CHAPTER FOUR
1439 Words
Rossi tamped down his embarrassment that Kinley was making it so hard on them. He hadn’t even thought about taking a vacation since his wife had passed away.
Katy stood.
Rossi gave her a hug. “You go. Have fun. Everything will be fine.”
Katy nodded when she pulled back. “Thank you.”
Rossi looked at Roy. “I mean it.”
Tory sucked in a long breath and blew it out fast. “Fine, but you’ll let me know when she wakes up.”
Kinley piped up. “Daddy and I could check on the lady in the hospital, Uncle Roy.”
“Would you?” Tory glanced at Rossi, well aware that Rossi wouldn’t want to do it.
Rossi wanted to chastise his precocious daughter, but he only sighed.
Kinley looked back at her father, her bottom lip pushing out.
“Of course.” Rossi c****d an eyebrow at his daughter. “No problem.”
Tory grabbed him by the arm, tugging him away from the group. “I need to talk to Rossi for a sec,” he said to Katy.
Rossi put on an all-is-well smile for his brother. “Have fun, and don’t worry about anything.”
Tory scowled.
Rossi knew it wasn’t in either brother’s nature to want to take a vacation. Their father had instilled “work, work, work” into them. He remembered two family vacations his family had ever taken growing up, and both were because his mother had insisted. “Try to have fun.”
Tory sighed and nodded. “Look, I know we’re meeting with the bank the day I get back, but I’ve thought a lot about it. If it comes down to it, we move into town. You get a house and teach, and I get a house and be a doctor.”
Tory made it sound so simple, which only fueled Ross’s anger. “Oh, right, Mr. Doctor, forget the land we grew up on. Forget the land Mom and Dad loved.”
“What do you want me to do?” Roy asked, whispering loudly and backing them farther away from their families. “I’ve reached out to multiple people for help, and no one can swing it. I don’t want to do it either. But bro, we have to face the facts: if the bank won’t refinance, then the bank won’t refinance. We can’t pay the back payments.”
Rossi knew that, and he knew his brother didn’t take all of this lightly. He shook his head, thinking about how he’d neglected to tell Troy about the latest letter. “That Jagger conglomerate group are wily buggers. They keep sending me letters, telling me they will buy if we give them the mineral rights straight out.”
“I know. They send me the letters too. I just worry they’re going to try to sneak in and buy the place out from under us if we don’t cave.”
Rossi hated that he had no control of this situation. “I know. I would just hate to see everything Dad built turn into an oil-and-mining project.”
Tory put a hand on his shoulder. “I know Mom and Dad loved the land, and we do too.” He sighed. “That’s part of the reason I came back here—to raise my kids on it.”
Rossi nodded, feeling hopeless.
“Remember, bro, sometimes all we have is two hands to rebuild whatever is taken away from us. And with the good Lord, all things are possible. We have to have faith.”
Rossi grunted. “Quoting Dad now?”
“You know that’s what the old man would say—‘go, rebuild, and build it even better than before.’”
“‘Never say die,’” Rossi said, quoting their father too. Thinking of his father’s never-ending optimism about life actually made him feel a little better.
Tory grinned, adding the rest of the quote. “‘Never quit.’”
Their father had been military, and he had been tough as nails. It had hit both Rossi and Roy hard when their parents had passed in that car accident.
A second later, their flight was called. Tory hugged Rossi and then headed away. “Bye.”
“Have fun,” Rossi called out.
“Dad!” Kinley darted over, slipping her hand into his.
“Yes?” Rossi squeezed her hand.
“Can we really go check on the lady?”
He nodded, although they’d need to get to the high school for his camp first. “Right after actor camp, we’ll head over.”
Kinley endured the drama camp well, sitting at the back of the theater for most of the camp, observing, drawing, and finally playing on Rossi ’s phone. Later, as they headed to the hospital, she chatted happily about all the possibilities of this lady. She made Rossi explain exactly what the woman looked like.
When they walked into the hospital room, Rossi was stunned. The afternoon sunlight poured through the window, highlighting the woman’s red hair and porcelain skin in a way that made the petite woman look unreal. Ethereal. Angelic.
Kinley rushed to her side. “She looks like a sleeping princess,” she said, her voice quiet and reverent.
Rossi was thinking the same thing.
“Hello.” A nurse on Tory ’s staff, Nadine, greeted them. She was an older woman in her fifties with salt-and-pepper hair and a warm smile. “How are we doing?”
Kinley grinned at her. “Hey, Nadine.”
Nadine opened her arms, and Kinley went into them easily. “I’m surprised to have visitors for this lady,” Nadine said.
“Daddy promised Tory we would check on her. I think she looks like a princess.”
“Oh.” Nadine glanced at Rossi and then back to Kinley, squatting down. “A Sleeping Beauty princess. I like it. Maybe your dad is just the one to kiss her awake?”
Rossi shot Nadine a horrified look.
Kinley clapped her hands together, overjoyed. “Yes.”
Nadine chuckled and stood. “Kidding.” She moved to Rossi, leaning in for a hug.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Not the Prince Charming type.”
Nadine grinned as she pulled back. “But you are a Charm, so there’s that.”
He rolled his eyes. “You never change, Nadine.”
She wiggled her nose and turned back to Kinley. “I’m glad you came, because I just restocked the candy at our station. Want to come get some while we let your dad talk to Sleeping Beauty?”
Rossi ’s heartbeat picked up speed. “Not necessary.” He started to follow them out of the room.
Nadine was already pulling Kinley out the door. “Let us girls chat. We’ll be right back.”
Rossi watched them go and listened to the two of them exchanging a million questions. Kinley adored older women. He didn’t know if she gravitated to women because she’d lost her mother, but he always felt culpable, like it was his fault.
He turned to face the sleeping woman. She was beautiful. He edged closer, wondering who she could be. Why had no one come for her yet? She looked like she could wake at any moment. The heart monitor tracked her heart’s rhythm, beeping repeatedly.
He studied her freckled face, grateful the blood had been cleaned up. He hadn’t really looked at a woman since Brook. Not in a detailed way like this. This woman couldn’t be past her mid-twenties, he thought. Could she?
All kinds of questions filled his mind. Why had she been out on his property? The investigation from the police had produced no car, no identification on her person, no phone. It was like the woman had fallen from the sky. He knew George would have called if there was news about someone looking for her.
She looked so peaceful. He hoped that she was okay, that whatever family she did have wasn’t too worried, and that it would all be resolved quickly.
Hearing laughter from the hall, he could picture Nadine gathering the nurses and telling Kinley stories from the past. He loved that about living in a small community and having roots. People knew each other and loved each other.
For a time, after Kinley’s mother had passed, he’d hated living here and seeing the pity in people’s eyes, but that had subsided. With his brother back in Casper, he knew he never wanted to leave. He loved this town.
- Writer
