He didn’t go down but he couldn’t have been happier to see the police pull up. He grabbed Kylie and tried to keep her from becoming the next victim. She didn’t cling to him, and he wouldn’t have expected her to. But she did lean into him for just a moment.
That made him realize that life had a way of taking a man by surprise. And so did people.
Chapter Eleven
Jack didn’t appear with Maggie and Andy until after the patrol car left with Donnie. Carson still felt shaken inside, thinking of those hands on Kylie’s neck. He shouldn’t have allowed her anywhere near the arena. Not that he could have stopped her. But he could have tried.
“Do we need an ambulance?” Jack asked as he eased through the gate, first telling Andy and Maggie to stay put with Rambo. He pointed at the dog. “Stay.”
Rambo sat and the children plopped down next to him.
“I think I’m good,” Isaac rasped, rubbing at his throat. “Man, he’s strong. Check Jason, he took the worst of it.”
Carson glanced at Kylie. She nodded in answer to his question. “I’m fine, Carson.”
He squatted in front of Jason. The guy was younger, midtwenties, with a buzz cut, lean cheeks and a good-sized bruise on his forehead.
“Did he hit you with his fist or something else?” Carson asked as he examined the guy. “Can you follow my finger with just your eyes?”
He held his finger in front of Jason and moved it back and forth. Jason followed but his hand went to his head and he flinched. “I’m good. It’s Thursday. You’re Carson. My head hurts because he doesn’t need any other weapon. He has a fist that feels like a brick.”
Carson chuckled. “Yeah, I met that fist. Let’s get you an ice pack and something for the headache you have, or will have very soon.”
“What happened to set him off?” Jack asked as he leaned in to give Isaac a good look. “Were you teasing him again?”
“He was trying to sell Aaron a bottle of pills.”
Kylie sighed. “He didn’t buy them, did he?”
“No,” Jason answered. “He’s good. Don’t worry. If you all don’t mind, I’m going to my room.”
Carson offered the younger man his hand and pulled him to his feet. “Any blurring vision or dizziness, come find me.”
He turned his attention to Isaac. “You. Take a deep breath.”
“Take a hike,” Isaac shot back with a grin.
“Glad to know you’re okay. How’s your throat?”
Isaac shrugged and got to his feet. “Fine. A little hoarse but there’s not much you can do for that.”
“No, not much.”
Another broad grin. Isaac poked at Carson’s cheek, making him flinch. “Might want to do something about your face. You’ve got a gash on your cheek and a big bruise on your jaw.”
Carson started to comment about his face but he didn’t have time; instead he reacted, reaching for Isaac as the other man staggered and stumbled.
“Are you okay?”
Isaac didn’t answer him. All he did was jerk his arm free from the hold Carson had on him.
“I asked if you’re okay.”
“Isaac, answer the man or the next call I make is for an ambulance,” Kylie chimed in, worry in her voice.
That got Isaac’s attention. He pulled off his cowboy hat and ran a hand over his military short hair. He took a deep breath and touched his ear. The ear that connected to the jagged scar on the side of his head.
“What did you say?” Isaac asked, his gray eyes troubled as he met Carson’s gaze.
“I asked if you’re okay. Obviously you aren’t.”
“I’m fine. Just an old injury. It knocks me a little off-balance from time to time.”
“Maybe something we need to check out?” Carson asked.
“Nope, I’m fine.” Isaac gave him a grin to prove the point. Carson wasn’t convinced but he knew that pushing wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“I’m going to walk this off,” Isaac said to Jack. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
“Yeah, yeah. Everyone here is fine.” Jack’s worried gaze fell on Carson and then Kylie. “The two of you might want to head to the house. Kylie, you look frazzled and Carson might need stitches.”
Carson touched the tender spot on his cheek. He came away with blood on his fingers. “What was that guy on?”
Kylie shook her head. “My guess? Meth. We’ve caught him with prescription pills and I thought maybe we could help him, but a lot of his problems are due to his teen years and not injuries suffered in battle. People have pasts. Often those pasts get jumbled together with trauma suffered in the military.”
Carson understood that. People were a lot like their physical symptoms. A person could come to him with a basketful of symptoms and think they were suffering from one illness. Many times that wasn’t the case. Some people suffered layer after layer of injury and illness, and it took some unraveling to figure out which illness caused each symptom.
“I need to take care of the kids,” Carson told Kylie when she tried to lead him away.
“Jack could take them to the swings while I get you cleaned up,” she suggested.
Jack nodded his agreement. “I don’t mind at all. And after you’re cleaned up, we’ll make a trip to town. And Kylie, you know that Donnie can’t come back. Next time he might hurt you or one of the other women. We can’t have him here on the ranch anymore.”
“I know.” She looked heartbroken.
Carson watched as Jack returned to where Maggie and Andy waited with Rambo. The dog had stood as Jack approached and he nudged Andy a little, getting the child’s attention. It had been only a couple of days but already he could see the positive impact the dog was having on Andy’s life.
Jack held a hand out to Maggie and said something to Andy that had Carson’s son glancing back at him. He waved and nodded, giving Andy the reassurance he needed. It worked. Andy grinned and hurried alongside Jack.
Carson wanted to see those smiles every single day. He just hoped that they wouldn’t disappear when they left Oklahoma. He hoped that staying on the ranch so Andy could work with Rambo wouldn’t ultimately make things more difficult for his children. He wanted them to leave here with good memories and not with bruised hearts.
“They’re fine, you know,” Kylie assured him. She’d misunderstood his concerned looks.
“I know they are.” He could be honest with her. He knew that. “I just worry about what’ll happen when we leave. Staying isn’t part of my plan. I thought I’d come up here and see what Jack had to say and then we’d be on our way. I hadn’t expected you to be here.”
She pulled back a bit and shook her head. “What do I have to do with any of this?”
She no longer leaned on the cane. He assumed because she’d been moving a while and the stiffness had finally abated.
“You’re pretty effective using that thing as a weapon. I’m almost afraid of you.”
She flashed a grin at him. “I won’t hurt you. Too much.”
He wasn’t so sure about that.
“Go on,” she encouraged, nudging his arm with hers. “You hadn’t expected me to be here. What does that have to do with anything?”
“You’re easy to get attached to,” he finally said, clearing his throat. “Andy and Maggie are getting attached to you. That will make it more difficult for them when we have to leave.”
“I know you’re trying to protect them, Carson. That’s admirable. But you can’t protect them from everything. What you can do is prepare them. Prepare them for disappointments, for heartache, for change. It’s simple. They need to know that I’m here to help them with Rambo, but when you move to Chicago, I won’t be there. Jack won’t be there. The ranch won’t be there. But there will be other things that will be there. And most important you’ll be there.”
“You�
��re right,” he agreed. “But you don’t get what it’s like. When something awful happens and you don’t have time to prepare a child. Andy was two when Anna was killed. He didn’t understand. I think he still doesn’t understand.”
“He’s a smart boy, and close to five now, isn’t he?”
Carson nodded.
“He probably has questions. You can talk to him, help him to understand better, more at his age level, now that he is older.”
He agreed; he could do that. He needed to do that. He would have asked Kylie to help but that would have dragged her deeper into their lives.
And he had a feeling that that wasn’t really where she wanted to be.
* * *
As they walked toward Jack’s house Kylie wondered if she had gone too far, giving advice where it wasn’t wanted or needed. She also considered what he said about the children getting too attached to her, making it difficult for them when they had to leave. She understood that. A selfish part of her wished Carson hadn’t stayed. She wished Jack hadn’t suggested a service dog for Andy.
They were sweet, beautiful kids. And Carson was kind and decent. But they were complications she didn’t need in her life right now.
“Are you second-guessing your advice?” Carson asked as they walked up the sidewalk to the house.
She looked at him and felt a little reassured because he didn’t look angry. He didn’t sound angry.
“A little, yes.”
“Don’t. You’re right. I know I need to talk to Andy. I know I need to help them adjust. Maybe while we’re here...”
He didn’t finish, but she knew the way he would have finished that sentence if Eve hadn’t headed their direction from their apartment. He had been about to ask her to take part in the discussion he would have with his children. He’d been about to draw her further into their lives. It was a place she wanted to be, but couldn’t. She didn’t belong there.
An hour ago he had kissed her and she’d seen the guilt etched in his expression. She knew how that felt and she didn’t want that emotion tagged to a possible relationship between them.
“I heard about the fight,” Eve said as she wheeled up to them. “Looks like you stepped in front of a truck.”
Carson grinned, but then he flinched and he touched his cheek. “Yeah, kind of feels that way.”
“We’re heading back to get it bandaged up right now,” Kylie offered.
“Good idea, because that is really disgusting to look at.” She grinned. “It’s like someone took a beautiful work of art and threw paint on it.”
“Oh, please,” Kylie muttered.
Eve laughed. “It had to be said.”
“No. Really, it didn’t.”
“Kind of did.” Eve winked at Carson. “But I’m not an art thief.”
“We have to go now,” Kylie stated, glaring at her friend.
“Oh, wait, I didn’t just come over here to tease you. I came to let the two of you know they’re having the pie auction at the church. You weren’t there the Sunday they finalized the details.”
“When is it?” Kylie didn’t remember anything about a pie auction, but then, she’d been distracted lately.
“Tonight, silly. The Bluegrass Bills are going to be playing music and ladies from the community have donated pies. It’s a fun time. The money goes to Hope Group Home.”
She had forgotten. The group home for teens had been in operation for nearly a year, and few people knew that Jack had given them the initial start-up money and continued to be the major donor. She shouldn’t have forgotten the pie auction. Maybe she had because the idea of it kind of gave her the willies. The pie auction was a couple’s thing.
“Are we going?” Carson asked.
Eve grinned. “Oh, definitely. Everyone will be there. And I baked two apple pies for the occasion. One for myself and one for Kylie.”
“I’m not taking a pie,” Kylie told her friend. “I’ll donate money.”
“You have to take a pie,” Eve continued. No one could ever say that Eve wasn’t determined.
Kylie narrowed her eyes at her friend. “I’ll talk to you in a little while. Let me get this taken care of.”
“Now you’re a ‘this,’” Eve teased, then spun around and headed back to the apartment.
“From ‘work of art’ to a ‘this.’ I’m not sure how to feel about the very quick demotion in rank.” Carson put a hand to her back and guided her up the stairs. She had a very real urge to stomp on his toe. Just once. Maybe she could use the cane that she had under her arm.
Instead she exhaled and led Carson to the laundry room, which was also their makeshift infirmary with first aid supplies, cold medicines and other items.
“Have a seat.” She pointed to a stool near the sink.
Carson glanced in the mirror over the sink and cringed. “I never saw his fist coming.”
“He also doesn’t have a shutoff valve.” She grabbed gauze, paper towels, antiseptic and other supplies from the cabinet.
“None of that is going to work.” He pulled at the wound to examine it, flinching a little at his own touch.
Kylie ripped open a disposable wipe that would clean and disinfect. “Here, let me.”
He sat down on the stool and she wished he would close his eyes. Instead he watched, his gray eyes studying her face as she wiped the wound. She touched his cheek to hold him steady but the minute her fingers made contact with his skin, she knew it was a mistake.
“It’s deep.” She didn’t need to tell him that but she had needed to say something to break the silence between them.
“Do you have a butterfly bandage in that bag of tricks?”
She dug around in the bag and realized it was sadly in need of restocking. He laughed a little and she looked up, questioning with her eyes.
“You’re so focused on your search, you’re biting your lip and scrunching your nose. For a second I thought you were thirteen again and hunting for arrowheads by the creek.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Yes, it was.” He agreed in a voice that took a faraway tone.
The days he’d spoken of didn’t seem real. She’d been a different person with different dreams. If she could make him understand how happy this ranch made her, how content she was living here. She wanted to keep that happiness intact.
He reached in the bag and pulled out what she’d been looking for and hadn’t seen. “Let’s just use this one.”
“You distracted me,” she accused.
“Did I?”
“Stop,” she told him. A pleading tone had entered her voice. She refused to be that person. “I can’t do this.”
“Do what?” He stood to look at himself in the mirror as he put the skin back together with the butterfly bandage.
“Flirt. I can’t pretend my past away. I can’t pretend good health or...” She had to stop there before she said too much. She didn’t want sympathy. She didn’t want pity. She wanted understanding. She wanted...so many things.
“I know.” His voice softened as he said it and he reached to curl a strand of her hair around his fingers.
“We’re here today because we’ve both been through things, difficult things. You’re trying to start over somewhere. And I’m happy with my life. I love it here.” Honesty. She had to give him that. He deserved the truth. “For the first time in my life, I am truly happy. I don’t want anything to jeopardize that.”
“I’m not here to jeopardize your happiness.”
She glanced at their reflection in the mirror and saw that it was too intimate, the two of them in that small room together. She carried the bag to the cabinet and made herself stand there for a minute rearranging, organizing.
“Kylie?”
“You have no idea how your presence here could jeopardize things for me. I don’t want to loo
k at you, at your children, and see what I can’t ever have. I’d rather keep focusing on what I do have,” she said, facing him. “I just want to be thankful for everything I have and enjoy what I’ve been given.”
She stopped. She couldn’t tell him the rest, no matter how much she believed in being honest and upfront. He didn’t need to hear that she was already attached to his children. And they would be gone soon, the three of them. She knew she could survive it, she could survive just about anything, but she didn’t want to always be surviving.
She wanted children. She wanted babies. And she couldn’t have them. Seeing Carson with Maggie and Andy, she envied him. And she didn’t want to envy him. He did have beautiful children, but life hadn’t been easy for him or for Maggie and Andy. “I have to go. I have things to do.” She started walking away from him.
“Kylie,” he called out, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. She wasn’t going to cry in front of him. She wasn’t going to cry, period.
Chapter Twelve
“Where’s Kylie?” Carson asked as he came downstairs a short time later.
Jack had returned to the house with the kids. Maggie and Andy were playing with toy horses and a miniature farm truck and livestock trailer. They were loading and unloading the tiny horses on the trailer.
Jack jerked a bit as he sat in the chair, his hand trembling as he held it against his stomach.
“You’ve been overdoing it, Jack. Because you feel as if you have to do everything.” Carson sat in the chair next to the recliner. “We don’t have to go to town, you know.”
“I’m going to town. I have to try Holly’s new dessert at the restaurant. She’s downright proud of this vanilla bread pudding recipe she created.”
“I bet she is. It isn’t every day that someone discovers another way to block more arteries and increase your heart disease.”
Jack guffawed at that and even slapped his knee. “Make me a cup of coffee. I’m going to tell Holly to call that dessert the Jack Attack.”
“Great.” Carson walked away. “Decaf.”
“No decaf. And after that dessert at the café, I’m going to the pie auction. I’m bidding on Lana Gold’s pumpkin streusel pie. She’s a pretty gal, that Lana is.”
Reunited with the Rancher Page 12
