The Cowboy Takes a Bride

by Debra Clopton

  “But it’s been such a nice, calm rain,” she said. Had she been so absorbed in her writing that she hadn’t realized the change in the weather?

  A brilliant flash of lightning lit the sky outside the barn windows and immediately thunder exploded, rattling the building.

  She almost jumped off the stage.

  “That’s why I came looking for you,” Ross shouted, over another blast of thunder.

  Nope, it hadn’t been like this ten minutes ago. No way would she have missed hearing this. She’d have crawled under the benches if she’d had any idea the storm was this bad.

  “I had no idea,” she called, hurrying to the edge of the stage. “Why are you out in this?”

  Instead of answering, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her from the stage. Setting her on the ground, he took her arm and led her toward the door. “I came looking for you. I couldn’t get you to pick up your phone, and I was afraid you were either here or stranded somewhere on the side of the road.”

  He’d been worried about her. The thought momentarily made her forget what was going on around them…until the lights suddenly went out.

  Ross pulled her close, wrapping a protective arm over her shoulders. “We’ll take my truck,” he shouted over the sound of the storm.

  “But—”

  “We’ll get your car tomorrow. Right now, I’m driving you home.” He pulled the door open and a gust of wind whipped rain in on them. Taking his hat off, he placed it on her head.

  “Hang on to that for me,” he called over another crack of thunder, tugging it low over her eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything else to help keep you dry. You ready? We’re going to my side of the truck.”

  Sugar pressed her free hand on top of the hat, touched that he was trying to protect her. She gave a quick nod and then ran with him into the storm.

  Even though he’d parked close to the barn entrance, they were still soaked by the time they reached his truck. He yanked open the door and had her inside before she had a chance to lift a foot. Gasping from the water and the wind, she scrambled over the console into the passenger’s seat, jumping when a bolt of lightning and a simultaneous blast of thunder shook the vehicle.

  Ross had come out into this madness looking for her, she realized as she watched him slide behind the wheel and slam his door. He’d been worried about her.

  The idea wrapped around her like comforting arms. Seeing him drenched to the bone, water running from his hair and down his face because of her, she let the full implications of his actions sink in. This meant that…he cared.

  She cared. She’d be lying if she denied it any longer. Knowing he’d come for her, seeing the worry in his eyes and recognizing the caring behind his actions undid her.

  “You okay?” he shouted over the wind and yet another blast of thunder.

  Still breathing hard, and not exactly sure if she would ever be okay again, she nodded and blotted water from her eyes. “Where did this come from? I had no idea it had gotten so bad.” The roof and walls of the truck muffled the sound of the storm enough to allow for conversation.

  He wiped his face with his hand as he backed away from the barn. “They can blow in pretty quickly here. Like I said, there have been sightings of twisters touching down in the county. And we’re under a tornado watch.”

  Sugar shivered and studied the violent sky. Water was rushing across the roads, but Ross’s four-wheel drive sliced though it smoothly. That wouldn’t have been so easy in her old car. The town looked eerily empty when they turned onto Main Street. It, too, had lost power, and not a single light shone anywhere.

  He drove slowly down the dark and deserted street. “I’m not leaving you alone in that apartment,” he said over the swish of wipers working at full speed. There was a reprieve from lightning and thunder at the moment, but the rain was relentless.

  “I’ll be okay,” she said, not feeling exactly confident about walking up those stairs to her dark apartment.

  “I’m not leaving, not while a tornado watch is in effect. How about I take you to Adela’s apartment house. We can wait the storm out there.”

  He’d started heading toward the Victorian at the end of town when headlights cut through the night. “That’s Brady.”

  Both men pulled to a halt and rolled down their windows. Water rushed in with punishing force. “What’s up?” Ross shouted over the roar of the storm.

  “Portion of the roof blew off the women’s shelter,” his friend yelled. “I came to the office to get more emergency tarps. I could use your help.”

  “Lead the way,” Ross yelled back without hesitating. He closed the window and turned to face Sugar. “You want me to drop you off—”

  She shook her head. “No! I’ll go, too. Maybe I can help.”

  He nodded, then concentrated on turning the truck in the buffeting wind. They followed Brady through the night, his taillights barely visible through the torrent. Sugar sat in silence and worried about all the ladies from the candy store who lived at the shelter with their children. Surely no one had been harmed when part of the roof was ripped away, or Brady would have said something.

  The lights of the house were out as they drove down the lane, but several other trucks were also pulling into the yard as they approached. Their headlights glowed faintly through the storm. Brady must have put out a call for help.

  A dozen or so cowboys in yellow slickers climbed out of their trucks. Some were pulling ladders from the beds.

  “Are you going up on the roof in all this lightning?” Sugar asked Ross. It was a silly question, because it was apparent that was exactly what was about to happen. But she couldn’t help being nervous about it.

  He nodded, glancing toward the roof. “Don’t look so worried. We’ll be okay. We’ve worked in worse than this.”

  “You have?” she shouted over the thunder.

  “Well, sure. When your cows, your land or your neighbors are in trouble, you have to go out no matter what the conditions.”

  “But where is your raincoat?” Not that it would do him any good in this, but she couldn’t stop herself from worrying about him.

  “I had something a little more important on my mind than a raincoat when I came into this earlier.”

  Sugar let his meaning sink in. He’d had getting to her on his mind, not grabbing the raincoat she’d seen hanging beside his back door. Her heart fluttered weakly.

  “You ready?” he asked, and at her nod, he added, “Wait, and I’ll come around and get you.”

  She loved his gallantry, but he had more important things to worry about at the moment than walking her to the door. “You go do your thing, Sir Galahad. I’ll be fine. I’ll head straight to the house.” Before he could protest, she opened the door and jumped out.

  The ground felt like a kiddy pool filled with mud. Rivers of water coursed across the driveway as she stared down at her submerged feet. The good news was that she had on plain rubber flip-flops; the bad news was she couldn’t see them for the mud. She was glad she’d set Ross’s hat on the seat or it would have been ripped from her head by the wind. She slogged through the mud and water, but only made it to the front of the truck before her determined hero swept her into his arms.

  “Hold on,” he growled, storming across the yard.

  Oh, she could do that, all right. She’d been in this embrace before, and hadn’t been able to forget about it. Sugar wrapped her arms around his neck and did just as he asked.

  He set her on the porch. “There you go.” His voice was gentle and reassuring over the storm. “Inside now, and don’t come back out. Be safe.”

  He was telling her to be safe? He was about to climb onto a two-story building! In the middle of a raging storm! She grabbed his arm before he could turn away, and pulled him back, hugging him tight. “You be safe,” she whispered into his ear, then stepped away. She said a prayer for him and the other men as she turned to enter the house.

  Dottie was holding the door open for her.
“Get in here, girl. I can’t believe you’re out in this!”

  “I didn’t even know it was coming,” Sugar said, walking in and accepting a towel from one of the other women. “Ross had to come rescue me from the barn.” She wiped her face and scrubbed some of the water out of her hair as she explained how they’d encountered Brady.

  “Well, I know this isn’t the best of circumstances, but we’re glad you’re here. But, we have to get you into some dry clothes—which we happen to have plenty of in the back room.”

  Sugar slipped out of her flip-flops, wiped her feet with the towel and followed Dottie down the hall by the light of an oil lamp. Within minutes, she had on clean, dry clothes and was back in the kitchen with a hot cup of coffee in her hands. “You folks are prepared,” she said. They had oil lanterns, flashlights and an emergency generator.

  “Around here, we believe in being ready for anything,” Dottie said.

  Sugar felt guilty as she stood there in the kitchen of No Place Like Home, enjoying their hospitality. Sure, she’d spoken with the ladies, even gone and bought some candy at the store where they all worked, but had she given any thought to what a wonderful place this was? Had she ever stopped to consider that there might be something she could do to help? Why, the room where she’d just exchanged her wet clothes for dry ones had been well stocked with items for women and children. What a ministry.

  Maybe she could find a way to get involved with helping the shelter while she was here.

  It was pretty impressive how Dottie used talents as a candy maker and a businesswoman to teach the residents both a marketable skill and a lot of knowledge they would need to open their own small business if they wanted.

  Sugar felt a growing desire to help out as she visited with them and sipped her simple cream-and-sugar coffee.

  In Beverly Hills she’d been so busy, so caught up in the fast pace she lived, scrambling from work to auditions and acting classes, that she’d never taken the time to think about giving back. But here in Mule Hollow, she felt a sense of community that she’d never experienced before. She realized how disconnected she’d always been. Ross had tried to get that point across to her, and it suddenly came through loud and clear.

  She’d barely settled into a corner of a small couch when one of the small toddlers climbed into her lap. He was a darling, with dark hair and big blue eyes.

  Dottie sat down beside her. “They just heard announced on the radio that the tornado warning is over. Thank the Lord. Maybe the wind will calm down and I can stop worrying about someone being blown off the roof.”

  “I’m with you.” Sugar sighed, looking up from the little boy snuggled in her arms toward the dark windows streaming with rain. She prayed again for everyone’s safety and wondered what Ross was doing. She wished she could be out there helping him.

  “You seem so calm,” Sugar said.

  “I’ve been through much worse,” Dottie explained. “I lived on the Florida coast. My home collapsed on me during a hurricane.”

  Sugar was amazed by the revelation. “I’d be a wreck right now if something like that had happened to me.”

  Dottie smiled. Her face reminded Sugar of a delicate china doll: porcelain skin, deep navy eyes and midnight-black hair. But aside from her beauty, there was a peace about Dottie that seemed to reach out to everyone around her. “I learned while I was buried in all that debris that God is in control of my life, even at the very worst of times. I still marvel at how He saved me and then orchestrated my life to bring me here. The Bible says it, and He proved it to me when He brought me to Mule Hollow. The minute I saw Brady, we connected. If not for a hurricane, I would have missed finding him and my baby.” She laid her hand on her rounded stomach and smiled. “Do you want children, Sugar?”

  It was an unexpected question. “Someday,” she answered with all honesty. Husband, family…it would all come—later. “I’ve always thought in terms of my career first. My plan is to make my dreams come true, become a star, and then think about a husband and children.”

  Dottie was studying her intently, as if looking deep into her soul. It was very disconcerting.

  “Your career is everything to you, isn’t it?”

  Sugar didn’t like the way that sounded. “No, it’s not everything. It’s what God’s prepared me for. He put this dream inside me, and I’m determined to see it through. I feel in my heart that I’m meant to be a star.” She knew she sounded like a broken record as she gave the same defensive explanation she’d given all her life. Suddenly, repeating it to Dottie, in this roomful of women living in this place of sanctuary Dottie had created, it sounded almost embarrassing. Still, it didn’t change Sugar’s conviction.

  Dottie’s expression wasn’t judgmental, but her eyes were serious. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

  Sugar felt a sense of dread settle over her. Dottie had the kindest expression on her face, but Sugar had a sinking feeling she wouldn’t like this question. Still, she nodded, curious despite her apprehension.

  “What would you do if God asked you to lay it down?”

  Sugar felt as if she’d walked off the end of a pier. She had come to Mule Hollow to banish that horrible voice of doubt in her head, only to have Ross imply it, and now Dottie give voice to it.

  “What do you mean?” She could hardly speak as the words swept from the shadows of her heart and roared to life with the fervor of the raging wind that buffeted the house. Was it just a coincidence that Dottie had asked such a question using those exact words?

  “I’m not implying that what you’ve decided is wrong, I just want to ask you what would you do if God asked you to lay your dream down. Would you trust Him enough to do it?”

  “Trust Him?”

  “Yes. If He gave it to you…could you give it back to Him if He asked you to?”

  “Why would He ask something like that? He put the dream inside me?”

  Dottie’s eyes softened. “When I ended up here, I didn’t understand, either. I thought I knew my life plan. It was a noble one, but I had to give that over to God and trust that he knew what was best for me. I look at you, and I think about Abraham, who wanted a son so badly. When God blessed him with Isaac, he was asked that same question. And then, though Isaac was the fulfillment of his dream, God asked Abraham to give him up.”

  Outside, the storm seemed to be calming down and a sudden hush came over the room. Everyone had been involved in their own discussions, and yet Sugar felt exposed, just as she had the night Ross said that she was afraid. Yes, she’d confronted her fear of failure, her fear that somehow she’d been mistaken about what God wanted her to do. But to just say that her dream was what she was supposed to do, and then say that God was asking her to simply lay it down at the altar—could she do that?

  Call her stubborn, but she couldn’t accept that God would ask her to do that. She didn’t want to hurt Dottie’s feelings, or lessen her experience, but…

  For a person fearing failure, accepting that God was telling her to lay her dreams down would actually be the easy way out. She wouldn’t have to take personal responsibility for her failure. Could Sugar lay her dreams at the altar? In all truth, she wasn’t sure. But she was sure of one thing: she wasn’t copping out on her lifetime dream without a fight.

  She wasn’t taking the easy way out in any way, shape or form. It wasn’t the way she operated. It never had been, and yet…Ross’s image came to mind and Sugar’s entire thought process froze up.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The tramp of boots on the porch signaled the men coming into the kitchen, and saved Sugar from answering Dottie’s question aloud.

  Stacy, who’d been sitting across the room, came forward when Sugar stood up. “I’ll take him,” she said quietly, reaching for the sleepy toddler.

  “Thank you. He’s really sweet.”

  The woman smiled briefly before she walked away. Sugar got the sense that Stacy had wanted to say something more, but when she didn’t turn back, Sugar decided sh
e must have just imagined it. Instead of dwelling on it, she hurried to the kitchen to see what she could do to help the tired, drenched men who stood dripping on the linoleum.

  They were so wet the rain collected in puddles, but Dottie wouldn’t let them go back onto the porch. “No,” she said when they tried to retreat. “Don’t even think about this old floor.” She handed them each a towel and thanked them personally for their help.

  Sugar passed out cups of coffee, then moved to stand beside Ross when everyone had been served. She’d been worrying about him the entire time she was talking with Dottie, and she’d almost thrown her arms around him when he came through the doorway, safe and sound. But she didn’t need any more little hints and speculations about them falling for each other, so instead she contented herself with standing close by his side, listening to him talk with the other men.

  Despite the roof damage and the harrowing conditions they’d just faced, the men were in good spirits as they talked and sipped their hot drinks.

  One of them was dress-store owner Ashby Templeton’s fiancé, Dan Dawson. The striking cowboy oozed mischievous “Matthew McConaughey” charm.

  “Friend, I thought you were dead meat out there when you slipped,” he said, looking at Ross.

  Alarm slammed into Sugar. “What happened?”

  Ross paused in running a towel over his hair, and shot her a rueful smile. “It wasn’t that bad. My foot slipped when I was tacking the edge of the tarp.”

  Her heart stopped, knowing how steep and high that roof was.

  “At the top of the roofline,” Dan stated. “Only the Lord saved him from plummeting off the edge.”

  Ross shot him a warning glare.

  “Hey, I’m just saying I’m glad you’re still with us.” Dan grinned, winking at Sugar before joining a conversation with the guys on his left.

  Sugar looked at Ross.

  “It was nothing,” he said in a low voice, turning toward her. “Would it have mattered to you?”