Jenna's Cowboy Hero

by Brenda Minton

  She looked down, and then away from him. Her cheeks were pink and he knew that she was embarrassed.

  “I haven’t seen the turtle.” He continued to watch her, wondering if she knew how beautiful she was, and if he told her, would she believe him.

  He’d never really believed in the whole heart-in-the-throat condition, but at that moment, he knew that it existed. It was a lump that worked its way up, cutting off his air, making him want to say things that he’d never thought he’d say to anyone.

  “How long are you here for?” She walked with the boys to the longer grass and he followed.

  “I don’t know.” And he didn’t. He had taken a leave of absence from a job he’d barely had a chance to start. Not a good way to start a career. “I have to be in Miami next week. But my dad’s having some medical tests done and I wanted to be here.”

  “That’s good—that you can be here.” She looked away, her face in shadows. She walked a few steps, looking for the turtle. He followed her.

  The boys ran ahead of them, positive the turtle wouldn’t have gone far, because this was his home. As they searched, their dog came running up the road. He joined in the search, sniffing in the weeds, circling trees. The boys urged him on, like he was the greatest tracking dog in the world.

  “Jenna, I’m sorry for what happened. I think we started out trying to be careful for the sake of the boys. Neither of us wanted them to be hurt, to think that there might be something…”

  “Don’t.” She stopped and turned, her face set, not moving, not smiling. “We’re grown-ups. I knew better. I knew not to let myself get involved in something that would only last a month or two. We’re both too old for summer romances. Stop blaming yourself. I’m a grown woman and I made a choice. I let you into my life. I walked into yours.”

  “Yes, you walked into mine.” He walked next to her. “And I crashed into yours.”

  Her mouth twitched and he knew she was fighting a smile.

  “Adam, I should take the boys and go. They’ve been praying for you to come home. This will just confuse them.”

  “Confuse them?”

  “They saw us kiss, and they think that means a man and woman are supposed to get married.”

  “Sometimes it does.”

  Jenna didn’t know what to say. She waited, not sure of what he meant. He smiled, that soft, tender smile with a little bit of naughtiness that made him so charming.

  “Yes, sometimes it does.” She continued walking, away from him, from the power of his presence.

  “Sometimes a kiss means I love you. Sometimes we just don’t know it, not right away.” He kept talking. She wanted him to stop. She wanted to tell him he couldn’t walk in and out of their lives this way, with his charming wit, his cute smile, his way of making her feel like she belonged to someone.

  “We have to find the turtle.” She stepped through some weeds, stumbling a little when the wrong foot hit a rock. A strong hand caught her arm and held her tight.

  “Careful.”

  “I know.” She didn’t mind that he didn’t move his hand. They walked together in silence, not really looking for the turtle. The boys were scouring the area, talking about breakfast and bugs, and how long Adam would be in town.

  “So, how long?” she asked.

  “Maybe awhile.”

  She looked up. He paused, pulling her to a stop next to them. He pointed and she saw the turtle. Maybe their turtle, it was hard to tell.

  “Guys, here it is.” Adam pointed.

  The twins hurried toward them, all smiles—over a turtle. She wondered if she had worn the same silly smile when she’d seen Adam on his front porch.

  Timmy picked up the turtle and turned it over. “We have to see if he’s ours.”

  Black marker on the bottom of the shell proved it was. Timmy held it up for her to look at. He’d be six in a week and reading wasn’t his strongest skill, not yet. “It has more names.”

  “I found him before I left.” Adam turned a little red, and Jenna liked that. She’d never seen him embarrassed before.

  She took the turtle from Timmy. “Adam wrote his name on there with yours.”

  David stood on tiptoes and peeked at the shell. He smiled up at Adam. “Mom’s name is on there, too.”

  “Yeah, I thought all of our names should be on there, because he’s kind of like all of ours.” Adam rested his hand on David’s shoulder. “I really missed you guys.”

  “We missed you, but we knew you’d be back.” David took the turtle. “We’re going to find him some bugs to eat.”

  They were off and running toward the trailer. Jenna turned in that direction, taking it easy over the rough ground. Adam walked next to her, matching his pace to hers.

  “Jenna, I’m not leaving.” He kept walking, but she couldn’t, not with an announcement like that.

  “What about your job? I thought it was your dream?”

  “It’s still my job, but I’m going to work from here, and I only signed for six months. It’ll mean traveling quite a bit.” He took her hand and they kept walking. “Somewhere along the way I realized something about myself. I kept thinking about what my dreams were, and it hit me that this camp is my dream. Funny that something that started out as a thorn in my side has become the thing I dream of doing.”

  “You’re going to run the camp?”

  “And be a fireman.”

  She laughed and, for the first time in weeks, she felt like laughing was okay, like life was okay. “I’m glad. We need more firemen.”

  “I’m also going to do some dating.” His fingers laced through hers. “I realized something else while I was gone—how much I missed you and the boys. I’ve never missed anyone before, not like this.”

  They walked out of the woods into the clearing next to the trailer. The boys were sitting in the grass, talking and feeding the turtle. Jenna looked up and Adam was smiling at them, the way a man smiled at people he loved.

  And then he looked at her, and that look was still in his eyes, for her. He touched her cheek and then brushed his fingers through her hair, smoothing it back and then pulling it free from the bun that had kept it off her neck.

  Her heart froze and then caught up with an extra few beats. He leaned and his lips touched hers, tender, strong, capturing hers in the moment, a moment she wanted to hold on to—forever.

  When he moved away, she could still feel the imprint of that kiss, and his hand on her back. She kept her hands on his arms, afraid her legs weren’t steady, afraid she’d already fallen further than she’d ever fallen before.

  “Jenna, you’re my dream, you and the boys. You’re the best thing that has happened to me. You changed everything. I thought I could go back to Atlanta, carry on with my life and be fine, but I couldn’t. I missed you every single day.”

  “I missed you, too,” she whispered, because the words felt trapped somewhere near her heart. “I wanted God to hear their prayers to bring you back, because they were my prayers, too.”

  “He brought me back. I couldn’t settle in Atlanta, not with the three of you here.” He leaned, kissing her again. “I want all of our dreams to come true.”

  “Okay.”

  “So if I stay this year, we can go steady.” He smiled and kissed her cheek, holding her close, his cheek brushing hers.

  “And get married.” She leaned into him, finally free to fall in love, because he thought she was beautiful the way she was.

  And he loved her boys.

  He was holding her, smiling. “Jenna, did you just propose?”

  She blinked a few times, and laughed. “Yes, I guess I did. I think maybe I’m not supposed to do that.”

  “Then why don’t you let me.” He turned to find the boys. “Timmy, David, come here.”

  The boys scurried over, still holding their turtle. “We fed him a little bug.”

  “That’s great. But could you guys do me a favor?”

  Both boys nodded their heads and Jenna wondered what he woul
d do. He placed the boys in front of her, and then he went down on one knee.

  “You know I’ve had knee surgery, right?” He winked at Timmy and David. “I might not be able to get up, but that’s okay. I think I’m supposed to do this from down here.”

  “Jenna, Timmy and David, I’d really love it if the three of you would marry me.”

  And the boys flew at him, knocking him back and then they were in his arms and Jenna waited, because she knew he would be holding her forever.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading the COWBOY series, and I hope you’ll love Jenna’s Cowboy Hero. If you read A Cowboy’s Heart, you’ll remember Jenna as the sister of bull rider Clint Cameron, and the mom of those two rambunctious boys, Timmy and David. She’s a strong young woman who has had to overcome some difficult situations, and along the way she found faith. The one thing she has a hard time believing is that a man can love her. She no longer feels beautiful and it takes a special man to change all of that for her. It takes a man as strong as she is. I think there is a special lesson in this book: don’t sell God short. Don’t use the word never. We don’t know what is around the corner, and we might find that it is exactly what we thought couldn’t or wouldn’t happen.

  Blessings,

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  Adam Mackenzie feels as if he has been stuck with an unfinished camp, and used by his cousin. People have used him before. How could he change his attitude toward this situation?

  Jenna Cameron made a five-year plan for her life. She left out relationships. Why do you think she did that?

  Jenna is a single mom, and the twins are her first priority. What is the balance between being a mom and being a single woman?

  Adam is determined to get the camp running, then leave. It isn’t that he’s a bad person, but he feels he isn’t qualified to run a camp, and he hadn’t planned on running it. How would you react if something like that was dumped in your lap?

  As Adam’s attitude toward the camp changes, how do you think he’s changing?

  Adam has a strained relationship with his family because of the very career that has supported him. What caused those strained relationships, especially with his father?

  Jenna doesn’t feel beautiful, but she’s trying hard to feel good about herself. How do you think the amputation has changed her life?

  Jenna is a new Christian. She grew up fighting God. Why?

  Adam was raised in church but hasn’t gone for years. Why do people like Adam walk away from church? Does it necessarily mean they’ve walked away from what they believe, or have they just let other things get in the way?

  Is there a big moment that brings Adam back to his faith, or small moments that draw him back? How is that like our lives?

  Jenna made a decision that she wouldn’t fall in love, in order to protect the boys from having another man walk out on them. Can we really make those decisions to control what we feel or the things that happen in our lives?

  How does faith play into the decisions that Jenna made, and the decisions we make for ourselves, especially if we believe that God has a plan and purpose for our lives?

  Adam realizes that football is what he’s always done, and that he never really thought about the dreams he had for his life. How connected are our dreams for our own futures and the plans that God has for us?

  Adam reaches a point where he knows that being in Atlanta is a mistake and that his dreams are in Oklahoma with Jenna and the boys. How has he changed from who he was in the beginning of the book?

  Jenna doesn’t expect Adam to come back to Dawson, but a small part of her hopes he does. Did you think Adam would return? Why or why not?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-4518-5

  JENNA’S COWBOY HERO

  Copyright © 2009 by Brenda Minton

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

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