Twice the Trouble

by Sandra Dailey

  “Oh, how nice, anyone I’d remember?”

  “Maybe. Do you remember Lacey Carlyle?”

  “Oh dear, I hope you’re not going to get involved with that girl again. She almost trapped you into marriage when you weren’t even out of your teens.”

  “What do you mean, Mom?” Alex probed.

  “Honey, a mother knows things. I knew when you started getting serious about that girl. You stopped hanging out with your friends. It only took a month for her to talk you into dropping your scholarship and joining the Navy. And then you were only gone ten weeks when she showed up asking about you. Her belly was so big with a baby and I knew it couldn’t be yours. I told her right then and there, that you deserved better than her. Thank goodness she never came back.”

  What Lacey had told him was true. His mother had turned her away. He felt sick. When he glanced toward the house, he saw Lacey approaching.

  “Something’s just come up. I have to go. Tell the family I said hello. I’ll see you soon.”

  “I love you, Son.” Cheryl sounded desperate, as though she’d never hear from him again.

  “I love you too, Mom.” The words caught in his throat. Alex had never been ashamed of his mother until now. She’d been no better than the other women in this town. She’d turned away the orphaned daughter of her best friend at a time when she needed help the most. He was afraid he would say something very ugly if he stayed on the line a moment longer.

  ****

  With every step she took, Lacey’s nervousness grew until she felt like she’d be sick, but she refused to give in to it. It was past time to clear the air. She didn’t have a clue what to say, how to begin. But then she didn’t have to. Alex spoke first.

  “I would have stayed. I would have found a way to make things right, if you had just told me.” His voice was so low she could barely hear him.

  “I didn’t know,” she murmured.

  “How could you not know, Lacey? You’re smarter than that.” Alex gripped her shoulders. “Were you afraid of what I’d think? I would have understood. We could have worked it out. Sure, I’d have been upset, but I would have helped you out.”

  “Helped me out?” Lacey was confused. “You make it sound like it was all my doing.”

  “I do know about the birds and the bees. I know you weren’t alone in this, but that wouldn’t have mattered.” Alex pulled her closer. “However it happened, whoever you’d been with, you could have come to me.”

  “What are you saying?” Lacey didn’t get a chance to finish before hell broke loose once again.

  A scream, hollering, running, and bellowing neighs, something had happened in the pens. A horse was in distress.

  The scene, as she raced toward it, made her blood freeze in her veins and her heart clench painfully. Buttercup was in the barrel pen lying on her side. She kicked her powerful legs to gain purchase, trying to stand. Jenna was pinned under her heavy body. She wasn’t moving.

  Jerrod pulled at Buttercup’s harness to lift her head. Darrell squatted by Jenna, pushing at the horse’s hindquarter. Ben knelt at Jenna’s head, holding each side of her face. He had blood on his hands. The horse finally rose to her feet, but Jenna still didn’t move or make a sound.

  Alex grabbed two large blocks of wood from beside the gate and placed them at each side of Jenna’s head to relieve Ben from his position.

  “Did you move her?” he asked.

  “I know better than that,” Ben replied.

  Alex pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911.

  “You’d better see to Buttercup, Ben.” Lacey knelt by her daughter. “She may be injured as well.”

  “I’ll see to Buttercup from the business end of a shotgun,” Jerrod snapped.

  “This wasn’t her fault,” Ben insisted. “Jenna was taking those barrels like a bat out of hell.”

  “Jenna was racing barrels?” Lacey cried. “She’s not trained for that. Buttercup isn’t even trained for the barrels. I told Jenna she had to wait until she was older.”

  “It’s my fault,” Darrell admitted. “I was telling her earlier how cool it was when I watched you do it.”

  “I may be to blame too,” Jerrod added. “I’ve been bragging about training for the junior rodeo. I knew she wanted to compete in the barrels.”

  By the time Jenna was placed on the ambulance gurney, she’d regained consciousness. Alex watched the doors close her and Lacey inside and pull away, sirens screaming and lights flashing.

  “Ben, I’d appreciate it if one of you boys stayed to watch the house and finish up around here until we get back.”

  “No problem, Boss.”

  Jerrod was already in the passenger seat of the BMW when Alex got in.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Her children had been sick and injured several times throughout their childhoods, but never had they been through the emergency room. They’d certainly never ridden in the back of an ambulance. Not since the day they were born.

  Lacey had been left standing at the entrance. They’d said it was too crowded and hectic in the examination room. Wasn’t it just as bad for the people in charge of her daughter’s life? Why weren’t the rooms larger? Why wasn’t the medical team more efficient?

  They’d said they might have to give Jenna tests that she couldn’t be present at. The radiation exposure would be dangerous. If it was too dangerous for Lacey to be near, how dangerous was it for her child?

  Everything had happened in rapid-fire motion since she’d heard Jenna scream. But now, waiting from outside the treatment rooms, time stood still.

  Lacey wrapped her arms around herself because she didn’t have anything stronger to hold on to. She paced the floor with no place to go, but if she stopped for a single moment, she’d scream, and she might not be able to stop.

  She always knew that farming, cattle, and horses were dangerous, but that’s the life she’d raised her kids in. She’d put them at risk and this was the pay-off. Maybe her grandfather had been right all along.

  The sliding doors swooshed open. Alex ran toward her with Jerrod by his side. The anxiety on their faces matched the aching in her heart.

  “Have you heard anything?” Alex asked.

  “Not a word. I don’t know what’s going on and they won’t let me go back there.” Those few words were all it took to start the tears that had been waiting. Alex and Jerrod hugged her from each side. Now, she had something strong to hold on to and she could finally stop.

  “What’s going on here?” Clarence bellowed from the doorway. “Bob Johnson, from the office here, called and said my granddaughter had been brought in by ambulance. Why didn’t you call me?”

  “She fell from her horse,” Jerrod told him. “But it didn’t occur to us that you’d care.”

  “Jerrod don’t,” Lacey said weakly.

  “I expected something like this to happen,” Clarence declared.

  “You should. Kids have accidents all the time. Especially active kids like these. If you even think about blaming Lacey for this,” Alex threatened, “I’ll take you outside and make you part of the pavement.”

  “Please Alex,” Lacey begged. “We don’t need any more drama today.”

  “Ms. Carlyle,” a lady at the desk called. “We need to get some information from you. If you’ll step over here, we’ll get started on the paperwork.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Alex said.

  “I’ll take the boy and find some coffee.” Clarence clamped his hand on Jerrod’s shoulder to lead him away.

  “The boy’s name is Jerrod. Try using it once in a while,” Jerrod sneered.

  Lacey would have to talk to Jerrod about showing his great-grandfather more respect, but healing the rift their last meeting had caused was going to take time. Right now, she had bigger problems.

  “I didn’t bring my purse,” she told the woman straight out. The nameplate on her desk identified her as Jan Holcomb. “I was more concerned about my daughter. Even if I had, I don�
��t have any insurance.”

  “Well, that’ll just take a little extra paperwork and we’ll see if we can get the county to help out.” Jan smiled.

  “No need,” Alex interrupted. “I’ll take care of the bill.”

  “Alex, you can’t do that.”

  “Yes I can. It’s not a problem. I don’t want you to worry about money right now. Jenna is enough to worry about.” He turned to the woman. “Just show me where to sign.”

  After entering the information Lacey provided, Jan looked at her computer and gasped. “Is this the same Jenna Carlyle that was brought in thirteen years ago with her twin brother?”

  “That was twelve and a half years ago,” Lacey corrected. She glanced nervously at Alex and added, “The day they were born.”

  “Oh my,” Jan’s fingers flew over her keyboard faster. “We’ll have to search the database for a donor right away, just in case we need someone.”

  “Donor, what the hell are you talking about?” Alex looked at Lacey. “What’s wrong?”

  “Jenna has a rare blood type.” Lacey hadn’t considered that problem. Her panic built again.

  “A hospital this size doesn’t have AB negative blood on hand,” Jan added. “We rarely have need of it. Jenna and her brother are rarer because their blood lacks an antigen that most others have.”

  Alex slumped back in his chair looking stunned. “I’m a rare blood donor.” He pulled a Red Cross card from his wallet and handed it to Jan. “Am I a match?”

  Jan carefully compared the card to her computer screen. “This is wonderful,” Jan exclaimed. “I’ll call an orderly so that we can start processing right away. What an incredible coincidence.”

  “Yes, isn’t it?” he quipped as he glared at Lacey.

  ****

  An hour later, Alex entered the waiting room where Jerrod and Clarence were thumbing through magazines. Empty coffee cups littered the table in front of them.

  “I got you a cup of coffee,” Clarence groused. “Jerrod drank it.”

  “They said you were going to be a while,” Jerrod defended himself.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Alex worked with the button on his shirt sleeve. “I just had a bottle of juice. Where’s Lacey? Have you heard anything?”

  “Mom’s back there with Jenna. The doctor says she’s going to be okay. She’s all bruised up and she has a minor concussion. She’ll be able to come home in a couple of days.”

  “Oh to be young again,” Clarence mused. “A fall like that would have killed me.”

  “We’re just waiting around to see her,” Jerrod added.

  “While we wait, your grandfather can tell us a story.” Alex settled into a chair across from Clarence. “Why don’t you tell us all about how the twins were born? You know that story, don’t you?”

  Clarence quickly glanced at Jerrod. “I’m not going to talk about that in front of a child.”

  “Jerrod isn’t a child. He’s a half grown man. He works harder than you ever have, he’s stronger than you’ve ever been, and he deserves the truth. So do I.”

  Clarence made a show of opening another magazine, stubbornly ignoring Alex.

  “You’ve got two choices, old man,” Alex snarled. “You can either tell the story, or you can prepare yourself to be wheeled into the next available treatment room with a broken neck.”

  “Dammit, okay. It wasn’t long after you left that I found out Lacey was pregnant. She was sleeping all the time and when she was awake, she was getting sick. I’ve got to tell you, I was pretty mad. She was too young to have a baby. I figured if I could keep her away from you, she’d give the child up for adoption or something, so I hid your letters. When Lacey started growing so big, the doctor checked her out and found that she was carrying twins. It became harder for her to get around, but she was still young and restless. By the time cold weather set in, she was told to stay off her feet. She’d sit in her room and sew little gowns and knit booties and such. She was disappointed that I wouldn’t let her decorate the Christmas tree.”

  Alex looked over to see Jerrod staring at him slack jawed. It hadn’t occurred to him that Alex could be his father. He reached over and squeezed the boy’s hand. He hoped he was doing the right thing. “Go on.”

  “Well, Christmas Eve came around. I went out to run a few last-minute errands. The church wanted a truckload of pine boughs for their pageant scene. I ended up staying longer then I’d expected to help put the thing together. I stopped at the store on my way home to buy a necklace for Lacey’s Christmas present. I even had it wrapped.

  Lacey waited for me to leave, then came downstairs to put my present under the tree. She’d knitted me a scarf and hat. I’ve still got them. You remember, I said she wasn’t getting around too good. She fell all the way down those stairs. She had a concussion. It probably knocked her out for a while. Both her legs were broken and one hip dislocated. The damage done to her insides caused her to have an emergency hysterectomy. It nearly killed her. She’d just about bled out by the time I found her. There was so much blood.”

  “Jesus H Christ.” Bile burned the back of his throat.

  Jerrod’s eyes were filling with tears, but Clarence didn’t notice. His mind was locked on the past. “The twins were no bigger than newborn kittens, sounded like ’em too. I didn’t believe they’d make it, but they were strong. The ambulance attendants said it was a miracle. They were a little more than three months early, but they were already fighters. I guess Lacey is a fighter too, giving birth to twins in that condition and all alone.”

  Clarence looked around him as though he’d just woken in a strange place. His eyes locked on Jerrod. He frowned when he saw a tear streak down his cheek. “I hope you appreciate all your mother has been through for you kids, Jerrod.”

  Alex stood and urged Jerrod to his feet. “We’re going to take a little walk. If Lacey comes back, tell her we’re outside.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “I hate that old man more than fish guts.” Jerrod wiped away tears with his sleeve.

  “No you don’t, Jerrod.” Alex walked with him further from the building where they could talk privately. “You hate what he did, so do I. But he truly thought he was doing what was best for your mom.”

  “First you were in there threatening him, and now you’re defending him? I don’t get you.”

  “I was desperate to get to the truth,” Alex said. “I couldn’t think of any other way to do it. Now, I think I may have been wrong. Jerrod, that man is your great-grandfather. No matter how mean he is, the fact remains. He’s family, and family sticks together. You’d be a better man if you accepted him as he is and showed him more respect. I’m going to have to do the same. I’m afraid I’ve been as mean as he is. I’ve been a bad example to you. It escaped all our attention that he dropped everything and ran over here as soon as he heard Jenna had been hurt. I’d say your old granddad has feelings for you guys whether he admits it or not.”

  “Why did you want me to hear all that stuff?” Jerrod asked. “Mom wouldn’t have done that.”

  “You’re in a hard place right now, being a kid, but ready to be a man. This issue has been plaguing you, but your mom hasn’t been able to talk about it. Maybe that will change now. But I thought you deserved to hear the truth. Also, I guess I was trying to show your granddad that we’re a team now and he can’t stand between us anymore.”

  Jerrod nodded. “Still, I’m pretty mad at him. When he kept you and mom apart, he kept you from us too. You don’t understand what that was like for me. Girls aren’t so bad, but guys, especially the big mean ones, say some pretty nasty stuff. Some of my friends come from divorced parents, but at least they know who their fathers are. They even get to hang out with them sometimes.”

  “Are you okay with all this?” Alex asked. “Finding out I’m your dad and all?”

  “No need to go into Dr. Phil mode. I’m cool. I even wished it that night when you found me in the lake.”

  “No kidding? By the way
, how is that little bull?”

  “I guess that depends on how we cook him.” Jerrod grinned.

  “Gross.”

  They stood looking at each other for a moment with their hands in their pockets.

  “So, we’ll hang out now.” Alex smiled. “I’ll even show you how to style that haircut to make you look like a rock star.”

  Jerrod punched him in the shoulder.

  ****

  The next afternoon, Jenna was released from the hospital. Lacey opted to call her grandfather to pick them up. She could use the excuse that Alex was in the middle of his workday and she didn’t want to interrupt him. The truth was, she didn’t have the courage to face him. Instead, she had to listen to a good old-fashioned Clarence Carlyle lecture.

  “What the Sam Hill were you thinking, racing your horse like that? You damn near got yourself killed. A girl should be taught to wear pretty dresses and do girl things.” That last comment was undoubtedly meant for Lacey. “In my day, women were proud to be women. They didn’t feel the need to act like men.”

  Lacey and Jenna silently nodded. Now and then they’d throw out a Yes, Sir. A car was a confined space, not conducive to arguments. Not until the car had stopped in the Double J drive. That’s when Clarence crossed the line. “That poor horse of yours is probably lame now and waiting to be put down.”

  Jenna burst into sobs and held her head.

  “Granddad, I’d shoot you before I’d shoot that horse. I guess you’d better hope she’s okay.” Lacey didn’t invite her grandfather to stay.

  She settled Jenna into bed with one of the pills the hospital had provided. After a shower, she changed into clean clothes and went back to check on her. She heard Jerrod’s voice as she opened the door.

  “It was really cool. Alex made Granddad spill his guts about everything. He said Mom came up pregnant right after Alex took off. Then she got hugely fat and rolled all the way down the stairs at his house. Next thing ya know, we popped out too early and Mom was a mess.”