“You thought the baby was Hal’s.”
She nodded. “Everybody did. And only Cage knew differently. Hal had been killed. It took Cage months to find the courage to tell me.”
“What happened when he did?”
“I was mortified.”
“I can imagine.”
“I said terrible things to him.” She shuddered now with the memory. “I cruelly rejected him. It took a tragedy to bring us back together.”
She squeezed Kerry’s hand. “Linc reminds me of Cage. They’re both volatile men. Short-tempered. There’s an air of violence and danger about them. I used to tremble whenever Cage was in the parsonage. I would get as far away from him as I possibly could. Then one day I realized that the very characteristics that frightened me, also attracted me. I wasn’t nearly as afraid of his virility as I was of my response to it.”
She glanced at Kerry out of the corner of her eye. “Cage made me so jittery that I shied away from him. I couldn’t deal with the way he made me feel, like I was stepping outside myself whenever he was around.” She took her eyes off the road long enough to glance across the seat. “Are you in love with Linc?”
Kerry lowered her head and eloquent tears rolled down her cheeks. She held back sobs only by clamping her trembling lower lip between her teeth. “Yes,” she said on a low moan. “Yes. But it’s hopeless.”
“I thought so, too, at one time. But I learned that the harder it is to come by, the more valuable the love.”
The Hendrens thought that it was important for the children to be exposed to American customs as soon as possible. Kerry agreed. So that evening they cooked hot dogs on the outdoor grill. Later, Cage set up a television monitor and ran Disney movies through the VCR. It was worth all the hardships Kerry had had to suffer to see their joyous faces.
At intermission, they emptied another three freezers of homemade ice cream. Cage’s parents passed out cupcakes. Even though well-meaning folks and media were still banned from the ranch, baked goods, clothing, and toys were smuggled in.
Joe, who had been enthusiastically welcomed back into the fold earlier that afternoon, hobbled over to Kerry on his crutches. “Sister Kerry, didn’t you want any ice cream?”
“I’m waiting for the crowd to thin out.” The children were thronged around Roxie, who was dispensing the ice cream with a long-handled spoon. “How does your leg feel?”
“A little ache. Nothing more.”
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you how brave you were during the rescue.” The boy made a self-conscious gesture. “I was very proud of you. Without you helping him, Linc couldn’t have saved us all.”
Joe’s soulful eyes were downcast. “He came back for me.”
Kerry, reminded of the animosity the boy had harbored toward Linc, suggested quietly, “Perhaps you should thank him for that.”
“He already has.”
The voice came out of the darkness behind her. Her knees went weak with the gruff sound of it. When she turned her head, she caught her breath sharply. He had borrowed one of Cage’s cars and gone into town on a shopping expedition of his own. He was wearing new stonewashed jeans. They clung to his hips and thighs with a soft, tight fit. He had on a Swiss army shirt made of white cotton. The sleeves had been rolled up to his hard biceps. She smelled cologne on him for the first time and liked his selection. It reminded her of rain and wind. He’d had his hair trimmed, too, but it was still long enough to brush the collar of his shirt.
Linc moved out of the darkness and laid a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “He thanked me this afternoon, but I told him it wasn’t necessary. He covered my ass. In his own right, he is a freedom fighter for his country.”
Joe beamed up at the older man and said proudly, “But now my country is the United States.”
No one had had the heart to tell the boy that he, as yet, had no adoptive parents and that there was a very real possibility that he would be returned to Monterico. Quickly Linc changed the subject. “Did Cage tell you what an uncanny rapport Joe has with horses?”
“He’s mentioned it a few hundred times,” Kerry said, giving Joe a teasing smile. “You never told me you knew so much about horses.”
“I never knew!” the boy exclaimed, his dark eyes shining.
That afternoon, when Joe insisted that he didn’t want to lie in bed any longer, he had been taken on a tour of the ranch. Cage had returned to the house with him, marveling over the boy’s natural rapport with the animals.
“He seems to speak their language,” Cage said, smiling down at the adolescent.
Joe basked in Linc’s compliments. In Monterico, he had seemed old beyond his years. He had shed that untimely maturity along with his hostility toward Linc.
“When you first joined us,” he said to Linc solemnly, “I thought you meant to harm Sister Kerry. I know now that you wouldn’t hurt her.” He didn’t notice the slight flinching of Linc’s muscles. “I’m sorry I had bad feelings toward you. You brought us to freedom.”
Before Linc could make an appropriate reply, Trent Hendren came bounding up to Joe. He halted just short of tackling him, which he would have done if he hadn’t been warned earlier about hurting Joe’s thigh wound. “Joe, Joe.” The child had been Joe’s shadow ever since he returned from the hospital. Joe didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he assumed a paternal air toward Trent. The child pointed excitedly toward the television screen where another movie was just starting. Smiling shyly, Joe hobbled toward the others with Trent tagging along beside him.