herself of that, to remind herself that she hadn’t yet committed to dog ownership. Getting a dog could be a big deal. Caring for a dog would be more complicated than caring for her cats. It wasn’t something she could just rush into without thinking about it.

  But every time she looked at that little puppy face, she felt more and more certain that this was what she wanted to do.

  My dog will be my partner on my next big adventure.

  Even though she hadn’t planned her adventure yet, even though she didn’t know what the next phase of her life would look like, she felt sure, suddenly, that she wanted one of these dogs by her side. She wanted a dog beside her in the photos she would put on her own social media account. Rachel’s pictures always featured John, and Susie’s other siblings were always taking pictures of their children.

  Now Susie would have someone in her pictures, too.

  She forced herself to close the computer. She couldn’t allow herself to keep staring at this picture, daydreaming about what lay ahead. She had a few more days to get through before she would be able to drive out to Sam Cranston’s house and meet the dog she hoped would become hers.

  In the meantime, there was a football game to contend with.

  Of course, football games were low stakes for Susie’s cheerleading squad. The real events were the competitions with other squads. But the game would be a good opportunity to see how some of her younger athletes stood up to the pressure of a public performance.

  She ran the water for a bath. As she climbed in, she imagined what life with a dog would be like. Dogs had so much character, so much personality.

  She pictured taking her dog for a walk in the park one day and running into a man who was also walking a dog. Maybe they would walk along together, get to talking, decide to meet regularly so their dogs could become friends. Maybe they would fall in love.