Adam felt he’d had to admit to Vera that he’d not been faithful, but that wasn’t the whole story.
The young woman had been a social worker from Boston, a bit older than Adam and way more experienced. She was the one who’d said, “Don’t fall in love with me.” He had, at least for a while. He’d been the one whose heart seemed to break when she left. “Go home to your girlfriend,” she’d said. “Go home to Kansas and stay there.”
He hadn’t liked her implication. It was almost as though she was saying he wasn’t cut out to be a world traveler. And maybe it was true that he’d made his little hut into a home. He had a garden with plants he’d found growing on the savanna. And he’d bought some nice, locally made furniture. He’d told himself that he was doing it to welcome Vera, but sometimes he thought he was making a home for himself.
He got up from the desk. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he needed to do something about Robbie.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kelly hadn’t slept much. She’d flopped around in bed, her mind awhirl, thinking about her life. If she were like Vera, she’d march over to Pauly and demand to be told what was going on. He’d been given an engagement ring and told to put it to its proper use. But he’d returned the ring to the store. So maybe that was good. It showed that he was money conscious. Maybe he wanted to buy a ring on his own and was saving for one.
That idea calmed her down for about five minutes. Then she turned over and stared at the ceiling.
She knew that any money Pauly got he invested in his future business. This trip to Britain must be costing him a lot.
“So he doesn’t want to get married now,” she said aloud. “But what if he never wants to get married?” The future that possibility showed her was too horrible to contemplate. If she and Pauly broke up, Dr. Carl would keep her as his assistant. He needed her. But Mrs. Carl was a woman of strong emotions. She hated as hard as she loved. Kelly had a vision of Dr. Carl in tears as he told Kelly how his wife was making his life hell. He would be sorry, but Kelly had to leave the practice.
She got up before dawn, as she often did, got into her four-wheel-drive Jeep and headed toward Dr. Carl’s clinic. The animals needed to be fed and watered and given some exercise. Dr. Carl would do it, but Kelly usually helped.
When she reached his driveway, she couldn’t bring herself to turn in. She had no doubt that Mrs. Carl would find her and quiz her about what Pauly was doing, as if Kelly knew anything. She felt that her mood was bad enough without being questioned.
She headed back home. She needed to study for her finals, but when she approached the long Hatten drive, she turned into it. It was early enough that Robbie and Adam would be asleep, so she could go to the barn without being seen. Right now she’d like to be with Xander. “Best listener in town,” she mumbled as she parked and got out.
The Hattens had six horses. The men who worked the big farm rode them through the pastures, to the places their trucks couldn’t go.
Beautiful Xander had been Burke’s pride. Hands taller than the other horses and with a strong personality. Xander liked and disliked people, and he didn’t hide his preferences.
As she entered the stall, Xander nuzzled her in greeting. She led him out to the paddock to let him prance around.
“You’re here early.”
Kelly frowned at Adam’s voice, but when she turned to him, she had cleared her expression. “And you’re awake early.”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Missing your friends in Africa?”
“At least no one there hates me.”
Kelly blinked in surprise. Adam Hatten didn’t usually reveal anything to her. “I guess you mean Robbie.”
“He yells at me.”
The way he said it, with such deep self-pity, made her smile. “Robbie’s angry at the world.”
“You know him well, do you?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you implying something?”
Adam stuck his hands in his pockets and let out a sigh. “I think he wants to marry you. Unite the farms, that sort of thing.”
At that, Kelly let out a full-blown laugh. “Your dad asked me, too. Robbie would be a pale second.” Adam’s eyes widened.
“It was a joke. He was drunk.” She stroked Xander’s cheek. “If you go out today on Xander, take it slow. He’s not as young as he used to be.”
“Go with me.”
“What?”
“The house is full of paperwork that I don’t want to do, and I haven’t had a chance to look around. I’ve never seen Paul’s tree farm. We can visit it and—”
“No!” she said with too much emphasis. “I mean, he’s busy. He’s going away for...for the summer and...” She turned away. The last thing she wanted to do was show weakness to Adam. He’d tell Vera. Then she’d run to Pauly, who’d tell his mother. By nightfall, Mrs. Carl would have Kelly in a chair, interrogating her.
“Okay.” Adam had moved to stand near her. “No visiting Paul. But I do need to look around this place. We’re going to be relatives soon, so maybe we should spend some time together.”
She’d lived next door to the Hattens all her life, and Adam had been joined at the hip to her sister since they were kids, but she’d spent little time alone with him. And if it was just the two of them, it was usually silent. To him, she was a kid. To her, he was the person who took Vera away so much of the time.
But Kelly needed time away from all of them: her mother, Mrs. Carl, Dr. Carl, Pauly. Everyone!
Adam kindly let her ride Xander, and from the way the horse twitched its tail, he was pleased. “He certainly does like you.”
“Most people do,” she said.
Adam mounted Jagger. He wasn’t magnificent like Xander, but dependable and unimpressed by anything. “Are you defending yourself or aiming at me?”
She ignored his question as they rode side by side on an old trail between crop fields of soybeans and sunflowers. “So tell me about Africa.”
He got a faraway look in his eyes. “You’d love the country. The animals are majestic. They roam wild. Giraffes and zebras run together. There are herds of water buffalo. And the lions! They’re lazy most of the time, but they’ll take off in a leap. They’re ruthless killers.”
Kelly was nodding. Since she was a child, she’d watched documentaries about animals.
“What about human hunters?”
Adam took a while to answer. “People pay so they can kill the animals. I saw a rhino dying because his horn had been cut off.”