Loe raamatut: «A Bride For Liam Brand»

Chapter One

“Mommy!”

Callie’s scream caused Kate King to drop the heavy Western saddle she was carrying and run toward the sound of her daughter’s voice.

“Mommy!”

“Callie!” Kate ran down the wide, center aisle of her fifty-stall barn. “Callie!”

The mother and daughter nearly collided when Kate rounded a corner at the end of the long, concrete aisle.

“What’s wrong?” Kate put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, giving her face and body a cursory check with her concerned eyes.

Callie’s round face was flushed bright red and drenched with tears and sweat. Her daughter was eighteen-years-old, an adult by any standard, but Callie had been born with Down syndrome. Negative emotions, in particular, were difficult for Callie to process.

“Take a minute.” Her daughter was gasping for air, struggling to speak. “Catch your breath.”

Callie leaned forward a bit, closed her eyes, coughed several times and followed her mother’s instructions.

“Visa...” Callie finally got the words out. “He’s hurt, Mommy!”

Kate was, at first, relieved that her daughter wasn’t the one injured, but the last thing a horse owner wanted to hear was that one of the herd was injured. So, the relief she had originally felt was fleeting.

“It’s okay, Callie.” Kate gave her daughter a steady look. “Let’s go see what’s going on with him.”

It was just a fact of life that her daughter didn’t have many friends in their community; Bozeman, Montana, was a small town surrounded by ranches and uninhabited swaths of land. There simply weren’t any other young adults with a similar disability living close by—so every animal on their ranch was Callie’s friend. And she took it hard if any of her friends were injured or sick.

Visa, whose registered name was Expense Account, was a rare member of their horse-breeding ranch. The majority of the horses on the Triple K Ranch were Quarter horses with excellent pedigrees. Visa, on the other hand, was a Dutch Warmblood and Hanoverian mix, and he was Callie’s favorite.

Together, they walked quickly out to the pasture closest to the barn; each horse had its designated pasture and turnout time. Visa, who wasn’t the most assertive horse in the herd, was always turned out with the older, more experienced geldings.

Kate spotted typically social and “in everyone’s business” Visa, standing alone and away from the herd. The owner of the Triple K, her brow furrowed with concern, unlatched the gate to the pasture.

“Wait for me here, please, Callie.”

“I—I want to help.” Her daughter said.

“Callie.” Her tone brooked no argument. “This I need you to wait here, please.”

Callie, in her own right, was a talented horsewoman; she had been raised working with these elegant creatures and had been riding before she could walk. But, in this moment, Kate didn’t want the distraction of watching out for Callie while she tried to figure out what was going on with Visa.

“Hi, good-looking boy,” Kate said as she approached Visa. She spoke in a calm soothing voice that she used with all of the horses.

Visa was a beautiful russet-red with black legs and a black mane and tail. The horse, which typically greeted her with a friendly head bump, pinned back its ears at her, gnashed his teeth, and tossed his head aggressively. Visa loved to scratch his face by rubbing his head on her shoulder and arm; his unusual behavior served to underscore the fact that something was wrong.

“Okay. Okay,” Kate said in a low, gentle voice, ignoring the pinned ears and his attempts to bite her while she began to take inventory of his physical state. The biggest red flag for her was the fact that he wasn’t putting weight on his right hind leg.

“Why are you standing way out here all by yourself?” Kate ran her hand along the young horse’s muscular body. “That’s not like you.”

Careful not to move in a way that would spook Visa, Kate kept her right hand on his haunch while she bent forward to get a closer look at the hind leg. There was a distinctive gash above Visa’s hoof it looked like a crescent, and she immediately suspected that the young gelding had got too nosey with one of the older horses and been kicked for his trouble.

“Easy, Visa. Let me just take a quick look. Did you get kicked?” She ran her hand down the leg; the moment she got near the gash with her fingers, Visa lifted his leg to pull it away from her.

Kate straightened her body, acid beginning to roil in her stomach. A leg injury in a horse was never good news.

“Okay,” she said softly to Visa. “Let’s see you walk.”

The horse trainer hooked her finger into the horse’s halter and clucked her tongue to get Visa to walk a step forward. The horse jerked his head, resisting at first, before he agreed to take a couple of steps forward. The second he tried to put weight on that right hind leg, Kate’s suspicions were confirmed: Visa was lame. She couldn’t know, without an X-ray, how bad the injury was. But there was an undisputable truth of horse ownership—no legs, no horse.

Kate called out to her daughter to fetch her a lead rope. Red-faced and sweaty, Callie handed her the rope.

“I-is he hurt b-bad?”

“I’m not sure, kiddo. Let’s get him back to the barn and we’ll call Dr. McGee. Do me a favor. Go check Visa’s stall and make sure it’s been cleaned.”

While her daughter rushed back into the barn, lead rope in hand, Kate headed back to Visa.

“This is going to be hard, Visa. But we’ll do it together.” She clipped the lead rope to the horse’s halter and began the painstaking walk back to the barn.

Along the way, the rest of the herd, curious creatures, tried to join them in their journey, but Kate shooed them away. One of Visa’s pasture mates had seriously injured him, that much she knew, but she couldn’t pinpoint which horse had done the damage.

Callie hurriedly opened the gate so Visa could limp through.

“I-is he going to b-be okay? He looks like he’s hurt b-bad.” Tears had returned to Callie’s brown eyes.

“It might be a broken leg, Callie. I’m not sure.” Kate had always told her daughter the truth. “But I do know that we have to be strong for Visa. We have to be calm so he can stay calm. You have to try, okay?”

“Okay,” Callie said as she shut the gate behind them. “I—I’ll try.”

It took a long time to get the lame horse back to his stall; once he was settled, Kate asked Callie to get Visa a pad of hay to keep him occupied while she called her regular vet.

“Oh, Kate,” Dr. McGee’s receptionist, Dawn, said, “I’m so sorry, but Dr. McGee is out with the flu—sick as a dog, poor man.”

Kate shook her head in frustration. Dr. McGee had been her vet for years, and she simply didn’t trust anyone else with her horses.

“It sounds like you need someone right away.” The receptionist filled in the silence. “I can refer you to Dr. Brand. I have his number right here if you’d like to have it.”

Kate had gone to school with Liam Brand, starting in kindergarten. Yes, she grew up with him, and yes, she ran into him every now and again in town. But she had no idea what kind of veterinarian skills Liam Brand had. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in a position to question her own vet’s referral. Kate took the number, thanked the receptionist for her time and then immediately called Dr. Brand.

* * *

“He-llo.” Liam Brand tapped the green telephone symbol to answer the phone quickly so he could still keep his eyes on the road.

“May I speak with Dr. Brand, please?”

“You got ’im.”

“Hi, Dr. Brand. This is Kate King.” The woman on the other end of the line paused for a second. “Triple K Ranch?”

Large-animal veterinarian Liam Brand didn’t want to let on, but he didn’t need any additional qualifiers beyond Kate’s name to identify who she was. He was a little old to have a crush, he supposed, but she certainly had caught his interest when their paths had crossed from time to time in the small Montana town of Bozeman. They had known each other all their lives, but Kate wasn’t much on small talk with old acquaintances, so he typically admired her from afar.

“How can I help you, Ms. King?”

“Kate,” she corrected. “One of my horses turned up lame this morning. Dr. McGee is out sick today, as I’m sure you know by now. I really need someone to come out to the ranch and x-ray Visa’s leg. Would you be able to fit me into your schedule? I know it’s short notice, but I’d really appreciate it.”

Liam already knew that he had back-to-back appointments—it was foaling season, so he was typically booked dawn until dusk.

“I do know about Dr. McGee—I’ve been getting calls all day from his clients. I’m double booked.”

“Dr. Brand.” Liam could hear the stress in her voice. “I know you’re swamped, but any help you can give me would really be appreciated. It doesn’t matter how late you get here.” She paused before she added, “Visa is Callie’s favorite horse.”

The minute Kate mentioned her daughter, Callie, Liam felt that familiar tug on his heartstrings. He’d watched Callie grow over the years; for a while there, before the divorce, his son had attended the same school. She was a special little girl—always smiling, always laughing. If Kate was trying to sway him by mentioning her daughter, it had worked.

After taking a couple of moments to make a decision, Dr. Brand finally said, “Here—let me pull over so I can figure this out.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Liam pulled his mobile-vet truck onto the side of the road so he could take a closer look at his schedule. All of his clients were so far apart that driving time made his logjammed schedule even more complicated.

“Let’s do this,” he finally offered. “I’ll come to the Triple K after my last appointment. I’ll warn you now—it’s gonna be late. After dark, for sure.”

“That’s not a problem! Whenever you can get here!” Kate exclaimed in a way that made him smile a bit. “I can’t thank you enough, Dr. Brand. Truly. Thank you.”

* * *

As he had predicted, Dr. Liam Brand arrived at the Triple K Ranch after dark. For Kate and Callie, it had been a long day of waiting. When they heard Dr. Brand’s truck wheels making a crunching noise on their gravel driveway, both Kate and her daughter abandoned their mucking and jogged to the entrance of the barn to greet Dr. Brand.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here any sooner,” the large-animal vet told her.

“We’re just so grateful that you could come.” Kate offered her hand. “I know you’ve already had a long day.”

Liam Brand was over six feet tall with a slender physique of a man who took care of his health. His hair, cut short, had turned a dark honey color over the years, which offset, in a very appealing way, the sky blue of his eyes and the golden color of his skin. He was wearing jeans, stained from a day on the job, with the logo of his vet clinic embroidered on the left chest of a light-blue cotton top.

“Hello, Calico.” Dr. Brand took the time to acknowledge her daughter.

Liam knew that her daughter’s nickname was Callie, but he had always used her formal, given name “Calico” whenever he spoke to her.

Callie smiled shyly at Liam; Kate knew that look in her daughter’s large, brown eyes. The young woman developed crushes in the blink of an eye and Liam Brand, Kate observed, was Callie’s official new crush.

“Hi,” Callie said, ducking her head to the side and gave an embarrassed laugh.

“Let’s go see what’s going on with Visa,” Dr. Brand said after he lifted his rolling mobile-vet kit out of the back of his truck, which had been outfitted with everything a traveling large-animal vet would need to do his or her job.

Dr. Brand wanted to see Visa walk on the concrete; the horse had taken only a few steps before the vet nodded. He asked that they put Visa in cross ties, and then, silently, methodically, with the seriousness Kate appreciated, the vet began his physical exam of the Hanoverian mix. After a thorough exam, Dr. Brand offered some possible diagnoses. The possible culprits for Visa’s lameness had all occurred to Kate as well—it could be laminitis, it could be a soft tissue injury, there was a possibility of an abscess in the hoof. But the last possibility that Dr. Brand mentioned, a fracture of the short pastern bone, the bone right above the hoof, was the diagnosis Kate feared the most. Most equine ailments could be healed with the right care and the right perseverance. A fracture? That was a whole different ball of wax. Kate didn’t hesitate to agree to get Visa x-rayed.

Kate and Callie stood by Visa’s head, offering him encouraging words as the vet set up the portable X-ray machine. If she had wondered about Liam’s ability as a veterinarian, watching him now dispelled all of those notions. No, he wasn’t as experienced as Dr. McGee, but he was thorough, deliberate and spoke as if he had memorized every textbook he read. While he worked, Liam discussed the recent literature and findings from current research. There wasn’t a question she asked him that he didn’t answer with the breadth and depth of a man who knew his business. When Liam had as many years of practice under his belt as Dr. McGee, he was going to be a top-notch veterinarian.

Dr. Brand released Visa back to his stall, and by the time Kate returned, the vet was ready to discuss the results of the X-ray. With her arm around Callie’s shoulders, as much for her own support as to comfort her daughter, Kate stood close to Dr. Brand so she could see the X-ray of Visa’s hind leg projected on the screen. The news wasn’t good—she could see that before he even began to point to the hairline fracture in the short pastern bone.

“I-is he going to b-be okay?” Callie already had tears in her eyes; yes, her daughter had a serious intellectual disability, but she understood much more about life than most people would give her credit for.

Kate tightened her arm to hold her daughter to comfort her.

“Well.” Dr. Brand’s words were measured as he addressed them both. “If Visa was going to have a fracture on his leg, this is the best place to do it.”

She had been holding her breath again; Kate told herself to keep on breathing. She was fully expecting Liam to tell her that Visa, only five and so young, would have to be put down.

“If you keep him on stall rest for two months, I can come back and take another X-ray to see if he’s done some healing,” Dr. Brand said. “Of course, Dr. McGee would be able to help you with that, as well.”

Kate took a second to process the information before she replied, “You’ve started with him. I’d feel better if you just stayed with this case.”

“I’d be happy to do it.”

All three of them turned to walk in the direction of the vet’s truck; Kate already had her checkbook in her back pocket to pay.

“How much do we owe you?”

“I don’t really handle that part of the deal. Go ahead and call the office tomorrow. Ask for Irene—she handles all the billing.” He pulled a card out of the console of his truck and handed it to her. “She’ll take care of you.”

“Okay,” Kate said, surprised that Liam didn’t take payment on the spot. “Are you sure?”

“Yep.” Liam opened one of the storage lockers built onto the back of his truck.

“Do you like chili?” Callie asked the vet.

“Sure do.” Dr. Brand loaded his mobile kit into the locker.

Kate liked that Liam didn’t disregard her daughter—he included her, he looked at her directly and spoke to her like she had value.

“Do you want to have chili with us? That’s what we’re having for dinner.”

Kate hadn’t expected her daughter to extend a dinner invitation to Liam; even more unexpected was her own follow-up to Callie’s invitation.

“We have plenty,” she told Liam. “It’s the least we could do. I’m sure you skipped dinner so you could come out here.”

Liam didn’t say yes or no as he loaded his equipment into his truck.

“Do you like orange or grape soda?” Callie asked Liam. “Which do you want?”

Kate put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “He hasn’t accepted your invitation yet.”

Liam locked the back of his truck. “I like grape.”

For the briefest of seconds, Liam caught Kate’s eye, and she saw something so strong and kind in those blue eyes that she had to remind herself to look away.

“I—I like grape, too!” Callie told the vet excitedly, as if she had just discovered that they had something very special in common.

Her daughter spun around and headed off in the direction of their modest ranch-style house with the new steel roof and fresh coat of moss green paint.

“I’m sorry,” Kate told him when her daughter was out of earshot. “I hope she didn’t put you on the spot.”

“I’m hungry, and all I’ve got in my icebox is a piece of suspicious cheese and condiments.” Liam adjusted his long legs so he could keep pace with her.

Kate cracked a smile. “Well, then, I’m glad she invited you.”

She caught Liam staring at her profile. “I don’t usually say yes. But we’re talking about chili and grape soda. An offer like that doesn’t come up every day.”

* * *

It had been a long day for Liam Brand; he was grateful and honored that a man like Dr. McGee—a man he admired—would send his clients to him when he was out sick. But the 50 percent increase in appointments, which entailed juggling his already booked days with Dr. McGee’s overflow, had put him under the gun and way behind. He was exhausted—and he usually wasn’t exhausted. If it had been anyone other than Kate King and Callie who invited him in for dinner, he would have gracefully declined and headed home.

“We weren’t expecting anyone,” Kate told him as she picked up random items on the way to the kitchen.

The King home was cozy and lived-in. The outside of the house had some updating recently, but the inside was like stepping back in time to the 1970s. Kate was known in the greater Bozeman area as one of the best horse trainers and breeders in the state of Montana. Her techniques for training horses and riders in a humane manner was the stuff of legends; on the other hand, homemaking did not seem to be much of a priority. The furniture hadn’t been updated since Kate was a kid. In fact, Liam remembered sitting on that same forest green and navy blue plaid couch back when he was in elementary school one summer when his father came out to the Triple K to buy some new horses from Kate’s father. It was obvious that every bit of her heart, her soul, her time and her money went to taking care of her daughter and her horses. That was her love, and he could appreciate that about her because that was exactly how he felt about life: family and horses mattered more than stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops.

“Something smells mighty good in here.” Liam sat at the small kitchen island with the sunshine-yellow laminate countertop.

What the King house lacked in decor, it more than made up for it in the homey feel and a tantalizing aroma permeating the kitchen.

“Grandpa taught me.” Callie lifted the lid off the large pot on the stove.

“I didn’t know you were the chef of the family,” Liam said to Kate’s daughter.

“Callie is the only chef in this house,” Kate gave her daughter a quick hug from behind. “Thank goodness she loves to cook, or we’d both starve. Isn’t that true, kiddo?”

Callie nodded seriously. “That is true. I-I have saved us from starving.”

Liam sat at Kate King’s counter, watching the horse trainer interact with her daughter, while he gulped down grape soda, which he hadn’t had since he was a kid. This visit to the Triple K Ranch was an unexpected blast into his past.

Every time he emptied a can of soda, Callie would put another cold can of it in front of him. He didn’t even have to ask. It had been a long time since Liam felt like he was part of a family; he’d been separated for several years, and the divorce had finally been settled the year before. The judge had granted full, physical custody of their two children to his ex-wife and liberal visitation to him; now he was a long-distance father to two teenagers. His son and daughter lived in Seattle, Washington, with his ex-wife and her new husband. Although he had known that his ex-wife, Cynthia, had been dating during their separation, it had still been a shock when she remarried so quickly after the divorce had been finalized. He hated being a video-chat father and a “see you on your next school break” dad. But, that fight was over and he had lost—big time.

He’d always been the kind of man who wanted to be married, to have kids, to make a home with a woman. But it hadn’t worked out that way. Liam had his work—his salvation—and a big family with lots of siblings, yet he always went home to an empty house. He liked being in Kate King’s house, chitchatting and laughing about nothing in particular while Calico stirred the chili and put an extra place setting on the table.

Once Callie announced that she was ready to serve, Liam joined them at their little square table, wobbly on its legs, and hungrily dived into the large bowl of chili. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so shocked at how good the chili was—perhaps he underestimated Callie because of her disability—but Callie’s chili was incredible.

Two bowls later, Liam was completely stuffed and wishing he hadn’t been so greedy. He felt more like curling up on Kate’s old plaid couch than driving forty-five minutes back to his family’s ranch, Sugar Creek.

“That was the best chili I’ve ever had,” he told Kate’s daughter. “Hand’s down. The best.”

Callie smiled shyly with pleasure, sometimes finding it difficult to look him in the eye.

As she picked up his bowl to take it to the sink, Callie said, “I-I’m making steak and garlic mashed potatoes tomorrow night.”

Liam smiled at her. “I’m sure that’s going to be another masterpiece of a meal, Calico.”

She stood by his chair, his bowl in hand. “Do you want to come for dinner tomorrow?”

Liam saw Kate’s expression, fleeting as it was; she had no idea Callie would invite him for a second dinner, and she wasn’t on board with the idea. Kate sanitized her expression quickly as she said, “Callie, I’m sure Dr. Brand can’t come out all this way just for dinner.”

“Actually—” he didn’t plan it; the words just popped out of his mouth “—I think that steak and garlic mashed potatoes are definitely worth the drive. What time’s dinner?”