Just as Stubborn

by Jeanne Arnold

  “Nooo!” I shouted. “Don’t hurt him!” Blood drained from my face as I lifted the gun into my grip and fired at the giant Texas flag above the fireplace. Not once, but three times. The glass shattered and pieces rained to the ground. The act was instantaneous. My breath rushed out of me just as fast as my nerve. I dropped the gun and gasped as my arms hung, shaking at my sides.

  Leon ducked and Gabe rammed a fist into his jaw as Caleb tackled the pistol out of his hand and restrained him against the hearth. A photograph of the Halden brothers fell out of his pocket as he struggled with Caleb. Gabe scurried over to the man on the ground and stomped a foot on the guy’s shoulder to stop him from getting up.

  “Give it here, Deliah. Hold off, kid!” Gabe yelled as she stood holding the man to the ground while aiming, ready to mimic me.

  “For the hundred millionth time—it’s Mona!” she screamed at him when he snatched the gun out of her grip. She ran up the stairs in tears, stomping the whole way like a stubborn and immature girl.

  “Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” Gabe held his hand out to me with an expression of astonishment on his face. Then he bent down to pick up the second weapon. I couldn’t move while I watched him pull the slide back and check for brass.

  I fired a gun near Gabe’s head.

  I had no clue what came over me or how I thought it was even remotely safe to handle a loaded weapon. It wasn’t safe. I could have killed any one of them by accident. I didn’t know what I was doing.

  “Girl rescues lover boy in shoot ’em up, kidnapping adventure. They live happily ever after,” Caleb joked.

  It wasn’t a time to joke.

  Caleb and Gabe pinned me with questioning eyes. I could hardly speak above the ringing in my ears. Ignoring Caleb, I answered Gabe. “I don’t know.” I slid down the wall, tears pooling behind my eyes. I had pictured myself running into Gabe’s arms, but I collapsed. “Is all of this…normal in Texas?”

  Each of the brothers held a gun on a bad guy. I couldn’t believe I had watched the entire event unfold. Not to mention, I was part of it. None of us were hurt aside from Gabe’s face. The aftershock of the scene took on a dreamlike quality.

  Caleb shifted his weight and kicked Leon in the knee when he tried to move. “Typical, everyday fun. Welcome to the O.K. Corral, legs. Good to have another sharpshooter on our team.”

  * * *

  “Swallow it,” Caleb told Deliah as he swung the key to the handcuffs in front of her nose.

  We drove out of the flooded yard, slinging mud. I was so happy to leave. The climate was suffocating me.

  “That flag looks mighty cool above the fireplace. You hit it smack-dab in the center of the star,” Caleb teased me from the front seat. “We like things all shot up in Texas. Gives us character.”

  Deliah looked at me. “I can’t believe you got Leon to admit it wasn’t me doing the blackmailing when they were tying him up. You looked angry,” she said happily. “Avery, you’re really brave.”

  “You’re brave, too, kid,” Caleb offered. He drove us toward the station where we’d left Gabe’s truck. “That dirt bag was scoping out the cabin before we got here the other day. He must have found that picture of us young dudes. That’s Eli’s graduation. Look how little Gabe was.”

  Deliah held up the image and grinned. “My brothers,” she said proudly.

  “I could have killed someone,” I whispered. I must have had an out-of-body experience to be able to do what I did. I was determined to make sure the truth came out so Mr. Halden couldn’t use it against Gabe or Deliah.

  “You sure you were raised on concrete? I’m fixing to take you pheasant hunting when we get back to North Dakota,” Caleb said over his shoulder. “You got some serious aim, legs.”

  What I had was permanent hearing loss in both ears and numbs hands.

  “Am I going to North Dakota?” Deliah asked.

  “Sometime. You deserve to see what’s yours fair and square,” Caleb answered.

  “Cool. I want to see one of your oil wells if your dad doesn’t send me away.”

  “We got your back. Whatever you did won’t screw up this family. That’s our dad’s department.” Caleb shot another glimpse over the headrest. “Your boy breathing back there?”

  Gabe’s head rested in my lap, his arms around my waist. His broken face looked uncomfortable. I was tempted to touch his cheek, yet resisted even touching the good side. I ran my fingers through his hair. I could tell by the sound of his breathing, the slow rise and fall of his chest under my other hand, that he was hurting. He needed an ice pack and a bottle of Tylenol. He needed a good night’s sleep. We all did.

  “I’ll look him over when we get there. He’ll perk up when he sees his wheels,” said Caleb.

  “And his books,” Deliah added.

  We hadn’t stuck around the cabin long enough to find a first aid kit. In all of the commotion, I forgot to even look for my phone. Once Caleb tied the two men into back-to-back chairs, handcuffed them together, and blindfolded their eyes, we hit the road. He said he’d give it a few hours before he tried calling the cops again. He was in no rush to do anything to make them comfortable.

  “Big Al’s,” I whispered to Gabe’s sleeping face when Caleb parked the truck at the truck stop.

  “Can’t wait to get me a burger and fries. I don’t give a flip if it’s eight in the morning,” Caleb said.

  “Wow. Looks like the power is still out here. It must be out everywhere,” I observed.

  Caleb jumped down onto the parking lot. “I lied. I’ll eat canned worms. I don’t care at this point. Get a move on. Need me to drag the boy?”

  “Gabe,” I said. “Do you want to see if your truck’s fixed?”

  I knew he must have been in bad shape when he shook his head and told Caleb to check on his truck. Once we were inside the truck stop cafeteria Gabe stretched out on his back in a booth that spanned the length of a wall, shared by several tables with chairs on the other side. He had a Tootsie Pop in his mouth. The same waitress we’d met a few days ago was working the morning shift. Her face brightened when she saw us waiting. I thought maybe we were her first customers until I remembered Gabe told me he left her a one hundred dollar tip last time.

  She looked at his face on the bench and slapped her heart. “Sweetheart, you need some ice on that cheek,” she told him and took off for the kitchen.

  “Do you want to sit up?” I asked.

  “Hurts when I’m upright,” he said as he twisted his sucker and then held it up as though he was going to share it with me. “Stop looking at me like I’m dying.”

  “It looks awful. You were kidnapped, Gabe. I can’t believe what’s happened. Do you think you broke your jaw?”

  He set the candy on the table, touched the side of his face and ran his fingers down to his purple neck. “Naw, somebody else did it. I think I got a busted vein in here. It’s all swollen.”

  I leaned over his head and touched the contusion inside his collar. I needed to feel his skin. He looked amazing even upside down and bruised. He grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers into mine. His other hand raised, and he pulled my head toward his so my eyes lined up to his mouth, with my lips touching his nose. He pulled my head closer and kissed me. I set my hands on his ribs to steady myself as a crazy, blissful feeling obliterated all of my apprehension.

  Gabe would be just fine. Gabe was finer than fine.

  “Okay now, kids. Last I checked this was an eating establishment,” Caleb said as he slid in beside me along the long bench. “Rooms are hourly. I can lend you the dough if you’re that hard up after you settle this bill.” He set a plate of donuts on the table in front of me. “Here. The waitress said to serve you.”

  “Why do we always get interrupted?” Gabe blew his candy breath into the kiss.

  I pulled away from his lips. “Where do you get all of these hats?” I asked when I got a look at Deliah and Caleb wearing a pair of matching HalRem caps.

  “Gabe has a
stash in his truck,” she said with a wide grin. Caleb handed her an apple fritter and she picked the apples out of the dough to eat.

  “She’s part of the family now, so she has to look the part,” said Caleb.

  “She doesn’t need a hat to look the part,” I shared.

  “Where’s my truck?” Gabe asked as he slid himself up the seat and held his head.

  “Out front. Looks good. They got a generator back there. Said he had it done yesterday.”

  “That’s great news,” I said. “Now we can drive to Benjamin and find Meggie. I kind of hope she had the baby already.” I set a plain donut on a napkin and stared at it. My stomach hadn’t been right since the cabin.

  “I think we should go straight to the hospital. It’s a given they’re all there,” Caleb told me as he popped a piece of a chocolate éclair in his mouth.

  “I gotta go home first,” Gabe said. “I’m not up for a family reunion.”

  Caleb slapped the back of my seat and then patted his chest as he swallowed the last of his pastry. “Well good luck with that. A guy back there said he heard some funnels were spotted out our way. A slew of storms blew through last night. More on the map as we speak.”

  “I don’t care,” Gabe told him.

  “Pay up first, little brother. We don’t need no more trouble.” Caleb crumpled the invoice from the garage and tossed it into Gabe’s lap.

  Gabe stared at the list of numbers for a good, long minute. His eyes crinkled, and his brows furrowed into one. He reached into his shirt pocket and lifted his glasses without saying a word. I was surprised they survived the morning’s episode. He fussed a second as he slid them over the top of his bruised ear.

  Then he barked, “Jeezus freaking Loueez. That can’t be right. New transfer case…new transmission…front drive shafts. Expedited service. Five large? What the heck?”

  I heard Caleb chuckle into his fist. Deliah slid off the bench and crouched on the floor underneath the table. “Should I run now?” she asked in a squeaky voice.

  “What’s the damage? How bad?” I asked.

  “It’s badder than bad,” Caleb said with a sly grin.

  “Real, real bad,” replied Gabe. “Indebted for life and eternity bad.”

  “Give it here,” I said as I grabbed the paper out of his hand. I studied the long record of items and drew my eyes to the bottom corner thinking it would only be a few hundred dollars.

  “You better take that head start,” Caleb teased. “Four-eyes is still fast. His feet aren’t broken.”

  She bumped her head into the table. Gabe’s grin grew until it pushed into his swollen cheek. Apparently, it was worth more to him to torture Deliah than to fret over an astronomical bill. I handed her the paper and heard her dramatic wheeze. The total came to five thousand dollars. I didn’t even make that in one year at my YMCA job. I could have afforded a used car for the damage she caused in thirty measly minutes.

  “I’m going to be doing some serious butt kissing when I meet my dad,” she huffed.

  Caleb bent down and stuck his head under the table. “You got that right, Mona Deliah.”

  We followed Caleb to the register. He commented that Gabe wasn’t fit to drive a remote control car. Deliah volunteered, “Let me drive. It’s my turn.”

  Caleb made a face at her as he paid for breakfast. “You must have a pretty big piggy bank, little girl.”

  “Av’ry will drive. You take the kid,” Gabe said as he approached the counter and slid onto a stool. He dropped his head into his hands. I set a hand on his back and rubbed his shoulder.

  “We should take you to the hospital,” I said.

  “Oh sugar, she’s right. You don’t look so well. Let me get you some aspirin and another bag of ice for the road. I’ll wrap up these pastries, too,” replied the waitress. “Boys, why is fighting always the answer?” She walked away, shaking her head.

  “Yeah, why is fighting always the answer?” I asked Gabe in particular.

  When the woman returned, Gabe had the good side of his face on the counter and his hands in his lap.

  “He’s pathetic,” Caleb drawled.

  “He hasn’t slept in days. Neither have you.” I yawned at the thought. Neither had I. “Can you look at him and see if he’s broken?”

  Caleb laughed. “I don’t need to look at him to decide that.”

  Deliah begged Caleb to let her drive as we walked through the drizzle and found the trucks parked side by side.

  “How about when pigs fly?” he countered.

  “What happened to the rental car?” I asked.

  Caleb jerked his head back. “Plumb forgot. I’ll add that to the list when I make a report.”

  “We’ll meet up with you at the hospital,” I told him as Gabe climbed in the cab and lay across the seat with his boots hanging out. “I’ll take him to the E.R. first.”

  Caleb dangled the keys in Deliah’s face to tease her. Then he reached behind his seat for my bag and proceeded to string it over my shoulder, taking care to run his fingers down the side of my arm. He whispered gruffly, “I’ll see ya later, alligator.”

  Eleven

  “Be gentle with her,” Gabe said as he slid over to the passenger door of his truck, raised his knees, and pushed his feet into my leg. I had a feeling he was going to bother me while I tried not to destroy his truck. “Take it slow. Wake me when we get there. I mean when we get home. I’m not going to the hospital.” He pulled his cap over the bag of ice on his eyes.

  “You’re not going to stay awake and try to keep me awake? I’m not sure what I’m doing. I’m really tired, too, you know. When do I get to nap?”

  I hadn’t slept since my hour of rest in the hotel, but that was ages ago.

  “How about right now? I can’t keep my eyes open, Av’ry,” he said into the cap.

  “What about getting you checked out?”

  “What about you stop worrying and we just rest a little?”

  “Gabe,” I stressed.

  “We’re alone, Av’ry. I can’t sit up right now. The baby will still be there later.”

  I huffed my breath. “You’re serious? There’s not that much room here.”

  “I’ll make room.” He sat up higher against the door and held his head. I reached behind the seat and grabbed my bag. Gabe propped it behind his neck, and I settled on his chest and shoulder without touching the bad side of his face.

  “Okay, this is nice,” I said as he brushed my hair with his fingers. I set my hand on his pocket and touched the pair of glasses.

  “I gotta get contacts,” he said as a matter of fact.

  My breath hitched. “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  I pushed up on the seat, his ice pack slid off, and I ran my eyes over his face. “Don’t get rid of the glasses.”

  He made a twisted grin. “Why’s that?” he said with a hint of twang that raced my heart.

  The blush burned my skin. Thank goodness it was a dark morning. “Just cuz.”

  “Just cuz you like lookin’ at me in glasses?”

  “Yeah, Gabe. You have no idea how good you look.”

  He snickered.

  I set down my head, and he pushed on my shoulder so I had to look at him again. “I know. I’ve seen you looking. Good thing Caleb has perfect vision.”

  I grunted at his insinuation.

  “I like you covered in mud,” he whispered. “I’d like to see what’s under the mud.”

  “I don’t like you bruised like this. Not knowing if you were okay was the most awful thing that’s ever happened to me,” I murmured.

  “I’m fine. You didn’t shoot anybody. This shiner isn’t permanent,” he said as his eyelids closed. “You have to admit this has been one hell of an exciting road trip.”

  I grunted at his sarcastic timing.

  The bruising had spread. He would heal with time. I stared at his striking features and mused silently that I had no idea where I belonged anymore. My home life was dismal, an
d my boyfriend split his time in two different parts of the country.

  I lowered my lips to meet his and tapped his upper lip. Then I released all of my tension into a deep, magnificent kiss. He tasted heavenly, like Gabe and diner food. “I thought you were going to die,” I whispered into his mouth. “Were you scared?” I set my cheek against his.

  “Damn straight. Crazy people rattle my cage,” he said with his eyes closed and then he yawned noisily. “I punched him good. You saw. Admit it.”

  I pinched his side and made him squirm underneath me. Every move he made caused me to tense in response. I pushed off his front and scrunched my nose. “No way. You’re proud of yourself?”

  “God, I love your feisty guts,” he said quietly.

  “You got beat up. It’s not something to joke about.”

  “I know I got beat up. Wait until my dad sees me. Meggie’s gonna have to buy him a closet full of designer straightjackets.”

  “Why do you want to go to your house and not the hospital?”

  “I gotta get some stuff. I got plans,” he told me.

  I sat up. He grabbed my hand and held it to his chest.

  “So much for napping,” he muttered.

  “Plans for what? You’re going back to Williston, aren’t you?”

  Gabe tried to sit up, but he made a face as though he was going to be sick. “Wow, my head is pounding. No, not Williston for sure. Anywhere that’s not got oil under the ground is fine with me.”

  “Like where?” My throat tightened.

  He yawned and stretched his arms to the roof. The last he said was, “Don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I get there.”

  He fell fast asleep and left me to fret that he was going to disappear again, though he really didn’t have a choice about quitting his job. How else would he live?

  My eyes wouldn’t close. I leaned against his shoulder and watched the drizzle dance on the windshield. The rapping, tapping noise startled me. I didn’t need to look up to spy the dark figure in Gabe’s window. The figure tapped again and then waited. I slowly sat up. I turned to look again when a flashlight knocked on the glass.