Divine Charity(Divine Creek Ranch 18)(90)

“Leah?” Presley Ann could barely hear her voice and doubted Leah had either. The last verse of the song played as she quietly stepped over to the open doors. The soft breeze caught Leah’s pixie-cut brown hair, but she didn’t turn if she’d heard her. The odd thing was that Leah had always been a high-energy person, rarely ever sitting still, always busy, always pitching in where needed. To see her so still set Presley Ann on edge.

The barest movement of her head turned a portion of her profile into view as she lifted the bottle again. Leah rarely ever drank anything besides iced tea or water, even on those few occasions they’d gone out together to the Dancing Pony and the Twisted Bull. She emptied the bottle and set it on the floor, and Presley Ann noticed that her hand was wrapped in a gauze bandage, around the palm.

George Strait’s voice sang on, the song adding a texture of emotion that charged the atmosphere with sadness, or maybe that was coming from Leah.

“‘Marina Del Rey’ was his favorite song. He’d tell me that if he could just get me out on the dance floor while good ol’ George was singing that he could win my heart.” Leah’s voice cracked with the last words. Still she didn’t move. Presley Ann looked down at the threshold and scuffed the toe of her flat over it.

“What happened?”

“He’s gone. Died earlier today.”

Sorrow for her sister sliced through her heart. That explained why she hadn’t come home the night before. Knowing Leah, it was likely she’d spent his last night at the hospital with him. She was good that way. Strong.

Presley Ann swallowed and stepped out onto the balcony and turned the other chair so that she faced her sister. Leah’s hazel eyes were bloodshot and dull, and her face was expressionless as she scanned the pastoral view from their balcony. With her hands in her lap, and her feet propped up on the other chair, she was utterly motionless except for the wisps of her hair that the breeze toyed with around her shoulders. She noticed that both of Leah’s hands were wrapped in gauze, in the same manner.

“What happened to your hands?”

Leah turned them palm up and looked at them as if only just noticing them but shrugged. “Would you mind getting me another beer?”

“Sure.” In the kitchen, she paused as she reached for one of the beers that had been sitting in the refrigerator door since winter. She vaguely remembered Patterson Elder coming to the apartment with that six-pack of Miller Genuine Draft in one hand and Lonesome Dove on DVD in the other.

Presley Ann had been wrapped up in her own little world at the time but she recalled the way Leah had blushed when she’d realized who was at the door. He’d told her sister that she worked too much and that he thought it would be a good idea for her to relax with a good movie for a while. Then he’d stayed and watched it with her. He’d drunk two of the beers and the rest had still been in the refrigerator the next day. There they’d sat until today.

A painful ache grew in Presley Ann’s chest. As far as she knew, Patterson had only ever been nice to her sister, a gentleman, and had in fact even been kind to Presley Ann even though she’d given him no good reason to do so. She regretted that, too.

She popped the top off of one of the bottles and rejoined Leah on the balcony. Leah thanked her softly when she held out the ice-cold bottle.

“He told me he’d drink the rest the next time he came to visit me.”

“Did he?”

Leah nodded and took a sip. “He tried to come over several times but I made him take a rain check each time. Now he’s gone.” She set the bottle on the cement, her gaze still on the fields of coastal grass and wildflowers that grew across the road from their apartment building. “I remember you telling me you wanted to talk to me about something.”

It seemed the worst possible moment to bring up her situation but she nodded. “I did. But I don’t think now is a good time…”

“It’s as good as any, sis. What is it?”

She paused for long seconds, grasping for words, and then decided to just be straightforward. “I’m moving out. If all goes according to plan, sometime next week.”

Leah frowned and really looked into her eyes for the first time. Presley Ann wanted to get away and avoid this whole conversation. But when was it ever going to be a good time?

“Why?”

“I’m expecting.”

Leah’s expression fell even further and she gazed at her with eyes filled with disbelief. “You are joking.”

Feeling about two inches tall under her sister’s withering gaze and unable to defend any remarks, she shook her head. “No. I’m due sometime in November.”