A Cowboy's Pride. Karen Rock

before cancellation.

       No.

      “We have to wow them, folks, and show an uptick in ratings to avoid the chopping block.” Tom dropped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Let’s brainstorm.”

      “That’s our department.” Stella’s protest was joined by her nodding writers.

      “We’re in this together,” Tom insisted. “We need a grand slam.”

      “What about Area 51? The sixties are far enough away to be history,” suggested Braydon.

      Tom shook his head. “Too sci-fi. We need something that screams Americana. An unsolved mystery maybe. Something to capture the viewers’ imaginations and create watercooler buzz.”

      “I like that!” Stella scribbled on a pad then peered up through the square glasses perched on the tip of her nose.

      “How about a missing ship, like the USS Wasp?” suggested their gaffer. “It headed to Bermuda after the War of 1812 then disappeared.”

      “Lots of great shots in the Caribbean,” their director, Gabe, mused, his eyes now three-quarters open. “Plus, we’d get to film our gorgeous star on the beach.” He squared his hands and framed Katlynn in them across the table. “The wind blowing through her platinum hair...a sarong around her bikini...”

      Katlynn made a face at him, mostly embarrassed but also appreciative of the staff’s approving glances.

      “I’m a serious journalist, people. Put me in a one-piece at least,” she joked, earning her a larger laugh than she deserved. Funny how fame amplified life. Everyone and everything was bigger, better, more beautiful. She no longer knew if people laughed at her jokes because they were funny, if others were nice because they liked her, or if they did favors without expecting something in return.

      LA was a lonely place, despite all the attention. Still, it beat Carbondale, Colorado. She’d been invisible there except, for a brief time, when her ex-fiancé made her the center of his world. Yet, before their wedding, he’d shoved her needs aside like everyone else and broken her heart.

      No.

      He’d shattered it.

      You could fix broken things, but shattered meant irreparable... Besides a few lackluster dates, she’d avoided romance since, determined to never open herself up to hurt again.

      “USS Wasp...” Tom rubbed his chin, considering, then shook his head. “Sounds too military. We need something juicy and personal. Murder. Revenge. Stuff like that...”

      Mystery. Scandal. Americana, murder and revenge. Katlynn’s body froze as an idea detonated into her mind, nuclear blast bright and just as devastating.

      When a choking sound escaped her, staffers jumped to offer bottles of sparkling water.

      “Are you okay?” Braydon thumped her back and appeared ready to perform the Heimlich.

      She held up her hand as she swallowed a long, cold gulp of water. “F-fine.”

      Only she wasn’t okay, not when she knew the perfect idea to save the show was one that might destroy her in the process.

      “Anyone else?” Tom demanded.

      “We could return to New Orleans,” Stella suggested. “Dig up more on the Ax Man serial killer.”

      Tom’s eyebrows crashed together. “No. We need something new. Something people sitting at home can relate to. A scandalous story about a family, maybe. Star-crossed lovers. Betrayal. Anything?”

      Silence descended, and Katlynn’s throat swelled, the answer to the show’s dilemma on the tip of her tongue.

      “We’re sunk,” moaned one of the writers.

      “Better call your agents, folks,” Stella joked, not sounding amused.

      Katlynn’s heart squeezed when their sound tech, seven months pregnant with her first child, swiped away tears. She had to share an idea, which might save not only her career, but also those of this amazing group, who worked hard to make her shine.

      At her throat-clearing, everyone quieted.

      “Katlynn?” Tom asked, using the gentle voice he reserved for her. “Did you have a suggestion?”

      She nodded, temporarily mute at the idea of returning home and seeing Cole Loveland. She’d fled Carbondale to save herself. Now she needed to return to it to do the same.

      Oh, the irony.

      “The Cade-Loveland feud,” she said once she trusted her voice.

      Stella stopped writing and glanced up. “I’ve heard of that...”

      “A juicy scandal all right,” Braydon added. “The longest-running family feud in America. Wasn’t the rumor that the feud started when the poor, younger son of one family kidnapped the other family’s heiress daughter and killed her?”

      “That’s one version. Some believe there was a secret affair,” added Katlynn, recalling more details. Just last month, when her mother finally returned Katlynn’s call, she’d declared herself knocked over by a feather. Incredibly, the heads of the Cade and Loveland clans were engaged, and everyone in Carbondale speculated that a Titanic of a wedding disaster loomed.

      Stella rubbed her hands together. “Ohhhhh, this is going to be juicy.”

      “It has it all.” Tom nodded slowly. “Mystery, murder, betrayal, love and a jewel theft. Didn’t a famous fifty-carat sapphire belonging to one of the families disappear at the time? What was it called? Carolyn’s Tear?”

      “Cora’s Tear,” Katlynn corrected, knowing the legend of the priceless stone having grown up in Carbondale, not to mention being engaged to the oldest son in the Loveland clan.

      “That’s your hometown, right?” Braydon asked.

      Katlynn nodded, masking her dread. After leaving twelve years ago, she hadn’t looked back. She never wanted to remember the nobody she’d been, the love she’d lost. Could she face her difficult past?

      To save her show...yes. She’d have to see Cole to cover the story about his family. Only this time he’d realize he’d been wrong to ask her to give up her dreams, her ambitions. She’d learned to shine on her own so she’d never be diminished again.

      “Do you have a connection with the families? An in?” Tom demanded, his voice rising. Excited murmurs circled the table.

      Katlynn cleared her clogged throat with a cough. “I’m acquainted with them, yes.”

      Tom’s broad smile revealed capped teeth in a flash of white. “Then it’s settled. Katlynn, you’ve saved the day.”

      She lingered as the group filed out.

      If she solved such a sensational historical mystery, it’d secure Scandalous History’s spot in next season’s lineup, put them on the map and might even win her an Emmy. Could she handle returning home where her family, and the man she’d once loved, had made her feel inconsequential to do it?

      * * *

      “SHE’S DROPPED HER CALF,” Cole Loveland informed his approaching father, pointing to the bellowing gray Brahman lying on the frosted ground. He’d herded the “heavy” into the small field adjacent to the calving shed last night when he’d noticed the beginning signs of labor. Since then, Cole had checked on the heifer every hour, concerned for the first-time mother.

      “Doesn’t appear interested in her calf.” Boyd reined his brown quarter horse to a stop, and they watched the wet newborn shiver in the freezing dawn.

      If the mother didn’t lick it dry soon, it’d die of hypothermia. Cole’s brown and white paint horse, Cash, sidestepped and nickered, sensing Cole’s unease.

      “She’s new to it.” Cole