Chapter 13
She didn’t know what to do. Harrison’s salvation was an awesome thing, a miraculous thing, a wonderful answer to prayer, but what was she now supposed to do with this information?
She returned home and told her parents, who were both so overjoyed her mom insisted that Cassie invite him for a meal. But that sounded too much like a set up for a date, and because she was still unsure about so many things about him, she wasn’t certain she could do that right now.
“Besides,” she told her mom, “I don’t have his number.”
“But I do,” her dad said.
“Why?”
Her dad shrugged. “Because I told him he could call me if he wanted to discuss some of those verses we talked about the other day.”
Oh.
“Then you call him,” Mom said.
Her dad did, but was met with a polite decline. Dad finished the call and studied Cassie. “He said he doesn’t want to come and bother you by being in your space.”
Way to go by laying on the guilt.
“He does have a point,” Mom said. “This is Cassie’s home, and while it’s wonderful to encourage a young Christian in matters of the Lord, I can see the potential for complications if it happens here.”
Mom sounded like she was trying to tiptoe through landmines with that conversation. Exactly what had Harrison said to her parents on Friday night? Had he said something about her? Is that why her mother was being cagey?
Her mother looked at her. “Cassie, I know that I may have accused you of being lacking in the hospitality or grace department, but I understand now that this has not been easy. I’m sorry if I’ve done things that have made you feel hurt. That was never my intention.”
“I know that, Mom. I do appreciate you saying it though. Because it hasn’t been easy.”
Her mom’s eyes softened. “Why do you think that is?”
“Because I haven’t really known what to do with these feelings.”
“Feelings about Harrison?”
She nodded. “He told me before that he likes me, and I said that I couldn’t go out with someone who wasn’t a Christian, but now he is, I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s early days,” her mom cautioned. “Nobody is saying you have to go out with him, especially if you don’t want to.”
“But that’s the thing,” she whispered. “I think I do. He’s a lot nicer than I first thought, and he’s fun, and for some reason he seems to value me. But even that scares me because I can’t see a future with a man who lives in Hollywood. How can that work when I live and work here?”
“But you don’t have to live and work here forever.”
“Mom, you know it’s been my dream since I was a little girl to run this ranch one day.”
“But dreams can change.” Her mother smiled. “I used to dream of being an academic, like Hannah’s mother, and then I met your father and visited Three Creek Ranch. I soon knew that I had a different call on my life.”
Huh. “I never knew that.”
“As The Heart Draws isn’t just the pretty title of a book or a TV show, Cassie. God is in the business of drawing people to Himself, and He uses the Holy Spirit to touch people’s hearts, in the hopes that they will find a relationship with Him.”
Okay… “I know that. And we’ve seen that just now. But I’m already walking with God.” Her lips twisted wryly. “Admittedly I haven’t been walking too closely, but I’m trying to be better.”
“But the Holy Spirit keeps prodding and pressing and speaking to people, not just to salvation, but to allow people to be shaped into God’s purposes for their lives. Whether that means you change or God does something dramatic in a person’s life and alters their careers, we just have to keep following those inklings when they come.”
She nodded. She knew that too. Knew the implications of what happened when she didn’t do that. Like that still small voice would end up speaking even more faintly.
Cassie tuckedher mother’s words close to her heart as she went to work the next day. And the next. And the rest of the week. She was thankful that summer meant Three Creek Ranch’s haying needed attention, and she could help her dad instead of possibly running into Harrison on the set. It gave her more time to figure out what to say.
She just hadn’t expected her father to ask about her feelings for Harrison, something Dad had never done for any guy she’d liked before.
She’d admitted to feeling conflicted, and he nodded. “Even I can see he’s got some charm, but you do need to be careful. He’s a new Christian, and while I sense that these are questions that have been tugging at him for a long time, it’s easy for some of those emotions to get mixed up with relationship stuff, and we don’t want to confuse him.”
“Which is why I’m very happy not to try to make anything happen.”
“I think that’s wise.”
She kept praying for wisdom, and the thought crossed her mind to return to Franklin’s apartment. But with her brother and Hannah returning from their honeymoon this week, her presence probably wouldn’t be welcome. And part of her despised the idea of changing her routine just because a man was involved. Maybe Hannah’s mom’s feminist views had rubbed off on her more than she suspected, but it didn’t seem the way a modern woman should live. Especially for someone who was going to try to keep her feelings for him tamped in the brotherly department. He was a brother in Christ now, after all.
Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. Mal. She called to her dad, “I need to take this call.”
“Cassie? Thank you for coming by.”
Cassie settled into the seat that Mal gestured to in the dining room. Mal had asked to see her without providing details, but the look on his face didn’t suggest any trouble. “What can I help you with?”
“We wanted to run something by you, and you don’t have to say yes, but it would be wonderful if you did.”
“I’m happy to help if I can.”
“We have a scene that we’re shooting soon, and we just received word that Brenda—remember our stunt woman?—is sick and unable to join us in time.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. Poor thing.”
He coughed. “Actually, I understand that she’s not really sick. Apparently Harrison talked to her and convinced her to make a complaint about domestic violence.”
Her breath hitched. “Poor Brenda.” And good on Harrison. Although how had he recognized that?
“Yeah, we’re doing what we can to support her. But in the meantime, we need someone to take her spot who can do it in a hurry. And, well, we’ve all seen your amazing riding skills, so we wondered if you might be interested.”
“Me?” Was he serious? “I’m not a stunt woman.”
“But you can ride a horse. And that’s all we require. We just need a woman riding a horse along the ridge and she has an accident and she gets rescued by our hero.”
Of course she did. She rolled her eyes internally. It was always the woman needing rescuing. Never the man.
Maybe something of that showed on her face because Mal’s head tilted. “Is something wrong? If you’re worried about what’s involved we’re only talking riding a horse, so there’s no real risk of injury. Not for someone of your experience. You don’t have to do it if you don’t wish to. It just means that we’ll need to reschedule how we do things.”
“No, it’s not that.” She drew in a breath. “It’s just the helpless female needing rescuing by a man that I’m not a fan of. It’s certainly not been my experience.” Try the other way around.
Mal’s eyes widened like she was suddenly speaking Japanese.
She hurried to add, “I don’t mean to sound disparaging, because I know people have different strengths and weaknesses. I just think it’d be good to see women having their strengths recognized too, that they’d be considered equal to a man and not feeble or weak.”
His brow lowered, his gaze thoughtful. “I know you’re tough, but I heard rumors from some of the cast that Harrison once saved you from a snake.”
“It was non-venomous, so I didn’t really need rescuing.”
“Ah.” He frowned, his fingers tapping the table between them. “Would you prefer not to work with Harrison, is that it?”
“No.” The thought of potentially working with him gave shivers of both dread and anticipation. She hadn’t seen him now in what felt like forever. How was he doing? Was he growing in faith? How had he known about Brenda’s domestic strife? She forced herself to focus on Mal’s question. “I guess I just feel that it’d be more interesting if the man and woman saved someone together. Or she saved him,” she dared.
He chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’re wanting to write our scripts now?”
“No, of course not. But it would be nice to see women being presented in a way that’s not reinforcing stereotypes of women being weak.”
Mal frowned, and when he spoke his voice was stiff. “I didn’t think our show did that.”
She winced. She really needed to work on cultivating graciousness. “I’m sorry, Mal. I didn’t mean to make it sound like that. You know I’m a big fan of this show.” She gave an apologetic smile. “I guess I’m just a little amazed at being asked to do this.”
“Well, never mind. I can see that you have strong opinions about this. We’ll just re-organize our shooting schedule and not cause you to compromise your values.”
Whoa. Someone was offended. “Mal, no, I’m happy to do it. I just meant—”
“I’m sorry for wasting your time today.”
“But—”
“It’s fine, Cassie. “
Her heart tensed as she exited the room. It clearly wasn’t fine.
* * *
Harrison glancedaround the dining area where an unscheduled production meeting had been called after the midday meal. Most of the senior cast and crew were there, along with one of the lead writers. Jerry was visiting the set again and seemed a nice enough guy. Ainsley had said Mal liked Jerry to touch base occasionally with the actors to get feedback on how things were going, especially given the latest ratings had just come in. Harrison had also heard rumors there might be questions about the future of some of the actors. Not himself obviously, because his work hadn’t screened yet, but some of those others who might not be gelling with the audience in the way the producers wanted. So this meeting could prove quite interesting.
Mal got up and knocked on the table several times to get people’s attention. “Thank you everyone for gathering together at short notice. I figured it’s easier to explain now that we’re all together. You all know Jerry, right?”
Harrison nodded as Mal looked his way.
“As you’re probably aware, the recent ratings for our final season have just come in and Jerry is here to help us as we try to iron out a few issues.”
The tension around the room ratcheted up. Nobody wanted to think a cast member’s role was on the line, but such was the nature of the business. And it was a business, as a show’s popularity had a direct impact on the kinds of sponsors and advertising dollars involved. Anything that potentially affected a show’s ability to bring in the dollars and affect the network’s bottom line would be cut. It was why actors risked losing their roles if they were perceived as immoral. A wholesome family-friendly show like As The Heart Draws couldn’t risk a whiff of suspicion and lose popularity and ratings. Similarly, if the audience didn’t connect with a character, they might end up being sent away, or worse, killed off, never to return. His lips twisted. There was no way to come back from a grave—although it had happened a few times in various daytime soaps.
“In addition to that, we have a bit of a snafu with one of our scenes, and now it looks like we’re going to have to reschedule things until we have a stunt woman in place who can do it.” He glanced around the table. “I presume you all know about Brenda?”
Harrison’s heart knotted, and he shot up a quick prayer for her.
“We like to consider ourselves a family here, so it hurts to think Brenda was dealing with this on her own.” Mal glanced at him. “Until Harrison drew this to our attention.”
He shrugged. “My dad wasn’t a nice man, so I’ve come to recognize some of the signs.”
Mal nodded. “So, with Brenda out, and with our strict time frames and no substitute available until the end of next week, we’ll have to reconfigure things.”
Ainsley raised her hand. “I thought you were going to ask Cassie to do it.”
Harrison’s heart thudded. He had?
“I did, but she indicated she would prefer to not be the helpless female in this scenario and declined.”
Hope deflated.
“Well, I don’t blame her,” Dana murmured. “Why does it always have to be the man who saves the day?”
“Exactly.” Ainsley offered Jerry a sweet smile. “No offense, Jerry, but I’m kind of tired of Abigail looking like she needs help from a big strong man all the time.” She gestured toward outside. “The west wasn’t won by weak women. Women have always had to be strong to build families and communities and endure the challenges of life and these conditions.”
“Amen,” Dana said.
Huh. Good on them for standing up for their opinions.
“But this is what our viewers want.” Mal glanced at Jerry who nodded.
“Is it though?” Ainsley folded her arms.
Huh. She sure was going in strong today. But then, as the main character around whom the others revolved, she was least likely to lose a role from butting heads with the showrunner. Ainsley was the heart that drew the most fans. Viewers loved her. Replacing her meant guaranteed audience mutiny and cellar-dwelling ratings.
“Yes, Ainsley,” Mal resumed. “The polls show that our audience wants traditional values reinforced, which means how men and women are portrayed.”
“We certainly don’t think men are superior to women,” Jerry added.
Ainsley lifted her chin. “I’ve played this role for the past four years, and in that time Abigail has been rescued from a coal mine, a flood, a fire, and a bear.” She ticked off her fingers. “Every single time it’s been Tanner’s Mountie character who saved her. I understand the need for dramatic moments to build romantic tension, but I feel like if she was brave enough to come west to teach school by herself, then the audience wants to see that fearlessness again, and not see her perpetually as a weak woman. What kind of message does that send to the girls watching our show?”
Jerry’s mouth tightened. “We need our Mounties to appear strong.”
“And they can, but there are many different kinds of strength. Relationships should be an equal partnership. It doesn’t always have to be at the sake of saving the woman.”
“Are you saying you want Abigail to be in this scene, and she saves Harrison’s character?” Mal asked.
“No. But I do think we need some strong females shown on screen, which is why I suggested Cassie. She’s one of the toughest women I know—”
Yes, she was. Strong, capable, loyal, fierce but in a good way.
“—so I can’t blame her for declining. But she might want to be part of things if it got changed. So is there any way to rework the scene?” Ainsley caught Harrison’s eye, made a gesture, as if wanting him to contribute.
He’d read the scene, knew his character was supposed to save a woman on a runaway horse. And while he much preferred the idea of working with Cassie instead of Brenda, he didn’t blame her for wanting out of a scene that had been portrayed on TV a million times before. He could see Ainsley’s point.
Harrison cleared his throat. “I agree that Cassie is strong, and I don’t mind admitting that I’ve been on the receiving end of her toughness. I think it’d be good to see that portrayed.”
Mal sighed. “I’m afraid we’ll just need to reschedule—”
“What about if she rescues him from the runaway horse?” Harrison interrupted.
Mal’s brow lowered. “Nathaniel is a Mountie. He already knows how to control his horse so it wouldn’t run away.”
“But say it gets spooked. By a…”
“A snake,” Ainsley supplied.
He half-smiled at her. He’d recently shared his new commitment with her and she’d hugged him, declaring she was thrilled. It wouldn’t surprise him if she thought this now meant a green light as far as him seeking a relationship with Cassie. Maybe that was partly why she was gunning for this so hard.
“So she’s rescuing him?” Mal frowned.
“No, that doesn’t work,” Jerry said. “She can’t just save him then disappear. She would then have to become a continuing character and we’re just talking about a cameo. Someone who’s there and then gone and doesn’t return.”
Probably like how Cassie regarded him. Was that why she didn’t want to get involved with him? He hadn’t seen her since that Sunday evening, and it had now been eight days. Yes, he was counting. Lord, could you please make a way?
“You could always bump up her role and make it a recurring character?” Ainsley suggested, with a wink at Harrison.
“I don’t think that’s what we are going to do,” Mal said firmly.
It was testament to the working relationships on AsThe Heart Draws that Mal hadn’t shut this down already. Harrison had worked on many shows where the writers were basically gods, and the actors had no say in what their character did at all. He liked the collaborative approach here, although from the way Mal and Jerry were eyeing her, it’d be interesting to see what this might mean for Ainsley’s future on the show.
“What if it’s a double save,” he suggested. “Like, his horse gets spooked by a snake so she saves him from a runaway horse, and then he saves her because she’s bitten by the snake.”
“How many snakes are we gonna have on this show?” Jerry asked, rolling his eyes.
“It doesn’t have to be snakes. It could be a bear,” Dustin said.
“Hmm. It could be a bear…” Mal tapped his chin. “But then we’d need to hire a bear, and they’re expensive, and as Ainsley mentioned, Abigail has already had a bear encounter. So no, I really think—”
“What if it’s a near drowning?” Dana suggested. “You could have him stop the horse but they end up in deep water, and he gets injured by a log and she helps him stay afloat.”
“That sounds more believable.” Ainsley nodded.
“And he still gets to be a hero, doing Mountie things,” Harrison added.
“But doesn’t that set her up as a heroine?” Mal said. “Viewers would be expecting to see her again.”
“So maybe they do, in a recurring role. Or…” Ainsley straightened. “She could be someone from his past, and become the conflict between Abigail and Nathaniel because he’s now got divided loyalties, and that continues through the season.”
“But that would mean a far bigger role for Cassie.”
“Well, it’s not as if she has far to come to be on set.”
“But she’s not a trained actor. You don’t even know if she’d want to do this.”
“I can talk to her, and talk to my agent about her if necessary. And even if it’s just this scene that she does as a stand-in for Brenda, and you introduce a new character, I think a scenario like that would help add some extra tension that helps drive the series.”
“Hmm.” Mal glanced at Jerry.
Jerry glanced at the ceiling, his brow furrowed, so you could almost see the wheels turning.
“I don’t mind the idea of a runaway horse and a river,” Mal said. “But we’d need a nearby river.”
“There’s a creek not too far from here,” Harrison said. And he guessed the James family would be happy if it was used. “It has good access for vehicles, and some deeper water parts that might be good for filming.”
“And you know this how?” Mal asked.
“Um, it might’ve got mentioned on the day I had a certain encounter with a reptile.”
“I’m not going anywhere near a snake.” Dana shuddered.
“But you wouldn’t need to,” Ainsley pointed out. “It’d only be Harrison and Cassie in this scene.”
Mal nodded. “Let me think on this.” He glanced at Harrison. “Would you be willing to act in water?”
It’s what his signature on a contract said. And if it meant an excuse to be near Cassie again, then, “Absolutely.”
One hundred percent.
And perhaps this was an answer to prayer.