Summer Rose (13 page)

Hunter recognized the truck right away. Jerry Black drove the only shiny yellow 1987 Ford pickup in town. What he couldn’t figure out was why Jerry was coming up his driveway at this time of night. The only possible answer—an injured animal. Jerry had to be the only other person in town with as soft a heart as Davy for the creatures in the forest. Probably his daddy’s teachings throughout Jerry’s childhood. Horace Black had loved all animals, wild or domesticated, and had instilled that love in his only son.

Stepping out of the path of the truck, Hunter waited until it came to a stop, and then strode to the driver’s side window. “What brings you out here at this hour, Jerry?”

Jerry climbed down from the truck, his bib overalls opened at the sides and one strap hanging loose. “Got you a patient, Doc. Found her on the road south of town.” He sauntered to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate. “Good thing she’s just a young’un, or I’d have never been able to lift her into the truck.”

Hunter peered into the darkened bed of the truck. Lying on its side, its front right leg at a weird angle, was a wild female hog which looked to be about four months old from her size and color. So much for that hot meal and warm bed.

Hunter turned to call Rose, but she was already standing behind him in her pajamas and robe. “I saw you from the window and thought you’d need me.”

“I do. Her leg’s fractured, and I’ll need your help setting it. Jerry and I will get her inside. You go get dressed and meet me there. Jerry, I’d appreciate it if you’d stick around to help me move her into a pen after I’ve taken care of that leg.”

Jerry nodded. “Glad to, Doc.”

Without a backward glance to see if Rose was doing as he’d asked, Hunter hurried away toward the office to retrieve a stretcher on which to put the hog so he and Jerry could carry her inside. He knew he’d been a bit short with Rose, but the last thing he needed right now was her in her pj’s, and his mind darting to places it shouldn’t go if he wanted to keep his attention on treating the injured animal.

Fatigue dogged Rose the next day,
clouding her ability to concentrate on the plans for the open house. The operation on the wild hog seemed to have taken forever, and she’d ended up getting just a couple hours of sleep. Her eyelids felt like they had lead weights attached to them, and the four cups of decaf coffee she’d poured down her throat so far were doing nothing to help her condition improve.

Nevertheless, with the open house looming closer each day, she had no option but to push on, making calls, arranging for tents to be delivered and set up, making preparations for the pictures with the animals, talking with Granny Jo about the food, and arranging with a printer in Charleston to do posters to hang around town. When she’d dropped Davy off that morning, Lydia had agreed to do the photos.

All Rose had left on her to-do list was to get the school to allow them to use the buses to bring people out to the refuge from town. Since George was on the school board and would never agree to let them use the buses, that plan presented a big problem.

She didn’t want to leave it up to people to drive their own vehicles. For one thing, they’d never have room to park them all, but mostly because it made it too easy for them not to come. She’d planned to have the townspeople reserve their seats on the buses and then arrange to bring them out in scheduled shifts so there would be room for everyone. Once they made their reservations, it was way more likely that they’d see it through. But how did she get the use of the buses?

Only one person that Rose knew in Carson might have enough pull to get it done. Rose found the number in the files, and then punched it in. It rang twice before it was answered.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Granny Jo. It’s Rose at Dr. Mackenzie’s office.”

“Hello, dear.” Then Granny Jo gasped. “Oh, goodness. Don’t tell me I missed Jake’s appointment.”

Rose laughed. “No. His appointment isn’t for a few weeks. I’m calling about a favor I wondered if you’d do for me.” She told Granny Jo about the buses needed for the open house.

“I’d be happy to see if I can arrange it, dear. I’ll call Asa Watkins. He’s the school superintendent. He owes me a favor from back when he ran his car into my fence after . . . well, after he’d had a bit too much New Year’s cheer a few years ago.” She chuckled, then paused. “I meant to ask you before, but we got caught up in talking about hot dogs and such. Does George know what you’re planning?”

“Not yet. I’m trying to keep him in the dark until it’s too late for him to make a fuss about it.” Rose sighed. “However, I’m afraid that as soon as the posters go up, I will be getting one of his raging phone calls.”

Granny laughed again. “You no doubt will. But I sure wish I could be there to see the look on that old warthog’s face when he hears about this.”

They chatted for a few moments longer, and then hung up so Granny Jo could call Asa. Not more than thirty minutes later Granny Jo called back to tell Rose the school buses would be at her disposal for as long as she needed them.

Several days later,
Rose had just gotten back from her appointment with the obstetrician in Charleston, when the phone rang. Tossing her purse on the desk and then turning off the answering machine, she hurried to pick up the receiver.

“Paws and Claws. How may I—”

“What’s this crap about an open house out there? Are you people nuts?”

Evidently, George had seen the posters Davy tacked up around town yesterday. “Mayor, I—”

“You’re gonna turn those animals loose on the citizens of Carson? This is insane. Do you have any idea what could happen? People could be hurt, maybe killed.”

“I can assure you—”

George’s voice rose a few octaves. “You can’t assure me of anything. These are wild beasts, unpredictable, untamed, capable of unspeakable things. How can you predict what they’ll do?”

Knowing it was no use trying to reason with George Collins while he was in a raging fit, or any other time for that matter, Rose sat quietly and waited for his tirade to end. Resting her elbow on the desk and cupping her chin in her palm, she let him rant a while longer. However,
a while longer
turned into a five-minute litany of possible tragic events. All things both she and Hunter had heard innumerable times. Depending on the volume of his voice she either held the receiver to her ear or a few inches away to save her hearing while she doodled the word idiot on a notepad.

When he’d finally wound down to a low roar, she could take no more. “Thank you for drawing our attention to the possible problems, Mayor. I’ll give Dr. Mackenzie your message, and I’m sure he will look into it.” Then, not waiting for his reply, she hung up and pressed her thumbs against her throbbing temples. Though she’d fully expected this phone call, she hadn’t expected it to be quite this bad.

Temples throbbing and the echo of George’s voice still careening around her skull, Rose headed for the examination room in search of a towel to wet with cold water for her pounding head. As she walked toward the cabinet holding the clean towels, she thought she heard a soft, indistinguishable sound coming from inside it.

The door to the cabinet stood slightly ajar. Unsure of what she’d find, Rose very cautiously approached it and slowly opened the door the rest of the way. Her jaw dropped as she stared down into the cabinet.

Atop a pile of freshly laundered towels was Pansy. Snuggled into her belly were four tiny, damp kittens—three tabbies like their daddy Thomas and one orange tiger like its mom. Rose couldn’t believe how tiny they were . . . mere inches long. She sat cross-legged on the floor and marveled at the sight of Pansy patiently laying there and allowing them to nurse, as if this wasn’t her first time being a mom.

After a long while, the kittens seemed to have had their fill of mama’s milk. Pansy began washing each of them with her tongue. While they squirmed and mewed, she continued her task until each kitten had been cleaned. Then she lay back and allowed them to curl into the curve of her tummy. Very quickly mama and the babies were asleep.

Rose got up and quietly left the room. She sat down at her desk and thought about Pansy’s instinctive response to her new babies. Having worked in hospitals and seen new moms with their babies, Rose didn’t doubt her instinctive response to the babies she carried. What she worried about was after they got home. Would she, like her mother, not have the fortitude to withstand the rigors of motherhood: dirty diapers, middle-of-the-night feedings, walking the floor with a sick child, seemingly never-ending chores that went hand in hand with infants?

Rose smiled and breathed deeply
of the clean mountain air. They couldn’t have ordered better weather for the festivities. The day of the open house had dawned bright, sunny and balmy. The emerald green mountains towered majestically against the cloudless, startlingly blue sky, and the sun hung above it all like a golden orb showering them with the blessing of its warmth and light.

Hopefully, a good omen for the day and its outcome.

Rose checked her watch. They still had a couple of hours before the buses started arriving with the Carsonites. Then she studied her clipboard to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, and ticked off the attractions as she confirmed they were either already set up or in the process.

Granny Jo had arrived before anyone and already had delicious aromas wafting from the food tent at the far end of the parking lot. Jerry Black was helping Davy move some of the domesticated animals into the cordoned-off area they’d set up for the petting zoo. Far away from the petting zoo, on the other side of the parking lot, two larger, portable cages—one holding Boomer, the lion cub, and the other holding Sadie, Davy’s wolf.

The wolf was not happy. She continually paced the confines of her cage, periodically glancing at Davy and whining. Occasionally, she howled mournfully. Rose assumed that Sadie didn’t understand why her
buddy
wasn’t playing with her and was trying to capture Davy’s attention with her pitiful whimpers.

A second barrier had been erected around the cages to keep the visitors at a distance and to keep little hands from reaching into them. Rose and Hunter had agreed that, although they didn’t see the animals as a risk, there was no sense giving George food for his gristmill.

“You’ve done a great job, Rose.” Hunter had come to stand beside her and look out over the activity. “I don’t know how you managed it in such a short time and with all the other work you have, but thank you. I hope it works.”

Rose rested her hand on his forearm. “It will. Once the townspeople see that the animals are harmless, George won’t have a leg to stand on.”

He nodded, but she could see the doubt still lingering in his eyes. Truth be known, she had her own doubts about George seeing the light, but she kept them to herself.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Hunter smiled and rubbed his hands together. “So, what can I do?”

She glanced at her clipboard. “Can you bring out the wild hog? We’ll put her in the pen next to Sadie’s cage and safely inside the second fence.” The hog, whom, much to Rose’s amusement, Davy had named Rosebud, was mending nicely, and she was getting around remarkably well on her injured leg, even running from time to time. However, Hunter was keeping her until he could safely remove the soft cast before he turned her loose.

“You got it.” He strode off toward the animal nursery.

Just then, Lydia came toward her carrying what appeared to be a very expensive camera. “My boss loaned it to me,” she said in explanation to Rose’s questioning stare. “He thought the pictures would be better quality than if I took them with my rinky-dink camera.”

“That was very nice of—” A car driving into the parking area caught her attention. Hunter had stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the black Lexus.

Rose glanced at her watch. Aside from the fact that the visitors were to arrive on buses and not by car, it was still well before the start of the open house was scheduled.

“Who’s that?” Lydia was staring at it as well. “I don’t recognize the car.”

“No idea.” Rose checked her watch again. Then she noticed Hunter hurrying toward the car with a grin on his face. “Well, Hunter seems to recognize whoever it is.”

Both women watched until the car had come to a stop, and a man got out. A tall man with brown, wavy hair and a build that left no doubt he was a regular visitor to his local gym. His skintight jeans and white, Spiderman T-shirt molded his body like a second skin.

Lydia sighed appreciatively. “Oh my!”

“Do you recognize him, Lydia?”

Lydia closed her gaping mouth and shook her head. “I don’t think I ever saw him before. With that build and that face, I kind of think I’d remember if had.”

Hunter approached the newcomer with a broad smile and an outstretched hand. The man ignored Hunter’s hand and instead swept him into a warm embrace.

Rose, having taken Lydia’s rapt appraisal of the stranger into quick consideration and with her own curiosity nudging her, linked arms with Davy’s mother. “I think we should introduce ourselves.” She ushered Lydia toward where the newcomer and Hunter stood talking.

Hunter couldn’t believe his eyes. He stepped back from the embrace and took in the man before him. “Hey, little brother, you’re looking healthy . . .” He nodded toward the luxury car. “. . . and prosperous. What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

Kenny grinned. “Can’t I drop in on my big brother to see how he’s doing?”