“What we’re doing,” she corrected. “You really think I can get military service members to come to the ranch.”
“Why not? Horses are great therapy animals, only beat out by dogs. This ranch will be beneficial to everyone. With the PT on site, you can do physical injuries, and with Heather, you open yourself up to more by being able to treat those with PTSD and other combat trauma.”
“Then I want it to be veteran focused in honor of you, my dad, Weber, and all of those who didn’t make it home.”
“Not me but for the others. I’m no hero.”
“You’re my hero.” She scooted closer and kissed him, not just to stop his protests but also because she wanted to. “We’ll keep it small and intimate. Make it more about a place of healing than about being an amputee, or even needing PT. What do you think? Am I just dreaming?”
“I think what you want to do is ambitious, and if anyone can do it, I know you can.” He took her hand and pulled her up next to him. “I was looking over this log book and it seems as though breeding should be something that is brought back to the ranch as well. There are still good breeding horses there. We discussed that briefly on the drive back.”
“I think breeding would be good for the ranch. I know there are some horses there but we’ll have to breed or purchase additional ones if it’s something we’re seriously considering. To bring that back like it was when Dad was alive, we’ll need more than what Mr. Cline has now. He sold his best breeding mare.”
“We can do that. The question is, can we handle both? If not, which one first?” He held her close to him, his fingers teasing down her bare arm. “I’d say breeding because even though we’d have to add to the stock, it would start bringing income in right away. We’ll need to work on the buildings, add your PT area, and things like that. It’s going to take a little time to get it up and running.”
“Then let’s start breeding immediately and work on the area. We’ll make them both work but at first, we’ll be a little more focused on the breeding aspect. Should I start looking for another breeding mare?”
“I’d offer but I don’t know much about that. You and Clifford will have to teach me.”
“Don’t worry.” She wriggled her head against his chest trying to find the perfect spot. “I still can’t believe this. It’s like a dream.”
“I know what you mean.” He pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “I keep waiting to wake up and find you gone. That you finally realized you can do better.”
“I’ve got all I want with you.” She let her heavy eyelids drift shut and just enjoyed the moment. Hers was a perfect and true admission. It didn’t matter that he bought the ranch; he was everything she wanted. Getting the ranch represented just an added benefit.
If she had to choose between her dream of owning the ranch and being with him, she’d have chosen him hands down. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man, to wake up every morning in his embrace and to feel his warm lips against hers. This was living.
* * *
Staci sat by her mother’s bedside, waiting for the right moment. It had been two days since they went to Kentucky. Two days of her mother’s constant nagging to know the reason why Staci hadn’t been at the hospital that day. Now she was ready to tell her; all she needed was for Colin to return from his dinner break. She’d tell them both at once and after she got that off her chest, she’d slip away with Kyle and they’d go for a late dinner. They wouldn’t return to the hospital until late the next day. She needed time to recuperate after the fight she was undoubtedly about to have with her mother.
“I don’t know why you come and visit me if you won’t even tell me where you disappeared to.”
“Mom…” She let out a deep sigh. “I don’t see how the two are interchangeable. I’m here because you’re my mother and you’re in the hospital. I love you and want to see you better.”
“Well you won’t have to worry about that any longer. The doctors said as long as I can keep solid food down I can go home tomorrow. So your obligations will be over. You and he can go back to doing whatever it is you did the other day.”
She had grown tired of how her mother had referred to Kyle and how she would say his name with such disgust. She had said so over the last few days but he had told her to just leave it be. It wasn’t something to get all upset about. To him, the way she thought less of him was just another example of how much his life had changed since he had returned from overseas. She wanted to address this, but her mother had always been set in her ways. Instead of fighting with both of them, she had taken to showing him just how much he meant to her.
He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, as if reminding her it was fine. That no matter what comments her mother made about him, he wasn’t going anywhere. They had more than a business arrangement. She loved him.
Before she decided what to say to her, Colin strolled back into the room carrying a dozen roses. The baby’s breath made the red roses stand out in a sharp contrast. Since she had set things straight with Colin, he had taken to bringing her flowers every day. The hospital room was beginning to look like a florist. Did he think he’d win her mother over with flowers? That it was the way to make her agree to marry him?
She shoved those thoughts away. It wasn’t her battle and she had enough to be concerned with. Now that he was back, the time had come to tell them about the ranch. Wanting reassurance, she reached up and laid her hand on Kyle’s.
“Mom…”
“Just go. I can’t even stand to see you sitting there acting like you care, when I know you’re just counting down the minutes until you can get out of here and back to the hotel with him.” She took the flowers Colin held out and brought them to her nose. “They smell beautiful. Thank you, darling.”
“If I’m counting down the minutes until I can get away from you it’s because of your attitude. The way you treat both of us. Kyle has done nothing to you; he’s accompanied me because he cares about me. It’s why he stands here and says nothing when you lie there and degrade him. Well, I’m tired of it. You might have treated me like this all my life but I won’t stand by while you do it to him.”
“Staci, it’s okay.”
She stood so she could look at him. “No, it isn’t.”
“I won’t have you upsetting…”
She spun toward Colin, stopping him midsentence, and for a brief moment, she wondered what he saw in her eyes that made him step back. For the first time since the fight with her mother over her college major, she’d reached her boiling point. A person could only take so much before they stopped sitting there and allowing someone to continue to nitpick at them. Well, that time had finally arrived. It might have taken longer than normal but she’d had enough of the disrespectful comments directed at Kyle.
“Don’t worry, Colin. I’ve only one thing to say and then we’re leaving.” She stepped back into Kyle’s embrace and kept them both in view.
“Young lady, after that outburst, I think you better just go back to your hotel room and remember what I taught you as a child. You treat your elders with respect. Until you can respect me and Colin, you are not welcome here.”
“You were so anxious to know where we went the other day, coming up with all those scandalous tales of what we could have been up to. Now you want me to leave, fine.” She snatched her bag from beside the chair and slipped it over her shoulder, completely aware of what she was doing. Her mother wouldn’t let her just stroll from the hospital room, when she was finally ready to dish the truth, but it would have taught her a lesson if they simply walked out on her.
“Tell me.” The hospital bed creaked up until her mother was sitting a little higher. “You’ve kept your secret for days. Now tell me.”
“Sure, but when we return I expect you to treat Kyle with that same respect you were just demanding. The nasty comments about his burns or his injures are over. He got them while fighting for his country, a job he volunteered for to keep us all safe. He has aske
d me not to create waves and just ignore the nasty remarks but no longer. You can say what you want about me, but you will leave him out of this. He deserves your respect. Maybe you should remember that little thing you taught me. If you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”
“Fine.” She practically spit out the word as if it left a nasty taste in her mouth.
“We went to see Mr. Cline.” She tipped her head back to look at Kyle and smiled. “You are now looking at the soon-to-be proud owners of the ranch. We close on it in a few weeks.”
“Impossible. We made sure he was selling it to someone else. I want better for my daughter than that ranch.”
She took a deep breath as her suspicions that her mother played a part in Colin’s actions were confirmed. What an underhanded, nasty… “Oh, mother dearest, I know you and Colin did your best to talk Mr. Cline into selling without informing me but it didn’t work.”
“I’ve worked to make a better life for you. To get you away from that ranch.”
“Your dreams, not mine.” She slipped her arm around Kyle’s waist. “It’s time I start living mine.”
“What about your degree?”
“I’ll take my last exams when we go home. We’ll pack and come back to our ranch.”
“There will be some changes made to the place.” Kyle rubbed his hand down her arm. “Besides it being a working ranch, we’re going to offer more. Staci’s going to be able to combine her degree and her love for the ranch.”
“How are you going to do that?” Colin pulled out the chair on the other side of the bed, sat down, and took her mother’s hand into his.
“We’re going to have a healing retreat. There’s a lot of land and we’re going to put it to good use. Heather has agreed to come and work for us once we have things up and running. She’s going to be an in-house therapist. I’ll be able to do physical therapy.”
“Who’s going to run the ranch?” Colin’s dislike thickened his voice. “Horses need a lot of care and taking care of a ranch that size takes work.”
“Clifford is the ranch manager and his son the lead horse trainer,” she answered.
“I’ll be heading up that part with them working directly with me,” Kyle added.
“A naive child and an invalid running a ranch. Who’d have thought?” Her mother shook her head. “Mr. Cline’s legacy will go down the drain within a year.”
“That’s enough!” Her voice rose as she fought back the tears and anger rising within. “We’re leaving tomorrow, and I won’t be stopping back before we go to the airport. You can give me a call when you’ve changed your attitude. You’ll know where to find me.”
“Mrs. Pence.” Even as she turned toward the door, Kyle stayed where he was. “You have an amazing daughter, and since we’ve been here I’ve realized that she must take after her father because unlike you, there’s not an evil bone in her body. She’s compassionate, thoughtful, strong, and she’ll fight for what she wants and believes in. Even though she’s doing just fine without your approval, there’s no doubt in my mind she’d like it. Yet every chance she gives you, you push her further away. You lie to others, using her as your scapegoat, and yet she puts up with it because she loves you. Don’t take that love for granted.”
“What do you know about it?” she snapped.
“I know that one day you might wake up and your whole world would have turned upside down. There might be a day when she’s not willing to stand by and let this continue. She’s got more backbone than any woman I’ve ever known.” He glanced at Staci before turning back to the bed. “Don’t waste your chance.”
“Maybe you should take your own advice because I think my daughter deserves better than you. She deserves not to have some broken down Marine with more scars than just those on the surface. I’ve lived through what your kind comes back with. I know the fear that boils within your loved ones at the possibility you might hurt them in a flashback rage.” She glared at him a moment longer before turning her attention to Staci. “I’d have thought after the hell your father put us through you’d stay away from them. I knew you were volunteering at that military hospital, but I never believed you’d stoop so low as to be engaged to one.”
“I love him and I don’t have any fear when it comes to him. He’d never hurt me.” She laced her fingers through his.
“I thought that same thing about your father once…” Her words trailed off. “Don’t be so sure.”
“He’s not Dad.” She tipped her head to the door. “Goodbye, Mother.”
As they made their way out of the hospital, she couldn’t help but feel that things between her and her mother would never be the same again. Sadness filled her as that door closed but she hoped it would lead to a better relationship with her mother in the future. Though somehow, she doubted it.
12
Chapter Twelve
Rather than going out for a quiet dinner to celebrate, they opted for takeaway Chinese and a movie back at the hotel. This had been Kyle’s idea because after leaving the hospital, he knew she wasn’t in the mood for what they had planned. They could reschedule the date until after the papers were final and the ranch was theirs. While Mrs. Pence had said some rude things, it was the look of sadness in Staci’s eyes that hurt him the most. Tonight, he had plans to take that look out of her eyes. Tonight was about them and her mother’s attitude wouldn’t spoil it.
Staci curled against his body so he could wrap his good arm around her and he wondered how he could have gotten so lucky. Everything he’d said at the hospital was the truth, but what she meant to him was so much more than that. She was amazing and her level of caring was unmatched. She had given him a reason to live again and showed him he was still a man. The love he had for her couldn’t be expressed in words.
“Kyle…” Her fingers teased over each of the buttons on his shirt as she made her way up his chest.
“Don’t, sugar. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” She tipped her head up toward him. “The things she said—”
“Are her opinions and everyone’s entitled to one. It doesn’t change anything between us and she hasn’t been the first one who has said those things to me. When military men and women return home injured or scared, so many want to push them back into a deep dark corner and forget about them. Some won’t let that happen, while others become recluses and let the opinions of others force them into hiding.” He squeezed her tighter to him. “Every once in a while, someone like you comes along to show a lonely Marine like me there’s something worth living for. I love you, Staci, and nothing she says is going to change that. There’s no need to apologize for her.”
“I just feel bad. You know I don’t feel that way, right? I love you for who you are not because I’ve taken pity on you. Pity has no place in our relationship. Your injuries brought us together since I was volunteering at the hospital, but they don’t define us. You know that, right?”
“I do.” He closed the distance between them and claimed her lips. The spiciness from the Chinese they’d had earlier still clung to her mouth, adding to the heat he felt raging within him. He tugged her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked it, before reclaiming her lips. When the kiss finally ended, she was breathless and her body pressed tightly against his. “Damn it, Staci. I want you.”
“I thought you’d never say that.” She smirked and let her fingers go to work on the buttons of his shirt.
“What?” He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to take that or maybe it was the desire pouring through him that confused him.
“I’ve wanted you for weeks now. Being here in the same hotel room as you, so close to you…it’s taken everything I’ve had not to push. I tried to give you the time I figured you needed but now your time’s up.”
“Communication.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck and placed soft kisses along her collarbone.
“Huh?”
“I’ve been doing the same but for a different reason.” He leaned bac
k so he could look at her. “Your mother is right about one thing…”
“Let’s not do that again.” She slipped on top of him, straddling his waist. “You’re the man I want. Now you’ve tied yourself to me as business partners, but I’m such a demanding woman I want more than just that. I want all of you.”
“Sugar, you’re shortchanging yourself. Look at me, I’m only half the man I was before.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Your injuries and scars don’t make you less of a person. They show that you have strength and courage. Where others might have given up, you fought. When I stepped into that hospital room, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. I only knew Brenda thought you needed someone and I was supposed to be that person. When I left, I was worried I had done more damage than good. It wasn’t until I showed up at your hotel room after you called and hung up that I realized how much you wanted to make a life for yourself. Before then, I don’t think you had even decided if you wanted to live or die yet.”
“Leaving the hospital, I thought I had. If you remember, I had the sidearm and whiskey in my bedside table. But I couldn’t get this woman out of my thoughts.” He grinned at her.
“Hmmm.” She ran her hands up his sides. “She must have been something special.”
“Oh, sugar, she is. Those whiskey brown eyes are so much better than real whiskey, and her attitude is not something to trifle with. But that’s what I love about her.” He reached up and tangled his hand in her hair, drawing her closer to him.
“Well then, I think it’s time we show each other.” She set to work on the last button of his shirt.
“Or scare you off,” he tried to tease but wasn’t able to keep the uncertain edge out of his voice. He stopped the dread from welling inside him at the thought of her seeing him naked. He kept in shape, working out more now than he did before his injures in order to keep the strength in his remaining limbs, but that wasn’t his issue. The problem was the scars hiding under his clothes. She had accepted his lack of limbs and the scars she could see—those were the flaws he couldn’t deny—but these were nothing like what he had hidden under the shirt.
Back From Hell (Marine For You Book 2) (Contemporary Military Veteran Romance) Page 9