Chance McCall (11 page)

However, this time the room decor took a back seat to her jubilation. Chance was getting better. She thought she would just rest a minute before calling home to let Henry and the boys know.

The next conscious thought she had was realizing it was morning. She jerked awake, heart pounding wildly, as she grabbed the telephone that was ringing.

“Hello?” she croaked, and then cleared her voice, trying to sound alert. She hadn’t fooled her caller.

“Sorry I woke you, Jenny,” Dr. Walker said. “Thought you might like to know he’s waking up again. If you hurry, you may be able to talk a bit. Don’t think he’ll go back out as fast again. He’s probably learned that less movement is better at this point in his life.” He chuckled at his own wit before disconnecting.

She’s here again
! Chance thought, and shifted slightly, careful not to disturb anything still tying him to the bed.

Through all the time lost and the few times he had any conscious memory, he’d known she was by his side. Some inner peace always came over him knowing she was there. Then he would relax and the panic he felt at not being able to communicate would ebb away to a far corner of his mind.

The sound of her voice, soft and low as she talked to someone nearby, drew him closer and closer to waking. He fought back the comforting darkness as his mind reached toward the sounds. A touch on his forehead, a petal soft caress against his cheek, made consciousness necessary. Now her voice was low and close to his ear. He focused on the sounds, struggling to string them together into coherency.

Jenny suppressed her exhilaration. His eyelids fluttered. He knew she was here!

“Hey you,” she said quietly, “I’ll bet you’re getting tired of hearing me talk all the time, aren’t you? Why don’t you tell me to shut up and go home?”

It was nonsense, but it was something…anything…to say. She had no intention of leaving. But the big man on the bed had no way of knowing that.

His hand moved. It startled them both when he grasped her hand and then clutched, using the flesh and blood lifeline to pull himself from the pit of darkness.

“Don’t go,” he begged, his voice dry and raspy from disuse. Slowly, slowly, the light of day came back into his world.

“Dear God, thank you!” Jenny whispered. His fingers gripped her wrist with surprising strength. She let out a long, slow sigh of relief. “You came back to me!”

He started to nod and then winced, blinking painfully as he realized it hurt less to speak than to move. He licked his lips, suddenly aware of the mundane nuisance of a dry throat and cracked lips.

“Here,” Jenny urged, and pressed a cool, damp cloth to his mouth. She’d been doing so for days, but this was the first time he’d responded by sucking the moisture from the fabric. Jenny wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. Never in her life had so much gratitude and joy overwhelmed her at such a small, insignificant gesture.

“Are you in pain? I can get a nurse…” Her voice trailed off as his grip tightened.

“Not much…now,” he whispered. “Don’t go.”

He stared, transfixed by the dark fall of hair, the intense blue eyes, and the generous curve of her lower lip. A heart-shaped face of rare beauty, a womanly body. Each feature was so familiar, yet for the life of him he couldn’t remember her name.

Awareness began pooling in the pit of his stomach, and crawled ominously toward a heart thumping with panicked irregularity. His breathing quickened. A film of moisture beaded across his forehead and upper lip. He stared down at their locked fingers and dropped her hand as if he’d just been burned. The panic inside him threatened to overflow.

Jenny sensed his increased agitation. She stepped back in shock. What was the fear she was seeing on his face? He turned his head away from her and closed his eyes. Her heart sank.

She forgot to be calm. She forgot to be quiet. “What? What is it?” He was blaming her for the accident! He was going to hate her forever!

He turned and stared. Blankly…horrified.

And then nurses were at the bedside. “What’s happened? What did you say? What have you done?” Their accusing stares weakened her knees.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around herself in panic. “All of a sudden he just withdrew…like he’d never seen me before. I don’t know why…” Her heart stopped. She looked into the face of his fear. And then she knew. His thoughts came through as clearly as if he’d just spoken aloud.

Jenny took a deep breath, reached down and took his hand. He flinched but allowed the touch.

“Do you know where you are?” she asked.

He hesitated. Admitting his fears aloud was as frightening as knowing that they were there. He finally answered.

“No.”

“Do you know who I am?” Jenny asked. That he hesitated sent her hopes plummeting.

“No,” he muttered, and slipped his fingers out of her hand.

“Dear God,” she said, and sank down onto the chair by his bed. She shuddered, trying desperately to hide her fear and dismay from him, aware that even in his confusion he was looking to her for strength. Unaware of the doctor’s arrival behind her, she continued, taking a deep breath as blue eyes locked with brown, each reading the panic on the other’s face.

“Do you know who you are?” Jenny whispered. Her heart broke as he shuddered, letting out one long sigh as he answered.

“No.”

“It’s okay,” she said, and wiped the beads of sweaty panic away from his forehead. “I do.”

He closed his eyes, briefly relishing her cool, familiar touch on his forehead in a world where there were suddenly no constants.

“My name is Jenny Tyler. And you, Chance McCall, are the man who saved my life.”

Jenny watched in despair as a single tear slipped from the corner of his eye and ran beside a new bruise and an old scar.
I’m afraid it’s going to take a lot more than bandaids to fix this hurt, my love
, she thought.

Dr. Walker slipped his hand on her shoulder and patted her as he spoke. “This is not uncommon you know. Now Jenny, once again, I’d like for you to wait outside while I examine this fellow.”

She nodded, resisted the urge to lean down and press a kiss against the bitter twist at the corner of Chance’s mouth, and walked away.

The glass door of the ICU closed behind her. She staggered down the hallway, leaning weakly against the wall as she fought back rage at the unjustness of this new development. But, just as suddenly as she felt despair, she found relief.

“Well! I just wasn’t as specific as I should have been with my prayers,” she muttered to herself as she dug around in her purse for change. “I asked God to let him live. And he did.” She headed down the hall toward a pay phone.

He heard her footsteps as she came out of the elevator and began the long walk down the tiled hallway toward his room. Over the past few weeks, her walk had become as distinctive to him as her voice, her scent, and her touch. His heart skipped a beat and a familiar panic welled before he turned to face the mirror over the sink. He leaned forward and braced himself as he stared at the reflection of a stranger’s face. The muscles in his arms corded and flexed as his fingers gripped the cold porcelain. The door opened behind him. He shuddered and sighed, then pivoted.

“Are you ready?” Jenny asked. She didn’t know who was more nervous. His nostrils flared at her question but his stare never wavered.

Chance was coming home today. But Jenny knew that he was not happy about the news. The hospital was the only familiar thing in his world and she was taking him away from it.

Dr. Walker came into the room and saw the look of distrust on his patient’s face. His heart went out to the big man. It would be hard to go on pure faith that everything one had been told in the past few weeks was the truth. It was a lot to ask when a man didn’t even recognize himself in the mirror. But it was time for the next step and that meant getting back into the real world.

“Well, son,” he said, “I can’t say I’m sorry to see you go. After all, when I send one out of here walking, I’ve done my job.” Jonah Walker chuckled at his own wit and combed his fingers through his hair. “You’ve got a big job ahead of you, boy. You don’t need to worry about anything except a slow recuperation at your boss’s expense. Everything else will come back to you when it’s time. Memories are funny things. Sometimes they have their own reasons for hiding. It’s all up to you…and this little lady here.” He gestured toward Jenny. “Whether you know it or not, she’s a big part of the reason you came back to us.”

Chance nodded slowly and let his gaze rake over the woman who stood silently beside the doctor. Finally he held out his hand.

“Thanks, Doc.”

“Don’t mention it,” Jonah said. “You all right?” He sensed the nervousness in Chance’s handshake.

Chance took a deep breath. He glanced around the small room, relishing the comfortable familiarity. His gaze collided with blue fire staring at him, willing him to answer. He knew that no matter what he discovered when he left, it would be all right as long as she was there.

“Yes,” he answered quietly. “I’m just fine, Doc.” His gut pulled sharply as he caught the woman’s smile of relief. He wasn’t sure what she’d meant to him in the past, but he damn sure knew what she meant to him now. She was his lifeline. And he wasn’t about to let go.

6

“
Welcome home
,” Jenny said. She parked the car in front of the main house. The confusion on Chance’s face was obvious. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I know nothing looks familiar, but give yourself time. It will come, I know it.”

“I lived here?”

Chance stared. The Spanish-style rounded archways and red tiled roof sprawled out in all directions. The house spelled money. He didn’t have to remember his name to see that.

Jenny looked away. She hadn’t expected him to question her plans to install him in a guest room in their house.

“Not exactly,” she began, “but I thought that it would be better if…”

“Take me where I belong.”

The tone of his voice could not be denied. She bit her lip to keep from arguing and started the car, backed away from the driveway, and drove toward the bunkhouse.

Chance relaxed. They’d already explained his status on the ranch as that of foreman. He had no intention of jeopardizing it by being housed where he didn’t belong. He watched as they approached a small, frame building that looked as if, once upon a time, it’d had a single coat of whitewash. Now it was as colorless as the Texas dirt upon which it stood. A group of men were waiting on the porch. From the expressions on their faces, they were waiting for him.

“Man, we’re sure glad to see you back, boss.”

He stepped out of the car, took a deep breath, and smiled awkwardly. Boss! The word sounded strange. And there was no use putting off the fact that he didn’t remember a damn one of their names.

“As you’ve probably already been told,” Chance said, “what sense I ever had has been kicked out of me. You’ll have to give me some time until I can learn your names all over again.”

One small moment of silence met his announcement and then one of the men answered and had them all laughing with relief.

“Hell, boss. It don’t matter what you call us. We’ve all been damned idiots so long, we’ll answer to that.”

“Welcome home, boy,” Henry said. “Come on inside. I’ll show you where you bunk.” He waved to disperse the crowd of ranch hands. “Marcus ain’t payin’ you to flap your jaws, boys. Go find somethin’ to do.”

At Henry’s orders, they disappeared, relieved that the initial meeting between them and Chance was over.

Jenny saw instant rapport flash between the two men. It hurt. Chance didn’t remember Henry, but it was obvious that the trust was instantly there. It made his distance from her all the more painful.

“I’m going back to the house,” she said. “When you’ve had a chance to settle, you’re both to come to dinner tonight. And don’t argue. You’ll have to answer to Juana, not me, so wipe that look off your faces right now.”

She pivoted, grabbed his bags from the car, all but threw them on the porch, and drove away in a cloud of dust.

Chance stared. What had set her off like that?

Henry sighed. He could see Jenny’s suffering. And he knew what it had taken for her to give Chance some space.

“Come on, boy. Let’s take a tour of the residence. It won’t take long. There’s only a couple of rooms to gawk at. Get yourself some rest and then be ready at seven. I’ll walk you up to the house. It don’t pay to argue with the lady. I learned that the hard way years ago.”

“Did I learn that, too?” Chance asked, grinning slightly at the resigned expression on the old man’s face.

“Oh, you learned a hell of a lot more than that, boy. I just ain’t gonna spill the beans on what. You’re gonna have to remember them lessons all on your own.”

Something about the way Henry smiled as he spoke told Chance much more than words could ever have done. He had a feeling that there was a long history between him and the boss’s daughter. He just hoped it was one he could learn to live with.

“Chance! It’s great to have you home,” Marcus said, as he opened the door.

Home! The word sounded strange. Nothing felt familiar or even remotely comfortable. He’d spent the entire afternoon going through everything in his quarters, and learned absolutely nothing more than what he’d been told about himself. It was strange that he didn’t have a single, solitary personal memento. No pictures, no letters, no nothing.

“Thank you, sir,” Chance said, uncomfortable as to how he should address the man he knew was his boss. Marcus Tyler had visited him twice in the hospital. That was all he knew of him.

“Just call me Marcus. You always have,” he said quietly.

Chance nodded. Henry pushed past them and scooted into the house.

“I smell food,” he said. “If my nose don’t deceive me, Juana’s outdone herself in your honor, boy.”

The two men grinned at each other as Henry hobbled down the hallway toward the dining room, and then Chance swallowed his smile as Jenny appeared.

She was wearing a soft, white, Spanish-style dress that floated around her body, only hinting at the shapely form beneath. The low-necked yoke was colorfully embroidered with brilliant pink and cool teal. The hem brushed the top of her knees as she walked toward them, drawing the eye instantly to her long, tanned legs.