The Road to Reunion

Actually, she wasn’t accustomed to making her own decisions, Molly thought glumly. Which was exactly the problem. Shane was in the habit of treating her like a kid, but she hated having put herself in a position to cause Kyle to think of her as someone who needed a keeper.

Making this trip on her own might have been a teensy bit impulsive on her part, but it had felt really good to be completely on her own for a couple of days. She’d been an adult making her own way without anyone telling her how or when to do anything. Then she’d had to ruin it all by falling down during her theatrical exit from Kyle’s cabin.

“What’s wrong, Molly?” Jewel was studying her face with uncomfortably sharp perception. “Do you not want to make the drive with Kyle?”

“It isn’t that. I like being with Kyle—it’s just that— well, I’ve really messed things up. He didn’t want to go to Texas, and my brother didn’t want me to come here to badger him about it, and now both of them are going to be annoyed with me for interfering with their plans.”

“You’re in the habit of letting your brother tell you what to do?”

Though pride made her want to deny it, Molly sighed and nodded. “I let everyone tell me what to do. My brother, my parents, my aunts and uncles. Everyone.”

“Why is that, do you think?”

She shrugged. “It’s just as you said. Habit. My brother is fifteen years older than I am, so I was literally the baby of the family. My father’s the overprotective, take-charge type. It was just easier, for the most part, to let them tell me what to do than to argue with them. Besides, I know they always have my best interests at heart. It’s just—”

“It’s just that you’re of an age now where you’d like to be seen as a mature adult with a brain of her own.”

“Exactly.” Molly smiled gratefully at the older woman. Jewel chuckled. “I have four older brothers, the eldest of whom is nearly twenty years my senior. I know all about being bossed around and overprotected.”

“I guess you do. So—how do you get them to stop?”

“Stop letting them get away with it,” Jewel said sim ply. “You listen respectfully to your father, thank him for his advice, then do what’s best for you. As for your brother—you tell him to put a sock in it.”

Molly laughed and picked up her spoon again. She’d had her share of arguments with Shane, but she had never used the words “put a sock in it.” She was rather looking forward to doing so.

“That said,” Jewel went on, “I think it’s a good thing that Kyle’s taking you home. He hasn’t left that cabin for more than five months, except to come down to town occasionally to see us and the doctor, and pick up a few supplies. Visiting some old friends will give him something new to focus on for a little while.”

“But he had already chosen not to visit those old friends,” Molly reminded her. “I didn’t realize quite how serious he was about his refusal until I asked him myself.”

Jewel was silent for a moment, seeming to consider her next words. “In this case, I think it’s Kyle who needs a little prodding for his own good. I’ve been worried about him lately. He spends too much time alone with his painful memories. When he isn’t by himself, he’s with me and Mack. He needs to spend some time with someone closer to his own age. Someone with energy and enthusiasm, who’ll challenge him and argue with him and distract him, the way you have.”

Molly grimaced. “Well, I’ve argued with him. And I suppose I distracted him when I fell through his porch. But I’m not sure I would say it’s been good for him….”

“I would,” Jewel countered firmly. “There was more animation in Kyle’s face today than I’ve seen in a long time. Since the last time he was here with Tommy, maybe.”

Molly wasn’t so sure she’d have described Kyle’s mood that day as “animated.” Irritated, maybe. A little frazzled by everything that had gone wrong—from her unannounced arrival in the middle of a storm to the accident that had delayed her departure.

“How long have you known Kyle?”

Jewel smiled reminiscently. “Almost six years. He and Tommy knew each other even longer than that, but it took a while for Tommy to talk Kyle into coming home with him for a visit. Mack and I liked him immediately. He was so polite. So appreciative of every little thing we did for him.”

She gave a soft sigh. “He and Tommy were such good friends. Connie said it was strange that they were opposites in so many ways, and yet still so much alike in others. Tommy thought of Kyle as the brother he always wanted growing up.”

“Who’s Connie?”

“She was Tommy’s girlfriend. He was planning to propose to her the next time he came home. Had it all planned out just how he was going to do it. But…well, it didn’t work out that way. She moved to Nashville recently to start a new job and make a new life for herself.”

“I’m so sorry, Jewel.” Molly’s eyes burned with tears she barely managed to blink back.

Jewel took a sip of her tea, her gaze unfocused, as if she were seeing into a rosier past. And then she gave herself a little shake and spoke briskly again. “After Tommy’s funeral, Mack flew to Germany to be with Kyle in the hospital. To be honest, there was a time when it didn’t seem as though he was going to make it. He was hurt so badly. Mack hesitated about going at first—he thought I needed him here, but I had good friends from my church and community to turn to for support, and Kyle had no one. I couldn’t bear knowing that he was there alone, with no one to sit beside him and watch out for him. And I knew he must be grieving almost as deeply as we were.”

She set her cup down, speaking a bit more briskly. “When Kyle was well enough, Mack asked him to consider coming here for his recuperation. Kyle was a little hesitant at first—he seemed to think it would be painful for us to have him here—but Mack convinced him that we needed him as much as we think he needed us.”

Deeply touched by the story, Molly could only swallow hard and push her empty soup bowl aside. “My parents would have gone to him, if they had known. They always thought of him as one of their boys.”

“It’s a shame he didn’t keep in touch after he moved on. He always had such fondness in his voice on the rare occasions when he talked about the ranch. I asked him once why he didn’t make more of an effort to stay in touch with his foster family, and he didn’t really have a good answer. He seemed to think your family had moved on with their lives and wouldn’t be particularly interested in hearing from him.”

“He was wrong. But I suppose it wasn’t entirely his fault. Maybe Mom and Dad should have made it more clear to him that they wanted him to stay in their lives.”