Lonestar Calling is my own idea, however, any and all characters from the other Lonestar books are owned by Colleen Coble. This story was inspired by Carrie Underwood's 'Cowboy Casanova', but the song itself is not in here. ^^ Thank you for reading!
"Sahra!" he shouted,"Sahra, where are you? Sahra!"
He rounded the next unfamiliar corner of the unfamiliar town. Running through each door of the abandoned street, he called out the name of his wife and daughter,"Sahra! Where are you? Sahra! Gail!" Sobbing, he collapsed to his knees,"Gail! Gail, Sahra..." As his cries subsided, he sat on the cold, wet ground. Then, he heard a faint cry. He stumbled to his feet, blindly following in the direction of the sound. He didn't hear it again, and could only hope he was going in the right direction to save his family. His hands shook as he opened the door of the next building – what he guessed to have been a restaurant. "Sahra!" he cried,"Gail! Where are you?"
A woman screamed. A little girl was crying. "Tony! Don't come! Stay away!" his wife called out to him, the fear draining from her voice, only to be replaced by concern,"They didn't do anything to Gail. They will send her out to you. Just stay there, and don't come any closer!"
He took a step closer,"Sahra,"he whispered. 'God, help my wife. Help me to know how to save Sahra and Gail. Even if it means my demise, help me to rescue them safely, please!'
"Daddy! Daddy," his Sweet wailed. His heart stopped, and in the next instant, he raced through the door to his girls.
"We warned you, Tony," said a voice to his left, he struck out at the sound,"If you had stayed away, only the woman would be gone. But now you will all have to die."
"Why! Why are you doing this?" he gasped, as he swirled around,"What do you want?"
The voice laughed,"Your sister." The last thing he heard was a ticking and then a loud crash as her flung his daughter out the door and raced towards his wife.
"Daddy? Daddy!"Gail cried.
He bolted upright, falling to the floor as he did so. His daughter was by his side in an instant, smoothing his hair as she tried to calm him down. Tony sighed and rubbed his neck, he was stiff from sleeping in such an awkward position.
"Daddy have bad dream. It's okay, Gail here."
"Thank you, Sweet. Daddy's fine now," he scooped her up and headed to the dresser.
"Daddy have a dream about Mommy?" the almost-two-year-old asked.
Instead of answering her question, he pulled off her nightgown, and tugged a clean shirt over her head,"What do you want for breakfast to day, Gail?" he asked even though he knew the answer.
"Eggs!"she clapped her hands in delight,"Daddy, cook eggs!"
"Alright, alright. Daddy'll cook eggs!"he chuckled at his daughter's antics, and finally succeeded in dressing her properly after a fair amount of squirming,"What do you want to do tomorrow, Sweet? Should we go to the park? Or go swimming?"
"To the park!"she said happily.
"The park it is, then,"he made a mental note to ask Elaine to fix them a picnic lunch.
Tony cooked her eggs: scrambled with milk and cheese, and handed her a fork. He set down a cup of apple juice in front of her. He fixed himself an omelet and watched his daughter finish her food. When she was done, he quickly ate his own meal, and put their dishes in the sink.
He took Gail to kindergarten, and left for his office.
~~~~~ Sunday ~~~~~
"Picnic! Picnic!" sang the little girl as they walked to the park.
Tony laughed, and set the bag of food on a table,"Want me to push you on the swings, Gail?" he asked.
"Yes!" So, he pushed Gail on the swing until she squealed with delight.
"Daddy," she said matter-of-factly after about a half hour of that activity,"is lunch time."
"So it is," Tony agreed, "Sweet, do you want some ice cream?"
"Please!" Gail smiled happily.
"What flavor?"
"'Nilla!" she replied.
"Of course!" he went over to the dollar store across the street, and bought a vanilla ice and a strawberry one. When he stepped into the line, there was already someone there. He turned to watch his daughter, but the lady in line caught his attention. She was wearing dark jeans and a carmel-colored top. She held a floppy hat in one hand, and a bag of outdoor games in the other. When she had finished paying, Tony watched her make her way to the park, and set up the games not far from where Gail sat waiting for him. He grabbed another ice cream, chocolate, paid for all three, and headed back towards his daughter.
"Here you go, Gail," he said, as he handed her the vanilla ice.
"Thank you, Daddy!" she accepted the treat and started eating it while Tony walked casually over to the pretty brunette.
"Care for some ice cream?" he asked her.
"No, thank you,"she answered.
"Hmm?" he smiled as a little boy came up to play horseshoes,"Do you like chocolate ice cream?" he asked him.
"Yes!"the boy answered.
"Why don't you go ask your mommy if you can have this one?"
The lad looked up at the lady in caramel in askance,"Can I?"
The woman laughed,"I'm not your mom, Seth. But since my sister's not here, I give you permission to eat it."
"Thanks, Aunt Lilia!" he accepted the ice cream, and started running to the table Gail was at to eat it. Midway, he stopped and turned around,"Thanks, Mister!"
Tony rumbled a laugh, and turned to the woman,"So you don't like ice cream, Lilia?"
She was startled at hearing her name, but said,"It's not that I don't like it," she began,"But that I'm lactose intolerant."
"Oh, I'm sorry,"he said, taking a big bite out of his own ice,"I can run and get you some if you want."
"No, thank you," she answered.
"You're not allergic to anything else, are you?" he glanced at her as he finished his treat.
"No," she said quizzically.
"Have you eaten yet?"
"No."
"Do you and Seth want to have lunch with Gail and me?" he asked, gesturing to where the children sat.
"Umm...," she watched her nephew chatting with the little girl.
"We don't have any dairy except for Gail's milk. I brought water," he said convincingly.
"Well, if it's not too much trouble. I don't know when his mom will be back to pick him up, and I don't want to leave."
"Come on, then." He took her elbow gently and led her to the table. They ate their lunch, and talked. Seth's mother joined them a little later, and Lilia introduced her older sister, " Tony, this is Rosemary. Rosemary, Tony. And his daughter, Gail."
Rose nodded toward him in slight contempt, but grinned at Gail,"Hello, Sweetie! How old are you?"
Gail cocked her head to the side, thinking. Then she held up two fingers,"This many," she decided.
Tony laughed,"Not quite, Sweet. Your birthday isn't for a little while, yet."
"Practice," she said stubbornly.
"Yes, yes," he gave in. It was, after all, just next month.
The group parted with smiles and well-wishes, but not before he acquired Lilia's phone number, and e-mail.
As they were leaving, Rose turned to stare at him, and then whispered a little loudly,"He's cute!" to her sister. Lilia blushed, and walked faster to the car. Tony grinned, and packed up their lunch things.