The Paralyzed Dream (COMPLETED)

Chapter Two

     "Lacey, breakfast is ready." Lacey's mom, Luella, said from the bottom of the stairs. Lacey was upstairs in her room, reading.
    "I'm not hungry." Her stomach growled loudly, saying otherwise. Lacey looked down at it and glared. She didn't feel hungry.
    "Lacey, honey. Please come downstairs." Luella said calmly, still from the bottom of the stairs.
    Lacey sighed and threw her book to the side of her bed. She pulled her wheelchair close to her and then careful moved herself into it. Before she made her way downstairs, Lacey threw on a sweatshirt even though she wasn't cold and it was the dead of summer. She just wanted to be comfortable.
    Once Lacey reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard an unfamiliar male voice coming from the living room area. The unfamiliar male voice was talking to Lacey's parents. It was deep, drawled, and held a thick Western, country accent. Although the voice was deep, it sounded like it belonged to a young man somewhere in his early twenties.
    Lacey rolled her way into the living room. Once she passed through the doorway, Lacey's parents and the unfamiliar male voice man stopped talking and all looked at Lacey. The unfamiliar male with the deep, heavily country accented voice quickly stood up from his seat on the couch and walked over to Lacey, smiling. He stretched his hand out.
    "Howdy, you must be Lacey." The man said.
    Lacey accepted his outstretched hand. She almost felt like she had to clear her throat since she was certain her voice wouldn't work. "Yes. That's me. And you are?" Lacey asked, smiling at him.
    "I'm Slade. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lacey." Slade said, dropping his hand from Lacey's.
    "You too, Slade." Lacey replied. She looked past Slade to her parents for an explanation as to why this incredibly attractive, handsome cowboy was here. Luella didn't help any; she was just smiling. Lacey looked to her father when he stood up and walked over to Slade.
    Putting a hand on Slade's shoulder, Zane said with a smile, "Slade is goin' to be our new ranch hand."
    Without thinking, Lacey asked in surprise, "Ranch hand? We don't need a ranch hand."
    Zane's smile faded. He looked to Luella, then back to Lacey. "Well, since all your siblings except for Ryder and Willie have moved out, work has been picking up around here, and so your mother and I reckoned that we could use an extra hand around the ranch." Ryder and Willie were Lacey's younger brothers. Willie is 16, just a month shy of 17, and Ryder just turned six. Willie did his fair share of work on the ranch, but there was still more work then just him and Lacey's parents could handle. There were things that Willie or Zane couldn't do; things that required a young, strong, able man, so it made sense for them to hire Slade.
    To try to make up for her comment that she said purely out of surprise, and didn't mean offensively to Slade, she smiled and said to him, "Well, it's great to have you here. The extra set of hands will be helpful."
    "Well, thank you, ma'am; I appreciate that. I look forward to workin' with y'all." Slade said, smiling. He had a nice smile...a really nice smile; his lips went up in one corner into a cockeyed grin, revealing sparkling white teeth. That smile was enough to make any girl swoon. And his eyes...good gravy, his eyes! They were a shade of blue that could make the sky jealous. Lacey had never seen such a shade before. She was sure, however that next to Slade's eyes, the sky would look bland.
     Although he wasn't wearing one now, Lacey noticed Slade's cowboy hat sitting on the couch and could only imagine how great he looked in it, but even without it, it was obvious that Slade is just naturally attractive.
    Lacey had to tear her eyes away from Slade's smile before he saw her blush. Did her father have to hire somebody so handsome, so rugged, so muscular, so rustic...Lacey snapped back to reality when she heard her dad say something to her.
    "Your mom made some breakfast. Pancakes, hash browns, sausages, and eggs."
    "That sounds great. Slade, will you be joining us for breakfast?" Lacey asked, turning her attention back to Slade. She was surprised to find that her voice was actually working.
    Slade looked between Lacey's mom and her dad. "Well, I reckon that'd be right nice...if it's alright with y'all." Luella smiled and Zane nodded his head.
    "Fine with us." Zane said. He made his way into the kitchen.
    "After you." Slade looked to Lacey and motioned for her to go in front of him. There was that smile again.
    "Thank you." Lacey replied. She turned her head down to keep him from noticing her blushing for the second time in two minutes. Why was she blushing? She just met this handsome...rugged...western...authentic...cowboy stranger about five minutes ago. Lacey rolled herself into the kitchen and began grabbing plates and silverware to set the table for breakfast.
    Several minutes later, Luella, Zane, Willie, Ryder, Lacey, and Slade were all seated around the dining room table. Before they ate, Zane said, "Let's say grace." He held out both his hands. Lacey's family always holds hands whenever they pray before a meal. Slade was sitting next to Lacey on her left and Willie was on her right. Slade held out his hand for Lacey to hold. She slipped her hand into his; hands were warm and calloused from hard work. Lacey bowed her head and closed her eyes and tried to not think about how welcoming and natural Slade's hand felt in hers.
   "Dear God," Lacey's dad, Zane, started. "We thank you, Lord, for this day..."
   Lacey tuned the rest of her dad's prayer out just as she did almost every day. Her faith walk isn't as strong as it used to be since her accident, to be honest. Sure, she believed that God had a plan for everyone, but Lacey struggled to see the plan in her life. She struggled to see how it was in God's plan for everything she ever knew and loved to be changed and leave her paralyzed in a wheel chair, leaving her unable to walk or ride a horse ever again, two things that she did every day and took for granted.
    Lacey said "Amen" with everyone else, then looked up and let go of Slade's hand. As she reached for the pancakes, her mom quickly stood up, taking the plate of pancakes from Lacey, and said, "Oh here, honey, I'll make your plate for you. What would you like?"
    Lacey gave her mom a look. She was perfectly capable to getting her own breakfast. It was her legs that were paralyzed, not her arms. If Slade was not there, Lacey would've gladly told her mom that, too, but she bit her tongue and held back the snide remarks, just for Slade's sake. She knew she had to make a good first impression on him, since he would be living and working on their ranch.
    "I just want a pancake." Lacey said.
    "Just one? Honey, you need to eat more then that. Here, I'll give you two pancakes and some hash browns and a couple sausages." Luella said and reached for the sausages.
    "I just want one pancake, mom." Lacey said, trying to sound persistent, but not irritated, even though she was.
    "O-okay." Luella said, placing just one medium sized pancake on Lacey's plate, then handing it to her.
    "Thank you." Lacey replied. She was self conscious about eating in front of others, mainly because of her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy. If Lacey's mom hadn't made a big deal of it and just let Lacey get her own food, like she was very capable of, Lacey would've gotten more food.
    Lacey cut up tiny pieces of her plain pancake and downed each bite with her orange juice. She was finished before anyone else despite her tiny bites chewed numerous times. Lacey's parents had been talking to Slade since they sat down to eat breakfast. Zane was telling him about the ranch and that before he would officially hire Slade, he would need to see how he well he rode horses, and that Slade would "work" for a week. Judging by how well Slade did in the "trial run," he would be hired on after that. Luella, on the other hand, was asking Slade questions about his background, etc. Lacey looked over when Slade answered one of Luella's questions about his parents. She watched as his jaw clenched and how he fiddled with his fork while answering Lacey's mom. Lacey could tell by the look in Slade's eyes that what he was telling his mom about his background was a well practiced lie and that he did not like talking about his past for some reason.
    Changing the subject for Slade's sake, Lacey said to him, "So you rodeo?" Lacey had assumed he had; the belt buckle was just one give away.
    Slade smiled that heart melting smile of his and responded, "Yes ma'am. Since right after I could walk. I started with mutton bustin' then worked my way up to junior bull riding. Now I mainly ride bulls, but if I'm doin' well enough on the circuit and want a few easy points, I'll ride broncs. I prefer bulls just because of the adrenaline rush, and the challenge, but broncs are safer and usually a more sure thang." Slade winked at Lacey, then asked, "How about you?"
    Lacey opened her mouth to say yes, but then looked down at her immovable, paralyzed legs and said, "I used to. Not anymore."
    "You should really think about getting back into it. Your parents told me that you were really good and won quite a few buckles." Slade said as if he didn't realize that she was paralyzed, let alone rodeo.
    "I did alright." Lacey replied, her voice quiet. Truth is, she was the one person that everyone wanted to beat; she was the biggest competition, winning nearly every event she competed in. It seemed like everyone in this side of Montana knew or had heard of Lacey Anne Ferry.
    "We have been tellin' her that she should get back into it, Slade." Zane said, looking between Slade and Lacey.
   With a sigh, Lacey backed away from the table, taking her dirty dishes with her. She had heard this conversation too many times. Lacey saw her parents tense up like they always did whenever she moved her wheelchair. She ignored them, however, and rolled herself into the kitchen to place her dishes into the sink.
    As Lacey rolled back out to the dining room where they had eaten breakfast, she almost ran into Slade who was carrying his own dirty dishes to the kitchen.
    "Sorry." Slade said quickly, backing up a step.
    "It's okay." Lacey replied, pasting on a fake smile and rolling past him.
    Slade and Lacey continued to help clear the table. As Slade set the last dirty glass in the sink, Zane clapped him on his back, and said, "Why don't you come outside and I'll show you around the property?"
    Slade nodded and followed Zane outside. Lacey watched as they walked away. It was going to take a while for Lacey to get used to having another face at the table, but she smiled to herself as she thought that Slade was the kind of face she could get used to seeing every day.