A Broken Cowboy Read online

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  When Mimi awoke, she was warm and dry, wrapped in a soft blanket. A beeping sound nearby came from a small array of machines that kept track of her vital signs. She opened her eyes to the sterile whiteness of a hospital room. A woman in scrubs stood with her back to her, recording information on a clipboard.

  “Hello?” Mimi asked, her voice a hoarse whisper that burned its way out of her throat.

  “You’re awake! How do you feel?” the nurse asked brightly, coming over to check Mimi’s IV line.

  “I’m thirsty,” she answered in a dull voice.

  “Yeah, I’ll get you some ice in just a second. I bet you’re probably hungry, too. They only brought you in this morning, but you’ve been asleep pretty much since you got here. I have to say, you’re in really great shape for someone who spent the night in that water. Your lungs are clear and you don’t have any broken bones. You had a few nasty scrapes and one cut that needed stitches, but other than needing a tetanus shot, you were good!”

  “That’s good news, I guess,” Mimi thought soberly. She closed her eyes against the harsh white light in the room, and let her head fall back against the crinkly hospital pillow. Unlike in the movies, Mimi remembered everything. She remembered the shadow of Gabriel falling and disappearing beneath the muddy water’s surface, and she remembered the way his image and his voice appeared to her, giving her the strength to fight her way out of the flood. But it was all for nothing.

  Now, she was alive and awake, but empty. She almost wished she’d never met in the first place if fate was only going to take him away, literally ripping him out of her arms and out of her heart. She knew on some level that there had to be a reason, a purpose in all of this, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what it could be.

  Hadn’t she been a good person? Hadn’t she even found a way to use the ranch to help other people? Was it really too much to ask that she be allowed to keep the one person who’d made her happier than she’d been in a long time? She’d already endured more than she should have had to, losing first her dad to a horrifically violent crime, then her mother only a few years ago to illness. Why did she have to lose Gabriel, too? More importantly, why was she still alive when the people she cared about were all gone?

  “And now,” the nurse continued, “thank goodness I can go tell this guy you’re awake. Maybe then he’ll get off our backs!” The nurse opened the door and spoke to someone in the hallway. Mimi heard pounding footsteps that sounded like someone was running, then nearly fainted when Gabriel appeared beside the bed. She struggled to speak, but not finding the words.

  “Hey there,” he said softly, placing a kiss on Mimi’s lips before stepping back and grabbing the chair beside the bed, pulling it over so close that Mimi had to refocus on his handsome face. An angry red slash above his eyebrow glistened from some kind of ointment, but otherwise, he looked fine. “You need to take swimming lessons.”

  Mimi was still too dumbfounded to speak. She’d seen him get carried away by the flood, and then in the morning was certain it was his ghost that helped her through. But here he was, warm and gorgeous and very much alive. She started to cry even as she smiled at him.

  “Now, now, no crying!” he said, suddenly concerned. “It’s all over. You’re okay.”

  “How is this possible? I saw you fall,” she began, doubting her own memory of the incident. “And then…”

  “I did fall, then I went along with the current for a while. I slowly started veering towards solid ground as it carried me, and by then I was so far from you that it was a better choice to go for help. I was in the helicopter with the rescue team, and when you couldn’t get in the harness, I jumped,” he explained, taking her hand in his and holding it firmly as she shook.

  “It’s too unbelievable,” she began, still crying from the emotional strain of being alone and wanting to die, to being so overjoyed that Gabriel was alive and real.

  “No more tears, baby. I’m fine,” he assured her.

  “That’s not why I’m crying,” she said, laughing as she wiped at the tears with the back of her other hand. She lifted it and gestured to the hospital room and the building. “You’re inside!”

  Gabriel laughed too and whispered, “The next time you want me to come inside, promise me that you won’t try to die. Just tell me, and I promise I’ll come in.” Mimi shook her head before fixing him with a confident gaze.

  “Nope, no more dying for either of us. Indoors, outdoors, I don’t care. We’ll pitch a tent, live under a rock, whatever. Just as long as you’re still there.” She smiled at him, and was a little bit shocked to realize she meant it. The city woman who once lived in a home with gleaming stainless steel appliances and polished granite counter tops would give up central heat and air conditioning—heck, she’d even give up indoor plumbing—just as long as it meant she got to stay here with Gabriel.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her. “I’m here. I love you.” He stood to lean over her and kissed her again, lingering with his lips pressed against hers. She reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck, refusing to let him go.

  “I love you, too, Gabriel,” she said after finally releasing him. They both laughed at the sudden increase in speed from the heart rate monitor that beeped near the head of her bed.

  The next day, Mimi and Gabriel walked out of the hospital, hand in hand, and rode out with Sarah to survey the damage. The cabin was completely destroyed, pieces of it scattered in a winding line where the waters were beginning to recede a fraction. It would be weeks before the water would be gone and rebuilding could start.

  “Well,” Mimi said, refusing to be brought down by the whole incident, “the good thing is I didn’t really own anything yet. I won’t have a ton of stuff to replace, and anything I did lose will be covered by insurance.”

  “Wow, Mimi,” Sarah said with a sad smile. “You have such a great heart. An incident like this comes along only every so often, but it can really knock people down. It’s amazing how you’re just taking it in stride! Thank goodness your horses were free and able to make it to higher ground. If they’d been in the barn…” Her voice trailed off, leaving unsaid the horrific thought.

  Mimi’s horses were skittish and hadn’t returned yet, but Gabriel had promised Mimi that he’d seen them standing up on the ridge, overlooking the ranch. At least she knew they were safe, and knew that they would come back when they felt safe again.

  “I’ve already been through the worst. This is nothing compared to how it could have turned out, how I thought it had turned out,” she said, looking up at Gabriel with a pointed expression. Mimi had spent that torturous night thinking he was gone, and woke the next day ready to let the water claim her too. Houses and material things didn’t compare with that pain.

  “Well, you guys are welcome to stay over at our place until this water washes away and you can get something set up,” Sarah offered.

  Mimi shook her head. “Thank you, but no. We’ll be just fine out here. It’s great to have a roof over your head, but it’s not the only way to live.” Gabriel smiled at Mimi, squeezing her hand and nudging her with his shoulder.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Mimi stared at the “No Trespassing: This Means Mimi” sign that Gabriel had erected alongside the dirt road that led to where her cabin used to stand. It had been three months since the flood and this was the first time he’d let her see what remained of her former home. He held her tightly in case the water works started up again when she saw how everything was gone. He was surprised when she turned to look at him with a beaming expression on her face.

  “I’m done with the tears. The girl who used to cry over silly things like bats and wet laundry is gone. I came up out of that water knowing what is really important. This muddy plot of land used to be where my house stood, and I don’t care in the least. I still have what’s important,” she said firmly, leaning her head against his shoulder.

  She’d been living
under the overhang with Gabriel for these three months, pressed against him during the night and finding his delicious warmth to be all the shelter she needed. They cooked together over his fire and ate their meals under the sky, making love often and for hours at a time.

  When he did sneak away, it was to leave her for long periods to work on her cabin, but he meant what he’d painted in large, hand-written letters on the sign. She hadn’t seen anything he’d built, and she respected his no peeking rule.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked, pulling the sign off the post he’d stuck it on, ready to swap out with the sign in his other hand.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. Were you just playing with me, or do I really have a bathroom inside this time?” she demanded. It had been a sore point with them, with Gabriel wanting to give her all the comforts of home, but Mimi wanting to recreate the frontier-like shack that had first drawn her to this place of contentment.

  “Really and truly. There’s even a bathtub,” he promised her, “one big enough for two people to bathe together.” He kissed her behind the ear and continued nuzzling her neck, sliding his hands around her waist.

  “You’re stalling…but I love it. Don’t stop,” she teased.

  “Nope, not stalling. Just appreciating,” he promised with one of his more frequent grins. He took a hammer from his belt and nailed the new sign in place on its post, turning to Mimi and laughing at her confused expression.

  “What’s this mean?” she asked, pointing to the professionally-lettered sign that read, “Honk Before Passing This Point.”

  “You’ll see.” Gabriel held out his hand and they walked the distance to her cabin, turning around the bend until her new home came into view. When she saw it, the sunlight reflecting off the windows, she gasped and stopped, unable to move for wanting to take in the sight.

  “Gabriel,” she began in a whisper, realization hitting her full in the face.

  “That had better not be tears,” he teased quietly, as Mimi shook her head.

  “My no more crying rule doesn’t cover this, it’s so beautiful I can’t help it.” They approached the house hand in hand, Mimi finally understanding Gabriel’s sign and why he’d put it up.

  The entire house was made of glass situated within its wood frame. The oak beams stood like a skeleton supporting large paned windows on every side, more glass making up the roof. Finally, Gabriel would have a home that he could actually bring himself to be inside. She turned to him and kissed him, forgetting to look at the wonder of her home as she instead took in the wonder that was the love of her life.

  “Does this mean you can stay?” she asked, pointing to her new house.

  “That’s my plan. I’m really going to try,” he said, a little less confidently but still with a note of hope in his voice.

  “And I’m not going to push you. You take all the time you need, and if it ever gets to be too much, just go back out to your rock until you feel safe again. You can go alone if you need to regroup, or I’ll pack up my sleeping bag and go with you.”

  Gabriel kissed her and held her pressed against his chest, then released her so they could explore. They scanned the outside first, as he pointed out all the features he’d been able to incorporate within their budget. There was a solar hot water heater on the roof that meant no more heating water on the stove, and solar shingles running here and there along the glass to keep her power bills down. Tiny wires ran inside of each pane so that in the winter they could heat the glass against the temperature and let the greenhouse-like home do the rest.

  Mimi noticed with relief that the entire structure was built around a solid cedar room in the middle, a bathroom which was both walled in for in for safety and that led to a storm shelter beneath the floor for safety and storage.

  As they approached the steps leading up to the wide wrap-around porch that ran beneath a tinted glass overhang, Mimi felt Gabriel’s hand stiffen inside hers.

  “How can this be scary?” she asked in a reassuring voice. “Surely you went inside this house a million times when you were building it, right? It’s just like those times, it’s the exact same thing.”

  “True, but in all those times there were no expectations. I knew I could run back outside if it felt too closed in. But now, you’re here.”

  “That doesn’t change anything, Gabriel. You can still run outside anytime you need to.” She squeezed his hand for support and smiled at him.

  “But I don’t want to run outside. I want to stay, and be a normal person for you.” His voice shook a little as he bared his feelings for her, opening himself up and showing how weak he still felt inside.

  “Don’t you dare change who you are for me. The weird, scary guy who used to show up in my yard and say crazy things is the man I fell in love with. Any changing you want to do is only for you. Not me. Run in and out all day long for all I care, just don’t leave the door standing open and let the flies in.” She punched him playfully in the shoulder.

  Gabriel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then held out his hand again for Mimi to join him as they walked up the steps. He closed his eyes and walked straight to the thick glass door, opening it for her and holding it for a second before stepping through the doorway. Inside, he opened his eyes and sighed slowly, then smiled tentatively at Mimi before walking into the kitchen with her.

  Together, they explored all of Gabriel’s work, most of it handcrafted. His personal touch was everywhere, from the countertops made from rock off the ranch, to the wood cabinets made from felled trees that had come down in the flood. New appliances stood at odd angles in the kitchen, arranged just so to let as much light as possible come in and not block the views of the outside.

  They went from room to room taking in all of the details, making plans for what to do with each space. Mimi was delighted that most of those plans involved some very intimate ideas. She was thrilled to see that Gabriel had been able to keep most of the original concept of her former cabin, including placing their bedroom in a loft again that overlooked the whole floor plan. The glass above their heads in the bedroom loft was almost close enough to touch with the ends of her fingertips, and was built without any obstructions as one solid window, meaning that at night they would fall asleep under a completely pure view of the night sky then be wakened every morning by the sunrise washing over them.

  As Mimi descended the stairs back to the main level of the house, Gabriel steered her towards the living room where he pointed out the one feature of the exterior that blocked the view of the wide open ranch. A stone fireplace was built into one wall, its large chimney running up the side of the house. She closed her eyes for a second a let her mind drift to spending countless nights in front of a crackling fire, her naked body entwined with Gabriel’s on a thick, luxurious rug as stars lit up the sky all around the house.

  “The mantle is very special to me,” Gabriel explained, speaking of the dark wood plank that ran above the fireplace. “It’s made from the limb you hung onto all night in the flood.” He dropped his eyes to the floor before he continued, emotion welling up in his voice. “It’s the only thing that saved you and kept you with me, even after I left you and couldn’t keep you safe.”

  Mimi raised his chin to look into his face. “Hey now, no more tears, remember? Besides, you didn’t choose to leave me, and the important part of that story is what you went through to come back to me. Thanks to you, I’m right here, and I’m not leaving.”

  Gabriel kissed her, then turned her to look at the mantle and waited. From where she stood with her back leaned against his chest, Mimi could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest. She admired the whole room for a second, but froze when her eyes came to rest on a small, black velvet ring box in the middle of the mantle, its lid open to reveal a diamond ring nestled within the white satin interior. She reached up her hands suddenly to grip Gabriel’s and waited, unable to say anything. He lowered his face to her ear and whispered, “Will you marry me?”

 
; “Yes! Yes, I will marry you,” she cried, turning and wrapping her arms around his strong neck.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Okay, guys, saddle up!” Gabriel called to the group of campers, readying them for their afternoon ride out to the new watering hole and back. “Everyone have on sunscreen? Got your swimsuits and towels?” A loud chorus of kids’ voices answered him back as the group of twenty campers and their counselors began to form a line of horses two across. Mimi and Gabriel nudged their horses with their heels and kicked off the ride, leading the way.

  This group had been one of Mimi’s favorites so far, if she could even bring herself to have favorites when it came to lost or hurting children. These kids were all part of an at-risk school, all of them having lived their entire lives in rough neighborhoods, showing up at school or not as they pleased, some of them already having been in and out of foster care or the criminal justice system. She knew she couldn’t solve their problems for them and she certainly couldn’t change the environments they would have to go back to after their two-week stay at Loving Sky Ranch, but she could send them back a little more confident, a little more self-assured, and better able to thrive in a place where they had experienced nothing but being kept down.

  After finishing their house, Gabriel and Mimi together immediately began building the barn, purposely structuring it so that it could be added onto easily as they had need for more animals. The two horses had returned to Gabriel’s rock after the storm, and quite easily adapted to both the new barn and the first two of the many new horses that they gradually added to the family.

  They added to their small farm with about forty head of cattle, not owned outright but sent to graze on the untouched grasses by local ranchers who paid to board them on the property. They also added a full hen house of squawking chickens and a few dozen sheep, who provided a sturdy income in their wool. The handful of donkeys that grazed in the fields helped protect the larger herd animals and the horses from coyotes, who were naturally afraid of donkeys, and the two long-haired collies spent their days patrolling the farm and their nights curled up on rugs beside Mimi and Gabriel’s bed.