Courage

by Taylor Longford

  I stood on the porch and watched the boys scuff across the yard to the truck, calling out at the last minute and asking them to stop at the grocery store for some bread and milk. Other than frozen beef, we were almost out of everything except those awful cinnamon rolls. And I wasn't gonna eat those if I didn't have to. I was too young to get diabetes.

  Before Kellen could answer, Courage turned and grinned as he backed toward the truck. "As you wish."

  I couldn't help but laugh at his answer. "I didn't know you were a fan of the Princess Bride! I love that movie."

  Courage looked confused. "Princess Bride?"

  "Yeah. Princess Bride. Wesley and Buttercup and Inigo Montoya. You know!"

  "I'm sorry," he said, slowing to a halt while Kellen climbed into the truck and closed his door. "I…haven't seen that one."

  "Really? We have the DVD. How about we make some popcorn and watch it tonight?"

  "I'd like that," he said, grinning again while the truck's radio pounded away in the background. "Let's make it a date."

  "A date," I echoed, not sure I was comfortable with the idea. I just wanted to watch the movie with him. I didn't want to turn it into a big deal.

  "Aye," he answered. "You could wear that pretty dress with the daisies. And after the movie we could even play some Truth or Dare."

  "Oh no," I spoke up quickly, lifting my hands like a couple of stop signs. "Not Truth or Dare."

  "Why not?" he asked, his smile turning downward.

  "Because when you play Truth or Dare, you usually end up trying to kiss me."

  He lifted his arms from his sides and opened his hands. "Is that so bad?"

  I sucked my lips between my teeth. "I'm just not ready for that," I finally said.

  "But…you kissed me after we escaped that tornado."

  "That was different," I told him.

  "How so?"

  "It just was. We were both feeling…happy to be alive."

  His smile worked its way back into his mouth. "I don't know about you but I'm always happy to be alive."

  I gave him an exasperated look.

  "And always ready to kiss you," he continued. "When do you think you might be ready to kiss me back?"

  I sent an anxious look into the cab of the truck because I didn't want Kellen overhearing our conversation. But Kellen had the music cranked up pretty loud so I was probably safe on that score. "I'm not sure," I answered. "But I'll let you know."

  He tilted his head but kept his gaze locked on my eyes. "How will you do that?"

  "Well, for one thing, I'll be willing to play Truth or Dare," I laughed. "Now get goin'. Kellen's waiting for you."

  Still he hesitated.

  "What?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and tapping my foot on the porch floorboards.

  "Nothing," he answered with a soft smile. "It's just that…I'm very happy. Happy to be here. I mean, I want my family to find me but in the meantime, I'm just happy to be here with you."

  They were simple words but in that moment, I felt completely connected to him. Like we would always be close, even when we were miles apart. Like I was his. And he was mine. And that would never change. And as my heart tripped, I saw something in Courage I wanted to keep. Something I didn't want to lose. Ever.

  It was so difficult, feeling that way about him, especially when his status was so…temporary. Guys that hired on for ranch work were generally drifters at best. I searched his eyes, wondering what he saw in me and how long it would last. "You could do better, you know."

  "I don't think so," he answered.

  "Well, I'm glad you're here too," I said, trying not to sound too sentimental. "Now get going, will ya? Kellen won't wait forever while we stand here talkin' all day."

  "As you wish," he said again, and reached for the door handle as he turned.

  Kellen gunned the truck out of the yard while Courage hung from the window and waved goodbye. And as I watched them roar up the driveway toward the gate, I couldn't help but shake my head. "Boys," I sighed like they were the world's greatest challenge. But once I was back inside the house, I went straight upstairs to my bedroom to check my dress. I even threw it in the dryer for five minutes to shake out the wrinkles.

  With the dress hanging in my closet again, I called Jesse. And after we got Zombies out of the way, we got to talking about the new hand. I didn't tell her about the gargoyle stuff. Just the other stuff—how Courage was always acting as if he liked me and how crazy nice-looking he was. Jesse got all excited and blew it way out of proportion and started calling him my boyfriend. She even insisted that she had to see him. So, we made plans for her to casually drop by on the weekend to check him out.

  When I hung up, I went downstairs to look for the movie.

  I was in the kitchen when I heard the truck start down the driveway from the gate. The boys had been gone longer than I expected so that meant dinner was almost ready. I whipped off my apron and hung it on a hook beside the fridge, heading for the front door. I'd reached the porch by the time the truck rolled to a dusty halt in the yard. My heart lurched a little when I couldn't see Courage in the cab.

  "Where's Rage?" I asked my brother as soon as his boots hit the ground.

  "Don't know," he answered.

  I felt the air go out of my lungs as I made my way slowly down the porch steps. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

  Kellen shrugged. We got the rolls of wire loaded up and I left him sitting in the cab while I walked across the yard to talk to Connor. He has a summer job there at the supply store. When I'd finished up with him, Courage was gone."

  I had trouble forming words. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

  "He was just gone, Lori."

  "Well, d-did you look for him? Did you wait for him to come back?"

  "I waited thirty minutes or so. I asked around if anyone had seen him. The lady who works the cash register inside said he was talking to some guys who pulled up in a dark SUV. But she didn't see if he left with them."

  "Did she say what the guys looked like?"

  Kellen sighed like my questions were wearing him out. "I didn't ask. If Courage wants to go off for a few hours, or for a day, or for the rest of his life, it's none of my business."

  "The rest of his life?" I echoed, my voice sounding dull and flat in the empty yard.

  "Look, I'm as upset about this as you are," Kellen growled and waved an arm toward the bed of the truck. "I needed him to help me unload this stuff. But you know how these drifters are. Here today. Gone tomorrow. You can't count on 'em."

  "He wasn't like that," I snapped.

  Kellen narrowed an impatient look on me. "You didn't…get attached to him, did you?"

  "He…was a good worker," I shouted, backing away from the truck with my hands knotted at my sides. "He wouldn't just leave."

  "Okay," Kellen gave in gruffly, realizing how upset I was. "Maybe he just ran into some friends. Maybe he'll be back in a few hours to give me a hand unloading this stuff. Maybe…"

  "Maybe what?" I demanded.

  "Maybe I just imagined that hot chick I thought I saw."

  "What hot chick? Where?"

  "In the passenger seat of the black Escalade. But I don't know if it was the same SUV the cashier saw. It was pulling through the gates as I was heading across the yard to see Connor."

  "Were there any other people in the SUV?"

  "I don't know," he answered like I should have known better than to ask. "I was too busy looking at the chick."

  "What…did she look like?"

  "Hot," he answered. "With long blond hair."

  "Blond?"

  "Yeah. White-blond. What do they call that color?"

  "Platinum?" I asked.

  "Yeah. At least it looked platinum through the tinted windows. So, maybe Courage just ran in some friends like I said before. And maybe one of his friends has a really hot girlfriend."

  "And his friends were driving an Escalade?" I muttered and gave Kellen a worried look.

&nbs
p; "Doesn't seem likely, does it?"

  "No," I answered. Not when you considered the fact that Courage had no belongings when he stumbled across our ranch. Not when you considered the fact that his only friends were a bunch of young guys like him. Where would they find the money for an expensive Cadillac SUV? But maybe one of them had a girlfriend like Kellen had suggested. And maybe she came from money.

  Kellen was right, I decided, taking a deep breath. Maybe Courage had run into his family. He'd said they were probably looking for him. So, maybe they'd finally found him. And maybe he'd bring them back to the house to meet me…after they'd had a chance to catch up on all the news.

  And maybe I was insane to think he'd want to introduce me to his family.

  Why would he?

  Because of what he said, I told myself. Because of what he'd said right before he left. He was happy here. We had a connection.

  But right now that connection felt a little broken.

  "I can't believe you got attached to him," Kellen muttered. He threw his arm around my shoulders and walked me to the front door. "You're smarter than that, Lori."

  "He'll be back," I said stubbornly. And once we were inside the house, I went upstairs to put on my dress.

  But he wasn't there for dinner.

  Or after dinner.

  When the dishes were out of the way, I changed out my flats for my boots and walked Kellen out to his car.

  "Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked.

  "I'm fine," I told him. "You don't want to miss practice and I don't want you to be around when Rage gets back. We're gonna watch a movie together."

  "Like a date?" he asked, but his face was sad.

  "We might even turn out the lights," I said, smiling like I believed it. Because I wanted to believe it. Yeah, I was only fifteen. And maybe I was gonna get my heart broken several times before I settled down with a guy. Maybe I was gonna fall in love a dozen times before then. But for right now, I needed to believe that Courage was coming back.

  The sun dipped toward the horizon as I sat on the porch steps and waited for him. I was still wearing my dress and boots but had added a light jean jacket when it had started getting chilly. Behind me, a dozen dogs sprawled comfortably around like there wasn't a rabbit worth chasing within ten miles. Those dogs had gotten relaxing down to an art form.

  My ears filtered out the crickets' song to focus on the sound of tires on the county road. Every time a car approached, my heart climbed into my throat. And every time a vehicle passed without slowing down at our driveway, my heart went into free fall. By sunset, the ice cubes in my empty lemonade glass had melted. Sighing, I picked up the tall glass and headed for the front door.

  With my fingers wrapped around the doorknob, I hesitated. Not because I'd heard anything or seen anything. It had more to do with the way the dogs lifted their heads and sharpened their ears. Holding my breath, I listened too. And heard it. The sound of large wings fanning the air. Gargoyle wings.

  I tiptoed away from the door and listened hard. Someone was making their way through the gravel on the driveway alongside the house. I heard footsteps moving toward the yard. The dogs were on their feet but they weren't barking. Several furry heads gave me a questioning look. A dozen tails wagged in unison. So, I assumed it was someone the dogs knew. More to the point, I assumed it was Courage.

  A tall figure stepped into the dark yard in front of the house, and headed straight for the porch steps. Lightheaded, I started smiling and ran down the stairs, my eyes searching hungrily for the sight of ice blue eyes and an angled jaw.

  As I hurried toward him, his features took shape. He had Courage's sculpted jaw and black leather vest. But he was wearing jeans instead of overalls. And as he strode closer, I realized something was wrong. Maybe it was a trick of the light but his eyes appeared to be gray instead of blue.

  I only just pulled up in time. Otherwise, the guy would have had his arms full because I was in all-out-hug-mode as I raced toward him. He stopped at the same time and we stood staring at each other in the shadows cast by the big cottonwood at the corner of the house.

  Confused, I studied the stranger standing in front of me. I had thought there couldn't be another boy as beautiful as Courage. But this guy sure as heck challenged that little theory. On top of his drop-dead-gorgeous looks, he had that whole bad-boy-vibe going on, his long, ash-blond hair tied back at the nape.

  "Hello," he finally said. "I'm looking for my brother, Courage."

  Chapter Eight

  The blond stranger looked back over his shoulder. "My name's Defiance. Some people in town said there was a new hand working at a ranch out in this direction. Somebody young. So, I started looking around and I saw an interesting sign…cut into the grass in a nearby field."

  I didn't respond, still so surprised…and disappointed that he wasn't Courage.

  "What's your name?" he asked.

  "Lorissa," I managed to choke out in answer, shocked and off-balance and fixating on the little things. My gaze was drawn first to his chipped tooth. Then the green latex gloves on his hands. And I wondered why he was wearing them.

  "Do you…know who I'm talking about, Lorissa?"

  "I know your brother," I answered, pulling myself together. "And I know what he is. What you are. I know about your wings and how you got here so you don't have to try to hide all that from me."

  "You know my brother?" he asked, his eyes lighting with hope. "Where is he?"

  "I don't know," I answered, my voice breaking on the last word. "I was hoping he was with you. With his family. I'm afraid he might have…moved on. You just missed him. He was here yesterday. He was here this morning!"

  "Moved on?" Defiance echoed, glancing in the direction of the field where we'd cut Courage's rune into the grass. "That doesn't sound right."

  It didn't sound right to me either. It seemed so wrong. But I didn't say that. "Why not?"

  "He'd want to stay near the sign he left for us. And he showed you his wings. He wouldn't have done that…unless you meant something to him."

  "He didn't have much choice about revealing his wings," I explained on a dejected sigh. "There was a tornado and he had to fly us to safety."

  He studied me with a curious look on his face and I assumed he was probably reevaluating what he'd said earlier about me meaning something to his brother. Because, really, what would anybody see in a plain girl like me. "I don't believe that," he said slowly.

  "Believe what?"

  "That you didn't mean anything to him."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because you're just his type."

  I would have laughed if I hadn't been so unhappy. "What do you mean by that?"

  Defiance tilted his head and gave me an appraising look. "You say you know about gargoyles. But I don't think Courage told you everything about our kind."

  "Like what?"

  "Like they tend to fall in love with people like you."

  Whoa. Things were moving fast. Like ridiculously fast. Defiance didn't know anything about me. How did we get to the L word already? "People like me? What do you mean by that?"

  "Nice people," he answered slowly. "Really nice people."

  "And you figure I'm a nice person even though you only just met me?"

  "I know you're a nice person," he answered quietly. "It radiates from every pore of your skin like a wash of golden warmth. Did Courage not tell you that?"

  "Not in so many words," I muttered.

  "Did he never kiss you?"

  "Once," I answered. "But we'd just avoided a tornado and we were both feeling pretty glad to be alive."

  "That's as good a reason as any," he mused, rubbing two fingers along the angle of his jaw. "So, the question is, where is he now?"

  "I guess he left," I said flatly.

  "Why would he do that?"

  "I don't know. Maybe he decided to go and look for you. Or maybe he found someone better. Someone prettier…than me."

  "That seems unlikely," he s
aid so dismissively that I wanted to turn around and make sure he wasn't talking to someone else. Like maybe there was a Victoria's Secret model standing behind me. "Is there any chance he was taken?" he asked.

  "Taken," I exclaimed, wondering why he would jump to that conclusion…unless he knew that somebody was after his brother. "Why would you think that?"

  Defiance gave me an impatient look. "Because I'm worried about my brother."

  That didn't exactly explain why he thought Courage might have been abducted but I answered his question anyhow. "He was talking to some guys in Limon just before he disappeared."

  "That doesn't sound good."

  "Why? Who do you think it was? The police? The FBI?"

  "Nay," he answered. "If the authorities had him, we'd know about it."

  I sent him a curious look.

  "We have a friend in the FBI who's helping us look for him."

  "Are you serious?" I said, smacking my forehead. I had suspected the authorities were looking for Courage but it had never occurred to me that they were trying to reunite him with his family. I had thought they wanted him because he'd done something slightly less than legal.

  "Do you know what the guys looked like?" Defiance asked. "What they were driving?"

  "It might have been a dark SUV. But there's a lot of those around. It could've been anyone."

  "We need to find him. He might be in danger."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "It's a long story but there are some very nasty people who'd like to get their hands on a gargoyle."

  "Why?"

  "Another long story," he answered. "I'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to find Courage. Do you have a cell phone?"

  I pulled my phone from the pocket of my jacket and checked for coverage. "Service here is really spotty," I told him.

  "That shouldn't make any difference," he decided. "Do you have a tracking app on your phone? The kind that tells you where you are on a map?"

  "Yes, but that requires a connection."

  He ignored me. "Do you have any wooden furniture we can use?"

  "The dining room set is solid cherry wood. It's an antique from my grandparents. What are we going to do?"

  "We're going to scry for Courage."