by Arlene James
The worst part was that if he’d just asked nicely, she’d have let him turn the horse loose and drive her back to the main house. So, once again, if anything bad happened, it would all be his fault. Sick at heart, he went to the Lord.
“Please let her be safe. I’m sorry for losing my temper again. Please, please don’t let it lead to disaster, not for Kendra. She doesn’t deserve this on top of everything else.”
His own words rose up to mock him then. “I’m not avoiding questions that plague me! I’m avoiding people who plague me!”
She didn’t deserve that, either. Yes, he had been avoiding her. And, yes, she plagued him. Thoughts of her plagued him every moment, and he did feel some resentment over that, but hurting her had hurt him. He’d tried to tell himself that the whole thing had been a minor spat between friends, but the ache in his chest had only intensified. Horrified by what he’d done, he snatched up the rag he’d been using to stain the woodwork and carried it outside. Moving as quickly as possible, he put away the stain and other tools then scrubbed his hands clean before grabbing his hat and jumping into the truck.
All the way over to the main house, he continued to pray, confessing his fears, failings and lack of faith. Kendra had been right. Instead of trusting God to provide the answers to the questions that bedeviled him, he’d simply tried to ignore them. He had also been avoiding all the people whom he feared he’d disappoint—and all those he feared would disappoint him.
He feared that Maddie would never think as well of him as she did Grayson, especially if she turned out to be his half sister. He feared that Grayson would blame him for their mother’s accident and that, despite being twins, they would have nothing in common. He feared that his mother would never wake up, that he might discover his father only to lose him again, that Carter would forever remain a stranger. And that when Kendra left, she would take his heart with her. Suddenly, her leaving seemed less important than her being okay.
“God forgive me for being so self-centered,” he prayed, remembering that Christ had been willing to suffer so much more than disappointment for those He loved.
Realizing how foolish he’d been to hide away from the very people who comprised his support system, those dearest to him in all the world, he finally let go of the anger and guilt that had been the true plague on his life. As soon as he’d done that, something unexpected and unappreciated rushed in to fill the void.
Love.
Reaching the house, he left the truck out front and hit the door at a near run, coming across Maddie on her way through the foyer.
“Jack!” she exclaimed, smiling happily. “Glad you’re here.” She waved a hand, saying, “Come. Come with me. I have good news.”
“Kendra’s here,” he immediately surmised, earning a puzzled look from Maddie as he followed her toward the kitchen.
“Kendra? No. That is, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her, anyway.”
They entered the kitchen to find Violet leaning against the counter and talking softly with Lupita while the cook put the finishing touches on lunch.
“What are you doing here at this time of day?” he asked his sister, fearing the worst.
Violet shrugged and said coyly, “Just thought I’d come home for lunch. Did Kendra deliver the lamp?”
“Yes, she did,” he answered distractedly. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” Bringing his hands to his waist, he asked, “Have you seen Kendra since then?”
At the same time, Maddie announced, “I have news.”
Shaking her head at Jack, Violet smiled at her twin. “What?”
“Grayson is free at last and packing to come to Grasslands!” Maddie exclaimed cheerfully.
Jack felt his heart kick. His twin was coming here. Finally, he would meet his brother. His brother. A fierce, unexpected gladness filled Jack. He shoved aside his misgivings and smiled.
“That’s excellent. It’s really great.”
“Oh, man,” Violet said with a laugh, “we’re going to have two of you around.”
“Not quite, but close enough,” Maddie teased, beaming at Jack. “Honestly, Gray’s a good guy. You’re both going to love him.”
“Of course we will,” Violet said happily. “After all, we both love you.”
Though she smiled, Maddie darted a look at Jack, and he knew what she wanted, needed, to hear from him. He felt small and churlish for not having given it to her before this, so he gave it to her now.
“Yes,” he said, smiling warmly at Maddie, “and we both love you.”
Darting forward, Maddie hugged him. “Thanks, brother mine. That means a lot.”
Nodding, he patted her back and felt lighter than he had in some time. As she danced away, he cleared his throat. Now, if only he could find Kendra.
His fears returning, he asked, “Are you sure none of you have seen Kendra?”
“Not since she left for your place,” Lupita said, turning to face Jack.
Alarm shot through him. “She should have been back by now. Before now.”
Violet frowned. “I thought the two of you would be together.”
“No,” Jack said tersely. “I need to find her.”
“Maybe she’s just enjoying the ride.”
“I don’t think so,” he muttered, ducking his head. He could confess his stupidity later. What mattered now was finding Kendra well and safe.
“She could be in the barn,” Lupita suggested helpfully. “She loves to be out with the animals.”
“Well, she’d call if she had trouble,” Violet added. “I gave her Mom’s cell phone, you know, just in case, like we discussed.”
Relieved to know that, Jack pulled out his own phone and dialed his mother’s number, only to announce a few moments later, “The call went to voice mail.”
Violet winced. “I probably forgot to reset the ringer. We turned it off at the hospital, remember?”
“I’m going to check the barn,” Jack said, striding for the door. “One of you go up and check her room. Call my cell if you find her.”
“I’ll go,” Violet volunteered, rushing off in one direction as Jack went in another.
Nipper met him in the courtyard. Jack absently addressed the dog as he moved rapidly toward the fence. “You seen Kendra, boy? I need to find Kendra.”
The dog capered ahead of him, heading straight for the barn, but whether because he understood Jack’s question or surmised Jack’s destination, only God knew. Breaking into a trot, Jack prayed it was the former.
Chapter Fifteen
The barn door stood open. Jack took that as a good sign and hurried inside.
“Kendra?”
She didn’t answer, but even as he ran to check the stall, he saw that Mouse had been returned and tended. Thanking God, he sagged against the metal railing. At least she hadn’t been thrown, adding physical injury to the pain he’d already dealt her. He still needed to see her, though, to talk to her.
“Kendra!” he called again, glancing around the cavernous building.
Failing to catch sight of her, he headed for the rear of the barn, thinking that she might be playing with the ducks. He hadn’t walked four steps when Tom—Thomasina, rather—darted in front of him, a much slimmer version of her former self.
The kittens. Thomasina had obviously delivered the kittens.
Remembering that Kendra had prepared a box for that very event, Jack turned around and made for the prep room. “Kendra. Talk to me!” Heart pounding, he told her, “I’m sorry about earlier.”
But Kendra was not in the tack room to hear him. He got out his phone and dialed Violet’s. She answered almost instantly. “Sorry, Jack, she’s not here.”
“Well, the horse is,” he reported, puzzled. A horrible thought seized him.
She’d gone. Kendra had left him
.
“Oh, God, no. Please,” he prayed, ending the call. Distraught now, he began yelling, “Kendra! Where are you?”
Had she regained her memory? Had she called someone to come for her, someone from her past? He might never know, and against that possibility every other mystery in his life paled to insignificance. He staggered back, nearly felled by the idea of losing her.
* * *
“Kendra! Where are you?”
“Here,” she mumbled, frowning at the words that did not fit the scene. The voice belonged to Jack, all right, but he knew where she was; he was right there with her, smiling and holding her hands in his. Except...she wasn’t really there herself.
Kendra sat up, groggily pushing back her hair as the dream dissolved. She looked around, her breath catching, and realized where she was—and where Jack had to be. Scrambling over to the edge of the loft, she looked down and saw Jack standing just outside the prep room. She called out to him.
“Jack!”
His gaze zipped straight up to her. “Thank God!”
“What’s wrong?” she began.
At the same time, Jack started forward, saying, “I’m so sorry. You were right. I was avoiding everyone and everything, but it won’t happen again, I promise. Just don’t leave.”
Thrilled, Kendra started down the ladder. “How did you know I’d spoken to the sheriff?”
“You spoke to George?” Jack asked. “What did he say? No. Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to go. Not now, not when you regain your memory, not ever.”
Laughing, she looked back over her shoulder as she stepped down—and missed the next rung entirely. Her weight shifted, sending the ladder rolling in one direction and her body in the other. Jack yelled for her to watch out, and then she hit the ground, hard, her head bouncing like a rubber ball. She saw lights flashing as pain exploded inside her skull, then blackness.
“Kendra!” Jack’s voice came to her through the inky darkness. Hands reached out to her, arms lifted and cradled her close. “Honey, look at me. Wake up.”
She fluttered her eyelids experimentally then clamped them closed again as a kaleidoscope of images rushed at her. Thousands, millions of bits of information flooded her mind, leaving her gasping.
Reeling from the sheer volume of information, she tried to sit up, to let Jack know that she was okay, but he clasped her to him, rocking with her. She realized suddenly what he couldn’t possibly yet know. Elated, she threw her arms around him. He gusted a great sigh of relief and crushed her tightly.
“Thank You!” he exclaimed. “Thank You.”
She smiled. Then she began to laugh, wincing as pain lanced through her head.
“Sweetheart?” Jack’s hand cupped her face. “Honey, are you okay?”
She managed a nod, relieved that her brain seemed fixed to its moorings and not ricocheting around inside her head. The pain had already begun to fade.
“Say something,” Jack pleaded. “Talk to me.”
“I remember,” she croaked. She remembered it all. Everything. Every blessed moment that had been lost to her these past weeks.
Jack gasped, loosening his hold on her. She looked up to find him staring down at her with a strange look on his face. She nodded to let him know that he had heard correctly. On his knees, he dropped his arms and sat back onto his heels.
“Kendra?”
“It’s Keira,” she corrected, struggling up onto her arms, her palms planted on the ground. “That’s why Kendra sounded so familiar. My name is Keira Wolfe. Wolfe with an e.”
Jack sat down hard, his legs sliding to one side. “What do you remember?” he asked carefully.
“I remember,” she said, smiling slowly, “why I left Amarillo.”
Pulling up one knee, Jack draped his arm over it and swiped his hand over his face. “Go on.”
She gave him the most pertinent fact first. “I’d just broken up with my fiancé.”
Jack stared at her for a moment then shifted around, folding his legs. “Broke up, you say?”
Keira copied his position, touching her knees to his. “Yes. H-he insisted on this huge society wedding that I didn’t want.”
A smile spread across Jack’s face. “You didn’t want a big wedding?”
“It would just be me and a few friends,” she explained, “and him with all his family, customers and social network, not to mention his political allies.”
Frowning, Jack parroted, “Political allies?”
“He has political ambitions,” she explained. “They overshadow everything else in his life, even me. He’d started saying that my work is ‘dirty’ and ‘unfeminine,’ and he didn’t want me ‘mucking around filthy farms,’ as he put it.” She blinked, straightening her spine. “I’m a veterinarian.”
“What?” Jack laughed. “Well, that explains a lot!”
Keira gasped. “Merry, my boss, must be going crazy. I’d just joined her small-animal practice in an effort to please my fiancé, so she’s probably managing fine, but she’s got to be wondering what happened to me.”
“We’ll call her,” Jack promised, “but first tell me how you wound up in an unregistered car with that veil on your head.”
“It was the wedding planner,” Keira clarified. “My fiancé, Drew, called me down to the dealership. He’s a new-car dealer. In fact, he owns several dealerships in two states. Anyway, he knew I was upset about limiting my practice to small animals, so he decided to give me the car as an engagement present. He brought it in from his dealership in New Mexico, on consignment or approval or whatever they call it.”
“That’s why there was no record of it in Texas,” Jack said. “Okay, that explains the car, but what about the veil?”
“When I got to the dealership, the wedding planner was there with all her books and samples and what have you.” Keira waved a hand. “Drew more or less ambushed me with her.” Keira had refused to go to the bridal shop and talk to the wedding consultant there, so he had known how she felt about the whole idea. “Since my grandfather’s death,” she explained, “it’s just been me and a few good friends, so I wanted a small, personal wedding, not a show with a big write-up in the paper and a bunch of politicians I don’t even want to know.”
“I’m with you there,” Jack said, grinning.
“He wanted to invite the governor,” she recalled, upset all over again. “Apparently, if you donate enough money, you can do that.”
“So he’s rich, this guy?”
Keira shrugged. “I suppose. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know. He certainly wants people to think he’s rich. The ring I threw at him before I jumped in the car and hauled out of there was so big and gaudy I only wore it when I knew he was coming over.” She shook her head, wondering why she’d ever agreed to marry the man.
They had met at A & M University. She had been a sophomore and he a senior. After he’d graduated, they really hadn’t spent that much time together, but he’d been so good to drive down when she had space for him, and over the years, it just became...normal.
“Things started to go wrong when I moved back to my grandfather’s house in Amarillo,” she said. She looked at Jack then and admitted, “I think I knew all along that I wasn’t going to marry Drew, from the moment I accepted his ring.”
One corner of Jack’s mouth curled up, and he leaned forward until his forehead touched hers. “Good,” he said. Just that.
It was enough to make Keira’s heart sing.
He took her hands in his, asking, “So the veil...”
Keira reached up and touched the top of her head. “That silly woman stuck it on me, even after I told her—told them both—that I didn’t want it!” She rolled her eyes. “The thing’s worth a mint. It’s some designer piece. I—I have to return it. And the car.”
&
nbsp; “We’ll take care of it,” Jack told her, squeezing her hand. “I’ll have the car fixed and towed back to... Drew, is it?”
“Drew Knoel.”
Jack frowned. “I know that guy. He’s the one with his picture on the billboard above his dealership right there on Interstate 40.”
Keira nodded, saying nothing about the supersize ego that had prompted the billboard. As far as she was concerned, Drew was the past—the distant past—and she had more important revelations in store for Jack.
Sobering, she said, “I know why I was going to Grasslands, Jack, a-and why I lost control of the car at that curve.”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, shifting closer and slipping his arm around her. “It’s okay. Whatever it is.”
“My family,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “My parents and my older sister, they died in a crash at that very spot. I remember it was raining, and the tire blew as we were coming down the hill. The car hit a tree.”
“They still talk about that wreck,” Jack told her in a shocked voice. “Honey, I’m so sorry. I should’ve thought to check the records or—”
“You couldn’t have known,” she objected. “No one could have. I—I just wanted...my grandfather is buried next to them, out at the old Green Rest Cemetery. He raised me, and when he passed about nineteen months ago, I brought him from Amarillo to lie beside my mother, his daughter.” Her grandmother had died when Keira was just a baby, and her grandfather had buried her with her family down in Houston. Then he had moved up to Amarillo to be closer to his daughter, Keira’s mom. “We’d agreed that when the time came, he’d be buried there with the rest of my family,” she divulged with a sniff.
“Wolfe,” Jack said, his brow furrowing. “Leon and...”
“Karen,” Keira supplied in surprise. “Leon and Karen Wolfe, and my sister’s name was Leila.”
“I remember them,” Jack breathed, “from church.”
“That’s why Mrs. Lindley thought she knew me!” Keira exclaimed. “My mom’s hair was brown, but Grandpa always said I look just like her in the face.”
