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Reaching the veranda, Ty started across it with slow, measured strides. His glance ran upward toward the second story. “I should go up and see them.”
“You need to go inside and sit down,” Tara insisted.
“First, I have to call Jessy’s folks,” Ty stated.
“No need for that,” Chase told him. “They are inside. I told them to come over and wait with us. I think they would like a firsthand account of what happened. When you called from the hospital, you were sketchy with the details, not that they were very important at the time.”
There wasn’t much to tell, but Ty understood that others had a need to hear events replayed, that it somehow lessened the fear for them. At the same time, though, he had lived it, and there had been too much time both at the hospital and on the way home to replay it all in his mind. As reluctant as he was to go over it again, he went inside.
Minutes after Ty walked in the door, the telephone started ringing and more people dropped in. As usual, the ranch grapevine had been quick to spread the news of his return. It said as much for the high regard they held for Jessy as it did that she was married to a Calder.
Cat was in the kitchen, busy arranging an assortment of cold sandwiches on a serving platter when Dick Ballard stepped inside the back door. He swept off his hat and held it in front of him, turning it round and round by the brim.
“I thought I would find Sally here,” he said in vague apology. “I wanted to find out how Jessy is.”
She could see the worry in his gentle eyes. It touched her. “Jessy’s going to be fine,” Cat assured him. “The doctors think she suffered nothing worse than a concussion. They’re simply keeping her overnight as a precaution.”
“Somebody said her head was split open and she was bleedin’ all over the place.”
“I know. It must have been a nasty gash.” Cat went back to her task, piling on the sandwiches. “Ty said it took twelve stitches to close it. But head wounds bleed a lot, even small ones.”
“That’s true enough. One time when I was steer wrestlin’, a horn clipped my forehead. It wasn’t deep at all, but I bled like a stuck hog,” he recalled with some of his usual garrulity.
He seemed about to say more when Tara walked into the kitchen. Cat was surprised by the coolness that sprang into his eyes.
With a wave of his hat in Cat’s direction, he turned to leave. “Thanks for the update,” he said and went out the door, pushing his hat back onto his head as he left.
“What did he want?” Tara walked straight to the coffee maker and poured more coffee into the insulated carafe she carried.
“Just checking on Jessy like everybody else,” Cat replied.
“I should have guessed,” Tara admitted with a self-deprecating smile. “Everybody is worried about Jessy—and with cause. It makes me shudder when I think how much worse it could have been, considering that neither of them was wearing a seat belt. They are lucky they weren’t killed.”
Her remark sent a cold chill through Cat. “Don’t say that,” she murmured in protest.”
“It’s frightening, isn’t it?” Tara’s voice had a thoughtful and sobering pitch to it. “I hate to think how many times I don’t bother to buckle up when I get into a car simply because I’m not going very far. I never think about the possibility that in that four or five miles, a tire could blow.”
“We all will from now on.”
Cat paused while her pride warred with her conscience. But her conscience won. “By the way, I want to thank you for all you did today. I am grateful for the way you helped both Ty and Jessy.”
“Thanks, but it really isn’t necessary. I’m just glad everything turned out all right.”
“And I’m glad you feel that way.” Pride surfaced. “Because I don’t want you to think that this in any way makes up for the fact that you bought the Wolf Meadow land. I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive you for doing that. It was the cruelest thing you could do.”
“But don’t you see, Cat? In a manner of speaking, it’s still in the family,” Tara reasoned, her expression warm with assurance.
“No, it isn’t.” Cat was firm in her statement. “Families don’t do that to one of their own.”
Tara was about to argue the point when Culley O’Rourke slipped silently through the back door into the kitchen. He halted abruptly, his glance shooting in surprise to Tara, a clear indication he had been unaware of her presence.
“Culley, I’m so glad to see you,” Tara all but gushed the greeting. “I wanted to apologize for being so unforgivably rude to you this afternoon. It was completely inexcusable and I’m sorry. Even though Jessy’s injuries didn’t turn out to be life-threatening, I’m still glad you came to my construction site instead of riding all the way to the ranch for help.”
Culley listened to her little speech without comment, then turned to Cat. “Jessy is okay, then?”
“She’ll be fine. They’re keeping her in the hospital tonight merely as a precaution.”
“That’s good.” He reached behind him for the doorknob.
