When she’d lived in the commune, Rose had gone to the dining hall on Sunday morning along with everyone else. That was one of the rules—a spiritual time on Sunday morning at nine o’clock, and three meals a day shared by everyone.
The service consisted mostly of singing hymns, but occasionally someone would read from the scripture. She’d loved the singing, but she had trouble staying focused on what was being read.
Going to chapel during basic training had been a whole new experience. The congregation might be asked to sing one hymn, but mostly the choir presented the music. A chaplain delivered the sermon and tried to make it fit the current issues of the day. Those services hadn’t moved her as much as the hymns they sang at the commune. She’d always loved the tambourines and the guitar music that had been used as accompaniment.
She’d been to other church services since she’d left the commune. They’d sing a song or two, hear the church announcements, and then the preacher would deliver his sermon. To this day, she couldn’t remember a single thing or feeling that she left with from the preacher’s message, but she could shut her eyes and know the peace she’d felt from the singing. She hoped that there was more congregational singing that morning as she got dressed.
She’d tried on six outfits and rejected them all. Some were too dressy, some too casual. She was now standing in front of the dresser in nothing but her lacy bra and matching underpants, trying to figure out exactly what to wear to go to church with Hud.
Luna stuck her head in the door, glanced at the pile of clothing, and asked, “You about to start packing, or are you giving all that stuff away?”
“Neither.” Rose threw up her hands in defeat. “I don’t know what to wear to church this morning. I’ve been to a conventional church a few times in my life, but I don’t know how to dress for this place.”
“I’d say just be yourself, and if the people there don’t like what you’re wearing, then they can take it up with God. I hear He’s not much interested in what a person wears anyway, but He looks on the heart,” Luna told her.
“I hope so.” Rose pulled a long, brown plaid skirt from the pile of clothing and topped it with a cream-colored sweater. Then she picked up a brush from her dresser and ran it through her long hair.
“You look beautiful,” Luna said. “If I was going, I’d wear something to brighten the congregation’s day.”
“What do you mean? If you were going?” Rose laid the brush down.
“Today, I’m staying home, Rosie-Posey,” Luna told her. “That’s what I called you when you were a tiny baby and I got to hold you. Miz Rosie-Posey with the pretty red hair. I told you that you’d grow up to be a beautiful woman, and I was right.”
“Why aren’t you going to church?” Rose asked.
“I’m getting a little worried about Wilbur. He usually calls by now. I hope he’s not sick. He’s such a big baby when he’s even got a little cold,” she said.
“You could always call him,” Rose suggested.
Luna just glared at her. “Bah.”
“Well, since you aren’t going with us, I’ll pick up something for our Sunday dinner and bring it home. Fried chicken, okay?” she asked.
“Now that’s a real Sunday dinner.” Luna’s grin deepened all the wrinkles in her cheeks. “It’s almost time for Prince Charming to come for you, so we’d better go on downstairs. You go first. I’m slow with this old crippled-up knee. If I’d known that all that heavy lifting from the carnival business would invite arthritis into my bones, I might not have done it. But hey, you got to first be young and stupid to have something to bitch and moan about when you’re old.”
Rose crossed the room and gave her a hug. “You are amazing, Aunt Luna.”
“I appreciate that, darlin’.” She wrapped her arms around Rose and kissed her on the cheek. “Now, let’s try to get down the stairs without falling over our own two feet. Us Wilson girls never had a lick of grace. I always hoped you’d be graceful, and if you did fall, a sexy cowboy like Hud would be there to catch you.”
“I’ve got my share of clumsy.” Rose slipped on a pair of brown high-heeled shoes. “You could have given me something nicer, like fewer freckles or maybe blue eyes.”
“If you’re going to wear those, then it’s a good thing you’re going before me.” Luna waited until Rose had started down, and then she got a firm grip on the banister.
“Why’s that?” Rose asked over her shoulder.
“Because if you started to fall, we’d both go ass over boobs all the way to the bottom,” Luna replied.
“You’re too funny,” Rose giggled.
They were both in the foyer when Hud rapped on the door. Rose glanced at the clock—ten thirty. Hud was right on time. She opened the door and her breath caught in her chest when he swaggered inside. The smell of his shaving lotion, something woodsy with a hint of musk, sent her senses swirling. Snug jeans hugged his thighs and bunched up over the tops of his boots. A plaid shirt peeked out from under a black leather, western-cut coat that stopped at his knees, and his black cowboy hat sat just right. She wanted to melt into his arms and kiss him until they were both breathless.
“You look beautiful,” he said.
Rose could feel the blush creep up her cheeks as she took her coat from the rack beside the door. “Thank you.”
Hud helped her into her coat and turned to Luna. “Ready?” he asked.
“I ain’t goin’,” she said. “Me and God decided a long time ago that we don’t need a church house building to have our conversations. You kids go on, and don’t be makin’ out on the back pew. And don’t forget to get a couple of extra chicken legs for our dinner.”
“Aunt Luna!” Rose scolded.
“I’ll be a gentleman,” Hud chuckled. “And I’ll be sure to take care of that chicken.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Rose said on the way to the truck. “Sometimes she’s funny, and other times—”
“And other times,” he butted in, “she’s hilarious. I hope when I get old, I’m just as ornery as she is.” Hud tucked her hand into his.
Warmth spread through her body. No one had ever made her feel the way Hud did by simply holding her hand.
He settled her into the passenger seat and rounded the back of the truck, whistling a tune she didn’t recognize.
Loving someone and being in love with someone are two different things, Granny Dee had told her more than once. Have the patience to wait until you can find someone that you are in love with and then you’ll not only have peace in your heart but also a wonderful life.
“Good advice,” Rose muttered.
* * *
Hud hadn’t told any of the extended family about Rose, except Paxton and Claire, so he was a little nervous that morning as he drove from the B&B back to Sunset to the little white church.
“Do you go to church every Sunday, even if you’ve been out dancing until two in the morning?” Rose asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Mama made us go to church no matter what. That was the rule, and it kind of stuck, even after we moved over to this part of the state on our own. How about you?”
“Haven’t been to a church in years and years,” she answered. “We had a service at the commune that was geared mainly to singing, and playing musical instruments, and I attended a few churches through the years, but nothing to speak of.”
“Well, then I welcome you to the Sunset Community Church. I got to admit the singing is my favorite part, and too many times I don’t listen like I should to the preachin’,” he said.
“I’m still a little worried. The way things have been going for us the congregation might blame us if the church exploded or lightning came shooting down through the rafters.” She smiled across the console at him.
“The sky is clear. No clouds in sight. I think we’re safe.” He pointed toward the windshield. “If it starts to look like something’s about to go down, we’ll hurry outside and leave.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
It only took a few minutes to reach the church, and Hud snagged a parking space not far from the front door. He and Rose were walking across the parking lot when he heard someone call his name. He looked over his shoulder to see Levi, Claire, Dixie, and the baby.
“Wait up,” Levi called out.
“Hud!” Dixie almost squealed as she handed the baby carrier off to Levi and ran across the lot to hug both him and Rose. “I’m so glad to see you today. I can’t thank you enough for everything. I love my job, and Claire and everyone has been so nice.”
Her words and enthusiasm meant far more to him than getting his name mentioned on the news or his picture in the local newspaper.
“That’s great,” Hud said.
She left Hud and hugged Rose. “You and Luna were so good to me. I’ll never forget it.”
“Maybe someday I can drive over and visit you and Sally.” Rose’s voice caught in her throat.
“I’d love that.” Dixie took the baby carrier from Levi.
“Hey.” Levi grinned at him. “You going to introduce me to your friend?”
“Sorry,” Hud said. “This is Rose O’Malley. She and I knew each other when she went to school in Tulia. And this is Levi, Claire’s husband, and the foreman of the Longhorn Canyon Ranch.”
“Small world, ain’t it?” Levi tipped his hat toward her.
“Yes, it is.” Rose gave him a head nod. “Never thought I’d look up and see Hud at a wedding in the Texas panhandle, or in my gift shop this past week, either.”
“I’m so happy to be going to church today, and guess what, Rose.” Dixie inhaled deeply before she went on. “They’ve invited me out to their ranch for Sunday dinner. If I’m dreaming, don’t pinch me. I don’t want to wake up.”
“One cowboy’s courage saved her life and gave her a brand-new start,” Rose whispered as they followed the others inside the church.
Hud took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. “Thank you, but I only did what I needed to do.”
His grandpa and his father had always told him not to gloat over success, but he couldn’t help but feel a little pride sneaking into his heart and soul when he thought about what Rose had said. With her by his side, he felt ten feet tall as he walked down the center aisle that Sunday morning.
When they sat, Rose was between him and Claire. Then Tag and Nikki arrived, and everyone slid down so that they could join them on the pew.
“Tag and his wife,” Hud whispered to Rose.
Most women got all moony-eyed when they saw his brother—even now that Tag was married—but not Rose. She glanced toward him and then went back to whispering to Claire. Hud loved his brother, but for the first time that he could remember, he truly felt like he’d just come in ahead of him.
Bowie was a fairly small town where rumors got around pretty fast, but in Sunset, with its small population, gossip spread faster than the speed of light. Hud could hear the buzz of whispers all around him and wondered how many of them concerned him and Rose.
The room went quiet when the choir director took her place behind the podium and gave out the number for a congregational hymn. Sharing a songbook with Rose seemed even more personal than sitting so close to her that no light could get between their hips. He wondered if anyone else in the church could feel the heat from the sparks dancing all around them.
When they’d finished singing, the preacher took his place. He cleared his throat, and a loud clap of thunder came out of nowhere to rattle the windows and startle young and old alike. Rose elbowed Hud in the ribs and whispered, “You think maybe we should leave?”
“The lightning isn’t coming through the rafters yet, so maybe we’re safe,” he answered in a low voice.
“Well, I believe I’ve got your attention now,” the preacher chuckled. “I guess the good Lord knows what I’m about to speak on this morning, and that’s hearing His voice when He speaks to us. It might be a whisper in our ear, or it could be a raging storm in our soul, but God will speak.”
Raging storm. Hud’s thoughts went off on their own.
He and Tag had originally planned to have the ranch up and going good before either of them settled down. Now Tag was married, and Paxton was leaving them, so a lot of responsibility fell on Hud. Could he do right by a woman, spend enough time with her, and still not slack on all his ranching duties?
He was still thinking about all that when the sermon ended on another loud clap of thunder, and a hard rain started to beat against the church windows. The preacher leaned into the microphone and said, “I’ll give the ending prayer this morning, and y’all can all hurry on out to your vehicles without shaking my hand at the door. I truly hope that you got a message from the Lord into your own hearts this morning. Now let us pray.”
Hud gave silent thanks for the downpour because all his extended family made a mad dash toward the door. Introducing Rose to all of them wouldn’t be an embarrassment, but it would be nice to do it a little at a time. Today, it had been Levi, and pointing out Tag and Nikki. Maybe next week it would be Retta and Cade.
“I should’ve brought an umbrella,” he said.
“I’m not sugar or salt,” she said. “I proved that last night when we got wet running from your truck to the B&B, and I didn’t melt. We’ll just run between the raindrops.”
* * *
As Rose held on to Hud’s hand and ran through the rain to the truck, she had a crazy vision of stopping right there in the parking lot and dancing. An old song by Tanya Tucker called “Would You Lay with Me” played through her mind, but she changed the lyrics to say, would you dance with me in the pouring rain.
She was humming the song when she crawled into the truck. Her coat had done little to keep her skin dry, but the truck had a fine heater, so by the time they reached the drive-by window at the chicken place, she was toasty warm. When he parked at the B&B, Rose got out and tried to run across the grass, but the heels of her shoes kept sinking into the wet ground, and then one of her heels sank into the mud, throwing her off balance.
She turned slightly and ran smack into Hud. Her hands shot out to grasp anything at all and landed on Hud’s broad chest. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the porch.
“Don’t you dare carry me over the threshold.” She laid her head on his chest and listened to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Hers seemed to be thumping a lot faster than his, but then she’d nearly fallen, and she was in his arms.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Aunt Luna would never let me hear the end of it. She’d say it was as good as jumping over the broom, like she and Uncle Wilbur did.” She began to hum the song that was still in her head. She didn’t care if her hair was lying in wet strands hanging down her back, she slipped her arms around his neck and began to sing, “Would you dance with me in the pouring rain?” to the tune of “Would You Lay with Me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He slipped his arms around her waist and two-stepped with her on the porch. When she stopped singing, he tipped her chin up with his fist and kissed her—long, hard, and passionately.
She was so hot on the inside that she didn’t even mind the cold rainwater streaming down her cheeks and sneaking under her coat collar to inch its way down her spine. One kiss led to another and another and yet another, until finally, he pulled away and opened the door for her.
“Your Aunt Luna will get out her pistol if you get pneumonia from making out with me in this weather,” he whispered.
“Maybe so, but what a way to die,” she laughed.
“Amen!” He kissed her once more and then ran around the front of the truck and grabbed the sacks with the food inside. When he’d jogged back, he said, “Glad I left that bag here with a change of clothes in it.”
“Maybe Chester will steal one of your socks,” Rose said as she opened the door and the two of them rushed inside.
Luna met them with a couple of towels in her hands. “Y’all best get dried before we sit down to eat. Did you get extra chicken drumsticks?”
“Yes, but I forgot to ask Hud if he was a leg man.” Rose dried her hair and face, and headed for the stairs. “I’ll only be a minute. Hud, you can change in the shop.”
“Thanks, and I’m not a leg man,” he chuckled. “I’m a breast guy.”
She blushed in spite of the chill and forced herself not to look down at her own chest, which was average size, and wondered if her boobs were too big or too small. It was a crazy thought, because other than a few kisses, whatever this was with Hud couldn’t go anywhere permanent until she made up her mind about her own future. It wouldn’t be fair to a great guy like him to ever lead him on for weeks and then reenlist. The army only knew where her next duty station would be, but it sure wouldn’t be anywhere close to Bowie, Texas.
She shivered the whole time that she changed, and hadn’t warmed up yet when she started back down the stairs. Her pulse jacked up a few notches when she realized Hud was standing at the bottom of the steps, watching her. Just the way he looked at her heated up her insides more than any sweater in her closet.
Luna walked up behind Hud and poked him on the shoulder with a bony finger. “Y’all quit makin’ moony eyes at each other, and get on in here to the table before the gravy gets cold. Nothin’ worse than cold gravy.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hud held out his hand toward Rose.
He didn’t drop it until he pulled out a chair for her. “So, what’s your favorite piece of chicken?” he asked as he rounded the table and seated Luna.
“Legs,” Rose answered. “Daddy used to tell me that he needed to perfect a breed of chicken that had three legs.”
“My granny used to tell Tag the same thing,” Hud said.
Luna bowed her head. “Thank you, God, for this food. Amen.”
“We’ve never said grace before,” Rose said.
“It’s Sunday,” Luna said bluntly and took two legs out of the box of chicken before she passed it on to Hud. “Now let’s eat.”
“What was your favorite thing about living in a commune?” He removed a breast and a wing.
“I think it was the land. Although the commune owned only maybe thirty or forty acres, it had a nice stream bordering it on one side and a mountain on the other. I loved running wild and free, wading in the clear water or taking a sandwich up into the trees and having a picnic with the squirrels,” she answered honestly. “What did you like about growing up on a ranch?”
“Pretty much what you said.” He spooned some mashed potatoes out onto his plate and handed the container to her. Vibes passed between them when their fingertips touched—but that wasn’t a surprise, since it happened every single time they were even close to each other. “After me and Tag would get done with chores, we’d either go to the creek running on the Rockin’ B Ranch property or we’d play rodeo cowboys. We about wore out a bull Grandpa made us from a tractor tire and hung from a big old scrub oak tree in our backyard. I’d ride while he pulled on the rope to make it buck, and then we’d trade places. The best thing was when Daddy or Grandpa came out there and jerked the rope around, because the bull got really rowdy then.”
“The boys had one of those at the commune,” Rose said. “I tried it one time, but I only stayed on a couple of seconds. That ended my rodeo career right there.”
“Not mine,” Hud said between bites. “I still ride bulls whenever I get a chance.”
“Ever been hurt?”
“Few times,” he admitted.
“Wilbur used to get a wild hair up his butt and want to do rodeo stuff. I told him that we had a carnival and riding the Ferris wheel or the Tilt-A-Whirl was enough excitement for him,” Luna said and changed the subject. “How’d y’all fare at the two-steppin’ last night?”
“We didn’t go,” Rose replied. “We went out to Hud’s ranch and I got to see his house and meet his dog, Red. He kind of reminds me of Daddy’s redbone hound named Merle. He’s a big pet, for the most part, but he hates coyotes, so when one comes around lookin’ for a chicken or a newborn calf or baby goat, Merle puts them goin’ pretty fast.”
“Is he named after Merle Haggard?” Luna asked.
“Yep, and Red is after that song by Blake Shelton,” Rose told her.
Rose glanced up at her reflection in the mirror hanging above an old washstand on the other side of the kitchen. Her makeup was completely washed away, leaving her eyebrows and eyelashes the same strawberry blond color as her hair. Every freckle was shining, and her full lips still looked slightly bee-stung from the make-out session. Hud had kissed her when she looked like a runaway street person, so evidently, he really did like her.
“Well, I got to meet them dogs someday,” Luna said, smacking her lips. “This is some fine chicken. Reminds me of what your mama made for me the last time I saw her. Only thing I like better than fried chicken is catfish. We had that on the table the day I went to see her too. Man, was that some good food.”
“When spring comes, we should go fishing in one of our farm ponds,” Hud suggested. “They’ve been stocked with catfish, and the old guy we bought the place from said no one has fished in them for several years. That means they might be good eatin’ sized.”
When spring rolled around, Rose could easily be thousands and thousands of miles away, or then again, she could only be a couple of hours down the road if she took the job in Fort Worth.
“I haven’t been fishing in years.” She put the thoughts of where she’d be in two months away, and focused on the memories of the commune. “Daddy and I often went on Sunday afternoons, and if we caught something, we’d cook it over an open fire right there on the creek bank and eat it.”
“Did you feel guilty that you didn’t take it back to share with the others?” Hud asked.
She shook her head. “Me and Daddy called it an afternoon snack. There wasn’t enough for everyone in the commune to even have a taste. The way I figured, it was that if they wanted plenty to feed the crowd, then they should be out there helping us. We all worked together in the huge garden, picked the fruit from the orchard, and took care of the livestock, so it was either fish and eat or not fish and have whatever was left over in the kitchen for snacks.”
“Sounds like pretty sound thinking to me,” he agreed.
“I thought so.” She stole looks over at him.
“Where was your favorite place to be stationed when you were in the army?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “I loved each place, even the tours over in Afghanistan. There was something eerily beautiful about that place, but I have to admit I got sick of the sand. There was no way to keep it out of everything, from your clothes to your bedsheets. That part I didn’t like at all. What about you? You’ve worked on your folks’ big ranch, and now this smaller one. Which is your favorite?”
Hud hesitated for so long that she wondered if he’d ever answer. Then he gave a brief nod, as if he’d found the most truthful one. “I’d have to say the Canyon Creek ranch is my favorite. Tag and I are working toward something that we can be proud of and, hopefully, add to as land around us comes up for sale. What my folks have is huge, but my great-grandparents started small like we’re doing and built the ranch into an empire. We want to do the same for our future generations. It takes long hours and lots of elbow grease, but there’s a lot of pride in getting a fence built, or a barn roof put on, or even a pasture full of hay baled. And that’s not even talking about the excitement of a new calf on the ranch.”
She loved the enthusiasm in his voice. She wanted to feel the same way when she made up her mind about what step to take next in her own life.