“You cheated,” Maia accused. She turned her head to laugh with Jase. “He tickled me. In wrestling, there’s no tickling.”
“I had to end it fast. You shouldn’t be playing around with your head banged up.” Cole tried to use his toughest voice, but Jase and Maia only laughed harder, shoving at him, their eyes bright with fun. He found himself lying in a heap on the floor, his arms around the two of them with something hard deep inside of him slowly melting away. It had started when he saw Maia and Jase together with the mountain lion and now, playing in the living room with them, a dam seemed to be bursting inside of him. It was a frightening feeling, one he wasn’t ready for.
“My head’s just fine. It was just a little cut.”
“Still, it’s better for you to take it easy for a few days.” His voice was gruff.
Maia’s fingers tangled in his hair, and he felt a surge of electricity rushing from her to him. His body reacted, and he immediately slid away from the two of them. What had possessed him to start a game of wrestling with Jase? He sat back, eyeing Maia as if she were some kind of sorceress. He knew he was looking wild and crazy but he couldn’t help it. She destroyed his control.
“What is it, Cole?” She sat up too, pushing her tumbling hair out of her eyes and looking up at him with concern. “Did I hurt you?”
“Not yet,” he said before he could censor himself.
Jase sat up slowly, looking from his older brother to Maia, his smile widening as he did so.
Cole glared at him. “Don’t say a word.”
Jase held up both hands. “I wasn’t going to say a word.” He exchanged a slow smile with Maia before turning his attention to his mother’s treasures.
For the next hour they examined the contents of the box, putting the ornaments aside and unfolding the obviously old quilt.
Maia took a shower and washed her hair, coming down once more dressed in Jase’s clothes. They checked the horses together in the evening, and Maia frowned a bit over Wally, concerned he might be getting an infection. When she went to feed and water the mountain lion, Cole insisted on standing by with a gun. He had long since sent Jase to bed and stood guard over her by himself.
As they walked back to the house he shook his head. “This is crazy, Maia, you know that don’t you? Having a mountain lion locked up in the toolshed on a horse and cattle ranch. We’ll have to watch Jase every minute. He’s likely to try to sneak another peek at that animal.”
“She’s trying to be good. She’s wants to leave,” Maia admitted, “but she’ll stay a couple of days. I’d like a good seven days with her before she takes off, but I’m not going to get it.”
“They really talk to you?” He pushed open the door for her and waited while she hung up her jacket and pulled off her boots. “Because after watching you with that animal, I think I’m ready to believe anything.”
“It’s not actually talking. More like images.”
“You’re frowning.”
“It’s just that I’m very concerned about what the animals keep showing me.” Maia was reluctant to admit it for obvious reasons. “I feel silly telling you, but if I don’t, and something happens, I’d blame myself.” She sighed and moved away from him to go into the kitchen. The making of tea was a soothing ritual, and in any case, she needed to take the turkey from the freezer. “You already know I pick up images from animals, so there’s no reason to pretend it isn’t happening.”
Cole followed, aware it was difficult for her. “I’d like to know.”
“It’s just that there’s always violence involved. Wally and the deer are the only animals that revealed to me the violence toward Jase. The rest of the animals are showing me things that are happening away from the ranch house.”
He toed a chair around and straddled it in the middle of the kitchen, watching as she filled the teakettle and set it on the stove. “What kinds of things?”
“Something flying above their heads. Men and horses moving on the ground. Rifle flashes in the night. I get bits and pieces, nothing concrete, but I think some men may have had a fight and someone was killed here on the ranch.” She pulled open the freezer to remove the turkey, setting it in the refrigerator without looking at him. “I could be way off base, but something traumatic happened here sometime ago, and I think something happened here again very recently.”
Silence stretched out between them.