by Merry Farmer
Loved? Could she really go using that word so soon into their whirlwind courtship and marriage?
Yes. Yes, she could.
Destiny stood across the room with a cluster of her freshmen friends. They were one of several groups that had decided to dress up and go to the dance as the characters from the Wizard of Oz together. Destiny was dressed as Glinda the Good Witch, which Denise thought was funny, since her date, Dustin Long, a smart boy she definitely approved of, was dressed as the Cowardly Lion. After Destiny had done Denise’s make-up, Denise had curled and styled Destiny’s hair, fixing Glinda’s towering crown—which they’d made out of a princess placemat they’d picked up from the local five-and-dime—atop her head.
“I still can’t get over how pretty and grown up she looks,” Denise sighed, placing a hand to her heart.
“She’s such a great kid,” Chris agreed. “I’m sorry that she graduated out of my extra science classes. Thanks for letting us continue to have them in the salon’s back room, even though Destiny isn’t taking part.”
“No problem.” Denise dragged her eyes away from her daughter to smile at Chris. She was still embarrassed about how she’d chased him for so long when he wasn’t interested, but the fact that he was such a great guy about it now made her feel like at the very least, she had good taste. “That’s what friends are for.”
Chris must have known just how loaded her simple statement was. He sent her a friendly wink. It was so awesome to have real, genuine friends that Denise got all choked up just standing there basking in it.
Her giddy feeling that life was finally turning out the way she wanted it to dented a little when Wes and his crowd walked into the gym. Mona hung on his arm dressed in a modern designer gown, enough jewels around her neck to rival the disco ball rotating above the dance floor. Wes didn’t look like he’d gotten the memo about Old Hollywood attire either. Neither did any of his friends, come to think of it. The guys all wore high-end suits. Candice, Tiffany, Jolene, and the random wives of their classmates were decked out in gowns that would have looked at home on a Paris runway. As soon as they entered the room, they posed as if filming the opening credits of a trashy reality show.
“Oh boy,” Chastity muttered under her breath. “Here comes the bitch brigade.”
Destiny took a deep breath, pressing a hand to her stomach. That only made her aware of how much more she weighed than any of her old high school pals. Strangely enough, though, the emotions that coursed through her weren’t inadequacy or failure or even jealousy. They were the tight cautiousness of knowing a confrontation was coming because the time had arrived to stand up for what you believed in. She searched across the gym for Destiny again. She was what Denise believed in. No one was going to take her baby away from her.
“Do you want to go talk to him now?” Hero asked, rubbing her back the way a coach would prep a prize-fighter.
Denise swallowed, watching Wes to see what he would do. Now that he’d made his grand entrance, he and his buddies were surveying the room as if looking for ways to dominate it. Wes hadn’t spotted her yet. She wondered if he’d noticed Destiny, noticed how beautiful she looked or if he even cared.
“You know what?” She took another breath. “No. I don’t want to do anything that might embarrass Destiny in front of her friends. And I don’t trust Wes to keep quiet when I start talking to him. It can wait until tomorrow.”
It felt so good to say those words, to feel like she’d grown up herself—long past due—that all of the tension she’d carried into the gym fell off her shoulders.
“Hey guys.”
She turned away from Wes’s overgrown posse of posers to find Doc and Nancy entering the gym, Arch marching in behind them, a scowl on his otherwise handsome face. All three were dressed like members of the Rat Pack.
“Nancy, you aced that look,” Chastity declared, skipping over to admire her.
“Oh man, look at you guys!” Nancy initiated another round of costume admiration and general happiness.
“Excuse me,” Arch grumbled in the middle of it all. He gave no further explanation, but marched across the room toward the refreshment table, where Tabby Ross stood by herself in a slinky, white, silk gown, a la Greta Garbo.
“What’s going on there?” Denise asked.
Nancy snorted and rolled her eyes. “Arch is all bent out of shape over conflicting reunions. He hasn’t been able to stop complaining about Tabby all day.”
“Really?” That was gossip if ever Denise had heard it. She glanced across the room to the couple, who were now standing very close and speaking intensely. “Interesting.”
The loud dance song that had been blaring through the gym’s speakers stopped, and a slow dance came on. The mood of the room shifted as the high school kids moved to the sides of the room and more of the oldies who were back for their reunions took the floor.
“What do you say?” Hero asked. “Wanna dance?”
“Absolutely,” Denise answered.
Hero took her arm and led her out to the dance floor. She walked with pride, her head held up, secretly hoping that some of the people who had given her such a hard time over the years would be jealous of her sexy Asian cowboy husband. He certainly made her feel like a million bucks as he swept her into his arms and held her close, swaying to the love ballad.
“You’ve got the best arms,” she sighed, relaxing into his lead. “And your chest and legs aren’t bad either.” Hero laughed, so she added, “And don’t get me started on your rump roast back there.”
“I guess all those years of aikido paid off.”
“Aikido?” Denise blinked. “What’s that?”
“It’s a martial art. I told you I was a ninja.”
Denise laughed. “You said you weren’t a ninja.”
He leaned in with a saucy grin. “I lied.”
She giggled. She blushed. She acted every bit as young and silly as the high school girls lining the sides of the dance floor. “So is aikido a kind of karate?”
“Nope.” He turned her slowly as they swayed to the music. “It’s a different kind of martial art. The focus isn’t on attacking your opponent so much as using their own strength and their attack against them.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“Sure there is.” His smile was brighter than the disco ball. “It’s a pretty great philosophy of life too. Generate no force or negativity of your own, but use your opponent’s energy and negativity to disable them. Very deep. Very Zen.”
Denise laughed. She loved the way that Hero could be true to who he was while still being light-hearted about it. Maybe she should start doing the same thing. She needed to embrace her mean girl past and maybe…maybe get involved in some kind of anti-bullying program at whatever school in Haskell Destiny ended up going to. After all, moving to Haskell with Hero, whenever it happened, was her chance to really and truly start over.
“Huh.” Hero’s grunt shook her out of her happy thoughts. “Looks like your friend isn’t arguing with that woman as hard as you all thought he was.”
She shifted to look where Hero was looking only to find Arch O’Donnell dancing a slow dance with Tabby. They were slightly stiff and the looks they wore weren’t cheerful and relaxed, but they weren’t miserable either. In fact, it kind of looked like the two of them were grudgingly enjoying being in each other’s arms. Something was definitely going on there.
They weren’t the only notable couple dancing.
“Aw, Hero, look,” she whispered, nodding her head to where Destiny and her Cowardly Lion were doing the Awkward Freshman Shuffle.
Hero chuckled. “I remember that dance. Step-together-step, step-together-step.”
“Don’t look,” Denise laughed. “If she sees us watching her, she’ll be so embarrassed.”
“Good point.”
Hero slow-stepped her to the other side of the dance floor, but to a spot where they could still see the adorable dance unfolding.
Only, within seconds, Denis
e was wondering if that was truly the wisest course of action. She might know how not to step on a teenager’s turf, but Wes didn’t.
“Destiny, what are you doing?” Wes stepped away from dancing with Mona to march up to Destiny.
“Dad? What are you doing?” Destiny flushed pink, taking a half-step away from her date.
“Should we go over there?” Hero asked.
Denise pursed her lips, but her decision was quick. “We’d better get close, just in case.”
They skirted the dance floor, moving close enough to come to Destiny’s aid if she needed it.
They’d missed part of the conversation, jumping back in as Wes said, “…one of the football players, not this Cowardly Lion loser.”
Dustin instantly looked hurt, but also confused over whether he could talk back to an adult who had insulted him.
“Dad,” Destiny hissed. “Dustin is my date.”
“I don’t want you dating any cowardly lions,” Wes replied.
“We’re all characters from the Wizard of Oz,” Destiny explained, flashes of attitude bubbling to the surface.
“But look at him.” Wes snorted, staring down his nose at Dustin. “He’s a scrawny little punk.”
“I’m the captain of the debate team,” Dustin stood up for himself.
Wes snorted louder. “So you’re a dorky little punk.”
More and more people—adults and students—were stopping what they were doing to watch the confrontation. Destiny looked as though she would either start screaming or crying any second. Denise moved closer, trying desperately to balance her need to protect her baby with letting Destiny stand up for herself and fight her own battles. She was two seconds away from intervening.
“I don’t want my daughter dating anyone who isn’t a football player,” Wes went on.
“I like Dustin,” Destiny barked, opting for anger over crying. “And we’re not dating. We’re just friends.”
“Then you’ve got the wrong friends,” Wes shrugged. “No child of mine should be hanging out with losers and nerds.”
“They’re my friends.” Destiny stomped her ballet-slippered foot and balled her hands into fists at her sides.
“I’ll buy you new friends.”
Wes might have thought he was joking, but Destiny didn’t take it that way.
“You’re so gross,” she shouted. Anyone who wasn’t already watching the confrontation on the dance floor started watching now. “You think you can buy me with electronics and clothes and by promising me a fancy house in Phoenix?”
“Destiny, shut up. You’re embarrassing me,” Wes said.
That was it. Denise flew into the fray. “You will not speak to my daughter that way,” she growled.
“She’s my daughter too.” Wes shifted from arguing with Destiny to fighting with Denise so fast that Denise wondered if his callous comments were on purpose. “I don’t want her turning into a fat slob of a loser, like her mother.”
“Don’t talk to my mom like that!”
“I’m not the loser.”
“You need to back off.”
Destiny, Denise, and Hero all replied at the same time. Wes flinched and backed off a step, but he wasn’t giving up. “I’m just calling it like it is,” he said to Denise. “When you move in with me, we’re going to have to have a serious talk about your attitude, young lady,” he added for Destiny.
“I’m not moving anywhere with you,” Destiny sassed back.
“What?” Wes barked.
The wave of relief and pride that washed over Denise nearly knocked her off her feet. All she could say in response was, “You heard her. She doesn’t want to go live with you.”
“This isn’t up to her,” Wes went on, his voice far too loud. “I need her living with me.”
“You need her living with you?” Hero crossed his arms, calling Wes out.
“The election—” Wes snapped his mouth shut and turned to Hero, puffing out his chest.
“Who asked you?”
“You did,” Hero said smoothly. “The second you raised your voice to my family.”
Wes huffed, his lips curling to a sneer. “They’re not your family. If they’re anyone’s, they’re mine.”
“Hero treats Mom better than anybody ever has,” Destiny stepped in, the pink floof of her Glinda dress quivering with her rage. “He sure treats her better than you ever did.”
“Shut up, kid,” Wes snapped.
Destiny flinched in outrage. Denise opened her mouth to fight him with everything she had, but her rage was so fierce that it left her speechless. Fortunately, Hero was far from speechless.
“Only a coward leaves his pregnant girlfriend and then doesn’t support her and his child. Only a fool would look at these two beautiful women and see anything less than perfection. And only a cheap politician would air his dirty laundry in public, disturbing everyone’s good time.” He gestured around to the crowd in the gym, now obviously watching the confrontation.
Chris and Chastity, along with Doc and Nancy, had hurried onto the dance floor to be nearby in case their help was needed. Even Arch and Tabby had stopped whatever strange battle-of-wills-slow-dance they were doing to hover nearby. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and now everyone watched to see what Wes would do.
“No one speaks to me that way,” Wes growled. “Least of all a phony, chinky, nerd-face like you.”
The fact that he added “face” to the end of his insult, like a middle-school kid having a temper-tantrum proved to Denise just how petty her ex was. She almost laughed.
Until Wes said, “I’ll see you outside, near the dumpsters.”
His buddies—who had also rushed into the fray to back him up—started a low chant of, “Fight, fight, fight!”
Wes glared at Hero, then marched off the dance floor, heading toward one of the gym’s side doors. He turned to walk backward for a few steps, gesturing rudely to Hero.
“Fight, fight, fight!” The chanting grew louder.
“What are you going to do?” Destiny answered, shifting to flank Hero’s side opposite Denise.
Hero narrowed his eyes at Wes as he turned his back again. A dangerous smile curved his lips. “I’m going to teach that man a few lessons about aikido.”
10
Hero half expected the area where the dumpsters were behind the gym to be some kind of dark alley lined with gang members. But this wasn’t Minneapolis, this was Wyoming. The dumpsters faced a wide, empty space. Beyond that was the edge of someone’s ranch, and at the moment about two dozen cattle were enjoying a nighttime snack near the fence. The cattle barely noticed a handful of humans in fancy costumes…until half of the people attending the dance poured out into the area to watch the action.
Hero grinned in spite of the snap of danger in the air. He was wearing a John Wayne costume, after all. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his cowboy shirt and rolled up his sleeves. It was dark, but utility lights in back of the gym illuminated the scene. “I don’t want to fight you,” he said as he exposed his muscled forearms. “I don’t believe in solving disputes with violence. But I will stand up for Denise and Destiny against anyone.” He met Wes’s eyes. “Anyone.”
Wes scoffed. “He doesn’t believe in solving disputes with violence,” he repeated to his circle of cronies. “Aaw, the poor little nerd is a pacifist.”
“No,” Hero corrected him. “I just don’t think the best way to resolve this conflict is for you to get hurt.”
Wes and his buddies guffawed and sneered. “I was captain of the football team,” Wes said, spreading his arms wide as if that was all the explanation anyone needed.
“Fifteen years ago,” Denise said, stepping up to Hero’s side. “A lot has happened in fifteen years. I would know.”
Hero sent her a fond smile. She would know, and as far as he was concerned, that made her an even more awesome person than she already was.
Still, she leaned in closer and whispered, “Roll your sleeves up more. I want Wes to see how rippe
d you are.”
He couldn’t help himself. He laughed out loud.
“What are you laughing at?” Wes barked, looking more like a high school bully than ever.
“I could just take my shirt off altogether,” Hero whispered to Denise.
She gasped, eyes alight. “Do it, do it!”
Chuckling, Hero unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged out of it, handing it to Denise. He was sure he no longer looked like John Wayne, but had gone full-on Bruce Lee. Wes lost his smug sneer. His buddies took steps back and murmured in uncertainty as Hero flexed.
“Daaaaamn,” Chastity Culpepper called out from the sidelines.
“Oh my gosh, Mom,” Destiny added. “It, like, makes sense now.”
Hero ignored the chatter around him. He adjusted his cowboy hat, then spread his arms. “Okay, you want to fight? I’m ready when you are.”
Wes hesitated. Of course he hesitated. The confrontation wasn’t about bravery, it was about stroking his ego, which did not generally happen when a man was faced with an opponent who was obviously a step above him.
“Why do you care if I get my daughter to come live with me anyhow?” Wes fell back on hollow arguments, shifting from foot to foot, the color draining from his face.
“Denise cares,” Hero answered simply. “Anything Denise cares about, I care about. She’s my wife, and because of that, Destiny is my family.”
“No she’s not,” Wes argued. “She’s my daughter.”
“But she’s my family now, and I intend to protect my family from whatever threats come their way.”
“And we’ll protect you too,” Denise added. “In every way we can.”
Hero nodded to her and to Destiny, attempting to reassure them with a confident smile.
“But…but now that you’ve married Denise—” Wes fumbled his way through another argument. “—don’t you want her all to yourself? Destiny would only get in the way.”
“Destiny could never be in the way,” Hero said. “She’s an awesome kid.”
“Do you really think so?” Destiny asked. She looked years younger with so much uncertainty in her eyes, her pink Glinda dress billowing around her.