Loving the Broken Man (The Cowboys of Katydid Farm Book 3)

by Sam E. Kraemer

  "How would you feel if a guy you knew showed up at your significant other's home behind your back and propositioned him or her?" Danny snapped.

  "WHOA! I did NOT proposition Jason. I just wanted to try to find a friend back here because those assholes at the barn aren't very nice. I've got my own boyfriend, okay? I have my own set of problems that go with the territory as well," Henry stated.

  They both looked at Rocky who shrugged. "I don't have a significant other, so I can't really offer an opinion on the matter. I'd guess if y'all respect each other it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

  Dan chuckled. Jase had agreed to marry him, so really Henry wasn't a threat. He turned to the kid and smiled. "Okay, no hard feelin’s. Actually, thanks to you, Jase and I agreed to get married, so thank you for any part you had in that," Dan announced. Both men hugged him, and they all made their way to the barn. They had a long day ahead of them but Dan was relieved.

  As Danny ran the portable scales Matt had hired for the day, he thought about how his life had come to the point where he found himself engaged to Jason Langston.

  "Sean, what do you mean you don't want me to come back?" Dan asked, looking at the handsome, strawberry blonde with blue-green eyes who he'd been seeing for a year.

  The move to Roanoke had been a surprise, but Danny knew one had to be prepared to move for the job, so he didn't hold it against the older man. They'd met when Dan went to a used car lot in Holloway to buy a truck after his old one had died on him. They'd hit it off and Sean had taken him for lunch. Danny really liked the guy.

  He watched as Sean checked his watch before he looked at Dan with a slick smile. "Sugar, we had a good time, right? I mean, we never promised anything permanent, and I've met a guy here. He just lives a few miles away, and we have a lot more in common than you and me. It was great, Danny, really. You're a fantastic lover, but we need to move on."

  Danny was hurt, but not because he didn’t actually love the guy. He felt he wasn't good enough after Sean had pointed out they had nothing in common, but he'd learned, or he hoped he had, one didn't know what they had in common with people until they got to know them…outside of being in bed together It was what he and Jase had done, even if Dan had fucked it up, but he had a second chance he wouldn't neglect.

  When Matt walked over to where they'd rigged the gates and chute to run the cattle over the scale, Dan saw a smile on his face. He glanced out to the field to see Tim on Chester, who was still a good horse despite his age, helping Josh and Hank Sachs cut out cows which had mingled with the herd.

  "How they weighin'?" Matt asked.

  "Average, six-thirty-three. What you expected?" Dan asked as he recorded the figures on the manifest for the truck driver taking the feeders to Wythe County Auction for the feeder calf sale.

  Matt laughed and chucked Dan on the shoulder. "Shoulda shipped a month ago. This program, Dan, I couldn't do this without you and that man out there on that damn horse," he stated as he pointed to Tim who was directing a couple of the younger cowboys from the Katydid.

  The love on Matt's face was something Dan could feel to his bones when he looked at Jason. It was something Dan could actually understand. He turned to his boss and smiled. "Is it customary to buy an engagement ring for your male fiancé?"

  Matt chuckled. "I didn't even think about it but…wait a minute. Did you and Jason…?" Matt asked.

  Dan felt his face heat, but he gave an enthusiastic nod. "I asked him and he said yes. You're over that bullshit jealousy thing, right? I damn well don't wanna quit my job, but I can guarantee ya, Jase will win over you, Matthew," he stated.

  His boss cuffed him on the shoulder again and smiled. "I was a damn fool, as Timmy reminded me a few times. Sorry about that, Danny. Congratulations. Can I tell Tim?"

  Dan nodded as another ten head were driven up to the scale. He checked the numbers and wrote it down as Matt hurried out of the little trailer where Danny was working.

  He watched as Matt flagged Tim over to the fence before the bull rider pulled the blonde down and whispered to him. He saw Tim with a mile-wide grin as he pumped his fist in the air, bringing a matching smile to Danny's face. In that moment, life was very good. Dan took out his cell and sent a text to Jase.

  I know you're busy, but can you come over to the ranch after you're done? I told Tim and Matt about our engagement. Should I get you a ring, baby?

  Danny laughed as he hit the send and went back to work. He really wanted to tell the whole world about the fact he was going to marry Jason Langston, but based on the look on Tim Moran's face, he wouldn't have to tell anybody because the man was on the phone spreading the word and planning a party. One thing Dan knew about his other boss…he loved a party.

  Danny’s phone buzzed as another ten feeders ran up the ramp to the scale. He double counted them to ensure it was the same number so the average would remain the same, and he recorded the total weight in the book and on the manifest as the cattle were loaded into a large eighteen-wheeler with the large cattle trailer. He picked up the smartphone and hit the message button, seeing it was from Jase.

  Ring? I only want one ring from you, Danny, and it's the permanent one. As soon as Kayley's done with practice, we'll be there. Should I bring anything?

  Dan laughed because it was typical of the man he loved. Jason fit into the family so well because he was one to want to help…with anything.

  Jason Langston had a career Danny Johnson couldn’t begin to understand, and the latest blow dealt by the company which had furloughed Jase was awful, but it wasn't enough to hold Jason down. Dan knew Jase wouldn't have a problem finding another job, so he had no worries about money. Besides, Dan made a good salary that could support the three of them for a while if necessary. Money didn't really matter to him at all because he'd loved the man since Jase was an eighteen-year-old kid who didn't know his ass from apple butter.

  The Katydid brought many of them together…Matt and Tim, Jon and Mick, and even him and Jase. It was never in the same way, but there was something about the little farm that was almost like magic. Love seemed to grow there, and it made Dan laugh because he wasn't a sappy asshole, but even he had to admit…the Katydid bred a special kind of love.

  They'd all come from different backgrounds, and on the surface, people likely would have never put them together as couples, but they'd shown everyone…they were meant to be and it was all because they'd met at Katydid Farm.

  Epilogue

  Jase was standing by the casket at the Curtis Funeral Home in town, looking around at the crowd. It was surprising, really, because he was an only child, but that didn't mean he didn't have a family. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his best friend from his teen years, Savannah Stanford and her wife standing next to him. "How are ya, Jase?" Vanna asked. How was he?

  Jase and Danny got married at Katydid Farm in Miss Katie's backyard. It was a special place to them, and Miss Katie was thrilled to throw them a wedding with Jeri Collins' help. Of course, Tim and Mickey were involved, along with Kayley, Meggie, and Felipe. Pastor Stu had performed the ceremony and it was beautiful, as were all of the guests who came in support.

  Jase was pretty sure there wasn't another gay wedding in the county that had two flower girls and six groomsmen. Mickey was his best man along with Henry Sachs and Terry Wells, who'd changed his name when the adoption was granted. Megan had elected to take the Warren name so it was 'even', as she told everyone. Jon and Mick still hadn't taken the walk, but they were very happy nonetheless.

  Danny had his brother, Zach as his best man, along with Ryan and Rocky Collins-Moran as his other groomsmen because his dear friend and AA sponsor, Pastor Stuart Manning, was performing the ceremony.

  It was cowboy boots, blue jeans, and western shirts, along with hay bales for seating, but it was what Jase and Dan wanted. The flowers were beautiful, and Tim, Katie, and Jeri cooked all the food, which was incredible. Some of Dan's friends from group, including his sponsor from Provo Canyon in Utah
, Curtis Armstrong, came to celebrate with them, thus a dry reception, but nobody complained. It seemed everyone was excited to celebrate a good start to a wonderful life with the newlyweds.

  A month after the ceremony, Jase got a call from General Robert Stanford. It was a surprise, but it was welcome.

  "Jason, it's Rob Stanford. How are you, son? I'm sorry we couldn't make it to your wedding, but you and Savannah seem to be on the same time clock. I know we missed you at her and Andy's wedding, but we'll all plan to get together at Christmas. Vanna told me you got laid-off, and it's actually perfect because I have a friend who's looking for someone to head up his cyber-surveillance department. He's a defense contractor and has a contract with the Pentagon, but don't hold that against him. Anyway, he asked me to feel you out and if you're interested, maybe you give him a call?" the General suggested.

  "Sir, I'm so happy to hear that. I'd appreciate it if you'd give me his name and information. I'm having a hard time finding work that doesn't require me to travel or move. We have an eight-year-old, and we don't want to take her out of school," he reminded.

  "Oh, I remember Kayley. His name is Darryl Jeffers, but he goes by DB. He helped Matt and Tim find Ryan when he was…" the man began explaining the connection. After they hung up, Jase called the man and they had a two-hour discussion.

  At the end of it, Jase had a job offer, which was contingent on his ability to obtain a security clearance and pass a drug test. The drug test was a cinch, but he worried if anything his father had said about him was in a file somewhere that would come back to haunt him. He'd been upfront with Mr. Jeffers that he was married to a man, but the other man didn't seem to make a fuss about it.

  Two weeks later, Jase found himself sitting in a conference room at the Pentagon listening to some very high officials in various branches of the military explain security breaches they'd experienced regarding sensitive data. Jase assessed the situation, hacked into their mainframe, and showed them where the system was weak and how to fix it. His boss, DB as he was told to call him, gave him a very nice bonus for his quick work

  Jase and Danny planned the honeymoon they'd put off after the wedding, using the proceeds from the bonus to take Kayley to Disney World. Meggie had gone a few years before and couldn't stop talking about it so Kayley just had to have the experience. They had a wonderful time, just the three of them. It was a great way to kick-off their new lives together.

  "I'm doing okay, Vanna," he told her, reaching down to touch her growing stomach. They'd asked him to be a sperm donor for them, but he had to decline out of deference to his family. He never wanted Kayley to feel like she was fighting someone for his affection. She was his chosen daughter, plain and simple.

  Savannah and Andy had decided to go to a sperm bank and use an anonymous donor because they didn't want to put anyone else on the spot after Jason explained it, and they were very excited about the upcoming birth of their new baby. They'd chosen to make the sex a surprise, and Jase really was happy for them.

  "She was staying here with you after your father died, right?" Andrea asked. She was his other best friend, and she'd been wonderful to him over the years as well. He truly loved them both.

  His father's death hadn't been at the hands of enemy combatants, but rather at his own. The scars of war had really done a number on James Langston, and the fact he had a queer son who had desecrated the sanctity of marriage sent Jase’s father into a downward spiral. The Master Sergeant had put his service revolver into his mouth and blew out his brains. His mother was at work at the commissary on base at Ft. Hood where they'd been transferred after Langston's second training deployment. She'd been the one to come home to find him dead in his old leather chair in their living room. Jase always hated it for her, but it firmed his resolve that his father was a heartless son-of-a-bitch.

  Jase didn't try to contact his mother while his father was at home, but he'd sent her a wedding invitation after he'd found their address by less than legal means in the Pentagon's database. She'd sent him a gift card to Crate & Barrel with a "no need for thanks" note at the bottom of a card. He got the hint.

  When James killed himself, she called Jase to break the news to him, and he and Danny took Kayley to Texas for the funeral. The Army labeled it an accident so as to save itself and Jase's mother embarrassment that a man who was so obviously unhinged he could be sent over the edge by a wedding invitation, had served as a training coordinator in the Middle East. His mother would receive his father's pension, and that was really all Jase cared about because his parents only had meager savings.

  His mother, of course, couldn't live on Post anymore, and Danny, Jase's wonderful husband, had talked her into moving back to Holloway, Virginia, to be near them. He'd said, "Kayley would love to have a grandmother, Miss Virginia." Jase’s mother looked down at the eight-year-old with the gorgeous eyes and blonde waves, and she was as sunk as Jase had been when he met the little girl.

  "Danny and Kayley were the ones who talked her into coming here. I mean, look at them. How the hell could you turn them down," Jase stated as he pointed to his handsome husband and his thirteen-year-old daughter who was speaking with Rocky and Ryan, both home from their colleges for the funeral.

  All of the kids had grown up. Ryan was at Virginia Tech, having chosen to stay close to home. Rocky was at Duke on a basketball scholarship, having grown to be a very large man…taller than Matt Collins and Jason Johnson (he'd taken his husband's name when they married because he didn't want to be known by his father's name. The man meant nothing to him.).

  Terry Wells was in California at UCLA double majoring in Design Engineering and Art History while on a football scholarship. Jase knew Jon and Mickey missed him, but they were thrilled he planned to go to law school to follow in his father and grandfather's footsteps.

  Megan Warren was in junior high school in Dillwyn. She was mainstreaming, and she was thriving. She worked hard at school, and Jase knew she had lots of friends, which wasn't a surprise at all. How could anyone not love Meggie?

  Mickey had never contacted his father or his half-sister, having decided he had enough love in his life with Jon and the kids. He didn't have a particularly good opinion of his father, so he didn't want the man to tarnish the wonderful life they were living.

  "We're really sorry, Jase, that you lost her. We know you were all happy. It's a shame it ended so soon," Vanna told him as she hugged him. Five years had really been a short period of time, but who'd have ever thought his mother would have dropped dead at work from a ruptured aneurysm? She worked at the town library, for crap’s sake.

  "Yes, it was quick, but I wouldn't have wanted her to suffer through anything. Hell, Katie had her fair share of shit when she was diagnosed, but she's too tough to give into cancer, bless her," Jase stated as he looked over at the woman who'd been like a mother to him when his own couldn't. When they'd found out about her breast cancer diagnosis, they'd all pitched in to help around Katydid so she could concentrate on getting well. It hadn't exactly gone well in the beginning.

  "Jason, what the hell are ya doin’, son?" Katie Simmons asked when she walked into her kitchen at the Katydid to find Jase cleaning out her refrigerator. Word had circulated through town about her diagnosis and surgery, and the neighbors had dropped off casseroles, salads, and desserts. Jase put what he could in the freezer, but he had to clean out some things to make room in the fridge.

  "Um, some of your church friends brought by some food for you and Josh, Aunt Katie. I'm just trying to make room for it. Some of this stuff can go," he offered as he pointed to the table.

  She walked over and perused some of the things he'd placed on it before they found their way into the garbage for her beloved compost heap that fertilized her garden. She picked up an ugly ceramic pot and took off the lid. Jase had emptied it out, finding grease inside it which he'd washed down the garbage disposal. He was trying to decide about the ugly pot.

  "Where's my grease?" she snapped at him. The fire in he
r eyes took him aback.

  "I, uh, I washed it down the sink, Miss Katie. I thought you'd just forgotten to throw it out," he explained, slowly backing away from the redhead. She was clearly pissed, and while she didn't have her long, red hair any longer because of the chemo treatments, she still had the fire in her soul.

  "GET OUTTA MY KITCHEN!" she yelled. He didn't question it because she meant business, and there was a block of kitchen knives on the counter next to where she stood. He apologized after she got over being mad, and she explained to him the many uses for good, clean, bacon grease, teaching him many recipes as she went through the ravages of fighting her cancer.

  Jase took her to the clinic in Blacksburg for her treatment and the two of them sat eating popsicles while she spouted out ingredients for some of the dishes she made with love for her family. She told him she was handing down recipes to another member of her family, which touched him deeply. He valued that special time with her. When she was declared cancer free, they had a big party at the Katydid.

  He watched Katie wrap her arm around Meggie's shoulders as she spoke with her and Jon. It was nice to have family there to support him.

  He felt a hand on his arm and turned to see his husband of five years smiling at him. "How you doin', babe? Stu wondered if you were ready for the service to start," Dan asked with kindness in his eyes. Jase had been there when Dan's mother, Dottie, had passed, and he knew how grateful Dan must have been because Jase didn't think he'd have gotten through it without the man he loved.

  "Yeah, I guess we better. I got my ticket this afternoon to take her to Texas where Dad's buried. I spoke with the man in charge of the cemetery, and they said they didn't give a care if I sprinkled her ashes there or not. The airlines told me I had to check them," Jase told him with a little laugh. It was fucking ludicrous, but it was the way in which the world operated, he supposed. Logic never played into anything.