by Arlene James
“Nothing,” Kendra announced, sounding deeply disappointed.
Jack reached into the backseat and grabbed the veil to show her. “There’s this.”
“This was in the car?” she asked with a frown as she reluctantly took the long, sheer piece of lace-edged fabric into her hand.
“You were wearing it when I found you.”
Her jaw dropped as the gossamer material filtered out of her hand and wafted on the breeze. “Wearing it?” She stared at the wide, satin-covered headband to which the fabric was anchored, then looked down at her jeans and athletic shoes. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, that makes two of us. Maybe you were running from your wedding.”
“Why would I do that?” she demanded.
Jack shook his head. “Don’t know. You aren’t wearing an engagement ring.”
She checked her left hand, verifying the truth of his statement. “I’m so confused.”
“You don’t recognize the car, even?”
Walking slowly around the driver’s side of the bright red coupe, she shook her head, but when she came to the front, she stopped and stared at the crumpled bumper.
“Was I in the backseat?” she asked after a moment.
“No. You were driving.”
Her eyes grew wide. “No! I—I remember being in the backseat! And there were other people in the car.”
“Not this car,” Jack stated firmly. “You were alone, behind the wheel and wearing that veil when I got to you.” He pointed to the fabric now crumpled in her arms.
“Maybe they ran away before you got there,” she proposed.
“No way. I arrived right after the crash. Besides, the car was suspended over a ditch. No one could have gotten out of this car without help. Doc had to make a bridge from a ladder and planks to get to you.”
She gulped. “But I had this flash of... I could see the backs of their heads, and the car was sliding so fast.”
“Could be you imagined it,” he surmised, “or maybe it’s a memory of another accident. Think back. Who are these people you remember?”
Frowning, she seemed to turn her gaze inward. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t know. It was just a flash. Two people in the front seat and me in the back.” Her face screwed up with the effort to remember. “There’s nothing else. Nothing.”
She looked so helpless that he had to quell the urge to slip a comforting arm around her. Instead, he said, “We ought to get on our way. Lupita will have supper ready soon.”
“Lupita?” she asked in a dull voice.
“Our housekeeper and cook.”
“Hmm.”
She barely seemed to notice that he turned her toward his truck and opened the truck door for her. He had to take her by the arm and all but lift her up into the seat.
“You’ve been very kind,” she said suddenly, fixing those hazel eyes on him.
He felt like he was staring straight into her frightened soul. Then her thick brown lashes fluttered down, masking her fear.
Shaken, he once again moved around the truck and got into the driver’s seat. He told himself as they drove through town that he would keep his distance after he got her out to the ranch. His sisters and Lupita could take care of her, make her feel welcome. She shouldn’t be around for long, anyway. Someone was bound to be missing a woman like her. Probably a man, a fiancé, maybe.
For some reason, the idea irritated Jack. But, then, he reasoned, everything irritated him lately.
* * *
Watching the storefronts pass by on the tree-lined main street, Kendra felt an odd sense of familiarity. Yet, she could not recall ever having seen any of the businesses before this moment, not the Grassland Coffee Shop or the Ranch House Bakery or the Corner Drug Store, not the Grasslands Bank or the library or the school. She stared at the Grasslands Community Church as Jack brought the truck to a brief halt at the four-way stop sign on the edge of the small-town green.
The sanctuary was a modest building of all white, from the tip of its tall steeple to the painted concrete steps leading to the white-paneled door tucked beneath a peaked overhang. She stared, transfixed, at the stately chapel, which sat in simple splendor among the pecan trees and graveled walkways on the green lawn. Behind it stood a more modern building, and between the two lay graveled paths winding through a garden of shrubs, rosebushes and flowerbeds. A prayer garden, she surmised, judging by the white cross that rose between a pair of crepe myrtles. Kendra felt a sudden, wrenching need to kneel there and beg God to return her memories to her, but Jack had already started the truck on its way again.
Had this, then, been her destination? But if she had been on her way to Grasslands when she’d wrecked the car, why didn’t someone here recognize her?
She looked down at the veil in her hands and shivered. Had she been running from someone or something? But who or what?
Did someone out there miss her, need her, want her? Or was she as alone in this world as she felt? Alone, except for the cowboy behind the steering wheel. Suddenly, Jack Colby had become her lifeline in a cold and tumultuous sea of confusion.
* * *
“Your ranch is farther from town than I thought,” Kendra remarked.
Jack cocked a shoulder in a truncated shrug. “It’s a big ranch.”
“I see.”
A big ranch apparently required a big gate, for they soon came upon one. Slowing the truck, Jack turned it between the square, head-high rock columns and guided it over the cattle guard beneath the metal arch with a circle at its apex. Inside the circle, three Cs intertwined.
“Is that your brand?” she asked, referring to the letters inside the circle above their heads.
“Yep. The three Cs are for my mom, me and my sister, Violet.”
“I thought I heard you say ‘sisters,’ plural.”
“Uh-huh. The other is Maddie.”
“But she’s not part of the ranch?”
Jack shifted in his seat. “Well, she lives here,” he said vaguely.
Kendra wanted to ask why the brand didn’t have four Cs then, but she decided to keep her comments to herself as the truck accelerated along the straight, graveled drive, barbed wire flanking it on both sides.
A number of structures came into view. First, a corral built of metal pipe on the left. Straight ahead stood a magnificent two-story house constructed of native stone and brown brick. All graceful arches and mullioned windows with a porch across the front, it sat surrounded by mature trees and a wrought-iron fence. Behind it stood a number of cottages, some in better shape than others, several sheds and a large metal barn sprouting corrals and pens on both sides. Sand-colored with a green roof, the barn drew Kendra’s eye. She felt an odd yearning and wondered what animals resided within.
“I see that you keep horses in the barn,” she ventured eagerly.
Jack nodded. “Personal stock, mostly.”
“Cows, too, I imagine.”
He gave her an odd look. “Two at the moment, an ailing calf and a late springer.”
A late springer. “A heifer giving birth later than normal,” she muttered, wondering how she knew that.
“You’ve been on a ranch before?” Jack asked, turning the truck through a second gate, a smaller version of the first one.
“It would seem so,” she told him. “I don’t remember it, though. Do you have any other animals around?”
“Sure,” Jack said. Ignoring the sweeping gravel drive in front of the house, Jack guided the truck around to the side of the building. “Pigs, chickens, goats. We try to be as self-sufficient as possible.”
She nodded, thinking about that. “Are you using the goats for cheese and milk or butchering?”
“Cheese and milk.” He brought the truck to a halt beneath a large covered p
arking area that sheltered a trio of other vehicles. “You’ve been around animals.” A statement, not a question.
“It would seem so,” she agreed.
“Well, you’re in the right place, then,” he told her, nodding at a dog that trotted into view. “That’s Nipper.”
“Brindle Australian shepherd,” she said, amazed that she knew these things.
A young woman with long auburn hair caught in a ponytail at the nape of her neck followed the dog into the carport, slapping a pair of leather gloves against one jeaned thigh.
“That’s my sister, Violet,” Jack said, opening his door.
Feeling suddenly shy, Kendra slowly slid from the truck to the concrete floor of the carport.
“Hey, y’all,” Violet greeted them as Nipper trotted over to give Jack a doggy grin. He bent to ruffle the dog’s fur.
“Sis, this is our new guest.”
“Call me Kendra,” she said, putting out her hand.
Violet gripped her hand with her own smaller one. “Hello, Kendra. Nice to meet you. Welcome to the Colby Ranch.”
“Thank you. I’m very grateful for the invitation.”
“I understand that you were in an accident.”
Kendra glanced at Jack. “Yes.”
“She doesn’t remember anything about it,” Jack said, avoiding Kendra’s gaze.
Violet lifted her slender brows. “That might be for the best. I hear a lot of folks don’t remember accidents. Things just happen too fast to register sometimes, I guess.”
“Actually,” Kendra said hesitantly, looking to Jack again, “I don’t remember anything at all.” Realizing that he hadn’t told his sister about the amnesia, she quickly added, “About myself, I mean. I—I don’t even remember my own name. I don’t know where I’m from, why I was on that road.... Nothing.”
Violet stood with her mouth open for several heartbeats, then she suddenly lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Kendra. “You poor thing!”
Kendra blew out a breath, relieved beyond words. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done if your family hadn’t invited me to stay here.”
Violet abruptly backed up, turning her chocolate-brown eyes on her brother. “Yeah. Huh.” She smiled at Kendra. “No problem. Come on in. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Jack lifted a hand to indicate the door, still not meeting Kendra’s gaze. She followed Violet through a hallway tiled with large white squares and on through an open doorway into a kitchen the size of a small airplane hangar. Outfitted with rich, dark woods, pale granite and stainless steel, it boasted a work island easily twelve feet long. Various pots bubbled and simmered on a six-burner, professional-quality stove, watched over by a small, brown-skinned woman, presumably the aforementioned Lupita, with long, dark, silver-streaked hair.
One end of the room opened to an octagonal breakfast area with a large, square table at its center. A carbon copy of Violet with shorter hair stood over a young girl seated at the table, schoolbooks spread out before her.
“Maddie and Darcy, this is Kendra,” Violet said.
“Twins,” Kendra blurted as the woman looked up at her.
The girl, who appeared to be about eight, had a brown ponytail and brown eyes. She smiled at Jack, who winked at her.
Maddie laughed. “Yes.” She nodded at Jack, saying, “He’s a twin, too, you know. He and our brother Grayson.”
Kendra looked at Jack, who frowned before muttering, “I’m gonna get washed up.”
“Dinner in fifteen minutes!” the Hispanic woman at the stove called.
Jack nodded and walked out of the room. Kendra watched him go with a sinking heart. Feeling lost and alone, she smiled awkwardly at the two young women watching her with curious, identical eyes.
“After dinner, I’ll show you to your room,” Violet said to her. She then lifted a hand toward the stove. “This is Lupita. She takes care of us all.”
“Hola,” the woman greeted her.
Kendra smiled. “Hola, Lupita. Por favor llámeme Kendra.”
“You speak Spanish!” Lupita returned with a wide grin.
Apparently, she did, but she couldn’t think where or how she’d learned. “A little,” she murmured self-consciously.
“More than a little, I’d say,” Violet commented. “Maybe you can help Lupita dish up while I set the table in the dining room and Maddie makes sure Darcy gets her homework finished before her dad comes for her.”
“I’d be glad to,” Kendra said, moving toward the stove, from which delicious smells animated. One she recognized. “Fried okra.”
“Sí, Señorita Kendra. It is one of Jack’s favorites.”
“It’s one of my favorites, too,” Kendra said, but then she knew that was not quite right. It was the favorite of someone else, someone close to her, but when she tried to think who it could be, she got nothing. Shaking away the troubling thought, she took the slotted spoon that Lupita offered her and began dipping out the crisp, golden rounds from the fat simmering in a large cast-iron skillet on the stove. “You use a combination of cornmeal and flour for the breading, I see,” she noted.
“But dip the cut okra in egg first,” Lupita confirmed with a pleased nod.
“I do the same,” Kendra murmured, wondering how she could know these small things about herself and not know the important ones.
Swallowing, she concentrated on frying the next batch of okra while Lupita forked a stack of ham steaks onto a platter and began making gravy. Checking the other pots on the stove, Kendra found green beans and boiled potatoes.
“Should the potatoes be mashed?” she asked Lupita.
“Yes. I use the electric mixer on the counter. Milk and butter in the refrigerator.”
Setting to work, Kendra drained the potatoes, added the milk and butter and whipped the lot into a thick, creamy consistency. As she turned the creamed potatoes into the serving bowl that Lupita set out for her, she heard heavy footsteps behind her, then Jack asked, “What are you doing?”
She glanced over her shoulder then back to the objects in her hand. Wasn’t it obvious?
“Miss Kendra knows her way around the kitchen,” Lupita announced proudly, but a glance showed Kendra that Jack’s frown had only deepened.
“She’s not here to work.”
Baffled, Kendra set down the pot in which she’d mixed the potatoes and pivoted around. “Why shouldn’t I help out? What else am I going to do? I certainly don’t want to sit around all day worrying about what I can’t remember.”
Jack grimaced then pointed to the bandage on her head. “Don’t forget that you’re still injured.”
She lifted a hand to lightly finger the adhesive bandage. “This is minor. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“It did enough damage to cause amnesia,” he grumbled. “That’s not what I call minor.”
Aware of Lupita’s interested gaze avidly moving back and forth between them, Kendra nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Jack just looked at her, his hands sweeping from the side pockets of his jeans to his back pockets, as if they couldn’t quite decide where to light. Then his gaze fell on the platter of ham steaks waiting on the island. Without a word, he picked it up and carried it out of the room. Kendra turned back to the chore at hand, only to find Lupita leaning to one side in order to send a look around her to Maddie, her eyebrows slowly lifting.
“What?” Kendra couldn’t help asking. Lupita just folded her hands, a blank look on her face. Kendra turned to Maddie, but she, too, had put on a bland expression.
“Oh, nothing,” Maddie said. “I’ve just never seen Jack carry food to the table before.”
Lupita snorted. “He sits, he eats, he leaves.”
Kendra didn’t know what to say to that or if it even warranted comment. After all, he w
ouldn’t have carried that platter just to keep her from doing it. Would he?
* * *
Ty Garland, the ranch foreman, came for Darcy just as the family began gathering around the long plank table in the dining room. The girl turned out to be his daughter, and from the way he and Maddie interacted, Kendra deduced that they were romantically involved. Maddie introduced Ty to Kendra then urged him to stay for the meal. He acquiesced readily, before disappearing into the hallway to “wash up.” Maddie followed, and Kendra could hear Jack grinding his teeth as they waited for the pair to return. Darcy giggled when they reappeared, holding hands and smiling at each other. Clearing his throat, Ty folded his tall frame into the chair beside Darcy. Maddie took the seat on the girl’s other side.
Kendra automatically bowed her head. Beside her, Violet did the same. Jack sat at the end of the table. After a moment, he began to speak the blessing.
“Lord, we thank You for the bounty of this land that feeds us, and for all those, past and present, whose labor blesses us. Keep us ever mindful of Your tender mercies and generosity.” He paused briefly then added, “And heal Mom. Please let her come back to us soon. Oh, and help our guest get her memory back and everything squared away. In Jesus’s name, amen.”
Kendra quietly thanked him for including her in the prayer. She wanted to ask what was wrong with his mother, but she didn’t want to pry. Perhaps she could ask later in private. As the food passed and plates piled high, Maddie began to fill in Ty on Darcy’s day. The girl had apparently just started school. He listened quietly, occasionally nodding his head and smiling. Once, he reached over and patted Darcy’s hand. The girl paused eating long enough to beam a smile up at him. Maddie went on to say that she’d talked to her “other boss” about doing a regular column on the school.
Violet mentioned that Maddie worked part-time at the local newspaper, as well as taking care of Darcy. Talk then turned to a brand of shirts that both Violet and Maddie liked. A certain style had apparently gone on sale. Obviously pleased, Maddie said she’d take a look the following morning.