Home for Christmas: Return to Promise / Can This Be Christmas?

“Are you crazy? You got hurt before! What makes you think you won’t get hurt this time, too?”

“If you’d give me a chance to—”

Jane stood, cradling Mary Ann against her. Paul stared at his parents with a puzzled frown.

“Where are you going?” he asked, trying to come up with some way to mollify her without causing a scene.

“I don’t intend to watch.”

“But, darling…”

She scowled at him. “Don’t you darling me!”

Cal stood, too, and was given a reprieve when Glen and Ellie arrived, making their way down the long, narrow row of seats. His brother paused, glancing from one to the other, and seemed to realized what was happening. “I take it Jane found out?”

“You knew?”

Ellie shook her head. “Not me! I just heard about it myself.”

“Looks like Jane’s leaving me,” Cal joked, hoping to inject some humor into the situation. His wife was overreacting. There wasn’t a single reason she should walk out now, especially when she knew how excited their three-year-old son was about seeing his first rodeo.

“That’s exactly what you deserve,” she muttered, bending to pick up her purse and the diaper bag while holding Mary Ann tightly against her shoulder.

“Mommy?”

“Gather your things,” she instructed Paul. “We’re going home.”

Paul’s lower lip started to quiver, and Cal could tell that his son was trying valiantly not to cry. “I want to see the rodeo.”

“Jane, let’s talk about this,” Cal pleaded.

Paul looked expectantly from his father to his mother, and Jane hesitated.

“Honey, please,” Cal said, hoping to talk her into forgiveness—or at least acceptance. Okay, so he’d kept the fact that he’d signed up for the bull riding a secret, but only because he’d been intent on delaying a fight.

“I don’t want Paul to see you injured,” she argued.

“Have a little faith, would you?”

His wife frowned, her anger simmering.

“I rode bulls for years without a problem. Tell her, Glen,” he said, nodding at his brother.

“Hey,” Glen said, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. “You’re on your own with this one, big brother.”

“I don’t blame you for being mad,” Ellie said, siding with Jane. “I’d be furious, too.”

Women tended to stick together, but despite Ellie’s support, Cal could see that Jane was weakening.

“Let Paul stay for the rodeo, okay?” he cajoled. “He’s been looking forward to it all week. If you don’t want him to see me compete, I understand. Just leave when the bull riding starts. I’ll meet you at the chili cook-off once I’m finished.”

“Please, Mommy? I want to see the rodeo,” Paul said again, eyes huge with longing. The boy pleaded his case far more eloquently than he could, and Cal wasn’t fool enough to add anything more.

Jane nodded reluctantly, and with a scowl in his direction, she sat down. Cal vowed he’d make it up to her later.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her, wanting Jane to know he loved and appreciated her. He slid his arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. But all the while, his heart thundered with excitement at the thought of getting on the back of that bull. He couldn’t keep his gaze from wandering to the chute.

Jane might have been born and raised in the big city, but she was more than a little bit country now. Still, she’d probably never approve of certain rodeo events. Cal recognized her fears, and as a result, rarely competed anymore—hadn’t in five years. But he expected Jane to recognize the impulses that drove him, too. Compromise. Wasn’t that what kept a marriage intact?

Jane had no intention of forgetting Cal’s deceit, but now wasn’t the time or place to have it out with her husband. He knew how she felt about his competing in the rodeo. She’d made her views completely clear, even before they were married.

Still, Jane had acquiesced and held her tongue. She glanced at Cal’s brother and sister-in-law and envied them. Their kids were with a baby-sitter, since they planned to attend the dance later that evening. Jane would’ve preferred to stay herself, but when she’d mentioned it to Cal, he’d balked. Dancing wasn’t his favorite activity and he’d protested and complained until she dropped it.

Then he’d pulled this stunt. Men!

Partway through the rodeo, Paul fell asleep, leaning against her side. Cal had already left to wait down by the arena with the other amateur riders. As the time approached for him to compete, she considered leaving, but then decided to stay. Her stomach would be in knots whether she was there watching him or not. Out of sight wasn’t going to put her risk-taking husband out of her mind, and with Paul asleep, there was no reason to go now.

“Are you worried?” Ellie asked, casting her a sympathetic look.

“Damn straight. I don’t know what Cal was thinking.” He had more to lose than ever, and to risk injury for no practical purpose was beyond her comprehension.

“Who said he was thinking at all?” Ellie teased.

“Yeah—it’s the testosterone,” Jane muttered, wondering what her husband found so appealing about riding such dangerous beasts. Her nerves were shattered, and that wasn’t going to change. Not until she knew he was safe.

“I was hoping you and Cal would come to the dance.”

Ellie was obviously disappointed, but no more than Jane herself. She would have loved an evening out. Had she pressed the issue, Cal would eventually have given in, but it hadn’t seemed worth the arguments and the guilt. Besides, getting a sitter would’ve been difficult, since nearly everyone in Promise attended the annual Labor Day rodeo—and Ellie had managed to snag the services of Emma Bishop, one of the few teenagers available for baby-sitting.

“Cal didn’t want to leave the kids,” she explained. There would be other dances, other opportunities, Jane reassured herself.

“He’s up next,” Glen said.

“Go, Cal!” Ellie squealed. Despite her sister-in-law’s effort to sound sympathetic, Jane could tell she was truly excited.

Sure enough, Cal’s name was announced. Jane didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t stop herself. Cal was inside the pen, sitting astride the bull, one end of a rope wrapped around the saddle horn and the other around his hand. She held her sleeping child more tightly and bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Suddenly the gate flew open and fifteen hundred pounds of angry bull charged into the arena.

Almost immediately, Glen and Ellie were on their feet, shouting. Jane remained seated, her arms around her children. “What’s happening, what’s happening?” she asked Ellie.

“Cal’s doing great!” she exclaimed. Jane could barely hear her over the noise of the crowd. Ellie clapped wildly when the buzzer went. “He stayed on!” she said proudly.

Jane nodded. How he’d managed to last those eight seconds, she had no idea.

“Whew. Glad that’s over.” Ellie sank down next to Jane.

“My brother’s got a real flair for this,” Glen said to no one in particular. “He could have gone on the circuit if…” He let the rest fade.

“If he wasn’t married,” Jane said, completing his thought. Actually Glen’s assessment wasn’t really accurate. Her husband was a long-established rancher before she’d come on the scene. He’d competed in rodeos since he was in his teens, but if he’d been interested in turning professional, he would have done so when he was much younger. She had nothing to do with that decision.