fifteen minutes after she’d fallen asleep.
When she dragged herself into the driver’s seat, however, her thoughts drifted to her comfortable bed. What was another half hour’s drive back to her apartment? Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more equine or bovine emergencies tonight. At least the Hartwells’ ranch was closer to her place south of Wichita than a lot of other ranches the clinic serviced.
She started the engine and headed toward the highway. Once she got away from the ranch, the landscape darkened around her. With no moon and some cloud cover, the southern Kansas landscape was pitch-black. It took ten minutes of driving before she began to see the glow of Wichita’s lights to the north. Only a few minutes and a quick shower more and she’d be curling back into her bed.
Her phone rang on the seat beside her, eliciting a groan and, yes, maybe even a whimper. She slowed, thankful there wasn’t any traffic, and glanced at the phone. Her heart gave a painful thud when she saw it was her mom calling. Knowing it wasn’t going to be a happy conversation, she pulled off the road. Her hand shook as she picked up the phone and answered.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Did I wake you?” Her mother’s voice sounded tired, but then Natalie couldn’t really remember a time when her mom wasn’t tired.
“No. Actually, I’m driving back from delivering a foal.” When her mom didn’t say anything in response, Natalie knew for certain why her mother had called. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Now her mom’s voice sounded as if it was laced with tears.
“I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
“Be safe, okay? I don’t want you to have a wreck.”
“I’ll be careful.”
But even though Natalie knew that her father’s time was ticking away, she didn’t speed. Though it made no sense, some part of her believed if she drew out how long it took her to arrive at her parents’ house in Wichita, the longer her dad would have. But that was cruel because he was suffering, had been suffering for a long time. That’s what a lifetime of drinking brought a person, a painful death via liver failure.
Pain of a different kind punched her right in her middle, the realization that probably before the night was through her dad would be gone forever. She bit her bottom lip and pressed down harder on the accelerator.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled up in front of her parents’ small home, the one she’d helped them buy because they never would have been able to purchase one on their own. She cut the engine but didn’t get out of the truck. Instead, she stared at her mom’s older-model car sitting in the carport. Behind it sat a small SUV belonging to her sister Allison, who’d driven down the day before from Kansas City, bringing their youngest sister, Renee, with her. Her entire family was inside the little blond-brick home, sitting around waiting for her father to die.
She gripped the steering wheel, fighting the visceral need to drive away, as far and as fast as she could. Even though she’d known this moment was coming for months, she still wasn’t ready. It wasn’t as if she had a perfect relationship with her dad, but he was still her dad and she loved him, despite everything. She wanted to be angry that he’d done this to himself, that his drinking had made his wife’s and daughters’ lives much more difficult than they should have been. But what was the use of being angry now? It wasn’t going to change the outcome.
With a deep, shaky breath, she opened the truck door and slipped out onto the quiet street. Almost every light in every house was dark, except for those of her parents and Jackie Kincaid across the street, the neighborhood gossip to beat all neighborhood gossips. Natalie resisted the evil urge to find the nearest paintball gun and cover Jackie’s big picture window with globs of paint. Instead, she forced herself to walk toward her parents’ front door.
She didn’t knock, instead slipping quietly into the living room to find Renee sitting there alone, reading a copy of some French magazine she’d obviously brought with her from Paris. Natalie had the unkind thought that Renee might have brought the magazine solely as an outward symbol of just how far away she’d gone from Wichita and their family. Part of Natalie couldn’t blame her for leaving, but now wasn’t the time to bring it up. Natalie kept those thoughts to herself as her sister looked up and smiled at her.
“Hey, Nat.” Renee jumped up and wrapped Natalie in a hug.
Needing that hug more than she cared to admit, Natalie held her baby sister a little longer than Renee probably expected, then continued to hold on to her upper arms as she took in how different her sister looked.
“I like the new haircut,” she said as she finally released her sister.
Renee ran a hand over the chic bob. “Thanks.”
As Natalie examined Renee from head to toe, she realized that her sister looked more European than Midwestern. An odd sense of loss settled in Natalie’s heart despite the fact that Renee had been living in France for five years.
Natalie glanced toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “How’s he doing?”
“Dreadful.”
Natalie jerked as if she’d been slapped.
Renee softened her expression. “Sorry. I’m too blunt sometimes.”
“I know you probably don’t want to be here, but thanks for coming.”
Renee shrugged. “I’m not totally without feeling. There’s a part of me that loves him because he’s my dad, even though he wasn’t worth much.”
“Renee.” Natalie knew she sounded like the scolding older sister, but she couldn’t help it even though there was some truth in her sister’s words.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Natalie couldn’t. Their dad’s drinking had led to him not being able to keep a job, to their mom working two jobs to support their family of five. He hadn’t been mean, or violent, but his inability to conquer whatever demons that led him to drink had caused his family a lot of hardship.
Not wanting to focus on the past, Natalie instead took a fortifying breath and headed toward her parents’ bedroom. The mingling scents of cleansers and sickness assaulted her as she entered the bedroom, and it took all her effort not to let the way her stomach turned show on her face.
Allison was the first to notice her and gave her a tired smile. Her sister reached across the bed and gently touched her mom’s hand and nodded toward Natalie.
Her mom stood on legs that looked as shaky as the newborn colt’s and wrapped Natalie in her arms. “I’m glad you made it safely.”
Natalie was struck by just how thin her mother felt and wondered if she hadn’t been eating properly.
“There’s my other girl.”
Natalie looked toward the sound of her father’s thin, labored voice. As unkind as it was to think it, Renee was right. Bill Todd did look dreadful with jaundiced skin and eyes, cracked lips and swelling in his abdomen that was obvious even under the blanket covering him. He’d never been a big, strapping man, but now he honestly looked like the death he was facing.
Her mom stepped back, indicating
