Emmerson's Heart (15 page)

Chapter 13

****Past****

Paul             

Her and that damn horse. I had never seen the connection between a girl and a horse like
that before. Hell, he had followed her everywhere. If she was in the barn, he was right behind her. If she was outside, he was not even two steps behind. Numerous times, I had to go down to the school to pick him up as he seemed to follow her there. A few times, I think that he had actually scented her out in search for her. Just last week when Emmy had to go to the city with Mom and Dad, I swear, if I hadn’t caught Ben clear on the other side of town, he would have gone to the city searching for her, too.

And she was just as bad as that damn horse. Everywhere she had gone, she made sure that he was right there with her. The damn thing had become her eighteen hand tall puppy. Still, some nights, she had snuck down to the barn with him just to avoid the nightmares. It wasn’t often she had them anymore, but when she did, he was the one that she went to. It had cut me a little knowing
that I wasn’t the one that she had run to, but what could I say? Ben and she were a pair, gone through the same horror and pain in their lives.

It had amazed me
, though, and I do think that Ben was a blessing for her. If I had known the two were desperate for each other, I would have hauled her ass to that trailer the second that he had come. Working with Ben nearby wasn’t that bad. He did mind his business for the most part and she still worked as if he wasn’t nearby. Damn, that girl could work too. Hell, she had outworked Will and Rob constantly. That was, until Dad had a call from the school about her and her late assignments. The kid was bored. So very bored. Her tests were all perfect, but the teachers were pissed that she had rushed through the majority of her assignments just so she could work.

When he would have her in his office yelling at her, I could tell by the way that Ben acted that it had pissed him off. Just in the few times that she had raised her voice, that horse was getting protective. Something else I had never seen a horse do in all my life. But, Ben wasn’t a normal horse. He was a dog that was attached to her hip.

Lately, Emmy had been on edge a little more picking random fights with Rob and Will just to get them going. A few times, she had tried with me, but I didn’t buy into it. The poor girl was just bored and she really hadn’t made any more friends in school other than Will. The kids still teased her, but they hadn’t known why she was living with us. All she had done was chalked it up as her dad had to leave town for a job and my parents were willing to take her in so that she didn’t have to change schools yet again. Not too much of a lie, just not the whole truth.

Dinner was uptight with Pastor Don over for Sunday dinner
. Mom had put on a happy show, but Emmy wasn’t happy. Dad had scolded her about her homework again which she had done in record time when she had gotten home on Friday, but he wasn’t buying the fact that she “knew the answers” already. I still didn’t fully understand where she had gotten her smarts from, but she was a freaking smart kid.

Rob, being the jerk that he was being, had smirked at her as he got her riled up. Not the time to rile up Emmer while the pastor was there
; the pastor from the church that Mom was actively involved in. Like he had anything to talk about with school and homework. Being in his first year of college, Dad had agreed to let him take the second semester online and come home to help with the spring rush. That was when we needed him the most. Even though Emmy wasn’t admitting it, I still think that she had done a spell of his homework again.

“You just shut your damn mouth!” The voice ripped out of her so fast that it had scared me. Hell, I hadn’t even caught what he had said and apparently he hadn’t either with the look he was shooting to my mom.

“I didn’t say anything!” Sitting back, he shifted his look over to my dad, knowing that the silence was going to erupt pretty soon, as soon as the pastor left. With Don to Rob’s right and Will’s left, he chuckled a little as he moved the corn around on his plate.

“Like hell you didn’t!” Emmy growled as she pointed her fork at him
, almost knocking over her glass of milk. But Mom had caught it and moved it out of the way. Wearing her new blue tee shirt and dark jeans, a few scars had poked out of the sleeve making her draw her arm back. She was still so self-conscious about those scars. Still, she was a pretty girl and going to grow up to be a beautiful woman, scars or no scars. They were just a part of her and there wasn’t any shame into them.

Hearing something strange in the kitchen, I leaned back in my chair just enough to see the straight shot to the
door. That damn horse was coming up the steps. Nearly choking on my pork chop, I couldn’t believe it. That was a first. Normally, he would just wait at the steps for her to finish eating and come out for their nightly talk and play time. Now, he was trying to come up the steps and onto the porch.

She had gotten into more trouble with that damn horse than anything. Dad had been getting calls from the school about his loitering and she had been called out of class a few times to get him out of the gym while the large doors were open. At least, she would have two years to graduation. And then the nonsense with the horse at the school could end for my dad’s sake.

“Emmerson, that’s not appropriate at the table!” Mom gasped at Emmy’s word of hell shooting her look over to the man wearing the black long sleeved shirt and the Dockers. But as Pastor Don was a younger man, he smiled and let it go.

“He is the one that started it! He said it first!” She hissed through her teeth
, sending some corn flying over the table, some hitting Don’s chest and falling to his lap.

“I didn’t say anything. I am just here having a nice meal with our guest.” Rob’s smirk earned a heated growl
from her as she stood with the anger written all over her sweet face.

“That is bull crap and you know it! You are the one that said….”

Shit, that damn horse made it onto the porch. With the warm start of mid-April, Mom had the windows open to air out the short, stale winter. Rubbing my chin, I picked up my glass of milk and forced a deep breath. “Emmer, you might want to quiet down. Just sit down and eat.”

“You!” The heated glare shot to me instantly. “Don’t tell me to…”

“Just sit down and eat so that you and Ben can go play tag.” I eyed her, hoping like hell that she would catch my drift.

“Yeah, sit down and eat, Emmerson.” Rob snarled playfully.

Running a hand through my hair, I felt my heart jump a little when hearing something different. Looking back to the kitchen, I watched that damn fool of a horse bite at the handle on the screen door. If he figured out how to open it, Pastor Don was in for a huge treat. I had to get her to calm down and lower her damn voice. “Emmer, just….”

“No! I am so sick and tired of always being the one to blame! He started it!” Belting out had made it worse. That horse of hers was going to figure out how to get that damn screen door open any way that he could. Just like her, that damn horse was smart.

“I know, but….”

“Emmy, sit down and finish your dinner.” Rob barked at her with the coy smile behind his eyes. “It seems that someone got her period.”

Closing my eyes, I just shook my head. Not a smart thing to do. I would have to smack him upside the head later. That was not appropriate at the table, nor anywhere. He was just egging her on and it wasn’t anyone’s business if she did or not. She wasn’t any different.

“I ought to come over this table and strangle you!” Her fists were clenched as the growl came from my dad. His face was turning red with anger and I knew that when she had started her whole “womanly” thing, my dad wasn’t too happy. It had meant that his little girl wasn’t a little girl anymore. And she wasn’t with the enhancement of her body now. She had just been a late bloomer, but I
was glad that she was from what she had gone through with her father. There wouldn’t be a way that she would have gotten what she needed there. “For your information, I had it last week, you fool! If you must know!”

“Emmerson!” Dad hissed as his hard eyes shot to her. He hated it whenever the fact of her cycle had come up. And now, it had only made him drive into extreme overprotectiveness with her. Now, boys would see what a beautiful woman she was turning into and they would start chasing her.

Checking at the kitchen situation, I coughed when I saw that damn animal determined more than ever and half way through the door already. “Emmy, clamp it shut.”

“You are sitting there letting him talk like that? Paul, he started it!” and there was what I was waiting for. Now, Ben was inside the house and my mom would have a complete fit. “He’s sitting there talking about stuff that isn’t anyone’s business, Paul!”

“Maybe you need to go into the kitchen and take a deep breath.” That horse was standing in the kitchen and if I had moved, he was sure to come and join us for dinner. If she would just listen to me and go in there, she could get him out before my parents had noticed that there was a big horse in the house.

“No! It’s not fair! He started it, Paul!” Her eyes glassed over as she looked at me
, not believing that I was siding with Rob. I wasn’t. I was just saving her the ass-chewing of a life time. “It’s not fair! You three are just getting on me because I am a girl!”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Go to the kitchen and take a breath!” Damn it! I knew better. I knew that I shouldn’t have raised my voice because he was coming now. My dad straightened up at the clopping of his hooves. He heard that. “Emmy, shut the hell up. Please.”

“You’re all a bunch of jerks!” Sitting back down, my mom turned to her to say something, but her eyes had caught the rather, very large animal in the room.

Screaming, she jumped up along with Pastor Don and my dad. “There’s a horse in my house! A horse!”

Emmy tipped her head, quickly shoveling in as much food as she could into her mouth. “This is pretty good stuff here. What’s the seasoning in this…”

“There’s a horse in the house! Jackson! There’s a horse in the house!” The screams matched Ben’s as he shifted
, knocking right into her antique buffet along the wall behind me. Did I move or did I try to get him? If I had made any sudden moves, with the way that Emmy was yelling, he wasn’t going to allow a man to try to grab for his halter.

What the hell? I was starving anyway. Picking up my piece of bread, I shrugged and felt the horse’s rump slam into me as he shoved his way past me
, heading straight for her. The yelling of my parents increased as my dad had blocked my mom and Pastor Don from the intruder. Instead, Ben had nickered softly as he nudged her arm out of the way of the plate.

“I am really hungry. Is there any more pork chops?” Her eyes had stayed down on the plate instead of at the horse invading dinner as if he wasn’t there.

“You can have half of mine, Tyke.” Poking it with my fork, I passed it over to her while letting out a little laugh. Hell, if my dad had caught that, I would be in the hot ass water right with her for thinking that it was funny. But it
was
funny.

“Thanks. I am just pretty hungry.” Reaching around the horse’s nose, she pulled the chop from my fork and dropped it on her plate. The snickers from Will and Rob
had come out as Rob held up his phone, catching everything.

“There’s a horse in my house!” My mom screeched
, causing Emmerson’s head to snap up.

Jumping to the side, she let out a loud forced gasp as she shook her head. “There’s a horse in the house! When did this happen?”

“Emmerson, what the hell is he doing in the house?” The loud, thunderous anger had shot out from my dad as he held up his arms, ready to catch Ben.

“Um, probably because I’ve been bragging about Connie’s dinners to him and he wanted to see what one was like.” Her eyes shot back to me as the smile came to her face.

“Get him out of here!” Dad belted out a scream, making her jump.

She flew up from the chair fast
, startling Ben and making him jump a little and knock the pictures off the wall and bumping into the table. Glasses were spilled and some food had jumped off the plates. Sitting back in my chair, I sucked in a deep breath knowing that this was not going to be good for her. Who was I kidding? She would outsmart the old man anyway. She always did with everything.

Taking his halter, she tried to push him back, but there wasn’t much room for him to move. Giving him a shove, she had managed to walk him
backward, knocking into the rack where Mom had kept some knickknacks. Plastic fruit went everywhere, making her scream and cry out more. As Ben had reached for a plastic apple, Emmy tugged at him and tried to get him to stop. Throwing his head, he sent her falling backward into me landing right into my lap. Catching her, I slipped my hand on her waist, feeling the tightness of her body. She was a lot harder than I had thought. The work had certainly put the muscle on her and someday, hopefully never, some guy would be lucky to have her.

Chapter 14

****Present****

Lying in her bed, I held her favorite sweatshirt tight to me. It was the one that I had given her to put on just after graduation, that night at her bonfire, the only one that she had accepted. All the guys that had come home with Rob for her graduation had offered theirs, but she didn’t take them. She took mine, though. Now, it was all that I had of her that was close to me.

The soft tap on the door made my stomach clench. With the help of the Andrews’, the Johnson’s, the whole
damn town, my mom had to still make my dad’s funeral plans and the house was full of people. I just wanted to be alone with her, with my Emmy.

“Honey? Can I come in?” Becky poked her head in as the dark circles hung around her eyes. “Marc’s on the phone.”

Jumping up, I kept the sweatshirt in my hand as I practically shoved her out of my way. There were people everywhere and the screams from my mom echoed in the house. Rob was in Mr. Andrews’ hold and Will was on his knees on the floor bawling. My heart dropped so hard and so fast, the walls of my chest were closing in, and I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t make out anyone. She had died in that hospital with us all here. With me here. How could she leave me? How could she leave me!

“She’s not gone! She’s not!” Screaming, I threw my fist in the air only to bring it back
, digging it deep into my hair. “I love her! How could she leave me!? How could she leave me?” The pain was so bad that I had dropped to my knees, barely feeling the hands trying to console me. God, she couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t. I loved her too much. I loved that brat.

“Mom! Mom!” Marc’s cries came through the phone in the silent house. “Mom!”

“No, Baby. Please. No. Please come back to me.” My mom’s sobs had hit everyone, punched them as hard as they could. Even me. I clutched the sweatshirt to my chest as hard as I could, not wanting to let it go. “God, don’t. Please, don’t. I am begging.”

“Mom! Oh my god! Mom!” The cries stabbed through me as I felt her pain shredding every muscle in my body.

“Mr. Huck? I’m doctor…” The muffled cries had blocked out the soft man’s voice.

“Don’t take my baby! Don’t take my baby!” Mom fumbled for the phone
, screaming as a few of the women tried to console her, but she had fought them off. “Do you hear me? Don’t you dare take my little girl!”

A loud scream came through the phone along with a thud.

“Mrs. Huck?” The voice had come back. “Mrs. Huck? This is Doctor Miller. We have her breathing again….”

I stumbled back
, knocking into a few people. Gasping, I buried my face into the sweatshirt while letting everything go inside of me. All that I had heard was “swelling” and “down” and “breathing”. Then, it was just my mom’s demanding voice that had brought me back.

“I don’t care how I get there. I don’t care if I have to walk! I will be with her! I am not sitting here any longer!” Bodies were bumping together as she had shoved her way to me. Her fists had grabbed hold of my sweatshirt
, pulling me close to those red puffy eyes. “You go and get me a damn horse! If that is how I have to get to that hospital, I will! Go get me one now!”

“Connie, don’t be silly.” Mr. Andrews pulled his keys out of his parka pocket. “I will hitch up the team and we will take the sled. I will get you there
, hell or high water.” His tired green eyes drifted up to me. “I will have them here in a little bit. Get ready and dress warm.”

“Thank you.” Wrapping my arm around her, I walked her to her bedroom and felt my heart actually beat for once. In the two days, we had sat around while she had fought for her life. There was no chance that I wasn’t going to get my mom there to be with her. There was no way that I wasn’t going to just sit back and let Emmy go. No chance in hell. It was a huge risk that Mr. Andrews was taking and he was the one that my dad never had gotten along with
. But he was willing and he was going to no matter what anyone had said. He would get us there.

I had dug through her dresser
, getting her what I could to sustain the sleigh ride. Becky had stepped in and helped so that I could get Will and Rob taken care of, too. Meeting out on the porch, everyone helped us get settled in and covered in blankets.

Bryant Andrews smiled as he held out his hand to me. “Hey, I have everything here under control. Don’t
worry about the place, brother. Go make sure that she’s okay.”

Taking his hand, my arch
nemesis, I shook it and knew that he would. Hell, I had grown up hating that ass, but now, I wished that I hadn’t. I knew that my dad was seeing what the Andrews really were today and he would be thankful as well. They had been here since they had heard the news and helped in a way that no one else had.

Getting on the bench next to Mr. Andrews, I nodded. Reaching over, he tugged the heavy blanket over my lap. “You don’t want to catch an illness, son. I may have had it out with your father, but he was a damn good man, Paul. Damn good and we are going to miss him.”

“Thank you very much for getting us there.” Watching him snap the leather reins, he called his four Belgian horses to go. Holding that sweatshirt of hers, I closed my eyes and thanked God for at least giving us her.

The cold and the snow had blown as he had his horses plowed through the drifts. The three in the back were huddled close
, holding each other. My eyes burned as I tried to stay awake. I had to.

“You know, Emmy is a fighter. She will pull through this. You don’t have to worry about her.” Shifting on the
bench, Mr. Andrews cleared his throat as he lifted his hand up to brush away the tear. Had he been crying? No, not him. My dad, yes. Anything that happened to Emmy, he was in tears over it. But Mr. Andrews? I couldn’t believe it. “She had caused my boys some problems, but she never meant any harm. Damn glad she had put them in their place a time or two.”

“Yeah, she was good at that, wasn’t she?”

He nodded as his chin quivered a little. “We all said a prayer for her. When we heard the news, it was like part of our family had been taken from us.” Slapping my back, he let out a chuckle. “I’m going to miss the hell out of your old man. I sure do miss the days when we used to run with each other.”

My heart skipped a beat. I had never known or heard my dad say that before. As far as I had known, my dad and Mr. Andrews never got along. Not like his one friend….um…George. It was rare that my dad had spoken of George, but when they were in high school, the crap that they had done was ten times worse than what Marc and I had done.

“She is actually a spitting image of your old man actually. That’s why I think that he had taken such a liking to her. Why do you think that I had gone in after him and cleaned up his mess?”

“What mess?” Okay, now my heart was beating. This was something that I had never heard before. The clenching in my stomach told me that this was something to do with the night that my dad had nearly beat hers to death.

“You were there. You know what mess. Old Ole came looking for him over it. A man just doesn’t nearly die from falling.” His eyes shifted over to me as he had eased his horses to slow down when coming to a drift. Ole was the town sheriff, well,
was
one. The guy had to be at least a hundred and still going. But that was the year that Ole had handed in his badge and finally retired. “I told Ole that I had gone after the guy for trying his hand at my wife. I think he knew it didn’t happen like that, but I knew what your dad did and why he did it. Soon, that was what happened and nothing more was said.”

“How did you know?”

“I saw you carrying that girl back to your truck. I had seen it. Just didn’t know what it was about until my boy told me that she wasn’t at school for a touch. By the time that I had gotten there, the guy was bleeding all over so I missed my chance. The guy was a puke, anyway.”

“Does he know this?”

“Now he does.” His eyes casted up to the sky as a few tears slid out of his eyes. “I loved that man, Paul. Never stopped. He was the best friend that I ever had.”

Best friend? George was his best friend….George Andrews. Good lord, how had I not known? Why had the two ever stopped being friends?

“I was chasing your mama. I chased and chased, but she had never tired. I chased her right into his arms. I was madder than a skunk caught in a trap. I loved her so much. I still do, but I know that she was with the one that had her heart. I never hated him, Paul. I was just jealous that he loved her more than I did. That he had been the one that she had stopped running from.” His lips pressed tight together as the tears had fallen freely. “He done good to her. Real good.”

“He loved her so much.”

“That he did and never think for once that he hadn’t. That boy was downright in love with her.” Reaching over, he patted my arm. “If you got someone like that in your heart, boy, don’t ever let her go. You will never be complete. I know.”

“I planned on asking Becky to marry me already.” My hands tightened on the sweatshirt as I felt the warmth coming from it. I had even picked out a ring for her and everything. Of course, without my best friend  by my side, but she was on my mind. Now, I would just have to wait. I would wait to propose until we had gotten through this Christmas.

“If I were you, son, I wouldn’t miss the chance. I would take it when you can. Living life thinking of another only sets you up for years of misery.” Nodding, he approached the hill, their hill. His hands tightened on the reins as he pulled his team to a halt. Taking my hand, he bowed his head and closed his eyes tightly. Squeezing a little, I felt my heart feeling his prayer. Then, he lifted his head and looked at me. “If there was another way around, I would take it.”

Forcing a deep breath, I felt the nausea crawling up my throat. I hadn’t wanted to see the place that had ended my father’s life and tried like hell to take Emmy’s, but he was right. There was no other way into the city. I
just hoped that my mom would stay sleeping along with my brothers.

Urging his team on, they had plowed faithfully through the snow huffing and puffing as they had gone on. Once we would reach the city limits, I knew that he would have a huge fine waiting for him, but he hadn’t cared. He was getting us to Emmy no matter what. I would just sit everyone down
afterward and talk to them about paying it for him. It wasn’t like we couldn’t afford to. We had to.

Just as we had come to the corner where the flimsy guard railing had been broken apart and the few trees had been snapped off, the cry came from the back out of my mom. Turning around, I reached out for her as her eyes had stayed on the very spot where they had gone off the road.

“Connie, love? Would you like to stop?” Mr. Andrews had asked softly as he gave a gentle tug on the reins.

“I can’t. I can’t. I’m sorry. I just can’t. Not yet.” She leaned forward
, having Rob and Will hold her while letting their own tears go. “My baby is in the hospital. I have to get to her, George. Please.”

“You have your family here. They would go with you.”

Nodding, she wrapped her arms around herself, letting the cries take over. Mr. Andrews had held his horses there and got out to help her out. She slipped her hand inside of his, making him go with. I stayed back with the team to hold them there for him. The least that I could do was let him say goodbye to his friend.

Watching them, I hugged her shirt to me
, letting it soak the tears. He stood there wrapping his arms around them, crying as they had looked down at the site that had claimed his life and almost hers. When they had come back, he helped Mom back into the seat and dried his eyes.

“If you would like to go and…” His voice cracked
, making me just about lose it again.

“I seen it enough every time that she would drive home from school.” Tipping my head, I bit my lip as hard as I could.

“Where at?” my mom’s weak and frail voice came out.

“In my dreams,
Mama.” After he had climbed back in, I passed him the reins and let him push on his team.

It wasn’t long until we had arrived into the city that was pretty much almost quiet from the snowstorm. Just as I had figured, three cop cars had stood by waiting for us. He pulled them to a stop and straightened his back. “I am taking these people to be with their daughter who had been in that accident. You won’t stop me.”

“Sir, we are here to take you in.” The youngest one had tipped his head and held out his hand. “We will escort you now.”

“Very well.” Waiting, he held his composure as they all had gotten into their cars and led us to the hospital. It had taken us almost six hours and the horses were exhausted, but we had made it. And waiting there in the empty blockaded parking lot was a horse trailer and a flatbed semi to take him back when they had cleared the roads. A family from the other side of the city had heard that we had been coming and had offered to help. They had brought food and water for the horses and had stepped in to take care of them. It had only made
Mom cry harder. If that woman had anymore tears, I would be surprised.

Walking into the waiting room, Marc stood looking like complete crap and had started to turn ripe. The whole
family room had smelled. Empty cups of coffee littered the table and a pillow and blanket had been just lying on the couch. His dark shaggy hair was a mess and his eyes had dark circles around them. Going straight to Mom, he hugged her while crying into her shoulder.