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My mother’s eyes lifted from the bed to the right, just past the small bathroom door. White sheets, a white tile floor with pale beige wallpaper that matched the seat she sat in on the opposite side of the bed. The steady beeping from the monitor was the only sound in the room, since the TV that was mounted against the wall across from the bed was off. A small couch was underneath the TV, a strange hospital couch that I knew was stiff.
“Mom,” I said as she gave me a tender smile.
“Do you need anything before I go?” Cassidy asked behind me, and I shook my head. “If you do, don’t be afraid to call.” And then he headed back down the hallway we’d just run through. Maybe he wasn’t as cliche of a playboy as the town chalked him up to be.
The door clicked shut behind me, and I walked forward in shame. “I should’ve been there. I’m so sorry, Mom,” I said, sliding another chair forward from beside the couch and sitting down on the other side of Dad so I could see her. I placed his frail hand in my own.
“You were at the Dukes. I didn’t call you, so how do you know?” she replied with an odd sparkle in her eyes.
“Maddie called.”
She clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Your dad is fine. Just a side effect of the cancer is what the doctor said. He’ll stay overnight, and then we will head back home.”
“Still. I should’ve been there. I can’t let you go through this alone,” I replied, brushing my thumb over my dad’s hand.
“Tenley, I’m not alone. I have you and your siblings. I have my grandbabies, and I still have your father. It is you I am worried about being alone, which is why I didn’t call you. I wanted you to spend as much time at the Duke Ranch as you could.”
“Mom, I went—”
“For work. I know. Did you at least have a little fun?” my mom asked.
A smile slid across my face, giving her a silent answer as my dad stirred in the bed. His eyelids fluttered, and then he blinked them open. His gaze glanced at my mom and then rested at me.
“Hey, sweetheart,” my dad said, and I smiled. “Is your mom giving you a hard time?”
“Nothing new,” I quipped and he chuckled.
“Rosemary dear, can I have a minute alone with our daughter?” he addressed my mother.
She nodded. “I’ll go grab the doctor.” And she silently left the room.
I waited with my father’s hand in mine, not sure what to say or what he wanted to discuss. The steady beep was the only sound that passed between the two of us, and my mind began to wander to every insane event of the day. My father being in the hospital had to be a result of me stepping out of line and spending extra time with someone who wasn’t him.
“Tenley, sweets,” my dad finally said, and I looked at his face. The tubes running from his nose matched how pale his skin was. The checkered hospital gown was tucked up to his chin. “Are you reconsidering your feelings for Cassidy?” There was an edge to his voice as he spoke. One that I couldn’t quite place.
“No. Weston had picked me up at the clinic so I didn’t have to drive my car with the bad tire up to the ranch and—”
“Did you say Weston?” my father cut me off, causing a cough to rumble from his chest.
“Yes?” I questioned.
“No, Tenley. I don’t need you to be interested in Cassidy, but I won’t have you interested in someone who has hurt a woman before.” His weak voice sounded so stern.
“Wait, what? Hurt someone?” I was shocked and confused.
“Yes, Tenley. Weston may have his family fooled enough to have inherited the ranch, but the fact that he tried to hit his ex-girlfriend won’t receive a blind eye from me.” My father pushed himself up on the bed.
“What are you talking about?” my voice cracked.
“When he was almost an adult, he got upset about something and went to hit his girlfriend. He was stopped by two young men who used to be his friends, and they got into a brawl. That’s why he doesn’t come to town anymore. He’s embarrassed and now deformed, but that’s what he deserves.”
“Dad,” I began, and he shook his head, silencing me.
“I have been fine with you going to the ranch because Cassidy is there, and from what I hear from your mother, so are many others. But please, stay away from Weston,” he finished. But that edge in his voice had returned, almost as if he spoke a small, white lie.
“Weston has never and would never hit a woman, Dad,” I firmly stated, and my dad ripped his hand from my grip as the door opened and in walked the doctor and my mom. That was the end of that discussion, which left me unable to defend Weston or myself.
Whoever told my father that rumor must have something against Weston. But more upsetting was the fact that that specific rumor existed and no one had shut it down. Or maybe it was talked about in such hushed tones that none of the Dukes knew it existed. I needed to learn who was spreading it to help shut it down, or inform Cassidy about it so he could stop it.
