Love's Deception (21 page)

Twenty
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Four

Cat rolled over at the sound of Danny turning on cartoons in the family room. She wiggled her legs under the covers. Something didn’t feel right, so she pulled back the comforter. Jeans?
What happened last night?
She thought through her evening with Ty. He took Danny to bed. She cleaned the kitchen. She went in Danny’s room and sat in the rocking chair.
I must have fallen asleep.
She tried to remember coming to bed, but it was like looking through a dense fog.
When did Ty leave, or is he still sleeping in Danny’s bed?

She went to her son’s room. It was empty. She looked out the window but couldn’t see Ty’s truck. She walked in front of the TV on her way to feed the horses. “Good morning, Danny,” Cat said, then smiled when he didn’t break his concentration on the television. “Danny, did you see Ty this morning?”

That got his attention and he looked at her. “No. Is he coming back today?”

“Yes, but I don’t know when. I’m going to go feed the horses.” She pulled on her barn jacket and walked out the door into the quiet, gray dawn. The saturated ground squished under her boots, but at least it wasn’t raining.

Two hours later, with the horses fed and the stalls cleaned, Cat came in for breakfast. She poured two bowls of cold cereal and sliced half a banana over the top of each. “Danny, turn off the TV and come eat. Have you seen Grandma this morning?”

He hopped off the couch and pushed the power button on the remote, then ran to the counter. “Nope, she’s still asleep.”

Cat poured the milk and slid the smaller bowl toward him. “Here’s your cereal. Will you say a blessing for us?” He folded his arms, bowed his head, and prayed.

Sally came down for breakfast, walking slowly as usual. “Hey, Mom. How are you doing today?” Cat asked.

Her mom scrunched up her face and placed her hand over her abdomen. “I don’t feel so good—sick to my stomach.”

Cat slid back her chair and stood up. “I’ll make you some breakfast. What do you feel like? Cold cereal, pancakes, oatmeal, Cream of Wheat? Do any of those sound good? What about toast? That’s easy to digest.”

Her mom gingerly lowered herself onto the couch and breathed a heavy sigh. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Cream of Wheat. Or is that too much work?”

Cat carried her half-eaten bowl of cereal to the stove and added water to a pan. “No, it’s not too much work,” she said between bites.

While she stirred the hot cereal, she pulled her cell phone from her purse. She hoped to get a shower before Ty walked through her door, but she had no idea when that would be. There was a text message from him:
I’ll see u later this AM. I’ve got to do something for my mom. Hope u slept well. Love u.

Smiling, Cat let go of the spoon and typed a reply.
When did u leave last night?

A moment later her notification tone sounded and she read Ty’s answer:
At 3:00, after I got u into bed.
Cat rolled her eyes. So he had tried to wake her.

She typed back,
Sorry I fell asleep. Did I talk to u?
and pushed send. Since she was a child, she’d been known to talk in her sleep. She poured the cereal in a bowl and added milk and sugar. “Here you go, Mom. Anything else? Some toast or juice to go with it?”

Her mom accepted the steaming bowl. “Thank you, honey. This is all for now.”

“I’m going to shower before Ty gets here.” Cat carried her phone with her into the bathroom. It sounded the arrival of his latest reply while she waited for the water to heat up.
That’s ok. I enjoyed talking with u while u slept.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, texting back,
What did I say?
Steam escaped through the shower door, so Cat reached in and turned off the water. She wanted to read his reply first.

Finally, it came:
Ha ha. That was for my ears only.
Cat slammed her phone down and growled under her breath, then turned on the shower again. By the time the hot water cascaded over her face, she was laughing to herself. Hopefully she hadn’t said anything during her sleep and Ty was just teasing her.

Cat’s mother and Danny were in bed, and the house was quiet. Cat and Ty sat on the couch with his arm wrapped around her. “So, I want to know what I said to you last night in my sleep,” she said, threading her fingers through his and looking up at him.

He pulled her closer to whisper in her ear. “I’ll bet you do, but I already told you that was for my ears only.”

She wiggled away from him. “Ty, that’s not fair. Tell me. Did I say something stupid? Or embarrassing? What, did I call you Eric or something? Why won’t you tell me?”

Ty tried to grab her but she scooted across the couch. “Why are you so feisty?” After a moment of silence he said, “Okay, you said something nice. You’re awfully sweet when you’re sleeping.”

“Maybe because when I’m asleep I forget how difficult you can be. Just tell me exactly what I said.”

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. You go out to dinner with me tomorrow—someplace nice, in downtown Portland—and then I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you every word.”

Cat chewed on her lower lip while she watched him. “All right, but I’m not very happy that you won’t just tell me now.”

Ty smiled and motioned with his hand. “Come back over here.  Don’t worry about it, Catherine. I just want to tell you tomorrow at the restaurant. It’ll make nice dinner conversation.”

Looking skeptical, she let out a sigh and moved into his arms. “What I said in my sleep will make good dinner conversation?”

“Yes, it will. Trust me.” He tilted her head up with his fingers. As usual, his blue eyes held her captive before he kissed her.

Ty knocked at Cat’s door first thing in the morning and helped her feed the horses and clean the stalls. He cleared debris out of her gutters and picked up the branches littering the yard from the last storm. By late afternoon, he was rain-soaked and muddy. He poked his head through the partially open sliding glass door. “Cat,” he yelled. “I’m going home to get cleaned up. I’ll be back in an hour.”

She smiled and tossed the rest of the clothes in the washing machine. Tonight was the promised dinner-conversation date, and her curiosity hadn’t ebbed at all. “Okay, I’ll hurry,” she called back, thinking she needed to feed the horses again and get in the shower.

“There’s no need to hurry. We’ll go whenever you’re ready.”

She walked to the door where Ty stood. “Thank you for all your help today.” She leaned forward and plucked a pine needle from his wet hair.

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you soon,” he said with a smile.

Cat closed the door behind him and watched from the window as he drove away. “Danny, what do you want for dinner? I’ll fix you and Grandma something before I feed the horses.”

Leaving his Legos, he climbed on the barstool and propped his elbows on the counter. “I want macaroni and cheese.”

Cat pulled a pan from the drawer and filled it with water. “Mom, how about you?” A fleece blanket covered her mother as she lay on the couch.

Her mom sat up slowly and frowned. “I’m not that hungry.”

“Mom, you need to eat something. What sounds good?” Cat’s mother had steadily lost weight over the past few months.

Sally let out a sigh. “I’ll have toast and some of Danny’s macaroni.”

“All right,” Cat said.
At least it’s something
. A few minutes later she left Danny and her mom with their dinner and walked through the drizzle to the barn.
What a perfect day,
she thought. She and Ty had worked together, and then while she got caught up on things inside and cared for her mother, he had asked Danny to work with him outside.

She measured grain for each horse and tossed some hay into their stalls. Most of the horses were turned out in their pastures for the day, so Cat began the routine of bringing them in. Everything went just fine until she got to the last pasture. She opened the back door of the barn and pulled the first horse through. When she opened the door to get the next horse, she noticed Ava, her mother’s horse, wasn’t standing at the door with the other mares.

Cat led the next horse into its stall and went back for the last two. Surely Ava would have noticed by now that the others were going into the barn. Cat opened the door again. Still no Ava. A sick feeling spread through Cat’s gut. It was unusual for a horse not to come to the gate or wait near the door at feeding time. The mare pasture wrapped around the side of the barn, out of sight. Cat rushed the next horse to its stall and ran back through the door.

Behind the barn, she sank in six inches of wet, sticky mud that threatened to suck the boots off her feet. After picking her way through the mud hole, she hit the firmer ground at a run. Still no Ava. Cat rounded the edge of the barn and panned the horizon. In the fading daylight she saw the cream-colored palomino, lying by the fence line.

Cat ran across the grass stubble, her heart sinking. With her back legs caught in the wire fencing, the horse struggled to get to her feet. Her kicking had broken the half-rotten wooden post and collapsed the fence onto her back end. The grass around her had been churned to mud from her thrashing. Cat slowed to a walk and talked softly as she approached the frightened horse. “Whoa . . . shh . . . hold still, Ava.” She knelt by the horse’s head and slid the halter over her nose, surveying the damage to the animal. Her back legs were cut and bleeding, the blood diluted by the increasing rain. Ava trembled, probably from the cold as well as the fear of being trapped.

Panic gripped Cat’s heart when her mother’s horse again struggled against the fence, trying to free her legs. Cat scrambled out of the reach of the horse’s flailing hooves. She had to get the fence off her. She inched closer to the broken post and pushed on it, but the weight of the fencing and the post combined with Ava’s legs rendered it impossible to move. “Oh, no . . . no . . . no . . . no!  “Father, please help me.” Cat tried again to lift the fence off the struggling horse.

Ava fought to get her feet under her, launching the post into Cat’s side and knocking her down. Shocked at the horror of the situation, she found herself immobilized. The horse’s thrashing whenever Cat tried to move the fence made it dangerous to be so close. In the midst of the nightmare as Cat tried again to get near enough to untangle the horse, she heard someone speak her name. It took a moment for it to register. “Cat! Where are you?” Ty yelled from inside the barn.

“Ty,” she whispered. Blinking back tears, she called to him. He either heard her or saw the open door and came to investigate, because a moment later he ran around the side of the barn. She choked out a sob as she looked from him running toward her to the mare. Ava’s sides heaved up and down with her labored breathing. Mud stained her cream-colored coat, and her eyes rolled back in silent agony.

Ty slid to a stop behind her. Turning Cat by her shoulders to face him, he asked, “Are you hurt?” She shook her head. “What happened?”

Finding her voice, Cat sniffled once and replied, “I don’t know. I just found her like this. I can’t get the fence off her. It’s too heavy and she keeps kicking, so I can’t get a good hold on it.” Cat paused, trying to check her emotions. “My poor mom. I can’t believe this.”

Ty studied the situation, then said, “This is your mom’s horse?”

Cat watched him move slowly to the horse’s head and unclip the lead rope. “Yes. She’ll be heartbroken if this is serious.”

Ty rolled the rope in his hand and pointed at the horse’s legs. “I’ll get on the other side and pull the fence off her.” Carrying the rope, he moved up the fence line to the next solid post. Cat talked quietly to Ava and rubbed her neck as Ty hopped the fence and ran back. Cautiously, he leaned over the downed fence and Ava’s entangled legs and clipped the lead rope to the top wire. Then he wrapped the rope around his hand, leaned back, and pulled. With the leverage from the rope, he managed to lift the fence. Cat jumped back as Ava thrashed. In a final fit of kicking, the mare snapped the mangled wire and freed her legs. She scramble to her feet and stood quivering in the rain.

Cat moved to her head and held the halter, trying to examine the horse’s injuries. “Whoa there, girl. It’s okay now,” she said softly, stroking Ava’s neck. Both legs were bleeding, but the cuts didn’t look deep. They could get away without calling the vet if she doctored them diligently. Ava pawed the ground. Absorbed in analyzing the horse’s condition, Cat nearly forgot about Ty until he spoke. “Can she walk?”