The Cowboy's Summer Love (32 page)

Travis laughed ruefully.

“I spent a couple of weeks face down in a hospital bed fighting the infection from the dirty blade. The doctors at one point thought they might have to amputate to get rid of the diseased flesh. I think that is why being stuck in bed again has been such a challenge for me, although I admit I was having plenty of problems before the accident. When I close my eyes, I can see that little boy’s face and the faces of all those we couldn’t save. I see the faces of my friends who were shot or stepped on mines or didn’t run fast enough to get away from flying shrapnel. I finally realized this morning that keeping all that bottled up isn’t going to help me get over it.”

“You can talk to us, anytime, Trav, about anything. I don’t care how awful it might seem, if it will make you feel better to get it off your chest, talk to us,” Trent said. “All of what happened is a part of you now, so don’t try to hide it.”

“I know and I appreciate that. I also appreciate you putting up with me the last few months and taking care of me. I’m grateful,” Travis said with a humbleness that was new to him. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, he lifted his head and cracked a smile. “Now, according to Cass, you two need to stop fighting, especially if it is about me. Trey, you will go find your wife immediately and apologize for being, as Cass repeated it, a bull-headed horses’…”

“Horses’ what?” Trey said, knowing he owed Cady a huge apology for his foul temper that morning. He should have apologized as soon as he made her cry, but he was still so mad about Travis and Trent, he couldn’t think straight. He behaved like a knuckle-dragging cavedweller and knew it.

“That’s where I cut her off. She apparently was hiding in the kitchen while you were fighting this morning and was pretty upset by the whole thing. I have to say, I was too, because I realized all the anger and tension in this house is my fault. So I want it to stop today, right now. We’re generally a pretty happy-go-lucky family and I want us to get back to that. Please?”

“Works for me,” Trent said with a grin, getting up from his chair. “Tess, if you don’t mind leaving the room for a bit, we’ll help Trav with his evening beauty rituals and then you can read him a bedtime story.”

Tess mopped away her tears and released a choppy laugh as she got up from her place beside Travis. Stopping at the foot of the bed, Travis winked at her and she smiled before closing the door behind her.

She was only starting to fathom the horrific things Travis had seen and experienced during his time in Iraq. It certainly explained his wild behavior and driven need for excitement. She didn’t know what exactly she could do to assist him, but she was willing to try anything to help him feel normal again.

Lindsay and Cady were in the kitchen making treat bags for Cass’ birthday party. Cass had long ago been tucked into bed, so Cady was taking advantage of the child-free time to get some party preparations finished. They looked up at Tess expectantly as she came in the room and sat down beside them.

“How’d it go?” Cady asked handing Tess a napkin as she wiped away the last of her tears.

“Really well. Travis talked about some things that were hard to hear, but I think he needed to share them,” Tess said, helping fill a bright pink bag and tying it with a purple ribbon. “He knows Trent and Trey will give you the highlights. Respecting you both as much as he does, I think he was protecting you by not having you there as well.”

“I understand,” Lindsay said, appreciating her future brother-in-law’s concern.

“So do you think he’s going to get better now?” Cady asked, adding a fairy sticker to one of the bags. “Not just his legs, but his spirit?”

“I think so. He seems so different this evening,” Tess said, admiring the way Cady decorated the treat bags and made them look so fun and special. “Cass is going to love these.”

“You think?” Lindsay said with broad smile. 

“Have you decided what you’re going to do to make Trey pay for his bad behavior today?” Tess asked as they finished filling the last few bags.

“No. I’m still mad at him, too. He could have apologized earlier, but the longer he’s put it off, the madder it makes me.”

“Maybe you should give him a pillow and blanket and tell him to take those beautiful blue eyes, that nice square jaw and broad chest, and those fine-fitting Wranglers out to the barn to sleep for a few nights until he can find an appropriate way to make it up to you,” Tess said, causing both Lindsay and Cady to laugh.

“Let’s not be too hasty,” Cady said, not liking the thought of Trey all the way out in the barn, especially in those Wranglers.

“Hasty about what?” Trent asked as he and Trey came back in the kitchen. Studying the two brothers, it appeared they mended their broken fences and were back to their usual teasing and joking.

“Never mind,” Lindsay said, getting up from the table. “It’s long past time for me to go home, so walk me to my car, cowboy.”

“Sure, Princess,” Trent said, following her out the door.

“I think I’ll go check on Travis,” Tess said, taking two heat packs with her as she went, leaving Trey to deal with his irritated wife.

As she walked down the hall, she heard him say, “Darlin’ if I beg and plead for forgiveness and fully acknowledge I am a bull-headed horses’ something or other, will you please speak to me again?”

Tess could picture Cady standing there with her hands on her hips. “Maybe. But it might just take a while, Timothy Andrew Thompson.”

“What can I do to make this better, Cady-girl?” Trey asked. Tess envisioned him sidling up to Cady, a charming smile on his face and a determined gleam in his eye.

“I think you need to take me out for dinner and a movie. Maybe even for a weekend away in Portland with shopping,” Cady said. “And it might help if you give me a kiss that makes me forget what I was mad about.”

Tess was giggling as she walked into Travis’ room.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, lifting up his head to look at her.

“Trey is trying to redeem himself with his out-of-sorts wife,” Tess said, putting the hot packs on Travis’ leg and securing them in place. “I don’t think he’s going to have to try too hard.”

“Probably not,” Travis said, tugging on Tess’ hand until she sat down by him on the bed. “Cady lets him get away with more than she should.”

“She can’t help it. You Thompson men have some sort of power over the women madly in love with you.”

“Is that so?” Travis asked, tucking away that tidbit of information for later use.

“That is so,” Tess said, sliding down and resting her head in the curve of Travis’ shoulder. She thrilled at the feel of his arm around her, his warmth permeating her entire being.

Travis wanted to go to sleep every night with Tess held in his arms, her head on his shoulder, her heart close to his. He kept thinking he’d wake up and have her love be a dream, but he was pretty sure it was real.

“Trav? Is this really happening?” Tess asked, voicing his thoughts.

“What happening?” he asked, knowing what she was talking about, but wanting her to say it.

“Did you really say you loved me today? Did you really mean it?” Tess asked, turning so she could look into his eyes.

“I meant it, honeybee. For now and always, I love you,” Travis said, kissing her nose, then the mole at the corner of her mouth.

“But why me? You could have any girl you want just like that,” Tess said, snapping her fingers. “Why would you choose me?”

“You’re a smart girl, Tess, you can figure it out.”

When she continued to look at him, he rested his chin on the top of her head and rubbed circles on her back. “I choose you, honeybee, because you’ve always been my girl. Because I’ve spent years dreaming about you. Because your scent is imbedded in the recesses of my brain and looking into those big brown eyes of yours makes my temperature spike. Because your laugh makes me smile and your tears break my heart. Because you are sweet and wonderful, sassy and fun, and the most desirable woman I’ve ever seen. Because you make me so crazy I can’t think straight. Because I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Tess said, kissing his jaw, his chin, his cheeks, before settling on his warm, inviting lips.

When she pulled back, Travis framed her face with his hands and smiled. “Do me a favor and bring me my wallet.”

Tess got up and retrieved his wallet from on top of the dresser, handing it to him as she sat beside him. Travis opened it and pulled out a dog-eared photo that was so worn, it was hard to make out the image.

Handing it to her, Tess gasped. It was her senior picture. One she’d given to Travis when she graduated, thinking he’d probably throw it away.  On the back she’d written:

 To Tee,

Be true to your heart.

 Love always, Tess.

She looked at Travis, bewildered.

“That photo was the only thing that linked me to you. Sometimes it was the only thing that linked me to sanity. ‘Be true to your heart,’ you wrote. I was, Tess. My heart was with you and I’ve been true to it all this time.”

“Oh, Travis,” Tess said, putting her arms around him and crying against his neck, filled with sorrow for what had been lost, what might have been. “Why didn’t you write me or call me? I would have sent you photos, written you letters. I used to nearly die waiting for Brice to give me news about where you were and how you were doing.”

“Looking back, I wished we would have stayed in touch, but then again, maybe everything worked out just like it was supposed to,” Travis said, wiping her tears and kissing her cheeks.

Tess nodded and removed Travis’ heat packs. Making him turn onto his stomach, she gave him another back rub, only this time, she added in a few kisses that were making it hard for Travis to keep from rolling over and kissing her until they both lost the ability to think rationally. Since he couldn’t even get out of bed by himself, he thought it best to keep a tight rein on his thoughts, for now.

“Honeybee,” he growled when she placed a trail of hot kisses down his spine. “If you don’t stop doing that, we’re going to have a problem. A huge problem.”

“Sorry. I just thought you’d like it,” Tess said, realizing she was getting a little carried away. Travis didn’t seem to know how challenging it was to rub her hands all over that glorious, tan, muscled skin of his, and keep it strictly professional.

“I like it. Boy, do I ever like it, but for the time being, I think it best we not go down that road,” Travis said, trying to breathe normally as she leaned against him and kissed his cheek. All the wonderful, womanly softness of Tess pressed against his back was about to drive him wild.

“I’ll behave,” Tess said with a pout that made Travis want to kiss her full bottom lip in the worst way. “I think this is probably a good time for me to say goodnight.”

“You’re probably right,” Travis said, rolling over and getting settled in the bed. Tess fluffed his pillows, adjusted his sheet then kissed him softly.

“I love you, Travis. So, so much.”

“Love you, too, honeybee. Now scoot.”

Although Travis felt exhausted from the day, he knew sleep would be a long time in coming. Confound his useless legs. He was a man in love with a woman to pursue.

Chapter Seventeen

Love is that condition in which the happiness

of another person is essential to your own.

 Robert Heinlein