Small-Town Dreams (35 page)

Four pristine brick and stone stable buildings formed an X with a competition-size ring at their apex. The original historical stone barn sat off to the left, in a clear position of honor. And from that precious cluster of buildings ran the fences, pastures and trails that completed all that was Laurel Glen.

He couldn’t let Hope lose this.

Jeff pulled in next to the stable Hope indicated and set the parking brake. No sooner had he turned off the engine than the stable door opened and Ross and Cole stepped into the midday sunshine. Hope let out an agonized groan.

“Hey, don’t assume the worst,” Jeff admonished, watching the two men round the front of the van. Cole got to Hope’s door first, and she put the window down. Ross stood behind his son, hanging back and looking as uncertain as Hope did.

Help me repair it, Lord,
Jeff prayed.

“Hi, kitten. What brings you here?” Cole asked, though he knew, because Jeff had called and warned him of their visit.

“I…uh…I came to get Ruby,” Hope stammered. “I thought I’d get more chance to ride her…you know…if she was at Lavender Hill.”

Ross nodded. “Probably.”

“We were just headed to the house,” Cole said.

Ross pulled at the back of his neck as if the muscles were suddenly tight. “Uh…you two have lunch yet?” he asked.

“No,” Jeff replied quickly before Hope could make excuses to shorten her visit. If this was an overture, he wasn’t about to pass it up. Then a thought struck him. The main house sat high, surrounded by stone terraces that fell away down the hill in a series of three sets of stone stairs. He couldn’t think of a way to get himself inside that didn’t include someone dragging his chair up those graceful but numerous steps.

He felt suddenly like a wounded knight staring at an impenetrable castle and wondered if Ross had invited them knowing Jeff would be excluded by virtue of the layout of the house.

Hope was way ahead of him, though, and it was clear from her tone that she thought exactly that. “Laurel House isn’t exactly handicap friendly, Dad.” She all but growled the words.

“It’s okay, Hope.” Jeff jumped in. He was not going to let her throw away this overture for his sake—not again. “You can toss the equipment you were going to pick up in the van now and ride home on Ruby after your lunch settles a little. I’m sure Mrs. R will have something ready anyway.”

“Dad already figured out how to get you inside,” Cole said. “Drive around the side of the house and into the garage. There are only three steps into the house from there, and if the two of us can’t hustle you in that way we’re ready for a rest home.”

Cole opened Hope’s door and turned to Ross. “It’s all settled. They’re staying. Walk with Dad, kitten,” he said as he handily slipped Hope from the car. “I’ll get the garage door for Jeff. We’ll see you two in there.”

Hope looked at him, and Jeff nearly laughed at the deer-in-the-spotlight look on her face. She stepped away from the door, and Cole climbed in.

“So, old son,” Cole said with a grin as he slammed the door and slouched in the seat. “You think my father has finally slipped a cog or what?”

Jeff laughed and started the van. In minutes he was pulling into the garage, then Cole hauled him backward up the three steps that led to a mudroom off the kitchen. If Ross had slipped a cog, Jeff hoped it stayed out of sync. Because Hope’s father had looked very much like a tongue-tied male trying to find a way to apologize while maintaining his pride. Jeff knew the look. He’d been wearing it often enough of late.

H
ope and Ross had a pleasant stroll up to the house, but she was aware of a certain restraint between them as if each feared treading on dangerous territory. Her father talked a bit about Laurel Glen’s business and his upcoming search for a new trainer. Hope offered to fill in as much as possible and help with interviews and such whenever her duties at Lavender Hill allowed. Ross accepted with alacrity, though he didn’t ask how much time she could give him.

They walked into Laurel House’s sunny breakfast room just as Cole pushed Jeff in from the kitchen. Hope felt Ross tense next to her.

“I could have helped,” he said, and Hope nearly cringed at his sharp tone. She said a quick prayer that he and Cole could get through at least one meal with a little peace between them. Their arguments were like a malignant force that seemed to infect everyone present, drawing bystanders into the fray with incredible efficiency. She’d seen it time and time again from the day after her mother was buried to the day she’d left Laurel Glen only weeks ago.

“No need,” Cole said lightly. Hope was taken aback by the determination she saw in her brother’s deep brown eyes. For her sake and Jeff’s he didn’t intend to let himself be baited. If only he could find that kind of restraint for himself and their father, she thought sadly. “Jeff’s so good with this chair he nearly did all the work himself,” Cole continued, boosting Jeff’s chin up and examining his bruised face with all the concern of a dedicated healer. “I did wonder if you needed seat belts, though, bud. What did you do? Fall out on your head?”

“He fell trying to stand,” Hope said, proud of Jeff’s determination.

As he playfully batted Cole’s hand away, Jeff shot them all a self-deprecating grin. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out the way it did.”

“Was that wise?” her father asked. The real concern in his voice had Hope staring in awe at the father she thought she knew.

Jeff shrugged. “They say you’ve got to crawl before you walk, but what you really have to be able to do is stand. I won’t take a first step sitting in my chair.”

Cole shook his head and took a seat at the table. “Well, be careful. If you need two people to spot for you, I’ll run by and help Curt out. Just name the time.”

“That’s a great idea,” Hope said. “Manny helped this morning, but it occurred to me that if Jeff fell backward, he’d squash the poor little guy flat.”

“Consider me drafted then. That wouldn’t be good for either of you. You need all the help around there you can get if you’re going to get this idea of yours up and running.”

“So how
are
the plans coming along for the training facility?” Ross asked, sitting next to Cole and reaching for the pitcher of iced tea in the middle of the table. “You talk to the Olympic committee yet?”

Jeff outlined what they’d done so far and explained that they probably wouldn’t get the facility up and running for nine months to a year. There was a lot more red tape than they’d originally thought and so many other arrangements that had to be made that they’d decided not to rush. Jeff had also decided that he wanted the school to have a strong Christian influence. Both Cole and her father looked bewildered by what that meant.

“And the house needs work, too,” Hope told them. “It’ll house twenty kids easily with two in each room. Since each bedroom has a bath, that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about as far as renovations. But the marble has to go and the dining room has to be enlarged.”

“But, Jeff, your mother loved that marble,” Ross teased.

“And, Hope, you always said it looks like an upscale hotel lobby,” Cole added, pointing a teasing finger at her.

She felt a blush heat her face, and Jeff’s deep chuckle sent shivers up Hope’s spine.

“My sentiments exactly. We want the kids to feel at home. Not like they’re at a hotel,” Jeff joked.

The teasing and camaraderie transported Hope to another time, back to when Jeff ate nearly every other meal at Laurel Glen. Back before the accident that killed her mother. Before her father and brother couldn’t be in the same room and not snipe at each other. Back when Jeff would ask her father about things his own father should have been available to answer for his son.

Once again conversation flowed, and the old pattern of teasing picked up nearly where it had left off the day before Cole was sent away. It wasn’t as relaxed as it had been the day before their mother died and Cole had become increasingly hostile and angry, but it felt right for the first time in years. She didn’t even mind that she was the brunt of her brother’s witty tongue because, as always, Jeff was there to take the sting out of any mocking remark Cole could make.

She glanced at her father and noticed he looked angry but also that he had a faraway look in his eyes. She reached over and covered his hand with hers, hoping to pour oil on troubled waters while Jeff and Cole laughed and relived some wild escapade they’d all shared.

Ross’s vision cleared. “Jeff,” he said when a moment of silence gave him an opening. “Were you with Cole the night he stole the police car?”

All the good feelings in the room evaporated in an instant. “Dad,” Cole snapped, his face cold and rigid. He was clearly about to continue when Jeff held his hand up and stopped him.

“It’s all right. No. I wasn’t with him. Cole did come over that night, but Mother sent him away. I had an appointment with my Calc tutor that she wouldn’t let me put it off.”

“I told you I wasn’t with Jeff,” Cole said, his teeth all but bared.

“Well, you were with someone. Chief Johnson saw someone running away. You would never say who it was.”

“But I did tell you it wasn’t Jeff.”

Ross nodded. “I know. But Addison told me it was. At least he strongly implied that you were there,” Ross explained, directing his comment to Jeff. “He apologized for not having the guts to turn you in. He begged me to understand all you’d lose if I said anything. Because you weren’t a minor, you would have been instantly charged with a felony. I was furious but I didn’t want that for you, either. If you weren’t there why would he say you were?”

Cole looked utterly shocked but Jeff, while clearly shaken, nodded. His voice when he spoke, however, held a touch of bitterness. “I take it Addison had quite a lot to say to you about me over the years. I think I finally figured out why. He was jealous of you and my feelings for you. I can only guess, of course, but I think he set out to destroy our relationship. He hated that I respected you and all you stood for. Heritage meant nothing to him. He thought you were a fool to work so hard at building up the farm when you could have sold the land to a developer for millions. And he hated that I went to you for advice and took it.”

Her father looked physically ill. “You think he actually lied so I’d turn against you?”

“It’s all I can come up with. He liked manipulating people.”

“But he was—” Ross cut off what he’d been about to say and shook his head.

“My father,” Jeff finished for him.

“Yeah…what can I say, Jeff? I’ve misjudged you for years. I guess I should have realized you couldn’t change that much that quickly, but…” Everyone knew what he’d left unsaid. Cole had changed. Cole had changed overnight.

Jeff shrugged and spoke into the silence. Shaken and unmistakably sad, he said, “Addison was my father. Why would you doubt him? Why would anyone?”

“I’m so sorry. For the things I’ve said. For the way I acted when you got hurt. I don’t know if you can understand what I felt. Here you were, the golden boy. Rolling in horse dung and coming up smelling like Chanel. You’d gotten an Ivy League degree and were headed for Olympic gold and I’d lost years with my son when we might have settled our differences. He got military school and you got college. I honestly thought that this time you’d been careless and had gotten what you deserved for a change. Then my daughter tells me to all but shove her position here and she runs off to play nursemaid. I’ve been furious and helpless to do anything with the anger. Every time I opened my mouth, I looked like a coldhearted so-and-so. If I had the man here right now I’d be tempted to throttle him. I believe he lied, but all this because he was jealous of me? You’re sure?”

Jeff nodded. “Jealousy is the only thing I can come up with as an explanation for why he’d lie.”

And indeed no one else could venture a different guess as to why Addison’s version of that night should have been so different from Cole and Jeff’s. Blessedly, the conversation veered off from there to talk of county politics then back to Jeff’s training facility.

“I’ve been thinking, you two,” Ross said. “You said you were going to be shut down during summers except for arranging for competitions for the scholarship students. Have you given any thought to changing your focus during those months? Maybe running day camps?”

Hope thought the idea was brilliant. “Jeff, that would solve your question about how to spot talent in underprivileged kids when they’re not usually exposed to the equestrian world.”

“Actually I was thinking of another kind of underprivileged kid,” her father said. “Like the kids in the Special Olympics. Or the Sunshine camps. I understand handicapped kids really benefit from contact with horses. And I imagine Jeff could relate to handicapped kids the way no one else I know of who works with horses could. You’d be the perfect trainer for them even if you don’t manage to get walking again. You could do a lot of good with this whole project, Jeff.”

“Dad, that’s a great idea,” Hope said, feeling her father had retracted his remark about Jeff being a worthless cripple.

Jeff was not as enthusiastic. He nodded, his thoughts clearly turned inward. “I’ll give it some thought,” he said and looked at her, his gaze riveted and riveting.

What are you thinking? she wondered, unable to look away. Did he understand her father’s remark as a symbol of trust and value? She prayed he did, then caught sight of the clock.

“Good heavens, will you look at the time? What a bunch of chatterboxes we are. Listen, I’m going to go down to the stable and start getting things together. Jeff, why don’t you follow with the van? I don’t have much to load. I’ll see you all in a few minutes.”

“Hope, there are some things of your mother’s that I think it’s time you have. And Cole, didn’t you mention getting Jeff’s opinion on that little filly you picked up last week? You kids go on ahead and leave the van here. I’ll load the boxes up and bring the van down to stable four.”

Everyone agreed, but Hope wanted to run ahead and leave Cole and Jeff some time together. She noticed some of her men walking toward the stone barn. She wanted to be the one to tell them she wouldn’t be returning except to fill in every once and a while, so she trotted after them.

“Tony. Maurice. Joseph!”

The men turned toward her, as did several others who stood around a pallet of hay they apparently intended to hoist into the loft. It wasn’t the way she would have recommended doing it but guessed it could work to their advantage timewise.

“Listen up, guys. I wanted to let you all know I won’t be back except to help out sometimes. I’m staying on at Lavender Hill as a partner and trainer of an Olympic facility Jeff wants to get up and running.”

“Hey, way to go!” Maurice called.

At the same time Tony said, “Yeah, our loss is Carrington’s gain.”

Joseph, who rarely strung more than two words together in an hour, said, “We miss you already, boss lady.”

A chorus of others added like sentiments, causing tears to dam up in Hope’s throat. She was about to thank them all for their support when a strident voice echoed from inside the barn. “You lazy clowns want to stop flirting with the boss’s daughter and get it in gear?”

“Uh-oh. Sorry, Ms. Taggert. Donovan’s on the warpath again. The man’s been a bear for months,” Tony said. “Come on, boys. Let’s give this crazy idea a try.”

Hope stepped to the side and watched the men hoist the heavy load off the ground. For the life of her she didn’t see how it was going to fit through the loft door, though. She walked forward, trying to get a better prospective.

Just as he and Cole made it to stable four, Jeff remembered he was supposed to remind Hope to get her address book. He left Cole and pushed himself toward where he saw Hope standing. She was laughing and talking with some men who were hoisting a pallet of hay. It looked like a bad way to handle so clumsy a load to him. He was sure it must be the angle he was at that made it look as if Hope was standing under the loft door, but his heart suddenly began to pound. He squinted against the glare of the sun, trying to see better. The height of the stack looked off, as if it was too tall to fit inside the opening. He pushed ahead faster.

Afraid for her, Jeff called Hope’s name, but the men were all shouting as they pulled on the straining ropes. As he pumped his arms on the big rubber wheels, he looked up, and the top bale hit the header, causing the stack to list to one side.

“Hope!” he screamed, and she turned, surprise on her face. “The stack!” he yelled.

But she couldn’t see what he saw from her vantage point, and rather than move, Hope look up in confusion, a frown creasing her brow.

A few feet from her, Jeff reached out to grab her as the pallet shifted above them and the bales tumbled free. Just as his hands gripped her arms and he pulled her to keep her from being crushed, Jeff felt the impact of a bale vibrate through Hope’s body. She slumped forward into his arms.