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Hours later, a deal had been struck between Garrett and Sonny, and he’d just finished filling out registration transfers to the AQHA online. The new registration papers would be mailed to Garrett, listing him as the new owner, and he’d given him a bill of sale for the four Quarter Horses.

Garrett’s son, Travis, was in a corner of the living room watching TV. Thumper, Colorado, and Garza were eating through the snacks Sonny had put out earlier, and laughing as they reminisced about their rodeo days with Sonny.

Garza popped a Frito in his mouth, chewing as he talked. “Hey Sonny, remember that blond buckle bunny who kept wearing a feather in her hair in the cowboy bars after rodeo events, hoping you would notice her?”

Sonny grinned. “We all noticed her after some drunk stuck his cigarette to the feather and it went up in smoke.”

“Yeah, and somebody from a nearby table grabbed their pitcher of beer and threw it in her face to put out the fire,” Thumper added.

“Wonder what ever happened to her? I never saw her around the rodeos after that,” Colorado said.

Sonny shrugged. “It’s hard to show your face again after everyone you know saw your tailfeathers on fire.”

They burst out laughing.

“Speaking of women…there’s a real pretty one who waits tables down at the Yellow Rose,” Colorado said. “She waited on our table when we were eating lunch. Dark hair, bluest damn eyes I ever saw, and sass to spare. I always did like a sassy woman.”

“Before you comedians say anything more you might regret, that one’s already spoken for. She recently gave up her place in Crossroads to come live with me, and I’m marrying her as soon as I can get a ring on her finger. Her name is Magnolia Rae Brennen, and pretty soon she’ll be adding Bluejacket to all that.”

Garrett laughed at the stricken looks on the men’s faces. “Now look what you went and did, Sonny. You broke their hearts, destroyed their fantasies, and they’ll never be the same…until the next pretty girl comes along.”

They were still teasing each other when Sonny heard a car coming toward the house and looked out the window.

“Speaking of my girl, she’s coming down the driveway now. She was a good friend to Emmit. Used to clean house for him on her days off, so she knew more about this place than I did when I arrived.”

“Dang it. I’m always a day late and a dollar short,” Colorado said.

“Be nice. All of you. I don’t want her to think my friends are heathens, too. She’s already had a dose of Walker. It’s a miracle she even wants anything to do with me,” Sonny said.

“What do you mean?” Garza asked.

Garrett already knew the story. “I’ll fill you all in later. I’m sure that’s the last thing she’d want to discuss, but suffice it to say, Sonny handled it like a boss. You have my sympathy and my admiration,” Garrett added.

And then the back door opened, and she came in smiling.

Sonny went to meet her. “Hey, darlin’. I imagine you know Garrett Dillon, and his boy Travis. And I heard you served these three clowns at the Rose today. That’s Thumper, Colorado, and Garza. They’re bull riders like I was, and friends from my rodeo days. Everyone, this is Magnolia, my future wife.”

“Maggie to all of you,” she said, and then saw Travis in the corner. “There’s my chicken-fry guy.”

Travis looked up, beaming. “Yes, ma’am. I do love me some chicken-fried steak.”

“And Miss Pearl makes the best, doesn’t she?” Maggie said, then eyed the table full of crumbs and empties. “Did anyone happen to leave a cold Pepsi for me?”

The three bull riders jumped up at once and scrambled to the refrigerator, trying to be the first one to get one for her.

Sonny gave her a quick hug. “You have conquests.”

She shrugged. “It’s the pink Ropers,” and then Thumper came flying toward her with a can of Pepsi.

“She likes it on ice,” Sonny said.

Colorado grabbed a red Solo cup from the table and filled it from the dispenser.

“Thank you, boys, so much,” Maggie said. “Now if somebody could find me a place to sit, I’d be…”

All of a sudden, every chair at the table was empty and Garza was holding out a chair.

“Right here, Miss Maggie. It’s the cleanest spot,” he said.

At that, everyone was laughing, including Maggie. She emptied the can of Pepsi into her cup and took that first sip. “Don’t you just love it when that fizz hits your nose? Now what on earth has been going on here today?”

“Garrett bought the mares, the gray stud, and the biggest bay. We’ve been working on registration transfers for a while now,” Sonny said.

Maggie’s eyes lit up, and then she clapped her hands in delight. “Sonny! This is wonderful. Emmit would be so proud of you!”

“I’m pretty happy about it,” Garrett said. “I was interested in the gray stud before Emmit got sick and then, as I told Sonny, it didn’t seem like a good time to bother him after that.”

Sonny glanced back at the screen on his laptop. “Okay, Garrett. That was the notification from my bank. Your money transfer went through. And we’ve finished the registration transfers. When do you want to pick up the horses?”

“Tomorrow morning around nine o’clock, if that time works for you.”

Sonny nodded. “Then I’ll stable the stud and the bay for the night. It’ll save rounding them up tomorrow.”

Garrett stood, then shook Sonny’s hand. “Pleasure doing business with you. Next time I have a roping event at the ranch, why don’t you bring that Appaloosa and show off a little for us. It would be good advertising for you to let people know you’re in the area. Good trainers are hard to come by. You said you used to train for ranchers down around Henryetta?”

Sonny nodded. “Among others.”

“Then I know some cowboys riding horses you likely worked with.”

“Sure, why not?” Sonny said. “Just let me know the day and time and I’ll load up Dancer and head your way.”

“Will you ride him like you did for us?” Travis asked.

“Sure,” Sonny said. “Dancer doesn’t much like saddles and bridles anyway.”

“How do you know?” Travis asked.

“Because he told me,” Sonny said, and then winked.

A few minutes later they were gone, and Sonny was on his way to the stables to put down bedding, hay, and water in two more stalls. He let the bay in first, and latched the door, then went back for the gray stud and put him in another stall and latched that door, as well.

“This is our last night together,” he said, as he gave each of them an apple treat, and went back to the house.

Maggie was pulling off her pink boots as Sonny came in the back door with the big garbage can, and began cleaning off the mess they’d made.

“I think they ate every snack item we had in the place,” Sonny said.

“We can always get more, but you can’t get more good friends like that. The best ones are the ones you have history with,” Maggie said, then pulled her T-shirt over her head and wrinkled her nose. “I smell like french fries again.”

Sonny wiped the last of the crumbs from the table, then wrapped his arms around her bare shoulders. “Do I smell like money? I should because I just sold two hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of horses.”

Maggie’s eyes widened. “You did what?”

“Four registered Quarter Horses, trained for cutting and roping. One a stud, one a competition horse, and two mares due to foal within the next month. A good cutting horse will easily sell for at least twenty-five, and competition horses can go as high as fifty thousand. The gray was Emmit’s stud horse, which makes him worth more. There are the two foals yet to be born, which because of their bloodlines, are still worth a lot. Garrett wanted them, and I had them for sale,” Sonny said.

“Oh my God! Sonny! I had no idea those horses were worth money like that! Congratulations! This is so exciting for you!”

“For us,” Sonny said. “For us. Everything I do will be for us, and the family we raise. I’ll take some of the money from the sale and buy a couple of registered Quarter Horses with good bloodlines, already broke to ride but untrained, and do it all over again. This is how it starts, darlin’. This is our future. Start small. Grow the business while you paint your masterpieces,” then he unhooked her bra and tossed it on the back of a chair.

Maggie moaned as he cupped her breasts. “I need to shower.”

“I already told you I like french fries,” he said, then picked her up and carried her to bed.

Maggie was already aching. “You keep carrying me to bed. One day, I’m going to forget how to walk.”

“We’re not going for a walk. We’re going for a ride,” he said.

“Bareback?” Maggie asked.

“Bare all over,” he said.

Moments later, they were coming out of their clothes at breakneck speed.

***

Maggie was gone before sunrise, and Sonny was already at the stables, making sure the horses were good to go.

The other horses had meandered out of the open gate at the corral and were grazing in the distance.

The blades on the windmill at the water tank were spinning like the rotors on a helicopter as he walked out into the corral. A hawk was circling the sky above him, and the sun was warm on his face. So much had happened in such a short space of time that there were moments when none of it felt real.

He’d gone from existing to life at its fullest, and all because of Emmit Cooper.

“Wherever you are, buddy, I know you can hear me. Thank you for trusting me to continue your legacy. You were a damn good bullfighter. And I was a damn good bull rider. And then life changed for both of us, and it was nobody’s fault. Your Maggie is my Maggie now. I’m taking care of Sunset, and I’m taking care of Maggie. She was the unexpected bonus in all this, but I can promise, I won’t let either of you down.”

In the distance, he could see a big black pickup driving toward the ranch, and pulling a long silver horse trailer. Garrett Dillon’s men were on the way.