Brenda Minton - The Cowboy Next Door & Jenna's Cowboy Hero - The Cowboy Next Door / Jenna's Cowboy Hero

Lacey nodded, and wiped away the tear that broke loose and trickled down her cheek. “I know. Thanks, Jo.”

“You can always count on me, sweetie. You know you’re my kid and I love you.”

The one tear multiplied and Jolynn hugged her tight, the way a mother would hug a daughter. The way Lacey had only dreamed of when she’d been a child growing up.

Lacey pulled up the driveway to her house and then just sat in the car, too tired to get out. After a long breakfast and lunch shift at the diner, her feet were killing her and her head ached.

She didn’t want to deal with Corry after dealing with Joey back at the diner. She didn’t want to clean the house after cleaning tables all day. It would have been great to come home and sit by herself on the front porch.

Instead she knew she had to go inside and face her sister. She had to face that dinner probably wasn’t cooked, and Corry probably wasn’t any more appreciative today than she’d been yesterday.

As she walked up the steps a car drove past. Jay in his truck coming home from work. She waved and he waved back. He was going to the rodeo tonight. She used to go a lot, but not lately. Lately had been about work and classes, and when she had spare time, she studied.

She opened the front door and walked into the slightly muggy house, not completely cool because the window air conditioners were old. A huge mess greeted her.

“What in the world is going on here?” Lacey walked into her beautiful new living room with the hardwood floors and cobalt-blue braided rugs. From the arched doorway she could see through the dining room to the kitchen with the white-painted cabinets.

Everything was a mess. Clothes littered the floors. Dirty dishes covered the counters and trash covered the floor. A radio blasted rock music and the baby was crying.

“Corry, where are you?” Lacey picked up the wailing baby and hurried through the house.

“I’m here.” A voice mumbled from the back porch.

“What are you doing, taking a nap? You have a baby to feed. The house is a disaster and you were supposed to cook.”

Corry was curled up on the wicker couch, hair straggling across her face. She was wearing the same clothes she’d worn the previous day. Lacey leaned over, looking into eyes that were blurry and a smile that drooped.

“What have you done?” Lacey reached for the phone, ready to call 911.

“Cold medicine. Just cold medicine.”

“How much.”

“Just enough. Get off my back.”

“Did you have to trash my house?”

Lacey walked away, still holding Rachel close. Words were rolling through her mind, wanting to come out. She couldn’t say what she wanted to say. She couldn’t stand next to her sister, for fear she would hurt her. Corry was already hurting herself.

“I’m so angry with you, Corry. I can’t believe you would do this. You have a baby.” Lacey stopped in front of the corner curio in the living room and started picking up the few dogs that had been knocked off the shelves.

“Stop being a prude,” Corry snarled.

“Stop being selfish.”

“I have a friend coming to get me next week.” Corry sat up, leaning forward, her stringy dark hair hanging down over her face.

“How did you call a friend?”

“I used your boyfriend’s phone. His mother let me in.”

“Leave Mrs. Blackhorse alone.” Lacey crossed back to her sister, kneeling in front of her and turning Corry’s face so that they made eye contact. “Stay away from Jay and his family.”

“Why? Are you afraid of what they’ll think of you if they meet me?” Corry smiled a hazy smile. “Too late. I think they were impressed.”

Lacey stood back up. The baby cried against her shoulder, reminding her that it was time to eat. “I can’t have you living here like this, Corry.”

She couldn’t let Corry destroy everything she’d built. Lacey had a life here, and friends. She belonged. For the first time in her life, she’d found a place where she belonged.

“I plan on leaving. I’m not going to stay and live like a hermit.” Corry’s words reminded Lacey of the phone call.

And the crying baby. “You can’t take Rachel back to St. Louis. That isn’t good for her. How are you going to take care of her if you can’t take care of yourself?”

“I’ll manage. Don’t worry about me. Remember, I’m a woman and we know how to take care of babies. It’s easy, right?”

“It isn’t easy, Corry. I know that. But this baby deserves a chance. And it’s her that I’m worried about, not you.”

She walked away because she couldn’t argue. And the baby needed to be fed. She could concentrate on Rachel and let the rest go.

She was heating the bottle when Corry walked into the room. Rachel squirmed against Lacey, tiny hands brushing Lacey’s face. Corry looked through blurry eyes, but maybe she was also sorry. Lacey wanted her to be sorry.

“Corry, this can’t be the life you want for yourself.”

“What’s wrong with my life?”

“It doesn’t include faith. It doesn’t include you wanting a better life for yourself and your child.”

“I’m here.”

“Yes, you are here.” Lacey tested the formula on her wrist and cradled Rachel to feed her. Corry only watched.

“Do you like that cowboy?” Corry leaned against the counter. She shoved her trembling hands into her pockets and hunkered down, defeated.

Lacey ignored the obvious signs of someone going through withdrawal. She knew that was the reason for the cold medicine. Her sister would have done anything for a high at this point.

“He isn’t even a friend, just someone I know from town and from church.”

For a minute it felt like a normal conversation between sisters. To keep up the illusion, Lacey kept her gaze averted.

“I think I could have more luck with him. You’re too pushy.” The normal moment between sisters ended with that comment.

Lacey lifted Rachel to her shoulder and patted the baby’s back. “Stop it, Corry.”

“Are you jealous?”

“There’s nothing to be jealous of. I don’t want him used. End of story.”

“When did you get all righteous? Does he know what you used to be?”

Lacey turned to face her sister. She could feel heat crawling up her neck to her cheeks. “My past is behind me. And it wasn’t who I…” She blinked a few times, wishing there weren’t tears in her eyes. “It wasn’t who I wanted to be.”

She didn’t belong. Not the way she really wanted to belong to Gibson. After all of these years, she wasn’t really one of them. She wanted to be like these people, growing up here, having lifelong friends, family that never moved away, and a place that was all hers.

“Not so easy to be a goody-goody now, is it? Not with me here to remind you of what you used to be. What you still are.”

Take a deep breath , she told herself. She wasn’t that girl from St. Louis, not here in Gibson. Her past was forgiven. She had to remember who she was now, and who she was in Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son .

She was the “whosoever” who had chosen to believe in Jesus. She would not perish, but have everlasting life. They sang a song in church, “My Sins Are Gone.” It was her song. Anyone could ask her why she was happy, how she could smile and go on, building a new life. The answer was simple: because her sins were gone, as far as east from west. Her sister could remind her, but she couldn’t bring back what had been forgiven. Not really.

“I’m a Christian, Corry. I have faith. I have a new life, and that old life is no longer a part of me.”