Cowgirl Coed (Redneck Debutante Series Book 4)

by Jenny Hammerle

  “Cup of coffee?” Mr. Baxter offered.

  “Did you make it?” Rachael asked skeptically.

  “No, Ginnie did.” He motioned towards Mrs. Baxter.

  “Then, yes,” Rachael took a seat with them. “I don’t know if he ever mentioned it, but I swear he tried to kill me one day with some gritty concoction he called coffee.”

  “These Baxter men aren’t known for their cooking skills.” Mrs. Baxter handed Rachael a mug of hot coffee, the sugar bowl, and creamer.

  “Could one of you run me back?”

  “I will.” Mr. Baxter proposed. “But first, Ginnie and I wanted to offer you and Travis the guest house out back. This summer and beyond. Whenever you need it- it’s yours.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Baxter. We appreciate that. I may stay at Aunt Margaret’s a bit this summer, too. Help her get back on her feet. I think I’d like to move Grace over here or there, so I can get back in to riding. She’s getting a little green.”

  “I think that’s a great idea. Just let us know where- and Travis can move her.”

  Rachael finished her coffee and set the mug in the kitchen sink. She fished in her bag and handed the Baxters the photographs. She knew the elopement had been a sore subject with Mrs. Baxter and not exactly the way she envisioned things for her son. To date, Mrs. Baxter had never brought it up. And that was okay with Rachael. She knew Travis well enough to know he’d spoken with them both since about their planned renewal of vows in June.

  Mrs. Baxter wiped her eyes and stood to embrace Rachael. “I may not always say it, but there’s never been any doubt in my mind that you were and always will be the right choice for our son. I love you, Rachael.”

  Rachael sniffled. She knew it, but the words were nice to hear. Mrs. Baxter had been a sounding board, and a voice of reason, for both Travis and Rachael when they were younger. It was nice to know that nothing that had transpired had diminished her love and affection for Rachael.

  Rachael passed through the family room and back porch working her way to the guest house. She had a small bag and some papers to gather. It didn’t take her long. Outside she glanced up at the bright Florida day and took a brief moment to appreciate the thick clouds, staggered cypress trees, and the beauty of the cattle grazing in the pastures surrounding the house. Rachael walked over to the board fence near the barn and smiled inwardly at the day she’d crossed that very pasture from Aunt Margaret’s barn to the Baxter’s barn, knowing that the cowboy she sought would be her future- would be her life.

  She heard the swooshing of boots through deep Bahia grass. The seed top made a sound against a pair of Wranglers and Rachael knew it was him. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I came to fetch my lovely wife.”

  “It’s a nice surprise, Travis.”

  “Surprise? I wouldn’t let anyone else bring you back. I got up at six o’clock to do it myself. You’re my responsibility Rachael and I don’t take it lightly. It’s been a long sleepless week with you down here and me up there. May is cold, even in the high-eighties, when your cowgirl is elsewhere. Mama showed me the pictures JJ gave you.”

  “Did you know?”

  “No, I didn’t. I’m glad I didn’t. I might have changed the meeting location. Messed it all up. I would’ve been afraid she was coming to prevent our wedding. It worked out though.”

  “Your parents have offered us the guest house on a more permanent basis.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “I might need to stay at Aunt Margaret’s at first. She will be released from the hospital at some point and when she does, she’ll need help.”

  “While I hate the idea of us being apart- at all. I understand.”

  “We won’t be apart. We’re married now. No fear of Aunt Margaret meeting you in the hall with a shotgun anymore.”

  “Well, put that way, it doesn’t matter where we live. It’ll be a summer of adventure.”

  “How?”

  “I always had plans for that hayloft. Now it seems I’ll get to follow-thru on those plans.”

  Rachael let that one comment slide.

  “And the barn. That one hay bale. The tack room. Yep, I only got to dream about it before.”

  Rachael tugged him along with her through the grass. “The grassy fields behind the barn. The creek,” he nodded his head at her. “Trail riding just took on a whole new meaning.”

  Rachael just giggled to herself. It was then she noticed the new truck out front. She stopped where she stood.

  “Is that a new truck? Like a sixty thousand dollar new truck?”

  The heavy duty GMC blazed a bright red in the sunlight. “Yep, it is. Black rims, blacked out lights, dark tint. Lift package. Tow kit. It’s got it all.”

  “Can we afford that truck?”

  “I sold the other one. To a friend.”

  “Who?”

  “Michael, for a thousand dollars. He’s working it off on the ranch.”

  “Sounds familiar, but no one pretty much gave me an expensive vehicle.”

  “I offered back then, and you said no. I can’t help it if you’re stubborn and proud.”

  Rachael narrowed her eyes at him. She opened the door to the truck. “Leather interior?”

  “It has all the bells and whistles.” Travis placed her bag in the backseat, closing the door. “Besides, your brother needed something to cheer him up. I sold him my truck. Your dad insured it for him and transferred the tag and title.”

  “What? No one did any of that for me!”

  “Times are different and your brother needed this. You can’t be mad at me for being nice.”

  “How can we afford this?”

  “I already paid for it. There’s no payment. Calf sales from last year.”

  Rachael pouted. She knew it was nice of Travis to have taken care of Michael the way he had, but the spoiled selfish side of her that rarely showed itself from her West Palm days had just peeked its nasty head out. She pushed it back down inside.

  “If you want a new vehicle, baby, all you have to do is tell me. We’ll go buy you one today.” He offered.

  “No, my Mustang is perfect. And I have the pride of knowing I paid for it myself.”

  “Okay, I’m just going on record as saying the offers stands.”

  “Nah ah, I’m fine.” Rachael considered everything and decided that she might want a new saddle and would address that a little later.

  “I knew you’d say that, which is why I got you these.” Travis handed Rachael a small box. She opened it and a set of gorgeous diamond earrings sparkled brilliantly back at her. Rachael saw that the gold jackets around each of them perfectly matched her eternity band.

  “I love them,” she put them on and flipped down the mirror to get a better look. “They look fantastic. I’ve never had a real pair of diamond earrings before.”

  “I know.”

  Travis fired up the engine and looped around, waving goodbye to his parents who appeared on the porch.

  “My visit surprised them. They had no idea about the truck.”

  “What did they say?”

  “Dad said I need to be saving for a house, not buying another fancy truck. What are your thoughts on that?”

  “You have three years.”

  “Three years. That’s a lot of calf sales.”

  Rachael could see Travis doing the mental math.

  “I may need four. Would four years be okay?”

  “I guess so,” Rachael laughed. “Most people save that long just for the down payment Travis. We don’t have to pay cash for a house. Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself or us. I’m fine with the apartment. When we graduate we can reassess the situation then.”

  “I don’t like the idea of that much debt.”

  “I know that. We could always take out a fifteen year mortgage.”

  “We could.” Rachael could see how just the mention of a fifteen year mortgage crawled all over Travis. He was old-school. He wanted zero debt. She understood that,
but he also needed to be realistic.

  “What happened with Wade?” Rachael asked.

  “He and Shannah are kind of okay. She’s wearing the ring; he graduates Thursday. His father isn’t doing well at all. He finally told my dad himself. It’s the first time I ever saw my dad cry. It’s his cousin. They’re like brothers. Always have been. Dad paid off the note and is driving up there tomorrow. I think they have a few trips planned.”

  “Sounds serious.”

  “In light of recent events, my dad doesn’t want any regrets.”

  “None of us want any.”

  Travis reached in his shirt pocket and handed Rachael the pictures she’d left with his parents. “I thought these were a nice surprise. Mama is having three blown up for the guest house living room wall.”

  “That’s sweet. We could live there, you know. For years. It’s two bedrooms. It doesn’t have to be a situation of us buying our own house and all that.”

  Travis laughed. “I love my parents, but living beside them indefinitely. Not a chance. Mama and Maysie will pop by and the next time we come home on break we’ll have a baby nursery.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You don’t know them like I do. There’ll never be a moments’ privacy. You can’t run around naked like you do.”

  “I never run around naked.” Rachael slapped his wrist.

  “No, maybe that was just a dream. Anyhow, I need a fifty acre radius. A separate driveway. I already have it picked out. There’s a nice creek and some fond memories of a curly haired blonde wearing low-rise panties and a sports bra.”

  “Okay, I like the idea of building a house. It doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t have to be now.”

  “Nope, it doesn’t.”

  “Your mother is right. She told me you had big ideas of what you needed to do before starting a family.”

  “If you only knew the half of it.”

  “Why don’t you tell me? We have three hours of driving. That may be just enough time.”

  Travis shared with Rachael his dreams of his own cattle empire. Twelve hundred head of Angus cattle in the next five years. He’d been working on it with Wade and it turned out that their hunting trip had been a buying trip as well. He had bought a dozen bulls in Missouri and driven them back himself. He had heifers saved back from last year and the two years before. He’d been branding everything and marking ears for three years total. Another four and he’d be well on his way. Rachael envied Wade and told Travis as much. She wanted to ride with him gathering cows. She wanted to be in the pens and learn to brand and tag heifers. He took it all in stride and agreed to start taking her along every time he worked cows.

  Maysie had always been more removed, along with Mrs. Baxter. Dance and horses had been their passion, leaving the cattle and the entire ranch to the menfolk. Rachael saw things very differently. She was his partner and he needed to make room for her in that department of his life. Maysie drew the line at working cows and helping out. Rachael wanted to be an everyday part of all that Travis did.

  Travis grinned over at her. “We’ll start by teaching you to rope.”

  “Yippee.”

  “You can practice on me.”

  “I’m serious about this Travis.”

  “I’m serious, too. I’ll run through the house and you can try to put the loop on me.” He was laughing so hard that even he turned red.

  “Travis Baxter, I’m going to learn all these things and you can either teach me or I’ll hire a ranch hand to teach me.”

  “I’ll teach you.” He stiffened. “Those are fighting words. I don’t want another guy teaching you much of anything.”

  “Well, then- you better get with the program.”

  “There’s that bossy girl I love.”

  Travis talked to her about his plans where school was concerned. He still liked to draw, but had learned to appreciate who he was and where he came from. Ranching was in his blood. Drawing was more of a hobby. He knew that now. Rachael still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. It changed on a nearly daily basis these days. “Teacher, bookkeeper, professional dancer. I could do anything.”

  One thing in particular caught Travis’s attention. “Professional dancer?”

  “You know, like for the Buccaneers or something like that.”

  “If you want to.” Travis considered the idea. “I don’t know why you’d wait until then. You’re a dancer. It’s what you do. Have you thought about trying out for the university?”

  “I hadn’t. It takes up a lot of time and I’d been really busy this year just trying to adjust to school and sorority life. But I guess that won’t be a problem anymore.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “The day before we got the call about Mom, I received a letter informing me that I was getting called to a Standards Hearing.” Travis frowned over at her. “I thought it was going to be for any number of things. Spray painting another sorority’s lawn and hedges, a naked guy in your room, posting unpanhellenic pictures of a certain girl we don’t like around campus in poster sized pics.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “Yep, well the nude pics put me over the edge. So, we made up twenty posters of it that read “For a Good time call…” Rachael giggled. “She brought it on herself. I forwarded them from your phone to mine. Sent them to be printed. Lucia and Sienna have amazing skills. We gave her hairy armpits and a stache.”

  “That’s not nice.”

  “She’s not nice.”

  “The meeting wasn’t about any of that?”

  “No, I worried over nothing. They were really nice to me. They asked me if I’d gotten married. I told them I had. They told me I could finish the year as an active sister, but I’d have to go through some sort of transition to married slash graduated sister status in the fall. I guess the sorority doesn’t allow married members.”

  “I’m sorry, Rach.” Travis flexed the muscle in his jaw and Rachael could tell the news truly upset him.

  “I’m not. I can still go hang out with everyone. I can party with them. I just can’t attend paid social events- officially sanctioned events and all that. I’m actually good with that. I don’t know that I need to go to any more of those. Trouble seems to find me there.”

  “That’s because you are trouble. Are you sure you are not upset or disappointed?”

  “Nope. Do you want to know the best part?”

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t have to pay dues or attend chapter meetings.”

  “You get to party, hang out at the house, and still have great friends? And, you don’t have to pay dues or attend socials? Sounds like something I wish I could sign-up for.”

  “Pretty much. Don’t get me wrong, though- I was scared to walk in there.”

  “I would be too if I’d put up posters like that of some other girl.” Travis laughed. “That explains this.” He reached into the back seat and produced a poster of Rachael with blackened buckteeth and purple hair. The caption read For a NOT So Good Time Call…

  Rachael was livid. “Where did you find this?”

  “My fraternity house. I guess there was one up in each of the others as well. I know a lot of guys and it didn’t take much to get them all down.”

  “It’s not funny, Travis.” Rachael crossed her arms and pouted.

  “I don’t know. You look kind of cute with the purple hair. Besides, just look at it this way. You can spend the summer plotting your revenge. I know you redneck girls have a talent for that. Maybe Shannah and Maysie will help you. Shannah’s the queen of revenge.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “She’s been busy showing Wade what he almost lost. New wardrobe, new short haircut, fake nails.” Travis cut his eyes at Rachael, as if to ask I wonder where she got those ideas?

  “That girl’s brilliant. I never would’ve thought of such things.”

  Silently, Rachael applauded Shannah. She’d told her that if she wanted to keep Wade, she needed to
fight for what she wanted. It seemed she was doing exactly that.

  Chapter Twenty

  The final chapter meeting of the year was a blast. It was brief and to the point with a candle circle afterwards on the front lawn. The candle circle was the most special part, in Rachael’s opinion, of what they did. It involved singing, candles, and usually a girl would walk around the circle and find her friend. No one knew the occasion ahead of time other than a small handful of girls who’d coordinated the effort. In most instances it would be an engagement or a lavalier. A lavalier was a fraternity’s letters on a pendant given to a girl as a promise to marry or be exclusive. It could take place at the guys’ fraternity house or at the girl’s. The choice was really up to the guy.

  Tonight, Rachael and Kerrie had been informed that they needed to assist in the candle lighting. Rachael knew what it was about and who it was for. For her it was an awkward request, but Lucia was her friend and prior roommate. She was happy for her- no matter what.

  The sisters sang her favorite song, lighting a candle as they passed it around the circle until it reached its starting point in Rachael. Lucia had no idea what was about to happen. Only Kerrie had all of the details.

  The candle reached Rachael and she stepped into the circle, slowly walking around its inner circumference arriving back at Kerrie. Kerrie produced a candle from behind her back and Rachael lit it with hers. They walked the circle together, linking arms, until they came to stand in front of Lucia. Lucia shook her head, wondering what was going on. A male figure appeared from the parking lot, clouded in shadow as he crossed through the circle coming to stand in front of Lucia. It was Colten.

  He took a knee and opened a box producing a lavalier with his fraternity letters in gold. The gold chain sparkled in the candlelight and Lucia merely nodded her head in acceptance, crying. Colten raised up and gave her a hug and a kiss. Then, he fastened the necklace around her neck.

  All of the girls rushed to the center of the circle chanting. “ADPi, ADPi, live and die for ADPi. The best, the brightest, the first, the finest, I’m an ADPi. Flim, flam, by damn, I’m an ADPi.”

  Rachael rushed over to congratulate them both and found there were no weird feelings there anymore. She was overjoyed for Lucia. Truly happy she’d found happiness with Colten. Rachael glanced down at her watch. It was Sunday night- and she knew that a handsome cowboy waited out front to follow her home to the Baxter Ranch. Their apartment was rented out to Salvatore for the summer.