His Promise

by Wilder, Brook

  “Becca, you should have seen us last week. Hailey forgot to pay the power bill and the lights went out for half of the day. It’s going to be like having two babies when everything is said-”

  “My water broke!” Hailey intjercted. She gripped her belly and waddled towards the front door. Rocco’s eyes widened as he followed the thin stream of water that covered the floor, with a significant amount in the spot that Hailey had been standing previously.

  Becca swatted her hand against Rocco’s arm and said, “Don’t just stand there! She’s having your baby, run down and get a cab, I’ll grab her things.”

  Rocco shook his head and sprinted towards the front door, being careful to maneuver past Hailey. Hailey stuffed her swollen feet into her shoes, and Becca scrambled down the hall. She slappd her hands against the wall and paused in the doorway of Hailey and Rocco’s bedroom. Becca’s feet flew across the floor and her eyes flew around the room.

  “Come on… where’s her overnight bag?” Out of the corner of her eye, Becca caught a flash of blue. She dived towards the closet and pulled the straps of a duffel bag out from behind the door. She hurried back into the livingroom where Hailey leaned against the door.

  “Come on, Hailey, let’s move. How are you doing?”

  Hailey lifted her tear streaked face towards Becca and said, “Becca, it hurts. It hurts so much more than I thought.”

  Becca hooked her arm underneath Hailey’s and said, “It’s going to be fine. Let’s go,” Becca pulled the door open, and stepped into the hallway. A couple of kids zipped past them and up the stairs. Becca took a deep breath and steered Hailey towards the stairwell. They moved down each step one by one, until they made it to the lobby. Becca pushed the doors open, and a burst of chilly air swept inside of the building.

  Rocco was leaning inside of a taxi, and shouted, “Get out of the fucking cab, my kid is about to be born!”

  The college student that had just slid inside of the cab fumbled for the door as he jumped out the other side. The taxi driver sent a nervous glance towards the back of the car as Hailey, Becca, and Rocco slid inside.

  “To the nearest hospital?” He asked.

  “Yes!”

  ***

  Rocco slid his hand over his mouth and exhaled. Anna and Hailey stood beside him, Anna’s arms were crossed over her chest. She sighed, and said, “I just can’t believe that your baby is here.”

  Rocco turned towards Anna and affectionately swatted his hand against her arm. “It’s going to be great, once it’s all over.” They turned their gazes towards the doctor a few feet away from them. He hovered over Hailey, his fingers deftly moved about in Hailey’s lower abdomen.

  Rocco turned towards Anna and said, “I wish that they could have predicted that it would be a C-section birth. Hailey’s going to be pissed about the scar.”

  “Something tells me that she’ll be more enthused about the baby.” Becca chimed in.

  “He’s almost here! Where’s Dad? Rocco, would you like to cut the chord?” The doctor asked.

  Hailey turned her head towards Rocco and said, “Rocco, come cut the cord for our son.”

  Rocco abandoned his spot beside Anna and Becca and moved over to the doctor’s side. He was quickly situated in a scrub top and rinsed, then given gloves. Rocco’s heart pounded against his chest and he held his palm open. The nurse placed the medical shears in his hands and he raised his eyes towards the doctor.

  The doctor grinned as he lifted the baby into the air. The boy’s cry echoed throughout the room, and Becca and Anna leaned against each other as the doctor held the baby out to Rocco. The doctor lifted the umbilical cord, and Rocco brought the blades of the shears through the chord. Rocco nervously lifted his eyes to the smiling face of the doctor.

  “Mr. Garrett, here’s your son! We’re going to get him cleaned up, and we’ll have him back in no time.”

  “Let me see him! Let me see my son!” Hailey said, and Rocco hurried over to her. He handed her their son, and she wrapped her arms around the shrieking boy. She lifted her tear filled eyes towards Rocco and said, “Oh my God, Rocco, he’s really here.”

  Rocco grinned and pressed his lips against her forehead. The nurse hovered beside Hailey, and Hailey reluctantly handed him over. Hailey fell back against the exam table and said, “What do you want to name him?”

  Rocco slipped his hands in between Hailey’s and said, “What does he feel like to you?”

  Hailey grinned and said, “I wanted to name him after my father, but if he grows up and decides to be a part of a motorcycle club, I think that I might go insane.”

  Rocco chuckled and said, “How about we name him after my father, then? We can name him Derek.”

  “Derek,” Hailey repeated. She turned her head towards Becca and Anna and said, “What do you think of the name Derek, guys?”

  Anna and Becca shared a smile, and Anna said, “I think that sounds like the name of your son.”

  Rocco smiled and pressed his lips against Hailey’s. “Derek Garrett,” he squeezed Hailey’s hand and said, “He’s going to give the world some hell.”

  THE END

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  Chapter 1

  The wide open sky stretched for miles overhead. Dusk was just settling over the hundreds of acres that was part of the Gold Creek Ranch casting the bright greens and warm ambers of the grasslands to indigo as the shadows began to lengthen. The sun was falling westward over the heart of Texas, streaming clouds of bright fuchsia and fiery red in its wake.

  Gold Creek was settled on miles and miles of open grassy fields that the cattle used to graze. Let out every morning and then rounded up again every evening and moved to a fresh paddock where they would be fenced in and kept safe for the night.

  Elsie McLaurel was the daughter of Mark McLaurel, the biggest corporate ranch owner in all of west Texas, but at the moment she looked like anything but. Her rawhide boots and ripped jeans were covered in mud from tromping around the recently rained on ground and wrangling the cattle that had churned the once green grass into muck with their trampling hooves.

  A loose fitting old button down shirt hung half untucked and her blonde hair, usually worn long and wavy down her back, was pinned up underneath the wide brimmed hat that she wore to protect her fair skin from the harsh Texas sun. There was nothing about the petite young woman to suggest that she was the future heir to a multi-million dollar ranching business.

  Elsie shook her head at the stray thought. The last thing she wanted was to take over her father’s corporation. She knew Mark McLaurel had a reputation as a ruthless, heartless corporate rancher and she didn’t want any part of it. Soon enough I’ll be able to get out of here, Elsie mused to herself, out of this small town, away from daddy’s reputation. Then, I’ll be able to make my own life.

  The sound of gentle mooing off to her right had her sliding down from the back of her chestnut gelding named Goat. Elsie patted the horse softly on the nose and he whickered in response. He’d been just a foal when Elsie had taken him in. His mama had died due to complications in childbirth and Elsie had felt an instant connection to the awkward baby horse. He didn’t have a mother, and neither had she, and Elsie had immediately taken the foal in, against her father’s wishes, and had nursed him back to health.

  It had been a long fight to bring the tiny foal back from the brink of death, but he’d held on, and fought like hell. Stubborn as a goat, her father had said about him once, and the name had stuck. Goat.

  That mooing sounded again and Elsie shook her head, casting a look over her shoulder at the heifer standing a few yards behind her.

  “Don’t worry, Bluebell, I didn’t forget about you.” With a small chuckle, Elsie dug into the canvas saddle bag she had strung over the pommel and came away with a
handful of apple slices. Elsie knew they were the cow’s favorite.

  Without an ounce of hesitation, Elsie walked up to the massive heifer and held out her hand. The cow dwarfed Elsie’s own five foot one, but she’d spent her entire life around the animals. She knew they could be dangerous if she got in the way of a panicked stampede but she also saw the gentleness in them, the sweetness in the big, brown eyes that rolled towards the apple slices that were held just out of reach.

  “Oh, here ya go, Bluebell.” Elsie said as she brought her hand closer and the cow happily munched at the treat, a slight twang in her voice proving that she’d grown up in the heart of Texas country, “You greedy beast.”

  Elsie looked around as she absentmindedly petted the soft fuzz on the cow’s muzzle, looking around at the milling cattle nearby. None seemed disturbed by her presence, although occasionally some would roll their big, heavily lashed eyes in her direction in the hopes of some special treats. She recognized most of the animals and took a deep breath, staring up the sky that was just beginning to darken.

  “It’s just about time to get going, Bluebell.” Elsie whispered softly, but she wasn’t talking about the cattle. She was talking about herself. About her future and what she would do next. A sudden thrill shot through her at the thought of the envelopes she’s snuck into the post just a week before. Her applications for Veterinary school.

  As long as she could remember, Elsie had loved animals. Working with them, treating them. It had been her passion, the one thing in her life that she’d always known she wanted to do. But when she’d brought up going away to school to her father at the end of last summer, he’d told her in no uncertain terms that she would be staying on at the ranch to learn the ins and outs of the business. She knew he wanted her to take over the ranch one day.

  But she just couldn’t. She’s heard the rumors. She’d heard what people said about how her daddy ran his business. With a hard fist and an even harder heart. She didn’t know everything that he did, but she knew enough to know that she didn’t agree with the way he ran things. Elsie also knew that she wasn’t cut out to be a business person. She loved being outside, being with the animals. The thought of being trapped behind a desk for the rest of her life made her sick to her stomach.

  She was still idly stroking Bluebell’s cheek. Elsie remembered the night the cow had been born, how she’d been in the barn for hours helping bring the little calf into the world. She’d been much younger then and had still thought the biggest problem that she’d ever have to face was how to get out of wearing the dresses her daddy kept buying her. She’d lived in ripped jeans and hand me down buttoned shirts. Elsie looked down at herself with a smirk. Well, that at least that hadn’t changed.

  “Els! Elsie!” A strong voice called out from over a slight ridge and the sound of her name brought her head up again. She grinned at the middle aged man that trotted nearer on the back of an impressive black and white stallion.

  “Hey, Lorenzo.” Elsie greeted the familiar man with a wave. Lorenzo had been a farm hand at Gold Creek Ranch for years, even before her father had taken over and he was one of the only employees that had been kept on after the McLaurel Corporation had purchased the ranch from its old owner.

  He was deeply tanned from his time out in the sun despite the cowboy hat tilted low over his dark, kind eyes and it made the wrinkles in his weathered face even more visible. The only other part of him that was exposed were the hands that masterfully handled his horse’s reigns. The rest of him was covered head to toe in denim and worn out leather boots.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Elsie. I was startin’ to get worried” He said with a drawl of his own, his deep tenor as warm as the sun that was just now starting to dip below the tree line.

  “Sorry, Lorenzo. I just wanted to come out and check on Bluebell. You know she’s been getting those infections over the past few weeks. I wanted to make sure she was still doing alright.” Elsie patted the cow’s neck and got a heartfelt moo in return.

  “Well, whatever you’ve been given her has worked like a charm. Just like magic.” Lorenzo said as he took his hat off, brushing at the sweat that dotted his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt before replacing the hat where it was. “Got a couple of other cattle you can take a look at when we get back to the barn. If we ever do get back that is. At this rate, we’ll be out here chasing them around all night.”

  Elsie ignored Lorenzo’s gruff tone, more than used to the straight forward talk from the man and didn’t take any offense by it. She knew he didn’t mean any more and any less than just what he said, even if he did have a tendency to sound like a grouch while he was saying it.

  “Alright,” She sighed, giving the last of the apple slices to the greedy cow, chuckling as the fuzz around her mouth tickled her palm, “That’s all I got, Blue. You’ll just have to wait until next time.”

  The heifer rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction, making Elsie laugh again and Lorenzo shake his head.

  “You know they’re not pets, right?” He asked gruffly.

  “Oh, I know they’re not.” Elsie said on a sigh.

  “You shouldn’t get so attached, Elsie.”

  “It’s impossible not to.” Elsie shook her head, giving Bluebell one last pet before walking back towards Goat, who had been happily rooting around a nearby tree for fallen fruit. She put her booted foot in the stirrup and pulled herself up into the leather saddle. She’d been riding since she was a little girl and now the motions as she kneed the horse forward felt like second nature.

  “Come on then.” Lorenzo said, squinting over the rolling grass covered hills as the sun finally made its final bow before disappearing altogether. “Let’s get the rest of the cattle and bring ‘em on in.”

  They worked in silence as they rounded up the last of the herd. It didn’t take the rest of the night, but it did take a solid hour to get the stragglers moving in the right direction. It wasn’t until they were nearly back to the ranch when Elsie noticed that some were missing.

  “Hey, Lorenzo. I didn’t see Lily, Trixie, or Pearl.” Elsie said, drawing Lorenzo’s quizzical gaze in her direction.

  “Who?”

  “The cows, Lorenzo.” Elsie sighed, shaking her head as she scanned the herd once more. But no, she’d hadn’t been wrong. She didn’t see them anywhere.

  “Who names a cow Pearl ?” Lorenzo muttered to himself but a moment later he spoke up, shrugging as he did so, “The cattle will wander off sometimes, you know that. They always show up a few days later.”

  “Should we go back out?”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Elsie.” Lorenzo was already sliding off the back of his horse, closing the gate behind the herd of cattle they had just rounded up. “Besides, you know each cow has a tracker on them. If you’re still worried tomorrow we can go out looking for them, alright?”

  “Alright.” Elsie reluctantly agreed.

  “Now, you better get on home. I bet your daddy’s waiting for you.” Lorenzo threw a wave over his shoulder, “G’night, Elsie.”

  “Goodnight, Lorenzo.”

  *

  Lincoln Shaw, better known as ‘Hatchet’ to those who ran in the Roadburners crew, sat unmoving, drawing on the patience he’d learned from his years in the military. Oh, and is that where you picked up your cattle stealing skills as well? A snide inner voice asked but Hatchet ignored it, pushed it to the back of his mind along with the guilt, and the anger. The anger was the hardest to ignore. After years of dreaming up his revenge, he was finally here. Yeah, stealing a few of the man’s cows. That’s some real evil genius type shit right there.

  Hatchet snorted softly to himself. It might not make a big dent in Mark McLaurel’s wallet but it was something. Not nearly enough, but something. He owed the man a debt. A big one. Hatchet had enlisted with the marines straight out of high school. He’d served two combat tours in the Middle East. And when he’d come back home, he’d been jobless for nearly a year before he eventually found a j
ob as a cowboy on a ranch.

  He’d finally found a little bit of peace, riding out in the open air, under the big open Texas sky. He had finally felt connected to something that wasn’t warfare and bloodshed. And then along came Mark McLaurel. He’d bullied the previous owner into selling Gold Creek Ranch, and had fired almost everyone that had relied on that place, including himself.

  Hatchet knew men like McLaurel. Arrogant men who thought the whole world revolved around them, who didn’t blink twice at ruining someone’s life just for a little extra profit. All he cared about was the bottom line, and Lincoln ‘Hatchet’ Shaw had no place there as far as he was concerned.