Cowboy Defender
“Well, that’s going to make having any kind of a relationship with her fairly difficult,” Mac replied.
“The good news is Henry asked me to do some baseball training with him, so I’ll be seeing her several times a week when I work with him,” Clay replied.
“Too bad that kid’s father is such a horse’s ass,” Jerrod said. A deep frown appeared between his dark brows. “Henry and his sister have participated in some of the activities at the community center. They are both great kids. They deserve better than Hank.”
“Then all I have to do is convince Miranda I’m not just another horse’s ass,” Clay replied. “I’ll have to pull out all my famous charm.”
“I know you’re good with the ladies, Clay, but I have a feeling you can pull out all the charm you possess, but that’s one lady you don’t have a chance with,” Mac said.
It wasn’t until later when Clay was in his twin bed in his room that he replayed the conversation in his head. It was true that Clay had dated a lot of women, especially over the past year. But how did a man find the right woman if he didn’t go actively looking for her?
All he could hope for was that Mac was wrong, because Clay really wanted Miranda to give him a chance.
* * *
Two hours ago Miranda had left The Cupcake Palace with Clay Madison. As usual, Miranda had looked perfectly put together in her black slacks and bright-blue blouse. Her shoulder-length blond hair had shone in the waning sunlight and she looked as pretty as she had in high school when she’d been the runner-up for homecoming queen.
She had to die, or at least be badly maimed.
She had to either leave this earth and be gone forever, or be crippled and ugly for the world to be right again. There was an enormous sense of satisfaction in finally deciding what had to be done.
Now it was just a matter of time and opportunity. The beautiful Miranda Silver didn’t know it, but she now had an expiration date stamped on her forehead.
Chapter 2
Miranda woke up on Saturday morning feeling a little bit guilty about the way she had acted the night before. There was no question that she’d been rude to Clay and that wasn’t really who she was.
However, there was something about Clay Madison that set her on edge. Maybe it was because she was far too aware of him whenever they were in the same space.
Okay, she could admit that she’d always been secretly physically attracted to him. But she also believed he was a fairly vacuous man, sliding through his life and women on his good looks and easy charm.
Besides, she wasn’t interested in having a man in her life. Being married to Hank had soured her on the whole notion. She had given up her dignity and self-respect in staying with Hank as long as she had. Now she just wanted to be the best teacher she could be and raise her children to be happy, healthy and good people. She didn’t need a man to accomplish those goals.
At ten o’clock the kids were in the living room with their overnight bags packed. “Do you both have your toothbrushes?” she asked.
They replied that they did. “And clean socks and underwear,” Henry added and then giggled. “I knew that was going to be the next question ’cause you always ask the same thing before we leave on Saturday mornings.”
“And then you tell us that you love us and we should be good for Dad and Ms. Lori,” Jenny said.
“Great, then I don’t have to say any of that same old stuff today,” Miranda replied with a laugh.
A knock sounded at the door. Miranda answered to see her ex-husband, the boy she had fallen in love with when she’d been sixteen years old and had fallen out of love with after years of an unhappy marriage.
“Hey, Miranda,” he said with the crooked smile that had once made her heart beat faster and now only made her sad. His eyes were bleary and red-rimmed, but at least there was no smell of alcohol on him.
“Good morning, Hank,” she replied. She opened the screen door but didn’t invite him inside. Beyond him she saw Lori in the driver’s seat of Hank’s king cab pickup and waved to her.
By that time the kids were at the door. A flurry of kisses were given and then Miranda watched as they all got into the truck and Lori pulled away.
Miranda closed the door and headed for the kitchen. On most Saturdays when the kids were with Hank and Lori, Miranda cleaned the house and then graded papers. Before she could get started on anything, the phone rang.
“Hi, Mom,” she said when she answered.
“Hello, my lovely daughter,” her mother replied.
Miranda smiled. She could imagine her mother sitting in her favorite blue-flowered chair, her silver hair perfectly coiffed and impeccable makeup highlighting her high cheekbones and bright blue eyes.
No one ever saw Katherine Albright when she wasn’t completely pulled together. It had been that way when Miranda was growing up and even while her mother had been taking care of Miranda’s father, who had been sick with prostate cancer for months. He had finally succumbed to the disease and was now buried in the Bitterroot Cemetery. As far as Miranda was concerned, her mother was the strongest women she’d ever known.
“I heard a little rumor this morning when I was getting my nails done,” Katherine said.
Miranda groaned inwardly. “And what rumor is that?” she asked, even though she knew. God bless Bitterroot, Oklahoma, and its healthy gossip mill.
“I heard that you and the children had cupcakes and ice cream with that handsome cowboy Clay Madison.”
“The rumor is true, but it was just a chance meeting. It didn’t mean anything and it was certainly no big deal,” Miranda replied.
“Well, that’s too bad. You could do a lot worse than Clay. Not only is he easy on the eyes, but from what I hear he’s a hard worker. Besides, he’s just so darned nice whenever I run into him in town.”
Good Lord, the man had apparently charmed her own mother as well as most of the other females in town. “Actually, Henry asked him to help him get better at baseball and Clay agreed to help out.”
“If Hank were any kind of a father at all he’d be the one teaching that poor little boy how to play ball,” Katherine replied and then went into a ten-minute diatribe against the man who had once been her son-in-law.
She harangued him for cheating on Miranda, for not being a good provider for his family and for not being a real and present father in his children’s lives. She then went on to talk about Hank’s drinking problem.
“Are you finished?” Miranda asked dryly when her mother finally stopped to take a breath.
“For now,” Katherine said with a small laugh. “I just don’t understand why a man with so much potential would waste his life.”
“The good news is he isn’t wasting any more of mine,” Miranda replied.
“Thank goodness, and now to the real reason I called...are you planning on taking the children to the spring fling celebration this weekend?”
“I might take them for a little while on Friday evening.” Miranda had put away a bit of fun money for the night where there would be people with booths and tents selling their wares, but more importantly for the kids, there would be carnival rides. “Why? Would you like to come with us? You know we’d love that.”
“Actually, I’m going to help out at Halena and Mary’s tent. You know they always get a lot of traffic, and Halena asked me to work with them and help them out.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Miranda asked. Katherine suffered from rheumatoid arthritis that often flared up and severely limited her mobility. There were days she was in so much pain she was unable to get out of bed.
“You can’t stop living because of a little pain,” Katherine replied. “I’ll be at their tent.”
“Then we’ll stop by to say hi to you,” Miranda replied. Halena Redwing and her granddaughter, Mary Nakni, always had beautiful paintings done by Mary as well as Choctaw-related items for sale. Halena was one of the town’s more colorful characters and it was always fun to see what she was up to.
“You know I always love to show off my grandbabies,” Katherine replied.
“And you know how much they love you,” Miranda replied.
The two women visited for the next fifteen minutes or so and then hung up. Her mother always made light of the chronic pain that she suffered, but Miranda worried about her. Katherine had tried several medications to help her, but they had all made her violently ill, so the only thing she took now was an occasional pain pill to get her through the particularly bad days.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Miranda cleaned and worked on the pile of laundry that seemed never-ending with two active kids, and then all too quickly it was bedtime.
Sunday mornings she always went to church and hated the fact that her children weren’t there with her. Lori had told her she was trying to get Hank to take them all to church on Sunday mornings, but so far it hadn’t happened.
It was six o’clock that evening when Hank and the kids appeared back on her doorstep. As Henry and Jenny ran into the house, Miranda stepped out onto the porch with Hank.
“I hope they were good for you and Lori,” she said.
“They’re always good for us, but what’s this I hear about Clay Madison coming over here to teach my boy baseball?”
“Henry asked him and he agreed. As I recall, Henry has asked you to help him several times and you always tell him you don’t know anything about baseball.”
Hank had the grace to look a bit sheepish. “Still, I’m not sure I want that particular cowboy hanging around here. You’d better watch out for him, Miranda. He’s been known to turn a woman’s head. From what I hear he’s a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy.”
“Trust me, my head isn’t in any danger of turning in any man’s direction,” she replied firmly. The last thing she wanted was to give her heart away to another man who might or might not take good care of it. She was just not willing to play the odds, especially with a man who had a reputation like Clay Madison’s.
Hank pulled out his wallet and opened it. “The kids told me you bought them some new summer clothes.” He handed her a twenty-dollar bill. “I know it isn’t much, but this will help a little. You know as soon as I get some full-time work I’ll make things easier on you.”
“I know, Hank.” If good intentions were cash, then Hank would be a wealthy man, but she’d stopped expecting much of anything from him. Still, the twenty dollars would help toward the carnival-ride expenses. “I’m planning on taking the kids to the carnival on Friday night.”
“That’s good. They’ll have a great time,” he replied. “They were both already talking about what rides they wanted to ride and all the carnival junk food they wanted to eat.”
“They can ride whatever they want, but limits will be set on the junk food consumption,” she replied with a laugh.
He smiled at her. “You’re a good mother, Miranda. We might see you there on Friday night, but if I don’t see you then, I’ll see you next Saturday to pick up the kids.”
“They’ll be ready,” she replied.
Goodbyes were said and Hank returned to the truck.
The rest of the evening passed quickly with baths and bedtime for the kids. It was only when she was in her own bed that she realized within the next fourteen or fifteen hours Clay Madison might or might not show up at her house. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
At three-thirty on Monday afternoon Clay showered and put on clean jeans and a long-sleeved navy polo shirt. A thrum of excitement rode with him as he got into his truck and headed toward Miranda’s house.
On the passenger seat were two new ball gloves, a couple of baseballs and a good wooden bat he’d bought on Saturday. He didn’t know if Henry owned a decent glove or not, but he would after today.
He was definitely looking forward to working with Henry. He’d forgotten how much he’d once loved baseball until he’d tried on a glove in the store.
Immediately he’d remembered the crack of a bat hitting the ball, the shouts and cheers from the parents who sat on bleachers and the joy of running full-tilt for a base.
There was no question he hoped there would be an audience of one for the practice today. He could imagine Miranda sitting on her front stoop while he and Henry played in the front yard.
They would be able to talk and maybe laugh together. He’d love to ask her out on a date, but he had a feeling if he did that right now she’d shoot him down quicker than a wild mustang could disappear in the pasture.
Still, the excitement ratcheted up a bit as he turned down the tree-lined street where Miranda lived. It was a perfect day to toss around a baseball. The sky was a robin’s-egg blue and the temperature had climbed to the mid-seventies.
He parked his truck at the curb in front of her place and got out. Her house was a two-story painted white with forest-green shutters. A nice wraparound porch sporting a couple of pots with colorful petunias added to the appeal.
From a distance it appeared to be attractive and in good condition, but as he walked toward the porch he noticed that the wobbly wooden steps definitely needed some work and the paint on the shutters was faded and peeling.
Before he could knock on the door, it opened and Henry bounded outside. Clad in a pair of shorts and a bright blue T-shirt, he looked ready to play.
“Hi, Mr. Clay. I’m so happy that you’re here. I wasn’t sure if you’d really come or not.” He held in his hand a baseball glove that looked like it had been bought in a toy store.
“I promised I’d come and so I’m here. How about you trade that glove in for this one.” Clay handed him the new ball glove.
“For real?” Henry’s blue eyes widened.
“For real,” Clay replied and looked just over the boy’s shoulder to see if he might catch a glimpse of Miranda, but there was no sign of her.
“Like, it’s mine forever?” Henry asked.
Clay laughed. “Yes, like, it’s yours forever.”
A lump of unexpected emotion leaped into Clay’s throat when the young boy threw his arms around Clay’s waist and hugged him tight. “Thank you, Mr. Clay.” He finally released Clay and stepped back. He put his old glove down on the porch and placed the new one on his hand.
“Does your mom know I’m here?” Clay asked.
“Yeah, I told her when you pulled up in front of the house.”
“Okay, then let’s get started.” Clay couldn’t help but be a little disappointed when he started playing catch with Henry and Miranda didn’t make any kind of an appearance.
For the next hour the two of them threw the ball back and forth to each other. Clay showed the boy how to keep his shoulders positioned toward the thrower, how to stand on the balls of his feet and to keep his eye on the ball.
It was obvious to Clay that what Henry needed more than anything was practice and he hadn’t even brought out the bat to see how well the boy could hit balls.
It was right before five when Miranda stepped out onto the front porch. She looked utterly feminine and yet professional clad in a pair of navy slacks that showcased her long, shapely legs and a white blouse that had a pretty ruffle down the front. Her blond hair sparkled in the sunshine overhead and once again he was struck by how pretty she was.
“Evening, Clay,” she said.
“Hey, Miranda,” he replied. He wanted to bound up to the front porch and sit in one of the wicker chairs there and talk to her, but there was no invitation for such a thing either in her greeting or in her stiff posture.
“Henry, it’s time for you to come in now and wash up for dinner. And thank you, Clay, for helping him out.” She turned and disappeared back into the house.
A wave of disappointment swept through Clay. “So, are you going to come over again?” Henry asked eagerly.
“Sure. How about tomorrow around the same time?”
“Awesome,” Henry replied. “Mom is going to sign me up on a team soon and I want to be a really good player.” He gave Clay a quick hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Clay watched as Henry ran up the rickety porch stairs and disappeared into the house.
The next day and Wednesday were the same thing. He and Henry worked in the front yard and Miranda didn’t make an appearance except to call Henry in for dinner each evening.
Still, Clay was enjoying his time with Henry. He did seem like a good kid who was eager to please and showed a lot of gratitude to Clay. He also had a wonderful, carefree laugh that somehow touched Clay. Maybe it was because he’d been around Henry’s age when his mother had left him and taken all the laughter with her.
Thursday when Clay arrived for more practice time, Jenny was seated on the porch with Henry. They both popped up and ran toward him as he got out of his truck.
“You said we were going to work on batting today,” Henry said. “So Jenny is going to play outfield for us.”
“I don’t know what outfield means, but I’m going to chase the balls when Henry hits them,” she said.
“Perfect,” Clay replied with a laugh.
He didn’t even bother to look for any glimpses of Miranda. Although he’d had ulterior motives when he’d first offered to help Henry, in the last couple of days it had become all about Henry and helping him to become the best little ballplayer he could be.
Clay was happily surprised to discover that Henry had a good eye when it came to batting. Jenny was kept busy running after the balls her brother connected with.
They’d been playing for about an hour when Miranda stepped out of the front door carrying a tray of colorful plastic glasses. Clay’s heart lifted at the sight of her clad in a pair of jeans and a navy tank top. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and she actually offered Clay a small smile as she approached them.
“It’s a little warm today so I thought you all could use a nice cold drink.” She picked up one of the glasses and handed it to Clay.
“Thanks.” All of a sudden he felt tongue-tied in her presence. Jeez, he’d made small talk with plenty of women in the past. He’d been hoping to talk to Miranda all week, so why couldn’t he think of anything to say to her now?
Thankfully she busied herself handing out the drinks to her children, who carried them to the porch and sat down, and then she gazed back at him. “A beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Warmer than usual,” he replied as he caught a whiff of her sweet, evocative perfume riding on the air.
“It’s really nice of you to be helping out Henry like you have been. He spends his entire evenings talking about you and baseball,” she said.
“That must make you crazy,” Clay replied wryly.
“It’s not so bad. It’s nice to see him so excited. You’re helping him gain some self-confidence and I really appreciate that.”
“He’s a great kid and I’ve been enjoying working with him. He shows a lot of promise.” Clay took a drink of the lemonade, pleased with the nice conversation they were sharing.
Henry set his drink glass down on the porch and ran over to where Clay and his mother stood. “Mr. Clay, we’re going to the carnival tomorrow night. Why don’t you come with us? That would be so much fun. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could all go together, Mom?”
Clay wasn’t sure who was more surprised, he or Miranda. However, he wasn’t about to let this opportunity go by. “I’d love to join you all tomorrow night, but I think it’s something your mother and I need to discuss in private.”
“Oh, okay.” Henry turned on his heel and ran back to the porch. “Now you can talk in private,” he yelled back at them.
“I sure don’t want to put you in an awkward position,” Clay began.
“You mean like you did at The Cupcake Palace?” she interjected.
He grinned at her. “Without us eating cupcakes together, Henry wouldn’t have a baseball coach.”
“Touché,” she replied, and to his pleasure her mouth moved to a half smile that appeared to hold a touch of warmth.
“Miranda, I would love to take you all to the carnival tomorrow night,” he continued. “It’s never much fun to go to those kinds of things alone.”
The warmth he’d thought he saw in her eyes seemed to frost just a bit. “I’m sure if you really wanted to, you could find somebody to go with you.”
“That may be true, but there’s nothing better than enjoying a carnival with a couple of kids,” he replied. He glanced over to where Jenny and Henry sat on the porch and then looked back at her. “Please allow me the pleasure of taking you and the kids tomorrow night.”
Although he hadn’t thought much about the big festivities starting the next night until Henry mentioned it, more than anything at this moment he wanted Miranda to say they would all go together. He held his breath as he waited for her to reply.
She looked toward the kids and then gazed back at him. “It wouldn’t be a date,” she finally said.
“Of course not,” he replied hurriedly.
“Because I don’t date.”
“Okay, then it would just be an evening of us all hanging out together,” he assured her. “Besides, I promise to ride all the scary rides with Henry.”
“Ha, you would be riding those rides with Jenny. She’s my little daredevil.” She stared at him for a long moment and then slowly nodded her head. “Okay, we’ll go with you as long as you understand it’s all about the kids and this has nothing to do with you and me having any kind of a relationship.”
“I completely understand.” Clay tamped down his elation. “What time should I be here to pick you all up?”
“Why don’t we make it around six? And we’ll want to stay until after dark. The kids always like seeing all the carnival lights.”
“That’s part of the fun. Then six it is.” He looked over to Henry and Jenny who were still seated on the porch. “We’re all going to the carnival together tomorrow night.”
“Awesome,” Henry yelled as he jumped off the porch and raced toward them.
Jenny was right behind him, her pretty little features lit with happiness. “Do you like scary rides, Mr. Clay?” she asked.
“I do,” he replied. “Scary rides are some of my favorites.”
“Oh, good, because Mommy and Henry don’t like them. They’re just two old fraidy-cats.”
“Then I’ll be your scary ride buddy.” Clay laughed as the little girl clapped her hands together and her blond ponytail danced up and down.
“And do you like funnel cake?” Henry asked.
Clay laughed again. “I love funnel cake.”
“Only after you eat something better for dinner,” Miranda said. “We’ll get hot dogs or something for dinner before any funnel cake is allowed.”
“Speaking of dinner... I’d better get back to the ranch before Cookie puts everything away,” he said. Cord Cully, aka Cookie, was the cantankerous old man who provided the meals to all the cowboys at the Holiday Ranch. “I’ll see you all tomorrow at six.”
Minutes later, as Clay headed for home, more than a bit of excitement danced through his veins. No matter what Miranda called it, tomorrow night he was going to have his first date with her.
Chapter 3
Okay, she’d had a weak moment. That was the only way to explain Miranda’s agreement to go with Clay to the carnival. When he’d told her he’d like to take them all and that there was nothing better than enjoying a carnival with kids, she’d thought she saw a whisper of loneliness in his eyes. And that, coupled with all his work with Henry, had made for a weak moment.
Throughout the day on Friday she fought the impulse to pick up the phone and call or text him and cancel the evening plans. It would certainly be the smart thing to do, but ultimately she hadn’t made the call.
It didn’t help that Henry and Jenny were so excited about sharing the evening with him. They’d not only talked about it all yesterday evening but now at five-thirty they had already parked themselves at the front window to wait for his arrival. If she’d canceled the plans with Clay they would have been bitterly disappointed.
There would be a lot of speculation when people saw them all together. People were definitely going to talk, but she was used to that. She had often been the topic of town gossip when she’d been married to Hank.