A Breath of Heaven: El Camino Real Read Free Page B

foreman, greeted her with a smile. “We have
a new baby calf in the barn,” he grinned at her mischievously. “I bet he would
appreciate a visit from you.”
    “Oh,
I’ll check him out.” She assured him and she would. Abby loved the animals and
named most of them. When they were ill or giving birth, she could be found at
their side. Her dad always said she had a way with creatures. She wasn’t
squeamish and when she was younger she’d had no qualms about kissing on them,
‘getting sugar’ Abby called it. Shiloh always called her ‘lips’ and said there
were wanted posters of her all over the animal kingdom, warning them all to
avoid her if they didn’t want to be smooched and hugged.
    Pushing
through the double glass doors, Abby nodded to the receptionist and pointed
toward her dad’s office. “I just have to pick up some mail for my Dad, Lori.”
Sometimes she forgot what a big operation this was. There was almost a hundred
employees on El Camino, twenty in the office alone. They did everything from
keeping up with the registration papers for the purebreds, to buying feed for
the animals, to payroll, equipment maintenance and oil royalties.
    Sam
King’s office suited his status – massive desk, western art, leather furniture
and a bottle of fine scotch on the credenza. She stepped around the desk and
scanned the papers until her eye fell on an envelope from the rodeo
association. Picking it up, she couldn’t help herself. Abby looked, pulling out
the letter and reading it, her heart in her throat.
    Cade
had qualified for the professional rodeo circuit. “Damn,” she whispered. This wasn’t
easy. To qualify, a cowboy had to compete in rodeos until they won a thousand
dollars in prize money. That didn’t seem like much, but when they signed up for
any rodeo, another cowboy with a PR card could knock them out of the
competition. So, sometimes it was a long time for the young men to get a chance
to compete and even longer to win.
    It
hadn’t been that hard for Cade. He was good.
    Abby
set down hard in her dad’s big brown leather chair. Running her finger over the
gold studs on the arms, she considered what this would mean. Cade would leave.
He would be on the road for months at a time.
    She
would never see him.
    Tears
began to run down her cheeks. In her mind and heart, she thought he would stay
on the ranch and finally – FINALLY – notice that she was in love with him.
    “Something
wrong, Miss King?”
    Abby
looked up at Lori and gave her a tremulous smile. “Growing pains, Lori. Just
growing pains.”
    ***
    “Happy
Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Cade, Happy
Birthday to you.”
    He
held up his hand to halt the singing. “Thank you, thank you.”
    First,
he hugged Amelia King. This was as regular as clockwork. She gave every family
member a ‘surprise’ birthday party and he was lucky enough to be no exception.
“Thanks, mama.” He whispered in her ear and Cade could tell from the way she
hugged him that the honorary title meant a lot to her.
    “Happy
Birthday, my beautiful boy.” She kissed him on the cheek. “The day you came to
us was a blessing.”
    “I
love you. I love all of you.” He hugged her hard.
    Turning
around, he sought Abby. Always he gravitated to Abby. She was the lodestar in
his universe. He wanted her so badly he ached. He’d waited for years for her to
grow up and he still had a couple more to go before he could approach her with a
clear conscience. She was just sweet sixteen, still too young for him to make a
move. 
    From
across the large, elegant room Abby smiled at him. But she looked sad. The
thought of someone upsetting her made Cade tense up and want to slay dragons on
her behalf. Their eyes locked and it was as if all of the well-wishers in the
room disappeared and it was only him and her in the universe. Holding her gaze,
he began to weave his way through the crowd, shaking hands and accepting
congratulations. But his attention