Cherished Love (Cherished Cowboys 1)

by Charlene Bright

  Her interest in Wade wasn’t about his women, either. She knew about his reputation, and though Wade had kept most of the family in Cherish in the dark about his lady friends, word got out.

  She remembered that his departure from Cherish was associated with the boy who had been killed when she was a kid. There was something about that story that haunted her memory. She had been tossing and turning all night, trying to remember all the details she could about Wade Williamson and about that night.

  And Mallory had gone into studying law because she had a penchant for looking into things. Like her brother had said, she could “use her words” and people would open up to her, would tell her the truth about things nobody could find out.

  When she had left Colton and Wade that afternoon to check on the calves, her personal memories of him had just been figments and smoke. When she got back in the evening, both Colton and Wade were having beers and yakking it up over their past adventures, and the big blond cowboy hardly looked up at her as she returned. What had happened to his earlier response? She knew she hadn’t imagined that look; she had felt his gaze follow her as she left, like a tangible touch. Perhaps it had been caused by things other than interest? She didn’t know, but her deductive mind began to ponder.

  Shortly after she’d gotten back to the house, Wade had departed, headed to his own ranch farther north. He’d waved at her as he drove out, but it had been a friendly gesture, not one of recognition, really, or acknowledgment.

  It had already been two days since then, and because her own recollections were fuzzy and colored by years of fantasy, she decided to go through the old family records. Despite a clear lack of his presence, and a dearth of information in the old photos and newspaper clippings, she hadn’t stopped thinking about him since.

  It was on her way to town this morning, a light drizzle falling to further darken her mood, that the itch at the back of her heart got scratched. She was passing by the cemetery, and noticed a bouquet of red roses standing in the middle, the stark crimson standing out deeply against the green-gray of the grass, the dark, verdant leaves providing a compelling backdrop for them.

  That kind of thing was just asking to be investigated, so she went out and took a look. The gravestone was one of the more modern flat ones, the kind you can’t read unless you get out of your car and stand over it. She looked around as she exited her Ford Explorer, as if what she was doing was some kind of secret. Subconsciously, she did kind of feel scandalous, because whoever had left the flowers was sending some message to the loved one buried there.

  It took her a second for the name to register. As her thoughts of Wade’s departure and her need to help Colton were mixed, boiled, and congealed together, it all made sense.

  Thomas Greeley.

  Her delay this morning had cast her into a fugue; she couldn’t get the thoughts of the connection between Wade and Tommy, Tommy and Colton, Wade and Colton, out of her mind.

  Mallory was startled out of her reverie by the bell ringing over the door as someone else entered Kitty’s.

  Wade!

  It was as if her thoughts had conjured him. Subconsciously, she tried to disappear; she scrunched down into her chair, trying to do anything to avoid notice as he made his way to the counter and ordered a coffee to go.

  Cindy sat up tall, taking the new cowboy in her world in all at once. It was almost obscene how she was tearing his clothes off with her eyes. Cindy whisper-shouted, to no one in particular, and everyone at the table at the same time.

  “Is that Wade Williamson? Phew! I haven’t seen him since school—he’s sure grown into one serious hunk of man!”

  Tara nodded emphatically, leaning back in an almost grotesque way, and whisper-hissed a response.

  “Mm.… Wouldn’t kick that out of bed on a cold night!”

  Cindy patted her hands in mock applause, and the two of them collapsed into giggles.

  “Or any night.”

  Mallory muttered furiously, glaring at her two—former—best friends, “Seriously! He can hear you!”

  Wade had come into town after driving all the way to the flower shop in Rawlins. He’d had to go out of his way a million miles, it seemed, to get the roses. Not that Tommy, or any of his family, would ever know—Tom was dead, his family having moved back east in their grief. So the gesture was simply his own acknowledgment. After all, he’d gone to see Colton; he could hardly have ignored Tommy, could he?

  The drizzle and cold were so appropriate, that he stayed for only a few minutes. After dropping the roses at his grave, he had planned to head over to the rodeo grounds. He’d stopped at the gas station nearby to fill the tank on his mom’s Lexus and saw a Ford Explorer drive through the cemetery, slow, and come to rest near the bundle of roses. He recognized the driver when she got out—Mallory.

  Once the ladies had started their giggles and comments, Wade couldn’t stop himself from grinning at the woman serving him as he listened to the conversation behind him. He certainly didn’t mind a bit of female appreciation, especially when it came from attractive women like the ones seated behind him by the window. He had watched Mallory enter the bakery from the gas station, so decided he would try out Kitty’s coffee and maybe a doughnut or something. He had briefly considered passing by and getting his morning fix from somewhere else, but he told himself that was ridiculous. Colton couldn’t possibly expect him to ignore his sister completely—not in a town this size. And besides, the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting out of the building toward him was too good to resist. His mind made up, he had pushed into the café, determined to get his coffee and leave with no more than a friendly nod toward Mallory. But now as he heard her furious admonition to her admiring friends, he smothered a laugh and couldn’t help but turn around and make his way to their table.

  “Morning, ladies. Mallory.”

  His eyes twinkled in amusement at her as she mumbled a good morning at him, refusing to meet his eyes and blushing an intense shade of red. She clearly knew he’d heard their comments and was obviously mortified. She was adorable.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

  To her credit, she made her introductions, pointing to the brunette and the blond in turn, despite turning an even more violent shade of red—something he hadn’t thought possible.

  As he shook hands with her friends and made small talk he could see Mallory, as well as her two friends, out of the corner of his eye fidgeting and eyeing him up and down when they weren’t specifically in the conversation. He smirked, satisfied. Even if it couldn’t go anywhere, it was good for his ego. And what was the problem with a little harmless flirting anyway?

  Kitty brought his coffee over and he turned back to Mallory before he left and gave her his warmest smile, the one that had always worked like a charm in the past.

  “Good to see you again, Mallory.”

  He turned to make his way out, and caught the tension mechanism on his cast against the door frame, nearly spilling his coffee cup. He cursed his injury as he left. So much for making a smooth exit. Doesn’t matter how classy you try to be, if your departure leaves you feeling like a clown.

  * * *

  The doorbell jingled as it closed behind Wade, and Mallory’s friends turned to look at her in astonishment.

  “What?” She said the word defensively, hoping to avoid their probing questions. She looked down at her plate and picked at her croissant, trying to avoid the questioning looks she was sure the other two women were giving her. She didn’t have to guess; she knew what they were thinking.

  Cindy was the first, of course, to start in. Tara replied, like an echo that didn’t match.

  “What was that?”

  “Is there something going on with the two of you?”

  “You dark horse! Is that why you’re so tired this morning?”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us about this!”

  They kept up for several minutes, the words getting closer together, the voices
more shrill.

  Eventually, the two women babbled over each other and Mallory groaned, putting her face in her hands.

  “Look. There’s nothing going on to tell you about.”

  Cindy snorted in disbelief. “Honey, that wasn’t ‘nothing.’ I have never seen you blush so much in your life. And there were some serious sparks flying between you two there.”

  Tara chimed in. “And since when do you turn into a blithering idiot around men?”

  Mallory lifted her head out of her hands and faced her friends as she admitted, “There’s nothing going on, honestly. But I’ve had a serious crush on him for as long as I can remember. I thought that now that I was older and wiser I would at least be able to carry on a conversation with him like a rational human being. Look, it isn’t what your imaginations are pursuing at all. I had a crush on him, yes, but I was fourteen, for God’s sake. I was blushing because you were embarrassing. Can’t you see that? My lord.”

  Cindy and Tara exchanged glances and frowned a little. “Well…maybe just a little. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re imagining.”

  “And honestly, who can blame us? A man that fine doesn’t just waltz in here every morning. I tell you, even with that broken wing, that man is walking, talking sex on a stick. If he’d looked at me like that I would have melted straight into a puddle of goo too!”

  Mallory wailed, shaking off her friend’s hand. “Guys, this is not helping. You don’t know him like I do. He’s always dating a whole freaking harem of gorgeous, sexy women, and he couldn’t get away from me fast enough the other day when he stopped by to visit with Colton. As soon as I appeared he took off. And he had just cracked open a new beer. No way was that a coincidence. But there is more to know too,” she finished mysteriously.

  Her friends were one-trick ponies, and the ride was still rolling along for them. Cindy just moved onto her next stanza of her one song. Tara added to the insanity.

  “Now listen to me, you are gorgeous, and more than that, you are successful and intelligent and a beautiful person inside and outside. You could outshine a whole horde of buckle bunnies.”

  “And that man was definitely interested. If that look he had given you had been any hotter I might have melted in place.…”

  “Tara, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  Mallory was now completely mortified. She’d seen the kind of mischief these two could concoct. “Oh no, you two! I know that tone. There is no way I’m going along with whatever scheme you two are cooking up.”

  They gave her a look. She stared them down, and they shrugged. Looking at her watch, Cindy turned to her partner in crime. “Well, I guess I know when my ideas aren’t wanted. Just wait, Tara. She will be back to us soon enough, and then we can say, ‘I told you so!’ Right, Tara?”

  “Right!!”

  As they scooted off the bench and headed for the door, Mallory stood, watching them. She knew these gals. She was the one who started this, digging into Wade’s past, his last years here in Cherish. She’d gotten herself into this mess. And she realized they were just trying to help her out.

  * * *

  As she left the café, Mallory’s mind turned to Tommy Greeley, Colton, and Wade. She remembered the threesome were as thick as thieves. And she thought about Tommy’s death and how things didn’t really seem to make sense. Both Wade and Colton had been with Tommy, or near him, when he died. It had been an awful accident, but why, then had Colton been so uncomfortable talking about it all these years later. Sure, a death like that would be difficult to talk about, especially a tough-hearted cowboy, but there was something else.… Mallory could always tell when Colton wasn’t being completely forthcoming, and he’d definitely not been telling her everything. He was hiding something.

  Suddenly, she remembered something her Evidences professor had told her at school in Chicago: Don’t believe only the evidence you are presented. Often, to win a case, you just need to get more information.… Dig around a bit. Something always shakes out of the bulrushes when you look.

  She continued down the road to the rodeo grounds. There, she buried herself in work for the rest of the day, kept her mind off the broken cowboy, her brother, and the ghost that still haunted them.

  Well, mostly.

  About a week, later, she still hadn’t gotten up the nerve to actually ask Cindy for permission to go through the old newspapers. Still, she had done some investigating otherwise. She found that the Greeley family had been in town, working on trying to keep the truck stop going. When the big truck stops added showers, the Cherish Truck Stop, which had experienced somewhat of a renaissance, had started to falter once again. The owners, by the name of McCall, had brought in Victor Greeley and his family to try and save the place from bankruptcy.

  Fortunately, Mary McCall was still in town, living in the retirement wing at the hospital, so on one of her visits to Cindy and Tara, she’d taken the time to go visit Mary.

  * * *

  It’s never fun to visit a nursing home. The Skilled Nursing Facility at the Cherish hospital was much like any other, save for its diminutive size. With only a half dozen beds, and one resident geriatrics doctor, it barely met the definition, but all the requirements, all those horrid aromas were there to be “enjoyed.”

  Mallory had made her way there, to talk with the former truck stop owner to figure out what happened all those years ago.

  Mary McCall did not seem to be enjoying much about her last days on the planet. She was a slight woman, maybe 75 pounds and less than five feet tall. Her children had moved to Deer Run, but since she still owned the land that the truck stop occupied, here she remained. Her eyesight had been taken by late-in-life diabetes, but her mind remained quick as ever.

  “Whatever can I do for you, dearie? I am just so glad to have a visitor!”

  “Mary, I’m Mallory, and I raise horses. Do you like horses?”

  Mary perked up, her eyes brightening in their darkness. “Oh, yes. I used to have my own…Friskie!”

  It almost seemed from her tone that the horse had materialized in the room. Mary even brushed at the air, as if touching the phantom horse’s mane. Mallory pressed further. “Do you remember the Greeley family?”

  Mary’s hand fell to her lap. She sat silently for a moment, the smile starting to fade, like a shadow had passed over her grave. “Honey, I don’t like to think about that summer. So sad.…”

  Mal was careful; she did not want a scene or to cause problems, but still she wanted to know. “Mary, can you tell me about it? What was it that makes you so sad?”

  Mary clouded up; she looked as if she were going to start crying. Then, like a switch, she closed up. Her cheeks pulled in, her eyes widened, the tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “That poor boy. Always wanted to be like his idols, wanted to stand on his own two feet. He could never get any light when he walked around in those two shadows. It was awful, what that bull did to him. Just awful. Couldn’t even tell who he was when that bull got through with him.”

  “Mary, do you mean Tommy? Tommy Greeley?”

  Mary looked right at Mallory, or rather right through her, her unseeing eyes as direct and piercing as any seeing person’s. She scowled and spat the words like they had left a bad taste in her mouth. “They’s something ain’t right about what happened. You mark my words.”

  After that, Mary wouldn’t talk to Mallory any more. It was like the lights had gone out.

  Chapter 5

  Wade Williamson was getting along pretty good left-handed. He had mastered driving (and shifting) his truck and the family tractors, had developed a passing signature, and had gotten used to reaching for things with his good hand, not the wounded one. But he was relieved when the metal had come off his arm, leaving only the blue cast.

  His first few weeks of physical therapy had kicked his butt. The strenuous nature of trying to save the muscles in his hand from atrophy while letting the flesh heal pushed him to tears every ti
me.

  He hadn’t run into Mallory any more since that day at Kitty’s Café, mainly because now he knew her vehicle. And he didn’t see her at Colton’s as much, as she’d moved her horse out to the rodeo grounds for riding lessons during the summer.

  He did run into Cindy from time to time, because he didn’t know her car, and he was thinking she was actually pursuing him. Twice, it had been at the grocery store in Lander; he’d gotten in the habit of shopping in other towns, because the locals were aware of his presence, his left-handed autographs were not as good, and he didn’t want to disappoint local kids who wanted to someday be bull riders like himself. Shopping in other towns gave him at least a little anonymity.

  Not only that, but the longer drives gave him more time to think, and being in his home country, the subject of Tommy Greeley came up more often. At first, Tommy had seemed to follow him and Colton around like a puppy dog. It was sad, really. Tom’s family had moved around a lot, from job to job. He got to Cherish in the middle of Wade and Colton’s sophomore year. He hadn’t grown up with any of the kids there; he hadn’t even started high school with them. And Tommy’s family had very little money. Tommy wouldn’t really talk much about why his dad moved from job to job so often. His clothes were homemade, for the most part, and what wasn’t was bargain-basement, rummage-sale, hand-me-downs. All of these strikes against him, Tommy started high school in Cherish as an outcast, a target for bullies.

  Wade had always had his parents as a backstop; if things got out of hand, he could depend on his mom and dad to step in and fix it. Tommy’s parents were always working from one job to the next, not sure what they would do when the money dried up. Wade’s dad, Raymond, had always had money, as the family had been stalwarts in the cattle business since the first herds were driven toward Chicago, then later to the rail yards. Tommy’s dad, Victor, had started in the grocery business, bagging the week’s staples for housewives in Arkansas. If it ever came down to the two fathers, Raymond could clean the floor with Victor.