Here to Stay

by Catherine Anderson

  Zach rang the doorbell at exactly two fifteen the next afternoon. Luke and Mandy were dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, with coats for both of them over Mandy’s arm in case a cold front moved in. In central Oregon, even a sunny spring day could turn chilly. Sweatshirts had struck Mandy as a smart choice, thick enough to provide warmth, but not too bulky.

  When she opened the door, Zach stood on the porch, booted feet spaced wide apart, his clothes bearing signs that he’d been working. There was a smudge on his sleeve, and bits of straw clung to the crinkles of denim over the vamps of his boots. The ever-present Stetson, a brown one today that looked new, was tipped back to reveal his face. He flashed a smile, his white teeth a gleaming contrast to his sun-bronzed skin. Eyes as dark and clear as sweet sorghum syrup locked on hers. As Mandy broke the visual contact and stepped back to let him in, she noted the muscular contours of his thighs under his wash-worn jeans.

  “You’re right on time,” she said.

  He stepped over the threshold. “It’s a rebellion of sorts, I guess. When you grow up on a ranch, people mosey everywhere. Drove me nuts as a kid.” He swept off his hat just as Luke appeared. “Hey, man, I like the cane. You look distinguished.”

  “Really?” Luke smiled. “I hope all the girls think so.”

  Mandy gave Luke a puzzled look. He’d never expressed any interest in girls.

  “I don’t have any riding boots,” Luke hurried to add. “Will running shoes work?”

  “Like a charm.”

  Mandy moved over to the sofa for her purse. “You didn’t bring Rosebud?”

  Zach settled the hat back on his head. “No. We’ll be busy with other horses today.”

  As the three of them stepped outside, Mandy drew out her keys to lock the door. She was nervous about Luke going down the steps, afraid he might fall. When she turned, she was glad to see Zach standing close at her brother’s elbow, his hands poised to grab Luke’s arm if he lost his footing. Luke made it down without mishap.

  Mandy sat in back when they got into the SUV. Today was to have been an outing for Luke with Zach, and she wanted to interfere as little as possible. Luke fumbled with his seat belt. Zach waited for the buckle hasp to click home before starting the vehicle.

  Mandy settled back for the ride, her plan being to let the guys talk, but Zach and Luke kept trying to draw her into the conversation. “So, Mandy?” Zach glanced into the rearview mirror. “You gonna saddle up and go for a ride with your brother?”

  Mandy had never been on a horse, and she wasn’t eager to change that. “I think I’ll pass, thanks. Let Bethany focus on Luke. Maybe I’ll go another time.”

  “It might be fun, Mands.”

  “We’re both inexperienced riders.” That didn’t say it by half. “Bethany will need to teach you a lot. It’d be more distracting for her if she had two students.”

  “Well, you got your wish,” Zach said. “It’s a sunny day.”

  And so it went until they reached the Kendrick ranch, which overlooked Crystal Lake, a large body of water surrounded by pine forests. The surface sparkled like diamonds in the afternoon sunlight. The gravel road that led into the ranch proper curved around a knoll that sported a sprawling brick home. Across a paved parking area was an indoor arena similar to Zach’s. Mandy peered out her window, noting that cement pathways crisscrossed the property, one of them leading down toward the lake.

  Zach looked in the rearview mirror and caught her puzzled expression. “Bethany is paralyzed from the waist down,” he explained. “She was injured in a riding accident at eighteen.”

  Just what Mandy wanted to hear when her brother was about to get on a horse.

  “Anyway, her husband, Ryan Kendrick—one of the Kendricks—revamped the whole place so she can get around in her wheelchair.”

  Mandy had heard of the Kendrick family. They’d sold off some of their land during the construction boom and made a fortune. She turned her gaze back to the house, which was large, but nothing like the mansion she might have expected. It looked more middle-class America, with clean lines and an economy of roof angles.

  “I thought they were unbelievably wealthy,” she said.

  Zach parked near the arena. “Trust me, they are. They just choose to live like normal folks. I think that’s common with ranchers. It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around a lot of glitz and glamour when you wade through horseshit all day.”

  “How, exactly, is your family connected to them?” Mandy asked as she unfastened her seat belt. “Are you related somehow?”

  “Not by blood. My sister, Sam, married Tucker Coulter, Bethany’s brother, so it’s an in-law thing.” Zach pushed open his door. “They’re great people.”

  Just then a petite brunette in a wheelchair emerged from the arena. The personnel door opened and closed automatically, saving her the trouble of struggling with it. She waved and flashed a warm smile. “Hey, Zach, right on time, as always.”

  Zach glanced at Mandy. “See? My reputation for being prompt follows me wherever I go.” He swung out of the vehicle. “Unload, Luke.” To their hostess, he called, “Hey, Bethany. How’s it going?”

  “Great.” Bethany’s blue eyes turned toward Luke as he crawled from the SUV. “Hi, Luke.” She zoomed forward in her high-tech chair, one slender hand extended. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you!” When Luke failed to grasp her fingers, Bethany leaned forward to grab his. “I’m Bethany.” She pumped Luke’s arm up and down. “I’m so excited about getting you on a horse. It’ll be a blast. Have you ever ridden?”

  “No. Good to meet you, too.” Luke shifted the cane back into his right hand when Bethany released his fingers. “I, um, haven’t been around big horses very much.”

  “Well, we’ll fix that.”

  When Mandy exited the vehicle, she could appreciate the full impact of Bethany Kendrick’s lovely, vivacious beauty. Her face was heart-shaped and framed by a wealth of shiny brown hair. Her eyes reminded Mandy of blue pansies. Her small, pointy chin sported a cleft. She wore Western-style clothing, a red fringed shirt, a pair of snug jeans, and plain, no-nonsense riding boots that looked brand-new. Accustomed to Zach’s scuffed and dusty footwear, Mandy thought that was strange. But then it dawned on her that Bethany could only wear the boots, never actually walk in them.

  How sad, Mandy thought, but before she could mentally explore the other woman’s physical limitations and how they must affect her life, Bethany’s laughter and warmth made Mandy forget she was in a wheelchair. As they shook hands, Bethany said, “Zach tells me you may be feeling apprehensive about all this.” She released her hold on Mandy’s fingers and gestured at the arena. “Relax,” she said to Luke. “If you have a single reservation after you’ve met my horses, we’ll just visit while I show you around.”

  That was good to know, Mandy thought. Luke wasn’t locked in. If he chickened out at the last second, this lady would understand.

  The next twenty minutes made Mandy’s head spin. Bethany’s wheelchair had all-terrain wheels that allowed her to zip around the arena. She gave them a tour, showing them the tack room and the special saddles, then taking them to meet her horses. She saved a reddish-colored mare for last.

  “This,” she informed them, “is the most wonderful horse alive. Her name is Wink. Normally I allow no one else to ride her. She’s my baby.” Bethany pushed up from her wheelchair to hug the horse’s neck. When she saw Mandy’s startled look, she said, “Oh. I can stand up now. Ryan got me braces and makes me work out every day. On my treadmill I even walk, after a fashion. Not well enough to be useful in any practical way, but it forces my leg muscles to work, preventing atrophy and blood clots.”

  “Ah.” Mandy could detect no braces under Bethany’s jeans.

  “I’m not wearing them now. They’re beasts.” She reached back to grasp the arms of the chair and lowered herself onto the seat again. “Without them, my only circus act is being able to stand for a few seconds.” Her smile set her entire face aglow. “Go ahead, Lu
ke. Get to know Wink. She’ll be your steed this afternoon if you decide to go for a ride. I’ll ride Margarita, a horse Rye picked up for me when he’d had a couple too many of the same. Fortunately, she turned out to be a fabulous mare. His instincts proved to be sound, even when he was three sheets to the wind.”

  Luke hooked the handle of his cane over his left arm and haltingly stepped forward, groping the air for the horse. Wink met him halfway, thrusting her nose under his searching hand. “Hi, Wink.” Luke laughed. “I think she likes me.”

  “Wink is a big love. I’ve chosen her for you today because she’s so hooked on me and will follow me anywhere. You won’t need to worry about reining. You can just enjoy being on her back, and she’ll do the rest.” Bethany angled a questioning look at Mandy. “How are you feeling about this now? Still hesitant?”

  Mandy dug deep for strength. “This is Luke’s decision. If he wants to go for a ride, I’m fine with it.”

  Luke nodded. “I’d like to try. If I get scared, can I get off?”

  Bethany laughed. “Of course. We’ll ride in the arena for a while so you get a feel for it. Easy on, easy off.” She drew a cell phone from a case clipped to her belt. Seconds later, she chirped, “Hey, Sly. It’s a go. Can you come saddle the horses?”

  A wiry cowboy appeared seconds later. Mandy’s first thought when she saw him was that his face looked like a brown paper sack that had gotten wet and then had dried all wrinkled up. He also had the most bowlegged stride she’d ever seen. Like Zach, he wore Wranglers, boots, a belt with a huge silver buckle, a dusty blue shirt, and a Stetson.

  “Hey, Zach,” he said cordially, with a thick Southern drawl. “Great day for ridin’. I’ve actually worked up a sweat! ” Then he approached Mandy, touching a finger to his hat brim. Before offering her his hand, he brushed it clean on his pant leg. “Sylvester Galias, ma’am. Pleased as a speckled pup to make your acquaintance.”

  Mandy almost giggled. Stifling the urge, she grasped his hand. “Mandy Pajeck. I’m pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Galias.”

  He pumped her arm up and down, smiling warmly. “That’s Galias, not Galias.”

  It sounded to Mandy as if he were saying the same last name.

  He noted her confused expression. “That’s G-L-AS-S,” he informed her. “Galias.”

  Mandy laughed in spite of herself. “Ah, Mr. Glass. Good to meet you.”

  “You can just call me Sly.” He drew away and chafed his hands. “I’ll get these critters saddled up. Won’t take me more’n five minutes.”

  While Sly prepared the mares to be ridden, Bethany entertained her guests with stories about her riding academy.

  “I’ve never heard of a riding academy for the handicapped,” Mandy inserted. “What a fabulous idea!”

  Bethany nodded. “The first time I heard about them, I knew I wanted to start one locally. Ryan was very supportive of the idea and backed me one hundred percent.”

  Sly moved toward them with the horses. Bethany thanked him as she took hold of Margarita’s reins. “Luke, Sly will help you mount. You’ll be strapped on, so don’t be afraid of falling off. Okay?” She smiled at Mandy and Zach. “I have a special mounting sling. Excuse me for a moment. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

  Mandy gazed after their hostess as she led the mare across the arena. To Zach, she said, “Isn’t she amazing?”

  Zach nodded. “You gotta admire her attitude. She’s in love with life and tries to enjoy every second of it.”

  “Hey, Mandy, look at me!” Luke cried. “I’m on a horse!”

  A burn of tears washed over Mandy’s eyes as she took in her brother’s incredulous expression. “You sure are. How does it feel?”

  “Great! Sly helped me up. It was easier than I thought.” Luke extended his cane. “Can you hold this for me?”

  Mandy hurried over to her brother’s side, collected the cane, and then returned to where Zach stood.

  Sly patted Wink’s rump as he circled behind her to fasten Luke’s leg straps on the other side. “You’ve got a knack for this, son. Some people do; some don’t. We’ll make a horseman out of you, lickety-split.”

  Bethany rode into the arena just then. Her saddle was similar to Luke’s, sporting straps that anchored her to the seat. “Hey, Luke, you ready for our adventure?”

  Luke grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I think so.”

  Zach grasped Mandy’s elbow and led her to Wink’s unoccupied stall. With the ease and grace of a man who did hard physical labor, he swung up to sit on the top rung.

  “Hop up,” he said. “It’s better than standing.”

  Mandy climbed the rungs to sit beside him. In silence, they watched Bethany and Luke make loops around the arena. Luke sat straight in the saddle. If Mandy hadn’t known better, she would have thought he’d been riding for years. As Bethany had promised, Wink followed the other horse as if she were attached by an invisible lead rope. All Luke had to do was loosely hold the reins and enjoy the ride.

  After about ten minutes, Bethany drew Margarita to a stop in front of Wink’s stall. Twisting at the waist, she asked Luke, “Do you think you’re ready for a real ride now? I thought we might go along the lakeshore for a while. We have some nice trails there.”

  “I’d love it!” Luke angled his head. “Do you care if I go, Mands?”

  Over the course of the visit, Mandy had come to trust Bethany Kendrick and felt certain her brother should be safe. “You’re nineteen, Luke. It’s your decision to make.”

  Luke’s smiled broadened. “Then let’s do it, Bethany.”

  A tight knot formed in Mandy’s throat as she watched her brother ride away.

  “He’ll be fine,” Zach said. “Accidents happen, but Bethany takes every precaution.”

  “I know.” Mandy drew in a bracing breath. “I’ve been meaning to call you, Zach.” She forced herself to look at him. “I don’t know what you said to Luke during that visit to the park, but he came home a changed young man. Thank you so much for that.”

  Zach took off his hat and thrust his fingers through his hair. “All I did was give him some straight talk. If he went home with a different attitude, it’s his doing, not mine.” He fell silent for a moment. “He’s a good kid. He’s just been a little confused, I think, and acting out in inappropriate ways.”

  “I’m still grateful. Whatever you said had a huge impact on my brother.”

  Zach settled the Stetson back on his head, tugging on the brim to adjust the angle. “I’ve been meaning to call you, too.”

  “You have?”

  He nodded. “I stepped over the line that afternoon, saying all that crap to you. I’ve done a lot of thinking about it, and I owe you an apology. I butted my nose in where it didn’t belong.”

  Mandy wanted to let it go at that, to simply accept his apology and say nothing more. But her sense of fairness wouldn’t allow it. “Maybe I needed you to butt in.”

  He cast her a wondering look that eased the tension from her body and made her smile. “Raising a teenage boy isn’t easy, especially for a single woman, and Luke’s blindness has made it particularly difficult. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but sometimes it’s hard to see them until someone else points them out.” Growing tense again, Mandy began swinging her feet back and forth, her gaze fixed on the toes of her sneakers. “I’ve done a lot of thinking, too. Much of what you said to me was true. I didn’t want to believe it then. Truth is, I still don’t. But lying to myself about it ... well, that won’t help Luke, and it won’t help me. I have a lot of changing to do.”

  Zach was impressed by her candor. It was never easy to step back and take a long, hard look at yourself. “You’re quite a lady. You know it?”

  She gave him a startled look.

  Zach chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re really something. I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes. It took me a while to admit that, even to myself, and I still have a hard time admitting it to anyone else. It takes a lot of guts.”

>   Her lips tipped up at the corners in a slight smile. “I’ve never thought of myself as being particularly courageous, but thank you for the compliment.”

  “It’s well deserved.” Zach searched her beautiful eyes. Then he dropped his gaze to her slender hands, which bore signs of ingrained dirt around the fingertips that he’d never noticed before. “Been gardening?” he asked.

  Her cheeks went pink. She hid her fingers between her denim-clad legs. “It’s way too early for that yet. I’ve just been working with starts.”

  “Starts?”

  Her cheek dimpled with a suppressed smile. “Yes, starts, a term used by gardeners when they plant spring seeds in tiny pots to give the plants some indoor growing time before they’re transplanted outdoors in the summer.”

  “Ah.” Zach hadn’t pegged her as a gardening type, but recalling her tidy, manicured yard, he guessed he should have. “What kind of plants are you starting?”

  “Various flowers.” She shrugged her elegant shoulders. “I like lots of color in my beds, so I grow a little of everything. It’s fun to create a flowery blanket to complement my bulb plants when they begin to bloom.”

  What Zach knew about gardening would have fit in a thimble, but he found the subject fascinating because Mandy was obviously so interested in it. The conversation moved from flowers to weed varieties in the area, which she transplanted into her yard for a touch of the natural and wild. She especially liked mullein and wild blue phlox.

  “Come out to my place,” Zach said. “You can have a heyday. Mullein and phlox grow everywhere out there. You can even steal heaps of my clump grass.”

  She passed him a wondering look. “I get the feeling you aren’t into flowers.”

  Zach suppressed a grin. “I’m into seeing them, just not into growing them. The only time you’ll catch me weeding is when a poisonous species gets a foothold on my land.”

  She laughed, her expression laced with understanding. “It takes all different kinds to make the world go’round.”