Emily's Cowboy (11 page)

Emily’s heart broke for Elaina. The girl was so upset that her father had shouted at her, yet those three little words were the most monumental, most world-changing words Emily had ever heard. Elaina had called her ‘the pretty lady’—the slip of a girl had not cared about her scars, but had seen her as pretty. All the fears of children thinking her a monster were swept away. If this little girl could see past the ugliness, then it was high time she did too. 

“Oh, Elaina—is that your name, darling? Stop crying, honey. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sure your daddy didn’t mean to shout so loud. I’ll tell you a secret…your daddy was so loud I nearly fell off my chair.”

Those big brown eyes turned sheepishly towards her. The hesitant smile on the young girl’s face melted Emily’s heart even more.

“My daddy is vewy loud.”

“Yes, Elaina, your daddy
is
very loud, but I’m sure he didn’t mean to make you and every other child in the room cry,” Mandy said pointedly, as she sent what could only be described as a death stare towards her husband. “Isn’t that right,
Daddy
?”

Emily looked on as an apologetic-looking JT tried to make peace with his wife and daughter. The room had come back to life. Conversations had resumed now the drama had passed, but Emily wanted to answer Elaina’s question, wanted to show the sweet little girl that no harm had been done and she was not in any trouble.

“Elaina, do you still want to know about my face?” She was overjoyed when Elaina moved to stand in front of her, her eyes again like saucers. The solemn look she was giving Emily was so adorable, it was hard for Emily not to just sweep the girl into her arms and squeeze her to within an inch of her life.

“Well, a few years ago I got trapped in a bushfire. A tree fell on me and burned my skin.”

“Oooh…” Elaina’s mouth gaped open. Then Emily watched, transfixed, as the information registered in the young girl’s brain, and saw the flickering in her eyes. Emily waited to hear what the first question would be—people always wanted to know more about the gory details surrounding the fire and her scars—so was taken aback when the words were nothing like she’d imagined them to be.

“I burned my finger once, touched a really hot plate. It really hurt. I cried and cried…and my little brother Jay, he told me I was a sooky lah-lah. You must have cried a lot.”

“Yes, I did cry a lot, Elaina, and for too long. But I’m okay now. How about you, is your finger better?”

Such innocence shone from Elaina’s brown eyes—no fear or revulsion apparent, just concern. Children seemed to be becoming a great source of learning for Emily. After Gareth’s description of the children in the hospitals he’d visited, and now faced with this little girl standing in front of her, she had definitely finished feeling sorry for herself.

She had all but forgotten Gareth was standing behind her, so was surprised when he spoke to Elaina. “Hey, sweet-pea. So you’ve met my friend Emily, then?”

“Hi, Uncle Gawef. Is she your friend? She’s pretty. Are you going to get married like Uncle Mitch and Aunty Pippa? She got burned on her face just like me on my finger, did you know that?”

Emily’s head was swimming at the way Elaina had just pumped out the questions one after the other, but she loved the fact the child had called Gareth ‘uncle’—it was so sweet. She listened with amused curiosity for how Gareth would answer.

“Yep, sweet-pea, my Emily is the prettiest girl around. Well, maybe next to you, that is. And just between you and me, I hope she
will
marry me one day.”

Elaina’s giggles and shy smile at Gareth’s saying she was pretty was too cute for words, especially when Gareth ruffled Elaina’s riotous brown curls. Emily was enjoying watching the interaction between them—Gareth was so easy-going, a natural when dealing with children, and Emily could see that Elaina was enjoying the attention.

“Do you want to know how my Emily got hurt by the bushfire, sweet-pea?”

“It won’t make me a nosy parker, will it, Uncle Gawef?” It was such a serious little voice that both Emily and Gareth started laughing. Considering Gareth was about to talk about the bushfire that had almost destroyed her life, Emily was surprised at her own reaction.

“No, sweet-pea, it won’t. My Emily is so brave. When the bushfire was burning close to her farm—she comes from the country just like me, in fact her farm is right next to mine—anyway, the fire was big and mean, burning all the trees and grass for miles…”

Everyone around Emily had gone quiet, all listening to the story Gareth was narrating. He looked like the Pied Piper, she thought, as she watched all the children gather around her man. By her quick count, ten sets of eyes, opened wide on little faces, gazed up at Gareth as though he was about to tell some fantastical tale. It looked so surreal. Emily had locked away all visions of Gareth and children, but seeing him surrounded and so at ease with the small folk, about to tell her sorry tale, was quite unbelievable—a place and time she’d never thought she would experience. She felt goosebumps on her arms as she awaited the response from those around her.

 “Emily and I have lots of animals on our farms. Cows, dogs and cats and chickens and horses—big, beautiful brown horses that have long manes that flow in the wind when we ride them at full gallop. When our parents heard about the bushfire, they told Emily to put her horses in one of the paddocks away from the fire, thinking it would be safe. Emily did what she was told and moved her horses. Two of Emily’s horses had just had babies. Baby horses are called foals. Emily put both foals into the paddock as well so they could be with their mummies.”

As Gareth spoke Emily lived the day again in her mind, remembered every move she had made. Everyone else around their table, it seemed, was listening.

“Well, sweet-pea, a little while later the wind changed direction, started blowing the fire another way, towards the horses.”

The little gasps from the children as they imagined what was about to happen caused Emily to worry. She didn’t want Gareth to upset their tender little minds, worried how the children’s parents would react. Caitlin and Mandy might not want their children traumatised by the events of that day. But when Emily looked at the women to judge their reactions to the story, they both smiled at her—smiles that told Emily that it was okay, not to worry. Before she could speak up and ask Gareth to stop, Elaina spoke.

“What happened to the horses, Uncle Gawef? Did the fire burn them too?”

“No, sweet-pea, that’s just it. Emily saved the horses. She went searching for them. In their fright the horses had broken through the fence and actually headed towards the fire. The horses were so scared. But not Emily. She ran through the bush, all the trees and long grass, not scared of the fire burning around her, or all the thick smoke making it hard for her to breathe. She didn’t give up until she found them. Emily led the horses away from the fire. Only just after the horses had galloped past her, all headed safely away from the path of the fire, a big tree branch crashed down onto Emily. The branch was on fire and it fell on her pretty face. I found Emily and lifted the branch off her, but the fire had already hurt her.”

“Emily saved the horses from the fire!” Elaina squealed in excitement. The other children around Gareth were all smiles and cheers, as well.

Elaina turned towards Emily. “You’re so-o-o…brave,” she said as she threw her arms around Emily’s neck. “I want to be as brave as Emily when I grow up and save horses too,” she added as she turned towards her mother, Mandy, looking for approval. “I love horses. Do you think Daddy will buy me a horse? He did make me cry…”

“I don’t think we could fit one in our backyard, darling, and Daddy making you cry is not a good enough reason, Miss. And anyway, I thought you wanted to be like Aunty Pippa when you grow up, so you could work with Daddy?”

“I’ve changed my mind. Aunty Pippa has to touch boys all the time…yuck!” Elaina’s grimace at the thought of touching boys was quickly replaced with the best pleading look Emily had ever seen as she turned it full force on her mother.
Talk about puppy dog eyes—the girl was born to be on the stage!

“Oh, Mummy, ple-e-ease can I have a horsey?”

“Maybe one day Aunty Emily might take you for a ride on one of her horses, if you’re a good girl.”

The choruses of “Me too!” and “I want to ride with Emily!” from all the children—probably listening in to see if Elaina would get her wish for a horse—truly surprised Emily, brought tears to her eyes, tears of joy. There were children climbing all over her, all begging for her to take them on a horse. None of them cared one iota about her scarred face, and were certainly not terrorised by it. Emily could hardly breathe from a mixture of being smothered by the rambunctious gaggle of small people, from having been referred to as Aunty Emily by Mandy and from the knowledge that she was being accepted by all of Gareth’s friends, young and old.

It took both Gareth and JT to wrangle the children from her lap, but Emily didn’t mind that she had been crushed. Just having the children clamouring for her attention had been such a gift. She promised to see what she could do about giving them all a ride with her on a horse, explaining that her horses were a long way away from the city, so it could be a bit tricky. 

“I say we have a Jets excursion to a horse-riding ranch.” Caitlin laughed. “Wouldn’t mind seeing all you boys on horseback. I reckon it would be quite a sight.”

“Settle down, Cate. Last thing I need is a team full of injured players from falling off horses. Don’t think it would go down too well with the hierarchy,” Brodie added quickly.

“Geez, Brodes, if Gareth can ride a horse there can’t be much too it,” Rook said, butting into the conversation between the coach and his wife. Emily shook her head at Rook’s continued sledging of Gareth.

* * * *

As the night progressed, people introduced themselves to Emily, congratulated her, commented on her bravery. They told her how nice it was to meet her, but it was when they mentioned how nice it was to see Gareth’s smile, his obvious happiness that she had made it to a game, that really made her heart burst. She had really made a mess of her life, and Gareth’s, but was determined to make things right again.

The night flew by. Brodie and Rook made a few speeches, thanking everyone for their continued support. A raffle was drawn, the lucky supporter winning an autographed football jersey. The first part of the night was winding down, and it had been a pleasant experience for Emily—chatting to the other wives and girlfriends, and all the children. She still couldn’t get over the fact the children looked at her like she was some sort of superhero, all vying for her attention. Elaina had stolen her heart. The vivacious child was full of stories about everyone, and there was not a shy bone in her body, Emily had decided. But it was the point when Elaina’s grandfather—JT’s father—arrived to collect both JT’s and Brodie’s children that really broke Emily up.

“That’s my Pa over there.” The little girl pointed to a man who, in Emily’s opinion, was unmistakeably JT’s father. His size alone matched that of his son. “He babysits us while Mummy and Daddy go to Uncle Mitch’s club. I’m not a baby, but I am too little to go to a club, Mummy says. It’s okay though, ‘cause I don’t really want to go to a noisy adults place, and I know a secret…”

Emily was still finding it difficult to keep up with Elaina’s rapid-fire changes in conversation, but the way Elaina had whispered the last comment had her intrigued.

“A secret, you say. Is it a good secret?” Emily watched, amused, as Elaina moved her lips up close to Emily’s ear.

“My Pa has a girlfriend. She makes us all hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. Mmmm…they get all mushy and gooey, it’s s-o-o-o yummy. Sometimes when they think none of us kids are looking they kiss…just like my mummy and daddy do…on the lips.”

Emily could not stop herself. She burst out laughing. “Oh, Elaina, I think you and I are going to be very good friends. Yes, that is a good secret. You go with your Pa and have a good night. I promise I will see you again very soon.” Emily deflected the questioning look from Mandy, just shook her head, mouthing the word, “Later.” She didn’t want Elaina to think she was tattling on her to her mother. She couldn’t wait to tell Gareth what Elaina had said, and looked forward to Mandy and JT’s reactions as well.

Chapter Fifteen

The first half of the night had been a resounding success, Gareth’s version of Em’s fire horror winning her hearts young and old. He was so proud of how Emily had reacted, how well she had fitted in amongst his football family. Elaina had fallen in love with Em straight away, and had hardly left her side throughout the night. Gareth could see that Emily was enjoying herself. She had spoken to her father using Gareth’s mobile, her voice full of happiness as she’d told Mac how much fun she was having.

Now, seeing her at Rook’s nightclub, Jetstream, just added to his dream-come-true evening.

Gareth had spent so many nights in the club, surrounded by his friends, spending time with Pippa, but having his Emily with him was beyond words. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her or the smile from his face. This was what it was meant to be like. This was how he had planned his future—playing rugby league, knowing Emily was watching him, cheering him on, then celebrating with her by his side.

“You know, Cowboy, I hardly recognise you tonight. That thing on your face, you know, that way you’re holding your mouth… Who knew you could smile for that long?”

“Just never had the right company before. Just your ugly mug to look at, day and night—not much to smile about with that, Rook.”

 “Remind me to pass that information on to Pippa. Good to know she wasn’t worth a smile or two. But then again, I guess knowing you had no chance with her because she was under the ole Rook’s spell probably was hard to take.”

“Ha ha, you’re a laugh a minute, mate. Guess it’s my shout. Wanna beer?”

“Thought you’d never ask, Cowboy. Better get the girls some more bubbly—they seem to be hitting it hard tonight.” Rook smiled as he glanced in Pippa and Emily’s direction. “Think those two are going to give us some trouble—thick as thieves already.”