A Family For The Soldier. Carolyne Aarsen

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СКАЧАТЬ and fear behind his questions. She guessed the bond identical twins often shared made him more anxious.

      “I only know what you know,” she said. “The fall from the horse was the root cause, but there have been no other internal injuries that we can ascertain, no brain injury. No hematomas.” She stopped herself there. As Vanessa had said, she wasn’t a doctor. “You’ll have to speak with his doctor to find out more.”

      “Thanks for that information at least,” Grady said, his smile holding a warmth that could still make her toes curl.

      “You’re welcome,” she said, trying to convey a more brisk and professional tone. “We hope and pray he will come out of it. That’s all we can do.”

      “I’ll take care of the hoping and leave the praying to those more capable.” The bitterness in Grady’s voice made Chloe wonder again about his war experiences overseas and what they had done to his once rock-solid faith.

      “How long are you back for?” Chloe asked, holding up her head, determined not to let the effect he had on her show.

      “For good. I got an honorable discharge from the army. I’m home.”

      She forced herself not to look at the crutch he leaned on to support himself.

      “We can all be so thankful Grady made it back from Afghanistan. And a hero to boot,” Vanessa said, the edges of her lips growing tighter, as if she had to work to maintain her vivacity.

      Each word she spoke felt like a tiny lash. Her stepsister had known Chloe had a crush on Grady when they were in high school. In fact, once Vanessa had discovered this, she’d made an all-out attempt to charm and captivate Grady just to spite her. Chloe, a tomboy at heart, had known she couldn’t compete with her glamorous stepsister, so she’d given up on that dream.

      Given that Vanessa claimed to be the mother of Grady’s supposed baby, Chloe could only reason Vanessa still held some attraction for him.

      “I still can’t get over how much Grady and Ben look alike.” Vanessa gave Chloe an arched look as she fiddled with the sheets draped over Ben’s body.

      “They do look similar,” Chloe murmured, trying to find an opportunity to make her escape while her stepsister chattered away.

      “Similar? They are like two peas in a pod,” Vanessa said, her narrowed gaze flicking from Ben to Grady. “If it weren’t for Ben being flat on his back, you’d never know the difference. And did you know that twins have identical DNA?” she asked, turning to the cards on the windowsill.

      And why did Vanessa think she needed to impart that particular piece of information?

      “I’ll leave you to visit with your brother,” Chloe said, taking another step toward the door.

      To her surprise and shock, Grady touched her arm, as if trying to make a connection. “It’s good to see you,” Grady said, lowering his voice. His eyes held hers.

      Unable to look away, Chloe felt her heart quicken. Then a faint queasiness gripped her. Vanessa called out again and she dismissed the emotion as quickly as it came.

      Vanessa claimed that Grady was the father of her child.

      And Chloe had enough problems of her own.

      * * *

      Chloe’s reaction to his wound still stung.

      Grady fitted his crutch under his arm and made his way over the snow-covered sidewalk to the ranch house. The chill January wind biting into his face promised bitter weather to come and seemed to sum up how he felt. Vanessa had driven him in her car to the hospital. Grandma Mamie’s car and Ben’s truck filled the garage, which meant they had to park it outside.

      All the way home he replayed that moment when he’d stepped into his brother’s hospital room. He would have had to be blind not to have seen Chloe recoil from him.

      Not that he blamed her. A crippled soldier and, according to Vanessa, the father of a child born out of wedlock. A child from her own stepsister.

      Grady knew Cody wasn’t his, and though part of him wanted to tell Chloe, he knew it was neither the time nor place; he wasn’t even sure if it mattered to her. He was still frustrated at how glibly the lies had tripped off Vanessa’s tongue when she had confronted him at the ranch, Cody in her arms. He had come directly here once he was discharged and the first person he’d met at the ranch house had been Vanessa.

      She had unleashed a stream of innuendo and falsehoods about how she and Grady had been intimate at a party that he and Ben had attended. Initially she had said he was too drunk to remember, but Grady wasn’t a drinker. Nor was he the kind of guy who slept around. At all. But the DNA test had shown Cody was a Stillwater, so Grady guessed, given his brother’s wild living, Ben had fathered the child at that party.

      When he’d confronted Vanessa with that information she had conceded that maybe she’d had a bit too much to drink herself and quickly claimed it must have been Ben. The trouble was, though he had made it very clear to Vanessa that he wasn’t Cody’s father nor was he interested in her, she still flirted with him. It annoyed him and even though he didn’t encourage it, he could only guess how the situation looked to Chloe. Not exactly the hero he had hoped he would return from the war as.

      Injured, with the whiff of scandal surrounding him and his family.

      Precisely the thing he had left Little Horn to escape after his father’s debilitating injury had sent his mother away, unable to live with a crippled man. The shame of his mother’s defection and subsequent divorce had caused Grady to join the army, looking for discipline and meaning to his life. It had sent Ben on a path of hedonism and self-indulgence. Their mother’s death while traveling abroad hadn’t helped matters, either.

      It seemed both their lives had come full circle. Now he suffered from a life-changing injury that had cut short his army career and Ben lay in the hospital after being thrown from a horse. Both living echoes of their now-deceased father.

      “Slow down, soldier,” Vanessa called out as she got out of her car behind him. “Let me help you.”

      He tried not to cringe as he kept going, tucking his chin into his jacket against the cold, trying to banish the picture of Vanessa standing beside Chloe, their differences so obvious.

      Chloe with her sweet, gentle smile. Vanessa with her overly loud voice and tactless attitude. He knew he shouldn’t compare, but he couldn’t help himself.

      Vanessa hurried ahead of him as he struggled up the stairs to the covered veranda that wrapped around the Colonial-style house. “You know, I can never figure out which of these doors to use,” she muttered as she grabbed the handle of one of the double doors. She pulled it open just as Grady came close, and the door connected with his leg.

      He bit down on a cry as he stumbled, his crutch slipping out and away.

      “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.” Vanessa clutched his arm as he regained his balance, pain shooting up his leg and clouding his vision.

      He rode it out, then shook off her hand, frustrated at his helplessness. “I’m okay. Please.”

      “I’m just trying to help you,” she complained as he fitted his crutch back under his СКАЧАТЬ