by Robin Deeter
“Was I supposed to go? Did we have plans that I forgot about?” he asked, thinking that was why she was angry.
“No, we didn’t. I was going to suggest going over to play cards, but I’m sure what you’re doing is much more important.” Nora knew she was being churlish, but she couldn’t help it.
“I don’t have to go out there tonight.” Wheels was willing to put off his mission for a night if it would make Nora happy.
Bitterness entered her voice. “No. Just go do what you were going to do and I’ll do what I want to do. I don’t need your permission.”
Her confrontational tone surprised him. “I never said you needed permission to do anything. Besides, you’re just going to your folks’ place. It’s not like you’re going out carousing or something.”
“That’s right. If you can go to the Chowhound, I can go where I want.”
“It bothers you that I go there? Why?”
Nora spun around to face him, her blue eyes sparkling with anger. “You haven’t touched me in almost two weeks. Maybe you’ve gone back to seeing Wendy.”
Her accusation wounded his heart. He couldn’t believe that she would think such a thing.
“I’m not a cheater, Nora. I don’t have any need to see Wendy.”
“Well, you don’t seem to need me, either.”
Wheels tried to take her hand, but she wouldn’t let him. “Nora, I wish I could make you understand.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “What I understand is that you’re punishing me for what I did.”
“Punishing you? How could you think I would be that cruel?”
Nora shrugged. “That’s what it seems like. You’re angry that I went to see Wendy, so you don’t want anything to do with me.”
His hands clenched. “It’s easy for you to judge, but until you’ve been in my shoes, you’ll never understand.” He let out a frustrated noise and turned away. “Never mind. I’ll be back later.”
“You’re not going to eat?”
“I’m not hungry,” he muttered before going out the door.
Nora’s eyes filled with tears and she sat down at the table. Misery pressed down on her, making it impossible for her to stand at the moment. For the thousandth time, she cursed Luther. If he hadn’t opened his mouth, this wouldn’t be happening.
There was no way she could go to her parents’ house now. She’d never be able to hide her sadness and she didn’t want them asking a bunch of questions she couldn’t answer. Pulling herself together, she finished dinner even though she had no appetite. The food could be eaten the next day, so it wouldn’t go to waste.
That done, she cleaned up the kitchen and tidied up a few things in the parlor. There was nothing left to do and the lonely evening stretched out before her. Dejectedly, she settled on the couch with a book, knowing that she’d get little reading done.
Chapter Seventeen
Wheels was relieved to find Ray at home when he arrived at Sundance Ranch. He’d hated lying to his wife, but he didn’t want to answer questions about what he wanted to discuss with Ray.
Ray had been about to leave to go see Carly, but he didn’t mind being held up a little when he saw Wheels’ pensive expression.
He helped Wheels into his bunkhouse and offered him a beer.
“I’ll take one,” he said.
Ray handed him a drink and sat down in a chair. “What’s on your mind?”
Figuring that it was best to just get it over with, Wheels forged ahead, explaining the whole situation to Ray, who listened attentively without interrupting. When Wheels finished, Ray didn’t say anything right away. He got up and went to his dresser, fishing around in a drawer. He came back with a piece of thread and tied it around Wheels’ index finger.
Wheels looked at it. “What’s that for?”
Ray just smiled. “I have to admit that I’ve wondered about your ability to perform. It’s a natural thing to be curious about. It’s hard for a guy to admit that they have that sort of problem, so I admire you for talking about it. You came to the right place.
“You lucked into a good woman, Wheels. Don’t waste your time being embarrassed about this. Be grateful that she’s understanding and doesn’t mind dealing with it. It took a lot of courage for her to talk to Wendy. Put yourself in her shoes. What if it had been the other way around and you knew that I’d slept with Nora for a long time? Would you be brave enough to come to me like that?”
Wheels grimaced in distaste, and jealousy over the idea of Nora ever being with another man burned in his chest. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He sighed and cleared his throat. “Yes, I would.”
Ray cocked his head a little. “Why?”
“Because I love her so much that there’s nothing I won’t do for her,” he said, meeting Ray’s eyes.
Ray smiled. “That’s exactly how Nora felt. Wheels, I know what it’s like to not feel worthy of a woman. I still don’t feel like I deserve Carly. You know, I’ve been with so many women that I’ve lost count, but until recently, I didn’t know what it was to really be a man.”
Wheels gave him a dubious look. “How can that be? Like you said, you’ve been with a lot of women. I know guys who are jealous of you, including me in a way. You don’t have any physical problems regarding sex.”
Ray sighed. “Yeah. Sex. Simple, meaningless sex that never touched my heart.” He laughed. “Boy, is that sappy. It’s true, though. You know, I used to tease Johnny a lot because he’s never been with a woman. I thought he was backwards and I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t find a nice girl and have some fun.
“Turns out that he’s had it right all along. He’s determined to not sleep with a woman until he’s married. He wants to be in love with the woman he makes love with for the first time. He’s a lot stronger than me, a far better man. There are times when I wish that Carly was the only woman I’d ever been with.”
Wheels nodded. “I told him that it was easier to sleep with a woman than to resist that urge. I’m glad that I resisted it with Nora until we were married.”
Ray colored slightly. “You’re a better man than me, too.”
Wheels caught his meaning. “Oh. I see. Well, you know I don’t judge people, so I’m not gonna say anything against you about it. And everyone’s situation is different.”
“Yeah, ours certainly is. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you have physical problems, Wheels. You’re still a man. A good man. You’re honest and you care about people. You do the right things and you’re a hard worker. Those are the kinds of things that make you a man. I’m finally learning that,” Ray said.
Wheels groaned. “I know all that, it’s just hard to remember it. Most of the time I’m at peace with my life, my condition. What good will it do me to whine? It could be a lot worse. A lot worse. I’ve really tried to live each day to the fullest, to do whatever I was capable of doing. Why can’t I apply that to this subject?”
Ray asked, “Before you knew that Nora had gone to see Wendy, weren’t you doing just that?”
“Yeah.”
“Seems to me like that’s the real issue.”
Wheels’ hands tightened on his chair arms. “It’s one thing for a woman to get general advice about being with a man, but another when she has to ask how to make things happen because he’s defective.”
“I know how you feel,” Ray said.
Wheels snorted in derision. “No, you don’t.”
Ray grinned. “Hold up your finger.”
Wheels did. It was red, swollen, and tingled painfully. “Why did you tie this on there?”
“To demonstrate what I had to do sometimes in order to be able to satisfy a customer.”
Wheels looked back and forth between his finger and Ray. “You mean you tied something around your …?”
“Yep. Everybody thinks having sex three or four times a day is fun. It was when I first started out, but after a couple of years of that, sex was boring most of the time. There were some days when I could bar
ely trick myself into doing it. That’s when doing that came in handy. You can take that off now.”
As Wheels untied the thread, his mind processed the fact that Ray, a former professional, had had to resort to a trick like that. “We want to have a baby as soon as we can.”
Ray nodded. “Well, that might help a little, just don’t let it on too long. No guarantees or anything, though.”
Wheels grinned as the blood flowed out of his fingertip. “I have enough problems. I don’t need for it to fall off.”
Their laughter was accompanied by a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning.
“I guess that’s my cue to head home,” Wheels said. “Thanks for showing me what a dumbass I’ve been about this, Ray. I appreciate it.”
“I’m happy to help,” Ray said. “You know, it’s nice to have friends who know the truth about me, but don’t think less of me. I haven’t had many real friends over the years. Outside of Sandy and Jim, it’s just been Cotton and Johnny.”
It had to have been hard for Ray to get close to many people, given his former profession, Wheels reasoned. It wasn’t something that you told just anyone. Wheels extended a hand to Ray.
“Consider me a real friend, Ray. If there’s anything I can ever help you with, just let me know. And you should bring Carly and come over for dinner with our family sometime. It’ll be a real education for you. It’s usually pretty hectic,” Wheels said.
Ray shook his hand. “Thanks. I appreciate it and I’ll do that. Carly would get a kick out of the kids. She’s great with them. She spoils Hector’s brother and sisters.”
A closer rumble of thunder rolled overhead.
“Oh, boy. I better shake a leg,” Wheels said.
Ray helped him outside and Wheels made a beeline for his unusual vehicle that was essentially a modified chariot. Ray watched with amused admiration as Wheels rolled up the ramp, pulled it up, and latched it into place. Bidding Ray goodbye, he set Flash out at his fastest pace. The Standardbred settled down into his smooth trotting gait and sped along the road.
Streaked lightning hit the ground to their left, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. Flash shied away, making the chariot rock back and forth. Only the fact that the chariot had been specifically designed to resist tipping over saved Wheels from being dumped out. Wheels pulled Flash down into a slower pace, letting the horse settle down a little before urging him on again.
A huge blast of hot air suddenly hit Wheels and Flash. Dirt and other debris stung their eyes and made it hard to breathe. Flash protested and began bucking, trying to escape the chariot. Wheels cursed and unlatched the ramp. Flash’s violent movements made navigating down it difficult and Wheels had to catch himself from being thrown onto his side by bracing an arm against the ramp at one point.
He made it to Flash’s head and took hold of his reins, trying to calm the horse. More lightning split the sky and Flash jerked away from Wheels. As the thunder faded, another, much more ominous sound grew louder. Wheels scanned the darkening sky, knowing full well what that growling, moaning sound meant.
A moment later, he moved into action. He took out his large pocket knife and started slashing at the harness and reins. Without the chariot to pull, Flash had a good chance of escaping the coming twister. He’d gotten all but one of the harness straps cut when the wind picked up dramatically and the rain started.
It slammed into them, a sidewise wall of precipitation that pummeled them so hard that the drops felt more like needles than liquid. Flash hauled against the remaining rein so hard that it snapped. It wasn’t necessary for Wheels to tell him to run. The horse took off and Wheels turned his attention to his own precarious situation.
The next round of lightning revealed to him just how dire it really was when his gaze took in the thin funnel heading in his general direction. The wind alternately sucked and pushed at him. He was literally a sitting duck, unable to move fast enough down the road in his chair to get out of harm’s way and or to run away over the fields.
The chariot moved, skidding across the road, and the gale turned the harness straps into whips. Hail rained down on Wheels as he was blown over. He covered his face to shield it from the driving balls of ice with one hand and used his other to get his legs into position so he could turn over onto his stomach.
He might not be able to run, but he could rapidly drag himself as far as possible. With any luck, it would be far enough to keep him from being killed. But luck didn’t seem to be on his side. He didn’t make it far from the chair, maybe a few feet before he couldn’t make headway.
Gathering himself, he put all of his might into pulling himself across the road to the field there. Yet again, he couldn’t move. Something was wrong. Doing an awkward crabwalk with his arms, he turned back towards his wheelchair. The long, loose reins from the chariot had snared not only the chair, but one of his ankles.
The growl had grown into a roar and small debris pelted Wheels, cutting his skin and forcing him to close his eyes. Blindly, he scrambled back toward the chariot, gaining some slack in the soaked lines. Opening his eyes, he started cutting at the slick, thick leather reins. He made it about halfway through before the chariot was lifted completely off the ground, dragging the chair and him with it.
Fortunately, it only rose about ten feet before it and Wheels crashed back to earth. Dazed, Wheels shook his head and crawled backward before flipping over again to renew his fight with the reins. If he had any chance of survival, he had to get free of the chariot and chair.
The iron determination that had gotten him through all of the adversity he’d faced since his injury rose once again, giving him the strength to redouble his efforts. He wasn’t going to let some damn tornado make his wife a widow and take away his chance to live a full, happy life with her. He wasn’t about to let it take away the chance to apologize to her and make things right. And he certainly wasn’t going to allow it to keep him and Nora from having kids, whether they be biological or adopted.
“C’mon, Wheels! Get this thing done or you ain’t gonna have to worry about tying anything around your thing to get it to work!” he ground out between his teeth.
He burst into laughter over his remark just as the whirling winds whisked the chariot along, jerking the reins and knife out of Wheels’ hands. Wheels didn’t panic even though he was being dragged behind the chariot. He wasn’t Vern Ellis’ son for nothing.
The keen, inventive man who’d devised so many fantastical contraptions over the years had passed on the same trait to his youngest boy. Wheels saw that he’d been going about it all wrong. His original idea about slack in the lines would’ve have served him better than trying to cut through the reins.
With Herculean effort, he grabbed the pant leg of his free leg and pulled it toward him. Holding it in place with one hand, he used the other to pry off his boot, which flew away as soon as it had loosened. Grasping his pant legs, Wheels pulled himself into a sitting position the way he’d used to when he’d first been learning how to sit up on his own again.
As he made it, something glanced off his shoulder and hit his head, but he didn’t loosen his hold on his pants. Most likely it was his chair. He let go of his free leg and used the snared leg to bend over. His hand encountered the reins and he grabbed onto them, yanking hard on them as his backside scraped along the ground.
Because he couldn’t feel his legs, there was no pain when his tendons and muscles were stretched beyond the normal limit where anyone else would have found it excruciating. So bending double didn’t bother Wheels in the least. Holding onto the reins, he undid his belt, ripping it out of the belt loops and then unbuttoning them.
If he could work his foot loose enough from his boot, then it would slide through his pants, but the pants would have to come off, too. He wasn’t taking the chance that they’d get hung up by the reins somehow, too. Time was running out and this was his last chance to survive.
His free leg hindered him now, getting snagged on tall grass and rocks.
His luck changed, swinging back into his favor like a pendulum that Fate dangled from its fickle hand. The chariot also caught on the field grass, giving Wheels the precious moments he needed. Now able to use both of his hands, he bent over, grabbed the boot and yanked so hard that he felt something pop in his left shoulder.
Intense pain flared through the offended joint, but his foot came loose just as the chariot and chair were plucked from the field again. Wheels went with them, but he shoved at his pants with his right hand, desperately trying to get the damn things off. The wind helped him, sucking them away from his legs, and sending him hurtling through space.
Chapter Eighteen
When the first loud crack of thunder sounded, Nora both jumped and smiled. She loved thunderstorms, but she hadn’t been expecting the noise. It was the first indication that a storm was coming. Then she frowned because she worried that Wheels would get caught in it on his way home.
That thought wouldn’t leave her alone. Lightning flashed and Ollie cuddled even closer to her, his compact body trembling. She put him on her lap and hugged him.
“It’s all right. You’re safe.”
More thunder rolled overhead and Ollie buried his face against her. Nora jumped again when someone pounded on their door. Ollie wouldn’t let her put him down, so she carried him with her to answer the door.
“Nora, you come on with me. We’re going to the basement. It’s a bad one,” Vern said as soon as she opened the door.
Rain had just begun to fall. Knowing that Vern had various weather instruments that he used to keep track of storms, Nora didn’t doubt that he knew what he was talking about.
“Where’s Wheels?” he asked.
“He went to see Johnny.”
Vern pursed his lips. “Okay. Well, c’mon.”
Nora grabbed her sweater and put it over Ollie, following Vern across the yard that separated their two houses. They’d just reached the back porch when the heavens opened, sending both rain and hail crashing down onto the house.