Chapter Twenty-Two
Audra gave her statement to Laurel while they loaded Copeland into the ambulance. She allowed herself to be fussed over by Rosalie and Franny, all while Copeland was taken to the hospital.
And she cursed the man when Laurel informed her he was going into surgery for a broken arm. “He knew it was broken,” she told Rosalie darkly back at their kitchen table with cops prowling the property. “He knew it the whole time and didn’t tell me.”
“Well, we’ll go down to the hospital and you can yell at him about it.”
Audra frowned, because she wasn’t going to yell at him. The minute she saw him, she’d probably fall completely apart. His words kept echoing in her head.
I don’t know anyone who could have made that shot. Not a soul. Except you.
Like somehow, it was all meant to be. Like somehow, she shouldn’t feel guilty about asking Copeland for help, about his broken arm he’d got because of her.
She did, of course, feel guilty and blamed herself, but there was a little inkling deep down that maybe she shouldn’t.
Still, once the police presence moved out, she let Rosalie drive her to the hospital because she needed to see Copeland. She wouldn’t take a full breath until she did.
It was late by the time they got to the hospital and made their way toward Copeland’s recovery room. Before they reached it though, they saw Laurel talking to a uniformed police officer outside a hospital room at the front of the hall.
The two stopped talking as Rosalie and Audra walked by.
Rosalie studied them, then the door. “Is it Karly?” she demanded.
Laurel gave them a kind of cop smile. Sympathetic but guarded. “She’s doing just fine. She’ll likely have some permanent damage, since the wrist is a hell of a place to get shot, but she’ll make a full recovery. And then we’ll see about justice.”
“Can we see her?” Audra asked, without fully thinking the question through. Everything just felt…so unsettled, even with what Copeland had told her.
Laurel looked from Rosalie to Audra, then back to the uniformed officer outside the hospital-room door.
“It’ll be up to her. I’ll go see if she’s okay with it, and I’ll have to stay in the room with you.”
Audra nodded, and Laurel slipped into the room.
Rosalie turned to Audra, concern etched across her features. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It just seems… Dad convinced her of all this stuff that wasn’t true, and she was acting on it in good faith.”
Rosalie scowled. “She would have killed Copeland. And possibly you. Even if she believed every lie Dad ever told, that’s not an excuse for murder.”
“She had chances to do both and didn’t.”
Rosalie shook her head. “I don’t know how you can have any sympathy for her, Aud. She’s a damn criminal.”
“She’s troubled. She needs help. She’s our sister.”
Maybe, just maybe, that softened Rosalie a little. When Laurel reappeared and ushered them into the room, Rosalie linked arms with Audra. They stopped at the end of Karly’s hospital bed.
She was hooked up to an IV and some other kind of machine. Her gaze slowly landed on them, settled on their linked arms while a scowl sank into her face.
“Well. What do you two want?” she said it with a sneer. “If you’re expecting an apology, you can jump off a cliff. You shot me.”
Audra supposed it should make her mad, but all she could seem to work up to was sympathy. To be this…angry at all the wrong people. It was just sad.
“I’m sorry it was the only option,” Audra said, and meant it. “But I think we both know you were ready to kill someone, and that’s just…not okay.”
Karly’s belligerent gaze moved out to the window, even though it was dark outside, and her jaw worked, like she was trying to hold back tears. Like she knew, deep down, what she’d done was wrong.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Audra, who’d given up on wishful thinking since her father had died, decided she wanted some of that hope, some of that belief back.
“I would have given you a piece of the ranch,” Audra said very calmly and clearly. “I would have given you so much. I offered. You didn’t even consider my offer.”
Karly stared at her. There was hate deep in the eyes the same shade as Audra’s, but Audra thought she saw something else. Maybe she was fooling herself, but she hoped she saw some doubt.
So she pressed. “He tricked you. He tricked all of us. He’s the enemy. And if you can ever accept that, believe it, I’ll be here.”
“We’ll be here,” Rosalie corrected, surprising Audra. Because her sister wasn’t exactly known for her forgiving nature.
Karly still said nothing. She would do some time. Hopefully she’d get some help, and maybe someday in the future they could put this behind them.
But if they didn’t, at least Audra tried.
“Whatever,” Karly muttered. “Go away.”
Audra exchanged a glance with Rosalie, who nodded. They’d done what they needed to do for some closure, and left the door cracked open if Karly ever decided to step through it.
COPELAND SWAM OUT of the dark in a weird fuzzy kind of confusion. He didn’t feel much of anything, least of all his body, but when his eyes opened to a bright, white hospital room he was met by a familiar dark gaze.
He stared for a full minute before it made sense. “Mom?”
His mother was frowning disapprovingly at him from a seat next to his hospital bed. “Well, who else would be here?”
Copeland shifted uncomfortably, not sure if it was the anesthesia from surgery wearing off or what. “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”
“My son was in surgery and I didn’t have to come all the way here.” She scoffed. “Leave it to you, Copeland.”
He might have laughed, but his brain didn’t feel like it was firing on all cylinders yet.
“I…” He wanted—needed—to see Audra. They’d wheeled him into surgery before he’d had a chance to talk to her, they’d both been so busy giving statements and ensuring the loose ends of Karly Young had been tied up.
Now he wanted… God, he just wanted to see her. But his mother was here. She’d come all the way from Denver and… “Mom, it’s just a broken arm.”
She made a considering noise. “We were overdue for a visit. For seeing your life here. I know you’ve come home, but why shouldn’t we come here for a bit? Good for your father to get away from his precious lawn for a week or so.”
See your life here. No, he’d kept them away from it. Hell, he’d tried to keep himself away from life, but he’d built one all the same. No matter what he’d tried to do. It hadn’t started with Audra, but it all seemed to center on her now and… His parents were here. So…
“I’d like you to meet someone.”
“It wouldn’t happen to be a pretty woman named Audra who introduced herself to me as the reason you got hurt?”
He sighed heavily. Martyr until the end. “That’d be her. It wasn’t her fault.”
“You don’t think I know that? Sometimes it’s easier for people to take the blame and feel in control of everything that’s hurting their heart, than it is to accept bad things just happen.”
Maybe he’d realized that a bit on his own, but his mother articulating it clarified all that martyr in her. And maybe even a little in himself.
“She’s helping your dad hunt down some decent coffee,” Mom continued, her gaze shrewd. “She’s a sweet girl. First impression? I liked her.”
“Good.” Maybe it was the drugs. The exhaustion. Maybe it was just seeing his mother here in Wyoming. But the truth came tumbling out. “Because I think I’m in love with her.”
Mom didn’t react outwardly, but he saw her gaze study him, like she could see through him and determined it was true. “My suggestion would be not to use the word think when you tell her. Your father made that mistake. I nearly ended things then and there.”
He laughed in spite of himself. “Noted.”
But he saw, or felt, his mother’s…concern. Trepidation maybe. Because he’d run away from one problem, and maybe she was worried he was just repeating old mistakes. So he felt like he had to tell her, had to explain…
“It’s not just her, you know. It’s this place. It’s a community. I have friends. No matter how hard I tried, everything, everyone…became more than just a job. More than just an escape from Denver. I left to…hide, I guess. Numb myself. But…”
She reached out, brushed his hair off his forehead, just like she’d done when he’d been a kid home sick from school. “But it sounds like you found your home instead.”
“Yeah, I think I did.”
“That’s all I ever wanted for you,” she said, and though her expression was calm, her eyes filled a little. But she didn’t cry. She wouldn’t—that wasn’t his mother’s way.
She cleared her throat. They both turned to look as the door to the room opened. Dad stepped in first, but he was followed by Audra. She had shadows under her eyes. She needed rest and home and…
She was here, and that was exactly where he wanted her to be.
“We’re going to stay a few days,” Mom said briskly.
“Until you’re out of the hospital at least. No arguing.
We’re going to go check into the hotel now.
We’ll be back in the morning.” She reached out, took Audra’s hand.
“It was good to meet you, Audra. I’m sure we’ll see more of you before we leave. ”
Audra smiled in return. “I hope so.”
For a second, Copeland watched his parents and Audra and wondered if this was all a very elaborate dream. But then Audra sat in the chair next to his bed. She reached out, touched his face, and that touch was real.
He felt himself relax into the pillows beneath his head. Real. All this was real, and once he was out of here, it’d be time to figure out just what that meant.
“Your parents are very nice,” she said, a bit primly, but he knew she was trying to keep herself from apologizing about his arm.
“Yeah, they are.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Weird. Groggy. But okay. Guess I’ve got desk duty for a bit.”
She glanced at his cast, pain and no doubt a bit of self-flagellation there in her gaze, but she didn’t speak it. That was progress, he thought.
“I’m not going to tell you I’m sorry,” she said, very clearly struggling with that. “But only because your mother told me not to.”
He laughed at that, for so many reasons. He shook his head. “Audra, you are something else. I’m just glad you’re safe, and we got to the bottom of it, no matter how accidentally. I wish I could have done more, sooner, but we’re okay. And… Hopefully Karly can get the help she needs.”
Audra’s mouth turned down. “But…she tried to kill you. She was going to. You don’t have some sort of…revenge feeling about that?”
“Normally I would, but… I don’t know. She just seemed so damn sad. It was impossible not to feel sorry for her.”
Audra swallowed, her eyes swimming again. She got up out of the chair just enough to brush a light kiss across his mouth. “I thought so too.” She offered him a trembling smile.
And he just…said it, because it was there, and it should be said. She should hear it. Know it. Always. He didn’t even use the word think.
“I’m in love with you, Audra, and believe me, that was not the plan.”
She kind of plunked back into her seat, shock etched across her face. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. So he figured he’d just press and press and press while he could.
She was stubborn. He’d have to get through to her.
“Guess I’ll be laid up for a few weeks, but I make a pretty good ranch hand.”
She swallowed. “You do. Cheap too.”
“Audra.”
She sighed, gaze lifting from his cast to his face.
Her blue eyes were tired, soft. “I always wanted… I wanted to fall in love. To find someone who felt like a partner. I chased that feeling, and it only ever broke my heart. So I wasn’t looking for you either.
I was done chasing. Done…believing.” She took a long, careful inhale.
“But you’re worth believing in, Copeland. And I love you.”
For a few moments they just stared at each other, like the moment was nebulous, fragile, breakable.
Then Audra laughed, got up again, and pressed a firmer kiss to his mouth.
He held her there with his good arm before she could sit back down. “You’re going to have a hell of a hard time getting rid of me, I hope you know that.”
She smiled, pretty and bright, just like she was, all the way through. “Good.”