On the way to the ranch, she cringed at every squeak and groan of her mom’s old VW bug. Her mom didn’t make a lot of money running the bakery, but she really needed to upgrade the car. If Rachel could get back to working full time, she’d give her extra money for a new car. Right now, she could hardly help herself, which was frustrating as hell.
As she bounced along the snow-laden road to the ranch, she sniffed back tears. She really missed teaching. She’d been the kindergarten teacher at Little Elm Elementary for one year. The minute Jimmy entered cancer treatment, she’d had to put in for a leave of absence. She hadn’t thought much about her job until now. She really missed the kids’ smiling faces.
The sign for Curvy Bear Ranch glistened with icicles. Last night’s storm had blanketed the ground with a fresh layer of fluffy snow. The only other set of tire tracks in the snow belonged to Brady’s truck. She parked next to it.
After turning off the engine, she took a deep breath. Normally Brady could be reasoned with, but right now, she wasn’t sure that he’d listen to anything she had to say.
She stepped out of the car, shut the door, and turned just as Mack bounded down the stairs on the front porch. With long, quick strides, he closed the distance. A scowl scrunched up his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Apparently, Brady had already shared the news with his brothers, and this one looked like an angry bear ready to charge.
“I came to see Brady.”
“He doesn’t want to talk to you. After what you did, he doesn’t have anything to say to you.”
She peered over his shoulder. “Where is he?”
“That’s none of your business. You need to leave the ranch. Now.” His nostrils flared.
She rose up to her full height. “I’m not leaving until I talk to Brady.”
His tone turned dark. “You have no idea what you just did to him. When he came back from the war, he wasn’t doing very well. You’ve stripped away any progress he’d made and now I have to deal with the fallout.”
“I…I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. You abandoned him the second he said he wanted to leave.”
“He left me.”
Mack crossed his arms over his chest. “You left each other. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with you. So good luck with the kid and get the hell off my property.”
Every muscle in her body tensed with fury. “I don’t care what you think. I’m going to talk to him.”
She stomped around him toward the house.
Mack called, “He’s not in there.”
A series of crunching footfalls sounded just behind her. She spun to find Mack a couple of feet from her. “Are you going to follow me around the ranch? I already told you, I’m not leaving.”
Behind her, a gravelly voice spoke, “I got this Mack.”
A spark of recognition shimmied through her. She slowly turned to find Brady standing on the porch. He’d changed into worn jeans and tan chaps. A Stetson cowboy hat covered his eyes. His rugged good looks awakened every inch of her femininity. God, he could be so distractingly handsome.
Mack grumbled. “You’d better not hurt him or there will be hell to pay.”
Brady strode down the steps. “I can handle this, Mack.”
His brother glared at her before trudging off through the snow.
Her heart skittered in her chest. She struggled with the right words to use to explain why she needed him, but simply settled on, “Your son’s dying and you’re the only one who can save him.”
* * *
Brady’s jaw dropped. Had he heard her right? “What did you say?”
“Your son’s dying of leukemia and he needs a bone marrow transplant.”
He took a step back and searched her face for any indication of a lie. Nothing. But could he really believe her after all this time? She’d been lying by omission about having a son, so she could easily be lying about this too.
She wrapped her arms across her chest. “Don’t you have anything to say to that?”
He lifted his hat off of his head and brushed his hand across his hair. “Honestly, I’m not sure I can believe anything you say anymore. How could you keep such a huge secret from me?”
“I was scared. I didn’t think you’d want him. You didn’t want me.”
“What are you talking about? I did want you. I wanted you to wait for me to come back from the war. I wanted to…” He stopped. He couldn’t confess that he’d wanted to ask her to marry him that night. But she’d been so angry that he’d been too afraid that she’d say no.
“I know you’re mad.”
“Furious.”
“Okay, furious. I get that and you have every right to be. I should have told you. But I’m asking you…” her voice cracked. “I’m asking you to help him. Not me, him. He’ll die without a bone marrow transplant and I’m not a match.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have shifter DNA.”
He drew back. “You told the doctor that your son… our son… is a shifter? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to reveal that kind of information?”
“I was careful. I talked to some of the park ranger shifters in Yellowstone and one of them recommended Dr. Landry. She’s working on creating cures specifically for shifters. We tried traditional chemotherapy but it didn’t work. We tried other methods, but they also failed. Trust me, if you weren’t my last hope, I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
A rumble of anger rippled through his gut. “If your son hadn’t gotten sick, you never would have told me about him, right?”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
He sighed. “How do I know he’s my son? He looked like me, sure, but how do I know he’s mine?”
She turned back with a look of shock on her face as if he’d insulted her. “Are you kidding me?”
“What? Don’t you think it’s a valid question considering you’d given me absolutely no indication that you were pregnant when I left?”
She opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it. A few seconds later she said, “I can have the doctor do a paternity test if that’s what you want. But he’s yours.”
Brady kicked a chunk of snow. “I want to talk to the doctor, alone.”
She perked up. A glimmer of hope shimmered in her eyes. Did she really think he’d turn his back on his own son? Although he’d told her that he wanted a paternity test, he didn’t really need one. The second he’d met Jimmy, he’d known the child was his. But dammit. Not now, he wasn’t ready to be a dad.
She eyed him warily. “So will you come with me to see Dr. Landry?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. She sounded close to tears when she said, “We can leave first thing tomorrow. I just need to set up the appointment, but I’m sure she’ll be able to see us.”
He steeled his heart. Even though he wanted to gather her in his arms and console her, he couldn’t. Emotions warred in his heart. He passed from angry, to happy, to scared in the matter of seconds. He had a son… good God.
She’d basically dropped him into a new war, one he wasn’t convinced he could win. He wasn’t sure what would happen in the future. Would he be allowed to spend time with his son? Would they work out a shared custody arrangement?
He almost laughed out loud when he realized how ridiculous his line of thought was. He’d assumed his son would stay alive long enough that he’d have to fight with Rachel over custody. He hadn’t even asked her the most important question yet.
“You said he’ll die without the transplant. How long has he been sick?”
“Two years.”
He blew a breath of air through his teeth. “You could have called me. You could have called one of my brothers.”
Sadness moved across her face. “I’m sorry. I thought I could handle it on my own.”
He clenched his fists at his sides to keep from reaching to comfort he
r. “You wouldn’t have been on your own if you’d called me.”
She looked directly at him. “How can you say that? You were thousands of miles away. How exactly could you have helped me?”
“I would have found a way.”
She shook her head. “We can’t change the past. All we can do is move forward.”
He pressed his lips together. “That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t just find out that you have a son and that he’s dying.”
In a contrite tone she said, “You’re right. I should have told you. I’m sorry for that.”
He shook his head. “I’m not letting you off that easy.”
“How can I make things right?”
“You can’t. Let’s get one thing straight. I’m helping my son, not you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Fine.”
“Good.”
They glared at each other in silence. The tension stretched into a thin thread, both of them ready to snap.
Brady finally broke the silence. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Be ready at nine.”
Chapter 6
Rachel stared out of the truck’s window as Brady drove down the Gallatin Highway from West Yellowstone to Bozeman. They hadn’t said more than a few words to each other since he’d picked her up. It was the most uncomfortable two hours she’d ever spent stuck in a car with someone. At least they were almost at the hospital.
Icicle-crusted trees whizzed by as if marking the passage of time. She hated having to leave Jimmy with her mom again, but she didn’t want to drag him all the way to Bozeman. Brady was only slightly less than hostile and she didn’t want her son to think of his father as a “bad man.” When Jimmy had asked her about Brady last night, she’d struggled to explain to the four-year-old how sometimes people could get mad at each other but still be friends. Jimmy had finally shrugged and had returned to playing with his toy cars.
Brady’s voice broke into her thoughts. “How was Jimmy today?”
“Weak and in pain.”
“I wish I could do something for him right now. Something that would take away his pain.”
“You are. Getting tested to see if you’re a bone marrow match is the first step in the process. I’m glad you’re letting me come with you.”
“I won’t trust a doctor I haven’t met. But since you seem to trust her with Jimmy, I’m going along with this. If I don’t like her, we’re leaving and getting a second opinion.”
“Don’t you think I’ve already done that? I’ve had a second and a third opinion but they are all the same. He’s going to die without the transplant.” She hated the shrill pitch of her voice, but she couldn’t stand his insinuation that she hadn’t done everything in her power to make sure Jimmy had received the correct diagnosis.
Brady’s knuckles turned white. “I’m sorry. I just want to make sure we’re doing this the right way.”
She turned to watch Brady. The anger was gone from his voice. He sounded as sad as she felt.
He glanced at her. “What?”
“Nothing.”
She turned back to the side window and watched the winding Gallatin River slide by. Warmer water flowed through the center of the river but the sides had frozen solid. It was a lot like her current relationship with Brady, cold on the edges with just enough warmth to keep it flowing. Their mutual desire to save Jimmy was the only thing holding them together. Not that they were together, but they probably wouldn’t even be speaking to each other right now if it hadn’t been for their son’s cancer.
“What are you thinking?” Brady asked.
“I just hope this works.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “It will. It has to.”
She squeezed back and didn’t release his hand until they pulled into the hospital’s parking lot. They jumped out and quickly walked through the long white corridors to the doctor’s office.
Dr. Landry stood as they entered. “Hello, I’m assuming you’re Brady, Jimmy’s father?”
“That’s right.”
“Please, take a seat.”
Rachel sat in the same chair she always chose. Brady sat next to her.
Dr. Landry leaned forward. “Has Rachel already brought you up to speed?”
“Yes. She told me that Jimmy’s only hope of survival is to get a bone marrow transplant.”
“That’s correct.”
Brady leaned forward and softly asked, “Have you worked with shifters before?”
She nodded. “All the time.”
“But you’re not a shifter?”
“No. I met a shifter my first year in med school.” She pointed to a photo on her desk. “I ended up marrying him. So I know quite a bit about shifters and their unusual DNA.”
Rachel chimed in. “That’s why she knows I’m not a suitable match.”
“She’s right. I ran her blood but it’s not close enough. Jimmy’s body will reject her bone marrow. I’d like to test yours to see if it would be a good match.”
Brady asked, “What do I have to do?”
“I’ll draw some blood and test it to make sure you’ll be a good match. We don’t want Jimmy’s body to reject the transplant. That would be a disaster in his current state.”
“Disaster? Is that a medical term?” Brady asked with a hint of sarcasm.
Rachel inwardly cringed. “I’m sorry. He’s just—”
“—I just want to make sure she knows what she’s doing. I don’t know her at all and I’m trusting her to take my blood and possibly operate on me. I’ll be dammed if I don’t get to ask her a few questions.”
The doctor held up her hands. “Hang on. He has a perfectly reasonable question.”
Brady huffed. “So, do you normally try to scare the shit out of your patients, or is that honor reserved for me?”
“Brady!”
Dr. Landry smiled. “It’s okay. I’ve encountered all kinds of reactions from patients over the years. There isn’t much that you could do, say, or ask that I haven’t already heard. It’s perfectly understandable to be nervous.”
“I’m not nervous,” Brady snapped.
Rachel rolled her eyes but kept her comments to herself. She couldn’t risk having him back out now.
Dr. Landry said, “Let’s go to an exam room and we’ll draw some blood. I can tell you more about the procedure while we do that.”
Brady shoved out of his chair and stood impatiently by the door. Rachel glanced at Dr. Landry, who flashed her a subtle look that said, Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.
Dr. Landry led them to the exam room. “Would you like her to wait outside?”
Rachel opened her mouth to protest but before she could say anything, Brady shook his head no.
“She can come in.”
After breathing a sigh of relief, she followed them into the room. Brady rolled up his sleeve while the doctor prepared a tray of wicked-looking needles and test tubes.
Dr. Landry said, “You’ll feel a pinch but that’s about it. While I’m drawing your blood, I need to tell you about the risks associated with the surgery.”
Brady said, “I already looked them up online. I could have bleeding complications or even die. I’m well aware of what can happen, but I’m willing to take the risk.”
Rachel looked up to find Brady staring directly at her. The expression on his face wasn’t friendly. He was still clearly pissed that she’d kept Jimmy a secret and that he had to go through a dangerous medical procedure to try to save him. Or maybe he was just pissed at her for being in his life. She dropped her gaze to the floor. How would she ever get him to forgive her?
Dr. Landry said, “Because you’re a shifter, I’m going to have to administer a drug to keep you from shifting during the operation. Provided you’re a match, of course.”
“Of course,” he parroted.
She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “If you shift mid-procedure, you’ll put yourself and all of the staff at risk. You could die. We could die. So to prevent that from
happening, I’d like your permission to give you the drug today. Wait until tomorrow morning, then try to shift. If you can shift, then we’ll have a problem.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Rachel said.
Brady grunted.
The doctor unlocked a refrigerated cabinet and retrieved a syringe filled with milky liquid. “This one might hurt a bit. Rachel, come over and hold his hand.”
Both Rachel and Brady whipped their gazes toward the doctor then at each other.
“NO!” they said simultaneously.
Dr. Landry chuckled. “Okay. I guess it’s enough that you’re both able to be civil to each other and that you’re working together to help Jimmy.”
Rachel groaned. Brady was going to kill her for revealing their estranged relationship to the doctor. Oh well, she’d deal with that during the two-hour drive home, a drive she already dreaded.
The second the needle penetrated Brady’s arm, and he growled. The hair on his body started to grow and a few telltale pops sounded along his back.
Rachel jumped up and took his hand. “Hang on, she’s almost done. You can’t shift now.”
His eyes morphed from chocolate brown to dark mahogany. “You owe me, big time.”
“I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
He snarled and for a moment, Rachel wasn’t convinced he’d be able to stop the momentum of the shift. But when the doctor pulled the needle from his arm, he stilled. The fire in his eyes died and the gentle warmth returned.
Rachel dropped his hand and stepped back. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
He rolled his sleeve down over the Band-Aid and jumped off the table. “Are we done?”
Dr. Landry said, “We are for now. I’ll test your blood and call you with the results. If it’s a match, we can start the pre-procedure medication immediately.”
“Let me know the minute you have the results,” Brady said.
“I will.”
“He’d better be a match,” Rachel said under her breath.
Apparently Brady had heard it because he responded. “For your sake, my DNA had better match Jimmy’s.”
* * *
Shifters in the Snow Page 36
