The next morning Emma and Angie dragged Linda out of bed together.
"Rise and Shine!" Angie said as Emily grabbed all blankets and took her
sleep mask.
"You're both sadists!" Linda groaned as she squinted from the sun. "My god.
what is that. I'm going blind." She rolled over on her stomach and refused
to move
"It's called sunshine and there's a lot of it, now on." Emily said dragging
her off the bed.
"Its not fair, I'm old let me sleep." Linda whined staggering slowly to the
bathroom.
Twenty minutes later she was showered, dressed and looked spectacular as
she did every morning, as did Emily and Angie. The three of them put
together were really something to look at. They were on their way to the
dining hall, when Bernie crossed their path again.
"Where's your mom today Bernie?" Angie asked, sensing the discomfort. It
was easy to see why though.
"My dad sent me to get breakfast, my mom's sleeping." He said matter-of-
factly.
They stepped into the hall and the three of them across the dining room, a
moment later Bernie right behind them.
"Just leave him, don't make an issue out of it." Linda said when he sat
with them.
"Nice fax from you husband last night, by the way." Emily commented. "Very
warm and emotional and loving. Nice guy," she said and Linda smiled. "Are
you going to reply?"
"What's there to say? Just write okay. He's not worth my time right now."
Linda said. "And by the way I clarified things with Hartley last night. You
were right, he did misunderstand things, but it's all clear now."
"Did he care?" Angie asked.
She tried to sound to cool, but the others didn't believe her. "Why would
he?"
Emily laughed, "I don't think he's interested in offering you a secretarial
position." She explained as if they were retarded. "But secretarial
positions always have there perks." Emily smiled as the other two laughed.
"We'll see what happens." Linda said calmly and couldn't help notice that
Bernie was staring at her.
"You look like my mom and my aunt Michelle." He said looking at her.
"Thank you." Linda said trying to be nice to him. It wasn't his fault that
he looked so much like Shane.
They finished breakfast just in time and hurried down to the corral.
Hartley was already down there, and he looked pleased to see her. Their
eyes met and held for a long time and he stood very close to her as they a
waited to mount their horses.
The doctors from Delaware were back and the same groups formed up again as
they were the day before.
Hartley was talking serious and apologizing if he had over-stepped his
bounds the night before. When he got back to the cabin he was afraid that
he had been to forward. They had just met and yet he felt so close to her.
But she felt the same way. And it was a relief to him when their horses
stopped for a moment to drink from a little stream, as he looked at her she
smiling. It was a moment and they both had felt it.
"You know all I could think about this morning when I got up was seeing
you," he said with a boyish grin, " I haven't felt like that in years. I
don't even feel like working. And that's something for me, I always work."
He wrote daily no matter where he was or how he felt or what condition his
life was in. The only other time ho found that he couldn't was when Sharon
was dying.
"I know how you feel. Its rather amusing that when you think that life is
over it all begins again. When you think everything is gone and you have
nothing to loose. You find something infinitely precious." Linda said
thoughtfully looking at the mountains.
"That's way it always is." He said as their horses started walking again.
"How often do you go in to New York?" He asked.
"I use to go down there often, but recently I really haven't found a reason
to."
"Do you lie going to the theater?" he inquired, and they talked about it
for a long time. He had a number of friends who were playwrights, and he
wanted to introduce them to her, to all his friends in fact. There was so
much he anted to tell her, show her and ask her. It was almost impossible
to stand still. The two of them talked constantly, and laughed and shared
ideas and they were both surprised when they wound back at the corral for
lunch.
They were just dismounting their horses when a horse came racing past them.
And before anyone could do anything a small form flew off and landed on the
ground with a hard thump. Linda jumped down and ran over with Hartley right
behind her. When she reached there she saw that it was the little boy
Bernie. "Get Angie," she called over her shoulder.
"I'm here don't worry." Angie said kneeling besides the boy. She was
careful not to move him. She lifted his eyelids. There was wet spots on the
front of his jeans, which means he lost control of his bodily functions and
that he was unconsciousness. Angie ordered someone to call 911. Linda knelt
by the boy and held his hand, although she knew it wouldn't help any, but
she didn't want to let go. Angie continued to check, she was sure neither
his neck nor spin were broken and she was feeling his limbs when his eyes
fluttered open and he started to cry. Angie was never happier as she
watched him. It was arm was broken but it sure could have been a lot worse.
Everybody around was shaken by this and worried for the young boys health.
They watched as paramedics took him to the hospital. His mother and father
were right besides him as he cried in pain. Linda stood there crying and
she didn't know what happened but she suddenly felt a powerful pair of arms
around her. She knew who it was and turned to him, he pulled her close to
him and she couldn't stop crying as he held her.
"I'm so sorry." He said. He didn't care, she was covered in dirt and tears,
he just wanted to be there. "I'm so sorry.I wish I had been there for you."
She looked up at him and through her tears she smiled. He wiped them away
and held her close.
"He looks so much like my son," she tried to explain but she didn't have
to.
"It's a terrible thing you went through," he said as the others had all
left and they sat down so she could regain her composure. But just him
being near her made her feel better. Maybe it was because she knew that he
had gone through the same thing she had.
"My son committed suicide." She sighed as she looked down to the ground.
She told him about it then and what it was like, the shock of it all, the
agony they lived through and her husband's reaction.
"What a nightmare for all of you. It's a wonder any of your survived it,"
he said with admiration.
"We didn't. Vince is gone there's no getting through to him. Our daughter
tries to stay far away from us anymore. I just want to put it all behind
me. I don't want to deal with it anymore."
"Is that what you want?" He asked. She and her husband had a long history
together, anything could happen.
"Yeah I think I'm sure," she said honestly. "I just wanted time to think it
over, but I never expected anything like this to happen." She smiled. And
she still wasn't sure if anything had or if it would. Maybe she would never
see him again after two weeks. That was possible. But the point was she
wasn't leaving Vince for him. She was doing it because she had to. "I just
want to do what's right."
Hartley nodded and said nothing. A little while later he walked her back to
the cabin. Angie and Emily were sitting having coffee and he joined them
while Linda went to shower. They had just heard the lunch bell and the two
women decided to go up to the dining hall. They left Hartley to wait for
her they were still somewhat shaken up by the events of the morning.
"You've been so good to me and I barley know you. You've been kinder to me
more then anyone in my life." She said
"Its nothing," He said sitting down on the arm of the couch as he watched
her. She was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans and she made his heart race.
"We've both been through a lot and I understand what you going through. But
lets take the risk. Let me do this, I want to be here with you." He said
and she couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was willing to take a
chance on her, to see if she left Vince, to wait and see what happened. And
then without saying another word, he took two steps toward her and pulled
her into his arms and kissed her. She smelled of perfume, soap, and
toothpaste, everything clean and appealing. He ran his hands through her
hair as he held her. He hadn't kissed a woman in so long he had almost
forgotten what it felt like and neither one of them were old enough to give
up what they once had, but they were two people who were cold, tired, but
so grateful to have survived it all and to be together. He smiled down into
her eyes and then kissed her again. She had never known a touch as tender.
She suspected, without even wanting to, that he would be an incredible
lover. But for that moment right then, right there, nothing matter, they
were there in Wyoming together. And that's all they needed.
