LITMIR.BIZ

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that was the expected reaction. But she had little confidence in happily-ever-after, and today had only confirmed her pessimism.

      “How much do I owe you, Doctor?”

      “Cade already took care of it, and you’ll waste valuable energy arguing with him about it.” He gave her a stern look. “And you shouldn’t drive anywhere until at least tomorrow, after you’ve rested up. San Antonio is a long way off when you don’t feel well. As you probably discovered today. Go ahead and have a nap before supper. I’ll tell Cade to wake you in a couple hours.”

      With that, he stood up from the chair he’d dragged over by hers and bid her a pleasant goodbye before he returned the chair to its place, got his medical bag and left the bedroom.

      Once she was alone, Colleen made her way carefully to the hall door. San Antonio was indeed too far for her to drive now, but the motel she’d passed earlier that day was probably no more than five miles away. As soon as she found her cane and handbag, she’d be on her way.

      Whatever Cade thought he could learn from Beau, Colleen knew nothing would solve Beau’s fear of her quickly. It was better for the boy and better for them all if she just gave up and got out. Hadn’t she known all along that this had been a wild risk, that it could go wrong?

      Though she’d never imagined anyone but Cade Chalmers would be the cause of a new disaster, she shouldn’t have come here. As long as she hadn’t known for sure that she would never see the children again, she’d been able to have hope. Now she had nothing.

      Cade watched Beau run out to join his sister on the back patio. He was on his trike in a flash, then pumped the pedals eagerly to race around the edges of the paving stones that formed the open-air patio that was closed in on three sides by the house.

      Amy sat in the center of the patio beneath a leafy trellis in a patch of shade with a stack of oversize plastic blocks. She burst into a wide smile as she watched her brother pedal around on his “racetrack.”

      The “man-to-man” talk he’d had with Beau cleared things up, but Cade felt fresh disappointment in his brother. Craig had told Beau that his Aunt Colleen had killed his mother and because Sharon’s death had devastated their little family, it meant that Colleen had also hurt Beau and Amy.

      “Daddy said she hurt me and Amy most,” Beau had told him. And Craig had apparently told the boy that frequently. It would have been a lie shocking enough to forever silence the boy’s worried questions about Colleen after the wreck, and its repetition had also worked to put a fear of her in the kid. Colleen hadn’t deserved that.

      Craig hadn’t been in his right mind when he’d lied to Beau. He’d become irrational about everything and tried to drown his bitterness in liquor, only to end up drowned himself.

      The pain of his brother’s death a month ago was still a shock, still fresh and raw and agonizing. His pain was compounded by the fact that Craig had lied to him about Colleen from the first, then had deliberately damaged her in Beau’s eyes. The injustice of it stunned him.

      His part in his brother’s lie made him feel sick. He’d easily believed Craig’s story about Colleen’s wishes after her sister’s death, so he’d not bothered to find out the truth for himself. He hadn’t known enough about her to question it. He’d based his opinion of her on his opinion of Sharon.

      And even he had resented that Colleen had become such a frequent refuge for Sharon. It shamed him to realize that they’d left her lying in a hospital for months, severely injured and grieving her sister, with no family left to console or care for her. He and Craig had virtually abandoned her, and the remorse he felt for that pressed heavily on his conscience.

      At least he’d done something to turn things around today. Finally. After he’d gotten answers from Beau, he’d explained to the boy that his daddy was wrong, the wreck had been an accident caused by someone else. And because Colleen hadn’t hurt their mother, she wasn’t at fault for the hurt to him and Amy.

      As usual, he wasn’t certain he’d explained things well enough to the boy. Beau wouldn’t turn four for another few months, and though he was very bright, he was still a little boy.

      He’d finally sent Beau out to play with the gentle encouragement to think about his aunt and see what he could remember about her.

      After every one of Sharon’s frequent trips to San Antonio with the kids, Beau had come home full of happy stories about the things they’d done with Colleen, so the boy couldn’t have forgotten those. Those times, Cade had listened to Beau with only half an ear, more interested in the kid than in the aunt. But today changed all that. If Beau could remember, the problem would be solved.

      He heard Doc Amado come down the hall outside his office. Cade turned from the patio doors, relieved to see the doctor’s calm smile, and eager to hear whatever doctor/patient privilege didn’t prohibit.

      Colleen got her handbag and checkbook from the sofa, then found her cane on the table in the entry hall. By the time she stepped out of the house, her tired body felt as if she’d been beaten.

      She saw the car that must belong to Dr. Amado, and carefully managed to walk to her rental. Once she opened the door and got in to put her seatbelt on, she was weary beyond belief.

      Summoning strength from somewhere, she started the car and put it into gear to head down the long gravel drive to the highway. Because she was overtired, the ride to the motel seemed even more harrowing and exhausting than the trip from San Antonio, and it seemed to take forever to get there.

      She was grateful when the desk clerk helped her carry her overnight case into the ground-floor motel room he’d rented to her. Once she dug out a tip and handed it over, she didn’t have enough energy to even undress. As soon as the clerk stepped into the hall and closed the door, she dragged down the coverlet and crawled painfully into bed.

      Cade stood by impatiently as he waited for the desk clerk to unlock the door to Colleen’s room. They’d tried pounding on the door twice, but there’d been no response and Cade pictured one grim scenario after another.

      Colleen had slipped out of the house and he hadn’t noticed until he’d gone to her room almost two hours later to look in on her. When Dr. Amado left his office to start back to town, Cade had gone out to be with the kids, never thinking Colleen wouldn’t be resting as the doctor had ordered.

      The doctor had probably figured the same thing, and hadn’t realized the significance of her missing rental car. He might have assumed Cade had someone move it to the garage.

      At last the door was open and the light was on. Colleen lay on the bed only partially covered, but still in her clothes. Her athletic shoes were still on her small feet, as if she’d either been too weary or too insensible to take them off. He could see from where he stood just inside the door with the clerk that she was breathing normally. He handed the clerk a large bill to both thank him and get rid of him.

      “Thank you, Mr. Chalmers. You think she’s okay? Does she need an ambulance?”

      “I don’t think so, Ronnie.” He glanced at the kid. “I’ll take it from here, thanks.”

      The clerk got the message and left. Cade looked over at Colleen and walked to the bed.

      One strip of Velcro on her shoes had pulled loose and was now stuck to the edge of the light blanket beneath the coverlet. The mussed bedding was evidence that Colleen might have been restless with pain, but too exhausted to fully wake up.

      He reached down for the small sneakered foot that had got Velcroed to the blanket. He peeled open the other shoe tabs and took the shoe off. The other shoe came off just as quickly and he tossed both aside before he bent over her to straighten the covers.

      It struck him that she slept like the kids, when they ran out of steam before a nap and fell instantly asleep wherever they were, still in their play clothes. The similarity made him feel tender toward her.

      He remembered her look of confusion before she’d pulled out her checkbook and offered to write him a deposit

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