“This is Gwen McCabe,” he told Lindsay. “It’s not real easy for Gwen to keep traveling around to all these strange places, but she wanted to come see you and the others.”
“It’s easier when I’m with Sam,” the woman said, smiling up at him.
Lindsay had met Twyla’s mother before, but didn’t understand why it was hard for Gwen to travel. However, it was easy to see Gwen meant a whole lot to Sam, and that made Lindsay happy.
“Hi, Gwen,” she said, extending the hand that wasn’t hooked up to the IV drip. “I’m so happy to see you again.”
Gwen moved near the bed and took Lindsay’s hand, holding it in both her own and smiling tenderly. For the first time since Karen Duncan’s death, Lindsay had a warm sense of being mothered, and realized it felt wonderful.
“Well, well.” Sam beamed at the two of them. “Now there’s somebody else who wants to talk with you for a while and the nurse said just two at a time, so Gwen and I had better go.”
He started to move away, his arm around Gwen in a warm proprietary fashion that made Lindsay smile.
“Bye, Sam,” she called.
Her uncle turned and gave her a little wave, then took Gwen’s arm and left the room, pausing to speak quietly to somebody waiting in the hallway.
Lindsay held her breath, hoping fiercely that it would be Rex who came through that door to tell her he’d found a way to love her despite her cowardice. Her spirits plummeted when she recognized Clint standing awkwardly just inside the room, wearing pyjamas, cloth slippers and an old dressing gown.
But immediately she forced herself to smile and extend a hand.
“Hello, Clint,” she murmured. “It’s good to see you. How are you feeling?”
“Fresh as a daisy,” the boy said with a shy, radiant grin. Lindsay smiled back, realizing with a little shock that until the trail ride, she’d never seen anything but a cold, surly expression on this boy’s face. Now he seemed like a different person.
He straddled a vinyl chair, sitting on it backward with his chin resting on the top, and studied Lindsay gravely.
“You were pretty sick,” he said. “Worse than any of us thought. The doctors were afraid you might have gangrene in your leg.”
Her eyes widened.
“You don’t,” he said hastily. “It was a bad infection but they’ve got it controlled with drugs. You’re going to be fine.”
“How about you?” she asked.
Clint shrugged. “I was okay as soon as they gave me a meal and a good long sleep. Most of the other kids are the same, except Tim. He’s been having pretty bad asthma attacks. But they’ve got it all under control now. This is a real good hospital.”
“And what about...” She stopped awkwardly.
“Everybody knows what I did,” he said, raising his chin bravely, dark eyes full of pain. “Rex told them, then said he didn’t want it talked about any more because the whole thing was over. The other four horses got back to Wolf River, about the same time as ours reached the Bighorn, and Sam and Gwen are driving over to pick them up tomorrow. Everybody seems like they’ve forgotten how it happened.”
“And so they should,” Lindsay said. “Nobody could have done more to help us and those kids, Clint. You were wonderful.”
He looked at her gravely. “You haven’t asked about Danny,” he said at last.
Her heart stopped beating for a moment. “I’m afraid to,” Lindsay whispered.
Again Clint smiled, looking so young and handsome that she thought wryly about all the hearts this boy would set aflutter in years to come.
“Danny’s okay,” Clint reported. “He and his teddy came through with flying colors. They both have big splints and bandages on their legs now.”
Lindsay chuckled, then began plucking nervously at the blanket. “His infection...”
“It took them most of last night, but they finally came up with an antibiotic to kill it. His fever’s gone now and he’s just resting. They say he’ll need to take medicine for about a month, but he’s going to be all right.”
“Oh, thank God,” Lindsay whispered.
The relief was almost too great to bear. She lay back and stared out the window, struggling to compose herself while grateful tears slid over her cheeks.
Clint got up and patted her shoulder, then tiptoed from her room with the ties on his bathrobe trailing.
Lindsay watched him go through a mist of tears and realized she hadn’t asked about Rex.
There was still time to call Clint back. But she didn’t say anything, because she was afraid of what he might say.
Her next visitors were the two female reporters from the television newsmagazine. They filed into the room and stood by her bed, looking totally unlike the intimidating, aggressive pair who’d visited her just a few weeks earlier at her ranch office.
“Sorry about all this, Lindsay,” the plump blonde said. “When you told us about this trail ride you’d planned, we had no idea you were going to be giving us such a terrific story.”
“I’m really glad you’re enjoying it,” Lindsay said dryly.
“It’s great,” the dark-haired reporter told her with enthusiasm. “We’ve got interviews from most of the boys and some of the people on the search team, all kinds of wonderful human interest stuff. We’re putting together a minidocumentary.”
“It should bring a whole lot more national attention to your ranch,” the blonde chimed in. “And that means more money. It’s a great operation you’ve got out there.”
“Well, thank you,” Lindsay said, touched by their warmth.
“We haven’t managed to talk with Rex Trowbridge yet,” the tall woman said. “Do you have any idea when he might be available?”
“I haven’t seen him at all since we got back.”
Lindsay closed her eyes briefly, then opened them to find the two women watching her in concern.
“God, you’re brave,” the blonde said. “Getting stranded up there with all those kids and bringing them back alive and well.... You’re going to be an inspiration to women everywhere.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Lindsay said bitterly. “Me, an inspiration? I’m the biggest coward in all the world.”
Tears stung her eyes and began to trickle down her cheeks.
“Hey,” one of the reporters said, moving closer to touch her shoulder. “What’s the matter?”
Lindsay hesitated, then took a deep, shuddering breath. She was still terrified, but it was time to break free of her painful memories. If she didn’t do this now, she was never going to have any kind of life.
“Can I ask you something?” she said. “On a completely different subject?”
“Sure, anything.”
Lindsay looked at their tape recorders and clipboards. “Off the record,” she said.
“Absolutely,” the dark-haired woman assured her.
“If somebody was the...the victim of a crime in this city a few years ago,” Lindsay said, “and she finally got up enough courage to go to the police, who would she talk to?”
“Denver has a great police force. And there are a few detectives who deal specifically with assaults.” The blonde looked down at her shrewdly. “That’s the kind of crime this is, right? A sexual assault.”
“How did you know?” Lindsay asked.
The other woman leaned over and patted her shoulder. “We see it all the time,” she said gently. “You have to go for it, Lindsay.”
“It’s so hard to talk about.” Lindsay gazed up at them from the bed. “Especially after these years of keeping it to myself.”
“But the guy’s still out there?”
“Yes, and he’s still assaulting women.”
“Then go for it,” the blonde said, looking fierce. “Nail the son of a bitch. And afte
rward, if you want somebody to do a good, balanced story, call us. We’ll be fair with you.”
“Okay, but I don’t want anybody to know about this yet,” Lindsay warned. “Right now, it’s going to be hard enough to talk to the police.”
“Count on us. We’ll send somebody over this afternoon,” the other reporter said. “You can do it, girl,” she added, patting Lindsay’s shoulder with an encouraging grin. “Hey, you brought six boys down from the mountains. You can do this.”
Lindsay tried to smile back, but she was too tired. Fatigue settled in her limbs, making them limp and heavy. Her eyes drifted shut, and this time she slept too deeply for dreams.
When she woke at last, the sunlight was fading and two people stood by her bed. One was a middle-aged man with close-cropped hair, wearing a sport jacket and tie. The other was a slender woman in slacks and a blazer.
Both showed police badges in worn leather folders and identified themselves as Detective Schmidt along with his partner, Detective Simmons.
“A reporter called and said you wanted to talk to us,” Detective Simmons said. “But if you’re not feeling up to it just now, we could—”
“No!” Lindsay clutched at the woman’s arm. “No, please don’t go away. I need to get this over with.”
The two detectives settled by the bed and got out notebooks while Lindsay lay back against her pillows and stared at the window.
* * *
THE POLICE OFFICERS left about an hour later, hurrying out into the hallway, their faces taut with excitement.
Some of the boys stopped by to kiss Lindsay’s cheek, pat her arm and talk about how awesome it was to be in the hospital. Clearly their adventure was already assuming mythic proportions, the kind of story that would be told for years, with many embellishments, by the boys at Lost Springs Ranch.
One by one the boys went away, and a meal was delivered. Lindsay ate it mechanically, yearning for Rex. But he hadn’t come to see her and she was still reluctant to ask about him, afraid that he wanted nothing to do with her.
After supper she drifted in and out of sleep while darkness gathered in the sky beyond her window, filling the hospital grounds with misty violet light and long fingers of shadow.
Suddenly he was there, smiling at her, his blue eyes sparkling.
Lindsay couldn’t tell if he was real or just another of her wistful dreams. Silently she reached up and stroked the hard plane of his freshly shaven cheek and felt his wry, crooked grin.
“It’s really you,” she whispered. “I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“Oh, Lin, how could you ever think that?” He leaned over to brush her forehead with his lips. “I’ve slept practically around the clock. Couldn’t even wake up to eat, so they had me on IV fluids for twenty-four hours, but I had steak and potatoes for dinner just now.”
“And you’re all right?” Her eyes surveyed him with loving anxiety.
“I’m just fine. How about you?”
“I’m feeling wonderful.”
When she said it, Lindsay realized the words were true. She was light as a feather, carefree as a child. And so much in love...
“How’s Danny,” she asked. “Have you seen him?”
“I just came from there. He’s awake and talking with some of the other boys. They have the kids all together in one big room, and it gets pretty noisy in there. I couldn’t stand it very long.”
“We have to get started on the paperwork right away, don’t we?” she murmured. “I want to adopt Danny as soon as I can.”
She smiled mistily, then became aware of Rex watching her in astonishment.
“Something’s different, Lin. What’s happened to you?”
She ignored his question. “I never knew you were so handsome,” she murmured dreamily. “Such a rugged, take-charge kind of guy, my big mountain man. I love you, darling.”
Tenderly she ran a hand over his shoulders and touched his mouth, then let her fingers trail down his chest again, toward the crotch of his hospital pyjamas.
“My hero,” she whispered, fondling him. “The best man in Wyoming.”
He caught her hand and held it against him, grinning. “Do you care to explain this shameless behavior, young lady? Last time we talked, you told me you never wanted to have anything more to do with me.”
“I talked to the police today, Rex.”
His eyes widened in astonishment. “You what?”
“Two nice detectives, a man and a woman. I told them the whole story.”
“Do they think they’ll catch the guy?”
“They’re certain of it. They already know who he is, but they need a witness who can give them a positive identification. They plan to arrest him tonight and charge him tomorrow after they get my confirmation.”
“And you can stand to go through with this, Lin?”
She looked directly into his eyes. “If you’ll help me, I can.”
“Oh, Lindsay.” He leaned closer to stroke her forehead and touch her face with a gentle, lingering hand. “Darling, I’ll be there every minute. Every step you take, I’ll be right beside you.”
Lindsay’s heart overflowed with joy. She couldn’t find the words to tell him how she felt. “But not...” She faltered, then went on. “But not so far away, I hope.”
He looked puzzled for a moment, then understood. A light dawned in his face.
Careful not to jar her leg or disturb the IV in her arm, he lifted back the covers to climb onto her narrow bed, stretching out and sighing in pleasure.
Lindsay nestled into his arms with a sense of joyous homecoming unlike anything she’d ever known. Rex drew the covers back over them, stroked her back and hips, touched her hair and murmured words of endearment while she snuggled against him, kissing the warm hollow of his throat.
Hours later they were still wrapped together, sleeping deeply, when they were caught in the beam of a nurse’s flashlight. Lindsay woke long enough to give the woman a drowsy, rueful smile.
The nurse smiled back, pulled the covers a little higher on their shoulders and tiptoed from the room, leaving them all alone in the shadowy stillness.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460316320
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