The Cowboy's Lesson in Love

by Marie Ferrarella

“I taught,” Wynona answered. Dropping her head against the back of the sofa, she closed her eyes. Her body just continued aching.

  “Taught what? Ditch digging 101? You don’t get to look that exhausted just from teaching eight-year-olds.”

  “Eight-and nine-year-olds,” Wynona corrected, her eyes still closed.

  “Oh well, that explains it. Getting those nine-year-olds to listen is like herding cattle—” Shania replayed her words in her head. “Wait, you went out there again, didn’t you?”

  Wynona opened her eyes. “Went where?” she asked innocently.

  “You are many things, Wyn,” Shania said, exasperated, “but an actress is not one of them. Now, stop trying to throw me off the track and explain to me why you have this desire to keep beating your head against a concrete wall—because that’s what you’re doing, you know. Trying to reason with a man who wouldn’t know reason if it bit him on the butt.”

  Wynona sat up, her aches and pains no longer the center of her attention, at least temporarily.

  “How would you know what Clint Washburn’s like?” she asked defensively.

  That was simple enough to answer. “Because you’re my cousin and I love you so I asked around.”

  Now it began to make sense.

  “You talked to Miss Joan, didn’t you?” The woman who ran the diner—the only restaurant in Forever—for as long as anyone in town could remember had a reputation of knowing everyone’s business before they knew it themselves.

  Shania shrugged. “I might have.”

  “Might have my foot. You went to Miss Joan’s on purpose to pump her for information,” Wynona stated.

  “Oh please, since when does anyone have to pump that woman?” Shania asked. “She gives you her opinion whether you ask for it or not.”

  Wynona sighed. “And what is her opinion of Clint Washburn?” she asked. But before her cousin could answer, Wynona stopped her. “No, don’t tell me. She thinks that he’s a hard-hearted SOB and she doesn’t like him, right?”

  Instead of saying yes, Shania surprised her by saying, “Try again.”

  Wynona’s body was really aching in earnest now and she was in no mood for guessing games. She felt her temper slipping away from her.

  “Why don’t you tell me, then,” Wynona retorted, waiting.

  “She thinks that he was given a raw deal seven years ago. Miss Joan wouldn’t go into details, said that was a private matter for Clint to share when he felt up to it. But she did say that he’s sealed himself off because of what happened back then.” Shania paused for a beat, looking at her cousin. “Miss Joan told me to tell you to be careful.”

  Some things never changed no matter how much time passed, Wynona thought. Miss Joan was still dispensing advice even if she wasn’t asked for it.

  “She has nothing to worry about. I intend to be careful,” she replied.

  Shania looked at her cousin, a knowing expression on her face. “But you’re not going to back off, are you, Wyn?”

  “If by ‘back off’ you mean am I going to stop being Ryan’s teacher, then no, I’m not going to ‘back off,’ Shania.”

  Shania sighed and shook her head. “That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she said quietly.

  Chapter Eight

  Rather than get drawn into an argument or become defensive, Wynona just wearily told her cousin, “Shania, I love you more than anyone else in this world, but right now I am really not in the mood to listen to any lengthy lectures.”

  Shania held her hands up in a mute protestation of innocence.

  “No lectures,” she promised.

  “Okay,” Wynona said, deciding to reword her last statement. “No warnings or ‘advice for my own good,’” she told her cousin.

  As if on cue, Belle came trotting over to her and put her head on Wynona’s lap. The German shepherd raised her soulful brown eyes up to her face.

  Wynona smiled at the dog. “This is what I need right now.”

  Shania laughed. “I don’t think there’s enough room in your lap for both of our heads, Wyn, but I’ll take that under advisement for the next time that I feel inclined to give you a little well-intentioned cousinly advice.”

  Her eyes closed, Wynona nodded in response. “That’s all I ask,” she replied as she began to lightly stroke their pet’s head.

  It amazed her how such a basically simple action could have such a calming effect on both her and the dog, she silently marveled. Too bad Clint Washburn couldn’t take lessons from the German shepherd.

  The thought made her smile.

  After a moment Wynona asked, “Was Miss Joan her usual self?” As she sat there, she continued to stroke Belle. She could feel the dog turning her head into her hand, trying to absorb as much of the stroking as possible.

  “You mean did she ask questions?” Shania asked, not sure what her cousin was asking her.

  Opening her eyes, Wynona looked at her cousin. They both knew that asking questions was what Miss Joan did. It was as much a part of the woman as the air she breathed. That and, in her own unique way, caring about the various residents of Forever.

  “Yes.”

  Shania laughed to herself. “This is Miss Joan. What do you think?”

  Wynona sat up, suddenly alert. “What did she want to know?”

  Shania shrugged as she sat down beside her cousin. “The usual. How I was doing. How you were doing. Did we find life here disappointing after being in Houston for all those years.”

  Wynona interrupted her before Shania continued. “And what did you tell her?”

  Shania shrugged, as if Wynona already knew the answer to that. “That it took a little bit, but we were adjusting to the change. And I told her that we both enjoyed what we were doing now.”

  That didn’t seem like it would be enough to satisfy Miss Joan. The woman was known to dig deep when it suited her.

  “And that’s it?” Wynona questioned.

  Shania pretended to think for a moment, then said, “I didn’t tell her about the dismembered body in your suitcase.”

  “Say what?” Wynona cried, stunned. Her surprise quickly faded into impatience. “I’m being serious, Shania.”

  Obviously, Wynona’s sense of humor had taken a leave of absence. “You make it sound like there’s some big secret we’re trying to keep from Miss Joan,” Shania said, explaining her flippant remark. “There isn’t.” With a sigh, she added, “I almost wish there were.”

  “Why?” Wynona asked, confused.

  “Well, for one thing, it might make life more interesting,” Shania commented.

  Wynona frowned. “Life’s plenty interesting just as it is,” she told her cousin. She looked at Shania, trying to figure out if there was something wrong.

  Shania shrugged, giving in to indifference just for a moment. “If you say so.”

  “Why?” Wynona asked, looking at her more closely. “You miss Houston?”

  “What I miss are activities,” Shania admitted. She hadn’t thought she would, but she did. Maybe she was just restless, she thought, looking for an explanation. “Houston’s not New York, but there were always things to do there. Here,” she said, a touch of regret slipping into her voice, “not so much.” She sighed. “Not unless you’re into watching grass grow.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Wynona protested. She pressed her lips together. Had she missed something? “I didn’t know you felt that way.”

  Embarrassed, Shania flashed an apologetic smile at her. “Not usually, just once in a while. I miss going out Friday nights—”

  They had gotten caught up in lesson plans and schedules, but that was only because everything was still very new and needed to be worked out. Things would settle down soon.

  “We could still go out Friday night,” Wynona pointed out.

  Shania shook her head. “It
wouldn’t be the same thing.”

  She knew what Shania was saying. “I grant you that Murphy’s isn’t exactly a place that people make plans to visit on their way through Texas,” Wynona agreed, “but you can have a good time there. In addition, there’s a comfortable feeling knowing that you’re safe and that no one wants to take advantage of you.”

  Everything Wynona said was true, but still... “It’s also not exactly earth-shatteringly exciting, either,” Shania replied.

  Where was this going? “So, what are you saying? You want to go back to Houston?” Wynona asked.

  The thought surprised her because she thought that she and Shania were on the same page as to what they wanted to accomplish with their lives. They wanted to give back to the community where they were born. Had she pushed her own agenda on her cousin without having realized it?

  Shania sighed. She realized she was being whiny. “No, I just want to complain a little, that’s all,” Shania admitted. “Forever’s a little bit of a culture shock after life in Houston, but you’re right,” Shania told her. “It is a good trade-off. And I remember that you and I made that promise that one day we’d come back and do some good here. In essence that was payback for the fact that if it weren’t for Great-Aunt Naomi, we might have wound up like a lot of those people who were around us while we were little girls on the reservation.”

  Smiling in earnest now, she turned toward Wynona. “I want to hear all about it.”

  “Hear about what?” Wynona asked. Shania had changed the subject and Wynona found herself lost.

  Belle, meanwhile, had grudgingly moved over to make more room for her other mistress, but she didn’t move far. The dog made it abundantly clear that she wanted to remain in the middle of her mistresses since most of her day was spent being alone.

  “Just why did you go back to Washburn’s ranch?” Shania asked her. “I thought you said that Ryan’s father seemed to come around a little and he let the boy work with him.”

  “That’s just it,” Wynona answered. “I went to the ranch because I wanted to tell Washburn how happy Ryan had been in class today. He seemed totally different,” she added.

  “And?” Shania asked, sensing the situation wasn’t as simple as that.

  Wynona took a breath. “When I got there, Washburn, his brother and the ranch hand were working on mending breaks in the fence. I didn’t see Ryan anywhere,” she added quickly.

  “And you wanted to know why,” Shania guessed.

  “What makes you say that?” Wynona asked.

  Shania smiled. “Because I know you, Wyn,” she told her cousin. “What was his excuse?” she asked. “And did you let him live?”

  “Yes.” She answered the last question first. “Because he didn’t need an excuse. It seems that Ryan had just gone into the house to get something. Washburn had had him helping all along this afternoon.”

  “All right,” Shania said, nodding. “If that was the case, why didn’t you just turn around and come home? You obviously stayed. Why?”

  “It’s complicated,” Wynona said, hoping that would be enough.

  It wasn’t. “I’m not going anywhere,” Shania told her, waiting.

  Grudgingly, Wynona said, “Because I volunteered to help.”

  “Help with what?” Shania asked. And then, belatedly, it dawned on her. “Fixing the fence?” she asked incredulously. When Wynona nodded, she could only ask in wonder, “How did that happen?”

  “Not really sure.” Wynona looked down at her hands. “Now I have calluses on my hands.”

  Shania got up from the sofa. “I think we might have something in the medicine cabinet for that,” she said, beginning to go get it.

  “Don’t bother,” Wynona called after her. “Washburn had some kind of homemade salve to treat that. He gave me some before I left.”

  “Oh?” Shania’s tone clearly indicated that she was intrigued.

  Wynona immediately knew what her cousin was thinking. “Don’t ‘oh’ me. He gave it to me because he was feeling guilty about the calluses.”

  “This from the man who, according to you, doesn’t feel anything,” Shania said sarcastically.

  “I got some insight into that, too,” Wynona told her cousin.

  Even Belle raised her head, detecting Wynona’s shift in tone.

  Shania grinned, her previous malaise already forgotten. “Wow, you really did have a productive visit there. What kind of insight?” Shania prodded, curious.

  Wynona took a moment to reflect before answering. A great many things had changed in Forever since they had lived here ten years ago. There was a hotel in town now, as well as a law firm. Granted there were only two lawyers in the firm: the sheriff’s wife, Olivia, and Miss Joan’s step-grandson, Cash. But those people were new to Forever, as well, although Cash, like Shania and herself, had returned to Forever after a long absence.

  The most important change in the town’s dynamics, however, was the medical center. Its doors had been closed for over thirty years, ever since the last doctor had left town. It didn’t reopen until Dr. Daniel Davenport came to Forever. Opening the medical center’s doors had been his way of paying back his late brother. It was the latter who had initially been slated to come to Forever to practice.

  Once the medical center’s doors were reopened, it slowly drew two more doctors and two nurses to the little town to join in. They had also wound up marrying residents and permanently settling down in Forever.

  With such an influx of new people, it wouldn’t have surprised Wynona if Miss Joan had missed ferreting out Clint Washburn’s story. But she obviously hadn’t. She seemed to know the story that Roy had told her in confidence. The woman had just decided that it wasn’t her story to tell, beyond warning her to “be careful.”

  Miss Joan had her own code of ethics, Wynona mused.

  Wynona could see that her cousin was waiting for her to tell her what she’d learned.

  “Washburn’s brother told me that Washburn came home one night to find that his wife had just taken off, leaving behind Ryan. The boy was less than a year old at the time.”

  “Taken off?” Shania repeated. “Taken off with whom?” she asked.

  “With nobody, I gathered,” Wynona answered. “Or at least if there was someone, his brother didn’t mention it to me. But the upshot of it was that she didn’t want to be a mother and she didn’t want to be a rancher’s wife. She’d left a note stating as much.”

  “Insult to injury,” Shania commented. “That kind of thing is pretty rough on a guy’s ego,” she said sympathetically.

  “Not to mention his heart,” Wynona told her. In her estimation, egos really didn’t count. It was the heart that did. “From what I gathered, after that, Washburn pretty much just kept everyone at arm’s length. He still does.”

  “And yet he gave you salve,” Shania reminded her, smiling broadly. To underscore her point, she fluttered her lashes at her cousin.

  Shania was making too much out of the simple act, Wynona thought. “Washburn was just being a decent person,” she insisted.

  “Which tells you what?” Shania asked, temporarily treating her cousin as if she was one of her science students.

  Agitated, Wynona blew out a breath. She knew what her cousin was trying to get across. “That underneath all that barbed wire he’s got wrapped around himself is a decent person.”

  Shania smiled triumphantly.

  “Bingo,” she declared. “Okay,” she said, regrouping. “Now that you realize that, we need to get him to realize that.”

  Shania wasn’t the type to just throw words around. “You’re working on an idea, aren’t you?” Wynona asked, wondering if she should be bracing herself.

  Shania nodded. “Washburn needs to start socializing. Right now, except for his brother and that ranch hand you said is working for him, he’s practically a hermit. That’s
not good for him or for his son.”

  She already knew that part. “What do you have in mind?” Wynona asked. “Tossing a net over him and dragging him off the ranch to wherever this party of yours is being held?”

  Shania hadn’t thought out logistics yet. She did now. “We could throw a get-acquainted party at Murphy’s,” she said, referring to the town’s only saloon.

  Owned by three brothers, it was run by the oldest, Luke, who coincidentally was married to the town’s third doctor. Rather than a bar, the saloon was more like a tavern where family members, even children, were not out of place.

  “You still haven’t answered how you plan to get him there,” Wynona pointed out.

  Shania thought for a moment. “From the way you described Washburn, a simple invitation isn’t going to cut it.”

  “I could enlist his brother,” Wynona declared.

  “And if that doesn’t work?” Shania asked, playing devil’s advocate.

  Wynona grinned. “We could always sic Miss Joan on him.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Shania said, cutting her short.

  “Okay, I’m open to suggestions,” Wynona answered, waiting.

  “You invite him,” Shania said simply.

  Wynona stared at her. “Me? I’m not nearly as good at persuading people to do what I want them to as Miss Joan is.”

  Shania gave her a knowing look. “It wasn’t Miss Joan that he gave that salve to,” she reminded her cousin with a smile.

  Wynona waved a hand at her, dismissing what her cousin was saying. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  Shania just continued looking at her. “Doesn’t it? You made the man seem like a complete ogre, yet that ogre went out of his way to give you something to help ease the pain you were experiencing from the calluses you got while working on his ranch. That means something in my book.”

  “You do have a way of twisting things around, don’t you?” Wynona asked.

  “No, I can just see things more clearly than you do at times,” Shania answered. “We complement each other that way,” she added with amusement. “I see things you don’t while you see things that I don’t. It balances everything out,” Shania concluded. She let her words sink in, never taking her eyes off her cousin’s. “I mean, you won’t have to try to convince him to come to this party. You can just let him continue living in that solitary prison of his, emotionally removed from his son, his brother and everyone else in the world. After all, we all know you have more than enough to do to keep busy without taking on soul-saving.”