Connor: A Cowboy Stepbrother Romance Novel (2 page)

“This will be good for me,” I whispered. “This whole transition is going to be good for me.”

It was the first time in a long time that I had spoken words of positivity. But I was starting to see clearly that sometimes change
is
a positive thing and that it shouldn’t be feared.

The smile was still on my face as I stepped across my room, placing my hands on the dresser and looking at myself in the mirror. My blue eyes glowed from the daylight that poured into my window. I looked at myself for a moment, noticing some dark bags under my eyes.

That stressful marriage sure did tire me out...
I thought.

I shrugged my shoulders and then reached up, pulling my dark hair back into a ponytail.

“Oh well, whatever,” I whispered. “It’s time for new beginnings.”

With a smile on my face, I went ahead and cleaned up my room, unpacking everything and organizing my clothes in the closet. I found myself having a renewed sense of energy, excited about whatever life was going to give me next, good or bad. I told myself that no matter what happened, I was going to keep my head up high and make life as amazing as I possibly could. Not just for me, but for my mom also. I decided that I was going to take the reigns for once and do everything in my power to choose my days wisely and make the most of them.

With a new sense of peace in my body, I walked back over to my bed and laid down. I closed my eyes and drew in a long breath.

What a crazy ride my life has been so far,
I thought.

For years I dealt with turmoil in my marriage, a stressful job, and countless sleepless nights. But there, laying in my old bed, I felt like I could finally relax. It was incredible. All of those bad times were behind me and my new life was just beginning. I couldn’t wait to see what other adventures were in store for me.

––––––––

T
wo weeks after making the dating profile for my mom, she called me downstairs to show me something.

"Emily, come down here to the office when you have a second," she said. "I think I may have met someone worth spending my time on."

My eyes lit up as I stepped out of my bedroom and made my way downstairs to the office. When I walked inside, I noticed that my mom had her dating website pulled up on the screen. She turned around in her chair as soon as I walked in.

"Hey, honey," she said, with a huge smile on her face. "What do you think of
this
guy?"

I stepped toward her and brought my eyes to the screen, where I saw a handsome man with thick, grey hair and a well-trimmed beard. He looked rugged and strong and was wearing a red plaid shirt in the picture.

"Wow, he's actually kind of cute," I said.

I had to admit that I was impressed. I didn’t expect her to find such a good-looking man so quickly online.

"Well, I'm glad you approve," my mom responded. "His name is Richard and we've been talking now for over a week."

I playfully pushed my mom on her shoulder.

"Mom!" I cried. "You've been talking to him for that long and you didn't tell me?"

My mom blushed and then nodded her head.

"I'm sorry, baby," she said. "I didn't tell you because it seemed too good to be true, but now I know that it's not. Richard and I started talking a few days after I joined the website and we just hit it off. I was instantly attracted to him."

I wrapped an arm over my mom's shoulder and gave her a hug as I squatted down next to her chair.

"Mom, I'm so happy for you," I said. "He looks like a really nice guy. What does he do?"

"Well, believe it or not, he's a farmer," she said.

My jaw dropped. My mother was the most purebred city girl I had ever known. In fact, I doubted that she had ever even seen a mud puddle in her life, or anything related to nature for that matter. I shook my head in shock as I made her repeat herself.

"What?" I asked. "He's a..."

"Farmer," my mom said, finishing my sentence. "He's a farmer, Emily. I know it's kind of strange for me to be attracted to him since we are such opposites. But actually, I think that might be
why
I like him so much. We compliment each other very well."

I was shocked, but definitely still happy for her. How could I not be? She had a smile on her face that I hadn't seen in years and her eyes were suddenly shining with youth.

"Well, I think that's really great, Mom," I said. "So, when do I get to meet this lucky guy?"

My mom kept her eyes locked with mine. She opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated for a moment.

"Well..." she said, slowly. "That's one of the other things about him..."

I cocked my head to the side, as a confused look crossed my face.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you know, there aren't exactly a lot of farms around here," she said.

I stayed silent as I waited for her to finish.

"He lived in Iowa, honey."

My jaw dropped and I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Mom, that's so far!" I said. "Iowa? Really? People live there?"

She rolled her eyes at my sarcasm.

"Honey, it's not
that
far," she said. "He lives near the Eastern border, so it's less than eight hours away."

I stood up from the floor, shaking my head.

"I love you, Mom, but you're crazy!" I said, with a playful smile on my face. "You really want to date a guy that lives that far? How will you find time to see him?"

My mom shrugged her shoulders and said, "You know, I'm really not that worried about that. We'll see each other when we can and try to make it work long distance when we are apart. Besides, both he and I will be retiring fairly soon anyway. So it won't be long before we'll be able to really spend time together."

I couldn't help but to smile. She sounded like an excited young girl with a crush on a boy. And it was very nice to see her so happy. So I decided to support her no matter what. If it made her happy then I was all for it. I didn't care about anything else. So after a moment of me standing there silently, I said, "You know what, I think it's great, Mom. Who cares about a little distance? That's what technology is for, right? We have phones and we have email. What's a couple hundred miles?"

Mom's eyes lit up as I spoke. My encouraging words seemed to make her even happier.

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" she said. "I mean Richard and I met each other
because
of technology, so why not stay in touch that way?"

I nodded my head and patted her on the shoulder.

"Well, you'll have to let me know when you two meet," I said, as I turned to leave the office and go back upstairs. "I can't wait to hear all about him."

I only made it to the entryway when my mom said, "Well, honey, that brings up something else that I need to talk to you about."

I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"What's that, Mom?" I asked.

I braced myself. She had been full of a lot of surprises that afternoon and I wasn't sure what to expect.

"Well, Richard has actually invited both you and I to come out to his farm this weekend," she said. "He wants to meet me really badly and I told him that I should stay here with you, since you just got divorced and haven't been in a good place. That was when he said that I should just invite you to come along."

I stood there in the entryway and leaned against the door. I thought about it for a moment.

A farm in Iowa? It's not exactly my idea of a vacation. But I suppose I don't really have anything else going on and I did just decide that I'd support my mom no matter what.

So I breathed in deep and then slowly shrugged my shoulders. 

"Okay," I said. "I guess that sounds fun." 

Maybe a simple little road trip with my mom will be great way for her and I to bond. 

However, I didn’t realize at the time just how much was going to be in store for me because of that “simple little road trip”.

––––––––

“I
t’s been a long day,” I said, after over seven hours of driving. “I hope we get there before sunset. I don’t really want to have to pull over on this road if we get tired. I’d like to not get stolen by some crazy redneck or something.”

My mom looked over at me and chuckled.

“We’ll be there any minute, Emily,” she responded. “So you don’t have to worry. Nobody is going to steal us.”

It had been hours since we had seen any civilization and I started to wonder if the dirt road through the cornfields ever actually ended, or if it just went on forever, like my version of an eternal hell.

It wasn’t more than a few minutes later, however, when my mom reached over and placed her hand on my shoulder, getting my attention.

“Emily, I think we’re here,” she said.

My mom was driving, so I quickly pulled out the map and did my best to navigate our location. I looked up as the dirt road forked in the road. On both sides of us were two huge cornfields with rows of corn as far as the eye could see. I looked over at my mom, chuckling softly.

“This guys lives here?” I asked.

My mom laughed and nodded her head, as she pointed out into the field, where a well-maintained farmhouse was located, surrounded by a white fence.

“Well, actually, I think he lives
there
, to be exact,” she responded, as she took a right at the fork in the road and began driving us toward farmhouse.

“Wow,” I said, as I admired the house in the distance.

It was surprisingly beautiful, with cedar siding and bright red trim. It was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. I had imagined an old shack in the middle of a field, complete with a creepy barn and all sorts of broken down cars. So when we pulled up to the beautiful home, I found myself feeling very impressed.

“Well, this is actually really nice,” I commented, as Mom put the car in park in front of the house.

I glanced around, noticing that there actually
was
a barn nearby, but it looked just as nice as the house. And in fact, there were even two horses inside.

“Mom, he has horses!” I exclaimed, pointing out the car window.

“Yes, Richard told me about that. He already told me that we could ride them if we wanted to!” she responded.

I hadn’t ridden a horse in years and as soon as I thought about it, I instantly became much happier about my decision to go on the trip with my mom. We sat there in the car for a couple of seconds before my mom reached over and placed her hand on my knee.

“Honey,” she said.

I looked away from the horses and brought my gaze to my mother.

“Yeah, Mom?”

I watched as she drew in a deep breath.

“I’m really nervous about this,” she said. “What if he doesn’t like me?”

I reached over and gave her a hug.

“Mom, he’s going to love you,” I said. “You look amazing and you guys have already been talking so much. It’s not like there are going to be any surprises. So, come on. Let’s go meet him.”

After releasing her from the hug, I turned and opened the car door, stepping out into the fresh air. I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing my eyes as the sun covered my face. I then turned and watched my mom step out of the driver’s side of the car. She was wearing a white sundress and had her dark hair curled over her shoulders. She looked as beautiful as ever.

“You ready?” I asked.

My mom looked a bit nervous, but nodded anyway.

“As ready as I’m going to be,” she said.

We then walked up to the house and stepped onto the porch, which was covered in beautiful antique furniture and artwork. I walked beside my mother as we approached the front door. Without any hesitation, I lifted my hand and knocked a few times.

As we stood there waiting, I watched my mom shuffling her feet nervously. Within a few seconds, the door opened up.

“Oh, my God,” the man said, as he pulled the door open. “You’re even more beautiful in person.”

The grey-haired man stepped onto the porch, looking right past me and to my mother. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and he stepped forward, pulling her in for a hug.

“Mary,” he said, as he looked her up and down, shaking his head in awe. “Your pictures didn’t do you justice.”

I smiled as my mom and Richard gazed into each other’s eyes for the first time. He was quite handsome and I thought that they made pretty cute couple.

“Oh, Richard,” my mom said. “You’re too sweet.”

She smiled as she gazed at him, then she glanced over toward me.

“This is my daughter, Emily,” she said.

Richard broke his gaze from my mom and then turned toward me, shaking my hand.

“Ah, Emily,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m so happy that you were able to make it out here with your mom. I was kind of worried about her coming all this way by herself, so I was glad to hear that you were willing to take the trip with her!”

“Well, I was actually kind of excited to come out,” I said. “I needed to get away from the city for a while.”

I paused for a second as I looked toward the barn.

“Mom didn’t mention that you had horses, though!” I continued. “I haven’t ridden in years, but I’d love to try it again some time.”

Richard stepped beside me, gazing toward the barn.

“Yes, that’s Willy and Nelson,” he said. “They’re great for riding. You won’t find calmer horses anywhere. I’ll have Connor take you on a ride some time while you’re here. He should be back later tonight from his rodeo tour.”

I raised an eyebrow and I looked toward Richard.

“Connor?” I asked.

Richard nodded and then turned to face my mom.

“Mary, you didn’t tell Emily about my son, Connor?” he asked.

My mom responded, “Oh, I had spent so much time telling her about
you
that I forgot to mention him.”

Richard smiled and then turned back to face me.

“Well, Connor is my only child. He’s twenty-nine, so a little bit older than you. He’s a professional rodeo man now. He spent some time working in Boston after high school, but then joined the rodeo when he found out that working in an office just wasn’t for him.”