Casey's Courage (7 page)

“You’ve been busy today.”

“I have a secret, too. Come closer, and I’ll whisper it to you.”

He dropped down onto one knee and bent his head over to her.

Her slender wet hand held onto his neck as she whispered, “J.D.’s dog came to see me this morning. I think she’ll come back.”

“Really?” he whispered.

A conspiratorial smile lit up her face as she nodded.

“Why is it a secret?”

Once again he felt her hand at the nape of his neck and wanted to reach out to touch her. Instead, he remained still and listened.

“I let her come in the house and we slept together on some covers I pulled off the bed. Dogs aren’t supposed to be in the house.”

“Would you like for me to tell everybody it’s okay for her to come in to see you?”

“Can you do that?”

He nodded.

“Then I could let her come in to play. I think she misses J.D.”

Trying not to show his surprise at her improvement, Tres shot a glance at Brad who stood quietly with a grin on his face giving Tres a slight nod.

“I’ll tell you what. If she comes again, you can let her in. We better get her a blanket of her own so she won’t get hair on your covers.”

“It needs to be big enough for me, too. Ula likes for me to sleep beside her.”

Tres wasn’t sure how Raider, one of the best cow dogs he had ever seen work, would take to being called Ula, but somehow he got the feeling it would be just fine with her. “Did you name her Ula?”

A little frown crossed Casey’s brow. “I couldn’t remember her name, so I decided since she was a Catahoula, Ula would be okay. I knew she wouldn’t want to be called Cat.”

Amazed at what she was remembering, he reached out and ruffled her short, baby-fine, russet curls. “I have to go get my work finished then clean up for Mattie Lou’s dinner party tonight. You finish your game and learn to throw that ball really hard so we can go swimming, Sorrel Top.”

A frown crossed her face. “That’s the color of a horse.”

He grinned at her. “You’re right. The prettiest color there is.”

Her frown cleared. “I know lots of things, don’t I? I just need to work on remembering them.”

Tres stood up and smiled at her. “Casey, my friend, you are doing just fine. Tell me ‘bye.”

“‘Bye, don’t forget to come swim with me.”

With teary eyes, Casey watched Tres stride toward the house. “I feel sad. Can’t play anymore.”

Brad recognized the signs of an imminent full-blown crying jag. “Remember what we decided about crying?”

Casey nodded, swallowing a watery hiccup. “Makes my eyes burn, my nose run, and my head hurt.”

“Let’s walk across to the lift-chair and if you still feel really sad, we’ll get out. But, if you feel like it, we can do some more funny walking so you’ll get strong enough to start swimming.”

Once Vera reached Casey’s other side, Brad said, “We haven’t goose-stepped. Let’s try to do it together. We have to hold on to each other. You hold my arm up close to the elbow and I’ll hold yours the same way.” Once Casey gripped his arm, he continued. “Now, hold Vera’s arm the same way. Hold tight, lift one leg straight out in front, then take a big step.”

All three marched across the pool to the beat of Brad’s “Hup, one, two, three” with Vera making fun of her brother, while Casey concentrated on doing the task at hand. Tears forgotten, the exercise continued.

Tres watched them from his office window as he talked with Dan Brown on the phone. “Do you still keep J.D.’s old dog in your yard?”

After listening, he continued, explaining the situation and making arrangements for the dog to be bathed and let out early every morning so she could visit Casey if she wanted to. He rubbed the back of his neck, remembering the cool touch of Casey’s hand. Every part of him willed her to get well. At some point, she’d stopped being the little sister-buddy he remembered and had become a naïve siren whose subtle, unspoken allure he couldn’t allow himself to acknowledge. Not yet.

Chapter 5

“Tres, I’m having a drink if you would like one,” Mattie Lou called out as she saw her grandson cross the hall. “The guests will arrive soon, but we have time for a short visit.”

When he entered through the door, a lump lodged in Mattie Lou’s throat. Tres was a polished image of J.D. at that age—tall, lean, muscled from hard work, and so handsome it made her ache for times long gone. “Rosalinda wanted to know why you didn’t come eat when you got in this afternoon.” Mattie Lou smiled. “She worries about you.”

“I got busy and forgot. I’ll enjoy the steak you said we were having just that much more if I’m really hungry.” He sat down and stretched his legs out full-length as his grandmother handed him a drink.

Mattie Lou feasted her eyes on her handsome grandson. “I asked Brad if he and Casey and Vera would join us, but he said Casey wasn’t ready for anything social. I told him I’d send the food to them by one of the maids so they could have a dinner party with just the three of them.”

Tres thought of Casey’s cool hand on his neck and wished he could have his dinner party with her. “I saw Casey in the pool this afternoon. Brad is right. Social events would overwhelm her. She still struggles, both physically and emotionally, to cope with her world.”

Mattie Lou frowned. “Can we do something more that might help her?”

Tres shook his head. “No, the doctors say time and therapy are all that can be done for now. Dr. Newton made it clear that nobody can be sure how much or how little a brain that badly injured will recover.” He shook his head and smiled. “She acts like a three- or four-year-old little girl who would win the heart of everyone, but she is in a grown-up woman’s body.”

“What if she never gets back to normal?” Mattie Lou asked, with a catch in her voice.

“Then we’ll take care of her and love her for the person she is at whatever stage she’s in,” Tres stated, as he patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I think she is doing okay. Did you know Raider got out of Dan’s yard when he went to the barn before dawn this morning and showed up at Casey’s door?”

Mattie Lou frowned. “Did she scare Casey?”

Tres grinned. “No, Casey went to the door and let the dog in. Brad could hear her on the monitor. He recognized the dog’s whine, so he left them to do as they pleased. He said she seemed to start remembering lots of things as she talked and evidently petted the dog.”

Mattie Lou brightened. “You know pets are supposed to be good therapy.”

The chimes from the front of the house announced the arrival of their guests. Mattie Lou would have rather made plans for Casey than entertain, but by the time Rosalinda ushered the guests in, Mattie Lou had her best manners intact.

Tres watched five people instead of the invited six came in. The introductions weren’t yet made when Valerie, a slim blonde, a high-maintenance cougar on the prowl if he ever saw one, began talking. “That old bachelor Ralph stood me up to go to some estate sale that had some first edition books. He sends his apologizes.”

“We’ll miss him,” Mattie Lou said. “But we all know he finds some rare books from time-to-time at those sales. Come meet Tres.”

Tres moved to meet the guests.

“Tres, you may remember Bob and Janelle Rayburn whose folks settled here long before any of the rest of us.”

“I do. Bob and I got reacquainted at the horse sale before Casey was injured.” Tres shook hand with the slightly stooped, gray-haired Bob and Janelle, his plump, pretty, petite wife.

Bob said, “Good to see you again. I was telling Janelle about you on the way out here.”

“And these two”—Mattie Lou interrupted—“are new to West Texas. Doris and James Peters. They’re from Austin.”

The tall, angular couple that seemed quite comfortable in their own skins looked like a matched set. They both shook Tres’ hand with a firm grip.

Giving them only time for a handshake and ‘hello,’ Mattie Lou continued. “This is Valerie Lawson. She moved here from Houston about five years ago and has been wonderful to help with our charity functions. She bought the old McAlister place.”

Shades of life before Australia flashed in Tres’ mind. Valerie Lawson could be a clone of a half dozen women he had known in those years—a high-maintenance sort, with hair colored to perfection, spa-toned body, and a predatory glint in her eyes. Everything about her shouted money and privilege.

“Glad to finally meet you. Mattie Lou and I work on several committees together, so I feel like I already know you,” the blonde said.

Wanting to escape and knowing he couldn’t, Tres shook the hand Valerie offered. “May I fix you a drink?”

“Oh, my, yes.”

Turning to the others, he offered to fix drinks for them, and then busied himself preparing the various requests. He listened to the conversation flowing around him with a sense of having lived through this before and not wanting to do it again.

Bob Rayburn took the drink Tres had prepared. “How’s Casey getting along with therapy since you brought her to the ranch?”

“She’s making progress, but has a long way to go.”

“That young Jody Witten is home under his dad’s watchful eye. I heard Big Joe hired a tutor and physical trainer to whip that young hooligan into shape.”

Tres didn’t mention that the tutor and trainer were part of the conditions agreed upon for Jody to be placed in the custody of his father rather than go to prison.

“How about the mare? Did you have to put her down?” Bob asked.

“No, Doc Jones had done a good job with her. She is able to walk for a short time on her own, but still has to stay in a body swing part of the time to keep the weight off that front leg. She has to have lots of therapy, too, but we’re hoping, in time, we can breed her by artificial insemination. We all hate the idea that genes of such a remarkable animal might die out.”

Mattie Lou stepped between the two men and hooked her arms through theirs. “I knew the two of you would be talking horses. But now you have to come talk about fall festival activities with the rest of us.”

Bob’s gravelly laugh echoed off the walls as he patted Mattie Lou’s hand. “Tres, lad, we’ve been busted.”

Earlier Mattie Lou had told him he needed to take his proper place at the head of the table. When he hesitated, she’d said, “J.D. would expect it of you.” So, he sat at the head of the table while his grandmother beamed at him with approval from the other end.

Valerie sat to his right and Doris Peters to his left, insuring that dinner conversation did not revolve around ranch concerns.

Mattie Lou refused to let him be a spectator. “Tres, Valerie has offered a tour of her home for the fall festival this year. We’ll still have the tour at MacVane Manor since it is a tradition Mother and Daddy started long years before they passed. But people have been dying to see the renowned McAlister mansion since Valerie has refurbished it. This will be one more opportunity to fill the empty coffers of the indigent care program for the county.”

Placing one beautifully manicured hand on Tres’ sleeve, Valerie said, “Of course, the real attraction to bring people out will be the heir to the Spencer ranch. You know you’re the talk of the community.”

The muscles bunched in Tres’ arm. His desire to jerk it away from her possessive hand almost overrode his manners, but he kept still. This viper was Mattie Lou’s friend so he would endure, at least for now. “You probably better not put me down as one of the attractions. I’m not very dependable when it comes to social affairs.”

Laughing a little too loudly, Valerie persisted. “Surely you wouldn’t deny our generous people your presence.”

The maid serving salad broke the tension as she placed a monogrammed china plate laden with a crisp garden salad in Tres’ silver serving plate.

“Thanks, Lara,” Tres said to the maid, taking the opportunity to move his arm and turned his attention to Doris Peters on his left. “How did you come to settle here?”

Doris swallowed. “We fell in love with this part of Texas when our son was doing his intern work at McDonald Observatory. After James retired, we decided to build on a small plot of land we had bought back then.”

Refusing to be ignored, Valerie spoke to Mattie Lou. “I was hoping that handsome therapist would be here tonight. Didn’t you say he was working with Casey?”

Mattie said, “I invited him and his sister and Casey, but he declined, saying Casey was not ready to be at a social function yet.”

Valerie let out little giggle. “I always enjoyed his company when he was taking care of J.D.” In her next breath, she added, “I do hope Casey will be at the festival. She’s been the community celebrity for so long, everyone is eager to see her.”

Anger boiled up in Tres. “Dr. Newton will have to give his approval before Casey will be out and about.”

Valerie’s frown of concern didn’t quite come across as sincere. “Is it really true, her injury did permanent brain damage?”

Mattie Lou replied. “I feel uncomfortable discussing Casey in her absence. Besides, we haven’t heard about Janelle’s trip to Scotland for her clan’s gathering.” Looking toward Janelle, she asked, “How long had it been since you had a gathering?”

Janelle, an old-hand at smoothing social situations, answered with an exaggerated Scottish burr, making everyone laugh for the next few minutes while Lara served the entrée of succulent steak, new potatoes, baby carrots, and green beans.

As Tres cut into his steak, he wondered if Casey was enjoying her meal. He remembered as a lanky thirteen-year-old, she’d consumed as much food as a grown man and had stayed skinny as a rail.

When the after-dinner coffee was served, the conversation turned to serious planning for the festival. Tres retreated to the office where he retrieved the dog blanket from the closet and a box of dog treats shelved among the books, still there from J.D.’s time.

He found Casey and Brad sitting on the floor of her suite. Brad had modeling clay in his hands that he was squeezing and shaping. Casey had clay, shaped like a piece of steak on a paper plate, trying to cut it. The knife slipped out of her hand. In exasperation, she threw the fork down. “I won’t ever get to go to a real dinner party, will I?”

Tres heard Brad’s confident, reassuring tone as he quieted her distress. “Of course you will. You just have to practice. Your hands have forgotten how to do what your brain tells them to do.” Picking up the silverware, he scooted up to her back, reached his arms around her, and properly positioned the utensils in her hands once again. “Let me help you cut a piece or two, then you can try by yourself.”