by Annie Pelle
CeCe and Greg gasped at the enormous stable that they entered. “It is beautiful. Look at all the horses.”
“Why don’t you just wander around for a few minutes and look.” Nathan supplied. “Then we can answer any questions that you might have. And after lunch, you can go for a ride.”
“Thank you; that would be wonderful.” Greg and CeCe started to wander around. Lindsay pulled David aside and asked about Sarah. “Dalton said she was supposed to be here, where is she?”
“You heard her Lin, Sarah didn’t plan to come today.”
“I don’t get it. Why won’t she come here?”
“We will have to deal with that later; we have guests to impress right now.” David started after Greg and CeCe.
David and Nathan answered questions as the group walked around. Then they headed to the house for lunch. Gabby had created a fabulous meal. Nick joined the lunch and was surprised not to see Sarah. He looked to his parents for an explanation but didn’t get one. During lunch David’s cell phone rang. David excused himself to another room after seeing Dalton’s name on the display.
“Hi Dalton, how was the meeting?”
“It was a meeting. How are things out there? Are Greg, CeCe and Sarah there yet?
“Well, Greg and CeCe are here. Sarah did not come.”
“WHAT?”
“Calm down. They said she planned for just the two of them to come today.”
“I said I will see you on Saturday at the ranch. She knew we were expecting her.”
“I cannot answer that; but, Lindsay is a bit down now.”
“I am going to call Sarah. I’ll talk to you later.”
David returned to the meal and joined in the conversation. “How about taking a ride now?”
Greg was quick to reply. “I would love to. CeCe is not able to ride though.”
“Then she can just hang out with me.” replied Gabby
“Thank you Gabby that would be lovely.”
Dalton was dialing Sarah’s number practically before ending the call to his brother. He was going to get an explanation from her today.
“Sarah Dawson”
His tone was firm and not friendly “It’s Dalton, Sarah. Get ready, I am on my way to pick you up and take you to the ranch.”
“No, I am not going to the ranch.”
“That wasn’t a request. We expected you to come today. You said you would be there”
“No, I did not.”
“I told you on Thursday that I would see you at the ranch.”
“I heard you but I did not agree or disagree with you. Why does it matter?”
“Sarah, your family expected you to come home today. Lindsay is upset.”
Sarah kept quiet because she couldn’t get a voice to respond. This is so painful. Why is he doing this? I have to end this today, no matter what it does to the foundation.
“Sarah, answer me”
“Where are you?” Sarah questioned
“What does that matter? I am on my way to get you.”
“Where are you?”
“I am just leaving downtown Phoenix.”
“Meet me at the park near 83rd and Bell. I’ll be at the north entrance. I will watch for you.”
“Why?”
“I’m headed there now. I should be there ahead of you.”
“Fine. I am on my way.”
Sarah reached the park in a few minutes. She was extremely nervous about this meeting, just answer his questions. That is all you have to do. She found a shaded bench and sat down to wait for Dalton. He found her a few minutes later still dressed in his work clothes but he had left the coat and tie in the car.
“Why here, Sarah?”
“Why are you doing this? Why did I need to go to the ranch today?”
“Why didn’t you go with Greg and CeCe? You know everyone wants you to come home.”
“This was not my outing. I am their employee.”
Clearly exasperated Dalton argued “Don’t give me that. They know that you know us. They would have allowed you to go with them.”
“What does it matter? So I didn’t go. Why did you threaten to drag me to the ranch with you?”
“I didn’t threaten you. I just wasn’t giving you any choice in the matter and I am still not. You are going to the ranch this afternoon.”
“No” she said as she looked away.
He took hold of her chin and turned her to face him. “Lindsay wants to spend time with you. You are going!”
She removed his hand from her chin and responded “Why are you being this way? Please let it go.”
“No, Sarah, I won’t let it go. Your family wants to see you come home. David and Nick haven’t seen you at all. And Gabby and Nathan want us all to be together at Stage West.”
“I can’t.” Sarah replied softly. “I really can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
High emotion raised Sarah’s voice “Take your pick the reason is the same.”
Dalton was mad and his voice showed it “Then tell me the reason, no one understands this Sarah. You left without a word for five years. We have waited long enough for an explanation, tell me. Then we can forget this nonsense and you can be friends with Lindsay again. ”
Sarah would have been able to ignore his statement but he had pushed the line with his forceful tone. “Don’t you get it Dalton? I can’t be friends with Lindsay again. The reason I left in the first place is still there. Nothing has changed in five years.”
“You can’t be friends with Lindsay? Again can’t or won’t”
“I would give pretty much anything to be Lindsay’s friend again, but this is not something I can change. I lost in this too. I gave up my….” She couldn’t continue the sentence
“Lost what? From where I sit, it was your choice to disappear without any explanation.”
Sarah got up off the park bench to head to her car.
“Running again? Is it going to be another five years before you are seen again? Yeah, you really look like you lost something. What did you give up?”
She rounded on him in a flash. “I gave up my best friend and I gave her up because of you.” She gasped and hid her face Oh no, she was never supposed to tell anyone that secret.
“What did I have to do with this?” Dalton asked extremely surprised. “I didn’t talk to you that day, how could I be at fault?”
Sarah’s slow burn temper had reached its boiling point and she gave it to Dalton at full force. “No, you didn’t talk to me that day. But you certainly said plenty to Nick about me. I was in the barn Dalton. I heard you tell Nick that you couldn’t believe that Lindsay had invited me to your birthday party. Do you want me to repeat the rest of it too? I can. I have heard it repeated over and over in my head for years. I did not belong at your party, I was not pretty enough, I wouldn’t dress right, and I would be an embarrassment. Birthday parties are for people that are your friends and you want to be around them. I didn’t qualify for that at all. And if you never saw me again, it would be fine with you. Maybe I will get sick and can’t come. Well, your birthday wish came true and you didn’t even know it. But I did, I have lived with it for five years. I lived with the fact that I wasn’t good enough to be near you. I lived with the fact that I didn’t have a friend anymore because I wouldn’t come between Lindsay and her brother. I lived it day after day. I lived it every time I looked in a mirror and saw that I wasn’t beautiful enough. I lived it every time I thought about having a new friend, maybe I am not good enough for them either. I may have been lost for all this time but you weren’t. I saw you in newspaper articles and magazines, I heard about you in conversations and on the news. And I lived with how unworthy I was with each story because your words just wouldn’t go away. I was at fault because I was where I didn’t belong. Well, now even though it isn’t your birthday you are still getting your wish. You never have to see me again.
” Sarah turned once again and ran for her car.
Dalton sat at the park for several minutes trying to assimilate all Sarah had thrown at him. All of this was his fault. He had caused his sister to lose her best friend. Now he knew the story and would have to share it with the rest of his family. They were going to hate him. Dalton got into his car and headed for the ranch still trying to wrap his mind around what Sarah had told him.
Thankfully, no one was at the estate when Sarah arrived home. She parked her car and rushed into her house and fell to the sofa. The pain of reliving those words from Dalton was now fresh again and still as painful. She now was responsible for hurting him as much as he had hurt her. She had forgiven him years ago because she had to try to let go but now she would have to live with hurting another person just as she was hurt. “Maybe in time I can ask for his forgiveness, that secret was supposed to be mine forever.”
Chapter 8
When Dalton arrived back at Stage West, he found everyone sitting around the pool enjoying conversation and sharing memories. He didn’t want to go join them but didn’t feel like he had a choice. “Hello everyone. How was the riding today?” Dalton asked without the usual spark he had. He received answers of “great”, “exciting” but didn’t really share in their enthusiasm. “Greg and CeCe did you find a horse that suited you?” again asking but not really caring about an answer. “Yes, we did. Nathan is going to deliver it when he comes to see Sarah next week.” Greg replied.
“Dalton” CeCe called to get his attention “I have been waiting for you to get here so I could ask you a question. How about we take a walk?” CeCe had noticed a difference in Dalton’s manner from the second he came into her sight. She was really good at reading people and Dalton had a problem.
“Certainly” replied Dalton and escorted CeCe around the side of the house. “What can I do for you?”
“Dalton, I don’t mean to stick my nose in your business but are you okay?” CeCe probed.
Dalton was surprised by her query and tried to find a good response.
“It is okay, sometimes I can read people and what I read from you is bad news.” CeCe spoke before Dalton could.
“Yes, I was mad that Sarah didn’t come to the ranch so I called her on the phone…”
“Oh no, she told you didn’t she?” CeCe gasped as her hand flew to her mouth
Now Dalton was even more stunned. CeCe was aware of the story. “Dalton, she just told me on Monday when I forced it out of her in exchange for keeping you busy at the party the other night. She didn’t want you to have the opportunity to speak to her. Well, that didn’t come out right either. We have enjoyed getting to know you and your family very much.”
“It’s okay CeCe. I understand what you meant.” Dalton said as he interrupted her explanation. “Yes, Sarah and I met at the park and I made her mad enough that the story just came pouring out of her. And then she told me I was getting my birthday wish and I would never have to see her again.” Dalton hung his head in sadness.
“Oh, Dalton, I am so sorry. She told me that she never wanted you to know that story.” CeCe gripped Dalton’s arm in sympathy. “She blames herself for the whole thing. I don’t understand why, but it is a “Sarah thing”. She said it was her fault that you were upset with Lindsay in the first place.”
Dalton interrupted. “Please don’t say anymore. I feel bad enough.”
“I shouldn’t have said all of that and I shouldn’t have interfered…” stammered CeCe
“No, please don’t apologize. It is okay. I am going to put on my usual face and we are going to return to everyone and finish out your day with us. I am going to pretend nothing is wrong.” Dalton returned CeCe to the group gathered around the pool.
“I hope that was the answer to your questions, CeCe.”
“Yes, thank you Dalton.”
Conversation resumed and continued for several more hours until CeCe could tell Dalton needed them to leave. “Greg, we need to be going. Thank you all for a wonderful day. Your home is beautiful.” CeCe said as she started to stand.
David was the first to reply. “It was our pleasure to have you. We will have to do this again soon.” His sentiments were echoed by the whole family. The family escorted them to the car and CeCe caught Dalton’s eye and gave him a timid smile of encouragement.
As they pulled away from the ranch, Greg raised the window partition so that he and CeCe could speak freely. “Spill it, what is up? What question were you dying to ask Dalton?”
“I noticed as soon as Dalton came up that the usual spark was gone from his eye. You know how I am, I can tell certain things. So I dragged him away under false pretenses and I was right. He had called Sarah because he was mad at her for not coming today. They had a fight and the whole story came out.”
Greg was stunned. “Sarah told Dalton the story? Did he say how she was?”
“I didn’t think it was appropriate of me to ask about Sarah when Dalton’s pain was so fresh.” CeCe returned.
“True. Here call Sarah!” Greg thrust the phone at CeCe
“Let’s wait until we get closer to home. Then I’ll ask her to meet us at the house. Ok?”
Dalton left the group standing in the driveway with an excuse about a call he needed to make. Everyone returned to the house commenting on how much fun the day had been and how much better it would have been had Sarah been there.
Later that evening when Lindsay was in her office, Dalton knocked on the door. “Hey, Lin can I talk to you a minute?”
“Sure, come in.”
Dalton paced nervously along the walls. He lifted books and put them back trying to work up the nerve to speak.
“Dalton, are you okay?”
Dalton took a deep breath and began “Lindsay did you know I called here earlier today and talked to David?”
“No”
“Well, when he told me Sarah was not here, I got really mad and called her on the phone. I told her I was coming to get her to bring her to the ranch. She didn’t want to come so instead her idea was to meet at a park in Peoria. I was still mad when I got there and she was being unreasonable about coming here so I pushed and said some things until she got really mad right back. Lin, she told me what happened five years ago.”
Lindsay hadn’t been expecting that comment from her brother. “Finally, please tell me.”
“I will but I want to know if you want to hear it first by yourself or if you want to hear it at the same time as everyone else.”
“I guess everyone should hear it, we all have wondered.”
“Okay, let’s get everyone here and I’ll tell the story.” Dalton replied
Dalton called David, Nick, Gabby and Nathan to the living room. This was going to be one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life. How was his family going to react? As everyone gathered, Dalton paced. Finally he started his story the same way as he had in Lindsay’s office.
“Besides David, did any of you know I called here earlier today and talked to David?”
“No” was the answer he got from everyone.
“Well, when he told me Sarah was not here, I got really mad and called her on the phone. I told her I was coming to get her to bring her to the ranch. She didn’t want to come so instead her idea was to meet at a park in Peoria. I was still mad when I got there and she was being unreasonable about coming here so I pushed and said some things until she got really mad right back. She told me what happened five years ago.”
Tears came immediately to Gabby’s eyes but Dalton couldn’t look at her if he wanted to get this story out. So he began to pace again and then decided he needed to face his beloved sister with this story. Even though his whole family was there he spoke mainly to his sister. “Lindsay, it is all my fault. The morning of my birthday party, Nick and I were in the barn talking.” Dalton repeated his memories and what Sarah had shouted at him. “Sarah was in the barn and
heard the whole conversation. She apparently ran from the barn and no one saw her leave the ranch either. She said she was to blame and that she didn’t want to come between us so she gave up her best friend instead. Today she basically told me that I had gotten my wish five years later and that I never had to see her again. Oh, Lindsay, I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?” He turned and addressed his whole family “Can you all ever forgive me?”
No one spoke as they processed the information Dalton had just shared with them. Lindsay and Gabby were weeping quietly. David moved to Lindsay’s side to give her comfort. Nathan did the same to Gabby.
Dalton turned to stare out the front window. He was the guilty party; he was to blame for Sarah losing her family. He wanted to run from the room but knew there would be questions. Like why had he said those things about her?
“Dalton” called Lindsay with her hand outstretched to him “Come here.”
Dalton left the window and went to sit by Lindsay. “I have so many questions but I am going to start with how was Sarah after she told you this?”
“I don’t know. She ran to her car and drove away as I sat there trying to find words to say.”
“Why did you say all those things about Sarah in the barn that day?” Lindsay questioned. “I didn’t know you didn’t like her. She had been coming here for four years”
“I didn’t have good thoughts about her when she was here. In the barn that day she named the horse, Nathan was saying she could stay here and be part of the ranch. And that a beauty, meaning Sarah, should name his new beauty. I thought that was laying it on a bit thick, but I wouldn’t have stopped her from being here if she wanted to work here. She never bothered me or anything. I really can’t say why I didn’t want her around. But I never would have said those things to her; I am more of a gentleman than that. Not that Sarah will ever believe that.”
Lindsay turned to address Gabby and Nathan. “She never in all this time mentioned to you what had happened?”
“No sweetie, she just kept telling us it was better for us if we didn’t know.” Gabby said around a thick block in her throat. “Now I guess we know why, she thought we would think badly of Dalton. Which could never happen!”
“Thank you Gabby.” Dalton said with moist eyes. “That means a great deal to me.”