Stephen Bly's Horse Dreams Trilogy: Memories of a Dirt Road, the Mustang Breaker, Wish I'd Known You Tears Ago

by Stephen A. Bly

  “It’s funny, but I realize, yes, I would. I don’t know if I’ve learned enough to make a difference. It seems to me I still don’t know enough to have kept him in my bed. But I wouldn’t miss Delaney for the world. And I do think I could do a better job raising her. I’d like a chance to try, no matter how much pain I’d have to repeat.”

  “We’re two of a kind, Dev … and nothin’ alike.”

  She smiled. “The rodeo queen and the mustang breaker. We are quite a pair, Mr. Slater. A rather fetching couple, don’t you think?”

  He jammed his cowboy hat back on his head. “As long as I keep my receding blond hairline covered.”

  Develyn pushed her sunglasses back on. “And as long as I keep my crows feet disguised.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Schoolteacher, for comin’ over this afternoon.”

  “And thank you, Mr. Mustang Breaker, for inviting me.”

  Develyn slid her hand to the back of his neck and pulled his lips to hers.

  It was a soft, peaceful kiss.

  Until Natasha Salvador punched the airhorn.

  Develyn stood up. “Do saddle-bronc riders only get to kiss for eight seconds?”

  “I think that means it’s time for the finals. Besides, no one saw us over here smoochin’.”

  “I’ll wrestle you for her, Renny!”

  Develyn looked around, but couldn’t see Luther.

  Renny took her hand and led her back to the arena. “What are we going to do with that boy?”

  “I’ll walk up to him, grab the collar of his shirt, pull off my sunglasses, and say, ‘I’m your worst nightmare, Luther. I’m as old as your grandmother!’”

  “Be gentle with the lad. You don’t want to scar him forever.”

  * * *

  The coffee shop was almost empty, but the air conditioning worked. Renny and Develyn sat across from each other. He sipped on iced tea. She had ice water.

  “Well, Rodeo Queen, how was the evening?”

  “The light was poor enough after dark that I survived even after I pulled off my sunglasses.”

  “Ever’ one of the boys wanted a picture with you.”

  “I think it was your exaggerated introduction of me.”

  “Everything was the truth; just not the entire truth. Don’t sell yourself short, Dev. You have a wonderful personality. Those boys like being around you, even if you are as old as their mammas.”

  “And some grandmas. Candy is a grandmother at thirty-four. You were great, Renny. That’s where you belong.”

  “I know. Rodeo is not just about horses and buckles. It’s about self-discipline and courage and never giving up and believing you can do it.”

  “I’m really glad I came. I’ve seen you with the big crowds. I’ve seen you with the ladies. I’ve seen you face-to-face with rank horses. But I think tonight was the best. You shined with those kids, Renny Slater. I felt proud to be with you.”

  Renny chewed on his tongue as he stared at her. He looked out the window at the empty parking lot, then wiped the corner of his eyes. “Dadgum corral dust,” he mumbled.

  “Was it something I said?”

  “To have a classy woman like you say that she was proud to be with me … well, I reckon that’s the highest honor I ever received in my life.”

  “Cowboy, you surely know how to make a girl feel good. For the life of me, I can’t understand why these Wyoming women aren’t lined up at your door begging you to marry them.”

  A dimpled grin broke across his face. “You know, some women are funny that way. They want a home, income, steady work, stability.”

  “Isn’t that pathetic?” she laughed.

  “Exactly my point.”

  “How about you? What do you need?”

  “A future.”

  “Oh, my, that’s a big assignment.”

  “I’ve always said I’d keep up this life for a while but by the time I reached my forties, I would settle down. Well, here I am, and I don’t seem to be any closer to staying put.” He stirred his iced tea with his finger. “What are you doing next Tuesday?”

  “Delaney flies in on Wednesday, but I think Tuesday is free. I’m not sure when Casey is coming back from Red Lodge, but it doesn’t matter. What did you have in mind?”

  “I’d like to drive you up to my place in Buffalo. It’s not much. Just forty acres and a doublewide, but it has a lot of potential. I’ll have you back before dark.”

  “That sounds fun. I’d like that, Renny.”

  “Don’t be expecting something like Burdett’s.”

  “When you come visit me in Indiana, don’t expect a place like Quint’s either.”

  “You know what? I’d like to come visit you. I’d like to see your house … and your town … and your school. I’d like to sit in the back of the classroom and watch Ms. Worrell and those fifth-graders.”

  “I can tell you this: you show up looking like the cowboy you are, and the whole class will hang on you and ignore me completely.”

  “In Indiana?”

  “Around our area, you have to be an astronaut, a basketball player, or a cowboy to grab the kids’ attention. Cowboys are the rarest of the three.”

  Renny reached across the table. Develyn took his hand.

  “Devy-girl, I don’t reckon I know what’s goin’ on here. One moment I’m wantin’ to get serious with you, and the next …”

  “You want to run away?”

  “No, the next moment I’m thinkin’ what a naïve, foolish cowboy I am to think I’d have a chance with you.”

  “It’s my fault. I think I’m sending mixed signals. At times, I’m confused over what I really want, what the Lord wants, and what’s just a little girl’s fantasy that I can’t let go. I know you are always going to be a special person in my life. I’m really looking forward to going up to your place. I think the more we know of each other, the more we’ll understand where the Lord is leading.”

  “Don’t hesitate to tell me the truth. I’d rather get bucked off quick and go on with life than get bounced around and fall off right before the buzzer.”

  “Until this summer, I had no idea rodeo was a philosophy of life, not just a sport.”

  Renny stood and tossed down a two-dollar tip. “It’s a narrow philosophy of life, Dev … but even then, I haven’t always acted too wisely.”

  She grabbed her purse. “I have never been known for my wisdom, Renny. Ask my mother or my daughter.”

  “I’ll get to meet Delaney, won’t I?”

  “Yes, and she’ll swoon over your cowboy charm.”

  Their rigs were parked side by side in the parking lot. A slight breeze made it cool, but not cold.

  “I’ll see you Tuesday. Thanks for the good time, cowboy.” Develyn kissed his cheek.

  He put his arm around her waist. “Anytime, Rodeo Queen.”

  * * *

  Develyn set the cruise control and plowed west along the dark trail of blacktop called Highway 20. An hour later, when she came to the Waltman/Argenta turnoff, she had met only six cars coming toward her and had passed one hay truck in her lane. She knew the dirt and gravel road back to Argenta, but at night she couldn’t see it very well, so she bounced along at forty-five miles per hour. All the lights were out at Mrs. Tagley’s.

  She must have felt well enough to turn all the lights out. I’ll check on her early. I need to leave myself a note. Casey is gone; just an empty cabin. It’ll be great to have Dee here … if we can keep from ticking each other off. I think I came out here to be by myself, but you in your wisdom, Lord, you did not leave me alone. I thank you for that. I’m lousy company, that’s for sure.

  She parked her Cherokee next to the cabin’s front porch. Even in the dark a familiar face greeted her.

  “It looks lonely back here, Uncle Henry. No Casey … and Cooper must have turned in early. I brought you back a taste of sweet feed. A lady at the rod
eo named Sharon gave it to me … said it will help you and My Maria sleep better. I never knew horses or burros had trouble sleeping, but I promised I would try it.”

  She grabbed up a coffee can from the back of the Jeep.

  “Whoa, look at this.” She held up a man’s white sock. “I’m sure this is Coop’s. I’d better give it right back to him. I don’t want to have to explain to Delaney how it got there.”

  The compressed feed was about the size of Develyn’s thumb. She shoved it in Uncle Henry’s mouth, and he chomped it like a carrot.

  “So you like that, huh? Let me get the big flashlight, and I’ll take some out to the horses.” She lit the lantern in the cabin and grabbed the large black flashlight.

  Uncle Henry stood up on the porch by the door waiting for her.

  “You get down, honey … you will not get a reward for being naughty. I’ll put this sock on Mr. Tallon’s porch, then we’ll go find My Maria and give her a sleeping pill. Hah … I need to take one of these. I wonder what they taste like. They smell like compressed weeds.”

  She crept up onto Tallon’s porch and draped the sock through the door handle.

  I might as well give his two ponies a treat too. The whole neighborhood will get some sleep.

  Cooper Tallon’s bay horse waited at the corral, but she couldn’t spot the buckskin. She fed the bay some of Sharon’s sweet feed. “Where’s your pal? You’re a hungry thing! Cooper feeds you or turns you out every night. I’ve watched him … what are you … he hasn’t come back yet, has he?”

  Develyn tossed some hay to the corralled horse and tromped back to Tallon’s cabin. She rapped on the door. “Coop? Sorry to bother you. Are you there?”

  She pushed down on the latch and swung the door open. “Coop? Are you in here?”

  She shined the light around the cabin.

  It’s identical to mine … only neater. Of course, he doesn’t have two women living in his. He’s not home yet, but he should be. He was just going to the rim of Cedar Hills. He should have been back by noon. He could be in trouble. Maybe he got bucked off.

  Coop doesn’t look like the type who bucks off easy.

  Maybe he had a heart attack? He’s a hard-working man. Or a stroke? Or a snake bite?

  It’s not about me … it’s about others. And Cooper Tallon is one of the others you put in my life. I’ll call him. If he has any cell phone reception … maybe he’s able to talk and can tell me how to locate him. He knows these mountains. He came out in the dark after me.

  Develyn stepped out on the porch and flashed the light at her cell phone. She punched Tallon’s number.

  Ring … please, Lord, let there be reception … Ring. Ring. Ring.

  “Yes! He’s got …” She paused when she heard a phone ring inside Tallon’s cabin. “Rats … he left the phone here. Never mind about that prayer, Lord.”

  She trotted back to her cabin.

  “Uncle Henry, we’re going to saddle My Maria and go look for Cooper. I can at least ride up to the hills and back. I won’t get lost in the open sage.”

  She glanced up at the dark sky.

  “Of course, it would be better if those clouds didn’t cover the moon and stars. But I’m going to do it, because he needs someone to help him. And this summer is not about me.”

  She grabbed her saddle out of the back of Casey’s horse trailer.

  “I wish you could carry a flashlight, Uncle Henry. I know, I’ll park the SUV over there and leave the headlights on to saddle by. Then I’ll leave the motor running and park the rig around back with the lights on high beam across the prairie. I’ll ride until the lights get dim, then I’ll turn around if I haven’t spotted him by then.”

  She ducked between the fence rails and snapped the lead rope on a startled paint mare. “Come on, girl, we have search-and-rescue work tonight. Wow, I’m beginning to sound like a real Wyoming cowboy girl, aren’t I? I hope I know what I’m doing. That would be different, wouldn’t it?”

  Develyn worked in the bright glare of the Jeep’s headlights to saddle the paint mare. With the back brushed, the blanket smoothed, the saddle set, the cinches buckled, the breast collar snapped, and the stirrups lowered, she led the paint around the truck twice, then tied her back to the rail. She drove the Jeep Cherokee behind the cabin and parked it, the engine running and lights on high, across the prairie toward the distant Cedar Hills. Then she hiked back to the waiting horse. “Suck it in, girl, suck in that tummy.” She yanked the cinch two notches tighter.

  Suck it in, yourself, Devy-girl. This is the ultimate irony, Lord. I am becoming the one I’ve only pretended to be. This middle-aged Indiana schoolteacher is saddling up in the dark and riding out by myself after a cowboy. I wonder if I should take one of Casey’s guns or knives? That would make a nice photo for the school home page: Ms. Worrell, with crossed bullet belts and knife in her teeth. Even Dougie Baxter would have to respect that.

  She swung up into the cold saddle. If felt comfortable under her.

  “OK, girl, time for a midnight ride. I know, it’s only ten o’clock, but midnight rider sounds better than ten-o’clock rider. As Jackson and Buffett would say … ‘It’s twelve o’clock somewhere …’ Shoot, it’s midnight in Indiana. I ought to call Lily, but it would freak her out. She’d call the state patrol, or the mental hospital, or both.”

  Develyn shined the flashlight about twenty feet in front of My Maria as they plodded across the prairie, swerving around the sagebrush. Uncle Henry trotted by their side. The headlights grew dim when they dropped down into the dry creek bed, but were still bright when they lunged up on the other side.

  At five minutes until eleven they reached the first scrubby cedar trees.

  “We’ll cut a path east for a mile, then we have to head back, girl. If we wander into the cedars, we’ll lose our beacon.”

  A few minutes later, Dev stood in the stirrups and stared into the shadowy cedars. “Coop?”

  On her second holler, she thought she heard something.

  “Coop, is that you?” Because if it isn’t you, I’m going to die of fright.

  “Over here, Miss Dev!”

  Yes … yes … yes.

  In the glow of the flashlight, Cooper Tallon stood beside his buckskin gelding. His face was muddy, his hat battered, his shirt ripped.

  “Are you OK?” Develyn asked.

  “I’ve had worse days.”

  “Is your horse lame?”

  “The riggin’ busted on the saddle.”

  She patted My Maria’s rump. “Come on up and ride double.”

  “Normally, I’d refuse to wear out a woman’s mount. It’s only a four-or-five-mile walk, and someone thoughtfully left headlights pointing out here.”

  “It’s the North Argenta Search and Rescue. You search for me … I’ll search for you. I didn’t know if you needed a signal light, but I knew I would.” Develyn kicked her foot out of the stirrup.

  Cooper Tallon handed her the reins to the buckskin and swung up behind her.

  “Grab on to my waist,” she instructed.

  “I’ll be alright.”

  “If I were riding behind you tonight, you’d insist that I hold on to you.”

  She felt his strong arms circle her and lock fingers.

  “You are a mess, Mr. Tallon.”

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s a good thing it’s dark. I have a feelin’ it would look a whole lot worse.”

  “Would you like to talk about it?”

  “No, I’d rather wake up in my bunk with indigestion and a bad dream, but you earned the right to hear the story. I can’t believe you’d saddle up and ride out here.”

  “Do you think you’re the only one who can help a neighbor?” Develyn patted his calloused hands that rested on her stomach. “Besides, I hope to be here another month, and I’m sure you’ll have to come out and rescue me a time or two more. Now, what’s the deal here, Coop?
”

  They plodded south, and Develyn turned off the flashlight. My Maria plodded for the Jeep headlights.

  Cooper Tallon cleared his throat. “I took my time this mornin’. Just enjoying the quiet and trying to sort things out. All I’ve ever known is hard work, Dev. So this idea about selling out causes me to think about things I’ve never pondered. When I got up to the top of Cedar Creek, where the springs run all summer, I sat there ponderin’ about things. I did a little prayin’ and wonderin’ if I’d made other choices in my life, how things would be different. A man needs to ponder by himself sometimes. And Cedar Creek’s a great place to do it.

  “When I was a young man, I lived along a canyon northwest of Ft. Collins, Colorado. Once a week or so, I’d climb the mountain behind my house and just sit there and talk to the Lord. I could see the front range, and the prairie, and almost to the throne room itself. But I moved, then got too busy being boss to do that. Dev, a man needs that kind of a place. I don’t know about you gals, but a man needs that.”

  “It sounds wonderful, Coop. I don’t know how to climb a mountain, but I would love a quiet place like that. Sometimes I go down to Turkey Run State Park and find a deserted bench and try to have a peaceful time with the Lord. Peace is the goal.

  I spend most of my life with twenty-five fifth-graders. It can be fun … it can be frustrating … but it is never peaceful.”

  “Maybe I can show you this site before you leave. You’re welcome to use it too. You can ride right up to it. This property has been in my family all my life, but I never saw that spot in that way before. Kind of strange how you discover the good things when you are older. Anyway, not far away from that spot I found a beautiful meadow on the high side of the crick that would make a perfect place for a log home. I must have spent another hour or so deciding exactly where to build the house, and barn and shop. I was kind of like a kid with a new toy. I ran around putting cornerstones where all the buildings would go.”

  “You definitely have to show it to me.”

  “I could show you the pictures, but that’s where the day turned sour. I snapped a mess of digitals, then wanted one last picture of me riding the buckskin with the home property in the background. So I propped my camera on a big rock near the creek, set the timer and ran around and jumped on my pony and grinned.”