Vince was finally allowed into the ICU for a glimpse of his father at two the following afternoon. He always thought of his daddy as a big man. Lying in the hospital bed amid all the beeps and lights and tubes, he looked as small as one of Cody’s boys. Vince was surprised that his broken fibula wasn’t elevated but was propped on pillows.
The cuts and scrapes didn’t look much more serious than shaving cuts, but he had two beautiful black eyes and a gauze helmet that showed blood seepage along his left temple.
As he turned from the bed to go back out to the waiting room, Vince felt his father’s fingers clutch his arm. He spun back to see the old man’s eyes open and staring at him.
“Vince? Why the Sam Hill are you here? Am I dying?”
Vince felt the tears start. “Nope. Banged up pretty well, though.”
His father’s voice was surprisingly strong considering all the medication he was on. “Who hit me?”
“Did it all yourself with that old wreck of a truck. Fell over.”
“Shoot, I remember. Cody refused to go load...”
Vince shook his head. “Nuh-uh. Not Cody’s fault. Your fault. Don’t even think about blaming Cody or I swear I’ll break your other leg.” He bent down and kissed his father’s forehead. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Now I know I’m dying.” Thor yawned and slipped into sleep with a small snore.
As he walked back down to the waiting room, Vince considered calling Anne again. He longed to hear her voice, but she’d probably be out with the minis. When she saw his name on the caller ID, she’d be sure he was calling with bad news.
He wrapped the hospital blanket more securely around Mary Alice’s thin shoulders. She had finally fallen asleep.
Why had Vince never allowed himself to love her? More to the point, why did she love his father after all his temper tantrums and poor treatment? Was she blessed or cursed with that lasting love? Would she have been better off if she’d left Thor as his own mother had left? As the other wives had. Did that make Mary Alice more admirable or more of a fool?
And if he loved Anne with that kind of constancy, what did that make him?
Especially since, so far as he could see, Anne didn’t love him back.
How long would it be before he saw her again? For the first time in years, he considered what it would mean if he actually did move home. It was an appalling thought. His life was no longer here in Mississippi but in Tennessee where his new-found love and his friends and his career were.
Whatever catharsis he had experienced over his father’s bed, it did not include living with the man. He didn’t make a bunch of money, but he’d devote every dime to providing expert caregivers for Thor as long as he needed them so he could continue to stay in Tennessee.
He lay down on another one of the couches in the shadows at the back of the waiting room. He was actually going on his second day without sleep. The couch was much too short for him.
He turned on his side and pulled his legs up, positioned the single thin pillow he had been given under his head and closed his eyes. He’d nap until another one of the family came to take over the vigil. He’d come to at least one decision. He’d considered what it would mean to move home, and he’d rejected the idea finally and completely.
What he could and would do was to get the family together and figure out how to retrain his father to act right to his family as Vince’s grandmother would say. Vince included acting right to his friends, his employees, his clients and the whole human race. Horses could be retrained—look at little Molly. Why not irascible old patriarchs? The first step would be for the entire family to set boundaries. From here on, the old man would not be rewarded for bad behavior. When he acted like a jerk, no one should react. They would walk around, by or through him. It would require a miracle, but it was the only solution Vince could think of that did not require his moving back home.
That was not gonna happen.
If there was the slightest chance he could gain Anne’s love, he would not inflict his father on her. The corollary was that he should not take the chance of inflicting himself on her either.
* * *
“THE GOVERNMENT DOES not allow people to stay in the hospital unless they are unconscious or recently missing a body part,” Vince said over his cell phone. “They’re sending Thor home today.”
“But they can’t!” Anne said. “How will your stepmother manage a man with a broken leg, not to mention cracked ribs and head trauma?”
“The doctor says the brain-swelling has subsided. You don’t wrap broken ribs any longer unless they’re threatening to poke through your lungs. His are not displaced. He’s supposed to refrain from coughing and...”
Anne broke out laughing. “I’ll bet he doesn’t want to cough. I’ve broken ribs falling off horses. They ache to this day when the weather’s bad. Coughing with a fresh break makes you want a big fat shot of morphine. Which you don’t get, by the way.”
“Mary Alice and Thor added a master suite twenty years ago on the main floor of our house in case either of them became disabled. No stairs except from the front porch. Cody’s crew have already built a ramp to take care of that. Thor’s going to have to actually use his wheelchair full-time and not as a way to get attention. There’s already one of those walk-in baths in their suite.”
“Your step-mother cannot handle him alone. What if he falls?”
“The boys will help, and I’m staying until after the Fourth picnic. Daddy’s doing amazingly well, all things considered. He’s already starting to get his snarl back, but we’re not letting him get away with it. This whole episode frightened him badly. I intend to keep him aware of his own mortality, until he starts being polite to us.”
“Are you hiring a care-giver?”
“Probably part-time, until he can balance safely on a walker.” Vince chortled. “He hates it like poison. He’d rather use a pair of canes, but he drops them. What he really needs is his own Tom Thumb to stabilize his balance.”
Over dinner at the café with Edward and Victoria, Anne told them about Vince’s update.
“Why not give him one?” Victoria asked.
“One what?”
“Tom Thumb. This would be the perfect graduation exam. He’d be doing the job we’ve trained him for with a person with an actual disability. Not like Becca, who can make allowances and correct herself.”
Edward took his wife’s hand, and said quietly, “Hon, if he can’t correct himself, what happens if he falls and Tom can’t keep him up? You’d have a real liability problem there, not to mention the possibility that you’d cause more harm.”
Victoria waved him away. “This is still an exploratory program. We never provide guarantees of success. Besides, Anne will be right there the whole time...”
Anne choked on her iced tea. “Anne will do what? Vince says that old man was a not-so-holy terror before he was hurt. He’s probably like a bear with a sore paw now that he’s an invalid. I have duties here. Harriet and Big Mary are turning into a precious driving pair. You’ve seen how cute they look together. You promised we’d enter them in the driving classes at the Williamston horse show. Not much time.”
“More than a month away,” Victoria said. “Look, if Vince agrees, you can drive Tom down one day next week. Stay four or five days, and if things work out, you leave Tom and drive yourself home.”
“Leave Tom for how long?”
“However long Thor’s going to need him.”
“No way!” Anne pushed her chair away from the table.
“Anne,” Victoria said in a reasonable tone. “We are training companion animals. Sooner or later they’re all going to people who need them.”
Anne shook her head vigorously. “Not Tom. He’s my practice horse. The one I learn on. Besides, Victoria, from the first time I saw him he’s been my angel. He might not mind working for another
owner, but I sure would. And definitely not for an old devil like Thor Peterson.”
The other patrons and staff gaped at her.
“Anne, you’re shouting,” Victoria whispered.
“Honey,” Edward said. “Listen to Anne.”
“But...”
“Victoria,” Anne said. “I love Tom and he loves me. Don’t expect me to let him go to a man who treats his own family like dirt. Who’s to say how he’d treat Tom?” She shoved her chair away from the table and ran out, leaving Victoria openmouthed.
“You’d probably have caused Anne less pain if you’d cut her heart out,” Edward said. “Let’s go home. You need to fix this.”
* * *
AFTER VICTORIA AND Edward came home from the café and she sent him off to watch television, Victoria walked down the hill to the cottage, which was never locked, came in and found Anne lying facedown across her bed, sobbing.
“I am so sorry,” Victoria said. “I never meant to treat you and Tom as though you two don’t matter.”
Anne swung around and wiped her fingers over her cheeks. She’d obviously been crying since she came back to the cottage.
“When Becca sent Aeolus away,” Anne said. “It liked to have killed her. She still can’t mention his name without tearing up. She loved—no, make that loves—Aeolus. When you talked about sending Tom away so casually, it hurt. Tom is little, but in every way that matters, he’s a giant and he’s mine. Except tonight I realized he’s not. He’s yours and you can send him away whenever you want to.”
“Where’s your purse?” Victoria asked.
“On the desk. Why?”
Victoria went to the desk, opened Anne’s purse, pulled out her wallet, took a bill out and sat back down on the bed. “Here,” she said and handed Anne a dollar. “Give that to me.”
Puzzled, Anne handed it over. “What’s this for?”
“You just bought Tom Thumb for the exorbitant price of one dollar.”
Anne threw her arms around Victoria. “Thank you thank you thank you.”
“In order to pay his board bills and his feed bills...”
“I’ll pay them if I have to go back to tending bar every night after I work the horses.”
Victoria shook her head. “Not to worry. Tom is still an employee of Martin’s Minis and has a free ride so long as we continue to use him as a consultant. Agreed? We don’t have to think about actually breaking even on this program for another four and a half months. By that time Edward should have finished setting up the trust fund for the training expenses so that we can accept tax-free donations and insurance payments and grants. Right now the clients’ horses are paying the bills for the minis. I should have gone through all this before.”
“As just an employee, I didn’t need to know. I figured you’d tell me when and if I did. I knew I was hired for six months, but not how you planned to pay me.”
“Trust me. We are solvent and should continue to be. And you do need to know all this stuff. Obviously, I don’t intend to let you go after six months.”
Anne shoved off the bed.
“Where are you going?” Victoria asked. “It’s pitch-black out there.”
“I am going to find my newly acquired horse and give him a treat. Oh, and let’s not tell anyone about this. They might treat him differently.”
“So might you,” Victoria said, then shook her head. “Nah.”
* * *
“VINCE WANTS TO stay until after the Fourth of July,” Barbara Carew said. “I gave him the time. His family needs him, but I wish he’d hurry back. I’m doing both our jobs. I’m afraid they’ll convince him to stay there.” She set the small hoof she’d been trimming back on the ground. “I took a little extra off Harriet’s heels this time. Vince and I agreed it might give her a slightly longer stride like Molly’s. If they’re going to be in draft as a pair, their strides need to match. I want to handle it myself to see if that does the trick. If it works, the farrier can do it next time.”
“Thanks,” Anne said as she took Harriet back to the pasture. “That’s your last job today. Come on up to the patio for a soda with me and Victoria.”
“Don’t need to ask twice.”
As they walked over from the paddock, her voice studiedly casual, Barbara asked, “How are things going for Vince down home? He pretty much leaves me messages. I think he’s avoiding me.”
Anne gave her a situation report on Vince’s father as she knew it. “Vince calls most evenings to give me an update.”
“And with you two?”
“What ‘you two’? He’s there and busy. I’m here and busy. He might as well be on temporary duty with the military in Alaska.”
“Why not visit him for the holiday? He did ask you.”
“Vince and I have discussed it over and over again. At this point I’ve about decided I’m taking Tom to see if Vince’s father can use a helper horse.”
“Is that wise?” Victoria asked.
“For Tom or me?” She handed Barbara a diet soda from the cooler. Victoria already had one.
“Actually,” Victoria said, “I was thinking about you, but it might be tough on Tom as well. He’s not used to being on duty all the time. And with a difficult man.”
“No way would I leave Tom there when I leave, but Vince and I agreed it would be a valuable short-term test of his ability to work with a stranger with different needs from Becca’s. Have you ever met Mr. Peterson?”
Victoria gave a theatrical shudder. “Once. At a cattle show at the Williamston County Fair years ago. His cattle took home a passel of blue ribbons, but he wanted all of them in the breeds he raised. He is tall, gray-haired, very good-looking and in great shape for a man his age. Edward thought he was charming. I took one look at the way he glared at the officials and decided I didn’t like him. Later on, I saw him tear a strip off another of the judges when he didn’t win best overall bull. I decided then I really didn’t like him.”
“If you do go,” Barbara asked, “When are you leaving?”
“The Petersons have a big party on the Fourth of July. They call it a family reunion, but Vince says everybody for miles around turns up for barbecue. I assumed they’d cancel it because of Mr. Peterson’s accident, but Vince says not. I’ll drive down the afternoon of the second and come home the fifth. I’ll bring Tom back with me. I assume Vince will come then or shortly afterward, but we haven’t talked about it. I can help with preparations and cleanup afterward. Vince says there’s a pony paddock and stall Tom can use while Mr. Peterson’s trying Tom to see if he can work with a VSE. Mr. Peterson’s old mare is in the next stall with his own paddock, so Tom will have company.”
“You’ve got it all worked out.”
“We have the logistics worked out. The family dynamics, not so much.”
“This is just an excuse to see Vince.”
Anne drew herself up. “Not at all. Well, maybe. He said some things... I have to find out whether he meant them and what they mean to me. To us. If there is an us now or at some point in the future.”
“How does this factor in to Vince’s assertion that he’s never getting married?”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m driving to Mississippi.”
* * *
TOM SPENT MOST of the drive down into Mississippi with his head over Anne’s shoulder so he could look out the window of the big SUV. He did take a two-hour nap and snored softly. Since the drive was so long, Anne had brought his piddle pad, but she was hesitant to get Tom out to use it even at one of the roadside parks. Several owners let their dogs out to run free. A big dog might view the little horse as prey. Tom might bolt into the road.
When the dog area was finally empty, Anne laid down Tom’s piddle pad under a shady pine, said, “Go now,” waited while he did his business, then cleaned up after him and walked back toward the truck.
&nbs
p; “Look, baby,” a woman’s voice called out. She was part of a group of four adults and one little girl who sat at one of the picnic tables eating fried chicken. “It’s a little bitty horse!”
“That ain’t no horse,” said the man beside her. “It’s some kind’a funny lookin’ dog. Zerleen, don’t you run over there and get bit and have to take them rabies shots. Zerleen!”
Anne held up a hand to stop the charging child. Her mother was hot-footing after her. The father had not moved except to open another can of soda.
“He’s a minihorse,” Anne said to the child.
“Can I pet him?”
Anne held on to the halter and line, while Tom did his eye blinking thing. The enraptured child petted him softly and screamed when her mother tried to pull her away.
Finally, Anne and Tom made it safely back into the car. She fed Tom a couple of baby carrots before she started her engine and pulled back onto the road.
“Happy now?” she asked. Tom hummed at her.
By the time she found her way along the back roads that led to the Peterson cattle farm, she felt grubby and decided she smelled like Tom. What would happen when she opened the door of the car and climbed out? Would she and Vince rush into one another’s arms?
Probably not. Knowing Vince, he’d stand as far off as he could and ask why she was so late arriving. Definitely no public displays of affection.
She found the sign for the Petersons’ farm beside a pair of outsize and elaborately carved wrought-iron gates that stood open either side of a long gravel road flanked by magnolias. She couldn’t see a house through the thick trees.
Halfway up the drive, the magnolia alley opened onto a manicured green lawn fronting a white house with columns and shiny black shutters.
“Whew,” she said. “Tom, I do believe we have landed in Tara.”
As she drove closer she realized that the house was much simpler than her initial impression. It was a two-story white farmhouse with a broad front porch lined with rocking chairs and tall ferns in pots. Probably no more than fifty or sixty years old. Not Tara.
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