Take Me Home

by Nancy Herkness

“You don’t need to do that.”

  Claire blew out a sigh of exasperation. “I know I don’t need to. I want to. I like Brianna and Kayleigh. I like being a real aunt to them.”

  “You really do. It just surprises me.” Holly looked up from tracing the welting on the couch cushion. “Claire?”

  “Yes?” An odd note in her sister’s voice made her sit down on the couch. “What is it?”

  “I’ve been so stupid,” Holly burst out as tears traced glistening tracks down her cheeks. “I believed everything Frank said about you. He told me you were a snob and you didn’t care about Brianna and Kayleigh. He tried to get me to stop you from coming down here. He said you were just doing it to play the grand lady helping out her poor little sister.”

  Each sentence seemed to jab Claire in the heart. She sat stunned as Holly kept talking.

  “That’s why I kept pushing you away all the time—to make Frank happy. I even thought that’s why he asked for the divorce, because he was mad at me for letting you come. You’ve been so good to me, and I’ve been horrible. I’m so sorry.” Holly’s sobs shook her whole body.

  “Holl, it’s okay. Take it easy,” Claire said, leaning forward to take her sister’s hands in hers.

  “Frank made me doubt you, and I believed him.”

  Claire remembered how thoroughly Milo had convinced her she was a failure at work and at marriage. She loved Milo, so she trusted him; Holly had done the same with Frank. Both men had abused that trust. “You should have told me Frank didn’t want me here. I didn’t mean to stir up trouble between you.”

  “There were already problems between us; that’s why I tried to keep you at a distance. I didn’t want you to know my marriage was in trouble.”

  “Jeez, I’m divorced myself. I would have understood.”

  “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I’ve been all alone here since you went to New York and Mama and Daddy moved to Florida. Frank has been my world.”

  “Oh, sweetie, I know exactly what you mean,” Claire said. “I’ve been there too.”

  All her sister’s strange behavior made sense now. She could feel the barrier between them crumble. There might still be a few bits of hurt lying around, but she could deal with those. She pulled her sister into a fierce hug and received the same embrace in return.

  Claire waited until Holly loosened her hold before she said, “There’s one question I’ve been wanting to ask you. When you told me you didn’t want to go to marriage counseling, you said it had to end. Why?”

  Holly dropped her face in her hands for a few seconds before she sat up and squared her shoulders. “You know all those charges we found on Frank’s bills?”

  Claire nodded.

  “I shouldn’t have been surprised by them. Frank cheated on me before. He swore it was a one-night stand because he was drunk and lonely on the road, and it would never happen again. He implied it was my fault because I was always so involved with our children.”

  “Oh no, sweetie, tell me you didn’t believe that!” Claire was furious on her sister’s behalf. “What an asshole!”

  “I realize that now, just like I realize it wasn’t the only time.”

  “I wish I could have helped you through that.”

  “It was too humiliating to talk about,” Holly said.

  “I get that, but I hate the idea of your blaming yourself for his infidelity.” Now that Holly had admitted to this much, Claire wondered whether she should challenge her sister about the physical abuse she was convinced had also taken place. Frank’s strategy of isolating his wife and discrediting anyone who might help her sounded like a textbook abuser. Brianna said her father had hit her mother before. Yet Holly continued to maintain that this was the only incident.

  As Claire hesitated, Holly spoke again. “Anyway, he promised it would never happen again, so I let it go.” She looked down at her hands before she lifted her head to gaze straight into Claire’s eyes. “I did it for the girls. So they would have a mother and a father together while they grew up. Can you understand that?”

  Claire nodded. She too felt a fierce desire to make Brianna and Kayleigh’s world a perfect place.

  But would her sister ever admit that the price might have been too high?

  “CAN TWO PEOPLE have the same whisper horse?” Brianna asked.

  Sharon shot a querying look at Claire, who was holding Brianna’s hand as they stood outside the tack room. Claire gave a tiny nod.

  “I don’t believe anyone’s ever asked me that before.” Sharon rubbed her chin with her free hand. “Some horses can handle more than one set of secrets, but the horse has to be very special.”

  “Is Willow very special?” Brianna asked.

  “Willow? Willow could handle four sets of secrets.”

  Brianna’s look of relief was profound. Claire hadn’t realized how much the little girl wanted to unburden herself.

  “Okay, then,” Claire said. “Let’s go see Willow.”

  Claire left Brianna just outside Willow’s stall while she clipped the lead line on the mare’s halter and tied her to her metal feed basket. Stroking the horse’s neck, she touched her forehead against Willow’s and said, “You’ve got a big job to do. You have to take care of a little girl’s troubles. I’m counting on you.”

  Opening the stall door, she called Brianna in and handed her a horse treat. “Make your hand completely flat like a plate. Now offer it to Willow.”

  “It tickles,” Brianna giggled as the mare’s whiskers brushed against her palm.

  “Willow, this is Brianna. She needs your help.” Claire positioned Brianna in front of the big Thoroughbred. She was pleased when the child showed no fear as she reached out to pet the horse’s soft nose. “Just stay here where Willow can see you. It helps to look into her eyes while you talk to her.”

  “Where will you be?”

  “Just outside. Call me when you’re finished, and I’ll come in to untie her.”

  “Will you be able to hear me?”

  “Not if you’re just talking to Willow. Only if you call out loudly,” Claire promised. As she said it, she crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping the childish gesture would salve her conscience. She had every intention of eavesdropping on Brianna’s confession.

  At the child’s nod, she slipped out of the stall, latching the door. Then she quietly opened the door to the adjacent stall, where a placid gelding named Ozzie was munching on his hay. As she came in, the buckskin horse turned around to look at her before going back to his chewing. Claire gave his flank a gentle pat and tiptoed to the wall adjoining Willow’s stall.

  “Mama and Papa had another big fight last night.”

  Horror welled up inside Claire as she heard the confirmation that this wasn’t the first ugly scene Brianna had witnessed between her parents.

  “I think they’re going to get a divorce like Janelle’s parents did. She had to move away, even though she didn’t want to. I don’t want to move away, either. Kayleigh and I would have to decide who would go with Mama and who would go with Papa.”

  Tears blurred her vision at the quaver in Brianna’s voice.

  “But maybe it’s better if they get a divorce, because I’m afraid Papa will hurt Mama the next time he gets mad.”

  Suddenly, it felt terribly wrong to listen to Brianna’s most private thoughts, even if Claire had done it with good intentions. She put her hand over her mouth as a sob caught at her throat. Stumbling to Ozzie’s stall door, she swung it open and bolted across the barn’s aisle.

  After swiping her shirtsleeve over her eyes, she leaned one shoulder against the wall across from Willow’s stall so there was no chance of overhearing her niece’s words. She was mulling over how she could tactfully convince Holly to tell her children about the divorce without Frank’s presence when she heard Brianna call her name.

  “Did Willow help?” she asked as she walked in the stall.

  Brianna nodded as she stood stroking the mare’s nose. “Her ears mov
e around, so I know she’s really listening.”

  Claire knelt in the straw beside the little girl and the big horse.

  “If you ever feel like talking to a person, I’d be happy to listen. Of course, my ears don’t wiggle, but I’d still hear you.”

  Brianna nodded again, but asked, “Do you have another treat to thank Willow with?”

  So the child wasn’t yet ready to let her aunt in on her heartbreaking secrets.

  Even the mouthwatering scent of Joe’s Drive-In’s hand-cut french fries couldn’t keep Claire from choking up as she remembered Brianna’s overheard confession. Fortunately, Kayleigh was intent on describing every one of the kittens in the litter at the stable while Brianna interjected occasional questions. They didn’t seem to notice that their aunt barely tasted the creamy chocolate milk shake.

  She closed her eyes and rested her head against the car’s window.

  “Do you have a headache?” Brianna asked, leaning forward between the seats.

  “No, sweetie, I’m fine. Just a little tired. I had a busy day at work.”

  “Did you sell any pictures?”

  Claire swiveled around to look at her niece. She was surprised the little girl understood what she did at the gallery. “Two big ones by an artist named Len Boggs.” Which meant a very handsome commission check, which she planned to use to buy a replacement Lauren statue for Holly.

  “Are they pretty?” Kayleigh asked.

  “Very beautiful,” Claire said. “They’re paintings of real places all around West Virginia. The painter lives not too far from here.” She kept debating whether to mention Len Boggs to Henry Thalman. The man had real talent, but maybe it wasn’t good enough for New York. Milo’s scorn for the Castillos still haunted her, and she couldn’t bring herself to risk her reputation with her future boss.

  “Can I see some of them?” Brianna asked.

  “Sure. I’ll drive you by the gallery on the way home so you can see the ones in the window display.” Maybe seeing them through a child’s eyes would help Claire make up her own mind about Boggs’s work. “We’ll talk to your mom about coming over tomorrow to see the ones inside.”

  Kayleigh made a face. “Isn’t it kind of like a library where you have to be quiet and behave yourself?”

  “I’ll arrange a special private showing so you can make all the noise you want.”

  “Okay, I’ll come,” Kayleigh said, her face brightening.

  Claire reflected that it was hard to brood around children. As they finished their delicious but health-destroying meal, Claire flipped on the radio to the Disney Channel, and all three of them sang their way home.

  When they pulled into her sister’s driveway, Kayleigh bolted out of the car, while Brianna slowly unfastened her seat belt.

  “Aunt Claire, thank you for sharing Willow with me.”

  Claire had a few things she’d like to discuss with Willow right now. “Tell me anytime you want to talk to her, and I’ll take you there.”

  They went inside to find Holly sitting at the kitchen table as Kayleigh described the kittens for a new audience. Claire’s eyebrows rose as she noticed that Holly was wearing jeans and a floral-print blouse rather than the usual sweatpants and baggy T-shirt. “You look nice.”

  Holly flushed. “Since the police are checking in on me, I thought I should get dressed.”

  “Good idea,” Claire said. After letting Kayleigh rattle on a little longer, Claire interrupted to mention her promise of a gallery visit the next day. “On Sunday, we’re only open from noon to four, so I’ll take them over at ten for a private tour.”

  “Okay,” Holly said after a beat of hesitation, which worried Claire.

  “Have there been any problems here today?” she asked.

  Holly shook her head, pulling a ring hung with two shiny gold keys out of her pocket and offering it to Claire. “These are your copies of the new keys to the front and back doors. The locksmith talked me into getting deadbolts to be really safe.”

  Claire felt a little glow of warmth because her sister had thought to get her the copies without prompting.

  “I got lots of rest today, thanks to you, so I can put the girls to bed,” Holly said. “We’re rooting for you to win your big foosball match tonight.”

  Claire leaned down to hug her sister, savoring the fact that she could do it without any constraint. “Thanks, Holl, I’ll do my best.”

  “You always do,” Holly said.

  Claire turned those three words around and around in her mind like a beautiful sculpture as she drove back to Healing Springs Stables. Just three little words, and yet she felt like a champion already.

  Her joy in the healing relationship with her sister was tempered by the pain of Brianna’s revelations. She needed to figure out how to approach Holly about that, and a chat with Willow would help her think more clearly.

  It was strange to realize that she and Brianna truly shared a whisper horse.

  Claire didn’t have time to socialize, so she bypassed Sharon’s office and headed straight for Willow’s stall. Stopping outside the tack room, she scooped up a couple of carrot bits from the bowl Sharon kept there.

  “You look mighty dressed up for a visit to a barn.” Tim’s voice came from behind her, making her jump.

  “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she said, turning to find him standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing an olive-green polo shirt, neatly pressed khakis, and loafers whose polished surface was marred only by a thin film of pine bark dust. “I could say the same about your outfit. What happened to your flannel wardrobe?”

  “Those are my work clothes, and it was my afternoon off.” He was smiling at her in an unsettling way.

  Maybe it was his change of style that was making her antsy, but she was strangely intimidated by the new Tim. “If you’re not working, why are you at the barn?”

  “Because you and I have some unfinished business from this morning,” he said, reaching for her wrist and towing her toward an empty stall whose door was standing open.

  “What bus—oh!” Claire gasped as Tim closed the door and pulled her against him, his mouth coming down on hers. He gave her the same thorough kiss he had in the morning, but now he went on to explore the pulse just behind her earlobe and the arc of skin exposed by her scooped neckline. Claire arched backward as he moved aside the ruffled fabric so his lips could skim her collarbone.

  “Oh yes, there!” she hissed when his tongue began to trace the same path.

  He shocked her by yanking the back of her blouse out of her linen trousers and sliding his hand up underneath the fabric to splay against her bare skin. She wove her fingers into his hair and tilted his head up so she could nip at the full lower lip that so tempted her. The heat of his hand branded her back, and she felt her nipples harden.

  “Pick me up,” she said, sliding one knee up the side of his thigh as a cue. He was too tall for her to fit against him the way her body demanded.

  “Good idea.” He slid his hand out from under her blouse so he could cup her behind, lifting her in one fluid motion.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips and moaned his name as she felt his erection between her legs. He took a step forward so she was braced between the warm wall of his body and the wood of the stall. He shifted his grip so his hands were wrapped around her thighs as he pressed against the most sensitive spot on her body.

  “Oh dear God,” she whispered as the pressure and friction sent pure arousal streaking deep inside her.

  A muffled groan tore from Tim, and he went still, his forehead touching the wood beside her ear. “This is more business than I expected to do here.”

  She could feel his heart pounding and knew he was exerting the self-control she couldn’t muster. Then he seemed to snap; his hands skimmed up to her breasts, where his thumbs circled her aching nipples, and his mouth skimmed up to her earlobe again. “Come home with me now,” he rasped.

  Claire’s body was vibrating with nearly e
lectric sensation. A niggling little voice insisted that she couldn’t say yes, but her mind was so fogged with pleasure that she had to think hard about why. “Can’t. Foosball match.”

  His thumbs stilled. She indulged herself in one flexing circle of her hips that made them both gasp before she unlocked her ankles from behind him and let him lower her feet into the straw bedding.

  Once she was safely down, he braced his forearm against the wall and dropped his head onto it. “Give me a minute, and I’ll help you tidy up,” he said.

  She wanted to run her hands over his broad, muscled back displayed so invitingly in front of her. Instead, she forced herself to tuck her blouse back into the waistband of her navy linen trousers.

  “How did you know I’d be here?” she asked, pulling bobby pins out of the intricate bun now hanging halfway down her neck and plaiting it into a simple French braid.

  “Some research and a lucky guess. I called Holly’s house, and she said you’d just left,” he said, pushing away from the wall. “After last night, I figured you might want to consult your whisper horse.”

  She brushed a few stray wisps of straw off her trouser legs.

  “Turn around,” Tim said, “and I’ll do your rear.”

  “That’s what got us in trouble to begin with,” Claire said, slanting him a heavy-lidded glance.

  Tim held up his hands in the gesture of a scrubbed surgeon. “As a doctor, I’m trained to use my hands in a purely professional way.”

  “You’re trained to use your hands on horses and cows,” Claire said. “And you claimed I didn’t look anything like a sow.”

  The teasing light in his eyes dimmed for a split second before he ran his palm down the curve of her hip, finishing with an affectionate pat on her bottom. “I’ll try to think of you as one, if you’d prefer.”

  “No, I’m fine with the way you think of me.” She directed all the heat seething inside her into the look she threw him.

  “Then I get another rain check. This is the second one you owe me.” He drew his finger down the center of her nose to her lips, which he traced with a deliberation that made her close her eyes and whimper. He smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes. Have a good talk with Willow.”