by Debra Holt
Once at home, Josie shed her clothing and spent a long time under the hot spray of her shower. The water helped unknot her stiff muscles and allowed her to begin to return to normal.
As her body began to relax, the tiredness began to set in. Once out of the shower, she toweled off and dried her hair. She pulled on a freshly laundered nightgown and laid down on the bed, pulling a quilt over her, intending to just close her eyes for a half hour or so.
Something woke her up almost an hour later. She just didn’t wake slowly…she sat bolt upright, a strange constriction in her chest causing her breathing to be shallow. Josie sat still, listening. Had there been a noise? A knock? No sound came. Tossing back the cover from her body, she swung her feet to the floor. At the window, she pushed back the curtain, and her eyes scanned the landscape outside. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The ringing of her cell phone brought her around quickly. As she grabbed it off the nightstand, her eyes caught the name of the hospital…an immediate stab of fear shot through her. Just like Momma. At that moment, she was reliving the call that came to tell her that she needed to hurry back to the hospital. But she had arrived too late. Josie tried to fight back the fear from her voice when she answered.
“Josie? Is that you?” Dee’s voice filtered through her thoughts and brought her to reality.
“Yes…I’m here.”
“Josie, I don’t want you to panic or anything. You might want to come back to the hospital.” It was clear Dee was trying to choose her words carefully. Josie’s grip on the phone tightened like a vice. She didn’t panic. She stilled into a strange clarity. “What’s wrong? Is Chance…is he…”
“He’s not dead, Josie. Don’t think that. The doctor can explain it to you when…”
“I’m on my way.” Like a shot, Josie tore open drawers, extracting clothing. The one thought in her head was that Chance was alive. That was the main thing. She needed to get to his side as quick as possible. Other dark thoughts tried to crowd into her mind as she dressed and flew down the stairs, grabbing coat and gloves along the way, but she shoved them away. She wasn’t going to focus on anything else.
She saw Tom’s truck parked next to the barn. Josie ran across the yard…slipping and sliding but remaining upright. She yelled across to him as he came to the doorway and gave him a briefing as she climbed into her truck, jabbing the key into the ignition. She waved away his offer to drive her. There was not a second to waste in her mind. The roads were still pretty rough going, even with the snow plows and sanding trucks running along them again. A couple of times, the sliding of her truck reminded her to take care if she wanted to arrive at all. She slowed a bit but did not let up. Bounding through the doors of the hospital, she didn’t pause but navigated the hallways quickly.
Dee saw her first and stood from behind the desk. However, Josie didn’t pause, passing her and pushing into the room. Only then did she come to a sudden standstill. The breath sucked out of her chest, which was the only thing that kept the scream locked inside her when she caught sight of the empty room…no bed, no Chance. Oh, God, I’m too late.
“Josie,” Dee said, her arm going around her shoulders and a look of pure concern on her face. “He’s okay. He’s just been moved to ICU. You can see him shortly. First, we’ll talk to Doc Winters. Chance is okay.”
Josie looked at the woman, and she heard the words, but they were slow to filter through her mind. The reassurance in her voice and in her eyes helped the process along. The fact that Josie could get a breath of air into her lungs again also was a good thing. “What’s wrong? What happened? Why did he get moved? ICU?”
“Let’s go to the doctor’s office. He said to bring you along when you got here.”
Minutes later, she was seated in a chair, a cup of water in her not-too-steady hands, while she faced the doctor across his desk. Dee stood a couple of feet from her chair, watchful.
“Now Josie,” the man began, “you can, and probably are, imagining all kinds of awful things. Don’t. Did you hear what I just said?” He paused and looked at her over his bifocals.
Josie nodded. Before she could speak, he continued.
“I’ll tell you what is going on. After you left, the staff was doing what they normally do with each patient. Chance was awake, but began to complain about a headache. I had ordered some medication for him. Not long after that, the nurse noted a change in his speech pattern and he indicated the pain had increased instead of decreasing. I was called. We immediately took him in for another scan, and I had the neurologist there also…searching for any possible bleeders we might have not seen before. Thankfully, there were none. After conferring with the other doctors, and more tests, it seems Chance had a reaction to the medication combination. Once we discovered that and took the steps to correct, the pain has eased, and he is resting again.”
“Why is he in ICU, then? Are you…”
“He is in ICU because they can monitor him better there, and we needed his room on the third floor for another patient coming out of OR soon…simple as that. I was afraid that if I let Dee call you, you would think the worst. Yet, I knew if we didn’t, and there was something…it would be worse also.” His voice did soften at that point. “I know it’s too soon after losing your mother in this hospital and all…and I know what the mind can do in these circumstances. But I want you to know that Chance should and is making a good recovery. This had nothing to do with his injuries. We just know now that he has an allergic reaction to those meds, and we won’t ever use them again should the need arise….just like your allergy to penicillin.”
Josie felt herself almost melt into the chair, as every muscle and nerve in her body suddenly began to release. If she had been standing, she might have fallen to the floor at that moment. She took another sip of her water, and then she smiled at the man and woman. “Thank you for calling me. I did think the worst. Can I see him now?”
Dee escorted her to the next floor and, in a small room with a glass front, she found a sleeping Chance. Dee gave her another hug and left her there. He looked perfectly fine…except for the bandaging and the monitors. He looked more than fine to her. Without warning, her eyes turned on the faucets, and tears of relief began to trail down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away. She needed to get a grip.
For the next three hours, Josie had a pattern. Since he was in ICU…even though he wasn’t listed as a critical ICU patient per se…she was only allowed two, fifteen-minute visits each hour. Chance slept through those visits. That was fine with Josie. He was there, and she could hold his hand. She would be grateful for that.
Doc Winters stepped into the room, along with another tall man in a white lab coat, just as the sun was setting outside the window. He introduced him as Dr. Doug. “I would attempt his last name, but I always butcher it up. He’s head of our neurological unit, and I wanted you to hear it from his own mouth.” He looked at the man.
“Mrs. Braxton, I know you are most concerned for your husband’s injuries,” he spoke, his Austrian accent sounding odd in a hospital full of Texans. “Please be assured that we have found no reason to believe that he has any serious residuals from his accident, other than what is visible. He will have a few headaches and general soreness where his body took a bit of beating in the accident. I see no reason why he won’t be able to leave here in the next day or so.”
“Now that is the best thing I’ve heard.” The fourth voice in the room was wobbly and came from the man lying in the bed…his eyes trying to focus on each of them. They came to rest on Josie, and a hint of a smile took shape. “Quick…before they change their minds…get me to the truck.”
“Not so fast, young man. You aren’t going anywhere until tomorrow…if then.” Doc Winters stepped in with that statement. Chance’s eyes had no problem with focus at that point. He fixed them on the man. Josie knew that look well.
“Come on, Doc. You guys need this bed for someone who is really sick. You’ve already moved me once you said…that proves that
point. I can rest even better at home in my own bed. Tell them, Josie.”
Three pair of male eyes rested on her. Josie had to stifle a bit of smile. It seemed she just might have the upper hand at the moment where Chance was concerned. She looked at the man, who watched her with his sapphire eyes…a mixture of challenge and question in their depths. After a few long moments, she made up her mind.
“Chance would be able to relax better at home. And I will make sure he follows your orders, or I’ll haul him right back here myself.”
She felt a grateful squeeze of her hand, but she kept her eyes on the doctors.
“You think you can control this stubborn man?”
Josie flashed a quick look at Chance and then right back at the physician. “I believe I can.”
Dr. Winters looked at his patient over the rim of his glasses, considering the situation. “I tend to think you just might be able to make him behave where no one else can. I’ll send you home with some strong pain meds, and they’ll tend to keep him sedated enough to rest.”
“Thanks for getting me out of this place.” Chance spoke after the doctor and nurse left the room. “Hospitals are okay as long as you’re just visiting them. I’ve got things to do and can’t lie around while daylight is wasting.”
Josie gave him a long look, slowly extricating her hand from his. That got his attention.
“I meant what I said to the doctor. You will do exactly as he instructs, or I promise you will be delivered back here and deposited on the front doorstep so fast it will make your head spin even more than it already is. Do I make myself clear?”
Chance’s mouth curved into an amused arc. “You really think you can tell me what to do?”
“I can ask you to do what you know is the right thing to do given your circumstances at the moment.” She didn’t want to give herself away, but the moisture was threatening her eyes. She gritted her teeth and tried to get the words out. “I can ask you to do that because I have lost everyone else in my life, and I really can’t take any more right now. Where is the nurse with the paperwork?”
She used the first thing that came to mind to allow her to make a hasty retreat from the room. If she hadn’t escaped when she did, Josie was afraid she would make a total fool of herself, and Chance would see far more than she needed him to see where her feelings were concerned. The last thing she needed or wanted was for him to feel pity for her. That was the last emotion she wanted from him.
*
It was another beautiful day with the blue sky and sunlight sparkling across the snow. The temperature was barely above freezing. The highway was cleared, so they made good time to the ranch.
Chance sat in the rear seat of the double cab, his head laid back against the seat, eyes closed. Josie kept glancing in the rearview mirror, checking on her patient. She was concerned, but not for the obvious reason. She was concerned because, since before they left the hospital even, Chance had been almost docile in his demeanor. Even when they brought in a wheelchair and told him he had to use it to leave the hospital, she had seen the flash of annoyance in his eyes, but he had not said a word. He just slowly took his seat in the chair. Even Doc Winters had sent her a surprised look as they followed the orderly and Chance out of the hospital.
Josie drew up at the end of the sidewalk that one of the hands had evidently shoveled free of snow earlier, just prior to their arrival. Tom stood waiting for them. True to Texas weather and its propensity for quick changes, already the melting snow and thawing icicles were dripping off the eaves of the roof. Josie gathered Chance’s bag of personal items from the back seat and quickly moved around the truck, while Tom eased Chance from the seat, giving him his arm and shoulder for support, as Chance moved very slowly up the sidewalk. Josie darted ahead and held the front door open for them.
Moving in front of one of the wing back chairs situated by the fire, Chance sank down into it. “Thanks, Tom. I can manage from here. You’ve got work to do, so I won’t hold you back.”
“No problem. The men have the last of the downed fences back up, and we should have the hay shed roof back in place by late today.”
“Thanks again, Tom. Tell Mary thanks for stopping by and getting all that extra food I made earlier and taking it to the men for lunch today.” Josie added her grateful smile with the words.
“Will do. I’m on the radio if you need anything.”
Josie shut the door behind him and walked back into the living room to find Chance with a frown on his face. “Is your head hurting? You can have a pain pill now if you need one.”
“No, it’s not my head. It’s probably best we came here and didn’t confuse Tom with taking me back to my ranch and then you coming here. If you’ll hand me my cell phone from the coat pocket, I can call and have one of my men come over and pick me up in the truck.”
Josie did not move. She wasn’t getting his cell phone. This was where she needed to stand her ground. “There won’t be any of that nonsense. You’ve done enough moving around for one day. Besides, I promised Dr. Winters I would keep my eye on you and make you behave and that is exactly what I plan to do. So you can keep arguing, but you’ll do it with yourself. I’m going to fix lunch, and then you’re going to bed.”
She didn’t wait for a reply. Turning on her heel, she left him sitting in the chair, a very surprised look on his face. He could make of it whatever he liked. She did make a small detour to the coat closet, reaching in and taking possession of his cell phone. Good luck with him trying to find it. He was going to do as told…for once.
Josie set a tray out on the table, and then withdrew the pot containing the chicken soup from the refrigerator that Mary had made for their arrival. While she heated enough for their lunch, she also took out some lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and grated cheese. A salad would be good to go along with the soup. Cutting a couple of thick slices of the bread loaf, she lightly buttered them and then toasted them under the broiler. Chance would probably prefer coffee, but he was going to be content with a glass of milk.
Once she had the tray arranged, she carried it carefully back into the living room, setting it down on the coffee table before she quickly opened the closet and took out a couple of wooden TV trays. She set one up in front of Chance. She ventured a quick glance in his direction while she reset the food on the trays. It was clear that he wasn’t too pleased with the current events, yet he managed to say nothing. Something else which surprised her.
“We’ll eat in here to keep you from moving more than is necessary. It’s nice anyway, in front of the fire. Tonight, I’ll make you some enchiladas. Provided you behave yourself and eat all your lunch now.”
“Where is your lunch tray?”
“I’m going back for it. Is there anything else I can bring you?”
Chance looked over the food before him and then back to her. “Nope. I have to admit this is much better than being stuck with a tray of hospital chow.”
Josie responded to his smile with one of her own and felt something else respond inside of her. Something that remarkably felt like contentment beginning to build. She hurried back to the kitchen and soon returned with her own food tray. She sat in the other chair across from Chance. He hadn’t touched his food but waited until she was seated and ready.
They ate in companionable silence for much of the meal. Her gaze kept drifting over to him, making certain there were no telltale signs of pain or any other distress. She intended to take her job of nurse and protector very seriously. Whether he liked it or not. So far, Chance seemed to be a docile patient. That worried her.
“Would you like more soup?”
Chance placed his fork down beside his plate and shook his head, but abruptly stopped, a rueful grimace crossing his face. “I’m good. Thanks.”
Josie stood and reached for his tray. “You are not good. We’re going to get you to bed, and you’re going to take a pain pill and sleep.”
“You’re taking your watchdog role a bit far,” he called after her retrea
ting back.
Coming back into the room, she motioned for him to stand up. “Call me what you want, but what I say goes, or you go back to the hospital. Stand slowly and put your weight on me.”
He stood. His arm slid around her shoulders, and she stepped against him, sliding her own arm around his waist. She was his nurse. She didn’t need to have thoughts other than medicinal ones about her patient, but that was easier said than done. Touching Chance was like touching a live wire that you couldn’t let go of because of the current. Biting her bottom lip, she concentrated on taking one step at a time…in more ways than one.
Chance didn’t say a word all the way up the stairs, which were very slow going. Josie had a feeling he was doing his level best to put up a brave front, one that would not have her rushing to call the doctor. He did hesitate when Josie opened the door and took a step into the bedroom.
“It might be better if I took the guest bedroom. I wouldn’t want to keep you awake if I can’t sleep or whatever.”
Did he not want to share a room with her any longer? Or was he doing it out of deference to her? Was he still hung up on her wanting to be free to be with Dev? They hadn’t finished that particular conversation, yet, but Josie wasn’t backing down. She continued into their room.
“Sit down on the bed. I’ll help you with your boots. You can work on the buttons of your shirt.”
“I can undress myself. You’re taking your Florence Nightingale duties a bit far.”
She looked at him with hands on her hips. “We can waste time arguing, or you can just be quiet, and do as I say.”
“Be glad I’m an invalid right now. Or you wouldn’t be the one giving orders.”
She ignored him and picked up one booted foot and worked his foot free, and then did the same with the other one. Chance had handled his shirt and was slowly shrugging it off one shoulder and then the other. He tossed it onto the chair across from the bed.
“Unbuckle your belt and then your jeans. I’ll help you slide them off.” Josie knew she sounded a lot braver than she felt at the moment. What was the saying, “Never let them see you sweat?” Well, that was easier said than done. Particularly when faced with a shirtless Chance, leaning back on his hands, and a darkly hot look focused on her.
