“You look like you’ve done that a few times,” Dani commented after she got in the front seat.
The driver smiled as he answered, “Hell, that was nothin’. You say you want to get to the Onyx?”
‘Yes, please,” said Dani. “I may need you to help me get him to the room, too. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Whatever you need, ma’am,” he grinned.
Dani watched the country club fall into the distance as the cab pulled out of the parking lot, hoping it wouldn’t take long to put Jake to bed and get back to the party. She also hoped Jake wouldn’t remember what happened at the cab stand because he could be plenty mean and physical without any provocation from her when he was on a drunk. There were several occasions in the past when Jake was intoxicated and thought he had a reason to be mean and, at some point, during every fight that followed, Dani feared for her life. She said a silent prayer, hoping tonight would not be one of those nights.
* * *
At six o’clock the next morning, Dani sat alone at a table in the hotel restaurant, waiting to greet her family and guests as they came down for breakfast. She’d done all she could to look her best, but just being here this early was a struggle because she hadn’t gotten any sleep all night. She didn’t look bad, but she felt like she had been in a car wreck. She leaned her head forward and sighed as she began to massage the back of her neck, taking stock of her aches and pains, remembering the dreadful night. At least she didn’t have to go to the hospital, she thought, shuddering as she recalled Jake’s encounter with a girl from Dallas who hadn’t been so lucky.
When she got back to the hotel after the engagement party, she’d walked into a nightmare. Jake had awakened from his drunken state and was furious. He had taken his anger out on her, as usual. After realizing the end was inevitable, she quit fighting. She had learned a long time ago that an angry response would only make things worse. Her neck and scalp hurt from when he’d grabbed her by the hair a couple of times and flung her across the room. Her shoulders ached because he had spent most of the night sitting on her chest, his knees pinning her arms to the floor, slapping her anytime she tried to say something.
Jake screamed at her all night while he blamed her for ending his career and every other bad break he’d had to endure since they got together. Hotel security had banged on their door four times to tell them to keep the noise down. Four times!
The unfortunate people who rented rooms anywhere close to theirs were undoubtedly mad as hell because she was sure they had gotten about as much sleep as she had. Jake’s yelling had made sure of that.
He’d made sure of something else, too, something far more important. As she replayed the previous evening’s events in her mind, a feeling came over her that she had never experienced before. She always assumed a strong sense of relief would wash over her when this day arrived, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. The emotion burning a hole in her heart was one of total despair as she tried to figure out where she’d gone wrong all those years ago.
“Dani O’Brien,” she murmured, “how the hell did you ever get roped and tied into this?”
Chapter 2
“Life Isn’t Always Candy, Cowboy Boots and Horses,
But It Should Be.”
―Anonymous
Tell, Texas
“We better start getting back home,” Dani’s brother Trey said as he flipped the fingers on both of his hands to fling the mud off. He was wiping what was left onto the front of his dirt-covered jeans when he added, “You know Momma’s not going to like it if we show up late again like we did last night.”
Dani stopped rinsing her hands in the creek, then stood and pleaded, “Can’t we stay a little longer? I don’t want to go. It’s not dark yet.”
“It’ll be dark enough by the time we make it back to the house,” said Trey. “Probably won’t be able to see your hands in front of your face. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be stuck out here in the dark with the Devil’s Creek Monster running loose.”
“Me, either,” Dani’s younger sister said as she climbed on her pony. “I’m with you, Trey. Let’s go.”
“There’s no such thing as the Devil’s Creek Monster!” protested Dani. Trying one last time to change their minds, she added, “Is there? And, even if there was, I bet Tiny Tim could outrun him.”
“I don’t know,” Trey told her as he climbed on his Shetland. “Daddy says that monster’s pretty fast.” He turned to Stephanie. “What do you think, Stephanie? You think Dani’s pony can outrun something that was probably sent here from Satan himself?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” replied Stephanie. “We could leave Dani out here, but we wouldn’t be able to check on her until morning. Momma and Daddy will be madder than hornets, but we could find out if that old monster likes to eat five-year-old girls.”
“I’m five-and-a-half!” protested Dani. “I’ll be six in just a couple of…”
Their conversation was cut short as a far-off coyote’s wail reached their ears. “That sounds like it came from Titty Mountain.” Trey pointed to the cone-shaped hill a mile away. “Doesn’t matter how old you are, you shouldn’t forget about them coyotes. Wouldn’t take them long to get over here if they was in a hurry,” he added with a grin,
Although she didn’t want to leave, Dani rushed over to Tiny Tim. She had a little trouble getting him to stop eating a clump of dry grass so she could climb up on his back. Looking at Trey, she added angrily, “I’m gonna tell Momma you said ‘titty’ and, besides, the Devil’s Creek Monster, and those coyotes, might like the taste of eight-year-old boys better.” She then looked at Stephanie and finished her thought, “Or four-year-old girls!”
“I’m four-and-a-half,” Stephanie shot back defiantly.
“Come on, you two!” said Trey. He glanced at both his sisters and pointed at the lowering sun as he added, “Both of you know that when that sun gets that close to Titty Mountain, it doesn’t take long to get dark. So, tell you what, you don’t say nothing to Momma about me saying ‘titty’ and I’ll take you, Stephanie, and Casey over to Deadman’s Bluff when you get back from your trip with Dad to L.A. What do you say?”
“That sounds like fun!” said Stephanie. “We haven’t been over there in a couple of weeks.”
“You promise?” asked Dani, as if she didn’t quite believe him. “Are you sure Casey’ll come?”
“Of course,” said Trey. Casey had been his best friend since kindergarten and spent more time at the Harrison house than he did at home.
“Dani and Casey sitting in a tree…k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” started Stephanie.
“Stop it!” yelled Dani, glaring at her sister.
“Yeah, you’ll be able to see Casey after you get back,” said Trey. “You know he’s here just about every day. But, right now, I bet Torpedo can beat both of you to the house once we can see the lights.”
Another coyote’s wail filled the dimming sky and Dani’s protests vanished as all three were spooked into a frantic hurry to get back home.
“No way! You can’t beat me!” Dani yelled as she grabbed the reins and kicked Tiny Tim in the sides.
“Or me either!” piped up Stephanie as she forced her pony into a gallop. “Bugs will win for sure this time. You watch!”
They headed down the trail that lead to the house. All three wore boots, jeans, shirts with long sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and cowboy hats covered in a hard day’s dust.
Their entire afternoon had been consumed at The Waterfall, which wasn’t really a waterfall, but a slow-moving creek running alongside a rock outcropping rising some thirty feet high. It would have been a spectacular one if there actually was a creek flowing down off the top.
All afternoon they had been conducting serious business while enjoying a rare, summer-like day to start the month of December, just before Old Man Winter arrived to stay for a few long months. They’d looked for horny toads, dug for an occasional crayfish, laid on their backs
trying to make shapes out of the small clouds passing lazily overhead, played hide and seek, tried to find a spot that might turn out to be the perfect place for buried treasure, and jumped in and out of the roles of the three sons of Ben Cartwright from their favorite TV show, Bonanza.
Stephanie was always Adam, Trey was Hoss, and Dani was Little Joe. Every so often, all three would race to the top of a ridge so they could lay on their bellies and catch their breath. There, they could slowly scan the horizon of the Ponderosa Ranch to see if the faint images of mesquite trees wavering in the cool breezes, far off in the distance, were actually bands of desperados or Indians looking to murder someone, steal horses, or stir up trouble in general.
“I had fun today,” shouted Stephanie as she darted out in front.
“Me, too,” Dani yelled back.
“Wait until you get back and we’re out at Deadman’s Bluff,” yelped Trey. “I was thinking we could build a…” His train of thought was cut short as a jack rabbit bolted out in front of his horse. “Get him, Torpedo!” Trey kicked his pony into a faster run and chased his prey thirty yards down the trail before the rabbit abruptly turned left and disappeared into a thicket.
“You’ll never catch one of those.” Dani caught up. “Why do you want to scare them like that anyways?”
Trey pulled Torpedo to a stop, then looked back and answered, “Because they’re fast and it’s fun. I’m not going to hurt him. I just like to watch them run.”
“Me, too,” called Stephanie as she drew Bugs up alongside Torpedo. “Come on, let’s see if we can come up on another rabbit before we get to the house. I want to chase one.”
“Suit yourself,” said Dani as she nudged Tiny Tim past her brother and sister, “but you’ll have to catch me because I’m going to get to the lights first.”
With that, all three dust-covered riders went into full racing mode, making their way down the dirt trail that led back to the house. Dani was usually the first to arrive at the barn, not because Tiny Tim was any faster than the other two ponies, but he didn’t carry as much weight because Dani was the small one of the bunch and she always rode bareback. Even at this early age, she would explain at length to anyone who would listen that she rode bareback because her father told her it would make her a better rider, but her skill at riding a pony without a saddle was the by-product of two simple facts. One, she didn’t like to spend the extra time it took to put the saddle on before taking off on her weekend adventures or taking it off when she got back home. And two, ever since she was old enough to talk, Dani had a burning desire to be different from her siblings at everything they did.
There were a few drawbacks to the whole idea of bareback riding, however. On more than one occasion, Dani spent a few minutes crying, brushing dirt off her clothes, and looking around for her hat after going airborne over Tiny Tim’s head on her way down one of the steep embankments strewn all about the ranch. Over time, there had been plenty of torn clothing, scratches, bumps, and bruises brought on by the spills, but none of the mishaps were ever painful enough to make Dani think she should use a saddle next time out. In fact, they made her even more determined and, after just a few months, she knew her daddy had been correct all along―climbing atop Tiny Tim without a saddle did make her a much better rider. Even though her bareback education brought on many lumps along the way, each mishap taught her a lesson about what not to do next time, and now, even at almost six years old, the mistakes came far and few between, and she could hold her own against anyone on a horse, large or small.
There were two parts of the ride home that were guaranteed to generate a thrill. One was the race to the lights once they got close to the house, and the other was navigating their way up and down the embankments of Prince Canyon, which the three adventurers had just come to the edge of and were overlooking now.
Prince Canyon wasn’t much of a canyon; it was a very steep, bumpy dirt road that went straight down the side of one formidable hill and up the side of another fifty yards away. Even though they had been up and down these slopes countless times, it always took a minute to get their nerve up because the incline was steep enough to give everyone a case of the jitters before they headed down.
As usual, Dani went first. She tightened her legs around Tiny Tim as best she could, grabbed a mane full of hair with her left hand, made sure her hat was on tight with her right, then leaned back on her pony as far as she could before kicking him in the sides and starting down.
The riders never went down three abreast; it was always single file with a good space between them. All three kids knew once they committed to the downward path, there was no stopping. By the time they had made it two-thirds of the way down the sixty-foot drop, Tiny Tim was getting close to a dead run. Dani heard herself squealing with joy as she and the horse arrived safely at the bottom.
As her pony came to a stop, Dani rubbed his head for making such a dangerous endeavor look so easy. “Tiny Tim,” she cooed, “you’re the best horse ever. When I get old enough to leave this place for good, you’re coming with me. You and I will see the world together!”
Tiny Tim let out a long snort, then flicked his tail and raised his head as if to say he already knew he was the best at navigating the remarkably treacherous slope at such breath-taking speed.
Dani rested her steed for a bit as she watched Stephanie, then Trey, descend the far bank of Prince Canyon. Then she turned Tiny Tim and started up the near side. This slope was just as steep, but not as dangerous going up, and it wasn’t long before all three riders were at the top of the hill, letting their horses catch their breath.
“Our horses are still pretty fresh,” Dani said as she rubbed Tiny Tim’s neck. “I bet we can make it back before it gets too dark.”
“I don’t know about that,” answered Trey, “but I think I’m going to turn Torpedo loose here in a minute.” He turned to the west and pointed at the sun that was now settling into the horizon. “Look how far the sun’s gone down. I think we need to hightail it as fast as we can.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” answered Stephanie. “Bugs is ready to handle the run all the way back home.”
“Let’s go then,” shouted Trey, and all three riders bolted down the trail leading to the house. Since the treacherous slopes of Prince Canyon were now successfully behind them, the race to the lights was officially on, and all three were bent on getting there first. Even the ponies knew the moment had arrived to start back to the barn and, by their own nature, never wasted much time getting there this late in the evening.
The horses started out at a good trot, but instinctively picked up the pace the closer they got to their destination. By the time the lights came into view, they were running as fast as they could. Their arrival not only meant they were back in the comfort of their own stalls, but there was always a handful of oats and a treat or two waiting for them. None of the kids shirked their obligation to give their horse an edible prize once they got back home and were confident each of their ponies had all the motivation needed to get them there safely.
Even though there had never been an official vote on who was going to be the leader, Trey always assumed the responsibility because he was the only male. And his prediction was on the nose; the night was getting dark very fast, but the three heroes kept on and on, riding up, down and around the twisting, rutted, dusty dirt road without a word spoken between them.
As the sky grew darker, a cold, steady breeze coming out of the north picked up and the gnarled mesquite trees growing all over the property suddenly appeared as if they were cape-shrouded, hunched-over ghouls reaching out to viciously drag the riders off their steeds as they rode past. The large, yellowish and pale-green patches of tall, dry grass just off either side of the trail abruptly became the perfect place for a desperado, coyote, or mountain lion to jump out and ambush them if they made the mistake of riding by too slow or too close.
Out here on the ranch, even with the sky full of stars, the nights could be pitch black.
If the moon was full, you could see your hand in front of your face but, if not, you couldn’t. Tonight, the moon had not come up yet so, by the time the adventurers first saw the lights surrounding the corral behind the house, they had to completely trust their horses’ vision.
“I think I hear those outlaws that were watching us today. I think they’re chasing us!” screamed Stephanie over the sound of hoof beats.
“I think so, too!” shrieked Dani. Every time they raced for the lights, she gripped Tiny Tim as tightly as she could with her legs, then let go of the reins and held her hands out to her sides as if she was flying. Just as in every other race to the lights she had ridden, Dani dreamed she was in an airplane, screaming down the runway, about to take off to some far-off land she had never seen before.
Earlier in the day, she was thrilled to find out she would be leaving with her father for Los Angeles to watch the National Finals Rodeo. All season he had traveled the rodeo circuit, trying to make a living as a calf roper, and had done well enough to earn fifth place money for the year. All his hard work in the small arena behind their house had paid off and now amounted to an automatic invite for him to rope in the big show. Her father now had an honest chance to win a World Championship gold buckle.
Dani wouldn’t be leaving in a fast airplane, however; they would drive all the way there and back, but that little fact didn’t matter to her. She could crawl up behind the rear seat, into the very back of her father’s 1962 Impala, and lay on her back to stare out through the rear window at the stars in the night sky and pretend she was on her very own plane taking her to distant places. She couldn’t be more excited.
Roped & Tied Page 3
