How? Another question expressed by a look.
“Jasper told me. But I knew before that—maybe even before you did. You’ve got Bull’s eyes and some of his mannerisms, and you’re almost as mule-headed as he was. I suspected the truth for a long time, but when you got shot last spring, and Beau and I had to give you our AB-negative blood, the same type as Bull’s, that cinched it. I knew you were a Tyler.”
And Beau?
“I’m guessing Beau hasn’t given it much thought. But I could be wrong. I take it you’ve told Lauren.”
Sky’s head moved on the pillow, a slight nod.
“Well, we’ll leave it at that,” Will said as the ambulance swung into the hospital parking lot. “Just rest and get better. Tori’s bringing Lauren with her. They should be along soon.”
The back of the ambulance opened to glaring afternoon sunlight. Paramedics laid Sky’s stretcher on a gurney and whisked him through the doors of the emergency entrance. An orderly brought out a wheelchair for Will. He waved it away and kept walking, following his brother until someone pulled him aside.
CHAPTER 14
Tori had stopped by the house long enough to grab her purse and keys, and to let Erin, Jasper, and Bernice know that Will and Sky were safe. Now, with Lauren buckled i
nto the passenger seat, she was breaking speed limits on the highway to Lubbock.
“You didn’t have to drive me,” Lauren said. “I could’ve taken my own car.”
Tori swung her station wagon past a lumbering hay truck. “You’re too upset to drive,” she said. “Besides, I told Will I’d be there to take him home—that is, if the hospital doesn’t keep him overnight. You’re welcome to come with us or stay there with Sky. If you stay, somebody can pick you up in the morning.”
“You’re pretty upset yourself. I can tell by the way you’re driving.” Lauren gazed ahead at the yellowed plain and the road that sliced across it in a straight black line to the horizon. “Were you as scared as I was?”
“Scared enough,” Tori said. Days like today were part of ranch life. Lauren would learn that, if she hadn’t learned already.
“Those damned horses!” Lauren muttered. “I love horses, too, but Sky almost died for them today—and they aren’t even his. How am I supposed to wrap my mind around that?”
“Horses are like family to Sky,” Tori said. “If he cares for them so passionately, think how he’ll be with his real family—you and your children. He’ll do anything to provide for you and keep you safe.”
Lauren fell silent for a moment. “I’m pregnant, Tori,” she said.
“Oh—” Tori released her death grip on the steering wheel long enough to reach over and squeeze her friend’s hand. “Does Sky know?”
“I just found out, myself.” She shook her head. “Maybe, today, it was just as well Sky didn’t know. I keep asking myself, what if he’d had to make a choice between saving the horses and being there for his child—and he’d still chosen those damned horses?”
“Thinking like that will only muddy the water,” Tori said. “Believe me, I know. If I hadn’t convinced myself that Will loved the Rimrock more than he loved me, maybe we’d still be married.”
Lauren was quiet for a few moments, as if pondering what she’d just heard. “What happened with you and Will, Tori?” she asked. “Seeing how you always seem to be there for each other, I can’t help wondering what went wrong.”
Tori sighed. “Maybe it’s time I told you. You sound as if you need to hear this.”
As the miles sped by, Tori told her the story—how Bull had tried to dominate the marriage and how Will had been caught in the conflict between his wife and his father. “After I lost the baby and found out I couldn’t have more children, Bull treated me like a failure,” she said. “I begged Will to find us another place to live. But after Bull’s accident, that was out of the question. Will needed to be there to oversee his father’s care and run the ranch.”
“Why didn’t you leave on your own?”
“I could have. But I still loved Will, and we both adored Erin. So I hung on . . . until I couldn’t hang on any longer.”
Tori began the final chapter—how her father had died in Florida and Will had been too busy to join her for the funeral.
“And that was the final blow? That he wouldn’t be there for you?”
“Not quite.” This was the hard part—the part she hadn’t told Drew or even Natalie. But Lauren needed to hear it all. “There was a man,” she said, “a longtime friend of my father’s. He was widowed and made no bones about being attracted to me, but I wasn’t the least bit interested. He was just a friend, and barely that.
“When he heard about my father’s death, he flew down from Washington, D.C., and did his best to be kind and helpful. Yes, maybe he was a little too friendly, but without Will there, I needed some support. My mother was a wreck, so I had to make a lot of the arrangements. I truly appreciated his help.
“Two days before the funeral, Will changed his mind and decided to come. He phoned the house to let me know. My mother took the call and told him I’d gone to lunch with this man. She went on and on about how helpful he’d been and how much I’d appreciated his being there. Will hung up the phone and went ballistic.”