Читать книгу The Forever Family - Leigh Bale - Страница 11

Rachel took a deep breath as she pulled on her coat and followed Sam outside onto the back porch of Gladys’s house. Strays! She tensed when she thought of the conversation she’d overheard between the doctor and his sister. She was tempted to tell Dr. Thorne what he could do with his precious receptionist job.

Obviously Sam had been dumped by a woman named Melanie and hadn’t gotten over her yet. Now, he seemed to hold a grudge against Rachel.

She wrapped her scarf around her neck and jerked on the thick leather gloves Gladys had loaned her.

She didn’t want anyone’s help. But she would need it if she was going to make it here in Finley. The thought of accepting anything from Sam Thorne almost frosted her garters, as Grammy was fond of saying.

Thinking of her grandmother and the funny adages she used brought a smile to Rachel’s face. And that was when she saw her small travel trailer. Someone had parked it beside the garage. Probably Sam, who currently stood over the front hitch, hooking it to his truck.

She gravitated toward the back, her gaze searching for damage. As she rounded the corner, she gave a sharp exhale. One side of the trailer had been bashed in, no doubt struck by the oncoming truck she had hit last night. She groaned, wondering how severe the damage might be inside. Every possession she owned was inside this trailer.

She joined Sam, wishing she didn’t need to speak to him. Her pride still stung from being called a stray. As she drew deep drafts of cold air into her lungs, her nerves settled. “Will it make it out to Grammy’s place okay?”

“Sure, the tires are sound,” he said without looking up.

She lifted the latch and opened the double doors, peering through the shadowed interior. Tears filled her eyes. Clothing, towels and bedding lay folded in haphazard fashion. The books she’d packed so carefully were now bundled in disorderly piles, their ruined boxes tossed to one side. Her precious photo albums lay heaped together, their torn pages and pictures sitting on top. The rocking chair Alex had given her the day she came home from the hospital with Danny had been moved to one side. The spokes and one bottom rocker lay broken on the blue padded seat. Someone had leaned the chair against the far wall of the trailer so it wouldn’t fall over.

Rachel’s heart wrenched. She couldn’t contain a small moan as she picked up the splintered pieces of wood. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she caressed the shining oak with her gloved hands. It was just a chair, and yet it meant so much more. Seeing it ruined like this reminded her of Alex’s death and her shattered life. How could she ever repair the damage? When would her heart stop aching for her loss? She was too young to be a widow, and Danny was too young to be without his father. Alex should be here, protecting them, loving them—

The crunch of footsteps warned her of someone’s presence. She set the broken rocker pieces aside.

“Everything okay?”

Sam! Why did it have to be him witnessing her moment of weakness? Of all the emotions she felt right now, why did he have to see her cry?

Her knees wobbled so hard she feared they might buckle. She took a shuddering breath and turned away. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

A handkerchief appeared in front of her nose. Not a tissue, but a genuine, crisply starched, white linen handkerchief with his initials embroidered in one corner. Murmuring her thanks, she accepted his offering and wiped her eyes.

He peered into the trailer. “I tried to tidy up a bit, but I wasn’t sure where everything belonged. At least it’s out of the weather.”

Her throat tightened and a sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. He’d sorted through her things! He’d looked through her pictures and folded her quilts and towels and placed her broken rocking chair against the wall.

“Yes, that’s fine.” She kept her face averted. No doubt her eyes were red and puffy.

“I’m sorry.” He laid a hand on her arm.

No, no! She pulled away, unable to accept his compassion. “Do you think you can close the doors for me?”

“Sure. I’ve got it hitched to my truck so we can take it out to your place.”

She stepped back and gave him room to secure the trailer. With his back to her, she dabbed at her eyes, hoping her mascara hadn’t smeared all over her face. She watched as he hesitated, standing in front of the rocking chair. When he rested his hands on the splintered wood, she gave a shuddering breath. Somehow, it felt as though he held her heart in his hands. The gesture seemed too personal, too intimate for her to comprehend.

Without another word, he stepped back and closed the trailer doors. Then he turned to face her. In his eyes, she saw compassion and the one thing she just could not accept from this man.

Pity.

She turned away, praying he held his silence. If he said another word, her broken heart would melt and she’d blubber and cry in front of him. And she couldn’t get that close to another man. Her heart wasn’t ready to let go of Alex yet.

“Rachel, I can take care of the chair for you.”

She nodded, realizing it was for the best. No sense in keeping a broken rocking chair just for the memories. He’d toss it into the garbage pile and she’d try to forget about it.

A snowball came out of nowhere and struck Sam firmly on the side of the head. The missile knocked the scruffy cowboy hat off his head, saving Rachel from an embarrassing moment.

They both whirled and stared in surprise. A giggle came from behind Sam’s truck and two little heads covered with ski masks popped up. Rachel found herself suddenly bombarded with snowballs.

“Why, you little monsters.” Sam laughed, then grabbed Rachel’s arm and pulled her with him as he ran for cover. He crouched behind the trailer, scooping up a handful of snow to pack together.

“We’re about to get pelted. Look out!” he yelled at Rachel.

She ducked just in time. A snowball exploded against the side of the trailer, inches away from where her head had been. As she stooped beside Sam, more snowballs showered overhead, thudding against the side of the garage or landing harmlessly at her feet.

Sam reached for handfuls of snow, pounding them together in his big, gloved hands. “Don’t just sit there, lady. We need ammunition.”

His booming voice shook with amusement and she stared, stunned by this sudden change in him. This couldn’t be the same rude man who told her she couldn’t work for him. The same man who offered his handkerchief and apology for her loss.

His words spurred her into action and she started making snowballs. Sam fired missiles as fast as Rachel produced them. Soon, Sam gave up on the snowballs and charged. The enemy scattered in a melee of fleeing boots and gleeful screams. Not quite knowing what she should do, Rachel chased after Sam, her ears ringing with laughter.

Sam tackled the boys, rolling with them, flinging snow in their faces. They clung to the big man like two small koala bears.

“No fair, Sam,” Danny yelled. “You’re bigger than us.”

Rachel laughed, until her sides ached and tears ran from her eyes. And when she realized what was happening, it made her heart stand still and she felt such poignancy that she gasped with pain.

Alex never played with her and Danny like this. He’d been romantic in his own way, but never spontaneous. He’d played with her and Danny, but in a dignified, remote sort of way, usually from a park bench or with a board game between them. In the six years they’d been married, she’d only heard Alex belly-laugh twice. Never this up-close-and-personal, undignified heap rolling at her feet.

“Okay, okay, I give!” Sam held up his arms and stood before dusting snow off his coat and blue jeans.

When Danny threw his arms around Sam’s long legs in a bear hug, Rachel’s mouth dropped open, and she stared wide-eyed. “Let’s do it again, Sam. Let’s do it again!” Danny cried.

Over the tops of the boys’ heads, Sam met Rachel’s eyes. His face flushed a deep red. Then he looked away, breaking the magical moment. No doubt he’d remembered who she was and how she came to be here and that was that.

“Ahem.” Sam cleared his voice, and he stepped away from Danny. “I think we’d better get going. Daylight’s a’burning.”

“Yay! Let’s go to your place,” Charlie hollered as he ran toward Sam’s truck.

Danny followed. Both boys yelled excitedly.

Gladys came out of the house carrying a picnic basket. Sam took the basket and placed it in back, then helped her into the truck before reaching to take Rachel’s elbow.

“Careful, it’s slick.” He leaned his head down, his words brushing against her cheek. His nearness made her feel giddy.

As she stepped up on the high foot rail and climbed inside, she heard the window defroster running against the windshield. Sam got into the driver’s seat. Even with Gladys sitting between them, his attention unnerved Rachel.

He shifted the truck into gear, ready to pull out of the driveway, but then looked in the rearview mirror. “Buckle up, boys. We’ve got a bumpy ride ahead of us.”

The drive out to Grammy’s place didn’t take long. When they hit the dirt road, Sam shifted his truck into 4-wheel drive and skimmed through the drifts of snow with steady ease.

Rachel pointed off to the distance. “Danny, there’s our house.”

Danny scooted forward against the backseat, leaning his face over her shoulder to get a better view out the window. She reached back her hand and pressed her palm against his face.

The old 1930s farmhouse and barn sat together in a field of white, a single power line leading out to the house. Painted white, the clapboard boasted nothing special except a quaint charm left dowdy by years of neglect. Fruit trees surrounded the front yard with limbs void of leaves and covered with frost and icicles. Snowladen evergreens edged the long gravel driveway. The top of the fence line stood just visible above the blanket of snow.

A classic winter scene.

“There’s Uncle Sam’s place,” Charlie shot a finger toward a large, modern house about a quarter of a mile down the road.

Slim colonnades lined the wraparound porch, supporting a pretty portico and balcony on the second story. The porch framed the first floor. The white clapboard and blue trim looked newly painted. A detached four-car garage painted the same color as the house sat nearby, along with spacious corrals.

An enormous, shiny-roofed barn nestled in the small valley beside the pond brought Rachel awe. When she came here to visit Grammy just before Alex died, the house hadn’t been finished and Sam didn’t live here yet. This was where he planned to build his large animal hospital. Impressive, considering he’d built his home on land that used to belong to her grandparents. Rachel remembered a time when herds of grazing cattle and horses roamed these fields. She couldn’t begrudge Sam. It seemed fitting that he make use of the land he’d purchased from her grandmother.

“Hey, Mom, we have a lake,” Danny exclaimed.

She looked at the body of water nestled in the valley between her farmhouse and Sam’s place. A thin layer of ice had formed over its surface, the shore edged with tufts of frozen sedge grass, cattails, and tall elm trees. The tops of posts jutting above the snow showed where the small dock sat on the east side, close to Grammy’s farmhouse.

“That’s not a lake,” Charlie laughed. “It’s a pond. In the summertime, ducks and geese nest along the shore. You should see the baby goslings. They’re so cute.”

Rachel pointed at the dock, where a tall tree stood out over the water. A thin rope with a big, black tire hung from one sturdy branch. “I used to sit on the dock with a fishing line. Some of my happiest memories are of swinging on that tire before plunging into the water below. Grandpa always swam with me while Grammy laid out a picnic lunch for us to enjoy.”

“You think we can fish there again?” Danny pressed his nose against the window.

“I’m not sure. Grandpa seeded plump rainbow trout into the pond for that very purpose, but the fish might be all gone, now.”

“Can we go ice skating?” Danny asked.

“No!” The adults responded simultaneously.

Sam looked in the rearview mirror. “You mustn’t ever go out on that ice, Danny. It’s not safe. You’d fall through. Okay?”

Danny shot him a mutinous frown. “Okay.”

Sam flashed Rachel a grin over the top of Gladys’s head and she couldn’t resist smiling back. At times, being with him felt so comfortable and normal. Like she and Danny actually belonged here.

What a crazy notion.

A distant look flashed in Sam’s eyes and he frowned, as if an unpleasant memory had surfaced. He looked away, his jaw tight.

“I hope we’re not keeping you from something important,” Rachel said.

“Of course not. Don’t be silly,” Gladys responded.

Sam looked straight ahead. Rachel peered out the back window, checking the progress of her travel trailer as it sloshed through the slush.

As they pulled into the yard at Grammy’s place, a large black Labrador came out of nowhere, barking. Sam parked the vehicle, and the noisy animal bounded toward Rachel’s side of the truck, jumping up to plant its front paws on the window. Rachel scooted back, gaping in horror at rows of sharp teeth and a damp, black nose. Even with the glass and metal of the door shielding her, memories of terror and pain swamped her. The dog barked over and over again. Rachel’s body ached with fear and a rush of panic caused her pulse to hammer in her ears. She felt as though her lungs might explode and dug her fingernails into the cloth seat.

Oh, please! Don’t let me faint now.

“Go away!” her voice squeaked.

Sam opened his door and slid out of the truck. “It’s okay, Rachel. It’s my dog and I’ll take care of him. Wait here for a few minutes.”

That suited Rachel fine.

Sam clapped his hands, calling to the big dog. “Shadow! Come here, you mangy mongrel. Don’t you have any manners?”

Gladys patted Rachel’s knee. “I don’t know why Shadow’s over here at your place. He should be home minding his business.”

The dog bounded over and jumped up on Sam, growling playfully as the man rubbed the animal’s ears. From the backseat, Danny rested his hand on Rachel’s shoulder, his blue eyes creased with worry. “It’s okay, Mommy. Sam won’t let his dog hurt you.”

Her son’s concern touched her heart. She didn’t fully understand her own phobia. She tried to tell herself everything was okay, yet she couldn’t seem to gain control over her anxiety.

Sam pushed the dog away and pointed toward his place. “Go home, Shadow. Go!”

The dog whined, then took off like a shot and Rachel breathed a sigh of relief.

“There, everything’s fine now.” Gladys smiled.

Sam came and opened Rachel’s door slow and careful. “You okay, now?”

Her voice came out as a small, indistinguishable croak. Instead, she nodded, wishing he hadn’t seen visible proof of her fear.

“Shadow won’t bother you again. Come on.” He reached to take her hand and guide her out of the truck. The little boys followed, scrambling into the yard.

Rachel looked at the house. Peeling paint covered the white clapboard. The green trim appeared dull and faded. A shutter hung loose at an odd angle against the outside wall. Half of the picket fence had fallen over, buried in the depths of snow. The front windows stared back at them, black and vacant.

Just like her heart.

She waited beside Gladys while Sam used the plow blade on his front fender to clear the driveway. When he finished, he called to the boys who romped in the snow. “Let’s see if we can clear a path to the front door. I’ve got plenty of snow shovels, so I’ll expect you boys to help. Let’s get this place cleaned up.”

Sam’s take-charge manner gave Rachel confidence. As the boys scrambled to help, Sam lifted three snow shovels out of the back. He handed one to each child. Rachel pulled on her gloves. “How can I help?”

“I’m out of shovels. You and Gladys can supervise and let your injured arm heal. Once we clear a path to the house, you can go inside.”

Rachel stood in the deep snow, her feet warm and snug in the boots Gladys had loaned her. The women waited as the boys and Sam bent their backs to the work. Sam shoveled snow away from the picket fence. His heavy thigh muscles flexed beneath his blue jeans as he cleared a wide path, revealing gravel and then the cement walkway leading up to the front porch. As he worked, his breath came out in little puffs. His lean cheeks reddened and he sniffed against the cold air. Occasionally, he glanced at his progress, then went back to work.

Realizing she was staring, Rachel turned and went to the back of the truck and opened the travel trailer. With Gladys’s help, they sorted her things and stacked boxes.

Within an hour, the boys had cleared all the walkways leading up and around the house, barn and tool shed.

Danny wiped his red nose on the back of his coat sleeve. “Are we done yet?”

Sam surveyed their work and nodded. “Yep! Good job, boys. You’ve earned some free time.”