Chapter Twelve #2
Coltrain grimaced. “We might be able to get a plastic surgeon to clean them up, but they’re very deep.
She’d have half a dozen surgeries to anticipate, at least. And there’s something else—the sutures weren’t done well, either.
She may face some real problems down the road.
I’d recommend plastic surgery for that reason alone. But she has no insurance, you know.”
“What the hell does that matter?” Boone asked blithely. “I’ll take care of it. You talk her into it, and I’ll pay the surgeon.”
Coltrain grinned. “That’s a deal.”
Winnie didn’t say anything, but she felt terrible that she and Keely had been friends for so many years, and Keely had never told her about the encounter with the mountain lion. She wondered if she’d said or done something that would make her best friend uncomfortable telling her about it.
“Is Keely asleep?” Boone asked Coltrain.
He nodded. “She’ll be out for a while. It’s just as well.
That snakebite is still giving her hell.
If Winnie hadn’t found her when she did…
Well, it doesn’t bear thinking about,” he added, cutting short the remark when he saw Boone’s tortured eyes.
“I’d better get back to work. If you need me, just tell the nurse on duty. They can always find me.”
“Thanks,” Boone said.
Coltrain shrugged and smiled. “I like Keely.”
The siblings gathered around to discuss their plans.
Boone decided that he’d better go and see Eb Scott in person.
He was going to need specialized talent.
Clark and Winnie would take turns staying with Keely.
Nobody was going to get past them. They weren’t armed, but they could certainly call for help.
* * *
It was morning before Keely woke up again.
The combination of all the drugs and the emotional upheaval of her mother’s death had knocked her out for the night.
She blinked sleepily, her mind clear and untroubled until she remembered quite suddenly what she’d seen on television the night before.
It was like a rock on her heart. Tears stung her eyes, all over again.
“I’m so sorry, Keely,” Winnie said gently, from her vigil in the chair beside the bed. “About your mother.”
Keely glanced at her. She sighed. “I knew I’d lose her someday,” she said, “and we were almost enemies for so long. But we were just getting to know each other again, and we were becoming friends…” She bit her lip, hard. “It’s been a rotten week,” she said after a minute.
“Yes, it has.” She hesitated. “I wish you could have told me about your shoulder,” she said. “I feel that I’ve failed you, because you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
Keely grimaced. “I was afraid you’d tell Boone,” she said softly. “Not that it would have mattered. He hated me…”
“No, he didn’t,” came the immediate reply. “You have no idea what’s been going on, while you were out of it.”
“He showed me a photograph of some woman with my head on another body, in a compromising situation with Clark,” Keely said heavily.
“I knew it was a fake, but Boone didn’t.
He was furious. I was going to sink my pride and show him…
and he thought I was trying to seduce him!
” Her eyes smoldered. “I should have hit him with something! Then he tells me to get out of the house, and stalks off before I can say I haven’t got a way home.
When I get out of this bed,” she added, building up steam as she spoke, “I’m going to turn him every which way but loose! That man has some lumps coming!”
Winnie had to fight a smile. Keely was such a gentle person, but she was really angry. “I’ll help you thump him,” she promised. “But he didn’t know, Keely. And you don’t know how he reacted when he found out, either.”
“What do you mean?”
“When he saw you in the emergency room, he came out raving that he’d been conned by Misty’s father’s detective. He left and the next thing we knew, Hayes Carson was here, telling us he’d just had to bail Boone out of jail in San Antonio.”
“What?” Keely exclaimed.
“He beat up the detective who faked that photograph.” Winnie chuckled. “He was arrested and Hayes had to bail him out and bring him home.”
“Will they prosecute him?” Keely asked, her anger forgotten in concern for Boone’s future. “He isn’t going to have to go to jail, is he?” she asked fearfully.
“Not likely. The detective, Misty, and her father all ran for the border, and nobody’s around to press charges,” Winnie said smugly.
“It so happens that they’re involved with the Fuenteses’ outfit, can you believe it?
Boone was only seeing Misty to feed Hayes Carson information on her contacts.
He was furious at Hayes for making him do it.
” She grinned. “I told you he wouldn’t forgive her that easily after what she did to him. ”
“Boone got arrested.” Keely said it, disbelievingly. “He never puts a foot wrong.”
“He did this time. But there were extenuating circumstances. He was rather tipsy at the time.”
“He was drinking?”
“From what we hear,” Winnie agreed. She laughed. “My spotless big brother, drunk and beating up detectives.” She shook her head. “What is the world coming to?” She grinned at Keely. “Apparently he thinks a little more of you than he let on, I’d say.”
Keely was afraid to hope for much, especially after Boone had seen her wrecked shoulder.
But his actions indicated more feeling for Keely than he’d expressed verbally.
There was hope, she thought. He had scars, too.
Perhaps he’d had worse experiences than she had, with people of the opposite sex who didn’t understand or care about his scars.
* * *
By the time Boone came back to the hospital, Winnie and Clark had gone home for supper and to get a room ready for Keely when she was discharged. Coltrain had said she’d be ready to go the next day if she continued improving.
Keely didn’t want to go home with them if Boone only offered out of guilt. But she didn’t want to go to her home, either, with Ella’s death so fresh on her mind. Nobody had told her where Ella died, but Keely suspected that it was at the house.
She had an unexpected visitor while she was worrying her choices to death in her mind. Ella’s best friend, Carly, came in, dressed in black, red-eyed from crying.
“Did they tell you?” she asked gently, because she didn’t want to upset Keely.
“Yes,” Keely said huskily. “We were doing so well together…” Her voice broke.
Carly bent over the bed, and hugged her gently.
“I’ve been out of town. There was a missed call on my cell phone, but when I tried to call Ella back, there was no answer.
I got worried when I couldn’t get you, either, so I cut my trip short and came home.
” She grimaced. “What a homecoming! Ella dead, and you in the hospital in serious condition. Are you going to be all right?”
“Yes,” Keely said. “But I understand that the snake died.”
It took a minute for Carly to get the dry humor. She smiled. “Poor snake.”
“I expect his relatives are all sad.” She dabbed at her eyes with the sheet. “I haven’t had time to make any arrangements about the funeral.”
“Do you want me to do that?” Carly asked solemnly. “Ella gave me a copy of her will and instructions for her funeral two years ago. I never really thought they’d be needed, but I humored her.”
“Could you call Lunsford’s and make the arrangements?” Keely asked gently. “She has a burial policy with them, which should cover everything. She paid it off a few years ago.”
“I’ll be glad to do that,” Carly replied. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “She was the only friend I had—the only real one.”
Keely reached out her good hand and squeezed Carly’s. “You were her only real friend,” she replied. “I’m glad she had you.”
Carly cried even harder. “I wish I could take back every mean thing I ever said to you, Keely,” she sobbed. “I didn’t really mean any of it. In the old days, I took care of you a lot when Ella couldn’t. I lost sight of that. But I’ll do anything to make it up to you now, if I can.”
“Look after Mama’s funeral arrangements,” Keely said, “and we’ll call it even.”
Carly dried her eyes. “When do you want to have it?” she asked worriedly. “You don’t look up to a funeral.”
She wasn’t. She hesitated. Boone came in the door, gave Carly a cold appraisal and moved to Keely’s bed.
“I’ve arranged for some additional manpower at the ranch,” he said without preamble. “What do you want to do about your mother?”
“Carly’s going to take care of that,” Keely said. “She knows where everything is, and she has copies of Mama’s will and last wishes.”
Boone glanced at the older woman. “If there are any outstanding accounts, I’ll take care of them,” he said.
Carly nodded. Her eyes were as red as Keely’s. “Thanks.” She hesitated. “You know,” she said, staring meaningfully at Boone, “it might not be a bad idea to have her cremated, and the ashes buried in the family plot.”
Boone knew then that Carly had seen Ella and wanted to spare Keely the trauma of it. His eyes narrowed. “I think that’s a good idea. Keely?”
Keely wasn’t sure. She hesitated.
“A Viking funeral,” Boone said quietly. “Appropriate for a brave woman.”
Keely burst out crying again. “Yes,” she agreed, choking. “She was brave. Okay. That’s okay.”
Boone leaned over and gathered her as close as he could, kissing the tears away. “It passes,” he said softly. “Everything passes. You’ll be able to remember her with happiness one day.”
“Yes, you will,” Carly seconded. She went on the other side of the bed, and bent and kissed Keely’s disheveled hair. “I’ll go and get things started. The hospital and the funeral home may need your approval before they can proceed. I’ll have them call you here.”
“Do that,” Boone said quietly. “But I don’t think there will be a problem. You stuck by Ella when nobody else would go near her.”
Carly took that for a compliment and smiled. “Thanks.”