Page 4 of The Texas Cowboy's Rescue

“So now two people are gone. Senseless.”

“No... make that three. Seems she was expecting their first child... two months along. Senseless and tragic.” His gaze went back to the sprinkles, which now seemed a jarring note.

“You deserve some rest. I’ll let you get on your way and I’ll get home to Brooke.”

“Be careful out there. And give an extra hug to my sprinkles buddy. You can’t have too many of those.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

And it stayed in her mind all the way to Jackie’s house, and the hug might have been extra tight and a mite longer, so that Brooke had to wiggle and remind her that it was okay to let go. She smiled, but the image of Deke’s lone figure sitting at that table earlier would remain in the back of her mind for the rest of the evening, no matter how she tried to dislodge it.

It was strange, and even appeared in a dream that night, which woke her in the early morning hours and refused to allow her to sleep again. The man was an enigma, and one she didn’t need lurking in her dreams.

*

Was he crazyto be thinking about putting roots down in Burkitt, Texas? Or was he crazy to want to do it at all? His life had been textbook nomadic for as far back as he could recall. His father had dragged them around to a dozen bases before he bought his grave and stopped moving. That had left him and his mother to continue the moving until she took up with a truck driver that had no need for a teenager. His father had another family in the top half of Texas. But they wouldn’t be too welcoming of someone like him whose mother took away their father. Two years of odd jobs in deep south Texas, and he’d done the unthinkable. He’d enlisted and that was that. He had an aptitude that came in handy and made him valuable. When the time came for reenlistment, where else did he have to go? No family called him. No hometown awaited.

He had received specialized training and found he was quite good at it. He became a medic and then a full-fledged trauma specialist. And he was good at gaining the confidence of those who were enemies. So he flew helicopters and made “friends.” All under orders of the military.

And then he made a mistake. He believed he could become like everyone else. He had met a woman. And he asked her to marry him after he returned from his deployment. She had been thrilled to think of all the exotic places they would be stationed. All seemed to be fine until he told her during a phone call that he had decided to not reenlist, but to have them live in Texas and open a business with his helicopters. It would be a good life, and one where they could easily have a family and a home in one place.

She went quiet for a couple of weeks. He worried something had happened, and then he received the brief letter. Basically, she wanted to see the world, and as the wife of a senior officer, which she fully intended him to become. It was clear he couldn’t provide that any longer. Neither did she plan to settle down in a one-horse town in Texas. And she was seeing someone who could do better... a lawyer in her uncle’s firm. That was that. The perfect family life he thought might be in the cards evaporated. Given his family history, and the fact he evidently was a rotten judge of women, he shoved all such ideas out of his brain. He had been branded with the call sign, Lone Wolf, and he might as well live up to it. He did not look back, and he did not look too far ahead. The present was enough.

“I’m really glad you like this place,” the woman named Jackie was saying. She had just shown him the property he was purchasing to be his home in Burkitt, and then, when he returned to his base of operations, the person he would place in charge of the helo service in this area would have it as part of the hiring package. His focus returned to her. “It needs a lot of work here and there. Some tender loving care inside it... but it was a good place to grow up and it just needs that ‘TLC’ of a family inside it again.”

“Well...” He smiled. “I don’t have that family, other than myself and my dog, but I know what you mean. I’m sure you have good memories of growing up in it. I will do my best to bring it back to what it can be.” And in doing so, bring himself back... or at least as far as he could. But he didn’t add that to the conversation.

They shook hands and the keys rested in his palm. Jackie slid behind the wheel of her car but did not pull away. She stuck her head closer to the open window. “Well, you know where I and my family live, just a mile to the left of you. And Kenzie and her daughter live in the opposite direction about a quarter mile to the west. The old peach orchard lies between you two. The land across from you, and surrounding us all, is part of the Aces High Ranch, so it definitely is a peaceful neighborhood. Welcome!” She gave a final lift of her hand in farewell, drove away, and then quiet settled around him.

A peaceful neighborhood.“That’s what we need, isn’t it, Ranger? No sounds of vehicles, planes... tragedy. Just peace for the soul. And you’re in charge of the perimeter, so don’t think you’ll lounge on that big porch and get soft.” Deke smiled at the dog at his side, his massive head turned at an angle, seeming to take in his every word. And Deke had known him long enough to believe he could do just that. “Yep, just us two old soldiers. Time to see if this Texas dirt will let us put down those roots for a while... we won’t push our luck and look for it to be permanent.”

He and the dog headed toward that porch and the front door to their new temporary home. It was time to open another chapter in their travels.

*

“Why are wesounding an alarm? And so early?” Deke came through the underbrush and stepped into the opening in the rock-rimmed orchard, where a rusted gate hung from one hinge and slowly moved at the whim of the breeze. Ranger had barked at the top of his lungs for several minutes, which had finally caused Deke to abandon his mug of coffee on the porch railing and come in search of the animal.

There were about twenty peach trees in various stages of abandonment within the rock-walled orchard. Standing next to the animal, he finally got him to hush. But he had no clue what had caused the ruckus. “What set you off? A rabbit? Maybe a squirrel?”

There was an odd sound. Had he imagined it? Ranger raised from his seated position, his ears at attention and his gaze raised upward. Deke’s gaze followed and surprise held him as he spied a splash of yellow tee shirt and green shorts perched on one of the sturdier lower branches. It was the last thing he’d expected to see. Then he spied two long black braids and a familiar, impish face with a hand over its mouth, trying to smother another giggle.

“I spy a sprinkle princess aloft in this enchanted orchard. I wonder what brings her to this tree so early on a Saturday morning? Does your mother know you like to view the world from such lofty places?”

“Yes, unfortunately, her mother does know her propensity for such things, and I thought we had established a ‘no fly’ rule once and for all. Sorry, I got here as fast as I could. Luckily, I was having my morning coffee on the porch and heard the alarm sounding, thanks to your watchdog.” Kenzie came to stand not far from the man and his dog, her gaze joining theirs skyward. “Brookelynn Sarafina Calhoun, get down from that tree this instant.”

“Yes, Mama. But I can’t. The branch I used to climb up here broke off when I tried to climb back down. That’s why I was sitting up here so long and then the dog found me and started barking, so I just sat here waiting for help to come.”

“That is a problem,” Deke spoke up. He moved a couple of feet and got a better look at the situation. “Okay, so here is what you’re going to do. I want you to reach up slowly, keeping your seat on the branch. Can you get a good grip on that branch just above your head and a little to the front?”

Brooke slowly raised one arm and then the other. She nodded.

“Good girl. When I count to three, you are going to slide off the branch you are sitting on and keep your grip tight on the other branch. You hang on tight and I will be able to reach up and grab your legs. Then when I say let go, you’ll let go of the branch above you, and I’ve got you. It will be easy. And your mom is right here next to me, so she can catch us both if needed.”

That produced another giggle. Kenzie wasn’t laughing. She moved closer, unsure of just how she’d be of any help if something went wrong with this idea. But she followed his instructions to her, standing toe-to-toe with him, her arms ready to raise upward at his signal.

“Ok, when I say ‘three,’ you will let go of the branch, my hands will have your legs, and you will then reach down and grab my shoulders, and we will ease you to the ground. Got that?”

“Got it.”

---