Hannah woke in a panic the next morning, thinking she was late for work. As she caught her breath, though, she realized the sun wasn’t even up yet. The window in the small house was dark. Jeremy was snuggled close to her side in the bed, and she rose up on her elbows so she could see the clock on the cardboard box they’d set up on his side of the bed. She had another ten minutes before she needed to get out of this cocoon of blankets.
She lay back down, but she didn’t close her eyes. She looked to the other side of the room and saw the love seat Mark had brought over last night. They’d set it in front of the old fireplace. Jeremy was restless and Mark suggested they all sit on the short sofa together to help calm him down. They had already turned the lights off, hoping Jeremy would fall asleep, so they sat down in the dark.
Hannah would never look at another love seat again without remembering the closeness of that night. Mark had his arm around her and Jeremy was sprawled over their laps. In the silence, she felt the strength of his arm against her shoulders and the taut muscles of his leg next to hers. She felt safe.
She looked up at him, seeing nothing but the outline of his face, and knew she was where she belonged. It wasn’t just Dry Creek that was home, it was Mark, too.
Now, lying in bed, she whispered to herself what she had known last night. “I love him. Really, really love him.”
God help me, she thought as she addressed the one who knew her best. I really do love him. What does that mean?
Jeremy stirred in his sleep and she gently patted his back. She could afford to wait a few more minutes before getting up, but today was the day of the pie sale and she didn’t want to be late.
The lights were shining bright in the café by the time Hannah pulled up in her car. She had taken Jeremy to Mrs. Hargrove’s and laid him on the bed the older woman kept for him. As Hannah was driving the short bit to the café, she saw that this was going to be no ordinary day. People—men, women and even some children—were lined up on the porch and down the steps, apparently waiting for the official opening of the café.
“I’m buying a pie,” one rancher she recognized yelled to her as she walked toward the café.
“Me, too,” a woman from the church said and then added, “In fact, I’m getting two. A strawberry for me and a lemon for my husband.”
Another said, “We’re all praying for your boy.”
Hannah just kept saying thank you and nodding her head as people called out to her. The line parted to let her get to the door and she was inside before the tears started to fall.
Lois met her there with Hannah’s work apron in her hand.
“I’ve got the room divided still,” Lois said in a rush. “But I’m guessing half of the people out there will want breakfast, too. I called Linda and she’ll be here in a couple of minutes, and Mark already agreed to come in to handle the pie sales until breakfast is over.”
Lois finished and took a deep breath. “There’s got to be forty people waiting.”
They both heard the sound of another vehicle approaching.
“And more coming,” Hannah said as she took the apron from her coworker. “We’re in for quite a morning.”
From then on, things happened fast. The smell of bacon mingled with that of coffee. Linda decided to set up a small buffet line, and she offered scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and coffee for a special price of four dollars per person. She kept the eggs and bacon in chaffing dishes on an oblong table she’d moved out from the kitchen. And the grill was going, putting out golden pancakes as fast as people could eat them.
Mark came in shortly after everything started and began collecting the money for the pies. People were eating first and then picking up their pies as they left the café. It took Hannah a bit to notice that Mark was also talking with the men and showing them something at the last pie table. It wasn’t until ten o’clock, when dozens of men gathered outside and Mark went out to the porch, that she realized what was happening.
“He’s selling those champion rodeo buckles of his,” Hannah said, horrified, looking through the window as Mark raised one in his hand. She glanced over and saw Lois nod.
“But those are his prize possessions,” Hannah said. “I can’t let him do that.”
“I hear he’s doing an auction,” Lois said slowly. “You know how men here like the rodeo. The prices are five hundred per buckle to start and they’ll probably go to double that.” Lois paused. “You know what that means. He might make more on those than we will on the whole pie sale. Are you sure you want to stop him?”
All the love Hannah had welled up inside her as she rushed to the door. Love for her son and love for Mark. Surely they did not have to compete. There had to be another way, she thought. She stumbled out the door in time to hear Mark shout out that the buckle he was holding high was now going for seven hundred dollars.
“You can’t do this.” Hannah found herself squeezed between the café wall and Mark’s back. She was trying to make herself heard, but the men—in their Stetsons and their baseball caps—were shouting out numbers and comments.
She didn’t know how, but Mark seemed to hear her and he turned.
“You can’t do this,” she repeated now that he could hear. “We’ll get the money someway. I can’t let you—”
She stopped then because she was going to cry and she didn’t want to do that. Not here in front of all those men, some who stood there with their children and wives.
Mark leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, which resulted in more whooping and hollering from the men watching the porch. “He’s my son, too. I’m doing this for him.”
“But—” she said.
“I can buy any of them back in thirty days,” Mark said. “That’s the deal up front with all of them, so if we do get a big loan, I can do that.”
“But we might not—” Hannah cautioned.
Mark brushed the side of her face with his knuckles. “I know that, too. It’s long odds. But my mind’s made up.”
Hannah had no answer for that so she just nodded. Mark turned to his audience and she slipped back into the café.
After the auction ended, the crowds melted away except for a few people who came in to get the pies they’d purchased earlier. The last tray of pancakes was eaten by eleven o’clock. By then the coffee pot was empty and the café was out of eggs. Lois made a sign that read No Pies Left and taped it to the window. Mark had been outside talking with everyone as they lingered around the porch. A few families had drifted over to the church, where a prayer vigil was being held.
Since there were no customers left in the café, Hannah decided she needed a break, and she went into the kitchen. She sat in a chair before laying her head down on the table. She’d never talked to so many people in one day in her life. Good cheer just seemed to pour out of these people. It wasn’t a cloying thing, either, she thought to herself. These people really wanted to help her and Jeremy.
A couple of minutes passed before Lois sat down beside her.
“My feet will never be the same,” the waitress said. “I don’t know where all of these people came from.”
“All the farms and ranches around,” Hannah said as she yawned.
Just then the phone rang in the kitchen. A black wall phone, the instrument had been there for over a decade.
Hannah stood up to go answer it.
“Tell them we’re out of coffee,” Lois muttered. “Linda said we might as well close for the day. Nobody’s going to want to eat here with no coffee and no pie. We even sold the couple of pies I made for the café.”
Hannah had a small smile on her face as she answered the phone. She never thought she’d see the day when the café ran out of their most popular beverage.
“Hello,” Hannah said into the phone. “Dry Creek Café. Can I help you?”
“Is Mark Nelson there?” a man’s voice asked. “This is Mr. Gaines calling back.”
“Mr. Gaines from the bank?” Hannah asked as her shoulders straightened. She was suddenly very much awake. “I know Mark was waiting for your call. He’s probably just outside. I’ll go get him. Just hold on a minute.”
Hannah set the phone receiver down on the cabinet and mouthed the words “Mr. Gaines” to Lois before she hurried out of the kitchen.
Within seconds, she was standing on the porch looking for the crowd she’d seen earlier. There was no one around except for a few of the cowboys from the Elkton ranch.
“Where’s Mark Nelson?” she asked as she ran over to them. “He has a phone call.”
She expected them to say Mark was in the church and was almost going to turn in that direction when they answered.
“He told me he was driving up to that rodeo in Havre,” one of the men said.
“Told me the same,” another said. “Some time ago.”
The third man just nodded.
“But he can’t be,” Hannah said in disbelief. He wouldn’t have left to go watch a rodeo with the troubles they were facing.
“Said he had some business there,” the original man said. “Said to pray for him since he’d never been so nervous over anything in his life.”
A chill went down Hannah’s spine. “He wasn’t planning to enter that rodeo, was he?”
None of the men offered an answer until one of them tentatively said, “I wouldn’t think so. Didn’t the doctor say he could die if he tried something like that?”
“I thought maybe he was going to buy a horse or something,” another of the men mumbled. “If I thought he was going to ride, I would have hog-tied him and made him stay right here.”
Hannah spun around. She didn’t have time to waste. She ran up the steps and into the kitchen of the café.
“Mr. Gaines,” she said, breathless. “I can’t find Mark outside. Someone said they thought he might be heading up to that rodeo in Havre.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t do that, would he?” Mr. Gaines said, clearly in distress. “I was just calling him back to say that even though the bank turned him down for a loan, I’d be willing to make him a personal loan of five thousand dollars.”
“I need to go, Mr. Gaines,” Hannah said. “Thank you for calling.”
“You going to Havre?” the man asked.
“If my car will make it,” Hannah said.
“I’ll meet you there,” he said. “And don’t worry, young lady. We’ll stop him from doing anything foolish.”
Hannah hung up the phone and turned to Lois. “Did Mark say anything when he got off the phone with Mr. Gaines earlier?”
She needed all the clues she could get.
Lois shook her head. “All he did was to ask if he could make a long-distance phone call. Linda said yes and then he pulled a paper out of his pocket and dialed a number. They talked for fifteen minutes and he seemed pleased when he hung up.”
“Pleased?” Hannah questioned.
“Maybe more like excited,” Lois admitted. “But he didn’t say anything, he just took off. He’d already sold all of the pies by then and he’d finished his auction, so I assumed he was just going home. That was close to an hour ago.”
“I think he’s on his way to that rodeo in Havre,” Hannah said, suddenly very determined to get there as fast as she could. “Do you think it’s okay for me to leave? I haven’t finished my shift.”
“Like I said, Linda was thinking of closing the place for the rest of the day,” Lois said. “Just be careful driving. I know you’re worried, but don’t go too fast.”
Hannah nodded and, with a few last words asking Lois to let Mrs. Hargrove know where she was, she left the café in a hurry and got on the road north.
* * *
Mark wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. It was a hot dusty day in Havre at the rodeo arena and he was nervous. If his life ever flashed before his eyes, he was certain that this arena and dozens like it would be the main backdrop.
Today, though, he was here for Jeremy.
“I made my first real ride here when I was fourteen,” Mark said, loud enough for the sound to go through to the recording device. He was fortunate to be the same size as Jacob Marsh, one of his wrangler friends, and he was doubly fortunate that the man had agreed to change clothes with him today. The Western shirt he now wore was made of the most expensive cotton he’d ever had on, and the snaps down its front sparkled in the sun like diamonds. In fact, knowing Jacob, there might be diamond chips in them somewhere.
Jacob had bought one of Mark’s belt buckles this morning and was lending it to him for the day, as well. The black Stetson, with its braided leather band, was the crowning touch if one didn’t count the finely tooled black leather boots on his feet.
“Don’t mind the dust,” the cameraman said to someone as a chute opened on their left.
Mark turned to look. That Brahma bull making trouble there was one he knew well. The beast turned its head in the chute and pawed at the ground as a man gingerly dropped down on its back.
“That was me when I was sixteen,” Mark continued on for the camera. He lowered his voice so the rider wouldn’t hear. “Scared me spitless, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Why’d you do it, then?” the cameraman asked.
“I always had to win,” he answered simply. “I thought it made me a better man to be able to do something faster and better than someone else.”
It also made him think it caused people to love him, but he wasn’t going to say that.
“I know better now,” he said instead.
Just then the chute’s outer door was opened and the bull charged out into the arena. Mark thought he heard someone calling his name as the rider lifted his arm to balance his wild ride.
“Mark.” He heard the voice louder and looked behind him. The crowd was parting for some reason.
“Hannah?” he asked as she came barreling toward him. Her hair had fallen out of her ponytail and spun around her like golden brass. Her eyes were wide. She was breathing deep and her legs were moving fast.
He opened his arms and she ran right into them.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, worried by now that something was happening. “Something with Jeremy?”
Hannah shook her head, but seemed unable to speak. She kept taking big gulps of air. If he wasn’t holding her steady with his arms, he was afraid she’d pass out. He’d never seen her so distraught.
Since it wasn’t their son causing her to be so agitated, he didn’t know what it could be. “Something wrong with your father?”
She shook her head.
“It’s you,” she finally gasped.
“Me?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“Yes, you,” she said, her voice louder now that she seemed to have regained her breath. “You can’t ride in this rodeo. I don’t care what you think, you can’t. We just got you back. We can’t lose you again.”
Mark felt the smile growing as his lips stretched. “So you’d miss me if I was gone?”
“Of course,” Hannah retorted, her eyes flashing at him.
Mark tightened his arms until she was comfortably close to his chest. “I’d miss you, too.” He leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “I happen to love you, Hannah Stelling.”
He felt a little contented sigh, and then Hannah seemed to remember something because she reared back far enough to look him in the eyes. “Well, then, what are you doing here?”
“I’m doing the first part of a media package for the tabloid folks that want my story,” Mark said. “Since they already had a stringer up here today for the rodeo, we’re getting some footage shot for ads and such.”
“You’re talking about your coma?” Hannah asked in astonishment.
Mark nodded.
“If they make me out to be an oddity,” he said, “I’ll just live with it. I have more important things in my life now than my pride.”
At that point, the cameraman called out, “Introduce us to the lady. What part does she play in the story?”
“She’s the love of my life,” Mark answered. It took all his courage to look down at Hannah staring up at him a riot of emotions flooding her face.
“You getting married?” the cameraman called out again. “Viewers want to know.”
Mark turned his back to the camera with Hannah still in his arms. Some things were private.
“I plan to ask you, but you don’t have to say anything right now,” he rushed to assure Hannah. “I know this is a little public and you like your privacy. And you probably don’t want to think about anything until Jeremy is settled and—”
Hannah put her fingers to his lips. “Yes.”
“Yes?” he asked in surprise.
Hannah nodded, a smile growing on her face. “Yes.”
Mark spun them around. “The answer is yes. She’s going to marry me.”
He hadn’t noticed, but by that time a small crowd had gathered. People still knew the name Mark Nelson when they went to a rodeo. And then he saw Mr. Gaines from the bank.
“She’s going to marry me,” he called out to the banker just in case he hadn’t been able to hear in all the noise of the rodeo.
The camera continued to roll and Mark realized he hadn’t even been able to tell Hannah that he had a cashier’s check in his pocket for twenty thousand dollars. It seemed that the tabloid company not only had money, they knew how to use it and could get it to someone faster than he ever thought possible.
As the rodeo announcer blared out the results of the last ride, Mark signaled the cameraman that he wanted a few minutes alone with Hannah. The man grinned and turned the crowd toward the rodeo winner.
Mark led Hannah behind the bleachers and turned her to face him.
“You really are okay with this?” he asked. “It’s not how I intended to propose.”
Hannah shrugged. “We’ll have a story to tell Jeremy.”
“And our other kids,” Mark added with a grin. “Although I still intend to take you out for a romantic candlelight dinner. Just as soon as—”
He didn’t finish, but then, he didn’t need to. They both knew Jeremy’s health was the only missing piece in their happiness. Hannah closed her eyes as she leaned against his chest and he put his arms around her.
“We can only trust in God,” he said as he held her.
He felt her nod and he felt peace.
“Be with us,” he prayed. “And our son.”