Once and Always (Women of Character) (12 page)

She stuffed her hands in her back
pockets as she drew level with him. "So what other plans do you have?"

"I want to reduce the size of
the box stalls and increase the number of stalls."

"They're big and roomy,"
she protested. "I always felt that was a plus."

"They're too big. It's one
thing if you've got mares with foals by their sides, but we don't need all that
space for the operation we're going to be running. If we cut the size of the
stall, I'll have more room to take in outside horses. Also, we'll have horses
on rough board, so I'm going to start erecting run-in sheds."

"How many horses are you
planning on boarding?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even, but the
turmoil was churning her stomach into a nervous knot.

"Upwards of twenty, plus my
own."

Anna looked at him with disbelief.
"I don't care how tiny you make the stalls, we don't have enough room for
that many horses."

"You make it sound like I'm
cramming them in the box stalls. Each stall will run up to ten by twelve. Trust
me, Annie, I know what I'm doing."

Trust him. The man she used to
love, who'd turned his back on her? "Where will you put the rest of the
horses, then?"

"I'd like to add on to the
indoor riding arena, subject to your approval, of course. Plans are being drawn
up right now to put box stalls around the entire outside perimeter so that in
the winter we can continue to work the horses and have a bit of heat. I'm
bringing in machinery to drag the arena floor, then I'll truck in some decent
material for footing."

"I'm sure you've thought of
this, but you're going to need hay storage for all these animals."

"There'll be storage area
above the arena and also the second floor of the barn. I'm also checking around
the area to bring in some round bales for the rough boarders."

"It sounds like you've taken
everything into consideration." He'd obviously given this a lot of
thought.

"Do you have any ideas you'd
like to add?" he asked.

Anna looked at him in surprise.
"My head is swimming with all the plans you've made. Offhand, I'd say
you've thought of everything."

"I know it sounds like I'm
making big changes, but if you let yourself think of the possibilities, this
can really take off. You can participate as much as you like, or not at all. I
just wanted you to know what I planned."

"I appreciate that, Tyler.
Sara pointed out to me the rut I'm in, and I'm going to do my best to change
that." She'd try, that was all she could do. "After the fire I had
thirteen operations on my face and scalp and my life had literally ground to a
halt. I'm not creating excuses, but I know it's going to take me a little while
to get acclimated."

"Take whatever time you
need." His voice sounded rough with what she recognized was concern.

"Do you ever miss it?"
she blurted. "The way it used to be? The way we used to be?"

He looked startled, and Anna
wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Why stir up trouble?

"I miss what we lost―what
Martin took away," he said in a hard voice, turning on his boot heel.
"And unfortunately or not, it seems that Martin will always be between us,
Annie."

She caught her breath, pain
lancing through her. They'd both been marked by a past they could never change,
or forget. "He was hard and he made his own rules, but he was never
selfish with me," she said in a low voice.

"Then you were the only one
that saw that side of him," he said grimly. "There was many a day I
was ready to walk off."

"If you hated him so much,
why did you stay?" she demanded, stung.

"I never hated him. In the
beginning, I didn't have a choice. The court ordered me to live with my father.
I did learn a lot from Martin but I stayed on longer because of you." His
eyes were shadowed and intent. "Only because of you. I knew I wouldn't be
able to see you unless I worked here. Martin guarded you jealously."

Anna gripped a wooden beam and the
rough wood bit into her fingers. He spoke the truth. Martin had watched over
her to the extent of excluding people from her life. "You never told me
how you felt about him. Don't you think I had a right to know?"

"I never wanted to alienate
you from Martin. In the end it didn't matter anyway, now did it?" he said
grimly.

"The decision I made that
night to stay with Martin was difficult, but you didn't give me a chance to
explain." She lifted her chin. "There were things you didn't know,
circumstances I'd promised not to reveal. My hands were tied." She knew
he'd never believe her if she told him now. It would be too much after the
fact, Martin's illness, his last days.

Impatiently, Anna turned away.
"This is useless. Not everything is black and white." She frowned.
"There's something I've never understood. Six years ago I knew neither you
nor Grant could have done what you'd been accused of, and yet you never gave me
the same consideration. You never stopped to ask why I had to stay with Martin.
Didn't you ever think about that?" She shook her head before he could
answer. "Maybe you really didn't know me after all, Tyler." The years
rolled back as she lived through the remembered pain. "You're not the only
one who felt cheated."

Helpless in her anger and the
wasted years, Anna exited the barn. Her eyes burned as she stared at clouds
scattered willy-nilly in an otherwise blue sky. Tyler came up behind her and
she turned to face him.

"No matter what Martin might
have been, Tyler, one thing he taught me was I don't have to prove anything to
you or anyone else."

"That's right. You don't, but
I guess this conversation is six years too late. We've both survived and gone
separate ways."

"But our paths have crossed
again." She swung away from him in confusion, wishing she felt like she'd
moved on. "If this meeting is over, I'm going to the house to take a shower."

"It's over for now," he
said, his expression grim. Perhaps he did regret that he'd never contacted her.
Anna knew it no longer mattered.

She walked back to the house. She'd thought she'd given up
all dreams of loving and being loved, but now she realized those dreams were
still buried deep inside, along with thoughts of loving Tyler. His return was
creating havoc out of the order she'd managed to create for herself. With his
return, Anna felt as if all the old emotions had been resurrected. Had she been
a fool to let him in her life once more? No. She reminded herself he was merely
a means to an end. Saving the ranch was her first priority.

Later that afternoon Anna
studied the milky blue glass laid out on her new workbench. The breeze pushed
gently against her back, the sun shaded just enough so she didn't feel its
direct heat. She'd set up a temporary work area under a small pavilion that had
at one time been used for outdoor picnics. It would serve her needs until the
snow came then she'd have to figure out something else for her stained glass.
She had almost completed her biggest glass project so far, a painstakingly
detailed scene of the ranch and surrounding hills.

Anna leaned her hip against the
table edge and stared across lots at the barn and pastures. She spotted her
mare Spirit, her pale gray coat in stark contrast to the rich green grass where
she grazed. Anna felt fortunate to have Spirit. Her horse had been pastured
outside the night of the fire, otherwise she too would have been lost to her.
It was a painful reminder of things loved and easily lost.

Anna could see Danny down by the
paddocks. Starkly, she knew if it hadn't been for him two years ago, she'd
never have made it out alive. To this day she still didn't know how he'd pulled
her from the fire without injury to himself, and on the few occasions she'd
tried to talk to him about it, he'd become upset and confused, so she'd left it
alone. It had been easier that way, not talking about the fire, the loss.

Carefully, Anna marked the glass
with her grease pencil, put her protective goggles in place and flicked the
power switch on her cutting saw. It was a tricky cut because of the awkward
size of the glass and the intricate curves she had to follow. Once the cut was
complete, she turned off the motor and lifted the glass. The breeze turned into
a small gust and the glass moved, shifted sideways and she lost her grip on one
side. The newly cut glass slid along her arm and Anna bit back a cry as a
corner sliced into the fleshy part of her arm. She went perfectly still, afraid
of losing her now precarious hold with her uninjured hand. Trying not to panic,
she quickly looked around, but she could no longer see Danny.

"Danny! Danny! I need
help."

"Annie?" Tyler's voice
was suddenly behind her.

She remained still as relief moved
through her. "Tyler, I lost my grip on this glass and it's against my
arm."

"Don't move." His arm
came around her from behind and she felt his breath on her ear, then heard his
indrawn breath when he angled his head and apparently saw where the glass had
sliced into her arm. The weight of the glass lifted and her arm began to bleed,
warm and wet down her wrist and over her fingers. It took Anna a moment to move
as Tyler placed the glass on the workbench. Gratefully, she leaned against him
a moment as he lay the glass down.

"Be careful," she
cautioned, looking around him to inspect the glass. "If you knock the
edges it will chip the glass."

"The glass be damned!"
The harshness of his voice surprised her. For the first time Anna looked at him
and realized how white his face had gone.

"It's a perfect cut,"
she said indignantly, then suddenly felt pain, immense and throbbing, shoot the
length of her arm. "Oh." She gripped the arm above the cut.

Tyler grabbed her by her good
wrist. "Do you have something clean to wrap that arm? It's bleeding pretty
good."

Feeling slightly dazed, Anna looked
down at her arm, trying to push back the queasiness and pull herself together.
"There's clean rags in the table drawer, but it's okay, really."

"Yeah, it looks okay,"
he said caustically. Quickly, he pulled out a long white cloth and ripped it
into several pieces, pressed it over the cut and grabbing her hand, he placed
her fingers against the material. For a moment, she felt lightheaded as the arm
throbbed with each beat of her heart.

"Come on," he said,
putting an arm around her and urging her forward.

Anna planted her feet. "The
bleeding will stop. Let's give it a minute."

"You may have chips of glass
embedded in there. You're going to the hospital."

"No. It'll be okay in a
little while."

He set his jaw. "Are you
nuts? I've seen enough cuts to know this one needs stitching. I'm taking you
even if I have to carry you." He reached down behind her knees and at her
shoulders to do just that.

Anna jumped back and put out her
good hand in alarm.

"Leave Miz Anna alone."
Danny's voice sounded low and demanding behind them and they both turned.

Danny stood still, jaw set as he
stared hard at Tyler. "Let her go."

"It's all right, Danny,"
Anna said quickly, surprised by Danny's aggressive stance.

"She has to have her arm sewn
up." Tyler turned his back on Danny and faced her again. "I'm taking
you to the hospital."

"She doesn't want to
go." Danny stepped closer to Tyler.

Without him moving a muscle, Anna
sensed the threat in Tyler. She stepped between the two men and calmly said,
"Danny, Tyler's probably right. I cut my arm so I have to have it seen
to." She held it in front of her and Danny's face suddenly went white as
he saw her arm for the first time. His eyes rolled back in his head and she
feared he'd fall down, but he shook himself, gaining control, and said, albeit
weakly, "Miz Anna, you gotta get that fixed."

"We're wasting time. Let's
go." Tyler gripped her uninjured forearm.

"I'll go, I'll go, but not to
the hospital. We can go to Doc Barnum's in town."

He must have seen the hard
resolution in her face, because he didn't argue, just pulled her gently toward
him. "Let's go before that soaks through. Keep pressure on it," he
barked.

She tried to turn back to the
house. "Wait, let me put on my makeup―"

"Dammit, Annie, we're leaving
now!"

"Right now," Danny said,
nodding quickly. "I can take you. It's really bleeding."

Seeing the blood soak through the
cloth, Anna closed her mouth on further protest.

Jaw tight, Tyler said, "You
stay here Danny, keep an eye on things for me. I promise to take good care of
Annie."

Danny stood still, his glance
settling indecisively on Tyler.

"Tyler's right, Danny, we
need you here."

After an incredibly tense moment,
he finally nodded. "Okay."

Anna and Tyler hurried across the
grass and out to the front of the house where Tyler's truck and car were
parked. Danny hurried to open the car door and helped her inside.

"I'm fine," she
protested, keeping her gaze away from the red soaking the rag. "Tyler,
let's take the truck instead. I'm afraid there'll be blood all over this
car."

Ignoring her, he closed her door
and hurried around to the front, then immediately started the car. The wheels
spit gravel as they drove out the driveway and onto the street. Anna turned and
caught one last sight of Danny standing where they'd left him. She chewed her
lip, hoping Danny's concern for her didn't end up costing him his job.

Ω

Danny paced back and forth.  He
counted off on his fingers. One: check the horses. Two; water. Three; hay. He
stared after the car, but all he could see was a big cloud of dust. Miz Anna.
Four; bring the horses inside. He bit at his lip until he tasted blood. He had
to take care of the farm while Miz Anna was gone.