Bruises

 

CHAPTER

 

            Willy took a long soak in her bathtub.  It helped her sore body but not her tormented mind.  This morning had gone very wrong from her fall off the colt to her fight with Camille.  She realized she probably overreacted when she hit Camille this morning.  Willy had been angry, so angry, in fact that she wanted to do physical harm to someone.  She’d never felt that way before. 

She glanced at the clock and realized she only had ten minutes before she needed to pick up Leland for his chemo treatment.  She dried herself off as gently as possible and then carefully slid into her jeans while trying her best to avoid looking at the nasty black and purple bruise that took up most of her thigh.  She’d managed to get her jeans buttoned when a knock sounded at her door.  When she didn’t immediately answer the caller pounded on the door.  Grinding her teeth in irritation she clutched the towel to her chest and stormed to the door.

            “Who is it?”

            “It’s Lee.”

            “Go away!”

            He didn’t bother waiting for her to answer the door.  Once he realized she was on the other side, he opened the door and barged in.  He froze once when he saw her state of undress.  His face was taut and his dark eyes roamed up and down her body.  Willy clutched the towel a little tighter to her chest. 

            “I said go away!  Not come in!”

            “I want to talk to you.” 

He lifted his eyes from where they rested at the top of her towel above her breasts.  His eyes met hers and then skittered away. 

            “Lee, please leave me alone.  I’ve got five minutes before I need to leave for your dad’s chemo treatment.”

            “Dad and Clint left over an hour ago,” he said quietly.

            Willy growled in frustration and stomped her bare foot.  That figured.  Her bad day just got worse.  She was supposed to take Papa G to his appointment.  She confirmed the time with Clint.  Something was going on.   She spun away from Lee and headed for her bedroom to finish dressing. She caught Lee’s hiss of air and glanced over her shoulder at him.

“What?”

            “Stop.  Let me look at your back.”

            Obediently, Willy paused.  She sucked in a breath as she felt Lee’s finger tips gently probe at her wounded flesh. He traced along the outer edges of what she assumed was the bruising over her shoulder and back.

 “Does your shoulder hurt?”

            “Not unless you touch it.  Damn horse!  When he tried to climb over the fence he sure pinned me good.”

            “Are you okay?” 

            “Just still angry.  Why that horse Lee?  He’s a frickin’ wild card anyway.  Now it’s going to take me weeks, weeks! To undo the damage.” 

She felt like a failure.  The horse had been so shook up that even after an hour of working with him in the round pen after the incident she hadn’t felt confident enough to climb back in the saddle.  Having neither the skill nor the confidence to get back into the saddle, she had unsaddled the colt and turned him back into a paddock.

            Goosebumps raised on her flesh at Lee’s touch.  His fingertip tracked over her shoulder and down the length of her back.  He ticked down each vertebrae.  She held her breath as he halted at the top of her jeans. 

            He hadn’t spoken in response to her tirade.  She didn’t know if he would say anything or what he was thinking at that moment.  All she knew was that she couldn’t think with his hands on her.       Befuddled, she broke free of the connection stepping away from him. 

“I’m going to get dressed.”

            When she returned she found Lee looking way too comfortable in her living room.  No matter where he was he always had a presence about him.  Willy found it impossible not to watch him. She always joked that it was his king persona.  He didn’t have to be the biggest or the strongest man in a room, but he still commanded it.  Now he appeared to be waiting on her, his haughty holier than thou expression on his handsome face.  She hated when he wore that look.  It made her feel like a teenager again caught in some mischievous act. 

“What did you come here for, Lee?”

            “We need to discuss your behavior.”

            “My behavior?”  Willy’s eyebrows rose with her voice.

            “Yes.  You frightened Camille.  I can’t have my people going around and attacking the house guests.”

            “Oh yes- I must’ve terrified her…so much that she felt the need to attack me!  Lee, she did that on purpose, and you know it!”

            “I don’t know it.”

            “She smiled.  She thought it was funny that I fell off!”

            “No-“

            “You didn’t see her face!”

            “I highly doubt she did that on purpose.  For crying out loud everyone heard her shrieking about a bug!” 

            “Riiiggght.  Did you see a bug?”

            “Honestly I wasn’t paying attention.”  He stood up from the couch and closed the distance between them.

            “We live in South Dakota.  There could’ve been a bug anywhere!  I admit I may have gotten carried away in the moment, but I’m not going to apologize to her.”

            “I’d prefer that you did apologize to her.”

            Willy had remained calm until that point, but now her blood pumped red hot.  “She’s asking me for an apology?  You came running down here like some little errand boy!  Well it’s a fool’s errand.  I should’ve known-“

            Lee laid his fingers across her mouth to silence her.  He stopped her from saying anything more. Their faces were only inches apart.  The iris’ of his eyes were so dark they looked nearly black.  She’d pushed him too far. 

            “I’m nobody’s errand boy,” he snarled. 

            “What’s it matter to you anyway Lee?  You’re not the one who got hurt.”

            She could see she struck a chord.  A muscle jumped in his locked jaw.  He looked hard at her for a moment.  She figured he was imaging shaking her. 

“Under the circumstances we’ll let this go, but behave, Will. I’m warning you.”  He stormed off, slamming the door behind him.  When he was gone, Willy breathed a sigh of relief. 

        She contemplated skipping dinner at the big house that night, but she knew Leland wouldn’t like it.  He would’ve heard about her accident and would want to see for himself that she was okay.  If she didn’t show up she could imagine that he’d send someone to fetch her.  It would be her luck that he would send Lee.  That would be worse that just going up to the house. 

She took her time reaching the big house and once inside tread quietly down the hallway.  Outside the dining room she could hear the hum of voices.  Peeking in, she saw that everyone was seated around the table except for Leland. She thought about retreating since Leland appeared to be resting instead of eating, but at that moment Clint looked up and spotted her.  He greeted her but had the decency to look a bit sheepish. 

“Where’s Papa G?” she asked as she entered and took a place next to Lee.

            “He’s resting. I’m sure he’ll be down before dinner is over.”  Maria told her with a  reassuring smile.

            Willy cast a cool glance at Lee and Camille.  Lee’s chair was tipped towards Camille.  He didn’t even look at Willy when she came into the room.  Camille wore a pale pink dress with thin spaghetti straps.  It perfectly displayed the hand size bruise on her right shoulder where Willy was sure she’d connected with the woman. 

            Maria left and momentarily swept back into the room with salads for everyone.  She spoke quickly to Clint in her mixed Spanish.  She sounded as if she was scolding him for something or another.  In all the years they’d spent together Willy had to work hard to follow Maria when she spoke Spanish.  Sometimes Willy thought she used Spanish solely for Clint so that no one else ever understood what they said between the two of them. The funny thing was Willy had never heard Clint speak a lick of Spanish.  She wondered where he’d learned it and if he understood what Maria was chastising him about.

            Willy kept quiet throughout dinner.  She wasn’t in the mood to eat and even less of a mood to socialize.  She avoided looking at Camille for fear she’d get up and punch her.  Willy wondered what expense Lee had to go through to appease the woman.  Willy couldn’t even feel guilty.  Maybe Lee would have to buy her a whole new wardrobe.

Willy had come to the big house to see Papa G.  She intended to eat her dinner and leave.  She didn’t even want to question Clint about the misunderstanding over Leland’s chemo treatment for fear that would create an argument.  She felt too sore and crabby to be around people. 

Leland made it down in time for desert.  Maria fussed over him, but he declined food asking instead for some coffee.    His skin had an ashen hue to it that Willy didn’t like.  She suspected that Maria noticed it as well and would liberally lace Leland’s coffee with brandy. 

Leland noticed Willy’s pitying glance and shook his head.  With a wink, he looked at her and said “Chin up, baby.”

Willy knew he didn’t want her pity.  She sighed and gave him a nod acknowledging her wish.  Maria returned with Leland’s coffee.  She laid a mothering hand on his forehead, checking for fever.  Leland allowed her touch and then reassured her that he was okay.   Without Maria’s tough but loving support Willy often wondered how they would’ve all turned out.  Maria had been the mother figure for all of them.  She’d been Diane’s best friend.  She’d stayed with the family because they needed her.     

            Briefly Willy let her eyes wander to Lee.  Their eyes met and for a brief moment he dropped the wall he’d placed between them.  In his dark eyes, so like his father’s, she saw the worry she felt for Leland mirrored there.  If he was able, Lee would’ve taken all of his father’s pain.

             “Camille, my dear, what happened to your shoulder?”  Leland had just noticed the bruise on Camille’s arm. 

            “I �" uh- had a slight altercation with one of your employees.”  Camille leaned forward to look around Lee and glare at Willy.

            “Did you now?”  Leland asked, feigning surprise.

            “It was an accident,” Lee covered quickly, but Willy wasn’t sure if she was protecting himself or her. 

Willy felt Leland’s gaze slide over her and immediately Willy could feel a blush creep up to warm her face.  “Willy, I heard you took quite a fall.  Are you okay?”  Fatherly concern clouded his voice. 

“Fine,” she said softly. 

“No, you’re not.”  Lee stood up.  “Show Dad your bruises.” 

Lee started pulling at her shirt.  He had her shirt half over head before she snapped to life.  She leaped to her feet and ripped away from him.

“Lee, don’t do that!  My god!  You just can’t rip my shirt off!”

            “But I was trying to show-“

            “Get away from me!”  She slapped at him.  Desperate to put space between them she backed away nearly tripping over Clint.

            “Lee!  What in the hell has gotten into you!”  Clint roared. 

            “Nothing.“  Lee paused as he looked at everyone around the table staring at him as if he was crazy.  Camille glared at him for showing some attention to Willy, and Willy hid defensively behind Clint.  “But if you’d seen what I saw-“

            “Well you shouldn’t have seen what you saw,” Willy said with a glare as she smoothed her shirt back into place.  Clint and Leland shared a sneaky glance that Willy struggled to understand.  “You need to learn how to knock.  You can’t just barge into my home and you can’t be pulling at my clothes like I’m a two year old!” 

             “Well, I can’t imagine you have any bruises.  I hardly had the chance to touch you before the men pulled us apart,” Camille spouted.

            Willy gasped at Camille’s obvious lie.  Heads around the table turned to Camille. The woman couldn’t stand not being the center of attention. 

“You think you stood a chance of hurting me?”  Willy snarled as she started to move around Lee towards Camille.  Lee instinctively put an arm out to stop her.  She grabbed Lee’s arm with both of hers hands and tried to shove his arm away from her.

            “Enough!” Leland shouted.  The look he wore on his face said he was horrified at everyone’s behavior.

            “Sorry, Papa G.”  Willy slumped down in her chair. 

 

 

Willy wouldn’t push things in front of his dad, but Lee could see the fight hadn’t gone out of her.  She’d just banked it.  Maria’s fabulous apple pie failed to soothe the tempers around the table.  Camille declined the pie all together, and Willy chopped hers into little pieces and pushed it around her plate. 

Maria retreated to the kitchen to begin cleaning up, but it was clear she wanted to avoid the drama. Clint made an excuse that he wanted to see if Maria needed anything in town tomorrow, and then he disappeared into the kitchen behind her.  He didn’t know amused, knowing glances followed him from the room.  If he had, he would’ve been embarrassed to have everyone know how much just a few minutes of Maria’s time meant to him. 

Willy pushed her plate away and said good night.  Lee watched her go.  Camille tried to distract him with a conversation when she noticed him watching Willy go.  Lee responded to her question, but his heart wasn’t in it.  He didn’t feel guilty when he changed topics and discussed getting a new bull with his father.  Camille got bored quickly and excused herself.  She told Lee that she was going to go watch a movie in the den if anyone needed her.  Lee read the pouty look on her face and while he admired the twitch of her hips as she walked away he didn’t feel inclined to chase after her.

            When she left the room father and son lulled into silence.  Brown eyes locked and held.  Leland broke the silence.  “Lee?”

            In that one word, his name, his dad demanded an answer for all that happened at the table that evening.  Lee shrugged.  When he closed his eyes he could see a perfect picture of every bruise on Willy’s back. 

“I went to Willy’s apartment after her little issue with Camille to see if I could get an apology out of her.  She’d just gotten out of the shower.  Her whole back, Dad, if you could just see it...  It’s full of bruises.  I didn’t know what to do, how to feel.  I never really thought about Willy as fragile, but seeing how much damage that horse did to her- it shook me up.”

            “So then what happened?” 

            Lee frowned at his father.  What did his father think would happen between him and Willy?  “Nothing.  I suggested she apologize to Camille for attacking her.  Willy got angry, blew up, and I left before I tried to shake her.”

            Leland paused and considered the situation. “Who was at fault today? Clint said it got ugly.”

            “I don’t know.  Camille acted like a bug landed on her skirt, started flipping it and screaming.  The colt Willy was riding set to bucking.  For a second I thought...” he paused, reliving the moment.  He wasn’t willing to share how terrified he’d been thinking Willy wouldn’t get up.  He shook his head.  “You know Willy.  The worst part is Willy wasn’t mad she got bucked off.  We both know falling off a horse happens… She’s mad it was that particular horse.  She wouldn’t admit that this colt is different, but from what Clint and Ronnie said…well, I just don’t like her riding it.”

            “So get rid of it.”

            “What?”

            “I don’t want a horse that will hurt her, and I won’t allow one around like that if there’s a chance someone else will get hurt.  Willy’s always been an exceptional judge of horseflesh.  If she’s upset there’s a reason.”

            Lee considered it for a moment. His father was focused on the horse, but he didn’t think that was the main problem.  The two women didn’t see eye to eye and never would.  Camille’s presence here wasn’t making things any better.  “I’ll make a decision on the horse, but there’s a bigger problem.”

             “I bet Camille is dying to get off the ranch.  Maybe you need a night out.  Heck, take both the girls along.  They just might loosen up and decide to get along. ”      

            Every time Lee closed his eyes he could still see the pattern of bruising down Willy’s narrow back. “I’m not sure taking Willy out dancing is a good idea.”

            “Ask her if she’s feeling up to it anyway. You could call Kirk.  He and Willy are about the same age.  I could see the two of them together.”

            Lee’s eyebrows drew down and he stared hard at his father.  He’d never heard anything so crazy.  “Kirk and Willy?” 

            “Yes.  Why not?”

            Lee couldn’t come up with a real reason.  It just seemed wrong.  He couldn’t picture the two involved.  “I think it’s a bad idea.”     

“I personally think it’s a good one,” Leland lied boldly.  “I’m not getting any younger and I’d enjoy more grandchildren.”

            “Dad!”  Lee looked worried as if he thought Leland would die tomorrow.

            “Don’t get morbid. I’m just pointing out that that you appear to be in no rush to give me grandchildren.  I’ll mention it to Camille when I go call Kirk.  It doesn’t hurt to ask Willy if she wants to go.”

            “You’ll mention what to Camille?  Grandchildren or hooking Kirk up with Willy?” 

            His dad gave him a look that said he wouldn’t answer Lee’s sarcasm.  Instead he just tottered off to do exactly what he wanted.  Lee didn’t think this was a good plan, but with his dad already setting the wheels in motion, he didn’t have time to come up with a better one.  He hoped his father was right and that taking both women would lessen the antagonism between the two of them, but he didn’t really see it happening.  Lee traipsed over to Willy’s apartment and knocked.  He’d learned his lesson about barging in previously.  He stood outside the door and waited impatiently.   

She opened the door and scowled upon finding him on the other side.  “Go away!” She started to shut the door in his face.  Lee reacted quicker, forcing his foot in the doorway.  She swung it hard enough to hurt.  Sighing, she opened the door wider. “What do you want?”

            She blinked her big blue eyes at him and waited for a response.  Her stocking foot beat an impatient tattoo on the gray imitation tile floor.  She still held her hand firmly on the door intending, no doubt, to shut it in his face if given the opportunity.  He almost smiled at her irritation. 

“Dad thought it would be a good idea if you, Camille, and I went out for some a few drinks.  Maybe shake today off a bit.” 

“I really don’t want to go anywhere with you or Camille. And certainly not with both of you.”

He hadn’t underestimated her dislike for Camille, but he had underestimated how angry she was with him.  Knowing how much she hated admitting weakness he baited her.  “I told dad you wouldn’t feel up to it.”

Her eyes narrowed as she considered that over the challenge of admitting any weakness.  She didn’t seem inclined to do anything about it. He needed to try another tactic.

“I tried to stop Dad, but I think he already called Kirk to see if he wanted to meet us.” 

Willy considered the situation.  She’d been surprised to see Lee on her doorstep.  Her heart beat a little faster at his appearance.  She dreaded another confrontation with him, but he threw her off with the orchestrated night out with him and Camille.  He had to know that she would avoid going with them at any cost, so why did he come? 

Having the opportunity to see Kirk changed things.  It had been too long since she’d seen him.  He might be a good dynamic to add to the group.  Kirk was generally amiable and friendly.  Willy considered getting his opinion on Lee and Camille to see if she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion.  Kirk had always been wise beyond his years. 

“Kirk’s really coming?”

“Yes, but don’t worry.  I can make excuses for you.”

He would like that no doubt.  Willy wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of making excuses for her.  She’d go and she’d show Lee and Camille that she didn’t care if they were there or not.  “Give me a bit to change.  What time do you want to leave?”

“Eight?”
“Perfect.”