A Cowboy's Pride

by Karen Rock

  The crowd howled when Katie-Lynn stopped him with a hand on his arm and kissed his cheek. “For good luck.”

  His pulse tripped all over itself. “No luck needed.” He chucked her under the chin before jogging to the plate.

  I only need you.

  “We’re all even!” Sierra bellowed, sounding as wild as the animals she treated.

  “Hold him. We’ll get ’em in extras.” Jared Cade reached behind and pulled one foot up to his back, stretching his hamstring.

  “Looks like the choke is about to be complete,” Travis hooted. “Boomer’s on deck.”

  “Play deep!” James waved back the infield and outfield, knowing Cole’s reputation as a power hitter.

  Jewel stopped chewing her gum, blew an enormous bubble then sucked it back in. “Your luck’s run out!”

  Cole grasped each end of his heavy bat and lifted it skyward. He twisted at the waist, stretching his back, stalling to settle his nerves. To focus. The Cades’ laughing, cocky expressions suddenly disappeared. Now they looked dead serious. Intent on getting him out.

  Cole swung the bat a couple of times, his thundering heartbeat the only sound he heard as he brought it up to his shoulder. He needed at least a double to bring Daryl home.

  James hurled the first pitch.

  “Strike!”

  “All right!” cheered the Cade fans.

  “Nice pitch.”

  Nerves twisted in his gut as he dug the tip of his cleat into the dirt, grounding himself. If James threw a close pitch or a good pitch, Cole would swing. He didn’t want to be down two strikes.

  A flat pitch winged Cole’s way. Short, he judged, leaning forward to watch the ball drop in front of the plate.

  “Ball!” announced the umpire.

  Air rushed from Cole’s lungs.

  “Good eye, son,” Boyd called.

  Buoyed by his father’s praise, every muscle in Cole’s body tensed, ready to deliver a smash hit. James chucked the ball again. With barely a second to process, Cole judged it too deep and didn’t swing. When it ticked the back of the mat, he winced.

  “Strike!”

  He swore under his breath and backed up in the batter’s box, expecting another deep pitch. Using his wristband, he wiped the sweat streaming into his eyes.

  The ballfield was now deathly silent, everyone’s attention focused on the next make-or-break pitch. It all came down to this moment.

  Swinging the bat, Cole pointed the tip at a waiting James, staring him down. “Gonna get you,” he silently communicated. An unruffled James Cade glared back, their family’s one hundred and twenty years of animosity on full display.

  Cole snapped his bat to his shoulder. His mouth was filled with a hundred cotton balls, his heart jackknifing in his chest. James chucked the next pitch.

  Deep...

  Cole strode forward, twisted slightly and swung with all his might. The slightest vibration, the ball coming off the end of the bat, signaled he’d lined a clean, solid hit.

  Jared leaped, but the drive flew over his head, straight down the right field line.

  Yes!

  Cole tore down the first base line and tagged up. Panting, he watched Daryl race to third base. A quick check over Cole’s shoulder revealed the right fielder rocketing the ball home as Uncle Emmitt waved Daryl on for the winning run.

  “Go! Go! Go!” screamed his family.

  “Get him!” roared the Cades.

  The fans leaped to their feet. Pandemonium.

  The Cades’ catcher planted himself in front of the plate just as Daryl and the throw arrived. The ball whacked the catcher’s mitt. Before he could tag the runner, Daryl raised his arms, knocking the catcher’s head and plowing him over. The ball bounced out of his glove. On the plate, Daryl jumped up and down as the umpire waved his arms. Safe.

  Score!

  Win!

  Justin Cade raced to the plate, his face dark as thunder, hands clenched into fists. Without breaking stride, he punched an unsuspecting Daryl. The hit to his jaw spun him around.

  Oh—heck, no!

  In an instant the Cades and Lovelands rushed the brawling players. Fists flew, legs kicked, elbows rammed. A sock to the eye, followed by a stomach jab, knocked the breath out of Cole. He grabbed Justin in a headlock and hauled the flailing hothead out of the melee. Katie-Lynn held back a raging Sierra while Jewel threw down as hard as the boys. Even though her punches seemed to bounce off Maverick’s steel gut, she didn’t let up. Heath shoved Maverick, knocking him to his knees, then grabbed Jewel’s elbow, dragging her from the violent fray.

  The umpire blew his whistle,

  Boyd yelled, “Quit it, boys!”

  “Stop now,” Joy ordered, her soft voice authoritative. “You’re acting like children.”

  “Animals,” Boyd corrected. “Y’all are better than that.”

  Everyone froze.

  Justin stopped struggling and Cole released him. Jewel yanked free of Heath. Katie-Lynn let go of Sierra, who reached down and pulled the catcher to his feet. The rest lowered their raised fists and hung their heads.

  “You’re making a spectacle of yourselves,” Boyd barked, his face beet-red.

  Concern spiked for his father, who took daily medication for his blood pressure.

  “Now this’ll be on TV.” Joy pointed to the Scandalous History camera crew who’d been filming their game.

  “I’ll make sure it’s not in the cut,” Katie-Lynn said, her eyes on Cole. He gave her a brief nod of gratitude.

  The crowds dispersed, leaving the two families facing off on the otherwise empty field.

  “Are you proud of yourselves?” Boyd demanded.

  “Their catcher was blocking the plate,” Daryl protested.

  “You hit him,” Jared accused. “A dirty play.”

  “Just like all you Lovelands,” muttered Justin.

  “What’d you say?” Impetuous Daryl advanced, and Boyd shoved him back.

  “Stand down. All y’all. We’re about to be family or are you forgetting that?”

  “We’d like to,” Maverick growled.

  A sobbing Joy hurried off the field.

  “Now look what you’ve done. I’m ashamed of you. All of you,” Boyd thundered, then raced after Joy.

  The Cades and Lovelands drifted off to their respective dugouts and gathered up their belongings.

  “Can’t stand those jerks.” Daryl yanked off his shirt and mopped up his sweat-streaked face.

  “You’re going to have to for Pa’s sake.” Heath packed up the bat bag and slung it over his shoulder. “For the wedding.”

  “If we even make it that far,” muttered Travis. He chugged the rest of his sports drink, hurled it in the trash and stalked off the field.

  Katie-Lynn waved to her family and turned to Cole. “Thanks for inviting them. Must have taken some strong-arming to get them here.”

  Cole shrugged. “Not one bit. Though I might have mentioned the market potential for Keith’s cannabis operation.”

  Katie-Lynn’s mouth curled. “Why limit themselves to church ladies?”

  He grinned back. “Exactly.”

  She trailed her hand down his arm. “But seriously, thank you. My ma’s never seen my show since she doesn’t get cable. Who’d have thought I’d get her attention playing softball?”

  Seeing her this pleased filled Cole with pride. He could make her happy...if she’d let him. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. I’d better say hi before they catch a ride home with my uncle...or Keith gets arrested.”

  Cole stopped Katie-Lynn and waited for the rest of his siblings to clear out. “I appreciate you not airing this on your show.”

  “Can’t imagine you’d think I would.”

  “The Cade-Loveland feud on full display. As ho
t as ever. A wedding in jeopardy. It’d make good TV. Ratings. Isn’t that what you need to keep your show? Your job?”

  “Some things are more important,” she said obliquely, staring at him for a long minute before scooting outside the dugout, leaving him to wonder.

  Had Katie-Lynn’s priorities begun to change?

  Was that something she’d mentioned—him?

  CHAPTER NINE

  “PA, ARE YOU sure I can’t get you an inversion table for your back?” Katlynn asked later that evening.

  Her family had surprised her by inviting both her and Cole over to celebrate the tournament win. After a meal of pot roast followed by strawberry shortcake, the group now crowded on the back porch, lounging on molded plastic chairs. A sense of familiarity settled in her bones. Participating in her family’s after-dinner ritual was like donning a pair of old, forgotten jeans and discovering how much you’d loved them. Missed them.

  “I’m not hanging upside down like some bat.” Pa removed his index finger from a teething Frankie’s mouth. “Though this kid’s turning into a vampire. Michelle, come get ’im before I wind up needing a rabies shot.”

  Cole’s low chuckle vibrated in the short space separating them on the porch swing. He’d washed up after the game, but still wore his softball pants, revealing long, muscular calves. They were crossed at the ankles, beside her own, as they rocked companionably on the front porch swing.

  She released a contented sigh. All the world, including herself, seemed at peace. This was what true mindfulness meant. Beyond her family’s cleared backyard, the setting sun clung to the horizon, coloring the clouds in orange-red streaks. In the dense bushes, lightning bugs flashed while crickets chorused, a nice change from the bright lights and traffic that’d become her constant companion in LA.

  “I’ll take him, Michelle.” Katlynn strode to her father. “And congratulations on your promotion. Head of the bakery. That’s amazing.”

  Michelle dropped back into her chair and shot her a grateful smile. “Thanks, sis. Been rolling out so many pie crusts I think I got tendinitis.”

  “Baker’s elbow?” teased their older brother John.

  “Just don’t get arthritis like me.” Ma fanned herself with an old issue of Reader’s Digest.

  “Here, baby,” Katlynn crooned, scooping up a wide-eyed Frankie. His head swiveled from her to his mother, and his face puckered. “It’s okay. I’m your aunt Katlynn. Not a stranger.”

  The baby opened his mouth, preparing to scream if the blotchy red blooming on his chubby cheeks was an indicator.

  “Ohhhhhh! Better put him down, Katie-Lynn,” her brother Martin warned. “Looks like he’s in a horn-tossin’ mood.”

  Katlynn dropped onto the swing and dug her free hand into her purse. “Look what I’ve got for you.” Katlynn cooed as she slid a new flip-flop into Frankie’s mouth, mid-wail, cutting him off. When Cole extended his finger, Frankie wrapped his tiny fingers around it.

  “Well. I’ll be.” Katlynn’s mother let out a short laugh. “Guess you two had his measure.”

  “Where’d you get the flip-flop?” Michelle shook her long bangs from her eyes.

  “Walmart.” Katlynn almost laughed at the sight of her family’s astonishment. Even her brother Keith’s drooping lids rose. “What? You think I’m too good to shop at Walmart?”

  “No.” Pa was the first to recover. “Glad to see our Katie-Lynn’s still herself is all.”

  “Better yet, they were on clearance,” she added, smiling when she caught her mother’s approving nod. In a large family with plenty of mouths to feed, the ability to save a dollar was prized.

  Cole draped his muscular arm across the swing top and the delicious weight of it, touching her back, raised goose bumps.

  “Katie-Lynn’s always had a way of coming out on top,” observed John. Their old sibling rivalry echoed faintly in his voice. Growing up, they’d been competitive since they were closest in age. And coat size.

  “If it wasn’t for Katie-Lynn leading the softball rally, we wouldn’t have beat the Cades,” Cole pointed out.

  Her heart turned to mush at the warm admiration glowing in his blue eyes.

  “She’s always made us proud,” Pa declared, surprising her. “Even when she read those books and spoke in that funny accent for a spell. Remember that, honey?”

  Ma nodded, smiling.

  “I remember!” Michelle exclaimed. “Her teacher had them reading Shakespeare, and Katie-Lynn started talking like them...”

  “Wouldest thou passeth the salt,” Martin intoned, mock-serious. Michelle giggled, and Ma smiled behind her raised hand.

  “Hey,” Katlynn protested, her lips twitching at the undeniable comedy of her pathetic attempt to speak in rhyming couplets. “I was just trying to be different.”

  “You were different, all right,” John mumbled around a toothpick. “Like that time when you tried dyeing your hair black with shoe polish, and it come out green.”

  “What’d they call her at school?” Michelle swatted at a nagging mosquito.

  “Alien girl,” Katlynn laughingly admitted, humor and time lancing the sting from the humiliating memory.

  Cole and the rest of the group joined her, their gales of laughter growing louder and louder in the still night until some bent at the waist while others wiped away tears.

  “Ma gave me that uneven bowl cut to hide it,” Katlynn gasped out, her eyes streaming. “But I think it made it worse.”

  “Definitely worse,” Keith added, now sitting up, his smile wide and loopy. “One ear was showing. The other covered up.”

  “And that was my eighth grade graduation picture!” Katlynn lapsed into giggles again.

  “I can dig it up somewhere. I don’t think Cole’s ever had the pleasure of seeing it.” Pa began to heave himself from his chair then dropped down again at the loud chorus of nos!

  “I’d like a peek at it, sir.” Cole’s words ended on an oomph as Katlynn elbowed him in the side and mouthed, “Never.”

  “That picture gave me nightmares,” Keith murmured, leaning back in his seat again, eyelids lowering.

  When Katlynn chucked the other flip-flop at him, he neatly caught it in the air then winged it at an unsuspecting John’s head. It bounced off his forehead.

  “Hey!” John threw it back, but hit Martin instead, who then hurled it back at Keith.

  “Me! Me! Throw it at me!” Timmy leaped in the air, trying to catch the sandal as his uncles began an impromptu game of keep-away.

  “Never claimed to be a hairdresser,” Ma protested, chuckling. “Besides, I gave all you kids bowl cuts. None of you complained.”

  “To your face.” The Brennon siblings grinned, nodding at Michelle’s revelation.

  “We did the best we could.” Ma sighed.

  Pa patted her hand. “Yes, you did, sweetheart.”

  “My favorite Katie-Lynn memory was when she ran off for three days, and we all pretended not to notice.” John tossed the flip-flop to Timmy, ending the game.

  Katlynn stiffened. “You noticed I was gone?”

  “Noticed?” Martin rolled his eyes. “Ma, Pa and us older kids took turns watching over you while you camped at the creek.”

  “What?” Shocked, Katlynn’s numb fingers let go of Frankie’s flip-flop. “No one said anything when I got back.”

  Cole grabbed the sandal before it hit the ground and returned it to Frankie’s mouth.

  “That’s because Pa told us not to.” Michelle arched her eyebrows at their ruddy-faced parent.

  “Why?” Katlynn asked, mystified.

  “Figured you had your reasons for wanting to be alone,” Pa said. “I supposed you’d work out whatever was in your head and then come back home, to those who loved you.”

  Katlynn turned, her gaze landing on Cole. He’d taken Frankie from her and
talked softly to him as he wiggled the flip-flop in his mouth.

  Cole caught her stare and nodded as if his thoughts were aligned with hers. Home...with those who loved her.

  “Sitting up all night against those rocks probably started my back problems,” her father said, pulling her from her thoughts, from the truth resounding in her soul.

  “Pa!”

  Pa waved a hand at her. “Just teasing you, darlin’. Wasn’t any trouble to make sure you were safe.”

  “Why didn’t you just haul me home?”

  “In a big family like ours, everyone needs a little privacy now and then.”

  Nods circled the porch, leaving Katlynn speechless and blinking the sting from her eyes. All this time she’d felt lost in a crowd. But being part of a tight-knit, loving group had its benefits, too...

  Her eyes strayed to Cole’s handsome face as he patiently held the flip-flop for a gnawing Frankie. It struck her how little she’d understood, or fully appreciated, her past.

  “I like you, Aunt Katie-Lynn.” Timmy stopped playing with the cat and looked up at her. “Will you come back for Christmas?”

  “Well—uh—I—don’t know about that, honey.” Michelle stalled, casting a nervous glance Katlynn’s way. “Your aunt might be busy. She’s very important. Lots of other people to see.”

  Katlynn pictured her annual holiday trip to St. Barts and juxtaposed it with the warmth of her family. No comparison. How had she ever imagined there was? “I’ll come back...if I’m welcome.”

  Ma clapped her hands and beamed. “We’ll have a real family Christmas, then. Imagine it. All of us together for a holiday at last.”

  Cole stood and held out a hand. “We’d better head back.”

  Katlynn passed a now sleeping Frankie to her sister and hugged her mother then her father.

  “Love you, darlin’,” her pa whispered in her ear before releasing her. It was only the third time she recalled him saying it.

  “Bye, now!” She dashed away tears before making her unsentimental father uncomfortable, then ducked into Cole’s truck.

  Minutes later Katlynn quit belting along with a Faith Hill tune when her cell phone vibrated, a familiar number flashing on the screen. Cole cranked down his truck’s stereo system as she hit the speaker button.