by Misty Malone
“All right.” He felt helpless, watching them work on her, getting her ready to move. “If there’s anything I can do to help, just say something.”
“We’re going to be able to use all the help we can get trying to hold her still when we’re ready to move her up. If you’re willing to help us with that, we’d sure appreciate it.”
“Anything I can do,” Garrett assured them.
He watched as they slowly prepared her. Shawn was explaining what would be happening while they slowly and carefully rolled her enough to get her on a backboard. Once they had her on that, they lifted her into a basket with ropes attached. “The ropes will be attached to a winch on the EMT truck, and that will pull her up, at our direction. Our job is going to be to balance it, keep it as level as possible, and keep her away from the bank so it doesn’t hit it and jar her. We’re also going to have to dodge a few trees and things on the way up.”
“Okay,” Garrett said, looking up at the path they were going to have to be taking.
“When Bill came down with the basket, he tried coming down the most direct route he could, while bypassing the big trees, because however the basket comes down is the route it will have to take going back up. It looks like he did a good job avoiding the trees, but it’s pretty grown up, so we’ll have some work to do avoiding some of the brush.”
“Okay, I understand, and I’ll help all I can,” Garrett assured them. “Do you want Wyatt down here to help, too?”
“Three people are going to be about the most we can use without getting in each other’s way, but if he could come down and guide us up, warning us of any brush or trees we need to avoid, that would be helpful. Then instead of watching the hill as much, we can concentrate more on her.”
Garrett called out to Wyatt, who was already at the top of the ravine, watching. He relayed Shawn’s request, and Wyatt was instantly down, ready to help. He looked up, made sure he understood what Shawn wanted him to do, and they were ready to begin.
It took an agonizingly long twenty minutes to reach the top of the creek bank, but it was steep and they had to go slow to avoid any unnecessary jarring. As soon as the basket reached the top, the EMT who had been controlling the winch was there to meet them, and they quickly got her loaded into the squad.
It wasn’t hard for Shawn to see Garrett’s concern, so he told him he could ride with her to the hospital. Wyatt assured him he and Coy, who had met the EMTs and escorted them to their location, would get the four wheelers back and fill everyone in on what they knew, including Maria.
Garrett promised to call as soon as he had any news, and the EMT squad left, with him in it. They had to go slow over the rough terrain, but at least they were on their way, Garrett kept reminding himself. He wasn’t at all surprised to see Maria and all the men outside, showing their concern for Mindy and their support for him, as the rescue vehicle made its way past them and out the lane. They were finally able to move faster once they hit the main road.
When they got to the hospital, they were met by several people who quickly and efficiently worked together. They got Mindy out of the vehicle and into a cubicle in the emergency department, while getting information on her condition from Shawn. A doctor was barking out orders for x-rays, and nurses were rushing to get things set up.
Garrett was escorted to the waiting room, and a nurse promised to let him know as soon as they had something they could tell him. Time seemed to stand still once he was there. He paced back and forth, checking his watch every minute or two. Another nurse came to talk to him, getting information as to who she was. He told her he knew she had some kind of hospitalization through the same company he had, but he didn’t have her card or know any of the plan number or anything like that.
He personally guaranteed payment of anything not covered by her insurance. The nurse smiled, knowingly. “She’s more than just a friend, isn’t she?” the nurse asked.
“I have an engagement ring at home, and we had dinner reservations for tonight. I was going to ask her then,” he answered quietly.
The nurse smiled at him. “Then we’ll get her all fixed up so you can still ask her. Will you let me know when the wedding is set?”
Garrett smiled for the first time since arriving at the hospital. “I sure will,” he told her.
Chapter Twelve
When the nurse left, Garrett went back to pacing. Wyatt and Maria appeared and tried to calm him down, but weren’t having much luck. Finally, a nurse came out to talk to him. “We usually just speak to family and have them go back to see the patient, but the nurse that took the information says she has no family here, but you two are going to be married, so we’ll make an exception.”
“Thank you,” Garrett said sincerely. “How is she?”
“I’ll let you go back and see her in a minute. She’s still unconscious, but as far as we can tell, she doesn’t have any major injuries. She has some cuts and bruises, no doubt from where she slid down the embankment, and a broken arm, but it’s not displaced, so she won’t need any surgery, and it’s not at the elbow or wrist. A simple cast should take care of it nicely. The doctor put a few stitches in a couple of the cuts.”
“How about her being unconscious? Shouldn’t she be waking up by now?”
“That’s our main concern now, yes. We would have liked to have seen her wake up by now. Often times moving them around once they’re here jars them awake, but not always. Dr. Fielding is still back there with her, so you can talk to him more about that.”
“Okay, good.” He turned to Maria and Wyatt. “Thanks for coming in, but if she’s not awake yet, you guys may as well go back to the ranch. I’ll call you when she wakes up or I know anything more.” They nodded, and he turned and followed the nurse to a cubicle in the emergency department. He walked in and stopped. She was so beautiful laying there. They’d cleaned her up, washed the mud smudges off her face and hands, and she had a bandage on her head and another on her elbow. He did the only thing that seemed right, and went to her and kissed her forehead.
Once he’d done that he looked up at the doctor, watching him, smiling. “I’m Dr. Fielding,” the man said, reaching out his hand.
Garrett shook it. “Garrett Stevenson. Thank you for what you’ve done for her. How is she?”
“I’ll feel better and be able to answer that better when she wakes up, but from what we can see, she’s doing okay. An orthopedic doctor is going to come down and put a cast on her arm in a little bit here, but I’m not too concerned about her arm. That was a clean break, not out of place at all, so we’re going to put a cast on it right away, but more as a preventative measure. When she wakes up, occasionally they’ll start flailing around until they get their bearings back. If she does that, the cast will keep it in line and not allow it to be damaged any further.”
“That makes sense.”
“I’m sure she has a concussion, but we won’t know how bad it is until she wakes up. She has a pretty good knot on the back of her head and a cut on her forehead that I stitched up.”
“Yeah, I felt the knot on the back of her head. I was concerned about that. It felt pretty big.”
“I can’t disagree with you there. I’d say that has a lot to do with why she hasn’t come to yet.”
“So, what can I do to help her, and how long can she stay like this before we should worry?”
“At this point we have to wait, which I know is very difficult. If you want to hold her hand or rub her arm, sometimes that stimulus will help them wake up. Talking to them can’t hurt, either. Some studies show talking to them seems to help bring them back to a conscious state. Not all doctors believe that, but I always say it certainly can’t hurt. I have had a couple patients who remember something someone said to them before they woke up, so in my opinion, it may help, but certainly won’t hurt.”
“Then it’s good enough for me,” Garrett said.
“That’s the way I look at it,” Dr. Fielding agreed. “I’ll let you have some time with her, Garret
t. I’ll be in and out checking on her the next little while. I’d like to keep her in the hospital overnight, even if she comes to and says she’s okay soon, just for observation since she was out this long.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
“We’ll keep her down here in the emergency department until they put the cast on her arm, so it’s a little more stable when we move her. I’d also like to keep her here until she wakes up, if we can. If she does have any problems or complaints when she comes to, we’re better equipped to deal with them here.”
“Again, that makes sense.”
“We can keep her here up to twenty hours before they like us to release them or admit them, so as long as we don’t get busy in here and need the space, we’ll probably keep her downstairs. As soon as she wakes up and seems okay, as long as they’ve got the cast on her arm by then, we’ll admit her and move her upstairs to a room. So I’ll let you and the nurses watch over her now, but I’ll be stopping back in from time to time to check on her.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Garrett said, shaking the man’s hand again.
After the doctor left, Garrett sat down beside Mindy and took her hand in his. He gently rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “Okay, honey, I’m here with you, and I’m going to stay here with you until you’re ready to wake up and talk to me. I love you, baby. You remember that.” He settled in to wait with her, no matter how long it took.
A man who identified himself as Dr. Belding, an orthopedic physician, came in holding an x-ray, and checked her arm. He showed Garrett the x-ray showing the break, but he could see it was still aligned. After Dr. Belding checked her arm to be sure it wasn’t too swollen, he and a nurse put a cast on it. He told Garrett he would want to see her in about five weeks, but to call sooner if either of them had any concerns.
Dr. Fielding was true to his word, and stopped in every half hour or so to check on her. The nurses were in and out much more often, checking the readings on the machines she was hooked up to, one of which monitored her vital signs. Garrett had been watching it closely, as well, and was happy that her heart seemed strong, and her temperature, which was low initially, was coming back up. He was sure the warm blankets the nurses kept replacing on her were helping with that.
He stayed right next to her, rubbing her hand and arm, and talking to her softly off and on the entire time.
He dozed off one time, just after one o’clock in the morning. He woke up when he heard Mindy. She was moaning, and moving around. “Mindy, honey, wake up,” Garrett said.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “I can’t tell you any more. I don’t know.” She started thrashing, and Garrett quickly pushed the call button for a nurse.
“Mindy, wake up, honey. You’re okay. You’re having a nightmare. You’re okay, I’m here with you.”
A nurse came hurrying into the room. “Is she awake?”
“No, I think she’s having a nightmare.”
The nurse left quickly, and returned a few moments later with a doctor she introduced as Dr. Wilder.
Mindy was still thrashing around in her bed. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know anything else. I’d tell you if I could. I’m so sorry.”
Dr. Wilder looked up at Garret, who quickly tried to explain. “She was an R.N. in an emergency room in New York City on 9/11. She said everyone was looking for their loved ones and she felt helpless. She’s had a hard time getting over it.”
“Post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, nodding his head. “It’s not really surprising that it would resurface now.” He ordered something to calm her down, and the nurse left to get it. He turned back to Garrett. “I don’t want to give her too much until she wakes up and we make sure she’s okay, but I don’t want her thrashing, either. I don’t want her to bang her arm on anything, or open up the cuts they sewed up on her.”
The nurse returned with a syringe. She put it directly into her IV, and left. The doctor and Garrett watched as she settled down again. Garrett continued to hold her hand and try to comfort her with his words. “It’s okay, Mindy. I’m here with you and I’m not going anywhere.”
The doctor made sure she was calm again before turning to Garrett. “What you’re doing is the best thing you can do for her. If she starts to wake up again, try to keep her calm. If her PTSD is working on her brain, she may wake up irritated again. If she does, call the nurse again.”
Garrett thanked him and settled back in beside her. He talked to her while he rubbed her hand. He told her she had been in an accident and was in the hospital, but she was going to be fine. He told her several times how special she was and how much she meant to him. He reminded her that she no longer lived in New York, but lived on his ranch, and talked about some of the times they’d spent swimming or riding Duke. He told her he was proud of her learning to ride and he felt she was ready to ride Butternut the next time they went out riding, but that he would miss her riding in front of him on Duke. He wanted her mind to be filled with good thoughts, not bad ones from New York City.
He felt she had calmed sufficiently, and allowed himself to doze off an hour later. He woke again just after six o’clock in the morning, when he heard her mumbling again. He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying this time, but she didn’t seem to be thrashing like she had the last time. He picked her hand up and started rubbing it. “Mindy, honey, are you ready to wake up? I’ve been waiting for you, sleepy head.”
He about fell out of his chair when she clearly said, “I like riding Duke together, too.”
He felt his eyes fill with tears, and blinked. While he was watching her, still rubbing her hand, she opened her eyes. He smiled at her as he squeezed her hand. “Then we’ll still ride Duke together, at least part of the time.”
“Good.” She moved her head a bit as she looked around, and he saw her flinch. He quickly reached over to press the call button.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Yes, and I feel kind of dizzy. What happened?” Moving only her eyes to look around again, she asked, “Where am I?”
“You had a little accident, honey, and you’re in the hospital. You’re going to be fine, though.”
A nurse came in and smiled when she saw Mindy’s eyes open. “Oh, you woke up. I’m so glad. How are you feeling?”
“Okay.”
Garrett contradicted her. “No, she’s not. She flinched when she turned her head, and said her head hurts and she’s dizzy.”
The nurse grinned at Garrett, and turned back to Mindy. “Is that true?”
Mindy started to deny it, but saw his stern look, and his raised eyebrow. She sighed. “Yes.”
“I would have been surprised if you didn’t have at least a little bit of a headache. Let me leave a message for Dr. Fielding. He may want to check you himself before we give you something for your headache. Do you feel any nausea?”
She started to shake her head, but she saw the same look on his face again. “A little when I move my head.”
“Okay, I’ll go talk to the doctor and see what he says. I’ll be right back.”
As soon as the nurse was out of the cubicle, Garrett turned to Mindy. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “It’s so good to hear you awake and talking again.” She smiled up at him, until he continued. “But I thought you knew how important the truth is to me. Why did you tell her you were feeling fine?”
“Because I want to go home,” she said unashamedly. “I was afraid if I said my head hurts they’d want to keep me here overnight.”
“Baby, that boat’s already sailed. You’ve already been here overnight.”
“I have? What time is it?”
“It’s after six o’clock, in the morning. I’m not sure how long they’ll want to keep you here, but I know they’ll want to keep an eye on you until they’re sure you’re okay.” His stern look reappeared. “I want them to do that, as well.” His look softened as he brushed the hair back from her face. “Honey, when I saw you laying at the bottom of that ravine I fel
t numb. I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared in my life. Please don’t fight them while they help you heal.”
His soft voice and kind words went straight to her heart. She loved this man with all her heart. “I’m sorry I scared you,” she whispered.
“Honey, it was an accident, and I know that. Accidents happen on a ranch.” He chuckled a bit. “Do you see the irony in this situation? I’ve been trying to get you to be more careful, and to heed my rules about safety, while you’ve been fighting them and telling me not to worry so much, it’s just a ranch.”
She broke in, interrupting him, and laid her hand on his arm. “I believe you now, and see what you’ve been trying to tell me. There are a lot of dangers on a ranch.”
“But do you see the irony? You got hurt, and now you believe me, which I’m glad to hear, but when you got hurt, it wasn’t because you ignored any of the rules we’ve been arguing about. You had a full tank of gas when you left, and you stayed in the area I asked you to, and you had a fully charged phone with you.”
A smile slowly crossed her face. “You’re right. So does that mean you’re not upset with me? I’m not in trouble?” Her face turned red, and she looked so cute to him.
He leaned forward and spoke low. “You haven’t earned a spanking, if that’s what you’re asking.”
The adorable little lady nodded and turned an even deeper shade of red. She looked so sweet, and so vulnerable laying there. He needed desperately to feel her in his arms, but not if it would hurt her. He did the only thing he could think of right now that wouldn’t hurt her. He stood up and leaned over to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Mindy. I want so badly to pick you up and settle you in my lap right now with my arms around you nice and tight, so I can keep you close to me and safe, but I don’t want to hurt you, so I’ll wait. As soon as the doctors and nurses have you all fixed up, though, you can count on that happening.”
