“It doesn’t matter, Creed. She was your fiancée. I can’t blame her for being concerned.”
“We didn’t get married.”
She blinked. “You said that you two did.”
“Later, we did, but not that summer.” He rubbed his forehead, feeling a throbbing coming on. “I backed out. I couldn’t marry her then. I left for the Navy and when I came back, I joined the rodeo circuit. It wasn’t until later, when I came home that things started up again. She got pregnant with Livvy and I wanted to do the right thing, so I asked her to marry me. From the get-go I knew it wouldn’t last but I didn’t want to risk that she’d walk away with my child.”
She swiped her knuckles across her face to remove the tears. “I-I thought you two married. All this time—”
“It doesn’t change the fact that you got married too, Mindy. A year after you left. After that I asked Rusty to never mention your name to me again.”
“Creed, I need to tell you—”
Headlights flashing across the house made them both look toward the driveway.
“That’s Ma.”
Abby walked up the sidewalk and came to a stop and blinked as if she’d seen a ghost. “Mindy, is that you?”
“Yes, Abby. It’s me.” Mindy still had some shakiness to her tone.
“I heard you were back. I’m so glad to see you.” She dragged Mindy in for a tight hug. She sank against the woman, fighting back tears. Abby had been like a second mother to Mindy.
“It’s been too long,” She pulled back. “We shouldn’t allow so much time to pass before we see each other.”
“I agree.” Abby patted her shoulder.
“Ma, will you stay with Livvy in the morning? I need to take Mindy somewhere at sunrise.”
His mother looked from each of them, a broad smile on her lips. “Of course. What’s the plan?”
“It’s a surprise.” Creed grinned when Mindy looked at him with a narrow eye.
“Shouldn’t you ask my opinion before you make plans?”
“I’ll leave you two kids alone.” Abby backed away and started for the house. “Again, it was nice seeing you Mindy. Don’t be a stranger.”
By now, Mindy had her arms crossed defensively over her chest.
“Come on, Mindy. The girl I used to know would be up for any surprise.”
“I’m a few years older and a lot wiser,” she recited.
“Trust me. What I want to show you, you’ll want to see.” Suddenly this meant more to him than he could explain.
“I don’t.”
“Then don’t but at least do this for me.”
Several seconds passed and he thought she’d deny him this chance. Then finally she dropped her arms to her sides in submission and nodded. “Fine.”
“Be ready by five A.M. Dress comfortably.”
Chapter Eight
MINDY AWOKE TO the sound of her annoying phone alarm.
Blinking against the shadows in her room, she fumbled for the dismiss button and rolled back over, then remembered Creed would be there soon.
Jumping up, she shimmied out of the sheets and her jammies and fumbled for the clothes she’d laid out at the end of the bed. Within minutes she was dressed, a beanie pulled over her head, and her boots on. Her phone lit up from the nightstand.
Grabbing it, she read the text from Creed.
“I’m in the driveway.”
Barely able to keep her anticipation down, she typed, “On my way.”
Tiptoeing downstairs, skipping over the three stairs that squeaked, she quietly went to the front door. She pulled it open and there he stood, the cowboy she’d spent most of the night dreaming about—just like in the past. He slipped his gaze down her from neck to the tips of her boots and back up to hold her stare. “Ready?”
“Sure. Where are we going?” she whispered.
“Are you sneaking out?”
“Old habits die hard.” She closed the door behind her. “Now, where are we going?”
“You always ask too many questions.” Creed grabbed her hand and practically dragged her down the sidewalk toward his silver Chevy Silverado. She dug her heels in. “What are you doing?”
“We’re going for a ride.”
“Wait. How do you know I’m interested in taking a ride with you?” She wanted to, but she didn’t want him to think that she wasn’t still upset with him.
“Mindy, what changed from last night until this morning?” His gaze held hers.
Dreams. Tons of dreams about you. Me wearing a white dress and you in a tux.
She couldn’t tell him this.
His expression softened and his eyes bore into her. “Have patience.”
Lifting a brow, she smiled. “I’ll try.”
“You’re going to enjoy what I’m about to show you.”
“I’ve heard those words before.” Her brows wagged.
His deep smile turned his dimples into pools. “Not that I’m opposed to your mind being in the gutter, but that wasn’t what I was referring to.” He reached over with his free hand and lifted a misbehaving tendril of hair off her cheek. She felt the warm caress of his touch all the way into her bones. He made her weak and she disliked how much control he had over her. Hated that even now, well beyond her teenage years, she still felt like that young girl under his spell.
“Tell me where you want me to go,” she whispered.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Just tell me.”
“Ugh, Minnow.”
“Maybe this is a bad idea.”
“Why?”
As much as she searched for a reason, she couldn’t find even one little white lie. “Okay, but this better be worth it.” She hid her smile.
He opened the passenger door for her. She climbed up into the seat, inhaling the mixture of leather and coffee.
“Grab the cup with the letter S on the lid. Three sugars and four creams, right?”
Flattered that he remembered, she picked up the cup and peeled back the plastic lid, inhaling the amazing scent of vanilla. He even included the flavoring that she loved.
He touched her waist and she jerked, spilling some of the coffee over the rim and onto her hand. He pulled the seatbelt over her torso, smiling. “Creed, I can do that for myself.” She took the strap from him and clicked the metal into place.
“Sorry. I guess I still feel the need to protect you.” His words were like chocolate for the soul. Not that she needed a man’s protection, but truth was, on occasion she’d like to have a man protect her or make her feel special. Branch not once had thought of helping her with her seatbelt, or even something as simple as helping wash the dishes after dinner. Creed opened the glove compartment, took out a napkin and laid it on her lap. “I’d clean you myself, but I might have to kiss you too.”
She swallowed a moan.
His eyes were twinkling in mischief as he stepped back, slammed the door and she took the amount of time for him to round the back of the truck and climb into the driver’s side to gain control of her unruly body parts. With shaky fingers, she used the napkin and wiped the coffee away.
Sliding the gear into reverse, he shifted to look over his shoulder to back out and she caught his clean, soap scent. She liked it, a little too much. Squeezing her inner thighs, she counted to ten, forcing her nerves to behave.
Once they were on the main road, she stared through the window into the lingering darkness. “Feels like old times when you and I would sneak out at dark. What were we thinking?”
“I’m sure this is a cliché answer, but things are different now. People are different. We can’t sleep with our doors unlocked and invite strangers into our homes any longer. I wouldn’t want Livvy doing the same things we did.”
“It’s always different for our kids than it was for us.” She turned in the seat to look at his profile. “Why’d you marry her, Creedy? Why in the world did you marry Melody? I understand you wanted to be a father to your daughter, but she wasn’t the girl for you.”
Whistling through his teeth, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Let’s just jump right into that hot pot, why don’t we.”
“If I’m going to be hanging out with you, we need to clear the air on some things.”
“I wish I knew the answer.”
“I’m angry with you. For a lot of things, but still, thank you for the coffee.”
Shadows played over his features. He huffed a low chuckle and he turned left heading away from the farm. “Melody seemed to be the best opportunity to take my mind off things.” The eerie quietness of his tone made her curious.
“You call that an answer?” She gave her head a jerky shake.
“It’s all that I got.”
“But you married her.” She wouldn’t let him off the hook. “Marriage isn’t meant to be shared with someone who simply takes your “mind off things’.”
He gave a tight shrug. “Yeah, I married her.”
“Why didn’t you two marry the first time?” Now that the ball started rolling, she had a dozen questions.
“I wasn’t ready for marriage, with her or anyone.”
Mindy slanted her gaze to the window, hiding the tears that developed in her eyes. If he’d known about their baby would he and Mindy have married? What would their life together look like? Could they have weathered the storms that couple’s face? As far as she saw things, if she and Branch made it as long as they had, without communicating—without sex—she and Creed would have had a fighting chance.
Time was such a wasted thing.
A familiar pain settled in her chest, right over her heart. She’d mourned not only the end of her and Creed’s relationship, but each milestone Jane had reached that he’d missed out on. She drew up one knee, laid her chin on it and looked across the seat, attempting to figure things through his profile. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Melody. I do mean that.”
“You sure?” He glanced over at her. “You certainly bring it up enough with that throaty, angry sound in your voice.”
“I do mean it. Not for you as much as for Livvy. Single parents raise children all the time, but Livvy knows she could see her mom, if only…”
“Mel would get her head on straight,” he grumbled. “What about you and your ex? Why did you marry him?”
“I loved him.” She did love him at one time, as much as she could.
He brought his hand up and rubbed his whiskered jaw. “I guess that makes sense.”
There were so many things she could add. That she never loved anyone as much as she loved Creed. No one ever made her laugh more. Or as angry as he could. That she’d never wanted to share all her hopes, dreams, fears, and wishes with Branch as much as she wanted to share with Creed. Divulging all those thoughts would only open a pandora’s box. She’d then have to tell him that Branch had been a good stepfather—as good as he knew how to be. They’d shared some good times, all revolving around Jane.
“He was an idiot for cheating,” Creed mumbled. “Just sayin’.” His tone sounded different, deeper and huskier. He leaned in and turned up the radio. The popular country song vibrated the speakers. Was this his way of saying that the discussion was over?
She reached over and turned down the volume. “The cheating was secondary to the fact that our relationship had been over for years. We just kept moving like robots. Each day beginning and ending, flowing together. When Jane got older and spent more time independently from us, the scary truth of how far we’d fallen away from one another was hard to ignore. I think I knew all along he was cheating before he admitted his unfaithfulness. I was just as much at fault because I chose to overlook the blaring truth.”
“What’s she like?”
“Jane?” Mindy’s heart bubbled up with love and pride. Tears blurred her vision. “She’s amazing. Smart. Bright. Athletic. Spunky. I could go on and on.” Her smile came automatically. “She’s at Columbia U studying zoology. She wants to work with wild animals.”
“She sounds amazing.”
“Oh, she is. I’m so proud of her.”
“Of course with a mama like you she couldn’t be anything but remarkable. What does she think of you coming back to Cooper’s Hawk?”
Mindy looked through the window at the faint blue streak appearing in the sky as the sun flirted with the morning. “She’s okay with me being here. She’s far more mature than most kids her age.”
“Does she look like you, or her father?”
Just like you. “Like her father.” She lowered her leg and pressed the back of her head against the seat. “She has my attitude.” The conversation stung her soul. What had she done? She’d prevented Creed from knowing his daughter. Over the years she’d been honest with Jane, to a certain point. When they talked about Creed, Mindy would be as detailed as possible, but Jane had never asked to meet Creed.
“You were the only one who ever really knew me, Mindy.” His words came so low, so softly that she almost thought she imagined them.
“Creed, we were kids.”
“Is that what you believe? We were kids so we didn’t know each other?”
Swallowing against the constriction building in her throat, she blew out a long breath. “I’m not saying that—or maybe I am. What if you and I hadn’t, you know, had sex?” She had Jane and Mindy could never be more grateful. “If we’d truly known each other why couldn’t we communicate better?”
“I was a young and dumb cowboy. I look back and think how stupid I was to not tell you how I felt.” His nostrils flared and his grip tightened on the steering wheel tuning his knuckles white.
“There’s no better time than like the present.”
“You wouldn’t want to hear.” There was a truthfulness to his voice that made the hair on the back of her neck lift. He switched on his turn signal and they turned left onto a narrow road.
She sat up in the seat. “We’re headed to Hawke Landing. Or are we headed to the place where we made love?”
“Would that be a problem?”
“If you brought me out here so that we can take a tumble down memory lane—”
“Don’t worry. Not interested,” he teased her.
“Good because I’m not interested either. You’re not my type any longer.”
What had been meant as a burn didn’t work. He laughed. “So what’s your type now? Cheaters?”
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
Opening her mouth, the comeback was lost on her tongue. “Me divulging horror stories about my marriage doesn’t allow you to use them as leverage.”
“And using your anger as a defense every time we start to talk about feelings and the past isn’t fair either.”
He had a point. “Old habits and all.”
“So what man is your type now?”
“A man who knows how to work his—”
He jerked his chin up, causing the truck to swerve.
“Brain.” She laughed. “Now who has their head in the gutter?” She liked teasing him.
“There’s the old Mindy I remember so well.”
“The Creed I remember could dish it but couldn’t take it.”
He snorted and chuckled. “Is this your way of deflecting the serious questions?”
“And what serious question was that?” She pulled off her hat and finger combed her hair. Things were easing right back into normal between them.
“Your type of man. You dated Jedd Brown once, didn’t you?”
He remembered that? She certainly had forgotten. “Once for about five minutes.”
With another snort, he said, “He’s living with Jedediah Moss now. Has been for five years.”
“Jedd and Jedediah? I had no clue…”
“No one did. They’re great fellows. They run the local antique shop.”
“That would explain a lot about the time Jedd and I went to a party at Darcy Clever’s house and we played spin the bottle. I broke up with him that night because he wouldn’t even sit next to me. I though
t he hated me. He had the nicest hair.”
“Nah, he didn’t hate you. No one hated you.”
“Except for Melody Rumor.” Mindy rolled her eyes. She slipped off her boots and placed her bare feet up on the dash. Would he ask her to remove her feet off his pristine dash? He didn’t say a word just gave her a wide grin.
“Maybe this would be a good time to tell me what was in the letter you wrote me,” he urged.
No, definitely not the right time. “I wonder where that letter went.” She tapped her fingers on her thigh.
He darted a glance her direction. “No clue.”
“Come on, Creed. Melody took it. That’s how she knew where I was waiting. She was so angry. I thought she would blow her top.”
“What did she say?”
“Not a lot, never did. Except she did show me some interesting text messages you two had exchanged. Like just how happy you were that I left. That you wanted nothing to do with me ever again.”
“Mindy—”
“Please don’t defend her.”
“I didn’t plan to. I wanted to tell you that I never sent any messages about you to Mel. Not even when she and I were married. Any time your name came up it turned into an argument.”
“Again, it appears that Melody controlled us like finger puppets.” She allowed her shoulders to slump under the information. If Melody took the letter that meant she had to know about Jane. Why didn’t she tell Creed? What would she have gained by not telling him? “Melody got what she wanted.”
“Did she? You might think that was me, but it wasn’t.”
“We should stop talking about her because it might make me want to jump out of this truck and walk home.” Feeling a chill she wrapped her arms around her waist.
“Are you cold?” Creed reached into the backseat and handed her the beige Carhartt coat that smelled like a heady mixture of leather, animal fur and the outdoors. “That should keep you warm.”
She wanted to deny his offer, but truth was she felt a chill. Any talk of Melody made her sick, especially now that Mindy knew the truth. Sliding her arms inside the coat, she pulled it up around her chest and snuggled deeper into the sheep fur lining, finding pleasure at the scent wrapping around her. She felt a warm, tingling sensation spread through her and she realized it was the feeling of happiness, and it surprised her. Mindy loved her daughter, had grown to love California and her friends, but she found something here in Cooper’s Hawk that didn’t compare to anything else around the world. The fresh, country air, the rich history, the wonderful scenery like the one outside of the truck now.
Cowboy Creed (Cooper's Hawke Landing Book 1) Page 11
