Texas Cowboy’s Protection

The sun beat down on a spot at the crown of Gina’s head. April weather in Gunner, Texas, was unpredictable. Today, the sun was out, and the temperature was expected to hover around forty-seven degrees. This time of year, days could be swallowed up with thunderstorms and lightning that raced sideways for miles across a dark sky. It was much like the thunderstorm from last night, but Gina didn’t mind.

That kind of weather matched her mood. At twenty-seven years old, she was a single mom to a little girl who would never know her father, a man who’d been so anxious for his daughter’s arrival that he’d painted her room pink the day a sonogram revealed her sex. Little did Gina know it would be the last day she’d ever see her husband again. Their daughter, Everly, would never meet her father. The music matched the level of her anger at losing a decent man who would’ve been a great father. The things she would go back and do differently if she could.

The regret that filled her chest and hardened her heart toward the world, but not towards Everly, was heavier today—bright sunny days just soured her. The run gave her a sense of normalcy in an upside-down world. She’d stayed in Dallas for the rest of her pregnancy; bringing her baby home to the house she’d shared with Des had been vital to her. After all his work in the nursery, she wanted baby Everly to spend her first year there. It only seemed fitting to Gina, a small way to honour Des. Gina’s mother had put up a damaged argument for her that she should go to Gunner so she would have help with the baby. Gina loved her mother; don’t get her wrong, she was a saint in many ways. But she just hadn’t been ready to love her mother full-time. Mom was a little too free with advice about every aspect of life and needy when it came to attention.