by AE Rought
I had to smile. Instinctively, I reached for the bag with my right arm, stopping short and wincing when pain surged through the socket and out to my fingers. The orange teddy bear was relocated to the crook of my right elbow, and I used my left hand instead. The bag rumpled the quilt when I pulled it close, but I smoothed the blanket. Then, I pulled tissue paper from the gift bag and exposed two wrapped parcels at the bottom.
The first package was soft and crinkled with an odd plastic noise. The wrappings came away to expose a plastic bag full of hand-tied tea bags. When I opened the bag a dusty sage scent wafted up, mellowed with the smell of berries and lavender. “It’s my mother’s special tea blend. I drank it after a horse bucked me off a few years ago. She can probably better explain it better than I.” He cast his mother a glance, eyebrows slightly pinched.
“Of course, son.” Bonnie patted the back of my hand lightly. “I’m not quite sure how to say this, so I’m just going to give you the truth. I’m a bit of a kitchen witch, and the tea is my own blend of local herbs and berries with healing attributes.”
“Witches are all right in my book, Bonnie. And thank you, Slade.”
Slade tipped his hat, but his gaze did not leave mine. “You’re most welcome, Miss Jensen.” His gaze shifted to his mother’s and gave her a knowing wink. Her smile broadened in reply.
“Call me Kally.”
He tipped his hat down and peeked beneath the rim. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
One package remained in the bottom of the bag. It was limp and squishy when I lifted it out. I cast a swift look at Slade. His face was impassive, refusing to give me any clue of what the gift was. The paper came away to reveal a pastel tie-dyed stuffed bull, a perfect companion in size and color to the orange teddy bear resting against my arm. His horns were a peachy pink, and his silly/happy bovine face looked up at me.
“Y’see,” Slade explained, “if it wasn’t for the cattle bellowing I wouldn’t have investigated the cow pond last night.”
“Thank God for cows.” I wrapped the two animals to my chest and snuggled into my pillow. A yawn escaped me and a warm, sandy weight filled my body.
“Aw, the poor girl is exhausted. Come on, son.” Bonnie shooed Slade from my bedside and toward the door. “Let’s skedaddle so Kally can get some sleep.”
“No, wait please.” I tried to sit up, to chase the sleepiness from me. Slade and his mother stopped at the door. Another yawn escaped me, and I shook my head, rubbed my face with my free hand. “Did you contact anyone on my cell phone list? I need to tell my sister where I’m at. Need to call my friend Ilene…” The sentence ended in another yawn.
Slade came back to my bedside. No matter how happy I was to see him, how handsome I thought he was, when his hand rose toward me, I flinched, cringing inside. His hand and expression were gentle when he placed his palm against my chest, pinning me to the bed while he pulled the quilt up to my chin with the other. “You’ve been through a lot, Miss Jensen, and you need your rest. Yes, I used your phone. Yes, I called your sister and your friend Ms. Rogers. They are both very worried about you, but I promised we would take good care of you. Your sister didn’t settle down until I promised her an update today. Are you going to pitch a fuss and keep me from calling them?”
I felt better the moment his hand lifted from my chest. Sleep settled over me, draping my limbs like a quilt. “Call me Kally. And no, sir, no fuss.”
He stroked my hair. “That’s my girl.”
His touch was the last sensation I felt before I drifted into a sound nap.
A familiar laugh filtered into my dreams and eased me toward consciousness. The face I saw when I opened my eyes was sweeter than any memory. Her dark blonde hair and sunny smile were unmistakable. My heart soared at the sight of my friend Ilene Rogers. “Hey, look who’s here.”
“Hey! Look who’s up.”
“Hi, Weenie.”
“Oh sure.” Ilene winked at me and then draped herself over Slade’s shoulder like a cheap suit jacket. “Just because I’m talking to this hot cowboy in your hospital room doesn’t mean you get to pull out my old nickname.”
Slade shot a look at me, shuffled his feet and then looked out the door. “Well, this is awkward.”
“Don’t worry about me, Slade.” Laughter bubbled up in Ilene, then she steered him closer to my bed. “I’m spoken for. Kally, here, on the other hand is recently single.”
“Ohmygod, Ilene!” I sat up quickly and pain throbbed through my shoulder. I couldn’t suppress the wince.
Slade almost looked relieved. “You’re in pain. Let me find a nurse.” He shot out of the room, and the clatter of his boots danced off the walls.
Ilene dropped onto the end of my bed, wiping her brow. “Wow. Did you get a good look at him? His eyes…his Wrangler butt?” She held her hands out and cupped them, like she was testing the curve of his buns. “He is gorgeous.”
A hot and sudden blush burned my cheeks. My heart pattered. I twined my fingers around the knot between a deep blue and ivory patch on the quilt. “I…I hadn’t noticed.”
A sarcastic snort escaped Ilene.
“Well, what do you expect? I’ve been unconscious for the majority of the time I’ve known him.” Images of his chest against my cheek and the wonderful, warm smell of Stetson cologne and fabric softener magically formed in my sinuses. “I guess he is kind of handsome.”
Ilene sobered. She took my hand in hers and her green eyes suddenly took on the same shadow Slade’s had in the ER. “He’s a good guy, Kally, and was horribly worried about you. What kind of spell did you weave over him?”
“I didn’t do anything.” I looked out through the doorway recently vacated by Slade. “When I left Matt, I only wanted freedom, to be happy and breathe without looking over my shoulder.”
“Well, maybe you didn’t ask for a new love. I really feel something between you two though. Promise me, if opportunity knocks, you won’t shut an opening door.”
I looked down to the flannel quilt Bonnie had draped over me, but her son’s image was all I could see. “All right. I won’t. Just don’t expect me to run through it either.”
The phone’s ring cut into the silence between us. Ilene caught my gaze and mouthed the words, “Want me to get it?” to which I nodded.
She picked up the phone. “Kally Jensen’s room.” Then, her face softened, and she nodded her head. “Yup, Susan, she’s right here. I’ll hand you over.”
Oh, Susan! My sister was always the one to nurse me back to well when I was sick or hurt. When I needed mothering, I wanted my sister. A sudden ache gripped my heart and tears fell when I took the phone from Ilene. “Hi, Sue.”
Her voice sounded so far away. “I heard you got yourself into an accident. Honey, are you all right?”
I grabbed a tissue and wiped snot from my nose. “Yeah. I got tumbled pretty hard, but the doctors say nothing is broken…”
“If I’d known you’d end up in a ditch in some godforsaken state, I would never have encouraged you to leave Matt.”
“You couldn’t have known, Sue.” And she didn’t know the good I’d found here. She didn’t know how wonderful the Slade and the Carlsons were to me. “This isn’t a godforsaken state, either. I had the great blessing of being rescued by the nicest family I’ve ever met.”
“If the rest of the family is like him, you certainly are blessed.” She paused, and I heard her sip on something I was sure was strong brewed black coffee. “Slade was terribly concerned about you when he called and has called since then to reassure me you’re all right. It’s good to know you are being taken care of… I just wish I could be there.” She took another sip. “At least Ilene is with you.”
“Yeah, seeing her was good for my heart.”
“Well, you just do what’s good for your body now. Make yourself well, okay?”
“I’m working on it. I love you, Sue. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Sounds good, sweetie. Bye-bye.” I handed the recei
ver back to Ilene and she hung up the phone while I abandoned my nest of hospital blankets for a trip to the bathroom.
I’d just finished washing up before Slade’s boots announced the arrival of a nurse who came bearing gifts of painkillers and water. Her tray appeared first, then her ample bosom crammed into a tight uniform and finally a kind, round face.
Slade peeked around the door at Ilene and me. “Is it safe?”
I nodded, and Ilene stepped to the end of my bed and motioned him in.
The nurse came up beside my bed. She took up my wrist, two fingers on my pulse point. She nodded her head and pulled out a stethoscope with a singular, well-practiced motion. “Are you having much pain, dear?”
“My shoulder does hurt…”
“What’s your pain, on a scale of one to ten?”
How the hell do I know? I had never equated hurt with numbers. “I don’t know… Seven, maybe.” It was a statement, but my voice rose in pitch at the end of it, demonstrating my confusion.
The stethoscope from the frozen depth of Dante’s hell against my bare back was by now routine. The “breathe deeply” had gone past the point of annoyance to blind indifference. Inhale, exhale. A new point of skin is flash frozen. Inhale, exhale. Restrain from cursing the nurse.
“Well…” The nurse replaced her stethoscope over her neck and then gave Ilene and Slade a warning glance. “These will make her drowsy.”
I don’t want to sleep. I haven’t seen Ilene in so long. My lips turned down. My eyebrows furrowed when I met Ilene’s gaze.
“It’s okay, hun.” Ilene patted my leg. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”
The nurse held out the tray. I took up the little paper cup and then tossed back the meds. I wrapped my lips around the straw and drank down water cold enough to be frozen solid. I felt the polar temperature water pour down my throat and sit inert in my stomach. Someone had straightened my bed while I was in the bathroom, and placed both stuffed animals beside my pillow. I scooped them up into the crook of my left elbow and eased the bed back.
Ilene retrieved her purse and jacket from the chair beside the window, then she kissed my forehead and promised she would return. Slade turned off the lights and followed Ilene to the door, but I wasn’t ready for him to leave. “Slade?”
Hand on the doorjamb, he looked back. “Yes, Miss Jensen?”
“Can you please stay with me for a while?”
“Of course.” He walked to the chair recently emptied of Ilene’s things and pulled it closer to the bed before sitting. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on the rungs of the bed. Internally, I shied away. Externally, my body warmed and relaxed as the drugs kicked in. “What can I do for you?”
“I don’t know.” A frown furrowed my brow. “After everything I’ve been through in the past few days, I’m confused, overwhelmed, scared.”
His smile was tender, the corner of his eyes softened. “I can fix that. Just tell me where to start.”
“I wish I knew.” I nestled into the pillows and turned my head to him. “I think even your treatment overwhelms me right now. I’m a stranger, but you and your mother are taking such good care of me.”
His smile faltered, and his gaze fell to a paisley patch on the quilt before finding my eyes again. “I don’t rightly know what to say, Miss Jensen. I’m the one who found you and brought you here to the hospital. I guess I feel responsible for you getting well again.”
“So it’s just a savior thing, then? When I’m better, you’ll give me the bill and send me on my way?”
“No!” His answer was fervent and fast, and his eyes narrowed. “I want you to get better and…and… We’ll go from there.” His gaze plumbed the depths of my soul and touched a part withered beneath Matt’s abuse. Trust? Faith? I didn’t dare to give credence to the silly narcotic-induced thoughts of love.
“I’m sorry. I meant no offense. I just feel like a bat, flying blind and, after the cave I took flight from, I’m struggling to find my bearings.”
“Well, your car was headed directly toward the Fourth Moon Ranch, under a new moon. You left pain behind to search for happiness, and I found you when you strayed from the path.”
“New moon?” My sluggish brain grasped at the connection he laid before me. “New beginnings. A new life. And you…” My mind let go of thinking, but my hand reacted to the truth in me, reaching out and wrapping his fingers in mine.
“I’ll be right here.”
The medicine won, taking first place in the race from conscious thought to peaceful dreams. And once more, I fell asleep with Slade touching me.
Slade and Kally: Letting Go of the Reins, Book 1
Chapter Five
A waxing crescent rose above the Fourth Moon Ranch. Slade looked through the windshield at the sliver, a hook in the sky he’d once hung his hopes on.
Those hopes had died. His opportunistic girlfriend had cheated on him and he ended their relationship over a year ago. He had left the Hulett P.D. to help his folks a few months ago. Slade’s life was in flux, stuck in one long-ass waning cycle.
But this new moon had truly brought new life with it. He had found Kally when his hopes were lowest and the hollow moon was highest.
He put the truck in park, leaned his head against the steering wheel and closed his eyes. She was there, in the shadows of his mind, waiting for him. The delicate porcelain doll he’d cradled on his horse had become a complex girl, hiding the cracks and damage behind a new layer of sass-colored paint. She was unlike any girl he’d ever known, and she fascinated him.
A cold gust of November wind blew into the cab when Slade opened the door. The icy air poured over his neckline and down his skin like her cold breath had the first night. Chills spread across his skin and he pulled the jacket tight, tucking his chin into the collar so his Stetson blocked the wind chapping his cheeks.
What is in her past? Why does she make my heart pound?
He barley noticed the doorknob in his hand. The luggage in the foyer, however, was hard to miss. His mother’s matching floral cases sat neatly stacked in the corner beneath the stained glass window of running horses. Pine’s and his brother Beau’s were less orderly. A hodgepodge of olive drab lumps tumbled up against the opposite wall and beneath a colorful window depicting the Devil’s Tower at sunrise. Both Beau’s and Pine’s bags were military issue. Pine’s were old and duty worn. Beau’s were military surplus. Slade had to snort. Beau is Dad’s clone.
His mother’s presence filled the living room. Slade didn’t have to see her to know she was there waiting for him. “Good evening, Mother.”
“Hello, son.” She placed her carry-on bag atop of her stack of tapestry bags. The latest addition reminded Slade of the trellis in the garden behind the house. He eyed the stack appreciatively. “I see you’ve been busy.”
“Of course I have.” She patted his shoulder. “We are all packed, and with your father’s help I even managed a shopping trip to pick up a few things for Kally.”
Slade recognized the glimmer of anticipation he saw in her eyes. Don’t get your hopes up—either of us. He forced the thought away. “What a kind thing to do, and coming from you, Mother, I’m not at all surprised.”
She lingered over straightening the pile of luggage, her eyes averted. “From what I’ve seen and you’ve heard, the girl could benefit greatly from some kindness.”
Like a mama bear adopting a cub. “Her friend and sister said she’s had a tough time.” Slade removed his Stetson, dusting melted snow from the brim and running a hand through his hair. He fussed with his jacket, needing to talk and hating it at the same time. “Mother, I’ve been thinking about Miss Jensen a lot.”
His mother wrapped her hand around his and led him to the squishy armchair beside the fireplace. Her concerned expression was heightened by the soft lines around her eyes when she smiled. “Do you want to talk about it?”
What is it with women wanting to talk? It’s a jumbled mess in my head and I don’t want to talk about it. Stil
l, he couldn’t stop the truth from coming up. “She sticks in my head like no other emergency call.”
Her smile softened, her eyes held the wisdom of the Wyoming countryside. “Maybe it’s because she isn’t any other call. You weren’t working for the police, dear. You didn’t have the ‘it’s just a job’ expression on your face.”
He rolled his eyes, the corner of his mouth hitched up like it did when he thought someone was full of crap.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me. Maybe you didn’t recognize the change when you were working on the force. You did change, put shields up. I saw it in your eyes, on the lines of your face.”
Was it just my guard?
No. There was more to it. He gazed into the flames while his mind drifted elsewhere. Slade was vulnerable, not in the same wounded sense Kally was, but in a more essential, natural manner. His life was poised for change, ready to settle down and something about her captivated him. Finding her, making sure she received proper medical treatment was everything he had trained for. She was nothing he had ever expected to find.
“Slade?” His mother’s eyebrows were pinched together as she tugged on his shoulder. “You still in there?”
He wrenched his gaze from the fire in the grate. “Sorry, Mother, just thinking. Kally came out here and ended up on your ranch…”
“Our ranch, Slade.” Her eyebrows lowered a fraction. “There are four ‘C’s in the Fourth Moon brand.”
For the first time in a year, the term “our ranch” sounded good. “All right, ‘our ranch’. Kally was looking for a new life and her path stopped on our ranch. I want to offer her a job here. It will help her out and me too.”
Her damned “mother knows best” expression crossed her face. “Who will it help most?” She tipped her head, and an impish grin bloomed on her lips. “I doubt she’ll want to move the cattle.”
Slade snorted and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. The truth was there, but he couldn’t quite track it down. A smile, nervous and fleeting crossed his lips. He furled and unfurled his fingers before pulling out his knife. He opened and closed the blade with a flick of his wrist. Open. Close. Avoid eye contact. Open. Close.