Lonestar Angel

by Colleen Coble

  Easier said than done, but she kept her mouth shut and followed him back to the children.

  Bluebird Crossing was a town with only one eye open. Or so it seemed to Eden that night as she peered through the café window at the sleepy town. She could almost imagine it was the West Texas version of Mayberry. Red-and-white-checkered tablecloths covered the tables, and the decor was vintage fifties. The aromas of enchiladas mingled with those of roast beef and fried potatoes.

  “There they are,” Clay said when a couple stepped into the café and came toward them. He rose and waved. “Over here.”

  Eden liked the looks of Gracie Wayne right off. Petite with fine blond hair and a dusting of freckles across her nose, she looked like the girl next door. Her husband, Michael, was military and had the erect posture to prove it. Good looking too. Eden liked the way he guided his wife with his hand at the small of her back. He clearly loved her.

  The couple reached the table, and the men shook hands and introduced their wives before they were seated. “Good to get you back here,” Michael said.

  Back here? Eden glanced at Clay. She’d thought the men knew each other from the air force.

  “Feels a little surreal to come home,” Clay said. “Thanks for putting in a good word with the Baileys for me.”

  She should have asked him if the Waynes knew that Brianna was somewhere at the ranch. She’d assumed they didn’t, but it was clear that the two men shared a special friendship. There was so much about her husband that she didn’t know.

  “I hear you have three children,” she said to Gracie after the server brought their iced tea.

  Gracie smiled. “Jordan, Evan, and Hope. We’re a blended family.”

  Michael grinned. “About to be homogenized.” He patted Gracie’s belly.

  The gentle swell told the tale. “Congratulations! When are you due?” Eden asked, trying to ignore the tiny stab of longing.

  Gracie blushed. “Not for four months. The kids are so excited.” She leaned her chin on her hand. “How did the two of you meet?”

  Eden shrugged. “The usual kind of story. He was a handsome soldier on leave and I was on vacation.”

  Clay grinned. “Handsome? You thought I was handsome?” He nudged Michael. “I’ll bet you can’t say the same, buddy.”

  Michael nodded. “You’re so right. She took one look at me and fainted.”

  “Stop it, Michael,” Gracie said, shaking her finger at him.

  He grinned and slipped his arm around her. “I’m a lucky man, and I know it.”

  “You two still act like newlyweds,” Clay said. “I hear you’re an EMT and own the only helicopter in the county. Rick says you’re the go-to guy for everything.”

  The men started talking about work, and Gracie smiled and shook her head. Watching her and Michael, Eden wished she could feel so relaxed and free with Clay. What had they missed? She’d blamed their distance on his absence, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was some fundamental flaw in her. She knew she had walls. Over the years, she’d tried to tear them down, but her defense mechanisms were too strong.

  After a pleasant evening, the couples walked outside together. As Eden waved good-bye to her new friends, she found herself tongue-tied with Clay. Did he ever think about what a marriage was supposed to look like?

  “Ready to go home?” he asked.

  “I need to walk off dinner a bit,” she said. He offered his arm, and she took it hesitantly. They strolled the empty sidewalk along closed storefronts. When they stopped in front of the coffee shop, the only place except the café that was still open, she stopped. “Why didn’t you tell me you were from around here?”

  His easy smile vanished. “You never asked where I was from.”

  “You didn’t think the fact that the kidnapper brought Brianna back to your home area was significant? I thought the location was just a random choice, but it seems it was personal.”

  “It couldn’t get more personal.”

  “So we basically stepped into the lion’s den?”

  “I suppose so. But talking about it wouldn’t have changed our minds. I’d face anything to get my daughter.”

  “Our daughter,” she corrected.

  His lips tightened. “Our daughter.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I just didn’t want you to worry. It’s my job to worry about the danger.”

  “This is exactly what broke up our marriage!” She turned and ran back toward the truck. She heard his footsteps behind her, but she didn’t slow until his hand was on her arm and he pulled her around to face him.

  “What do you mean by that?” he demanded.

  She was so tired. Tired of fighting, tired of pretending, tired of the mask she always wore. “You always thought about what you should do. It was never us, what we should do. We were two separate people, never one unit. I realized that tonight watching the Waynes.”

  His hand dropped from her arm. “Maybe so. I wanted to take my responsibilities seriously. A man isn’t supposed to let his wife worry about anything.”

  “Who says? If they are one, they share everything. The good and the bad. At least that was always my dream. I didn’t have the best role models, so I didn’t have it all figured out.”

  “I hate fighting,” he muttered. “That’s all we seemed to do, and we’re starting it again.”

  “At least we’re talking when we’re fighting.”

  He tipped his head and stared at her. “Do you start fights on purpose, then?”

  She started to shake her head, then thought better of it. “Maybe I do. There’s nothing worse than being ignored.” As a child, she’d spent too many nights standing outside in the cold by herself. Or eating a peanut butter sandwich alone.

  “I never wanted you to feel ignored. Just protected.” He opened the truck door for her. She fastened her seat belt, but he didn’t close the door. “Would you like to see where I lived?” he asked.

  It was such a small thing, but she didn’t miss the trepidation in his voice. She nodded. “Yes.”

  “It’s on our way.” He shut the door and went around to his side.

  10

  HE’D DRIVEN THIS ROAD A MILLION TIMES. CLAY TURNED ONTO THE DIRT DRIVE AND wondered when the grader had last been down it. Darkness was falling quickly, but the moon was bright tonight.

  “Are there any other houses back here but yours?” Eden asked.

  “Nope. It’s a dead end. Which is probably why the potholes are so bad.” He hit one and the truck bottomed out and slewed in the road before he straightened it.

  Why had he even suggested coming out here? The ghosts had long been laid to rest in his heart. Or had they? Maybe that was it. He needed to confirm this for himself. He turned the truck into the disused lane. Tumbleweeds were strewn around the yard and the drive. His headlamps illuminated several piled against the door, which was half open.

  “Looks like vandals have been out here,” he said. He parked the truck ten feet from the house and shut off the engine.

  She glanced at him. “Are we getting out?”

  “Sure.” He shoved open his door, but the minute his boots hit the dirt, he wanted to climb back in. The ghosts still lived here.

  Eden was beside him before he could change his mind and drive off. She craned her neck to look at the roof, which had a gaping hole in it. “You lived here all your life?”

  “Until I was eighteen. I went to college in San Antonio, then joined the air force.”

  “Where are your parents now? You have two siblings, right?”

  So strange that they were only now talking about these things. They’d barely skated the surface of their histories when they were together. “It’s been several years since I’ve seen my sisters. One lives in Boston and the other in Oregon, so we are never together in one place.”

  “Do your parents live near one or the other?”

  He shook his head and advanced to the door. It had once been a grand Santa Fe–style home. There was an interior cour
tyard that had probably been taken over by snakes and scorpions. It had all fallen into disrepair after being abandoned fifteen years ago.

  “So where do they live now?” She followed him.

  He kicked the tumbleweeds out of the way and pushed open the door. A frantic rustling noise warned him not to go in. He blocked the doorway with his arm. “Scorpions.”

  She shuddered and stepped away. “It was quite a place. Sad to see it in such a state.”

  “Things deteriorate quickly in the desert. By the time I inherited it, it was in sad shape.”

  “Why didn’t your parents sell it?”

  “My parents fought all the time and finally divorced. They tried to sell it, but the real estate market this far out is lousy, and my mom wasn’t willing to let it go at a loss. So they finally gave up and gave it to us kids.”

  “Could it ever be brought back, or is it too far gone?”

  “It’s solid. Well built and stuccoed. The roof would need to be repaired, and some serious pest control done. It would take some time and money.” He led her around to the side of the house and pointed. “There’s a barn and paddock. A good spring in the back of the property where me and my sisters used to go swimming.”

  “Your parents?” she asked again. “Where are they?”

  He shrugged. “My dad moved to Mexico and hangs out with all the senoritas. Mom remarried Dad’s best friend and lives in Florida.”

  She winced. “I’m sorry. I’m sure that was painful.”

  “It was okay until I hit sixteen. Then everything was a battle.”

  “And we repeated that cycle,” she said, a ghost of a smile touching her lips.

  “There’s that,” he agreed.

  “Do you like the house?”

  She studied the house again. “It could be lovely. I imagine there are open beams inside, tile floors.” He confirmed this with a nod. “I’d love to see it in the daylight. And without the scorpions, of course.”

  His fingers found the pendant in his pocket. He wanted to give it back to her, but only when the moment was right.

  “Brianna would love it,” she said, her gaze drifting back to the yard where a grove of trees surrounded the spring. “So this is your house now? You own it?”

  “I do. My sisters signed off on it a couple of years ago. They said they were never coming back here.”

  “But you weren’t so sure?”

  “I loved this place once.” He wished he’d brought her here in the daylight. But then maybe the mess would look worse. “I might renovate it.”

  “It would take a lot of money.”

  He stared at her in the moonlight. “I’m a rich man, Eden.”

  “You are? Soldiers make that much money?”

  He grinned. “I had hazardous-duty pay, but I inherited a lot of money from my grandmother a couple of years ago that I’ve never touched.” He frowned at a movement by the barn. “Who’s there?” he called.

  He heard rustling and rushed toward the barn. An engine roared to life and a small truck shot from the open door and careened away down the dirt drive. The Toyota barely missed sideswiping his truck. The bed held several people, but it was too dark to make out any features.

  “Who could have been here?” Eden asked.

  “Probably a coyote hauling illegals,” he said.

  “Those we saw from the hill?”

  He shrugged. “I think I’ll take a look.”

  He jogged back to the truck and got the flashlight out of the glove box. Eden followed close behind, and he could tell by her breathing that she was tense. If he’d had a gun, he would have brought it to reassure her. The beam from the flashlight illuminated discarded clothing, soda cans, and other debris. All the tack that had been hanging on the walls was gone, evidently stolen by the illegals and others who had passed through here.

  For a moment he wished he’d kept this place up and never gone off to the military. Would his life have been any different? When he turned to go, he ran into Eden. Smelling the apple fragrance in her hair, he knew he would do it all over again, just for the chance to have met her.

  Eden gave each of the girls new hairbrushes to make sure they had uncontaminated DNA samples for Clay to send in. On Wednesday Eden stood at the fence by the corral. Dust swirled in plumes from under the horses’ hooves. She coughed and stepped out of the line of fire as best she could, steering the girls toward the fence.

  “I want to ride that one.” Lacie pointed to a paint horse that was rubbing against the barn siding.

  “It’s too big,” Eden said, instantly regretting it when the little girl’s face puckered. “How about the red one?” She pointed to a reddish pony with a sweet face.

  The nearest cowboy, Buzz, shook his head. He was covered with red dust. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s a devil on hooves. She’ll try to scrape the kids off her back when you’re not looking.”

  Eden gulped. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

  “The kids love interacting with the horses. And the mares love it too. Don’t you, girl?” Buzz patted the paint, which had moseyed over to take a lump of sugar from his palm.

  She shuddered when she saw the mare’s teeth. “Won’t she bite you?”

  “Naw. She’s gentle.” He gave her a final pat. “I’ll saddle up the horses. We got two or three I trust with kids this young.”

  In a few minutes he’d saddled the horses and had them ready to go. She scurried out of the way as he and Clay had the girls take turns on the animals. Their animated faces made her smile.

  “Look at me,” Katie called. “I want to do a handstand.”

  Clay shook his head. “No way, kiddo. You stay right in that saddle.”

  Eden thought the child would cry, but instead she looked relieved. Paige, who never seemed to smile, squealed and waved grandly as she passed Eden’s perch on the fence. The child was actually pretty when she was animated. Only Madeline had refused to get on a horse. She played outside the fence with Spot, her puppy.

  Eden watched Clay as he interacted with the children. The man was a natural-born dad. He said he wanted Brianna with him all the time. He deserved it too. He’d always believed she was alive somewhere. That showed more faith and hope than she’d ever dreamed he could feel.

  Her memory went back to that note on the door. You shouldn’t have brought her here. Even now the ominous tone made her shiver. They’d heard nothing else. Not a problem in the bunkhouse, not a call. Nothing.

  And what about Brianna? The only thing they could do would be to live close together so they could share their daughter. After all she’d been through, Brianna deserved having them both with her.

  A family. The thing she thought she’d never have. Not now. What if they stayed together? Oh, the thought was ludicrous. Even if she were willing, Clay wouldn’t be. The best they could hope for was an amicable relationship where they put Brianna first. Maybe that would be enough. It had to be, because she didn’t have it in her to hope for more.

  “Now you, Miss Eden,” Lacie called. Her braids bounced on her shoulders as she came past on the horse. Rita had done a good job with the girl’s fine hair.

  “I don’t think so, honey,” Eden said.

  Before she could react, Clay’s big hands were on her waist. He lifted her down from the fence and turned her toward the paint. He smelled of man, dust, and the faint tinge of soap. He’d had a shower after breakfast, but stubble still darkened his chin.

  “Smile,” he said in her ear. “Don’t show any fear. You can do this. The girls expect it.”

  The protest died on her lips when she saw the girls turn eager faces toward her. She was a role model even if she didn’t want to be. “I’m not dressed for it.” She glanced down at her shoes and expensive slacks.

  “Your clothing will wash.” He guided her to the side of the horse. “Put your left foot in the stirrup.”

  She so didn’t want to do this. Her insides were shaky. Coward. Weakling. All the name-calling in the world didn’t
stop her hands from trembling. Dust coated her tongue and swirled around her feet. Her designer shoes wore a layer of red and the stuff tinged her pants as well. She might never get the stain out.

  “You’re game to try it?” His eyes warmed as they looked her over.

  The man was entirely too handsome. And he likely knew the way his touch turned her insides to mush. “You’ve left me no choice.”

  Gritting her teeth, she hoisted her left foot into the air and stuck it through the stirrup. Clay’s warm hands remained at her waist. They felt much too natural on her. It was as if five years had dropped away into the canyon behind the ranch.

  “Now step up,” he instructed.

  She lifted herself with his help and threw her right leg over the saddle. “I should put the other foot in this stirrup?” she asked, looking down the mare’s rounded side. From this vantage point, the horse seemed even bigger. The ground was much too far away. It would hurt if she fell.

  “Yes. And take the reins.”

  “Don’t turn me loose!”

  “I’ve got a hold on the bridle.” He beckoned Buzz. “Can you adjust the stirrup on that side? They’re too long.” His fingers brushed her ankle as he lengthened the strap.

  The saddle was hard under her bottom and against her inner thighs. Could she even perch here without falling? It felt so precarious. But the girls’ faces were avid with excitement and she couldn’t disappoint them. Or Clay either, though she hated to admit she wanted to see admiration in his eyes.

  He put the reins in her hands. “Hang on to the horn.”

  The horse took a step, and she lurched, then clutched at the saddle horn. Then the jarring ride smoothed out as Clay led the horse around the corral. The girls clapped as she passed by them. She was doing it! Actually riding a horse. Something she’d sworn never to do. And it wasn’t so bad. Not if it made Clay’s eyes glow with pride.

  11

  SHE NEEDED A SHOWER. EDEN SWIPED DUSTY HAIR BEHIND HER EARS AND SQUINTED INTO THE noonday sun. A rumble came from the driveway, and she turned to see a line of cars and pickups pulling up to the house. Two pickups and two cars. She recognized Allie’s red compact. Women got out of all the vehicles and started toward the house.