Walker Revenge (The Walker Family Series Book 5) (10 page)

Phillip moved in behind her and looked down
at him. “He’s precious, Chelsea. Makes me wish I’d have had
one.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“My choice in women that I married was never
good.”

“You still have time.”

He chuckled quietly. “Only got eyes on one
woman, and I find a way to seem like the idiot I have a reputation
for being, whenever she’s around.” Backing up, he ran his hand over
the rim of his hat. “Listen, I know you’re not happy here, but you
need to stay out here.”

“I’ll be fine at home. I don’t…”

“Your house was broken into last night.”

Chelsea felt the tightness in her chest, and
her breath grew thick in her lungs. Gently, she sat down on the bed
next to Lucas, who continued to sleep soundly.

“Dominic?”

Patrick shook his head. “Still have eyes on
him in Texas, and he’s right where he’s supposed to be.”

“Who’s doing this?”

“I don’t know. We took the truck in, and
we’re trying to identify who was driving it.”

She hated being in such a vulnerable
position. Feeling hunted was a horrible feeling. Chelsea shifted
her eyes up to look at Phillip. “I don’t want anything to happen to
the Walkers. They don’t deserve to have anything happen to them
because of me. I need to find somewhere else for Lucas and me. If
this is someone who knows me, they’ll look for me with my parents
and my sister. I don’t want them hurt either.”

“The safest place for you is here. No one is
going to let anyone near you.”

“Why would they do this for me?”

“You’re worth it, Chels. This family has a
high tolerance for pain if you will. Nothing will break them.”

She knew that was true. The Walkers never
let anything break them. Not family feuds. Not greedy land
grabbers. Not possessive ex-cops. They were forgiving and decent
people.

“I’ll stay,” she said softly. “I’ll take
care of Russ, and I’ll stay.”

Phillip smiled. “Good. He needs you, and you
need them. It’s as if it were fate.”

“Someone’s sick idea of fate.”

He nodded. “If you can think of any reason
someone wants in your house, you let me know. I walked through, and
I don’t see anything out of place from when we were there.”

“I feel violated.”

“That might be all they were going for. But
you think about it, and you stay here. Everett and the boys know
what’s going on, and I’ve even talked to Byron Walker to see if he
knows anything. You know, if there’s something bad going down
around here, he’s usually got a hand in it.”

She couldn’t help but let a little laugh
slip. Byron Walker was known for being mischievous and backhanded.
“He knew nothing?”

“Nope, but he’s keeping his ears open
too.”

“Thank you,” she said reaching up and
touching his arm. “You have no idea how much all this means to
me.”

“Just doing my job.” He turned and walked
toward the door before turning back. “Ya, know, if you ever need an
extra hand with him, you might ask Lydia Morgan. She’s fantastic
with kids,” he said and then walked out the door.

Chelsea smiled as she thought of what he’d
said.
Only ever had eyes on one woman, and I find a way to seem
like the idiot I have a reputation for being, whenever she’s
around.
To anyone it would have to be completely obvious who
he’d been talking about. The only one that was that oblivious, she
thought, was Lydia.

Maybe she could talk to her about him. After
all, he seemed to be very vested in keeping her safe. Perhaps it
was the least she could do for him.

Lucas stirred next to her, and she looked
down at him. He was her miracle, and she loved him more than she
ever could have imagined she’d love anyone.

Feeling the strain of the day, she laid down
next to him and closed her eyes. She, too, could use a little
refreshing nap.

~*~

Russell woke in his own room, but it had
taken him a moment even to realize where he was. He needed to focus
on getting stronger because those pain meds weren’t worth the
hangover.

He sat up and managed to scoot himself into
a position where he was comfortable on the bed. His left arm was
sore, and he took the sling off of it and tried to move it.

It hurt like a bitch, but he’d focus on
getting it back to normal. That would help him when they let him
walk. He knew he’d have to use crutches for a while, so he might as
well get that upper body strong.

The door to his room opened, and he looked
up assuming he'd see his mother or Chelsea walk through. He hoped
for Chelsea. He owed her an apology.

Instead, a woman in scrubs with little
penguins walked into the room with a glass of water and a little
cup of pills.

“Hello, Russell. I’m Karen. I’m here to
check up on you,” she said as she handed him the glass and the
pills.

“Where’s Chelsea?”

“She’s only a student. She’s here to help
you when you don’t have a nurse here. I’m here to oversee your care
and supervise her.”

He looked at his hand. “What are these.”

“Simply some Tylenol.”

“Good. I don’t want that other stuff. I
don’t like them.”

She nodded. “Yes, but it keeps your pain
down.”

“I’m fine with pain. I’d rather get over
this and get back on my feet.”

She smiled in a way that told him she heard
that all the time, but he truly meant it. He hated the thought of
his brothers picking up his slack. There was no reason he couldn’t
do some of his own work around the ranch. He’d talk to them about
it. For a bit, he’d need to do things closer to the house and
easier for him to get to in his wheelchair, but he could do
something.

Never did he think he’d be begging for
chores, but he felt as though not only his body was suffering but
so was his mind.

Karen turned toward the dresser and opened a
bag he’d never seen before. She took out a blood pressure cuff and
a stethoscope and walked back to him.

“Let’s see how you’re doing.” She put the
cuff on his arm and adjusted it.

“So Chelsea is still here? She’s still going
to work with me?”

“Uh-huh,” she said as she put the pieces of
the stethoscope in her ears.

He waited until she’d pumped up the cuff,
let the air out, and removed the stethoscope from her ears before
he spoke again. “She didn’t quit?”

“Well, I’ve only been here a few hours. I
talked to her, and she didn’t mention it.”

“So she’s still in the house?”

Karen took the cuff from his arm and placed
both items back in her bag. “She was feeding her son when I saw her
last. It didn’t look as if she were going anywhere.”

He let the tension in his shoulders ease
when she said it.

“What do you say to getting bathed?” she
asked and the tension formed again. “The shower stool is in place.
I’ll get some wrap for your incision and we’ll get you cleaned
up.”

He only nodded, but the thought that this
would normally be part of Chelsea’s job filled him with mixed
emotions. When his heart rate kicked up, he realized that the
excited emotion had won over.

Russell knew he was a horrible patient. His
mother had told him that most of his life. Knowing that his
accusation had hurt Chelsea, he decided he’d work on being a little
more cordial. After all, if he weren't, he’d never get out of that
bed on his own and he’d have Karen giving him a shower for the rest
of his life.

Chapter
Eleven

As a man, Russell could easily fantasize
about a woman giving him a shower, and he’d been known to. But he
was fairly sure that having Karen shower him might have ruined all
his fantasies.

Before Karen had left, she’d gotten him
dressed, helped him into his wheelchair, and taken him out to the
kitchen where his mother was cooking dinner.

“You look fresh,” his mother said as Karen
let herself out.

“I feel better. But I’ll admit, I’ll be
happier when I can shower myself,” he chuckled and reached up onto
the counter to take an apple from a bowl.

He set the apple in his lap and managed
around the island with one hand.

“Who will be eating with us?” he asked as he
took a bite of the apple.

“Dad, Gerald, and Ben are finishing up that
shed out on the far west field. So I’m going to take this out to
them. With Gia back, Dane is staying in town with her.”

“One less mouth for you to feed.”

She shrugged. “I’m happy when my boys move
on, but I miss having them at my dinner table.”

Of course, she hadn’t mentioned the names
he’d been hoping for, yet she’d said she was leaving to take dinner
out to the others. She was setting him up to ask, so he might as
well take her bait.

“Where are Chelsea and Lucas?”

She didn’t answer right away and continued
putting together the meal she’d been working on.

Finally, she lifted her eyes to him, and he
could see they were pained and a bit misty. “Lucas wanted to go see
the chickens again. She put him in the old wagon in the garage
hoping to keep him from the mud.”

“So they’re still here.”

His mother set the spoon she’d been using
down on the counter and braced her hands on either side of the bowl
in which she’d been stirring.

This was a stance he’d grown accustomed to
in his teenage years, but he’d have to admit, he hadn’t seen it in
a very long time. He was about to get his ass chewed, and he was a
fully grown man.

“I’m very surprised you’re even asking about
her, the way you dismissed her and all.”

“I was wrong,” he said as sympathetically as
he could, trying to divert the storm about to come.

“Damn straight you were. You had no right to
accuse her of being the one who drove you off the road.”

“I didn’t say that.” He held up a hand in
protest.

When she turned, he saw the fire in his
mother’s eyes, and he knew she’d understood the context just
fine—correct words or not.

“You know that’s what you were asking her.
How could you possibly think she had anything to do with what
happened to you?”

“All of this seems to have a strange
underlying coincidence, which doesn’t have anything to do with me,
but has a whole lot to do with her.”

He could see his mother’s jaw tense. “That
may be the case, but just coincidence.” Her eyes went sympathetic.
“Someone is messing with her. I suppose if they knew you were an
important part of her life, then…”

“But I wasn’t. She left me and moved on. I
haven’t been a part of her life in years, Mom. Why would someone
hurt me because of our past when we weren’t connected now?”

Her shoulders dropped. “I don’t know, honey.
I just don’t want to see her hurt, or that sweet baby. I know she
hurt you—deeply—but I can’t turn her away.”

Russell let out a breath. “I don’t want her
to go either. I’ll try to be a better patient and stay calm.”

“When it’s over, and you’re back on your
feet, then you two can decide your own path.”

With his right leg, he pushed the chair
toward her and looked up at her. “Mom, I’ll do this for her,
because I once cared for her. But there is no path for us. I can’t
trust her with my heart, no matter what I might have felt.”

He swore he saw a tear in her eye, but it
vanished as she nodded and went back to stirring the pot. There was
more she wanted to say, and he knew that. But she refrained.

Russell backed himself up and maneuvered his
way to the table as his mother packed up the dinner she’d made for
his father and brothers.

Before she headed out, she informed him that
there were three places set for him, Chelsea, and Lucas. She’d be
eating with the others.

A few moments later, Chelsea and Lucas
walked into the kitchen. Lucas ran straight to the back door and
pressed his nose to the glass.

Chelsea chuckled. “He’s obsessed with the
chickens and the horses. Eric took him for a short ride today,” she
said, as if only making small talk.

“It’s a perfect place for a little boy.”

She nodded as she picked up the plates his
mother had left for them. She placed one in front of Russell and
another next to him, then went back for the other.

“C’mon, Lucas. Mrs. Walker made you
spaghetti.”

“Yum,” he called out, and hurried to her. As
he approached the table, he stopped and looked up at Russell. There
was no crying or laughing, no talking or pointing, he only
stared.

Russell smiled, but Lucas didn’t return
it.

“I don’t think he likes me,” he said as
Chelsea picked Lucas up and set him on her lap.

“He just doesn’t know you yet, and your face
is still bruised,” she assured him as she kissed her son’s head and
began to work around him to get his food ready for him.

“If you’re going to be staying, looks like
we need to get him a highchair.”

She lifted her head and met his eye with a
hesitant stare. “We’re staying.”

Russell nodded. “You should stay. I was
wrong to talk to you like I did earlier.”

Chelsea gave Lucas a breadstick, and he bit
into it while she kept a steely eye on Russell. “You’re admitting
you were wrong? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you…”

“Stop,” he said with a wince. “I know I
don’t admit to being wrong—ever. But I was. You have no reason to
have hurt me physically.”

“Because I already hurt you,
emotionally?”

“Did you want to fight?” he asked feeling
the tension between them building.

Chelsea shook her head and then ran a hand
over Lucas’s hair. “No. I don’t want to fight. I’m grateful for
what your family is doing for us. Being here to help you recover is
the only thing I can do to repay them for their generosity.” She
looked down at the plate just to her side. She picked up her fork
and twirled the noodles on it, then set it down. “Someone broke
into my house after Phillip and I were there last.”