Her Hill Country Cowboy

by Myra Johnson

  Hanging up with his dad, Joseph returned the phone to Christina, then laid a comforting arm around Eva’s shoulders. For several moments the three of them huddled together, and Christina blinked back tears as Joseph offered big-brother words of consolation to his sister—words Christina suspected were as much to reassure himself as Eva.

  Then Gracie gave a yip. Prancing on her forepaws, she licked each of their faces in turn, until they broke out into giggles and begged her to stop. Nothing like a little dog slobber to lighten the mood, and even more evidence of Gracie’s keen sense of her purpose.

  “That’s enough, girl!” With a pat to the dog’s head, Christina pushed to her feet. “Kids, why don’t we head back to the house and finish cleaning up the kitchen. Then we can read a book together until everybody gets home.”

  The children skipped ahead, giving Christina a little space to gather her thoughts. She was profoundly aware of the confidence placed in her today, not just by Joseph and Eva, but especially by Seth. She’d noticed when he peeked into the kitchen before leaving with his grandparents, but when he slipped out without saying anything, her self-assurance soared in a way she hadn’t experienced since before the accident.

  She was getting stronger, and someday—maybe sooner than she’d dared hope for until now—she might actually be able to return to social work.

  Lord, please...please.

  “Miss Christina, hurry up!” Eva ran back to clutch Christina’s hand.

  Once again her heart surged, but this time with an entirely different kind of hopefulness. Like a jolt of electricity, she was hit with the sudden realization that she wanted children of her own one day. She wanted marriage and a family and everything that went with it.

  Was it possible? After the accident, the long months in rehab, and the devastating fear that the brain injury would leave her permanently disabled, could she really hope to live a completely normal life again, a life that encompassed both a rewarding career and a loving, close-knit family?

  She looked down at the tiny hand gripping hers, the trusting eyes gazing up at her, and realized that whatever professional boundaries she’d resolved to keep had crumbled.

  And she didn’t care.

  Chapter Seven

  “No, I do not think it’s a good idea for you to go to the chili cook-off.” Seth glared at his grandfather in the passenger seat as they drove home. Opi’s color had definitely improved after he’d taken the forgotten meds, and Kelly promised he was in no immediate danger, but Seth couldn’t help worrying.

  “Aw, come on, Seth.” Opi heaved a groan. “What am I gonna do besides sit in my lawn chair and eat chili? I’ll be fine.”

  “I know you. You don’t know the meaning of r-e-s-t. You’ll be flitting around the churchyard and yammering with all your pals.”

  “How about we hog-tie him to his chair?” Omi suggested, and none too kindly. “Or I can sit on him.”

  Glancing at his grandmother through the rearview mirror, Seth offered a smirk. “You’re gonna have to be the one keeping an eye on him. I wash my hands of the old coot.”

  He didn’t mean it, not really, but what was he supposed to do when Opi got so careless with his own health? Seth wasn’t ready—would never be ready—to lose the man who’d raised him after Daddy died.

  As if reading Seth’s mind, Opi reached across the console to lay a hand on his arm. “I’ll take better care, son, I promise.”

  Jaw firm, Seth kept his eyes on the road. “See that you do.”

  At home, Seth’s first thought was to get his grandfather inside and plant him in his recliner for a nap. Before they made it as far as the back door, the kids rushed out and waylaid Seth with bear hugs.

  “We missed you, Daddy!” Eva scrambled into his arms and locked him in a choke hold.

  He loosened her grip enough so that he could breathe. “Missed you, too, sweet thing.”

  Then it struck him. Eva wasn’t crying or panicky. In fact, she was acting downright giggly. He drew his head back for a better look at his bright-eyed little girl, then broke into a smile.

  Joseph had transferred his hug to Seth’s grandfather. “Come sit in your chair, Opi. Miss Christina made you lemonade and cookies.”

  “She did?” Opi let Joseph lead him inside. “Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

  Christina stood at the end of the kitchen counter, and Seth smiled his gratitude. The kids seemed plenty anxious to help their great-grandfather get settled in his recliner with his snack, and with Omi overseeing the proceedings, Seth detoured back to the kitchen to offer Christina a more personal thank-you.

  She turned from setting the pitcher of lemonade in the fridge. “Oh, would you like a glass?”

  “Sounds good.” He took a tumbler from the cupboard. “Will you join me?”

  “The kids and I just had some. Anyway, I should get out of your way.” She handed him the lemonade pitcher, then started for the door. “Let’s go, Gracie.”

  “Wait.” Seth felt the strain of the day catching up with him, and for some crazy reason he didn’t want to be alone. Truth be told, he didn’t want Christina to leave. Turning so she couldn’t read anything into his expression, he filled his glass. Nodding toward the table, he said, “Sit down for a few minutes and tell me how it went with the kids.”

  She hesitated before taking a seat across from him. “We had a great time.” Her smile turned wistful. “Those kids are...very special.”

  “You don’t have to convince me.” Eyeing her thoughtfully, Seth sipped his drink. “The kids are different since you got here.”

  Christina gave a dismissive laugh. “They’re just coming out of their shells, that’s all.”

  “It’s more than that. Eva’s hugging on your dog, both kids are sleeping better at night, and today’s the first time I’ve ever left the kids for a while and didn’t come home to find Eva a bundle of tears.” He shook his head in disbelief. “How’d you do it?”

  “I’ve just always had a thing for kids.” Her glance shifted toward the door. She looked ready to bolt.

  Gracie whined and pushed her nose under Christina’s elbow.

  Seth reached for Christina’s other hand, lying on the table. “What is it? What’s Gracie sensing?”

  “I guess she thinks I’m getting a little anxious.”

  “And are you?”

  “No... Maybe.” She chewed her lip. “I said lots of prayers for your grandfather. I’m so relieved he’s okay.”

  “We all are.” Seth suspected she held something back, but he wouldn’t press. He slid his hand away and picked up his glass. “Sorry for keeping you. You’re probably beat.”

  “I am, but glad I could help out.” One hand on Gracie’s back, Christina pushed to her feet.

  Seth walked her to the back porch. “By the way, we’re still planning on heading over for the chili cook-off later—Opi’s insisting. You’re welcome to join us if you feel up to it.”

  She paused on the steps. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

  “I’ll knock on your door a few minutes before we leave. You can decide then.”

  Watching her start down the path, Seth had his doubts, and not just about whether she’d go to the cook-off with them. He was beginning to question himself, his absolute aversion to letting another woman into his heart. Because if ever the woman existed who could break down his reserves, it just might be Christina Hunter.

  * * *

  While his grandfather napped in the recliner and Omi stretched out on the sofa, Seth took the kids upstairs to his room. With Joseph and Eva camped out on either side of him in the queen-size bed, he tuned his TV to a baseball game and told the kids the only way he’d even consider taking them to the chili cook-off was if they all rested for an hour or so.

  Before he realized he’d fallen asleep
, Joseph was shaking him out of a nap-induced stupor. “Come on, Dad, it’s time to go.”

  “Okay, okay.” He sat up and scrubbed his palms down his face. “Let me get my boots back on.”

  Eva bounced on the mattress. “Is Miss Christina coming, too? With Gracie?”

  “I don’t know yet, hon.” Seth wasn’t sure he even knew his own name at the moment. “Y’all run downstairs and see if Omi and Opi are ready to go.”

  As soon as they bounded out of the room, he stumbled to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. While changing into a fresh shirt, he gazed out the window toward Christina’s cabin. Everything looked quiet over there. Maybe she’d rather not be disturbed. It might be better all around if she didn’t go along, because every minute he spent with her only lowered his reserves that much more.

  With breath-stealing clarity, the dream Joseph had awakened him from flooded his mind. He saw himself loping Tango across a grassy field. A woman rode beside him, her golden ponytail bouncing and her laughter ringing like wind chimes on the morning breeze. He thought it was Georgia at first, except no-nonsense Georgia always said long hair was impractical and kept hers pixie-short.

  Then he’d recognized Christina, and as she spurred her horse faster and faster toward a deep, dark forest, his chest had constricted with the fear of losing her. The last thing he remembered before Joseph jolted him awake was calling her name and begging her to stay.

  “Dad.” Joseph pounded on the door frame. “Omi and Opi are yelling at each other.”

  “Be right there.” Shaking off the unsettling images, Seth grabbed his billfold and keys off the dresser.

  Before he made it downstairs, Opi’s voice rang out from the hallway. “I will not miss Chuck Matthews’s prize-winning chili, so just get your purse, woman, and stop nagging.”

  “Why, you miserable old—”

  “Cool it, Omi.” Seth gently pulled her aside. “Keep hounding him and you’ll only raise his blood pressure again.” He kissed her forehead in a vain attempt to soothe the worry from her furrowed brow. “We’ll all keep an eye on him. He’ll do fine.”

  Leaning in for a hug, Omi exhaled sharply. “Thank God we have you, son, or I don’t know how we’d keep this place going.”

  Seth gripped his grandmother’s shoulders and looked her squarely in the eye. “This is my home and always will be, and I’ll always take care of you and Opi.”

  Omi didn’t often cry, but her eyes glistened with moisture. Straightening, she nodded firmly. “All righty, then, we best go—”

  The office phone rang.

  “I’ll get it,” Seth said. “You take Opi and the kids out to the pickup.”

  Rounding the corner into the office, he snatched up the receiver. “Serenity Hills Guest Ranch.”

  “Hi, this is Dave Finch from New Braunfels. My family booked a weekend at your place last summer, and we had a ball. This is really last-minute, but we’d like to come over this evening and stay for the whole week, kind of a last blast for the boys before school starts.”

  Seth vaguely remembered the Finch family and their three rambunctious sons. He winced. “Uh, tonight? Okay. We can put you in cabin four with the loft again. What time should we expect you?”

  “Seven thirty or eight at the earliest. We still have some packing to do.”

  So much for enjoying a leisurely evening at the chili cook-off. Seth took down the Finches’ registration information, then went out to break the news to his grandparents.

  Omi finished buckling Eva into her booster seat. “Oh, dear. I just sent Joseph over to see if Christina wanted to go to the cook-off with us, but now somebody’s got to stay and tidy the cabin.”

  “We’ll take two vehicles,” Seth said. “If Christina comes along—”

  He looked up to see her rounding the garage with Joseph. When she caught his eye and smiled, his heart flipped.

  “She wants to go!” Joseph yelled, jogging to the pickup. Then he glanced back at Gracie. “Uh-oh, can we all fit?”

  As Christina and her dog drew near, Seth quickly explained about the last-minute reservation. “I was about to tell Omi we should take two vehicles. You and I can leave the cook-off a little early.”

  Doubts etched Christina’s brow. “I don’t mind staying behind. It’s work I should have done this morning, anyway.”

  “Nonsense,” Omi stated. “Christina, you and Gracie come ride with me in the SUV. Seth can take Bryan and the kids in the pickup.”

  Except Seth didn’t want Christina riding with Omi. He wanted her right up front in the pickup cab with him. As Omi pushed the button to open the garage door, the memory of Seth’s naptime dream invaded. This was a small thing, Christina walking away toward his grandmother’s SUV, but combined with the scare Opi had given him and then the dream, it brought back all kinds of emotions he’d vowed never to feel again. He simply couldn’t bear to lose one more person he cared about.

  And the bald truth was, he was beginning to care about Christina way too much.

  * * *

  Emotionally and physically drained after the crazy day she’d already had, Christina had fully intended not to go to the chili cook-off.

  And then Joseph rapped on her door. When she saw the eager anticipation radiating from his dimpled grin, how could she say no? If the socializing grew too overwhelming, surely she could find a quiet corner and escape for a while.

  At least now she could look forward to leaving the gathering earlier rather than later.

  Leaving with Seth. The two of them. Alone.

  From the back seat of Marie’s SUV, Gracie stretched her chin across Christina’s shoulder and nuzzled her ear. The dog had acted almost as anxious as Joseph for Christina to grab her purse and hurry out the door. What do you know that I don’t, girl?

  Or didn’t want to admit?

  She tuned in to what Marie was chattering about, mostly the woman’s worries over her husband’s health and how she planned to call Bryan’s cardiologist first thing in the morning.

  “Can’t tell men anything,” Marie said with a huff. “Always gotta do things their own way in their own time. Well, not this time, let me tell you. I’ve invested too many years in that man to see him acting like a nincompoop and taking chances like this.”

  The rant continued all the way to the church, with Christina mainly smiling and nodding while keeping her own emotions in check by reaching back to stroke Gracie’s head. She understood Marie’s need to vent and knew the angry words only reflected the woman’s deep love for her husband...and her fear of losing him.

  Fragments of other conversations sifted through Christina’s thoughts. She hadn’t been aware of much during her hospital stay, but she retained vague memories of her mother’s barely muted tirades, sometimes against the driver of the dump truck, but more often against the shotgun-wielding lowlife responsible for Christina’s frantic flight to save little Haley Vernon. It was anger born of helplessness, a mother’s stark realization that there was nothing she could have done to prevent what happened that day.

  And nothing she could do to change the course of her daughter’s recovery except try to be there every moment of every day until she nearly drove Christina mad with her hovering.

  It was why Christina had come all the way to Juniper Bluff, Texas—and why she’d stayed, despite her initial misgivings about Seth, and despite the labor-intensive work so far removed from the career she’d trained for.

  Yet now, not even two weeks since her arrival, she felt an unexpected sense of belonging. This family had accepted her, included her, made her feel almost like one of them. Was she being fair to them, or to herself, when she harbored hopes of returning to Little Rock the moment she felt physically and emotionally ready?

  Joining the throng at the chili cook-off, Christina was soon greeted by many of the same friend
ly folks she’d met at church that morning. She fielded plenty of questions about Gracie’s blue service dog vest, and naturally every child who came near wanted to “pet the pretty puppy.” Joseph and Eva took a protective stance, warming Christina’s heart as they proudly explained that Gracie shouldn’t be bothered while on duty. However, once Christina had settled into a lawn chair with the plastic tumbler of sweet tea Seth brought her, she didn’t mind inviting children over a few at a time to lavish the dog with affection.

  When people began lining up for bowls of chili, Joseph and Eva each grabbed one of Christina’s hands and led her to the serving tables. “Daddy and Opi like Mr. Matthews’s chili best, but it burns my mouth,” Joseph said. “Me and Eva like Pastor Terry’s.”

  Christina accepted the serving tray Joseph handed her. “Then I’ll have some of Pastor Terry’s, too.”

  Behind her, Seth’s chuckle rumbled. “What—you can’t handle five-alarm chili?”

  “I prefer not to scorch my taste buds. Or my stomach lining.” Giving her ponytail a flip, she followed Joseph and Eva.

  After the pastor ladled hearty servings into each of their bowls, the kids led Christina to one of the long tables. Bryan already sat at one end, and by the time Christina settled into a chair, Marie and Seth ambled over and set down their trays across from Christina.

  They’d barely started eating when Diana Matthews peered over Seth’s shoulder, her cheek brushing his. “I hope that’s my daddy’s chili in your bowl.”

  Looking slightly uncomfortable, Seth slanted his head away from hers. “You know he always gets my vote.”

  She pulled out the chair next to his. “I heard about your little scare this afternoon.” Leaning around Seth, she asked, “How are you feeling, Mr. Peterson?”

  With a good-natured snicker, Bryan answered, “I’ll feel a lot better when all you womenfolk quit fussing over me.”

  “But we love fussing over our honeys.” Diana tucked her fingers around Seth’s biceps. “Isn’t that right, Christina?”