The Rancher's Surprise Son (Gold Buckle Cowboys Book 4)

by Christine Wenger

  “Except friends his own age.”

  “Well, invite some kids over for him to play with.”

  “I know!” Laura said. “Let’s have a little gathering for the ranch hands and their kids. We can barbecue some hot dogs and hamburgers and whip up some salads. We can have strawberry shortcake for dessert. I’ll rent a bounce house. The kids will love jumping around on that. And I’ll invite some of my friends from the committees that I work on. They all have children.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Are you going to handle it, or are you going to get a party planner?”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “Do you think you can?”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Of course I can!” she said. Then took a couple of deep breaths. “Dad?”

  He looked up from his papers. “Yes?”

  “I think it’s sad the way the people of Duke Springs booed Cody at the rodeo, but he showed them. He won the event last night. Rode all three bulls.”

  Laura saw a bit of a smile on J.W.’s face. “He sure did. That man can ride.”

  To her knowledge, J.W. had never said that before.

  “See you later, Dad.”

  She found her keys at the bottom of her purse and drove to the Masters ranch. She just had to drive up the hill that led to her father’s house, go to the corner and turn left.

  Laura felt bad that she had to lie about where she was going, but that was pretty much the story of her life.

  She wanted to talk to Georgianna and Cindy.

  The door to the ranch house swung open, and they both came onto the front porch, waving to her as she pulled in to park.

  She always felt special whenever she came here. They treated her with such affection that she felt safe and secure here, like family.

  But today something was different. They seemed overly welcoming.

  “Cody finally told us that you confirmed that Johnny is his son,” Georgianna said as they all rocked on the porch. “But we both guessed it ages ago. Cindy was the one who finally pointed Cody in the right direction, showed him a picture when he was Johnny’s age.”

  “I’m glad that the secret is finally out,” Laura said.

  Some secret. She wondered if her parents suspected anything, but they seemed to have dropped the subject of finding the whereabouts of her college love—at least for now.

  “Is something going on between you and Cody?” Georgianna said. “Cody isn’t himself, and I’m worried about him. He’s riding again tonight, and he needs to concentrate on that and not be distracted.”

  Much to her dismay, Laura started to cry. “Cody thinks that I’m ashamed of him, but I’m not, not exactly. He’s a good man, Georgianna, but with the manslaughter charge and being an ex-con, he’s branded, and a lot of people can’t understand that he did his time. He paid his debt. I’m tainted by association. Johnny will be, too, when the word gets out that he’s Cody’s son, because he’s the son of a killer,” she sniffed. “And it’s all a big mess.”

  Georgianna burst into tears, too. They both dabbed at their eyes and sat in silence for a while, rocking.

  Georgianna took Laura’s hand. “Trust Cody, Laura.”

  “It can be hard.”

  “If you really love him, trust him,” Georgianna said. “Excuse me, please.”

  Laura could hear Georgianna crying, but the sound faded as she went farther into the ranch house.

  That left Laura with Cindy. Laura stared at the mountains in the distance.

  Cindy put her arm around Laura. “I’d like to say that it’ll be okay, but I don’t see how, unless the three of us can figure out something. First, I think Cody needs to be convinced to show up at that awards night. He is a hero in more ways than one, and this foolish town needs to realize that.”

  “How’d you get so smart at age thirteen?” Laura asked.

  “I’m going to be fourteen next month.”

  “I see.” Laura bit back a smile. “My father told me about the award, and I agree with you, Cindy. But he’s one stubborn cowboy. How can we convince him to go?”

  “We? Oh, no. He won’t listen to us, but he might listen to you. You’re the one whose life he saved—yours and the other two hundred and ninety-nine people.”

  Laura nodded. “I’ll do my best, and I’ll make some calls, too.”

  She prayed that Cody would be at their secret place tonight so she could talk to him, but she doubted it. She’d hurt him horribly.

  Maybe the two of them could come up with some kind of agreement. Maybe he’d accept her apology.

  She didn’t want to hurt him any more than she already had. She would always love him, but for all of their sakes, it might make more sense to let him go.

  * * *

  Just before the Saturday night bull riding, Cody sat in the spectator bleachers by the chutes, instead of talking to the other cowboys in the locker room.

  He was going to blow if he heard one more joke or one more snotty remark about his conviction. So, instead of fighting with them, he walked away and sat in the stands before the doors opened to the public, thinking.

  He was ready to ride. He drew Maximilian, a bull that was known for being temperamental and mean, but Cody could be ninety points on him if he could just stay on for eight seconds.

  He closed his eyes, picturing the perfect ride, but scenes of Laura and Johnny intruded instead. They were welcome intrusions, but he couldn’t think of any solution to all their problems, except for one big juicy solution, and he wasn’t willing to do that—at least not yet. But if things didn’t work out, he’d split.

  Eventually, the large wooden doors to the arena opened and people trickled in.

  Laura walked to the Duke Ranch box seats with Johnny and her parents. Just as soon as he sat down and looked around, Johnny yelled and waved to Georgianna and Cindy.

  Laura turned around, as did the Dukes. Penny and J.W. seemed shocked, probably to learn that Johnny knew them. Laura tried to turn Johnny around and get him in his seat, but he insisted on greeting them.

  About now, Cody could care less who found out what, and he was going to tell that to Laura in no uncertain terms. If she didn’t want to be with him because it would reflect on her reputation, that was fine. But now that he knew that Johnny was his, he was going to be part of the boy’s life. A couple hours a day teaching him how to ride just wasn’t enough. He wanted to get involved in Johnny’s life and play catch with him, help him with his homework, throw him a birthday party...the whole enchilada. He wanted to be the same kind of father that he’d had.

  If it came to a family court battle for custody, he had no doubt that he would lose, so he had to be careful. He couldn’t afford to tick anyone off.

  He thought about his ride again. In a lot of ways it was easier riding a ton of Brahma bull than figuring out his life.

  All he knew was that he had to make some changes, and most of them had to do with the Dukes.

  He smiled. He sure wanted to win more of J.W.’s money. He got up and went to find Maximilian. He was going to have a long talk with the bull.

  “Hey, Masters, Steven Lindy wants to talk to you,” said a cowboy standing by a door that led to the back of the arena. A security officer was supposed to be assigned there, but he was gone.

  Cody’s stomach turned. That’s all he needed, a confrontation with Hank Lindy’s son.

  “Hurry up, Masters, I don’t have all day,” said the cowboy.

  Cody took a deep breath and walked over to the door. Before he had a chance to blink, he was pulled down the stairs by his shirt and a fist crashed into his teeth.

  “I’ve been waiting to get you alone, Masters. That’s for killing my father.”

  Cody swung back, connecting with Steven’s chin. Then his arms were pulled behind him and held tig
htly, straining his shoulders.

  “What do you want, Lindy? If you want to fight me, let’s get on with it. Don’t talk me to death. And to make this fair, get rid of your lackey.”

  “I don’t want to make this fair. I want to hurt you something awful.”

  “Uh, I figured that out.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “You know why,” Cody said. “Don’t you? I’m sure you could see my mother’s bruises in court. And then there was my sister, well...”

  He didn’t want to rehash the whole thing, although Steven deserved to know the whole story...or maybe he didn’t. From what Cody heard after the fact, Hank Lindy wasn’t the father of the year, either. Steven had had a tough life with Lindy.

  “I don’t want to fight you. And I don’t want to fight a guy I don’t even know.”

  “My name’s Dave,” said the lackey.

  “I’d shake your hand if you’d let go of my arms. They’re starting to hurt, Dave, and I need both of them to ride.”

  “Shut the hell up, Masters. I want to think,” Steven said.

  “Don’t strain yourself.” Cody admonished himself for egging him on, but he’d learned in prison that if he kept things light, he could get out of a lot of fights.

  Steven wound up and socked him in the gut. Cody doubled over in pain and was able to break away from Dave and free his arms.

  “Steven, c’mon. I don’t want to fight you. And I’m sorry about your father.”

  The hell I’m sorry.

  Cody stopped a right hook to his jaw, but set his diaphragm to absorb the punches to his ribs and chest.

  The two of them were on him, but he gave enough warning to Steven before he apologized, although Cody knew that his apology was hollow and it wouldn’t bring the man’s father back. But what more could he say?

  “I did my time, Steven. It was hell, but I did the time. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

  “Three lousy years? That’s it?”

  “I did what they gave me.”

  Cody fended off a couple more punches, but one lucky blow from Dave had him hurting like hell whenever he breathed. He had at least one broken rib, dammit.

  Cody sprang into action and hauled off and gave Steven a couple of gut punches. He pivoted and did the same to Dave.

  They were coughing and gasping for air. Steven was curled up on the ground like a boiled shrimp.

  Cody found it hard to breathe, too.

  Cody dusted himself off and wiped his face with a bandanna. There was blood. Lots of blood. He must be cut above his eye. He always bled like crazy from a wound like that. One of them must have been wearing a ring.

  “That’s all the fun I can take, guys. I have to go and ride bulls now,” Cody said, walking away. The door was open, and now there was a security guard stationed there.

  “Thanks for nothing, pal,” Cody said.

  The guard patted his pocket, and Cody could see a bunch of bills folded in half through the material.

  Cody grunted and on the way back to his seat in the arena, he came face-to-face with the sports physician. “Come with me to the training room. You need a couple of stitches in your eyebrow, and from the way you’re breathing, sounds like you need your ribs taped.”

  “Nah, I’m okay.”

  “You’re not okay. Let’s go.”

  Cody liked the doctor immediately, so he went with him. He was going to have a couple of black eyes, along with stitches on his eyebrow. His knuckles were raw and bleeding, and the doc sprayed them with some kind of stuff and wrapped them in gauze.

  “You can ride with the gauze on. Now, take your shirt off and I’ll wrap your ribs.”

  That was how Laura found him when she walked into the room—sitting on an exam table with taped ribs.

  “Cody, what happened?”

  “A dissatisfied spectator. He had money bet on me, and I didn’t come in high enough for him.”

  “But you won the round last night!”

  “I think he’d bet on the guy who came in second to come in first.”

  She raised an eyebrow, and gave him “the look” that he knew meant she didn’t believe him. He never could fool her.

  “You look so awful.”

  “I’m being complimented by you all the time. It’s going to go to my head.”

  “You know what I mean. What really happened?”

  “It was Hank Lindy’s son, and a pal of his.”

  “Oh.”

  “Steven wanted to rough me up for killing his father.” Cody shrugged. “I can’t blame him.”

  “He probably wanted to do more than rough you up,” she said.

  She touched the tape on his ribs and he could swear that he felt the warmth of her hand through the thickness of the bandage.

  Then she gently touched his cheek. It was sore, and he was glad that his jaw wasn’t broken, but her touch made him shiver.

  “Oh, Cody! I’m so sorry. I’m hurting you.”

  “No, you’re not. It feels good.”

  “I don’t think you should ride with stitches, broken ribs, sore knuckles, a sore jaw and whatever else you have. I worry about you when you’re healthy and ready to ride, but now you’re hurt, and I can’t stand it. Hang up your spurs, Cody.”

  “Laura, what are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I thought you were embarrassed to be with me.”

  She shrugged. “Let’s not get into this today. Not when you’re riding and aren’t up to par.”

  This was turning out to be one hell of a day.

  “Are you still going to ride?” she asked.

  “Yup. And I’m going to win again. I’m on a mission. For Johnny’s college fund.”

  “Oh...” There was no doubt that she was disappointed when he didn’t mention the double-wide trailer. “That’ll be nice for him, Cody.”

  He nodded. “I have to get ready to ride. You’d better go. Good to see you again.”

  “Don’t treat me like a stranger, Cody.”

  “I don’t know what you are to me anymore.”

  “I’d like to work through our problems.”

  “You have the problem. Remember? I can’t do anything about my reputation rubbing off on you and Johnny. You have to deal with that. So you decide what you’re going to do. How you’re going to handle it.”

  She touched his cheek lightly, and he felt as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest. “I’d better go.”

  “Good idea,” he said quietly.

  He waited until she was gone, took a breath and put his shirt back on.

  He hadn’t cut her any slack, but he didn’t feel bad about that. She had some thinking to do. Either she was part of the crowd who was with him, or with those who booed him.

  It was time to ride bulls and to try to push thoughts of Steven Lindy and Laura and Johnny out of his mind—for now.

  Yeah, right.

  * * *

  Cody didn’t know how he stayed on Maximilian, but he assumed that it was from pure anger that he’d kept tamped down for a long time.

  It was a sweet victory because Max had never been ridden before in thirty times out of the chute.

  Three-quarters of the crowd gave him a standing ovation; the other quarter booed him.

  He chuckled. Not bad. My approval rating is getting better.

  His mother and Cindy were screaming and blowing him kisses. Below them, in the Duke box, the reaction was controlled from all except Johnny. His son was waving his cowboy hat in the air. In that Maximilian was a Duke bull and he’d just spoiled its record, he was sure that J.W. was chewing his cigar butt until it was a wet mess.

  He hadn’t known that Max was a bounty bull, eith
er, until the arena announcers told the crowd before his ride. He received a bonus of thirty thousand dollars for riding him.

  Not bad for eight seconds of work.

  * * *

  Laura hated to hear the boos that erupted from some of the crowd. How narrow-minded could people be?

  But they didn’t know him as she did. Cody was a good guy, a sweet guy, an honorable guy.

  Throughout grammar school and high school, he had always protected the underdog. Cody always confronted bullies, sometimes to his own detriment, but he didn’t care.

  It took a lot to get him riled. He always tried to reason with the attackers, but when that failed, he sprang into action.

  And this time, it had resulted in broken ribs, stitches and bruises.

  Laura’s stomach roiled.

  The announcers were making a big deal out of Cody’s black eyes, broken ribs and stitches. They kept saying that they didn’t know what happened—that it didn’t happen from a bull—that Cody must have been hit by a freight train, or you should see the other guy, or a dozen other wisecracks.

  Sheesh. Why couldn’t they shut up?

  With a couple exceptions, the other riders left Cody alone. He wasn’t enjoying the easy camaraderie that the other cowboys were, and that bothered her, too.

  “Cody Masters is cleaning up,” J.W. said to Penny. “Who would have thought that? With all that bounty money and a ninety-two-point ride on Max, he’s probably going to win today’s round and the event. That’ll be another thirty grand.”

  Laura smiled, thinking that Cody would have a sixty-thousand-dollar day. And he’d won twenty-one thousand yesterday. He could make a lot of improvements on the Double M with that kind of money.

  Or Johnny could have it for college.

  But she wanted that trailer with Cody. The man she’d loved all of her life.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You won the whole thing, Mr. Masters. You have to be the bestest bull rider in the whole world,” Johnny said, walking Pirate around the corral.

  Cody laughed. “I just got lucky, son.” He said the word without thinking.

  “You probably won a zillion dollars.”

  Cody grinned. “Not quite.” But he had won about one hundred thousand over the course of the three days. He cleaned up, which didn’t endear him to the other riders.