And as he looked around the table, listening to the conversation flow over and double back on itself as people interrupted and Elliot cracked jokes he knew there would always be a place for him here.
For as long as he stayed.
* * *
“Is Lucas back yet?” Glenda asked as she lifted her legs onto the bed. They had just finished the exercises the physiotherapist had given them to do and Glenda insisted she needed to go to bed instead of sitting in her chair as Summer had told her to.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Summer said. She was glad he was staying away. Even though she had barely spoken to him or spent time with him. While he was here he created a formidable presence that filled every cubic meter of both houses. He made it hard to breathe.
“I’m sleeping now. You said you had to go to town?”
“Yes. I need to…see my doctor. I’ve arranged for Louise to come, but she can’t be here for another twenty minutes.” Louise was a fellow nurse and former school classmate who worked casual as well.
Glenda shot her a piercing look at her hesitation, her eyes like gimlets. Thankfully, she didn’t follow through on Summer’s broken comment. Instead, she nodded then sank back in the mountain of pillows on her bed.
“She doesn't need to come. I don’t want some strange woman in the house.”
Summer hesitated. Glenda was improving a lot and wouldn’t need her in a week or so, but her contract was until the first week of December, and she wasn’t going to break it. Nor was she arguing with Glenda about it.
“You need anything yet?” Summer shot a quick glance at the clock. Louise would arrive in a few minutes and Summer still had to get ready. Her appointment with Eve was at two o’clock and she had to be at her doctor's an hour after that. She needed to be back here in time to make supper for Glenda and Louise needed to be home for her family.
“I’m fine. Go on now.” Glenda waved her off, brushed her black hair back from her face.
Summer paused a moment, but then as Glenda closed her eyes, she shut the door and hurried to the room across the hall. A few minutes later she had changed from the scrubs she preferred to wear while working to a pair of yoga pants and a long, flowing shirt. Maternity wear she had picked up in a consignment store in town.
She put on some makeup, eschewing blush for cheeks already flaming from tension and stress at the thought of the upcoming meeting. She ran a mascara wand over her dark lashes just to give them a bit more definition, a swipe of lipstick, and she was done. She didn’t want to look too made up. Didn’t want to look like a wanton woman who had been so irresponsible as to get pregnant.
Her slippery mind edged toward that memory but she dragged her thoughts back.
A knock on the door sent her pulse racing. Probably Louise, but at the same time, it could be Lucas. Her cheeks grew even pinker, her breath quicker, as her heart banged against her ribs.
Please, Lord, help me relax. Help me settle down.
Lucas wasn’t going anywhere for a while, and she wasn’t leaving until Glenda was mobile. So they were stuck with each other. Anxiety swirled through her stomach, piled onto the nervousness she’d already been fighting all morning.
Breathe, she told herself, lowering her tightened shoulders as she walked to the front door.
Thankfully, it was Louise.
“Gracious, girl, you look like you were expecting a serial killer to come barging in,” Louise joked as she stepped into the house, shrugging off her down jacket. “You feeling okay?”
“A little stressed.” Louise had only recently moved to Rockyview and didn’t know Summer’s history. She wasn’t about to tell her all about Lucas and the memories he brought with him. The sorrow and regrets she felt around him.
“I can imagine. Big day for you.” Louise gave her a sympathetic look, seeming to attribute Summer’s jumpiness to what was coming up. Louise, her mother, and her other friend and social worker, Eve Wochinski, were the only people who knew what her plans for her baby were.
They and the couple she was meeting in Eve’s office in half an hour. Her child’s future parents.
She swallowed down another knot of fear and doubt, pushing it aside.
“It’ll be fine. It’s the best solution,” Summer told her, half self-assurance, half practical conviction.
“Probably,” Louise agreed. Then she gave her a hug. “I know you’ve prayed about this, so just trust your reasons and instincts.”
Summer smiled, then another quick glance at her watch told her she had to get going. “Glenda is down for now. She won’t need her meds until I get back but if she needs something for pain, it’s in the lock box on top of the fridge.” Summer handed her a coiled bracelet with a key attached. “Text or call if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve dealt with enough cranky elderly people in my time.”
“Don’t let Glenda hear you say that,” Summer warned as she slipped on a sweater then grabbed her purse. She looked back at Glenda’s room, listening.
“Everything here will be great,” Louise assured her, slipping a gentle arm over her shoulder. “You go take care of all this and remember, I’m praying for you.”
Summer gave her friend a thankful smile and left.
As she stepped outside, she caught the flicker of movement on the long driveway leading to the house and her stomach twisted.
But as it left the drive, she took a breath, castigating herself as she realized it wasn’t Lucas’s Jeep coming through the trees. Just the shadow of some animal passing through. Which seemed less intimidating to her than meeting her old boyfriend again.
She got in the car and turned on the radio to the classical music station that always soothed her. And as she drove, she breathed in and out slowly, forcing herself to relax. Reminding herself of the prudent reasons for her decision.
Again she fought down the mixture of competing reactions. Guilt and fear. Rational thought and emotional response.
Can you do this?
I have to, she reminded herself.
The drive went far too quickly, however, and soon she was in the parking lot of an imposing brick building perched on a rise that overlooked the valley cut by the river flowing through town. The air was cold, and the grass was brown, liberally sprinkled with the last of the leaves crunching underfoot as she made her way up the path to the huge steps.
The building housed the courthouse as well as the office she was headed to. She stepped inside, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the musty gloom. Instead of using the newly installed elevator she took the stairs, mindful of trying to get as much exercise as she could, her footsteps echoing in the stone stairwell.
She strode down the hall, easily finding the place. She had visited Eve here a couple of times already. Summer pushed open a frosted glass door and was greeted by a smiling receptionist sitting behind a wooden partition carved with the insignia of the town.
“Summer to see Eve,” she told her.
“I’ll let her know you’re here,” the receptionist said, punching in a button on the phone in front of her.
Summer nodded, and sat down, twisting her hands on her lap. She had been here before to see Eve, but as her due date came closer, the once vague plans needed to be formalized.
Can you do this?
She pushed the question aside, trying to forget about herself and focus on what the child needed. What was best for him or her.
Finally Eve bustled in, her brown hair pulled back by an alligator clip, wisps of it escaping and framing a jolly face, dimpled and smiling. Her brightly patterned dress flowed around her ample figure as she walked directly to Summer.
“You’re nice and early,” she said, giving her a smile. “Come in.” She walked ahead of Summer, chatting about the weather, the trip she hoped to make to Mexico after Christmas.
Small talk to put Summer at ease.
They got to her office and Eve dragged a metal chair closer, then sat on the edge of her desk. She folded her one arm across her stomach, her othe
r hand knuckled under her chin. As if considering Summer. Examining her.
“You’re making me nervous,” Summer said, shifting in the chair.
“Not deliberately. Sorry. I wanted to talk to you some more, just to make sure this is what you want to do. The last time we spoke I sensed some hesitancy.”
Summer rubbed her hand over her chin. “I read in a book that’s to be expected. The baby has been moving for awhile now…”
“And now he or she seems real.”
Eve’s words perfectly encapsulated what Summer had been struggling with from the first time she felt that small flutter in her stomach.
“I have to do this,” she said, lifting her eyes to hold Eve’s. “You know why.”
Eve nodded, her look supportive. “You grew up with a single mother and don’t want the same thing for your child. I get it.”
“It was so hard, and right now I don’t have a permanent job—” Summer stopped, the details of her life making her even more ashamed.
“You know I’m not judging you,” Eve said. “You don’t need to justify anything to me. This is your choice, and I believe you have good intentions for yourself but, more importantly, for your baby.”
Summer felt the too-familiar fingers of guilt and humiliation give her stomach a twist, reminding her she wasn’t telling Eve the entire truth.
Summer drew in another shaky breath, sent up another equally shaky prayer.
You’re doing the right thing, she reminded herself. This is the best thing for this baby.
“And you still don’t want to be involved in any form with the future adoptive parents.”
Summer mentally held Eve’s question, weighing it then shook her head decisively.
“No. I don’t.”
She had no intentions of seeing the child or its future parents once it was born and taken away.
She was moving on.
Putting all of this behind her.
Chapter 4
“Earliest I can get a room is Thursday?” Lucas stared with dismay at the perky young girl named Colleen sitting behind the desk at the Hidden Creek Inn. “It’s not even ski season.”
“We have a huge volleyball tournament in town combined with a beekeepers conference.”
“Really? Beekeepers? In Rockyview?”
“Yes.” Her expression was puzzled, as if she couldn't understand why this didn't make perfect sense to him.
“Okay then. I’ll be here day after tomorrow.”
“And remember, we don’t allow pets under any circumstances.”
“No worries. I don’t have a pet,” he returned.
“We’ll see you Thursday then,” Colleen replied.
Lucas fought down a beat of frustration as he left, trying to plan a strategy. He wouldn’t have to stay in the house the entire time. He could work on the yard and see what needed to get cleaned out and gotten rid of before the snow came. He could help at the ranch, though it didn’t sound like they were short-handed.
If he was careful, he could avoid Summer for the next couple of days.
Lucas started his Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot of the Hidden Creek Inn, noting how rundown it had gotten in the past few years. It was too bad. At one time it had been a really nice place. The thought of staying here for a few weeks didn’t appeal, but it was better than staying at the house.
Because it wasn’t only Summer he was trying to avoid, he also wanted to keep his distance from his grandmother. As a young boy, crying himself to sleep in Grace’s arms, he had wondered repeatedly why Glenda hadn’t wanted to take care of him. Why she so callously had dropped him off at the Tye ranch and drove away without a backward glance.
His vehicle was warm, and though it was cold outside, the sun shining through the front windows made him drowsy. He had gotten little sleep last night, despite going to bed early. His mind had been a whirl of thoughts and memories that braided over each other and tumbled around in his tired brain.
He and Summer walking down the path along the river, then suddenly the river rising, lapping at their feet. Summer’s hand slipped out of his and she went into the river. Which had mysteriously changed into a road full of Humvees. Then an explosion, and he was sitting bolt upright in his bed, wide-awake, heart pounding, sweat beading his forehead. His buddy Levi would’ve come up with all kinds of theories as to what each element of the dream meant, but Lucas didn’t believe in that. He knew dreaming was the brain’s way of trying to sort through the day’s events. They weren’t supposed to make sense.
He just wished he hadn’t dreamt about Summer. It kept her on his mind all morning and brought up a melancholy yearning for home and some stability.
He pushed his thoughts aside. As soon as he got back to the ranch, he would go through the outbuildings. When they’d moved to the ranch, his parents had taken all their belongings and, instead of sorting them, had simply put them in one of the sheds. They’d said they would sort things out later.
Well, later was now.
The thought of having a job to do perked him up a little.
He turned on the radio, beating his fingers in time to the country music playing.
Then he saw something on the road. It was brown, lumpy, and looked out of place.
Lucas leaned forward as he drove down the gravel road, as if the extra ten inches would make the difference.
Coyote? Dead deer?
Body?
He shook the last one off and eased back in the seat of the Jeep, reminding himself that he was back home, and that it was probably just a lump of dirt.
Then the lump on the road moved, and as Lucas came closer, it lifted a head.
A dog?
Lucas cruised to a stop within a few feet of the animal and watched a moment. His wariness was natural, flowing from the steady watchfulness he exercised each time he conducted a transport. Wariness saved lives.
The dog stood, every bit as watchful of Lucas as Lucas was of him. Yet its tail hung down in a gesture of submission.
It was hard to tell precisely which breed it was, the poor thing was so dirty. And incredibly scruffy.
Lucas stepped out of the Jeep, and as he walked toward the dog it whined and tried to move away from him, but Lucas could see it struggled. Who knew how long it had been since it had eaten?
“It’s okay,” Lucas said quietly. “Just let me have a look and see what’s going on.”
The dog whined again, lowering its head as Lucas came close. He lay down as soon as Lucas touched him. Trying to roll on his back showing his submission.
Not his, Lucas noted. A female. He ran his hands over the dog’s body, and when he got to the back leg she yelped and tried to bite him. But it was a feeble attempt, and she lowered her head to the muddy road.
“You’re hurt,” Lucas said, wondering if maybe she had been run over by a vehicle. He checked her neck for a collar or tags, but there was nothing there.
She looked like an Australian shepherd, her white fur matted and gray with dirt. He could see her ribs through the fur plastered to her chest.
“We better get you warm,” Lucas said to her, keeping his voice low and calm. He bent over to pick her up, slipping his arms around her body. She was still a good-size dog, and he knew he had to be careful of her back leg. Which made it awkward to carry her back to the vehicle. But he opened the door with one hand and laid her down on the floor mat in the front.
She tried to scramble to her feet, but he got the door closed before she could stand.
He walked around his Jeep hoping she wouldn’t jump onto the seat with her dirty paws and dirty fur, but when he got into the driver’s seat, she was still lying on the floor, whimpering.
As he started his Jeep, a small car scooted past him. He recognized the car as Summer’s. Where had she been? And if she was gone, who was taking care of his grandmother?
He followed the car to the house, puzzled. When he turned off the engine and got out, the dog panicked and scrambled onto the seat of his Jeep, yelpin
g with pain and barking as Summer got out of the car.
Summer startled, falling back against the car, her hand on her chest. Her face bleached of color. Concerned for her, Lucas hurried to her side.
“Sorry. You okay?”
Summer’s face contorted a moment, then she waved him off. “I’m fine. The dog scared me, and I got a contraction. Just Braxton Hicks.”
She was about to straighten when she doubled over again. This time Lucas caught her, supporting her. And to his surprise, she didn’t push him away.
She was as slight as ever, her shoulders as narrow. The moisture in the air brought out the scent of her shampoo, and as he drew closer, he caught a soul-searing whiff.
Immediately he was taken back to those lazy summer days when they went swimming in a lake close to town. How they would lie on a rock, curled up together, and he would tuck his head against hers, letting her hair fall over his face.
He swallowed down the unwelcome reaction, steeling himself to the memories and the emotions.
And this was another reason he had to keep his distance. She had been too large a part of his life and had held too much of his heart.
She took in a few short breaths, then straightened.
“Are you having the baby?” Lucas asked.
Summer shook her head, releasing a harsh laugh. “No, I just saw the doctor. I’ll be going full-term, thankfully,” she said. “Maybe even over. These are just tightenings. I’ve been having them for a week or so. Perfectly normal at this stage of the pregnancy, I’m told.”
“So, did you leave Glenda alone?”
“Of course not. I got a friend who is also a home-care nurse to come.”
The dog in his vehicle barked again and Summer startled again.
“Where in the world did you get that dog?” she asked.
“I just found it on the road. I think it’s hurt. I want to see how badly before I make a trip to town.”
Summer pushed herself straight, brushing aside Lucas’s arm. “I think I saw this same dog on the driveway just before I left for town. Why don’t you open the door and take her out?”
The Cowboy’s Return Page 4
