It's Just A Ranch

by Misty Malone

Chapter Eleven

  Everything was fine for the next several weeks. Garrett and Mindy were anxious to see each other at meals, and were becoming inseparable in the evenings and on Sundays. Wyatt and Maria saw it, but so did the ranch hands. They’d begun to ask Garrett when he was going to put a ring on her finger, among other things.

  Garrett was true to his word, pulling her over his knee three times over the next couple weeks. None of the offenses had been major, and neither were the spankings. They were enough to do exactly what he intended, though; they let her know he was watching and would no longer allow her to step over the line, even if it was just a little.

  She got frustrated once and gave him an attitude he didn’t like. He simply held one of her arms and turned her sideways. He landed five crisp swats to her bottom before she knew what he was doing. “Oww,” she yelled. “That hurt.”

  “Did it hurt enough to help you get that attitude under control, or do we need to go into the office so I can give you a full spanking?”

  That got her attention, and she stopped and looked at him for several seconds. She wasn’t glaring, so he gave her the time. After a couple minutes, her shoulders slumped. “I guess I was being pretty bitchy,” she said quietly.

  He turned her again and landed three more swats. “Yes, you were,” he agreed. “And I don’t care for that kind of language, either.”

  “Sorry,” she said, reaching back to rub her bottom.

  “But you haven’t answered my question yet. Did that do the trick, or am I going to see more of that attitude, or hear more of that language?”

  “No, I’m done now.”

  “Good,” he said, pulling her in for a hug.

  She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For giving you a few well-placed swats? I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that, but you’re welcome,” he said, laughing.

  “No, not for that.” She paused, and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess maybe it was for that. I meant for giving me that warning instead of just taking me to your office, because now that I’ve thought about it, I couldn’t argue if you did.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that. That means that warning did exactly what I’d hoped. It got you to stop and think.”

  “It did. I didn’t realize it before you did that, but I guess I did have a bit of an attitude, didn’t I?”

  “Oh, you had an attitude,” he assured her. “I’m not sure I’d say it was a bit of an attitude, but we can sure agree you had an attitude.”

  She laughed, and hugged him harder. “Okay, I deserved that.”

  From that day on he occasionally used a quick warning like that if they were alone, and it was usually effective. When she deserved it, though, he took her to his office for a full spanking.

  He continued to watch her carefully, and was happy to see that over the next couple months, not only was she accepting his guidance, but she was thriving with it.

  Garrett’s parents, who had been talking to them a couple times a week, as well as speaking with Maria, decided to stay with her parents, at least for the foreseeable future. Although her father would recover from his accident, he wouldn’t be able to run the ranch again. He also needed enough care that they knew it would be hard for her mother to provide it herself, and they hated to see him have to go to a nursing home.

  Max and Helen discussed it, and thought that while her parents needed their help, this was a good opportunity for Garrett. Maria and Wyatt both assured them he was doing a good job. They also filled him in on the growing romance at the ranch. Helen’s parents were thrilled when they agreed to stay on.

  * * *

  Mindy had begun taking safety much more seriously, much to his relief. She understood his concern now, and tried to follow his rules. She still thought some of those rules were being overprotective, but she got a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing he was looking out for her. She’d also seen a couple of the men get hurt, not seriously, but enough that it convinced her that there were in fact dangers out there, and it would behoove her to listen when he gave his warnings. She also hated his spankings, and tried to avoid them.

  At the end of summer, they were swimming on a Sunday afternoon. It was the warmest day they’d had in the last couple weeks, and it felt good to get a final day of swimming in. That was one thing they both enjoyed.

  After a vigorous workout, they were relaxing on a lounge chair they shared, her back against his chest. “That felt nice,” he said.

  “It really did,” she agreed. “I’m so glad you guys have a heater for your pool. It’s nice and warm today, but it’s been so cool lately, which it should be, it’s the end of October, but without the heater we never would have been able to swim today.”

  “The heater really does extend the swimming season. We wouldn’t have been able to swim when you first got here the first part of May without it, either.”

  She laid back and relaxed. “You know, in one way it seems like I haven’t been here that long. Time has really flown by. But on the other hand, it seems like we’ve known each other a lot longer than that. I don’t usually get this close to anyone, especially a man, this quickly.”

  “I know exactly what you’re saying. We’ve basically been dating for five months. I’ve dated other ladies for several months, but didn’t know them anywhere near as well as I know you.”

  “I’ve only dated a man for four months or longer twice, and I never really felt like I knew him all that well.” She sat up and turned around to face him. “Why do you suppose that is, that we got to know each other so much quicker?”

  “Don’t really know. The fact that you’re living here I’m sure has a little something to do with it. We see each other daily. When you date someone you see them what; once or twice a week?”

  “Yeah, that’s true. But I think it’s more than that. I mean, we just seemed to mesh good from the start.”

  “Yes, we did,” he agreed. “I think we were meant to be together.” He gave her a meaningful kiss, which she returned with as much passion.

  She leaned back against him and relaxed again. “I think maybe you’re right. Maybe we were meant to be together.” She sighed. “You’re right, again. You’re always right.”

  “It took you long enough to figure that out,” Garrett said with a grin. After they both had a good laugh, he clarified her statement. “I’m not always right, but I think I might be on this. I think that’s why we got along right from the start and got to know each other so quickly.”

  He paused a few seconds, then wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her an extra little squeeze. “There’s something else I didn’t think was possible this quick, either, but it’s happened, too.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?” she asked lazily, leaning back against him, enjoying his extra little hug.

  He pulled her up and turned her to face him. “I love you, Mindy. I know that may seem awfully quick, or at least it does to me because I don’t say that lightly. I can have strong feelings for someone, but love to me goes way beyond strong feelings. It’s a very special, very strong bond one person has for another. A lot of people are quick to declare their love, but I don’t believe they truly do love the person; not a true, deep, all-in type of love, which is what I mean. But I know my heart, and I’m sure of my feelings, and I do love you, Mindy.” He took her face in his hands and lowered his lips to meet hers. He moved one hand to cradle the back of her head, and was ecstatic when she wrapped her arms around him as she returned his kiss.

  Remembering his promise to her to be a gentleman, he forced himself to pull back from the kiss. He was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “Honey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  “Nothing’s wrong; nothing at all. I love you, too, Garrett. I mean, I understand what you said, and I agree; true, genuine love is an all-in feeling. That’s the kind of love I have for you, too.” After another kiss, and another hug, he helped her turn around to lean against him on the
lounge chair again. She leaned against him, with his arms wrapped around her waist, both content for now, being close to each other, and neither wanting to move.

  Over the next couple days Garrett decided it was time to do as his ranch hands had been kidding him about, and put a ring on her finger. He went to town and got a ring he hoped she would like, and made reservations for supper at a special restaurant Saturday night.

  He told her on Thursday they were going someplace special for supper on Saturday, and she reminded him of a kid at Christmas. She asked several times where they were going, but he didn’t tell her. He loved seeing her so excited, and wanted that to last.

  Saturday morning, she asked him where they were going again during breakfast, but he wouldn’t tell her. She tried once more while they were having dinner, as they were finishing their meal. “So tonight’s our big night. Where did you say we’re going for supper tonight?”

  “I didn’t say, and I’m still not, but that was a nice try.”

  Wyatt and Maria both laughed at the two of them. Mindy was persistent, though, not giving up. “But how will I know what I should wear, if you don’t tell me where we’re going?”

  “It’s a special night, so wear something special,” he suggested.

  “Why is it a special night; because of where we’re going, or what?”

  “Because I’ve never taken you anywhere fancy for dinner, and I think it’s about time I remedy that.”

  “So I should dress up?”

  “Yep.”

  “Are you wearing a suit?”

  “Of course.”

  “Whoa, now I’m really excited.”

  “Good.” He put his Stetson on his head, getting ready to go back to work. “I’ll be in a little early this evening to take a shower and get ready to go. What are you going to do this afternoon?”

  “I think I’m going to take a ride on a four wheeler. If I stay around here, I’ll go crazy. I’ll be back early, too, to make sure I have time to make myself beautiful for tonight.”

  He laughed. “You don’t need any time for that, honey. You’re already beautiful. I’ll see you later this afternoon.” He kissed her and left.

  She left not too long afterward, on a four wheeler.

  Garrett got a call from Maria about 3:30, and she was frantic. “She said she’d be back by 3:00 to take a shower and get ready for her big night, but she’s not back, and she’s not answering her phone. Garrett, she’s been so excited about tonight, I can’t imagine why she isn’t back yet. And I know she had her phone with her and it was fully charged when she left.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because she took it out and checked. She confirmed it had a full charge, and told me she’d be back by 3:00 so she has plenty of time to get ready.”

  “Was she walking or did she take a four wheeler?”

  “I watched her leave. She was on the bright yellow four wheeler, and she took the lane out behind the barn and to the left.”

  “Okay, I’ll get Wyatt and we’ll go follow that route and see if we see the four wheeler. Call me if she shows up or calls you.”

  “Okay. Please find her, Garrett. I don’t like this at all. She didn’t just forget about the time or her phone this time, I know.”

  “Yeah, I know, Maria. I don’t like it, either. I’ll let you know when we find her.” He called Wyatt and relayed the concern. They quickly made plans. Wyatt would go back to the barn and start from there, following the lane Maria designated. Garrett was going to check a couple knolls, where you can see quite a ways in that direction. Hopefully her bright yellow four wheeler would be visible from one of them. If not, he would head back on one of the paths he knew she liked and may have taken when the original lane came to a fork, and follow it back toward the barn until he met Wyatt. If they hadn’t seen her yet, they would call all the men in and get them searching.

  Garrett wasted no time going from one knoll to the next, and looked carefully. He was getting more concerned the later it got. When he didn’t see her from the last knoll, he started toward the main lane she’d taken, looking to his right and left carefully as he went. Finally, he almost missed it, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something yellow, and quickly steered his own four-wheeler over to check it out. Sure enough, it was the four wheeler, parked by a copse of trees next to a ravine with a creek running through it. He called, but got no response.

  He called Wyatt and told him what he’d found, so Wyatt could meet him there. He started walking around, looking, calling for her, but got no response. Wyatt got there and hurried to his boss. “Nothing?”

  “I’ve been calling, but I’m not getting any response. I’ve looked around the area, but I haven’t seen a thing. I’m afraid she tried going down this ravine and fell, so I was about to go down there and walk along the creek, looking up on the bank, in case she’s there.”

  “Good idea. Why don’t you go down and look from the bottom up, and I’ll stay up here and look down?”

  “Okay. If we don’t find her soon I think we need to call in the rest of the men.”

  “Agreed,” Wyatt said, “though since her four wheeler’s here, I wouldn’t think she’d be too far away.”

  “That’s my thought, too.” Garrett had already started down the ravine, but stopped to yell up to Wyatt. “It’s awfully slippery going down here, what with the recent rain. Why don’t you go west and I’ll go east? If we don’t find her, we’ll both reverse our directions.”

  “You got it.”

  Both men started searching for her carefully, calling her name, then waiting for a response as they moved along the ravine. After what seemed like an hour, but was actually about ten minutes of searching, Garrett found her, but his heart dropped. “Wyatt, over here, clear at the bottom. Hurry!”

  Mindy was laying motionless at the bottom of the ravine, with her legs in the creek. He made his way to her and gently brushed the hair from her face, looking for obvious injuries. “Mindy? Mindy, honey, wake up.” When he got no response, he checked for a pulse, and was relieved to find one. He was feeling her arms and legs, being careful not to move her, checking for injuries. The only thing he found was a cut on her forehead.

  Wyatt was on his way down the side of the ravine, and didn’t see Mindy until he got to the bottom. He turned around and saw her laying there. “Oh, no. Garrett, is she—”

  “There’s a pulse, and it’s fairly strong. I’m not sure if we should try to move her, though. What do you think?”

  “I don’t really know. I’m kind of afraid to. We don’t know what injuries she may have.”

  Garrett pulled his phone out. “I’m not sure, either, but I’ll call 9-1-1. Maybe they can answer some questions for us. I’m concerned about her legs being in the water. That water’s pretty cold. Will it lower her body temp? Even if we do get her legs out of the water, we’re going to have to move her quite a bit to try and get her out of here.”

  As Garrett talked to the 9-1-1 operator, Wyatt tried to get Mindy to wake up, or answer, with no luck.

  “Okay, I’ve got you on speaker,” Garrett said. “We can both hear you. We’re not sure if we should try to move her or not. She’s unconscious, but one thing I’m worried about is her legs are laying in a creek, and that water’s pretty cold. No, we don’t have a blanket or anything like that. We’re at the bottom of a ravine in the middle of our ranch. Should one of us go back up to the four wheelers and go to the house and get one?”

  The 9-1-1 dispatcher connected them to the EMS squad that was en route, and they answered some of their questions for them. They were told not to move her since she was unconscious and couldn’t tell them about any injuries, but to rub her arms and legs to try to keep them warmer.

  Garrett called the house and told Maria what was happening. He called the bunkhouse then and told the men. He made sure they knew where they were on the ranch, and asked them to meet the EMS squad and lead them back to them. He stayed at the creek, down in the ravine, holdi
ng her hand and talking to her, while Wyatt went back up the steep creek bank to direct them to her location when the emergency personnel got there.

  It seemed like forever to Garrett before he heard from Wyatt. “I see the rescue vehicle, Garrett. It’s coming up the lane between the pastures now. Hang in there.”

  Ten minutes later two EMTs were slowly and carefully making their way down the ravine. “Hi. I’m Shawn, this is Bill,” the EMT who seemed to be in charge said.

  “Garrett.”

  They quickly did an assessment of her as Shawn asked Garrett a few questions. “Do you know how long she’s been here?”

  “No, I don’t. She left the house around one o’clock, and we found her around 4:00. We haven’t moved her at all, though I’m awfully concerned about her being in that cold water. She feels cold to me, so I’ve been rubbing her arms especially, trying to warm her up. I laid my shirt on her as soon as I got here, hoping to help her retain a little heat.”

  “That was good. Has she moved anything at all that you’ve seen since you found her?”

  “No. I’ve been talking to her, but I’ve gotten no response at all.” Garrett heard his voice breaking at the last comment, but he didn’t care. He loved this little lady, and he didn’t care who knew it.

  Shawn heard it, as well, and tried to reassure him. “Her pulse is pretty strong, so that’s good. She was probably knocked out when she fell, and although that’s not a good thing, there are a lot of things that are worse than a concussion. Once we get her to the hospital they’ll be able to check her for other injuries. If the concussion is the worst of it, she should be okay. It may just take a few days for her to get her balance back and get past the headaches. But her pulse is strong and she’s breathing okay, and those are the things I worry about the most at this point.”

  “Okay,” Garrett said, looking slightly more hopeful.

  “Since we don’t know about any other injuries, we’re going to put a collar around her neck and put her on a backboard. At this point that’s just precautionary since we don’t know of any other injuries. We’re going to have to get her up out of here, and we’ll keep her as still as possible, but I’m sure she’s going to be jarred a little from time to time. The collar and backboard will help hold her as still as possible while we get her up to the truck.”