Lone Star Hero

by Jennie Jones

  “Night then,” he said but didn’t move.

  They locked eyes for what felt like eternity but was only a couple of seconds. He pulled his hands from his pockets. “It’s best, Molly.”

  “Of course. Totally best. Bad idea to do otherwise.”

  They hadn’t voiced the reason for their exchange but both knew what it was—let’s not sleep together. Bad idea to sleep together. She agreed with him even though the words hadn’t been spoken. She’d fall deeper into the eternal pit of love, if it was possible to dig herself any further into the bedrock of that place. Love was supposed to be a multicolored rainbow, all shiny and fresh with dewy raindrops. Or a grassy meadow filled with sunshine and the hum of insects and the moo of cows. As it turned out for Molly, it was the most painful emotion she’d ever experienced. She’d rather be dumped publicly by a hundred Mr. Birlings than go through this ever again.

  “Night then,” she said and turned for her bedroom door.

  Saul sighed in the darkness of his room. He hadn’t slept and neither was he likely to. He was in his bed, propped up on his pillows, hands behind his head, looking out the opened French window straight into the night. The moon was almost full and light filtered inside his room like candlelight.

  His contemplations, in the middle of a silent night, were engulfed in a racket of noise in his mind. Like a cacophony of birds launching from a tree top. Or a bull bucking and kicking up the dust in a corral.

  He’d just lie here until daybreak, then get up and walk out. Maybe he’d get up before daybreak and walk out. Should he stay and say goodbye to Molly? Hell, of course he should. Would he stay and say goodbye to Molly? Hell, probably not.

  He forced his eyes closed and breathed deeply, and figured he was getting there. Getting to the place of detachment that was so much easier to handle. Until a soft noise outside his door made him turn his head and hold his breath.

  The door creaked open and Molly tiptoed into his room and up to the bed.

  By the time Saul lifted his hands from behind his head, she was pulling back the sheet and slipping in beside him.

  His blood pounded as he shifted to give her some room. Not that there was much room with both of them in the small single bed.

  She pulled the sheet up under her arms and snuggled into him, burying her head in his shoulder. “Not much room in this bed,” she said.

  Saul smiled as he put his arm around her. “Are you uncomfortable?”

  “No. Night.”

  “Good night, Molly.”

  He should have left after driving her home, then finding the ring, and showing the deputy the receipt for the money Birling had taken off her. Or after making a call to the sheriff’s office in Colorado and talking to an old school friend there, filling the deputy in about Jason Birling’s nefarious ways. He should have walked out again after that, after he knew Molly was going to get her money back—but how could he leave her after everything that had happened to her today? Anyway, he now had one more memory to take with him, and perhaps this one would stay with him forever and be the highlight. He didn’t need to have sex with her, he was comfortable just being next to her. Glad he could hold her. Holding Molly close like this was their true goodbye. She’d remember him fondly, hopefully. She’d recall he hadn’t been a player and tried to get into her pajama bottoms—which, if he wasn’t mistaken in the dim light from the moon, were covered in yellow roses for Texas.

  I’ll miss you, Molly. He kissed the top of her head. She didn’t move so he stilled, and listened, barring all other sounds from his head. Her breathing was deep and regular. She’d fallen asleep in his arms. At least he’d been able to offer her some comfort.

  “This is getting to be a habit.” Molly grinned at Saul, then turned her back.

  “It is,” he said, and she heard a reciprocal smile in his voice.

  Why aren’t we right for each other?

  She’d insisted she would drive him into town. He’d refused so she’d gotten even more insistent. She’d done that for herself, of course. She wasn’t done with making a stand yet.

  “So—” she said, opening the door of the pickup. “Ready? I reckon—”

  “No,” he interrupted, his voice low and authoritative.

  Molly turned, hand still on the opened driver’s door.

  “No,” he said again, gentler in tone this time.

  Molly met his gaze and held it as a hundred thoughts went through her mind until she gave in to the truth of this. “Okay,” she said at last.

  She was wrong. He was right. There was no way she could drive into Hopeless again to drop him off again and say goodbye again.

  He moved toward her, dressed in his hiking gear, looking unshaven and ready for adventure and entirely too gorgeous and independent for her liking.

  She’d snuck from his bed and his arms just before daybreak, surprised she’d slept at all, but not wanting to be in his bed when he woke. At the door, she’d taken one more look at the man whose bed she’d left, only to find him awake after all, and looking at her.

  They hadn’t spoken, they’d just looked at each other for a hundred seconds, then she’d turned and gone back to her own room to get dressed.

  A car’s engine had them both turning to the driveway.

  Nerve endings in Molly’s body prickled and stood on end. “Who can that be?” she asked, thinking—what now? Nothing came to her through her newfound chanelling...

  “It’s a rental car,” Saul said, moving to her side.

  The dark blue vehicle slowed at the curve in the driveway.

  “Oh, hell,” Saul said, as he stiffened.

  “What is it?”

  The driver was a lady in her early fifties maybe, and she looked a lot friendly to Molly, with her light brown hair cut in a bob and her face still youthfully lovely. The woman in the passenger seat wore a blindingly coral suit jacket over an equally bright coral blouse, and was beaming and waving madly. She had long auburn hair, cascading around her face and shoulders in big fat curls.

  “What is that?” Molly asked Saul.

  “Eh—” He shifted at her side, and stiffened even more. “You’re about to meet my girlfriend who isn’t my girlfriend.”

  “Sally-Opal.” Sally was smiling widely as she got out of the car, then started jumping and up and down excitably. “So who’s the other lady?” Molly asked.

  “My mother.”

  The hairs on Molly’s arms rose. Oh, boy. Great timing. “Right,” she said, checking on Saul. He had his focus on his mother, brows lowered, but it wasn’t a frown. He looked downright petrified.

  Molly put a hand on his arm. “I’ll deal with Sally, you talk to your mom.”

  He blew out his breath. “Why now? Why did this have to happen now?”

  “Don’t know. But there’ll be a reason. Get it done.”

  “Haven’t got a choice,” he said wryly a second before Sally-Opal threw herself into his arms.

  He grunted as he fell back a step, his arms going around Sally in order to halt them both falling to the ground.

  “Saul! I’m here!”

  “Eh, Molly,” he said, untangling himself from Sally’s octopus hold. “This is Sally-Opal.”

  “Hi. Molly Mackillop,” Molly said holding her hand out. “Welcome to my hacienda.”

  Sally pouted, her baby-blue eyes filling with tears. Oh, please! Molly turned and smiled at Saul’s mother. “Molly Mackillop.”

  “How do you do?” Mrs. Solomon said, darting a glance at her son before taking Molly’s hand. “We met your mother in town, Molly. She was lovely. Very helpful.”

  “Helpful?” Sally squealed. “She delayed my reunion with my man by over an hour.”

  Thanks for trying, Momma.

  “Mom,” Saul said, and Molly heard his unease and knew he was trying to gauge how this meeting would go. And perhaps whether or not he’d get out of it with his skin intact.

  Molly suppressed a sudden smile. He had nothing to worry about. His mom was here becaus
e she loved her son and wanted to make things better.

  “I’ve heard about you,” Sally said accusingly to Molly. “You’re crazy. You’re a witch!”

  “Hey!” Saul said. “That’s enough.”

  “It’s okay,” Molly said. “I’m just trying to decide whether to turn her into a bobcat or a rattler.”

  Sally shut up after that, and Molly turned her attention to Mrs. Solomon. “I think you and Saul ought to go inside. Saul? Why don’t you show your mom the hacienda while I show Sally the cliff edge?”

  Saul stifled a hesitant laugh and wiped a hand across his mouth.

  “Saul?” his mom asked, blinking at him with a troubled expression. “Would that be all right with you?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I’d like that, Mom.”

  She flushed because he’d called her Mom. How sweet! There was going to be a reunion right here in her house.

  “No way am I leaving you, Saul!”

  Molly sighed. If there’d been a cliff edge close enough...

  She studied Sally. The woman needed guidance from the type of man she’d be enthralled with. The kind of man who’d pander to her whims, who’d love petting and admiring her, and enjoy it all as much as Sally did. But where to find one so late in the day?

  Another car engine caught their attention.

  Momma! In Davie’s truck.

  “Child—I had to follow you,” Momma said, looking at Sally as she slipped out of the truck and strode forward on her heels, looking like a wave of pink redemption. “I have news!”

  Molly pulled a frown. What was Momma up to now?

  “Oh, honey,” Momma said, moving toward Sally-Opal, arms outstretched.

  “What?” Sally demanded, darting a look at everyone before focusing again on Momma with a terrified glint in her baby-blue eyes.

  “I have never in my life had a vision so strong!” Momma said, eyes still on Sally.

  “A vision?”

  “A man!” Momma declared.

  Sally-Opal blinked. “But I’ve got a man.”

  Momma brushed that off. “He’s not right for you. But this man—oh, child! Handsome doesn’t begin to describe him. And rich! Beyond a woman’s wildest imaginings.”

  “Handsome and rich?” Sally asked, looking bewildered.

  A dreamy look swirled in Momma’s eyes. “He’s looking for you. He’s looking for his perfect woman. He may take his helicopter or his private jet—but you can’t hide from him.”

  “He has a jet?”

  “Tall, dark, handsome,” Momma said as she counted off his attributes on her fingers. “Rich, jet, helicopter.”

  “Momma!” Molly said, thinking it was about time to put a stop to this. Poor Sally was deluded enough as it was, without being given thoughts of handsome rich men chasing her.

  Momma gave her a quick wink. “It’s fine, Molly. Believe me.”

  Sally-Opal looked at Momma, then down the driveway, and Molly could almost read her thoughts.

  “I have to go!” she declared.

  How fickle.

  “Quick!” Momma said. “I happen to be rushing to Lubbock, child. I’ll drive you to the airport.”

  “Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

  “Think nothing of it. When a man like that is on the prowl—no woman should keep him waiting.”

  Sally-Opal spun around, heading for Davie’s truck. “I need to get my nails done. I need to buy a new dress.” She threw herself in through the passenger door and slammed it closed. “Come on!” she squealed at Momma. “I have to go. Now!”

  “Is this really happening?” Saul asked in a bewildered tone.

  “Don’t doubt it,” Molly supplied. “Momma,” she added. “Tall, dark, and handsome? Rich?”

  “It’s true,” Momma said. “That little honeybee has a tall, dark, handsome wealthy man coming her way. He’s also ten years older than her, so she’ll have the father-figure type she so clearly needs.”

  It was Molly’s turn to be astounded. She’d only just wished for such a man to make an appearance, and five seconds later Momma turns up with one! “How did you know what was needed?” she asked, wondering how far and how deep her mother’s gift ran.

  Momma shrugged. “Honey, there’s always a man like that for a woman like Sally-Opal.”

  “That’s the truth,” Mrs. Solomon said. “Thank you, Marie. I had no idea how I was going to ditch her.”

  Momma leaned in and kissed Mrs. Solomon’s cheek. “No problem, Belle. Now I’d better get Sally out of everyone’s hair. That man is looking for her. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  Momma busied herself all the way to the truck, calling orders to Sally-Opal to buckle up and get ready for the ride of her life.

  Then they were gone, leaving a trail of dust kicking up from the driveway, and Molly felt the tension in the air rise. “Well,” she said, glancing at Saul, then his mother. “I’ll leave you both be. Lovely to meet you, Mrs Solomon.”

  As she walked away her spine tingled. They were watching her, and although she couldn’t read what was in either Saul’s or his mother’s mind, she had a feeling Belle Solomon knew something Molly didn’t.

  Saul watched Molly walk toward the lodge house, and let the silence now surrounding him and his mom linger a little longer than it ought to.

  He chanced a look at his mom. She was staring after Molly too, apparently as transfixed by what had happened just now with Sally-Opal and Marie as Saul was. She must know all about the Sally-Opal issue because Sally would have told her. But she obviously hadn’t known much about Molly and he didn’t want her thinking the wrong thoughts.

  “Molly’s a really good person,” he offered.

  “She’s lovely.”

  Wasn’t she?

  “You’ve got yourself a real Texan beauty, Saul,” she said, smiling shyly.

  “She’s not mine.”

  “Why not? You can’t take your eyes off her.”

  He shifted, uncomfortable under his mother’s knowing gaze. “Would you like to come inside?” He indicated the hacienda behind him.

  “I’m fine out here. The air is fresh and warm, and what a wonderful property.” She raised her hand to shelter her eyes as she peered out at the vista beyond the courtyard.

  Saul took a breath. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “No, you’re not,” she said, turning to study him.

  Her smile wasn’t shy now. He recognized it as one he’d seen numerous times throughout his youth. She was angling for the truth.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m on my way out of the valley.” He glanced at his backpack, propped against Molly’s pickup. “Not sure where I was heading first, but I was planning on dropping by to visit you.”

  His mom nodded, and waited.

  “And seeing,” Saul continued, with what felt like a great big dust ball in his throat, “if we could, you know—” He twirled his wrist. “Work things out.”

  After what felt like a dead weight of time, his mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I would like that.”

  Every emotion he’d felt in the last six years filled him and overflowed, like a barrel full to the brim and flooding the ground around his feet.

  “Mom.” He stepped forward and took her in his arms. “Mom,” he said again, not having any words yet.

  He remembered the pain in her eyes when the unbelievable news had first been discovered by his sister and spread around the ranch house like a wildfire burning down the walls. The explanations. The accusations flung around. The fist fights he’d had with his brothers. He hadn’t wanted to listen to reasoning, verbal or physical. The only thing he’d wanted to do was punch at everything that had hurt him.

  “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry for all of it.” His behavior, his leaving. “I’m sorry I left.”

  She had her arms around his middle now, and she pressed harder.

  “So you’ll meet with us,” she said.

  Saul nodded. “I just need to get my head straight first. Is that okay?�
�

  “It’s okay.”

  “I truly was planning to come to you, Mom. I’m not lying about that. I’m not saying it because you turned up here.”

  “I know that now,” she said, pulling from his hug. “And your sister? She’s sorry for the way she handled it.”

  “I guess she is, and, yeah, sure. I was planning to see her too.”

  “And your brothers?”

  Saul bit his tongue.

  She smiled, that same smile she’d given her boys as she lined them up in her kitchen, giving them the parent talk and dishing out their punishments, gauged on whatever fight or bust up or mess they’d gotten themselves into.

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “My brothers, too. But just be aware they’re each likely to want to take a shot at me.”

  “They just want to know you’re all right. They want to know it’s okay between us. Is it?” she asked, then went on before he could answer. “Do you want me to make the explanations again? I can do that. I’m happy to talk about that time thirty years ago, and the time since then. I’ll tell you everything. Especially about your father—not the man who fathered you, but the one who was a father to you—always a father to you.”

  He took her hand and squeezed it, his own pain heightening as he saw his mother’s rise. “There’s no need, Mom. You explained everything to me six years ago. I don’t need to put you through that again just to find my way out of this mess. I’m already out of it—and that’s because you turned up here, looking for me. Willing to take whatever it was you thought I might dish out at you.” He swallowed. “All I want to do is apologize to you for my bad behavior.”

  She pulled him into her for another hug and his arms went around his mom again.

  “Sorry, Mom. For everything.”

  She nodded against him. “Me, too, Saul. More than you know.” She looked up and into his eyes. “But the one thing I will never regret, is having you.”

  He smiled at her. “I’m kind of glad you had me, too.”

  She laughed, looking bewildered, and amazed. Yet he saw a contentment on her face, too, and it would be striking her heart.

  “Mom,” he said, having to let her know what his plans were and hoping she’d understand. “I have to get out of this valley now, but I can’t come straight back to Colorado. I need to... I need to walk off some stuff.”