A Broken Cowboy Page 9

  Getting Krystal to come back out West for Mimi’s wedding hadn’t taken too much begging, especially after Mimi promised her best friend that indoor plumbing had been installed and that she would be maid of honor. Several of Mimi’s other girlfriends from back east made the trip as well, all of them marveling as they drove up to the property about the incredible view and the very interesting house.

  One thing had put Mimi on edge about the wedding: Gabriel’s friends and family. She hadn’t wanted to open any wounds, especially now that he was doing so well with trying to gain a sense of balance in his life. But Mimi wanted to share their special day with the people who had mattered to Gabriel.

  “What about your parents?” she’d asked hesitantly, not wanting to pry into places that he’d never brought up. If he’d never spoken of them, there had to have been a reason.

  “I don’t think they’d want to come,” he’d answered simply, that monotone voice of his that used to drive her mad coming back as he spoke. She knew it meant this was a subject that he kept safely walled off, so she knew to tread carefully.

  “Do you mean because…”

  “Because what?” he asked, turning to look at her.

  “Because I’m black?” she asked in a timid voice, cringing at what she thought the answer might be.

  “No! No, of course not. That wouldn’t be a problem, and if it was, I’d never even think of asking them. No!” Gabriel looked shocked at her suggestion, and hurt that she could think his family would have a problem with her.

  “Well, then, what could be so bad that they wouldn’t want to be there when you get married?” she asked, still trying to not sound demanding but so confused by the thought of two parents who wanted nothing to do with their son.

  “It’s just…they never wanted me to join the Army in the first place. It’s not exactly in line with what they think, and they certainly didn’t agree with our country being involved. Then to know what their son did while he was there. When I add all that to the fact that I’m still struggling to make it through every single day without freaking out, I just don’t think they want to talk to me, let alone come to a wedding.”

  “Are you saying you haven’t talked to them since you joined the Army?” she asked, growing more and more concerned. She gasped when he nodded his head.

  “Gabriel,” she began, afraid of what he might answer. “Do they even know you’re still alive?” She closed her eyes and waited after he shook his head. “So they might have thought all this time that something awful happened to you. You can’t leave it like that. They have to know that nothing happened to you over there.”

  “But something awful did happen to me,” he argued in a sad voice. “The kid they raised and loved died, and the person I am now came back in his place. How do I tell them what I did, and who I’ve become?” He watched Mimi’s face closely and she realized that this wasn’t a rhetorical question, that Gabriel really wanted an answer because he didn’t know how to face them.

  “You just talk to them. They’re already out of your life at this point, so what will it hurt to invite them back in? If they do decide that they want nothing to do with you—which I cannot even begin to imagine anyone doing, let alone your own mother and father—then you haven’t lost anything that you didn’t lose already. Try. Just reach out to them.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know how. I want to, but I don’t even know what to say, where to start. It’s been too long.”

  “Do you want me to try?” Mimi asked. “After all, these people are about to become my family, too, for better or for worse, remember? I’ll call, but only if you want me to. I’m not going to butt in if it’s not what you want.”

  Gabriel looked down at his hands for a long time before nodding his head. He stood up and kissed Mimi firmly, then walked out the door of their house and took long strides back in the direction of his rock. Mimi smiled to herself sadly, glad to know that he wanted to patch things up with his family but also saddened from knowing that he needed the safety of his solitude for a day or two. She went to work on her computer tracking down his parents’ information, determined to have an answer one way or another before Gabriel came home.

  What Mimi wasn’t prepared for was the woman’s scream and the sound of a phone dropping to the floor after she dialed the number she found online, explaining to the caller who she was and what she wanted. She stared blankly while she waited for something to happen, hearing muffled voices on the other end of the phone before a man’s voice came on.

  “Hello? Hello? Who is this? You said you know where Gabriel is?” he demanded, not a hint of anger in his voice, only a father’s desperation.

  “Um, yes. I’m sorry, I can call back if this is a bad time,” she stammered, still worried about the woman who screamed, picturing her fainting dead away and the phone clattering across the floor at the mention of Gabriel’s name.

  “No! No, please don’t hang up! You know where our son is?” he continued, choking up a little bit.

  Slowly, Mimi poured out the whole story, or at least the parts that she knew and that she was certain Gabriel wouldn’t mind her sharing with them. His mother came back on the phone after only a few minutes, begging Mimi to tell her where Gabriel was. She smiled as she recounted how Gabriel wanted to see them, too, giving them her phone number and promising them that Gabriel would call as soon as he was ready, and that she would keep them updated until that time.

  But instead of waiting for him to regroup and come home, Mimi saddled up one of the horses and packed the phone in her backpack, then headed out to Gabriel’s rock. She purposely brought their dinner and a bedroll of her own, in case he wasn’t ready to head back to reality just yet. She arrived to find him sitting with his back against a boulder, staring down at his feet and thinking.

  “You can run away from the house anytime you need to, but you can’t run away from me anymore,” Mimi said, climbing down out of the saddle and coming over to where Gabriel sat. She held out her hand and he took her hand in his, still without looking up. “We’re going to be husband and wife. Together. That means when you need to come out here and get away, I have to come too. And I will do it, every time, without complaint. I hope it’s not raining or cold and I really hope there aren’t any snakes, but if that’s the case, then so be it.”

  She rummaged around in her bag then held out the phone to him. “Your parents are sitting by their phone, waiting for you to call.” Gabriel finally lifted his head and Mimi’s breath caught when she saw the tear stains on his face. She knelt down beside him and pulled her to him, cradling his head as she spoke. “Hey, there’s no crying on my ranch, remember? This is our happy place. Gabriel, I promise you, they’re dying to talk to you. I told them everything that I thought you wouldn’t mind me sharing, and they don’t care. They just want to talk to you. They want you back. Just the way you are now.”

  Gabriel stood up and walked, pacing back and forth while making up his mind, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone. Finally, Mimi stood to go, hoping that having some of the solitude he craved every so often would help him make the right decision.

  “I’m the last person on earth who should tell anyone to hurry up and get over something that hurts so much. I let a childhood full of pain and longing turn me into an adult who could barely take a deep breath. You take your time. But you just know that whenever the day comes that you’re ready to talk, they’re waiting to listen.” She smiled at him and kissed him sweetly before turning towards her horse, giving Gabriel his privacy no matter what he decided to do. He put out a hand and stopped her, pulling her with him as he returned to his seat beneath the jutting out rock.

  “Stay with me, okay?” he asked, pressing the button on the phone and entering in the numbers that he still knew by heart. Mimi sat beside him and linked her arm through his, leaning her head on his shoulder and being there for him as he spoke into the phone with a shaky voice. “Mom?”

  EPILOGUE

  Shor
tly after a late summer wedding outside their home—attended by friends and far more people in Gabriel’s family than Mimi could have ever envisioned when she first reached out to them—and a honeymoon spent camping on the far end of the ranch, Mimi and Gabriel had gotten to work on the very serious job of setting up Loving Sky Ranch as a haven for people with very unique needs. It had taken six more months of planning and meetings, but the first round of campers who had come through the wide wooden gate to the ranch left as changed people.

  So far, her ranch had held special camp sessions for a very diverse group of people. Gabriel worked with the veteran’s administration to offer sessions for soldiers who were struggling to reintegrate with society, which offered them quiet and solitude alongside things like rock climbing and just time to talk to people who shared their experiences.

  A local hospital had reached out and helped them organize camps for children with cancer, as well as special camp sessions for kids’ whose siblings were dealing with the disease and therefore often felt overlooked even while feeling afraid. There had been empowerment camps for domestic violence and sexual abuse survivors, team building camps for companies who needed to bring a sense of unity to their workplaces, religious retreats hosted by churches, and more.

  Loving Sky had become a place where anyone with a need could come to find himself and leave as someone who had been changed for the better.

  And since Mimi had first stepped her city-dwelling foot on the waving grasses beneath an open, limitless sky, she had changed, too. The frantic, worried person who came out West and hopped on a horse to get away from the stress of her life had endured a trial by fire—or rather, water—and emerged as a whole new person who could take on anything. Of course, having Gabriel by her side had helped.

  “You’re awfully quiet over there,” Gabriel said after they led the group of young riders around the first bend. His frayed cowboy hat and tight t-shirt showed off the planes of his chest in an unbelievably wonderful way that made Mimi think very inappropriate thoughts. “What are you thinking about?”

  “You,” she said quietly, giving him a sly look that reminded him of the way she had woken him up that morning with her mouth placed in very strategic locations on his body.

  He raised an eyebrow, and Mimi’s heart almost stopped. “Really? Thinking about making me work later today?”

  “Oh, you’ll be working,” she answered so softly no one could hear.

  Gabriel licked his lips, taking off his hat for a second to wipe his forehead with the back of his hand. “That’s what I like to hear!”

  He urged his horse onward to get in front of Mimi since the trail narrowed up ahead, leaving her to stare after him at the gorgeous view of his backside in his well broken-in jeans and wonder for the millionth time how in the world she ever got to be so lucky.

  THE END

  Copyright 2014 Renee Phillips

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