And Cowboy Makes Three

by Deb Kastner

  “I remember Philip rocking out on Shy Boy, and I remember thinking he was going to hit the wall. He didn’t, did he?”

  Ange shook her head. “No. When you and Hercules charged in, Shy Boy veered off. Philip was able to dismount without hurting himself, thankfully.”

  “That’s good.”

  “You’re a hero. Everybody thinks so.” She reached out and touched his forearm and he slid his hand down to thread his fingers with hers.

  “I don’t care what everybody thinks, Ange. It only matters to me what you think.”

  “I think what you did was amazing. And selfless.”

  He still couldn’t remember every detail about what had happened during the ranch rodeo, but anything that garnered that adoration in Ange’s eyes and that kind of praise from her lips had been worth it, fractured bones and all.

  Because he felt the same way.

  He was in love with her.

  And he wanted to be her hero.

  His heart swelled to bursting as he struggled to find the words to tell her how much he wanted her and Toby in his life, but his mouth was as dry as desert sand and try as he might his emotions remained unspoken.

  Could she read his feelings in his eyes?

  For a moment, their gazes met and held and he thought he saw a glimpse of his emotions mirrored in her eyes before her gaze flashed with something else.

  Doubt? Uncertainty?

  She stood and slipped her hand out of his, brushing the tears from her cheeks before she turned her back on him and went to look out the window.

  It took her a moment to gather her thoughts before she turned back to him and spoke with a low, gritty determination.

  “And once again, after I encouraged you to ride, you’re in a hospital with multiple injuries. How long do you think it will take you to recover and walk again this time?”

  He tried to straighten his shoulders but his bruised ribs complained.

  “I don’t know,” he said honestly. He hadn’t even talked to the doctor yet and his head was swimming with pain. “It doesn’t matter.” With Ange by his side, he felt as if he could conquer anything. His new physical issues were just another hurdle to overcome.

  “But it does,” she whispered raggedly. “It proves what I’ve been saying all along. You should never have trusted me. Even when I think I’m doing the right thing for you, that I’m supporting you, I make the wrong decision and you get hurt. How many times does this have to happen before you realize how bad I am for you?”

  He gritted his teeth to speak through the pain. “I thought we worked all that out.”

  “So did I.” Her voice cracked. “But I was wrong. I want you to be happy, Rowdy.”

  “I am happy—when I’m with you and Toby.”

  Emotional pain crossed her gaze that rivaled anything Rowdy was feeling physically. “I’m surprised you can say that in your present condition—in the hospital with the kind of injuries you sustained.”

  “Which has zero—do you hear me, Ange, zero—to do with what you may or may not have said to me. It was my idea to ride pickup, not yours.”

  “But I encouraged you.”

  “You did. And you know what? That meant more to me than you’ll ever know. This injury,” he said, jerking his head toward his left side, “is nothing compared to that. I’m not sure I could have gotten out there if it wasn’t for you.”

  “Which just goes to prove my point.” She sniffed and pressed her palms to her eyes.

  “No, it doesn’t. I don’t know how to make you understand. You helped me conquer a fear that had been hanging over my head for eight years.”

  “And in the process, you landed in the hospital.”

  “Yes. But not from doing something stupid. This time, I’m here because I saved a teenager from what might have been a bad accident. Big difference. And again, not your fault.”

  Her gaze met his. Did he see a flicker of hope in her eyes?

  She blinked, and the spark was extinguished.

  “Now the whole town knows you’re a hero.” Her low alto was rich with meaning.

  “The only opinion I’m interested in is yours. Do you think I’m a hero, Ange?”

  His breath caught in his throat while he waited for his words to sink in. For her to realize what he was really saying.

  A knock at the door interrupted them before Ange could say another word.

  A nurse came in to check his vitals and ask about his pain on the pain scale.

  “It’s not too bad,” he said through gritted teeth, cringing when the nurse put her hand on his shoulder.

  He wasn’t fooling anyone.

  But he didn’t want to drift away, not when he was so close to making everything right in his world.

  The nurse added pain medicine to his IV and his head immediately became fuzzy.

  “Ange,” he said, reaching for her with his right arm, desperate to finish the conversation.

  She stepped forward and took his hand.

  But before he could speak, another knock sounded and a man in light green scrubs came into the room.

  “Sorry to interrupt you,” the orderly said. “I’m here to take you down for an MRI.”

  First the pain medicine, and now this. Rowdy growled with frustration.

  The orderly could not have interrupted at a worse time. Before Rowdy knew that Ange had understood his full meaning.

  Understood that he loved her and Toby and wanted them to be together always.

  His last thought as the orderly pushed him away and he gave himself in to the pain medication was of Ange and Toby, and the family he so desperately wanted them to be.

  Chapter Thirteen

  With tears in her eyes and her heart in pieces, Angelica packed up the last box, full of the items she would need immediately when she got to their new home, and marked it with a big red X so she would know to unpack it first.

  That she didn’t know exactly where that home would be was admittedly a problem, but if she had to, she and Toby could stay in a hotel for a couple of weeks while she searched for the perfect place.

  It wouldn’t be in downtown Denver. That was no longer her scene. Maybe something in the suburbs, where folks settled down and raised their families.

  Lakewood, maybe. Or Westminster.

  She was no closer to figuring out what she wanted to do with her life than the day she’d moved back to Serendipity. She’d been too caught up in running the ranch. But again, she could buy herself time by working another job for a paycheck—just not necessarily the one she would eventually make a career path of.

  Watching Rowdy being wheeled away by the orderly was the most painful moment of her life, and she’d left the hospital soon after. Despite what he’d said, all the arguments he’d made in her defense, seeing him laid up in the hospital, and knowing that, in part at least, she was the one who put him there was more than her heart could handle.

  She had encouraged him back into the arena. Granted, she hadn’t realized he could get hurt as a pickup man almost as easily as he had on the bronc eight years ago, but she should have known that if he saw a teenager in danger he would put himself out to make sure nothing bad happened.

  She sighed and brushed her hair away from her face with the palm of her hand. Angelica’s time on Granny’s ranch in Serendipity had taught her a lot. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a mature and determined woman looking back at her, a mother who could and would take care of herself and her son, something she hadn’t been certain she would be able to do.

  Her only regret was having to leave the Bar C behind.

  And Rowdy.

  But the time had come, because despite everything, despite knowing she would leave her heart behind with Rowdy she knew it was time for her to go.

  She wanted to be the right woman for him, the one who,
along with Toby, would become his family. Someone who could support him, walk beside him and be his partner in life.

  Instead, she had floundered through her multiple attempts to be a rancher and by encouraging him to get back out in the rodeo arena had kicked the cane right out from underneath him.

  How many times would he have to suffer because of her?

  There was the ranch rodeo eight years ago, and then again last week. The Psycho Rooster, who had scratched him all up and had left what she was sure would become a scar on his jaw—and all because he was trying to protect her from her own foolishness.

  She’d left him on the night of their wedding rehearsal and had broken his heart.

  This time, when she left Serendipity this second—and last—time, she knew for sure that it was her heart that was once again breaking. Hopefully, Rowdy would realize she’d done him a favor, kept him from falling all over again.

  As hard as it would be, she wouldn’t leave without telling him goodbye this time, even though he already knew the reasons she had to go. She planned to visit the hospital later in the day and bring Toby along for their last farewell. She had learned that much from her past mistakes.

  She taped up the box she’d been packing and moved it into the living room, stacking it on top of a couple of other similar-sized boxes.

  There weren’t many. She and Toby traveled light, and she hadn’t purchased much. Other than what they’d brought with them, there were a few sentimental items of Granny’s that she wanted to take, but nothing that took up much room.

  A quilt. Granny’s Bible. An old photograph of Granny and Gramps on the day they were married.

  Her heart ached with longing. She could never settle for less than what Granny and Gramps had had, a marriage that withstood the test of time, up until the moment Granny lost Gramps to a sudden heart attack.

  She would leave going through the rest of Granny’s things to Jo, who would know better than she would how to deal with those items. Angelica had already had enough emotional overload to last her a lifetime. Sorting Granny’s belongings would only give her more to grieve over.

  She stooped and kissed Toby’s forehead. Toby’s gaze, far less hazy than when he was a newborn, fixed on her mouth. He lifted one fist to her lips and she gently kissed it. No matter what was right or wrong in her world, she had her son.

  Three loud raps sounded on her front door, followed by two more, rousing her from her melancholy.

  She wasn’t expecting anyone. No one even knew she was leaving, and she wanted to keep it that way.

  She hated goodbyes. She’d already informed Jo that she was leaving, and to her surprise, Jo hadn’t argued. Maybe the old woman knew how hard this was for her. The only goodbye that still needed to be said would be handled later this afternoon.

  Maybe Jo was here to make one last-ditch effort to change her mind about leaving.

  “Who do you think that is, big guy?” she asked Toby in a singsong voice she wasn’t feeling. She swung the door open, her gaze still on her son. “Are you expecting somebody?”

  “Just you and Toby,” a deep voice replied. “Why? Do you have someone else hiding in there?”

  “Rowdy.” Her heart jumped into her throat as he let himself in the door, stepping slowly and leaning heavily on his crutches. “When did you get out of the hospital? What are you doing here?”

  Propping his crutches in front of him, he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and withdrew an envelope.

  It was an achingly familiar sensation, reading Angelica and Rowdy scribbled on the outside in Granny’s scratchy script.

  She’d known there would be more letters, but she’d intended to leave before getting caught up in the next one. Rowdy needed to recuperate, not run all over town doing who knew what.

  Attending picnics.

  Feeding sheep.

  Getting his bad knee smashed up saving a teenager at a ranch rodeo.

  “Special delivery,” he said with a grin. “They finally cut me loose from the hospital this afternoon. I thought I’d bring this letter out here in person so we can get right on it and solve our mystery once and for all.”

  “I don’t think so, Rowdy.” Her traitorous heart pounded so hard she thought perhaps Rowdy could hear it.

  He frowned. “I don’t get it. What’s changed?”

  “Me.”

  “But Granny—”

  “Wouldn’t want me to get in the way of you living your life to the fullest.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I called the local Realtor. He’s going to get with my lawyer and work out the details of the sale of the ranch to you.”

  His jaw tightened. He looked like he was going to say something, but then he stopped and shook his head.

  “No,” he said at last, his tone brooking no argument.

  “No?”

  This was exactly why she’d been trying to leave town without a fuss. So that this didn’t happen. She didn’t know if her heart could handle it.

  “Not without opening this envelope. Jo said it was the last one. I don’t think you should make any permanent plans without finishing the course and fulfilling Granny Frances’s last wishes, do you?”

  She blew out an audible breath. That was precisely what she’d been about to do, but now that he was here, with the envelope in his palm, she supposed she might as well see this through. It wasn’t as if he was going to let it go. And frankly, she wasn’t strong enough to send him away.

  She’d planned to say goodbye to him at the hospital. But since he was here, she might as well take advantage of his presence and part with him here in the privacy of her own home.

  She picked up Toby from where he was cushioned in his bouncer and pulled him close to her shoulder, seeking comfort from the feel of him in her arms. His baby scent and the precious way he sucked on his fist always calmed her, even when she was as distressed as she was feeling right now.

  “So open it.” She turned away from Rowdy and paced to the other end of the room.

  She heard him shake out the paper and clear his throat, then she turned back toward him just as he read the words.

  “Find My Treasure.”

  “What do you think?” Rowdy asked, scratching his jaw. “Something buried in the back yard?”

  She shook her head. “Too over-the-top, even for Granny. She would have kept her treasure close to her. In her personal space.”

  “Her bedroom?”

  “If I had to guess.”

  “Haven’t you been in there? Surely you would have noticed a treasure chest.”

  “I’m not sure we’re looking for an actual chest, and I can’t even speculate as to what Granny meant. But no, I haven’t been in her bedroom. My grief is still too fresh and I couldn’t hack going in there on my own. Seeing Granny’s stuff. Being overwhelmed by memories.”

  Rowdy leaned forward on his crutches and reached for her hand and, Lord help her, she didn’t pull it away.

  “Happy memories, though, right?” he asked, a catch in his voice.

  “Yes. So many.”

  “Me, too.” He paused and squeezed her hand. “I think this is exactly what she wanted. For us to do this together. For me to be here with you. You can lean on me anytime you need to. You know that, don’t you?”

  Tears burned in the back of her eyes as she nodded fiercely.

  She knew that, which was why leaving would be so hard.

  “Well, maybe not physically lean on me,” he joked, “or we both might tip over.”

  His words brought a soft smile to her lips despite the ache in her heart.

  She leaned down and grabbed the baby bouncer and then gestured down the hall toward Granny’s room. “Do you mind going in first?”

  “Not at all.”

  She took a deep breath and followed hi
m through the door into Granny’s room.

  “Whatever we find in here,” he said, “we’ll deal with together, okay?”

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  Angelica placed the bouncer on the floor next to Granny’s bed and propped Toby in it.

  “Where should we start?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Where would you keep your treasure?”

  “Assuming I had any? In the closet?”

  “Works for me.”

  She had to remind herself to breathe as he set his crutches aside and dug into the closet. They sorted through Granny’s clothing, pushing hangers aside so they could investigate the shelves in the back.

  The whole closet smelled of Granny, the sweet scent of rose petals that Angelica would forever link with her.

  She blinked away tears, but more took their place.

  “I don’t see anything that looks like a treasure chest,” Rowdy said.

  Angelica chuckled through her grief.

  “Again, not necessarily a treasure chest,” she reminded him.

  “I know. But if anyone was going to keep their treasure in a chest, it would be Granny Frances, right?”

  He was right about that.

  But where else should they look?

  Toby made a little mewling sound and Angelica glanced over to make sure he was doing well.

  As usual, his fist was in his mouth and he was sucking loudly, but then she noticed he was clutching an old piece of ribbon.

  “Where did you get that, little man? It probably shouldn’t go into your mouth.”

  She reached out to take the ribbon away from him and realized it was attached to something, a longer ribbon disappearing under the corner of the bed.

  “Rowdy?” she said, following the path of the ribbon until her hand closed around a box the size of a shoebox.

  “Yeah?” he asked, popping his head out of the closet. He had left his hat on the hat rack at the front door as he always did, and his blond curls were ruffled with static cling from the clothes.

  “I think Toby might have found something here.”

  As Rowdy sat on the edge of the bed, she pulled the box out from underneath it.