by Leigh Bale
Oh, yes. He’d see the new forest ranger again sometime soon. Much to his regret.
Chapter Two
“How’d school go today?” Lyn tightened her fingers around the steering wheel as she pressed on the break. Her car came to a halt at the only stop light on Main Street in the town of Stokely. Population eleven thousand and twenty-three, including dogs, cats and gophers.
“None of the kids like me.” Kristen’s simple reply vibrated with hurt and anger.
“I’m sure that’s not true, honey.” Lyn glanced at her ten year-old daughter who sat next to her, tugging against her seat belt.
“Yes, it is.”
“It just takes time to get to know everyone when you’re the new kid in town. Maybe you could invite one of the girls in your class over to the house to play on Saturday.” Lyn lightened her voice, trying to sound positive. Trying to encourage her daughter the only way she knew how.
The stop light turned green and she pressed on the gas, moving slowly down the street.
“They’ll never like me.” Kristen tugged her skirt lower across the C-leg prosthetic limb on her right leg, as though trying to hide as much of the amputation as possible.
Lyn studied her child’s tight profile and long white-blonde hair. The girl was beautiful. If only the other children would treat her like a normal kid. But that was just the problem. Kristen wasn’t normal. And she never would be. “How can they not like you? They hardly know you yet. We’ve only been here a couple of months.”
Kristen tapped her knuckles hard against the socket of the prosthetic limb. “This is all they see, Mom. They call me peg-leg and gimp.”
Lyn’s heart wrenched. Kids could be so cruel. If only they’d get to know Kristen, they’d learn what a smart, sweet girl she was. And so easy to love.
“I hate it here. I want to go home.” Tears watered Kristen’s voice as she flounced around and glared out the window.
“We are home, honey.” Lyn wanted to cry too, but didn’t think that would do Kristen any good. Alone at night in her dark bedroom, Lyn allowed her emotions to flow across her pillow. But in the light of day, she must be strong. For both her and Kristen’s sakes.
“Maybe you could wear blue jeans more often.” Dresses were easier in case Kristen needed to adjust her prosthetic limb, but pants hid the apparatus from view.
“It won’t help. I limp and can’t run. They know something’s wrong with me. They don’t like me.”
Lyn’s heart ached for her daughter. How she wished she could protect her from this pain. Even if they covered up the prosthesis, Kristen jerked so hard when she walked that people frequently stared at her. They knew immediately that the girl was impaired, but they didn’t understand why. Lyn had even heard a woman in the grocery store yesterday whisper loudly that Kristen must be retarded. As if her leg had anything to do with her brain. In fact, the opposite was true. Kristen pulled top grades in science and math. If only she could walk better, she might fit in more.
“Well, I adore you,” Lyn said with a smile.
“You don’t count, Mom. You have to love me because I’m your kid.”
Lyn snorted. “If that were true, there’d be a lot fewer abusive mothers in the world, honey. I love you more than my own life. And that’s that.”
Kristen tossed her head and huffed out a big sigh of exasperation. “You just don’t understand.”
Lyn understood more than Kristen realized. But friends and peer pressure were so important to a young girl. Especially a girl with only one leg. Moms didn’t count at this point in life. If only it had been Lyn that had lost her leg in the accident. Not Kristen. Not her precious little girl.
Pressing on the break again, Lyn came to a stop sign. A lance of vivid memory pierced her mind. The car crash had been caused by a drunk driver, now incarcerated in a state penitentiary. But that wouldn’t restore Kristen’s leg or bring Rob back. Nor did it ease Lyn’s conscience over her part in what had happened. Though it’d only been a year earlier, Kristen had been so young at the time. Only nine years old. They’d both lost the father and husband they dearly adored.
Rob. The love of Lyn’s life.
She glanced in the rearview mirror. No one behind her, so she paused long enough to talk with Kristen for a few moments. Reaching across the seat, Lyn brushed her hand down the silken length of Kristen’s hair. “I know this is hard, honey. But you’re so pretty and smart. All your teachers tell me you’re their best student. You’ve got a lot going for you. We’ve just got to keep trying.”
Kristen shrugged off Lyn’s hand, her voice thick with resentment. “You mean I’ve got to keep trying. I’m the one without a leg, not you. And Daddy’s dead. The only reason I’m a good student is because I promised him.”
Oh, that hurt. So much that Lyn thought there must be blood on the floor. Not a day went by that she didn’t feel guilty for surviving uninjured while her husband had died and her daughter lost her leg. But Kristen was too young to understand how much a mother loved her child. Or just how much Lyn missed her husband.
“I know, honey. Please believe me, if I could take this pain from you, I would. I just want to help. We can’t give up. Not ever.”
Lyn might have reached over and hugged Kristen, but a driver pulled up behind them and blared the horn of their car. Lyn jerked her head around. Kathy Newton, a woman she’d recently met at Kristen’s school, waved at them. Returning the gesture with a plastic smile, Lyn pressed on the gas. Two blocks later, she turned the corner and parked in front of the doctor’s office before killing the motor.
“Maybe this new doctor can help you walk straighter,” Lyn suggested. “Your old doctor highly recommended him.”
A prosthesis specialist in such a small town was rare. Apparently this doctor was a former U.S. marine. Lyn had been told that he’d seen several of his buddies lose their limbs during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he’d done a lot of work in the field of prosthetics. And that was good for Kristen.
“Nothing can help me walk without a limp. Everyone will always know something’s wrong with me,” Kristen said.
The ominous words were spoken to the glass window pane. Kristen refused to look at her and Lyn couldn’t blame her. Since the accident, Lyn could hardly stand to face herself. She’d hoped her transfer to this small ranching town might help make a difference for both of them. The slower pace. Fewer people. The jagged mountains and open, windswept valleys covered by bleached grass and sage. They both needed time to heal. Lyn had no outward scars, but inside, the accident had disfigured her beyond recognition. She’d never be the same again.
Neither would Kristen.
If only there was some way Lyn could go back in time, she’d find a reason to miss their appointment to view the appaloosa mare. Their family had been so carefree that evening. Excited to buy Kristen’s first horse. Both Lyn and Rob had been raised on a ranch and Rob had been a regional rodeo champion during high school. They wanted to share their love of equines with their daughter. They’d discussed the idea for months. Kristen was fearless on a horse. She’d make such a great rider.
Having just picked up Rob from work, Lyn had been driving the car. Kristen had been sitting between them in the front seat, all of their seatbelts securely locked. They’d been talking. Laughing. And then Lyn turned onto a narrow street with a guardrail. The grille of a semi truck filled their view, followed by the sickening thunder of the crash. No time to react. No time to move.
Now, Lyn closed her eyes tight, absorbing the memory as though it just happened. If only she’d swerved and missed the oncoming truck. Maybe if she’d hit the brakes sooner. Or taken a different route. Anything to have changed the outcome.
Losing Rob had stolen all the joy in their lives. That night had been the last time they’d laughed together or felt genuinely happy.
The last time Lyn had prayed.
Filled with gloomy thoughts, she got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side to help Kristen. Again, th
e girl brushed aside Lyn’s hands.
“I’ll do it myself,” the girl grumbled.
Lyn stood back, waiting nearby in case Kristen stumbled. In reality, an ocean of hurt separated them. Lyn wondered if they’d ever be close again.
Kristen hobbled toward the doctor’s office. With each wrenching step, the foot of her cumbersome prosthesis smacked the cement sidewalk like a club. Lyn had to keep herself from flinching at the horrible sound. She followed close by, wishing Kristen would use her wheelchair more. But the girl refused. Lyn held her arms outstretched to catch Kristen in case she fell.
Inside the small office, Kristen plopped down onto a cushioned chair. An older man sat across from them, his denim shirt accented by a turquoise bolo tie. Twin streaks of gray marred his straight black hair. Parted in the middle, the long strands flowed past his shoulders, ornamented by a single white and gray feather. He held a beat-up cowboy hat in his leathery hands. Though he showed no expression on his tanned face, his intelligent black eyes gazed at them with unwavering frankness. The wide bridge of his nose and high cheekbones clarified his heritage. A proud American Indian. Probably Shoshone. Lyn knew they had a tribe here in Stokely.
Ignoring the man’s piercing gaze, Lyn stepped over to the front counter and spoke to the receptionist. “I’m Lyn Warner. My daughter has an appointment at three thirty.”
“Yes, welcome. I’m Maya and we’ve been expecting you.” The matronly woman smiled, her rosy cheeks plumping. She swept a waterfall of straight black hair away from her face before handing Lyn a clipboard with papers attached. Maya also appeared to be of Shoshone heritage. “If you’ll just fill out this information, I’ll let the doctor know you’re here.”
Picking up a pen, Lyn sat beside Kristen and started writing. She was vaguely aware of Maya calling to the elderly man sitting across from them. He stood quietly and went to the counter to retrieve a bottle of pills.
“You take one of these every morning, Billie. And just so you know, I’m gonna call your wife to make sure you do. Helen will tell me if you’re on your medication or not.” Maya’s voice sounded thick with warning.
Billie grunted a derogative reply. The pills rattled in the bottle as he shoved them into a pocket of his blue jeans. As he passed by to leave, he stared straight ahead, speaking not a single word. The epitome of dignity and cool disdain.
Lyn dug inside her purse for her insurance card. When she finished the paperwork, she returned the clipboard to Maya.
“Thanks. Why don’t you come on back?” Maya indicated a side door.
Like always, Lyn stood beside Kristen as her daughter struggled to stand. Lyn’s fingers itched to help Kristen, who was determined to do it by herself whether she looked odd and stumbled or not.
The girl braced her hands on the armrests, gained her balance, then clopped forward, her upper torso jerking back with each awkward step. Maya opened the door and stood there smiling until Kristen passed through, then led the way down a short hall to an examination room.
Inside, Kristen sat on the only chair, a grimace of pain showing her discomfort.
“Is it hurting you today?” Lyn asked.
“No.” A short, curt word.
Lyn knew better. The wound had healed, but it’d only been a year. The stump continued to pain Kristen whenever she wore her prosthesis. But the girl hated her wheelchair even more. And Lyn knew Kristen’s autonomy would diminish with the chair.
Lyn was determined to speak with the doctor about this. The brave girl refused to show any more signs of weakness than what had been forced upon her. So daring and courageous. So determined not to quit in spite of the adversity she faced. If only this new doctor could help her somehow. If only…
The door rattled and the doctor entered the room. Lyn’s breath froze in her throat. The man glanced first at Kristen, then at the clipboard in his hand, but Lyn recognized him instantly. A tall, jet-eyed man with short, coal black hair shaved high and tight like a U.S. marine. Like her, Lyn figured he was in his mid-thirties. With high, chiseled cheekbones, wide shoulders and long, solid legs. Dark and extremely handsome, in a dangerous sort of way. Except for his eyes. Fringed by thick lashes, they sparkled with gentle warmth.
“Cade!”
He looked up, his gaze mirroring her shock.
No, he couldn’t be the angry rancher who thought Lyn was a threat to the mustangs. He didn’t like her, he’d made that obvious last week when he’d saved her from the wild stallion. Surely he couldn’t be Kristen’s new doctor.
But he was. Oh, this day just kept getting worse.
* * *
Cade lifted his head, but didn’t speak for several moments as he contemplated Lyndsy Warner’s presence in his office. Her golden eyes held his like a vice grip and he sensed her deep intelligence as she studied his face in return.
“You…you’re Kristen’s new doctor?” she asked.
“Apparently.”
“Oh. I guess I didn’t make the connection. But you said your name is Cade.” Her expression looked deflated.
“That’s right, although I’m Dr. Baldwin when I’m working in my office. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Now he regretted not asking her full name when he’d met her in Secret Valley last week. He hadn’t put it all together. Lyn was a bit different than Lyndsy. He decided the name Lyn suited her better. Finding out the new forest ranger’s daughter was one of his patients took him completely off guard.
The tribal elders wouldn’t like this. No, not at all.
His gaze skimmed the woman’s skinny jeans, red blouse and white tennis shoes. Instead of pulled back in a pony tail, she wore her long blonde hair straight and soft around her face. But her eyes. A tawny-gold color, like cooked honey, sweet and smooth. Right now, she looked like a normal housewife, not a forest ranger. Not a threat to the wild horses. And certainly too young to have a daughter so old.
Likewise, she inspected him. The stethoscope hanging around his neck. The white smock he wore open over his blue chambray shirt. His denims and scuffed cowboy boots. He shifted nervously, wishing she’d stop looking at him.
“Uhm, when you rescued me from Buck, I didn’t realize you were a doctor.” A stiff smile curled her full lips, but didn’t reach her beautiful eyes.
“Yeah, we didn’t talk about that.”
“I thought you were a rancher.”
“I own Sunrise Ranch, but it’s not big enough to grow crops and livestock anymore. My grandparents left the place to me. I just live there now.”
“Oh.” She continued to stare.
“You okay?” he asked, trying to hide his own feelings of confusion.
She looked away. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re not really what I imagined a prosthesis specialist would look like.”
He made a soft scoffing sound, the heels of his boots thudding against the wooden floor. “Is that because I’m part Shoshone Indian?”
“No, no. Not at all. I didn’t know until now. Although that’s fascinating, too.”
She found his heritage fascinating? Ironically that was how he would describe her. But he wasn’t about to ask her to enlarge on her comment.
“I’m one half Shoshone, on my mother’s side. Any less, and I wouldn’t be eligible to belong to the tribe,” he said.
With a Caucasian father and a Shoshone mother, he’d spent every childhood summer in Stokely with his mother’s parents. He’d been in Afghanistan when his grandfather died and left him Sunrise Ranch. All his life, Cade had dreamed of becoming a doctor and opening a medical office here to benefit the Toyakoi Tribe, his Shoshone people. Now he was here, he was haunted by memories of war. Only his faith in God kept him sane.
“Is my ethnicity a problem for you?” he asked.
She snorted. “Of course not. It’s just that you seem so…so casual for a doctor.”
Kaku, his grandmother, had always told him he was wild and untamed. Like the mustangs running free in Secret Valley. And yet, he wasn’t wild.
Not anymore. The war had changed him. He’d come to realize what was really important in life. God, family and living with honor. Now, he just wanted to settle down and find peace. But one thing was missing. He had no family. They were all gone, now. No one to share his hopes and dreams with. No one to love.
And he felt the emptiness like a hole in his heart.
“I’d look a bit out-of-place in Stokely if I ran around in a business suit.” He reached for a stool on wheels. Pulling it over, he sat down in front of Kristen. “And you didn’t tell me your daughter was one of my new patients.”
“I didn’t realize at the time.”
And whether he liked it or not, it appeared he’d now get to know them even more.
He faced Kristen, smiling to alleviate the girl’s worried frown. “So, Kristen, how are you today?”
“Fine.” Her voice sounded uncertain as she held her clasped hands tightly in her lap. Rather than happy and smiling, she looked anxious and withdrawn.
Frightened.
He made a pretense of scanning the clipboard. “You’re what? Twelve, thirteen years old?”
Kristen’s brow crinkled and she shook her head, looking away. Unsure of herself. Cade didn’t like that. If he was going to help this child, he’d have to win her trust.
“I’m only ten, but I’ll be eleven next November,” she said.
Cade widened his eyes and drew back as though amazed. “Is that right? Well, you’re sure pretty and you look older than your age. Very grownup.”
His flattery brought a flush of pleasure to the child’s cheeks. Ah, he had her now. He loved helping people, he always had. But for some innate reason, he felt strongly that he must help this little girl feel better about herself. No matter who her mother was and what she did for a living.
“I’ve spoken to your doctor in Reno and he’s told me you’re wearing a C-leg prosthesis. Can I take a look?” Cade asked respectfully.