“The show?” Her tone was puzzled, but she followed his example and sank onto the dewy grass.
He leaned toward her and pointed to a large break in the trees across the river. He smiled when Annalisa caught her breath in wonder.
Tiny fingers of light stretched up to meet the new day, rising over the craggy skyline. Explosions of brightness extended out to the gray morning sky, ending in streaks of pink and orange. Slowly, a huge ball of yellow light ascended from the vee of the two hills coming together.
“The heavens declare the glory of God,” Cade whispered.
“And the firmament showeth his handiwork,” Annalisa murmured.
They sat, motionless, until the sun was completely raised and a beautiful blue curtain had pushed back the gray.
“Thanks.” Annalisa cleared her throat and, when he looked at her, he noticed her eyes were moist. “I needed that.” She spoke softly in the quiet of the newborn day. “I constantly tell myself God is in control, but a physical reminder helps.”
“Same here.” Cade marveled that their thoughts could run so completely parallel. Most people would have probably raved about the undeniable beauty of the sunrise, but both of them—a beautiful woman obsessed with her loss and a man haunted by guilt—had seen the power of God, first and foremost.
He rose and offered a hand to Annalisa.
She allowed him to pull her to her feet. “Puts everything into perspective, doesn’t it?”
“That’s why I come down here.” He started down the path with her by his side.
“And why you wanted to bring me?” Annalisa gave him a wry smile. “You think I need perspective?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Cade said, guiding her to the horses.
When they reached the animals, he turned to face her and brought his other hand around so that both his hands spanned her waist. “Annalisa, I meant what I said the other day on the porch.”
“I know. I...” Conflicting emotions shone in her luminous brown eyes, and he found himself desperately wanting to kiss the confusion away.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Cade interrupted her. His gaze lingered on her lips but he dropped a chaste kiss on her forehead and released her.
When he was on Duke’s back, he noticed she was still standing by Bubba. “You coming?”
“Yeah,” she said, almost absently, as she climbed up in the saddle. “I’ll have to hurry to get breakfast.”
Chapter Ten
Annalisa sprinkled the shredded cheese on the skilletful of scrambled eggs then grabbed a fork to turn the bacon. She’d gotten a late start on breakfast, but the sunrise had been worth this frantic preparation.
Only one thing about the morning bothered her. Sharing such a beautiful example of God’s power had shaken the wall she’d erected between herself and Cade McFadden. Her resolve to maintain a distance from him was crumbling. She’d bitten her tongue this morning to keep from admitting her own feelings. She knew him. Once he realized how much she cared about him, he’d stop at nothing to keep her here.
Staring absently at the frying bacon, she slumped against the counter. An almost physical weariness spread across her shoulders. For seven long years, she’d held her promise to Amy sacred, refusing to let anyone or anything dissuade her from her task. Now, a devastatingly handsome cowboy threatened to make her forget.
She’d already compromised her convictions by staying here. He wasn’t the only private investigator in the world. As soon as she’d known for sure he wouldn’t help her find Amy, she should’ve moved on to find someone who would. Instead she’d allowed herself to become needed here, to grow close to the boys, and to fall in love with Cade.
The outside door opened to reveal the man who had been dominating her thoughts. She pulled herself up to her full height and, forcing a smile to her lips, she nodded. “Cade.”
He returned her nod with a grin. “Annalisa.”
“Where are the others?”
“George just got back from transporting our overnight gear to the campsite. Now he and the boys are packing the horses. Marta’s supervising. Did Aunt Gertie get off okay?”
“Yes, she left about an hour ago. She said y’all had already said your good-byes.”
He nodded. “I know she likes it here, but I bet the peace and quiet of Aunt Ruth’s house will be a nice treat.”
“I don’t know. She held onto my hand like she didn’t want to let go,” Annalisa said as she eased the bacon on to the paper-towel-topped plate.
“I can understand that.”
It took a minute for her to grasp his meaning. She quickly looked up to meet his gaze. His blue eyes had grown dark and serious.
A sudden burning sensation brought her attention back to her cooking. She grabbed her hand. “Ouch!”
“Here.” Cade switched off the burner and shepherded Annalisa to the sink. He kept one arm around her while he turned the cold water tap on, then gently guided her hand under the soft stream. “Hold that right there.”
When he released her, a bereft feeling almost overwhelmed her, even though he only took two steps away. He opened the corner lazy Susan and pulled out the aloe-vera gel.
“It’ll be okay. It’s only a little place where a splatter of hot grease got me.” She held her hand out to show him the red spot.
“Just hush.” He popped the top and squirted some green gel on his fingertips. “I need you in good shape to cook for this trip, otherwise the rest of us won’t be able to keep our energy up.” Teasing glints sparkled in his blue eyes, but he took her hand and cradled it in his as tenderly as if it were a baby.
She watched, mesmerized, as he dabbed the cool gel on the burn and then rubbed the excess into her palm.
“Thanks.” She cleared her throat and pulled her hand back. “It’ll be as good as new. You’ll be happy to know y’all won’t starve now.”
He transferred his hand to her cheek and lightly caressed it with his thumb. “You know that was my big worry, don’t you?”
The back door banged open and Annalisa jumped.
“Mr. Cade! Mr. Cade! Mr. George broke his leg!” Tim’s high-pitched voice demonstrated his distress, and tears streamed down his face.
Cade ran out the door, but Annalisa grabbed Tim and pulled him close. His bony shoulders shook under his sweaty shirt as he buried his head in her waist.
“Whoa, Timbo. Hang on a minute. Let’s just think about this. Even if Mr. George’s leg is broken, he’ll be okay. And you won’t do him any good if you get too upset.”
“You don’t understand,” Tim wailed. He pulled his face away and looked up at her. Her heart broke as she saw the little tear trickle highways of clean skin on his dirty face. “It was my fault! I’m the one who made him fall.”
***
Beside the porch, George writhed on the ground, holding his ankle. Marta bent over him, and her concerned expression lent impetus to Cade’s strides as he ran to them.
“How bad is it?”
“It’s sprained,” George grunted. “Trick ankle.”
“An old football injury,” Marta explained to Cade, but her gaze never left her husband’s pale face.
Cade squatted down beside them. “How did it happen?”
“I’m so clumsy, that’s how. I tripped and fell off the porch.”
“You had stuff in front of you and couldn’t see where you were going...” Marta jumped to her husband’s defense.
“How can you know it’s just sprained?” Cade slipped George’s boot off and warily eyed the purplish blue ankle. “I think you need a second opinion.”
George pushed up to a sitting position. “No. We’re headin’ out shortly. I’m not going to let the boys down.”
Marta sat down beside him. “George.” She shook her head, and Cade could see she was struggling not to throttle her husband.
“Annalisa and I will do just fine with the boys overnight. We may not be able to teach them everything you could, but they’ll still have a good time.” He gav
e the big man a reassuring grin. “I know almost every verse of most campfire songs. What I don’t know, she’ll fill in.”
Cade couldn’t believe he’d begun to think of them as a team, but his heart swelled with the rightness of it.
Marta gave George a hard look, and he finally nodded. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to let the doctor have a look at it.” His wife rewarded him with a sweet smile.
“It doesn’t do any good to argue with them,” George said with a wry grin. “You might as well remember that with Annali—oomph!”
Cade had thought he’d imagined seeing Marta’s elbow digging into George’s ribs, but George gave his side an exaggerated rub and glared at her.
“We’d better get you to the doctor, Hop-a-long,” Marta said, helping George to one foot and supporting his weight on the other side.
“Here, I’ll help.” Cade reached out, but Marta shooed him away.
“No, you’ve got your hands full. I can handle George. We’ll be here when you get back from camping.”
“Did you see the hospital sign when you came through Pocahontas?”
The couple exchanged a significant look and laughed aloud. Apparently noticing Cade’s puzzled expression, George explained. “I pointed it out when we came through town. I told Marta that with these three boys, we’d better know where the local ER is because it’s a cinch they’ll end up there. Now look who’s the first one to take advantage of the medical facilities.”
Cade was still chuckling at George’s good attitude as he watched them hobble out to the van and awkwardly load in.
Suddenly he realized someone was missing. Two someones to be exact—Juan and Matthew. They were supposed to have been helping George pack the horses.
He walked in the back door to the kitchen where Annalisa perched on a low stool with Tim on her knee. He had his head buried in her shoulder. She was smoothing his hair and talking to him in low tones. She looked up when Cade strode in and offered a poignant smile as she cuddled the child.
When had they started knowing what the other one was thinking? He could tell Amy filled her thoughts.
“How’s George?” she asked, her voice low.
Tim sat up and turned to Cade, obviously anxious to hear the answer.
“He’s okay. ‘Trick ankle,’ he said. I made him go get it checked out anyway.”
“Tim thought it was his fault George got hurt,” Annalisa said.
“His fault?” Cade stared at the child whose bottom lip had started trembling again. “How could it be his fault?”
“Apparently George had his arms full and hadn’t noticed Tim was in front of him. He tripped over Tim and fell off the porch.”
“Timbo...” Cade knelt down in front of Annalisa and touched Tim’s arm. “Son, you know George didn’t blame you. He said it was an accident. What if you’d been the one who’d gotten hurt. Would you have blamed him for falling on you?”
Tim shook his head, his wide eyes still full of tears, but not overflowing. “Now we won’t get to go camping today, will we?”
“Well, that all depends,” Cade drawled, rising to his feet. “We will if you can find your two cabin mates.”
“Juan and Matthew?” Tim’s excitement caused his sadness to abate. “George sent them out behind the barn to dig fishing worms. He said all we could have for supper is what we catch ourselves.” Tim slid off Annalisa’s knee and regarded her solemnly. “Otherwise, how will we ever be able to take care of ourselves in the woods?”
“How about you go see how many worms they’ve found? And tell them I’m going to need help loading things,” Cade said.
“Sure!” Tim hurried out the door, as always letting the screen door slam shut behind him.
***
Annalisa had trouble believing she was really riding along on a horse, relaxed, and enjoying the beautiful day. The cowboy with the knee-weakening grin beside her was icing on the cake. The three boys up ahead didn’t look relaxed, but at least they weren’t falling off.
“Do you think George’s ankle is broken?” she asked.
“No. In spite of Tim’s melodramatic claim, I think it’s only sprained.”
“You think Tim was trying to get attention?”
“No!” Cade held the reins in one hand and took off his Stetson with the other. He readjusted it back on. “I don’t think that at all. But, didn’t that seem odd to you—Tim getting so upset about George’s fall and thinking he’d caused it?” Cade asked.
She cast a sideways glance at him. “Not really. Sometimes people take responsibility for things like that. Even if it’s not their fault, they think it is.”
“Is that your official opinion?” Cade stared straight ahead, as if the trail was of great interest.
“Could be.”
“Sometimes things really are the person’s fault and taking responsibility is a release.”
“I’m sure you’re right about that, but I’d still say that more often than not, especially when other people can see objectively, but the person involved can’t, they aren’t responsible for what happened.”
“Why would someone want to take responsibility for a bad thing if it wasn’t true?”
“Sometimes people can’t recognize the truth.” Annalisa sneaked another peek at his chiseled profile. “Especially when they’ve held onto a lie for so long.”
“I’d better ride up and check on the boys.” Cade prodded Duke on and quickly left Annalisa and Bubba alone on the trail.
She leaned forward and patted the side of Bubba’s neck. “I’ll eventually convince him. You just wait and see.” As she stared out at the beautiful rolling hills, she thought about the implications of the word ‘eventually.’ The temptation to snuggle in and nest at the Circle-M was overpowering. After all the rundown rental houses her family had lived in, followed by years of being a guest, albeit a cherished one, in Julie’s home, didn’t she deserve a place she could belong? Unfortunately, she’d never belonged anywhere like she did in Cade’s arms.
Disgusted by her selfish thoughts, she edged Bubba up to a trot. Amy had just as much right to a loving home as she did. Annalisa could find her sister and reclaim her without Cade’s help. Then once she had custody, they would come back here.
Would Cade accept her if he knew she’d taken Amy away from someone? Knowing how strongly he felt about it, he might not. But that was a chance she’d have to take. She wouldn’t ruin the camping trip, but as soon as they got back to the house, she’d give Cade her two weeks’ notice. Amy’s happiness was worth it.
***
The bass pond on the back of the nine-hundred-acre ranch wasn’t as crystal clear as some of the spring-fed ponds scattered around the property. The boys, especially Juan, had snarled up their noses at the green-skimmed water.
They weren’t snarling anymore.
“I got a big one this time!” Juan’s unadulterated joy rang out across the water.
Cade and Annalisa shared another conspiratorial grin. The wonder of this pond had turned the street-smart punk into a little boy hitting home runs.
“Juan! That is huge!” Cade hurried to get the net as the teen eased the large-mouth bass up to the bank. “We’re going to eat good tonight.”
Just as he lowered the flopping fish into the bucket of water, a movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Matthew jumped up and down on the bank. The tip of his cane pole bent down almost touching the water.
“Whoa, Matt!” Cade rushed over to him with the net. “I think you’ve got a whale.”
A noise that sounded suspiciously like a snicker came from the red-headed boy’s direction. Behind him, Cade paused with the net frozen in midair. He glanced across at Annalisa who sat on the bank a few feet away with Tim perched on her knee. She nodded, the delight he was feeling reflected in her eyes.
Cade’s throat clogged with emotion, but he struggled to sound normal. “Just ease him into the net, and I’ll hold him up for everyone to see.”
; Matthew maneuvered the humongous fish into the net. He grinned while Cade held it up for inspection, but didn’t make another sound.
“When am I going to catch one?” Tim asked.
Cade got Matthew’s fish settled into the bucket, then walked over to where Tim was now squatting beside Annalisa. The boy waved his small pole at a dragonfly that skittered above the surface of the pond.
“It helps to keep the hook in the water, Son.” Cade guided Tim’s pole into the correct position.
While he held his arms around Tim, teaching him the correct way to hold the cane pole, he felt Annalisa’s gaze on him. He glanced up quickly. A smile, tinged with bittersweet regret, played across her soft lips.
The smile set Cade’s PI senses racing. He felt as if he’d been sucker-punched. She was leaving. He knew it as surely as if she’d told him. The sunlit day, perfect a few moments before, seemed dark and dreary.
“. . .a bite! Mr. Cade!”
He jerked his attention back to Tim, who was pulling frantically on his pole. Cade scrambled to his feet, yanking the boy up with him. “Pull!”
When he was sure Tim had corralled the medium-sized bass, he eased over and grabbed the net. Cade held the flopping fish in the net. Tim squealed with joy.
“Way to go, Timbo!” Juan called.
Cade put the fish in the bucket and made a mental note to tell the teen later how proud he’d been of him in this moment. A few weeks ago, Juan would have gloated over catching more fish. He was coming along nicely. When he went back home in the fall, hopefully his grandmother would hardly recognize her up-and-coming-juvenile-delinquent grandson.
The middle-aged woman had only had custody of Juan for a year. The social worker said she had the potential to be a good guardian to him, but first he had to lose the attitude that years of living on the streets with his drug-abusing parents had given him. That was what Cade hoped to accomplish with Juan this summer. An attitudectomy, so to speak, he thought, with a wry chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Annalisa’s soft voice sounded beside his ear. Tim had scurried off to get another worm to re-bait his hook and, without an animated little boy between them, the overhanging trees leaning out over the bank seemed to create an intimate canopy around the couple.
In Search of Love Page 8
