“I am not going back without you,” Develyn mumbled.
The sixth toss circled the burro's neck and drooped like a necklace.
“Yes!” Dev shouted.
The animal shook it's head. The rope tumbled to the water and mud below.
“No!”
She coiled the muddy rope again. “I can't believe you did that. After all I've done for you. You were headed for the glue factory when I took you in. I feed you nummies out of my hand. I let you sleep on the porch. Now I'm going to throw this around your neck one more time. If you toss it off, that's it. I'll leave your miserable carcass to rot in the mud until the buzzards make supper out of you. Do you understand me?”
The burro stared north.
Of course he doesn't understand me. What am I doing? Lord, I could use a little help here. I'm supposed to get back and talk to my daughter, not spend the day toying with some auction burro.
The loop circled the donkey's neck.
Once again the muddy animal flung it off.
“OK, that's it. Nice to have known you, Uncle Henry. Hope you have a nice life. But I'm not going to waste any more time here.”
As she began to coil the rope, the burro snapped its teeth around it.
“Turn loose of my rope.”
The harder Develyn pulled, the more the burro pulled back.
“Oh, you think that's funny? We'll see if your teeth are as powerful as My Maria.”
Develyn sloshed out of the spring and wiped her feet on the tall green grass that clumped by the water's edge. She shoved her bare foot in the cold rawhide-wrapped stirrup and swung into the saddle.
“We are getting Casey's rope back, even if we have to pull Uncle Henry's teeth out.”
With knee commands, Develyn inched the horse forward. When the rope stretched taut, she prodded the horse again.
The burro did not turn loose.
But it did take one step out of the mud.
Then another.
“Yes, we will pull him out by the skin of his teeth.” I wonder where that saying came from?
She kept My Maria at a slow walk until the burro was well out on the prairie. She tugged at the rope.
“Turn loose now, Uncle Henry.”
The burro continued to clutch the rope.
“Honey, you can walk home on your own from here. Turn loose.”
She yanked the rope; the burro jerked back.
“You are being impossible. I should spank your big, brown...but it's covered with mud.” She slid out of the saddle. “I'll show you who's boss. You'll have to come home on a lead rope. How do you like that?”
She marched up to the burro, who promptly shook his head, and dollops of mud peppered Develyn's face.
With both eyes squinted, she grabbed Uncle Henry's ear and bent it sideways.
The burro dropped the rope.
“Oh, you don't like that? Well, what do you think of this?”
She slipped the loop over the animal's head and cinched it up to its neck.
“We're all going home now.”
Develyn mounted the paint mare but left her shoes hanging across the pommel of the saddle. The burro resisted the tug of the horse for a moment, then gave in and trailed behind.
“We did it, girl. We found him. We roped him. And we brought him in. If that isn't a Wyoming cowboy girl, I don't know what is.”
Develyn kept My Maria at a slow, steady walk. The burro kept the rope taut.
When she spotted the one remaining cabin, she stopped, leaned forward, and patted My Maria. “Honey, Uncle Henry might not want to come back to the cabin. The noise frightened him last night. He might try to run away again, so I'm going to turn him out into the pasture with you and Popcorn. But don't annoy him, or his braying will keep us awake all night.”
As she got closer, she could see Delaney leaning on the tailgate of Cooper Tallon's pickup. Who's she talking to?
When they plodded around Tallon's corral, she spied the gray-haired cowboy standing on the other side of a burro, who, on spying Develyn, trotted right out to her.
“He missed his mama,” Coop called out.
“Uncle Henry?” She looked back at the muddy animal at the end of Casey's blue rope.
Uncle Henry leaned against her leg, and she scratched his ears. “But...who do I have?”
Cooper and Delaney strolled over.
“I see you brought Uncle Henry a friend,” Coop grinned.
“I thought he was Uncle Henry covered with mud.”
“She,” Cooper corrected. “You have a female burro there.”
“She?” Develyn said. “No wonder she didn't want to come with me.”
Coop winked at Delaney. “You'd think a mama would know her own children.”
“She was covered with mud, and I...didn't look very close, did I?”
“You just captured a wild burro out on the prairie. I'm impressed,” Cooper said.
“She was stuck in the mud.”
“Yes, well, from time to time we all are.”
“What am I going to do with another burro?”
“Maybe she'll run off.” Cooper slipped the rope off the burro. She meandered over to Uncle Henry. “OK, maybe she won't.”
“Uncle Henry, don't you sidle up to her. She's no good for you, honey. She's very stubborn and self-willed and quite untidy, as you can see.”
When the female burro trotted toward the corrals, Uncle Henry followed.
“Oh, no you don't, young man. You get over here right now.”
Uncle Henry paused but didn't turn back to Develyn.
“I said, right now!”
Head slumped, the burro returned to Develyn.
“Wow, Mom, I'm impressed,” Delaney said.
Develyn scratched Uncle Henry's ears. “Where did you find this naughty boy?”
“Mrs. Morton brought him home,” Cooper explained.
“Mrs. Morton?”
Tallon waved back toward town. “She was very apologetic. She said that during the storm Leon had locked Uncle Henry in their outhouse, and she didn't discover it until this morning.”
“How do you get a burro in an outhouse?”
“It's a two seater,” Cooper explained.
Develyn climbed off My Maria, carrying her shoes. “This is more information than I want to know.”
“What are you going to name your new burro?” he asked.
“She's not my burro.”
“Of course she is. You roped her and brought her in.”
“Doesn't she belong to the government?”
“Nope. She's yours, Devy-girl,” Tallon insisted.
“Let's name her Aunt Jenny,” Delaney offered. “But I refuse to call their offspring my cousins.”
“Oh, they wouldn't. I mean, they can't…”
Cooper chuckled. “Sure they can. They aren't mules. They're donkeys.”
“I will have no talk of that,” Develyn huffed.
Delaney wrinkled her nose beneath a wave of faded freckles. “I don't think you have much say in the matter.”
Cooper Tallon sauntered to his travel trailer. “Don't be sure of that, Miss Worrell. Never underestimate your mama's will.”
“Are you calling me stubborn?”
“Focused, Miss Dev. You are the most determined gal I ever met. And I assure you, I mean that as a compliment. It's a part of your attraction.”
“You see, Dee, this is the type of smooth talkin' cowboy I warned you about. He just called me stubborn and inflexible in such a charming way that I feel good about myself.”
Cooper mumbled to himself as he entered the trailer.
Develyn and Delaney led My Maria to the pasture.
“Mr. Tallon is a nice man,” Delaney offered.
“He can be abrupt and opinionated. Probably about as stubborn as me. But he has the most generous spir
it of any man I have ever met. Hard working to a fault, and yet a very caring heart under that tough cowboy exterior.”
“Is he the one for you, Mom?”
Develyn peered at her daughter's soft, pale green eyes. “Dee, my focus is on you now. Everything else can wait.”
Delaney slipped her hand in her mother's. They continued to lead the paint mare to the pasture. While her daughter perched on the fence rail, Develyn pulled the tack off My Maria and brushed her down. After a handful of feed, she turned the paint out.
“Mom, you do that like you're a Wyoming lady.”
“That's me, honey...a Wyomin' cowboy girl.”
“How did you learn all of that?”
“From Ms. Casey Cree-Ryder.” Develyn closed the gate and stepped over by Delaney. “By the way, where is that bronze bombshell?”
“She and Jackson went to Casper for supper. Mother, he is so totally cool.”
“And he's polite, honey. His mother's a schoolteacher, you know.”
Delaney brushed her brown bangs out of her eyes and pushed her sunglasses up on her nose. “They make quite a pair.”
“Casey is like a sunflower in a strawberry patch. She stands apart from everyone. She might be the most unique gal I've ever met in my life.”
“She made me cry,” Delaney admitted.
Develyn slipped her arm around her daughter's shoulder. “What did she do?”
“She said you were the most gracious, loving, fun woman she ever met, and she would give anything to have you as her real mom.”
“Did you cry because I'm not that way for you?”
“No, Mom, just the opposite. I know you are that way. I cried because for the first time I realized how much Daddy hurt you.”
“Dee, that's in the past. I let go of that. I failed your dad lots of times too. I can't survive if I clutch to my failures, or to others' failures.”
Delaney's voice lowered. “I wish Daddy were still alive.”
“You know what, honey? For your sake, so do I.”
“Do you ever miss him, Mom?”
“Don't hate me, baby, but I don't miss him at all.”
“Was it that bad for you?”
“Someday maybe I can tell you. Not now. But for several years I would fall asleep at night hoping the Lord would take me home before morning. I just couldn't handle the rejection and pain. I was scared to death of what the next day would bring.”
Delaney hugged her mother. “I'm sorry, Mom. I never knew it was that bad. Why didn't you do something earlier?”
“I thought if I bore all the pain and anguish myself, you wouldn't have to. I was wrong. You had to bear so much. Besides, I kept praying for a miracle.”
“And it never came?”
“Maybe it did, Delaney Melinda Worrell. You and I are standing in a dirt-road town in the middle of Wyoming hugging and crying. That's a miracle to me.”
“Yeah, I know. Mom, I was thinking. Maybe we aren't so different. Maybe we are a lot alike.”
“You think so?”
“Except I don't look anything like you.”
“You have the same little upturned nose seldom seen in girls over twelve.”
“Yes, we have the same nose, but the rest of me looks like Uncle Dewayne. With my round face and full figure, the best I can hope for is to look cute. But you, you doll yourself up and have that head-turning, heart-stopping, cowboy-melting glamorous look.”
“Where in the world did you get all of that?”
“From Casey.”
“I think you two had too much time to talk.”
“She told me how it was at that big ranch barbecue.”
“Honey, I'm a middle-aged mama. I think the Lord allowed me that one time just to cheer me up. If you could have seen the disdain the manager at Simpson's gave me this morning, you would think I'm ready for the rest home.”
“I can't believe he said those things to you.”
“The Lord has ways of keeping us humble, Delaney.”
“I know, Mom. I know what you are saying.” Delaney stepped back. “But we are going to make it, aren't we, Mom?”
“Even if you are pregnant, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“We all face sin, failure, repentance, and forgiveness. Making right decisions now will always stop a cycle of wrong decisions in the past. The Lord and I were talking about you when I was out looking for Uncle Henry.”
“What did he say?”
“He said to love any baby you have with all the love I have for you.”
“What did you tell the Lord?”
“I told him I would do it because I love you with more love than anyone on the face of the earth.”
“Really, Mom? You said that to the Lord?”
“Yes, I did.”
Delaney slipped her hand into her mother's. “Sometimes I wish I hadn't been such a pill this summer. We could have gone to Maine together.”
“I think I was supposed to come out here.”
“Do you think, maybe, I was supposed to go to South Carolina?”
Develyn studied her daughter's face. “Perhaps.”
“Oh no, oh no!” Delaney moaned. “Tell him I'll be right out.” She sprinted to the cabin.
“Tell who? Delaney?” Develyn glanced over the rim of her sunglasses toward Argenta. A white Ford pickup made its way up the drive.
Develyn waited at the back of the Cherokee.
The dimples in his cheeks were so perfect they seemed painted on. The lanky, tanned cowboy in a long-sleeved shirt sauntered toward her. “Evenin', darlin. What happened to that cabin?”
“It was hit with lightning last night.”
“Look at that mess. Was anyone hurt?”
“No, we got out before the fire.”
“You a roommate of Miss Delonie's?”
“Her name is Delaney. Yeah, I'm one of her roommates.”
“I'm Hunter Burke.”
He didn't release her hand when he shook it. “Say, you aren't her sister, are you?”
“No.” Develyn tugged her hand from his warm, firm one.
“That's good because...I...well. Say, who would have thought two fine-lookin' gals would be bunked up in this little shack?”
“It's a cabin, and there are three fine-lookin' ladies here. Casey has gone with Jackson to Casper.”
“I missed him again? This is getting to be a routine.”
“Can I take a message for him?”
“This is a business thing. He's still working a pack string up in Glacier, isn't he?”
“As far as I know.”
“What time will he be back?”
“I have no idea. It could be late.”
“Maybe I should wait,” Hunter suggested.
“Certainly. There's a bench in front of Mrs. Tagley's store.”
“No, I meant here.”
“I don't think so. We don't have room to entertain guests, and we don't know when they might return.”
“Are you nervous? Some ladies get nervous when I'm around. Why do you think that is?”
“I don't have a clue. I'll tell Jackson you are looking for him.”
“Could you tell Delonie I'm here? I'd like to speak to her.”
“Her name is Delaney.”
“I know. But it wouldn't be polite to stop by and not say hello. My mother taught me to be polite.”
“Delaney knows you're here.”
“What's she doing, then?”
Making herself cute, no doubt. “I'm not sure.”
“Of course, you and me could sit in the truck and visit until she comes out.” He raised his eyebrows.
“I think you should leave,” Develyn snapped.
“You are nervous, aren't you? It's OK. Once you know me better, them butterflies in your stomach will disappear. What did you say your name was?”
Delaney strolled out on the deck, then paused. “Hunt? Well, hi!”
She strolled over to where they stood.
“I hear I missed Jackson again.”
“I'm glad you didn't miss me.”
“I was just visiting with your roommate, wondering how two pretty women can be in one cabin.”
“Oh, good, you met my mother.”
“Your mother?” he gasped.
Develyn pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head and flashed a pasted grin. “You are surprised?”
“Oh, no ma'am.”
Your eyes lie, Mr. Hunter Burke.
“I was thinking of walking down to the store and buying a Pepsi. You want to go for a walk, Miss Delonie?”
“He always calls me that,” Delaney giggled.
You've only met him once. What do you mean he always calls you that?
“Anything we need at the store, Mom?”
“A quart of 2 percent milk would be nice, now that we have a cabin with a propane refrigerator.”
Develyn watched as Hunt and Delaney strolled out to the road.
Well, at least they aren't holding hands. There is something wrong here. How can she be carrying one man's baby and giggling down the lane with another?
“Your Delaney has a friend already?”
Develyn turned to Cooper. “She just met him. I think he's a friend of Jackson's. His name is Hunter Burke. Do you know him?”
“Nope. But that doesn't mean much. Are you worried?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Your face looks worried.”
Develyn stood straight and slapped a wide grin on her face. “There, is that better?”
Cooper laughed. “You can't hide it, Miss Dev. Ever'thing shows on your face.”
“Everything?”
“Yep. Even the mud from bringin' in Aunt Jenny.”
“Oh, dear.” She rubbed her cheeks with her fingertips. “Is that better?”
“Not really.” Cooper reached over, brushed his calloused thumb across her left cheekbone. “There.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tallon.”
“I've got some business down in Cheyenne and didn't want to get in you gals' way, now that there is only one cabin. But I'm hoping we can ride up to the springs soon, so I can show you that homesite I found.”
Stephen Bly's Horse Dreams Trilogy: Memories of a Dirt Road, the Mustang Breaker, Wish I'd Known You Tears Ago Page 50