Читать книгу A Ranch to Call Home - Leann Harris - Страница 11

Chapter Three

“Yes, Nan, I’ll be in contact. And rest assured Joel definitely isn’t getting off scot-free,” Kaye added, getting up from the formal dining room table. One of the house phones had a cordless handset.

“Well, I hope so. I volunteered only because Joel asked. Don’t get me wrong. I would’ve helped with the rodeo,” Nan hastily added, “but not as one of the board members with all the extra work it requires. But the local ranchers need the help.”

“I will talk to Joel and the other two board members. Why don’t we meet this Saturday morning? Is the Country Kitchen Café downtown still there and in business?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Good. Then let’s meet there and coordinate what needs to be done. If we need to look at the fairgrounds, we can.”

“All right. You’ll notify the others?”

“I will.” Kaye disconnected and set the phone on the table, taking a deep breath.

She’d spent the morning going over the papers scattered across the formal dining room table, putting them in some sort of order. It reminded her of some of the offices in Baghdad. She’d spent the morning writing a list of things that needed to be done. More than once she’d wanted to throw up her hands and walk away from the mess. But as soon as that thought had occurred, the army side of her came roaring back, determined to make order out of the chaos. The ranchers needed the money, and the rodeo would raise those funds.

“How did you let your brother hornswoggle you into doing his job?”

Looking up, she spied her grandfather at the door. “Good question. I must be off my game.”

Gramps walked slowly to the table. When he sat, he adjusted the sling holding his right arm. “I think I’m going to throw this contraption into the trash.”

Standing, she came to his side. “Here, let me do that. You want it looser or tighter?”

“I want it gone.”

Apparently, she was going to pull rank on the old boy. “That’s fine, but I’m sure the doctors told you that it would take longer for that shoulder to recover without it. And if you want to mess with this longer, then ignore the medical advice. I know how annoying it is, because there in San Antonio I refused therapy until one drill sergeant of a head nurse told me to move my sorry bu—posterior out of her ward. She only wanted those patients who were brave enough to heal. I had to do a lot of things I didn’t want to do these past six months to be able to walk again.”

His mouth compressed into a frown. “Going to use guilt on me, are you, girl?”

“If it works, I’m using it.”

She could see her grandfather considering her words. “I like how the army trained you.”

“If I was still in the army, I’d simply give you an order.”

He laughed. “I bet you were a handful.”

“According to Mom, I always was a handful.” The mention of her mom sobered her.

Gramps rested his hand on her arm. “You need to make peace with what happened.”

She tried not to jerk away, but his words were like a live wire touching her skin. “What about your sling?”

“I need this thing looser.”

She readjusted the strap.

“So can you make sense of this mess?” He nodded toward the table that now sported neat stacks of papers.

“Barely. I’ve been looking through everything. What I need is Joel in here, not outside chasing down cows.”

“Why not call the other folks on the committee?”

“I just finished talking to Nan White. And she told me about Mike Johnson and Laurie Benson.”

“I’ve heard your brother talking to them.”

“So why didn’t he tell me about the others? I found a note buried in this chaos.” Kaye finished adjusting the sling.

“Because Nan recently got divorced and has been eyeballing your brother like he’s a side of beef.”

A chuckle burst out of her mouth. “So it wasn’t my talent that impressed my brother. He just wanted a stand-in.”

Gramps started to shrug, but the pain stopped him. He hissed. “I think I might take one of those little pills the hospital gave me and sit in my chair.”

“Let’s get you settled, then I’ll get your meds.” She’d been through enough pain; she could identify with Gramps in a way she would’ve never understood before.

Gramps hobbled into the living room and eased into his well-worn recliner. Kaye grabbed the pills and a glass of water from the kitchen and returned to his side.

He took the meds without any argument, which meant he was hurting. He settled back in the chair and closed his eyes. “Turn on that TV to one of the sports channels and I’ll sit here and listen to it.”

Kaye smiled and turned on the TV.

“Why don’t you go and see if you can corner your brother and drag some answers out of him. I won’t move.”

Not sure she wanted to leave Gramps, she stood there.

Gramps opened one eye. “Go. Midnight is out in the corral.”

She didn’t want to insult her grandfather, so she retrieved the handset from the dining room table and put it on the table beside the chair. “I’ve put the phone by your chair. Call if you need anything.”

He nodded and waved her away.

She kissed Gramps’s forehead and reluctantly walked away, praying she’d made the right decision.

Out on the back porch, she stretched her protesting back and shoulders. Sitting that long had allowed her muscles to stiffen, and she’d worked so hard to build them up. The first time she’d gotten out of the hospital bed in San Antonio, she’d landed on her backside, her muscles like jelly. She’d done it in front of the drill-sergeant nurse, but that weakness made her realize she needed to fight.

Midnight was in the corral behind the barn, as Gramps had said. A ride just might be the thing. Besides, after talking to Nan and Gramps, she had a few things she wanted to discuss with her brother.

Nan had been great after Kaye had told her what her job in the army had been. Kaye planned to talk to the other two members of the committee later, after she “chatted” with her brother. He was still the head honcho and she needed his input.

Stopping before the fence, Kaye called out to the horse. “Midnight, want a peppermint?” She held up the treat and noisily unwrapped it. The horse trotted to her side, putting her face near Kaye’s hands. “Oh, you’re easy. Didn’t take much convincing, did it?” The horse happily lipped the candy. Kaye slipped the bridle over the horse’s head and walked her into the barn. It only took moments for Kaye to saddle the mare. Kaye found the wooden folding steps they kept in the corner of the barn and used them to mount the horse. She looked forward to the day she wouldn’t need the extra help with mounting. Before the accident, she could pull herself into the saddle with ease.

She shook off the pity party. There was no use in playing the what-if game.

Touching her back pocket, Kaye made sure she had her cell phone. She considered calling Joel, but she wanted to surprise him with questions about the rodeo and didn’t want to give him time to come up with an excuse.

She studied the western horizon, noting the gathering clouds. “It looks like we might get some rain,” she told Midnight, patting the horse on her neck. “We can only pray it does.” She guided Midnight back inside the barn and snagged her old cowboy hat from a hook. It amazed her that her brother had kept it, but she’d put it to good use.

“Let’s see if we can find the guys before we have some weather.” She remembered they’d talked about checking the stock at the western edge of the ranch.

As she rode away from the barn, she felt a freedom, and long-ago hopes flickered to life in her heart, sparking a smile. The years seemed to melt away and she didn’t have a care in the world.

Her body relaxed into the rhythm of the horse’s gait. When she was in the army, she’d always found a stable where she was stationed so she could ride, but riding here at her family’s ranch brought back good memories. The wind picked up and the sky grew dark. After several minutes, when she still hadn’t seen any signs of either Joel or Caleb, she considered going back to the ranch house. The land dipped toward a small stream. Trees grew in abundance down here by the river, and it was always a place where they had to rescue stray calves. Maybe she’d find the guys there.

As she headed toward the stream, a blinding light split the sky, and the ground shook with the earth-shattering sound. Her mount danced sideways and electricity seemed to race over Kaye’s skin, raising the hair on her arms. She struggled with the reins, trying to keep the horse from bolting.

“Easy, girl.”

The horse’s head came up and Midnight shook. Kaye patted the mare’s neck. “Easy.” What she didn’t need was her mount charging off in a blind panic.

As she nudged her horse forward, she thought she heard her name, turned and saw Caleb racing toward her.

Before he could reach her, the sky opened up as if someone had turned on the shower full throttle. These were no little droplets but a full barrage of stinging drops.

“Let’s take cover under the trees,” he shouted, nodding toward the stand of trees.

They both headed for the shelter. They were almost there when another flash of lightning streaked across the sky. The boom nearly threw Kaye off her horse, singeing her skin and throwing her back to another blast that tore her world apart.

* * *

“Wow, that was close.” Caleb looked around to make sure the lightning hadn’t hit any of the trees surrounding them. When Kaye didn’t answer, he turned to her. They were both drenched and the cold rain ran down his back in rivulets. But what chilled him was Kaye’s blank expression.

“Kaye, were you hit?”

Kaye appeared frozen.

He nudged his horse closer to her. “Are you hurt?” He did a quick scan for any injuries.

Again, she didn’t answer.

“Kaye, are you okay?”

Her eyes were wide-open, but she wasn’t seeing him next to her. She clutched her horse’s reins so tightly that her fingers had gone white. Her mount danced nervously. Caleb reached over and pried her fingers loose from the reins. Her body began to shake so hard, he thought she’d fly apart. And she wasn’t doing her mount any favors.

“Kaye?”

Nothing.

Another flash of lightning, accompanied by booming thunder filled the air. Kaye seemed to shrink farther into herself.

Caleb grabbed Midnight’s reins and wrapped them around his saddle horn, then pulled Kaye from her saddle and settled her in front of him. He took off her cowboy hat and folded her close to his chest.

Her body shook as if she were on a Tilt-a-Whirl at the state fair. He rested his chin on her head and rubbed his hand over her back. The world around them disappeared while Caleb held this brave woman, who was seeing another world, living through a different storm.

He could only guess at the horror she saw, but he knew she’d endured a lot in the hospitals she’d been in. He experienced nightmares about the accident that had just happened with the rider who was hurt, but his nightmares were nowhere in the realm of hers.

Midnight danced, but Razor stood rock steady underneath him. Midnight calmed.

Caleb started praying. He might not know what she saw, but God did.

The storm raged around them, cutting them off from the world. The leaves shook, but only a few drops worked their way down Caleb’s back. As he prayed, Caleb felt a deep connection to this woman—one he’d never experienced before. He didn’t quite understand the feeling, but he recognized a wounded soul when he saw one.

He lost track of how much time passed, but the lack of sound finally caught his attention. The rain stopped as suddenly as it began.

Kaye’s body relaxed and she melted into him. He continued to hold her, lightly rubbing her back. After a moment, she stirred and looked up at him.

Slowly she became aware of where she sat. She didn’t cry or accuse but quietly waited for an explanation.

“You seemed a bit— Uh, Midnight panicked and—”

She looked down at her hands. “Thanks.”

No further explanation was needed.

He wanted to ask her what she was reliving, but from her closed expression, he knew she didn’t want to talk.

“I think I can ride by myself.” She refused to look up.

“So how do you want to do this? You want to try to slip your leg over Midnight’s back, or do you want to mount from the ground?”

She eyed the maneuver she would have to make to slip onto Midnight’s back from his horse. “I think maybe let me mount from the ground.”

He gently set her on her feet, handed back her hat then unwrapped her mount’s reins from around his saddle horn. She slapped the hat on and looked around—he guessed for a rock that she could mount from.

He dismounted and cupped his hands so she could use them for a boost up.

“Thanks.”

She stepped into his hands and he lifted her over her horse’s back. Her neck turned red.

He remounted his horse and they started toward the house. They didn’t talk as they rode, but as they topped the next-to-last rise before the ranch house, the sight and smell of smoke filled the sky.

Kaye stopped. Caleb stopped beside her.

“The house and barn are in that direction.” She glanced at him.

“There were several lightning strikes close to us. Maybe one of the trees or some grass burned.” At least he hoped that was all it was.

They kicked their mounts into a run. As they topped the last rise, their worst fears were confirmed. The back porch of the house was on fire. Joel and her grandfather fought the flames.

Riding down the hill, they galloped to the barn. Joel stood outside with the hose, and Gramps held a bucket. Caleb raced to the back of the house and dismounted on a run. He took the bucket from the old man and ran to the outside trough and filled it. He threw the bucket on the edge of the porch. Kaye went inside and grabbed the broom and started to beat the two-by-fours anchoring the screens.

They worked for several more minutes at fighting the fire until they had it out. Finally, Joel stepped back and held the hose at his side. “I think we’ve got it. Anyone see any smoldering spots?”

“Looks like it’s out,” Caleb said.

Gramps stumbled to the singed picnic table and sat. Caleb set the bucket down. He collapsed next to Gramps on the bench as Joel turned off the hose.

Opening the screen door, Kaye joined the others. Part of the porch’s roof was blackened.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I was riding in when I saw the bolt of lightning hit the porch. I vaulted off my horse and ran to the hose and started fighting the flames. Gramps came out the back door and tried to help, but—”

“I was sitting in my chair asleep when a loud crack woke me. What that tractor didn’t do, the boom nearly did.”

They looked at the smoldering roof of the porch.

“It could’ve been worse,” Caleb said. His words were punctuated by the roof crumbling onto the porch.

Silence settled until a choked laugh escaped Kaye. She looked around, guilt flushing her cheeks.

Joel shook his head. Caleb fought his smile while Gramps just shook his head and walked back inside.

Caleb thought about what Joel said. “Did you see the lightning actually strike the house?”

Under the soot on his face, Joel frowned. “I did. Why?”

“Horsefeathers.” Gramps’s comment drifted through the screened back door.

Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “Because if there was a direct strike, it probably fried all the electronics in the house.”

Kaye sat down next to Caleb. “What else could go wrong?”

“Do you really want to know?”

She shook her head. “No.”

But when it rained, it poured. And it was raining hard.