by Marla Monroe
You weren’t promised love to come here, Rachel. The fact that you are with two men that you can love is more than you could possibly hope for, except maybe to get pregnant. What if the reason they hadn’t taken her for the ceremony was that they wanted to be sure she could get pregnant before they tied themselves to her?
That possibility scared her, and hurt. Surely they wouldn’t take her back and demand another wife. But then you aren’t married to them yet, are you?
“Why the sad face, honey?” Andrew walked in the kitchen and immediately wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, just thinking about some things I need to do before it starts getting cold outside. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Hmm, I would have felt better wrapped in your arms instead of Danny’s,” he said with a grin. “Danny is pouting upstairs now.”
“No I’m not. I’m pouting downstairs.” Danny walked into the room and headed straight for the coffee.
“Morning, Rachel.” He poured a cup of coffee then set it down. “How about a hug, honey?”
Rachel cocked her head and poked out her lower lip. “You wanted coffee before you wanted me. I don’t know if you deserve a hug or not.”
“Give me my damn hug.” He stalked over and pulled her out of Andrew’s arms to lay a loud, sloppy kiss on her before hugging her.
“I’ll have breakfast on the table in just a minute.” Rachel pulled out of Danny’s arms and started cooking.
She listened to them talk about the cows and what they needed to do that day. She found that she enjoyed listening to them make their plans and talk about the various cows and their ornery bull. What would happen if the creature got the bull? She realized that would be a disaster.
Once they’d finished breakfast, they both hugged and kissed her and left for the day. She worked on putting up the last of the vegetables for the year. It would soon be growing cold, and the garden would need to be cleaned off and tilled under. Maybe she should start some of that today.
After finishing up the kitchen, she put on gloves and headed out to start cleaning off the dead vines and dying plants. She would leave a tomato plant that was still producing, and the pepper plants. They still had a few peppers on them and were good for meals.
She wasn’t sure how long she had worked before she felt the first vestiges of unease settle over her. She looked around her but couldn’t see anything. She checked her watch and found that it was close to noon. Maybe she should stop and grab a bite for lunch. She was feeling a bit shaky.
Inside, she didn’t feel as uneasy as she had outside. She couldn’t help but wonder why. After a quick lunch, she donned her gloves and slipped back outside to finish up the two rows she had started just before she took a break. Since they were the corn rows, the stalks were over her head, and she couldn’t see much around them as she cut them down and threw them off to the side.
When she reached the end of the row, she went to throw the last stalk away and looked up, coming face-to-face with the creature. It growled at her. She backed up, but it advanced toward her. Rachel screamed as loud and as hard as she could, then turned and ran. It grabbed a handful of her shirt, and she felt it wrench from her shoulder as she ran for the house. She’d just slammed the door when it caught up with her, hitting the door with a loud clump. She screamed again, and the creature made no more noises. She risked a look out the window and didn’t see it anywhere.
She shook from head to toe as she ran to the office and locked the door. Then she got on the radio to call the men. She had a hard time holding the button down because her hands shook so badly.
“D–Danny? Andrew? P–Please answer.” She barely understood her own voice. All her words ran together.
“Rachel? Is that you?” Andrew asked on the other end.
“The creature. It’s here. It chased me in the house. Oh, God. I’m so scared.”
“Are you okay? Where is the creature?” Danny’s voice cut through.
“I–I think so. I don’t know where it is. I locked the door to the kitchen, and I’m locked in the office now.”
“Is it in the house with you?” Andrew asked.
“No. I don’t know where it went to. I screamed, and it left. What do I do?”
“Stay where you are. We’re on our way. Keep talking to us so we know you’re okay.” Danny sounded winded.
“Honey, we won’t answer you because we’ll be on the horse and holding on,” Andrew told her. “Just keep talking to us, though.”
“It looks smaller than the other one. I don’t know. I was probably too scared to really know what I saw. I think it had been watching me, because I felt weird all morning. I’ve been cleaning out the garden so you can plow it soon.”
She had to let up on the button because her thumb was getting numb.
“Rachel?” Andrew’s voice sounded far away.
“My hand hurts from holding the button. I had to switch hands.” She licked her lips and tried to think of something else to talk about.
“I know you can’t answer, but I hope you’re not far away. I’m scared. What if it breaks down a door or breaks out a window? It’s big enough it can do that. Maybe I should go upstairs and lock myself in the bathroom.”
“Stay where you are.” This came from Danny.
“Okay. I’m not moving. I think I’m too scared to move anyway.”
Rachel talked until her voice was hoarse. Finally she heard them riding up. They told her to keep still and stay where she was. They would come get her after they searched around the house.
After what seemed like hours, she heard the men thunder through the kitchen with their boots, stomping toward her.
“Rachel! Damn it. Why didn’t you tell us you were hurt?” Danny’s voice thundered through the door. “Open the door, Rachel.”
“I’m not hurt.” She ran to the door and unlocked it.
Both men pushed through the door and grabbed her from each side, turning her around and cursing.
“What? What’s wrong?” she cried.
“You’re bleeding. We found part of your T-shirt with blood on it out in the yard,” Andrew said.
“I didn’t know. I never felt anything. I just ran.” Now the pain set in as the adrenaline wore off.
“Let’s get you upstairs in the bathroom where we can look at it. Danny, grab the first-aid kit.” Andrew picked her up and carried her to the stairs and up to the bathroom. He turned on all the lights after setting her on the counter.
“It burns now.”
“I’m sure it does. You’ve got a pretty good scratch back here. Let’s get the rest of your clothes off. I want to clean this real well.” Andrew helped her scramble out of her clothes. He tossed them aside and got a cloth from the closet.
“Got it. Shit, that looks worse than it did downstairs.” Danny opened the first-aid kit and pulled out the disinfectant.
“Do I need stitches?” She really didn’t think she could stand them stitching her up.
“I don’t know yet. Let’s get it all cleaned up first.” Andrew looked over at Danny and grimaced. “Pour it over the cuts.”
“Cuts? There is more than one?” She was beginning to get hysterical, and she knew it.
Then Danny poured the disinfectant over her shoulder, and she nearly screamed. She threw her hand over her mouth instead and moaned. Tears trailed down her face.
“Oh, honey. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know it hurts,” Danny said and kissed her forehead.
Andrew held her shoulder still as she squirmed from the pain. She knew it was hurting him to do it, but she couldn’t help fighting him against the pain.
“Easy, Rachel. He’s almost through. I’m sorry, honey.”
“Okay, that’s it, Rachel,” Danny told her.
She felt one of them pat the area with a warm, wet bath cloth. It hurt, but she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She could tell they were already beside themselves with worry. They examined it then held pressure to it.
“It
’s still bleeding some, honey. I know it hurts, but I want to stop the bleeding so we can see how deep it is. Cleaning it stirred it all up again.” Danny kissed the corner of her mouth and wiped away a tear with his thumb.
Andrew was holding her close to him while Danny held the wound. She buried her face in Andrew’s neck and tried to catch her breath so she’d stop sniffing and crying. It wasn’t doing any of them any good.
“Baby, this needs stitches,” Danny finally said.
Andrew cursed. “I’m not sewing her up. She needs to go to town and let the doc do it.”
“I agree. He can give her something for pain and deaden the area,” Danny said.
“Let’s put a bandage on it and then let them know we’re coming.” Andrew started to let go of her, but Rachel held on tight.
“Easy, honey. Let’s get you dressed and to town. I don’t want to wait.” Andrew slowly extracted himself from her and helped Danny apply a bandage to her shoulder.
They found one of their big T-shirts to go over the bulky bandage, and Danny carried her downstairs while Andrew called town and let them know what was going on.
“It will be okay, Rachel. We’ll take care of you.” Danny kept telling her that against her temple as he held her close.
“I’ll drive, you’ve got her.” Andrew opened the door and went to get the transport.
“What if it’s out there waiting on us?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you. We’ll protect you, honey.” Danny’s voice was soothing but did little to convince her that the creature wasn’t out there waiting.
It wasn’t until they were safe in the transport that she began to breathe normally again. Danny wrapped her in his arms and a blanket then pulled the harness tight over both of them.
“Okay, let’s go, Andrew.”
Chapter Ten
Danny was furious inside that the creature had hurt Rachel. There was nothing they could have done but be there. They couldn’t be with her and out on the range with the cattle at the same time. They needed those hands for the farm soon. The next transport was scheduled to be there that spring. He just hoped to hell they could hold out that long.
He cuddled Rachel closer to him. She was still shaking some, and he didn’t like how pale she was. He hoped she wasn’t going into shock. They had no idea what kind of germs might have been on the creature. He hadn’t had any trouble with his when he’d gotten scratched, but it had been nothing compared to the three furrows down her shoulder and upper back.
“How’s she doing, Danny?” Andrew asked.
“She’s shaking but doing okay, aren’t you, Rachel?”
“I–I’m fine. I was so scared though. I knew I couldn’t out run it unless I got to the house. Then I was scared it was going to come through the kitchen door. I screamed and screamed, and it was just gone.”
“You did the right thing, Rachel. I’m so sorry you were hurt. I don’t know what we would have done if it had been worse. I don’t want to lose you, honey.” Danny squeezed her waist, afraid to hug her too close because of her shoulder.
“How long until we’re there? I think I want to take a nap,” Rachel said.
Danny exchanged a look with Andrew. He wasn’t sure it was safe for her to go to sleep. Maybe that was just with head injuries, though.
“Honey, try to stay awake for us, okay? It’s still a little over an hour. I’m driving as fast as I can and be safe.” Andrew’s mouth was in a thin line, showing the strain around it.
“Just a short nap. You can wake me up in a little bit.”
Danny felt her forehead and cursed. She was ice cold.
“Turn on the heater, she’s cold.”
Andrew turned on the heater and adjusted the blower toward Danny and Rachel.
“Rachel, damn it. Wake up, honey.” He shook her slightly.
“Ow! That hurt,” she complained.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve got to stay awake. You’re trying to go into shock. I don’t want you to do that, honey.” Danny rubbed up and down her good arm with his hand.
“I’m going to be okay, Danny.”
“Damn right you are,” he said with a grimace.
Danny looked over at Andrew again. “You notified the doctor we were coming in?”
“Yeah, they were calling him while I was talking to them on the radio. He’ll be ready when we get there.”
Danny couldn’t do anything but hold on to Rachel and keep her awake. Every once in a while he had to jar her to wake her up. He hated hurting her, but it was all that worked.
Finally, they pulled into town. Andrew pulled right up front of the doctor’s clinic and ran around to take Rachel from Danny’s arms. Danny jumped out of the transport and ran to open the door for them.
“There you are. Bring her back here.” The town’s doctor, Jeff, and his male nurse led the way to a room in the back of the clinic they used as a makeshift surgical suite.
“Let’s see what we have here.” The doctor and nurse pulled off the T-shirt she had on then peeled back the bandage to look at the wound.
“Three deep furrows.” The doctor looked up at them. “What made them?”
“A creature of some kind that no one knows much about. It looks almost like a cross between a giant sloth and praying mantis,” Danny told them.
“You’re kidding.” The nurse looked from one man to the next.
“No. It weighs close to three hundred pounds, too.” Andrew wasn’t letting go of Rachel’s hand.
“I’d say she’s damn lucky that she isn’t hurt worse than this,” the doctor said.
“What are you going to do to me?” Rachel finally asked.
“First we’re going to clean you up. I know they already have,” he said when everyone started to protest. “But I want to do it my way. Then we’re going to add some antibiotics to it and sew it up. I’m going to put you on an IV of antibiotics for twenty-four hours.”
“You’re going to deaden her first.” Danny made it a statement. He wasn’t letting anyone hurt her any more than she was already hurt.
“Of course. I’m also going to give her a pain shot. That will help her rest as well.”
The nurse grabbed a gown and a sheet. “You can help her get undressed and into this. It needs to open in the back. Lay her on her stomach and cover her with the sheet. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The two men walked out, closing the door firmly behind them. Danny and Andrew went into action. They gently removed what was left of her bra and then her jeans. She insisted on keeping on her panties. They didn’t argue with her. Danny wanted her as comfortable as possible. There was no reason she couldn’t keep on her panties. She also kept on her socks since she was so cold. Once they had her dressed in the gown and the sheet on top of her, he located a blanket and added that as well.
There was a knock at the door. Andrew called for them to come in, and the doctor and nurse walked back in with a tray and basin.
“Turn on the heat,” he directed his nurse.
“You two might want to wait out in the lobby. I’ll come tell you what we’re doing.” The nurse pointed to the door.
“We’re not leaving her side,” Danny and Andrew said in unison.
“Then don’t get in the way,” the doctor said.
They gave her a shot for pain then started an IV for the antibiotic. She didn’t fuss at all during all the sticking, but when the doctor started at her shoulder with a needle, she yelped and tried to get up.
“What are you doing?” she cried out.
“Easy, Rachel. We’re going to deaden that area of your shoulder so it won’t hurt when we clean it and sew you up. Just relax. It will be some pinching, but it will go away really fast. I promise,” the nurse told her.
“Let him deaden you, honey. I don’t want you hurting anymore,” Danny urged her.
Andrew squeezed her hand. “I’m right here. Squeeze my hand when it hurts.”
She nodded and squeezed her e
yes shut as they started deadening her shoulder. Danny couldn’t stand seeing the tears run down her face. He kept wiping them off, but they kept falling. It was tearing him up inside. Damn it. When had he fallen in love with her?
“She’s falling asleep, is that okay?” Danny asked as her eyes closed.
“That’s fine. The shot would probably have that effect on her. This way she won’t feel anything while we’re sewing her up. Just the sensation even when the area is asleep can be uncomfortable,” the doctor said.
Danny and Andrew stayed right by her side. Danny kept a hand on her lower back, out of the way of the doctor and nurse. Andrew held her limp hand in his. Finally, the doctor pronounced her finished.
“I’m going to move her to one of the rooms next door. It’s our house, but we have a couple of rooms downstairs for just this reason. I want her to get a good twenty-four hours of IV antibiotics. Plus, I want to watch this wound and see what it does. We don’t know anything about this creature.”
“Here.” Danny pulled his sleeve up to show him his arm. “I got scratched a couple of months back. Rachel sewed me up, and I didn’t have any trouble. It made a weird scar, though.”
The doctor and nurse both looked at the puckered scar.
“I’d like to biopsy it while you’re here and see if any of the cells are changed, or if it’s just a bad scar.”
“Sure. Whatever you need to do to take care of Rachel.” Danny replaced his sleeve.
“Does one of you want to carry her for us? We’ll handle the IV.”
Danny immediately picked her up, being careful not to jar her shoulder. He followed the doctor down the hall and through a door the nurse opened for them. They settled Rachel in a small but nice room that had a regular bed in it. It was equipped with an IV pole to hang the antibiotic. There was also one chair.
“I take it we can’t both stay with her.” Danny nodded toward the one chair.
“That’s right. One person at a time,” the nurse said.
“We’ve got the fucking cattle to look after anyway,” Andrew pointed out.
“I’m sticking with her the first go ’round,” Danny said.
