“You bet.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I have an idea,” Claire spoke up before Jeremy could ask any more difficult questions. “Let’s get Comet saddled so you and Nate can take turns riding. Maybe Daken will follow you.”
“Yeah!”
Vic smiled into her eyes. She had a way... “Let’s all go riding!”
Claire rode along while the boys took turns riding with Vic. Sure enough, Daken followed Jeremy wherever he went. It did the heart good to see his little horse’s devotion this soon. Buying Daken had turned out to be therapeutic for Jeremy. For Vic, too.
It was almost one o’clock before the boys said they were hungry. Vic told them he’d take them out for lunch at their favorite drive-through. The boys voted for Short Stop. Claire called Nate’s mom to see if it was all right.
After taking care of the horses, they took off for the restaurant. Because Nate was with them, Claire sat in front with Vic while the boys buckled up in back. He could get used to this in a hurry.
A big surprise greeted them when they got back to the house. Carol, his sister-in-law from Blanco, had come to Austin to do some shopping. She’d driven by to find out if Randy could play with Jeremy for a while. Vic always enjoyed seeing her, but wished it hadn’t been today.
The three boys ran out to the barn. To Vic’s chagrin, Claire excused herself so he could spend time alone with Carol. It was the last thing he wanted, but it couldn’t be helped. No telling how long she’d stay away.
As he might have guessed, she didn’t come home until late. It was almost eleven before he heard her car pull into the garage.
You escaped tonight, Claire, but tomorrow it’s going to be a different story.
* * *
DR. MARSHALL STUDIED Vic as he walked into his office and sat down for their Monday session.
“You know what? You look rested. What’s gone on at your house?”
Vic filled him in on the activities of the weekend. The psychiatrist smiled. “It used to be a boy and his dog.”
“I know. Daken acts like a dog, but he can’t sleep in the house, which is a good thing.”
The doctor laughed. When it subsided he said, “Something else has changed.”
“Yes. It has,” Vic said definitively. “I know what you were getting at during our last session, and you were right. I’ve been upset for a long time by a situation that has been out of my control. Trying to hide it all these months from everyone turned my emotions into a volcano threatening to blow.
“The kidnapping was the catalyst that caused the eruption. When I confronted Leroy, who sat there knowing where my son was without saying anything, all my anger and frustration came together, and I exploded.”
The older man smiled. “Good.”
“I’m in love with my nanny, but all these months I’ve been afraid to do anything about it because I hired her to help me with my son, not to pursue her. I was afraid to reach out to her because she never gave me any sign that she might be interested in me that way.
“After the kidnapping happened, she helped me look for Jeremy. I loved her and my son so much, yet I couldn’t do anything about either problem. What if I ended up losing both of them? The more Leroy sat there with his head bowed not saying a word, the angrier I got, until I couldn’t take it another second.”
“What do you think you’ve learned from this experience?”
“That there will always be times when certain situations are out of my control. That’s when I need to identify them early enough to take a step back.”
He nodded. “Are you planning to do something about your nanny?”
“Absolutely. When I leave here, I’m going to have it out with her.”
“And if she doesn’t give you the answer you want?”
“I’ll have to deal with it, just like Jeremy. But I don’t feel angry anymore.”
“What do you feel?”