Page 30 of The Texas Cowboy's Rescue

“Check out below.What animals are those, Brooke?” He asked the question as he gently banked the craft to the right.

“Look, Mama! Those are really buffalo! Just like in the movies.”

“I see. Isn’t it great? Imagine whole herds like that across the land. It must have really been a sight to see,” Kenzie responded. She felt her child’s enthusiasm was becoming contagious.

“I hope nothing happens to them.” Brooke was young, but she had a gentle, “old soul” quality, particularly when it came to living creatures.

Deke nodded. “This is a protected herd. They live on parklands along the canyons. They’re safe and here for everyone to see and enjoy.”

They banked to the left and the colors of the canyon walls came into view. The sunlight brought them into stark beauty. They rose slowly, and before long, the glint of sunlight shone off a river running over rocks, creating white water. And above it, on a higher outcropping of the rim, a low-slung adobe-walled dwelling sat. There was an obvious helicopter landing pad a few hundred yards from the house.

“Welcome to my quiet escape, ladies.” He sat the craft down with expert precision and the engines wound down. He turned to help Brooke unbuckle from her harness.

“This is your house?”

“It is my house, where I go to get my perspective on things in the quiet spaces. Today, I thought you might like to have a picnic lunch here and have some sun in a really great natural swimming spot. Sound like fun?”

“Super! I can practice my diving too.”

“Yes, you can. In fact, it’s graduation time. Let’s go have some fun, ladies.”

Brooke skipped ahead of them up the stone path toward the adobe walls with an iron gate set into them.

“You’re quiet,” he observed, eyeing the woman beside him. What was she thinking? He had hoped to introduce her to a glimpse of his real life. She was silent, her gaze taking in her surroundings. Did it please her? It was a part of his world that he rarely shared with anyone.

“I’m just taking in the beauty of all of this. And trying to associate it with a person I thought I knew a little bit about, but obviously, just as you said once, you also have some layers to you that people don’t often see.”

“True.”

He punched a code into the box next to the gate and it opened.

“How beautiful,” Kenzie remarked, her gaze moving over the bright-colored pots of flowers and flowering shrubs. Red chilis hung in strands and climbing vines of purple and pink and white flowers contrasted with the pale pink of the adobe. One wall was almost entirely ablaze with the bright oranges and reds of trumpet vines. A soft tinkling of water came from a fountain feature set into an alcove, where benches invited someone to sit and relax in the shade. Butterflies were enjoying the potted plants along the stone walkway. It was a magical garden setting, and the pleasure of it shone in the blue eyes as she turned her gaze on him after taking it all in. “It is such a perfect place. And you live here and can bear to leave it?”

“I return here as often as I can. It’s my escape, as I said. Come inside and see the rest.”

The rest was an extension of the outdoors. Terrazzo tile floors alternated into shining wooden ones. Huge carpets of brilliant Native American and Spanish designs were laid out where deep cushioned couches and chairs invited conversations. Pottery in sienna and deep-blue colors mixed with paintings that brought the area’s heritages indoors. Landscapes of cowboys, herds of mustangs, and Native American portraits adorned walls. And all along the back of the main room, floor-to-ceiling glass-paned wooden doors could be opened onto yet another patio, but this one had lower walls and the view drew Kenzie’s steps automatically. Deke opened the door and she stepped through, standing in amazement. The house sat on the rim of a canyon, and across from there was a horizon that was endless.

“I can only imagine what a sunset looks like from here. It feels like you could see all the way to California.”

Deke smiled. “It does feel that way at times. The world is infinite and just beyond the far horizon. I’ll have to make sure you get to enjoy the sunset soon. But right now, I see Miss Brooke is anxious, so I’ll show you where you can change into your suits while I gather the food in the kitchen.”

Down a curving hallway, with doors to the left and right, he opened one and stood back. The room was just as the rest of the house... beautiful. From the large four-poster gleaming wood of the bed with bright quilts to the heavier furnishing of antique-looking chests and mirrors, complete with its own bank of windows and a small patio. A large en suite bathroom was through another set of doors.

“I’ll leave you ladies to it and meet you in the kitchen when you’re ready.”

He headed toward the opposite end of the house, stopping just long enough in the master suite to change into his swim trunks and a pair of jean shorts, and grab a tee shirt in place of his dress shirt. Boots were exchanged for water shoes. He grabbed a couple more items as he passed the hall closet, and then he smiled. He was opening a special place, showing Kenzie a part of himself that he had always guarded. It felt right. And he could only hope she would realize what it meant for him to do so. She needed trust in her life. And that needed to begin with him showing her that he was taking that step. He hoped she could do the same. Failure was not an option for him. Hope was replacing the old fears.

Chapter Fifteen

Deke led theway down a winding path of stepping stones. Kenzie was glad for the wooden hand railing on one side as it was a bit steep in places. Brooke followed behind, still in gleeful anticipation of the adventure they had embarked upon.

“I promise, ladies, this is well worth the climb down,” he threw over his shoulder, the bags in one hand and the picnic hamper in the other.

“It isn’t necessarily the climbing-down part I have in mind... it’s the climbing back up that might be a little bit harder,” Kenzie made the laughing rejoinder. But she had to admit it was also an exciting adventure spirit that had crept into her mind too.

Then another sound besides laughter caught her attention. Rushing water. And it grew louder.

The source was visible as they rounded a rock outcropping and Brooke’s amazed “Wow” said it all. A tall cascade of gushing water poured over a cliff face about sixty feet above them. The path itself was continuing straight under the falling water. It was such that they could still walk on the path and not get too wet, except for a light spray caught on the breeze now and then. The sound was loud once they went under it and then they came out on the other side, and below them was a shelf of rock under about a foot of rushing water... Kenzie guessed it was a limestone bedrock. That flowed into a deeper channel of blue with larger areas of rocks creating white water. And farther down, the rushing eased into flowing and then into a deep pool of sapphire, where a rope swing hung over it, and a flat stone created a natural diving space. It was an oasis one never expected to find.

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