A County Girl's Heart

by Dena Blake

  “No, it isn’t, but it will be soon,” she murmured, not bothering to wipe away the tears.

  A horn blared and she jumped. Reality hit her. The sunrise might be just as beautiful here, but the ecosystem was very different.

  “This cab must be for you.” The doorman gave her a charming smile before rushing in front of her to open the car door.

  She swiped the moisture from her cheeks. “Thank you,” she said, sliding into the cab.

  “Where to?” the driver asked.

  “Austin General.”

  Unsure she was up to seeing Virgil, Kat stopped at the nurses’ station to get an update on his condition before entering the intensive care unit.

  “Can I help you?” the nurse asked, lifting her eyes briefly from the chart where she was making notations.

  “Can you give me an update on Virgil Jackson’s condition this morning?”

  “Are you a relative?”

  Kat hesitated and then nodded. “I’m his daughter.”

  “Let me find his chart.” She went to the computer and worked the keyboard quickly. “He’s doing much better today. At this rate, he’ll be out of here in no time.” She clicked a few keys and came back to the counter. “I think he’s awake. You can see him if you like.”

  Kat heard the click of Elizabeth’s cane coming down the hall and stepped toward Virgil’s room. She stopped and took in a few deep breaths, trying to suppress the overwhelming anxiety that coming face-to-face with her mother provoked.

  “Good morning, Kathryn.” Elizabeth’s eyes swept the length of Kat’s body curiously.

  “Good morning, Mother.” Kat was sure her mother had noted the absence of a change of clothes. Kat fought her instinctive reaction to bolt as she crossed her arms and looked her mother in the eye, summoning all her strength to hold her own ground.

  “You’re here early.”

  “I just thought I’d stop by before heading to the ranch.”

  “Where’s Danica?”

  “At home, I assume.” Kat wasn’t in the mood to play her mother’s games this morning.

  Elizabeth’s neatly arched brows rose curiously. “I thought you went home with her yesterday.”

  “Well, you were wrong, Mother.” Kat didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d needed DJ last night. She turned to the nurse. “My number is in the chart. You’ll call me if anything changes?”

  “Of course,” the nurse said.

  “Thanks for your help,” Kat said, and took off to the elevator without another word to Elizabeth.

  “Kathryn, aren’t you even going in to see him?” The annoyance surfaced quickly in Elizabeth’s voice. Her wooden cane clicked rapidly against the floor as she tried to keep pace with Kat.

  “I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind for a visit with Virgil this morning.” Kat narrowed her eyes and gave her mother a brief stare as she continued down the hallway.

  Elizabeth took Kat’s arm and led her into a small waiting area. “Kathryn, he needs you.”

  “Don’t tell me about needs, Mother.” Kat jerked her arm free, noting that her mother seemed remarkably strong for a woman who’d been laid up with a broken pelvis for six weeks. “You can’t just drop a bombshell like that on me and think everything’s going to be exactly the same as it was before.”

  “Please don’t take your anger for me out on Virgil. He’s always been very good to you.” Elizabeth moved closer and Kat retreated. “I honestly thought you’d be happy to find out he was your father.”

  “Maybe I would’ve been, if you’d told me twenty years ago.” She couldn’t believe her mother’s arrogance.

  “Things were more complicated then.”

  “Complicated.” Kat’s voice rose, bitterness spilling out. “My God, Mother. How could you let me grow up thinking I had a father who hated me?” Kat’s head spun. She could have avoided all the insecurities and self-doubt her father had instilled in her. Instead, the negativity she’d cultivated from her father’s indifference to her was burned into her very being.

  “That wasn’t easy for me, Kathryn.” Elizabeth hobbled to the window. Her recovering body now seemed strained by the chase. “I tried my best to make up for it.”

  “How’s that?” Kat’s anger flared. “By cutting me off when I got married?” Her voice cracked. “By never once trying to contact me?”

  “You were better off with Arizona.” Elizabeth’s clouded expression concealed any emotion she might be feeling. “She loved you. I knew you would be all right.”

  “You think I was better off without my family? Without my sister?” Kat’s voice dropped off suddenly. “Without you?” The feeling of loss crashed through her, and Kat thought she might pass out.

  “Oh, Kathryn.” Elizabeth’s voice wavered. “If you’d stayed, Charles would’ve made your life miserable. I wasn’t going to let him destroy your spirit any more than he already had.”

  Kat raised her brows and continued to stare. “Why was Daddy so good to Rebecca?”

  “Because he thought she was his,” Elizabeth said, her voice thick with irony. “But I knew from the moment I saw her, she wasn’t.” She smiled lightly. “She looked just like you.”

  “Forgive me, Mother, but I could have sworn you said you and Charles never slept together?”

  Elizabeth spun around and lost her balance momentarily. Kat reached to steady her. “Charles wasn’t a very nice man, Kathryn, and some things are better left alone.”

  Kat wasn’t expecting to see sadness in her mother’s eyes and felt a twinge of sympathy for her. “Are you ever going to tell her?”

  Elizabeth squared her shoulders and regained her composure. She let go of Kat’s arm and balanced herself with her cane. “I suppose I’ll have to now.”

  “Just what exactly do you want from me?” Kat sank down into a chair, cradling her head. The reality was becoming too much for her. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

  “I was hoping you would help me talk to her, and then maybe we could all become acquainted with each other again.” Elizabeth hesitated before resting her hand on Kat’s head and petting her lightly. “As I recall, when you were younger, we used to be quite close.”

  She couldn’t do this. Not now. “I have to go.” Kat jumped up and rushed across the room. “I have to take care of a few more things before I go to the ranch.” She stopped in the doorway and turned toward Elizabeth. “Things could have been different, you know.” She shook her head. “So much different.”

  “They still can be.” Elizabeth’s disposition softened, reminding Kat of the mother she once had.

  Kat fought the urge to go to her, be captured in her arms and feel the warmth she remembered. “Maybe so.” She dropped her gaze to the floor and continued out the door.

  * * *

  Rebecca was hard at work behind her desk when Kat walked through the doorway. “Boy, you’re certainly up early.”

  Rebecca glanced up momentarily. “Look who’s talking.”

  “Just thought I’d stop by before I leave town.”

  Rebecca pushed back in her chair. “You want a cup of coffee?”

  “Love one.” Kat slipped her coat off and tossed it onto the arm of the couch. She needed something to keep her going this morning. She hadn’t had much sleep last night, and her eyelids were becoming increasingly heavy.

  Rebecca pressed the intercom button. “Jenny, I need—”

  “On my way,” Jenny said, bustling through the door with a tray of coffee and assorted pastries.

  Kat laughed, sliding down onto the couch. “You should give that girl a raise.”

  “Believe me, she’s very well paid.” Rebecca handed Kat a cup of coffee. “Finding someone you can trust in this business isn’t easy or inexpensive.”

  “I’m sure.” Apparently, her mother paid people very well to keep her secrets.

  “How’s Virgil?”

  “Doing pretty well, considering.”

 
; “Good. Did you and Dani work everything out last night?” Her brows eased up curiously, and she leaned against the arm of the sofa.

  “What makes you think I was with her?” Kat asked, embarrassed to admit she’d needed DJ more last night than she’d ever imagined.

  “Well, you weren’t at the hospital and you didn’t stay at my place, so I just figured…”

  Kat took in a deep breath and slowly shook her head.

  “You did.” Rebecca’s voice rose. “Did you work things out?”

  “We didn’t really talk,” Kat said with a groan as she dropped her hands to the couch and dug her fingers into the cushion. “I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”

  “Nobody knows what they’re doing when they’re in love.” Rebecca chuckled. “If they did, it wouldn’t be any fun.”

  “Feeling so confused all the time isn’t fun.” She took a sip of coffee, and it immediately rolled in her stomach.

  Rebecca gave her a smile. “I understand. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it.”

  “Are you in love with Mark?”

  “I don’t know.” She brought the cup of coffee to her lips. “I mean, he’s really good to me and all. But I’m still waiting for all the bells and whistles to go off.”

  Kat remembered clearly when the bells and whistles had gone off for her. She shook the thoughts of DJ from her mind. “How long have you been seeing him?”

  “About a year.”

  Kat scrunched her nose. “I hate to tell you, Bec, but if they haven’t gone off by now, it’s probably not going to happen.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Rebecca dropped onto the couch. “Aren’t we a pair?” She laughed. “You have it and don’t want it, and I want it and don’t have it.”

  “Yep. Quite a pair.”

  * * *

  DJ rolled over and reached for Kat, but all she found were silk pajamas. “Kat.” She didn’t respond. “Kat.” Still no response. “Damn.” She hopped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom. Empty. She knew she should’ve resisted last night, but Kat was in such a fragile state she was afraid to say no. DJ didn’t want to complicate Kat’s life any more than it already was, but she had. She’d complicated both their lives. She slid on her jeans and headed into the kitchen. There she saw the note Kat had written, and the sinking feeling that hit her was almost unbearable.

  DJ,

  I’ll never forget last night. The comfort you gave me will be forever burned into my heart. But going forward, it will only be a memory. You and I live in two different worlds, and anything between us must remain in the past.

  Kat

  Kat’s words stung deep in DJ’s heart, words similar to what she herself had used many times before. Until now, she’d had no idea how devastating they could be. She wadded up the note and hurled it across the kitchen before she sprinted into the bedroom and put on the rest of her clothes. DJ had to find her before she left town.

  * * *

  She rushed by the nurses’ station and sped down the hallway to the ICU. She’d found the rose Kat had left in the elevator and knew she’d been thinking of her when she’d left, but waking up alone this morning was not a good start.

  She pushed open the door to Virgil’s room. “Good morning, Elizabeth.”

  “Good morning, Danica.” Elizabeth studied her, seeming to observe her foul mood.

  “How are you today, Virgil?” DJ asked, genuinely concerned.

  “Still a bit tender.” He touched his ribs gently. “But I’m doin’ much better. Thanks.”

  “Good.” DJ nodded. “You want to tell me what happened the other night at the ranch?”

  “I was in the stable closing up for the storm when Victoria and her boys showed up.” Virgil winced as he shifted slightly. “Can you raise the top of the bed some for me?” He pointed to the buttons on the side of it.

  DJ pushed the button, and Virgil rose to a reclining position. “Is that better?”

  “Much.” He shifted the pillow behind his head. “Victoria made some nasty reference to Kat and pretty much admitted she’d killed Arizona.”

  DJ snapped her gaze to Virgil and leaned in closer, thinking she might have misunderstood. “She admitted that to you?”

  Virgil scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Not outright, but I know that’s what she meant.”

  “Try to remember, Virgil. I need to know exactly what she said.”

  “First off, she told me, I’d better be careful or I’d wind up just like my daughter. When I asked her what the hell she was talking about, she told me Arizona was diggin’ into things she shouldn’t.”

  “Digging into what?”

  “I don’t know. That’s when I went after her. Her boys held me off and gave me a pretty good beatin’. Knocked me out cold.” He reached up and touched the bandage on his head. “They must have set the fire after I was out.”

  DJ raked her fingers through her hair and moved to the side of the bed.

  “Oh, yeah. She did say one more thing.” Virgil tensed and grabbed the side railing, moving himself forward in the bed before he winced and fell against the mattress.

  Elizabeth pushed out of her chair and rushed to his side. “That’s enough. You need to rest.”

  “I’m fine,” Virgil said as he raised his hand and grabbed DJ’s arm to steady himself.

  “What else did she say, Virgil?”

  “With me out of the way, Kat would be all hers.”

  DJ stood at Virgil’s bedside gripping the railing as she put all the pieces together in her head. It wasn’t just about the money. It was about Kat, a beautiful, unsuspecting woman whose only need in life was to feel loved again. A woman whom DJ had callously taken advantage of.

  Virgil collapsed against the pillow. “The woman’s deranged. She seems to think if she gets rid of everyone Kat loves, she’ll come runnin’ to her.”

  DJ pushed herself from the bed railing. “Speaking of Kat, have either of you seen her this morning?” She didn’t want to let on that she’d been with her last night.

  “Yes. She was here earlier,” Elizabeth said. “I spoke with her briefly before she left.”

  “Did you explain her sudden change in heritage?” DJ was curious to hear the story as well.

  Elizabeth let out a heavy sigh. “I tried, but she wasn’t very receptive.”

  DJ raised her eyebrows. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind explaining it to me. You’ve put me in a very awkward position, Elizabeth.”

  “She did it for Kat,” Virgil said, his face twisting into a grimace as he shifted again. “When Charles found out about us, he made life miserable for Elizabeth, and he would have done the same for Kat if Elizabeth had gone against him.”

  “If you were having an affair with Elizabeth, why in the world would Charles let you stay on at the ranch?”

  “It was his way of punishing me,” Elizabeth said bitterly. “Constantly daring me to tell Virgil about Kathryn.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him?”

  “Virgil was no match for Charles and his money.” Elizabeth gave Virgil a remorseful look, and her eyes began to well. “He knew the girls were everything to me, and he wouldn’t have hesitated to use his money to take them from me if we divorced. I just couldn’t bear that.”

  Virgil took Elizabeth’s hand. “It must have been very hard for you.”

  “Kathryn was a beautiful and spirited young girl,” Elizabeth said softly, her face beaming. “She spent every waking moment at the stable. She loved the horses, and Charles couldn’t change that,” she said. “I tried to shield her from him. But as the years went by, Charles grew more hateful toward her.” Elizabeth’s voice wavered as her emotions became more evident. “When she fell in love with Arizona, I thought the best thing was to just let her go to experience life with someone who cherished her.” She took in a deep breath, smiled, and squeezed Virgil’s hand. “I knew Virgil would look after her for me whether she was his daughter or not.”

  “He sent you all the pictures.” DJ now
understood the reasons behind Elizabeth’s decision to distance herself from Kat. It had been as much a sacrifice for her as it had been for Kat.

  “And the only reason I let her go.”

  “Why didn’t you keep in contact with her after she left?”

  “It was best not to,” Elizabeth said stiffly. “Charles could be a cruel man when something didn’t please him.”

  DJ wandered around to the other side of the bed and gave Elizabeth a soft hug. “Charles didn’t know about Rebecca, correct?”

  Elizabeth managed a soft smile. “Kathryn has confided in you more than I thought.”

  She hadn’t, but it was obvious to DJ in every way that the two of them were full-blooded sisters.

  “Once Kathryn was gone, Charles put all his efforts into Rebecca, molding her into a ruthless business adversary, just like him.”

  DJ let out a short breath. “He did a pretty good job of that, but I think she has a bigger conscience than Charles ever had.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I certainly hope so.”

  “I have a few more people to see this morning,” DJ said and turned to leave. “I’ll be back later.”

  “Is one of them Kathryn?” Elizabeth asked, apparently pleased her plan to bring them together had worked.

  “Hopefully,” DJ said, and walked out the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Is he in?” DJ asked as she passed the same smiling brunette who’d been outside Mark’s office a few days before.

  “You can’t just go in there.” She jumped up and followed DJ inside.

  “He’ll see me.” DJ ignored her protest, continued into the office, and rounded the desk. She pushed Mark’s chair away from the desk, spun it around, and gripped the arms in her hands. “Did you know Victoria Maxwell was trying to kill Virgil Jackson in that fire?”

  The flustered brunette rushed up and stood just inside the doorway. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hamilton. I couldn’t stop her. Do you want me to call security?”

  Mark turned his head to the side. “No, Joanne. Just close the door on your way out.” DJ could hear the tremble in Mark’s voice.