A Cowboy's Heart

“How sweet of him. I’d love to.”

She jumped out into the snow and headed for the front porch. The temperature had to be close to thirty-two degrees. She zipped her parka all the way. It looked as though they’d be driving under an overcast sky most of the way today.

Connor opened the door and they headed for the den where they found his grandfather at his desk. The blaze from the fireplace gave out delicious warmth. The older man looked up with a smile and got to his feet. “Well, Liz.”

“Hi again, Ralph.” She hurried across the room to give him a hug. Liz had been here many times over the years.

“Connor told me you agreed to drive with him. Is he taking good care of you?”

“Of course. I’m a very lucky girl.”

“It pleases me that my two favorite champions will be together. I have a little gift for the two of you.” He pulled a small leather pouch out of his shirt pocket. “Avery picked it up for me on her way home from work yesterday.”

Avery was Connor’s sister. Liz couldn’t imagine what the pouch could hold.

Connor’s gaze shot to hers. “Go ahead and open it.”

From inside the pouch she pulled out what looked like a silver charm bracelet. “You hang it on the rearview mirror of the truck to bring you luck. I chose the charms myself for this red-letter moment in your lives. See that horseshoe? Both of you have beaten me at the game any number of times. The next charm is a boot for riding. There’s a cowboy hat. The others are a horse in motion, a bulldogger on his horse, a cowgirl barrel racing, and a heart with wings for love of country.”

Liz was so touched that, once again, her throat swelled. “This gift is priceless, Ralph.”

She noticed that Connor’s eyes took on a haunted look when he glanced at his grandfather. Why?

“We’ll treasure it.”

“If Addie and your parents were here, son, they’d tell you and Liz to take it with our prayers and blessings. We’ve always been proud of both of you and know you’ll do your best at the competition. We’ll all be watching the Great American Country broadcast on cable. Whatever happens, come back safe. That’s all I ask.”

Full of emotion, Liz clutched the bracelet in her hand before reaching for him once more. “All we ask is that you stay well. I promised my folks we’d stay in close touch. We’ll make the same promise to you. Without your help, I would never have made it this far. Whenever I got discouraged, you would never let me stay down.”

“Ditto,” Connor said in a husky tone of voice, and gave his grandfather a bear hug.

The older man whispered, “Good luck,” to him, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

She waved to Ralph from the doorway. “See you soon.” Without waiting for Connor, she hurried out of the house to the truck. He needed a minute with his grandfather, and she needed to treasure this special moment in private. Both she and Sadie had always loved Ralph and Addie. Like her own parents, she thought they were just about perfect.

Carefully she undid the chain clasp so she could hang the bracelet. To make certain it was visible, she draped it over the mirror. The little charms tinkled as they dangled.

A minute later Connor strode toward the truck and climbed in behind the wheel. He fingered one of the charms, and then flicked his gaze to hers. “Grandpa thinks the world of you to have given you this.”

“Didn’t you notice it’s for both of us? Whenever he talks about you, his eyes light up.”

An odd silence followed her remark. She didn’t understand and wondered what he was thinking as he started the engine.

“Before we leave, is there anything you’ve forgotten?”

“If I have, it’s not important.”

“Bless you.” Spoken like a man. She chuckled before he said, “Let’s go.”

They drove away from the ranch to the highway, cleared of snow since the storm the other night. “I’d like to reach North Salt Lake by evening. I made a reservation at the RV park on the outskirts with easy access.”

“Sounds good to me. In case of more snow, I’d planned to drive as far as I could through Wyoming before finding a motel. I’m really grateful you asked me to come with you.”

“Did you have someone to drive with you if I hadn’t asked you?”

A vision of Kyle passed through her mind. She looked out the passenger window. “Yes. I had several offers from friends and family, but this is one trip I wanted to take alone. Knowing it’s my last one, I didn’t feel like sharing the experience with anyone else.”

He sat back in the seat. “So how come you came with me?”

“Honestly?” she answered with another question.

“Shoot.”

“Because you’re not anyone else. When I told Dad I was driving with you, he said we were the best kind of company for each other since we already know what it’s like to be in each other’s skin.”

“He was right.”

“You’ve been to nationals and have won back-to-back world championships five times. Now you’re trying for your sixth! This is my first time and you know exactly how vulnerable I’m feeling on the inside. I’m full of doubts and ambitions no else could understand, no one but someone like you, who’s already experienced all those emotions and triumphed.”

“That’s the problem,” he muttered. “No matter how many triumphs, you’re only as good as your last one.”

“I know. I find that out every time I compete at another rodeo.”

“If you know that already, then you know a hell of a lot more than ninety-nine percent of your competition who believe their own hype.”

His unexpected burst of emotion showed he felt as vulnerable as she did. Maybe more, because this would be his last competition. The need to prove himself one more time had to be testing his mettle in ways she couldn’t fathom. No one would ever suspect that of Connor Bannock, the picture of confidence personified.

“In all honesty, I’m afraid, Connor,” she admitted under her breath.

“Of failure?”

“A lot more than that. No matter what happens, I don’t know what the future’s going to be like without having a goal. I’ve been pursuing this dream for so long, it’s taken up the hours of my world, consciously and subconsciously for years. Of course, I have my career, but that’s different. I can’t imagine what it will be like to wake up on December 15, knowing it’s truly over...and the rest of my life is still ahead of me,” she whispered.

“Lady, you just said a mouthful.”

Liz turned her head toward him in surprise. “You too?”

“In spades.”

* * *

SO FAR, NO snow had fallen, but it was coming. Connor felt the icy wind from a bleak sky while he and Liz walked their horses at their first roadside park stop. Two hours at a time was as much as their animals could handle riding in the trailer. Their muscles got tired of trying to maintain their footing and needed the rest.

With them tied up outside, he and Liz ate sandwiches and drank hot coffee in the trailer. Her earlier admission about thinking she’d be at a loss once the competition was over was so in tune with his own feelings, they seemed to have achieved a level of understanding that didn’t require a lot of conversation. He didn’t feel the need to fill the gaps of silence. Neither did she.

By late afternoon, they’d made their fourth stop to exercise the horses. Inside the trailer they both made calls. He checked with Ben, the ranch foreman. Connor had hired a new hand to keep all the equipment on the ranch in top shape. That had been Ned’s job. Ben sounded hopeful this new guy would work out. As they talked, Connor could hear Liz talking to Dr. Rafferty about a sick horse.

Once their phone business was done, they cleaned up the stall floor before watering the horses and replenishing their hay nets. Soon they’d brought the horses back inside and were on their way again.