Linda Warren - The Texan's Christmas

Dane had insisted he come home for Christmas that year and he had, along with Cadde. The next morning they’d left again for Lubbock. After that first year in college, he decided sitting in a classroom wasn’t for him. He and a friend headed for the Alaskan oil fields to get a hands-on job and to learn the business from roughnecking. The freezing weather almost got him, but he stayed for two years.

Every time he talked to Dane, he’d asked Kid to come home. Aunt Etta and Uncle Ru had asked, too. For some reason he couldn’t do that. It was the first time he’d done anything without Dane’s approval.

Another guilt mark on his soul.

When he’d returned to Texas, Chance was at the university and the Hardin boys partied all night. But soon Kid left for the East Texas oil fields. And then south Texas. He roughnecked just about everywhere.

Cadde had graduated with a petroleum engineering degree and was working his way up the corporate ladder. Chance wavered between the oil business and cowboying, but he was never far from home. On the other hand, Kid couldn’t seem to get far enough away.

Until he got the call.

Dane Belle had passed away.

Kid’s return was painful and heartbreaking. He’d looked for Lucky at the funeral, but she wasn’t there. When he tried to talk to Bud, he’d walked away and Kid knew he wasn’t welcome in High Cotton.

The strip of guilt got wider.

But he never let it show.

He ran his hands over his face and got up, turning on the light. Cadde was right. He had to start with an apology and now was as good a time as any. Reaching for his jeans on Cadde’s bed, he noticed something on the wall by his bunk. It couldn’t be. He bent down to take a closer look. It was a heart he’d drawn with a Magic Marker. Inside he’d printed Kid Loves Lucky, and underneath that was Lucky and the Kid. Damn! Aunt Etta had never removed it.

All those feelings of first love blindsided him. He sat on the bed with a thud. Maybe he’d been trying to outrun them. Maybe that’s why it was so hard to come home. Maybe it was Lucky.

He quickly dressed and searched for a pen and paper in the dresser drawer. Some of their high school books were still there. Did Aunt Etta never throw out anything? Scribbling a note he tiptoed into the living and kitchen area and placed it on the table. Suddenly the lights came on. Aunt Etta stood in the doorway in a flowered cotton robe, her gray hair sticking out in all directions.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Who sleeps?” Aunt Etta went to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I did, but I’m going out again and I was leaving you a note.”

“A note?” Aunt Etta paused in reaching for a pot.

“So you wouldn’t worry.”

“Ah.” She grabbed the pot and poured milk into it. “It comes with the territory. And if an old aunt might be so bold, where are you going this time of night? It’s almost twelve.”

“I need to talk to Lucky.”

Aunt Etta turned from the stove. “Now, Kid, I think the time for talking to Lucky has long passed.”

“I screwed up.” He finally had to admit the truth.

She nodded. “Yeah. You’ve done that a time or two. You’ve always had this urge for freedom and you and Lucky got too serious too quick. I think you’re a lot like your father.”

No, no! Don’t say that!

“I’m not like him, am I?” Suddenly that was very, very important.

Aunt Etta bristled. “Why wouldn’t you want to be like him? He was your flesh and blood.”

He collected himself quickly. Aunt Etta didn’t know about her brother’s infidelity and Kid couldn’t tell her. At this late date, he couldn’t break her heart.

Giving her a peck on the cheek, he swung toward the door. “I’ll see you later.”

He’d dodged a bullet, but he thought about it all the way to The Beer Joint. He liked women. It was a fact he couldn’t deny, but he never cheated on anyone. Well, that wasn’t quite true. At Tech, he’d dated two girls at the same time. There was no commitment, though. Just fun. He never crossed that line of committing to forever, except with Lucky. He’d promised her as soon as he had a good job, they’d get married. They’d be together. No…oh, God!

He was just like his father.

WHEN HE REACHED THE BEER JOINT, he parked on the left side, away from the glare of the big spotlight Bud had installed. Three trucks were on the right so someone had to still be here. He slipped out of his vehicle. Before he could take a step, Bubba Joe came out, head down, and quickly drove away in the little Nissan. Did he leave Lucky by herself?

Suddenly, three cowboys half staggered to the Dodge pickup, the ones he’d seen earlier talking to Lucky, but they didn’t get in. They stood there talking, but Kid couldn’t make out what they were saying. His eyes centered on the door as Lucky came out, a purse over her shoulder, keys in her hand. She locked the door and made her way to the Chevy truck.

Unlocking it, she opened the door as one cowboy came around the front and the other two around the back to confront her. How he wished he had something besides his fists because this wasn’t good.

“Hey, Lucky,” one of them shouted, “why don’t we continue this party somewhere else?”

“You’re drunk, Clyde. Go home.” She looked at the other two. “That includes you, too, Earl and Melvin.”

“You’ve been teasing us all evening,” the one called Earl said.

“Yeah. Now it’s time to ante up,” Melvin, the heavy-set guy added.

Clyde grabbed her arm and she knocked it away. “Don’t touch me or you’ll regret it.”

“Hot damn, she’s got a temper.” Clyde and the other two closed in.

Kid stepped into the light. “Get away from the lady.”

All three cowboys swung around.

“Who the hell are you, mister?” Clyde asked.

“Someone who’s going to kick your ass if you don’t get out of here.”

Earl snickered. “You think you can take us?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Melvin pulled a switchblade knife from his pocket, the silver catching the light with a startling eeriness. “Can you take this?”

Before Kid could reply, the other two jumped him. They went down into the gravel, fists flying. Kid slammed a right into Clyde’s stomach and he rolled away, moaning. He didn’t have time to think as a blow connected with his chin. Kicking out with his boot, he knocked Earl over the rail and he landed against the building. His body slithered down like a snake. Kid immediately jumped to his feet to face Melvin who was coming toward him with the knife.

“I’m gonna cut you six ways from Sunday, mister.”

Suddenly, a gunshot ripped through the September night. Lucky had a gun. Where in the hell did she get a gun?

“Party’s over, boys,” she said in a voice he’d never heard before. “Now get out of here.”

“What…?”

She pointed the gun at him. “Shut up.”

With grunts and moans, the cowboys lumbered to their feet. Melvin looked at him one more time before they got in the Dodge and left.

Lucky reached with her left hand into her purse for her cell and poked in a number. The gun was still pointed at him and he found that a little disturbing.

“Walker, this is Lucky. Three drunken cowboys just left my place. They’re headed east in a black Dodge Ram. You might want to alert the highway patrol. Yeah. I’m okay.” Deftly she slipped the phone back into her purse, her eyes and the gun focused on him. “I want you out of my life for good. Don’t come back here or to my house. You got it?”

“That’s cold for someone who saved you from a fate worse than death.”

“You didn’t save me from anything!” she shouted. “I had the situation under control. I knew they were waiting for me and…”