by Mae Nunn
“Dad, Grandma looks like she’s going on a cruise.”
“Will you let the lady enjoy being away from the ranch for a change? If she wants to treat this like a vacation, so be it.”
“Well, howdy! If you aren’t a sight for sore eyes.” There was no mistaking the natural Texas drawl.
The woman grabbed the door handle and grunted as she pulled herself up onto the driver’s running board. She poked her head through the open window to plant a loud smack on Daniel’s left cheek.
“I thought my sweet boy would never get home.”
She blew an air kiss toward her grandchild and waved a greeting to the backseat. “My word, look at all that stuff.” She counted the boxes and bags by pointing a long nail that matched her lip color.
“Grandma Verne, what have you done to your hands?”
“They’re called press-on nails. I found them in the sale aisle at the drug store and I think they look kinda nice.”
While LaVerne turned her right hand palm outward to admire her faux manicure, Dana glanced into the backseat and rolled her eyes upward beneath kohl-smudged lids. Erin pressed her lips together but let her eyes squint agreeably. She had to admit Dana was amusing and the constant self-chatter had made the last week in the hospital pass quickly.
“Let’s get everybody inside before the neighbors take an interest,” Daniel instructed.
“Too late for that.” LaVerne backed away from the SUV while Daniel stepped out. “As soon as I got here on Thursday evening, that pretty young woman across the street came right over to see if you were home.”
Erin noted his quick glance up the block and failure to acknowledge the comment. A girlfriend? The throbbing in her arm increased. She was beginning to feel nauseous.
“Excuse me,” Erin called. “I hate to break up the reunion but it’s time for my meds.”
The father-and-daughter team launched into precision drill activity. Car doors slammed, different doors opened, metal creaked and clanked as cases were removed and a wheelchair was snapped into shape. In another moment Daniel was beside her, solid and clean-smelling as he lifted her out of the vehicle. He gently positioned her into the waiting chair and then stepped away from any further contact.
Dana pushed and he walked alongside reintroducing the two women.
“Erin, I’m sure you remember my mama, LaVerne Stabler. And Mama, it’s been a lot of years but you know Erin. She won a Pulitzer prize for the pictures she took in Darfur last year.”
“Yes, I heard, son. Who woulda guessed that she’d parlay running off into a celebrity career?”
“Mama.” Daniel’s censuring tone made only the one word necessary.
Erin expected much worse and deserved anything she got. Judging from the way the Stabler jaws clenched, a lot was going unspoken. For now, anyway.
The move-in passed into a welcome haze after Daniel efficiently administered a dose of pain meds into the still-present IV. Antibiotics dripped day and night to finish off the killer staph while wounds healed and bones mended. The constant jostling of the past twenty-four hours had Erin’s muscles stinging and her stomach cringing. It was sleep or barf, so she slipped into numb unconsciousness.
Daniel tilted the lamp shade toward the wall so the low light it cast wouldn’t disturb Erin’s nap. Thick crew socks muffled his steps toward the metal bed frame. He was pleased LaVerne had thought to set up the hospital rental on the spacious sun porch he’d built last fall.
He gave in to the urge to study her face, attributing his curiosity to years of surveillance work that made it second nature. Her skin was clear, but too tanned and weathered for only thirty-four. Her short auburn hair was sleek and seasoned with occasional flecks of silver. Thick lashes fringed her closed eyes and a handful of freckles were her only adornment apart from an application of Dana’s tinted lip balm.
From the few photos of Erin he’d found on the Internet, it seemed she still didn’t wear much makeup or dress in a manner that would draw attention. Too early in life she’d mastered the ability to blend into the background so she wouldn’t be noticed. He figured that served her well as she waited, still as a fence post, for the right moment to take her photographs. From what he’d witnessed of her career over the years, she was bold to the point of being foolhardy, getting shots others couldn’t manage or wouldn’t attempt.
It was no surprise to Daniel that she’d won so many awards. In a way he was actually proud Erin had made a life for herself, but that made it doubly difficult to deny Dana’s growing need to know something, anything about her mama.
As Erin’s reputation grew, he was almost glad for the terms of the letter she’d left behind in their one-bedroom Austin apartment. She admitted she’d made a terrible mistake in believing she could have a normal life and didn’t dare stay another night. Anonymity was all she asked and in exchange she gave up what he wanted more than his own life.
Their child.
At the time, Daniel had no choice but to live with the deal. He’d known Erin was emotionally damaged, but thought he could love her back to health. He’d been wrong. She’d signed and returned the legal papers giving him full custody. Then she’d changed her last name, and for the past sixteen years Erin had been what her daughter could never be. Invisible.
Daniel almost convinced himself that they wouldn’t have made it as a family, anyway. Erin had been deeply wounded too early in life. Over the years he’d uncovered what she’d hidden about her past and often felt he knew too much.
If all the secrets, his included, ever spilled out of his tight grip, what a devastating mess it might be. He was playing Russian roulette by allowing her into the life he’d painstakingly built for himself and Dana. But what choice did he have?
“Daddy, what are you doing in here?” Dana whispered as she crept up behind him.
“Checking to see that everything’s okay.” He adjusted Erin’s IV pole a quarter inch to the right.
“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Dana asked.
He slipped his arm around her shoulders and looked down into eyes that expected confirmation but needed reassurance.
“Just like you, baby girl.”
“What are y’all up to?” LaVerne hissed from the doorway.
Dana waved her grandmother over and allowed herself to be sandwiched as they stood arm in arm voluntarily for the first time in their lives.
Daniel offered a silent plea. Lord, I sure hope You know what You’re doing here.
The three people Erin saw standing beside her bed were linked in a typical Christmas card pose. Artificial and forced. Family in its “natural” state. She sent up a prayer.
Lord, I put this all behind me years ago. What is Your purpose in dragging me back? I lost consciousness in one battle zone and regained it in another. I hope You know what You’re doing here.
“Hey, you’re awake.” Dana was the first to notice.
“And hungry,” Erin replied. She hated dropping such an obvious hint but the flow of conditioned air from the kitchen, positioned next to the solarium, was pulling a mouthwatering aroma right beneath her nose.
“Well, it’s probably not as exotic as what you’re used to, but it’s one of Daniel’s favorite meals. Round steak, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy.” There was pride in LaVerne’s voice. The woman was crazy about her son.
“If by exotic you mean an MRE, I’ll stand in your chow line any day.”
“MRE?”
“Meals Ready to Eat. ‘Yummy’ freeze-dried military rations,” Erin explained to Dana, glad for a safe subject. “Believe it or not, they’re pretty decent but I prefer a camel kabob when I can get one.”
“Eeeeeuuuuuuuuu!” Dana’s face squinted in disgust. “You’ve eaten camel?”
“Does it taste like chicken?” Daniel asked.
“Not even close,” she answered. “It tastes like…camel. Really tough and gamy unless you can get a cut from the hump where the meat is less sinewy.”
“I don’t know about any came
l’s hump but I’ve got supper in the kitchen from a cow’s rump, so let’s eat.” LaVerne headed toward the door. “Dana, I need you to set the table pronto, and no back talk.”
Dana noted her father’s better-do-as-she-says shrug and left the room.
“Would you like a tray in here?” he offered. “It might be too much for you to come to the table tonight, but it’s your call.”
Hmm…Stay in here alone while they talk about me or join them in the dining room while they watch my every move. Either way, I’m a big loser who needs somebody to cut my meat.
As tempting as it sounded to hide out on the lovely glass-enclosed porch, it was time to get started. Erin justified her agreement to join them in Houston as part of her rehab strategy. She’d made up her mind to look at every task as therapy. The sooner she could function on her own, the sooner she could get back to active duty. Behind the camera lens where she could record the lives of others. It was so much safer than engaging in the messy stuff herself.
“I’d like to eat with the rest of you, if it’s all right.”
“Yeah, sure. Just let me get the wheelchair ready.” He started to turn away, too much of a gentleman to answer any differently.
“Daniel.” Erin lowered her voice so the others wouldn’t hear. “Thank you for allowing me into your home. I know this is as difficult for you as it is for me, and I promise as soon as I can physically manage on my own, I’ll get out of your life.”
“It’s Dana’s life I’m worried about, not mine and not yours. I agreed to have you here for her benefit. Stay as long as you need to and don’t leave before you’re ready.” He glanced toward the door, took a step closer and lowered his voice, as well. “But when you’re ready, you’re leaving alone. Understand?”
“Perfectly.”
His narrowed eyes said he meant business. And who could blame him.
“Dad, if we have leftovers, will you make potato pancakes for breakfast before church?” Dana pleaded from the other room where she plunked dishes and flatware on a tabletop.
“Church?”
Dana had talked a lot about their church home. They knew everybody and attending a service would put Erin on display. She was going to have to pass on the very first opportunity to work on mobility.
“Of course,” Daniel answered. He leaned close but waited for her nod to signal permission before sliding supportive arms beneath her knees and the small of her back and lifting without effort. As he settled her into the chair and folded a gosh-awful-looking crocheted thing over her lap, his moss-green eyes locked with hers.
“And don’t even think about beggin’ off. This family worships together. And whether either one of us likes it or not, Erin, for a little while anyway you’re part of this family.”
Chapter Three
Sunday morning in Texas was nothing like Erin remembered and everything she’d once imagined it could be.
The chatter that echoed in the kitchen was contentious but good-natured. The dialogue between grandparent and grandchild was one disagreement after another with Daniel acting as mediator. But the dichotomy in the conversation never once escalated into the bitter shouts or harsh threats that accompanied dissent in her family experiences.
As with the meal the night before, breakfast around the pedestal-style oak table was a learning experience for Erin while it seemed like a social event for the others. Conversation stayed clear of the elephant in the room. She blessed Daniel, yet again, for obviously having reminded LaVerne and Dana against pressing for details that weren’t offered voluntarily.
But Dana deserved to know something, didn’t she? Where to start?
“These potato pancakes are a first for me,” Erin mumbled over a mouthful of the tasty breakfast.
Dana’s fork hovered between her plate and her mouth.
“Nobody ever fixed this at your house?”
Erin busied herself managing a fork in her left fist while she considered how much Dana could handle. There was no doubt the girl had been shortchanged without a mother, but on the other hand, Daniel had provided a pretty sweet deal. Their two-story brick home shaded by hundred-year-old pecan trees was in an affluent Houston neighborhood. Since Daniel had brought Dana up in church, it was Erin’s fair guess that he also ensured a quality after-school environment. If nothing else the teenager’s appearance was evidence she was respected and given free choice in personal areas so critical to one her age.
How could Dana possibly relate to growing up in a home where constant danger and uncertainty prevailed? Best to withhold that insight.
“Nope,” Erin answered the question. “I grew up in a cold cereal kind of house.”
Daniel sipped coffee, squinting at her above the rim of his oversized cup. The message of his stare would be more revealing on film, but for now it appeared a cross between censorship and curiosity. It was hard to recall how little she’d told him during their brief marriage, but Erin was certain she hadn’t shared much prior to the string of foster homes.
“If you think this is good, wait till you have Daddy’s pork spareribs. He cooks them all day and uses molasses in the barbecue sauce.”
“Don’t be giving away all my secrets,” Daniel teased, turning his eyes and attention on Dana.
“And there’s nothing like Grandma Verne’s butt cake.” Dana was clearly impressed with whatever deserved that description.
“Excuse me?” Erin asked for details.
“It’s really Boston cream pie,” LaVerne admitted with a proud smile. “But it’s so loaded with calories that it goes straight to your backside. Hence the nickname given by my daughter-in-law who lives on the ranch.”
“Tell me about this ranch.” Erin kept their attention diverted from herself.
“Oh, puuuleeeeease…” Dana groaned.
“There will be plenty of time for that conversation. Right now, we’ve gotta get going or we’ll be late for church. Mama, would you please help Dana with Erin’s needs while I clean up in here?” Daniel instructed. “I’ll have the truck running and the AC on high for you ladies in thirty minutes.”
Daniel glanced frequently into the rearview mirror, keeping an eye on his backseat where Dana gave Erin the lowdown on Abundant Harvest. He lifted up a silent prayer of gratitude for his daughter’s excitement over their church community. The contemporary sanctuary doubled as a gym where it was a safe haven for hundreds of teens who gathered there on weeknights. Dana served with the youth’s music ministry, where she’d become interested in the technical ins and outs of live worship. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the high school praise band was one of the hottest in the state. Whatever the reason, it was comforting to know where his kid and her friends were hanging out on nights when she was free to socialize.
“There’s a special place reserved for visitors.” Dana pointed toward the front of the sanctuary.
“No, thanks.” Erin’s response was resolute.
She’d been cooperative so far, but Daniel wasn’t surprised when Erin declined the front-and-center spot. Clearly, her comfort was in being the observer, not the observed.
As always, the morning’s worship and praise was lively. The pastor’s teaching on guarding your heart was relevant to the point of being worrisome. And the newcomer welcome after the service was warm and inviting. Daniel was grateful for his years of friendship and counseling with Pastor Ken, so there was little need to explain the sudden appearance of Erin Gray in their lives.
“I’ve been praying for your recovery since the day Daniel got word of your injuries.” Ken Allen had pulled a chair up and sat knee to knee with Erin and held her left hand as he spoke. “But I never imagined you’d be here with us today. God is awesome to bless us with a visit by someone with your talent.”
“Thank you.” Erin ducked her head, evidently touched by the pastor’s words.
“I know it’s a bit soon, but would you consider speaking to our graduates before they head off to college? Just let me know when you’re up to it and I’ll arra
nge everything.”
Erin’s eyes sought Daniel’s. If she expected him to intervene, she was out of luck.
“Oh, I don’t know, Pastor.” She slipped her hand from his and ran unadorned fingertips through her hair. “My skills are all self-taught and I don’t have any speaking experience at all.”
“Even better,” Ken encouraged. “These kids don’t want a presentation. They just need to hear you talk about your relationship with God and your passion for your work.”
“Well, if that’s all you have in mind, I guess I could do it in a few weeks when I’m back on my feet.”
“Perfect.” Ken rubbed his palms together. “We’ll see you again next weekend.” He stood and clasped hands with Daniel. “I’ll be in touch soon, my friend.”
“Pastor?” Erin called as Ken was about to greet another visitor.
“Yes, ma’am?” He turned back to her.
“How is it that you know I have a relationship with God?”
“Are you serious?” The light in Ken’s eyes was like a gift he wanted to share. “Your work speaks volumes about you. Nobody could capture the Creator’s touch like that without knowing Him personally.”
Sunday afternoon was peaceful enough. After a light meal each person moved to a private space. Erin’s quiet quarters were disturbed only by the half hour chimes of a mantle clock. Even so, she knew it was a temporary calm. She was experiencing the eye of hurricane Stabler. By Monday morning the gale force would appear again as life in the household resumed full speed with their patient at the center of the whirlwind.
Having others care for her physical needs was a humbling experience. Erin was certain she didn’t deserve and could never repay Daniel’s kindness. He’d said she was there for Dana’s sake, but Erin had no idea where to start or how to meet the raw need sometimes revealed in Dana’s eyes.