Montana Hero

by Debra Salonen

  For the first time in what felt like forever, she had back up.

  Starting with the man across the aisle from her. She didn’t know where she’d found the courage to ask Flynn to join her on the trip to San Antonio, but he hadn’t hesitated even a heartbeat before answering. “Of course. If you’re sure I won’t be intruding on your bonding time with Roger.”

  So, instead of attending the big Zabrinski “summit,” as Bailey called it, Kat, Roger and Flynn had headed for Texas in a small but comfortably appointed plane piloted by Robert Zabrinski. Could there have been a stranger way to meet the man who almost certainly was her father?

  She doubted it.

  She lifted her head to look at her son’s grandfather in the co-pilot’s seat. Apparently, Roger was the lone non-pilot in the Zabrinski family. A fact he made up for by underwriting the entire cost of the trip, including first class hotel rooms and a Cadillac SUV rental car.

  “Can you believe they’re brothers?” Flynn whispered, nodding toward the front of the plane.

  To Kat’s surprise, she’d fallen in love with both men, even though they were polar opposites and rarely agreed on anything—except where Kat was concerned.

  “It was like watching two knights in slightly rusty armor take on the insurance giant on my behalf,” she told him. “I will never forget that feeling when the adjuster threw in the towel and agreed to give me full market value for the house.”

  Roger and Robert, both successful businessmen in their own right, along with Flynn, who could intimidate the hell out of any number cruncher in a suit, got every penny they felt she had coming. Then, Roger rolled up his sleeves and helped her go through her storage unit while Flynn and Robert arranged for a moving company to haul everything to Montana.

  “Wow,” she’d cried, looking at the haphazard stacks of boxes. “I forgot what a mess this turned into when I added Mom’s stuff to it after she died. I was…numb, I think.”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Roger said. “After my brother died, I simply shut down. Drugs and booze helped. Shoving a few boxes in a storage crate so you could take care of your son is a lot healthier choice. I applaud you.”

  Kat hadn’t expected him to be so frank about the accident that claimed his eldest brother’s life, but he’d seemed eager to share.

  “Hunting is one of the most boring sports on the planet, in my opinion, but I craved my older brothers’ approval. When I think back to that moment, everything goes to slow motion, almost as if time was giving me a chance to change the outcome. I tripped and reached out to catch myself. Somehow, the butt of the gun hit the ground and this horrible loud sound exploded beside my ear. A second later, everyone was shouting, but their voices seemed to come through water as if I’d fallen in the deep end of the pool.”

  Roger’s still beautiful blue eyes had clouded with tears.

  “Richard was a nice guy. He deserved better. I hated myself for a long time because of that blink in time. I did a lot of things that could probably be labeled masochistic, self-destructive or flat-out stupid. Like marrying a stripper I met at a bar.” He’d groaned and shook his head. “That one cost me a pretty penny, but, worst of all, she’s the reason I lost your mom…and the daughter I never knew I had.”

  They’d talked the whole time they moved boxes and pieces of furniture into two groups: keepers and giveaway.

  He told her about his decision to run that small nest egg into a big fortune in Vegas. “God, what an ego I had at that time. Unfortunately, I was drinking heavily, losing frequently and stayed half-stoned most the time. Then, along came Candy. I woke up married. After a few weeks of partying and spending boatloads of money in the company of some real low lifes, I realized I needed out. Robert offered me a job in the store if I moved back to Marietta to dry out and clean up my act.”

  “That’s when you met Mom?”

  “First day on the job. She cut through my bullshit with a been-there-done-that laser. She made me believe I could be a better man. It was the best summer of my life,” he’d told her, his voice thick with emotion.

  She looked at Flynn, eyes closed, probably every bit as tired as she was. When they could have been sleeping they were either talking or making love. Finally, she understood what Roger and her mother must have felt for each other.

  When Roger described going down on one knee to ask Grace to marry him, she’d pictured Flynn giving her the ring she never took off. “I asked her to marry me, but she said that would be against the law since I was still married. So, I made plans to go back to Vegas to confront my ex. What I didn’t count on was how determined Candy was to keep my money. She set me up. Spiked my soda, and then took photos of the two of us in bed. She told me she sent them to my little ‘girlfriend.’ I don’t know how she found out about Gracie, but by the time I got back to Marietta, Grace was gone. She never told me she was pregnant.”

  He’d reached for Kat’s hand and led her to the little settee Mom had brought with her from Grandma’s house. “My Gracie was the most beautiful woman I ever met, but she had some pretty big holes where her self-esteem should have been.”

  Kat agreed.

  “Her daddy leaving when she was a little girl might have had something to do with it. Other boyfriends cheated on her. Whatever the reason, when I got back and found her letter, along with the photos Candy sent her. I knew she’d left me for good and I pretty much lost it.”

  He hadn’t tried to gloss over what happened next—a very self-destructive relapse that ended when some woman he barely knew died and he had to identify her body. He got clean and threw himself into his work. “Building things saved my sanity. My house in Malibu is my sanctuary. I even have a niche in the garden that’s dedicated to your mother.”

  Brady had already started bugging her about setting a date to go see Grandpa Roger’s place, but Kat had a lot of things to settle first. Not the least of which was finding a new job. Fortunately, the check she would be receiving from her insurance company would cushion any downtime if the Sheriff decided to hire someone else. Something Flynn assured her wasn’t likely.

  They hadn’t talked any more about weddings or babies or the future. He’d seemed to sense that this trip was all about tying up loose ends. He’d stayed back at the hotel when she and Roger had dinner with Greg and his latest girlfriend.

  “We’ll meet eventually,” Flynn had said, his usual, calm pragmatic self.

  Roger’s opinion of Greg? “You got the best out of him when you had Brady. Now, you’ve got a real man in your life.”

  She reached over and squeezed Flynn’s hand. “Are we there, yet?”

  He leaned across the small toaster-oven size box resting on the bench seat between them. Mom. Roger had actually broken down and wept when Kat showed him the box containing her mother’s ashes. She hadn’t known what to do with them so she’d left them sitting on Grandma’s settee in the storage unit.

  “How do you really feel about Roger planning your mother’s memorial?”

  “Grateful,” she said truthfully. In a way, she felt as though Mom had been waiting all these years for Roger to find her. Lloyd, her second husband, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery as a way to honor his service to the country. Although Grace could have been buried there, the idea never felt right to Kat. Now, Mom was in the hands of the man who loved her. Kat had no doubt Roger would do right by his forever love.

  *

  They’d just landed when Kat got a text from Sarah.

  “Welcome home. Pizza, etc, here, tomorrow. Z Summit, revised.”

  She showed it to Flynn. His brows arched in the way she loved so much. “Hmmm. I wonder what that’s about. Want me to ask Ryker?”

  She shook her head. “I’m so numb I don’t think anything anyone says or does can surprise me. But I’ve heard great things about Sarah’s pizza. Will you come with us?”

  He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Of course.”

  “Do you want to stay over tonight?” Bra
dy had begged to stay one more night at the Zabrinskis’s, but Kat couldn’t wait to see him. “I had to bribe Brady with lasagna from Rocco’s. I’ll order extra.”

  “I need to run by the office, first, then see if my stuff got moved into my house while I was gone. Crazy timing.”

  She understood, even though she was disappointed. But as he was helping her out of the plane, he pulled her close and whispered, “Changed my mind. I’ll be there. Get me two pieces. What was it your mom used to say?”

  “‘Life doesn’t come with any guarantees. Gobble it up while you can.’”

  That was the moment Kat made up her mind to stop letting fear rule her life. Maybe she’d wind up in a facility someday, like her mother. Maybe she’d beat Brady at chess three times out of four, like Roger did before they left for Texas. Less likely.

  Regardless of how her life ended, the real waste would be if she didn’t live as fully and passionately has both her parents had when they were her age.

  *

  Flynn hung back a moment to observe the Zabrinski family in action.

  Crazy, he thought. If he paused to scrutinize the timeline since he first met Katherine to now and everything that had happened in that short span, he probably should have been mind-boggled. But, somehow, grabbing life with all the gusto you possessed felt like business as usual with the Zabrinskis.

  Roger stood beside his older brother by the fireplace, showing Kat a family photo album. Her beautiful smile told him a story with every photo: surprise, amusement, pathos, regret. He knew a bit about that.

  Maybe it was flying from Texas to Montana with a dead woman’s ashes between him and Kat that got him thinking about Mom. He’d made a few calls that morning and planned to break the news to Ryker as soon as he and Mia emerged from the basement.

  “Hey, there he is,” Ryker said, giving Flynn a quick, manly hug. “We were looking for you.”

  Flynn returned the embrace but didn’t let go. “Perfect timing. I was looking for you, too. Can we talk somewhere in private a moment?”

  Ryker blinked in surprise. “Um…okay.”

  Mia put her arms around them both. “I love you boys. Don’t miss the big announcement.”

  Flynn and Ryker exchanged a look.

  “Big announcement?”

  Ryker shrugged. “No idea. My soon-to-be wife, the lawyer, can be very closed mouth when she wants.” He led Flynn to a quiet spot to the right of the foyer. “What’s up?”

  “Mom turns sixty-five next month. Kat’s mom passed at sixty-two. I don’t give a flying fig about the past, Ryker. We need to do something special for her.”

  Ryker crossed his arms, belligerently. “Like what?”

  “Like sending her and Howard a round-trip ticket to Montana. Put them up in the Graff for a few days. Show them Yellowstone and introduce them to our friends and new family.”

  His brother paled but he didn’t say, “No f-ing way.”

  “You’re the second person this week who has talked to me about mending fences with Mom and Howard.” He sighed. “I guess after what happened with Kat’s mom and Mia’s Uncle Roger, I can see the point.”

  Flynn let go of the tension he hadn’t been aware of holding. “We’ll never know the whole story between Mom and Dad. They did the best they could. I’m okay with that.”

  Ryker held out his hand. “You know what? So am I. You know why? Because without Mom and Dad I wouldn’t be here, poised to marry the most amazing woman in the world and give bir…” His mouth snapped closed like a spring-loaded trap.

  Flynn knew Ryker’s guilty look better than anybody. “And…?”

  Ryker groaned. He took a step closer and threw one arm around Flynn’s shoulders. Speaking under his voice, he murmured, “Remember what I told you about Meg?”

  Flynn nodded.

  “She’s carrying twins,” he whispered, his eyes wide and a little shell-shocked. “I can’t quite wrap my head around it,” he added in a hoarse croak. “Two.”

  Flynn was almost too choked up to answer. “That’s amazing. Is everything okay?”

  Ryker flashed a thumbs up sign. “We should be able to share the news in a week or two. All this focus on Bob and Roger and Kat’s house burning down couldn’t have come at a better time.”

  Flynn rolled his eyes. His brother always had been a little egocentric. Maybe that’s why Flynn understood Brady so well.

  “What?” Ryker asked. “Believe me, keeping a secret in this family, isn’t easy.”

  He motioned for Flynn to follow. “I’m cool with Mom and Howard. Send me a bill for my half. Now, come on. Let’s see what the big reveal is all about.”

  The two brothers went their separate ways when they reached the group assembled in the large, open family room. Robert, Sarah and Roger, the elders of the family, shared the sofa. Meg and her husband, Henry Firestone, snuggled blissfully on one loveseat. Flynn had met the man a couple of times and he seemed like a straight shooter. Hank also held a very solid reputation amongst longtime SAR volunteers.

  Paul shared another loveseat with Bailey, who was discreetly nursing baby Arya. Everyone else either stood or grabbed a spot on the floor. Mia and Austen stood together at the front of the room below the giant big-screen TV, which, thankfully, was turned off.

  Austen whistled to silence the hum of individual conversations, then his sister started things off.

  “Hi, everyone. Thanks for coming. I know life has been pretty crazy lately. Lots of changes, which, believe me, can be a great thing.” She looked at Ryker and mouthed the words: I love you.

  Several people, including Austen, groaned.

  Mia jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. His soft grunt brought more than a few chuckles.

  “As I was saying…it’s precisely because of all the changes that have happened to our family in recent months that Meg and Austen and I decided it was time to rethink the Big Sky Mavericks.”

  Flynn looked at Kat, who made an I-have-no-idea gesture.

  Meg, the university professor, must have caught their confusion because she got to her feet and joined her siblings.

  “To clarify, when Austen and Mia turned…ten? Twelve? We formed the Big Sky Mavericks. For a few years we pretended to be fighter pilots, like Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun. We gave ourselves call signs. I’m Lone Wolf.” She looked at her new husband and winked. “I was. I’m not alone anymore.”

  “A fact driven home the first time she forgot to lock the bathroom door,” Hank added. “Four kids. No privacy.”

  Meg nodded gravely. “Truth.”

  The men chuckled. The mothers groaned.

  “Mia’s call sign is Nitro.”

  Mia gave a little curtsy. “Because small packages can rock your world.”

  “I’ll testify to that,” Ryker said, holding up his hand.

  Mia blew him a kiss.

  Austen gave his fiancée, Serena, a look that clearly said, “Don’t expect me to do anything that sappy.”

  “Mine’s Striker,” Austen said. “Fifty-four confirmed kills.”

  The audience drew in a collective gasp, until he added, “Beer cans and pop bottles. Direct hits from my B-B gun.”

  He high-fived both of his sisters as the rest of the family let out a collective sigh of relief.

  “Recently,” Meg continued, “it’s come to our attention that we’re not kids anymore. This sort of play-acting served us well when we were children. In our imaginations, we saved the world time and time again. But, now we’re grown-ups.” She looked at Austen. “Some more than others.” She softened the jibe with a wink. “We want to do good…for real. And we need your help.”

  Paul leapt to his feet. “Wait a minute. Does this mean you’re going to let other people join the Big Sky Mavericks? Holy sh…schmokes.” His shout of joy woke the baby.

  “Sorry, honey. Sorry, Arya,” he said, hurrying over to kiss his little cherub on the nose. “But I’ve waited all my life to be part of the Mavs. Where do I sign up? Can I pick my own
call sign? I’m thinking…Super Z.”

  Austen shook his head in an indulgent way, but he gave Paul a friendly punch on the shoulder. “We haven’t worked out the details, young Skywalker.”

  “Skywalker,” Paul repeated.

  Mia stepped to their youngest sibling’s defense. “Of course, you can pick your name, Paul. This is something that’s going to set us apart from other organizations. Believe me, knowing I was Nitro was the only thing that kept me going during chemo. I pictured myself behind the controls of a supersonic fighter jet eradicating cancer cells.”

  Austen had the grace to look chagrined. “I didn’t know.”

  “That’s not something I talk about because, you’re right, who wants to admit a kids’ game helped define who I was and the kind of person I wanted to be when I grew up? But, the truth is, the Big Sky Mavericks always felt pretty real to me.”

  She looked at Paul. “We were wrong to exclude you. I’m sorry.”

  Paul gave her a one-armed hug. “You know, Wonder Boy has a nice ring to it.”

  She chuckled indulgently. “Believe it or not, you can go online to a Call Sign Generator. I’ll email you the link.”

  Meg cleared her throat. “The reason we’re bringing this up now is two-fold. First, we are happy to announce our first Honorary Big Sky Maverick, Roger Zabrinski. Roger is partly to blame for this sudden epiphany. Austen, you explain.”

  Austen looked at his uncle with great fondness and respect. “When he got back from San Antonio, Uncle Roger asked if I could help him set up a scholarship in the name of Grace Adair Smiley, Kat’s mom and the love of his life. He wants to help empower young women with special gifts to make a difference in the world. Uncle?”

  Roger got to his feet and looked around. “My Gracie had so much potential that went unrealized because she lacked the tools and opportunity to share those gifts with the world. Lucky for us, she did share her greatest gift—Katherine, who was named in honor of Hilda Katherine Zabrinski. To quote Twitter: ‘If you want to make the world a better place, empower women.’ Where better to start than in Big Sky Country? We dream big here, and we make things happen.”