The sirens brought Sam, Kellie, and Jeff running from parts nearby. Beau and Cristen weren’t far behind, and they closed protective ranks around Cash, Tracy, and Dude. Kellie, being a nurse, examined the gash and said Dude would need stitches. Sam was already on his cell to theveterinarian the ranch used. Sam hung up, saying the vet was on her way.
“Did you hear that, Dude?” Tracy asked. “The doctor’s coming. You’ll be okay.”
Two deputy sheriffs entered the house while an ambulance turned into the driveway. Within minutes, Derek who had seen the cruisers pass Triple C-West, arrived with Chase. Jacob handed over his video camera to the deputy sheriff in charge.
“Sir, here’s what happened,” Jacob said.
“I’ll be damned,” Chase said to Derek in the foyer. “See that.” He indicated the paper broken over the hole in the wall and the gun lying on the floor.
“I knew that trick was bound to come in handy one of these days,” Derek said.
“Take a look, Derek,” the deputy said to his former partner in the sheriff’s office and handed him the video camera.
Derek and Chase both watched the film, and Chase asked, “Have you seen this, Cash?”
“No, but I saw most of it firsthand,” Cash replied, beside Tracy and Dude.
“Open and shut case,” Derek said as the deputy nodded.
“You know what we learned from this?” Cash asked Tracy, who shook her head.
“Never bring a knife to a gunfight.”
EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER
Cash opened the oversized rustic door below the large wooden sign readingCooper Lodge.
“Come on, Dude,” Cash said to the treasured dog at his side. With stitches and antibiotics along with plenty of love and attention, Dude had quickly recovered.
Since opening the lodge three years ago, conveniently located just down the road from the house, they had been booked out months in advance. Additional employees had been hired and more horses purchased. The dude ranch business was booming as Uncle Clarence used to say. Cash liked to think his uncle would be proud of how Triple C Ranch-East had grown. He and Dude stepped out of the July sun and into the air-conditioned lobby. Decorated in what Cash referred to as cowboy comfortable, with leather sofas and matching chairs, along with coffee tables, end tables, and built-in bookshelves, the lodge lobby warmly welcomed guests.
Beau and Cristen had gotten married and taken over the café. Sam was in charge of the shop full time and Kellie was head chef in the lodge’s dining room with a great staff ofcooks and waitresses. To all of the family and friends, this lodge was a second home. It was also the headquarters of Cash’s beautiful wife. He grinned as she emerged from her manager’s office where she not only ran the show at the lodge but penned and drew her children’s books. Catching his eye, Tracy’s smile was nothing short of radiant. Dude bounded toward her.
“I saw you pull in beside the lodge,” Tracy said. Staying at the office door, she scratched Dude’s head as he nuzzled her hand before trotting past her. As to the box tucked under Cash’s arm, she asked, “Whatcha got there, handsome?”
“Something just arrived with the name Tracy Cooper on it.”
“Hi Cash,” called the receptionist behind the desk. She had recently met Jacob, and as Coop had pointed out she and Jacob were sweet on each other. “I can’t wait until Mr. and Mrs. Devereux and Jacob are here to celebrate the Fourth of July next week with us.” With a glance around, she whispered. “And to interview and photograph our VIPs.”
“Same here,” Cash said. Then reaching Tracy, he added just for her, “Even the Colorado governor and his staff can’t compare to the July Fourthweek when I met a certain redhead who stole my heart.”
“Awww shucks…I missed you today, cowboy.” Tracy slipped a hand through his arm and pulled him into her office. Cash set the box on her desk and kissed his wife.
“Daddy,” squealed their three-year-old daughter. From across the office, where she’d been playing with a dollhouse and petting Dude, she stood up on the plush carpet covering the polished, hardwood floor. With blue eyes the same shade as his and red curls bouncing around chubby cheeks, she came running with Dude at her side. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi, Carly.” Cash chuckled and scooped her up in his arms. She’d been named after her her great-uncle Clarence Carl Cooper and nicknamed after her mother. “How’s mywildfire?”
“Good, Daddy. I missed you.”
“Like mother, like daughter,” Tracy said. Then pulling the tape off the cardboard, she opened the box and smiled. “My new book.”
“Let’s have a look.”
Kirk Devereux had published the Triple C Ranch article inRanchers and Rangesat Christmas time as planned. However, as to the wedding photo on the cover, Cash had made a slight change, from two horses to one. The issue, an all-time best seller, displayed Tracy in a white version of her Elsa hat, cowboy boots, and white flowing wedding gown sitting sidesaddle on Captain with Cash seated behind her in a black cowboy hat, tux, and boots. Dude sat beside Captain and framed covers hung on walls in the lobby as well as Tracy’s lodge office and in Cash’s home office. The family had bought a dozen boxes and distributed copies to staff, guests, and customers. They’d also set the magazines out at annual barbecues for neighbors and friends.
Reverend Miller had performed the marriage ceremony in the same country chapel where the Cooper children, both young and grown, had been baptized. Devereux had been sorry to lose Tracy as a journalist but had happily put her in touch with a publisher of children’s books when she felt she was ready. Jade, as a child therapist, had written an endorsement that appeared on the back of her books. Tracy opened her latest book titledCarly and Dude Go to the Rodeo.
