Page 60 of Kayla's Cowboy

“Do you do laps every day?” Kayla asked.

He swept his hair off his forehead, breathing hard. “No, though I probably should. Are you going to do any?”

“Not right now. I had a long run this morning, so I can relax and mellow out.”

Nodding, Jackson lounged a few feet away, his bronzed shoulders bare and glistening in the sunlight, his legs spread under the surface, braced again the pool bottom. Even in the cool water, Kayla had to acknowledge the heat in her abdomen. Determinedly she turned her attention to her son and daughter as they shouted and played Marco Polo with Morgan.

A few minutes later they came splashing toward them. “Let’s play water volleyball,” Morgan suggested.

Glad for an excuse to be active after all, Kayla nodded and pushed away from the step. After a moment, Jackson joined them.

* * *

THAT NIGHT THERE was a mild ache in Kayla’s muscles, but otherwise she had few aftereffects from the horseback ride. DeeDee and Alex felt the same and the next day they took a longer ride, all of them together. On the third day, the kids were both growing confident on their mounts and eager to get more adventuresome.

“Dad, I’m going to take Alex and DeeDee up to Halloran’s Meadow, okay?” Morgan said after lunch on the fourth afternoon.

It was obviously a play for time without adult supervision and Jackson considered a moment before nodding. “It’s all right with me, but Kayla has to decide for Alex and DeeDee.”

“Can we, Kayla, please?” Morgan begged. DeeDee and Alex gazed at her hopefully.

“Just a ride?” Kayla asked, stalling while she tried to sort out proper caution from overprotective instincts.

“There’s a waterfall at the end of the meadow,” Morgan admitted. “But the pool is only a foot deep. The fun part is running through the waterfall.”

“The meadow is up in the hills, but with the heat spell we’ve been having, the pool won’t be full,” Jackson explained. “I’ve always thought it was safe, but you have to do what makes you comfortable.”

Gathering her scattered nerves, Kayla nodded. “It’s okay, I guess, if you all stay together.”

“Awesome!” DeeDee exclaimed.

“Take Cory with you,” Jackson instructed his daughter, “and one of the satellite phones.”

“Ah, Dad, I’m not going to be alone. We’ll all be together.”

“That doesn’t matter. There’s a fully charged unit on my desk,” Jackson told his daughter.

Heaving a sigh that only a teenager could inject so much disgust into, Morgan went to the ranch office and brought out the phone, showing it to her father. “Happy?”

“Yes. Keep it turned on.”

Kayla followed the kids to the barn and watched them saddle their horses. Alex could already handle Betty without difficulty, and DeeDee only needed help lifting the saddle over Boop’s back, using a stool for everything she wasn’t tall enough to handle from the ground. Jackson mostly checked that they’d gotten the girth tight enough.

“Are you really okay with them going off on their own?” he asked as the three rode out, the McGregors’ German shepherd scampering ahead of them. “I can always catch up on Thunder and tell them I’ve changed my mind. I’ll even take the heat for both of us... After a year of Morgan being in a mood, I’m almost used to it.”

“As much as I’d like to wrap them in cotton wool, let’s skip the teenage angst.”

Jackson rested his arms on the top rail of the fence and gazed out at the tree-studded landscape. “My parents say that when you raise kids on a ranch, you have to get used to giving them more responsibility and freedom.”

“So what are Morgan’s responsibilities?”

“Well, Mom has hinted that I screwed up there—as in not enough responsibility or freedom.” He shoved his cowboy hat back on his forehead. “Morgan has a few chores, but after her mother walked out, I indulged her. Maybe I always did. Marcy was never interested in being a mother, and I wanted to compensate.”

“I feel the same way when Curtis dives into one of his obsessions. It’s obvious when his romances are on the wane because he spends more time with the kids. I want them to have as good a relationship as possible, so I try to keep the seesaw from being too obvious.”

“Meaning you indulge them, too.”

“A little.” Kayla gazed around at the Crazy Horse’s tidy outbuildings and corrals. “As I recall, you once had a long list of daily chores. You said that your parents hoped it would keep you on the straight and narrow, but that they’d underestimated you.”

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