It was happening, the load out, the preparations for the trip were beginning. The Yellowstone riders were arriving, some from as far away as Montana, but most came from Texas; Travis knew the local talent and hired the best.

The hands were putting the Yellowstone horses were being put through their paces in preparation for the shows. Coralee loved to watch them, she was not of their caliber, not yet, but she'd been working with Sadie and Hickory daily and could feel that she'd improved.

Lucy arrived at the ranch and Coralee was grateful to have her friend back. Lucy was coach, confidante, and trainer all rolled up into one. Lucy would make a good trainer if she chose, she had a way with both people and horses. Her first love, though, was competing and she was one of the best riders on the Yellowstone team.

Over time Coralee had become more secure as she trained with Travis. He tended to yell but his bark was worse than his bite, as her mother would say. She no longer felt so intimidated, she appreciated the fact that he was sharing his knowledge with her. It was easier to take direction from Lucy who didn't yell, but she was learning a lot from both her teachers, and she knew that she was learning from the best.

She liked to watch the hands load the horses, but she had mixed feelings when she saw Trixie being led onto the truck. She had never quite known what to do with the little palomino, but she hadn't considered selling her. Travis assured her it was the right decision, though, and it would be nice to have the extra money. She had her separate bank account and control of her own money; if she wanted to buy another horse, she could.

Since she had the implant removed there had been a subtle change in her relationship with Travis. She could tell he was waiting to hear what she was expecting. At first, it had bothered her, but now she found herself anticipating being able to give him the news he wanted so badly. It surprised her that she was disappointed to learn she wasn't pregnant after the first month. Something was changing, maybe motherhood was not so intimidating after all.

The next morning Travis saw her standing around the corrals and told her to get Hickory saddled, Lucy was waiting. After that, he disappeared. These days she seemed to only see him at meals and bedtime. Sometimes she felt frustrated at times, but he was in business mode, and she understood. Sometimes he would take her with him on his rounds or get in the corral and work cows with her. He was talking about putting her on a Yellowstone horse, but what she wanted was to compete independently. Maybe someday, but not now.

The sun was starting to go down, but she didn't notice. When she was training on Sadie or practicing reining on Hickory she lost all sense of time. She had to be reminded to get off her horse put it in a stall and come and eat dinner.

Like now. Travis was waiting at the side of the corral and signaled her to come over to him. She rode up, wondering what was going on, then looked at the sky and realized it must be getting late.

"Didn't you hear me? I've been trying to get your attention. Put your horse away, then we're going up to the house. Elena called; she has dinner ready. Aren't you hungry?" He looked at her like it was a rhetorical question, not one that needed an answer.

"All right, give me a few minutes, okay? I'll tell Lucy we're going back to the house, and yes, I'm hungry, I'm always hungry." She got off Hickory and was going to head to the barn when Lucy rode up.

"I'll take him, Coralee," she said, "Dinner is ready in the bunkhouse, I'll put our horses away. See you tomorrow."

She and Travis motored up to the house on the ATV. These days she was always hungry, but she'd been that way for years. She had started to count days like she had the month before figuring out the last time she'd had her cycle. She was regular as clockwork; it was too soon to know if she was late or not.

That night Travis surprised her by saying. "You know, I'd swear that your nipples are a little darker than they used to be, and I have to wake you up in the morning these days, that's something I never had to do before. I know I don't know about these things, but I think we've managed to put a baby in you."

"Well, we won't know for a week. It's too soon for a pregnancy test to be accurate. We fuck like rabbits, I'd be surprised if I didn't get pregnant. I'm just not ready for the idea of it, you know?"

"You will be when it happens," he replied, "Remember, you're not going through this alone. You've got your family, and you've got me."

"Well, if it's a boy, no 'Travis Junior', y'hear? How about 'John Travis Wheatley'?"

"What if it's a girl?" he asked.

"Mmm, maybe 'Gemma' for Mom? She'd be thrilled, though she'd never admit it."

"Well," he drawled, "I know her name won't be 'Beth'." He gave her an evil grin.

"You're right about that. If not 'Gemma', then 'Monica', but we don't even know if I'm pregnant."

"You are," he said simply and took her in his arms.

She had trouble waking up the next morning, Travis had let her sleep in which was unusual for him. Her breasts were tender, a symptom of pregnancy but maybe only a sign that her period was about to start. She started to sit up and the room started reeling as her stomach started churning.

She collapsed back down on the bed, thinking no, it can't be, it's too soon. What bothered her was that Travis seemed to know before she did. She would take a pregnancy test while they were on the road, but she knew it would not be necessary, she already knew what the results would be.

Travis came in, "Are you ready to get up yet?" Then he took a good look at her, it was obvious that she was not. "I'll bring you some tea and toast," he said, "Lots of butter and jam. We've got to have you on your feet, we leave tomorrow, think you're going to make it?"

"Yes, of course, I just need to figure a way around morning sickness, eating might help. Just be patient enough to make a stop if I need food, okay? If I'm pregnant this is terrible timing, I should have waited to take the implant out."

"No, it wasn't. We'll work around this, Coralee." He sat down next to her, "I'm really happy, I've been hoping for this. It will be all right, you'll see. Do you need to see a doctor?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"When we have a break, I'll find a Planned Parenthood. Exercise, sleep, and eating right will do just fine. I feel okay except for this damn nausea. I am not going to miss out, I want to compete and I want to go with you to the sales. Please tell me you don't think I should stay at home!"

"No, of course not, I won't leave you behind but when we get a few days off you see a doctor. I guess you know what you're doing, your mom had six kids." He looked at her, his eyes full of love and pride. "I'll bring you something to eat. Morning sickness doesn't last forever." He kissed her and left the room.

The trucks and trailers were loaded, waiting for the human passengers. Early the next morning the crews began to pile into the trucks. Coralee felt the excitement she always felt when they got ready to leave and hit the road. There were butterflies she could feel that had nothing to do with morning sickness.

Though she treasured the time they spent on the ranch, she knew that this was what Travis lived for. He loved it all, the sales, the competing, the people he knew, and the people he'd meet on the road.

She'd discovered that her morning sickness only had about two hours duration. After that she would seem to wake up, and her stomach would magically settle down as if the previous two hours had not happened. It was a pleasant surprise. I can do this, she thought, I saw my sisters and sisters-in-law go through this, too. We're strong women, we Dutton's, we have babies all the time, so it's not the end of the world, Coralee.

It was not easy riding in the truck first thing in the morning. She kept a bottle of Coke and saltine crackers with her to help hold down the nausea.

Travis would keep an anxious eye on her and ask, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she would answer but the look he would give her said, "You're lying."

Finally, the nausea would go away and she would breathe an audible sigh of relief. By then the inhabitants of the truck were hungry and he would pull into the first diner or drive-thru they found so they could get something to eat.

"This is your fault, you know, Travis. You got us into this. If it wasn't for the fact that…"

He put his arm around her, and laughed, "Yup, totally my fault, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And the crew is grateful that we had to stop and get you something to eat because they're hungry, too." He swatted her on her bottom and went off to talk to Matt.

Fort Worth was only a four-hour drive, mercifully short for what they had ahead of them. There was a show, and a sale, and then they'd be on their way to Wichita, then Tulsa, then they would head to Albuquerque. This was a long trip and had been planned before they knew of her pregnancy. Travis had asked her if she wanted to skip some of it and go to Montana, but she said no, she'd rather stay with him.

Pregnant or not, she helped the crew. She didn't mind loading and unloading the horses any more than she minded helping warm them up, or grooming if it was needed. The crew respected her, she wasn't anyone special, she was one of them. She didn't put on airs, acting like an owner's wife, she dressed in jeans and tee shirts and wasn't afraid to get dirty or break a nail.

After the show that night, the crew headed to the bar. It didn't occur to her to stay behind, she wasn't tired, not yet, and she looked forward to the party.

What she hadn't planned on was Travis refusing to let her order an alcoholic drink. "Bring her a virgin margarita," he told the waitress, "She's…" He didn't get to finish, she stomped on his toes with the heel of her boots.

"Don't do that, don't go advertising that I'm knocked up. I'm not that pregnant yet, one drink isn't going to hurt." Her blue eyes blazed at him; he'd never seen her this angry.

"Make hers a virgin margarita," he repeated, "And I'll take a Dos Equis." The waitress walked away, not wanting to get involved in their dispute.

"No alcohol," he repeated, "It's not good for the baby. I have a say in this too, Coralee, it's our kid."

"You wouldn't know by listening to you," she muttered. The waitress brought their drinks and when she thought Travis wasn't looking asked the bartender for a shot of tequila. She was just about to pour it into her drink when Travis saw what she was doing grabbed it out of her hand and drank it.

"Fuck you," she said, but she wasn't ready to leave the bar. Nine months of this shit, she thought, he'll be lucky if I don't kill him.