Echo grabbed the box and carried it to the kitchen with her. She laid the last doughnut to the side and tore the box into little pieces before she put it into the garbage can. Then she picked up the doughnut, ate every bit of it, and licked her fingers.
“That was delicious,” Echo said, “but don’t bring anything in here again.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Luna saluted her smartly. “Let’s make pancakes.”
“Today is bacon-and-scrambled-egg day with blueberry muffins on the side,” Echo reminded her.
“All right,” Luna sighed and then shot a wink toward Rose. “Then I’ll make the muffins. You can start the bacon to frying in the oven and whip up some eggs. If there’s batter left over from the muffins, I’ll just make a few blueberry pancakes out of it, so we don’t waste anything.”
* * *
All day long, people kept stopping by to visit with Rose. She barely even had time to read and answer Hud’s text messages before lights-out at nine o’clock, and she’d only managed to get in one more call to him—when Aunt Luna started to do some high-powered, fake snoring on Friday night.
Then on Saturday, in between cooking duties, she’d helped her mother with the laundry. They washed the bedsheets and hung them out to dry, and even washed the windows, since the temperature was above freezing that day.
When they were finished, Echo pulled out a chair across the table from Rose. “Have you called the hospital with an answer yet?”
“Not yet, but…” Rose laid a hand on her mother’s hand. “Mama, I can never thank you enough for introducing me to foreign languages. Looking back, I can see that you had a fight on your hands with Daddy about that.”
“That’s been my biggest regret about raising you.” Echo sighed. “If we hadn’t lived next to a French-speaking family in Louisiana, I wouldn’t have thought of helping you learn a different language. I wanted to be able to visit with the lady, so we kind of learned from each other.”
“Why would you regret it? I’ve been able to see the world because of my skills,” Rose said.
“Because of what you just said.” Echo drew in a long breath and let it out in another sigh. “You left us and went out into the world, and now I feel in my heart that you’re never coming back.”
Rose laid her hands on her mother’s. “I love you, Mama, but you’re right, I’m probably never coming back to the commune except for visits. If and when I get married, will you leave Kentucky to come to my wedding?”
Echo slowly shook her head. “That’s not our way. But you will bring my grandchildren to see me here, won’t you?”
“Of course I will.” Rose gently squeezed Echo’s hands. “And they can run in the hills and wade in the creeks like I did when I was a little girl.” She looked into her mother’s sad eyes. “Mama, why did you buy the programs for me to learn other languages if you already regretted teaching me Spanish and French?”
“You loved that kind of thing. You were a different child from birth. You were so inquisitive and learned so fast in the homeschool program. You wanted more and more, and I wanted you to have a little something for yourself. I hoped that by giving you something of your very own, I could get you to stay with us,” Echo said. “And there was the fact that Aunt Luna had run off with a carnival. I feared that a boy from outside would catch your eye when we went to Harlan, and you’d run off with him.”
“Kind of like you did when you met Daddy?” Rose asked. “You left your family to move to the commune.”
“That thought did go through my mind,” Echo said.
“But, Mama, I love you, and even though he’s an old bear at times, I love Daddy. I don’t love the commune. I knew, as a little girl, that I wanted to be a part of something bigger.” She drew her hand back, stood, and got each of them a glass of sweet tea from the refrigerator. “Why did you let me go to public schools those two years in Texas?”
“Your father and the man who was overseer here at the time had a falling-out over rules. The overseer thought we shouldn’t let anyone, other than our own following, into the camp. Paul said that if someone wanted to join us and was willing to obey our rules, then they should be allowed to come into the commune. I was in agreement with your father. After all, before long, we’d have cousins marrying cousins, and that would bring on all kinds of problems.” Echo took a long drink of her tea and went on. “Besides, I wanted you to go to public school so you would see that it wasn’t for you.”
“It really wasn’t.” Rose smiled. “I liked being homeschooled so I could move ahead faster.”
“Well, at least that one worked.” Echo said.
“And I loved spending the time with you,” Rose told her.
“I know it’s going against your father’s wishes, but I love having the cell phone so I can talk to you more.”
“I have to leave in the morning. I want to get back to Texas and get settled, and I really do want that job at the hospital,” Rose said.
“I understand,” Echo told her. “Oh, and your father has called a meeting of the womenfolk right after supper. Just giving you a heads-up.”
“I figured that was coming when Aunt Luna took Grace’s place yesterday morning. You do know that they’re going to butt heads real often, right?”
Echo just nodded. “Every choice has a consequence. He wanted that land, but he forgot to figure in the price of Luna being a part of the commune. I tried to tell him it wasn’t a good idea, but he wouldn’t listen.”
If Rose hadn’t already made up her mind about the commune, she did so right then. There were too many rules and laws, and she’d be damned if any man or any set of rules said that Rose couldn’t attend her daughter’s wedding—if she ever was blessed with a daughter.
* * *
The women filed into the dining building a few at a time, picked up some cookies and milk, and sat down at the long tables to visit while they waited on Paul. This wasn’t the first time Rose had sat in on one of these meetings, but she vowed it would be the last. It was the commune’s law that all females over the age of twelve had to attend the women’s meetings when Paul scheduled one.
He came in the side door and nodded at each of them as he passed. When he reached Luna, he gave her a look that was meant to fry her on the spot and leave nothing but little yellow silk flowers and a pile of bones on the floor. She just smiled back at him like he had no more authority than any one of the little girls in the room—and then she turned and gave Rose a sly wink.
“Ladies, we are gathered here together tonight to go over the rules. Luna, here”—he pointed to her as if he was sending her straight to hell on a rusty poker—“is new, so maybe she doesn’t understand the laws we live by. When someone is assigned to do a duty, then they do it unless they are sick nigh unto death. Grace, you can call on one of the older girls, or even Luna, to take care of one of your sick girls, but if you are able to get to the kitchen, it’s your responsibility to be there. Is that understood?” Rather than the way he’d looked at Luna, he gazed at Grace as if he were a loving father reprimanding his daughter.
“Yes, sir. No excuses. It won’t happen again,” Grace said.
“And how is Jennifer?” Paul asked.
“Doing much better. No fever now. I think she’s cutting teeth.” Grace smiled.
“Do we need to go over all the rules, Luna?” Paul asked in a stern tone.
“Nope, I got the message loud and clear.” She glared at Paul. “But you need to wake up and see that this isn’t the dark ages.”
“Then this meeting is finished. You ladies enjoy another half hour, and then it’s lights-out and time to go home.” Paul ignored what she’d said and left by the same way he’d come into the dining hall.
Rose knew her father loved her, but she wanted more in a relationship than rules and regulations. She wanted someone like Hud, someone who didn’t have laws and rules, and if she had a sick baby, he’d probably stay home with her and help take care of the child.
“I think I’ve belon
ged with him ever since I was fourteen,” she mumbled.
Aunt Luna jerked her head around and asked, “Were you talking to me?”
“No, I was figuring some things out for myself. I wasn’t aware I’d said anything out loud,” Rose said.
“Love and change take time and patience,” Luna whispered.
Rose couldn’t have agreed more.
Chapter Twenty
Hud and Tag finished with the roof repairs on both ranches before the weekend, and then went back to building fence on Monday morning. Hud had lots of time to think—and to miss Rose. Molly and the Fab Five had kept the phone lines hot between them and him since Rose had left. They told him they’d found Rose a house right there in Sunset, but he had other ideas.
“What are you thinking about?” Tag asked as they stretched the last length of barbed wire for the day.
“I’m going to ask Rose to move in with me,” he said.
“Don’t you think that’s movin’ kind of fast?” Tag asked.
“Not any faster than you and Nikki,” Hud reminded him.
“I guess not.” Tag chuckled. “I had to move fast or she might’ve found out even more about my past, and kicked me to the curb.” He grew serious. “You love her, don’t you?”
“I think I just might.” Hud finished the last of the job and removed his heavy work gloves. “I miss her a lot, and the house is so empty when it’s just me there by myself. I feel like I’m going home to a tomb every evening.”
Tag propped a hip on the pickup’s open tailgate. “I remember having that feeling after Nikki and I had spent time together over in the cabin. But, brother, you got to know you love her, not just think it, before you ask her to live with you, and you got to tell her. It’s not easy to say the words, but you have to do it if that’s the way you feel.”
Hud hopped up on the tailgate and sat beside Tag. “I wanted to tell her before she left, but I just couldn’t. I’m afraid every night that she’s going to tell me that she’s decided to stay in Kentucky.”
“If she does, you’ll just have to go get her.” Tag grinned.
“Like you did Nikki when she got kidnapped?” Hud asked.
“Yep, now let’s go home. Nikki and I are going over to Emily’s for a game of—Well, rats, that’s the ringtone I’ve set up for when we have a fire.” Tag answered the phone. “It’s an old trailer house just north of Sunset. We’d better get going. You can ride with me.”
“I thought maybe I’d go to the Rusty Spur tonight, but I guess that’s out of the question,” Hud said as he got into the truck and buckled his seat belt.
“You ain’t in love with Rose, brother.” Tag put the gas pedal on the floor and slid around the corner when they reached the end of the lane. “If you were, you wouldn’t still be chasin’ skirts.”
“I wasn’t thinkin’ about tryin’ to get lucky. Besides, the place is nearly empty on a Monday night,” Hud protested. “It’s just that, not long ago, Rose and I spent a lot of time on the dance floor and at the bar, and well, this sounds kind of dumb, but I was just looking for memories.”
“Then go to your bedroom, not the bar,” Tag advised as he slung gravel everywhere when he made a turn toward the north.
One end of the trailer was ablaze when they arrived on-site. A woman was standing in the front yard screaming that she had to go back into the house. Her four-year-old son had run back in to rescue his kitten. The fire chief was telling her that she had to let them do their jobs.
Without thinking, Hud took off in a dead run to the front porch, pushed his way into the house, and grabbed the little boy, who was holding a little gray kitten close to his chest. The little guy’s eyes were watering, and he was coughing so hard that he kept gagging, but he held on to that squirming cat like it was a lifeline.
The mother broke through the firemen who were holding her back and grabbed the kid as soon as she saw Hud coming through the smoke with him in his arms. “I told you not to let go of my hand.”
“I had to get Rascal, Mommy,” the child said.
“Boy, you are either the craziest fireman I’ve ever known or the most courageous,” the fire chief said, “but if you don’t stop doing things like that without—”
An explosion shot flames from the trailer’s doors and windows and caught the dormant mesquite trees surrounding it on fire. The mother of the child dropped to her knees and wrapped herself around the little boy and his kitten.
“Somebody get that damned gas line turned off…now!” the fire chief yelled. “And get those hoses on the trees before we burn down the whole damn town.” He turned back to Hud. “You ain’t suited up, so you take care of that woman.”
Hud hurried over to the lady, who was so shaken that she could hardly speak. “My husband is coming home tomorrow.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she waved her arms around to take in the whole mess. “To this. To nothing.”
“Where’s he coming from?” Hud asked.
“He’s just getting out of the military, and he just did a six-month tour in Kuwait. Everything is lost but my phone.” She hugged the little boy tighter.
“Mommy hurting me,” the little guy said.
“I’m sorry, baby.” She kissed him on the forehead and loosened her hold.
“Do you have family around here? Anyone I can call?” Hud asked.
“Nope, my folks moved to Tulsa last month. I guess we’ll have to go to Bowie and get a room.”
“I’ll do you better than that,” Hud said. “I’ll take you to my house. It’ll be more comfortable for you than a hotel. Have you had supper?”
She shook her head. “I should tell you no, but my husband will be home tomorrow, and it’ll only be for one night, and I know my son will be…” She started to weep again.
“Hey, my girlfriend just got out of the service,” Hud told her. “She’s away visiting her folks right now, but she’d kick me all the way across the Red River if I didn’t help out a military family.”
“My husband, Josh, and I were going to load up and move to Oklahoma in a couple of days. He’s got a job in Tulsa with a security firm. I guess we’ll be moving sooner than that, now,” she said.
“Is that your car?” He pointed to a small, older-model vehicle out by the road.
She nodded.
“I rode here with my brother,” he said, “so if you don’t mind, I’ll be glad to drive it to the ranch. You can text your husband on the way.”
Her hands shook as she handed him her purse. “My name is Millie Swisher. The keys are in the side pocket. I’m glad I grabbed it when I ran out the door. It’s got all our important stuff in it.”
“Well, Millie, you did good,” Hud reassured her. “Now, let’s get you and your little boy to the ranch and get some food into you and…” He glanced over at the little boy, who was still holding the kitten.
“Lucas,” Millie said. “Lucas is his name.”
“And this is Rascal.” Lucas held up the kitten.
“We’ll get you and Lucas some supper fixed up and then you can get a good night’s sleep,” Hud said.
She was a tall woman with clear blue eyes that were still swimming in tears. “Thank you for doing this. I’m so rattled that I’m jittery inside.”
“No problem,” Hud assured her again. “By tomorrow, you’ll feel lots better.”
* * *
Rose hummed as she drove toward Sunset that Monday evening. Only a couple more hours and she’d be at the ranch. She’d deliberately avoided Hud’s calls that afternoon because she wanted to surprise him. If he heard the road noise, he’d figure out that she was on the way home.
There was that word again: home.
Her mother had a cute little pillow stitched with the words HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS. Rose could relate to that as she kept time to the music on the radio, tapping her thumbs on the steering wheel.
After traveling around much of the world, Rose had found her place, and the feeling in her heart was somewhere between peace and exhila
ration. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Hud that she loved him.
She’d gotten a late start on Sunday because her parents insisted that she go to church with them that morning. When the sun had dropped below the horizon, she had another two hours to drive, but she’d still be there well before ten o’clock. She visualized Hud opening the door, picking her up, and swinging her around in circles until they were both dizzy. Then he’d carry her to the bedroom, where they’d make wild, passionate love.
The clock on the dashboard read nine thirty when she got to the Sunset city limit sign. She switched off her headlights when she made a right-hand turn up the lane toward the house and slowed down to a crawl so he wouldn’t hear her.
Light poured from both the living room and the guest room windows, leaving yellow streaks on the yard and the bushes around the front of the house. She cut off the engine and coasted to a stop, got out of the car, and closed the door as quietly as possible. She’d made it halfway across the yard when a movement caught her attention. Hud had evidently been sitting on the sofa, and he stood up.
She stopped and smiled at what was practically a silhouette of him framed perfectly in the living room window. Then a tall woman’s body appeared and she wrapped her arms around Hud’s neck and hugged him. Rose could easily tell that it wasn’t Emily, Claire, or Retta. For a second or two, she tried to convince herself that it was Alana, but the woman who had hugged Hud and was now beside him as they headed out of the room was shorter than Alana. Hud switched the light out when he left the living room, and in a minute or two, the guest room light went dark too.
Rose went completely still. Her feet wouldn’t move. Her brain ran in circles so fast that she couldn’t catch a thought before it was gone. How she finally got from the place where she was standing back to her car was a mystery. One minute, time stood still, and she thought she might faint. The next, she was in her car and driving. She almost flipped over in the ditch when she made the left turn to go back to Sunset. When she reached the highway, she started to head toward Aunt Molly’s but decided she didn’t want to talk to anyone or see anyone. She just wanted to run away and never look back, and she had the means to do just that.
Cowboy Courage: Includes a bonus novella Page 23
