“Hey, man, what’s up?”
“Don’t freak out, but there’s been a… bit of an, well, an accident,” he says instead of greeting me. For the record, whenever a conversation starts with “Don’t freak out,” typically most people’s brain goes into freak-out mode without delay. I instantly sit up and gently lift Tess’s head that had been lying on my lap. I swing my legs off the big square wooden coffee table where they were resting before bringing my feet to the floor. I look at Tess. Her eyes are wide and staring straight into me.
“A bit? What’s… a bit?” I ask, hitting pause on the DVD.
“Barrett,” Tess whispers, her hand resting on my arm and her eyes full of fear and confusion. It isn’t lost on me that once again, for the second time in as many weeks, I hit speaker on my phone so Tess can hear everything that’s being told to me about something that happened to one of our children, so I don’t have to relay information to her.
“Harper kind of fell. Off her horse. Today,” he says, his voice a little shaky and staggering. Like he’s trying to figure out the best way to tell me what happened.
“What do you mean she fell off her horse? Did Shadow buck her off or something?” Tess asks but looks at me with doubt in her eyes. Neither she nor I can imagine he would. He’s the tamest horse we’ve ever seen. We wouldn’t have her spending time with him if we thought he was dangerous.
“I don’t really know what happened, to be honest. It was like one minute she was on, riding the ring like normal. The next she was on the ground crying.”
“Is she alright? Hurt? Is anything broken?”
He’s silent for far too long.
“James,” I bark.
“Yeah, um, her left arm. Not bad,” he quickly puts in, his voice sounding a little surer than before. “She won’t need pins or anything, but she has a pretty bright purple cast decorating her arm right now. She’s asleep, which is good, but she’ll want to talk to you both when she wakes up. Tell you all about it.”
“Wait. Why are we just now hearing about this? You didn’t think we should have found out as soon as she fell!?” she yells at her brother.
“Well, sweet sister of mine, I didn’t realize it was broken. I didn’t want to make you guys panic over nothing. She cried when she fell, but then she was giggling and said she was alright. She even went over to Shadow and gave him a hug and told him it was okay. He bent his head down low like he felt bad, too. It was pretty sweet,” he tells us, but I am more interested to hear how she went from giggling to broken arm. Fortunately, James can read us like a book and continues on with the story without us even having to ask. “We actually went back home first. But then she got on the floor and was playing with the dogs. When she said it hurt when she put pressure on her wrist, I thought we’d better go in. She had an X-ray, and they did a quick cast. I honestly only took her in because I didn’t want to risk it, which, as it turned out, I’m glad I did.”
“Her arm is broken, and she said she was okay and told Shadow she wasn’t upset with him?”
“Yup. Tough girl, huh?” he says with some pride in his voice.
“I guess,” I mumble, slightly distracted. I’m scared for our little girl who had to go through that without us, and I feel nervous that Tess will blame herself, or me, because we weren’t there. I know our week has come to an end. Not that either of us want to be anywhere else when our baby — or any of them — has been hurt, but it’s still somewhat disappointing.
I look out the window and back to Tess who nods her head, knowing what I’m thinking.
“James, we’ll be home tomorrow morning. It’s snowing. Again. And pretty heavily, so we’ll head out during the daylight.”
“Guys…” He starts to protest, but it’s weak.
I’m positive that she’s been asking for us and will be happier if we were there with her. “It’s not a big deal. We can come home two days earlier. We won’t be able to relax up here, and I can only imagine how Harper feels. She’ll want her mom and dad.”
“You’re right,” he says, sighing and sounding disappointed in having to agree to it. “I’m sorry, you two. I wanted you to have your time together.”
“James. It’s fine. Not like you threw her off the horse yourself. Besides, there’s no other place we would rather be. We’ll be home as soon as it’s safe enough for us to drive.”
“Sounds good. I’m really sorry. I know how important this was to both of you,” he tells us. Ever since Nicole walked out on him, he’s been overly protective of his siblings’ marriages, helping out whenever and wherever he can. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to any of us.
“Hey, stop it. We’re fine. I promise. I’m not going to lie and tell you that I don’t want more time at the cabin with your smokin’ hot sister,” I say, chuckling when I hear him gag and say “Dude.” “But, it’s been good. We… we’re good, right, babe?”
I look over at Tess, and her eyes are shining, her head slightly tilted to the side a little bit, and she has her signature beautiful smile lighting up her face. “Yep. I promise, big brother, this was just what we needed. Barrett’s right. We would love to have more time, but what we had together… it was perfect. Thank you for being there. If we couldn’t be there for her, I’m glad you were.”
“I’m glad to hear that. And I am happy to be here any time. You know that.”
“We do. Thanks again, and make sure Harps calls us as soon as she wakes up. She can tell us all about how she conquered the great Shadow and came out on top,” I say snickering, knowing that this story is going to be her monster fish story of all time.
“I will,” he says. “Hey, Grady’s buddies were going to be coming over a little later. Do you care if they sign her cast? And Maggie’s girlfriends, too?”
“Nah, that’s fine. Just make sure they leave room for us.”
“Got it. Alright. Christine just dropped off Maggie from volleyball practice. We’ll talk in a bit.”
“Christine?”
“Uh, yeah. She called as soon as she heard and said she could help. I assume that’s not a problem? We’ve never met, but you guys have talked about her so much that I know you trust her, right?”
“Not a problem at all. Thanks again for being there. Love you,” Tess says.
“Love you guys, too.”
“Later,” I say before hanging up and tossing my phone on the couch beside me.
I lean my elbows on my knees and look over my shoulder at Tess, who’s sitting on the couch cross-legged facing me. She gives me a sad smile and wipes a stray tear. I reach over and grab her hand and squeeze tightly. “I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“What are you sorry for?”
I shrug my shoulders and give it to her straight. “Are you mad that we weren’t there for her?”
“Would it have made a difference if we were home for her when she fell?”
“I suppose not, but I just assumed you would be upset.”
“Of course I’m upset that she fell, but not at you. It would have happened regardless. I want to be there for her, but I know James has this. She has her brother and sister, Lauren, Josh. Sounds like Maggie and Grady’s friends are going to cover her in love tonight, so she would have ignored us anyway.”