The Cowboy Meets His Match (16 page)

When the doors slid open, Sylvia walked off. Erin looked down at her watch and realized that Sylvia still had time on her shift. Erin went to her father's room. Both of her parents were sleeping, and Erin slumped down into the single chair.

She tried to take in what had just happened. She didn't blame Caleb and Sawyer for their feelings about their mother and what had happened, but her sons needed to become acquainted with the woman their mother was now before they made any judgments.

“Oh, Lord, help us to deal with the situations we find ourselves in.”

* * *

Voices drew Sawyer from his sleep. He recognized one voice, Caleb's, but not the other.

“I'm sorry, Son. There was no excuse. Forgive me.”

“That's easy to say now,” he said, “but it doesn't change the past.”

“I know...”

The conversation slipped beneath the surface of sleep. When Sawyer next woke up, darkness surrounded him except for the night-light by the sink. He remained still for a moment, cataloging the sounds he heard. A cart with a wobbly wheel went by his room; he noted voices in the distance as people walked by. The smell of antiseptic filled his nostrils. He cast his mind back, trying to remember what had happened. Obviously, he was in the hospital, but how had he gotten here? What day was it?

The last thing he remembered was the sand-and windstorm. He'd just put Tate on his horse, mounted his own, then—nothing. When did it happen? Why was he in the hospital? He ran his fingers through his hair and felt the bump. He jerked his hand away from his head. He had quite a lump.

Obviously, they'd gotten Tate help, but there was a whole lot of memory missing.

The door to his room opened. Outlined in the light from the hall was a woman, and from her shape he knew it wasn't Erin. The woman stepped into the room and allowed the door to slowly close.

“You're awake.”

His mother.

“How are you feeling?” She stepped closer so he could see her face in the light from the night-light in the room.

“Like I've been kicked by a bull.”

“I'll tell the nurse you're awake.” She disappeared. Several minutes later, she and the floor nurse walked in.

“Welcome back to the world, Mr. Jensen. I'll call and let the doctor know you're awake. You gave us quite a scare there.” Before she left the room, she took Sawyer's vitals, wrote them down and patted his mother on the shoulder. “You must be excited your son's finally awake after two days.”

“I am. It's an answer to prayer.” Sylvia nodded. Once they were alone, she moved to the side of his bed but remained quiet for a long time.

Sawyer still didn't know what to think. He often wondered if his mom was still alive, but he never imagined her like this.

“I know you have a million questions, but I'd like to tell you what happened if you'd let me. If you don't, I'll walk out of this room and not bother you.” She stood by the door waiting for his answer.

He didn't know what to think. Was this reality? Maybe he had had a psychotic break.

The floor nurse came in. “I called the doctor. The resident should be in within a few moments, and the doctor should be by tomorrow morning, first thing.”

For the next twenty minutes he was poked and prodded.

When he looked around again, his mother had disappeared. That psychotic-break thing was looking better and better.

When he woke again, the room was still dark, but he saw a figure by the door.

She walked to his bed. Her hand shook as she crossed her arms across her chest and tucked her hands under her arms.

“I thought you'd skipped out on me again.” He sounded like an eight-year-old boy.

“I'm still on duty on the floor above. This is my break.”

The reason rang true.

“I wanted to try to explain some things to you.”

As if that was possible, Sawyer thought, but he said nothing.

“After Caleb won his emancipation and took you away, my boyfriend left, blaming me that we couldn't get more money from you. I was alone. At thirty-five, I didn't know how to take care of myself.” She paused, lost in some memory.

“I ran through a series of boyfriends who beat me and used me. My last boyfriend, before I got sober, beat me up badly and left me on the side of the road. I probably would've died if Neil Turner hadn't found me and taken me to the clinic that he runs here in Albuquerque. Neil is also a recovering drug user, and he recognized a woman at the end of her rope. It took me months to recover, but, fortunately, Neil's clinic had places for homeless and abused women like me. The people there encouraged me to go to AA. Neil took me to their meetings. He helped me find a job, an apartment and encouraged me to go back to school.

“Neil also took me back to church. I've been sober nine years, eight months and eleven days.”

If he wasn't so angry, he might be impressed. “Did you ever try to find us, Mom?” Sawyer bit out. “Did you ever wonder about us? Ever give a rat's rear if Caleb and I were alive or dead?” He heard the harsh words coming out of his mouth but couldn't control them. They spilled out with a raging hurt he didn't realize was still inside him.

She flinched as if he struck her. “I wasn't sober most of those years, but the times I was, and remembered my sons, I wanted another drink or hit off a joint to drown my guilt.”

She looked down at her hands. “I didn't want to remember the terrible things I'd done.” Taking another deep breath, she continued. “I remember siding with my boyfriends against my sons. Allowing you to be beaten, and then blaming it on you.

“It's an ache in my heart that doesn't go away. Lately, I've wanted to hire a detective to find you and Caleb, but I hadn't worked up the courage. Forgive me, Sawyer.”

In the shadows, he couldn't see her eyes, but he heard the pain in her voice. She waited.

“I don't know, Mom. Caleb and I lived too long supporting ourselves and only depending on each other. It's a lot to think about.”

“I can't ask for anything more.” She touched his arm. “Thank you. I have to go back to work.” With those words she turned and left.

Light spilled into the room, then, as the door drifted closed, the light winked out.

Staring at the ceiling, Sawyer had never imagined how his life would change this day. It should've come with a neon sign warning Danger Ahead. Instead, it came with him oversleeping for church and riding out with an amazing woman.

He'd often wondered if his mother was still alive. Caleb never mentioned her, but Sawyer often thought of her. Even as a teen, something inside him thought that if his mom ever got her life together, she'd be an amazing person. Before their dad had died, they could depend upon her. She'd embraced her family, made a home, but once they buried Dad and were thrown off the ranch, she'd unraveled quickly. From the looks of things now, it seemed she had gotten her life back together.

She'd been going to AA. And caring for Erin's dad. Erin and Mary loved her. That he didn't understand.

Could he turn his back on his mom, ignore her? How could he forgive what she'd done? He remembered all the beatings he got, sticking up for her and then her siding with her boyfriends.

When he told Erin of that last beating he got, the memory seared his soul as if it happened yesterday. Sawyer remembered their mother yelling at Caleb to stop hitting her boyfriend. Caleb shook her off, pulled Sawyer to his feet, and the two boys ran out into the backyard. They'd slipped through the side gate and Caleb dragged Sawyer forward. When Caleb started to run, Sawyer fell. Caleb picked him up, slipped his arm around Sawyer's chest and half walked and carried him to the far side of the field behind their house.

When Sawyer's nose wouldn't stop bleeding, they walked to the clinic the next street over. They didn't dare go to a hospital emergency room because the authorities would want to know where their parents were. The clinic dealt with street kids and wasn't as strict. They treated first, then asked questions. Neither boy wanted to rat their mother out.

They'd taped up Sawyer's nose and made sure nothing else was broken. When it came time to pay, Caleb wrote an IOU and they'd slipped out the back door. Oddly enough, the boys had paid every cent of that clinic bill. It might've taken two years, but they'd paid in full.

After that incident, Caleb and Sawyer spent as little time as they could at the house. That incident had been the last straw for the boys. Caleb knew Sawyer couldn't take another beating like that. Often, they slept over with their friends. The father of one of Caleb's friends was a lawyer and helped Caleb file for his emancipation. Once granted, Sawyer lived with his brother.

Their mother visited them once when her boyfriend beat her up. She wanted money from them. They gave it to her, but the boys left the next week since school ended. That was the last time they'd seen their mother.

Sawyer closed his eyes. He knew his mother didn't remember half the things that had happened. Now that she was clean and sober, she wanted forgiveness. She had no idea of most of what she wanted forgiveness for. Could he do that?

He didn't know.

As he thought about the last few days, he still couldn't take in what Erin had done on Sunday. What had started as an afternoon ride where he'd hoped to talk to Tate had turned into a nightmare. From what he could recall, none of them should've survived that storm, and yet, obviously Erin had brought both him and Tate home.

Amazing.

She awed him. He lo—

His head hurt and he turned his head on the pillow, not wanting to think about it anymore.

Chapter Thirteen

E
arly the next morning, Caleb walked into Sawyer's room. He moved quietly.

“What are you doing here?” Sawyer asked.

Caleb jerked toward the sound of Sawyer's voice. He took several steps toward the head of the bed. “It's been three days since they brought you in. Folks were worried. Little did I know what a stinking attitude you'd have when you woke. It's a good thing I left my wife at home, because she could've given you a run for your money.”

Three days? “Really?”

Caleb stopped. “Yeah.”

Sawyer heard a wealth of meaning in that sound. But he noted something else in his voice. He grinned. “Is the morning sickness any better?” he asked.

“No.”

“So, how did you know about what happened?” Sawyer asked.

“I called your phone, got Erin and she told me what happened to you. But then she continued on with an amazing story, which I found hard to believe.”

Leaning back, Sawyer closed his eyes, as shocked by the story as Caleb. “Believe it. Mom's alive and working in this hospital. She's one of the floor nurses on the next floor up, where Erin's father is.”

Caleb sat in the chair next to the bed. “If you'd told me you were attacked by little green men from Mars, I'd find that easier to believe.”

“You're not the only one. I thought I was hallucinating when she walked into Detrick's hospital room as the nurse, but I wasn't. It creeped me out. There, standing before me, was a nurse who looked like our mom, sounded like her, but was a totally different creature from the one we ran away from.

“She wanted to apologize for her actions.” The words had to sink in again. Sawyer still doubted what was going on. “How can you make right all the stuff that happened to us?”

Caleb studied his boot. “You think she means it?”

“I don't know. I'm living in this weird dream where I don't know anything for sure.”

“So, how'd you end up here?” Caleb asked.

“Got clobbered in the head with something, probably a branch, during a windstorm on Sunday. Can't say, since the lights went out.”

Caleb smiled. “I know. Apparently, your competition for this job brought you and her brother in through that rainstorm. She got hurt herself.”

Sawyer considered his brother's words. “How do you know?”

Caleb sat in the chair. “I have a story to tell you and it's a whopper.”

* * *

Erin walked into Sawyer's room a little after eight in the morning. She'd spent the night in one of the rooms on the top floor of the hospital reserved for family. Both Tate and she'd been released yesterday, but her father had had a complication. He'd suffered another smaller stroke, and the surgeons were debating if he should be taken into surgery. Sitting in the bed, Sawyer had his breakfast tray in front of him. Caleb sat beside the bed.

“You're awake.” Relief washed through her. She'd prayed for Sawyer and her dad through the night. Every time the worst-case scenario popped into her head, she pushed it out. They would be okay. Crossing to the bed, she stopped herself from kissing Sawyer. “When you didn't wake—” She took a deep breath.

“He's been known to be contrary,” Caleb offered.

He wasn't the only one, Erin thought. “I can believe that.” She followed her words with a smile.

“In the middle of the night, my eyes popped open. It was a relief to see Caleb walking in here this morning. He said he'd talked to you on the phone.”

“That's true. Mom and Aunt Betty brought your phone. Before I could figure how to unlock it to notify your brother, he called.”

“Yes, Caleb told me.” He looked at her sling. “I don't remember you getting hurt.”

“There's a lot you don't know about Sunday. But, as I told your brother, you could put on your résumé—can ride while unconscious. I was impressed and grateful.”

He nodded toward her arm. “So what happened to you?”

“The wind not only picked up the branch that knocked you out, it hit me in the back with something that made me see stars. A bad bruise to my clavicle, so I guess I can put on my résumé—isn't easily knocked off her horse.” He didn't know the sheer terror that had coursed through her that day, and she wouldn't admit it.

The door opened. Mary, Betty and Tate walked in.

“Tate wanted to check on you before he left and went home,” Mary explained.

“So how are you, Tate?” Sawyer asked.

“I'm okay. They checked me out and think hitting the ground the way I did is the cause of why I passed out.” Tate shrugged.

“That's not uncommon. Both Erin and I worried that your horse had rolled over on you. We couldn't tell.”

“How long you going to be here?” Tate asked. “Are they going to let you go today?”

“I haven't seen the doctor yet, but I feel fine. Ready to go. And if I get sprung today, Caleb will drive me to your ranch to pick up my truck.”

With a round of final goodbyes, the group left. Mary looked at Erin. “We'll give you a few seconds.”

Erin nodded. She moved to the bed and stood by Sawyer's head.

“I'll be outside if you need anything, Sawyer.” Caleb left the room.

Once alone, she smiled at him. “I don't think your brother was too thrilled with me. When I talked to him on the phone, he wasn't impressed.”

“He's protective of me.”

“I know.”

“And you've talked to your mother?”

His face froze and the curtain of his eyes closed. “Yes, I've talked to her.”

“I knew Sylvia as my father's nurse. She helped Mom, talked to her when we were sick with worry, answered our questions and arranged for Mom to stay in one of the guest rooms on the top floor. When my sister, Kai, would drive over from her apartment, she always had Sylvia update her on Dad's condition. Kai thinks your mom is super. We could ask her any question and she'd answer it.”

She wrapped her hand around his and squeezed.

Erin continued. “I think what you and your brother did to survive and do well is amazing, and I admire both of you for doing it. But you've got a second chance with your mom. Don't throw it away. The person she is now is amazing.”

“You didn't live through our hell.”

“True, but I know that you need to give your mom a chance.”

“And have you forgiven your father?”

Ah, he took no hostages. “I did. We talked, and I think that God sent you here to do more than work on a rodeo. Maybe you were here to minister to each member of my family. And, maybe you're ready and your mom's ready to heal the wounds of the past.”

He pulled his hand out of hers.

“I'm going back with Betty and Tate. Someone needs to be there to take care of the rodeo redo. If we're going to get things finished on time, we need to make some decisions.”

“I think I can go home today.”

She felt him withdraw from her. “Let's hope so, but I'll go back now, in any case.” She wanted to kiss him, but Sawyer had put up a wall and didn't seem to invite the intimacy. “Goodbye.”

With each step, she felt him growing more detached, leaving a chasm between them, and the bright light of hope dimmed.

* * *

The doctor released Sawyer from the hospital, but only after he made an appointment for a follow-up visit.

“Did you talk to Mom?” Sawyer asked Caleb.

“No.”

“You didn't want to talk to her?” If Sawyer had a bad reaction, Caleb's stank.

“No.”

“Then, I guess you'd better not tell your wife you ran into her.”

Caleb's jaw flexed.

“Your wife might want your kid to have a grandmother.”

“She'll have a grandfather.”

“A girl? You're going to have a girl?”

Caleb's shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, they did a lot of tests on Brenda since she had so much internal damage from the bomb blast in Iraq. We didn't think we'd be able to have kids and had decided to adopt when we discovered our wonderful news.”

That wasn't the only astounding news. Their mother had been thrust into their lives again.

“So, Erin was the one you were competing against.”

“What?” Caleb's question brought Sawyer out of his thoughts.

“Erin Delong, the lady I've been dealing with.” Caleb glanced at Sawyer and grinned. He turned his gaze back to the road.

“And why are you giving her such a hard time?”

“Whoa. Back it up. I call you and some strange woman answers, then tells me my mother gave permission for you to be treated. It kinda sets your world on fire.”

Sawyer understood his brother's reasoning. A lot of things had happened over the past few days. He thought about the courage and grit Erin had shown with her back to the wall. Not many people could've pulled that off. “I'm still in awe of what she did. That was not an easy ride with me and her brother. She's got guts.” His mind went to how she'd originally dealt with him and then worked with him on setting up things for the bids on the rodeo.

And she took advice.

“That's quite a smile. What are you thinking about?”

Sawyer turned toward his brother, since his neck was still a little stiff. “Erin and what happened on Sunday.”

“What were you doing out in the middle of a storm?” Caleb frowned. “I thought you had more sense than that?”

“C'mon, Caleb, you ever get caught off guard?”

Caleb's cheek flexed.

“The afternoon started out perfect. No sign of a cloud or any forecast of one. I'd promised Tate a ride, and the poor kid needed some time with another guy.”

“So how'd the girl get involved?”

“Erin's smart and listened as her brother and I talked. When Tate ditched school one afternoon, she listened to my advice before confronting him.”

Caleb threw him a grin. “I'm impressed. She wasn't the troll you first thought she'd be.”

Sawyer realized that he hadn't thought of Erin in those terms in a long time. “Well, I had just finished a couple of projects that had been real headaches. I was prepared for the worst.”

Caleb didn't follow up with another question, and that wasn't like him.

“What's set you off?”

His brother didn't answer, but looked back out on I-40. They were halfway between Albuquerque and Tucumcari. They had another hour or hour and half left before they got to the Delong ranch.

Sighing, Caleb shook his head. “I didn't tell Brenda about Mom being with you. I didn't want to argue with her about the situation, but somehow or some way she'll find out. It's scary how she does that, but she'll discover it. I'm wondering when to tell her.”

“The sooner the better,” Sawyer added.

“Hey, buddy, you're in the same spot as me. I didn't see you embrace Mom and tell her all's well.” The harshness of Caleb's voice took Sawyer aback.

“I'd just come back to my senses. You were awake the entire time.” Sawyer stared at his brother. “Wait, how did you know Mom slipped into my room?”

“I got to the hospital long before you regained consciousness. I'd walked out of your room that night to get some coffee, when I saw Mom slip into your room. I stood outside the door and listened as she talked to you. When she came out and saw me, she opened her mouth, but I shook my head. I heard your response to her explanation.”

A vague memory of Caleb arguing with someone floated through his brain. “So what if I snarled? You haven't done so hot yourself.”

This was the first time Sawyer could remember them arguing. They'd been a team for as long as he could remember. That's how they survived. Now...

“We might call Pastor Garvey in Plainview and talk to him. And you could tell him about your becoming a father.”

Caleb's hands opened out from the steering wheel and then regripped it. “We sound like we're fourteen and sixteen again.”

“That's probably because we feel that way.”

Sawyer shook his head. “Who would've thought?” But that's what they were going to do, talk to their pastor. Too bad he couldn't talk to his brother as easily as he talked to Erin when they'd gone to Las Vegas and Albuquerque. Of course, she'd turned his words back on him, so maybe he didn't need to talk to her. But if he couldn't get past this obstacle, would he lose Erin?

* * *

When Sawyer and Caleb pulled into the ranch driveway, the Delongs had just sat down for dinner. Tate jumped up and urged the men to join them. Sawyer had no more success refusing Mary's invitation than he had last week.

No one said anything about Sylvia, but she could've been at the table.

“So you're going back to school tomorrow, Tate?” Sawyer asked.

“I am and will have lots of makeup work to do.”

“I don't doubt you will catch up,” Sawyer reassured him.

“Sawyer tells me that you were a pickup rider in the rodeo,” Tate said.

Caleb nodded. “I was, but I like staying in one place for more than a week.”

“You don't miss the traveling?” Tate asked.

Erin tensed. What was going on with her brother? He kept saying he hated rodeo, but now suddenly he was asking questions about the professional circuit.

“No, I don't miss it. I'll say rodeo helped Sawyer and I support ourselves, but if we'd been given a choice, we probably wouldn't have gone that route.”

Erin knew every word Caleb spoke was the truth, but you had to love your sport to put up with the traveling and never settling down.

After the meal, Erin moved to Caleb's side. “Thanks for answering Tate's questions. I put myself through graduate school like Sawyer with my barrel-racing winnings, but hearing it from a male's perspective made the statements valid.”

“Not a problem. Rodeo saved both Sawyer and me.”

“I know.”

Caleb glanced at his brother, who was talking to Mary and Tate. “He told you?”