A Cowboy's Pride

by Karen Rock

  Katlynn hugged herself with her arms. “As in perform a Caesarean section?”

  “Yes. Luckily the child was a male, Clyde William, the second, so all wasn’t in vain.”

  “Luckily?” Cole didn’t bother hiding his scorn. How could any man make such a choice? Seemed no task at all for a Farthington.

  “He’s certainly had his share of tragedies.” Katie-Lynn squatted and peered eye to eye with the statue as if she could glean some hidden information in the cold marble facade.

  Mr. Farthington’s expression shuttered. “Every family has its legends, a story, as do we.”

  They resumed their walk and stepped inside a library filled with jammed, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. “Our oldest records are kept here.” Mr. Farthington unlocked a glass-doored bookcase and retrieved a faded, green, velum-covered logbook.

  At a wooden table, they examined the payroll.

  “There he is!” Katie-Lynn exclaimed, pointing at a handwritten line with “Everett J. Loveland, paid $3.50, on April 27.”

  A strange rushing sensation swept through Cole, nearly lifting him off his feet. Seeing his infamous ancestor’s name in black-and-white made Katie-Lynn’s quest real. This wasn’t just a legend, but a real person, someone’s actual life. Cole’s plan to assist Katie-Lynn to ensure she didn’t stir up old scandals was even more personal now. He wanted to vindicate Everett, too. He might not have been famous or rich, but he still deserved justice. Like Cole, Everett had little but his pride. And he’d restore it to Everett, a man wrongly accused and shamed by a dishonorable death.

  “What does ‘WO’ mean?” Katie-Lynn pointed to the letters entered next to Everett’s name on May 31.

  “Wages owed,” Mr. Farthington supplied. “Presumably, he’d left the job before payday.”

  “Why?” Cole flipped a few pages back and noted Everett had been collecting his weekly pay until then. As a younger son with no prospects, seemed unlikely he’d walk away from steady wages.

  “Any number of reasons.” Mr. Farthington closed the book, returned it to the glass case and led them out. “Injury. Illness. Bad news calling him home. It would have been a significant reason since reliable, well-compensated jobs were few and far between in Everett’s day.”

  “You’ve been a big help.” Katie-Lynn stopped at the front door and gifted the older man with her winsome smile. “Thank you, Mr. Farthington.”

  “Much appreciated, sir.” Cole clasped the other man’s frail hand.

  “If I can be of any further help, please let me know,” Mr. Farthington called after them.

  Cole opened his truck’s passenger door and helped Katie-Lynn up into her seat. “There’s never been any mention of Everett being sick.”

  “Or injured.” Katie-Lynn peered down at him. “Though we should probably look at medical records to be sure.”

  Cole donned his cowboy hat and pulled the brim low against the sunshine. “Why leave a lucrative job to come home? Had to be something important.”

  “It usually is.” Katie-Lynn’s eyes darkened slightly before her lashes lowered, obscuring her expression.

  Was she thinking about her job? Him? Both?

  “According to the story, the family was surprised he was home. If they didn’t summon him, who did?”

  Katie-Lynn’s brow furrowed. “We need to find out.”

  Cole jumped behind the wheel of his truck and tore off down the road.

  He liked the sound of “we” too much for his own good.

  * * *

  “THANK YOU FOR seeing us on such short notice.” Katlynn eyed the fluffy chocolate chip cookies Joy Cade transferred from a baking sheet to a cooling rack later that night. She clenched her gut to keep it from rumbling. This morning’s weigh-in showed she’d lost a pound...so only four more to go.

  Only.

  Four pounds seemed insurmountable when faced with gooey, homemade cookies. The rich, chocolaty smell filled her nose, and her mouth watered. Who could resist? Not Cole.

  “Mind if I?” he asked, then grabbed a couple of the treats at Joy’s smiling nod.

  “How about some milk for dunking?” Joy cocked her head and the blunt ends of her thick, silver bob swung.

  “Thank you,” Cole mumbled through a bite.

  Joy’s hazel eyes, bright behind frameless glasses, peered at Katlynn. “How about you, honey?”

  Before Katlynn managed a polite refusal, Cole said, “She’d like a glass, too,” and passed over a stack of cookies.

  Diet sabotage!

  Her mouth opened and closed, thoughts tumbling. An inner war waged, a battle between being polite to her hostess and capitulating to her merciless shapewear and bodycon dresses.

  “Are you trying to ruin my diet?” she said beneath her breath once Joy rummaged inside the refrigerator.

  “Nope.” Cole bit off half a cookie, chewing, lips twisted in a smirk. “I’m just trying to get you to eat.”

  She sighed. Strange how the trait you admired in a person was just as likely to drive you crazy. Cole always looked out for others. Case in point. He’d leaped in to offer Aunt Susanna help while being respectful of her fears. Loyal and devoted as ever. Never out for himself.

  His opposition to her investigation and his involvement to safeguard his family only underscored his protectiveness. It’d been a long time since she’d been around a selfless person. He was hardly a saint, though. The twinkle in his eye as he waved a cookie beneath her nose was one hundred percent pure, unadulterated evil.

  “Fine,” she mumbled, relenting, then bit into the soft, warm cookie.

  Manners 1, Willpower 0.

  Fireworks exploded on her tongue. Whistlers streaked straight to her brain and popped. The sweet chocolate melted on her tongue, and she closed her eyes in deep appreciation. No gluten-free, sugar-free, soy-free Hollywood patisserie held a candle to simple, made-from-scratch cookies.

  “Would you like more?”

  At Joy’s gentle question, Katlynn opened her eyes and peered down at her empty napkin, dumbfounded. She’d eaten all the cookies? A quick glance at a grinning Cole confirmed the horrible truth.

  Joy hurried off to answer a ringing phone.

  “You.” Katlynn pointed another cookie at him before dunking it in her milk. “You made me do this.”

  “You can bring a starving woman a cookie, but you cannot make her eat,” he intoned, mock-serious.

  She nearly choked on her soggy, milk-laden treat, laughing. Cole’s deep chuckle mingled with hers in the homey kitchen, the moment suddenly intimate. Eventually, their merriment subsided and smiles disappeared as their eyes locked. Cole, sitting on a stool beside her at the granite-topped counter, leaned closer. Drawn by forces nearly as strong as the cookie, Katlynn’s mouth puckered. Her eyes closed. In her eardrums, her heart banged a fast rhythm.

  “You have chocolate on your cheek,” Cole whispered in her ear before brushing his lips to her skin with a kiss so soft, so brief, it felt like a child’s dream. When he withdrew, she almost wept with a new craving altogether. And she wasn’t exactly known for her willpower.

  “That was your father.” Joy turned from the phone, blushing and beaming. “Says Aunt Susanna’s agreed to let the family come over and work at her place tomorrow. She thinks she might have some information for you.”

  “What kind of information?” Cole asked.

  “About the feud?” asked Jewel Cade, Joy’s only daughter, joining them. A tight braid revealed her pretty, freckled face and enormous brown eyes. “Hey, Katie-Lynn. Saw you at Silver Spurs.”

  “Hats off in the house,” Joy said without turning from the oven.

  “Oops. The cookies smelled so good, I forgot.” Jewel hung up her black Stetson and sauntered back to the granite island. She shoved half of one in her mouth and swallowed with barely a chew.

  “She goe
s by Katlynn now,” Cole said.

  Jewel crossed to the fridge and grabbed some milk. “Is that right.”

  “It’s for professional reasons,” Katlynn clarified.

  “So she doesn’t sound like a hayseed,” Cole contended, one eyebrow cocked.

  “And no drinking straight from the carton,” Joy said without looking away from the stove as she slid in another sheet of unbaked cookies.

  “Dang it.” Jewel lowered the carton. “Do all mothers have eyes in the back of their head, or just mine?”

  “Or cussing.”

  Jewel, Cole and Katlynn burst out laughing.

  “What’s a Loveland doing here?” asked someone with a raspy male voice. Justin Cade, clad in head-to-toe black, ambled into the kitchen then halted.

  “Cade,” Cole growled, sizing Justin up through narrowed eyes. The air in the room morphed from lighthearted to tense in half a heartbeat.

  Justin filched a cookie from his sister’s plate. “Howdy, Katie-Lynn. Good seeing you. Would be better if you weren’t with this guy.” At Jewel’s lightning-quick shoulder jab, he dropped the treat and backed away, rubbing his upper arm.

  “She goes by Katlynn now.” Jewel lowered her balled hand.

  “Your sister’s got a nice cross punch,” Cole drawled.

  “You wouldn’t think so if you were on the receiving end of it,” Justin said, rueful. He kissed his ma on the cheek when she fixed him a plate.

  Jewel, a tough cowgirl through and through, stopped scowling at her brother and bestowed a smile on Cole. “Least someone’s got some manners around here.”

  “What are you doing back home, Katie—Katlynn?” Justin asked. “Not taking up with Cole again, are you?”

  “I’m investigating the family feud for my show.”

  “Heard about that now as you mention it.”

  “A Loveland in our kitchen... Is it the apocalypse?” James Cade entered the room with his adopted son, Javi.

  “Will he bite me?” Javi whispered, eyes wide as he hid behind his father’s legs.

  “I’ll protect you.” Jewel scooped up Javi and snuggled him on her lap, tickling his belly.

  “Katie-Lynn?” James, an old classmate, swept her off her feet in a tight hug that left her breathless. “What a nice surprise. Ma said you were doing a show here about our family.”

  Cole shot to his feet. “She goes by Katlynn.”

  James took his time releasing her in the face of Cole’s scowl.

  “Funny how you keep reminding everyone of that,” Katlynn said to Cole. “Yet you can’t remember it yourself.”

  Jewel and Justin guffawed, and red stained Cole’s handsome face.

  “Are Lovelands really snakes?” Javi asked. “Uncle Jack says so.”

  “Only on a full moon,” Cole said with a wink, as James, Justin and Jewel suddenly got busy cleaning up the baking pans.

  “Is he funning me?” Javi’s large eyes grew so big they nearly swallowed his small face.

  “Yes, he is. He’s a regular person same as you and me.” Joy frowned over Javi’s head at her offspring. “And a guest in this house.”

  Everyone jumped slightly when she set a fresh platter of cookies down with a bang.

  “Will he be my uncle?” Javi grabbed a cookie.

  Cole nodded. “And you’ll be my nephew.”

  Jewel, James and Justin exchanged frowns. Despite the temporary truce, it seemed the about-to-be blended family was on shaky ground. No wonder Cole worried the investigation might open old wounds. They hardly seemed healed at all, despite their parents’ upcoming wedding. The full consequence of her investigation hit her. She needed to take every precaution to do no harm to the fragile peace.

  “Are you poor?” Javi asked Cole as he chewed, openmouthed. “Me and mama were poor once. Do you get your clothes from the shelter?”

  “Javi, that’s not polite.” Joy turned to a stone-faced Cole. “Please accept my apologies.”

  He shook his head. “The boy only says what he’s been taught.”

  “I was apologizing for my children,” Joy clarified, glowering at them. “And I’m sure they will, too.”

  After a chorus of hurried sorrys, Justin turned to Cole, “Are we set for the softball fund-raiser this weekend?”

  “Got things covered on my end. The Lovelands are ready to kick some Cade—” He broke off when he glimpsed a rapt Javi. “Tires,” he finished lamely.

  Bitten-back grins circled the group.

  “Why’s he going to kick our tires?” Javi’s face scrunched.

  “It’s just a figure of speech.” Joy ruffled Javi’s hair.

  “We’re planning on kicking your—” Jewel cleared her throat “—tires, too. Into next week.”

  “Guess we’ll see.” Cole shrugged. “May the best family win.”

  “And we know who that is,” James growled.

  “This is for charity, right?” Katlynn asked. Given the tension, it might have been a fight-to-the-death match.

  “Yes.” Joy nodded. “We’re raising money for Fresh Start, a rehabilitation clinic in town. Justin works there part-time doing ranching workshops. Cole runs their Al-Anon meetings.”

  Katlynn stared at Cole, amazed he’d oversee anything involving talking, let alone about his painful past. Knowing how much it must cost him to open up, to help others, touched her.

  Her reasons for leaving him so long ago were growing harder to remember by the day...

  “I help out at those meetings, too.” Justin clamped his mouth tight for a quiet moment then said, “For Jesse.”

  Sympathy welled for Justin, who’d lost his identical twin. She’d heard Jesse became addicted to opioids after a sports injury, a dangerous habit leading to his death at the hands of dealers calling in his debt.

  “I meant to say earlier, I’m sorry for your loss,” Katlynn said. “Jesse was sweet. And caring. He always found me in the library at lunch and shared his food when I didn’t have any.”

  Joy dabbed at her eyes, and her kids crowded around her, holding her tight. “That—that—sounds like our Jesse.” After returning her children’s hugs, she waved them off. “We’re starting to move on, thanks to Javi and Sofia.”

  “Jesse was my daddy, but now James is, right, Pa?”

  James clasped the child in his arms. “That’s right.”

  “Jack and Jared are married with kids, too. And Justin’s engaged.” Jewel made a gagging sound. “To a pastor, if you can believe it. Fresh Start’s manager, Brielle Thompson. She’ll have her hands full keeping this sinner in line.”

  “You’ll be the only single one in the family, Jewel,” James observed.

  “No surprise. She’s as approachable as a cactus,” Justin teased.

  “You’re one to talk!” Jewel rejoined, red coloring in the spaces between her freckles. “Besides, I’m not giving up my independence for some gold ring. Might as well put it in my nose and lead me around with it.”

  “Many women choose to be single.” Katlynn swirled her milk. From the corner of her eye, she spied Cole’s gaze on her.

  Joy flicked off the oven and turned, wiping her hands on a green-and-white-patterned apron, a perfect color match for her silky blouse and earrings. “If you’d like to follow me, I can show you the family bible.”

  “Cole. A word,” James said as they passed him on the way to the living room.

  “If it’s about your offer to buy us out, don’t waste your breath.”

  Katlynn lagged behind, listening.

  “Be reasonable. I don’t want Ma getting married then foreclosed on. She’d be humiliated.”

  “You think we’d let that happen? Lovelands look after our own. Like it or not, your ma’s about to become one of us.”

  The protectiveness and pride in Cole’s voice nearly broke Katlynn’s h
eart. She hurried to join Joy. A moment later a red-faced Cole thumped down beside them on the couch.

  “I marked the page.” Joy heaved open an oversize book covered in faded black leather, a gold cross painted on its cover. Dry pages, yellow with age, rustled as she turned them. Katlynn sneezed at the musty smell.

  “Bless you, dear.”

  She smiled at Joy’s and Cole’s concerned faces. “Thank you.”

  “Okay. Here it is.” Joy stopped on an ink-filled page.

  Katlynn and Cole leaned down to peer at it.

  “Maggie Elizabeth Cade, born February 26, 1889, died May 31, 1907,” Cole read out loud.

  “She was only eighteen,” Joy sighed. “Poor child.”

  Katlynn pictured the pretty young woman in the grip of her older, stern fiancé. Had she killed herself to escape a miserable marriage? Where did Everett Loveland’s unexplained appearance, at the site of her death, fit in? A coincidence or something more...and what happened to Cora’s Tear?

  “Do you have any journals or letters belonging to Maggie?”

  “There are a few places I can check. Lord knows the attic hasn’t been cleaned in half a century. Let me get back to you.”

  “What’s that mean?” Cole tapped an entry beneath Maggie’s.

  It read: Unnamed Cade (†*) May 31, 1907.

  Joy took off her glasses and wiped them with her shirt hem. “It means,” she said after a long moment, her voice slightly hoarse. “Maggie Cade was with child.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “ALMOST. GOT. IT,” Cole grunted as he yanked on another box wedged between his aunt Susanna’s attic rafters. Sweat streamed down his face and turned his wet T-shirt into a second skin. Two days spent organizing his aunt’s house, working nonstop with his family and Katie-Lynn, tested his stamina.

  His stubbornness, too.

  When he started something, he finished it...and finished it right.

  Except when it came to Katie-Lynn...

  “Let me help.” Katie-Lynn pulled back a rotted piece of wood holding the box in place.

  Freed, the cardboard container crashed to the floor in a mushroom cloud of dust.