A Match Made in Texas- By Arlene James Page 0,45
that Stephen’s leg stuck straight out and blocked access to the front of the chair so no one could lift from that side. She doubted that anyone could lift Stephen up so many stairs, anyway. Nevertheless, they would likely need Chester’s assistance. Magnolia went to get him while Kaylie maneuvered Stephen’s chair to the foot of the stairs. They both looked up that broad, gracefully curving staircase and knew that he was getting up there only one way.
“Do you think you can do it?” she asked him quietly as the aunts and Aaron arrived to offer support.
He snorted. “Do I have a choice?”
“We’ll take it slow, rest along the way.”
He nodded grimly. Chester arrived, and without any further discussion Stephen pushed up to his feet, or rather, foot.
“You sure about this?” Aaron asked, realizing what Stephen was about to do. “Maybe we could rig some sort of ramp.” It would take a team of oxen to pull Stephen up such a steep slope, and everyone knew it.
“Just get over here and give me a hand,” Stephen ordered.
Aaron pushed past Kaylie and slipped his shoulder under Stephen’s good arm. The aunts worried aloud, but Chester merely remarked that he would take up the chair. Hoisting the contraption, he began to climb the stairs with it. Behind him, Stephen hopped up onto the bottom step, his bad leg held out at an awkward angle. Kaylie rushed to lend what aid she could.
It was a grueling, lengthy process that brought Kaylie to tears and both Stephen and Aaron to the brink of exhaustion. By the time Stephen dropped down into the chair again, he was moaning, Aaron’s chest pumped like a bellows, and Kaylie had to surreptitiously wipe her eyes. She quickly wheeled the chair along the landing, through the sitting room of Stephen’s suite and into his bedroom, where she, Aaron and Chester got him into bed.
While Chester went back downstairs and Aaron sagged against the bedpost, Kaylie quickly administered an injection of painkiller.
“And I thought I was tough,” Stephen murmured, his eyelids sagging.
“You are unbelievably tough,” she told him softly. “I don’t know another man who could have managed that, not even my brother Chandler.”
His light gray eyes opened, delving deeply into hers, and he whispered, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come back.”
“Of course I came back.”
His eyelids drifted down again, and he breathed the words, “I need you to come back.”
“I did,” she said. “I will.” She realized then just how true that was. “I’ll come back for as long as you need me.”
How, she wondered, as Stephen’s hand sought and gripped hers, could she do anything else? She supposed it meant that they would have to discuss that kiss, but oh, how she wished they could pretend that it had never happened.
Aaron’s cell phone rang just then, and he dug it from his jacket pocket, looked at the caller ID and winced before showing it to Stephen, who moaned low in his throat.
Kaylie glimpsed the photo of a mature, smiling woman with a long face and straight, shoulder-length, pale blond hair just before Aaron put the phone to his ear and exclaimed, “Hannah! How is mijn favoriete meisje?”
Even Kaylie knew that his accent was deplorable, though she had no idea what the phrase even meant. That it was Dutch, however, she did not doubt.
“Yeah, well, there have been a few developments,” Aaron said reluctantly, glancing at Stephen. “Fact is, we just got our boy back here to the mansion from another little hospital stay.” He emphasized the word mansion.
He listened for several moments before saying, “Uh, right, right! Thing is, I guess we were just too busy to think of it, little issue with his leg.” Then, “Naw, naw, it’s gonna be fine. Surgery was a complete success.”
He glared at Stephen and pointed at the phone, but Stephen shook his head adamantly, turned away and closed his eyes. Aaron bowed his head, balancing his forehead against the palm of his free hand, his arm wrapped around the bedpost. “Yeeaah,” he drawled, “the thing is, see, he’s asleep. His nurse gave him a shot, and he went out like a light, let me tell you.” He straightened, looked at Kaylie and pointed to the small phone nestled against his ear, as if to ask that she confirm his assertion.
Kaylie spread her hands, glanced at Stephen and shook her head, silently indicating her confusion and reluctance to get involved.
Aaron smoothly shifted gears, his jocular mien sliding over him like a second