Tina Leonard - Triplets' Rodeo Man (16 page)

“Jack Morgan!” the announcer called suddenly, “in second place, and needing a score of ninety-four to win! Ride, Man-O'-War,
Go-o-o-o-o-o
!”

Cricket and Josiah clutched each other's fingers; Pete, Gabe and Dane jumped to their feet. Gisella and Sara clung to each other as the bull threw itself in the air time and again, Jack hanging on with every ounce of his strength. Cricket could feel him straining; understood exactly what he was riding for, could even feel his focus. She'd never felt so close to him, almost reading his soul. In a flash, he went by, punishing leaps from the bull absorbed into his body. Cricket had no breath; she almost thought she saw a vision of three knights riding beside him, part of him, glorying in his quest.

The buzzer buzzed and with one mighty leap, the bull threw off Jack. He landed on the ground and Cricket was so dizzy she thought she saw the three knights help him to his feet. She and Josiah and all the family jumped up, cheering wildly.

“Did you see that, folks?” the announcer shouted with glee. “A bounty ride! A quicker-picker-upper if we ever saw one! Mighty Jack Morgan, folks, with a score of…ninety-five and a half! We have a winner of the Lonely Hearts Station Rodeo! Jumping Jack Flash!”

Someone shoved a microphone in front of Jack's face
as he rose from the ground. “Words from the winner!” the reporter demanded, and Jack took the microphone.

His chest was heaving, his face stuck with bits of sawdust, but he was grinning. “I do have something I want to say. I want to thank my sponsor, Lonely Hearts Station Rodeo, my family, the good Lord and his angels. But more than anything, I want to say to Cricket Jasper, deacon from Fort Wylie and the most amazing woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet—” he dropped onto his good knee “—Cricket Jasper, I love you like crazy, I'm in love with you the way I never thought I'd love anyone. To paraphrase an old movie,
The Music Man,
somewhere along the line I got my foot stuck on my way out the door when I met you. It's been the best thing that ever happened to me. Do me the honor of marrying me and I promise I'll be the husband you deserve.”

The audience went wild, applauding and whistling. Cricket shot to her feet, but Jack didn't know where she was in the audience. She was blocked by cheering spectators.

Suddenly she felt lifted by strong hands, nearly helping her off her feet to the rail. She climbed over to rush across the sawdust-covered arena into Jack's arms. “I love you,” she told him. “Of course I'll marry you. You're the prince I always dreamed of, my rodeo man.”

He kissed her and the audience clapped louder, loving a happy ending and a good show, and Jack looked down at his deacon, then waved his cowboy hat to his family cheering in the stands.

Josiah loved having all his family around. Gisella adored living at the ranch, where it was always active, always filled with love. It was family, the way the Morgans had always dreamed it would be.

Jack turned, smiling at the huge ranch house he'd never thought he'd call home, where he now found sanctuary and peace. He went inside and found his wife in the den, putting the babies down for naps in the bassinets in front of the huge new windows she'd had installed. Streaming sun illuminated the room, which looked very much like a photograph straight out of
Southern Living
. The drapes Cricket had created were full, elegant swaths of rich fabric, framing the windows with perfect grace.

Cricket said she loved living in Union Junction, loved the Morgan ranch. Their lives had changed when Jack won the rodeo, but it had nothing to do with the money and everything to do with Jack's delight with being a father. He and Cricket had married in a lovely
ceremony at the ranch. She'd taken a position as a deacon at a church in Union Junction, thrilled to be doing what she was good at once again. Her parents took over the tea shop, along with Thad, and they were enjoying their new position in the community. They spent a great deal of time running out to see the babies, who seemed to grow by leaps and bounds, and who never lacked loving arms to hold them and adoring hands to guide them. Jack bought Cricket the minivan he'd promised her, but his favorite gift was a three-stone engagement ring, one diamond for each baby she'd blessed him with.

Josiah gave his son the promised million dollars, which Jack decided to put toward his real dream of endowing a community college in Union Junction. Many times he'd pondered what Cricket had told Josiah that day in the hospital, when she'd told his father Jack was a huge believer in education. The thought had turned into a dream for children of Union Junction to have a college where they could expand their educations without leaving the town, if they wished. Pete, Dane and Gabe helped fund the college, and Josiah was chest-pounding proud. As far as building worlds went, he thought Jack had gotten the hang of it very well.

Cricket never did parachute again—she said one of them living dangerously was more than enough—but Jack did. He took Gisella up, with Thad's guidance. The experience was crazy, Gisella and Jack agreed, and it reconstructed a cherished bond that they had both always missed.

Jack admired his wife's handiwork for a few more moments, knowing how pleased his father would be with Cricket's choice of drapes, then gathered his wife into his arms and whispered something to her, soft words not even the babies could have heard.

But Cricket heard every word her husband spoke to her. She smiled at her rodeo man, and kissed him. “It's good to be home,” Cricket said, and Jack nodded.

It had been said before, but there really was no place like home—and Jack's home was with Cricket and his triplets.

The true grail for the Morgans had been family.