How to Rope a McCoy (Hell Yeah!) (3 page)

Movement
from her left drew her attention. Several people ran in, the librarian, a
policeman and her mother. Cato’s time must have been up and Edith had come
looking for her. “What have you done?” she screamed. Cato explained the best
she could. Her mother tried to pull her up, but Cato resisted, not wanting
anyone else to see her in this condition.

In
the confusion, Cato lost sight of the boy who’d been brave enough to stand up
for her. Someone finally brought her a coat and she allowed herself to be
helped from the floor. They led her to a room where she was questioned, or
rather her mother was questioned. She wasn’t allowed to speak and most of what
she told her mother wasn’t what was relayed to the police. Cato tried to find
out about the man who saved her, but her mother dismissed her questions and by
the time she could get up and look for herself, he was gone.

Cato
never learned who he was, but she never forgot him.

It
was funny, but the incident didn’t affect her like everyone thought it would.
Cato still asked to go to the library when she had papers to do. After all, it
was an unusual occurrence. Since her bout with meningitis and the loss of her
hearing, Edith had insisted Cato be homeschooled, which just made matters
worse. It was so obvious her mother hated spending time with her. This made
everything harder and made both of them miserable. So, Cato was hungry for any
type of social interaction. Yes, the man who attacked her might be pathetic and
sick, but the one who saved her gave Cato hope that there were more people like
him in the world.

And
one day, she was going to meet them.

Heath – Wedding Bell Blues

“This
collar is choking me,” Heath managed to whisper to Philip, who stood to his
right.

“If
you think that’s uncomfortable, wait till the noose of matrimony tightens
around your neck.”

Heath
rolled his eyes at his brother. “Just wait till you fall in love, you have no
idea.” The preacher gave them the evil eye and they sobered up, hands folded
below their waist.

“Where’s
your bride, Heath?” Jaxson checked his watch. “She’s late.”

Heath
shook his head, trying to make his brothers be quiet. He kept his eyes trained
on those stained glass doors at the back. Any moment, the love of his life was
going to walk through them and give him her sweetest smile. Heath sighed, he
couldn’t wait. The most beautiful woman in the world had consented to be his
bride and he was the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.  

“Would
you be in a hurry to marry this big ox?” Tennessee chuckled.

Raising
one eyebrow, he quelled his brother’s tomfoolery. This just wasn’t the time. A
church wedding was supposed to be a sacred occurrence. Looking out into the
audience, Heath noticed his father looked tired. The nurse who took care of him
seemed a bit concerned. She was watching him like a hawk. His sisters sat
beside him, dressed in wedding finery. They would be hostesses at the
reception. Their eyes were on their father also.

A
few random coughs drew his attention and Heath finally realized how much time
had passed. The organist was looking worried. Even he could tell she was
repeating the songs. Glancing over at Amy’s mother, he could see her whispering
to a woman who sat next to her. Their expressions worried him the most.

The
preacher cleared his throat loudly and Heath looked over his shoulder to see if
he was choking or trying to get his attention. It was the latter. “Any clue to
what’s going on?”

Heath
didn’t, but if the sinking feeling in his stomach was any indication, it wasn’t
good. “Cold feet?”

A
murmur stole Heath’s attention and when he looked up, Amy’s mother was headed
down the aisle. He watched her exit through those doors he’d been staring at,
waiting and hoping.

“You
all right?” This came from Philip.

“No,
would you be?” By this time, everyone was talking, looking at him and
whispering.

Finally,
the doors opened and for a moment, Heath thought everything was going to be
okay. After all, Amy was perfect for him. They were happy. They had so much in
common. Their marriage was meant to be.

He
held on to that notion until Jack
Arness
, who’d been
appointed to walk Amy down the aisle appeared and shook his head. “She’s not
coming. Amy changed her mind.”

A
barrage of murmurs and titters rose through the congregation. A spear of pain
shot through Heath’s heart. He thought he was about to be sick. He lurched off
the step he was standing on and Philip made a grab for him, but he managed to
stay on his feet. “I’m okay.”

It
was easy to say, but Heath had never told a bigger fib in his life.

“Heath,
man, let’s get you out of here.”

“No,
I want to see her. There has to be some mistake.” He started down the white
satin carpet, knocking over a basket of gladiolas as he went. An unyielding
hand stopped his progress.

“Wait…”
It was Tennessee.

But
Heath wouldn’t be stopped. He had to know what had happened. What had he done
wrong? If she’d just tell him what to fix, he would fix it. Gladly.

Was
there someone else?

The
thought stole his breath. He blindly walked to the room where Amy and the
bridesmaids had dressed. Throwing open the door, he expected to come face to
face with his fiancée and her mother. Instead, he found only the maid of honor
standing by the dressing table, holding the bouquet he’d helped Amy pick out.
“Where is she?” he asked lowly.

Regina
jumped. “Heath!” She dropped the bouquet and it landed with a thud on the
floor. Heath was surprised it weighed so much. She held a hand to her chest.

“Where
is she?” He repeated slowly as if they didn’t speak the same language.

“Gone.” 

“Gone
where?”

She
avoided his eyes. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

Heath
stared at the lavender dress Regina wore. Purple wasn’t her color. “Did she
leave with someone else?”

Regina’s
eyes widened. “No, just her mom.”

“You’re
lying. It’s as plain as the nose on your face.” When Regina blanched, Heath
lowered his voice. “At least tell me what she said.” He was desperate to
understand. Heath took another step forward and she took one step back. “I’m
not going to fuckin’ hurt you,” he barked.

“She…she
just said she couldn’t go through with it.” Regina held up her hands as if to
stave him off. “Look, she’s with that
Arness
man.
He’s been after Amy for a long time.”

“James?”

“No,
his son. He hates you. He said your grandfather stole Highlands from him and
his family. Caesar has a way about him. That’s all I know.” 

He
didn’t care about ancient family history. All he cared about was that she was
gone. “She left me for
Arness
’ son?”   

“I
don’t think so. I don’t think she wanted to marry you even if Caesar wasn’t around.”

Heath’s
heart sank. Amy had left him standing at the altar. She didn’t want him. She
had rejected him in the most open and final way possible—for another man.

Walking
back toward the chapel, he found an engagement portrait of them sitting next to
the guest registration book. Dammit, they looked so happy. What a joke. “Well,
fuck you, Amy.” He wiped a tear from his eye, wondering how he was going to get
over this.

There
was one thing for certain.

He
would never, ever make the mistake of falling in love again.

Cato – Never Say Goodbye

           
Cato stood in front of the mirror, putting her hair up in a ponytail. She sang
I’ve
Got
To
Be Me
at the top of her lungs. “Daring to
try. Do it or die.” The gist of the song was her mantra. She had to be true to
herself or quit now.

           
Smiling, she celebrated the few hours of freedom she had. Her mother had gone
to a high school class reunion and she was headed to Tessa’s. This afternoon
they were going to a matinee with a group of other kids and tomorrow Tessa’s
dad was taking them out on his boat. Cato was going to have a regular teenage
weekend. Yay!

Tessa
was her first cousin, a year older, and the coolest person in the entire world.
In fact, all of Tessa’s family was cool. Their mothers might be sisters and
have the same hint of an overbite, but that’s where the similarities ended.
Cato’s Aunt Flo was nice and she let Cato talk all she wanted to. Anytime she
was with this part of her family, Cato chattered like a magpie. They didn’t
complain, castigate or judge. From the moment she stepped over their threshold,
Cato was free. The Brody family treated her with respect, like she was normal.
They listened to her speak and didn’t try to starve her to death. Cato had to
eat like a bird around Edith, yet it didn’t really seem to do a lot of good.
Her mother insisted Cato was overweight and, of course, she was still deaf.

Cato
frowned at her reflection. “Smile, sexy. You’re going to have a good time.” In
answer, she grinned at herself, the excitement almost making her giddy.

Everyone
had things in life they couldn’t control. How they dealt with them made the
difference. Cato was determined to be happy. She wanted to fit in. And most of
all, she wanted to be normal.

Twisting
in front of the mirror, she tried to decide if her clothes were cool enough to
wear out with other kids. Since her mother would have a cow if she had any idea
her less-than-perfect daughter was about to venture into the unknown world of
social interaction—with a boy! Skimming her hands down her body, she wished she
was thin. Oh, she wasn’t fat—not hugely fat, or morbidly obese as they called
it—which was the worst possible name, anything with the word morbid in it had to
be horrible. Cato preferred to think of herself as pleasantly plump. Actually,
anyone who was fatter than the skinniest girl in school was fat to someone.

Being
curvy these days was an automatic social death sentence. Couple plumpness with
deafness and what did you get? A social pariah, that’s what. Or that’s what her
mother would have her believe. Feeling less than enthused, Cato leaned forward
and rested her elbows on the sink, staring right into her big brown eyes. There
were weird golden suns around the pupils. She must have gotten that from her
dad.

Her
dad.

Cato
would give just about anything for him to walk through the door and rescue
her.  Edith had nothing good to say about Bill Vincent. Of course, that
didn’t surprise Cato. Edith had nothing good to say about her either. According
to her mother, Cato’s father was a no-count gambling drunk and she harped on
Cato all the time about the dangers of alcohol and cards. One of these days,
when she was old enough, Cato vowed she was going to go to a casino and play
the one-armed bandit.

Just
because.

“Oh,
no!” Widening her eyes, she popped up, bouncing. She’d forgotten to use
mouthwash. What if a boy wanted to kiss her? Giggling at the complete audacity
of the thought, she ran to her mother’s bathroom and nabbed hers, then ran back
to gargle. Cato would have to remember to take the mouth freshener back, so she
wouldn’t have to explain to her mom why she wanted minty breath. Anytime she
could avoid explaining anything to Edith, it was a good thing. 

For
years, Cato had struggled with the relationship between her and her mother.
There were times when she felt as if Edith hated her, but Cato knew that
couldn’t be true. Mothers had to love their kids. After all, she fed Cato and
kept her clothed and a roof over her head. No, their misshapen relationship was
Cato’s fault. She was a disappointment to her beautiful, thin, eloquent,
tiara-wearing mother with perfect hearing. Cato was defective and the elegant
beauty queen was humiliated for people to know that Cato was her child.

Hugging
herself, she replayed her mother’s words in her head.
No one wants you. No
one will ever want you.

Stiffening
her spine, she mentally fought back. “That’s not true. I’m nice and sweet and
cute and honest and…adorable!” She finished with a laugh. Right now, not even
the bag boy at the
Piggly
Wiggly could get her down.
The other day he’d made some obnoxious noise at her, one she couldn’t readily
identify by lip-reading. Cato had thought he’d been howling at her, but Edith
had told her with a knowing glance that he was mooing at her—because she was a
cow. Cato was pretty well used to the sting by now and took immense pride in
not reacting, either to the bag boy or to her mother. She was what she was.
“I’ve got to be me!” she sang as she padded out of the bathroom to find her
purse. Aunt Flo would be there in five minutes and Cato had new worlds to
conquer.

*  *  *

She
looked up at Troy Keller through her lashes. He was cute. Not as cute as the
guy who’d fought for her at the library. That boy would forever be her perfect
knight in shining armor—but Troy would do in a pinch.