“Anyone ever tell you that you are downright cute in jeans and boots?”
“No one that I would believe,” she answered. “How far is it to the outside two-holer?”
“Who said anything about two holes? It’s not far, maybe half a city block, and it’s only slightly better than the bushes.” He laughed. “I imagine the health department would have a fit if they knew.”
“Probably, but it’s only for an afternoon and night and I’m not tellin’.” She took his hat from him and fanned him for a few minutes. “I hear them coming. Good thing they aren’t trackin’ game for supper. We’d all starve to death.”
“You ever been huntin’?” Cade asked.
“Every fall with my dad until he was too sick to go anymore. Nothing better than venison made up into summer sausage,” she answered.
“You got a gun then?”
“A rifle for hunting, a pistol for protection and a license to carry it, and a BB gun because Daddy got it for me when I was five so I could target practice on tin cans,” she answered.
“Ever shoot anything?”
“Every year if I was lucky.”
The kids came runnin’ back through the underbrush like the devil was chasing them. Out of breath and panting, all eight of them fell down in front of Cade and Retta on the grass. Seeing all their little sweating, red faces and their hair plastered to their heads, put a smile on Cade’s face.
“So who’s hungry? I think our cooks for the trip have got the fire hot enough to make hot dogs, but if any of y’all want to go rabbit huntin’ for something better…” He let the sentence hang.
“No!” Sasha said emphatically. “Don’t kill a little bunny. I could never eat that. We’ll have hot dogs and be happy with them.”
“And canned beans and potato chips. That’s what people ate on the trail except they fried the potatoes instead of buyin’ potato chips,” Benjy said.
“My sister makes fried potatoes and pork’n’beans sometimes when my mama don’t get home in time to fix supper,” Alice said. “Sounds good.”
Justin came up from behind the log and said, “Okay, go find yourself each a stick to use to roast your hot dogs.”
They scrambled like ants off into the nearby trees looking for long sticks, and Justin sat down on the other side of Retta. “Don’t you wish you had that much energy?”
“For just an hour a day would be wonderful,” Retta answered.
“Think what we could do with it if we could harness it and use it for power, like they do those wind things out in western Texas. Between the eight of them, they could probably keep the whole ranch in electricity for a year.” Cade nudged Retta on the shoulder and took back his hat. “Look at those kids. They’ve all found a stick and we don’t have one.”
“Skip done took care of half a dozen just in case.” Justin stood to his feet and the three of them headed back toward the infernally hot blaze.
“So how do you like your hot dog? Burned?” Cade asked as he took two sticks from Skip and handed one to her.
“Toasted nice and brown and with lots of relish and mustard,” she answered. “And I hope you brought lots because I love bonfire hot dogs.”
Dammit! She fished. She hunted. She knew the difference between a bull and a heifer, and a computer worked for her like it knew her personally, Cade thought.
“Man this is fun,” Faith said. “If we had a real bathroom out here, I could just stay here forever.”
Benjy squirted ketchup down his hot dog in a long line and took a bite. “Mmmm,” he said. “This is even better than the wagon where me and Granny used to get one on payday.”
“We got one of them wagons that come to our school for lunchtime but I ain’t never got to buy nothing from it. I eat in the cafeteria for free. Now I won’t even want one of theirs cause I done had one that is better.” Kirk’s face lit up in a brilliant smile that looked so much better than his usual scowl.
“Me thinks the kid is comin’ around,” Retta whispered.
Cade had just stuffed a huge bite of food into his mouth so he just nodded and hoped that maybe Retta would come around someday too!
Chapter Twenty-Five
It seemed as if Retta could reach out with a cup and fill it up with twinkling stars that night as she lay on her back on top of the sleeping bag not far from the wagon. She could hear the girls whispering and giggling inside the wagon, where they were lined up on the floor like sardines in a tiny little can. It would be an evening they’d remember forever and maybe even tell their kids and grandkids about it someday.
The boys had chosen a spot under a big scrub oak tree not far from the wagon. Four of them were with Skip and Levi. Justin and Cade had chosen places a few feet away where they could keep watch on both boys and girls.
Outside, with no walls and no boundaries, Retta felt safer than she had in ages. She closed her eyes and went right to sleep only to dream of another time and era when she and Cade were traveling on a wagon train from Texas to California to the gold mines.
She awoke to the aroma of strong coffee and opened her eyes to see Cade propped up on an elbow right beside her. He held out a blue granite mug of coffee and smiled even brighter than the stars had been the night before. She sat up, and he put the mug in her hand.
“Mmmm,” she said when she took a sip. For a split second she was still in the dream and they were a married couple going on an adventure to discover gold. But then Skip clanged a triangular dinner bell and reality jerked her back to the present. After another couple sips of the coffee, she handed it back to Cade.
“Great way to wake up. Thank you.” She inhaled the morning air and tried to shake off the disappointment that surrounded her the moment she realized she hadn’t stepped into a time-travel machine that transported her back over a hundred years.
“You are beautiful with the morning light shining in your eyes,” Cade said softly.
“And in the heat of the day when I’m hot and sweaty and beginning to smell like I’ve been drivin’ mules all day?” she teased.
“Then, and in a hayloft, or playing football with the kids. Which reminds me, I thought maybe we’d have a game this afternoon. It’ll run some of the energy out of them after sitting all the way back to the ranch.” He tossed the coffee grounds from the bottom of his cup out onto the grass.
She stood up and worked her sleeping bag into a tight roll. “It’s been years since I’ve slept out under the stars. It’s so peaceful.”
“Have to admit that I enjoy it sometimes, but I miss air-conditioning and a nice hot shower at the end of the day.”
Retta stretched the kinks out of her back and neck. “Not much beats the smell of morning air, listening to water bubbling over rocks, and hot coffee brought right to a woman’s bed. But that sleeping bag is not made of feathers or memory foam.”
“Did Cade bring you breakfast in bed?” Faith asked from the back of the wagon. “What did you do to deserve that? We didn’t get breakfast in bed.”
“Coffee, not breakfast,” Retta said, quickly changing the subject. “And we’re playing football this afternoon when we get back to the ranch house. Tell Cade who’s going to win.”
“Girl power!” Sasha said as she hopped out of the wagon and ran off toward the outdoor toilet.
“See.” Retta tapped him on the chest. “My girls are a mean fightin’ machine.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed the palm. “Don’t get your hopes up too high, darlin’. My boys have a Longhorn coach.”
“And my girls have a Sooner coach.” Her voice was only slightly higher than normal, which was a surprise after the way the touch of his lips on her hand made her knees go weak.
“Mornin’, Cade. How you doin’, Retta?” Levi said as he tucked his sleeping bag inside the wagon. “Y’all ready to go home and take a nap in a real bed?”
“We’re goin’ home to play football and you are the referee,” Cade said.
“That ought to be a hoot,” he said flatly. “I’
d rather go for a root canal as get in the middle of you two. You are coaching, right?”
“We are,” they said in unison.
He walked away, muttering under his breath.
“Breakfast in ten minutes,” Skip yelled.
Cade got to his feet and offered a hand. She took it and he pulled her up to her feet. Suddenly she remembered a television show that she’d watched with her dad. The character on the show told her partner that she felt like she was standing in the middle of a frozen lake. What she wanted in life was right there in front of her and all she had to do was reach out and take it, but the ice was cracking all around her. That’s the way Retta felt that morning. For more than half her life she’d been on a mission to get what she wanted and she’d gone after it with the gusto of a hound dog chasing a squirrel. But now the ice was cracking under her feet and nothing was as sure as it had been a few months or even weeks ago.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Six-man football in some of the small Texas schools wasn’t unusual. A few in the really small schools even played three-man ball, but Retta had never watched four-man ball with girls on one side and boys on the other until that afternoon. Faith and Kirk went at it with a passion, both determined to win. When Gabby ran in the first touchdown, Retta wanted to chase down to the end of the pasture and do the happy dance with her. Sasha kicked for the extra point and missed.
Then Sasha kicked off to the boys and Nelson ran the ball all the way back to the twenty-yard line. The girls held them right there for two plays, but on the fourth down, instead of punting, Nelson flipped the ball over to Kirk, who scored. It was the boys’ turn to do their wiggly dance, but the girls stopped the run for two points, so the score was tied.
They played hard, back and forth, getting more serious and dirtier with every play. When Skip’s clock said they had one minute left in the game and the score was tied, the boys had the ball thirty yards from the end zone. Kirk snapped it and tossed it off to Benjy, who tucked it under his arm, put his head down, and headed for the goal at the end of the pasture. The other three boys surrounded him, giving him support and protection. Sasha took down Nelson and Gabby managed to knock Kirk flat on his back. Benjy was still running hell-bent for leather straight toward the goal when Alice grabbed Ivan around the ankles and he landed on his butt. Now there were only two kids on the playing field and Benjy was huffing for air. Faith was right behind him, her long pigtails flapping in the wind. She reached out to tackle him at the five-yard line and missed.
Benjy ran the final five yards, spiked the football, and dropped down on his knees with both hands raised to heaven. The boys surrounded him, jumping up and down like windup toys, Cade right in the middle of the mix. With her head down, Faith jogged back to the girls’ side of the pasture.
It wasn’t until she raised her head and Retta saw the smile and twinkle in her eyes that she realized what the girl had done. The other girls patted her on the back, and to all outsiders it would look as if they were all commiserating with her but the whispers said otherwise. They’d let the boys win on purpose so that Benjy could have a final moment of glory.
“What just happened?” Retta asked, as if she didn’t have a clue.
“They whooped us.” Alice sighed. Her cute little face had smudges of dirt, and grass stains were probably permanently ground into the knees of her faded jeans.
“Fair and square?” Retta asked.
“In Benjy’s eyes.” Faith grinned. “What happens in the huddle, stays in the huddle, right girls?” She held up her palm, and they high-fived with her.
“You worked awfully hard for that trophy,” Retta whispered.
“Yep, we did. We outplayed them,” Gabby said.
“And we ain’t got no regrets.” Alice wiped her forehead, smearing the dirt as much as getting rid of the sweat.
Sasha shrugged. “It’s an ugly trophy anyway, ain’t it girls?”
Another high five and they ran across the pasture to congratulate the boys.
Retta was proud of her girls and what they’d accomplished in the time they’d been at Longhorn Canyon. When Cade brought out the trophy and gave it to the boys, Benjy held it high for a picture. Faith and Kirk exchanged a long, sly look, and Retta had to wipe away a tear, hoping that the camera caught that precious moment.
“We won.” Cade grinned. “But I’ve got a feeling that—”
She put a finger on his lips. “Shhh. Don’t say it out loud and it won’t be true. I’m proud of the whole bunch of them for coming together for this moment.”
Cade could hardly wait to get to the house on Friday evening. Five more days and the kids would be gone…but so would Retta. “Everything is changing,” he told the dog sitting beside him on the passenger seat. “Mavis will be gone. We have to have a cook and a housekeeper.”
Beau whined.
“I know, old boy.” Cade rubbed the dog’s head with his knuckles. “At least this way I get to spend time with her every day until she leaves. And to be honest, I’m still worried about this long distance, even if it is only from the ranch to Dallas. I’m in love with her, Beau. I don’t know how it happened or when and I know it’s way too soon, but my heart hurts at the thought of her not being here.”
Beau barked as if he understood.
Cade parked the tractor and started toward the house in long strides with the dog right behind him. Gussie met them halfway, nosed Beau, and joined in the parade. When Cade put a hand on the fence and jumped over it, he noticed that Hopalong and Hard Times were both up against a pecan tree, enjoying the shade.
“So you’ve all come to spend some time with them before they leave, have you? Maybe we should get Little Bit from the corral and turn him loose in the yard so we’d have the whole bunch of you.” Cade bent down and rubbed the bunny’s ears.
“I kind of like that idea,” Retta said as she rounded the corner of the house. “And the kids would love it right up until the time they stepped in fresh donkey droppin’s.”
Cade rose to his full height, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and brushed a sweet kiss across her lips. “I missed you today. What did y’all do?”
“We made a list for shopping on Monday. They’re really excited about that and we all worked in the garden. Before you ask, it was a competition for sure. The boys picked more beans than the girls but the girls beat them on numbers when it came to the cucumbers and the tomatoes.”
“So working as a team for Benjy on the football pasture is over?”
“Honey, that was a one-time deal.”
“I won our bet, no matter whether it was thrown or not.” He pulled her tighter against his side.
“How do you figure that?”
“Let’s see. I think you have to sit on the Longhorn side of the stadium in October when we play Oklahoma, right?”
“And I’ll be yelling ‘Boomer Sooner’ so you can get ready for it.” She smiled up at him.
“Think either of us will ever change our football minds?”
“Hell, no!” She giggled. “What would be the fun in that and what would we have to bet on other than paper wads and trash cans?”
“Oh, honey, I bet we could find something.” He lingered back, hating to go inside, where he’d have to share her with the kids and Mavis.
“Seems like the time has gone so fast.” She sighed. “That first day I wasn’t sure that Faith or Gabby would ever come around, but I’m so proud of them. And…” She sniffed. “Cade, how do you tell them good-bye every year? I feel like they’re family and I’m probably never going to see them again.”
He stopped on the porch and put his hands on her shoulders. “You can have their addresses and there’s nothing in your contract that says you can’t call them or even drop by their houses to see them. You’ll be living right there in Dallas so…” He shrugged.
“It won’t be like having them right in the house with you, though,” she told him.
“Confession.” He raised a palm. “I hate the first week that
they’re all gone because I miss having them underfoot. We were both made for a family, Retta.”
“Yep, at least two kids are on my plan.” She nodded.
“Only two?”
“I’d like more but it’s not in the books,” she said.
“Then throw the books out in the yard and let it rain on them.”
She stopped at the door and turned to put her hands on his chest. “Cade, this plan of mine is what has held me and kept me through everything. To throw it away would…” She paused. “I can’t describe it.”
“It would be something like when I had my whole life planned out with Julie and then suddenly it was gone. I felt like a fish floundering around in shallow water.”
She nodded and then laid her head on his chest. “Yes, that’s right. It’s something I have to do or I know I’ll look back with regrets.”
“Then let’s do it together. You go get into big bankin’ business and I’ll be right here waiting every weekend. Like the song ‘Old Country.’”
She started humming the tune to the song by Mark Chesnutt and he wrapped his arms around her and two-stepped with her on the porch. The lyrics said that the country boy had plowed until noon but that every now and then he and the city girl got together. Cade could feel every one of the words and he’d take what he could get for sure, but he wanted so much more with her.
The kids had worked on their scrapbooks on Friday but they hadn’t finished them, so on Saturday evening, they gathered round the table and argued over the football pictures that had been printed. Retta slipped a picture of each girl into her purse that evening as she glanced through the scattered photos on the dining room table. There was one of Sasha with Gussie slung over her shoulder, Alice having a staring contest with Hard Times, Gabby giving Hopalong a carrot on the back porch, and her favorite was a photo of Faith sitting on the porch after the big football game with her arm thrown around Beau.
She’d pulled her phone from her hip pocket and snapped several shots of a gorgeous Texas sunset that left trails of bright orange, pink, and yellow streaks across the sky but when she flipped through the pictures, not a one of them did justice to what was out there on the horizon.
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