The Cowboy's Love

{Chapter} 27

{Chapter 27}

Aubrey was serving breakfast that next morning when she heard a horse ride up.

“Who’s that?” Daddy asked.

Aubrey shrugged. Wade wouldn’t be home so soon, would he? She looked out of the window to see Katie riding up.

“Oh, it’s Katie” Aubrey smiled and opened the door.

“Hi, Aubrey!” Katie grinned and greeted her.

She looked a little chipper this morning.

“Hi, Katie. What brings you out here? Come on inside” Aubrey invited Katie inside.

Katie stepped inside and noticed the strangers. She looked to Aubrey.

“Katie, this is my father and my best friend. Wade surprised me by fetching them yesterday” Aubrey smiled.

She didn’t tell Katie about her issues with her father, as she already knew most of it. Katie looked at Daddy with a glower.

“Pleasure to meet you both” she said cordially.

Brooke and Daddy both nodded, then turned toward Aubrey.

“You’ll never guess what’s happened” she giggled.

“What?”

“It’s just the best thing ever!”

“Katie, tell me or I’ll be obliged to shake it out of you” Aubrey smiled.

“Toni and Erik are going to have another child!” Katie bounced up and down.

Aubrey squealed. “Are you serious? This is such good news!”

“I know! It’s amazing! I hope it’s a boy,” Katie giggled.

“Do you want to sit down? There’s plenty” Aubrey motioned to the table.

“No, thanks. I just had to come and tell you. There was quite a celebration at breakfast this morning. You should have seen Wade’s face. He looked like a dazed cow, he did” Katie said.

Aubrey smacked her playfully. “Seems like you were studying him a little too hard.”

Katie waved her statement off. “Pfft. I don’t see how you put up with the man. He’s insufferable the way he never argues with me.”

Aubrey laughed. “It’s a shame, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. Well, I’ve got to go” Katie reached for the doorknob before turning around to face the Daddy and Brooke. “Pleasure to meet you both.”

Brooke smiled and Daddy nodded. After Katie left, Aubrey sat back down.

“She seems fun” Brooke smiled.

“She’s a handful, that’s for sure. She helped me make these curtains, though” Aubrey motioned to the curtains in the windows.

“Who’s Toni and Erik?” Daddy asked.

“Wade’s boss and her husband” Aubrey answered shortly.

“Wade works for a woman?” Daddy asked.

Aubrey nodded.

Daddy snickered and took a sip of coffee.

Aubrey smirked. Daddy hadn’t met Toni. They would have to remedy that.

**********

Wade rode around the herd, looking for strays or dumb animals caught in a fence or thistle. His mind was elsewhere, though.