A Cowboy's Duty

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Gavin wasn’t going to be bullied into getting drunk so he’d spill his guts about his relationship—whatever it was—with their baby sister. He checked his watch—5:00 p.m. and no one had fired up the grill. He set aside his beer and stood. “I need to hit the road.” A beefy hand on his shoulder pushed him down on the porch step.

“Dixie, when are the burgers gonna be ready for the grill?” Johnny called.

The screen door smacked against the house and Dixie shoved a platter of raw meat at Johnny. “Quit yelling.” She whapped his chest with a spatula then retreated inside the house.

Porter appeared with a sack of charcoal and dumped the entire bag into the belly of the large Weber grill. He then stuck his hand through a hole in the latticework covering the lower half of the porch and pulled out a large can of lighter fluid. After soaking the briquettes, he tossed a lighted match into the cooker. A fireball shot into the air.

“Hey, Tucker,” Merle said. “Why’d you leave the army?”

“After my buddy Nate Parker died I didn’t want anything to do with the military.” Following Nate’s death Gavin had been forced to attend several sessions with a shrink. He’d decided if there was any hope of putting his time in Afghanistan behind him he had to walk away from everything associated with the military.

Johnny spoke. “Never knew you and Parker were friends.”

“Parker’s story hit all the TV stations throughout the state,” Merle said. “It’d been a while since Arizona had lost one of its own.”

“We were up in Flagstaff at a rodeo the weekend the news broke,” Johnny said. “There was a moment of silence for Parker.”

“Nate would have appreciated that.”

“You should have stuck to soldiering, Tucker.” Willie snickered. “You suck at bareback riding.”

“Rodeo suits me fine.”

“I’m sorry about Parker,” Buck chimed in.

Gavin missed the good old days when he and Nate had traveled the circuit together. As the only child of a single mother, Gavin thought of his army buddy as a brother. “Nate was a damned good soldier. He didn’t deserve to die.” Didn’t deserve to have his body blown into pieces.

Merle went inside, then returned a minute later with a guitar. He played “Song for the Dead” by Randy Newman—a tribute to a fallen solider. Merle’s baritone voice was easy on the ears and Gavin’s thoughts drifted to the good times he’d shared with his childhood friend. When the song ended, he said, “That was nice. Thanks.”

Johnny motioned for Gavin to follow him to the cooker. “What’s going on between you and my sister?”

Gavin suspected the eldest Cash brother believed he’d fathered his sister’s baby. “We’re just…friends.”

The look in Johnny’s eyes called Gavin a liar. “Where’s your home these days?”

“Nowhere in particular. I’m not itching to put down roots.”

“We all—” Johnny nodded to his brothers on the porch “—grew up hearing people call our mother a tramp, a slut and a gold digger.”

Gavin knew where Johnny was heading with this speech.

“Dixie’s not like our mother. She doesn’t deserve being called names.”

“I’ve never believed Dixie was anything but a nice girl.”

“Good. ’Cause I better not hear one bad word about her on the circuit.”

“Mind if I ask you a question?” Johnny had piqued Gavin’s interest about the Cash family.

“Fire away.”

“Is it true you and your siblings all have different fathers?”

“Only Dixie and I share the same father.”

“Do your brothers keep in touch with their fathers?”

“Nope. What about your family?”

“I’m an only child. My mother lives in Phoenix and works for the parks and recreation department.”

“I can’t imagine growing up an only child.”

“No fights for the bathroom.”

The joke fell flat. Shoot, the soldiers in Gavin’s army unit had thought he was a funny guy.

“You plan to make rodeo a career?” Johnny asked.

“For the time being.”

“Willie’s right—you stink at rodeo.”

“You’re not so great, either.” Gavin changed the subject. “How long has Dixie been making homemade soap?”

“Since she was ten or eleven. Dixie sells the bars in tourist shops in Yuma.” Johnny lowered his voice. “Between you and me…she’s got this harebrained idea she can sell our grandmother’s soap online.”

Gavin was impressed with Dixie’s ingenuity but worried with the baby coming that now wasn’t the best time to start up a new business.

A movement near the porch caught Gavin’s attention. Dixie spread a plastic cloth over a picnic table in the yard. She made several trips in and out of the house for plates, glasses, condiments, buns and pitchers of lemonade and iced tea. Gavin was astonished that none of her brothers offered to help. Instead, the men sat on their backsides, jawing. A newborn would bring added stress to Dixie’s life—a life already busy with soap-making, starting a new business and catering to six grown men.

You’re no better than the Cash brothers—you’re walking away from Dixie.

“Burgers are done!” Johnny shouted.

The brothers raced to the picnic table and Dixie motioned for Gavin to sit at the opposite end from her. He pulled out his chair and there resting on the seat was the cash he’d left Dixie in the barn. He glanced down the table and her steely-eyed glare told him exactly what he could do with his money.

Shove it up his you-know-what.

Chapter Four

Not again.

Gavin halted in his tracks when he caught sight of Conway and Willie Cash jawing with the cowboys near the bull chutes. The San Carlos Roundup Rodeo took place the first weekend in September—two weeks after he’d learned about Dixie’s pregnancy—and darned if he hadn’t run into one or more Cash brothers at the events he’d competed in. He presumed the men concluded that he’d knocked up their baby sister and weren’t letting him out of their sight.

Too bad Gavin couldn’t blame his dismal performances on the constant scrutiny. Instead, impending fatherhood disrupted his focus. Dixie was close to eight weeks pregnant and thoughts of her and the baby wandered through his mind 24/7. How was Dixie feeling—did she have any food cravings? Had she gained weight? What about morning sickness—did she suffer from that? The questions hammered his brain nonstop making him irritable and edgy.

Ignoring Dixie’s siblings, Gavin focused on the bronc he’d drawn for today’s competition. Jigsaw had a proven track record of bucking off experienced riders. The rodeo announcer introduced the cowboys competing in the bareback event, offering stats on the better athletes. Gavin was described as the former soldier turned cowboy, which drew the loudest applause. He was humbled by the fans’ heartfelt appreciation for his service to their country. Once each weekend he felt like a hero even though he was the furthest thing from a Caped Crusader.

“Let’s see if Tucker can end his losing streak,” the announcer said.

Gavin climbed the chute rails and eased onto Jigsaw’s back. Keep your balance. An image of Dixie collecting ash from the potbelly stove in the barn flashed before his eyes.

Stay focused.

Fearing Dixie would disrupt his thoughts again, Gavin ignored his chute routine and nodded to the gate man. The door swung open, and Jigsaw demonstrated his superiority in the sport. The bronc’s rump twisted in the middle of a buck. Gavin lost his rhythm and his spurring became choppy. Then Jigsaw spun in a tight circle and Gavin was history. He sailed through the air and landed on his belly, the hard ground knocking the wind from him. The pickup men attempted to corner the bucking horse, but Jigsaw evaded capture.

The earth beneath Gavin shook and instinctively he rolled left. Too late—Jigsaw’s hoof grazed his shoulder and a searing pain shot through the muscle. As if he’d made his point, the bronc trotted from the arena without an escort. Gavin struggled to his feet, his fingers tingling as numbness spread through his arm.

“Close call.” Willie Cash met Gavin when he returned to the cowboy ready area.

Arm hurting like hell, Gavin wasn’t in the mood to spar with the Cash brothers.

“Where’s your next rodeo?” Conway asked.

“Check with your spies…they’ll know where I’m riding.”

The brothers spoke in unison. “What spies?”

“Your brothers. One of you always turns up wherever I ride.”

Conway grinned. “Johnny said we’re not to let you out of our sight.”

Gavin wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until he did right by Dixie. He grabbed his gear, wincing at the throb in his shoulder. “See you at the next go-round.” He stopped short of leaving the chute area when he heard Shannon Douglas’s name over the loudspeakers.

“Folks, we got a special treat tonight before we kick off the men’s bull riding competition. For those of you who haven’t heard, Shannon Douglas from Stagecoach, Arizona, has been riding bulls since high school. She competed in three Five Star Rodeo events this past summer and earned a sponsorship from Wrangler.”

The JumboTron flashed images of Shannon at the rodeos in Canyon City, Boot Hill and Piney Gorge. Gavin moved closer to the cowgirl’s chute and watched her wrap the bull rope around her hand.

“Shannon’s about to tangle with Persnickety, a bull from the famed Red River Ranch in Oklahoma.”

The chute door opened and Persnickety launched himself into the arena. Shannon’s compact body undulated with the bull’s explosive bucks and sharp spins. Gavin glanced at the JumboTron…5…4…3…

Persnickety reared and Shannon lost her seat, sliding off the back of the bull. As soon as she landed on the ground she scrambled to her feet and ran for the rails.

“Too bad, folks. I thought Shannon might best Persnickety but not today!”

Gavin turned to leave when he heard his name called. Shannon jogged toward him.

“You almost had that bull,” Gavin said.

“I’ll get him next time.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I haven’t been back to Stagecoach in over a month. How’s Dixie feeling?”

Gavin supposed Dixie had told Shannon about her pregnancy when she’d scratched at the Piney Gorge Rodeo. “Fine, I guess.”

“You guess? Aren’t you keeping in touch with her?”

Gavin didn’t care to go into detail about his and Dixie’s relationship—whatever it was. You’re about to have a baby together and you can’t define your relationship? “I saw Dixie a couple of weeks ago and she looked good.” More than good.

Shannon lowered her voice. “She’s going to have the baby, right? Or did she…?”

Stunned, Gavin couldn’t respond. Dixie having an abortion had never crossed his mind, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t crossed Dixie’s.

“Gavin?”

“I gotta go.” He left the arena and cut across the parking lot to his truck. He stowed his gear in the backseat, then started the engine and cranked the air-conditioning. While the cab cooled, he grabbed his cell phone from the glove compartment and checked messages. Nothing.