Barbara Dunlop: A Cowboy Comes Home

The doctors were medicating him and monitoring him closely to watch for additional strokes. They told the family they needed to keep him calm. The initial prognosis was for a slow, potentially limited recovery. There was no way to tell how much of his speech and mobility he would regain. A doctor told them the first few days were critical.

Although Abby had booked regular rooms at the Denver Emerald Chateau, a word from Caleb to the front-desk clerk had Mandy, Abby and her mother in a luxurious, two-bedroom suite. Caleb and Seth had taken an identical suite at the opposite end of the twentieth-floor hallway.

It was nearly three in the morning before Mandy’s mother finally got to bed. Thankfully, she fell asleep almost immediately, and Mandy joined Abby, Seth and Caleb in the suite’s living room.

Abigail was handing Seth her cell phone. “Your brother wants to talk to you.”

“Thanks, tons.” Seth scowled as he accepted the phone.

The only vacant seat was on a small couch next to Caleb, and Mandy sat down. She felt his gaze on her profile, swore she could feel his energy through her pores, but she didn’t turn.

“Must we do this now? ” Seth was asking into the phone.

Mandy gave her sister a quizzical look.

“Seth was talking about dropping out of the Lyndon mayoralty race,” Abby explained. “Travis disagrees.”

Mandy disagreed, as well, strenuously. Her oldest brother had been planning this political move for over two years. “It’ll be weeks before he even needs to campaign.”

Abigail huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what I told him. And that’s what Travis’s telling him.”

Mandy shook her head. “Dad won’t want him to drop out.”

Their father had been totally supportive of Seth’s decision to run for mayor. The ranching community was slowly being pushed out of the economic framework of the district as tourism operations and small businesses moved in and began to lobby for their own interests.

“Who’s going to run the place?” Seth demanded into the phone. “You?”

He listened for a moment, then gave a cold laugh. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Caleb leaned toward Mandy. “This is a terrible time for them to have this conversation. They have absolutely no perspective at all.”

She knew he was right and nodded her agreement. They were all exhausted and their emotions were raw.

Caleb rose to his feet. He moved in front of Seth and motioned for him to hand over the phone. Seth scowled at him, but Caleb persisted. When Seth finally complied, Caleb put the phone to his ear.

“Travis? It’s Caleb. You need to go to bed. So does Seth and so do your sisters.”

There was a pause.

“In the morning. No. You listen. I don’t care who started it. I’m the only one here who’s not operating on grief and fear, and I’m telling you to shut it down.”

Caleb paused again. “Yes. I will.” His gaze slid to Mandy for a brief second. “Of course not.”

Abigail rose from her chair to lean over and give Mandy a quick hug. “I’m beat,” she whispered in Mandy’s ear. “Mind if I use the bathroom first?”

“Go ahead.” Mandy squeezed her sister tight, grateful to have her siblings close to her tonight.

“We’re going to have to call Katrina in the morning.” Abigail referred to their youngest sister who lived in New York City.

“It’s almost morning there now,” said Mandy.

“When we get up is soon enough. I’m sure it’ll be early.”

“Yeah,” Mandy agreed on a sigh. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

Abigail made her way to the second bedroom and its en suite bathroom.

Caleb put the cell phone on the coffee table.

Seth rose. “I’m ordering a single malt from room service,” he told Caleb. “You want one?”

“Yeah,” said Caleb. “I’m right behind you.”

Mandy came to her feet to give her oldest brother a big hug.

“You okay?” he whispered gruffly in her ear, ruffling her hair.

“I’ll let you know in the morning.” Mandy dreaded having him leave the suite, having her sister fall asleep, leaving her alone with her thoughts and fears. She wasn’t going to sleep. Her family had just turned on a dime. She had no idea what would come next.

Seth shut the door behind him, and Caleb turned to her. “You’re not okay.”

“I’m not okay,” she agreed, her body turning into one big ache.

He stepped closer. “Anything I can do to help?”

“You already have.” She drew a shuddering breath, trying to put the night’s events in some sort of order. “You have a jet?”

“Active Equipment has a jet.”

“But you own Active Equipment.”

“True enough.”

“Thank you for bringing us all here. I know my mom was terrified…” She swallowed, her throat going raw all over again. “I was so afraid he’d die before-”

Caleb drew her into his strong arms, cradling her against his body. “Of course you were. But he didn’t. And you’re here now. And there may very well be good news in the morning.”

Mandy found herself lying her cheek against Caleb’s chest, taking comfort in the steady thud of his heartbeat and the deep, soothing rumble of his voice.

He leaned in and kissed her gently on the temple, bringing all her earlier feelings rushing back. She felt off balance, out of sync, like she was floating in space without a lifeline.

“Caleb,” she stuttered. “What we-”

“Shh. Not now. Nothing matters right now.”

She closed her eyes. “Are you always this nice?”

“I’m hardly ever this nice.” He paused. “You need to sleep now.”

“I know.” She wished she could lie down right there, right then and stay safe in Caleb’s arms for the rest of the night. Deep down inside, she knew she was being foolish. She was emotional and vulnerable, and he seemed strong and safe. It was that simple.

These feelings would probably go away by morning, but right now, they were powerfully strong.

The next morning did bring positive news. Caleb was surprised, along with everyone else, by Hugo’s rapid progress. Hugo recognized all the family members. They were each allowed to visit him, and he was able to say Maureen’s name, along with several other rudimentary words, enough to get his general meaning across. His meaning, Caleb noted, was that Seth should continue to plan his campaign for the mayoralty race, Abigail should stay in Denver with Maureen, while Mandy should go home and run the ranch with Travis.

Caleb had to admire the tough old man. Less than twenty-four hours after the stroke, Hugo was regaining movement in his right arm, and he also had some movement in his right foot and ankle. The doctors were very pleased with his progress and feeling optimistic about his eventual recovery, although they cautioned it would take weeks, possibly months.

Seth decided to stay in Denver for some political meetings, so Caleb and Mandy returned alone on the Active Equipment jet. Once in Lyndon, they exited down the airplane staircase and onto the tarmac outside a small maintenance building at the private area of the apron. It was late afternoon, and thick clouds were gathering as the sun made its descent and the air cooled down.

Caleb switched on his cell phone, and Mandy did the same. Hers immediately rang, and they picked up their pace to get away from the sound of the airplane engines.

She plugged one ear and called “hello” just as Caleb’s phone rang. They made it around the end of the building, blocking the noise.

Caleb answered his phone with one hand, unlocking and swinging open the chain-link gate with the other. There were few cars in the parking area.

“It’s Travis,” came the voice at the other end.