The men took over, lifting Daniel off the horse and laying him back on the ground. Willa stood with her arms wrapped around her waist, her lips pressed between her teeth as Rosa handed Nate a jug of water and a cloth. The older man sponged off the scratched and bloodied face. “Hey, Boss, wake up. We got you back now. Need to ask some questions.”
No one breathed. Daniel didn’t move. Susannah pressed against Willa’s side. “Is he going to be okay, Mom?”
“Sure, he is.” Did she believe it herself? “He’ll wake up in a minute.”
The ambulance arrived, and a new set of attendants pushed Nate and Hobbs out of the way. “Gunshot to the left shoulder,” she heard someone comment. “Massive blood loss.”
“Severe concussion,” one of the other EMTs responded. “Temp one-oh-three. Probably infected.”
If Daniel would only open his eyes…if he could say just a word before they took him away…
But in minutes he’d been lifted into the back of the ambulance. Before she could ask to ride along, the doors were shut. And then Daniel disappeared once again.
“Come with me.” Hobbs put an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll get you to the hospital.”
She glanced at her children, her aunts and Nate. “I’ll call,” she promised.
And then she buckled herself into the sheriff’s van for the endless drive into Laredo.
“YOU, AGAIN?”
Daniel opened his eyes to a blur of gray and white. Gradually, his eyes focused on a white doctor’s coat over a pair of faded surgical scrubs. “I guess so.”
Cool fingers touched his cheek and turned his face away from the pillow. “Remember me? Dr. Dobbins. I saw you last time you showed up in the ER.”
“I remember.” He wasn’t sure what kept him on the bed. His body felt light enough to float away.
“You lost more blood than we usually allow,” the doctor said from somewhere beyond his range of vision. “And we don’t recommend spending thirty-six hours in the desert without food or water.”
“I’m better at giving orders than following them.”
“Like most men. Fortunately, I’m a very good doctor and you’re going to be okay. The bullet nicked a vein and plowed through some muscle, which will take a while to heal. We’ll keep you a few days, make sure that pesky infection you kept yourself amused with is knocked back with some IV antibiotics, and then we’ll send you home, where you will stay off horses and out of the desert for at least a month. Got that?”
“Got it.” The way he felt right now, he wouldn’t have the energy for horses or anything else for at least a year.
The next time he woke, the room light had been dimmed and only blackness showed behind the window blinds. He’d spent many nights awake on a hospital bed, pondering his past, wondering if his future included a home on the range.
After the latest fiasco, he didn’t have to wonder anymore. He’d surely topped any limit there might be to the number of mistakes allowed a beginning rancher. He’d had great advice, good help, and the best of intentions. Yet he’d ended up with dead cattle. Despite his high-tech methods, he’d botched his chance to catch the rustlers—they’d probably made off with most of his herd that night. And how ludicrous was it that he, an Army officer and decorated war veteran, had let himself be ambushed by an amateur sniper and hauled into the desert to die?
He’d set out to prove himself as a man and a rancher. What he’d proved was that he should find a nice, safe desk job somewhere. Take up computer programming, or systems analysis, efficiency management…he’d swallowed a bellyful of training in the military. A bum leg and an overdeveloped hero complex wouldn’t be such a handicap in a padded office cubicle under fluorescent lights.
Just don’t let him loose under the wide Texas skies. Willa had been right from the beginning. He didn’t belong.
Nate showed up the next morning. “You’re looking a sight better than the last time I saw you.” He straddled a chair backwards, resting his arms across the seatback. “We’ll have you back on the job in no time.” He squinted through one eye. “Well, maybe you oughta wait till after Christmas, anyway.”
“I don’t think so.”
Nate cocked an eyebrow in question.
“I’m cashing in, so to speak.” The foreman didn’t move, forcing Daniel to explain. “I’m going to give the land back to Willa. This ranching life…I don’t think it’s what I want, after all.”
“Yeah, right. Tell me another one, why don’t you?”
“I’m not kidding. I’ve been thinking about it for the past month or so. I’ve got some other job options lined up already. I want to stay for the full term of my agreement with…with Willa. But I’ll be gone before Christmas.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nate told Lili, and Lili told Rosa. “He’s leaving the New Moon.”
“No, he’s not.” They were wrapping presents for Willa and the children in their bedroom Thursday night. “Willa will convince him to stay.”
“What makes you think so? She hasn’t said a word about him since that night at the hospital. Once she knew he would recover, she came home and hasn’t seen him since.”
“Do you doubt that she loves him?”
“No.”
“Well, then, she’ll change her mind. She’ll persuade him to marry her and live here on the ranch.”
Lili shook her head. “You’re awfully optimistic.”
“I’m right. You’ll see. Just as I was right about you and Nate.” Watching her sister, she saw the blush begin and bloom brightly in Lili’s cheeks. “Wasn’t I?”
“Y-yes.”
“Has he asked you to marry him?”
“Not in so many words.”
Rosa clucked her tongue. “What did he say?”
Lili gave a mischievous smile. “He said, ‘Lili, dear, I would die a happy man if I could enjoy your cooking every day for the rest of my life.’”
Rosa laughed. “You’re right—not in so many words. I suspect you’ll get the precise words by Christmas.”
“Oh, I hope so,” Lili said. “I do hope so.”
GETTING TO LAREDO WASN’T EASY for a kid of thirteen, especially when you couldn’t ask your mom to drive you, and when you had school from eight until three every day of the week and chores all afternoon.
In his desperation, Robbie finally took the principal into his confidence on Friday. After listening to his explanation, Mrs. Abrams agreed he had a responsibility to complete, and she consented to help him out. She checked him out of school at lunchtime on Friday, drove him all the way to the hospital in Laredo and said she would wait thirty minutes while he talked with Daniel Trent.
To his surprise, Daniel was seated in a chair in his room, instead of lying in the bed. Under his robe, he had on one of those stupid gowns they made you wear. His legs were bare above gray slippers. And he had tubes running into his arm from bags hanging on a metal stand.
His grin was the same, though. “Well, hello. You’re a long way from home.”
“I got a ride from school. I only have thirty minutes.”
“That’s time for a good visit. Have a seat.” He motioned to the chair beside him. “I’m glad you’re here. I haven’t had a chance to say thanks for coming to find me.”
Robbie felt himself blush. “I made you go out there. I had to bring you back.”
“The rustlers were the reason I was out there.”
Here was the hardest part. “But you didn’t get help because you thought it was a false alarm. That’s because I tricked you. I cut the wire, four times. And ran away.”
“I see.” Daniel was looking at him, not in anger or even disappointment. He just seemed…interested. “Did you plan for me to get caught by the rustlers?”
“I—I don’t think so. I mean, I never sat down and thought it out.” He felt stupid for ever coming up with such a dumb trick to begin with. “I just wanted to make you mad.”
“What did you think would happen if I got mad?”
Daniel nodded. “Well, you’ve got your wish. I’ll be leaving Sunday, probably. Monday, at the latest.”
“But you can’t.” Robbie leaned forward in his chair. “Most of the bad stuff that happened was because of me. I was a baby, a brat. I thought you’d ruin everything.”
“You’ve had a hard time, Rob. Losing your dad like that was tough. I don’t blame you for wanting to keep your life the way it was with him.”
“But things change, whether you want them to or not.”
Daniel chuckled. “You’re pretty smart. Some people never learn that particular truth.”
“And I know now that you’d be good to us. To Mom. And you wouldn’t try to push my dad out of the way or make us forget. I don’t hate you.” He looked down at his hands for a second. “I don’t hate my dad, either.”
“I know that. And I appreciate your trust. But—”
“So you really do have to stay.” He reached out to clasp Daniel’s hand with his own. “Mom was happy when she could be with you. Toby and Susannah…Lili and Rosa…they like you. We could be a—a family.”
As he watched, Daniel swallowed hard. “That’s a tempting invitation, Rob. I care about all of you. I really do.” He sighed. “But I don’t think I’ve got what it takes to keep trying, day after day, month after month. Ranch work requires more strength, more energy, than I have to give. I hate failing, but I can’t stay and do more damage than I already have.”
Robbie couldn’t give up. “Look, if it’s Mom, you just have to give her some time. She’ll come around.”
“That’s between your mom and me.” Daniel got slowly to his feet, drawing his hand away from Robbie’s. “Thanks for your confidence, Rob, and your friendship. It means a lot that you changed your mind.” He glanced at the clock. “Your thirty minutes is about gone. You’d better say goodbye.”
Hesitating, staring at his hands, Robbie tried to think of something to say, something to persuade Daniel to give them another chance.
Someone knocked at the door. “Is Robbie Mercado there?” Mrs. Abrams asked.
“I’m here.” Feeling tired and sad, he got to his feet.
“We need to leave, Robbie.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He glanced at Daniel one last time. “She loves you, you know. I knew it from the first time she said your name. I guess that’s why I was so afraid. ’Bye.”
He held up his chin as he left. But he was grateful for the comfort of Mrs. Abrams’s hand on his shoulder as they walked down the hall.
WILLA HADN’T ATTENDED church often since Jamie had left for Iraq and especially not since he’d been killed. The children went with Rosa and Lili, but she usually worked Sunday morning, in the barn, on the bills…there was no shortage of tasks needing her attention.
Like so many others, however, she wouldn’t miss church at Christmas. There would be a mass on Christmas Eve, of course, but she got dressed on Sunday morning, as well, and left with the aunts and the children.
The church in Zapata was beautifully decorated for the holy day, with its own elaborate nacimiento behind the altar. Candles flickered in the draft created by the presence of so many people, while the rich tang of incense hung in the air. Sitting in the pew that Rosa and Lili considered their own, participating in the familiar patterns of the service, Willa absorbed the sights and sounds around her, searching for comfort. Searching for answers.
Daniel had decided to leave. All she had to do was stay home this afternoon, and the Mercado land would remain intact. No New Moon Ranch, no stranger’s cattle grazing the family’s range. Nate had told her Daniel would leave her the cattle to keep or sell as she wished, and Calypso, as well. He would, however, be taking Trouble with him.
She hadn’t visited him in the hospital, because she didn’t know what to say. He’d been coming to get backup when he was shot—that meant he was trying to meet the demands she’d made. If he’d gone after the rustlers alone, he might not have been injured. Or he might have been dead. There was, Hobbs said, no way to tell.
Which pretty much summed up life in general, didn’t it? You couldn’t tell about the outcome of a decision until after you’d made it. She’d married Jamie because she believed they would have a good life, growing old together on the Blue Moon. Look how that had turned out.
Then she’d determined to go on alone, to tend the ranch and her children and never, ever care enough to hurt that much again. And she’d succeeded, more or less, until Daniel Trent had walked…limped…into her life and swept her off her feet. No matter how often and how strongly she’d tried to deny him, and herself, she’d been in love with him from the beginning. Her fury over his plan concerning the rustlers had been in direct proportion to her need and desire and worry for him.
“Mom!” Beside her, Toby gave a jerk of his head. They were supposed to be kneeling at this point in the service.
Willa eased forward onto the kneeling bench he’d set down, braced her arms on the pew in front of her and bowed her head. She hadn’t prayed since Jamie’s death. She wasn’t sure she was praying now. But she tried to open her mind, allowing whatever guidance, blessing or wisdom was available to flow into her.
Could she take the risk of loving Daniel? Could she risk letting him go?
At the end of the Mass, the youngest children performed la pastorella—a re-enactment of the birth of Jesus, the visit of the shepherds to the stable and the journey of the three kings.
Toby leaned over to whisper, “Was I that cute when I played José?”
Willa winked at him. “Much cuter.”
He sat back with a satisfied nod. “I thought so.”
After the service, as they all settled into the car and buckled their seatbelts, Toby piped up again. “Can we eat lunch in town today? Please?”
“I have stew simmering,” Rosa told him. “Lili had planned to make cornbread.”
“But—”
Willa turned to Rosa, in the front passenger seat. “Would you mind if we saved the stew for dinner? I would like to do some shopping before we go back home.”
Her aunt gazed at her for a moment. “If that’s what you need to do, Willa. Of course the stew will wait for dinner.” She smiled. “And there’s plenty of it.”
EVEN WITH NATE’S HELP, the process of packing up Daniel’s few belongings seemed to go slowly. He could blame it on the dog—every time he put clothes in a suitcase, Trouble dragged them out again and ran through the house, trailing clean shirts, socks and underwear after him. The washing machine chose that morning to spew sand into the tub with the water, so he couldn’t wash the towels and sheets Lili and Rosa had provided until after Nate figured out and fixed the problem.
Then, for the first time ever, Trouble decided to investigate the container of food left to thaw on the kitchen counter for lunch. In the process, dog, cabinets, walls and floor took on a thick, tasty coat of tomato sauce.
As Daniel wiped off the last of the red splotches on the counter, he heard the slam of several car doors, and then the high, excited voices of children.
The Mercado kids and aunts, he guessed. Coming to say goodbye. He stood for a second with his eyes squeezed shut, his hands gripping the sill of the sink.
I can do this. I have to.
By the time he reached the front door, he had his grin in place. “Hey, guys,” he started. Then stopped, speechless.
Willa stood alone on his front stoop, holding a big cardboard box. Behind her, Toby and Susannah knelt on the ground, taking strings of lights out of packages. Robbie stood in the truck bed, uncoiling an outdoor extension cord. Beside him in the bed lay an evergreen tree, its branches tightly bound in bright orange netting.
Daniel looked back at Willa. “What’s going on?”
“We thought you would want an Anglo Christmas—the tree, the wreath and lights, all that stuff. But…” She pushed past him into the house. “But we thought we could educ
ate you on our traditions, too. So I brought a small nacimiento—nativity scene. The tree can go in front of the window. And we’ll put the nativity—” She walked to the empty bookshelf near his chair “—here.”
“Willa.” He had to try twice to get his voice to work. “I’m leaving. You know that. I don’t need…want…Christmas here.”
Crouched over the box, she didn’t seem to have heard him. “Jamie’s parents bought this set on a trip to Mexico, and we used to put it in the boys’ room when they were younger.” She held up a figure. “The animals are especially fun. See the expression on the donkey’s face?”
“See the expression on my face?” He reached down, grasped her arm and lifted her to her feet. “What are you trying to say?”
She turned slightly away to place the donkey on the bookshelf, then took a deep breath and faced him again. “Don’t go, Daniel. Please stay here with us. With me.”
He shook his head. “You win, Willa. I’m not good enough. Not cut out for ranching. Juan Angelo came to the hospital on Friday and I signed the papers. You get your land back.”
Her hands went to her hips. “So you’re just going to quit? If you can walk away, then maybe you really don’t have what it takes.”
“You got it.”
She eyed him for a minute. “Or maybe you lied to me when you told me you loved me.”
“No.” He went to stand by the window, watching the kids string lights around the posts of the carport. “I never lied to you.”
“Then how can you leave? When I love you, too?”
Daniel swallowed hard. “You never said that.”
“I was still working it out. And you made me mad.” She joined him at the window and put a hand on his arm. “I was terrified when I knew you were missing. I might have lost you, and I thought that would be the worst thing that could happen.”
“You’ve been through it once, already.”
“Yes, I have. But guess what I realized?”
“I don’t know.”
“There’s something even worse than losing the person you love.”
Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch Page 19