Chapter Eleven
Daniel checked out the portable latrines standing within sight of the arena and strolled down the main food aisle without finding Toby. Worry started curling in his gut—these Zapata County folks looked friendly enough, but a kid could easily vanish in a crowd like this.
On his way to request the announcer to call Toby over the loudspeaker, he spotted a concrete block hut that also housed restrooms and detoured to check them out.
The old building smelled of mildew and urine. The men’s room was L-shaped, with urinals along one arm, stalls and sinks opposite each other on the other. Two teenagers stood at the sinks, washing their hands—his first clue that something wasn’t right. Of the three stalls, two had no door. The third was closed.
Daniel went to the farthest urinal and turned his back on the teenagers. He heard the shuffle of boots on concrete.
“Hand it over,” one of them said, his voice a low growl.
“Throw it out here, kid.” That accent sounded like New York, not Texas. “Then we’ll let you go.”
Returning to the row of stalls, Daniel saw the teenagers crouched near the floor, trying to reach under the closed door. Whoever was inside kept kicking at their hands and arms with sharp-toed black boots. Toby’s boots.
Daniel cleared his throat. “Toby? You okay?”
The teenagers jerked their heads up.
“I’m okay,” Toby yelled from behind the stall door. “They want my money and I’m not gonna give it to them.”
“No, I wouldn’t expect you to.” The teenagers wanted to run, but Daniel stood in the doorway, blocking their exit. “Pretty impressive, ganging up on a ten-year-old.”
“He’s a wimp.” The older one tried to bluster his way out. “He must be, if all he’s got is a gimp like you to protect him.” He glanced at his friend. “We can handle this one, Joey. No problem.”
Daniel circled the tip of his cane out in front of him. “You can try.”
The kids rushed him like linebackers. He took one out at the knees with his cane and caught the other in the face with his elbow. Then he stood looking down at them as they lay moaning on the floor.
“I see why you two pick on the little guys.” He held out his hand to Toby, who had come out of the stall. “Let’s go find your mom, buddy. We’ll leave Dumb and Dumber to recover.”
Outside, though, he stopped and put his fingers under Toby’s chin. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
The boy shook his head. “Nope. They couldn’t get to me in the stall with the door locked.”
“How did they know you had money?”
Toby looked down at his feet. “I unzipped my jeans to…you know…pee…and the bill fell out of my pocket. I picked it up quick, but they started bugging me for the money, so I ran into the stall and locked the door.”
“That was good thinking.” Daniel patted him on the back. “Your mom is probably wondering what happened to both of us. Let’s find her, get some grub and go back to see your sister win the barrel race.”
They met Willa in the middle of the food aisle. Daniel saw her first, saw the anxiety in her eyes and the tension in her shoulders. Then he had the pleasure of seeing all the stress wiped away by a smile when he called her name. “Willa! I’ve got him.”
Before Willa could even begin a lecture, Toby launched into his story. “You shoulda seen it, Mom. These two creeps were trying to get my money, only I locked myself in the stall over there in the old bathroom so they couldn’t get to me, and they kept reaching under the door, but then Daniel came and they rushed at him but he just knocked ’em down without even breathing hard. It was really awesome, Mom.”
Willa gazed at her son in silence for a minute. “Well, that was quite an adventure.” Then she looked at Daniel. “Thank you very much. I don’t know whether Toby will survive to adulthood without you to keep him safe.”
Daniel would have liked to say something casual. He was pretty sure a marriage proposal didn’t qualify. “No problem,” he said finally, still holding her gaze. “I’m glad I could help.”
“Man, I’m starved.” Toby tugged at Willa’s arm. “Can we please get something to eat now?”
Willa looked away from the emotions she saw in Daniel’s serious face. “Sure. Everybody’s hungry at this point. Let’s take lunch back to the stands.”
Carrying fried chicken, drinks and chips, they made their way to the arena, where Toby’s return was celebrated with a cheer from Robbie and applause from the aunts. This time he sat between his mother and brother, leaving the space on Willa’s other side free for Daniel.
“Where’s Bev?” he asked between bites of chicken.
Willa considered telling him the truth but couldn’t quite find the nerve. “She usually stays with her riders before the race. Last-minute advice and all that.”
“That’s just as well. We didn’t buy enough chips.” He held up a bag. “There’s only one left.”
“Somebody will have to share.”
Daniel looked over at the boys, who had already finished their bags. “I don’t think it will be them.”
The two of them shared the bag of chips, brushing fingers as they reached in together. Daniel’s thigh settled against her leg, and Willa didn’t move away. Her heart was tripping in her chest and she couldn’t catch her breath. She hadn’t been this happy in years.
Once the steer wrestlers finished up, the clowns did their routine, and then little kids chased a bunch of squealing piglets through the dirt. When the laughter and the applause died down, the announcer said, “And now, ladies and gents, one of the highlights of the Zapata County Rodeo is fixing to get started—the ever-popular barrel racing event! First up this afternoon is Darcy Layton on Good To Go.”
“She’s Susannah’s main competition,” Willa told Daniel. “They’ve both been training with Bev.”
Holding her breath, she saw Darcy bolt into the arena on her neat bay quarterhorse. Their performance was flawless and their time phenomenal. “Fourteen point nine-three-four seconds,” came over the loudspeaker. “A terrific time for Miss Darcy Layton.”
They sat through ten riders before Susannah’s run finally arrived. “Next to go, Miss Susannah Mercado riding Golden Lustre.”
Toby and Rob surged to their feet. “Yay, Susannah!”
“Rip it, Suze!”
Willa sat forward, pulse pounding. Susannah’s run around the barrels was a blur, too fast to follow.
Toby cheered again. “That was a great one, Mom.”
She nodded. “She didn’t knock down a barrel, at least.”
“What happens if you knock down a barrel?” Daniel squeezed her fingers gently, and she realized they’d never unlinked their hands.
“Um…” Her mind wouldn’t work for a moment.
“Five-second penalty,” Toby supplied.
“That’s right. Five seconds.”
“You’re not gonna believe this, folks.” The announcer cleared his throat. “It almost never happens. But Susannah Mercado’s time was fourteen point nine-three-four seconds. We’ve got a tie going on!”
“Will they have a tie-breaker?” Daniel asked.
“I guess so.” Willa shook her head. “I’ve never seen a tie before.”
The tension increased for the Mercado crowd with each rider.
Fifteen point one-six-two seconds. Sixteen point four-three-three. Fifteen point zero-zero-three.
Willa blew out a long breath. “That was close.”
Fifteen point two-four-five.
Daniel shifted on the hard aluminum seat. “One more to go.”
“Are you uncomfortable?” Willa glanced at his right leg, stretched underneath the bench in front of them. “We could find a place to stand.” She hardly thought about his injuries anymore—the cane had become practically invisible to her eyes.
He shook his head. “I’m fine. Here we go.”
The whole audience seemed to be holding its collective breath during the final ride. Willa kept her gaze on the clo
ck posted above the announcer’s booth. She knew the outcome even before horse and rider crossed the finish line.
“That’s an upset, folks,” the announcer said in an awed voice. “Miss Terri Vance scored a time of fourteen point nine-three-three seconds. Let’s give her a big hand, ladies and gentlemen. She’s the winner by exactly one one-thousandth of a second!”
Susannah smiled brightly as she received a trophy for her second-place finish in the barrel race. She gave the crowd a big wave as she rode Lustre out of the arena, leaving the winner to take a victory lap to enthusiastic applause.
Willa blew out a long breath. “I should go talk to her. I know she’s upset.”
“I’ll go.” Rob stood up and edged his way to the steps without waiting for Willa’s permission. Nobody else on the Mercado bench said a word. The whole family had taken a blow, though she wasn’t sure why. Susannah had won and lost other races. This one had just seemed more important for some reason.
“Maybe we should go home now,” Toby suggested.
She looked at him in surprise. “But we haven’t seen the bull riding. That’s your favorite event.”
“I know. But we’ve been here a long time and I’m tired.” He shrugged. “We could watch a movie after supper. That would be okay with me.”
She wondered if he was getting sick and almost put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature but realized just in time that he’d be embarrassed.
Instead, she turned to Daniel. “I guess we’re going to take Susannah home. But if you want to stay, please do. We can fit Rosa and Lili in my truck.”
She wasn’t really surprised when he shook his head. “That’s okay. I’ve seen it before—you’re crazy, you sit on top of a crazy animal, you fall off.” He grinned. “I can wait for the video.”
Willa gave him a grateful smile and turned to pick up the trash from their meal. “Well, then, let’s go home.”
When they reached her truck, they found Lustre loaded in the trailer and ready to go. Susannah and Robbie stood face-to-face by the truck, and they seemed to be arguing. When Susannah caught sight of her family, though, she turned away from her twin. “I was just coming to join you all.”
Willa put an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “We decided we weren’t all that interested in the bull riding. What do you say we go on home, fire up the grill and cook some burgers, then put on one of our favorite movies and fall asleep on the couch?”
Susannah sagged against her side. “That sounds good to me.”
With the horse trailer shut up tight, Lili and Rosa took their usual places in her truck. Toby turned to Willa. “Can I ride home with Major Trent, Mom?”
“Um…” She glanced at Daniel. “Would it be a problem to drop him off?”
“Not at all. I’ll enjoy the company.”
Susannah glanced at Robbie, who gave her a stern look. “Hey Mom,” she said, “can I ride with Major Trent, too?”
Willa saw Robbie’s outraged glare and wondered what was going on between them. “I guess so, sweetie. We’ll see you at home. Thanks, Daniel.”
He gave her a wink and a salute. Watching the trio walk toward Daniel’s truck, she saw his hand resting lightly on Toby’s shoulder while he tilted his head toward Susannah, listening to something she was saying. The man was terrific dad material.
“Daniel’s going to make a wonderful father,” Rosa said, as Willa cranked the truck engine.
Willa didn’t respond. But Robbie slammed the back passenger door with a force that rocked the entire vehicle. She stared at him through the rearview mirror.
What had gotten into her son?
TOBY FELL ASLEEP IN THE back seat almost before they left the fairgrounds and woke up just as they turned into the Blue Moon gates. “We’re already home? That didn’t take very long.”
“You were asleep, silly,” his sister said. “Like always.”
“I was resting my eyes.” Toby yawned, then sat up straighter. “Man, I’m hungry. I’m gonna eat three burgers for supper. Hey, Daniel, you’re staying to eat with us, right? Mom said we could have a movie afterward. We’ve got the complete set of the Star Wars videos. Do you like Star Wars? We could start with the first one and watch them straight through to the end. Or we could watch the Ring trilogy—we’ve got that, too. It wouldn’t be quite so long, unless we watched the extended version. That’s about eight hours.”
They reached the house before Toby ran out of suggestions for the night’s entertainment. Willa had stopped in the drive ahead of them to let Rosa and Lili out before going on to the barn to park the trailer and put Lustre in her corral.
Susannah looked over at Daniel as she opened her door. “Thanks, Major Trent. I’m glad you came with us today.”
“Me, too. I enjoyed watching you ride.”
She slipped out of the truck and opened the back door for Toby, who hopped down and raced to catch up with his great-aunts as they entered the house. Daniel gazed after them all for a moment, then turned to put the truck in gear. He jumped in surprise when he saw Willa standing right beside the driver’s window.
“Thanks for bringing them home,” she said, when he lowered the glass. “I’d forgotten how quiet a drive can be without Toby.”
He shared her grin. “He fell asleep, so we had a fairly quiet trip, ourselves.” Taking a risk, he brushed his fingertips across her cheek. “I appreciate your letting me come along today. I had a terrific time.”
As his hand left her face, she caught and held it with hers. “Especially the dust-up with a couple of teenaged thugs in the bathroom?”
Her gesture left him nearly speechless. “Um…yeah.”
“Can you stay for dinner?”
Daniel gazed at her, his mind blank.
“By the time we get the horse settled and the trailer unhitched, Lili and Rosa will have the food ready.” When he still didn’t say anything, she stepped back, taking her hand from his. Her smile faded. “But if you’ve got other plans—”
“No. No.” He barely kept himself from leaning out the window to jerk her close again. “That’ll be great. Dinner sounds great. I’m happy to stay. Really.” Taking a deep breath, he recovered his control. “Can I do something to help? At the barn? In the kitchen?”
“Lili and Rosa only allow the kids to help in the kitchen. So I guess you’ll have to come to the barn with me.”
With Rob and Susannah doing most of the work, the chores at the barn took only a few minutes. As Willa had promised, the hamburgers were ready for the grill when they returned to the house. They cooked and ate in the central courtyard around which the house was built, where tall live oak trees shaded a tiled fountain as big as some swimming pools. A riot of flowers brought color and perfume to the garden.
“I can’t believe it’s November.” Daniel gestured at the beauty around them. “How much longer will the weather hold?”
“Days, a couple of weeks at the outside.” Willa took a sip of lemonade. “Most years, the rains start toward the end of the month.”
“Does it ever get downright cold?”
“By most standards, no. But sometimes, in January and February, the temperatures drop. We get ice storms, occasionally. One year, we even had real snow.”
“I’d better stock up on warm clothes, just in case,” Daniel said. Willa held his gaze for a long moment, but she didn’t say a word to suggest he wouldn’t be around to suffer through a January ice storm.
Much to Toby’s disappointment, Daniel decided to leave without watching a movie. “Trouble is home by himself,” Daniel explained. “Nate left several hours ago, so I’d better get up there and keep him company.”
“You could bring him here, and he could watch the movie, too!”
Daniel glanced at Willa’s frown. “I don’t think so. Maybe sometime you can watch a movie at my place with Trouble.”
“Okay.” Toby spent a moment in the role of the pouting child, but the opening music from the film distracted him. “See you later,” he calle
d as he ran down the hall.
Willa walked Daniel to the front door. “When she got home, Susannah seemed less distressed than I expected her to be. Did you have something to do with that?”
“We talked a little, about winning and losing. She did most of the work. Very smart, your daughter.”
“I’ve always thought so.” They stepped out onto the veranda, where the night had turned cool. Willa rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Brr. The daytime temperatures don’t change all that much, but it gets practically cold at night.”
“You should have a jacket.” Daniel closed the distance between them, putting his arms around her and shielding her from the wind. “Or something.”
Willa let herself be folded close. She looked up into his face. “Or something.”
He took that for the invitation it was, and bent to put his mouth on hers. The kiss was warm and sweet, tasting of the coffee ice cream they’d enjoyed for dessert. Willa melted into him, savoring the comfort as his body enclosed her. They could have been together for years, so familiar and welcome was his scent, the feel of him surrounding her. Passion was there, too, a banked fire at the bottom of this warm glow. Given a breath of air, the flame would ignite, consuming them both.
She drew back, instead. “Good night, Daniel.”
“Good night.” He kissed her forehead, squeezed her shoulders gently, his palms warm. In another minute, he was gone.
Willa stood for a while after his taillights disappeared, smiling to herself, treasuring the physical pleasures of being a woman. Just as she turned to go inside, a footstep sounded on the gravel of the driveway.
Peering into the darkness, she recognized the silhouette of her older son. “Robbie? What in the world are you doing out here? I thought you were watching the movie.”
“How can you let him touch you like that?”
She fell back a step, she was so startled. “I beg your pardon?”
“You let him hold you. You let him kiss you.” He stood with his feet set wide, his fists clenched at his sides and his shoulders rigid. “Why are you doing it? What about Dad?”
Willa swallowed the urge to shout back. “Your dad is gone, Robbie. He’s dead. You know that.”
Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch Page 13