Page 33 of Forbidden Cowboy
“You’re family,” I answered for myself.
“I’m family,” he said at the same time.
Stuck with dream-Anna and the little boy that was somehow family, I couldn’t move through the quicksand mud, and I watched Beau disappear into the trees, a running Wyatt flying after him.
* * *
I woke up in a cold sweat, alone and confused.
It took me a moment to reorient myself, and when I did, I immediately sat up, unable to see Anna anywhere. Had I really lost my charge? I knew she had a penchant for wandering off. I’d seen how she would do it if she thought someone needed something, but it hadn’t happened to me yet. As soon as I was up, though, I saw her. She sat with her hands clasped in front of her, resting on Beau’s bed. Praying.
She finished after only seconds of me watching her.
“Good morning,” she said in a bright voice. “I got you breakfast, but I think we should go eat outside, because sunshine makes people feel better.”
So, she had wandered off. She showed me two boxes from the cafeteria, filled with scrambled eggs, sausages, and a couple of pieces of toast each.
“Where did you—how did you pay for that?”
If the kid had used her own money, I was going to be paying her back, regardless of how much she was like her father.
“Dad gave me one of his cards before we got on the plane and told me I could buy anything either of us needed. He also said I was allowed to argue with you if you said no.”
She pulled out a Hello Kitty wallet, and then the card. She showed it to me, and I could just make out Wyatt’s name on the front before she put it back and slid the wallet back into the pocket of her dress. She had gotten changed out of the traveling clothes we’d arrived in yesterday, and even braided her own hair.
“Give me a minute to change, and we can go sit outside,” I said.
I changed into fresh clothes as quickly as I could, and immediately felt better. I wanted to stay with Beau, but he had been stable all night, and Anna was right about the sunshine probably helping me feel better.
I let the almost eight-year-old lead me down the floors until we were outside, and we sat on the grass embankment in one of the courtyards.
As we ate, we began talking.
“I saw you praying,” I said idly, and Anna shrugged.
“It wasn’t really praying because I don’t know if there’s a God or whatever. It just felt kind of good to close my eyes and say everything out loud.”
“Everything?”
“Yeah, all the bad stuff in my head, like once I said it, it wasn’t in my head anymore, and wasn’t as scary.”
“What bad stuff?”
Anna shrugged, and looked away, down the embankment with a look that went beyond her young years.
“I dunno, stuff with my mom, Uncle Beau being sick, that stuff.”
“It’s hard with him being sick,” I agreed. “Do you want to talk about the stuff with your mom?”
“I don’t want to give you more bad stuff to think about. Dad said you’re already far away from your home, and your brother is sick.”
“It’s kind of like saying it out loud, though,” I said to her. “Yourbad stuff won’t hurt me so much because it’s notmybad stuff. The only thing that hurts me isyoubeing hurt.”
She looked thoughtful, and then sighed.
“My mom isn’t a good mom.” She looked at me with wide eyes like she might get in trouble for saying that, but I stayed quiet so she would continue. “She used to take me to parties.”
“Parties?”