“Mineral baths are all about comfort,” Alexa said, glad to have dealt with that issue. “Then it’s settled. I’ll haul out my machine as soon as we return from the store.”
“I REALLY LOVE THIS DRIVE through the park,” Alexa said after they had been on the road about ten minutes. Before they’d set out, she had rolled down both windows in her pickup. Compadre, who usually had the passenger seat to himself, sat in the middle with his feet propped on Rafe’s legs and his head poking out into the fresh air.
“It’s a lot cooler here than at your ranch,” Rafe noted. “Sierra said your place sits virtually by itself in a valley. I know it’s peaceful. One of the worst things about being in the military is that you never have a minute alone. You’re always with people. What about you, Alexa? I take it you don’t mind not having neighbors?”She drove with one arm propped on the window ledge, a casual hand on the steering wheel. “I grew up an only child,” she said. “My dad was an oil man. A workaholic. He could retire, but he’s branched out into wind and solar exploration. The folks still own the ranch, but they have a condo in Houston. When I was a sprout there were no close neighbors. Dad owned racehorses then. His vet lived on-site, as well as a trainer. I spent a lot of time tagging after them. It’s where I developed an interest in animals and in medicine.”
“Yet you didn’t become a vet.”
“Funny how stuff happens,” Alexa said. She didn’t really want to get into explaining the whole sordid tale about how she’d landed here. So, she launched into a new topic. “I don’t know that I can help you regain your sight, Rafe. I want to be clear. Sierra is a bit of a steamroller, as I’m sure you know. She was so determined and so positive you’ll respond to alternative healing methods that she convinced me to try.”
“And now you doubt you can help me?”
Alexa vacillated, not wanting to take away any hope Rafe might cling to. Nor did she want to build false expectations.
“You’re not saying anything,” he murmured. “I take it the answer is no.”
“In medicine you never say never, Rafe. There are always surprise outcomes. Instances that defy the odds.”
“Miracles?” Rafe leaned his head back against the headrest and languidly stroked Compadre’s spotted curls. The dog drew in his head from the window and licked Rafe’s chin.
“Unexplained cures happen, yes, in rare cases. I’ve pored over your chart endlessly. No doctor who examined you gave clear-cut reasons for you not being able to see. There’s no shrapnel in your brain. No obvious trauma to the eyes themselves or to the ocular nerves.”
“The neurologist who examined me when I first came stateside thought maybe I’d been thrown against something when the first RPG exploded in our camp and that shook up or rattled my brain. I don’t know. Much of that attack is a blur. What I do know came from doctors who treated other guys wounded that day.” Rafe shifted in his seat and turned his head.
That caused Alexa to skip to another subject, even though she would have loved to ask if he had gained any specific memories from his flashbacks. She was afraid those memories might be too painful. “We’ve arrived, Rafe. We’re at the thriving metropolis of Study Butte. I was close when I said three hundred residents. The sign as you enter town has been scratched out a few times, but now reads two hundred seventy-one.”
Rafe wrinkled his brow. “I’m trying to remember what they mined here. Not silver.”
“Cinnabar,” Alexa supplied, pulling to a stop in front of an adobe building that still had an ancient hitching post out front. “The store owner told me most outsiders who come here these days are rock hounds. They comb the mine tailings for cinnabar or other colorful pieces that can be made into jewelry. Do you want to come in the store or wait in the pickup? Compadre has to stay.”
The collie hung his head at those words, but burrowed against Rafe.
“Did you bring Dog’s leash?” Rafe felt around in his fur for a collar. “I could get out and stretch my legs with him. Is there a sidewalk, or are we in danger of being run over by a car?”
Alexa had gotten out of the cab and was digging under the seat. “I always carry a spare leash. Here.” She snapped it on the dog and tucked the leather wrist loop into Rafe’s hand. “There’s no sidewalk, but if two vehicles a day drive down this street it’s probably a traffic jam. Just stick close to the side and you should be fine.”
Rafe laughed as he took a firmer grip on the leash and opened his door.
Alexa’s stomach gave a funny little jiggle. The man’s laughter turned her inside out. And the change it made to his features squeezed her heart. He smiled so rarely that a laugh was a treasure. If she never helped him in any other way, her mission from now on was to make him laugh more often.
Alexa entered the small store and passed the time of day with the owner as she filled her basket with the items she’d come for. She also bought yams that looked fresh. “They’re grown locally,” the owner said. And when she rang up the canned milk and baby food, the woman asked if Alexa had gotten married.
“Oh, no. I acquired a pair of fox babies who lost their mother.”
The jovial Hispanic woman winked. “I noticed the handsome hombre you’re with today.”
Alexa knew she turned red. “He’s just a friend,” she said, pocketing her change. On leaving the store, she realized she’d specifically not identified Rafe as her patient to Paul or this woman. Truth was, he felt more like a friend. How wise was that? she mused, fumbling the keys as she called to Rafe. She climbed in the vehicle and shook off the negative thoughts. The day was too lovely to spoil with old worries.
Back at the ranch, Alexa hummed while she unpacked her purchases. “Okay, go get the pants you want cut off,” she told Rafe. “The sewing machine is in my office. It’ll only take a minute to set it up and thread it with khaki thread.”
“Do they need hemming? Can’t we whack them off and leave them ragged?”
“Threads might unravel and clog the spring. It’s better environmentally to keep the water as pure as possible. So no sunscreen or other skin products, please.”
Rafe shrugged. “These days I use the least amount of stuff like that as I can. In Iraq, even dark as my skin is, I slathered on sunblock. In the hospital, nurses gave me vitamin E cream to rub on my wounds so they wouldn’t scar. I ran out, so I should prepare you for how bad they must look. One bullet tore out a lot of muscle and skin.”
“I saw them already, if you recall. They weren’t all that shocking, Rafe. Anyway, for me, the human body is like a canvas is to an artist,” she quipped.
Rafe looked as if he wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but all he said was, “I’ll go find those pants.”
Alexa cut the pants off above the cargo pockets. She hemmed them and passed them back to Rafe. “Go change. I’ll grab towels and meet you outside. Compadre has to stay here. My grandfather built an enclosed gazebo around the spring to keep wild animals out and it gets a bit like a steam bath inside. The minerals help cleanse the pores. Good for people, not so good for dogs.”
“Lead on,” Rafe said when he joined her on the porch a few minutes later.
They hiked the short distance to the isolated spring in silence. As they walked, Alexa cast sidelong glances at Rafe, who in spite of his scars was plenty ripped.
“How hot is the water?” he asked as they entered the enclosure. He must have been able to feel the steam and hear the bubbling water.
“The spring first comes out of the ground at around a hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit. It’s artesian fed. This pool my grandfather carved out is gravity fed and naturally cooled to approximately ninety-eight.”
She stepped in and reached for Rafe’s hand.
“Oh, there’s a seat.” He sighed as he sank slowly down until the water came up to his pecs. “It must be up to your neck,” he said, turning to Alexa.
“My shoulders. I’m not much shorter than you, Rafe.”
“And you look like Cameron Diaz,” he murmured with a s
mile.
“Or Gwyneth Paltrow,” she teased. “What if I look like Rosie the Riveter?”
“I probably wouldn’t care. To me you’re the woman who jump-started my life, first by letting me help you train horses and then taking me riding. And now you’re allowing me to share this slice of heaven.” He leaned back and closed his eyes.
“I told you it was nice, ye of little faith. After a soak we’ll go back to my office and I’ll give you a therapeutic deep-tissue back massage. If you like it, one day soon I’ll set you up with an herb body wrap.”
“Don’t be getting too fancy,” he warned.
RAFE DIDN’T OBJECT WHEN Alexa dribbled warm scented oil over his back. And he practically purred like a kitten when she kneaded his shoulders.
“I thought you’d make me smell all flowery,” he grumbled. “What is that scent?” Rafe hoped if he kept talking, he could ignore the sensations of Alexa’s fingers working magic on his back. His mind envisioned her touching him all over and he could barely lie still.“This oil is a blend of bergamot and patchouli. Both potent manly scents.”
Great, Rafe thought. If he felt any more potently masculine, they’d both be in trouble.
“No kidding,” was all he said. But despite his heightened awareness of Alexa’s touch, Rafe was almost asleep by the time she finished and told him to sit up. He did and shrugged both shoulders. “I suppose now that you’ve got me all rag-doll relaxed, you’ll talk me into acupuncture.”
Alexa turned aside to store her oils. “Rafe, I want you to progress at your own pace. You tell me when you’re ready.”
Rafe already missed the touch of her soothing hands, but a man knew when he’d had enough.
SIERRA DROPPED BY MONDAY to pick up Rafe’s laundry, sticking to her excuse to check up on him. Her brother was giving Esperanza a workout and Alexa watched their exchange from the barn.
“Rafe, look at you,” Sierra cried, obviously delighted. “Does this mean your sight’s coming back?”“Not so far,” he told her. “What I’m doing with the mare comes totally from memory.”
“There’s no progress?” She sounded disappointed. “I pray every day. Oh, by the way, Rafe, earlier this week a counselor from the VA called to speak with you. Ms. Holmes. I explained you’re seeing Dr. Robinson, our local healer. She didn’t sound pleased. Do you think I made a mistake bringing you here? I don’t want to get you in trouble with the VA, Rafe.”
“You did right, Sierra. I never expected to, but I’m feeling better each day.”
“If you’re sure….” His sister’s uncertainty hung between them even as she set down his bundle of dirty clothes and hugged him goodbye.
Alexa walked out of the barn and waved goodbye, all the while wondering if Sierra’s doubts were valid. And yet after their visit to the hot springs and the massage therapy that followed, she could sense the protective layers peeling away from Rafe and found he was engaging more in the world around him.
Still, she worried she was growing too attached. Maybe Rafe hadn’t come to her expecting a cure, but she was pretty certain he believed it possible now. He pressed her for success stories involving alternative treatments, and he started to sound hopeful that they would restore his sight.
But what if she made him worse? That worry caused Alexa sleepless nights.
Thursday, after supper, seemingly out of the blue, Rafe said, “I’m ready to take the next step with those needles, Alexa.”
“You mean acupuncture?” Her heart skipped. If the oldest remedy in her bag of tricks didn’t help Rafe, there would be no reason for him to remain at her ranch. She’d grown used to having him around and the thought of saying goodbye hurt. Why, oh why had she agreed to treat him?
She told Rafe she wasn’t sure he was ready yet but knew she couldn’t put him off forever.
CHAPTER FIVE
FRIDAY MORNING AFTER breakfast Rafe told Alexa he was determined to try acupuncture. He said he had more energy than at any time since his injury. He felt healthier. It was time to find out if his eyes could be stimulated to see again.
Alexa felt a wave of panic as she loaded the dishwasher. Luckily Rafe didn’t seem to detect her tension.“You’ve answered a million of my questions,” he went on, his enthusiasm evident. “I understand it’s an art of healing discovered twenty-five hundred years ago by the Chinese. I get that there’s no modern medical rationale, and that a lot of doctors say it’s no better than a placebo. But I’m ready to give it a whirl. I want to start today.”
“To…day?” Alexa’s voice cracked. “Why the rush?” She straightened.
“During yesterday’s hot-rock massage you said my yin and yang are out of whack. If you believe what you said about Qi being the vital flow of a person’s energy, then why are you reluctant to try to unblock mine?”
Lordy, the man had been paying attention.
Alexa reached for his hand. “Rafe, I c-care about you,” she stammered. “I swear I only want what’s best for you. But…in all of my books on acupuncture I’ve found no proven treatment to reverse blindness.”
Rafe turned his hand over and brought hers to his mouth. The searing heat from his lips sent fiery shocks up her arm. “I know you care, Alexa. That comes through in everything you’ve done for me, even when I was a real pain in the ass those first few days. I never thought I’d ever care about anything again, but you brought about a change.”
He ran his thumb over her fingers and the heat in Alexa grew.
“The truth is,” Rafe said simply, “I’m no longer content to imagine what you look like. I want to see you, Alexa.”
Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. By sheer will she forced herself to calm down. “Rafe…I’m flattered.” She snatched back her hand. She wanted to do the right thing here—to set the right tone. “I realize that because this is my home and not a regular clinic, you might view our therapy as less professional than the treatment you’d get with the VA.”
“Bull pucky,” Rafe broke in. “I’ve made more progress here than all those months with the military.”
He was so close to her, Alexa could feel his heat. She could barely find the words to speak. “You’re, ah, certainly more…alert.”
He reached for her and slid his hands up and down her upper arms. “Then explain your problem.”
She turned her head away from his handsome face in order to pull her thoughts together. “Holistic medicine is as serious as traditional medicine. As my patient, Rafe, you need to be fully committed—you need to totally want a cure for yourself.”
He sobered. “I couldn’t be any more committed, Alexa.”
His words blew away the last of her arguments. “All right,” she managed to say as she wedged a bigger space between them. “I’ll set up for your first treatment right after I feed the animals.”
The minute Rafe dropped his hands, Alexa grabbed her gloves and streaked out the back door. Not until she stepped inside the cool wild-animal barn did she stop cursing her inability to resist Rafe.
But, true to her word, once she’d finished her chores and had washed up, she put a new cover on the massage table in her office.
“Take off your shirt and lie face up,” she told Rafe when she’d set up everything she needed. At least she’d regained her clinical objectivity.
He stripped off his blue shirt and stretched out on his back as she’d directed.
The sight of him shirtless caused a now familiar tightness in Alexa’s belly. As she’d done every day since they’d first started massage, she did her best to ignore the feeling. “I’ll work mainly on meridians around your head and shoulders today with sterile, disposable needles. Each is no thicker than a hair.” She pulled on plastic gloves and swabbed the areas with alcohol.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he murmured.
Alexa had torn open a pack of needles. “We can stop right here.”
“No. Go on. You said there are rarely complications.” There was only a hint of curiosity in the statemen
t but no reservation.
“True. You may feel a little prick, but it shouldn’t hurt.” She’d done the procedure scores of times, but still, this was Rafe. Alexa held her breath as she inserted the first needle at the midpoint between his eyes. He didn’t bat a lash. Slowly, ever so slowly, she continued around his hairline and behind his ears.
He was fully relaxed by the time she reached the trapezius muscles that ran from his neck to his shoulder. Alexa went back and spun the strategic needles gently. Then she began removing them. The whole process took twenty minutes.
“Your first session is over,” she said, taking off her gloves and tossing them and the needles in a special waste receptacle. “It’s not uncommon to be dizzy, so sit up slowly.”
“That’s it?” Rafe sat up, moved his head side to side and blinked several times.
“How do you feel?”
“I feel nothing. A while ago I experienced a brief, deep ache at the back of my head.” He held out his hands and frowned. “Everything’s still black.”
“Success isn’t instantaneous, Rafe. You’ll need more sessions—once or twice a week.”
“Twice a week,” he said, climbing off the table. “I want the fast track.”
She handed him his shirt. “We’ll try another session Tuesday.”
Plainly restless and frustrated, Rafe retreated to his room.
In a way, Alexa was relieved. But she couldn’t help feeling another dip in her confidence as an effective healer.
Over the weekend it was obvious Rafe was disappointed. Except for meals and the hours he spent with Esperanza, he kept to his room.
She’d tried to make him be realistic in his expectations, Alexa thought, but maybe he was still putting too much store in the procedure. And what if all the teachers who’d called her gifted had been dead wrong?
TUESDAY, RAFE TRACKED Alexa down in the wild-animal barn when she didn’t show up at her office for his second treatment. The dog, who didn’t like this barn, nervously tried to nudge him outside again. “Alexa, did you forget it’s Tuesday?”
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