She drove on for another three miles before turning into a private drive. Parking her car, she stepped out, getting her jacket out of the back seat and the wrapped flowers. She made the trek up the path that was kept cleared for those visiting the private cemetery.
The small graveyard held Cash’s family that had been born and died in the county since the town had been formed. She passed Knox’s first wife’s grave and paused long enough to say a small prayer for the young woman who had died overseas. Taking one of the flowers out of her mother’s bundle, she lay it down on Sunshine’s before moving on to her parents’ graves.
“Hi, Mom and Dad.” Rachel laid the flowers down on her mother’s grave. She stood, looking down at the grass-covered mounds, missing her parents as much as when they had been buried. She stood there a while, knowing it would be some time before she came back.
She wanted her mother so much. She could still remember the smell of her perfume, how soft her hair was, and the feel of her arms holding her close. She hadn’t been held since the day her mom had died.
Saying a prayer, she turned from her grave and spotted Cash’s father’s grave on the opposite side of her mother’s. They had been best friends until their deaths. Joe Adams had been over at their house constantly, sometimes even bringing Cash. It was only when she had gotten older and had accidently heard her brothers talking that she had discovered Joe had been in love with her mother.
The path was steep, so going down she had to watch her feet to keep from falling. When she got to the bottom of the hill, she looked up and came to a stop.
“Hi, Rachel.”
“Shade.” He was leaning against the door of her car with his arms folded across his chest. “What are you doing out here?”
He gave her a mocking smile. “Knox told me you used to come here every weekend. I knew, eventually, you would come by for a visit, so I had the place watched. Old habits die hard.”
“Evidently. What do you want?” Rachel knew he wouldn’t let her leave until he told her what he wanted.
“I want you to fix Cash.” Shade’s determined face showed he was serious.
Her mouth dropped open. “I’m not capable of fixing him, Shade. I don’t have super powers.” She brushed a tendril of hair away from her cheek. “Besides, I already tried.”
“Then try again.”
“It’s not that simple.” Rachel didn’t know how to explain what she did; she never could. To her, it was simply a part of her, like breathing or blinking. It had always been there when she needed it, but fixing Cash would take more power than she possessed.
“You’re just going to leave him lying in that bed without trying?”
“I tried! What don’t you understand?”
Shade straightened away from the car. “Rachel, do you feel any better since you left town?”
“No,” she admitted.
“Then, if you’re going to feel like shit, why not stay in town near Cash? Even if you can help him deal with the pain, then wouldn’t it be worth it?”
“I don’t owe Cash any favors,” she responded stubbornly.
“Don’t act like you don’t care or you wouldn’t have come back to town. No one says you have to move back into your brothers’ house.”
“Where would I stay?”
“You could stay with Cash’s grandmother. No one goes near that old bitch’s house.”
A slight smile touched her lips. “She’s not that bad.”
“Yes, she is. Well?”
“All right.” Rachel caved in to doing what she wanted to do anyway. Shade had merely made it easier to accept.
“Good. She’s expecting you.” Rachel rolled her eyes; she hadn’t stood a chance against Shade. “I owe you, Rachel.”
“That’s the same thing you said when you asked me to go to work in the church store to help Lily. I would have helped Lily regardless, but it would have been nice if you would have broken up that fight before Cash opened his big mouth.”
Shade climbed on his bike, turning on the motor. “I paid you back when I helped Viper hold Cash back when Tate dragged you away. If he had gotten near Tate, he would have killed him. Welcome back, Rachel.”
Rachel watched as he drove away.
“Asshole.”
* * *
Rachel sat curled on the chair beside Cash’s bed, twisting her hands. The pallor of his normally tanned skin was white, and he was covered in so many abrasions that more of his skin had marks than didn’t. He had received spinal and head injuries, but the coma he was in was medically-induced. Rachel was relieved he wasn’t experiencing any pain.
When one of The Last Riders came to visit, she would go into the waiting room until they left. She didn’t speak to any of his visitors, pretending to read magazines to avoid conversations of why she was there. Cash had no family other than his grandmother, and she had been by several times to visit him in the hospital.
Rachel had moved in with her temporarily. She spent most of her time at the hospital, though, only going to Mag’s cabin when she needed to sleep or shower.
Rachel had met her several times before her stroke, and her personality hadn’t dimmed since her illness. If anything, she had become even more gregarious.
As the nurse came in to check Cash’s machines, Rachel ignored her curious looks, going to stare out the window as his bandages were changed.
After she left, Rachel returned to sitting by the bed. Even unconscious, his virility and masculinity managed to capture you. Her hand reached out to touch his cheek, but hearing a movement at the door, she snatched her hand back to her side.
Dean stood in the doorway.
Rachel looked away, unable to meet his eyes. Stepping away from the bed again, she started to leave the room.
“Stay.”
She stopped mid-flight and gave a sharp nod, going to the window.
Rachel heard Dean take a seat by Cash’s bed, taking Cash’s hand in his own. Rachel watched as Dean spent the next ten minutes talking to Cash as if he could hear what he was saying. It brought a lump to her throat to see a glimpse of the man who had been her pastor for years and whose guidance she had always respected.
Dean bent his head, saying a brief prayer before rising to his feet and coming to stand next to her at the window.
“The nurse tells me there hasn’t been any change.”
“No.”
“Rachel, I may not be your pastor anymore, but I would like to think we’re still friends. I’m always here for you to talk to.”
“I don’t need to talk, and if I did, it wouldn’t be with someone who is friends with him.” Rachel gave him her back.
“If you’re so angry at him, why are you here?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Shade thinks I may be able to help him.”
“Can you?” Dean leaned casually against the window, blocking her view and forcing her to look him in the eye.
“No. My gift isn’t like that. I do
n’t heal; I can’t fix what’s broken,” Rachel tried to explain. She blew out a breath of air. “I’m more of an emotional empath. I can give off warmth and sense things that are out of place. I can transfer my feelings to others, but I am not a healer.”
“I don’t think Lily would agree with you.”
“I didn’t heal Lily; Shade did.” Rachel believed in giving credit where it was due. Without Shade giving Lily a sense of being protected, she would never have healed or been able to face her demons.
“I see. Have you tried?”
Rachel nodded. “I told you, it’s useless. Everyone thinks I’m not helping him because I’m mad at him, though.”
“I’m not saying Cash doesn’t deserve your anger, merely that your gift comes from love, and hate always stands in the way of love.” When Rachel rolled her eyes at his trite words, Dean laughed. “I know it sounds idealistic, but I believe it. Just because I’m no longer a minister, it doesn’t mean I don’t have faith.”
She knew he might be right. Whenever she had felt the warmth in her hands, it had come when she was thinking of how much she wanted to help the person and cared for their happiness.
“I’m not capable of helping him.”
“I get pretty mad at Cash sometimes. I wasn’t at the party, and he pissed me off.”
Rachel blushed.
“The hardest battle I fought as a minister was everyone’s view of sex. I don’t believe because a woman enjoys her sexuality that makes her a whore. Small towns tend to be judgmental.”
“Yes, they do,” Rachel agreed.
“Rachel, I don’t doubt you’re hurt, angry, and embarrassed to have something that was special to you thrown out at a party to humiliate your brothers. You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Rachel looked quickly over her shoulder at Cash, as if he could hear them while in a coma. “I was. I don’t even like him now, though,” she confessed.
Dean nodded. “If it’s any consolation, he felt terrible about what happened. He was trying to find you when he wrecked.”
Rachel closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to feel any emotion toward Cash.