Her Hometown Hero

by Margaret Daley

  Reaching the doorway of the barn, he looked over to the cabin’s porch. He hadn’t seen her in years and yet physically she hadn’t changed. Her reddish brown hair was still long and pulled back in a ponytail, her favorite way to wear it unless she was dancing, then it was in a bun. He loved it when she let it down loose, a mass of curls about her face and shoulders. The memory of running his fingers through the thick strands made him clench his hand. He shoved the memory away.

  But another image flooded him. Kit the last time he saw her, with excitement on her face from the news she’d received about being accepted into a New York ballet company. Her large, expressive blue eyes, fringed in long dark lashes, lit with a look he’d wished had been for him. That was when he knew even if he’d transferred to New York for college, it wouldn’t work.

  “How’s Cinnamon?” a gruff voice asked behind Nate.

  He tore his gaze away from the cabin and swung around to face Bud, the ranch’s foreman. “She should recover fine. I see Kit arrived.”

  “Yeah, Howard and Beth have been working for days on the cabin to get it ready.” Bud’s sharp regard studied Nate.

  Bud had come upon Nate not long after he and Kit had parted all those years ago at Christmas. Nate had ridden back to this barn while Kit had stayed up on the rise that overlooked the ranch. The older man had taken one look at Nate’s face and immediately asked if everything was all right.

  Nate hadn’t said anything to Bud about breaking up with Kit that day, but later Bud had told him any time Nate wanted to talk, he was a good listener.

  “Do you think she’ll stay long?” Nate finally asked the question nagging at him. He spent time at the Soaring S Ranch, taking care of the animals and renewing his friendship with Howard and Beth. He enjoyed his visits, but the thought of crossing paths repeatedly with his ex-girlfriend made him uncomfortable.

  “Don’t rightly know. That, you’ll have to ask Kit.”

  “Probably not. She never stays away from the dance world for long. Can’t, if she wants to stay on top.” For a moment Nate remembered how football had been for him in high school and college, at times taking over his life. “It’s like a football player training for the Super Bowl. It’s a nonstop process if you want to succeed, and if there’s anything I know about Kit, it’s that she likes to succeed and do her best.” Like him, except football hadn’t been his dream but his dad’s as a means to pay for college.

  Bud’s craggy features split in a wide grin, the grooves on his tanned face deepening. “Yeah, that’s my gal.”

  “Then why is she here? The spring season hasn’t ended for her ballet company. Why come all the way to the ranch for a short recovery?”

  Bud’s bushy eyebrows hiked up. “You don’t know?”

  Nate shook his head.

  “The recovery isn’t as short as all that. She was injured four months ago.”

  Four months and she still hadn’t recovered? Then the injury was more involved than Beth had led him to believe. For a few seconds he wondered if Kit might be back for good. Hope flared for an instant, only to be iced over with dashed dreams. She’d been injured before and went back to dancing—every time.

  Nate released a long breath. “I’d better make sure Cinnamon is still all right.”

  “Yeah, I totally agree. I’m sure Kit will want to ride Cinnamon as soon as possible. She always does when she comes home to visit.” Bud bent over and lifted a bale of hay, then sauntered toward the last stall.

  Nate threw a glance over his shoulder toward the cabin. Would he see her again tonight? And why do I care? She’s made it clear that all we could ever be is friends because her life is dance.

  * * *

  When Kathleen stepped out onto the porch, she took a deep breath, the scent of mowed grass and roses from the multitude of bushes comforted her. She’d forgotten how much she missed this place, especially the horses. She’d missed Cinnamon. Hopefully the mare wasn’t dangerously ill. Although her brother didn’t seem to think it was anything serious, she needed to hear the diagnosis from Dr. Harris.

  Noticing the red truck still parked near the paddock, Kathleen made her way toward the barn. When she entered the large black structure, where she’d spent many hours as a child, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. Unless Howard moved Cinnamon, the mare usually stayed in the second-to-last stall on the right when she wasn’t in the pasture. Kathleen headed toward the stall, limping slightly, her leg throbbing. The day’s travel had been hard on her injury. She’d use that as a reason to cut the evening short.

  A large man, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve, light blue shirt backed out of the stall, grasping a brown bag. Beneath a tan cowboy hat, dark, almost black, hair curled at the top of his collar. With broad shoulders and slim waist and hips, the man wasn’t Dr. Harris. She halted. Something was familiar about the guy with his back to her.

  Then he turned toward her.

  Nate Sterling. Her high school sweetheart—until he went away to college and she left to pursue a career as a ballerina.

  She swallowed her gasp as his soft, gray gaze settled on her. The corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile lighting his features. For a few seconds she was whisked back to eight years ago when she’d said goodbye to him. He was a year older than her and had been a sophomore at Auburn in Alabama, where he was attending on a football scholarship.

  The long distance hurt their budding romance. The summer after she’d graduated from high school, she’d left Cimarron City for San Francisco to be part of a ballet company, and they’d drifted further apart over the months. When she was offered a position in a corps de ballet for a New York company, she’d told him it wasn’t working and they needed to cut their ties all together. Worrying about their relationship drew her focus away from her dancing. New York was her big chance. She needed to concentrate on her career while she was young, not on a man over halfway across the country.

  “Hi, Kit. I heard you were coming home.”

  Her throat closed, the sound of his deep husky voice shivering down her spine. In the years they had been apart, it had grown huskier and deeper. Nate was also taller than he’d been by at least a couple of inches. He must be almost six and a half feet. His features—an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, square jaw—were sharper. Clearing her throat, she forced herself to speak. “You’re a vet now? I thought you were thinking about medical school.”

  “In high school, sure. But during my sophomore year in college, I realized I wanted to treat animals, come back here.”

  Whereas Cimarron City could never offer her what she wanted. “Oh,” she murmured, pressing her lips together, trying to remember if he had ever told her about his changed plans. By then they were only talking a couple of times a week that soon turned into only once a week. By Christmas of his sophomore year, she’d known it was over. She’d figured he felt the same way. He’d been troubled and not his usual self and for the first time in their relationship, not communicative. They had been going in opposite directions ever since she’d graduated from high school and become focused totally on her career.

  He seemed to be waiting for her to reply. She needed to say something or go. The urge to escape was strong, especially when his gaze brushed down her length. Did he know about her leg? She’d asked Howard not to tell others in town, and with long pants it was easy enough to hide her deformity. “How’s Cinnamon doing?” she finally inquired, needing to ask about her horse before departing.

  “I can treat her colic with antibiotics. She should be better in a few days. I’ll come back and check on her, but you should be able to ride her by next week.”

  “Oh, good.” She concentrated on walking without limping toward the stall. She wasn’t ready to answer a thousand questions concerning her injury and her leg. But the act of doing that caused her leg to ache even more.

  Nat
e sidled away to allow her to look into the stall where Cinnamon stood. The quarter horse neighed at the sight of her and came to the door, nudging Kathleen with her head. She stroked Cinnamon, her coat reddish-brown—similar to Kathleen’s own hair color. That was what had drawn her to the filly when she was born on the ranch twelve years ago. When she wasn’t dancing, she had been riding. Those had been her two favorite activities as a teen. She couldn’t dance anymore, but she should be able to ride. The thought boosted her spirits.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you, girl.” She rubbed her hand down the white blotch on the mare’s nose, then blew her a kiss, something she had done from the very beginning whenever she was leaving Cinnamon.

  Kathleen rotated toward Nate, her mouth lifting slightly in a smile. “Are you working with Dr. Harris?”

  “Yes, I’m his new partner. He’s great to work with, and his practice keeps expanding. I’m handling all the big animals and the house calls to the ranches.”

  “Then you must be on the road a lot.”

  “Usually half my day. We should go out to dinner and catch up while you’re still in town. I imagine you won’t be staying long. How’s your injury? When will you be returning to New York?”

  Her chest constricted. Her breath burned her throat. He knew about her leg? “My plans aren’t settled yet. I’m just focusing on recuperating for now.” How much did he know? Surely her brother and Beth wouldn’t have betrayed her and told Nate.

  “If you want to go to dinner, let me know. You’ve got to do something while you’re here healing.”

  Something in the tone of his voice indicated he wasn’t totally convinced having dinner with her was a good idea, and she had to agree. He was the past, and at the moment she didn’t have much of a future.

  “My plans are up in the air right now. I just arrived today. I’ll call you when I can.” Kathleen slowly backed away. She couldn’t see him. He knew her too well. Before they had dated in high school, he’d been her good friend, both of them hanging out with the same crowd. She couldn’t take pity, from him or anyone else. That was one of the reasons she’d fled New York. “See you around.” She turned and walked as fast as she dared, again putting all her concentration into walking without a slight limp.

  She heard Nate call her name, but she kept going, escaping outside. Being around Nate would only bring back those times she’d had a dream to be a ballerina. That dream was shattered now, and she didn’t want to be reminded. But as she headed for the main house, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. He looked good. Too good for her peace of mind.

  At least she had dodged the bullet, as the cliché went. Now that she knew he drove a red Silverado, she would avoid the barn area when he was at the ranch. She would also stress to her brother and his wife that they were not to say anything about her injury, which would only provoke questions about what happened. Questions about the car accident that she wanted so desperately to forget.

  She halted at the bottom of the stairs to the two-story house she grew up in and sank down to the second step. She shut her eyes to the ranch about her. Immediately the streets of New York City filled her mind. With wall-to-wall people jamming the sidewalks, it was difficult to weave her way through the crowd. Noises bombarding her from all angles—horns honking, loud voices, a siren in the distance. But all her focus was on getting to her ballet rehearsal on time, the last one before the opening performance—her big break, something she’d been working years to accomplish. She was starring as the lead in Wonderland, a new ballet she’d even helped choreograph. She was ready. She could do it.

  Then without checking if the traffic had really stopped, she stepped out into the street when the light indicated she could cross. The sounds of screeching brakes reverberated in her ears as she felt the impact of the truck against her body. Then nothing...until she woke up in the hospital with her left leg amputated from the knee down.

  In that instant, her dream died.

  Chapter Two

  Kathleen stared at the nearby pasture where some mares with their babies grazed. There was something about the scene that eased the sense of panic the flashback to her accident had caused. For the first couple of weeks afterward, she had relived it several times a day. Now it was only every once and a while. Progress.

  She grasped on to that and rose. Climbing the stairs to the back deck, she knocked on the sliding glass door to the den, which flowed into the kitchen area and breakfast nook. Beth waved and hurried to let her in.

  Before she could step inside, her sister-in-law engulfed her in a hug. “It’s great to see you.” She moved to the side so Kathleen could enter. “Is everything all right at the cabin?”

  “Yes. Thanks for getting it ready and stocking my kitchen.” Beth and Nate were the same age and had been friends growing up. In fact, Nate had introduced Beth to Kathleen and later to Howard. As Beth started dating her brother, Kathleen and she had become good friends. “You haven’t said anything to anyone about what happened to me in New York, have you?”

  “No. You asked us not to. I’ll respect your wishes, although I don’t agree with them.” Beth combed her long brown bangs back and hooked them behind her ear, the gesture drawing Kathleen’s attention to her sister-in-law’s attractive features with green eyes, full lips usually set in a grin and a creamy complexion with a few freckles across her pert nose.

  “What do Carrie and Jacob know?”

  “I haven’t told them anything other than that you’re going to be staying here for a while. You said you want to tell them when you’re ready.” She smiled. “Besides, if I had told them, the whole world would know by now.”

  “I’ll tell them when the time is right.” She wasn’t sure it ever would be, but she also knew she wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from her niece and nephew for long. Maybe soon she would finally get a handle on what she was dealing with. Then she could explain it in a calm voice that would reassure Carrie and Jacob she would be all right.

  But will I be all right?

  She shoved that question away as her niece and nephew ran into the den, saw her and rushed across the room. Kathleen braced herself for their hugs. Before she could say anything, eight-year-old Carrie slowed down as she neared her, but her six-year-old nephew threw himself at her. Beth tried to intervene, but she didn’t move fast enough. Kathleen rocked back, the glass door stopping her fall.

  “Jacob,” Beth shouted. “Is that any way to greet your aunt? Bowl her over?”

  With a wide grin, revealing a missing front tooth and sandy-blond hair lying at odd angles, Jacob leaned back, his arms still clasping Kathleen. “Sorry, Aunt Kit. I can’t believe you’re gonna be here for a while.” He crooked his forefinger, signaling she should bend over.

  Kathleen did, shifting her weight off her prosthetic leg. “You’re growing like a weed. You’re going to be taller than me in no time.”

  Jacob’s smile grew. “I’m gonna be like Dad. Big.” Then he planted a kiss on her cheek.

  Which made up for his overenthusiastic greeting. Kathleen mussed his hair, then held out her arm to draw Carrie to her. “I’ve missed you two.”

  “We’ve missed you,” her niece announced. “My birthday will be in two weeks. Are you gonna be here for that?”

  “Are you sure, Carrie? Didn’t you just have one?” Kathleen teased, knowing how important birthdays in the Somers family were.

  “No, I’m positive,” Carrie replied in dead seriousness while shaking her head at the same time, her brown-haired pigtails swishing from side to side.

  “Well, in that case, I’ll put it on my calendar.” Kathleen stared into Carrie’s cobalt-blue eyes, so similar to hers.

  “Okay, kids. Give your aunt some breathing room. You two are supposed to be setting the table. But first wash your hands. So scoot. I’m starved.” Beth shooed them away.

 
As the two children ran out of the room as fast as they’d come in, Howard entered. “I see you’re here.”

  “Don’t sound so surprised. I know how to follow directions, and if I’m not mistaken, I was instructed to be here for dinner or you all were going to invade my home.”

  Howard harrumphed. “You may know how to follow directions, but that doesn’t mean you do. Don’t forget I know you well.”

  “Yes, yes. For twenty-six years as you informed me earlier.” Kathleen ignored her brother and swung her attention to Beth. “Can I help you?”

  The doorbell rang.

  Carrie yelled from the front of the house. “I’ll get it.”

  “Me, too,” Jacob chimed in, even louder than his sister.

  “I fear for whoever is at the door.” Kathleen started toward the kitchen with Beth. “Are you expecting anyone?”

  Beth stopped in her path. “Since you mentioned it—”

  “Dad, Mom, Dr. Nate’s here,” Carrie announced for the whole ranch’s benefit a second before Nate made his way into the den.

  Kathleen’s gaze locked with his, her heartbeat reacting with a faster tempo. Seeing him at the barn was all she could handle for her first day back home. He’d always been so perceptive. He’d figure out how serious her injury really was if he was around her for too long.

  “Nate is coming to dinner, too,” Beth finished.

  * * *

  A room separated Nate and Kit, but he could tell even from a distance something wasn’t right with her. He wanted to press her for answers, but it wasn’t really his place anymore. They had ended their relationship, not on a bad note exactly, but not a good one, either. He’d loved Kit, but things hadn’t worked when they were young.

  He’d finally accepted that and moved on. He’d even dated and become engaged, but in the end he and Rebecca hadn’t been right for each other. After a second breakup, he’d decided to pour his energy into establishing himself as a veterinarian and building up his practice with Dr. Harris at Harris Animal Hospital.