Because of you, I'm home

Prologue

"Tell me the one about the cowboy and how he met his princess, Mummy!"

Sophia let out an exaggerated sigh as she began to tickle her beloved daughter through the covers of her single bed sheets. High pitched squeals of laughter echoed through-out the room before she let her little girl regain her breath.

"Alright, but this is the last one, ok Claire-bear?"

"Ok, last one, I promise Mummy." However the cheeky dimpled grin of the young blonde had Sophia thinking this could be one long night; not that every night wasn't a long night. Claire seemed infatuated with her mother's 'stories', she'd not yet found the courage to admit the truths that underlay them.

"It was Margie's – you remember Margie, the fiery redhead – birthday and both her new husband and Sia had thrown her a birthday party. It was the perfect backyard shin-dig; pickup trucks were parked all through the yard, surrounding strategically placed log seats which adorned a raging bonfire.

They'd invited nearly the whole town, or at least the ones that were young enough to appreciate the craziness that came with associating with the Margie-Sia duo, which was mostly under the age for 26. The turn-out was large for the town, at least a hundred attendees and at least half the trucks, while music filled the surrounding area. That was the good thing about outer Landrum, the neighbours were always far enough away that no one would complain about the noise caused by a bunch of celebrating youths.

The night progressed in a casual but electric way; everyone congratulated Margie on another year of not killing herself in her antics and chastised Sia for being a bad influence on the country girl.

After some time a late arrival pulled up to the Bryan estate drive and a young man sauntered from his pickup truck with a crooked smile and a Stetson cowboy hat shadowing that majority of his features. The moment he was within eye view, Margie recognised the gentlemen; the rest of the crowd however seemed oblivious the 'stranger'.

"Luke! Oh my word, Luke!" Margie squealed excitedly, seeming to ruffle the feathers of her husband despite his attempts to hide it by scuffing his leathers into the dirt.

The giddy red head dragged the male eagerly over to both Sia and her envious husband. "Sia, this is Luke. Alma's best friend from years ago, I used to have the biggest crush on this ole cowboy." That certainly explained the jealousy on her husband's face, his new wife having had a thing for his old best friend.

Both Sia and the new fella broke out into a roar of laughter at Margie's bluntness, or perhaps tactlessness would have better suited the situation.

Luke removed his hat after his bout of laughter, sending Sia a cheeky wink which seemed to set Margie's scheming ways into over-drive. Sia knew all too well that her friend wanted her to find herself a good old American cowboy and stay on permanently her family's property, but settling down had not been in the cards for the younger blonde. Though at that moment, those chocolate brown eyes of this new stranger had her reconsidering her entire disposition momentarily.

The four - Sia, Margie, Alma and Luke - mingled in with everyone else until the wee hours of the morning when most people went off to bed - either driving home or crashing in the back of their pickups – but both Sia and Luke found themselves sitting wide awake in the back of Luke's black truck joking and talking about everything and anything.

They'd hit it off from the moment they were introduced, Luke was curious about Sia's sense of freedom while Sia was smitten by Luke's southern charms. It seemed almost as if they had slipped into their own little world, where they stayed until the sun began to peer over the distant mountains."

Sophia smiled sadly at her fair haired child as her breathing slowed while deep in sleep and place a hand softly on the little girls' cheek. "We spent so much time together, he taught me to ride horses and we spent so many nights under the stars."

Her chest tightened as she remembered the man she'd once loved so much, who'd given her gifts that no other could come close to. She quickly forced those memories back into the vault of in her heart and began to leave her sleeping child with a final utterance... 

"Not all stories have happy ending's my sweet Claire-bear."

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Edited 16/11/17