The Princess & The Cowboy: A Collection of Rucas One Shots

Baby Bunny

Lucas' POV

"Riley, does it really matter what she wears? She has years to dress up for Easter pictures; don't you think that getting her to not burst into tears will be enough of a win for this year?" I ask while my wife scours our daughter's closet for the "perfect" outfit. It was Avery's first Easter and well, with my wife's bunny obsession she was taking the holiday extremely serious whereas I was willing to just let it happen.

"Lucas it's her first major holiday since she was born, don't you want adorable pictures that we can show-off to our friends?" she asks, turning to look at me over her shoulder. I laugh. We took plenty of pictures of our daughter but I wasn't one to argue with my wife. 

"Of course" I reply instead. "But we are going to miss the bunny if we don't hurry up" I add and she sighs finally grabbing a purple, sparkly dress out of the closet. She holds it out in front of herself and examines it before finally nodding her head. 

"I guess this one will do" she concedes. "Let's get her ready."

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We're waiting in line for the Easter bunny later that afternoon and Avery is sleeping soundly in her stroller while Riley leans against the wall, closing her eyes. It was no wonder that she was tired since she was the most stubborn woman on the planet when it came to letting me get up with the baby. "Riles" I whisper, nudging her arm causing her eyes to flutter open again. 

"Hm?" she hums, glancing over at me. 

I look towards the Easter bunny and decide to strike up a conversation that will keep her awake. "Does the Easter bunny have a name?" I ask curiously and she furrows her eyebrows, staring at me in confusion. 

"What?" she finally asks, releasing a small laugh. 

"The Easter bunny? Does he have a name?"

"I-I don't know" she replies, looking at the bunny seemingly trying to figure out his life story despite him being completely fictitious. "Isn't there a Peter Rabbit or something? Isn't that the Easter bunny?" she asks thoughtfully and I shrug. 

"Is it?" 

She groans, reaching for her phone in her back pocket and I laugh as her fingers fly across the keyboard in search of an answer to my random question. She scrolls down the page and brings her bottom lip between her teeth while she searches until Avery's soft cries catch her attention. 

She starts to pocket her phone but I step in front of the stroller, taking our daughter into my arms. "Riles, I got her."

"But-."

"Is this something we need to actually talk about?" I ask worriedly. "Why don't you let me take care of her?" 

"Because" she pauses, biting back tears as her teeth dig into her lower lip. "Because I almost lost her" she whispers, "and I need to know that she's okay. I need to be with her to make sure she's still here."

I give my wife a sympathetic smile. She had fallen down the stairs at work which had caused her to go into premature labor which almost costed us our little girl but she was born perfectly healthy. "Sweetheart she's right here and I promise, I can keep an eye on her" I assure her. "Now, did you find out the deal with the bunny?" I ask and she chuckles, looking back down at her phone. 

"His name is the Easter bunny or Easter hare" she explains. "He doesn't have a given name."

"So is he a boy or a girl?" I press and she laughs, rolling her eyes at me as she reaches out and takes Avery from my arms. 

"Alright, I see what you're doing and it's working but I refuse to play along any longer" she adds, tapping our daughter's nose with her pointer finger. 

"Next" the bunny's assistant calls and we realize that's us so we file onto the fake grass that made up the ground that the Easter bunny's garden sat on. Riley hands Avery to the bunny and the two of us sit on either side of him on the bench and we smile for the camera and luckily, we get through all of them before Avery starts squirming. 

I take Avery back from the bunny and we walk over to look at the pictures and I already know we're going to end up buying all of them but I look to my wife for confirmation. "All of them?" she mouths and I nod. She smiles and relays the order to the man and the pictures print out in front of us. 

"Here you go" the man smiles as he hands us our bag of pictures, sending us off on our way and I smile as we walk off. 

"I think this was a pretty successful first Easter, don't you?" I ask my wife as I settle our daughter back in her stroller and she nods, reaching up to kiss me. 

"It was perfect. I love you."

"I love you too bunny."