“When you fell off Caesar, I feared you were dead,” he said quietly. “So many terrible things ran through my head that I could scarcely breathe. The idea of losing you was unthinkable.”
His heartfelt words surprised her. But she was still unsure, and Wyatt’s revelation only confused her all the more.
“Thank you for that,” she said quietly. “But I’m still not sure how to feel about the riding incident, or about you, or about ever going back to the ranch…”
After quickly looking up and down the empty hallway, Wyatt decided. He simply couldn’t, wouldn’t lose this woman. Taking Gabby abruptly into his arms, he instinctively pulled her close—so close that his cheek touched hers and she could feel the warmth of his breath. The suddenness of it was shocking, but she didn’t fight it.
“I’m truly sorry, Gabby,” he whispered. “I meant every word I just said, and I need to be forgiven. We men can be slow learners, I know. But I understand about respecting your feelings. It’ll never happen again, I promise. Please…I want you to come back…”
As she became lost in his embrace, for a few precious moments she put her arms around him. When he released her, her eyes remained closed, as if she was lost in some personal reverie from which she had no wish to awaken. Soon her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at his face.
“So am I forgiven, or not?” he asked.
“Did you really mean what you just said?” Gabby asked.
Wyatt smiled a little. “Cross my heart,” he replied.
She nodded quickly several times. “Then yes…,” she answered quietly.
“Good,” Wyatt said. “I’ll look forward to seeing you out at the ranch later today, along with Celia and Trevor.”
After giving her a long, commanding look, he headed down the hall.
Still overcome by what had just happened, Gabby watched him go until he turned the corner. Then she leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath.
“Oh, my…,” she said quietly.
THIRTY
FROM HER PLACE behind the ring wall, Gabby anxiously watched Trevor. Under Mercy’s watchful gaze, he and the five other teens chosen to learn barrel racing were sitting on their mounts in the indoor ring, awaiting her orders.
Two more weeks had passed. Gabby’s wrist had healed and the cast had come off, meaning that she no longer needed Celia’s chauffer services. She had also fully forgiven Wyatt, despite his rather embarrassing way of asking. Although neither of them had mentioned it since, Gabby’s memories of it remained as sharp as if it had happened only moments ago. She smiled knowingly.
Unorthodox, yes, she thought. But I have to admit that it worked.
Because Gabby feared horses, she had at first harbored misgivings about letting Trevor learn to ride. And falling from Caesar had certainly done nothing to help her overcome her dread, either for herself or for her son. Even so, the program was helping Trevor change for the better, and she was immensely thankful. But during the last week or so, another worry had surfaced.
What will happen when the New Beginnings program ends? she wondered. Will he revert to the sullen, introverted young man he once was, or will the changes in him be permanent?
During her last meeting with Dr. James, Gabby had asked that very question. Dr. James’s answer had been honest, but far from reassuring. Sometimes the teens’ improvements remain, she said; sometimes they do not. The only course of action was to wait and see.
Wait and see, Gabby thought. Then her thoughts turned to Wyatt, and she sighed.
That seems to be the case with so many things in my life…
Gabby looked down along the observation path. Although she had always avoided watching the barrel racing, she’d come because today Wyatt had made a special point of asking her. He stood about twenty feet away, chatting with some of the other parents. His black Stetson was pushed back onto the crown of his head. The sleeves of his wrinkled, white work shirt were rolled up to his elbows; his expressive hands rested casually on top of the wall. When Wyatt smiled, Gabby watched the crow’s-feet deepen in his tanned face and a pang went through her heart.
If wishes were horses, she thought, I could stay here with him forever.
As she returned her gaze toward the teens, she saw that they had begun trotting their horses around the outer edge of the ring. They were warming up, she guessed correctly. She became so engrossed in watching her son that she didn’t notice Wyatt approaching.
“A penny for your thoughts,” he said.
Gabby turned to him and smiled. “Private stuff,” she said simply.
“Fair enough,” Wyatt answered.
They stood in silence for a time, watching the teens ride. Even when Wyatt didn’t speak, Gabby felt his presence strongly. It was almost like she could hear his heartbeat and sense his masculine energy. If only I could read his thoughts, too, she wished.
“Trevor is getting better, isn’t he?” she finally asked.
Wyatt again leaned his forearms on the ring wall. “Yes,” he answered. “He’s had his share of difficulties, but he’s improved a lot.”
Suddenly Gabby’s worries about Trevor resurfaced, reminding her of the favor she wanted to ask of Wyatt. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, she turned and looked into his damnably blue eyes.
“There’s something I want to ask of you,” she said. “I know how much you’ve already done for me and Trevor, but it would mean a lot.”
Wyatt smiled. “What is it?” he asked.
“After the program ends, could I bring Trevor out to the ranch once in a while?” she asked. “I’m worried that the changes I see in him might disappear after he leaves here. If he could ride one of the horses occasionally, it might mean all the difference. I’d be happy to pay you, and—”
“Pay me?” Wyatt interrupted. “Your money’s no good here, Gabby. Of course you and Trevor can visit, and as often as you want. It will be nice to see you again.”
Gabby didn’t know what to say. Like so much about Wyatt, his answer had been cryptic. Although he had agreed, she had been hoping to hear more regarding how he felt about her. But still it hadn’t come. As she turned to again look at the teens, Wyatt’s words echoed in her mind. “It will be nice to see you again…” he had said. And that was all.
She had gotten her answer, but it felt unsatisfying. Then she looked at his right hand and again saw his wedding ring. It seemed that the simple gold band was an insurmountable barrier for each of them. Gabby did her best to smile.
“Thank you, Wyatt,” she said. “I really appreciate it. Trevor will be thrilled.”
Just then Mercy barked out another order to the riding group. Soon the teens and their horses had formed a line along the far side of the ring. Mercy dismounted and started carefully situating the three blue barrels on the ring floor. Despite Wyatt’s apparent confidence, Gabby’s all too familiar sense of worry again crept up her spine.
“Will he be okay?” she asked Wyatt.
Without taking his eyes from the rink, Wyatt nodded. “If not, I wouldn’t allow it. And I’m particularly glad that you’re staying this time.”
“Why?” she asked.
Wyatt smiled again. “Oh, I have my reasons,” he said.
After making sure that the barrels were placed properly, Mercy looked at Wyatt and he nodded back. She then singled out Trevor and spoke to him. It seemed that at Wyatt’s suggestion, Trevor was to go first. Trevor unexpectedly looked at his mother and tipped his hat toward her, causing Gabby to realize how much like a grown man he suddenly seemed.
Trevor sat tall on Gypsy, the bay mare that had been assigned to him early in the program. He looked totally at home in the very boots and Stetson that he once swore he would never wear. Gabby had come to understand that the Flying B was a world away from the glitz and glamour of Boca Raton. She also knew that unlike most of the other teens, Trevor fit in this other world completely and without reservation. He sometimes seemed as much at home here as Ram and Wyatt. On a signal f
rom Mercy, Trevor trotted Gypsy out the far exit.
After taking a deep breath, Trevor slapped the reins hard against Gypsy’s rear quarters. Spurring her into a frantic gallop, he steered her back into the ring. Dirt flying crazily from her hooves, Gypsy thundered hard toward the first barrel. As Gabby watched her only child charge headlong across the ring floor, she held her breath.
To Gabby’s amazement, Trevor was in total control of his horse. He stood confidently in his stirrups, letting Gypsy do all the work. His riding was so smooth and accomplished that his upper body hardly shifted on the thundering mare. While Gypsy’s muscles moved smoothly beneath her shiny coat, Gabby caught an occasional microflash of the mare’s shiny horseshoes, furiously throwing up dirt.
Trevor and Gypsy rounded the first barrel well, and then charged headlong toward the second one. Gabby watched in awe as they also navigated that barrel with apparent ease. Trevor again slapped his reins against Gypsy’s haunches, and they headed pell-mell toward the last one.
Digging in her heels, Gypsy seemed to literally spin on her hooves as Trevor gripped his saddle pommel and guided her through the pocket, his inside leg hard against her ribs to provide a strong focal point for her during the last turn. Then they thundered across the floor and back out the exit again.
Wyatt looked at Gabby and smiled. “Told you so,” he said quietly.
Gabby was speechless. She’d had no idea that her son could ride like that! From this day forward, she would never see Trevor in the same light as before. As Trevor and Gypsy reentered the arena, the parents clapped and cheered. Trevor rode Gypsy up to where Wyatt and Gabby stood waiting.
“That was wonderful!” Gabby exclaimed. “I had no idea that you were so good!”
Trevor beamed at her, and he again tipped his hat the way Ram had taught him. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said simply.
“Trevor and Gypsy have one more surprise for you,” Wyatt said. Without waiting for a reply from Gabby, Wyatt looked at Trevor and nodded.
Trevor produced a leather riding crop from beneath his saddle. As he spoke to Gypsy, he lightly tapped the crop against her right shoulder. Gypsy then lifted her right foreleg and bent it beneath her shoulder, causing her to lower on one side. As her other foreleg stood firm, she bowed her head before Wyatt and Gabby, her dark mane falling forward.
Gabby was so overwhelmed that again no words would come. But it didn’t matter, because no sooner had she reclaimed her voice than Trevor wheeled Gypsy around and trotted her back to the line of waiting teens.
“My God…,” Gabby whispered.
Then she realized something, and she looked at Wyatt. “You helped Trevor cook up that last bit for me, didn’t you?” she asked.
Wyatt smiled. “Guilty as charged, yet again,” he admitted.
Gabby simply didn’t know what to say. The gesture had been so touching that she would never forget it. “Thank you, Wyatt,” she said softly. “And thank you for taking such an interest in my son.”
Wyatt’s gaze turned thoughtful. “You’re welcome. Trevor is an easy person to like. And if I may be so bold, so is his mother.”
They stood there quietly for a time, looking into each other’s eyes in much the same way they had that first evening of New Beginnings. Then they again turned and gazed across the arena. Mercy was sending the next teen out to begin her barrel ride.
Wyatt cleared his throat and looked down at his boots. “It’s Monday,” he said. “Will you and Trevor be staying for dinner?”
Gabby nodded. “I’d like that. Besides, Trevor will brag about this all night! He might as well have an audience!”
“Good,” Wyatt answered. “Anyway, I have to get back. Will you walk with me?”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the other parents?” Gabby asked.
As Wyatt grinned, the corners of his eyes wrinkled up again. “Why?” he asked. “By now they can find their own way back to the big house, don’t you think?”
While Gabby and Wyatt sauntered out of the ring, Gabby smiled.
THIRTY-ONE
AND THEN THERE was the time that Wyatt shot one of the ranch trucks!” Aunt Lou exclaimed. “So help me God, he really did! Can you imagine such a thing? He couldn’t have been more than sixteen! I’ll never forget it as long as I live!”
Gabby’s jaw dropped. During their visits to the Flying B, she and Trevor had heard several stories from Wyatt’s youth. Once he was caught as naked as a jaybird in the hayloft with some town girl. Then there was the day that he broke his right leg trying to barrel race one of the farm’s fastest studs without proper instruction. But of all the tales about Wyatt, this was surely the most outrageous. Gabby couldn’t help but look at him and laugh.
“You shot a truck?” she asked.
When Wyatt nodded, Gabby turned to look at Trevor. Trevor seemed as shocked as his mother.
“My God!” Gabby said to Wyatt. “Why on earth would you shoot a truck?”
From the other side of the table, Ram chuckled. “Maybe he thought it was an alligator. He’s real good at shooting them. He’s shot lots of gators, but he’s only blasted the one truck that I know of. Nowadays whenever he visits the ranch garage, the Jeeps all cringe in terror.”
While everyone laughed, Wyatt sighed and shook his head. “It isn’t what you think,” he said to Gabby. “At least…not for the most part.”
Eager to exploit this occasion, Gabby gave Wyatt a sly look. “So tell me about it,” she said. “This I have to hear!”
“Ram and I were out on a hunting trip, searching for gators,” Wyatt said. “I was about sixteen, and we were using one of the ranch pickups. We parked it near the lake then sat in the pickup bed in lawn chairs, waiting like that for hours. A couple of gators finally showed themselves, and I shot one of them. It was the first time I had ever been hunting, and I was as nervous as hell. Well, right after I shot the gator I lowered my gun. In my excitement I accidentally squeezed off another round, right through the bed of the truck and into the ground! It just missed the gas tank! If it had hit it, Ram and I wouldn’t be sitting here today. Come to think of it, that might have been the same day that Ram’s hair turned white!”
Gabby shot Ram a skeptical look. “Are you pulling my leg?” she demanded.
Ram smiled broadly. “Appealing as that might be, young lady, the answer is no. It’s all true. I even kept that piece of the truck bed to prove it. There’s a nice, clean, thirty-thirty hole through it, and it hangs on my office wall. I’d be happy to show it to you sometime.”
Laughing uncontrollably again, Gabby covered her face with her hands. Wyatt just shook his head.
“I told Wyatt that I didn’t mind him shooting the truck,” Ram added casually, as he fiddled with his coffee spoon. “But what I could never figure out was how on earth he was planning to skin it!”
Gabby was soon laughing so hard that tears ran down her cheeks. She tried to talk, but couldn’t. The best she could do was to shake her head and wave her hands, silently begging Ram to stop.
The six of them were finishing their pork chop dinners and Aunt Lou had again begun telling stories about Wyatt. Gabby knew how much Lou loved Wyatt, but that didn’t keep her from brazenly relating some of the more embarrassing episodes from his past. Sometimes Gabby felt that the stories suited him. Other times they seemed quite out of character for the rather quiet, reserved man she secretly loved. That was partly because of how he had been tempered by the loss of his wife and son, she realized.
It would have been wonderful to have known him then, she thought, when his heart was light and free. Then Wyatt smiled at her again as only he did, and she realized that knowing him in the here and now was all that truly mattered.
Gabby knew that she and Trevor should be going, but she was enjoying herself. Besides, if they missed dessert Trevor would complain about it all the way home. Today had been special. She had never seen Trevor ride like that, and she wanted to stay a bit longer and enjoy the moment. As Aunt Lou left the dining room to fe
tch dessert, Gabby sat back in her chair and looked around.
Night had fallen in earnest. Butch and Sundance—awake for once—lay at Ram’s feet. As the old grandfather clock struck nine times, Gabby wished she could stop that clock and with it time itself, so that she might stay here forever. Too few of these precious nights remained, and she was determined to make the most of them.
Soon the kitchen doors opened and Aunt Lou returned carrying a gorgeous-looking apple pie. Trevor grinned widely. No matter how much dinner he ate, he always had room for Lou’s desserts. Lou placed the pie on the table.
“It looks wonderful, Lou,” Gabby said. “How I wish I could bake an apple pie like that!”
“Pish-tosh!” Lou said. “There’s nothin’ to baking a good pie, child. First off you gotta start with fresh apples, then—”
Everyone suddenly heard boot heels running down the hallway. Mercy came barreling into the dining room. She was out of breath, and there was an excited look on her face.
“Sadie’s water just broke!” she shouted. “Her foal is coming!”
Without a word, Ram, Wyatt, Big John, and Mercy hurried toward the open French doors. As the others started running across the lawn, Wyatt stopped and stared back at Gabby and Trevor.
“Aren’t you coming?” he exclaimed.
Trevor jumped to his feet. “You’re goddamned right I am!” he shouted.
“Trevor Powers!” she shouted. “That will be quite enough of that language!”
When Trevor reached Wyatt, they both turned and stared at Gabby with equal incredulity. God, Gabby thought. They’re like two peas in a pod. She suddenly realized that this wasn’t the time for chastising Trevor, and she hurriedly joined them.
Wyatt shot a quick look at Aunt Lou. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked.
As if nothing special was happening, Lou calmly poured another cup of coffee.
If Wishes Were Horses Page 21