The Long Ride Home (Cowboys & Cowgirls) Read online

  “What was that?” Holton asked, looking over at her face. She had a grin on and she was reading her phone.

  “I just got a text. Oh My God,” Elena said, laughing, she pushed a few buttons and then started laughing again. One of her friends at school just got back from a blind date. Apparently the night was very interesting if the text was anything.

  “Brian I assume?”

  Elena looked up confused and then smiled. “Yeah, he misses me. He was just telling me, well,” she said, hoping that her face turned the desired shade of red, “never mind.”

  Holton shook his head once more and then turned on the radio. Lady in Red was on.

  “Oh, I love this song.”

  “I hate it,” he said, switching the station. That song only made him think of her, and he didn’t want to think of that brat while she was sitting right next to him. He turned two more stations, and she commented on how much she liked those songs; he turned them as well, not wanting anything to do with what she liked. Finally, he stopped on a rap station, hating it more than anything. He moved his head as if he was enjoying the music and she laughed, and then joined in on the chorus.

  “I didn’t know you liked this one, Holton.”

  “Son of a …”

  “You shouldn’t cuss in front of a lady,” Elena remarked. Holton took a deep breath and prayed silently that the last remaining three hours would go by quickly.

  ***

  “How’s he doing?” Elena asked the nurse on the phone.

  “He’s not doing any better or worse. He still hasn’t remembered anything. He’s been complaining about headaches, but the scans aren’t showing any problems, other than the swelling from the fall. Which we are monitoring close.”

  “Can you tell him that I will be there soon, and that I love him?”

  “I’m not sure what good it will do, since he doesn’t know anyone, but I will tell him all the same.”

  “Thank you,” Elena said, sobbing as she hung up.

  “Hey, you okay?” Holton asked; he reached his hand across the seat and gripped hers in his own. Elena squeezed it and looked away.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Listen,” Holton said, “I’m sorry about earlier. We’ll be at the hospital within an hour. We should probably talk about your dad now.”

  Elena looked over at him with fear in her eyes. “What?”

  “When he fell…his brain swelled. It’s not good, Elena.”

  “What!”

  “They don’t think that…well they don’t think that he’ll make it. You asked me earlier why I came and didn’t just send for you. I didn’t want you to come home to what I saw.”

  Elena covered her mouth with her hand and started crying hard now. “Oh my God!”

  “Listen, he didn’t know who I was when I got to him in the barn, and I know it had to have only been twenty minutes at the most…I had just finished talking to him before I went on my way and started getting some of my stuff done.”

  “He didn’t know you then?”

  “No,” Holton said, shaking his head. “He was unconscious, and when we were in the ambulance, he flat lined. They brought him back, honey. I thought everything was going to be okay when he woke up shortly after, but then he didn’t know who I was. The doctor told me to call his kin right away. I left, but I’ve been in contact with your father’s doctor ever since.”

  “And he just told you all this…”

  “I told him that you were my wife.”

  Elena’s eyes widened and she looked into Holton’s. “They wouldn’t tell me anything, not being related. I didn’t think you’d mind. I had to know, Elena. Your parents were my parents after mine died. And then your mother.”

  “Momma,” Elena whispered, crying still. Her own mother died two short years ago of Breast Cancer.

  “I’m so sorry, Elena.”

  “What am I going to do, Holton?” Elena whispered.

  “We’ll think of something, Elena. You know that we will always be family, right?”

  Elena nodded, thinking that if she didn’t have Holton, she would be all alone in this world. And now, more than ever, it was true.

  Chapter 3

  They sat in the hospital room for three hours with no inclination of her father waking. Holton was by her side, getting up only to retrieve her some coffee or to use the restroom. He sat with her when her dad finally awoke, too, not recognizing his only daughter.

  “Daddy, do you remember me?”

  Her old man just looked at her with blank eyes. He then looked at the TV and switched it on, ignoring her all together. It took everything in her not to cry. Holton stood up and went behind her, taking her into his arms. She nearly fell apart, but kept strong for her father. She knew he had to have been scared.

  “If I’m your father, who is this guy?” her father asked.

  “I’m her husband,” Holton said, surprising Elena. “We’ve been neighbors for many years.”

  “You’re her husband? And we’re neighbors.”

  “Yes, Sir. Adjoining land.”

  “A good merger then,” her father said, understanding. Elena didn’t know what they were talking about.

  “A merger? A marriage is hardly a merger,” Elena said, wanting to know what her father was getting at.

  “Adjoining land, young lady. Ranching is about land, and my land has been in my family for years.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Where’s your mother? Why isn’t she here?”

  Elena’s eyes filled with tears now, and she looked at Holton for help. Holton grabbed the old man’s shoulder and smiled. “She just went out. She’s been here waiting for you to wake up. You know, ranching women. She had to make sure everything was running all right.”

  Elena looked into Holton’s eyes and smiled.

  “Sounds like my Claire. Now, you, you can get going,” he said, looking at Elena. Then he looked at Holton. “Take care of my daughter, young man,” he said.

  “I will.”

  And that was the last thing she heard from her father. He died that night in his sleep. The swelling didn’t stop and he bled out.

  ***

  The whole next week was much of a blur with funeral preparations, announcements, and obituaries and will readings. Elena could hardly believe that it was just last week that she was worrying about her finals. She had one week of school left until Christmas break and then she was off for three more weeks. She had to go back to take her finals and then take the long way home once more. Several times that week she thought maybe she would just forget finals all together, but knew her father would not have liked that.

  “Elena, are you in here?” Holton asked as he came into the house. He walked into the living room and found her sitting alone on the couch. She was wearing a black dress and a string of pearls around her neck.

  “Honey?”

  Elena looked up with tears in her eyes. “I still can’t believe he’s gone. I…what’s going to happen? I have to go back to school and I don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

  “We’ll talk about that when we get back, sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine. You’ll see.”

  Elena nodded and stood up, holding on to Holton’s hand. He led her out to the car and helped her in. The drive to the cemetery only took a few minutes from the house.

  Chapter 4

  “Elena, I’m so sorry about your father,” Joe Thomas said, coming up to them at the start of the funeral.

  “Thank you.”

  “Elena, I went to school with your father,” a man that Elena didn’t know came up to her and shook her hand. “He was a very good man.”

  Elena smiled and nodded. “Thank you, he was.”

  There were many condolences throughout the service, and many of them, like at her mother’s funeral, were from people that she had never met before. She hadn’t realized before how many people her father touched during his life. He was a good man, one that she was proud to call father.
r />   After Pastor Mike gave the final prayer, she placed a white rose on his casket and they lowered it to the ground. She cried and Holton held her and soothed her until the last person left the cemetery.

  “I can’t stop thinking about what my father would want. I can’t stop thinking about my mother and when she died. My father, he wanted me to concentrate on going to school. She died my freshman year, just when I started, and now I’m in my final year and this happens to my father. I know what he would want. I have to go back to school, Holton. I have next week. As soon as I’m finished on Friday, I’ll come back and figure out what I’m going to do with the house.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “What do you think? I promised my parents I would finish college. I need to finish, I just don’t know what I am going to do for money. It’s either the house or…I don’t know. I only have one more year left.”

  “You can’t…you aren’t selling the ranch.”

  Elena looked up and shook her head. “No, I don’t want to. It has been in my dad’s family for years…you heard him. But I can’t let it go, either. I know next to nothing about ranching, Holton. I’m going to school for Nursing. I am not qualified to take care of it on my own.”

  “Sell it to me,” he said, as he took her hand. Elena glanced up and saw the gleam in his eyes.

  “What? No, I’m not—I don’t want—”

  “Why not? You don’t want it, and your dad knew me… he wouldn’t disapprove, Elena.”

  “Yeah? You don’t think he would? You don’t think he would care that I sold what his family worked hard to build for hundreds of years? No, no big deal. And then what? Lose everything?” Elena looked devastated.

  “You can have the house, Elena. I don’t need it. I have mine; you can live there and sell me the land. That way you will have the money that you need for college.”

  “I can’t believe you just suggested that I do that! You told him we were married, you told him that you would take care of me!” she said, crying.

  Holton’s eyes widened and he walked over to console her, but she turned away.

  “I need you to leave now, Holton.”

  “Elena!”

  “Go,” she said, and then she walked to her bedroom and then shut the door.

  A few minutes later, she heard Holton shut the door and start up his car. Her shoulders slumped, she couldn’t imagine Holton on her land, raising his kids with another woman. She didn’t think she could stand the thought of not being with him, but him with someone else and a family, was even harder.

  ***

  The next day was mostly uneventful for Holton as he went through the business of doing his usual chores on the ranch, feeding the livestock, checking the fence lines and figuring out numbers and weight ratios for the upcoming auction. As he sat in the east field of his property that overlooked Elena’s, he thought of what she said last night and his promise to her father. He supposed it was inevitable, him tying himself to her in marriage. They had been in each other’s lives for years now; why not make it something more permanent. She could finish school, get the degree she had planned on getting and he could gain more land. Like her father said—a merger—something that made sense.

  And maybe finally he could get over his hang-ups—the main one being him too old and not good enough for her.

  Feeling happy, Holton made his way down the property line on Reiser, his horse, and took a shorter path to Elena’s, not seeing the car that was parked in the driveway.

  Holton knocked twice and waited for her to come to the doorway. Excitement ran through his veins at the thought of marrying Elena and being able to expand his operation. He had never planned on getting married, but it would be something that Elena would need in order to get what she wanted.

  Holton knocked on the door once more and waited, but nothing happened. All he could think of was how upset she was yesterday. What if she did something stupid—being so worried about her situation? With adrenaline in his veins, he opened the door and ran toward her bedroom and flung the door open and was shocked at what faced him.

  “Holton!” Elena exclaimed.

  Holton’s eyes rounded and then focused on the man that had his future wife wrapped up in his arms. He didn’t think; he walked right up to him and yanked him out of the bed by the collar. “Who the hell are you? And what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he roared. Elena flinched and the man that was just holding her went to move his arms, but was firmly planted against the wall now. “Answer me!”

  “I’m… I’m Brian Hadley!”

  “Brian! I am so sorry,” Elena said, looking from Brian to Holton. “Holton, leave him alone! Are you nuts?!”

  Holton’s eyes looked like they were on fire. When he looked at Elena she visibly flinched. “I leave you for two seconds and you are all over this guy!”

  “Two seconds! Are you kidding me? I told you to just go last night and now you are over here pulling Brian away from me!”

  Brian smiled at Elena and then looked at the man that had him by the collar. “I’m Brian, Susan’s…”

  “I know who you are, Brian,” Holton said irritably. “What Elena has failed to realize is how horrible of a boyfriend you are! Her father dies and you are just now deigning her with your presence! Where were you? I’ll tell you where you weren’t! You weren’t by her side when she was crying! You weren’t at the funeral! And now, all of a sudden, when she just had a will reading you are here by her side!” Holton yelled the last of it and then looked at Elena with disgust. “I assume you are just distraught, because I never took you to be a stupid woman, Elena...”

  “That’s funny, up until last week you took me to be a little girl!” she yelled. Brian seemed to think the whole repartee was hilarious because he started to laugh. Holton looked at him curiously as Elena shot darts at him with her eyes.

  “What’s your problem?” Holton asked Brian.

  “Wow. Elena told me about the infamous Holton Dade, but I had no idea. As I was saying before, I’m Susan’s brother. And, in case you couldn’t figure it out, I’m not Elena’s boyfriend. I already have a boyfriend, and his name is Edgar.”

  Holton immediately let him go and stood back and then looked at Elena whom was looking the other way. Her face was red and she was shaking. “I’m sorry, Brian. I thought you were…”

  “It doesn’t matter what you thought!” Elena yelled. “You can’t just come into my house, let alone my bedroom and manhandle anyone you want! Like I told you yesterday, go!”

  Holton looked down, embarrassed. “I need to talk to you, Elena.”

  “Well, I don’t want to talk to you!”

  “Well, I’m not leaving here until you talk to me.”

  “Well that’s too damned bad, because Brian and I were just getting ready to leave to go back to school. I have my exams tomorrow, remember?”

  “I remember,” Holton said quietly. Brian stepped to the side and then walked around the two fighting.

  “I’m going to go look around, Elena. It was nice meeting you, Holton.” Brian laughed and then walked out the door, leaving the two of them to themselves.

  Holton shook his head. “What the hell, Elena? You told me that Brian…”

  “I know what I told you, Jackass, okay? You don’t have to throw my nonexistent love life in my face. I get it. No, I don’t have a boyfriend, and yes, I’m a virgin. Go ahead; continue making fun of me, everyone else does. Make fun of my hair, too. It’s wild and untamable, and I look like a crazy person.”

  “You are acting like a crazy person right now,” Holton mused, trying not to smile. He didn’t want to admit that knowing she didn’t have a boyfriend made him feel loads better. “Why did you lie to me?”

  “Why do you think? You act like you are so damned better than me, Holt! And then all that business with Beth Ann. She and I went to school together, you idiot! It’s one thing to not be interested in me, but a whole other thing to just make up stupid excuses like our age diff
erence!”

  Holton turned red at the insinuation. “I’m sorry…”

  “Yeah, okay. What did you want? I really don’t want to talk to you right now.”

  Holton looked down at his scuffed up cowboy boots and then to his old Levis and flannel shirt. He couldn’t help but remember what she said about his ‘style’ a few weeks ago. He cringed, knowing that he probably should have taken more time to look better. She was right, Brian did have a style, and Holton looked nothing like him.

  “What are you making that face for?”

  “My clothes,” Holton replied, looking at her. “You’re right, I don’t dress that great.”

  Elena frowned, not knowing what he was talking about. “What’s wrong with your clothes?”

  “You mentioned that I dressed poorly.”

  Elena smiled, remembering the conversation. “That was just to put you in your place, Holton. You dress just fine.”

  “You don’t think I look stupid?” he asked, feeling a little bit better about himself.

  “Well, I didn’t say that,” she joked, and then shook her head no.

  “Because I don’t want to screw this up,” Holton said and he bent down on one knee. Elena looked at him for a moment and then realized what he was doing. Tears freed from her eyes and she gasped.

  “What?”

  “Elena Rose, I’ve known you nearly my entire life…”

  “Oh my God!” Brian exclaimed from behind Holton. He came around the corner and smiled at Elena and then looked at an embarrassed Holton.

  “You don’t have to…”

  “I made a promise, Elena, and I intend to honor that promise. I am going to take care of you, if you’ll let me. Will you marry me?”

  Elena didn’t know what to say as she stood there, knowing that he was only doing this because of a deathbed promise to her father. But for some reason, even knowing that still didn’t take away from the lovely thought of marrying Holton Dade. She looked down into his eyes and smiled, trying to show him all the love she had for him. “Yes,” she said nodding, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”