Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) (20 page)

Christie was glad when the rain
tapered off and the sun began to shine through the clouds. As they drove down
the highway she felt an incredible sense of happiness.

"Look at the rainbow,"
she said as they crested a hill. "What an awesome sight."

A ribbon of translucent color
spread out before them. Farmland, fields and sky, the colors stretched as far
as the eye could see with an occasional purple thunderhead serving as a
backdrop. Christie had never witnessed anything so spectacular.

"I suppose you see this all
the time," she said.

"It’s nice to see it through
someone else’s eyes," he assured her gravely, turning his glance from her
back to the highway.

She looked down at Hannah who sat
between them and realized she’d fallen asleep.

"She was up really early this
morning," Garrett said.

Christie pressed the child against
her shoulder as her head bobbed forward. "I used to wish I’d find the gold
at the end of the rainbow," she mused.

He smiled. "A leprechaun’s
pot of gold?"

"My aunt Rose would say if
you let your heart follow your dreams you’d find the gold."

"Your aunt Rose is a wise
woman."

"Yes," she agreed with a
lift of her chin. "She was. As I mentioned, she died when I was ten. Ellen
was thirteen. It was an awful time in our lives. The blanket of security that
Aunt Rose provided was yanked out from beneath us."

"Another loss."

"That was a long time
ago," she said quickly. She looked out her side window. "I don't
think I've ever seen so many fences. Everywhere you look there's a fence, and
those stones, what type of stone is that?"

"Limestone, they're native to
the area."

Garrett slowed the truck and
pulled to the side of the road. He half turned in his seat toward her. Christie
splayed her fingers on her thighs as she stared at his face, taking in the
faint shadow of beard along his jaw and the sharp inquiry in his eyes.

He tapped the steering wheel.
"Christie, if you don’t want to talk about your past I’ll respect your
right to privacy, but you can trust me if there’s something you need to
say."

"Strangely enough, I’ve
probably told you more than I have anyone else in the last six years."

"Trust me," he said.

Those two words were like stones
dropped in a still pond. Christie managed a short laugh. "You say that
now, but I know from past experience -- "

"Christie, we don’t have any
past experience."

"Garrett, I learned years ago
to keep my emotions in check. It’s safer. Old habits are hard to break."
She pressed her fingers together nervously as he shifted the truck into gear
and pulled back on to the road.

Desperately, she battled the doubt
twisting within herself. How much to reveal? Damn. Damn. Her past wouldn’t let
her be anything but cautious. She cleared her throat. "You know things
about me. I think we should talk about you, Garrett."

"I’m just a guy trying to
make a living."

"Tell me what it was like
growing up in a place like this. Everything is so green and alive. I can’t help
thinking it would have been a great childhood."

Garrett shrugged. "There’s
not much to tell. I grew up on the very land where the farm sits now. It’s been
in our family four generations. My dad owned a grocery store in town but he
should have been a farmer. He raised some tobacco on the side but his big love
was animals. Ducks, geese, a few cows and horses. I bought the farm off him
when he and my mom moved to town after he retired."

"Have you always had a
passion for horses?"

"When I was younger I used to
rodeo during the summer. The only way my parents would let me go was if Randy
tagged along. I guess my mom figured we’d look out for each other. Randy
pursued other activities while I entered rodeo events."

Christie smiled, thinking of
Garrett’s fun loving brother. "No doubt Randy had a lady in each
town."

"You know my brother. Randy
and I followed one rodeo after the other." He shook his head. "Those
were crazy times. Two kids on the loose."

Christie was intrigued. "I’ve
seen rodeos on television, but never in person."

He crooked a brow. "Maybe we
can remedy that while you’re here."

Christie clasped her hands
together. "That sounds like wonderful fun."

"During the school year I
went to college and finally graduated with a degree in financial management.
What I’ve always wanted was to start my own thoroughbred farm."

"Your degree must come in
handy," she mused.

"Of course. My main focus has
always been my horses, improving their bloodlines, keeping up with technology.
I’ve had some lucky breaks in the business."

"You’ve built a solid
reputation. I understand that. In my career as a stenographer, I built the reputation
for reliability. Over the years I worked an incredible amount of overtime to
turn in accurate transcripts." There had been no lucky breaks for her,
though, on the road to proving her worth. "Why did you give up
rodeo?" she asked curiously.

Garrett scratched the back of his
head. "Well, that’s another story. It wasn’t just Randy and me, there was
a bunch of us. Judith traveled with us on and off a few seasons. She joined our
group after she met Randy. She and I dated steadily all one summer and then I
talked her into marrying me. I had some money saved from my wins and was
anxious to get started on building my ranch."

"So it was you, Judith and
Hannah?"

He glanced at her. "Hannah
was living with a friend of Judith’s. She came to live with us when we settled
at the ranch."

"Did you and Hannah hit it
off right away?"

Garrett looked down at the little
girl between them. "From the first moment I set eyes on her it was like
she was mine."

"You two look like you’re
related, blond hair, blue eyes, though your eyes are more gray."

His face turned somber. "I
didn’t know right away that Judith had a daughter. She kept it a secret."

Christie looked at him
incredulously.

"She said she figured if I
knew I wouldn’t marry her."

"Would you have married
her?"

"Truthfully, I don’t know. I
found out by accident. I’m afraid it wasn’t pretty, the scene that followed.
Judith and I together were like two wrecking balls." Garrett shrugged.
"Maybe she was afraid for Hannah. I don’t know. In the end, Judith
realized I wasn’t giving in and Hannah came to live at the ranch."

"And now you’d never give her
up," she said softly. "Did Judith share your love of horses?"
She shook her head. "It’s strange for me to be asking you about my own
sister."

"She liked the excitement of
rodeos, but she didn’t ride. She thought she’d like running a horse farm. I
guess she envisioned parties and a lot more socializing. Once we settled at the
farm it was pretty quiet. I was away at auctions, working with trainers. I’m
not making excuses. It’s what I had to do to succeed but I know I should have
been around more for her."

"You tried to make all the
ends work together." She recognized the loneliness in him, the remembered
sense of failure. She’d struggled with the same emotions a good part of her
adult life. Christie wanted to reach out and touch him but remained on her own
side of the seat. He was an adult, a man used to handling his emotions and
dealing with life. It’s what they all had to do.

"In hindsight I realize
Judith and I were just too different. But when you really care about someone,
you’re more willing to ignore the differences."

"Judith was older than
you."

He smiled. "Only in
years."

Christie swallowed with
difficulty, but felt pressed to ask the next question. "Did she have a
drinking problem?"

Garrett glanced at her somberly.
"I’ve never admitted that to anyone, but near the end it became more
apparent that she was in trouble. I tried to get her help, but she refused to
even admit there was a problem. Does it run in your family?"

Christie froze upon hearing those
words.

"Daddy, are we almost
there?" Hannah asked sleepily, lifting her head from Christie’s shoulder
to look around with interest.

"Almost," her father
promised, brushing the back of his hand against her rosy cheeks.

Christie began to breathe again.
Right now she couldn’t answer his question. She marveled at the love Garrett
displayed so easily. Such simple gestures had come naturally to her as a child
while living with her aunt Rose. But in later years, living with their parents
... the only signs of caring had been between her and Ellen.

All her life she had struggled to
overcome her family’s deficiencies, never daring to step a foot wrong. Seeing
the interaction between Garrett and his daughter, Christie wondered if it was possible
to mend the jagged edges that represented her life.

Hannah stretched, trying to touch
the interior roof with her fingers. "Daddy, can we go to see Mommy?"
she asked.

Christie froze. She felt Garrett’s
searing glance, even though she wasn’t looking at him.

"We can swing by the cemetery
on the way home," he said quietly. "That's what I planned."

Christie stared out the window,
not sure if she was ready for this moment. She finally looked over at Garrett.
She nodded. Perhaps it was time for her to stop being afraid.

###

When they reached Lexington
Garrett proceeded to give Christie the grand tour. Along the way he pointed out
many areas of interest while she and Hannah counted horse farms. Christie had
passed some of the same farms by bus when she arrived in Kentucky, but seeing
it with Garrett and Hannah felt different and special. Garrett gave her a
running history of the area and its landmarks and she knew it was a day she
would never forget.

They spent a good part of the
afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park. Christie stared in awe at the bronze
horse statues and was delighted with the hayride Garrett suggested they take.

However, about late afternoon,
true to his word Garrett suggested they visit the cemetery where Judith was
buried.

"It’s a small private
cemetery," he said as he drove the truck through ornate black iron gates.
"Green Hills Rest."

Tensely, Christie stared ahead at
the cemetery’s narrow paved roadway. There was a small redwood-sided office to
their left and then the road wound leisurely up a small hill.

Christie realized she was digging
her nails into her legs as they drove to the top of a rise. Garrett pulled into
a parking area and turned off the ignition. "This is it."

He opened his door and climbed
out. Hannah slid across the truck seat and was right behind him. Without a word
the little girl walked away from them, following a narrow footpath between some
dark, aged stones.

Garrett came around the truck to
Christie’s side. She opened her door and stepped out of the truck on shaky legs.
Not far from them Hannah paused beside a rose colored stone. Taking a deep
breath, Christie followed Hannah.

Christie was vaguely aware of
Garrett behind her as she reached Hannah, but she was glad he remained quiet.
Judith’s stone was square and had roses engraved along the sides and above her
name and date of death. Beside the stone someone had placed a small white angel
in the grass. On the base of the stone was a small bunch of dried up flowers.

Hannah caressed the top of the
stone angel’s head. "I brought Mommy this angel."

Christie cleared her throat.
"It’s a beautiful angel Hannah. What a thoughtful idea."

Christie knelt, letting her
fingers trace the scroll of flowers in the rose colored stone. She felt
strangely out of sync, as if something was broke inside her.

"Daddy, I’m going to pick
Mommy new flowers."

"I’ll come with you," he
said quietly.

Christie could hear Hannah
speaking to her father as they moved away and she was glad of the moment alone.
She stared fixedly at the stone. It felt so incredibly sad, finally finding her
sister and knowing it was too late.

"I wish I could have known
you, Judith." Christie remained kneeling. She felt puzzled. Her eyes
remained dry yet her throat hurt from suppressing the emotion inside. She
couldn’t cry. She didn’t know if that was good or bad.

Christie came once more to her
feet when her legs began to cramp. She looked around and saw Garrett and
Hannah. Hannah ran toward her with a big bunch of daisies. Solemnly, she shared
some of the flowers with Christie.

"You can put them on Mommy’s
stone," Hannah said. "I did it last time. Now it’s your turn."

"Thank you."

Christie placed them on the stone
base. Standing once more, she felt engulfed by sadness.

A breeze picked up and the sun
disappeared behind dark clouds.

"If you’re ready, we’ll
go," Garrett said, glancing at the sky. "I’m afraid it’s going to
rain."

"I already felt some
raindrops, Daddy." Hannah turned and hurried back to the truck.

Christie shivered. She’d left his jacket
in the truck and now realized how much she missed its warmth. Surprising her,
Garrett pulled her to his side in a natural, friendly gesture as they turned
back to the parking area. She savored his warmth, the momentary support he gave
unselfishly.

"Thank you for today,"
she said. Leaning into him, she placed a quick kiss on his chin. The sandpaper
rasp of his whiskers against her lips was nice. "And for bringing me
here."

His arm wound loosely around her
waist and they walked in companionable silence.

Christies had a sudden thought.
Was she falling in love with Garrett? Could life get any more complicated ...
or wonderful?

###

Christie woke from a heavy
restless sleep. Groggily, she rolled over and groaned when she saw her alarm
clock. Five-thirty a.m. After her day out with Garrett and Hannah, it had been
almost midnight before she fell asleep. There had been so much on her mind, so
many questions about her and Garrett’s relationship. She hugged her arms around
herself. Surely it had been an aberration on her part; she didn’t love Garrett.
Love had never come to her so easily. More than likely it was infatuation or
just sexual attraction. It would fizzle and she would leave.