CHAPTER 14
Laura
We’ve been here all day and Jed has made it to the final round.
I was expecting excitement and did I ever get excitement.
I was expecting thrills and did I ever get those too.
But what I underestimated was the fear. It’s so scary watching him out there…man versus beast.
I know I want to be with him, but I wasn’t prepared for this. This must be what the wives of law enforcement, paramedic, and military members feel. This is beyond gut wrenching.
More than once I had to turn my head and I almost lost my lunch at one point. Thankfully Mandy Sue is so young that she can’t process what’s happening. It doesn’t hurt that she’s enamored by all the bright lights and that she has on baby hearing protection which leaves her in her own little world…a world which has incredibly included a lot of sleeping today. She’s living proof of the saying that she could “sleep through a tornado.”
And a tornado is exactly what this environment is. It’s designed to grab dreams and throw them to the turf…but thankfully not Jed’s. He’s just so determined and focused and I know why.
Because he’s doing it for us.
And by us I mean all of us.
He’s already told me he knows I’m carrying his son and if I was logical I’d tell him he was crazy.
But feeling tells me that he’s probably right. And as counterintuitive as it seems logic is telling me the same thing.
My body has never felt like this before. It has to mean something, right? I’m not ready to go to the doctor only to have him tell me I’m crazy, but in another week or two that’s exactly where we’re headed. There and then the paint store to pick out the colors for our baby boy’s room.
Jed’s so excited I’m surprised he hasn’t come flying off any of these broncs today before they even started bucking.
And now there’s just one more to go.
His competition in the final lasted seven seconds, so there’s hope. He’s just got to complete another full ride and he’s got it. As if it was that easy.
But the window of opportunity is there and I know Jed’s got his entire heart into this.
The only problem is so does Brutus, the biggest, baddest bronc in the entire Southwest United States. The one they flew in, yes flew in, for this very moment.
And he’s all Jed’s. Or should I say Jed’s all his.
I guess time will soon tell.
And that time is now!
The gate flies open I close my eyes, listening to the announcer.
I take Mandy Sue’s hands and clap them together when he says, “I have no idea how he did that…how he’s still up and riding.”
And then I open my eyes just as I see Jed’s butt come up off the bronc!
I look over at the clock which is only on six.
Oh no!
Somehow his butt comes down in position and I see him dig in with the sides of his legs and holds on.
And then the horn!
Seconds later Jed comes running to the side of the ring where we’re seated…or where we were seated.
I’m standing now and there’s a tear running down my eye.
Jed jumps up and grabs the edge of the fence and pulls himself up and over and then puts his arm around me and Mandy Sue and kisses me right on the lips in front of everybody!
“Now that’s a real champion!” one announcer says.
“This is the best victory celebration I’ve ever seen in my forty-three years of announcing this competition,” the other says over the loudspeaker.
The crowd cheers and starts a hooting and a hollering.
Suddenly a man with a microphone appears out of nowhere, followed by a cameraman.
The cameraman nods and the light on the camera comes to life signaling we’re live.
“Now that’s a victory!” the announcer says.
“What do you have to say about that Jed Cooper?”