Chapter Nineteen
“Dammit, Link.” Coop tossed a towel he’d used to dry his hands on the table. “Quit your damn moping.”
“I’m not moping.”
Coop threw his hands in the air. “Then what the hell do you call it when you don’t talk, don’t smile, don’t do anything but chores, watch TV, and go to bed by nine, day in and day out. Hell, you aren’t even eating like you used to.”
Link rubbed his palm over his chest. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d missed his parents when they died, but it was nothing compared to how pieces of his heart were breaking since Trudy had left. The worse part was he didn’t even get a chance to say good bye.
And even worse, Coop was right. He was moping. Since Trudy had left two weeks ago, nothing seemed to interest him. He’d even pulled out his camera one night, set on proving he could take pictures, but without her here to share the experience, it didn’t matter.
Today was his birthday. Whoop-di-do. He was now thirty-three years old and what did he have to show for it? Before he had a chance to settle into another round of good ol’ moping, Jade came into the room carrying a cake loaded down with more candles than he wished. Marie had come home for the ‘special occasion’ as she called it, and followed with two beers in each hand.
Side-by-side, arms around each others’ waists, they swayed and crooned Happy Birthday in their usual off-key way. Moisture built behind his eyes. This was what he’d accomplished. These three people that somehow he’d managed to get through puberty, friends, college, fights, broken bones and hearts, and who knew what else. They were now wonderful adults who didn’t need him anymore.
Like she had when she was little, Marie jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “Blow them out, Linkie. Blow them out and make a wish.”
Blinking back tears, he made a wish he wasn’t sure would ever come true, and blew out all the candles in one breath.
As he cut the cake and put slices on plates, a pile of presents appeared. Presents? He’d told them a long time ago not to get him anything.
“Here, you have to open this one first.” Jade handed him a long box wrapped in tan paper covered with brown cowboy boots.
Inside was a tri-pod. What the hell was he going to do with a tri-pod?
Next, he tore at the horse-printed paper. He frowned. A neck strap. The third one, from Coop, held a telephoto lens.
Then it dawned on him. “You guys didn’t.”
Jade smirked at him and rocked up on her toes. “Didn’t what?”
Marie handed him another, perfectly square package. “There’s a card with this one. Open it first.”
With his jackknife, he slit open the envelope.
I hope you take the time to enjoy this gift. You deserve it. Have a wonderful birthday. Trudy.
Heart racing, palms sweating, he peeled back the brown and dark blue, striped paper. He lost his breath and raked his fingers through his hair.
Coop slapped him on the shoulder. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
If he had any words to express how he felt about this gift, his mouth wouldn’t form them. With shaking hands, he opened the box and pulled out a black and silver digital camera. Holy shit. She’d bought him a camera. She was nuts. She was crazy. She was the best thing he’d ever encountered in his life.
He didn’t care what his siblings thought as he wiped the moisture from his eyes. He took a deep breath and finally looked at them grinning from ear to ear.
Marie held out a white envelope. “Here’s one more from the three of us.”
Like the card from Trudy, he slit open the envelope and pulled out several sheets of paper. It took him a minute to realize what it said.
“Go ahead, read it out loud,” Marie said, standing next to him, putting her arm around his shoulders.
There was no way he would be able to do it without breaking down. His wonderful, wonderful siblings. “I... I... can’t.”
Marie sighed and took the sheet from him. “This is an itinerary for one Lincoln John Phister. He’s leaving from San Antonio this Sunday for Minneapolis. He’ll get on a shuttle for Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A rental car will be waiting.” She handed him one of the sheets. “This is a map to one Trudy Selucas’ abode, where he will arrive to wine, dine, and bring her back to Texas where she belongs.”
He couldn’t wrap his mind around what she was saying. Wait a minute. “You guys bought me a ticket to Wisconsin?”
Coop nodded. “Via Minneapolis.”
“You expect me to show up at Trudy’s door?”
Jade nodded. “Yep.”
“And bring her back to Texas?” A lump formed in his throat.
Marie copied her siblings. “Uh huh.”
“Does she know I’m coming?”
“No,” they said in unison.
Link dropped the paper on the table. “Are you guys nuts? You want me to go to her house, unannounced, and tell her she needs to come back with me?”
Jade laughed. “Did you miss the wine and dine part? There’ll probably be more than wining and dining going on, but as your younger and easily influenced siblings, we don’t want to know about it.”
He stared as they sat down, looking at him expectantly. “What?”
“What do you think?”
“I already said I thought you guys were nuts. What if she doesn’t want to see me?”
Marie made a face at Jade. “Men can be so obtuse. Hey, big brother of mine, would she have bought you a fancy, schmancy camera if she wasn’t interested?”
“I only told her once that you had a birthday coming up,” Jade said. “If she wasn’t interested, why on Earth would she have remembered that? We only knew she’d bought you a camera when she called and asked me to pick it up in town. She didn’t want to mail it in fear it would break in shipping. That’s how we knew to get you this other stuff to go with it.”
“Look, Link.” Coop picked up his beer bottle and took a drink. “You’ve been the best brother a guy could ever ask for. You sacrificed your twenties for us. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you don’t love the ranch like Jade and I do. It’s time to follow your dream, and, I might add, the woman you’ve fallen in love with.”
Jade cupped his hand in hers. “We’re not saying to stay away forever. We’re saying for you to take a vacation. Go to Trudy. I know she quit her job, so she’s free right now.”
Shit. Could a guy get any better siblings? Something broke free inside him. Something that had been buried for a long, long time. It was as if he could see into the future. See him back on the ranch, but also traveling. Taking pictures around the world, with a beautiful red-headed photographer at his side.
“What do you think?” Jade asked.
“I think I love you guys. But I have one question.”
Coop frowned. “What’s that?”
“Do I have to wait until Sunday to leave? That’s two days away.”
Laughter filled the room. Happiness filled his heart near to bursting. He couldn’t stop smiling as they gathered around him and laid out a plan he never in a million years would have come up with by himself.
****
Trudy folded away her scrubs. After eight years of helping people departing to another world, she’d left her job. After the first week back and having two patients die, she knew she couldn’t handle it anymore. Her stomach was in knots and with the crazy hours, she was once again sleep deprived. Maybe it was time to help the living live, not the dying die.
She didn’t know what was in her future, but she did know her heart was back in Texas. Had Link received her gift? What had he thought? Had he used the camera yet?
At night while she sat on death watch, she had relived her time with him. His smile. His laughter. His bushy mustache tickling her skin wherever he kissed her.
Now that she was without a job, she replayed and replayed their love-making, their jokes, their kisses. How could she have fallen for him in a week’s time? Was she crazy?
Her cell phone rang. She stared at the number. It had been so long since anyone in her family called, she wasn’t sure she was seeing the name right. Her heart lurched. Had something happened to her parents? Why else would Jenny be calling?
“Jenny. What’s wrong. Are Mom and Dad all right?”
“Hi, Trudy. Everyone is okay. Can’t a girl call her big sister?”
“Since no one has bothered to call me in over a year, I have to wonder why you’re calling me now.” That probably came out too sarcastic, but at this point, she didn’t care.
A sigh came through the phone. Or was it a cry? “I know, Trudy. I am so, so sorry.”
There was a pause that she wasn’t about to fill. She hadn’t done anything wrong, so Jenny would just have to explain herself.
“I. I mean we. Shit, Trudy. We all believed Molly’s lies.”
Lies? What the hell was she talking about? “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Molly told us you had broken her and Sam up when you came home from college. She said you’d always wanted him, and you were jealous of their relationship.”
“She said what? They had already broken up when I came home.”
“We know that now. I guess something happened to her when little Sammy was born, because she finally admitted how she worked to get Sam back while you two were still married.”
“That... that...”
“Yeah. Bitch. Bad thing to say about our sister, but unfortunately you know how she could make up lies and have people believe her.”
She didn’t know what to say. That was why her family had ignored her all this time? Because they thought she had come between their precious Molly and Sam? Oooh. If she could spit nails, she’d have her sister tacked against a wall with Sam right beside her.
A realization struck. She didn’t need them. Didn’t need people who favored one child or sibling over another. Something snapped inside her. She was free. Free of worrying what she’d done wrong. Free from her job. Free to go wherever she wanted. Hell, she was free to go to... to... She smiled to herself. ... Texas if she wanted to.
“You know what, Jenny. I don’t care what lies she’s said about me anymore. If my family thinks so little of me that they didn’t even try to find out the truth, then they don’t know me at all. And right now, I really don’t care. You guys have a nice life, all right?”
“But, Trudy, we...”
She disconnected the call and closed a chapter in her life. Maybe someday she’d reconnect with her family, but right now she didn’t care. A weight was lifted from her shoulders and her heart. She tossed a few more scrubs into the box, not even bothering to fold them.
When the doorbell rang, she skipped across her living room and opened the door. No one was there. She poked her head out the door and looked up and down the street. Was someone playing ding-dong ditch?
A scent of roses rose from the steps. Sitting there, as pretty as could be, was a vase filled with a dozen deep red roses. She lifted the vase and, after searching for the sender, closed the door and breathed deeply. These weren’t any hot-house roses, ones that didn’t smell like anything. These were the real thing.
She fingered through the flowers. No card. Who would spend money on roses and not attach a card? She closed her eyes and breathed deeply again. Who knew she loved roses? A secret admirer? In a way, it was exciting. In another, it was rather creepy. Was someone stalking her?
The doorbell rang again. This time she was hesitant to open the door. What if the rose sender was lurking on the other side, ready to pounce? She looked through the peep hole like she should have done the first time. No face appeared. Then she checked through the windows on either side of the door. Not a soul in sight.
Then her eyes caught a small white box sitting on the edge of the top step. A florescent green bow adorned the top. Before opening the door, she took an umbrella from the coat stand. At least it would be some type of protection. A poke in the eye. Maybe one in the groin. That would hopefully stop an intruder.
Keeping the chain on the door, she eased it open a crack, and used the handle of the umbrella to hook the package and slide it across the step. As soon as it was close enough, she grabbed it, and slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it.
A soft jingle came from the inside when she shook the box gave her no clue as to its contents. It was too small to be a bomb. Man, her imagination was running wild. Who on earth would want to send her a bomb? One of her deceased patients? Besides, she never gave out her address, and the company she worked for had a strict policy of never doing so, either.
She sat on the couch, set the squat, square box on the coffee table, and stared at it. Since her x-ray vision was on the fritz today, she picked it up, peeled back the tape, and removed the paper.
Holding her breath, she removed the cover and a top layer of cotton batting. Laying on the bottom layer was a bracelet. She dangled it between her fingers and for a moment didn’t do anything but stare. Two charms, one a silver pick-up truck, the other a slim snake, twirled and twinkled in the sunlight streaming through the living room window. She threw a hand to her mouth. A snort erupted. Laughter built until she couldn’t hold it in.
She leaped over the coffee table, threw back the security chain, and yanked open the door. There, standing on the steps, a camera to his face, was the best thing she’d seen in two weeks.
“What are you doing?”
Link snapped a picture. “Taking a photograph of you. A photograph of love.”
Heart pounding, tears streaming down her face, she pulled him into the house, slammed the door shut, and took the camera from him.
“What are you doing?”
She aimed the lens at his handsome face. “Taking a picture of my love.”
After placing the camera on a table by the door, she threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped her in his arms and lifted her from the floor.
“I can’t believe how much I missed you,” Link said into her neck.
Were those tears against her skin? Lord knew she was shedding a few of her own. She breathed in his scent, part fresh air, part cologne, and all cowboy.
He pulled back. His eyes were suspiciously damp. “Did you miss me?”
Placing her palms on either side of his face, she pulled him closer. Just as their lips were about to meet, she whispered, “Hell yeah,” and pictured a lifetime of love.