скачать книгу бесплатно
“The position was only temporary,” he reminded her.
“For a year.” She fought down her rising panic, trying to maintain a professional attitude, trying not to sound as though she was pleading. “I need this job, Dr. Schuster.”
Her life had been turned upside down the past four months. She had counted on this year to catch her breath, make other plans.
“I’m sorry, Chloe. You’re a hard worker and I’d love to keep you. We could certainly use a fully staffed physical therapy department. But it’s not going to happen. Sorry.”
“When do I leave?”
“I’ll pay out your two weeks’ salary, but Friday will be your last day.” He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder and left.
Chloe leaned back against the wall, fighting down an unwelcome urge to cry. Silly hormones, she thought, closing her eyes and breathing slowly.
Help me, Lord, she prayed. Help me get through this.
The prayer had been her constant refrain the past year. Each time she felt that she had caught her balance, life spun her around again.
She covered her face with her hands, pulled in a wavering breath, then slowly released it.
“Are you okay?”
Mamie Stillwater’s concerned voice behind her made her straighten and force a smile to her face before turning around. “I’m fine,” she assured the elderly woman, still holding Cody, who slept again. “I’m just fine. Just tired. How’s Cody?”
“He’s tired, too.” Mamie gave her a careful look. “I better get back to see how Ben is. You take care of yourself, okay?” She patted her on the shoulder with one thin hand, then trudged away, her own shoulders stooped, as if carrying Cody was more than she could bear, either.
Chloe gave herself a few more moments to compose herself. But as she walked past Ben’s room, she glanced sideways only to catch Grady looking directly at her. She gave him a wan smile, then carried on. She had one more patient and then she was done for the day.
And where was she supposed to go after that? How was she going to take care of her child on her own? Jeremy had disappeared after he found out she was pregnant, disavowed any interest in her or her child, and she hadn’t been able to find him. Nor did she have the energy right now.
Help me, Lord, was all she managed as she made her way to the next patient’s room.
* * *
“Boy, does it smell bad in here.”
Grady cringed as Vanessa’s shrill voice echoed down the hallway of the barn.
“You in here, Grady? I need to talk to you. I’m not coming in.”
“Will you excuse me a moment?” Grady said to the three young girls standing by the doorway of one of the horse stalls. “I need to speak with Vanessa.”
Maddy Coles, Lynne James and Christie Markham were part of the Future Ranchers program his brother, Ben, had initiated to help high school students get extra credit. They came to the ranch whenever they could to work with the horses and to assist with their training and care.
“Do you want me to clean out the stalls?” Maddy asked, grabbing a fork from the wall.
“That would be good. Start with Apollo. Lynne and Christy, you can go outside and get Bishop, Shiloh and Chief in. Saul said he wanted to check their hooves when he comes here. I’ll be right back.”
The girls nodded and Maddy, eager as ever to work, stepped into the first stall.
Grady hurried down the alleyway, the thump of his crutch on the wooden floor echoing through the cavernous horse barn. A chill wind whistled toward him as he neared the open door where Vanessa stood, her winter coat wrapped around her, her mouth turned down in a grimace of disgust.
“I don’t know what’s nastier, the weather out here or the stink in there.” She waved her hand delicately in front of her face as if to dispel the scent.
“What can I do for you?” Grady asked.
“First off, Mamie wants you to come to the house. She’s not feeling that great and Cody has been crying the past half hour.”
“And you can’t take care of him?”
“I told you. Hire that nanny back. I’m headed to Austin. I’ve got a fitting for a dress I ordered. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Grady could only stare at her, the suspicions that had been hovering in the back of his mind growing stronger each moment he spent with her. “So you’re leaving your son with his great-grandmother?”
Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t have time for this. I have to go.” She turned and hurried off, her high-heeled boots slipping in the snow that had fallen overnight.
Grady watched her go, heaving out a sigh. He shouldn’t have pushed her. He blamed his lapse on the steady pain in his leg and the headaches he’d been fighting the past two days. He took a deep breath and worked his way back to Maddy and the other girls. After giving them instructions for work that would keep them busy for the next hour, he hobbled back to the house to help his grandmother.
Cody’s heart-rending wails were the first thing he heard when he stepped in the house.
He shucked off his coat, banged the packed snow off the bottom of his crutch, then, moving as fast as he could, followed the little boy’s cries. He had trouble negotiating the stairs, Cody’s distress adding to his own growing panic. He burst into the nursery, hurried to the crib, his ears hurting from the noise the little boy emitted.
Where was his grandmother?
He set aside his crutch and grabbed the tiny, upset bundle of baby. Cody arched his back, his fists batting the air, screeching with eyes scrunched shut as Grady tried to lift him out of the crib.
Grady wobbled on his feet, trying to hold the squirming child. Cody turned away again, screaming even louder, and Grady lost his footing.
He was going down.
He twisted, shifting his center of balance so that Cody would land on top of him.
Excruciating pain drilled through Grady’s thigh, up his back and into his head as he landed hard on his bad leg. Cody let out another squawk.
Grady rode out the waves of agony, breathing slowly, then he lifted his head to see Cody staring at him, finally quiet. Thankfully he was unhurt.
“Grady. What happened?” Grandma Mamie burst into the room and hurried to Grady’s side, taking Cody from him. “How did you fall? Are you okay?”
Grady sucked in another breath, the pain slowly subsiding. “I’m fine,” he said, though he felt anything but. His leg felt as though it was on fire and his head as if someone had pounded a nail through it.
Mamie cradled Cody on her hip and hooked her arm through Grady’s as if to help him up.
“Please, don’t,” he protested, gently pulling away. “I need to get up on my own.” Besides, he didn’t want to pull Mamie down with him in case he lost his balance again.
He rolled to one side, got his good knee under him and, using the bars of the crib, pulled himself upright. A red-hot poker jabbed him again and he faltered.
“You’re not okay. You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” he ground out as the pain subsided, leaving in its wake the residue of humiliation and embarrassment. Couldn’t even pick up a baby out of his bed. How was he supposed to keep up the workload created by the ranch? Not everything could be given to the hired hands. He carefully got his balance and reached for his crutch.
“You look pale,” Mamie murmured, still hovering, her hand raised as if to help him again.
“How’s Cody?” He turned the attention to the little boy.
Mamie shifted her gaze to the little boy, now lying still in her arms. “He seems okay.”
“Should we bring him to see Dr. Tyler?” The pediatrician would have a better idea if Cody was sick or not, Grady figured.
“You’re the one I’m worried about.”
Grady grabbed his crutch, wishing he didn’t feel so helpless. “You don’t need to worry about me. Vanessa should have been here to take care of the baby.”
“I think we need to confront her,” his grandmother said, a note of steel in her voice that Grady remembered all too well as a child. Mamie Stillwater might come across as easygoing but when push came to shove, she could be as immovable as half of Texas.
“When she comes back we’ll deal with this once and for all,” Grady said, massaging the back of his neck with one hand, trying to ease away the tension that seemed to be his constant companion.
Mamie looked down at the baby reaching for her glasses. “We know for sure he is a Stillwater. I think we need to know for sure if he is a Vane. I think we need to do a DNA test on her.”
“That would either corroborate her story or rule her out,” he said.
But if Vanessa was the mother, they needed to have a sit-down with her about her responsibilities. She needed to take on more and not count on Mamie.
But if the test proved she wasn’t Cody’s mother, that left them with the troubling question of who was.
Grady rubbed his head, the pain there battling the pain in his leg.
You should let Chloe help you. Maybe she can do something for you?
Grady held that thought a moment, trying to imagine himself showing exactly how vulnerable he was in front of a woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.
He couldn’t. He just couldn’t.
Chapter Three (#ulink_bb4efb6e-d55e-50fc-84b9-a0f220bbc8ad)
“So what are you going to do now for employment?” Lucy Benson took a sip of her coffee, her green gaze flicking around the patrons of Maggie’s Coffee Shop.
The place was busy. Abigail Bardera zipped around carrying plates of steaming food, her long black hair pulled back in a glossy ponytail. Maggie poured coffee, helping take orders.
“Blunt much?” Amelia said with a note of reprimand, shaking her head at their friend, her blond curly hair bouncing on her shoulders.
“May as well lay it out on the table,” Lucy said.
As soon as Lucy had heard about Chloe’s situation, she’d called Amelia and insisted that they take Chloe out for coffee and pie at Maggie’s.
“I don’t know.” Chloe poked her fork at the flaky apple pie Amelia had insisted she order. “I already talked to Maggie about working here, but that’s a no-go.” She fought down the too-familiar sense of panic at the thought of being unemployed.
She was supposed to have worked today but yesterday Dr. Schuster had told her to consider Thursday her last day. He had hoped it would give her some more time to find a job.
“Would you move back to Fort Worth?” Amelia asked, her tone concerned.
“Too many bad memories there, though if there’s work there I might. To coin a phrase that has been the mantra of my life lately, beggars can’t be choosers.” Her stomach roiled again at the thought of having to leave. Start over. Find her balance again on her own.
Just her and her baby.
“I know things are bad when you’re resorting to clichés.” Lucy tucked her short blonde hair behind her ear, her eyes holding Chloe’s as if trying to encourage her.
“My life is a cliché,” Chloe grumped, then waved the complaint off. “Sorry. I shouldn’t whine. It’s just getting hard to find the silver lining.”
“Well, every silver lining has a cloud,” Lucy quipped. “And it’s not your fault Jeremy cheated on you. I always knew he was a jerk.”
If she only knew how much of a jerk.
Chloe cut off that thought. She didn’t want to give Jeremy any space in her mind. Bad enough he didn’t want to have anything to do with the baby she carried. And that he had disappeared after emptying out the bank account.
“At least you’re not going to tell me I told you so,” Chloe said. “You did warn me not to marry in haste.”
“Are you not listening to Lucy?” Amelia said with a warning wag of her finger. “You’re spouting clichés again.”
A sudden burst of laughter at one end of the café caught Chloe’s attention. Carson Thorn stood by a table of people, laughing at something one of them had said.
“Carson looks more relaxed lately,” Chloe said.
“Getting reunited with his childhood sweetheart probably helped mitigate the stress of all these thefts that he and the other members of the league have been dealing with,” Lucy said with a wry tone. “Nice that there can be happy endings in this town.” She shot a glance over at Amelia. “And speaking of happy endings, how are you and Finn getting on?”
To Chloe’s surprise, her friend blushed. She hadn’t thought spunky and vivacious Amelia knew how to blush.
“Quite well. Making plans.”
Lucy sighed. “Like I said, I’m happy for happy endings.”
Chloe gave her apple pie another stab, wishing she could hope for a happy ending in her particular story. She doubted any man would want to take her on now.
“You’re looking pensive,” Lucy said. “I thought that was my job?”
Chloe knew Lucy had been on edge the past few months, the pressure of all the thefts in the area making her extratense and vigilant. “That’s why I’m trying not to complain. I know you’re under a lot of stress lately.”
As well, Chloe wasn’t ready to divulge her secret to Lucy and Amelia. Not while she was still adjusting to the idea, trying to figure out what shape her life would take.
“This string of thefts has been a frustrating nightmare.” Lucy looked as if she wanted to say more when someone stopped by their table.
“Good afternoon, ladies.” Mamie Stillwater’s smile encompassed the three of them, the light from the windows beside them glinting off her glasses and polishing her gray hair. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is it possible to talk to you alone, Chloe?”
“I have to head out right away,” Lucy said, giving Chloe a look she interpreted as “tell me everything later.”
“And I have to meet Finn to go over some wedding plans,” Amelia said, getting up as well and dropping a few bills on the table. “This should cover everything.”
Chloe was about to protest but Amelia just shook her head and gave her a bright smile. “And now we’ll leave the two of you alone.”
“Thanks so much.”
