Cowboy Creed (Cooper's Hawke Landing Book 1)
Cowboy Creed
By
Rhonda Lee Carver
Copyright © 2020 by Rhonda Lee Carver
www.rhondaleecarver.com
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogue in this work are from the author’s imagination and creation. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
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BLURB:
Seconds chances come in their own time. For Mindy and Creed the flame remains.
Newly divorced and empty nester, Mindy Sage, decided that her hometown might be the perfect place to reinvent herself, or at least find the wild and carefree girl she used to be before she moved away.
She’s craving small town comfort, but the problem is, in Cooper’s Hawk, everyone knows everyone. Secrets can feel as tall and wide as the Montana mountains that backdrop the friendly, picturesque town where she’d left her heart in the hands of a handsome cowboy nineteen years ago.
Search and Rescue team member, Creed Hawke, understood more than anyone what saving a life meant, but who would save him from the one woman he’d never gotten over? He’d moved on—or at least he thought he had until those old emotions come tumbling back with the vengeance of a forest fire. He’s reminded of how much he’d loved Mindy, wanted her, swore to marry her. Why couldn’t he forget her? Resist her? Deny her his heart?
Because he’d fallen for her at ten and never came back up for air.
How can he forgive her for stealing his daughter from him? Is love stronger than the mistakes they’ve made? Or are they doomed before they find forever?
Cover Design:
Rhonda Lee Carver
Stock Photo:
Period Images
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Back Matter
Bonus – Bighearted Cowboy (Book 5, first two chapters)
Chapter One
“RUN, MINDY. RUN! It’s coming.” The roaring of the twister as it barreled its way through the field engulfed ten-year-old Creed Hawke’s words.
Mindy wouldn’t have heard him anyway because she had all her concentration on the old beat up truck being sucked up by the massive swirling cloud from the field across the gravel road. She stood paralyzed with dirty, untied sneakers planted in the mud. She’d never seen something so scary and amazing all at the same time.
“What are you doing? Playing chicken with a tornado? Come on, dummy!”
A tug on her wrist made her turn around to blast her best friend a warning eye. “Who are you calling dummy, stupid?”
“You! Stop starin’ and start movin’,” he demanded.
Hearing a loud crashing of metal against dirt, she looked back to find the truck upended over on Hawke Farm where they’d been looking for a lost frog that morning. “Holy hot dog!” she muttered.
“We have to run!” Creed jerked her arm, almost making her fall.
He slipped his hand into hers and together they ran as the loud, freight-train rumbling ripped through Cooper’s Hawk. Mindy’s hair whipped around her face, stinging her cheeks. Dust particles blurred her vision and she squinted against the discomfort, but Creed kept pulling her along.
By the time they reached the rickety old barn her lungs ached and her legs were like limp noodles.
“In here. We’ll be safe inside.” Creed pushed her into the semi-dark space of the old barn. Her nostrils were assaulted by the strong odor of hay and decaying carcass.
“It stinks in here.”
“Would you rather die out there?” He led the way across the worn floor, kicking up a couple of beer cans with the toe of his shoe. “Let’s hide here.”
They hunkered down behind the tire of a rusted tractor. Their ragged breaths mingled together and they still clutched hands. Mindy wanted to be brave like Creed, but she couldn’t hold back the tears that came. They streamed down her cheeks as she hiccupped.
“What are you cryin’ ‘bout?” His pale blue eyes nailed her in accusation.
“I’m scared and it’s loud.”
He swung his arm around her shoulders. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay here. This place has lasted through a bunch of storms.”
“This ain’t no storm though. Mama said tornadoes are dangerous and if I ever saw one, I should run into the cellar.” She pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her forehead against her knees.
“Don’t be scared. Heck, this ain’t nothin’. I’ll never let anything happen to you. I promise.” He patted her head.
The roof of the barn shook and the cracked windows rattled. A gust of wind blew the wooden door open, slamming it hard against the wall. She screamed and tucked her wet face against Creed’s baseball shirt. “We’re going to die! We’re going to get blown away and I’ll never see my mama or daddy again!”
“Just hang on. Here. Hang onto the tractor. It weighs a ton.”
Without any argument, she did as he told her, wrapping her arms around the clunky tire. He stayed beside her, his hand on her back.
“I don’t want to die, Creed. I ain’t even been married yet. I want to get married first.”
“Marriage is stupid,” he sniffed loudly.
“To you it might be but not to me.” Mindy had never heard anything louder than the tornado. It sounded like a train rolling right above their heads. Fear formed inside her and she could barely breathe. “It’s here.”
“You want to get married, M
indy? Fine. Hold on.” He dropped his arm from her shoulders.
“Where are you going? You can’t go!” she whimpered.
“I’m coming back. I’m lookin’ for something.” He picked an item up off the floor then came back with a thin metal circle that looked like something her daddy used to fix mowers. “This’ll do. I’ll marry you, Mindy. Then you won’t be so scared. Promise you won’t be scared.”
Her eyes must have grown two sizes bigger. “I can’t marry you,” she said wistfully.
“Why not?”
“Cause you haven’t even asked. A girl can’t marry a boy if he doesn’t ask.”
“Stop being so bull-headed. Do you want to get married or not?” The wind whistled through the cracks in the wood and windows.
“Fine, Creed Hawke. I’ll marry you.”
“Here’s your ring. Don’t complain because it ain’t a diamond.” He slipped the circle on her middle finger of her left hand and she stared down at it lovingly.
“You’re s’pposed to say something.”
“Like what?” His nose wrinkled.
“Like how much you love me. I saw it on a movie.”
“Dang, I don’t know what to say ‘cept that you are my best friend. You make me laugh and you can throw a ball better than the boys, but don’t tell them I told you so,” he professed.
“I’ll always be your wife, Creed. Even when we’re big and grown up. But then I want a ring. A real ring. Like the one we saw in your mama’s bedroom. The one with all those pretty diamonds that belonged to your grandma.”
“What’s wrong with that?” He tapped the oversized metal ring.
“It’s way too big, Creedy.”
“Don’t worry, Minnow. One day I’m going to give you that ring you love. You watch and see.”
A loud crunching sound brought their chins up. The metal shook wildly. Parts of the roof flew away, leaving a large, gaping hole. The rest of the metal shuddered and screeched against the force of the wind.
“It’s going to carry us away,” she whined.
“Heck, I ain’t afraid of no tornado. Go away and leave us alone!” Creed yelled.
Her sobs returned. “I’m still scared.”
“I’ll hold onto you and never let go. We’re married now. Husbands protect their wives.” He held her tighter and, in that moment, Mindy believed that he’d never let anything happen to her.
“Mom? You okay?”
Mindy dragged herself from the memory and smiled at her daughter, Jane. “Yes. I’m fine. Just in deep thought.”
“Have you been able to reach Pop Pop yet?”
“No, I haven’t.” The worry returned. Although she and her father didn’t talk on the phone every day it wasn’t like him to ignore her calls. “I left him several messages and he hasn’t returned any of them.”
“When are you leaving?” Jane tucked her legs up under her on the chaise lounge. Her long, dark, curly hair was pulled up into a topknot. Her beautiful eyes caught the sun’s rays.
“In two days. After you leave for Columbia U.” Feeling an emotional stab in her chest, Mindy wanted to hide the moisture in her eyes and looked out over the calm, blue water as a boat sailed by. Growing up in Montana, Mindy had always been more of a mountains type-of-girl, but after living on the beautiful shoreline of Lake Canyon for ten years she’d grown to love the peaceful area, although the too-big custom two-story house had been her husband’s—or rather ex-husband’s—dream and not hers.
She missed Cooper’s Hawk. Missed the people, the small friendly town, and the mountains backdropped by wide open Montana skies. She especially missed Sage Ranch where her days as a child were spent barefoot and dirty, riding horses and raising goats. After chores, she spent a lot of time on the ice gearing up for figure skating competitions. That had been the carefree life she’d wanted for Jane, and she’d believed that was what Branch had wanted too. He’d promised Mindy they would buy a home in Cooper’s Hawk, but a year turned into three, then five, and then more had passed at the blink of an eye.
The day he came home and excitedly told her he found a home on the lake that he “just had to have” her hope of going back “home” had vanished. Whenever she voiced her concern about a simpler life, he’d reminded her that he was the bread winner and her hollow work as a figure skating coach was more of a hobby than a contribution.
Sadness rolled through her at the loss of many years spent unhappy.
She often wondered if they’d had another child would things have been different between them. Would they have connected at a deeper level? He’d never wanted a child though. He always said his work kept him too busy, and she guessed there were other things that kept his attention outside of clients.
On days when memories flooded her, she wondered what ever happened to Creed Hawke. Pressing her palm against the necklace she had made from the metal “pretend” ring he’d given her during the tornado, she never took it off. Although their “marriage” at ten had been nothing more than play, in her heart she’d never been able to forget him and what he’d meant to her. He’d been her best friend. Her first love. Her first lover.
The last she’d heard he’d been on the rodeo circuit doing well for himself. She’d made it a habit not to ask her daddy too many questions.
“Does this have anything to do with a man?” Jane lifted a teasing brow.
My goodness, she looks just like him…
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Had Mindy shown some subtle sign that her mind had wandered to Creed?
“I’ve always had a feeling you’ve never gotten over someone. Is it my father?”
Mindy cleared her throat. “Jane—”
“Mom, it’s okay. I’m joking. I know we’ve had this talk. You both were young, he wasn’t interested in being a daddy, and he’s riding bulls for a living.”
Taking her daughter’s hand, a heaviness crawled into Mindy’s throat. “We’ve always been open about your father, but if you ever wanted to meet him…”
“No. Branch is my father, at least the only one I’ve ever known.” She pulled her hand away then slipped on her mirrored shades that hid her telling eyes from view.
Seventeen years ago, Mindy and Branch had agreed to raise Jane as his daughter, but Mindy had carried the weight of guilt on her shoulders all those years. Her intention hadn’t been to deceive Creed or keep his daughter from him. The night they’d shared in the back of his beat-up truck under the moon and stars had been an unplanned tryst that created an amazing gift.
Mindy had left for college two weeks later and Creed had enlisted into the military. It had only seemed right that they would be each other’s first, but she hadn’t anticipated that the condom would fail. What young couple did think of such things?
“Anyway, I would totally approve of you having smash.” Jane slurped up her Coke through a straw, smiling widely.
“I don’t have smashes.”
“Do you even know what the word means?” Jane lifted her pierced brow—the piercing she snuck and got when she was seventeen and then a few months later a fist-sized tattoo of a butterfly on the small of her back. She’d always been spirited, curious and ambitious. And had the biggest heart. At twelve she found an abandoned litter of kittens and fed them through a dropper and back to health. On her fourteenth birthday she raised donations for the local animal shelter. During her summers she visited nursing homes, worked babysitting jobs and volunteered at underprivileged camps.
“No. I don’t know teen lingo and I was afraid to ask.” Mindy picked up her can of diet Coke and stretched her gaze to the jet ski speeding by. People were out enjoying the beautiful day on the water. Once upon a time, Mindy and Branch would take Jane out on the boat on a day like this one, sail for hours, swim, and eat picnic lunches. Much had changed since then. Her only child was now an adult and starting college and Branch had moved in with his girlfriend before the ink was dry on the divorce papers.
Mindy wasn’t bitter, but divorce never was an ea
sy thing.
Her friends had been encouraging her to start dating again, but after seventeen years of being with one man, dating seemed more like jumping off a cliff than an act of fun. Her ex-husband certainly had no problem in that area. He’d decided a year ago that he’d rather be with his twenty-five-year old assistant, Sian, rather than his family. The urge to blame her for the disintegration of their marriage seemed a natural emotion, but if it hadn’t been the vibrant, firm-assed Sian taking him away, it would have been the next twenty-something that came along who gave him some attention. Mindy knew this. Understood this. Her marriage with Branch had been over for years. Although he’d been a decent father, he’d always had one client, another appointment, or a need that kept him from coming home early.
Mindy had kept her focus on her daughter, while Branch had fixated on adding another place value to his bank account. No one could deny he’d created a reputable business from the ground up and that took time and work, but somewhere along the way he’d lost himself—lost his family.
“Smash means casual sex. A hook up. A fling, or whatever your generation calls that activity.”
Mindy gave her daughter a raised brow. “I most definitely don’t do that activity, and this is a conversation we shouldn’t have.”
“Mom,” Jane simpered. “I’m eighteen. I already know about the birds and the bees. You deserve someone who can show you how beautiful you are, especially after Dad made the biggest mistake of his life and dumped you for Sian Infantile.”
“Sweetheart, that’s not very nice.” Mindy had worked hard to be in a place where she could encourage peace with Branch, and Sian.
“You wouldn’t be defending her if you were around her for more than five minutes. She uses ‘like’ after every word and calls Dad “Baby Love”. It makes me sick.”
“Your dad loves her, so you need to respect that. As for me, I’m not looking for anyone. I’m concentrating on finding myself.”