And he was right. The moment that the sounds of crunching could be heard from the longhorn in front of us, more than ten of them came through the trees and up over the hills heading straight for us.
My heart was full of happiness as I fed the longhorns until there was nothing left in the bag.
“All right, time to go,” he suggested. “We can take the long road through the creek.”
I frowned. “Through the creek?”
He nodded once.
“Yep. If we hurry,” he said.
I felt the first raindrop hit me square in the forehead. It’d stopped when we’d made it not even a half mile down the road, but now it was starting right back up again.
I understood his urgency. At least, I thought I did.
It wasn’t until we were crossing the dry creek bed that I realized why we really had to hurry.
It wasn’t to beat the rain, it was to beat the water.
“Here, watch,” he said. “This used to be my favorite place to be when it rained.”
I looked at the dry creek bed, then back at Ace.
“Why?” I asked.
He gestured for me to move onto the console again. “Look that way.”
I did, then practically leaned over him to see what he was pointing at.
It was a drop down from one elevation to another, with a lot of eroded rocks and old earth blocking the way.
And at first, the only thing I could see was the torrential downpour of rain coming down on the windshield.
Then Ace squeezed my hip, and I leaned into him even farther. “Look by that rock that’s shaped like a crude heart.”
I did and found it immediately.
Then saw the first trickle of water.
“Wow, it’s filling up,” I said.
“Keep watching.”
It didn’t start as a small trickle, though. It went from barely anything to filling up well past where it would’ve been safe to travel over it in two seconds flat.
One second there was no water, and the next there was so much that I gasped in surprise.
“How the hell?” I asked, stunned.
“We’re at the lowest point on the land,” he answered. “Everything from up there” —he pointed— “is funneled into that creek bed.”
I could do nothing but shake my head.
“That’s amazing,” I admitted. “I can see now why this was your favorite spot as a kid. Did you ever put things into the creek just to see them wash away?”
He grinned. “Yeah.” He paused for effect. “My brother.”
At that, I burst out laughing.
Then I had a grand time watching the creek run and wondering if letting Ace Valentine have a chance at a date was a good idea.
***
Later that night, as Ace was walking down the pathway back to his truck, I turned to my grandfather.
“Granddad,” I said softly. “Why didn’t we know the Valentine family really well?”
My granddad looked at me with a sad smile.
“Nobody knew us that well,” he said as he put his feet up onto the coffee table and took a swig of his water. “But I have a feeling that had a lot to do with your mom and dad, and less to do with the people of this town. Even though they were a contributing factor in how it all ended up with our family.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?” I asked, settling farther into the couch.
Granddad placed his water bottle on the coffee table, then laced his fingers behind his head as he regarded me thoughtfully.
“How much do you know about your grandma and me?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I know that you and she met fairly young. I know that y’all got married before you went off to war. And I also know that you moved away.”
He stared into my eyes and grinned.
“You heard what your mama wanted you to hear.” He grinned. “But you probably didn’t hear anything about how your grandma was supposed to marry someone else, and I got her pregnant.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “You what?”
He nodded. “Got her pregnant with your mama. But she was engaged to another man. That man wasn’t your grandmama’s choice, and when I got her pregnant, we took it as a sign and got married. I got stationed in Maine, and we moved there. Then to Louisiana. Followed shortly after by California. It was only when your mama was about twelve and a half that we finally got done with all that military business and moved back home. However, we weren’t very welcome since we had left things unsettled.”
I leaned forward in my chair, curious now. “Who was it?”
He snorted. “You don’t know him.”
“I might,” I said.
He rattled off a name, and though the last name sounded familiar, the first name didn’t.
“But what does this have to do with my mom, or Ace Valentine’s family?” I pushed.
“Getting’ there, girl.” He rolled his eyes. “So impatient, just like your grandmother.”
I tapped my fingers on my knee as I waited for him to collect his thoughts.