“It’s okay.”
“I hope you know you can trust me. Anything you say won’t go beyond my ears.”
“I’m usually fine.” She clenched her injured hand, moaned, and quickly released her fist.
“Hurt?”
“Not bad.”
“Good.” He gently applied antibiotic cream over the cuts before he covered her palm with a bandage. “All done.”
She withdrew her hand as she glanced out the windows. “Everything that’s been going on in Wildcat Bluff since I got here has pushed all my buttons.”
“It can happen.”
“But not to me. I’m cautious.”
“Sometimes cautious can set us up for a fall.”
She looked back at him, a puzzled expression in her vivid green eyes. “Really?”
“Early on I learned that if I focused on something like ‘I won’t fall off the back of a horse’ that’d be the first thing I did. ’Course I never thought that till I fell the first time. Hurt my pride more than my backside.”
She smiled at him, a little twitch of one corner of her mouth.
“I know. Hard to believe a horse got the best of me.” He returned her smile, feeling relieved she was listening to him. Now if he could find a way to put together the right words to help her.
“I’d like to meet that horse.”
“My lips are sealed. So are the horse’s.” He was rewarded with a bigger smile. “Anyway, seems like the more I try to avoid something the more it comes after me.”
“Maybe like attracts like?”
“Yeah. And maybe if you take your eye off the current ball to watch a past ball, you lose your focus.”
“I see.” She nodded as she stared at the Christmas tree. “When I was twelve, my family’s house caught on fire.” She wrapped both arms around her chest as she sat stiffly upright.
“Oh, Misty, no.”
He couldn’t stand to see her look so alone. She must have sealed off a part of herself a long time ago. He wouldn’t let her stay that way, not when he could do something about it. He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, drawing the throw up over them both. He rubbed his palm up and down her back for comfort.
She remained stiff for a long moment, and then she snuggled against him and laid her head on his chest.
“It happened early one Christmas morning,” she said in a soft, almost childlike voice. “Still dark out. I was sound asleep. I’d been awake late because I’d been too excited to sleep.” She glanced up at Trey, as if making sure he was still with her.
“I’m here. You’re safe.” He spoke softly and gently as he watched tears spill from her too-bright eyes and roll down her too-pink cheeks. She seemed unaware, so he caught her tears with his fingertips as his heart went out to her.
“Safe and sound.” She glanced around the room before she refocused on him. “Daddy woke me. I smelled smoke. It burned my eyes. He carried me out through the living room. Our Christmas tree was full of lights. I wondered why the pretty lights were on so early. That’s when I realized the tree was on fire.”
Trey held Misty tighter as she clung to him. He felt her tears hot and damp against his skin. All he could do was provide a safe place for her to share her grief, but he wanted to do so much more. He wanted to go back in time and stop the fire before it had caused so much damage.
“Daddy pushed me out the front door. I didn’t want to leave him. I wanted Mommy. He told me to run next door. He’d get Mommy.”
Misty suddenly shoved away from Trey, tossed aside the blanket, and stood up. She paced over to the Christmas tree, as if hardly able to contain her energy, and pointed at it. “You must be careful of the cords, the electrical outlets. You can’t overload or anything that might cause a fire.” She glanced back at him. “Did you check?”
“I’m careful.”
“Good.” She wrapped her arms around her chest once more and stood a little straighter. “I never saw my parents alive again. Firefighters tried hard to save them, but it was too late.”
“Misty, I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.” She dropped her hands to her sides and whirled to look out the window.
He couldn’t have been more proud of her. She had the courage of a lioness to relive and overcome a terrible personal loss. He felt honored that she’d allowed him to be part of this moment in her life. He’d known she was smart and strong and beautiful from the first moment their lives had come together on Wildcat Road. Now he knew she’d captured his heart.
He got up and joined her at the window. He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “What happened to you afterward?”
“Aunt Camilla took me in. She was single with no children, but she couldn’t have been better. We did everything together. She was a history teacher. I know you two would’ve liked each other.”
“She’s gone?”
“Way too soon. Cancer.”
“I’m sorry.” He hesitated to push Misty’s memories any more, but he figured there might be a little more for her to recognize and release. “How did you two handle Christmas?”
“You guessed, didn’t you?”