by Tina Leonard
“Grandma’s still on the phone.” Patting the empty spot next to her, Daisy asked, “Do your boots feel okay? Nothing ruins a rodeo faster than tight or rubbing boots.”
“They’re good,” he said, demonstrating by wiggling his feet in front of him. “Wonder what my old friends would think?”
“’Bout what?” She smoothed the cowlick in his dark hair. For a moment, she felt as if her breath had been knocked out of her. How had she never before noticed the way Kolt’s hair stuck out at the same crazy angles as his father’s?
“My cowboy boots and hat and jeans. No one wears stuff like this at home.”
“This is your home now, and I promise, if you showed up at the summer rodeo wearing expensive high-tops, shorts and a T-shirt, you’d look like an alien from another planet.” She tickled his stomach. His laugh never failed to brighten her spirits.
“Sorry about that,” Georgina said, slipping on a silver-and-turquoise bracelet on her way into the living room. “Unavoidable damage control with loose-lipped Frieda Hilliard.”
“What’s that mean?” Kolt asked.
“None of your nosy beeswax.” Kolt’s grandmother clamped her hands over his ears while kissing the top of his head. Daisy guessed her mother had been handling more fallout in regard to her. “Did your brother and Josie already leave?”
Daisy nodded. “The girls were bouncing off the walls.”
“They are a handful,” her mother noted.
“More like crazy,” Kolt said, on his feet and practicing quick draws with his plastic revolver. In San Francisco, he’d been all about video games and not much else. Daisy loved how he’d once again started using his imagination since coming to the ranch. “Bonnie tried piercing my ears. Her mom caught her just before I died from that psycho girl stabbing me to death with a safety pin.”
“That’s awful.” His grandmother pulled him into a hug.
“I know,” Kolt said, aiming for the stuffed moose head mounted above the fireplace. “That’s why I wanted to ride with you and Mom and Aunt Wren and Robin. That baby bites, but usually I’m fast enough to get away.”
“Excellent decision.” Daisy grabbed her purse and keys. She’d dressed in a long, full skirt made of lightweight crinkled brown cotton. Her white cotton tank top was ultra-feminine with lacing at the neckline. She wore it over the skirt, topped with a concho belt hanging low at her hips. Her alligator boots were the ones her father had bought her for middle-school graduation. In deference to the inevitable heat, she’d braided her long hair, securing it at the tips with beaded ponytail holders she’d borrowed from the twins. “Cash put Robin’s carrier in my car before he left this morning, so as soon as we grab her and Wren, we’re good to go.”
They drove the short distance to Cash and Wren’s house.
“Thanks for the ride,” Wren said once they’d reached the main road. “After finally getting a Sunday off, the last thing I felt like doing was driving—even if it is only a short way.”
“I understand,” Daisy said, adjusting the air conditioning to make it cooler.
“Trying to freeze us out?” her mother complained.
“Sorry.” Fanning her face, Daisy said, “It’s been a while since I’ve been in this kind of heat.”
From the backseat Kolt asked, “I like the hot weather. Why haven’t you brought me here, like, ever, Mom?”
Judging by Georgina’s pressed thin lips and Wren’s sudden fascination with the buttons on Robin’s overalls, Daisy wasn’t the only one feeling awkward about the question. Trouble was, as much thought as she’d given the subject, she still didn’t have a reasonable, justifiable answer. She couldn’t tell her ten-year-old that essentially Mommy had been afraid that if he’d been a girl, the bogeyman might return. Then, by the time she’d discovered she was having a boy, she’d been too ashamed of what she’d let Henry do to return.
“Mom?” Kolt prodded.
Swallowing the knot at the back of her throat and ignoring her mother’s silent tears, Daisy said, “For the longest time, I lost the way home, but now that I found it again, we’ll be here a nice long while, okay?”
He nodded. “Will there be food at the rodeo? I’m hungry.”
“Do you like funnel cake?” Georgina asked with forced cheer.
“I dunno,” Kolt said. “Never had it.”
That inconceivable fact earned Daisy another glare. The fried, powdered-sugared treat was a rodeo staple.
“Well,” her mother said with an extra serving of guilt, “that means we’ll have to get you lots of them to make up for all the ones you’ve missed.”
EXHAUSTED FROM THE LONG DRIVE, Luke knew better than to get back out on the road for a rodeo. But it was Weed Gulch’s annual fundraiser for “Town Beautification,” and since his mother was this year’s Beautification Chairwoman, she’d have his hide if he didn’t at least show up long enough to hand over his money.
Plus, he wanted to be there for his son’s first rodeo.
On the downside, the Buckhorn family was always in attendance. Luke hadn’t seen Daisy since that kiss. A good thing, since he’d lied like a dog about his not having a reaction. Every time he thought about it, he grew rock hard and grouchy. He hated her for what she’d done. It was high time his body got the message.
This would be the first year since before Duke Buckhorn had died that all four of his children were in attendance with their mother—at least Luke assumed all of them would be there. Aside from Christmas, this event was the pinnacle of the Weed Gulch social season.
Upon reaching the rodeo grounds, Luke parked in what felt like the next county and then zigzagged through screaming kids, rodeo queens and horses. He was just thinking he’d be better off back at his cabin when he caught sight of Daisy, all dolled up in her prettiest country wear.
Kolt stood alongside her, looking as if he’d spent his whole life doing just this thing. Decked out in head-to-toe cowboy, he was handsome as could be. Throat knotted with pride, Luke couldn’t wait to show off his son.
As for Kolt’s mother, Lord, but she was a beauty. Long legs and an easy smile.
She stood in front of the funnel-cake wagon, waiting her turn in line with Dallas’s evil twins, Wren and her baby.
Luke strode up to the group.
“Bonnie,” he said, tugging the girl’s crooked pigtails, “you buying me a funnel cake?”
“Nooo,” she said with a look as offended as if he’d asked her to give him her pony. “I don’t have any money. Aunt Daisy’s buying mine and Betsy’s.”
“Then maybe she’ll pay for me?” he said with a wink in Daisy’s direction.
Bonnie shrugged.
“How was your week?” he asked Kolt after obligatory greetings to Wren and Bonnie. Was it wrong that part of him damn near feared talking to Daisy? She made him hot and bothered and took his mind from the most important thing on the day’s agenda—sharing quality time with Kolt.
Not Kolt’s sexy-as-hell mom.
“Thought you couldn’t come,” Daisy said, hating the way her pulse raced at the mere sight of Luke. She felt the way she had back in high school. Save for the ten years she’d been gone, they’d attended this event together literally every year of their lives.
“Hey,” Wren said, waving Robin’s chubby hand at Luke.
Luke playfully snatched the baby’s hand, pretending to chew.
Robin shrieked with laughter.
Watching him interact with the infant hurt Daisy to her core. Worse yet was the look on her son’s face as he saw his father interact more easily with a child who wasn’t even his.
“You’re looking mighty spiffy,” Luke finally said to their son. “I like those cowboy duds.”
“Thanks,” Kolt said almost pensively. “I didn’t know if other kids wore this stuff, but since they do, I like it.”
“What events have you seen so far?” Luke asked as they stepped up in line.
“Barrel racing. It’s pretty cool. But I’m mostly excited for bull ridi
ng. That’s what my uncle Cash does.”
As a professional bull rider, Cash was ineligible to compete, so he typically hung around back, helping with the chutes.
Wren shook her head. “To my eternal dismay. As if it’s not bad enough I have to worry about him smashing his head in wrestling with a bull, he’s got so many groupies he could form his own girls’ school.”
Laughing, Luke said, “And knowing the size of your husband’s ego, he loves every minute of it.”
Kolt said, “Uncle Cash told me he loves Aunt Wren best, ’cause she kisses like—”
“Whoa there, bud.” Cash sauntered up to them, blasting them with his thousand-watt smile. “Don’t be spilling all my secrets. You can’t let the ladies know how much you like ’em, otherwise that gives ’em leverage to break your heart.”
“Oh, stop,” Wren said, pummeling her husband with her free hand.
Daisy glanced Luke’s way and their gazes locked. For a heady second, hot summer sun melting the sense from her head, everything was back the way it had once been. She was with Luke. Then she remembered he could hardly stand the sight of her. He’d only kissed her to prove all that had once simmered between them was now dead. Only, for her, it should be, but sadly, wasn’t.
Moving up in line, Daisy was relieved to have finally placed their funnel-cake order. Maybe once they’d eaten, Luke would trail off to find his family, and stop distracting her.
“What do you think?” Daisy asked Kolt after he’d taken his first bite of the funnel cake.
All smiles, with his nose and chin white, he said, “This is amazing!”
“Told you so,” Betsy sassed. “You’re dumb for never eating this stuff.”
“Yeah, well, you’re dumb and ugly for being a girl.”
“Hey!” Daisy warned. “Knock it off.”
“It’s okay,” Bonnie said. “’Cause he’s dumb and ugly for being a boy.”
While nodding in agreement, Betsy stuck out her white, sugar-coated tongue.
While the rest of the party laughed over the kid antics, for Daisy, the moment had lost its sparkle. Standing not ten feet from her was Henry. Sneaking up behind the girls, he made a mock pounce for them, then tugged their matching ponytails.
“All of you ladies are looking as pretty as the flowers in Georgina’s garden.” Henry rested his hands on the twins’ backs, smiling a clear challenge in Daisy’s direction.
Nausea struck clear and hard—stunning in its unexpected blow. She was no longer a strong, confident woman, but a little girl being fondled by a dirty old man.
Lurching to action, Daisy snagged the twins by their arms with enough force to jostle their plates to the packed-dirt ground.
“Get away from him!” Daisy shouted on instinct.
Betsy started to cry.
Bonnie snapped, “Are you crazy? Betsy loves funnel cake!”
“I’m sure it was an accident, right, Daisy?” Henry had his filthy hands back on the twins, chuckling as if they were all one, big happy family. “Funny thing about accidents…” With the twins firmly against him, he clamped his hand over Kolt’s head. “Never can tell when or where they might strike.”
Daisy wanted to hit out in rage, but couldn’t. Henry’s smile, his voice, paralyzed her with fear. Please don’t touch me.
“You all right?” Wren asked Daisy. “You’ve turned white as a sheet.”
“Kolt, girls,” Daisy said, “it’s time to go home.”
“What?” Kolt complained. “We just got here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Bonnie declared. “You’re crazy. Come on, Henry.” The girl took the man’s hand. “Let’s go ride the merry-go-round.”
“No!” Daisy managed to choke out.
“Mom, stop!” Kolt said when she tugged him to her, hugging him for all she was worth. “I hate you! You’re being weird!”
He wriggled free to run off toward the bull chutes.
“I—I have to go after him,” she said on autopilot, determined to save her son.
“Let him go,” Luke urged. “Cash is there. He’ll watch over him. Right now, I’m concerned about you.”
“As am I,” Henry said, rubbing his leathery hand along her bare forearm. “Poor girl. What you need is a nice big hug.”
It was too much. The heat. The children being in danger. Henry’s awful touch. Daisy’s knees buckled as her world faded to black.
Chapter Seven
“I hate her!” Kolt said to a big, black bull with snot running out of his nose. “My mom’s ugly and mean and—”
“You’d better watch talking about Mack like that, he’s liable to bite your nose.”
“Bulls don’t bite, Uncle Cash.” Kolt looked over to find his uncle looking way cool in his cowboy boots and hat and a huge, shiny belt buckle.
“But your mom does?”
Nose scrunched, Kolt asked, “What?”
His uncle whispered, “She always has been weird. I can’t count how many times she’s bitten me.”
Cracking a smile, Kolt gave his uncle a hug.
“What’s that for?”
“I wish you were my dad.” Kolt didn’t want to cry, but he couldn’t help it. The crying just came out.
“Hey, whoa,” his uncle soothed, rubbing his back. “There’s no crying at rodeos.”
“I—I’m sorry,” Kolt said.
“I’m teasing. You cry all you want.” Scooting over to a bench, Cash hefted Kolt onto his lap. Kolt didn’t want to look like a baby, but it sure felt good being loved. Especially now that he didn’t have a mom or dad who weren’t crazy. “So all joking aside, what happened?”
“Just stuff,” Kolt said, thinking back to how nuts his mom had acted and then how his dad hadn’t even done anything to stop her. Henry was awesome. Why would she act like that? “I hate both of my parents.”
“Since you won’t tell me what happened, all I can say for sure is that your mom and dad love you.”
Shaking his head, Kolt said, “I know for a fact she doesn’t, otherwise every time something fun happens she wouldn’t ruin it. I can’t even talk to my dad without her flipping out about something. And just now, I was gonna go with Henry and the twins and she freaked out again.”
“Hmm.” Uncle Cash seemed to think about that. “Maybe she’s just having a bad day.”
“Yeah, but she has one every day, and that means I never get to see my dad.” One of those real fancy rodeo queens passed. Kolt wriggled off Cash’s lap to sit beside him. “Do you know him? I mean, like are you friends?”
“Me and Luke?” Cash asked.
Kolt nodded.
“He’s a great guy. I’ve been friends with him my whole life and trust me, if your mom hadn’t kept you a secret, he’d have been the best dad any kid ever had—except for me.” Uncle Cash winked.
With no girls in sight, Kolt snuggled closer. “Really, I’m just gonna live with you and Wren and Robin now, okay?”
“Much as I’d love having another stud as handsome as myself in the house, that’s not going to work. Your mother would have my hide.” Cash swatted at a fly. “Not only that, but mark my words, you’re going to end up thinking Luke’s pretty amazing.”
“I don’t think so,” Kolt said with a firm shake of his head.
“Can you do me a favor and try liking him? Luke’s my friend, and I’d hate to have you not like him just because he’s not as handsome as me.”
Laughing, Kolt said, “You’re as crazy as my mom!”
“But darned good-looking, right?”
“WHERE ARE THE KIDS?” Daisy asked, abruptly waking in the shade of an oak, cradled in Luke’s capable arms. “Kolt? The twins? They’re not with Henry?”
“Whoa,” Wren said, checking her pulse. “Let’s not have a repeat of whatever just sent you crashing. The twins are with Dallas and Josie, and Kolt’s with Cash. Now, drink some water for me and tell me what that spell was about. Has this happened before?”
“Never. I’m fine. But I n
eed to find my son.” Daisy sat up, only to have her head swim.
“What’s going on with you?” Luke asked. “Why this sudden concern for the kids? This is Weed Gulch. Aside from a few over-eager mini-van moms speeding in a school zone, there’s not a lot of crime in this neck of the woods.”
If he only knew just what caliber of criminal Henry truly was. A tremble began deep inside, manifesting in her shivering on a dangerously warm day.
“I’m thinking it’s time to call an ambulance,” Wren said to Luke. Robin cooed on a blanket alongside her.
“No,” Daisy snapped. “I’m fine.” She shook her head. “Just shaken. Henry—he’s not who you think he is.”
“What are you talking about?” Wren asked, sitting back on her heels. “Henry’s a loveable lug. He’s offered to babysit for us a couple of times when we needed someone in a pinch.”
Hands cradling her throbbing forehead, Daisy said, “H-Henry’s not who you think he is. H-he molested me. O-over and over. E-everyone thinks he’s this wonderful man, but he’s a monster. I haven’t had the courage to tell everyone, but seeing him around the kids… Before he left, he made threats and then just now, when I saw him touching the twins, I—I knew no matter what, the truth had to be told.”
“Oh, Daisy…” Wren looked to Robin, placing a protective hand on her tummy.
Daisy felt Luke tense beneath her. Every inch of him hardening as if bracing for a fight. “It all makes sense. You were a walking statistic. The partying. Taking stupid risks. Running away from everyone you loved when you should’ve run toward us.” On his feet, he slammed his right fist into his left palm.
“We have to tell someone,” Wren said, expression dazed. “The authorities have to be called.”
“D-don’t waste your breath.” Daisy informed them of the laws that made going after Henry difficult. For a woman as private as Daisy, the stares of passersby should’ve mortified her, instead, the release of such a long-held secret was liberating.
While racking sobs escaped her, Luke knelt beside her, holding her close. “Let it out… That’s it. No one’s ever going to hurt you again.”
