“Good talk,” he said and got up, leaving the room. He took the front stairs and stepped outside, inhaling a combination of freshly mowed grass, pine trees and hay.
Leaning over the porch rail, he stared out into the vastness of Hawke Farm. Once upon a time they owned two hundred acres of prime land until their father fell on hard times and sold all but forty to Rusty Sage next door. Damon Hawke had always wanted to buy back the property, had promised his sons that he would, but years had passed and then it was too late.
The sound of cattle mooing caught on the breeze. Horses grazed the field inside the white picket fence. The pounding of hammers hitting nails came from the men fixing the leak in the barn roof. Farm business as usual.
What Creed could use was a long ride to clear his head. He had a some time to spare. Some people took medicine for their ailments, but he rode to keep himself healthy.
Taking the worn path to the stables, there he saddled up Miss Daisy, climbed on, and led her through the south gate. Once they were in the wide-open field, he clicked his tongue to command her into a trot.
The weather was nice, still cool from the sun hiding behind the clouds. He rode along the fence that marked the property line between Hawke Farm and Sage Ranch. Further on he came to the ramshackle barn that was being held up by a couple of rusty nails and a few splinters. Rusty and Creed had talked about tearing down the death trap, should have happened years ago, but every time it came to do the project, Creed felt a knock in his ribs. The barn, or rather what was left of it, had history for him.
This was where he and Mindy had hunkered down during a tornado and he’d made a promise to never let anything happen to her. He knew that day—that very moment—he’d love Mindy Sage for the rest of his life.
He’d also been young and dumb.
She’d left Cooper’s Hawk for college and he’d signed up for the Navy. Many times over the years he’d wanted to contact her, just to say…what? How’s the weather? Do you still like to run barefoot in the rain? Do you remember me?
His chuckle reverberated through the quiet.
He guessed he could have asked Rusty about Mindy at any time, but Creed didn’t need to know the details. Not really. Didn’t want to know. Hell, truth was he didn’t want to hear about how happy she was with another man. That could make him seem bitter, and maybe he was, but scraping open old wounds didn’t sound like much fun.
Scanning his gaze over the mountains in the distance, he loved the beauty of this spot. In fact, he and Mindy had come out here often, climbed trees, built forts, or just played chase. Sometimes he enjoyed catching her just to hug her.
He’d once dreamed of building a house right here in this very spot.
It wasn’t too late.
In his head, those years seemed like ages ago. Yet in his heart they felt like yesterday. Spurred over Mindy leaving and finding solace at the bottom of a beer, one night he ran into Melody Rumor at a party and he fell into her soft, warm embrace. They’d had a few good times and then she’d hinted that she wanted to get hitched. South of his sterling silver belt buckle, the idea didn’t seem so bad. He was leaving for boot camp and having someone back home did have its advantages. She’d known all the right moves, had made him forget Mindy, at least for a minute.
He’d lost his ever-loving mind and asked Mel to marry him, and the plans were locked into place. His brothers had warned him. His mother had warned him. He’d finally come to his senses when he woke up one morning and realized the only thing he and Mel had in common was the way she made him feel between the sheets.
Calling off the wedding, Mel had thrown a hurricane sized hissy fit and left town. He left for boot camp and spent the next few years proving his love for his country.
When he came home, he found that he wasn’t quite ready to settle back down at Cooper’s Hawk. He still had some roaming left in his blood and joined the rodeo circuit. He loved the eight second ride, even did well for himself by saving up some money and lining a shelf with shiny awards, but after a short period he started missing home. He split from the rodeo and headed back to Montana. Mel had been visiting her folks and one thing led to another and they found themselves back at square one.
And then she got pregnant.
Creed had done the right thing and asked her to marry him for the second time. He’d ignored his cold feet and put a ring on her finger.
From the start, he’d known for a relationship to work between him and Mel, they’d have to jump some serious hurdles. She had big dreams of becoming a star and it certainly wasn’t going to happen in Cooper’s Hawk. She wanted to rub elbows and party with socialites and the only party Creed was interested in involved a keg and roasted hot dogs. Mel wanted to travel and although he liked to explore some too, he had responsibilities. And soon they had the responsibility of a daughter.
Mel always said she liked cowboys, but she didn’t like ones that got his hands dirty. She always complained how long he worked, how much he sweated, and the dirt under his nails after a hard day on the land.
Sometimes two people, even if they shared a child together, just couldn’t work
