Matthew stared after him while he rode away across country on his horse, wondering why the man had left so quickly when he had come into the house. He felt Kara’s eyes on him and he turned to face her. She looked like she wanted to say something and then changed her mind. Shaking her head to herself, she turned her wheelchair and went to her room.
Matthew was not sure what to do until he walked past her room and stopped when he saw her do the exercises the physiotherapist had explained to him and stepped inside to help with the massaging he had been shown. Kara glanced up in shock as he came up to the bed and sat down to wait for her to finish the training.
Kara felt a blush rise when she felt his eyes on her. And even more so, when he started doing the massages on her legs, starting at the calves and slowly working his way up to her thighs. Where had he learned the correct massages? She had not known who would help
It was after this month that she awoke early one morning. It was still dark outside, but she could not sleep anymore, so she did some of the exercises and then got bored with them. The house was still quiet and she did not want to wake Matthew by rolling her wheelchair out of her room since he was a light sleeper from what she had noted in the month she had been in his house, but she did not want to stay in bed anymore. She despised the wheelchair and she glanced at the sturdy post of the bed.With a faint smile and endless determination, she pulled herself upright and threw her legs over the edge. Bracing herself with the post, she put some weight on her legs and when she felt no pain or trembling, she pushed herself to stand. When she was standing up straight she gave a victorious smile. Soon she would walk again; she felt stronger in her legs and that made her want to push herself a little more.Then she pushed her one leg forward
Matthew reached over without letting her go and tore off some toilet paper and handed it to her. Her tears were breaking his heart. He had seen how hard she had worked, even if she had thought he did not and he was relieved to know that she was finally releasing the emotions and tensions she had held onto so strongly the last few months. He had worried that the emotions she held in would cause her even more harm than what she had already gone through, but now he knew she had allowed herself to work through her emotions.When she was finally cried out she was still holding onto his shoulders, even though her breathing had grown regular. She had cried herself to sleep in his arms. Quietly he lifted her and walked back down the hallway. Without thinking he walked back to her room and lay down so he could let her rest next to him. Her grip eased somewhat when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.Matthew
Matthew awoke with confusion. He was not in his bed. Then he remembered what had happened early that morning. Kara was not in bed anymore and the cold bedding where she had lain proved that she had not been for a while. He was surprised that he’d slept through her sneaking out, but he had been exhausted and overworked with the start of the growing season’s preparations.When he lifted his head to glance around the room, he caught a whiff of something familiar. Then he smiled with pleasure. Was that blueberry pancakes? He stood up and pushed his fingers through his hair and went to the bathroom to wash his face, before he went to investigate.He came into the kitchen to find Kara sitting on the counter with the bowl of dough in her lap while she flipped the pancake over in the pan. There was flour in her hair and her face was pale with the same, a smudge of dough over her cheek. Her feet and toes were mov
Kara felt her heart pound with fear when they approached the horse that was standing ready for them. Her hands were trembling as she looked at the animal that suddenly terrified her. She gasped when Matthew lifted her out of the chair and into the saddle, where he and Bill held her firmly, while they tightened straps around her legs, checking to be sure they were not too tight.She gasped in fear when the horse stamped its foot to ward of a fly, getting flashbacks from that night. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” She whispered with a trembling voice and the two men felt their hearts go out to her.They knew what fear could do to a person. And her injuries had kept them from helping her to conquer her fears after the accident. They also knew that they had to get her back in the saddle or she would let fear reign her life and she had loved riding before the accident.“I’m here.” Mat
By the time he glanced up again, he noticed that the shadows had lengthened and he realized in shock that it was much later than he had thought. Quietly, he took two of the pancakes they had had for breakfast from his saddlebag and put away his sketchpad, before he gently woke her and handed one of the pancakes to her.She was still groggy from sleep and he smiled with amusement when she obeyed him without question. But he also felt guilty for allowing her to tire herself out so much. Matthew handed her clothes to her and left her to put the saddlebag on the horse’s back and to lead it into the shadows of the trees. By the time he returned leading the horse, she had dressed and started to roll up the blanket.Tying the blanket in its place, he watched Kara out of the corner of his eye and noticed that she still looked rather tired. He had not intended to stay out so long or allow her to push herself so hard, but she had been so excit
It had been about a week since he first took her to their spot. And things seemed to ease around them, but this morning he seemed introspective and she wondered what was on his mind.She could never have guessed what he said near the end of their meal. “We’re leaving early tomorrow morning, do you need help packing?” He asked her without any preamble.There were so many questions running through her mind that she was finding it hard to word out one, so all she managed was: “what?”He seemed to realize that he hadn’t given her much information and she was at least grateful that she was not the only one struggling to arrange her thoughts properly. But in his case, it was probably to do with the running of his ranch. She couldn’t arrange too much on hers from where she was sitting, for now, she could only write down her plans for when she was finally able to run it properly again. So her
Mathew could see the tension in Kara’s face and actions the moment she rolled out of her room the next morning. He knew she was uncomfortable with showing herself in public in the chair. But he needed her to understand that she was not less herself for what she went through.He wished he could show her what she looked like through his eyes. He was in awe of her strength and perseverance. She was an amazing woman and he wished he had the courage to really show her how he felt, but he couldn’t face it when he remembered how it had ended the last time he had tried to come close to her.So he was quiet, just like she was, on the drive to the airport. He knew she expected to be tortured through the long and tiring process of a normal flight, but he had been keeping a pretty big secret from her and mostly everyone in the area.He was about to let her in on his secret and he was nervous to see her reaction. In the time sh
Kara had spent the whole day after he had told her about the trip worrying about having to face people the way she was. She had hoped that she would be able to be back on her feet before she had to face anyone she didn’t know again.She felt a little like a failure for not being able to walk already. She’d always been able to do anything she put her mind to, but her legs just wouldn’t work with her. It was depressing to have to face people with her obvious failure stark in front of them.The drive to the airport was quiet, Mathew seemed deep in thought and she was grateful for it. She was still working through how she felt with him just expecting her to show up in public in the state she was in.Of course, she wasn’t angry at him. Her therapists had insisted that she go out in public, but she had been hesitant. She was wearing her bad decisions and failure on her sleeve with her still in the chair.