Lone Star Cinderella

by Debra Clopton

  She pulled away almost the instant she’d relaxed against him, and reluctantly he let her go. The idea that she didn’t stay in his arms could be interpreted several ways. One, she didn’t like being hugged by him. Or two, she didn’t like giving in to her weakness…he liked the second interpretation better. For both their sakes.

  Chapter Eleven

  Melody was feeling better. Riding on a horse with her arms around Seth was the ultimate distraction from her problems. He hadn’t pressured her to talk as they’d ridden. The fact that he’d placed his free hand over hers had startled her when he’d done it. She told herself it was simply him giving her reassurance…which in and of itself was a revelation she couldn’t totally get used to.

  But he’d wanted to stand up for her. And in her kitchen when he’d taken such gentle care of her, settling her into a chair when her knees had almost given way…it had been so sweet. And of course the hug.

  And he was asking her to trust him. One look into his eyes as he’d knelt there in front of her and she’d wanted to spill her guts to him. She’d wanted to ask him what he would do in her situation and pray that in doing so everything would be made right.

  It had been a daydream in the midst of her breakdown. It was beautiful and calming to remember that moment. But this was a private matter. Hadn’t her parents taught her that some things needed to remain in the family?

  They’d dismounted and were about to go in on foot. He hadn’t asked questions as they’d ridden, giving her time to think. “Ty is a drug-addict—drug and alcohol.” She blurted the confession out before she could second-guess herself. It was surprisingly freeing to say the words.

  “Him and half the world it seems sometimes,” he said. “Why does he call you?”

  Melody thought about changing the subject but she’d already opened the dam and the idea of verbalizing the problem was…needed.

  “He can’t hold down a job. I pay his rent and utilities.”

  “Why do you do that?”

  Why? “Because he needs me.”

  “But he’s a man, right? A grown man?”

  “Yes, but this has been going on for a long time. And I don’t know what to do for him. My parents were killed in a car wreck a few years ago, and I’ve basically taken over doing what they were doing.”

  “And that’s paying his bills.”

  “Yes. He’s been in and out of rehab but nothing has worked. He always goes back to using. But I can’t afford to pay for his rehab so if he goes in now it’s to a state-funded program. I’m trying to get him to get help and I thought, maybe if I didn’t give him money, he would go. But the places aren’t that great—”

  “As in not plush.”

  “Well, yes. They’re pretty bare bones.”

  “But they do the job.”

  “I guess. If he would go.” But it looked like that wasn’t going to happen.

  “If he won’t go that shouldn’t be your problem. He’s a big boy.”

  There was no sympathy in Seth’s words. “I know.” She sighed. “I moved here trying to distance myself from him. Hoping that would help me be able to make hard choices, but it hasn’t helped. He keeps promising me he’s going to check in to one of those rehabs, but he hasn’t. So I thought I’d try and be hard-nosed…cut him off and give him the ultimatum that he has to help himself.”

  “Which is the right outlook. He’s a grown man. And he’s using you. Not to mention abusing you and you’re letting him. That’s not good, Melody.”

  “Yes, that’s what I’ve come to realize. I didn’t realize how badly my parents had gone into debt paying for the rehab and paying his expenses all those years. I can’t let him do that to me.”

  “Good for you.”

  “No, it’s not that easy. That’s what I keep thinking but when he calls, he’s so desperate. I always give in.” Like she’d just agreed to do again.

  “When he calls and chews you out?”

  She nodded. She could feel her cheeks warm with embarrassment. She sounded like a pushover.

  “You’re right. You need to cut the purse strings.”

  Melody looked away. She was trying to cut the purse strings but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. “I’ll do it next month.”

  “You need to stick to your decision this time and not send him the money you told him you’d send earlier.”

  Melody crossed her arms and stared down the steep incline to the place where they would begin the hunt for the treasure. “Are we going to try and figure out the map?”

  “In a minute. Are you going to send him the money? He’s using you.”

  She spun toward him. “I already told him I’d send it.”

  “That’s not helping him. And it certainly isn’t helping you.”

  His words cut across her heart like only the truth can do. But still, the sound of desperation hadn’t been missed in Ty’s voice. As it always did, it conjured up images for her of him walking the streets—living on the streets. And it also brought the promise she’d made her mother crashing down on her shoulders. “Seth, at the hospital just before my mother died she begged me to take care of him. How can I go against that and put Ty out on the street? If he would just agree to go into rehab—”

  Seth scowled. “Obviously that’s not going to happen. Let him fall on his face. It’s the only way. It’s hard to think about, but, sadly, at this point it’s the right thing to do.”

  “What about the Christian thing to do? Ty calls me a hypocrite every other breath.”

  “He’s playing you. Christians aren’t supposed to fall down and let people walk over the top of them. Sure you’re supposed to turn the other cheek, to an extent. But there is a line that has to be drawn. He isn’t good for you.”

  “You hardly know me—”

  “I think I know you better than you think. I’ve watched you for two years since you came here, and you’re like a shadow. You don’t get involved much and I thought it was because you were shy…but you aren’t shy. You’re hiding. I’ve seen it in the last week since I’ve gotten to know you better. You actually have some guts. And I think if you got this monkey off your back and actually lived your life, instead of the life your brother is dictating for you, that you’d be the outgoing person you’re supposed to be.”

  Anger spiked through her like a fever. She’d thought telling him would help relieve some of the pressure she was feeling. Instead he was adding pressure to her. She inhaled sharply and tried to hold her tongue. It was true that she was withdrawn a lot of the time because she just had things on her mind and, well, she was shy. “I’m quiet, naturally.”

  “You’re repressed.” His look almost dared her to disagree.

  She glared at him. “Repressed? As in reserved, yes I am. That’s easy enough to see. You say it like it’s a dirty word.”

  “Not dirty. Just hiding. You’re repressed as in you suppress painful things and withdraw inside because of them. How much of your childhood was overshadowed because of the attention given to Ty’s destructive lifestyle?”

  Most of it. She stiffened, thinking of how his problems had always taken the joy out of almost everything. Like so many other times growing up, her parents’ devotion to helping Ty or getting him out of trouble always trumped other things. They forgot several of her birthdays because they were dealing with Ty issues. They even missed her college graduation because they had to take Ty to yet another rehab. But it had been important…feeling resentment about such things seemed mean and selfish. She’d never let anyone know that it bothered her. Seth was right, though; she had withdrawn and held in her feelings. And she felt guilty for having them. That Seth saw this in her made her feel exposed.

  “Can we drop this? Please. I want to get down there and see if this is the place.”

  “Why, so you can pretend it’s not the truth? So you can go on hiding from the facts?”

  “Back off, Seth.” She exploded. “How’s that? Get off my back, all right.”

  “Mad is good,�
�� he said.

  Melody started down the hill—it was either that or she might haul off and hit him! She’d never hit anyone in her life. It was a horrible thing to think. And the idea that she was so mad at him scared her.

  What was he doing? Seth watched Melody tromp down the hill. She was already stressed out of her mind and he was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. This was not like him at all, and he knew it was because he had feelings for Melody.

  There was just no denying the fact. But that didn’t give him the right to step over boundaries…especially since he was such a strong believer that people should honor them.

  Melody was giving off more than just a hint that she didn’t want to talk about her brother. It was evident that criticizing the way she was handling her brother was not a way to endear himself to her. And he wanted her to like him. He wanted to test the waters and see if there was a future between them. He knew that he’d never had this strong a connection with any other woman.

  But she needed to hear the truth. And she needed not to let this jerk run over her any more. And he needed to back off.

  For now anyway. Not so she would like him but so she could calm down and listen to reason.

  Melody was halfway to the rocks when she heard Seth behind her. She was breathing hard from hurrying and it was a wonder she hadn’t tripped and broken her neck—as if the thought was all it took her toe to hit a snag.

  Seth’s hand on her arm gave her just the balance she needed. “Steady there,” he said, moving beside her. “Look, I’m sorry. I overstepped my bounds.”

  She didn’t look at him but slowed her pace. “I want to hunt for the treasure. I—” she looked at him then “—I don’t want to think about Ty. Is that so wrong?”

  He looked like there was so much he wanted to say. She braced herself for it. “No,” he said, taking the lead. “I came to hunt for treasure, too, so let’s get to it.”

  The tension between them was there; it wasn’t something she could escape. He’d said he was sorry but not that he was wrong. He thought she was weak, repressed and hiding…not a very good boost to her already low opinion of herself. She trudged behind him and drove her thoughts forward to the map and what could be waiting for them if they could just focus.

  They hiked all the way down the ravine to the river’s edge and nothing looked remotely like towers. Melody had known better than to get her hopes up. What would the odds have been that she would find the treasure on the first or second exploration?

  “Now what?” she said, scanning the river. It was moving slowly at this point, and there was a rope hanging from a tree. She pictured Seth as a teen swinging from the rope and dropping into the water.

  “Well, this is a big place. I’m not convinced the man would have known the west end from the south end once he was in here.”

  Melody turned to look back up the grueling climb they’d made down to the river. Then she turned in rotation, taking in all the vegetation. “I personally couldn’t have done it. But that’s me. You could have.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve roamed these woods all my life. Wyatt and Cole couldn’t do it. They could come close but only because of the time they spent here with me leading the way.”

  “I didn’t realize when I found the map that the real mystery was simply going to be figuring out the beginning point. And that would mean figuring out what made the man tick.”

  Seth pushed his hat back. “Come on, let’s keep looking.” He led the way beside the river but hadn’t gone far when the sky started to darken and the wind started to pick up. He studied the sky. “Not good. It looks like rain.” He halted, not looking happy. “The weather man predicted forty-percent chance. That looks a little more like a sure thing than I’m comfortable with.” He looked apologetically at her. “Sorry, but I think we’d better head back.”

  “But—” She started to protest just as a big rain drop plopped between her eyes.

  “Yep. Come on,” he said. He had no more spoken the words when the sky opened up and a torrential downpour came raining down on them.

  Texas weather! They were soaked instantly.

  “This way,” Seth shouted over the onslaught. “We need to climb back up the ravine before too much of this rain falls or else we’re going to get stuck having to walk out from down here.”

  “Why is that bad?” she asked, trying to keep up with him as he backtracked along the river.

  “It’s an all-day walk to follow the river out.” Rain was dripping off his hat and running down the back of his neck as he indicated the way they’d come through the trees. He started up then turned to reach for her hand. She blinked through the curtain of water falling off of her bangs and straight into her eyes as she took his hand.

  She immediately felt security in his strong grip. Already the black clay that marbled the terrain was turning to slick slip-and-slides. Her boots slid as he tugged her forward through the pine and oak trees. It was tough going, and she was gasping through the water and the sticky humid air that covered them. In no time at all she was sweating despite the rain. All the way, Seth kept a firm grip on her hand, practically pulling her along behind him. The steep incline hadn’t been easy coming down in the best of conditions, but this was ridiculous!

  Her boot hit a slick spot, and she went down on one knee. Her knee struck a rock hard. She bit back a cry of pain.

  Seth’s grip tightened as he spun toward her. “Are you okay? Your pant leg is ripped—”

  “I’m fine,” she called, speaking over the wind. “Go.”

  He nodded and continued on. “Sorry to pull you along so fast, but this is not the place to be when rains this heavy are coming down.”

  No joke. Rivers of water were coursing down now. Her boots were sticking in the clay and water swirled around her feet as it rushed downward. They still had a good thirty feet to go, but it was the steepest, roughest part of the incline, and looking at it, Melody’s heart pounded with adrenaline and dread. If Seth wasn’t holding her hand so tightly, there was no way she would be strong enough to fight the water and the slippery slope.

  As if hearing her thoughts, he paused using a pine tree for balance and pulled her up into the shelter of his body. “We’re not going to make it,” he said close to her ear. “C’mon. This way.” He started moving across the hill.

  “Where are we going?” she called, grasping his hand with both of hers as he plowed forward. Even his sure-footed steps wobbled in the mud a time or two but he was able to keep himself from going down. She, on the other hand, went down several more times, and each time he pulled her up and pushed forward.

  “There,” he said.

  Melody saw a rock ledge in front of them with water pouring over the top of it like a waterfall. She wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking bringing them this way. But he kept heading toward the water rather than away. When they were ten feet from it, he turned to look at her.

  “We’re going under that ledge. It’s a rock surface behind there, and it’ll be somewhat dry.”

  Shivering, she nodded, game if he was. At the rock, he ducked down and pulled her through the side, which had a small veil of water compared to the mass that was churning over the front of the ledge.

  He was right about it being dry once they were beneath the rock. Seth crouched down, then sat because there wasn’t any standing room. She did the same. Only then did she take a deep breath.

  “That was crazy!” she exclaimed, wiping her face with her hands. Seth took his hat off and shook it then wiped his own face, swept his hair back off his forehead and replaced his hat. His expression was dark in the shadows of the rock.

  “It was stupid on my part. I knew there was a forty-percent chance of thundershowers. I should never have kept you out here so long.”

  She was breathing hard. “It’s not your fault.”

  His scowl deepened. “Yeah. It is. We should have turned back an hour ago. Flash floods aren’t anything to take lightly out here. You and I both know how deadly the
y can be.”

  He was really upset. “Yes, but you knew your way around. You knew to come here. I would have seen this waterfall and never thought that it would be shelter. Have you been here before?”

  “Yes, once when me, Cole and Wyatt were camping at the canyon, we got caught out here. Wyatt knew about this place because he’d stumbled across it when he’d been looking for a lost calf earlier that summer. We spent four hours sitting under here.”

  “It sounds like it was a great adventure.”

  His scowl eased up. “It was, looking back. But at the time we were bored out of our minds.”

  She immediately imagined three teenage guys going stir-crazy. “What did y’all talk about?”

  Seth gave her a look that was so boyishly cocky that she had to chuckle again.

  “Oh, let’s see, what do you think? Girls and treasure.”

  She lifted a brow. “Of course. What else would three teenage guys talk about?”

  He grunted and watched the curtain of water pouring over the ledge in front of him. She was so curious about him that she could hardly stand it. And she suddenly knew right then and there that this was the only place she wanted to be. It felt as if she and he were the only two people in the entire world. Nothing else mattered or could intrude on the time. Silly.

  Melody wrapped her arms about herself and rubbed the water from her arms. “I can’t believe how slippery the slope got,” she said, refocusing her thoughts.

  “I know how treacherous it can get and just how quickly. I should never have chanced coming out here today.”