Toughest Cowboy in Texas

by Carolyn Brown

  Daisy gasped. “I was afraid when you crossed the Texas border you’d get crazy.”

  “It’s just kittens. I didn’t set fire to anything or borrow a tractor or…”

  “Delilah Harris.” Daisy’s voice went all whispery like it did when Lila was in trouble.

  “Would you rather I adopted two children?”

  “I definitely would not!” Daisy’s voice jacked up an octave. “It’s an omen that I got homesick today. Fate is telling me that you need me. I should take the café off the market and move back to Texas.”

  “I’m doing all right now that I’ve got something to talk to that breathes and even meows once in a while,” Lila said. “Hey, I even went to church last Sunday and Molly says I have to go tomorrow. She’s keeping me pretty straight and very busy. So be sure you want to make a drastic move before you talk to Aunt Tina. And remember, Mama, it’s hotter’n hell in Texas in the summertime.”

  “You can’t tell me anything about the panhandle of Texas that I don’t already know. But it’s either sweatin’ in Texas or suffering through butt-deep snow here in Pennsylvania. I can get cool with air-conditioning in Texas.”

  “But that danged old northern cold can cut right to the bone, can’t it?” Lila said.

  “Promise me you won’t steal anything else.”

  “I promise, but I’m not giving my word about skinny-dippin’ out at Hope Springs.”

  “Sweet angels in heaven!” Daisy shrieked. “I was right. Texas brings out that wild streak in you.”

  “Yep, the minute I crossed the line I got the urge to steal something, go skinny-dippin’, and make out with Brody Dawson in Henry Thomas’s old barn. Blame it on Texas,” she laughed.

  “I’m not having this conversation with you. Tell me about those cats.”

  “One is pure white with a little yellow spot on its head and the other is black as sin. Want to help me name them?”

  “I do not,” Daisy said emphatically. “I’m not going to contribute to your crime spree.”

  Lila laughed harder that time. “If they throw me in jail for thievery, will you bail me out?”

  “No, but I will feed the kittens for you until you serve your time. I’ll be glad when you’re back in Florida this fall. Now good night,” Daisy said.

  “Good night, Mama.”

  Granny Hope showed up in the kitchen before Brody took the first bite of the chocolate cake he’d put on his plate. She cut out a slab of cake that came close to being too big for the dessert plate and brought the gallon jug of milk with her to the table.

  “We need to talk,” she said to Brody.

  “About?”

  “You already know but I’ll say it out loud. Lila Harris.”

  “You talk and I’ll listen,” he said.

  “Have you ever heard the history of Hope Springs?”

  “I can recite it to you.”

  She lowered her chin and looked at him from under arched gray eyebrows. “Don’t be a smartass. It don’t hurt you to hear a little of this again. You know that I was the fourth-generation owner of Hope Springs. I’ve been pleased with the way you’re doin’ things since I turned the place over to you. You and Jace are doin’ a great job.”

  He nodded as respectfully as possible and bit back a yawn.

  Hope stopped long enough to take a few bites of cake and drink half a glass of milk. “Since you know the story about my great-grandparents helping get this area settled, I’ll skip that part. At the same time Hope Springs was coming into its own as a reputable ranch, the Dawsons were doing really well with their ranches on down the road toward the canyon.”

  Brody poured another glass of milk. A history lesson was better than a scolding, but so far she had not mentioned Lila, so that might still be on the agenda.

  “The rest of what I’m going to say is in confidence. That means it doesn’t go any farther than this kitchen. Agree?”

  He nodded. She had his full attention.

  “The ranch had a reputation to uphold by then. So as the only heir, I had a lot to learn and a tremendous amount of responsibility upon my shoulders. It was a big place by then and I couldn’t let my folks down.”

  Brody had never seen his grandmother flustered. She took the bull by the horns, spit in its face, and dared it to come after her. But that night her eyes kept shifting from one corner of the kitchen to the other.

  “It’s not easy letting go of the control. I was so tired of making decisions that I thought it would be good to step back and turn it all over to you boys. But I was wrong. I miss the work and all of it,” she said.

  Scenarios played through Brody’s mind at warp speed. In the foremost one his grandmother was about to change her mind about the ranch.

  “I feel like a duck in a desert. No water in sight and I can’t swim in sand.”

  He patted her arm. “Sometimes I feel like that, too, and that’s when I call you and ask for your advice. You’re always going to be needed, Granny. We’re all taking baby steps in this whole transfer and we’re glad that you decided to stay in Cooter’s place so you’re nearby. I’m not sure Kasey could handle the load without you to help.”

  “Thank you, darlin’ boy, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I’m not sure that I can put it into words, and I’m past seventy years old. Your grandpa has been gone a dozen years and without work from daylight to past dark, I’m lonely.”

  “Granny, do you have a boyfriend?” Brody whispered.

  “Good God, no!” she gasped. “I’m tryin’ to put my feelin’s into words and explain to you how I felt tonight at that bull riding. But in order to do it, I have to say some things I’ve never told anyone.”

  “I’m listening.” He covered both her hands with his and squeezed gently.

  “I was twenty years old the year that Dad hired a new foreman. He came from over near Clovis, New Mexico, and his name was Weston Dalley.”

  “Grandpa, right?” Brody asked.

  “That’s right. Wes was twenty-five, a good man and a fine manager. My dad loved him like the son he’d never had.” Her eyes misted slightly.

  “And so did you evidently,” Brody said.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I did love your grandpa. Don’t ever doubt that for a minute. But...” She paused.

  “But?” Gramps had been Brody’s idol. He didn’t want there to be a but anywhere in his life or in his relationship with Granny.

  “But he was not my first love.” She met his gaze and her eyes floated in tears. “Wes was a good man.”

  She didn’t have to convince Brody of that. Wes Dalley was well respected in the whole area and he loved his entire family. In Brody’s eyes he was more than just a good man—he could walk on water.

  “I’ve never told anyone this before and I expect you to keep it to yourself.”

  Brody swallowed hard and nodded in agreement.

  “I had an argument with the man I loved. Over Wes. In a fit of anger, this other guy joined the service and I turned to Wes for comfort. We were married six months later, and Daddy built the north wing onto the house for us to live in. Mama had come down with her illness by then and someone needed to be here all the time. We had your mother that next year.”

  “And the first love?” he asked.

  “He spent more than twenty years in the service, came back to Happy to take care of his parents, and then left when they died,” she said. “The point of this whole story is to tell you that I had a responsibility to the ranch. My first love hated ranching. He was a dreamer with no roots. I did the right thing by marrying your grandfather.”

  “Do I hear another but?” Brody asked.

  Her eyes met his. “I always wondered what my life would have been like with him, and there was a little part of my heart that Wes never had because of him. Now remember that when I go on to the rest of my story.”

  “Lila?” Brody yawned.

  Hope inhaled deeply and let it out in a gush. “Always in a hurry. It co
mes from all that instant gratification you kids have with technology. I knew when you were born I was going to leave Hope Springs to you when you were old enough to take the reins.”

  “What about Jace? Right now you’ve given it to both of us.”

  “But when he gets ready to settle down or if Valerie decides to step down from runnin’ the ranch, he will inherit Prairie Rose and this one will be yours alone. Lila Harris is your first love, right?”

  “Can I answer? You told me to be quiet.”

  “Just nod.”

  He did.

  “I saw her at the bull riding tonight. She sat at the top of the stands all alone. I watched her actions without her even knowing it. Emma talks about her all the time and Rustin thinks she flat out hung the moon. I hear that Silas went right to her when y’all went for ice cream last night.”

  He nodded again.

  “I stand by my reasoning back when you and Lila were teenagers. She was wild and I could see that you would mess up your life if you got involved with her at eighteen.”

  “And?” Brody asked.

  “I could feel what she was experiencing tonight. Neither Wes nor my first love rode bulls but when you came out of the chute, I was experiencing that rush that I used to get when I was sneaking off to see—” She stopped before she said his name.

  “Sneaking?” Brody’s eyes widened.

  “Dad didn’t think he was good enough for me. Like I said, he was a dreamer, not a rancher, and I had a lot of responsibility toward Hope Springs. Back to what I was trying to say—she had eyes for no one else tonight and almost fainted when the bull was chasing you. She left before the rides were finished. I know that feeling that she had, and I expect your heart reacts the same way when you’re around her, right?”

  Another nod.

  “Then it’s time to see if there’s enough left for another chance or to get over her,” Hope said.

  “Was it worth losing your first love for this place?” Brody asked.

  “At this point in life, I can say yes, it was,” she answered. “If I’d done what my heart wanted instead of what my mind knew was the right course, you wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation with me.”

  A long, heavy pause hung over the room like dust at the rodeo arena.

  “You’re thirty years old and so is Lila. You have a chance that I never had. You cannot re-create the past. It’s gone and done with. Decisions made. Consequences paid. But if you see something in that woman, then you have the opportunity to see if there is a future there,” she said.

  Brody almost fell out of his chair. “You aren’t against me seeing her?”

  “You’re a grown man and you had a lot of responsibility laid on your shoulders when your grandpa and daddy both died that summer. I’m proud of you, Brody.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” he said.

  Hope inhaled and pulled her hands free. “Always in a hurry. That’s your decision. Lila is a responsible woman with a pretty good head on her shoulders from what I’ve found out since she came back to Happy. I knew that wild girl but I don’t know the woman Lila. Take my advice and either get her out of your system while she is here or else do something about the attraction. It’s time for you to have a child so Hope Springs can live on through another generation. This summer needs to tell the story of who the mother of that child will be.”

  “Again, Jace?” he asked.

  “I told you. He will inherit your folks’ place when Valerie steps down like I did, probably in the next couple of years at the most, and he will sign Hope Springs over to you and move back down the road to Prairie Rose,” Hope said. “And that is the confidential part.”

  “And Kasey?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Now it’s well past my bedtime and you need to get a shower. You’ve got dirt in your hair and behind your ears.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned.

  She covered a yawn with her hand. “Good talk, as you kids say today.”

  “It was and thank you, Granny,” he said.

  “But,” she whispered, “let Jace think I gave you a hard time. It keeps up my image.”

  “You got it. I’ll take care of the cleanup here and see you in the morning,” he said.

  “Bright and early. Ranchin’ starts with daylight and ends when there’s not enough light to see anymore.”

  “Amen.” Brody rose to his feet and kissed his grandmother on the forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

  Hope stopped at the door and turned around. “Your mama has never forgiven Lila’s mama for trying to get between her and Mitch Dawson when they were in high school, so you might not get off so easy with her. But that’s not my business so you’re on your own there.”

  Chapter Eight

  Lila hated the church social, where everyone who had ever preached at the church, had ever attended, or who had even lived in Happy was invited back for a reunion of sorts. More than once in her younger years she’d faked sickness in an attempt to get out of going but it never worked. Molly insisted that they were going to close the café just like always and go to morning services and then to the social.

  “No buts about it,” Molly said seriously as they prepared for the breakfast run that morning. “Your mama started the tradition when she managed this place and we ain’t changed it.”

  “I’m not going. I’ve got two kittens I have to take care of today. They’re in new surroundings and I need to spend time with them,” Lila said.

  “You’ll be home all evening to do that.” Molly slid another pan of chicken and dressing into the oven to warm. “You can tell them cats bedtime stories and rock them to sleep.”

  “Okay,” Lila sighed. “I’ll rush back to my apartment and get a shower right after we close.”

  “Good! Glad that the spiritual light finally showed through into your soul.” Molly slapped a thick slice of ham on the grill for the next breakfast order.

  Molly was a tyrant. Lila loved her and appreciated her staying on at the café until she could get the place sold, but good grief, Molly was the same to her as Hope was to Brody. They both had a grandmother figure who was doing their dead level best to make their lives miserable.

  “If I didn’t love you like my own kid, I wouldn’t tell you what to do. You can ride with me.”

  It was less than a mile to the church and Molly parked as close to the back door as she could so she could unload the food. The kitchen was empty but four tables were laden with covered dishes. Space had been left at the end of the first table for Molly’s four large pans. When they were situated to suit her, she pointed toward the door leading from there to the sanctuary.

  “You go on in and get settled. I’ll be there soon as I make a stop in the restroom.”

  Lila nodded and headed toward the sound of “I’ll Fly Away.” Well, now, that was a fitting song to hear since she would have rather been appreciating the handiwork of God while riding her bike down in the canyon rather than in a packed church that morning. Flying away to anywhere sounded better than sitting on a hard oak pew.

  She found the song in the hymnal and sang the last verse along with everyone else. The choir director stepped aside and the preacher took his place behind the pulpit. Feet shuffled, folks whispered to children to settle down, a few old men cleared their throats, and a couple of Amens floated out over the church.

  The preacher had just read the scripture when Molly took her place beside Lila. “Good timin’. I won’t miss the sermon.” Molly set her purse and Lila’s on the floor. “I brought your purse. You left it in the kitchen.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  The preacher said something about sin being in many forms and then hesitated. It was during that pregnant pause that the phone in her purse started playing an old tune, “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away.” She’d turned the volume as high as it would go earlier that day because she expected a call from her mother. In the quiet church, it sounded like it was coming from a concert st
age.

  Some folks tried to part the back of her hair with dirty looks; others giggled. She blushed scarlet and grabbed her purse, plopped it down on the seat between her and Molly, and started digging for the phone. It stopped before she could get a grip on it and she set the purse on the floor again.

  “Like I said...” The preacher’s booming voice reached to the back of the room. But then Lila’s phone started again, as if trying to help him prove the point. She grabbed the purse and, thinking she had both handles, jumped up to get out of the building. Blushing crimson, she stepped out into the center aisle, hit the lopsided purse on the edge of the pew, and sent everything in it flying everywhere. She dropped to her knees and started gathering it all up, snatching the phone first, but it slipped from her hands and skittered under the pew right beside her.

  Valerie Dawson’s high heel hit the thing and sent it back another pew. Lila was ready to crawl in that direction when Brody left his seat, knelt in front of her, and helped her get everything put back in place. Her face burned like fire with embarrassment when Rustin crawled out from under a pew and handed the phone to Brody. It had stopped ringing but every eye in the entire congregation was on them. Some would even have kinks in their necks tomorrow from trying to see around other folks. The buzz of whispers filled the place as Brody handed it to her.

  “As I was saying,” the preacher cleared his throat, “sin comes in many forms.”

  “Guess he don’t recognize your music or he’d know you were agreeing with him,” Brody whispered as he extended a hand to help her and made sure she was seated before he returned to his own pew.

  The preacher went into a long-winded explanation about sin and Lila sent a text to her mother: Church. Annual social.

  She immediately got one back: OMG! So sorry!

  “Why in the world do you have that song on your phone?” Molly said out the side of her mouth.

  “Mama always liked it,” she answered.

  “Well, thank God she didn’t call during benediction,” Molly said.