Rose (39 page)

A distinct ringing began in Rosa’s ears and for a moment she was afraid she was about to faint. She took a deep breath and tried to relax, but her heart was beating so rapidly she thought it might burst. She tried to concentrate on the man’s words.

“The bullet entered very close to the spine.” The doctor leaned forward to emphasize his point. “Very close. Had it crushed the vertebrae, injury to the spinal column would have been permanent.”

The words meant nothing to her. She glanced at Zach who immediately straightened and explained. “He said the bullet missed Kase’s spine.” He pantomimed a long column with his hand and pointed at his back. “The spine is all right.”

Rosa nodded and turned back to the doctor.

“It doesn’t look like any vertebrae were severed.” He turned to Rosa. “No bones broken,” he clarified with a shake of his head. “But for some reason he doesn’t seem to have movement in his legs.”

Zach touched Rosa’s shoulder. “He said—”

“I understand,” Rosa whispered.

“Dammit,” Quentin muttered. “Why not?”

Flossie moved away from the stove and sat down heavily in the remaining chair. She fanned herself with her hand.

Dr. Earhart took another long sip of coffee and then tried to explain. “I don’t know why, unless there is such trauma near the spine that it will take time to heal. There’s no reason he can’t move, no physical reason that I can see. He still has some sensation, and he’s fully capable of—of controlling his bodily functions.”

“You mean he just thinks he can’t move?” Quentin sounded incredulous.

The doctor nodded.

“That don’t sound like Kase to me,” Zach frowned. “Ain’t no way that boy would be layin’ up there limp as a lizard if he could move. You sayin’ Kase is a liar?”

Earhart shook his head. “Not at all. What I’m saying is that his body has suffered a tremendous shock. His mind may be totally convinced that he is paralyzed. When his mind accepts the fact he isn’t, he should recover completely.”

“What if he’s really hurt? Maybe whatever moves his legs is bruised?” Flossie tried to sort it all out.

Silent, Rosa listened to the exchange. Not all of it was understandable, but she did know that Kase could not move his legs and that he was unable to walk. It was just too soon, she told herself. How could he walk yet, after what he had been through?

The doctor’s answer to Flossie was blunt. “There’s not much chance of that, as I said. I don’t really know why he says he can’t move. Everything else seems fine.”

“So you say he ain’t lyin’, just that he’s crazy?” Zach was still trying to sort it all out.

Quentin stood up. His dour expression matched his tone. “Maybe we need another doctor.”

Richard Earhart placed his cup in the saucer. “By all means. Call in someone else.” He picked up his bag and pushed back his chair as he stood. “I’ve done all I can. The bullet is out, and as far as I can see, his spine is intact. Have him rest quietly until he feels he can be up and about. He’s out now, and I’ve left laundanum in case he has any pain.”

“Can he be moved?” Quentin asked.

The doctor paused for a moment as he considered the question. “I think so, in a day or two. Just move him slowly and carefully.”

Rosa, Zach, and Floss sat in silence, staring down at the patterned tablecloth, as the man quit the room accompanied by Quentin.

“I’ll have to wire his folks,” Zach said to no one in particular.

Flossie shook her head. “I’m for callin’ in a new doctor.”

“Don’t you worry none on that score. Caleb Storm’ll bring in the best money can buy or I ain’t a one-eyed bastard.”

Numb, Rosa tried to stand. Zach stood and in an uncommon show of gentlemanly manners, pulled her chair out for her. “I want to look at him again,” she said to Floss.

The madam stood and took Rosa by the elbow. She leaned close and said, “Listen, honey, if you’d like to stay the night with Kase, you go right on up and do it. I don’t see how it can do any harm now, not with you two bein’ engaged and all.”

Rosa glanced at Zach, who nodded his assent. “Try and get some sleep.”

She turned and took each of their hands in her own.
“Grazie, mi amici. Molti grazie.
”

The guest room at Mountain Shadows was simply but comfortably furnished with a golden bird’s-eye maple bedroom set. The sleigh bed, so named for its curved headboard and footboard, was the widest bed Kase had ever slept in. The length of it even accommodated his height. A dresser with an oval beveled mirror stood opposite the bed. A matching commode with a towel bar stood beside the bed, and near the door, a tall chiffonier completed the group. Two armless chairs graced the room. Part of a parlor set, the chairs were tufted in a gold brocaded plush that complemented the light wood furniture.

Kase Storm’s dark mood was not the fault of the cheery second-story room with a view of the Rockies. Hard as he might, he tried to keep his eyes off of the reflection of himself in the mirror across the room. For two weeks now he had been lying in bed, forced to stare either at himself or out the window. During that time he had become more than a man who was unable to walk. He had become a prisoner of his own making. Too proud to be carried down the stairs, he refused to leave the room. Quentin Rawlins had been courtesy itself, determined that Kase should have every comfort.

It had been Quentin who insisted Kase be moved to Mountain Shadows as soon as the doctor gave permission. Three days after the shooting he was wrapped in blankets, stretched out upon a makeshift bed in the back of a flatbed wagon and driven out to the ranch. Rose had been at his side then, as she had every moment since his accident. Consideration for Rose had been part of the reason behind Quentin’s insistence that Kase be moved out of Flossie’s.

He gazed at himself in the mirror and then looked away. It was not hard to remember the discussion he had had with Quentin the day he was carried into this room and Rose was finally persuaded to rest.

Quentin had been fidgeting about the room, shifting the draperies, fluffing the pillows, until Kase irritably told him to stop. “You remind me of an old woman,” Kase had grumbled.

“Well, I’m just glad to have you here. It’s best for Rosa, you know, to have her out of Flossie’s,” Quentin admitted.

“You care a lot about her, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I do.”

Quentin had paused and quickly dropped his gaze. Too quickly. A sudden thought struck Kase. “You’re against her marrying me, aren’t you?”

“I hope I didn’t give you that impression, Kase.”

“But it’s true, isn’t it? I didn’t realize what was wrong until now, or maybe I didn’t want to see the truth. You weren’t surprised or enthusiastic when I told you about our engagement. You don’t think she should marry me.”

“I have to admit I had my objections at first, but she loves you so much she won’t be happy without you. I just hope you’ve thought about what marrying you will mean to her.”

“I had hoped it would mean she’d be happy. But now?” Kase shrugged and plucked at the bedspread. “Now we have even less on our side.”

“It would have been tough before you were ...”

Kase had watched Quentin struggle to put his disabling condition into words. The man could not bring himself to say the word “paralyzed,” and so he omitted it altogether.

“But don’t get me wrong. You know I’d give you the shirt off my back.”

“I’ve got all the shirts I need, Quentin. In your own way you consider me a friend, but even if I could still walk, you wouldn’t think me good enough for Rose. I’d be better off marrying someone with mixed blood, or a pure-blooded Indian. Or how about a Mexican? Would a Mexican girl do?”

“Kase—”

Abruptly Kase admitted, “You’ll be happy to know I’ve decided not to marry Rose.”

Rawlins had managed to look genuinely dismayed. “But she’s in love with you! She’s got her heart set on it.”

“She’ll have to get it unset.”

Quentin shook his head. “Rosa Audi? You tried to change her mind about living in Busted Heel, and a lot of good it did. This is going to hurt her, Kase.”

“Rose is like a cat. She’ll land on her feet. Besides, you’ll be around to pick her up. Won’t you?”

“Your parents will be here in a couple of weeks.”

Kase had felt his heart lurch. “What?”

“I wired them. They’re on their way.” Quentin turned and started to leave the room. “Maybe they can talk some sense into you.”

“Quentin, wait,” Kase had called out just as the door was about to close.

Rawlins paused in the open doorway.

“Don’t say anything to them about Rose and me.”

“Won’t they wonder who she is? I can’t exactly lock her out of here.”

“I’ll take care of them.”

With a final meaningful stare, Quentin had said, “I bet you will.”

Kase put the memory aside, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep. He wished he wasn’t beholden to Quentin, wished he could refuse the man’s hospitality, get up and walk away. But until Caleb and Analisa arrived, there was not much he could do.

They were due to be here in a few hours. Zach was ready and waiting in town to bring them out to the ranch. As much as he looked forward to seeing them again, Kase dreaded the coming reunion. How was he to apologize for everything he had said to them? He had been selfishly cruel and unfeeling toward them both, and now he found himself needing them more than ever. He wouldn’t have blamed them if they had refused to come to Wyoming, but as always, they would stand by him.

He didn’t deserve them. Either of them. But he hoped that after they arrived he would find the right words to let them know how much he loved them both. And, he thought hopefully, maybe their presence would keep him from dwelling on Rose.

Analisa Van Meeteren Storm paused outside her son’s bedroom door and drew a long, steadying breath. She reached out for the knob, saw how badly her hand was shaking, and pulled it back. She pressed her palms together. Her fingers were icy cold. She pressed her hands against her cheeks and took another deep breath.

Analisa was not sure what she would find on the other side of the door. Dear Zach, on the way out from town, had told them about the shooting. When they arrived, Quentin had assured them that Kase was still strong, although bedridden. He expressed some concern for her son’s spirits, but said his health was as good as could be expected.

She wished she could breeze through the door as if the confrontation that had caused Kase to leave home had never happened. But her feelings ran too deep to make light of the issue. She could not hide her emotions as so many women did. For the first time in her life, Analisa was hesitant to be with her son.

How would he respond? What did he think of her after what he had learned in Boston? She had been spared any memory of the rape she had suffered that had resulted in his birth, but she had been foolish to hope to hide the facts from him for so many years. Kase was intelligent and sensitive. He had been so all of his life. She should have known that the questions he persisted in asking about his real father would not easily be brushed aside.

And now, because she had tried to shield him from the truth, he had left home, taken a job as marshal, and as a result, lay paralyzed in the bed beyond the door.

Listening intently, she did not hear a sound coming from the room. She reached out again, her hand not much steadier than before, and silently turned the knob.

Kase was sound asleep. Analisa tiptoed across the room and stood beside the bed staring down at him. Except for the shadows beneath his eyes he looked much the same as he had when he left Boston. For a moment he frowned in his sleep; then his facial features relaxed. He had looked the same as when he was a child.

Even in sleep he was not at peace.

Life in the East had been a struggle for him, much more so than when they had all lived in the Dakotas where a half-breed, though not fully accepted, was not viewed as an oddity the way Kase and Caleb had been in Boston. When Kase was a little boy she wanted to keep him safely hidden away from the world in their little sod house on the prairie. But even then she knew in her heart that her plan was not a realistic one. When Caleb came to them he had opened the door to a world Analisa might have never known. He had loved Kase and called him his own.