All The King's Horses: A Tale Of Eternal Love (8 page)

“Nope, I reckon I watched me a few mighty fine westerns in me time, Pardner.”

“Go on,” he urged, turning briefly to look at her again, “do John Wayne for me.”

Christy pulled her best John Wayne face. “Well go fer yer gun, Pilgrim.”

He laughed. “I don’t know about the facial expression you had going on there, but you had the voice nearly perfect. It was almost as good as your Jimmy Cagney.”

“Your turn,” she said breezily.

He shook his head vigorously. “I’ve never been any good at impersonations. I always make a mess of them and then there’s this big silence from everyone afterwards.’

“I’m sure you can manage one.”

“Well…I did do a pretty mean Mickey Mouse when I was a kid.”

“Mickey Mouse…you’re kidding me?” She pulled a face. “You mean you actually pretended to be the rodent with the big ears and squeaky voice?”

“Come on, Christy,” he said a little nervously, “you’re starting to give me a complex here.”

“So was this whole Mickey Mouse infatuation before or after your voice broke?”

“I never said I was infatuated with him,” Kent said defensively. “And of course it was before my voice broke.”

“Go on then.”

“Go on…what?”

“Do your Mickey Mouse thing.”

Kent was starting to feel uncomfortable. “I don’t do it now,” he insisted. “It was just a thing I did when I was a kid.”

“Aw, come on, do it for me.”

“No, I’m not going to make a fool of myself in front of you.”

“Please, I did my impersonations for you. Come on, I promise I won’t laugh.”

“I won’t be any good at it anymore it was a long time ago.”

“Do it for me.” Her face was all appeal, and so he caved in.

“Alright, but I warn you it probably won’t be any good.” He settled himself into his seat and tried to get in character. “Come on, Pluto Boy,” he said, trying to make his voice sound squeaky but failing miserably, “let’s go home.”

“You’re right,” she said, stony-faced, “that wasn’t very good. You sounded like Mickey on steroids.”

“Aw, I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into it,” he answered, a touch embarrassed by the whole thing.“There was no way I could pull it off at my age.”

“You’d better leave the impersonations to me in the future,” she said matter-of-factly. “You obviously have no talent for it whatsoever.”

He sighed. “You really know how to put the knife in don’t you?”

“Think of it as constructive criticism.”

“Constructive criticism…don’t you mean destructive criticism?”

“Have it your way. But with your lack of talent I think it might be safest to put an end to your acting ambitions here and now.” She huffed on her fingernails and rubbed them on her blouse. “Leave it to the professionals from now on.”

“Oh, you wait,” he said with determination, “I’ll get you back. Even if it takes me until the end of the year I’ll get you back.”

CHAPTER TEN

Christy opened her eyes and yawned. The sunlight was already streaming through the chink in her bedroom curtains. That meant she had slept in much later than usual. Stretching her body out full length she yawned again then lay staring up at the ceiling thinking of the wonderful evening she had spent with Kent. The production had been superb, and Kent had been very attentive to her right throughout. And then their playful banter on the drive down and on the way home had been delightful. But what had really been the highlight had been the kiss he had given her when he dropped her off at her place afterwards. If that hadn’t been making his intentions known then she didn’t know what was. It wasn’t just a goodnight kiss, he had put everything into it, and it had been enough to set her alight. She was a woman in love, and it had put that much needed spark into her that had been missing for so long.

A text message came in. It was from Kent, telling her how much he had enjoyed her company last night and that he was counting off the minutes until they could be together again.

The feeling was mutual; she only wished that she were with him right now in his little shack out in the countryside.

The whole thing had been so fairytale that she had almost forgotten about the dark cloud that hung heavily over the two of them. It threatened to destroy everything that had built up between them these past few weeks. She knew she should have told him by now, but if she had then last night probably wouldn’t have happened, and she wouldn’t have wanted to miss that for the world. If she was going to die she wanted to go out on a high note.

Swinging herself out of bed she walked over to the windows and drew the curtains. It was a gloriously sunny spring day and Christy was determined not to let depression get the better of her. She would tell him, and soon, but she needed just a little more time.

“So did the two of you have a good time last night?” Jack asked, when she came down for breakfast.

“The best time I’ve had in years,” she said dreamily.

“I take it you didn’t tell him then?”

She frowned. “No, I didn’t tell him. But I will.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

“Please don’t go on about it, Daddy.”

“Somebody has to. That young man is laboring under a false illusion without even knowing it. If I don’t stir you up into telling him you won’t get around to it.”

“Can’t you just be pleased I’ve found a bit of happiness and let it go at that?”

His expression softened. “Of course I’m happy for you. And he’s a likeable young feller. But he has no idea what’s waiting in store for him, and that’s just inexcusable on your part.”

She stared into her coffee cup. “I don’t need a lecture. I know it’s wrong. But I’m in love with him.”

“All the more reason to tell him, and if he feels the same way about you then he’s likely to stick with you. But he needs to be filled in on what’s going on so he can get his head around it.”

“I don’t know how to broach it with him,” she said morosely. “I don’t know if I can just come out with it.”

Jack pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down. “You need to phone him and tell him you need to speak to him about a very serious matter, a matter that you’re only prepared to discuss face to face.” He sprinkled some salt on his poached eggs. “That’ll pre-warn him that something not so good is about to come to light. Sort of takes the edge off the shock of it all.”

“I’ve already done that, but when I went to see him about it I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.”

“I know it’s hard for you, but you really must tell him. If it was him who had cancer and you the healthy one wouldn’t you want to know?”

She nodded.

“And would you break up with him over it?”

“No.”

“And I don’t think he will either. He seemed to me to be in well over his head already. I don’t think he’s the sort to turn back.” Jack reached across the table and took her delicate hand in his big rough one. “Get this out of the way and then you can move on with the relationship. If you don’t, it’ll only eat away at you until you’ve either told him or he finds out.” He shook his head gravely. “And if he finds out on his own there’s no telling how he’ll react.”

She dragged her handbag across the table and digging around in it pulled out her phone. She sat looking fearfully at it for a moment before tapping out the number. “Kent, I’ve got to see you urgently,” she said shakily. “There’s something I haven’t told you that you have a right to know. I’m afraid it’s going to come as rather a shock so I want to see you in person when I tell you.”

There was silence at the end of the line for a moment. “You’re not married are you?”

“No. Look, I don’t want to talk about it on the phone so is it alright if I come around and see you now?”

“Sure.”

“I’m proud of you, Sweetheart,” Jack said, as she slipped the phone back into her handbag. “I know that wasn’t easy for you.”

She looked into his clear blue eyes. “I’m scared, Daddy. I’m scared I’m going to lose him.”

“I’m sure you won’t. But you’re doing the right thing and that’s what’s most important.”

“Right for whom?” she asked sadly.

“For both of you.”

She thought about that as she slowly drove around to Kent’s. Was it right for both of them? She couldn’t deny it was right for him, but was it right for her? If Kent didn’t react the way her father suggested he would then she wasn’t going to come out of this feeling that it was all for the best.

The driveway to Kent’s shack came into sight and her stomach somersaulted. As she turned onto it and fearfully bumped her car through the ruts and potholes she fought the impulse to turn the car around and flee. But something drove her on, and when she pulled up outside the shack and opened the car door a sense of total despair enveloped her. She was moments away from telling him what she had so carefully kept hidden.

Walking shakily to the door she placed her hand on the doorknob and hesitated. She didn’t have to go in. She could run back to the car and drive away. He would believe her if she told him later that she had felt sick and needed to go home. But she felt her hand turning the knob, and the door opening, and there he was, standing by the kitchen sink with a grim look on his face.

“I’m not sure I’m going to want to hear this,” he said heavily, his breathing coming faster than usual.

Christy walked over to the table and sat down. “I don’t really want to be telling you,” she replied sadly. “But you have a right to know.”

Moving towards her he pulled out a chair and seated himself across from her. “You’d best get on with it then.”

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “That morning you pulled me out of the water…I wasn’t swimming.”

He looked at her blankly. “What were you doing?”

She averted her eyes. She didn’t want to see his reaction when she told him. “I was trying to take my life, and I would have succeeded if you hadn’t turned up when you did.”

The room went silent, except for a cow that bellowed somewhere out on the farm, and the clock that ticked loudly on the wall.

Christy raised her eyes. He was staring intently at the tabletop between his two hands. “I’m so sorry, Kent. I didn’t mean to put anybody through that. I just wasn’t thinking clearly.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Why?’ he asked simply.

“I know this is going to come as a huge shock to you but there’s no way I can break it gently, so I’ll just come out with it.” The words had tumbled out quickly, and so she paused to take in a breath. “I have cancer, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.”

As his eyes widened the blood drained rapidly from his face, and just when Christy thought he was frozen to the spot he suddenly placed his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.

“I am on drugs for it but my prognosis isn’t very good. That morning I was out for a jog and feeling very down. I went down to the water’s edge and it looked so calm and inviting, and I realized I didn’t want to live to that point where I’d be in constant pain, so I decided to end it.” She reached across the table to touch his arm but he flinched. “It was a foolish spur of the moment thing,’ she confessed, “I’m glad that you saved me.”

He rescued his face from his hands. “I thought it was strange that you were swimming in shorts and a t-shirt.” He thumped his fist down on the table making her jump. “You should have told me all this before I fell in love with you.”

Her heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t told her he was in love with her. She had hoped he would be in time but hadn’t dared expect it. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

“Sorry isn’t much use to me,” he snapped angrily, the muscles in his jaw visibly tightening.

“I didn’t want you to stop seeing me,” she confessed. “I fell for you that day I returned your shirt to you. It wasn’t long before I was in love with you.” A solitary tear slipped from her cheek and landed on the table. “I tried to tell you the first time I came to visit you here, but you were so excited about your plans for the future I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

He fixed her with a sour look. “I feel

as if I’ve been set up. I pull this woman from the sea that I think is drowning, she gets me to fall in love with her only to tell me later that she was trying to drown herself. And if that’s not enough she’s dying from some type of cancer I’ve never even heard of before.”

Christy’s head drooped in shame. Her father had been right she should have told Kent straight away. Now he was angry with her and judging by the dark look on his face at this moment he was very angry. “Do you want me to leave?” she asked fearfully.

“What would that achieve?” He lightly ran his hand over the stubble on his cheek. “You’d better fill me in on this cancer. I need to know what it is I’m going up against.”

She looked at him in amazement. “You’re not going to break it off with me?”

“How can I?” he said tersely, “when I’m so in love with you.”

The floodgates opened, and tears fell swiftly and noisily.

“I might be angry with you, Christy, but I can’t pretend I don’t care. We’ll see this thing through together.” He waited patiently while she pulled herself together. “Tell me how this thing is affecting you,” he said when she had calmed down enough to speak.

“It’s called Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia or CML for short,” she explained. “It makes me very tired at times, and in its final stages it will spread to my organs.”

“And there’s no cure?” he asked hopefully.

“I haven’t responded as well as hoped to treatment, so unless someone comes up with a new cure in the next year or so then no, there’s no cure for me.”

He folded his hands on the table in front of him. “I always promised myself I wouldn’t let myself go through this again after what happened with mum. But as fate would have it, here I am, about to go through the whole nine yards all over again.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you just walked away and never looked back,” Christy said, fearful that he would do just that. “I don’t think anyone would blame you.”

“I might have been a failure at many things but I’m no coward,” he said firmly. “You and I will see this thing through together.”

She hesitated just a moment, then plunged in. “If that is your decision then I have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” he looked at her suspiciously. “What sort of proposition?”

“My husband left me reasonably well off when he died. I’ve got enough money to buy the house I’m renting and have half a million left over.” She stopped to study his reaction.

“Okay,” he said cautiously, “so what’s the proposition?”

“Marry me,” she said quickly. “Marry me and we’ll buy the house and use the money that’s left over to pay off the mortgage on the Bonnie Lass.” She could see he was stunned. “I realize you’ll need time to think it over,” she continued, “but don’t take too long or the Bonnie Lass will be sold out from under you.”

He stared at her as if she were mad. “I’m not going to marry you just to pay off my mortgage, I’m not that mercenary.”

“Then don’t. Marry me for love and the Bonnie Lass will come with it.”

“We haven’t known each other long enough to get married, Christy. What if we don’t get along?”

“We already know that we do. Last night when we drove down to see the show it was like we’d known each other all our lives. We both know it’d work. And of course, there are certain benefits to marriage that appeal to a man.” She could tell by the sudden spark in his eye that he took her meaning. “I know what I want, Kent. The problem is I might not have a great deal of time left to find it. So for me it’s now or never.”

“This has all come as a huge shock to me,” Kent confessed. He nodded at his hands. “I haven’t been able to stop those things shaking yet.” He drew in a breath. “It would be good to have the Bonnie Lass back and to be able to make a living from her again. And to live with a woman I truly love does appeal to me. But I always thought when it happened I would be doing the proposing, and it wouldn’t be to someone without terminal cancer.”

“I realize that, and I sympathize. But I’m afraid it is what it is.”