The Cowgirl's Sacrifice

by Tina Radcliffe

“Cats are self-sufficient and independent. This cat more than most.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  Tucker smiled. “Like you, Bella has attitude.”

  “Now you’re insulting me.”

  “No, I’m not. Though there are a few more similarities, which is why I thought of you when Bella needed a home.”

  “Such as?”

  “She’s always getting into trouble, and she’s a one-human cat. Very much a loner. Bella doesn’t play well with others.”

  “Hey, that’s not nice. I play well with others.”

  “But you prefer to be alone.”

  “There is nothing wrong with being a loner.” Kate walked up to the window ledge and held out a hand to the animal. “Right, Bella?”

  Bella sniffed and gazed at Kate with wide, forlorn green eyes. Then, as if approving, she bumped her head into Kate’s hand.

  “That’s the universal sign you may pet her,” Tucker said. “Stick to the top of the head until she gets to know you.”

  “Gets to know me? Tucker, I can barely remember to water my plants. I’m not ready for a pet.”

  “If you forget to feed her, she will let you know. No worries.”

  The door creaked open, and Nolie peeked her head in and looked from Tucker to Kate. “Do we have a match?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kate said.

  “This sweet darling was surrendered because the owner’s boyfriend had allergies. Imagine that,” Nolie said with a cluck of her tongue.

  “That’s terrible,” Kate murmured. When Bella met her gaze, the green eyes searching, almost expectant, Kate’s resolve began to melt.

  “Right? I’d have gotten rid of the boyfriend first,” Nolie said.

  “Me too.” Kate frowned. “Why isn’t Bella next door at the rescue?”

  “No room at the inn,” Tucker said. “We’ll have an adoption event Memorial Weekend, but right now, we’re at full capacity. Even the foster homes are full. It’s always that way during kitten season.”

  “I don’t know...” Kate murmured. This was a huge responsibility, and she definitely was not the maternal type. Besides, horses were the only animals she knew anything about.

  “How about if you foster Bella?” Tucker asked. “If it doesn’t work out, for whatever reason, I’ll make other arrangements.”

  Kate released a resigned breath. “Okay, I guess I can do that. It is a big house for one diva. We should be able to respect each other’s personal space.”

  When Tucker looked at Nolie, and they both grinned, Kate was certain she’d been had.

  Bella began to virtuously lick her paws and groom herself as though she understood she was the topic of discussion.

  The docile feline changed her tune when she went into the carrier. She began to wail at full volume once Tucker fastened the seat belt around her carrier in the back seat of Kate’s truck.

  “This is perfectly normal,” Tucker assured her.

  “Perfectly normal?” Kate muttered. A mile outside Rebel, she turned on the radio to a country-western oldies station. Bella paused mid wail when Toby Keith hit a low note.

  “Well, what do you know? You like music.” Kate jacked up the sound, which prompted the feline to settle in the carrier and fall asleep.

  When Kate pulled into the ranch’s gravel drive, Mitch stepped out of the admin building and waved her over.

  Kate slowed the truck to a stop and rolled down her window.

  “You have a hearing problem?” Mitch asked.

  “Oh, sorry.” She turned off the radio.

  “That’s better. So how’s the desk jockey’s first week?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I just made a bank deposit. Doesn’t get much more thrilling than that.”

  “Hang in there, Bug. You’ll be looking at this episode of your life in your rearview mirror before you know it.”

  “Not soon enough,” she muttered. “Mitch, did you know that momma and Susan McNally were friends?”

  “Sure.”

  “And that they stayed friends after they were married?”

  He shook his head and offered a musing smile. “Yeah, every now and again, Mrs. McNally came by for a visit. When Momma was sick, she had groceries sent over regularly, though she didn’t want anyone to know it was her.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “I went to town and weaseled the information out of Mrs. Leonard. She ran the Piggly Wiggly in those days.”

  Kate mulled the information for a moment. “That was nice of her.”

  “More than nice.” He cocked his head as if remembering. “Thanks to her generosity, and a few others, we never went hungry.”

  “She invited me to dessert on Sunday. Will Daisy mind if I duck out of dinner early?”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you.” He grimaced.

  “Tell me what?”

  “We have an outbreak of the nasties at the house. Dinner is canceled.”

  “What are the nasties?” Kate inched away from the car door. “And are you contagious?”

  “It’s a stomach virus, and thanks to good hand washing, I do not have anything that might be contagious, just suffering from a lack of sleep.”

  “Oh, good.”

  He raised a brow. “Thanks a lot.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Kate heard a car’s engine and swiveled around in her seat. Jess’s truck pulled into the parking area, the tires crunching on the gravel.

  “I better get going. I have to drop off...um, a few things at the house before I get back to work.”

  Mitch chuckled and glanced back at Jess’s truck. “So, Bug. How are you and Jess getting along?”

  “Fine.”

  “Does that mean you’re avoiding him?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Look, you’re blaming the guy for something he didn’t do.”

  Annoyance rattled right through Kate at her brother’s words, threatening to release her temper. She took a calming breath. “I know exactly what he did, Mitch. He had a chance to toss me a bone, and instead, he hung me out to dry.”

  “He told the truth. You can’t blame a guy for that.”

  “Sure I can. Absolutely I can. And do.” She fumed for a moment at the thought of how Jess had double-crossed her. The man had changed. Years ago, she could count on him when her back was against the wall. Not anymore.

  Mitch smiled, obviously seeing humor in the situation that she did not. “I’m fighting a losing battle here, aren’t I?”

  “Sure are.” Kate looked at him. “You waved me down. Did you have something to tell me?”

  “I did. We outsource HR here, and Violet said your packet with an employee handbook and payroll paperwork hasn’t arrived yet. I wanted to be sure you knew about staff meetings. They’re held every Monday morning in the conference room at 7:00 a.m., unless Reece is out of town.”

  “I’ll be there, representing the pencil pushers of Rebel Ranch.”

  “Do you hate your job? Really?” He tipped back his Stetson and narrowed his eyes, assessing her.

  Kate raised a shoulder. “It’s not so bad.”

  After a week, she’d nailed the bookkeeping part of her job. Her innate talent for numbers had returned, and the job had become almost fun. Now she could spend less time in the chair and a little more figuring out ranch operations live. But her brother didn’t need to know that.

  Mitch held up a hand. “Did you hear that sound?”

  “Nope. Didn’t hear a thing.”

  “Kate. That was a cat.” Mitch started laughing as he moved to peer in the cab seat of the truck. “That’s a carrier. You have a cat in there.”

  “Okay, yes,” she admitted. “There is a cat in the back seat. What of it?”

  “Not a thing.” Mitch grin
ned and crossed his arms.

  “Have you ever gone up against Tucker at his clinic?”

  “I sure have.” He gave a slow nod. “You agreed to fostering, right?”

  Kate’s jaw sagged at his words. “How did you know that?”

  “Ask me about my foster animals sometime.”

  A door slammed shut, and Kate quickly checked the reflection in the truck’s side-view mirror. Uh-oh, Jess was headed her way. She nodded to Mitch. “Gotta run.”

  He chuckled and stepped back from the truck.

  This wasn’t a laughing matter. She had managed to avoid Jess all week, and she’d like to continue the pattern.

  Once home, she put the supplies from the clinic on the counter. She released Bella from her carrier and followed the animal as she sniffed her way through the house. Tucker had kept cats and a dog in here. No doubt she smelled the animals.

  When Bella jumped on the window ledge in the living room, Kate put her blanket and toys from the clinic on the floor. Tucker said it was important for Bella to have familiar scents. He knew what he was doing.

  Kate did not. She was a horse person. Definitely not a cat person. What could she do with a cat? As she put out bowls of water and dry food, she shook her head. This was a mistake.

  She thought about the long-limbed cowboy with the dark eyes who had broken her confidence. Yes, this was one in a long line of mistakes of late.

  * * *

  “This a very bad idea,” Jess muttered. He pulled his truck into his mother’s drive and stared at Kate’s beater of a pickup at the curb next to his sister’s little compact car. His mother hadn’t mentioned Kate when he said he’d stop by today. For a moment, he toyed with the idea of going right back where he’d come from. But he’d promised himself he wouldn’t let his mother down again, and he intended to keep his word.

  Grabbing flowers from the seat, Jess strode to the front door and knocked on the screen frame before he let himself in. “Hey, Mom.”

  “We’re in the kitchen, Jess,” his mother called out.

  Jess stepped into the kitchen, where Nicole and Olive sat at the table while his mother arranged a bouquet of gerbera daisies in a vase. He glanced down at the pink carnations in his hand.

  “You brought flowers too,” his mother said. “Don’t I feel spoiled?”

  “Except Nicky upstaged me with the fancy daisies.” He stared at his sister.

  Nicole put her coffee mug down and shook her head. “It wasn’t me, little brother.”

  “It was me.”

  He swung around to find Kate in the doorway. Her face was without expression, but her eyes...oh, those eyes. They laughed at him.

  “I invited Kate for dessert,” his mother said. “Isn’t it nice that she could join us?”

  Nice. Real nice.

  “Do you want some stew?” his mother asked him.

  “You said dessert.”

  “I did, but it’s been hours since lunch, hasn’t it? I tried a new recipe from one of my church friends.” She gestured with a hand. “Sit down, both of you.”

  Outnumbered, he sat at the table. When he inched his chair away from Kate’s, his sister silently laughed at him from across the table.

  He turned to the stove in time to see his mother ladling a generous amount of stew into a bowl. “Just a little, Mom,” he said.

  Ignoring his request, she placed a large bowlful in front of him along with half a loaf of fresh bread.

  Jess scratched his head. Okay. So he’d take the rest home for dinner for the next two nights.

  Kate eyed her own bowl and smiled before digging in.

  “How’s it taste?” his mother asked a few minutes later.

  “Mom, you know you’re the best cook in Rebel,” Jess said. That was the absolute truth, and the savory stew was no exception.

  “It pains me to agree with my dear brother,” Nicole said. “But he’s right.”

  “This is amazing, Susan,” Kate chimed in.

  “I’ll give you the recipe.”

  “I, um...” Kate’s face pinked. “Thank you.”

  When she kept her eyes downward, clearly not wanting to meet his gaze, Jess bit back a grin. Kate’s reputation as a terrible cook was apparently still intact.

  A phone began to ring, and his mother paused. “Oh, I left my cell in my purse. I’ll be right back.”

  “Take the recipe. She’ll never know,” Jess said once his mother left the room.

  “Very funny.” Kate scooped another mouthful without looking at him.

  Nicole glanced back and forth between them. “What am I missing here?”

  “Kate doesn’t cook,” he said.

  Nicole’s eyes widened. “Where are your manners, Jess? You haven’t seen her in how many years? People change.”

  “No,” Kate said with a shrug. “He’s right. I can’t cook. I was born without the culinary gene. I’ve gone from bad to pathetic with time.” She stared at Jess. “Although I resent the fact that you didn’t even give me the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Your face told the story,” Jess said. “You turned red.”

  Olive giggled and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

  “Can you cook, Olive?” Kate asked.

  “Uh-huh. My mom and I are making a cookbook together.”

  “That’s so nice.” Kate released a sigh and studied his mother’s old-fashioned floral cotton tablecloth. “My big brother, Mitch, tried to make sure everyone could cook. His specialty is mac and cheese. Reece’s is meat loaf and sweet potato casserole. Tucker is the omelet guy.” She offered a sad, wistful smile. “Even my little brother, Levi, cooked. Grilled cheese and this amazing tomato soup from scratch.”

  “Do you have a specialty?” Olive asked.

  “Cereal and milk.” Carefully placing the spoon in the empty bowl, Kate carried both to the sink. “Mitch tried with me and gave up. He said it was safer that way and that I had other talents.”

  Jess hid a smile behind his hand. It was hard to stay annoyed at Kate. She so readily laughed at herself. Sure, she had a chip on her shoulder and refused to look reality square in the eye at times, but she was a good person.

  A small voice in his head whispered, Exactly why you need to stay far from the woman.

  “Miss Kate, I can give you cooking lessons,” Olive said.

  “Aw, Olive, that is so sweet of you,” Kate said.

  “I promised dessert.” Jess’s mother entered the room with a large cake on a glass stand. He stood, took it from her and placed it in the middle of the table.

  “You made that?” Kate asked.

  Susan smiled. “Not me. We were in Tulsa yesterday, and we stopped by Ludger’s. I had it in the fridge in the garage for safe keeping.”

  “Ludger’s?” Kate asked.

  “Ludger’s Bavarian Cakery. This is the red velvet Bavarian cream cheesecake,” his mother said. “Red velvet cake on the top and bottom with vanilla and chocolate Bavarian cream swirled in the center.”

  Kate stared. “All that in one cake? That’s amazing.”

  “Mom, are you supposed to have this?” Jess asked.

  She eyed him with a lethal expression. “You watch your diet, and I’ll watch mine. Fair enough?”

  “Ouch,” Jess muttered.

  “My apologies to our guest,” his mother continued. “My son thinks dialysis is a death sentence. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s not, but I’m not going to live my life a prisoner to my body. A little cake isn’t going to hurt. Moderation in everything is the key.”

  Kate’s eyes widened, and he knew she was connecting the dots. “You were in Tulsa for dialysis,” she said.

  “Yes. Three times a week.”

  “If you ever need a backup driver, I’m free on Saturdays and Sundays,” Kate said.

  “That’s so generous of you. I
may take you up on that. Sometimes Nicky and Jess need a break.”

  “We don’t need a break,” Jess said.

  “Speak for yourself,” his sister said. “I think the appropriate answer here is thank you.” She turned to Kate. “Thank you.”

  “Nicky, you cut the cake,” his mother said. “I’m going to go get those photos that I promised Kate.”

  When his mother returned, she handed a large envelope to Kate. “You can look at these privately. If you have any questions, I can probably remember when and where they were taken.”

  “Thank you so much,” Kate said. She accepted the envelope as though it was a precious bundle.

  Margaret Rainbolt was the connection between Kate and his mother. Kate listened with rapt attention as his mother shared a few memories. His mother smiled and laughed like her old self as she talked. Jess found himself almost envious of the easy rapport between the two.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” his mother said. She pulled a photo from her apron pocket and placed it on the table in front of Kate. “It’s a Polaroid, so it’s faded a bit.”

  “Is that you and my mother?” Kate asked.

  “Yes. See that ribbon your mother is holding up? She won first place with her gingersnaps. I’ll give you the recipe for that too, next time you’re here.”

  “But Miss Kate can’t cook,” Olive said.

  “Olive!” Nicole shushed her daughter.

  “What?” Jess’s mother looked from Olive to Kate.

  Kate laughed. “My secret is out.”

  “You and I will make gingersnaps, Kate. That’s a promise.” A soft smile touched her lips as she looked at Kate. “You remind me so much of your momma, it just makes me happy inside.”

  Jess frowned at the words. Kate would no doubt be long gone before his mother could teach her anything, and this time, it would be his mother who would end up hurt. He couldn’t, wouldn’t let that happen.

  When Kate stood to leave, Jess took that as a cue to depart too.

  “Jess, take this box of leftovers to Kate’s truck,” his mother said. “I’ve got one for you, as well.”

  “Yeah, sure.” He grabbed both boxes and followed Kate to her truck.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, avoiding eye contact.

  Jess placed his box on the sidewalk before he slid hers onto the passenger seat of her truck. Stepping back, he searched for the right words. “Ah, Kate?”