No Time for Horses (17 page)

“How long have you been practicing medicine?
That sounds like a good prescription to me. Do I need to write it
down?”

Mom glared at both of us. “You two aren’t
funny.”

“I’m not laughing,” the doctor said. “I’m as
serious as the long-term effects this child could suffer if someone
doesn’t take care of her. We’re talking vertigo, lightheadedness,
nausea, fainting, and even a coma. I’m not ruling out the
possibility of a heart attack or stroke either.”

“You’re just trying to scare me,” Mom said,
folding her arms. “It’s not working.”

“I wish something worked. I don’t know how to
convince you that Vicky is hurt and needs care, Mrs. Miller.”

Lifting a hand to my aching head, I told him,
“Don’t waste any more time on Cleopatra, Doctor. Just let me go
home with my mother-in-law.”

“What mother-in-law?” Mom squawked.

The doctor came back, pulling a
mini-flashlight out of his shirt pocket. “Sounds like you’re worse
off than I thought. Let me check your pupils. I didn’t know you
were married, Vicky.”

“I’m not, yet.” I blinked when he shone the
little light in my eye. “I’m marrying Jack.”

“Really? Does he know?” The doctor asked.

“Of course he knows. It was his idea. I was
good with us just living together. We’ll get married in six or
seven years after I finish college and we open our own training
stable. His mom likes me. She’s bound to be outside in the waiting
room with him.”

“Sounds good. I’ll go talk to them.”

He disappeared out of the examining room. Mom
gave me an evil look. She stalked toward me, a total demon in a
teal tuxedo shirt and black slacks. “You’re milking this, Vicky.
Don’t you think I know when you play sick by now?”

“Considering how my head feels, I’m not
playing,” I said. “Granted, if I had an ice pack and a ton of pain
relievers, I’d feel better. But, I don’t think you should make me
babysit today. If I had to run after Chrissy, I’d be puking my guts
out. And if I pass out in your house, who would look after the kids
or call 9-1-1? That’s a lot of responsibility to lay on Kevin. In
case you forgot, he’s only ten.”

Before she could answer, the doctor returned
with Jack’s mom. She didn’t look much like him or Robin. Instead,
she was an older version of Felicia, strawberry blonde, blue-eyed
with a propensity for wearing cowgirl clothes.

She came across to me and rested a hand on my
forehead. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”

“I’m sorry, Maura.” Tears sprang to my eyes
and streamed down my face before I could stop them. “I’m so
sorry.”

“For what?” She stroked my hair and hugged
me, letting me bury my face against her and cry into her shirt.
“For falling off your horse? Honey, it happens to the best of us.
Do you know how many times I’ve gone splat when Singer erupts on
the trail? Granted, I usually land on my butt, which saves me on
the cost of a new helmet.”

“Need a pillow?” I managed a weak laugh.

“That might come in handy,” Maura agreed.
When I straightened, she framed my face with her hands. “So, you’re
going to be my daughter-in-law? When do I have to worry about being
a grandma?”

“Ooh, gross.” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t
know if Jack and I will ever have kids after raising my brothers
and sisters. Considering how much work they are, you may have to
wait until Robin or Felicia get married and give you some
grandkids.”

“Right answer.” Maura kissed my forehead.
“I’ll take you home with me to rest up. Felicia is down at your
house looking after your brothers and sisters. So, they’re
fine.”

“Oh, that’s great,” I said, and I meant it.
“The accident wasn’t their fault. Rick told them to run and get me
like a half-dozen times. So they did, and it freaked out
Aladdin.”

“Understandably.” Maura turned to look at my
mom. “Felicia is driving back to school tomorrow morning, Gretchen.
That will give you time to arrange for another babysitter.”

“By then, Vicky…”

“No, don’t go there.” Maura held up her hand.
“I’ve been through this before, Gretchen. You haven’t. I have three
very active teenagers who manage to hurt themselves doing sports
and horseback riding on a regular basis. Take my word for it. Vicky
needs constant supervision so she can be taken to the hospital if
she collapses. I can handle that. You focus on your job and the
younger set.”

As the doctor and I watched, Maura urged Mom
out to the waiting room. The doctor eyed me. “Wow, Mrs. Gibson is
something. I think I want her for a mama-in-law too.”

I giggled. “Well, I have Jack, and his
sister, my best friend, already has a guy. I think Felicia could be
available. She dumped her last boyfriend when he suggested she sell
her horse to go to college.”

“What was he thinking?”

“I know. Go figure. Like a girl would give up
the unconditional love of her horse,” I paused, “except I’m pretty
sure that Aladdin’s is connected to all the carrots I feed
him.”

* * * *

Sunday, December 1st, 10:15 a.m.

I heard someone moving around and opened my
eyes to see Felicia rummaging in her closet. “Morning,” I said.
“How are the kids?”

“They’re fine.” Felicia tucked two shirts
into her suitcase. “How are you?”

“Okay. Your mom came in and woke me up about
six times last night, asking me all sorts of questions. My name,
age, birthday, stuff like that.”

“All the things the doctor told her to do to
check on brain function.” Felicia kept packing. “Dad’s making
French toast. He’ll have Mom or Robin bring in a tray for you.”

“He doesn’t need to do that. I can come to
the kitchen table.”

“Before you try doing that, Vicky, why not
sit up?”

“Good idea.” I eased up in bed. My head
swirled, and I took a couple deep breaths until everything settled
back down again. “Okay, maybe not. I’ve never had breakfast in
bed.”

“You’ll love it,” Felicia said. “Want some
help getting to the bathroom first? You can brush your teeth and
hair, not with the same brush. I’ll get my robe for you.”

“Okay.” I waited for a moment or two. I
pushed the covers off my legs. Slowly, I shifted on the bed till my
feet were on the floor. “Why are you guys being so nice to me?”

“We’re not.” Felicia came over with her robe
and wrapped it around my shoulders. “This is the same way my folks
and Robin and Jack treat me when I go corral surfing off
Vinnie.”

“Really?”

“Yup.” Felicia put an arm around my waist and
helped me stand. “Nobody’s treating you special, Vick. We’re just
doing what we’d do for each other. Feel better now?”

“Yes. I could so get used to this.” It felt
like I was being spoiled even if she didn’t admit it. Nobody in my
family ever helped me dress or go to the bathroom or brought me
food. “Did you mean it when you said I could borrow your room for
longer than a couple days?”

“You can stay as long as you want.”

Forever
, I thought.
I want to stay
forever!

Chapter
Seventeen

Sunday,
December 1st, 3:00 p.m.

Jack helped me move to the living room so
Robin could clean the bedrooms, her usual Sunday chore when she got
back from doing internship hours with Dr. Larry, the horse vet. I’d
pointed out she wasn’t here yet, and Jack said he was just being
efficient. He had to go to the barn and do stock work, now that
he’d finished scrubbing down the bathrooms. He settled me in one of
the blue recliners, brought me a bag of potato chips, a cola, and a
bowl of ice cream. He handed me the remote, covered me with an
afghan, then left.

I turned on the TV and flipped through the
channels until I settled on an old Clint Eastwood show about a
cattle drive. He was young, hot, and had a gorgeous horse. “Head
‘em up. Move ‘em out.”

I dug into the ice cream before Robin’s
kittens could help me. Chocolate chip cookie dough, my favorite,
smothered in caramel topping and whipped cream. Perfect. I held up
the bowl so Pepper, the coal black feline, couldn’t dunk his nose.
“He’s definitely my hero,
and
he does housework.”

“Must be Jack that you’re talking about.” His
dad, John came in, sipping a cup of coffee. He picked up Pepper and
put him on the couch. I hadn’t seen Jack’s dad since breakfast.
He’d had some kind of calf-roping practice with his buddies so he
and his Quarter Horse, Buster, had gone off for most of the
day.

I knew that Jack would look like his dad when
he got older. They each had black hair, but John’s had some gray
threaded through it. They both had dark eyes and liked cowboy
clothes, jeans and western shirts. I figured John knew what Robin
did since he had on his socks. He must have left his boots in the
mudroom. Tracking in barn muck meant scrubbing the kitchen floor on
hands and knees which, according to Maura, was the only real way to
get it clean. Personally, I preferred a mop.

“Nobody likes cat hair in their ice cream.
Get a clue.” John moved the black and white tuxedo kitten again and
then sat down in the other recliner. “What are we watching? Oh,
Rawhide
. I like this show. Those guys could really
rope.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “What’s up? I’m okay
by myself.”

“Not here,” John said, giving the kind of
long steady look that Jack always did when he was totally serious.
Come to think of it, maybe that was where Jack learned it. “Not in
this house with a concussion, Vicky. I’m just following
orders.”

“Did you talk to my doctor too?”

“No, I got the word from Maura.” John drank
more coffee then put the cup down to tear open the bag of chips.
“I’ve been through this too many times with Felicia and Jack. Sulky
looks don’t work on me. Eat your ice cream.”

I gave up staring at him. I didn’t think I’d
been sulky. It was kind of nice having someone stick with me, but I
began to wonder how Robin and Jack stood the constant surveillance.
Was that why Felicia went all the way across the state to go to
college? No, I wouldn’t think anything nasty.

When I was younger and too sick for school or
daycare, I stayed home by myself. Now, if one of the kids was ill,
I made a point of taking the day off to be there. Luckily, they
were in pretty good health most of the time. I wasn’t doing to them
what Mom and Rick did to me, figuring I could take care of myself
from the time I was eight. Maura and John Gibson were good people
and great parents. They loved their kids, and if the incessant
smothering made me nuts—nope, wasn’t going there! I concentrated on
my ice cream and Clint Eastwood.

* * * *

Monday, December 2
^nd
, 10:00 a.m.

I’d slept through chores, and everybody
leaving for school and work. Robin must have turned off the alarm
on Felicia’s clock radio. I rarely had the opportunity to sleep in,
so I decided I’d enjoyed it. I found a stack of clean clothes on
the dresser. My best friend must have washed the jeans, T-shirt,
and sweatshirt I’d worn to the barn on Saturday. I headed for the
shower in the adjoining bathroom.

I had barely adjusted the water temperature
when I heard a tap on the door. “I’m in here.”

“Everything okay, Vicky?” Maura said, through
the door.

“Fine,” I called. “I’ll be out in a few
minutes.”

“All right,” Maura said. “I’ll give you ten
minutes before I check on you again.”

“Sounds good.” I hoped I sounded polite and
not like what I really thought.
Come on, guys. Get a life and
let me breathe!

I stepped under the spray and enjoyed the
chance to have some privacy. Unless I was on my mom’s list and sent
to the basement, Chrissy hollered outside the bathroom door when I
left her. But not this morning. Today, it was all about me. I used
Robin’s strawberry body soap and her shampoo too. I felt squeaky
clean when I turned off the water and got out to towel off.

I dried my hair, dressed, and answered
another knock. “I’m fine. Be out soon.”

“I’m making you pancakes for breakfast. See
you in the kitchen.”

“Wonderful.” I hung up the towels and rinsed
out the tub. I wiped down the counter and the sink so Robin
wouldn’t have to deal with a mess.

I arrived at the table just as Maura dished
up pancakes and bacon. I sat down and picked up the glass of orange
juice. “Thanks for making me breakfast.”

“No worries.” She poured a cup of coffee and
sat down across from me. “I have some sewing to do for the
holidays. It’s a busy time of year for me. What do you plan to do
today?”

“I don’t know.” I spread butter on my
pancakes and added syrup. “I’ll clean up the kitchen and maybe
watch some TV, unless I can help with your crafts. I don’t know
anything about them, but I’m a fast learner.”

“TV, yes. Cleaning, no. You don’t want to
over-do. Rest up until tomorrow. I’ll take you in to see the doctor
then.”

“I’m not used to sitting around. I got plenty
of rest yesterday.”

“And you’ll get plenty today too.” The phone
rang, and Maura went to answer it. It was one of her customers
because she began discussing an afghan order.

I focused on eating my breakfast. When I
finished, I carried my dishes over to the sink and rinsed them. I
put the plate and silverware in the dishwasher. I returned to wipe
off the table. Maura finished her conversation, hung up the
receiver, and came over to me. She took away the dishcloth and
patted my shoulder.

“Living room. Go watch TV.”

“I need to make the bed and pick up Felicia’s
room.”

“No. I have that handled. The living room,
Vicky. ‘Do not pass, Go! Do not collect two hundred dollars.’ Watch
daytime TV. We have lots of channels.”

I heaved a sigh and followed directions.
Okay, so this was the longest vacation I’d ever had. I might as
well enjoy it. The party would be over tomorrow when I arrived
home. I knew nobody would look after me at Mom’s house.