Rocky Mountain Hero

by Audra Harders

  “You’re an amazing young lady, Melanie.” Her father stretched out his hand to her. “Our prayers were answered every day God kept you safe. I never thought we’d have the opportunity to meet Jason, much less call him grandson.”

  Parents try hard to do the right thing. Wasn’t that what Grace had said? Melanie knew her decisions hadn’t always been the right ones, but she always knew Jesus loved her enough to help her over the rough spots. He had kept them safe despite her foolish pride that had kept her from forgiving. From admitting her own fault.

  Jesus loved her.

  Her parents loved her.

  Jason loved her, too.

  Melanie grabbed her dad’s hand at the same time she flipped her palm up and clutched her mom’s. Nine years of bitterness and hurt flowed out from her heart. Nine years lost.

  “I love you.” She barely uttered the words for the lump lodged in her throat.

  “We love you too, baby.” Her dad pulled her into his embrace. “Please forgive us.”

  All she could do was nod. She hugged him hard, fresh tears pouring from her eyes as she breathed his familiar scent. Her mother came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her. They huddled around the table with the healing power of tears flowing freely.

  Go. A soft breeze blew in through the cabin from an open window.

  Melanie sniffed and frowned. Go where? Go home? Go with her folks? Nothing made much sense, yet everything mattered.

  Go. She looked up at her mom.

  “Come home with us.”

  Go.

  Melanie pushed back from the table. “I have to go. Can you watch Jason? I’ll be right back.”

  She grabbed a handful of napkins for her nose and shot out the door, running down the path as fast as she could go.

  Chapter Twenty

  People milled around the open field as trucks backed up and loaded animals. Melanie smiled. The barbecue over, the auction a success.

  And she’d missed it all.

  She jogged along the fence to the gate and followed the path to the ranch-house kitchen. The door stood open, and voices filtered from the back of the house. In a bedroom with forest green walls, white trim and plaid curtains lay Gabe in a huge pine-framed bed surrounded by familiar faces.

  “Hey, you. We were wondering how Bud came out of the scuffle.” Gabe grinned, his eye turning black and a wide bruise marked his cheek. “Is he okay?”

  “A little rattled, but he’ll live to tell the tallest tale of any of his friends.” She smiled back at Gabe. “How are you?”

  “Little banged up. Nothing to worry about.”

  Jennifer bent toward her. “Pulled muscles, bruised back and probably a cracked rib. But he’ll live. Dad said his lungs are clear and all the fingers and toes move.” She grinned. “You can’t keep ornery down. Lucky for him that bull was polled and never stepped on him.”

  “Ha.” Gabe coughed. “I could take down a dozen bulls.”

  “Let’s leave the bulls to Nick, okay?” Grace scolded. “One crazy son in the family is all I need.”

  “So, did we scare the living daylights out of your parents?” Martin sat in a chair beside a beautifully carved dresser. “Are they ready to run back to the city?”

  Her new friends surrounded the bed of her fallen hero. She locked on Gabe, his dimple still evident even through the bruising. He’d risked his life for her son. “Thanks doesn’t say enough, Gabe. I know Jason wouldn’t be alive if not for you.”

  His eyes darkened. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to Jason. None of us would.”

  Exactly. Dad was right. Curiosity drove Jason. What if someone wasn’t around next time? What if someone got hurt, or worse? No, a working ranch was no place for an adventurous, curious eight-year-old boy. “God bless you all. Jason and I will be leaving in the morning with my parents. I just wanted to see how Gabe was holding up and tell you what a wonderful few weeks this has been. Thank you.”

  “Melanie, how about—” Gabe began.

  “Your parents are going to love Jason. And it’s a good idea he spends time with them. Get to know them. They are his grandparents.” Grace offered a kind smile and a hug. “Make your peace. You all deserve it.”

  Her shoulders relaxed. “I wouldn’t have realized it was time without you.”

  “Melanie,” Gabe began again. He looked at his parents and they looked at him. Silence hung in the air for the stretch of a long second.

  “Jennifer, could you help me a second?” Grace motioned toward the door. “Martin and I have some stuff left over that needs to go.”

  Martin frowned at his wife. “What stuff?”

  “Just come with me. Let’s go give Jen the box of leftover pie for her dad.” She held out her hand and he grasped it. “Melanie, come back and visit us soon.”

  “Oh.” Martin winked at Melanie. “It’s always a good time for pie. Yes, come back soon.”

  As they filed out the door, Melanie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Subtle.”

  “As a freight train.” Gabe lifted his fingers, the longing in his brown eyes obvious.

  She stepped up beside the bed and took his hand. He grasped hers tight. “We’re going to miss you.”

  Gabe stared at her. “We’re?”

  “You know Jason thinks you hang the stars. He’ll be talking about nothing but you and the ranch for months.”

  His thumb moved over her wrist. “Jason?”

  “I’ll miss all of you.”

  “All of us?”

  She bit her lip and frowned, her thumb returning the caress on the top of his hand. His skin was so warm, rough. So real. “You. I’m going to miss you, Gabe.”

  “Don’t go.”

  She stared at the gash across his thumb. His suntanned arm now pale and covered with bruises. His fingers tightened around hers.

  “Melanie. I don’t want you to leave.” The warm knuckle of his other hand urged her chin up. Moisture glistened in his deep, brown eyes. “Please stay.”

  Her heart leapt in response, yet what was the answer? Just a couple days ago, she didn’t have a clue what to do with her life. Now she’d been given a second chance for an interview for a great job, her family restored, and the man she’d fallen in love with asking her to stay.

  It was all too much, too soon.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  Silence hung thick. He squeezed her fingers and nodded.

  “Your truck is in the barn.” His gravelly voice tore at her heart. “The gate is always open.”

  “I’ll remember that.” Not trusting to say anything else, she let go of his hand and hurried from the room. She slipped down the hallway and out the back office.

  She grabbed her keys off the wall before she closed the door.

  The crisp scent of cool evenings tinged the air as golden-leafed aspen trees dotted the slopes. Bales of hay sat stacked in meadows. Herds of antelope bolted across freshly cut fields to scavenge all they could before the snow flew.

  Gabe wandered along the path leading to the river. He protected his tender ribs against the boughs of the scruff pine in his way. He’d done his share of haying and mending fence. He’d wandered about and watched the grass grow. Funny how slowly time moved. By this time most years, he’d wake up one day to discover summer gone. All he’d done over the last weeks was wake up and dread another long day.

  The path ended at the river. He followed the bank, knowing he’d end up at the jut in the river—the place where Jason had caught his fish. Gabe had experienced many happy times here on the river, but that afternoon ranked the best. As he drew closer, he saw his dad sitting on a broad rock.

  “Catch anything?” He took a seat on a fallen log beside Martin.

  “Nope, not even trying.” Martin looked up and down the river. “Just came here to sit and think.”

  As his dad studied the water, Gabe noticed the stoop to his back and gray about his temples. Dad had always been larger than life. Since his heart attack, he’d slowed down. Gabe
grabbed a pebble off the ground and whipped it into the water.

  His dad looked real, vulnerable.

  “Time to start thinking about culling timber and cutting firewood for the winter. I’ll go into town and have the blade on the log splitter sharpened.”

  “Uh-huh.” Martin nodded.

  “With all the extra livestock gone, we’ll be able to bring the cattle in and take them down the canyon to winter.”

  “You’ve done a good job with this ranch, Gabe,” Martin broke in, as he continued to look out over the water. “You’ve had good ideas for changes. The Circle D is in a good place.”

  Gabe stared at the back of his dad’s head. He’d waited so long to hear a word of praise from his father. Now, he didn’t know what to say.

  “When my granddad homesteaded this land, he fought God and nature every step of the way to give the rest of us a good home. We moved rocks, strung fence, built a home. None of my brothers wanted to stay. I never wanted to leave. Lucky for me, your mom liked it up here, too.”

  Melanie’s laugh echoed through his head. Gabe shook away the memory, only to have her smile float about in its place. He rubbed his fingertips together, the feel of her hand ingrained in his skin.

  “The land gets in your blood. When you three boys were growing up, I always thought you’d be the one to stay.”

  God, the land, the community held Gabe in place. Where else would he go? Dad was right. He wanted to carry on tradition. He wanted to pass the Circle D down to the next generation of Davidsons. If there was a next generation. “I’m doing the best I can.”

  “Yes you are, son.” Martin leaned back and faced Gabe, the lines in his face deeper, but the light in his eyes remained just as bright. “I’m glad you stayed.”

  The lump in this throat returned with a vengeance. “I’m glad, too.”

  Martin reached out and patted Gabe’s thigh. The old man grinned. “The Scripture says there comes a time for a man to leave his mother and father and cling to a wife. What God joins together let no man pull asunder.”

  Dad had proposed to Mom on the ranch. As she told it, he chose the middle of a branding party to ask her to marry him. As he told it, all he did was ask her to wear his brand. He meant on her jacket; she thought forever. Who was he to argue?

  Gabe shook his head. “Yeah, you and Mom have been a team ever since.”

  Still holding firmly to Gabe, Martin squeezed. “I ain’t talkin’ about me and Mom. I’m talkin’ about you.”

  Gabe stilled. After a long moment, he looked over and his dad nailed him with a long, deep look, one he’d never before shared with his father.

  “I had to drive clean to Pueblo to convince your mom I was the man for her.” Martin never broke eye contact. “She’s been worth every second we’ve shared together.”

  Gabe listened to the rush of water in the river. Soon the frost would settle and the ice would collect around the rocks. The winters in Hawk Ridge were long, cold and lonely.

  “Gabriel, Ecclesiastics promises there’s a time for everything. Is it your time?”

  His time had come and gone weeks ago when he let Melanie leave. The biggest mistake of his life. He stood up. “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too, son.”

  The trek back up the path didn’t take nearly as long as his careful descent to the river. Catching the angle of the sun, he estimated maybe an hour of light left in the day. No matter, he’d driven up and down the canyon since sitting in a baby seat. He’d find Melanie, and he’d find her tonight.

  And he’d tell her he loved her.

  As he pushed the last bough out of his way, he stopped dead in his tracks. A bright yellow pickup truck stood parked in front of the ranch house. Familiar voices filtered through the window and Fletcher barked at the door. Gabe took a cautious step, then another. Finally convinced it wasn’t a dream, he strode across the lot as fast as his mending rib allowed.

  The door opened and Fletcher bounded out, Jason Hunter on his heels. The dog had a Frisbee in his mouth, and no way was the boy going to get it. Grace stepped out, a smile as bright as the sun on her face.

  Finally, Melanie came through the door. Dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, she looked like a tourist who’d lost her way. Gabe knew better. She was exactly where she should be.

  She saw him. His stomach knotted as she stilled. A slow, wide smile spread across her face as she turned from Grace and started down the path through the yard toward him. They met at the front fender of her truck, the fender he’d fixed.

  Gabe just stared at her.

  “Aren’t you going to say hi?”

  “Hi.”

  A shadow crossed her face. Her eyes darted around the pens and sheds. “Um, is it all right for me to be here?”

  A grin broke across his face and the pressure eased across his chest. “Yes, ma’am. Now I don’t have to drive to Pueblo.”

  She tilted her head and frowned. “Pueblo?”

  Shaking away her questions, he checked her over from head to foot. “What are you doing here?”

  She waved a set of keys in the air. “Just picked up the keys from my landlord.”

  The keys to the first cabin on the path. Melanie and Jason’s cabin. Blood rushed through his veins carrying anticipation he’d never felt before. “Landlord?”

  Melanie closed the gap between them. She took him by the hand, her soft thumb caressing his stiff knuckles. He captured her slim fingers in his palm.

  “When Jason and I left, we spent time with my mom and dad. Broken bridges take time to mend, but we’re on the right track. We drove to Montrose and I got the job.”

  His breath caught. “Melanie, I—”

  She shook her head and placed her finger on his lips. “On the way home from Montrose, Jason and I got honest with ourselves. We didn’t want to live there. So I talked to Mr. Leon about filling in for Shayna, and Jennifer asked if I could fill in for her at the clinic office while she’s in Denver. School starts in about a week and Jason is enrolled.”

  Oh Lord…You’ve brought them back. Gabe didn’t dare say a word. Colors came alive as he stared at her columbine blue eyes and rosy cheeks. The scent of lemons filled him, and all he wanted to do was bury his nose in her hair.

  She waved the keys again. “I have a great cabin to live in until I find something else.” Her smile dimmed as she kicked at a stone on the ground. “Jason and I were miserable.” She looked up at him, her voice a stumble of hesitation. “Gabe, I was miserable. The city swallowed me whole. And I missed you something terrible.”

  He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace. The hole in his life closed. Melanie filled him to overflowing. He ignored the pain in his ribs as he squeezed her close. “Missing you doesn’t begin to describe it. When you left, I waited for the hurt to stop. It never did. It just became a big, black hole. Please don’t leave again. I love you.”

  She rubbed her nose in his sleeve, the gesture releasing a flood of memories. He held his breath waiting for her response. They stood there, holding each other as the dusk grew around them.

  Pushing back just far enough to meet his gaze, Melanie cleared her throat. “I was scared. If I left the security of my job, how would I take care of Jason? But then again, how could I stay when my heart wanted something else? I prayed like I’d never prayed before.” Moisture misted her eyes as she smiled. “I love you, Gabe.”

  “I’m glad you came home.” He lowered his head and touched her lips. Her arms tightened around his waist and she kissed him back, her lips warm and soft. Barking rang behind them. He lifted his head and saw Jason running up.

  Gabe tucked Melanie close and waved at Jason. “Hey Bud, glad you came back.”

  Jason grinned and plowed into them with a big hug. “Mom said something about a Labor Day party. When’s that gonna be?”

  Epilogue

  She couldn’t eat another bite.

  In the yard behind the church, the Labor Day picnic drew folks from all over the c
ounty. Ranchers and farmers talked harvest while the ladies arranged desserts on tables beneath the church eaves. Melanie sat at a table close to the toddler playground and waved to her boss, Elwood Leon. Great guy. Wanted her to take responsibility of the whole lawn and garden section of the store.

  Jennifer came up and perched on the edge of the table. “I’ll be back around Christmas. I don’t think I’ll have time off from class before that. I’ll see if I can’t bring Zac back with me for the holidays. I know Grace and Martin want to see him.”

  Melanie shot her a stern look. “Keep your mind on your studies. We’re not sending you to school to lollygag.”

  “You fit in this town way too well. Hawk Ridge has swallowed you alive.” Jennifer laughed. “Not to worry. I’m so not Zac’s type.”

  Melanie wrinkled her nose. “Glad to hear it. I’ll send you care packages.”

  Shayna moved into Melanie’s sun and shaded her face at the same time placing a bundle in her arms. “Would you hold Adam while I fix a plate?”

  “Just see if you can pry him away.” Melanie drew the blanket back and smiled at the baby in her arms. Only a week old and already held by every man, woman and child in Hawk Ridge. “Stick with me, Adam. I’ll split my ice cream with you.”

  “Thanks, Mel. RJ saved a place for me in line. C’mon, Jen, he’s at the back of the line, so it’s not like we’re cutting in.”

  Jen beamed. She pushed from the table. “We’ll be back.”

  They took off running toward the lanky cowboy who also decided to make Hawk Ridge his home. Melanie liked RJ. She thanked God for bringing dependable help for Gabe going into the winter months. He’d never admit it, but she knew Gabe appreciated the interest RJ took in the community. Gabe didn’t trust drifters.

  As if summoned by her thoughts, Gabe threaded through the crowd toward her, a strawberry cone in each hand. Would she ever get tired of watching that man walk? The lazy grin on his face warmed her clear down to her toes.