scented water.
She closed her eyes and instantly she was back in that mountain meadow, lying in the grass, with Hutch Carmody riding her as confidently as he’d ridden the bull at the rodeo and the tiger on the merry-go-round.
Kendra’s eyes popped open in alarm, and just like that, she was at home again, in her own bathtub, up to her chin in billowing bubbles.
Realistic Kendra was back on the scene, with a vengeance, while the one that had gotten her into trouble was conspicuously absent. Wasn’t that a fine how-do-you-do?
She soaked for a while, even tried to read the paperback she’d left within reach on the back of the toilet, but nothing worked.
She was all a-jangle.
Her grandmother’s voice echoed in her head.
Now you’ve done it. You’re nothing but a tramp, just like your mother.
Kendra got out of the tub, dried herself with a towel and pulled a nightgown on over her head. She padded into the kitchen, flipped on the light she’d turned off earlier and brewed herself a cup of raspberry tea.
The drink soothed her a little, but total emotional and physical exhaustion were the only reasons she slept at all that night. Her dreams were full of garish carnival rides, scary clowns dressed like cowboys and her grandmother, following her around, shaking a finger at her and repeating the same words over and over again.
You’re nothing but a tramp, just like your mother.
The next morning, Kendra woke with a pounding headache and Madison, wearing her boots and her cowgirl hat with her nightie, jumping up and down on the bed beside her.
“Get up, Mommy,” she chanted, beaming with fresh energy. “We have to go to church and look at the new preacher!”
Kendra sighed, arranged her pillows and sat up, resting against them.
“Of course we do,” she said. “And stop jumping on the bed, please.”
She didn’t want to look at what the soles of those little boots might have left behind on her formerly pristine white eyelet bedspread.
Madison leaped, agile as a gazelle, to the floor.
Her hat was askew and her eyes were wide beneath the brim.
“Get up!” she pleaded. “Please, Mommy!”
Kendra sighed again, tossed back the covers and got up. She padded into the bathroom, opened the door of the medicine cabinet and shook a couple of aspirin into her palm, swallowing them with a gulp of tap water.
Madison prattled nonstop the whole time, reliving the carnival, the rodeo, the purchase of her boots and hat and the bandannas for the dogs, and finally the fireworks.
The aspirin didn’t kick in for a full fifteen minutes, during which Kendra listened patiently to her daughter’s continuous chatter, nodded at appropriate intervals and chopped fresh strawberries to sprinkle over cold cereal.
“I’ll bet Daisy misses us,” Madison said, scrambling into her chair at the table and taking her spoon in hand. “Can we go get her right after church? And then can we go back to the ranch so I can ride Ruffles?”
“Whoa,” Kendra pleaded, raising both hands, palms out. “Slow down. We’ll go to church, stay after for Pastor Lloyd’s retirement party, and then drive out to Tara’s and pick up Daisy. That’s pretty much a day-full, sweetheart.”
“But what about Ruffles?” Madison pressed, on the verge of whining but not quite there. “She’ll be lonesome.”
“She won’t be lonesome,” Kendra replied patiently, forcing herself to eat a few bites of cereal. If she didn’t, her stomach would start growling in church for sure, probably during prayers. “She has all those other horses to keep her company, not to mention Leviticus.”
“But I want—”
“Madison,” Kendra broke in, kindly but firmly, “we’re coming home after we pick Daisy up, and that’s the end of it.”
Madison’s lower lip jutted out, but, being a bright child, she didn’t push the issue. Kendra didn’t believe in spankings, but she wasn’t above decreeing a time-out, and Madison hated those, because it meant sitting still and being quiet.
“You’re mean,” she said under her breath.
“A regular Simon LeGree,” Kendra agreed. “Eat your breakfast.”
* * *
THE REVEREND DOCTOR Walter G. Beaumont was a dead-ringer for Morgan Freeman, Kendra discovered when she and Madison were seated side by side in the pews later that morning, right next to Opal. He sat in a chair just behind and to the left of the main pulpit, while Pastor Lloyd delivered his farewell sermon.
It was a good message, though Kendra only heard part of it because her mind kept wandering. She hadn’t really expected Hutch to show up, but her feelings about that were mixed. She