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Forgotten Memories

Page 17

by Theresa Stillwagon


  Uneasiness moved through Jen for a moment, but she wasn’t sure if it was from his statement or the dark entranceway. She was hoping she’d been wrong, but her senses were screaming at her now.

  Bitch would be the perfect description of her sister.

  Could they be the same person?

  “It’s dark,” he said. “You should’ve left a light on, Jen.”

  Something was wrong.

  “Granddad,” she yelled, and pulled out the keys from her purse. “Why didn’t you turn the light on for me?”

  Entering the living room, Jen dropped her purse to the floor by the door and ran to his bedroom on the far side of the hallway. Darkness greeted her when she opened the door, darkness and silence.

  “What’s wrong?” Adam asked.

  “My grandfather isn’t in his bed.” Frantic, she raced through the two-bedroom apartment to look for him. “He’s not here.”

  “Relax. He probably just went out for a walk or something. It’s not too late.”

  “My grandfather always goes to bed before nine.” She glared at Adam. “Something is wrong. He should be here.”

  “And he has Alzheimer’s, doesn’t he?”

  “Oh, dear Lord, what if he doesn’t remember where he lives? He could be wandering outside, all alone.” Jen went to the living room and touched a black winter coat hanging by the door. “And he doesn’t have his coat on. He’s going to freeze.”

  “Jen, calm down.” Adam stopped her at the half-opened door. “You need to stop and think where he could have gone. Is there a special place he likes around here? A special friend? A path he likes to walk every day? Think about it, honey.”

  Dragging in a deep breath, Jen let it out slowly as she looked around the quiet living room. Where could he have gone this late at night? Suddenly she knew. “There’s a park about a mile from here. I found him there a few days ago. He wasn’t thinking straight then.”

  “Come on, I’ll help you look for him there.” Adam placed his hand on her back and directed her out of the door toward his Ford. Getting into the truck after her, he turned to face her. “Which way is the park?”

  “It’s to the left,” she whispered. “About a mile away.”

  For Jen time stood still as they drove to the park, and she leaped out of the truck before it was completely stopped at the dimly lit entrance. A few acres wide, with black metal park benches crowding the entire circle of it, the area appeared dark and mysterious in the fading light. She raced into the tree-lined space and looked around, spying her grandfather sitting on a bench near a thick stand of oak and birch trees at the far end.

  “Granddad.” Relief rushed out of her in a long held breath. She dragged in another before racing toward the silent man. “What are you doing out here this late at night? And you don’t even have your coat.”

  “Here, Professor.” Adam slipped the coat over his slumped shoulders. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

  A vague, empty look greeted Adam’s gesture. “Do I know you?”

  Sadness sank Jen to the seat beside her grandfather. “This is my friend Adam. You met him the other day in Winter Creek.”

  “Have you gone to the old ghost town, Grace?”

  “Granddad, I’m Jen.”

  As if he hadn’t heard her, he continued, “That old place is dangerous to go to in the dark. You remember the other day when you tripped over an old fallen board in the telegraph office, how bad your knee was bleeding.”

  “I’m Jen.” A tear rolled down her face, landing on the top of his caressing hand. “I’m not Grandma. Grandma is dead.”

  His eyes, clouded, empty, and as desolate as the mind focused on her now, stared at her. Confused and afraid, her grandfather’s look was void of warmth and caring. Jen ached with the blankness of it all. His disease was taking its toll on the intelligent man she’d grown to depend on, stealing away his memories one minute at a time.

  “Jen, what are you doing here?”

  Relief washed through her. “Granddad, I was so afraid when I got home and you weren’t there. You shouldn’t be out here all alone.”

  “My Grace and I used to come to a park like this when we started dating,” he said with a smile. “We used to take your mother to a park when she was growing up. She didn’t like it.” This was the grandfather Jen had known when she was young. “I never understood why she hated it so much. Your mother was always such a fragile little girl.”

  Fragile was definitely not a word Jen would use to describe her mother.

  “I’m getting cold, granddaughter.” He looked at Adam then, placing his hand on his shoulder. “Young man, would you be kind enough to give my granddaughter and me a ride back to our home?”

  “Gladly, sir.” Adam looked at her before waving his hand past them to the clear entrance of the park. “My truck is right over here.”

  After settling her grandfather in the truck and making him comfortable, Jen grabbed Adam’s hand and pulled it up tight to her chest. The index finger of his other hand brushed away the tears she hadn’t even realized she’d been crying.

  “It’ll be all right, honey.”

  “No,” she admitted. “It’s going to get worse.”

  Adam didn’t comment.

  “I guess it’s time to do what my dad and brother want to do.” She looked past him at her silent grandfather. “I need to let my grandfather go.”

  Chapter 14

  “So how is her grandpa?” Mark asked Adam.

  “He’s okay.”

  “That’s good.”

  Adam glanced at Mark before looking back at the newly built corral atop a rise above Winter Creek. He leaned against the far wall of the livery stable and turned in the opposite direction to watch a group of students putting the finishing touches on the fronts of the buildings. Winter Creek’s main street was busy today.

  Mooing of cows and scraping of hooves nearby interrupted his bemusement, bringing him back to the present. A whinny sounded near him and he reached to pat Dark Day’s elongated head.

  “Jen must have been upset,” Mark said.

  Adam sighed. “When we got her grandfather home, he went right to bed. He was sound asleep a few minutes later. Jen was devastated. I didn’t think she would ever stop crying.”

  “And you hate crying women, don’t you?” Instead of the expected smirk, a wide look of concern fleeted across his older brother’s face. “I remember how you got when Debbie cried. You pretty much felt helpless.”

  Adam laughed. “Amazing, isn’t it? I can break a horse and rope a wild calf, I even rode a bull for the required eight seconds, yet I get all messed up at the first sign of a woman’s tears.”

  “Not all women,” Mark said. “I think you need to care about a woman before that particular weakness shows up. You never felt it toward Erin.”

  “And how would you know that?”

  “I know, Adam.” He pushed his horse away and leaned against the finished side wall of Thornton’s stable. “You and I aren’t so different when it comes to women.”

  Adam didn’t want to admit anything to Mark. When had he started feeling close to Jen? When had he allowed her inside his heart? Was it love he was feeling for the woman? He wasn’t quite sure, but he knew love was close to the surface.

  He didn’t need it.

  “Did you tell her we would be moving the cows to the new corral today?”

  Adam glanced at him. “No, actually I didn’t. I was going to, but this stuff with her grandfather happened and I forgot to mention it.”

  “So she’s not here now?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Mark glanced hard at him before looking down at his dusty boots.

  “What?” Adam moved away from the stable and walked over to the trail leading to the enclosure, a few hundred feet from the far end of Winter Creek. “I haven’t spoken to her since last night. She’s teaching one of her classes now.”

  “Oh, really.”

  “I’ll call her later and
let her know we’ll be moving the herd through town tomorrow. But I’m sure William and Jack already informed her.”

  A cloud of dust lifted up from a line of trees slightly above them, the sound of mooing cows and tramping hooves greeted them as they stood silently beside each other near the beginning of the trail. The lead cow came into view a second later, followed by three others. Soon the small herd reached the opened gate of the new enclosure. He held his breath until the last of the large animals entered the corral and Wyatt closed the gate.

  “I always worry when we have to move the herd like this” Mark said.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  A sharp crack sounded in the air so suddenly Adam jerked up straight. A second sound rang out a few seconds later, causing the frightened cows to bunch into the back of the enclosure.

  Adam turned around and looked toward the echoing sound. “Were those gunshots?”

  “Shit,” was all Mark said.

  Both men turned toward the frightened herd, watching as they swerved as one before the lead bull leaped over the curve of the trail and raced toward them.

  “How in the hell did they get out of the corral?” Mark asked.

  Adam ignored his brother’s question as a large cow raced down the slight hill toward the town. He jumped to the middle of the trail and waved his hands while his brother ran to his horse and swung his leg over, racing him to the bulk of the slower moving cows in the center of the herd. With the help of the other cowboys, they turned back the majority of the herd before they reached Adam.

  Yet ten or so got through.

  Adam flailed his cowboy hat in front of the rampaging lead cow, and she turned easily back to the crowd of cowboys, two calves following after her. Half a dozen full grown animals roared past him. “Mark, stop them!”

  As Adam yelled at his brother, he ran to Dark Day and jumped on his back before kicking his heels into the horse’s side and following his brother toward the small campground on the right side of town. Screams sounded in the tense air, filling him with dread and helplessness. A female yelled out before a loud crash set up a slew of newer screams and yells at the tent sites. Adam swerved his horse toward the yells and stopped at the side of a snorting cow. A young girl lay unmoving near a torn-up tent, a sleeping bag bundled up near her prone body, a black camp stove sat on its side near her head.

  “Oh my God.” Jack ran to the girl. “Carrie? It’s my Carrie.”

  “Stay still folks,” Mark said in a commanding voice. “Don’t move toward the cows.”

  “But that’s my daughter lying there.”

  “Jack?” Adam stopped his horse in front of the frightened man. “Let my brother and the cowboys round up the cows first. We’ll check on her when we get the herd corralled.”

  “I’ll keep Jack here with me, Adam.” Barb placed her arm around the older man’s shoulder, drawing his hand away from the motionless girl. “You help Wyatt and Mark with the cows.”

  He did as Barb instructed and soon all of the cows were corralled safely in the newly built structure above the town. He left his horse tied to the rail by the saloon before moving toward the crowd of people gathered around the stunned college student. Relief washed over him as he watched the older man envelop his daughter in a tight embrace.

  He stopped beside Barb. “Is she all right?”

  “Yes, I think she was just dazed.”

  Barb glanced up at him, a perplexed look shining clear from her bright blue eyes. “Tell me no one was seriously hurt,” he pleaded.

  Barb stared hard at him. “What the hell happened to those cows? What caused them to stampede?”

  “Is everyone else all right?”

  She glanced around her, studying the frightened group of young people. “It looks like everyone is fine. Shaken up and scared, but fine. Now answer my question, Adam. What made those cows stampede?”

  “I wouldn’t call it a stampede.”

  “Well, whatever you want to call it.” Barb looked up the slight incline to the mooing animals. “Something frightened those cows of yours. You told Jen they go where you tell them to go.”

  “They do.”

  “I doubt you meant for them to almost run over Carrie.” Sarcasm sounded clear in her voice now.

  Before Adam could find an answer for Barb, his brother yelled for him.

  “What is it, Mark?” he yelled back.

  “Come here and look at this.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Turning back toward a fuming Barb, Adam said, “I think you better let Jen and William know what happened.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  Adam walked up the slight slope toward his brother’s crouching form, away from the fierce anger of the small woman. “Talk to me, brother.”

  “Look.” He stood up and showed Adam a large caliber gun shell. “Someone fired a weapon.”

  He grabbed it from Mark’s hand. “I thought I heard something. But this only made the cows panic. How did they get out of this corral in the first place? The gate was locked. We both just watched Wyatt close and secure it.”

  Adam followed his brother to the group of cowboys standing around the sturdy corral, stopping to check the gate. “It’s still secured.”

  “Hey, Adam, Mark.” Wyatt waved at them and dropped to his knees on the other end of the enclosed area. “I think I found how the cows got out. The barbwire on this side has been tampered with.”

  “What?” The brothers raced to the far side of the fence. “Why in the hell would someone cut the wire around the corral?” Adam said.

  “Did you see anything, anyone, suspicious today?” Mark asked.

  “Who’s to say, Mark?” Wyatt commented. “All of us went into town the second the corral was finished. I figured it was safe to let the boys go see Winter Creek.”

  “Well, someone was here,” Mark said. “I think we need to call the police.”

  “I’ll do it right now,” Adam said, pulling his cellphone off the clip of his belt and flipping it open. “Something really strange is going on.”

  * * * *

  “Is everyone okay, Barb?” Jen’s cellphone almost slipped from her hands as she closed her briefcase and rowed her chair away from her desk. “Barb, answer me.”

  “Don’t get all riled up, Jen,” Barb said loudly. “We only had some bruises and cuts. Mostly people were just frightened. The cowboys controlled the cows quickly, and only a few got all the way to town.”

  “And what about Carrie? You told me she was unconscious.” Jen closed the door of her office, raced toward the front entrance of the building, and pushed open the all-glass door. The cellphone slipped again, and she retrieved it with a jerk. “Being unconscious doesn’t sound all right to me.”

  “Jack took her to the hospital for observation,” the calm voice replied. “They decided to keep her overnight. But she was acting fine when she left here. I don’t think you need to worry about her.”

  “Damn, I wish I hadn’t promised my brother and dad I’d go with them today.” Jen stopped at the opened door and looked around her. “I think I’m going to call—”

  “You’re not calling them, Jen,” Barb said adamantly, startling Jen out of her fraught attitude. “You need to take care of your grandfather. Everything is under control here.”

  “But I need to be there.”

  “Jen.” Anger sounded in her friend’s voice now. “If I see you anywhere near Winter Creek before six o’clock, I’m going to be pissed.”

  Jen grinned against her will.

  “Did you hear me, Jennifer Ferguson?”

  “Yes.” Suddenly somber again, she added, “We should’ve never gotten involved with Adam’s cows.”

  Silence moved through the phone. “Your guy called the police.”

  “Good.”

  “And it looks like the television and news people are here too.”

  “Great!” Jen sighed. “Just great!”

  Silence again, and Jen started to disconnect the call before she heard h
er friend say, “And it looks like we’re being graced by the woman who manages the hotel-spa up the road from Winter Creek.”

  Jen froze near her locked car. “What in the hell is she doing there?”

  “Good question.” A lilt lifted her friend’s voice now. “Do you want me to wander over to Adam and Mark and the cop and find out for you?”

  “She’s with Adam?”

  “His brother and the cop are there too.”

  Uneasiness filled Jen as a picture of her sister formed in her mind.

  No, it couldn’t be. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m done touring the facility with granddad.”

  * * * *

  Jen barely remembered what the inside of the assisted living facility looked like when she walked out of it an hour later behind her brother and father. All she could think about was the way her grandfather had brightened up as he walked through the well-designed apartment. Bright and cheery, filled with elderly people with a zest for life, the atmosphere filled her heart with dread.

  Because Jen knew her granddad belonged there.

  But she still didn’t want him to leave her.

  “Well, Jen,” her grandfather said, placing his trembling arm around her waist. “What do you think of the place? It’s nice, don’t you think? And the people are so friendly.”

  “Especially the women,” her brother teased. “That one woman couldn’t take her eyes off you, granddad. I think she’s got a thing for you.”

  “Ed?” Jen’s father turned to face her brother. “You need to stop being so crude.”

  “Sorry, Dad,” her brother said, grinning wide. “But she was pretty obvious.”

  “Oh, let the boy be,” the older man said. “He’s only having fun.”

  “He’s being disrespectful, Dad.”

  Her grandfather ignored them both and turned to Jen again. “I think I want to be alone with my granddaughter for a few minutes.”

  Her brother and father glanced at each other before the older of the two nodded. “We’ll be waiting at the car.”

  A full minute went by before her grandfather spoke again. “You seem preoccupied. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m all right, Granddad.”

 

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