The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek)

by Minton, Brenda

  “You okay back there?” He turned and walked backward a few steps.

  “I’m good. The fresh air has made me tired.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to have to fill my thermos with coffee before I head out.”

  “I can get that started for you while you get ready to leave.”

  “Thanks.”

  They reached the house and Jesse set Abigail back on her own two feet. She smiled up at him, her eyes sleepy.

  “Abigail, I don’t have homemade cookies, but I do have cookies and milk in here.”

  Laura had slipped off her shoes at the back door. Jesse left his next to hers. Abigail sighed and pushed hers off. He smiled at her and she managed a sleepy smile back. Without asking, he picked her up again and carried her inside the house.

  “Are you too sleepy for cookies and milk?” He felt her head nod against his shoulder. Laura had already filled the coffeepot and the machine spurted and hissed as the coffee brewed.

  “She’ll be fine. The excitement is wearing off and it’s way past bedtime.” Laura glanced at the clock. “I’ll fill the thermos up for you before I head back to the house with her.”

  Jesse sat Abigail on one of the bar stools and she hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes growing heavier. He smiled at the little girl’s mother.

  “Take her to the house and use the golf cart. It’s charged. There’s no need to carry her. I can get the coffee.”

  “Thanks, Jesse.” She put the thermos on the counter next to the coffeepot. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Do you want me to carry her out to the golf cart?”

  “No, I can do it.” She picked up her daughter. “She isn’t supposed to stay with me.”

  “My mom will pick her up in the morning. She got this approved.”

  They were at the door. He pushed it open but he couldn’t move away. Laura looked up at him, Abigail clinging to her neck.

  “If I don’t get to see you before I leave...”

  She shook her head. “Have a good trip. I’ll be praying for you.”

  He nodded and let her go with that easy goodbye that didn’t feel easy at all.

  * * *

  Sleep was not Laura’s friend that night. Too many thoughts raced through her mind. Ryan and what he might do to her, to Abigail, Jesse leaving and the thought of him being gone for a year. Loneliness.

  As the sun came up, she rolled over in bed and then sat up. Forget it. She would get up, work in the garden before the sun got hot and then make a big breakfast for herself and Abigail. She didn’t know what time Angie would pick up her daughter, but she thought probably soon after breakfast.

  And then Laura would really be alone.

  She put on a pot of coffee and walked outside. The sun was barely peeking over the dark green of the trees at the edge of the field. She stood quietly and watched as two deer grazed near the edge of the field.

  A door slammed, and the deer raised their beautiful heads and raced off into the woods. Laura turned toward the barn. She watched Jesse toss hay for the horses in the field. He’d said the grass was getting pretty slim now. They needed rain.

  He turned, saw her and waved. She swallowed the lump that lodged in her throat and returned the wave, smiling because maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much if she waved and smiled, pretending it didn’t matter.

  She’d taken this job knowing that he might leave. She’d known not to get attached. But how did a woman not get attached to someone like Jesse?

  The garden. She turned to her garden, smiling because she had done something so worthwhile for herself and her daughter. The tomato plants had tiny green tomatoes and the zucchini were sprouting by the dozens. She didn’t know how to make zucchini bread, but she would learn.

  By the end of summer she and Abigail would be baking together.

  She turned and watched as Jesse pushed the wheelbarrow back into the barn. She kneeled in the garden and pulled the few weeds that had sprouted, even though she’d put down feed sacks and covered them with straw. One row at a time she pulled the weeds and she checked the tomatoes for aphids the way Myrna had taught her.

  “Hey, do you have any coffee?”

  She smiled up at the man standing behind her. Her heart beat a little too fast just looking at him. He pulled off his hat and swiped a hand through his hair. She nodded and stood.

  “I put on a pot before I came out here.”

  “Mind if I have a cup?”

  Mind? Yes, a little. Because she had wanted him to leave without saying goodbye. She’d wanted to practice life without him. She’d gotten too used to his presence, to the cowboy in faded jeans and a worn button-up shirt, to the doctor in khaki pants and a starched shirt with a tie.

  She’d gotten used to his presence in her life—and to his kept promises.

  She walked ahead of him, slipping off her flip-flops as she walked into the house. He stood with one hand on the door, pushing off his left boot and then the right.

  Laura poured his coffee and handed it to him. She added sugar to hers. “Do you want a cookie?”

  She pushed the container across the counter and he took one.

  “Laura, the mission trip...”

  She shook her head. “Let’s not talk about it. And keep your voice down. I don’t want Abigail up this early. She’ll be a grouch for your mom if she doesn’t get more sleep.”

  “She’s never a grouch.”

  Laura managed a smile at that. “Yes, she is.”

  They walked outside, closing the door quietly behind them so that it didn’t bang. But the puppy had woken up and it raced across the lawn, chasing grasshoppers.

  “I didn’t expect this,” Jesse said as they sat down on the glider swing.

  “What?”

  He sipped his coffee and leaned back, taking off his hat and dropping it on the table next to the swing. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”

  He started to say something else and then he shook his head. Laura didn’t look at him—she couldn’t. They finished their coffee in silence.

  “You’ll be okay while I’m gone. The police are aware that Ryan is in the area. The security system gives you an extra layer of protection.”

  “I’m not afraid.” But she was. Of so many things. Him leaving. Ryan. Losing Abigail.

  A car pulled up the driveway.

  “That’s either Mom or Isaac. Both of them have the code to access the gate.”

  She nodded and stood to follow him inside.

  There were two cars driving past her house. His mother’s car and an old sedan she didn’t recognize.

  Jesse’s hand was on her shoulder. “That would be Isaac.”

  “So, I’ll see you in ten days.” She smiled past her fear and her heartache.

  “Yes, ten days.”

  The front door flew open and Abigail hurried out, still in her pajamas. “Don’t leave.”

  Jesse held out his arms. “I have to, kiddo. But I’ll be back soon.”

  “And then you’ll leave again.”

  He hugged her tightly and Laura’s heart fractured a little.

  “You should go.” She held her arms out and took her daughter.

  “I should.” He kissed the top of Laura’s head and touched his forehead to Abigail’s. “I’ve always known I’d go to the mission field.”

  She nodded, knowing he was trying to explain, but it didn’t help.

  “Bye, Jesse.” Abigail swiped at her tears. “We love you.”

  Laura closed her eyes at words spoken so easily but with so much meaning. He wasn’t chocolate cake or a sunny day. He was Jesse and they loved him because he had shown them how to trust. She opened her eyes as Jesse walked down the steps.

  * * *

  An hour later Jesse stood on his back porch staring out at the land he’d bought, the house he’d built, Isaac standing next to his aging sedan. Isaac with his curling blond hair, goatee and safari attire. Jesse smiled at his friend who sometimes appeared to be on the edge of poverty but c
ould probably buy half the county.

  “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.” He tossed his suitcase in the trunk of Isaac’s car and climbed in the passenger seat, avoiding springs that stuck up through the upholstery.

  Isaac cranked the car to life and backed out of the driveway.

  “What’s up?” Isaac squinted and then pulled on sunglasses.

  “Second thoughts, I guess. I’m not worried about this school. I know the culture in Honduras.”

  “Yeah, but a lot changes in twenty or thirty years.”

  “True.”

  But he’d seen all sides of the culture. He’d lived the first six years of his life in a house that could have been a palace. He’d ridden in a car with armed guards. He’d watched his dad gunned down by a rival cartel. He’d lived in poverty with his mother and sister when they raced away from that palatial home, escaping with their lives and the clothes on their backs. He’d lived in the orphanage after his mother abandoned him.

  He’d been adopted by the Coopers.

  “Jesse, we’ve both known from the beginning that you weren’t going to jump right into this. You said you needed to know for sure that you were supposed to go. I’ve taken that to mean you weren’t sure if you were called to this. And going for the wrong reasons...man, that’s the wrong thing to do. I have people who are called. They know without a doubt.”

  “They never doubt?”

  Isaac shrugged and looked both ways before pulling out on the highway. “Everyone doubts. That’s not what I mean. You can doubt a little, but when it comes right down to it, you have to know that you know. This is a big leap.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “So what’s causing the doubts?”

  He didn’t want to get into that.

  Laura, who had made it pretty clear that she needed space because there was more than one heart on the line. Abigail, a little girl who prayed for a daddy.

  “There are a lot of ways to serve God, Jesse. It doesn’t have to be a foreign mission field.” Isaac shot him a look. “I stopped by and saw Jeremy. He showed me the clinic. He said he already has a few doctors rounded up.”

  “He’s doing a great thing with that clinic.”

  “Yeah, he is. And that clinic is a mission, too.” Isaac watched him for a long minute. “Man, I’ve known you for years and I have to ask—what are you hoping to find in Honduras?”

  “I’m not hoping to find anything.” Jesse pulled his own sunglasses out of his pocket. “But maybe I am. There’s a part of me that hopes I’ll find my family.”

  “Yeah, I get that. I want you to go with me to this school, but while we’re there, I want you to really think about what you’re doing. Is this something God has called you to do, Jesse, or is this a burden?”

  A call or a burden. He did feel a burden for the people in South America. For the people in Honduras. A burden led to answering the call.

  Or maybe sometimes, the burden led to prayer or giving so that someone else could answer the call.

  “Does this have something to do with the housekeeper?”

  “Don’t call her that.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Isaac, I’ve been planning this trip for years. What do I say, ‘Sorry, God, but I’ve met this woman, and she has a kid and I think I just can’t do what You’ve called me to do’?”

  “I guess that’s a conversation you need to have with God. Maybe take a closer look at the part you’ve been planning.” Isaac cleared his throat. “You could tell her how you feel and ask her to wait for you. Long-distance relationships can work. Not that they’ve worked for me.”

  “Thanks for the advice, Isaac. You’re a real encourager.”

  “Hey, it’s a thought, right?”

  Yeah, a thought.

  But not a good one. He tried to imagine a conversation with Laura. One where he asked her to wait a year.

  He tried to imagine a year without her in it. A woman he’d known for weeks, and yet she’d possibly changed everything.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Laura had Abigail again on Friday. Jesse had been gone for a few days. They had been sitting at the house staring at each other when Laura got the bright idea that they needed to go visit Myrna.

  When they walked up her steps, Myrna opened the door and smiled. Her smile quickly faded as she looked them over.

  “Well, look at you. The two of you look sadder than an old hound dog I used to have.” Myrna leaned on the cane the family had convinced her to use. “Shall we sit on the porch? My dogs need to come outside and we can watch them while they play with Abigail.”

  Abigail and the dogs were already racing across the yard. Laura followed Myrna to the wicker furniture and they sat down next to each other on the love seat.

  “It’s hot out here.” Myrna shook her head. “I’d give anything to be a kid and run through a sprinkler on a day like this.”

  “We could hook up the hose. I’d play in the sprinkler with you,” Laura offered.

  Myrna patted her leg. “I know you would. It might get that sadness out of your eyes if you let yourself have fun from time to time.”

  Laura watched Abigail roll in the grass and the dogs scramble over her, licking her face. “Abigail, you’ll get chiggers.”

  “What’s a chigger?” Abigail stopped rolling and sat up.

  “A tiny bug that lives in the grass. They bite and make you itch.”

  “Eww. I don’t like chiggers.” Abigail did like puppies, though. “But it’s okay.”

  “Don’t complain tonight.”

  Myrna laughed. “She’ll be itching and complaining by the time the sun goes down.”

  “I’m sure she will.”

  “Hair spray will kill them.”

  “Thank you.” Laura smiled at her friend. “You look great. How do you feel?”

  “Right as rain. I’m on my new medicine and haven’t had another spell since the last one.”

  “And how is your beau?”

  “My beau is the most handsome man in Dawson.” Myrna patted Laura’s hand. “Well, maybe second to that handsome grandson of mine. But my beau knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to say it.”

  “Myrna...”

  “Don’t try to deny it, Laura White. I know that moony look in a girl’s eyes. And I’ve seen the same look on my grandson’s face. I think it happened to him that very first day, standing in my kitchen.”

  “I think that first day he was afraid I would rob you blind. And for good reason—you took in a complete stranger.”

  Myrna watched Abigail for a minute and a slow smile spread across her face. Her eyes twinkled. “I couldn’t have planned that accident any better if I’d tried. Look at how things have worked out for you. God has indeed been at work in my family. He brought Jade and Madeline into Jackson’s life. Travis and Elizabeth met when she had been nearly left at the altar. Sophie is married to the last man she thought she’d fall in love with. And Reese bumped into Cheyenne at a diner in Vegas.”

  “They’re all very blessed.”

  Myrna laughed a bell-like laugh. “And so shall you be. Abigail and I are praying and I do believe God is listening.”

  “Myrna, Jesse is going to the mission field.”

  “I know he’s called to do the Lord’s work. I think he’s just a little confused about where.”

  “I think he knows exactly what he plans on doing.”

  “Perhaps he does.” Myrna watched Abigail for a few minutes. “When are you going to start taking those nursing classes?”

  “In the fall.”

  “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Myrna, I’m not sure where I’d be if it hadn’t been for you.”

  “Don’t give me credit for God’s handiwork.”

  “You could have left me on the side of the road. Or called the police to deal with me.”

  “I reckon I could have, but I wouldn’t have. The minute I looked in those gray eyes of yours, I knew you were a special person in my li
fe.”

  Laura brushed away the few tears that hovered. “You’re special to me, too.”

  Myrna stood, leaning a little on the cane. “Let’s stop talking like one of us has a foot in the grave. It makes me a little nervous. I think we should go shopping. We need to get our minds off our troubles.”

  “Shopping it is.” Laura stood and hooked her arm through Myrna’s. “Abigail, let’s go shopping. Can you help us get the dogs in?”

  Abigail nodded and soon had the two dogs scooped up in her arms. And they were an armful.

  “Let them walk, Abigail.”

  Laura’s daughter put the dogs down. “Come on, fluffy white dogs.”

  Myrna chuckled. “I’m sure she learned that from Jesse and I’m sure he also calls my precious babies ‘yappy.’”

  “Only sometimes,” Laura admitted. She opened the door and Myrna walked through, followed by those same yappy dogs. Abigail eased in with the dogs.

  * * *

  That night, when Laura put Abigail to bed in her new nightgown they bought on the shopping trip meant to lift their spirits, Abigail’s eyes filled with tears.

  “I don’t want Jesse to go away.” Abigail reached under the blanket and scratched at her legs. “I want you to tell him we love him, Mommy, and beg him to stay here with us. We don’t have to marry him. Tell him that. Tell him we just want him here so we can go fishing and ride the pony.”

  “We can’t keep Jesse here for our own selfish reasons.”

  Abigail frowned and continued to scratch, now her arms.

  “It isn’t selfish. Love isn’t selfish. I learned that in Sunday school. Love believes all things and hopes all things.”

  “Wow, that’s very good,” Laura said in real amazement.

  “I like the verses about love. Love suffers, too.”

  Laura leaned to hug her daughter and she agreed—love sometimes did feel like suffering. “I don’t think that’s what it means, Abigail. Love can put up with a lot. I think that’s more what the verse means.”

  “We can put up with Jesse being gone, I guess.”

  “Yeah, we don’t really have a choice.” She sighed because how much did you explain to a six-year-old? She couldn’t tell Abigail that Jesse didn’t owe them anything. They weren’t his responsibility.