Luckiest Cowboy of All--Two full books for the price of one

by Carolyn Brown

“Are you sick?” Jace asked.

  “No, she’s sulking,” Carlene said. “Aunt Bee said you couldn’t have a four-wheeler because they are dangerous and if you begged she’d take back the cowboy boots and get you a tarantula in an aquarium, right?”

  “Grown-ups are so mean.” Tilly turned her head to the side and refused to look at either Jace or Carlene. “How’d you know what she said? Have you been talkin’ to her?”

  “I didn’t tell her a thing about a four-wheeler.” Carlene handed off a glass to Jace and crossed her heart with a finger. “But she’s a smart lady because she knows I would have taken it back to the store if she’d had one delivered here.”

  “Then I want my ears and belly button pierced.” Tilly sat up and tilted her head defiantly. “And I want little diamond drops for my ears and one of those three diamond dangly things for my belly button. And maybe a tattoo of angel wings on my ankle.”

  “No!” Jace said.

  “Hey, you don’t get to boss me.” Tilly’s voice carried an icy edge with it.

  “Then I’ll say not only no, but also hell no!” Carlene said bluntly. “And you’d best drop that attitude.”

  “How old do I have to be to get piercings and tats?” she asked.

  “Forty.” Jace answered quickly.

  “When you are out of college, have a job that pays three times what mine does as a teacher, and you are sober when you go into the tattoo parlor,” Carlene said.

  “If I promise not to get those things, can I have a four-wheeler for my birthday?” Tilly asked. “Please, ma’am and”—she turned toward Jace—“please, sir.”

  “If you promise not to get them, I might not give you a tarantula in an aquarium. I might just get you a plain old black fuzzy spider in a big pretty bowl,” Carlene said.

  “You win!” Tilly sighed. “I’m going to go call Natalie now.”

  “Well played.” Jace smiled.

  Carlene touched her glass to his. “Thanks for the help. Forty, huh?”

  “I thought forty would be a good age to let her start dating and the way I figure it, if she was old enough to date, then she could make up her own mind about tattoos and pierced ears. But I got to admit when she looked at me with those big old beggin’ pretty eyes, I was ready to ask her what color four-wheeler she wanted.”

  “You done good, as Aunt Rosalie used to say,” Carlene said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  That Friday night, Carlene followed the aroma of grilled onions and nachos to the concession stand at the rodeo grounds, but before she got in line, Tilly tugged on her hand.

  “I gotta go to the bathroom, Mama. And it can’t wait.”

  Carlene stepped away from the crowd and tried to keep up with Tilly. There wasn’t a line in the ladies’ room, so Tilly darted into one stall and Carlene took another one. Tilly finished first and was washing her hands when Maribel and Gloria arrived. Gloria pulled a paper towel out of the dispenser, got it wet, and was cleaning nacho cheese off Maribel’s face and shirt when Carlene made her way to the second wall-hung sink.

  “This child is every bit as messy as I am,” Gloria fussed.

  “Tilly, ask your mama if you can go with us,” Maribel whispered.

  “They’re sittin’ with me, Carlene,” Gloria said over the noise of two running faucets. “And I don’t mind a bit if Tilly joins us.”

  “Okay, I’ll be with the Dawsons.” Carlene rinsed her hands, reached for a paper towel, and remembered that she’d left her purse on the hook in the stall. When she reached for it, it fell to the floor and everything spilled out around the toilet. She whispered a couple of cuss words and bent to retrieve everything.

  “We’re right in front of you, so that works well,” Gloria raised her voice to say.

  “Thank you!” Carlene hollered back.

  She’d just gotten her purse put to rights when she heard her name as a couple more women dashed into the ladies’ room. She slid the lock home on the door, put the lid down on the potty, and sat down. Peeking out the crack between the door and the hinges, she watched them as they leaned over the sinks toward the mirrors. One was touching up her lipstick, the other fluffing out her black hair.

  “Do you think she’ll take Jace off the market?” Black Hair asked.

  “I don’t think so. That was just a teenage fling.” Bright Red Lipstick used a tissue from her purse to blot her lips.

  “She’s livin’ out there on the ranch,” Black Hair said.

  “That’s Hope’s doin’. She and Carlene’s aunt Rosalie were thick as thieves, so she probably feels like she should offer. Poor old lady don’t know that Carlene is going to fleece them good. I bet if Jace did marry her, she’d divorce him in a year and demand half of Prairie Rose.”

  “Or maybe she’ll just get pregnant again and he’ll marry her this time around,” Black Hair giggled.

  Carlene put her head between her knees. It was their comment about her getting pregnant again that caused the world to spin around like a Class 4 tornado had taken up residence right there in the stall. She hadn’t even thought of birth control on Sunday. It was too late to run up to Amarillo for a morning-after pill and way too early for a pregnancy test.

  Finally, she was able to stand up and make it to the vanity, where she washed her hands and counted the days. She’d always been on-the-dot regular, so she only had three days to wait until she knew for sure.

  “To take a chance like that once can be blamed on being a crazy teenager,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “But I’m a grown woman and this is inexcusable.” She looked up toward the ceiling. “Lord, if you’ve got any magic powers, please use them and I promise to be more careful from now on.”

  From now on? Aunt Rosalie’s voice yelled so loudly in her head that she turned quickly to see if someone had entered the bathroom without her knowing it.

  She picked up her purse and shook her head as she left the restroom and made her way to join Lila at the concession stand.

  “We saved a spot for you,” Lila said. “Jace is the fifth rider tonight.”

  “Brody announcing?” Carlene asked.

  Lila flashed a brilliant smile. “Yes, I almost had a heart attack the last time I saw him ride.” She stepped up to the window and rattled off half a dozen items.

  The prickly feeling on the back of Carlene’s neck announced Jace’s presence even before she looked over her shoulder to find him right behind her. “Tilly said I might find you here. I need a beer.”

  “Still doin’ your ritual before every ride?” Carlene asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Jace answered. “Two sips of beer, flex my hand six times before I grab the rope, and look up at the moon.”

  “I’d forgotten the moon,” Carlene said, “but I remembered the other two.”

  “And if it works and I stay on eight seconds, then I get the rest of the beer. If not, then I have to pour it out and I sure hate to waste good beer.”

  “But sometimes it’s worth it, right?” she teased.

  “Oh, yeah.” One eyelid slid shut in a sexy wink.

  “About Sunday. We need to talk,” she said.

  “Anytime.” He cocked his head to one side.

  “What can I get you, Carlene?” Regina asked from inside the concession stand.

  “A nacho supreme with peppers, two beers, two Snickers, and a hot chocolate with a lid on it, please.”

  “Two beers? Who are you sittin’ with tonight?” Jace frowned.

  “Nachos for me. Candy and chocolate for Tilly. One beer for me. One for you,” she said.

  “Well, thank you. It ain’t often a pretty lady buys me a beer.”

  Regina handed him a cold can and he tipped his hat at both the ladies. “This will be my lucky night for sure.”

  “Does that mean you are gettin’ lucky with him?” Regina asked out the side of her mouth when she slid the order onto the window ledge.

  Carlene felt the blush before it ever hit her cheeks.

  “No need to
answer that. Your bright red cheeks are tattlin’ on your thoughts,” Regina giggled.

  “It’s this cold wind and my fair complexion,” Carlene argued. There would be no more getting lucky with him until one of them had protection. She remembered the machine in the ladies’ room and the blush deepened.

  “I’ll see you at school tomorrow and believe me, I will know by the expression on your face.” Regina shook a finger at her.

  “I never was a good poker player.” Carlene paid for her items and headed for the stands.

  Jace took two sips of beer, flexed his hand six times, and glanced up in the stands. He could hear his brother’s voice announcing that he was the next rider, and Tilly was jumping up and down, leading all the kids around her in the chant of his name. Carlene was sitting with his family, her eyes on the chute gate. He gave the men the sign, and suddenly the gate was open. The bull’s hind legs pointed at the sky and that’s when he remembered that he’d forgotten to look up at the moon.

  It was too late now, so he hung on and did the best he could, but four seconds into the ride, the bull slung him off the side. He couldn’t free his hand from the rope and the bull kept whipping him around like a rag doll. He felt the impact of tons of mean animal when a hoof came down on his cowboy boot and again when the side of a horn slapped him across the cheek. Then he was free from the rope and the bull snagged a horn under the back of his vest and flipped him ass over cowboy hat out into the arena. Dust and dirt flew every which way when he landed flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

  His last thought as he tried to force air into his lungs was that he should’ve looked at the moon. And then everything went black.

  His first thought when he opened his eyes to the bright lights above the arena was that Tilly was going to be disappointed. He inhaled deeply and groaned.

  “Don’t think anything is broken, but we need to take him in for stitches on that cheekbone and a couple of X-rays.” Whoever was speaking sounded like they were talking up from the bottom of a barrel of water. “He’s going to be one sore cowboy for a couple of weeks.”

  Then he heard a voice screamin’. “Turn me loose. That’s my daddy and he’s hurt and I need to talk to him and you better let me go or I’ll kick you in the shins again.”

  Jace heard Tilly’s voice and forced himself to sit up so that she’d know he was okay. It hurt like hell and two clowns helped him to his feet. If his ankle was only badly bruised, he damn sure never wanted to have a broken one. And that was minor compared to his ribs and cheekbone. And where in the hell was his hat?

  The crowd was on their feet, screaming and chanting his name. He wiped the blood from his cheek and scanned the stands for Tilly but couldn’t find her. Had he imagined her hollering?

  Then suddenly she was beside him, her arm around his waist. “Lean on me. Me and Mama will take care of you.”

  “Little girl, you can’t possibly go in the ambulance with him,” the paramedic said.

  “I’m goin’ and there’s nothin’ you can do about it,” Tilly told him.

  “She’s my daughter,” Jace said, pride in his voice even though he could hardly stand all the pain in his body. “I wouldn’t cross her if I was you.”

  The ambulance was waiting at the end of the arena, which wasn’t far, but he was more than ready to sit down—until he saw Carlene’s ashen face and stiffened his spine. “I’m fine, darlin’. Just a little dustup.”

  “We’re takin’ him for stitches and X-rays,” the paramedic said.

  “We’ll meet you at the hospital,” Carlene said. “Come on, Tilly. We’ll follow them and get there at the same time.”

  Tilly shook her head. “I’m ridin’ with him. He needs me to hold his hand.”

  “Please,” Jace said. “I really do need her.”

  “I’ll be right there to keep her in the waiting room,” Carlene said.

  Tilly stepped up on the running board and sat down on the narrow bench. “You do what you got to do.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The paramedic frowned.

  Jace stretched out on the gurney and someone closed the doors. It was only a fifteen-minute trip from Happy to Tulia and they made it in ten minutes. Tilly held his hand the whole way.

  They wheeled him into the emergency room and right on back to a room and Tilly still did not let go of his hand. When the nurse told her that she should go sit in the waiting room, she shot her a dirty look and said, “My aunt Kasey and aunt Lila are takin’ care of my mama. I’m takin’ care of my daddy, and I’m not leavin’.”

  “I’m going to be fine, sweetheart,” Jace told Tilly. “I’ve fallen off bulls before and got hurt a lot more than this time.”

  “Promise?” Her chin quivered. “Pinky swear?”

  He stuck up a hand and she locked her pinky finger with his.

  “Okay, I believe you because when you promise, you do what you say.”

  The doctor peeked around the curtain. “Hear the bull got the best of you, Jace?”

  “Yep, Doc.”

  “And he’s a lucky bull,” Tilly said.

  “How’s that, young lady?” The doctor set about cleaning the cut on Jace’s cheek.

  “He’s still alive. I wish I could’ve shot the sorry sucker,” Tilly said.

  “This Kasey’s daughter?” the doctor asked.

  “No, she belongs to me.” Jace smiled and then grimaced.

  “Well, she’s sure got Kasey’s spunk. What’s your name, child?”

  “I’m Matilda Rose. What’s your name?”

  “Doctor Jim is what all these Dawson kids call me. I reckon you can too.”

  “Pleased to meet you. Can you fix my daddy?” she asked softly.

  “Looks like we can use some glue and strips this time rather than stitches,” Doctor Jim said. “Our EMT didn’t think the ribs or ankle was broken, but I’ll feel better if we take X-rays. Should have you ready to go in a couple of hours. And, Matilda Rose, you cannot go to radiology with him.”

  She glared at the doctor.

  He didn’t blink.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll wait right here, then.”

  “Deal,” the doctor said. “And if you’d like, we can even let your mama or Jace’s mama wait with you.”

  “I’d like Granny Hope better,” Tilly said. “Mama don’t do too good when there’s blood on someone that she likes a lot.”

  “You think…” Every word made Jace’s ribs and face hurt worse. “That she…” He managed to fill his lungs. “Likes me a lot?”

  “You better check him for one of them cussion things, Doctor Jim. He’s talkin’ crazy.”

  “Oh, yeah? What makes you think that?”

  “If a kid like me knows that my mama likes him, then he ought to know too,” she said.

  “You are right.” Doctor Jim smiled. “I’ll check him real good.”

  The doctor motioned toward the nurse. “Let’s get some strips on that cut to hold it together and then we’ll get him down to X-ray,” the doctor said as he deftly cleaned the cut on his cheek and applied several strips. “I’ll be back as soon as we know something. I expect he’ll need some crutches for a few days and lots of ice packs.”

  “T-bone or sirloin?” Jace asked, glad that Doc Jim was able to take care of the gash on his face without shots. He’d always been the biggest baby of the three Dawson kids when it came to anything to do with needles.

  “Frozen peas work even better and you don’t waste a good steak.” The doctor pulled back the curtain to leave. “Evenin’, Hope. Is the whole family in the waiting room?”

  “All but Brody and we’ve got him on speed dial,” she answered. “What’s the verdict?”

  “Got the face fixed. Don’t think there will be much of a scar. He’ll have a big bruise and one black eye for sure, maybe two. He’s about to leave for X-rays and then I’ll know more but I’m thinkin’ nothing is broken. Think you can keep him off bulls and broncs now?”

  “I’ll do that
, Doctor Jim,” Tilly declared. “Granny, you can sit here with me.”

  As they were rolling him out of the room, Jace looked back at Tilly. She held Hope’s hand and waved at him with the other one.

  “She called me Daddy.” He whispered even if it did hurt like hell.

  Lila, Kasey, Nash, three kids, and Valerie surrounded Carlene in the emergency room waiting area but she felt like she was in a vacuum and all the oxygen was slowly evaporating. She paced the floor from one end to the other and back again, wondering if she should demand the right to push through those doors so she could be with her daughter.

  “He’ll be fine,” Valerie said, but her tone said that she didn’t know if she was trying to convince Carlene or herself. “This is crazy. He’s taken a fall dozens of times and never gotten hurt beyond a bruise or two. Brody was a different story. He’s had a broken arm and a cracked collarbone.”

  “Just hope that he doesn’t have a concussion and think y’all are married,” Nash teased.

  He didn’t look at the moon. He forgot the last thing in his good luck ritual. Carlene wanted to hit something. The vending machine would do just fine. She started toward it and stopped. That would just break her hand and she’d have a lot of explaining to do.

  Emma’s little chin quivered. “Is my uncle Jace goin’ to die?”

  “No, baby.” Valerie picked her up and hugged her tightly. “Doctor Jim is going to fix him right up and we’ll probably take him home tonight, but he won’t be doin’ much ridin’ for a while.”

  “I’ll ride for him,” Emma declared.

  “Not until you are a lot older,” Kasey told her.

  “Screw it,” Carlene muttered as she headed toward the admitting desk.

  Before she reached it, Hope pushed through the doors with Tilly right beside her. “He’s back from X-ray and nothing is broken or cracked, but he’s goin’ to be really bruised up and sore.”

  “And he’s really mad because they had to cut his boot off.” Tilly went straight to her mother and wrapped her arms around her waist. “But I told him that I’d give him my birthday boots.”

  Hope dabbed at her eyes. “Sweet kid y’all got there, Carlene.”