Cowboy at the Crossroads & That Cowboy's Kids

"I want babies and a husband, and preferably not in that order," Rebecca said as she took a swallow of champagne.

"You've had too much to drink," her friend Ginger replied, studying the bubbles in her own glass. "Or maybe not enough," she added reaching for the bottle on the coffee table. They were in Becca's apartment after a big night of celebrating.

"Why aren't I happy, Gin?" Becca asked woefully. "I just finished my residency in pediatrics. I should be happy, ecstatic. All the hard work's behind me and now I can treat children like I've always planned. I don't understand why I'm not happier."

"Maybe you didn't do it for yourself," Ginger muttered. "Go to medical school, I mean."

Becca's head jerked up. "What are you talking about?"

"Maybe you did it for Emily and Jackson. Ever since you found out they're your real parents, you've been trying to be the perfect daughter--doing everything to be the daughter they wanted. But hell, Bec, no one's perfect. Not even you."

"You're drunk," Becca said, refusing to believe a word Gin was saying. At seventeen, she'd found out that Emily, the sister she adored, was really her mother and that Rose, her grandmother and the woman she'd believed to be her mother, was not. It had been a traumatic time, but she'd adjusted.

"Maybe." Gin hiccuped. "But the truth is a hard pill to swallow."

"I've wanted to be a doctor ever since I can remember," Becca said defiantly. "Finding out about my birth had nothing to do with it."

"Yeah, you started saying that in first grade. I want to be a doctor like my sister. Then bam, you find out your sister's really your mother and you have to be a doctor. There wasn't any other choice for you."

Becca stared at Gin with a mutinous expression. They'd been best friends since kindergarten and they knew each other better than anyone. Gin always spoke her mind, and that sometimes got on Becca's nerves--as it did now. She hadn't gone to medical school to please her parents. Or had she? God, she needed more champagne. She grabbed the bottle and refilled her glass.

"You're wrong, Gin," she murmured under her breath.

"Let me ask you a question," Gin said as she twisted her glass. "You have a month off before you join Dr. Arnold's practice in July. What do you plan to do with that time?"

Becca's eyes darkened, but Ginger didn't give her a chance to speak. She answered her own question. "I'll tell you exactly what you're going to do. You'll spend that month with your parents and Scotty, like you always do. You want babies? Well, doctor or not, you don't seem to realize you need a man to accomplish that. And you haven't had much of a social life in the past ten years, except for Colton who's always hanging around--like a little puppy waiting for your attention."

"Colton and I are friends," Becca said in a cool tone. "I bet you haven't even slept with him."

"We don't have that kind of relationship."

"The man is forty years old, Becca. If he doesn't want that kind of relationship, there's something wrong with him."

"Shut up! You're making me angry."

Ginger took a long swig of champagne and set the glass on the table. "Damn, that was good. Your dad doesn't spare the bucks when he buys the bubbly."

Becca knew what Gin was doing--changing the subject-- but Becca wasn't letting her get away with that. They had started this and they were going to finish it.

"My relationship with Colton is my business," she snapped.

Ginger lifted an...