The Rancher Meets His Match (5 page)

             
When they rode up to the house, J.W. woke her. “We’re here.” He said.  He dismounted and pulled her into his arms and carried her up the front porch steps.  He kicked the door with his boot because he couldn’t open the door with her in his hands.  The door opened suddenly and Josey stood there with a big grin on her face.  “Daddy, guess who’s…. What happened to Hilary?  Is she alright?  Is she dead?” 
The
questions just kept coming and coming.  “Hilary came off a horse and hit her head I need you to get the first aid kit so I can put some fresh bandages on it.  I’ve got to take her to the doctor.”  He carried her into the living room and laid her down on the couch.  The door to the kitchen opened and Bubba let out a low growl. There stood his ex wife dressed to a tee in her short black dress and high heels.  She looked like she was heading out to a fancy party instead of standing in the living room
of a ranch house in the middle of nowhere
. 

             
“What the hell are you doing here?”  J.W. demanded.  “I came to see my daughter, and ask for your forgiveness.” She said.  “Forgiveness, you want me to forgive you for walking out on your daughter.  You haven’t seen her in three years.”  J.W. shut his mouth when he saw Josey heading back into the room with the first aid kit.  He took the bandage from Hilary’s head.  She was looking at him a little strange.  She wasn’t comfortable being in the room with these two while they were arguing.  But the entrance of their daughter had stopped them from saying more.  She was glad for that.  J.W. cleaned the wound and rewrapped it.  “Can you stand up now?  We need to get you to the doctor.”  He helped her up and looked at his ex wife.  “If you’re still here when I get back we’ll finish this conversation.”  He walked Hilary to the door and out to his truck.  She opened the passenger door and he helped her climb in.  She wasn’t acting normal.  That concerned him.  He was almost positive now that she had a concussion. 

             
The entire drive to the hospital he was grabbing the wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning wh
ite.  He was angry.  Why did his bitch of an
ex-wife
have to show up now?  She was going to ruin his daughter’s life.  Just when she found a new role model to look up to that bitch had to show back up.  He’d be damned if he let her worm her way back into their lives.  She was no good.  She had always been concerned with her own problems and never cared about him or their daughter.  She ran off to be famous.  Lord knows she didn’t have a lick of talent.

             
They pulled into the emergency room parking lot and J.W. got out and walked around to help Hilary out of the truck, but when her legs hit the
ground,
they crumbled underneath her.  He caught her and picked her up in his arms.  “I can walk.” She said. “I’ll just carry you inside.” J.W. told her.  When he got to the
entrance,
an aid brought him a wheelchair to put her in.  He signed her in at the counter and then wheeled her over to the waiting area.  “Do you want some coffee?” he asked her. “Yeah, that’d be great, cream and sugar too.”  He walked to the coffee vending machine to get the coffee. 
They usually had the worst coffee but he needed some caffeine pretty, bad right now. 
He had to sort out everything.  He brought her coffee and sat down beside her.  “Why did she leave?  I know it’s none of my business but you look like you need to talk it out.”  She said.  He looked over at her then looked down pulled his hat off his head and rubbed his hand back and forth over his head.  Then he blew out air and turned to her again.  “Well she wanted to be famous.  She was never too concerned with anyone but herself anyways.  She hardly changed a diaper when Josey was little.  She insisted she should have a nanny.  It was beneath her to change a diaper.  She used to say.  “I’m from old money.  I was bred to host parties and be a lady not change diapers and work on this God forsaken ranch.”  I’m a better man, better off without her.” 

             
“She swore she would never come back.  She wanted nothing to do with us.  She’s up to no good, I just know it.  I don’t want to see her hurt my little girl again.  I don’t think she can
take it a second time.  She needs someone strong, intelligent and hardworking to look up to.  She needs a good role model, not some floozy who blows wherever the wind blows her.  She needs someone more like you.”  Hilary’s eyes met his with a question.  “Why would you say that?  You don’t even know me.”  “I’ve seen you outwork, outsmart and outride my men for three days now.  She’s going to own this ranch one day.  She needs to be strong enough and smart enough to hang on to it.  She can’t do that if she follows in her mother’s footsteps.” 

J.W. sighed. 
“What would you think about training my horses’ full time?  I have
some future cutters and barrel horses that will need training.  You can stay on at the ranch, and teach my little girl some of the things I can’t teach her.  She needs to have a female to look up to.  And well so far you fit the bill.”  He couldn’t believe he had just asked her to stay.  Had he really done it for the reasons he gave or was there something deep down
inside of him yearning for her that wanted
it?  She tried to think about what he was saying.  “I haven’t even been here long enough to train the two I’m already being paid to train.  What if after a month you can’t stand the sight of me?” she said laughing.  “I tell you what give me a month with the two I’m training and then if you decide you still want me to stay on at the ranch I will.”  She smiled.  J.W. nodded his head “that’ll work.”

“Hilary Shaw?” the nurse called her name and looked around the room for an answer to the name.  J.W. got up and wheeled her through the door, following the nurse down the hall to a room that was colder than the waiting room had been.  “The doctor will be just a minute.  Do you need help getting up on the table?” The nurse asked.  “No, I’m fine thanks.” Hilary said.  J.W. waited
until
the nurse left the room and then helped her out of the chair and onto the table. They waited in the room for what seemed like forever.  The door swung open and the doctor strolled through it.  “I hear we have a nasty little head injury here.  Yep I’d say that’s pretty nasty.” He said as he unwrapped the bandage from around her head.  “That’s gone take a pretty good amount of stitches.  It’s deep.  Can you follow the finger that I’m holding up?”  He said shining a light in her eyes.  “Hmm, I’m gone run a CT scan on you just to make sure everything’s ok.  Can you lay down for me while I get the nurse back in here to help me?”  He stepped outside the door and called the nurse in.  She came in with all the tools he would need to stitch her up, and they went to work making small talk as they worked.

“So what happened to get you this nasty little bump?” the doctor asked, and J.W. answered for her. “She came off of a horse and hit a tree.”  “A horse you say?  I used to have me a couple of horses.  I never had the time to ride so I had to sell them.  Were you trail riding?”  He asked.  “No, we were rounding up cattle.”  Hilary answered him this time.  “Well, well, well, do you and your husband own a large spread around here?”  “She’s not my wife.”  “He’s not my husband.”  They said at the same time.  The doctor laughed as the two of them tried to answer at the same time.  “She’s my trainer.”
J.W. said smiling a half cocked grin. 
“Trainer you say, how long you been training horses?” the doctor asked one question after another.  “I’ve been training horses since I was
a kid
.  My daddy taught me everything he could teach me and the rest I had to learn on my own.  The doctor kept on talking.  She didn’t realize he was trying to take her mind off what he was doing until he
said,
“
Finished
.” 

The nurse helped her down off the table and back into the wheelchair.  “Twenty Seven stitches.”  She told her.  “Let’s take you and get that head scanned so we can get you out of here.  I know you would rather be home in your own bed, right now.” The nurse said.  “Well a bed anyhow,” Hilary told her. 

After the CT, Hilary and J.W. followed the nurse back to the little room they had been
in while they
waited
for
the results of the scan.  The doctor came into the room so fast it made the room spin and Hilary swayed a little in her seat.  “Well now Miss Shaw, it looks like you do have a concussion.  We are going to send you home but someone will need to check on you every thirty minutes or so.  I’m going to prescribe you some pain medicine and I want you to make an appointment to see your regular physician.”  He tore out a paper from his prescription pad and handed it to her.  “You’re free to go!” He said.

The drive back was quiet and Hilary was glad for it.  Her head was killing her and she just wanted to close her eyes and drown out the world.  She lay over in the seat and fell asleep.  J.W. watched as she closed her eyes.  He couldn’t help but think about all she had been through in the past 48 hrs.  He knew she had to be exhausted.  Hell he was exhausted but he didn’t have a concussion and a big gash that required 27 stitches either.  A strand of hair fell in her face and he reached down to tuck it behind her ear.  She looked so peaceful.  She was getting to him and he knew he was gone have to put up a wall. He had to be careful or she would become more than just his trainer. 

             
It had been two weeks since she hit her head on that tree.  She now had Josey riding the little mare.  “Josey, you’re not even trying.  Why don’t you get in there and ride that horse like you mean
it?
  Turn n burn girl
,
turn n burn.” Hilary knew that the girl could do better.  She felt like there was something wrong.  She just wasn’t trying.  She needed to get Josey to the side and have a talk with her, but her mother always seemed to be around.  Hilary had a feeling that Lisa was probably the main cause of it.  “Josey tuck your inside foot, and kick with your outside foot.  Come on girl, where’s your head at?”  “I’m trying!” Josey shouted.  The irritation was all over her face.  Hilary knew when enough was enough.  She called it quits.  “That’s enough for today cool her down and put her up.  Then I want to have a word with you.  In Private!” she said looking pointedly at Lisa.  She wanted her to know that she was not included in this conversation. 

             
Hilary walked into the barn and waited for Josey in the tack room.  When Josey finally made it to the door carrying her saddle, she rolled her eyes and shook her head at Hilary who was inside waiting for her.  “What’s wrong with you?  I thought you loved barrel racing.  That’s why your daddy’s paying me to train your horses.  He wants the best for you.  Is there something that you need to get off your shoulders? Is something bothering you?” Hilary asked her.  “Everything, ok, everything is bothering me!  My mother thinks she can come in here and expect me to forget everything!  She acts as if she never left!  She expects me to believe that she and daddy are still together!  She thinks she can tell me how to act and what to say!  She told me that you were my daddy’s whore.  It’s not true, is it?  Please tell me it’s not.”  She dropped the saddle she was carrying onto the floor and started crying.  As angry, as Hilary was, she knew Josey needed comforting.  She was ready to run out of there and punch Lisa in the face.  That woman was no good.   “It’s all lies Josey.  It’s ok you’ve got every right to be upset.”  She kissed the girl on her forehead and hugged her to her.

Hilary waited until the
girl was calm and helped her dry her eyes before they lef
t the barn.  She knew she
wouldn’t want anyone to know she had been crying.  They walked together to the house.  They walked to the kitchen and Hilary fixed them both a glass of sweet tea.  Cook
came in with his arms full of groceries.  “What you two ladies think about a big pot of stew for supper tonight?”  He said.  “Sounds good to me,” Josey said.  “Mama won't like it, though.”  “Well all the more reason to fix it then.” Cook said.  He took one look at the girl and knew she was upset.  Josey laughed at his joke and got up to help him put the groceries up.  Hilary set to work peeling potatoes, and Josey made another gallon of tea while Cook prepared the meat.  He talked about different ways to fix this and that while they sat and listened.  He had Josey cheered up in no time.  Hilary decided she would go out for a walk, and left the two in the kitchen to their fun. 

             
While she walked, she tried to figure out how to handle, the bitch of a mother who moved in and made Josey’s life a living hell.  She knew she would have to talk to J.W. about it but didn’t really know where to start.  He couldn’t stand her anymore than Hilary could
,
but she was Josey’s mother.  She still couldn’t believe the woman had the nerve to say she was J.W.s whore.  The woman had to be mental. 

             
She had been walking around for an hour thinking about what needed to be done.  She didn’t even notice when J.W. walked up in front of her until she walked right into him.  “I’m
sorry;
I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She stammered.  “You must’ve been thinking about something pretty hard to miss me standing right in front of you.”  He helped her steady herself.  “What’s got you so deep in thought?” he asked. 
“Josey,”
She answered.  “She’s upset.  Lisa’s causing problems.  I know it’s not my place to say anything, but I just can’t stand her.  She even told Josey that I’m your whore.  What kind of mother talks like that to a girl,” she asked.
J.W. all but growled his word,
  “I’ll talk to her, but it’s up to Josey to ask her to leave.” He said.  “You have got to be kidding me.  Why don’t you make her leave?  I mean the bitch is telling your daughter I’m your whore.  She’s teaching Josey all kinds of shit.  I can’t believe half of what the dumb shit is saying.  She’s a damn mental case!” She had lost her temper, and now she had J.W. riled up. “You know your mouth could use a filter with all the crap you got coming out of it.” He said.  “Do you use those words around my daughter too or just when you’re throwing a fit.” Josey had gone too far as usual.  She had a short fuse and she knew she needed to put a lid on it.  “Ugh!” she groaned.