Page 7 of Destined for the Cowboy

He’d originally planned a weekend visit to the Espada Aqueduct that was also here in San Antonio, the oldest aqueduct in the country, built in 1731 by Franciscan friars to irrigate the land around their mission. But instead he was here. And there it was, hammering at him, the stupidity of letting the feeling that he and Trista Carhart had…bonded somehow last Saturday in Fredericksburg drive him to come here instead. It was one of the more stupid thoughts he’d ever had, and he’d had a few in his thirty-six years.

He felt an odd sort of twitch at the back of his neck. He turned to look, to see the peacocks—such an interesting choice for this of all places—were still checking him out, to see if he’d brought them treats as so many did. As he had, on his last trip. But his mind had been elsewhere this time, and this morning he’d almost forgotten he had to get his visitor’s pass. Fortunately he’d been early enough there wasn’t a long wait, plus he had his old military ID and the staff at the base remembered him, so he was through the vetting process fairly quickly.

So now he’d spend the time waiting for the museum to open at ten here in the Quadrangle, communing with the creatures who had populated the place uninterfered with for well over a century.

Peacocks. Who’d have thought it?

That twitch happened again, and this time when he turned around he knew the first one had had nothing to do with the peacocks.

“Logan?”

She sounded as startled as he felt. “Tris,” he said. “I didn’t…what are you doing here?”

“My usual weekend exploration. Visiting the museum, and this time the cemetery. Because…” Her voice trailed away, as if she were embarrassed.

“Because the man behind the Medal of Honor at Fredericksburg is buried there.”

He wasn’t sure how he knew, why he was so certain, but he was. And the surprise that flashed in her eyes confirmed it.

“Yes,” she admitted. “I’ve been here before, and to the Nimitz many times, but I never thought to look up where he was buried.”

As he looked at her, standing there in a pair of nicely snug jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt the color of her eyes, his mind went suddenly blank. There were words, zillions, and he knew a lot of them, but none of them would float together in a comprehensible sentence for him.

Then a peacock rescued him. He walked up to her, in that stately head-bobbing, one foot in front of the other way they had, and not so politely poked at her hand.

“Oh!” She gave a little jump. “Sorry, let me open this.”

She’d obviously fed some change into the dispensers that put out feed that was safe for the birds. His brain re-engaged as he wondered how much money the military made off that little vending operation. They had to buy the stuff in bulk. But even if they only broke even, it was worth it. This was a wonderful spot for a little peace, and some inter-species interaction.

And with his brain functioning again, something else registered. “No school today?”

She glanced at him, while still holding out her cupped palm full of seeds for the sleek, multi-colored bird with the incredible tail feathers trailing behind him. “My students are on a field trip to Austin. To the capitol.”

A place he avoided completely. But he was curious, so asked, “You didn’t want to go?”

“I didn’t have to, thank goodness. I’ve been there, and this is much nicer.”

He let out a chuckle and smiled at her. He’d smiled more at this woman in the maybe three hours total they’d been together than he’d smiled at anything in years. There was just something about her… Maybe he was just trying to be cheerful around a woman who’d been through hell.

“This is…where I was when your nephew went missing in that storm. I headed back right away when I got the call, but by the time I got back, he was safe.”

He wasn’t sure why he’d felt the need to explain that, but he had.

“Thank you. That’s why I love Last Stand,” she said simply. Then, with a smile of her own she added, “Well, that and the history of it. Like most of Texas. If you hadn’t guessed.”

“I got the feeling,” he said.And you don’t want to know what other feelings I’ve got…

“And,” she went on, thankfully unaware of this unexpected response he was having, “I wanted to visit something else I’ve never seen, the monument over at Lackland.”

He immediately guessed. “The dogs.” She nodded. “Worth the effort,” he said. Again he hesitated, then said, hating how awful he sounded, “I could go over with you. Get you in faster. They know me.”

“At the gate?”

He nodded. “I was…stationed there, for a while.”

“Oh! I knew you’d served, but not much else.”

“Plane mechanic,” he said. “Sorry, no glamorous pilot.”

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