A Breath of Heaven: El Camino Real (2 page)

Abilene Grace King

 Abby
looked up as she heard the sound of horse hooves beating the ground. As her
brothers and Cade appeared over the crest of the hill, she received a thrill at
the sight. Her heart swelled with pride. If there had been a sound track
playing some rousing guitar and brass number, it would appear she was watching
the scene on the big screen. In her childish imaginings, Abby had always
pretended her brothers were the Cartwrights of the Ponderosa or the Barclays of
The Big Valley, western television shows that she’d seen in reruns. Handsome
and rugged, they were her heroes. Especially Cade.

“Hey,
Squirt.” Jase rode up first and slid off his horse, letting the paint drink at
the spring where Abby had staked her mare.

“Watch
it, Dork. I’m sixteen years old,” Abby grumbled. She didn’t really appreciate
being called childish names, especially when Cade was around. “Who won?” She
asked Jase, second to the oldest, but her eyes were only for the man who
dismounted gracefully and let his reins drop. Cade Tallbull’s horse was trained
to ground-tie, the stallion would stand and wait for his rider to return if a
stampede was headed toward him.

“Justice
won, of course. Who else? His horse runs like the wind.” Jase knelt by the
water and dipped some in his hand to cool his face.  

Her
blood pressure rose as Cade sauntered by. “Abilene King, will you wear my ring?
Is that what the boys all say?” He kidded with her, a smile on his kissable
face.

She
was saved from responding by one of the twins, Trace, who thought he possessed
superb comedic timing. He jumped off his horse, grabbed a handful of mud and
chased her with it. “Abby Grace has mud on her face!”

Well,
she didn’t. Only because she outran him. “If you want to live to see tomorrow
Trace King, you’ll smear that mud on your own ugly mug.” Actually, Trace wasn’t
ugly and she was sorta grateful for his interruption because she didn’t know
how she would’ve responded to Cade’s teasing. The answer she wanted to give to
his questions was – ‘yes, Yes, YES! I’ll wear your ring!’

As
she laughed and dodged her favorite brother, Abby stole glances at Cade. After
going to the movies over the weekend, she’d decided he looked just like Jason
Mamoa of Conan fame – except much better looking, of course.

Cade
Tallbull would belong to her one day. It was written in the stars.

“Everything
ready?” Justice whispered to Abby as he walked up beside her. 

“Yea,
Mom sent me to get all of you.” Abby responded softly to Justice, trying to
turn so Cade couldn’t see her talking. He was standing with Shiloh and Trevor,
letting their horses rest. “Does he suspect we’re giving him a surprise
birthday party?”

“Probably,
we do this every year.” Justice smirked at his little sister. “What
is
going to come as a surprise is that little colt in the barn.”

“Oh,
he’s going to love Little Bit. And when he finds out Whiskey is his sire, he’ll
be thrilled.” Abby hugged herself at the thought. Having a stallion by the
horse his father rode would mean the world to Cade.

Cade
was about to turn nineteen years old, Abby couldn’t believe it! Her mother said
they were all growing up too fast. Of course in Abby’s mind, she couldn’t age
fast enough. Cade was going off to college and she was going to miss him like
crazy. Oh, he’d be back. He promised he would come in often. Cade had decided
to attend Texas A&M University in Bryan/College Station which wasn’t that
far away from the ranch. And when he graduated, her father would make a place
for him at El Camino. There was enough work running the ranch to keep all of
the King boys busy and Sam counted Cade to be one of his sons, had since the
day he’d come to live with them almost six years ago.

“Yea,
this is going to be a special day for Cade. Mom invited everyone she could
think of.”  Justice remarked as he checked his mount’s feet and shoes.  

“That’s
what I’m afraid of,” Abby muttered under her breath. She hated watching older
girls flirt with Cade. The ones he’d gone to high school with were bad enough,
but now he’d meet college women and how could she compete with them?

Abby
let her gaze wander over his way and then at each of her brothers. Their lives
were changing so fast. Justice was almost out of school, working at the ranch
and thinking about taking law enforcement training. Even though his father
wanted him to head the company, Justice was considering the possibility of
being a U. S. Marshal someday. Jase, second oldest, was about to be a sophomore
in college, working on a degree in agriculture. Plans for the expansion of
ranch programs was his goal. Shiloh was in his last year of high school and had
already been recruited to play football for U. T. and the twins were just
starting high school. Sam had laughed and said it was a good thing he had
money, what with six kids to put through college – seven, counting Cade, and he
always counted Cade.

 “Getting
him out of the house while Mom set up everything for the party was tricky.”
Shiloh muttered as he came over to Abby and handed her a key. “Dad said for you
to go in his office and get an envelope from off the top of his desk. It’s from
the Rodeo Association.”

A
niggle of uncertainty crept down Abby’s spine. “The Rodeo Association?”

No
one answered her. A shout from Jase had them all crowding around to check a
football playoff score.

“Why
don’t you head on over, Abby.” Justice directed. “We’ll be on in a bit.” He
gestured at her ever-present jeans and western shirt. “And get dressed up a
little. This is a party.”

Abby
looked down at her clothes. Dang it. This is exactly what she’d planned on
wearing. No wonder Cade never made any type of a move on her. Oh, they had
exchanged some heated glances, but again – that could have been her overactive
imagination too. “Oh, all right,” she mumbled as she went to her horse. “Why
don’t you have to dress up?”

Justice
laughed. “The ladies like a cowboy.” 

“Some
cowboys, maybe.” Abby felt a little putout. Having six males always telling her
what to do and how to do it was a pain. Over the years she’d learned how to mix
it with them, but sometimes they still got the better of her.

“I’ve
seen how you look at Cade, Abby. He’s too old for you, you know.” Justice said
dryly, over his shoulder. “At least if you’re going to crush on him, you ought
to try being more lady-like.”

“I
do not have a crush on Cade!” She stage whispered with a vehemence. Her cheeks
were flaming hot. “What if he heard you, Justice?” Abby fussed, a little too
loudly, as she remounted to head to the ranch office, then to the house to
change into something appropriately girly.

“What
was I not supposed to hear?” Cade asked from across the way. His eyes were on
Abby.

She
shivered with nerves. “Nothing, Cade. Justice is just being a pain in the
butt.” She’d give anything in the world if Cade just wanted to give her one
kiss.

“You
and that damn Native American hearing,” Justice shook his head, laughing. “The
only person I remember who has bat hearing like you is Charlee Parker. She used
to be able to hear a gnat fart from a mile away.”

“You
know, I’ve never understood your relationship with Charlee. She used to be your
shadow when we were kids.” Jase turned serious as he surveyed the rapidly
changing look on Justice’s face. In a matter of seconds it went from amused to
sad to stoic. 

“What’s
so hard to understand? It’s simple. We don’t have any kind of relationship
anymore. We outgrew each other. Charlee moved away. End of story.” Justice kept
his tone flat and impersonal. 

Jase
pressed for more from his brother. “I know, I’m not saying you do. It was just
odd to always have her underfoot and then – Bam! – she moved away. I’ve often
wondered if something happened between the two of you.”

  
Justice looked off into the distance as if he were seeing something the rest of
them couldn’t bring into focus. “She went to college, now she’s in med-school.
I guess she’ll come back to take over her father’s practice someday. Who
knows?”

Jase
smiled, hearing more in his brother’s tone than his words betrayed. There was
something more to all of this than he knew and one day he’d find out the rest
of the story. “If she does come back here to practice medicine maybe you should
go see her about that chronic grouchiness you’ve been experiencing lately.
There could be a pill you could take, Viagra might do the trick.” 

While
the men bantered back and forth, Abby took the opportunity to ride off. At
least the topic had changed from her and Cade to Justice and Charlee. For that
she was grateful. Abby could only pretend sisterly affection or disinterest
around Cade for so long. Apparently, she’d have to be more careful if Justice
had picked up on it. Abby closed her eyes for a brief moment and sighed. When
had she began to look at Cade as someone more than a brother or a friend? Abby
pulled her hat down and groaned. Almost from the beginning, if she were honest.
He was her rock. Let anyone give her an iota of trouble at school and he was in
their face.

From
the time Cade came to live with them, he fit in. They’d rode together, of
course; but they’d also camped, fished, played hide-n-seek, built treehouses
and went on vacations as a family. She could remember movie nights, card games,
and swimming trips. And through it all, Cade made his own place in her life
that no one else could fill. He was a part of her now, a part she couldn’t
imagine doing without. The only problem was – now she wanted more than mere
friendship or family camaraderie. Abby loved Cade with her whole heart, but as
a man – not a brother.  

Everywhere
she looked, there were memories. Here she was, sixteen years old and she had
absolutely no desire to leave her home. Everything she wanted was right here –
the ranch, her family and Cade. El Camino was in their blood. Miles and miles
of rolling hills, flowing streams and stands of oak and cedar. Herds of
Longhorn, Angus, quarter horses and sheep – groves of pecans and peaches,
fields of cotton and acres and acres of hay meadow. Oil. Gas. Blue Rock. All of
the bounty of Texas was found on El Camino. Their land had supported them and
the family vowed to do the same for their home. Their relationship to the ranch
wasn’t so much one of ownership but one of custodian.

When
she rode closer to the front complex, Abby turned for the office. She would
pick up whatever her dad needed before returning to the house and greeting
their guests. If it was up to her, and she thought Cade possibly felt the same
way, the party would only consist of family.

“Hey,
Miss Abby.” Clifton Campbell, their foreman, greeted her with a smile. “We have
a new baby calf in the barn,” he grinned at her mischievously. “I bet he would
appreciate a visit from you.”

“Oh,
I’ll check him out.” She assured him and she would. Abby loved the animals and
named most of them. When they were ill or giving birth, she could be found at
their side. Her dad always said she had a way with creatures. She wasn’t
squeamish and when she was younger she’d had no qualms about kissing on them,
‘getting sugar’ Abby called it. Shiloh always called her ‘lips’ and said there
were wanted posters of her all over the animal kingdom, warning them all to
avoid her if they didn’t want to be smooched and hugged.

Pushing
through the double glass doors, Abby nodded to the receptionist and pointed
toward her dad’s office. “I just have to pick up some mail for my Dad, Lori.”
Sometimes she forgot what a big operation this was. There was almost a hundred
employees on El Camino, twenty in the office alone. They did everything from
keeping up with the registration papers for the purebreds, to buying feed for
the animals, to payroll, equipment maintenance and oil royalties.

Sam
King’s office suited his status – massive desk, western art, leather furniture
and a bottle of fine scotch on the credenza. She stepped around the desk and
scanned the papers until her eye fell on an envelope from the rodeo
association. Picking it up, she couldn’t help herself. Abby looked, pulling out
the letter and reading it, her heart in her throat.

Cade
had qualified for the professional rodeo circuit. “Damn,” she whispered. This wasn’t
easy. To qualify, a cowboy had to compete in rodeos until they won a thousand
dollars in prize money. That didn’t seem like much, but when they signed up for
any rodeo, another cowboy with a PR card could knock them out of the
competition. So, sometimes it was a long time for the young men to get a chance
to compete and even longer to win.

It
hadn’t been that hard for Cade. He was good.

Abby
set down hard in her dad’s big brown leather chair. Running her finger over the
gold studs on the arms, she considered what this would mean. Cade would leave.
He would be on the road for months at a time.

She
would never see him.

Tears
began to run down her cheeks. In her mind and heart, she thought he would stay
on the ranch and finally – FINALLY – notice that she was in love with him.

“Something
wrong, Miss King?”

Abby
looked up at Lori and gave her a tremulous smile. “Growing pains, Lori. Just
growing pains.”