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  Chapter Nine

  Cassie alternated between pacing the hospital waiting room and huddling miserably in a corner, trying not to look at the other families. Each time she did, she saw her own fear reflected in their faces. It was more than she could bear.

  Instead of thinking about what was going on in the operating room, she forced herself to think about Cole. He was the only distraction that stood a chance against the weight of her concern for her mother. Right now he and Jake were off on a shopping expedition, ostensibly to find something suitable for her mother.

  “Just a little get-well gift,” Cole had assured her. “It will keep Jake’s mind off everything.”

  She couldn’t fault him for wanting to do that for her son. In fact, there was very little she could fault him on these days. He had been nothing but kind and utterly thoughtful. It reminded her of why she’d fallen in love with him years ago.

  It was driving her nuts.

  Even the night before, when she had thought for sure he was going to take advantage of both proximity and her fragile emotional state, Cole had behaved like a perfect gentleman, backing off before things could get too heated.

  His consideration was like a magnet. She wanted so badly to lean on him, to accept the comfort he was offering, but the past had taught her that the only person she could count on was herself. And her mother, of course.

  Now, though, it was because of her mother’s health that she needed someone to help her be strong. And it would be folly to let Cole be that person, even for a second.

  “There she is,” a familiar voice whispered.

  Cassie’s gaze shot up to see her four best friends hovering in the doorway of the waiting room. Tears stung her eyes, then rolled down her cheeks. These were people she could trust, women who had always been there for her. When times got tough, the Calamity Janes had always hung together.

  “You guys,” she murmured, crossing the room to be enfolded in a fierce group hug. “What are you doing here?”

  “Did you honestly think we were going to let you go through this alone?” Karen chided.

  “No way,” Lauren declared.

  She was wearing jeans and a faded blouse and hiding behind a pair of oversize sunglasses and a floppy hat, but none of that could disguise the fact that she was the glamorous one among them. Hollywood had taught her too much for her ever to be the plain Jane of the group again.

  “The Calamity Janes stick together through thick and thin, remember?” she said to Cassie.

  Cassie gave her a watery smile. “I remember.”

  “Any word yet?” Emma asked.

  “Nothing. She’s still in surgery.”

  Gina squeezed her hand. “Where’s Jake?”

  “With Cole.”

  Three pairs of eyes regarded her incredulously. Even Lauren removed her sunglasses long enough to stare.

  “He volunteered to keep Jake occupied. What could I do?” Cassie asked defensively.

  “Why is he even here in the first place?” Emma demanded in her best ready-to-charge-into-battle voice.

  “He made the arrangements for Mom to be treated here, instead of in Laramie. In fact, come to think of it, how did you find out where we were? It all happened so fast I never even had a chance to call and let you know.”

  “Lauren waved her magic wand and, poof, information was forthcoming. Then a jet appeared. The woman has contacts,” Gina said respectfully. She feigned an exaggerated bow. “I am in awe.”

  “One of the few perks of stardom worth having,” Lauren said with a distinct edge to her voice. Then, before anyone could question her, she tucked an arm around Cassie’s waist. “Come on. Let’s sit down over here where we won’t be the center of attention. You doing okay, sweetie?” She whipped open a bag, and cups of gourmet coffee appeared for all of them.

  “Hanging in,” Cassie said, taking the cup and breathing in the aroma. Hazelnut. “I thought I’d know something by now, but it seems like it’s been forever and there’s still no word.”

  Lauren nodded and set aside her own coffee. “Then let me see what I can find out.”

  As soon as she’d gone, Emma shook her head. “I don’t know how she does it. Even incognito, she has a way of commanding respect. You should have seen her down at the information desk. The poor volunteer kept trying to tell us that only family was permitted up here, but Lauren finally persuaded her that we were as close to being family as anybody could be. She did it in a Southern voice straight out of Gone with the Wind. I kept looking around to see who was talking. Next thing you know we’re on an elevator with a little map showing us precisely where the waiting room is located. If I could do what she does, I’d never lose a case.”

  “You never lose a case, anyway,” Karen pointed out.

  Emma frowned. “That’s not true. I’ve lost some.”

  “How many?” Gina teased. “One? Two?”

  “Four,” Emma retorted.

  Gina rolled her eyes. “Out of how many?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Hundreds, I imagine,” Gina countered.

  “The point is, Lauren is very good at what she does,” Emma said.

  “Then why does she look so unhappy?” Cassie wondered.

  “I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” Karen said, her expression thoughtful. “And I know she wanted to stick around for your mom’s surgery, but she’s showing no inclination at all to get back to her glamorous life in Hollywood. Every time I bring up anything about her career, she puts me off.”

  “Well, it can’t be because she’s having trouble getting roles,” Cassie said. “I saw on TV the other night that there are two producers who are counting on her starring in their next films.”

  “Which producers? What films?” Gina asked with the starstruck fascination of an old movie buff.

  “I don’t remember, but I do recall that both admitted she hasn’t committed yet.”

  The discussion of Lauren’s apparent unhappiness ended when she came back into the waiting room with a triumphant expression and the bemused surgeon in tow.

  “Look who I found,” she announced happily. “And the news is good.” She beamed at him. “I said that straight off, because you doctors always hem and haw before you get to the bottom line.”

  He regarded her with a dazed expression. “Who are you again?”

  “Just a friend of the family.”

  He still looked puzzled. “But you look so familiar.”

  She sighed dramatically. “See what I mean about dillydallying. Come on, Doc. Tell Cassie how her mom’s surgery went.”

  He gathered his composure and faced Cassie. “Everything went exactly as I’d hoped it would. The cancer appeared to be contained. We did a lumpectomy and I’ll be recommending a course of chemotherapy and radiation, but there’s no reason to think she will have anything other than a full recovery. There will be regular check-ups after that to make sure there hasn’t been a recurrence, but I’d say the prognosis is very good.”

  For the second time that morning, Cassie’s tears flowed unchecked. She clasped the doctor’s hand. “Thank you.”

  “No need. I was just doing my job.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “She’s still in recovery. Why not go and have your lunch, then come back. She’ll be in her room by then. I’ll check in on her later. If all goes as I anticipate, she’ll be released in the morning.”

  Cassie and her friends were exchanging joyful hugs when Cole and Jake arrived.

  “Good news?” Cole asked, his gaze on Cassie.

  She nodded. “The best. The surgeon expects her to make a full recovery.”

  Genuine relief washed over his face. “I’m glad.”

  “Grandma’s going to be okay?” Jake asked as if he didn’t dare to believe it. “Really?”

  Cassie gave him a hug, wanting to believe in that as much as he did. “Absolutely,” she said with confidence. If a positive outlook and the support of family and friends had anything to
do with it, her mother would not only survive, she would thrive. “She’ll have some treatments for a while, but that should do the trick.”

  “I propose we all go out and celebrate,” Cole said. “My treat.”

  “I never turn down a man with a credit card in his hand,” Gina teased. “Especially when the alternative is hospital cafeteria food. Let’s do it.”

  They found a lovely restaurant just a few blocks away from the hospital. Cassie actually managed to eat with enthusiasm for the first time in several days. Not even the sight of Jake sitting side by side with his father could take away the relief she’d felt when the doctor had given his report.

  Her mother was going to survive. She had said the words, had tried not to let her faith waver for a single second, but until the surgeon had spoken with such optimism, she hadn’t really dared to believe it.

  “You okay?” Cole asked, leaning close to whisper in her ear.

  “I am now,” she said. “Thank you for arranging for her to come here.”

  “It was the least I could do.”

  “But you didn’t have to do it.”

  “Yes, I did,” he insisted. “For a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that she’s your mother.”

  Cassie refused to let herself read anything at all into that. She was just grateful that everything had turned out as well as it had so far.

  “I need to call Stella. If she doesn’t object, I’d like to stay tonight, then Jake and I can go back tomorrow with my mother. If you need to get home, I’m sure Lauren will take the three of us back. She chartered a plane.”

  “I’m staying,” Cole said flatly. “I’ve already made arrangements to keep the suite another night. And if the doctor says your mother should have her chemo and radiation here, when the time comes we’ll reserve the suite for as long as necessary.”

  Cassie hadn’t even considered what arrangements might have to be made for the follow-up treatments. “Cole, we can’t keep imposing on you like that. I’m sure whatever she needs can be done in Laramie.”

  “She’s going to have the best,” he insisted. “We’ll let the doctor decide.”

  Because there was no way she could knowingly accept less than the best for her mother, she reluctantly nodded her agreement. She was already in Cole’s debt. It would be foolish to turn down his offer out of stubborn pride.

  “Thank you,” she said stiffly.

  “Like I said, I owe you.”

  But for what, she wondered. For betraying her? He claimed he hadn’t done that, or hadn’t meant to, at any rate. Even though he knew his father had likely had some hand in it, he still didn’t know the whole truth, that it was his father and her mother who had done the conniving. Would he be so eager to help her mother if he knew that?

  She pushed all of that aside when Karen raised a glass in a toast. “To long, healthy lives for all of us and for those we love,” she said.

  It was a toast that would come back to haunt them. Three hours later, just as Karen, Lauren, Emma and Gina were about to return to Winding River, a call came that Caleb had collapsed at the ranch. By the time they reached the hospital in Laramie, Karen’s husband was dead of a massive heart attack at thirty-eight.

  The next few days passed in a blur. Cassie alternated between caring for her mother and sitting with her friend, whose pale complexion and glassy, dazed eyes were frightening to behold. None of them were able to reach Karen, no matter how they tried.

  Karen got through Caleb’s funeral without shedding a single tear. She politely thanked everyone who attended the services, served food to the mourners who visited the ranch, then went about the ranch chores with sporadic surges of frenzied activity, refusing all offers of help. She’d reacted only once—to the arrival of Grady Blackhawk, a man who’d made no secret of the fact he wanted to buy their ranch. Caleb had hated him. Karen had almost lost it when she’d seen him. Cole had escorted him away from the house.

  “She can’t go on like this,” Lauren said, watching her worriedly after most of the guests had left.

  “She needs to cry, to let it out,” Gina added. Gina had always been the one most in touch with her emotions—the quickest to cry but also the fastest to laugh.

  “I think she’s afraid to start,” Cassie said. “I think she’s terrified that once the tears come, she won’t be able to stop. To be honest, I feel that way myself. How could this happen to Caleb? He was so young. A thirty-eight-year-old isn’t supposed to be having a heart attack, much less dying from it. There were so many things they planned to do together. They wanted to start a family. It’s not fair.”

  “I feel as if that boy traded his life for mine,” her mother said, her expression gloomy. She had insisted on attending the funeral, then stopping by the ranch to offer her condolences.

  “Mama, don’t you dare say that,” Cassie said. “It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Well, it just breaks my heart to see Karen this way,” her mother said. “The burden of running this ranch was heavy enough on the two of them. How she’ll keep up alone is beyond me. Of all you girls, she was the one I thought was set for life with a nice, steady man by her side. No offense to you, Emma, or you, Lauren, but Caleb was the kind of man all of you should have been looking for.”

  “No question about that,” Lauren agreed. “I certainly had a knack for picking losers.”

  “Mick wasn’t a loser, but he wasn’t exactly the dependable, steady guy that Caleb was,” Emma said of her own ex.

  “What’s that about a steady man?” Cole inquired, coming up behind Cassie. He rested his hands on her shoulders, massaging gently.

  Ever since they’d gotten the news about Caleb, Cole had been a rock for Karen and all the rest of them. Leaving Cassie and Jake overnight with her mother in Denver, he had accompanied Karen and the others to the hospital in Laramie, then handled all of the funeral arrangements. He seemed to anticipate what needed to be done and took care of it without waiting to be asked. The only thing Karen had refused was his offer to send over help for the ranch.

  She had been adamant about that, insisting that the ranch was her responsibility and that she needed to learn to deal with the work on her own. Nothing anyone said could dissuade her.

  “I don’t like the way she looks,” Cassie said worriedly. “She’s exhausted. She can’t stay here by herself, and that’s that.”

  “Well, we know she’s not going to leave, so I’ll just have to move in,” Lauren said. “I imagine I can still do a few ranch chores.”

  They all stared. “You?”

  “Why not me?” she asked indignantly. “I grew up on a ranch. It hasn’t been that long. I still know one end of a cow from the other.”

  “But, Lauren,” Emma protested, “what about your career?”

  Lauren waved off the question. “It’ll be there when I get back or it won’t. I already have more money than I can ever spend. I’m staying here, and that’s that.”

  Gina and Emma agreed to stay that night, as well, so Cassie left with her mother and Cole for the hundred-mile ride back to Winding River. It was late when they arrived, and her mother went straight to bed, but Cassie lingered on the porch with Cole. Jake was spending the night next door, so they were alone.

  “Do you honestly think Karen will be able to manage that ranch on her own?” she asked Cole, settling into the swing.

  He sat next to her and set the swing into a slow, easy motion. “Ranching is difficult work under the best of conditions. She’s going to need help. I get the impression she doesn’t have the money to hire on additional hands, and she flatly refused my offer to send one of my men over, even temporarily.”

  “Maybe she should consider selling. She always wanted to travel. In high school that’s all she ever talked about.” Even as she said it, though, she knew Karen would never sell the ranch that Caleb had loved. Even if it drained her financially and physically, she would keep it because it had been his dream. But Karen’s misplaced sense of loyalty could wind up k
illing her.

  “She won’t sell,” Cole said with certainty.

  Cassie sighed and met his gaze. “I know, but it might be better if she did.”

  He tucked a curl behind her ear. “We don’t always do what’s best, even if it’s plain as day to us what that is.”

  Something in his voice told her he was no longer talking about Karen. “What would you do differently if you could?”

  “Fight for you,” he said without hesitation.

  Cassie’s breath caught in her throat at the regret she heard in his voice. “Would you?”

  His gaze locked with hers. “I should have done it back then. I knew it the second I left town, but by then it was too late. Then I got that note and, well, all I could do was hate you for what I thought was an even worse betrayal than my own.”

  Cassie debated telling him what she had learned from his father. Part of her was reluctant to stir up the ashes of the past, but he deserved to know the truth, especially after all he had done for Edna Collins in recent days. “My mother wrote that note,” she said flatly, praying that it wouldn’t change his commitment to helping with her medical expenses.

  Shock washed over his face. “How do you know that?” he demanded.

  “Your father told me. He admitted that they conspired to keep us apart.”

  Cole stood and began to pace. Suddenly he stopped and slammed his fist against a post. “Dammit! I should have guessed.”

  “How could you have guessed? I certainly never imagined it.”

  “I saw them with their heads together back then,” he explained. “But your mom and I had always gotten along so well, I couldn’t believe that she would be involved in splitting us up. I only saw my father’s less-than-subtle touch all over it.”

  “Well, unless your father lied, which I seriously doubt, she was involved,” Cassie said flatly. “I haven’t spoken to her about it, but I will, once things settle down and she has her health back.”

  Her voice caught at the end, and she put her hands over her face as the tears, never far from the surface, flowed again. Cole sat back down and reached for her.