Cowboy Brave

by Carolyn Brown

  “Tell me it’s not true,” Patsy said with tears in her eyes.

  “What?”

  “That you’re leaving us to go back to West Texas, and you’re never coming back. What did Justin do to hurt your feelings? I’ve got a good mind to go out there and give him a piece of my mind.” Patsy had begun to pace around one of the long tables.

  “Justin didn’t do anything. I was going home to see my folks anyway, so I decided to make it a four-day weekend,” Emily said soothingly. Just ten more minutes, but she couldn’t leave when Patsy was so upset.

  “Is Justin going with you?”

  “No, he is not,” Emily answered.

  “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t invite him. And a few days of us being away from each other will be good for both of us. Besides with the cattle sale and the reunion, my folks can always use my help.”

  Patsy grabbed her chest and sank to the floor. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she twitched a few times. Otis came running from the hallway and yelled for someone to call 911. “Patsy’s had a heart attack. My wife acted just like that when she died.”

  Larry appeared out of nowhere, phone in hand, and pressed the numbers. “Send an ambulance to Oakview Retirement Center. We’ve got a resident down with a heart attack.”

  Emily ran to get the on-duty nurse but was told that she’d had an emergency call from the hospital saying that her son had been in an accident. She’d left a few minutes before. Nikki yelled from the other end of the hallway to just call 911.

  Before Emily could get back to the room, the ambulance was already there and the paramedics were loading Patsy up on a gurney. She opened her eyes, took a few breaths, and held out her hand. “Go with me, Emily. Bess will be crazy. I need you.”

  Emily took the small hand in hers and nodded. “Of course. I couldn’t let you go alone.”

  “I’ll drive the four of us out to the hospital,” Otis said.

  “Don’t worry, sister,” Bess called out. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Don’t you dare die. I can’t live without you.”

  Emily’s eyes misted over as she crawled up into the ambulance. It was a tight fit with her and the paramedic both sitting on the narrow bench beside Patsy, but it was only a five-minute drive. The waiting room was full when they wheeled Patsy straight back through the doors into the emergency area. Watching them take Patsy away, with no one to hold her hand or stay with her, was one of the hardest things that Emily ever had to do. Bess was right behind her, wringing her hands. Sarah had an arm thrown around her shoulders. Otis and Larry had taken seats over against the wall.

  To Emily’s surprise, Justin came dashing through the doors no more than five minutes after they arrived. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m so sorry,” Justin said as he wrapped her up in a hug.

  She closed her eyes and listened to the steady beat of his heart. When she opened them, she caught a glimpse of Otis elbowing Larry, and Bess smiling. That was her first clue that something was definitely wrong.

  “Thank you, but how did you find out that Patsy…” Her dark brows drew down over her blue eyes.

  “Larry called me. He said she might die,” he said.

  “And you beat the ambulance here, all the way from the ranch?”

  “Cade and I were already in town.” Justin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We were less than a mile away, so we dropped everything and came right on. Cade is parking the truck. Is she going to be all right? Was it really a heart attack? What did the nurse at the center say?”

  “I don’t know. The nurse at the center had an emergency…” Emily started.

  Before she could finish, the doors flew open and everyone in the Patsy party stood up. Linda Smith, the nurse from the center, stopped in the middle of the floor and said, “I wish I had whoever pranked me by the hair. I’d strangle them until they turned blue and then slap them for being that color. My son is fine and so is all the rest of my family. And Patsy is most likely having a panic attack. They’re running some tests, but the doctor doesn’t think it’s a heart attack.”

  “What caused the panic?” Justin asked.

  “Praise the lord,” Sarah said.

  “Can I see her?” Bess asked.

  Emily took Justin by the arm and led him away from the crowd. “She doesn’t want me to go to Tulia without you. She thinks that I’m never coming back,” Emily whispered.

  “Then I’ll go with you. Tag already invited me,” Justin said.

  “No. I need to go alone. We need a little breathing space to be sure this is all real, and I’ve got things to get settled at home,” she said.

  “Such as?” he asked.

  “This isn’t the time or place to talk about it. Just trust me, Justin. I need to go alone,” she said.

  “Why? I thought we were good,” he said.

  She could read disappointment in his face. “We are more than good. It’s not you, darlin’. It’s me. There’s stuff going on at home, and remember what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder,” she said as she brushed a kiss across his lips.

  “I’m afraid of that other saying: out of sight, out of mind,” he said.

  “Never,” she told him.

  “Promise?” He headed outside.

  “Absolutely.”

  “I thought Justin would stay longer,” Bess said.

  Nikki pushed through the doors at the same time Justin was leaving. “I came as quick as I could after I gave out the evening meds. Since Linda wasn’t there I had to take up the slack. Is Patsy going to be okay?”

  Emily gave her the latest news. “And someone prank called Linda. Her son is fine and so is the rest of her family.”

  “What can I do?” Nikki asked.

  Emily slumped down in a chair and motioned for Nikki to sit beside her. “We’re waiting on the tests to get done. She thought Justin and I were fighting because he wasn’t going with me, and that I wouldn’t ever come back.”

  “Tell me neither one is true.”

  “We aren’t fighting, but I think he’s disappointed that I didn’t want him to go with me, and I’ll be back on Monday.”

  Nikki nodded and started to comment when a tall lady in scrubs pushed a wheelchair bearing Patsy through the doors and out into the waiting room. “She’s ready to go. The doctor says that it was just a mild panic attack. Is there someone here to take her back to the center, or do we need to take her in the ambulance?”

  Otis raised his hand. “I’ll take her.”

  “Did you tell Justin that he can go with you?” Patsy asked.

  “No, I didn’t. I’ve got family stuff to do, so I’m going to be busy,” Emily answered.

  Patsy grabbed her chest with both hands. Her head fell backward and she rolled her eyes back into her head. Emily started toward her, but Nikki laid a hand on her arm.

  “Stop it, sister!” Bess slapped Patsy on the arm. “It won’t work a second time, and Justin’s already gone home.”

  Patsy got out of the wheelchair and grabbed Bess’s hand. “It was a fine performance though, wasn’t it? We should all be actors. Now as the curtain draws, we’ll take a bow. Please hold your applause until we’re all holding hands.”

  The other three joined them while Nikki, the nurse, and Emily all watched in speechless silence.

  “I didn’t know that the retirement center had dementia residents. Were they ever actors?” the nurse asked.

  “Not to my knowledge,” Nikki answered. “Come on, Emily, I’ll drive you back to the center to get your car.”

  “Can us girls go with y’all?” Sarah asked.

  Emily pointed at all of them. “No, and if you were children instead of grown adults I’d ground you for a month. I’m tellin’ the supervisor tomorrow morning.”

  “Tattletale,” Larry muttered.

  “Does that mean we can’t go to church next Sunday?” Bess asked.

  “No, but you better not pull a stunt like this again. You need to g
o to church and spend the whole hour repenting for your sins.” Emily spun around and was on the way out the door when she heard the five of them giving themselves a round of applause.

  Emily made it to the car and had the seat belt fastened before she and Nikki burst out in laughter. “That’s even worse than anything they did at the ranch.”

  Nikki handed Emily a leftover napkin from the pizza place. “Are you really going to tattle on them?”

  “No.” Emily wiped her eyes. “And promise me that you won’t either. Causing such a panic in the center and making prank calls could get them evicted.”

  “I’ve laughed so hard and I can’t breathe. You really aren’t going to tell on them?”

  “That’s just a warning,” Emily said between more giggles as she wiped the black smudges from her cheeks. “I swear to God, raising them is worse than children could ever be.”

  “Only difference is when you get kids grown up, they’ve got years and years to live. When this bunch is raised, you’ll be attending funerals,” Nikki told her.

  Emily shivered. “I can’t think about that.”

  “And when they’re all gone, you’ll have empty nest syndrome, because there’ll never be another group like them at the center.” Nikki parked beside Emily’s car. “I’ll pick up some Subway sandwiches. You go on home and get started packing.”

  “Thank you.” Emily looked around the parking lot. “I wonder where they are.”

  “Probably stopped for ice cream.” Nikki grinned. “You didn’t give them a curfew.”

  “I’ll have to remember that,” Emily said as Nikki got out of the car.

  Just to be sure, she drove by the ice cream store, where she could see all five of them through the window. And a cute little waitress was handing out sundaes.

  “I may be ready to give up my job and go to ranchin’ by the time they’re all…” Emily couldn’t make herself say or even think the word.

  She tried to think about what she’d need that week as she drove the rest of the way home. She stopped long enough to tell her landlady that she’d be gone so the old gal wouldn’t worry. Then she took the stairs two at a time to her apartment. She unlocked the door and shoved it open, went straight to her bedroom and pulled her suitcases from the shelf in the closet.

  “Hey, I found your sunglasses in my car. Thought you might need them on the trip,” Nikki yelled without knocking. “And you dropped something.”

  Emily peeked around the door to see her holding out an envelope. “What is it?”

  “Don’t know. It was on your floor. Has your name on it. Think we should call in the bomb squad. After what the Five did tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if they brewed up some kind of powder to make you sick so you couldn’t leave.”

  Emily took it from her outstretched hand, and holding it out away from her face, ripped into the envelope to find one red, heart-shaped lollipop. She sat down with a thud in the middle of the floor and put her hands over her eyes.

  “What is it?” Nikki plopped down beside her.

  “I know it’s from Justin, even though there’s no note. It must’ve been propped against my door, and I kicked it inside,” she said.

  “Are you cryin’?” Nikki asked.

  “A little.”

  Nikki slung an arm around her shoulders. “That is just the sweetest thing ever.”

  Emily raised her head and swiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “Don’t I know it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  When the packing was done, Emily decided that she couldn’t sleep anyway so she might as well drive partway that night. She could stop out near Vernon for the night, and make it to the ranch before lunch the next day. Nikki hadn’t argued but gave her a hug and made her promise to text or call every day to keep her caught up on the news.

  It was after ten when she reached the Vernon city limits sign, but she wasn’t sleepy. There was no need to pay for a hotel room when she wasn’t sleepy, she decided. Between the country music songs on the radio that kept reminding her of Justin and those two red suckers on her dresser at home, her every thought was on Justin. She hoped she hadn’t hurt his feelings too badly when she refused to let him go with her.

  “We’ve got a request for several Josh Turner songs,” the radio DJ said. “So let’s make it five for Josh right now, starting with ‘Your Man.’”

  Emily began to tap to the music with the steel guitar lead-in. Josh Turner’s voice reminded her of Justin’s, with that deep drawl. A shiver crawled down her spine as she remembered his whisper when he told her that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. She imagined Justin singing each of the next three songs to her as the miles melted behind her.

  “And we’ll end the Josh five top requests with ‘Soulmate,’” the DJ said.

  Emily had never heard the song, and even though it was sung by a guy, she applied the same words to what she wanted, as a woman, when she committed her heart to a future with a man.

  It was after midnight when she turned down the lane to the Big Sky Ranch. She passed the original ranch house on the right and kept driving down the lane for another mile before she parked outside the yard fence. The house was dark, but she still had a key. She left all her baggage in the car and slipped inside. Using her phone as a flashlight, she made her way across the familiar living room and down the hallway to her old bedroom.

  She touched a small lamp on the bedside table one time. It gave off just enough light for her to dig around in a dresser drawer for something to sleep in. She kicked off her shoes and removed her scrubs. Pulling a nightshirt over her head, she crawled into the bed and closed her eyes.

  She slept poorly the rest of the night, and at five o’clock she awoke in a sweat after dreaming about Justin making love to her in the cabin. She didn’t even try to go back to sleep but got up, found a pair of jeans in her closet and a western shirt, and got dressed.

  She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hand when her mother came wandering in. Anne stopped in the middle of the floor and blinked a dozen times.

  “Am I seeing things?”

  Emily pushed her chair back and went to hug her mother. “Mornin’, Mama. Coffee is ready. What’re we makin’ for breakfast? And where are my lazy brothers?”

  Anne Baker was as tall as Emily but slim as a model. Her red hair was pulled up in a ponytail and her blue eyes sparkled just looking at her daughter. No one would ever guess that she was past fifty years old.

  “They’ll be here when they smell bacon.” Anne hugged Emily again. “Let’s don’t even start it, so we can have some time to talk first.”

  Emily took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That might take so long that they’ll starve.”

  “Not in one day.” Anne took her by the hand and led her back to the table. “Start at the beginning and catch me up, but give me time to pour a cup.”

  For the first time ever, Emily wanted to tell her mother everything in her heart, but she wasn’t sure where to start, or how to word what she couldn’t even understand herself. “You want me to start with ‘in the beginning God made dirt’?”

  “I’m all ears,” Anne said. “You can go back before that if you need to.”

  “I’m in love with Justin Maguire. It sounds crazy. We’ve only known each other a few weeks, but…” Emily went on to tell her mother the whole story.

  “I like that cowboy. We all do, but I wouldn’t tell your father that you’ve already been sleeping with him.” Anne smiled. “And don’t worry about his mother. She’ll come around and learn to love you as much as he does.”

  “But he hasn’t said that he loves me,” Emily said.

  “He will, and darlin’, I’m awful glad you trusted me enough to talk to me about this,” Anne said.

  “I’m afraid he’s terribly disappointed that I didn’t want him to come with me, and now I wish I had brought him.”

  “Never too late to ask him,” Anne said.

  “Not
after I said I needed some time to think about us. I had lots of that on the drive, and I’m sure that I love him.” She shook her head. “But I already miss him, and it hasn’t even been a day.”

  “There’s a difference in loving someone and being in love with someone. I kind of see it in Darcy. She loves Matthew, but I’m not sure she’s in love with him. That’s why we want the prenup so badly.”

  “I’m in love with Justin,” Emily said softly.

  “Then tell him,” Anne said.

  “Hey, you got a hug for your daddy?” Frank grinned as he opened up his arms.

  Emily hurried across the room. Taller than her by six inches, her father was a big man with wide shoulders and a bit of a belly that hung out over his belt buckle these days. But in the wedding picture of him and her mother on the mantel in the living room, he’d been quite the handsome young cowboy.

  “Why didn’t you tell us you were comin’ early?” Frank asked.

  “I wanted to surprise you. Got a job for me today?”

  “I could use another hand on a tractor. This time of year, we got lots of plowin’ to do,” he said.

  “I’d rather fence, but I’ll gladly drive a tractor. It does have a radio, right? Or do I need to take my MP3 player?”

  “It’s got a radio,” Frank said. “And welcome home, baby girl.”

  Home?

  That was in a little cabin on the backside of the Longhorn Canyon with Justin Maguire, and she intended to tell him as much as soon as she got back there.

  Justin tossed and turned both Thursday night and Friday night. On Saturday morning he was up at five o’clock and made a pot of coffee. He’d never believed in love at first sight, or even love that happened in a short time. That was something that built over time, maybe a year or two, not in a month. But the simple truth was that he was in love with Emily.

  Levi knocked on his door but came right in without waiting for an invitation. “Got coffee made?”

  “In the pot.” Justin pointed. “What are you doin’ out here this early?”