Blind Fury (12 page)

“Cougar?” The sheriff's eyes narrowed, and he stared intently into Ryan's face. “You sure about that, boy?”

Ryan just glared at him, so Wakara tried. “Did you see the cougar, Ry?”

Finally, he shook his head. “No. But it was there! The bushes kept rattling, and I heard it breathe—
Pouf
—like he was blowin' his nose.”

Sheriff Lassen cleared his throat, and Kara's muscles relaxed. “That wasn't a cougar, Ry. It must have been a deer.”

Someone laughed, and Kara realized Colin was standing right behind her. “Hey, Sport, are you telling me you spent all this time up a tree?”

Ryan scowled. “It's not funny. It could have been the cougar Dennis and Davie saw. Then it started raining hard, so I stayed there until it stopped, then I started walking 'til I found them.” He pointed to the twins, who were sitting on the porch steps with their dad.

They heard one blast of a siren as the ambulance, lights flashing, pulled into the yard. Ryan's eyes grew wide. “Do I get to ride in that?”

“Sure do.” The sheriff winked at Wakara again, stood up, and went to greet the paramedics.

“I don't think that's necessary,” she called after him, but Colin lay a hand on her shoulder.

“He needs to be examined anyway. Might as well let him go with them.”

Ryan started to cry again as the medics examined his head and neck, then strapped him to a stretcher. “The cut is small,” one of them told Wakara, “but there's a good-sized bruise on his temple. Besides that, he's pretty cold and wet. I think we'd better take him in.”

When they loaded him into the ambulance, Kara realized she was shaking. He could have a concussion, hypothermia, or something else they might have missed.

She started to follow Ryan to the ambulance, then remembered Anne. “Please wait a second,” she called out to the medics, then turned to Colin. “We need to call Anne and let her know we found him.”

“I already called.” Mrs. Carlson slipped a warm paper bag into Colin's hands. “Chocolate chip cookies. If I know boys, he'll be hungry by the time they're done with him.

“And don't worry about the pony. We'll give him a bed for the night, and the boys can bring him home in the morning.” She gestured toward Mr. Carlson and the twins, who were now standing by the patrol car talking with one of the deputies.

“Thanks, Mrs. Carlson, for everything.” Kara gave the woman a hug, then hurried toward the ambulance. Colin was already in the car.

“H
E
'
S
DOING
FINE
,
CONSIDERING
,” the doctor said. “None of the cuts need stitching, but he does have some bruises and a slight concussion.” He studied the chart. “No frostbite or hypothermia. Good thing he got out of the tree and started walking when he did.” He lowered the chart and looked seriously at both of them. “I want you to know, I chewed him out about not wearing a helmet. If you could see some of the riding accident cases we get in here . . .”

Kara nodded. “I know. It won't happen again.” For some reason she felt guilty, as if she had been the one to let him ride without a helmet. But Ryan had always worn a helmet, even when he was little and she or Greg would lead him on one of the older horses up and down the drive.

“. . . Watch him for a few more hours,” the doctor was saying, “then you can let him sleep.”

She nodded and slumped in the chair next to Colin. “If I had been there, he would never have taken Star without permission,” she told him while they waited for the nurse to bring Ryan out.

Colin looked amused. “What makes you think that? He got past Anne, didn't he?”

“I guess. But Anne can't move very fast with that leg, and Ryan's a handful. I shouldn't have expected her to watch him alone.”

Colin turned in his chair and studied her face. “You can't be serious!” He shook his head. “Wakara, none of this is your fault, and if you give Ryan even a hint that you think it is, you won't be doing him any favors. I was his age once, and I know.”

He dropped his gaze, but she continued to stare at him.
Where is this coming from
? she wondered.

He must have sensed her confusion because he continued, “My mom felt so guilty about me not having a father that she let me get away with stuff most kids would have been punished for. And look where it got me.” His eyes locked on hers again, and his voice sounded so urgent. “Mom handled her guilt by getting drunk. I handled my freedom by doing stuff that could have killed me or destroyed someone else's life. When I got caught, I always blamed it on someone or something else. If it weren't for that youth camp and finding Jesus, I'd be in prison by now, or maybe even dead.”

She looked down at her lap as tears flooded her eyes. She got the point, but what was she supposed to do about it? “What should I do?” she asked out loud. “We can't reach Dad until Mark flies the radio in on Monday. I can ground Ry from riding Star, but I don't think he wants to ride anyway. He keeps trying to blame all of this on the pony.”

Colin nodded as if to say, “See what I mean?”

She did see, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt like spanking Ryan. She wouldn't, of course, but Colin was right. Her little brother wasn't going to get away with this one.

An aide met them in the hall with Ryan, who was dressed in a pair of hospital pajamas, riding in a wheelchair. He clutched a plastic bag of wet clothes on his lap and refused to look at her.

Kara gritted her teeth.
Oh boy
, she thought,
you just wait until Dad gets home
! She and Greg had always laughed at that phrase, probably because their mom never used it. Dad's discipline was tough, but if he wasn't there, Mom usually took care of it right away.

Okay, Mom, so what should I do
?

She rode in the back with Ryan on the way home, while Colin drove slowly through town. Streetlights lit up the wet blacktop as they drove. They stopped at two signals before turning onto the highway that led to the ranch. Traffic was light. Saturday night was no big deal here. The most Lariat had to offer was dancing at Rodeo City or bowling in a bowling league. Kara sighed. She would rather be throwing gutter balls at the bowling alley than dealing with this sullen, miserable little boy.

“Give it up, Ry,” she told him when he started complaining again about all the things Star had done wrong. “No one is responsible for this mess but you.”

He started to cry again, but she just handed him a tissue and went on. “You broke every riding rule there is, AND,” she stopped him when he started to interrupt, “you scared everyone to death! Especially Anne. Why did you sneak away like that?”

He looked up at her, a puzzled expression on his tear-streaked face. “You know. If I'd told Anne, she would have said wait 'til you get back, and I didn't want to wait. Besides,” his chin jutted out like it always did when he was being stubborn, “after Star runned away the first time, Colin said the best thing I could do was get back on the horse.” He lowered his voice to mimic Colin, and Wakara almost laughed out loud.

Colin suddenly had a coughing fit, and she thought he was going to run the car off the road.

She tried to make her face look as stern as Mom's always had when Ryan pulled one of his stunts, but it was hard. “Not alone, Ryan. You know that. You never, ever ride alone until you are older and pass all the basic tests. I don't even ride alone very often.”

“Colin does.”

Kara sighed. “Colin is almost a man. Like it or not, you are still a little boy. And you'd better have something to say to Anne the minute we get home.”

He frowned. “What?”

She wanted to shake him. “An apology, that's what. Then you go to your room and stay there until I can get ahold of Dad. Got it?”

“Dad?” Ryan's shoulders drooped, and the defiance went out of him like a popped balloon.

They pulled into the drive, and Colin stopped in front of the house. Anne had the front door open before they even climbed out of the car.

“He's fine,” Kara called up to the porch.

Ryan broke away from Kara and ran into Anne's arms. “I'm sorry, Anne. I won't do it again, I promise,” Kara heard him sob as she climbed the three front steps. She noticed Anne's color was better, and she looked more relaxed than when Kara and Colin had left her.
No wonder
, Kara thought,
she knows Ry is safe now
.

Ryan went to his room without complaint. Anne said little, but fixed him a tray with chicken noodle soup and a slice of corn bread from the night before.

“Thanks,” Kara said. “I'll take it up. He said he wasn't hungry, but he needs to eat something.”

“There is more in the kitchen,” Anne said. “You and Colin must also eat.” She turned away, and Kara noticed she was moving even slower than usual.

“Are you all right, Anne?”

“I am fine.”

But Kara could tell by her tone that it wasn't true. Then it hit her. Anne must be feeling guilty, just as she had. But neither of them could have known Ryan would pull a stunt like that. The only way to stop him would have been to watch him constantly, and he was too old for that.

She would talk to Anne, she decided as she carried the tray up to Ryan's room. He was the one who had disobeyed, and what Colin had said about not allowing her guilty feelings to excuse Ryan applied to Anne just as well as it did to her.

R
YAN
'
S
COUGHING
WOKE
W
AKARA
at 6
A
.
M
. She pushed back the covers, grabbed a pair of sweatpants and her flannel shirt, and went to check on him. Colin met her in the hall. He was barefoot, but had on jeans and a white T-shirt. His eyes were bloodshot, and his blond hair stood up at odd angles all over his head. Except for the stubble of beard on his cheeks and chin, he looked like a sleepy four-year-old as he stood there rubbing his eyes with his fists. She would have laughed, except she knew she looked just as bleary-eyed.

“Good morning.” Colin yawned hugely and nodded toward the door. “He's been coughing like that for half an hour. I was just going down to wake Anne and see if there was something she could give him.”

“Go ahead. I heard water running in the kitchen, so I think she's already up.” Kara stifled a yawn. “There's cough syrup in the medicine chest downstairs.”

Ryan coughed again, a deep, rattling sound. She tiptoed into the room. He was still asleep, lying on his side, legs drawn up and hands folded under his head on top of the pillow. When he coughed, his whole face screwed up in
one gigantic frown, then relaxed as he settled back into his dreams.

His skin looked flushed. The bruise on his temple had deepened to a purple-black blotch as big as a silver dollar, but the cuts on his chin and cheek were already scabbed over. She felt his forehead.
No need for a thermometer
, she thought; he obviously had a fever.

He moaned and rolled over just as Colin entered the room. “How is he?”

“I think he has bronchitis again. He's running a fever, but I don't think it's too high.”

Colin stretched and ran a hand through his hair. “Anne's making one of her special teas. She wants me to bring him downstairs so she can treat him.” He looked at her. “That okay with you?”

Kara nodded. “Sure.”

“Good.” Colin sat on the edge of the bed and began tugging on socks and boots. “She's already got a bed made up on the sofa in the family room.”

Ryan moaned and opened his eyes when Colin picked him up to carry him downstairs. “My head hurts!”

“No doubt.” Kara checked his pupils. They looked normal. She kissed his forehead. “Go on downstairs with Colin. Anne's got something to make you feel better, and I'll be down in a few minutes, okay?”