Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance (2 page)

“How long are you going to hold me here, sheriff?” I asked him, having already been at the station for two hours.

“You understand that you’re in a lot of trouble here, Cameron, don’t you?” The sheriff gave me a stern glare.

“I only attacked when he was trying to rape her. Ask her,” I nodded towards Alison who was visible outside the interrogation room window.

“Oh? He says you tore him away from a make-out session with your little sister and beat him unconscious. The doctor says he has broken ribs, too. Maybe some internal bleeding.”

“That’s all?” I asked him, irritated at being held up, or even detained for that matter.

“What do you mean, ‘that’s all’? You just beat a high school kid half to death.”

“That guy wasn’t in high school.”

“He graduates in a couple of months, but he’s still in school.”

“Is he 18?”

“Yes, but, I’m asking the questions here. Do you deny his claims?” he asked, anger in his voice.

“Sure do. It’s like I told you.”

“That you walked in, saw him attacking Alison Masterson, your sister and…?”

“She’s not my sister.” I rubbed my arms, hating the chill in the interrogation room but not wanting to ask him to turn up the temperature.

“Stepsister then—.”

“Not even that.”

“You attacked her boyfriend,” he finished, tired of my interruptions.

“Pretty much.”

“So, by your own admission, you intended bodily injury to this boy?”

“Sure, he was trying to rape Ali…had slapped her. He’s lucky I wasn’t angry.”

“What? You think you’re some kind of badass?” He leaned in so close to me that I could smell the garlic on his breath from his lunch.

I didn’t look away. If anything, I got closer, closing the distance so we stood nose to nose. I held both hands out.

“So you want the cuffs?” he asked me.

“No, I’m not cuffed. That’s the point. So unless you pull a gun on me, yes, I’m the baddest of the bad asses in this room. I was defending Alison, and when he bum rushed me, I put him down hard. I don’t like having to beat on people, but in this case…rapists are on a list of exceptions,” I knew I was pushing my luck here, but this guy had been grilling me for two hours now.

The cop pushed me back, hard. I didn’t really want to fight him, but I understood all about power and perception. I didn’t broken eye contact. I got into his comfort zone, and the fact that he pushed me without swinging or pulling the cuffs showed his fear. He made the distance between us. The way he came after me troubled me. I was no hero, but I didn’t expect to be hauled downtown and treated like the criminal.

I sat down, about to confront the sheriff about that. The door of the office slammed open, and an older woman in a business suit came in amidst a cloud of cigarette smoke. She gave me a wan smile before turning her attention to the sheriff. An unfiltered Camel smoldered in her clenched hand.

“Is he under arrest?”

“I’m investigating, and—.”

“Don’t talk to him,” she told me, interrupting the sheriff.

“I’m trying to get to the bottom of—.”

“So you have two witnesses who say your nephew tried to rape Alison Masterson and my client fought him off. Why isn’t your nephew in here instead of Cameron?” She waved her hand at the desk I was sitting at.

“Your nephew?” My eyebrows raised.

“Shut up,” they both shouted at me.

They argued with each other, and I stood from the chair, and let it flip over backwards. Neither of them noticed me walk out of the office, right past them. My mother, Bill, and Alison waited in the main lobby, talking with a deputy when I approached.

“So Sheila bailed you out?” Bill asked me.

“She the suit lady?”

“Yeah, she’s the lawyer we keep on retainer for the ranch.”

“Oh. Well, the sheriff didn’t arrest me, but I don’t think they are done arguing yet,” I nodded my head towards the office where the voices argued louder and louder.

“So you’re free to go?” Mom looked at me, then towards the front door.

“I should be. I guess the douche bag was the sheriff’s nephew—.”

“Tim,” Alison corrected softly.

“What?”

“His name is Tim. He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

“Well, I doubt he’ll be back,” I turned to the deputy standing by my family. “Did they end up arresting him?”

His expression froze somewhere between priceless and ‘oh shit’.

“Did they?” I moved my body in front of him.

His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he found his voice. “He’s in the hospital being evaluated. He’ll be charged once he can be moved. You really did a number on him.”

“Sorry about that. I was holding back,” I muttered, and playfully pushed on Alison’s arm, sending her crashing into Bill.

“Hey!”

“Hey yourself. You ok?”

“I am now.”

I had gotten my shirt back from her. She wore a black blouse to replace the torn shirt. She actually smiled a bit, and I had to fight the urge to not grin back.

“So are we free to go?” I asked the deputy.

“I don’t—.” The office door slammed open, and Sheila stormed out.

“And if you don’t charge that kid, I’ll sue this department,” she threatened.

When she got to us, she barely looked in our direction. “You’re good to go,” she power walked out of the station without stopping.

The deputy watched her figure disappear down the street in silence. He turned back to us and scratched the back of his neck. “I guess you are good to go.”

“That lady scares me,” I whispered to Ali.

“I doubt it,” She pushed me with both hands, and almost made me stumble.  She snickered and smiled for the first time.

“Kids,” Bill’s instant fatherly tone broke the tension, and I cracked up, finally.

“Let's go get ice on your hands. And since we’re all in town, we can pick up your outfits,” Mom told us.

I looked at my hands, swollen and slightly crusted with blood from both Tim and me. I nodded and headed outside. Mom drove my Jeep into town when the sheriff put me in the back of his cruiser to bring me to the station. Bill tossed me the keys to drive, and the girls piled into the back seat. We all piled in.

“You know, the sheriff may hold a grudge,” Bill started.

“No jury would convict me.”

“No, probably not. Ok, let’s drive over to Gillie’s first, then how about we grab some lunch at the diner?”

“Sounds good.”

###

We bought the western-style clothing for the wedding at Gillie’s. When Alison tried on different shirts and came out of the changing room to look in the mirror, I tried to look disinterested. Gone was the little girl with acne. A slender woman a year out of high school replaced her. I couldn’t quit stealing glances her way. She captivated my imagination as I replayed how she stayed strong throughout the ordeal.

Later, while we ate our lunch, the family filled me in on what had been happening in and around town, and why Mom hadn’t told me about her and Bill.

Mom’s tone held no apologies. “We wanted to make sure. Things ended bitterly the first time, and we wanted to make sure this time that we were doing it for the right reasons.”

It made sense that she’d keep some of her life with Bill apart from me. My first reaction would have probably been poor based on their history, and old feelings of hurt and pain would have flared up. I probably would have tried to talk her out of it.

“I’m sorry, for how I was back then. I really wish you both the best,” I told them lamely. With reflection, I meant the words, and I relaxed into my new life that included bigger changes than just me coming home.

The lunch crowd was pretty much gone when we entered, but before we could leave, plenty of folks stopped in. I recognized many of them from the couple years I spent here before I joined the Army. Most folks had heard about what happened since a small town meant no secrets. Without much else to do in a thriving cattle community, people bored and listening to the police scanner brought folks out in droves. I kept my responses down to a polite howdy since I wasn’t sure if I was free and clear yet. Most understood, but some left puzzled, Tim’s guilt already decided in their minds.

The talk made Alison uncomfortable. I wanted to ask my parents if we could leave, but a heavy hand gripped my shoulder, fingers digging in around my collarbone. I stood with slow but prepared deliberation expecting the sheriff. As I turned, the grip tightened harder. Alison’s eyes flashed a worried look. Bill stood up to face the stranger before me. He stood at my height with broad shoulders and steel gray hair closely cropped. His white cowboy hat hung low over his fiery blue eyes. The resemblance to Tim was unmistakable.

“Boy, you and I are going to have a talk.”

I pushed his hand off of me. My strength in knocking off his grip surprised him. He regrouped to confront me, his body close enough I could smell stale coffee on his breath.

“Back off, Carl,” Bill said softly, his voice hard.

“I’m guessing you’re related to Tim. So talk,” I told Carl.

Carl’s hands opened and closed into tight fists. “You hurt my son something bad. Bruised his throat. Doc says that it could have killed him.”

“You forgot about the broken ribs, busted nose, cut over his eye. Why worry about a bruised windpipe?” I ask him. I didn’t care if it pissed him off.

“You tried to kill him,” his chest heaved as he struggled to stay in control.

“No, if I try to kill someone, they usually get bagged and tagged,” I stepped in close to his face, my cold military persona overtaking my personal feelings. I took his measure. Carl faced me head on, unlike his coward of a brother, the sheriff. My knuckles cracked in anticipation of another fight.

“So are you some kind of badass then?” His breath smelled of rank coffee and cigarettes.

“Naw, I’m just a regular guy, but I don’t mind beating the ass of a would-be rapist.”

“He wasn’t trying to rape that stupid cunt—.”

A hard slap that knocked the taste out of his mouth echoed in the heavy air. The hand that delivered it wasn’t Alison’s, as she sat in shock. Bill stayed across the table from us. My balled fists clenched at my sides, although I double-checked. Mom shook the pain from her hand as she stood beside me, her eyes blazing in fury.

“Don’t you talk about her like that,” she said with a loud voice too big for such a small woman.

“Now I see where she gets it from,” Carl raised a fist.

Stupid must run in the family. When he turned his gaze towards my mom and raised his hand, he lost notice of me. Not wanting this to end like it did earlier, I gave him a quick but hard flick with my knuckles in his groin. The breath left his mouth, and his face turned green as my punch to his sack made him nauseous.

“Please, no fighting in here,” Jeanie, the manager, rushed out from behind the counter.

“Nope, no fighting,” I agreed. “I think he’s just got an upset stomach.”

“I’ll help you get him out to the bench out front,” Bill smiled at me.

“Fuck you guys,” Carl rasped, his breath coming out in gasps. Sweat ran down his face.

He stomped out the door, and Bill flashed me a quick grin before his face got serious again. He was paying the bill with Jeanie when the sheriff’s cruiser pulled in front of the diner. I tensed, not wanting to go back to the station and thinking the worst. It pulled away.

“Does trouble always follow you around?” Alison asked me, bumping my shoulder.

“Usually,” I kept my eyes on the road outside. I knew in my gut that admiring the fiery young woman would only lead me to trouble.

“Let’s go, dear,” Mom took my arm under my elbow, and we headed out. Thankfully, the rest of the day remained quiet filled with wedding plans we finished before the big day.

This was the second wedding of mom to Bill that I stood in, and as far as weddings go, this one wasn’t driving me crazy. I don’t know what I expected, but this was turning out to be a good time.  The whole ranch had the day off, and all ranch hands and their families were invited, along with half the town. The wedding was held in an open field, under a blue sky. I stood next to Jackson, who transitioned from ranch foreman to best man well. His wife, Sandy, stood across from him at Mom’s side. Alison shot occasional glancing looks from her flowers across to me as she shifted on her feet next to Sandy. I kind of felt self-conscious with half the residents of the county there. When everybody cheered at the final kiss and rushed forward with congratulations, my insecurities melted. I got more than my fair share of hugs and kisses on the cheek, too. A couple of the ladies I went to school with whispered their phone numbers to me, stroking my ego and making me smile.

Alison never strayed far out of my notice. The swelling was gone from her eye, but she had the starting of a bruise that her make-up mostly covered. In another day, even make-up wouldn’t help. She wore a flannel button up, cut for a woman’s figure, topped with a black leather vest. Her black felt cowboy hat hid some of her auburn hair that had been swept over her shoulders by the wind to fall midway down her back.

More than once, she caught me looking. I just shrugged my shoulders at her slightly puzzled looks. I guess she was my sister once again, and although she was attractive, she was supposed to be off limits. My heart was arguing with my brain nonstop. I never would have recognized her if I’d seen here somewhere else. She didn’t resemble Bill, but then, hell, she didn’t resemble the girl I knew before I left either. Of all the changes that happened while I served my country, my inability to recognize Alison shocked me the most. Part of me had evidently changed as well, because no matter how much I tried not to think about her, I found myself drawn back into her eyes.

After the wedding, everyone moved right to the reception, held in the cleaned up hay barn. Jackson had a dozen of the ranch hands clean it out yesterday after the fight. Tables of food lined the middle of the barn, and everyone dug right in for delicious burgers and steaks, a fitting western meal. My mouth watered, and I made myself a plate. I found a square bale of hay off to the side, and sat on it, balancing the plate on my lap so I could use the utensils.

“This seat taken?”

I looked up into Alison’s face. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t, I shouldn’t, but I did.

I put my utensils down and patted the bale of hay. “Naw, you can sit next to me.”

“You know, before you left, you didn’t give two shits about me. Now you’ve been in two fights on the same day you get back, defending me,” her voice was full of curiosity, not anger, not fear.

“Tim was trying to hurt you,” I told her.

“No, you hated me. You hated my dad. You hated all of this,” she motioned all around us with her arm.

I expected anger from her—the same anger that lived inside of me for years. All of what she said was true. Her curiosity instead of anger confused me.

“I think I was angrier at my dad,” I said after thinking about it.

“Bill?”

“No, my dad. For leaving us.”

“Cameron, he died,” Alison patted my hand.

“Yeah, I know. But then Mom married Bill so soon afterwards and…I think I took it out on everyone around me.”

“Mom and Dad, they were friends, even in high school. They used to date, you know?”

“They did?” The last 24 hours packed many surprises.

“Yeah.”

“So what happened?” I hated that I knew less about my mother’s life than Alison.

“She wanted kids.”

I looked at her, searching for the joke. Her eyes gave no punch line, and I swallowed, trying to think of what that meant.

“I don’t understand.”

“Dad can’t have kids.”

“He had you, didn’t he?” I asked puzzled.

“I’m adopted. Bill and Carol adopted me as a baby.”

Something clicked in my heart.
Adopted?

“Holy shit,” I muttered.

“You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“They didn’t tell me until a couple of years ago. I figured you already knew. They said I had a hard enough time when my mom died.”

I knew she meant Carol. “I’m sorry,” I told her, meaning it. I prepared myself for anything—tears, anger at my stupidity—anything except what I got.

She laughed at me. She snorted big belly laughs that shook her whole body.

“What?”

“You looked so sad.”

“I’m not sad, I mean, that’s sad, but I’m not sad. I mean—.”

She laughed harder. With the tension broken, we ate in silence, not an awkward but lost in our own thoughts. She seemed far more mature than her 19 years, and for once I really scolded myself for being such an ass years ago. She had grown into a kind woman. She admitted to giving me a hard time when she was younger, hating that I was mad at the world and hating everything and everyone in it. I admitted the truth in her judgment but reassured her that I’d moved on. As we talked, something changed inside me, but I couldn’t pin what it was down.
Attraction? Yearning? For Ali?
People drifted in and out, talking to us, and when the music started up, Ali took our plates and set them aside.

“What?” I asked, as she took my roughened hands in hers.

“The wedding party. It’s time for us to dance.” She held out her hands shyly, but smiling at me in a way that made my heart dance with joy.

“Dance?” I panicked.
Oh shit! This isn’t going to be awkward or anything.

“Come on,” she pulled me by the hand to the middle of the barn floor.

I’d known how to dance when I was younger. Any cowboy worth his salt could do two things: ride a horse and take a lady dancing. It’d been so long for me that my movements were stiff and wooden. Ali actually took the lead for a while until I could start to relax. I stared about over her shoulder, expecting folks to stare at us. I danced with Ali, and my mind questioned if there was something wrong with it? I met my mom’s eyes as she danced with Dad. She smiled and blew me a quick kiss. Did they know what was going through my head? Did I know for that matter?
Ali laughed and when the song turned slow, she stepped in close to me, putting her arm around me. I immediately slowed my dance and went with it.

I could do this, I could dance with Ali and it wouldn’t be weird, would it?
Nobody else seemed to give us funny looks, but I expected them. Instead, I found myself relaxing despite my rocketing heart rate every time Ali met my eyes and our gazes locked.

“You know, I never expected this,” her voice whispered into my chest.

“What’s that?” I asked her.

“For you to quit being angry. I thought you’d hate me, like you did back then. Now you’re looking at me like—.”
Ouch.
I’m sure she could tell I was looking at her hungrily, I couldn’t stop looking at her and it was twisting me up in knots.

“I don’t know what my problem was back then. You’re not the same little girl yourself,” I interrupted, my voice unsteady.

“People change. I’m glad you were here. Thank you, Cameron,” she hugged me tight, resting her head on my shoulder as the song ended.

We grabbed some drinks, a Shiner Boch for me and some of the mystery punch for her. She dragged me to the table where Jackson and his wife Sandy sat with many of the ranch hands and their families. Jackson talked about the coming honeymoon, lists of tasks that had to be done while my mom and Bill were gone, and what the ranch was going to do for the one to two weeks while they flew to China for the adoption. As I listened, I noticed they’d be short of hands to ride the southwestern fence line to investigate where a few loose cattle had wandered off in that direction. Nobody could find a break in the barbed wire. I soaked all the talk in, quietly memorizing everything I could.

Riding fence was always put on the bottom of the list to do. I had walked out of the Army without a plan. I wasn’t destitute because I’d saved almost every penny while overseas, but I knew without something to do or some action, I’d be restless. Despite trying to remain quiet, I started sat on the edge of the seat until my knee almost touched Ali’s sitting beside me. She poked me playfully in the ribs, and I almost jumped backwards in surprise.

“What?”

She poked her tongue out at me, and the whole table laughed.

“Oh, come on. I know I’m ticklish, but that can’t be all that funny, can it?”

“Ticklish?” Sandy asked. “I thought she surprised you. After beating Tim’s ass, we thought nobody scared you.”

“Well, there’s old tall, dark and ugly,” I pointed at Jackson’s weathered face, his smile breaking into a grin at my words.

“I gave you hell, boy. You turned out ok.”

“I missed you, too, Jackson.”

“Awwww shoot, I’m gonna go get me a beer before those two start kissin’,” one of the hands said in mock disgust, and three of the single hands joined them, leaving me room to get closer to the table. Ali smiled, and scooted her chair up too.

“I’m not kissing you, man,” I told Jackson.

“Even if I was snake bit, I’d never pick you to suck the poison out.”

“Seriously, what can I do to help? It sounded like you’re going to be short-handed with Bill gone.”

“Bill gone isn’t the half of it. I have half the crew running equipment to bring water pipes from the river in so we can keep some stock ponds in water this year. If we don’t get it done before the fall rains, it’s going to be bad.”

“How bad?”

“Sell off half the herd, or lease property with better water rights.”

“Didn’t we always have good water here?”

“Yeah, well, that’s until Carl Bart started developing the south end of his property. The whole river changed directions, and now our water comes from a well and a few windmills to try to keep things pumped.”

“He can’t change the course of the river. That isn’t legal.”

“Try telling him that. His family practically runs the county.”

“I’ve met his brother already,” I said, looking at my bruised and scabbed knuckles.

“Yeah, well, that’s just one of the problems. Water is the biggest issue, and then there’s the fences getting cut on the adjoining property lines…random calves coming up dead. It’s a bad time for Bill to go.”

“Well, like I said, what can I do to help? I don’t have much experience running heavy equipment, so I’m guessing I’d be better on checking out some of the other stuff. Fences, checking on the calves.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Me? No. I’m done with the Army. Actually I was sort of blindsided by all of this. Figure I’ll help out here till Mom and Bill get back, and then see where the cards fall.”

“I thought you hated this life, boy?” His weathered face looked at me, puzzled.

“A lot has happened to open my eyes. It’s almost too much to take in,” I meant more than the surprise of the wedding and more than the awaking feelings for Ali. The last two days overwhelmed me.

“Ok, then I’ll put you on the payroll tomorrow. Have Ali find a free horse for you to use. I’ll have you riding fence, if that’s what you want.”

“Don’t worry about putting me on the payroll yet, but I’ll be glad to help. I’ve spent the better part of seven years shooting and fighting. A week or two on horseback and some mountains seems like the kind of vacation I could only dream about,” I told him truthfully.

A small touch on my left arm interrupted me. Ali rubbed her hand on my forearm absentmindedly while listening to the conversation. As much as I wanted to follow that distraction, I needed to lock in my opportunity. “Actually, I think I can talk Charlie out of Lightning for a couple weeks. He’s going on vacation isn’t he?”

Jackson groaned. “Yeah, I forgot about that. Another thing to make matters difficult. Charlie and a couple others have some time off coming. Maybe I can talk Charlie out of leaving until big Bill gets back.”

“I can ask him,” Alison chirped.

“Ok, I’ll be on it in the morning,” I told Jackson and Ali.

“You know where to go check?” Jackson asked me.

“I’ll ride with him. Until Tim is locked up.”

“Oh yeah, he probably will think twice about coming around Cam.”

“That’s a good idea, Alison,” Sandy interjected, and a couple of the hands nodded and grunted.

“Ok, enough about work. You two should be dancing and having fun.

“I think you have a lot to catch up on, don’t you?” Jackson asked me. The look in his eyes made me feel like a teenager again, my face heated up as it turned red. Jackson always knew when I had been up to mischief. He was more than just the ranch foreman. He served as another father figure, or an odd uncle.

Another poke to the ribs had me jumping and a yelping. Everyone laughed, and I turned to stare at Alison.

“It’s good you’re home. I haven’t had anybody to pick on in a long time,” she smiled as she dropped a wink at me.