Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch (18 page)

Rosa put a hand
on his shoulder. “Or he might just take up more of your mother’s time and
attention than you’re ready to hand over.”

Robbie gave a
snort. “I’m not a baby. But I think we’re good the way we are. We don’t need
anybody else.”

“Maybe your
mother feels differently.” His great-aunt sighed. “Your mother’s a young woman,
Robbie. You and Susannah and Toby will grow up and find your own lives one day.
Shouldn’t she have someone special of her own to share the rest of her life?”

“She’ll have all
of us, just like you do, and be happy like you are.”

“I’ll tell you
the truth,” Rosa said, tucking her fingers into the bend of his elbow. “I once
loved a boy—many years ago, now. He loved me, too. But he went to war and was
killed there.” She sighed. “I love you and your brother and sister and Lili and
your mother very, very much. But if I could have had a life with him…that would
have been happiness. The kind of happiness I wish for your mother, and for
you.”

She turned back
to watch the steer wrestling, and Robbie saw her dab at her eyes with her
fingers.

Great. She’s
crying.
Trent was
making trouble for all of them. Butting in where he didn’t belong, making Suze
all mushy and hard to talk to. Mom had started off marking the days on her
calendar until he left, but then she’d stopped, as if she didn’t want to know
anymore.

Robbie was still
keeping track. And all he wanted as a gift for
Navidad
this year was to
see the cloud of dust as Daniel Trent disappeared from their lives forever.

Daniel checked
out the portable latrines standing within sight of the arena and strolled down
the main food aisle without finding Toby. Worry started curling in his
gut—these Zapata County folks looked friendly enough, but a kid could easily
vanish in a crowd like this.

On his way to
request the announcer to call Toby over the loudspeaker, he spotted a concrete
block hut that also housed restrooms and detoured to check them out.

The old building
smelled of mildew and urine. The men’s room was L-shaped, with urinals along
one arm, stalls and sinks opposite each other on the other. Two teenagers stood
at the sinks, washing their hands—his first clue that something wasn’t right. Of
the three stalls, two had no door. The third was closed.

Daniel went to
the farthest urinal and turned his back on the teenagers. He heard the shuffle
of boots on concrete.

“Hand it over,”
one of them said, his voice a low growl.

“Throw it out
here, kid.” That accent sounded like New York, not Texas. “Then we’ll let you
go.”

Returning to the
row of stalls, Daniel saw the teenagers crouched near the floor, trying to
reach under the closed door. Whoever was inside kept kicking at their hands and
arms with sharp-toed black boots. Toby’s boots.

Daniel cleared
his throat. “Toby? You okay?”

The teenagers
jerked their heads up.

“I’m okay,” Toby
yelled from behind the stall door. “They want my money and I’m not gonna give
it to them.”

“No, I wouldn’t
expect you to.” The teenagers wanted to run, but Daniel stood in the doorway,
blocking their exit. “Pretty impressive, ganging up on a ten-year-old.”

“He’s a wimp.” The
older one tried to bluster his way out. “He must be, if all he’s got is a gimp
like you to protect him.” He glanced at his friend. “We can handle this one,
Joey. No problem.”

Daniel circled
the tip of his cane out in front of him. “You can try.”

The kids rushed
him like linebackers. He took one out at the knees with his cane and caught the
other in the face with his elbow. Then he stood looking down at them as they
lay moaning on the floor.

“I see why you
two pick on the little guys.” He held out his hand to Toby, who had come out of
the stall. “Let’s go find your mom, buddy. We’ll leave Dumb and Dumber to
recover.”

Outside, though,
he stopped and put his fingers under Toby’s chin. “Are you okay? Did they hurt
you?”

The boy shook
his head. “Nope. They couldn’t get to me in the stall with the door locked.”

“How did they
know you had money?”

Toby looked down
at his feet. “I unzipped my jeans to…you know…pee…and the bill fell out of my
pocket. I picked it up quick, but they started bugging me for the money, so I
ran into the stall and locked the door.”

“That was good
thinking.” Daniel patted him on the back. “Your mom is probably wondering what
happened to both of us. Let’s find her, get some grub and go back to see your
sister win the barrel race.”

They met Willa
in the middle of the food aisle. Daniel saw her first, saw the anxiety in her
eyes and the tension in her shoulders. Then he had the pleasure of seeing all
the stress wiped away by a smile when he called her name. “Willa! I’ve got
him.”

Before Willa
could even begin a lecture, Toby launched into his story. “You shoulda seen it,
Mom. These two creeps were trying to get my money, only I locked myself in the
stall over there in the old bathroom so they couldn’t get to me, and they kept
reaching under the door, but then Daniel came and they rushed at him but he
just knocked ’em down without even breathing hard. It was really awesome, Mom.”

Willa gazed at
her son in silence for a minute. “Well, that was quite an adventure.” Then she
looked at Daniel. “Thank you very much. I don’t know whether Toby will survive
to adulthood without you to keep him safe.”

Daniel would
have liked to say something casual. He was pretty sure a marriage proposal
didn’t qualify. “No problem,” he said finally, still holding her gaze. “I’m
glad I could help.”

“Man, I’m
starved.” Toby tugged at Willa’s arm. “Can we please get something to eat now?”

Willa looked
away from the emotions she saw in Daniel’s serious face. “Sure. Everybody’s
hungry at this point. Let’s take lunch back to the stands.”

Carrying fried
chicken, drinks and chips, they made their way to the arena, where Toby’s
return was celebrated with a cheer from Robbie and applause from the aunts. This
time he sat between his mother and brother, leaving the space on Willa’s other
side free for Daniel.

“Where’s Bev?”
he asked between bites of chicken.

Willa considered
telling him the truth but couldn’t quite find the nerve. “She usually stays
with her riders before the race. Last-minute advice and all that.”

“That’s just as
well. We didn’t buy enough chips.” He held up a bag. “There’s only one left.”

“Somebody will
have to share.”

Daniel looked
over at the boys, who had already finished their bags. “I don’t think it will
be them.”

The two of them
shared the bag of chips, brushing fingers as they reached in together. Daniel’s
thigh settled against her leg, and Willa didn’t move away. Her heart was
tripping in her chest and she couldn’t catch her breath. She hadn’t been this
happy in years.

Once the steer
wrestlers finished up, the clowns did their routine, and then little kids
chased a bunch of squealing piglets through the dirt. When the laughter and the
applause died down, the announcer said, “And now, ladies and gents, one of the
highlights of the Zapata County Rodeo is fixing to get started—the ever-popular
barrel racing event! First up this afternoon is Darcy Layton on Good To Go.”

“She’s
Susannah’s main competition,” Willa told Daniel. “They’ve both been training
with Bev.”

Holding her
breath, she saw Darcy bolt into the arena on her neat bay quarterhorse. Their
performance was flawless and their time phenomenal. “Fourteen point
nine-three-four seconds,” came over the loudspeaker. “A terrific time for Miss
Darcy Layton.”

They sat through
ten riders before Susannah’s run finally arrived. “Next to go, Miss Susannah
Mercado riding Golden Lustre.”

Toby and Rob
surged to their feet. “Yay, Susannah!”

“Rip it, Suze!”

Willa sat
forward, pulse pounding. Susannah’s run around the barrels was a blur, too fast
to follow.

Toby cheered
again. “That was a great one, Mom.”

She nodded. “She
didn’t knock down a barrel, at least.”

“What happens if
you knock down a barrel?” Daniel squeezed her fingers gently, and she realized
they’d never unlinked their hands.

“Um…” Her mind
wouldn’t work for a moment.

“Five-second penalty,”
Toby supplied.

“That’s right.
Five seconds.”

“You’re not
gonna believe this, folks.” The announcer cleared his throat. “It almost never
happens. But Susannah Mercado’s time was fourteen point nine-three-four
seconds. We’ve got a tie going on!”

“Will they have
a tie-breaker?” Daniel asked.

“I guess so.” Willa
shook her head. “I’ve never seen a tie before.”

The tension
increased for the Mercado crowd with each rider.

Fifteen point
one-six-two seconds. Sixteen point four-three-three. Fifteen point zero-zero-three.

Willa blew out a
long breath. “That was close.”

Fifteen point
two-four-five.

Daniel shifted
on the hard aluminum seat. “One more to go.”

“Are you
uncomfortable?” Willa glanced at his right leg, stretched underneath the bench
in front of them. “We could find a place to stand.” She hardly thought about
his injuries anymore—the cane had become practically invisible to her eyes.

He shook his
head. “I’m fine. Here we go.”

The whole
audience seemed to be holding its collective breath during the final ride. Willa
kept her gaze on the clock posted above the announcer’s booth. She knew the
outcome even before horse and rider crossed the finish line.

“That’s an
upset, folks,” the announcer said in an awed voice. “Miss Terri Vance scored a
time of fourteen point nine-three-three seconds. Let’s give her a big hand,
ladies and gentlemen. She’s the winner by exactly one one-thousandth of a
second!”

Susannah smiled
brightly as she received a trophy for her second-place finish in the barrel
race. She gave the crowd a big wave as she rode Lustre out of the arena,
leaving the winner to take a victory lap to enthusiastic applause.

Willa blew out a
long breath. “I should go talk to her. I know she’s upset.”

“I’ll go.” Rob
stood up and edged his way to the steps without waiting for Willa’s permission.
Nobody else on the Mercado bench said a word. The whole family had taken a
blow, though she wasn’t sure why. Susannah had won and lost other races. This
one had just seemed more important for some reason.

“Maybe we should
go home now,” Toby suggested.

She looked at
him in surprise. “But we haven’t seen the bull riding. That’s your favorite
event.”

“I know. But
we’ve been here a long time and I’m tired.” He shrugged. “We could watch a
movie after supper. That would be okay with me.”

She wondered if
he was getting sick and almost put a hand on his forehead to check his
temperature but realized just in time that he’d be embarrassed.

Instead, she
turned to Daniel. “I guess we’re going to take Susannah home. But if you want
to stay, please do. We can fit Rosa and Lili in my truck.”

She wasn’t
really surprised when he shook his head. “That’s okay. I’ve seen it
before—you’re crazy, you sit on top of a crazy animal, you fall off.” He
grinned. “I can wait for the video.”

Willa gave him a
grateful smile and turned to pick up the trash from their meal. “Well, then,
let’s go home.”

When they
reached her truck, they found Lustre loaded in the trailer and ready to go. Susannah
and Robbie stood face-to-face by the truck, and they seemed to be arguing. When
Susannah caught sight of her family, though, she turned away from her twin. “I
was just coming to join you all.”

Willa put an arm
around her daughter’s shoulders. “We decided we weren’t all that interested in
the bull riding. What do you say we go on home, fire up the grill and cook some
burgers, then put on one of our favorite movies and fall asleep on the couch?”

Susannah sagged
against her side. “That sounds good to me.”

With the horse
trailer shut up tight, Lili and Rosa took their usual places in her truck. Toby
turned to Willa. “Can I ride home with Major Trent, Mom?”

“Um…” She
glanced at Daniel. “Would it be a problem to drop him off?”

“Not at all.
I’ll enjoy the company.”

Susannah glanced
at Robbie, who gave her a stern look. “Hey Mom,” she said, “can I ride with
Major Trent, too?”

Willa saw
Robbie’s outraged glare and wondered what was going on between them. “I guess
so, sweetie. We’ll see you at home. Thanks, Daniel.”

He gave her a
wink and a salute. Watching the trio walk toward Daniel’s truck, she saw his
hand resting lightly on Toby’s shoulder while he tilted his head toward
Susannah, listening to something she was saying. The man was terrific dad
material.