Page 35 of The Cowboy's Redemption
His feet hit the floor and he zipped up his jeans, all in one, fluid motion. He put out the lights and got Otto’s rifle out of the skinny broom closet next to the door.
“Stay here,” he said. The door opened and closed.
She fumbled in the dark, found her own clothes, and quickly got dressed in case she was needed. They had hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of horses to worry about. With Otto gone, and before the new owners took charge, this was the perfect opportunity for someone to help themselves.
Grizzlies were a much bigger worry than thieves. While sightings were rare, and word quickly spread amongst ranchers when one moved into new territory, beyond the threat to the horses, she and Levi were sleeping in what amounted to a tin can.
She knelt on the bench and peered through the small window crowning the table, but there was nothing to see except black shadows and the blurred, shifting mounds of the horses. The horses weren’t restless, which they would be if a grizzly had wandered out of the mountains, or if something—or someone—unfamiliar approached too close to the herd.
Levi had told her to stay put, so she did—waiting and watching and listening, although there was nothing in the night for her to see or hear. He could take care of himself, and he’d take care of her, too. She had complete confidence in him.
“This can go one of two ways…”
She had a fuzzy recollection of those quiet, matter-of-fact words he’d spoken the night of the street dance, when she’d stupidly accepted a drink from a stranger. There was no showmanship to Levi. No macho pounding of chest. No attempt to impress. He saw what needed to be done and he did it. Including holding her hair.
He returned a few moments later.
“Raccoons,” he reported, stowing the rifle away. “It didn’t take them long to figure out Otto’s cabin is empty and there’s food inside. The little thieves were trying to break in.”
She stepped into his arms and held him tight. Relief left her weak-kneed and light-headed. It was fine to have confidence in him. It was much, much better to have that confidence confirmed.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, rubbing her back in small circles, sounding surprised, somewhat sheepish, and so…Leviabout her unexpected reaction.
“I’m not scared.”
Not about him rushing off into the night.
She didn’t know how to put what she felt into words, so instead, she reached for the button on the waistband of his jeans and whispered what she wanted from him, and what she planned to do for him in return.
Chapter Eleven
Levi
The day ofthe funeral brought the threat of more rain.
Sullen clouds rode in on fierce winds from the mountains, spitting lightning, before pausing a few hours over the badlands where they remained most of the morning, undecided as to whose day they should ruin.
It wouldn’t be Otto’s day that was ruined. He’d loved a good storm.
Levi accompanied Dana into the pretty Methodist church through a pair of double-arched wooden doors that overlooked the parking lot beside it instead of the road. The Tongue River flowed behind the church, beneath a quiet green cemetery, where crumbling headstones from settlers long forgotten comingled with those of the more recently interred, and ancient willows stood watch. A patch of freshly turned earth quietly waited.
Not even a cranky storm could dull the brilliance of the stained-glass windows within. A red-carpeted aisle leading straight to the pulpit split the wooden seating into two sections—left and right. At the foot of the pulpit rested a red mahogany casket. There had been no visitation by request, although Pastor Addams had allowed for the coffin to be set up ahead of time so anyone who wished could pay their last respects.
“Funerals are for the living,” the pastor told Levi. “Otto knew my stance on it.”
A few Endeavour Ranch people had turned out and were already seated. The Endeavour’s owners weren’t here yet, but Levi knew they planned to attend.
A slight, elderly woman had taken pride of possession at the head of the casket. She looked too much like Otto to be anything but family. A middle-aged man, who leaned toward senior citizenship, with a combover that wouldn’t fool the legally blind, and a sullen man around Levi’s age who gave the impression he’d prefer polar-dipping to this, flanked her on either side. Levi and Dana approached them to shake hands.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Levi said sincerely. That people from Otto’s family had cared enough to show up for the funeral was unexpected. They’d had no need to attend.
The woman took Levi’s hand between dry palms and introduced herself as Olive Danby, Otto’s older sister. The two men, Roger and Parker, were her son and grandson, respectively.
Olive’s wrinkled lips trembled under a thick layer of bright red. “We hadn’t seen each other in more than sixty years, but I know my brother. I was worried no one else would show up.” Red-rimmed eyes took note of Ryan and Elizabeth O’Connell as they made their entrance. “I’m glad to see that isn’t the case.”
“He was well respected,” Levi said.
She smiled a little. “If not well liked. Rumor had it he could be difficult. Good to know some things never change.”
