Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance
Page 15
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, I think so.” I told him.
“Good, don’t say anything to the reporters you don’t want to. We’ll head back home.”
“But don’t I have to give a statement to the authorities?”
“No, you’re all set.” Owen said.
“Well shit.”
“Let’s hurry,” Jackson said, opening the doors. “Unless you want to talk to them?”
“Fuck that,” I murmured and followed in his wake.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We were all sitting down to a family dinner, Mom and Dad, Sandy and Jackson, Alison and I, and Kyle and baby Lilly. There was something that I’d wanted to bring up, and though Alison and I hadn’t talked about it directly to Mom and Dad, I knew avoiding the talk would only make me feel worse, guiltier. Alison had moved into the cabin with me… It was something we needed to talk about.
“So Mom, Bill. Uh…”
Everyone stopped talking and Jackson had a forkful of green beans almost to his mouth when he dropped them. I almost laughed, but I was too nervous.
“We haven’t talked about one thing. Alison and I.”
“There isn’t much to talk about, is there?” My mom asked me sweetly, I could see her hands shaking slightly.
“I just want to make sure you and Dad know how much I love her. Coming home was one surprise after another. This one was right up there too.”
“You don’t get to pick who you love.” Bill said gruffly, but he was smiling at me. My heart broke, he accepted me? He was ok with this?
“I’m not planning on running out on you guys again.”
“I won’t let you,” Ali poked me in the side, making me spill my juice.
Shit! We got that cleaned up in record time, but Mom was smiling at me.
“Besides, it sounds like you don’t have long now until the board of elections is going to tell you if you won the race or not,” my Mom said, the pride in her eyes shining.
“I don’t think anybody else was going to run,” I admitted.
“Oh, I’m sure there were, despite what folks said. You’ve got quite the following in town you know.”
“If I get the job, what would people think about us?” I asked, pointing to Ali with my fork now that folks were talking and moving again.
“Does it matter?” Alison asked me, her eyes confused.
Not to me, but it might to you. Maybe not now, but someday down the road.”
“I don’t care what they think. I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted right here,” she tried to poke me in the side again but I trapped her hand, pulling her close and kissing her hard.
She struggled for a second, her face immediately blushing a dark red to match her hair, but I didn’t let up until Jackson coughed. I pulled back to grin at Ali blushing furiously and looked to my mom and dad who were grinning.
“Mom, people here,” Kyle announced, being the one sitting closest to the end of the table.
Somehow, we’d missed the lights of somebody driving up to the big house, but Kyle hadn’t. Within a moment, we heard footsteps on the porch and then a few hard knocks.
“I get?” Kyle asked and when Bill nodded, he bounded out of his chair, a bundle of energy.
“Hi. Come,” Kyle opened the door and talked to the two men standing there.
He pulled them by the hands to the table. My heart was in my throat when I recognized one of them. Owen, in uniform. Maybe they found Dade and Karen, and then I noticed the other man. He was dressed in business suit, but his features and roughened hands gave him away as a rancher despite the garb he was wearing right now.
“Hey there Owen, Howdy judge,” Jackson said, standing as the rest of the table did. I slowly got to my feet. Judge?
“We’re just stopping in, to wish you luck,” Owen said, putting his hand out. I shook it, shell shocked.
“If you’re elected, I need about a week’s worth of your time son,” the judge said, resting his hand on my arm.
“Sure, what can I do to help?”
“Help me untangle the mess that Tyler left the county in. There are a lot of cases that just got slid under the table.”
“Sure Judge, no problem.”
“Bill, Jackson, sorry for bothering you guys, but me and the judge were out this way and…”
“It’s no problem, pull up a chair and have some dinner,” Bill offered. One big family…
After we all ate and had our fill of coffee. We’d talked about what had happened, gossiped about the FBI and their case. I guess the county really was in a mess, and Tyler had been covering up a lot more than his nephew’s bizarre violent behavior. There was a small meth ring that always got away clean no matter how well Owen and other’s tried to catch them and a car theft ring… We saw Owen and the Judge out the door when we finished. Kyle, of course, was doing his best to impress and ran to hold the door open for them.
“Bye. Come house again,” Kyle shouted before closing the door hard, his accent cracking me up and the whole family was standing around me now, I was hugging them and laughing and when Alison leaned in, I gave her a kiss, everybody cheering us on.
“See, I want be sheriff cowboy like brother Cam,” Kyle yelled and we all broke up laughing.
“Maybe I want you to bring home a set of handcuffs to play with,” Alison whispered into my ear, and despite myself, I could already feel myself responding to her suggestion.
“I think I can figure that out. Sheriff or not.”
“Good thing sheriff,” she teased me and kissed me again. We all sat down to eat some dessert. One big family, something I never realized I’d always wanted.
I felt as light as a kite and just as free.
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The End.
About the Author –
Angela Kelly is a pen name of Lee Moore’s. The name was conceived after wanting to write something different than the stories Lee is known for. I write part time, many of the stories I write about had the idea started from something that happened to me in real life. Then I think about different ways things could have gone. Active Imagination I guess…
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