The Long Ride Home (Cowboys & Cowgirls) (15 page)

Chapter 16

T
he wedding was coming up quickly, and of course his first Valentine’s Day with Elena. It had been almost two weeks since Elena’s accident, and every day there was a new experience that Elena had to overcome and it was hard on her as well as Holton—harder probably. Not only was he taking care of both places, but he was basically her nurse as well.

He came home to help her with dinners, with getting her ready for baths, bedtime, even helping her get to the restroom. And this was every day, every afternoon…every night. Never once did he complain about anything. He came and went, taking care of both of them without even so much as a pause.

Elena missed Cheryl, she missed school and she missed the freedom of just being alone while she bathed or went to the restroom.

“Everything okay?” Ho
lton asked as he came in after a full day of working outside. It was now, April and Elena was still unable to move on her own.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Elena replied morosely. “Just fu
...great.”

Ho
lton stopped where he stood and looked over at Elena. He moved his furniture around that way she could see out the window. There was a mini fridge by the couch that she could reach to get in and get a soda or a snack and a small microwave to the right of that in case she was hungry for something hot. Everything was just so and for her so she could live daily without complaint. She hated it.

“What’s happened?”

“I hate this!” Elena yelled. “I hate everything! I can’t take this anymore, Holton!” she cried. “I don’t want to live like this.”

Holton walked over to the couch to put his arms around her and she stopped him with a hand up in the air. “Don’t!”

“What can I do to help, baby?”

“I don’t want your help, Ho
lton! I want to be able to walk, talk, run… I want to go to the bathroom on my own, to shower. I want to fuck…”

Ho
lton’s eyes widened.

“Stop looking at me like that! You have seen me without everything, you’ve seen me at my worst, you’ve seen me and I haven’t so much as seen you. I hate this. We were supposed to see each other at the same time. We were supposed to make love and explore…you have seen me pee!”

Holton tried to hold back his laughter but he couldn’t help it.

“Oh, that’s real great!” she yelled, frustrated.

“Baby,” Holton said as he kneeled down beside her at the couch. “Trust me when I tell you this, I’m frustrated as hell, too. You can’t imagine how hard it is for me to see you naked and not touch you. I am going crazy here. But you are forgetting one thing.”

“What’s that?” Elena questioned,
sadly.

“I saw you there in that hospital bed.”

“What’s that have to do with anything?”

“Everything. I thought you were going to die, Elena. My whole life was there that day in room 223. I was in the room, holding your hand, bending toward your ear telling you how much I loved you. I was telling you that and then your heart stopped.”

Elena gasped and looked into his eyes. Tears were there, and she could see the pain in them.

“I don’t care how long it takes, Elena. I will wash you for the next twenty years, I will feed you by hand if I have to for the next four, but please…don’t do anything stupid because you have to wait.”

Elena nodded, sniffling. “Okay,” she said, crying. “I won’t.”

“Okay, baby?” Ho
lton cried.

“Yes. Can you just do one thing for me?”

Holton moved to the couch and sat right next to her as close as he could without making her uncomfortable. “What’s that?”

“Can you take off your clothes?”

Holton chuckled. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” she said, smiling. “You’ve seen me a million times.”

“You want me to just take off my clothes?”

“Yes.”

Holton laughed and looked from his left and then to his right.

“What are you looking for?”

“People.”

“What people? It’s just you and me, you big goof!”

“I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to run out or something.”

“I’m waiting,”
Elena laughed, looking at him.

“Well you can’t laugh,” he said as he stood up.

“Okay I won’t laugh. Just take them off.” Elena licked her lips and smiled.

“I can’t tell you how stupid I feel right now.”

“Put some music on if it helps,” Elena joked.

“So, now I’m just a common stripper to you?”

Holton took a deep breath and started with the buttons on his shirt. “I have to get a shower anyway. You know I am dirty.”

“How
dirty are you?” Elena asked. Holton chuckled.

“You are ridiculous. I am very dirty…in fact. I have worked all day.”

“Then maybe you should wheel me into the bathroom so I can watch you take a bath.”

“Men don’t take baths, honey. We take showers.”

“Maybe just this once you could take a bath,” Elena coaxed.

“You play a very unfair game, my dear.”

“I didn’t know there were rules, Holton,” she said sweetly. She smiled as he undid a few more buttons. He pulled the shirt off and stood there looking embarrassed and bare-chested. He had a gorgeous body. It wasn’t one of those bodies that you got from working out in a gym, but one that you got from doing actual work—hard work from ranching.

Ho
lton smiled at her and winked. Elena laughed. “Are you sure you are ready for this? I feel like a pervert.”

“Just take your pants off, Ho
lton!”

“Wow, testy… Okay.” Ho
lton reached for the button on his pants and then undid the zipper. Slowly he slid them off, standing just in his boxers.

“Well I guess that answers that question,” Elena said coyly.

“Oh yeah? That wasn’t one of the 20 questions.”

“If I remember right,” Elena replied, “we only got to 4 or 5.”

“I think it was 4.”

“Keep going.”

“You are a slave driver, woman.”

Ho
lton took the waist band of his boxers and pushed down. He was blissfully naked and erect.

“Wow,” Elena breathed with a lopsided smile on her face. Holton shook his head.

“Why do I feel like one of those dancers that you women pay a few bucks to shake it?”

“You are gorgeous, Ho
lton. Can I touch you?”

Ho
lton looked into her eyes and walked toward her. “You are killing me, Elena.”

“Please! Just let me touch it. I have never…”

“I know, baby. Don’t you want to wait?”

“No. I don’t want to wait. If I wasn’t in this stupid brace would you want to wait?”

Holton shook his head, understanding. “No. If I had the okay from your doctor right now I would be all over you.”

Elena smiled. “Then come here. You can share this blanket with me.”

Holton came over, and when she was finished, they both had a smile on their faces.

Two hours later, Holton was holding Elena in his arms watching TV when he reminded her that the wedding was that weekend.

“I really think I’ll just stay here, Holt.”

“Nope. I need you there,” he replied, stunning her.

“What?”

“You’re going.”

“No…no I’m not.”

“Why? Do you have a hot date?”

“No.”

“Yes you do, me!”

Elena laughed. “No I don’t. I’m not going.”

Holton was getting a bit irritated now. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to go. I don’t know anyone there and I really don’t feel like sitting there with a bunch of people that are just going to stare at the cripple.”

“You know I thought we just got done talking about this…a few hours ago.”

“We did, and I will be good and not complain anymore…for you, but I am not going into town and let people stare at me.”

“Elena, it is a wedding. They will be looking at the bride, not you.”

“Well thank you very much.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You know what I hate?”

“What?” Holton sneered.

“I hate the fact that when I’m mad I can’t even get away from you!”

“That’s what you want? You want to get away from me right now?”

“Yeah, I do. I want to slam a door and stomp my feet, but I can’t!”

“Stop whining about it, and start moving around. Continue with the physical therapy. Get better! Stop bitching and just do it!” Holton yelled. Elena winced.

“Is that what you think?”

“Yeah, it’s what I think,” Holton huffed. “You sit here and bitch about what you can’t do, but you don’t think about what you can… I don’t know, you are breathing. You told me that you wanted to be here. Do you regret that?”

“No, it’s not that!”

“Well then, Elena, I guess I just don’t get it. I know it sucks, don’t get me wrong, but it’s only for a few more months. Maybe not even that long.”

“Why do you want me to go?”

“Because I want you there with me. I want everyone to know that I am with the most beautiful, smart and brave woman that I know. That there is.”

“
I can’t even dance.”

“
You can dance at our wedding.”

“I’ll just be there. I won’t be able to do anything.”

“Who cares? You can sit there and we can look at all the people and watch two people that we care about get married. That’s why I’m going. He’s my friend, Elena. He has said nothing but good things about you. You should go.”

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“Fine.”

The wedding was in the evening at one of Dallas’s most exquisite restaurants. It was decorated beautifully and it was all very romantic.

Tables were draped in crimson cloths and bouquets of white roses were on every table along with long stemmed champagne glasses.

“This is beautiful,” Elena said as Holton wheeled her into the room. He went to their table and removed the chair and placed it somewhere else.

Elena was wearing a white wrap dress with a red scarf that tied around the waist. And of course, a cast on both legs and her back brace. She felt like an idiot. “I wish nobody had to see me.”

“We’ve been over this, Elena. You look fine. Your beauty outweighs that of the braces.”

“You’re sweet, but a liar. You look handsome, though. I never thought I would get to see you in a tux.”

Holton grinned. “I never wanted to, believe me. If you want me to wear one for our wedding I will, but I much prefer a nice suit.”

“You can wear whatever you want as long as I’m able to take it off afterwards,” Elena said quietly with a wink.

Holton chuckled softly. “I could just marry you tonight in a private ceremony and we could…”

“What? I can’t walk, I can’t shower by myself. I can barely…”

“Never mind. I’m sorry I suggested it. I have to go find Joe. I’m supposed to help with a few things. I’ll be back later. Try not to be so miserable.” Holton walked away and left Elena at the table alone.

I have no idea what’s wrong with me, Elena thought.

“Hi, I’m Kate,” a brunette with long curly hair said as she sat down at the table next to Elena. “And this is Sarah.”

Elena smiled at the two. “Nice to meet you, I’m Elena.”

“Shark attack?” Kate asked.

“Excuse me?” Elena replied.

“I was asking you if you were attacked by a
shark.”

Elena looked at her oddly and shook her head. “Uh…no. I was run down by a drunk driver.”

“Oh, damn. That’s depressing. Think of something more interesting,” she said as she smiled at the little baby in her arms and bounced her on her knee.

“What?”

“Oh, honey, don’t look so depressed. When you get in an accident like you’ve been in you need to think of better ways to fuck with people who stare. Okay, I’ll ask again. Shark attack?”

Elena laughed nervously. “No…I was…walking.”

“Walking? Like an Egyptian?” the lady asked, chuckling. Her little baby laughed, too, which made Elena laugh. “That’s much better,” Kate said, smiling. “You look way too depressed to be with a man that looks that good,” she said as she pointed toward Holton. He was now wearing a white Stetson and had a white rose in his lapel.

Elena sighed. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“Look, I was in an accident a few years ago. It was pretty terrible, and I pretty much wanted to end it all, and then this little girl came along. Ah, I am so glad to be here now. I just wanted to let you see how I turned out.”

“What happened to you?” Elena asked.

“Nothing as terrible as a drunk driver, but I did break both ankles at once. It was really dumb actually. I slipped on a piece of black ice and both feet turned in opposite directions.”