by Nancy M Bell
* * *
“Michelle, honey, wake up,” Mary’s voice intruded on her dreams.
“What?” Michelle shook her head and pulled her knees up. “Is Doc okay?”
“They’re taking him up to the Cardiac Ward. Once he’s settled we can go up and see him.” Lines of worry and fatigue creased the older woman’s face. Her shoulders hunched and tears on her cheeks reflected the overhead lights.
“What did they say? Is he going to be alright?” Michelle scrambled to her feet and put her arms around her friend. The woman muffled her sobs against Michelle’s shoulder for a few moments.
“That’s enough. I promised Luke I wouldn’t cry. He’s going to be fine.” She smiled through the tears.
“What did they say?” Michelle persisted. “If he’s going to the Cardiac Ward he must have had a heart attack. How bad is it?”
Mary wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Just a scare the doctor said. He’s had a mild attack and with rest and the right medication he should be right as rain in a bit. They’re going to admit him to keep an eye on him and to make sure he rests.”
“What do you want to do? Are you going to stay in Calgary or do you want me to run you home?”
“Oh my Lord! What time is it? Those dogs are still shut in the kitchen, that puppy will have destroyed the place by now.” Mary bit her bottom lip.
“Don’t worry, Mary. I asked Cale to get them, he’s gonna take them on the farm calls he can’t reschedule and then take them home. Your kitchen should still be standing when you get back.” Michelle grinned.
“Thank heavens for small mercies, I guess,” Mary replied.
“Should I book you a hotel room? There should be something up in Motel Village by McMahon Stadium.” She referred to the cluster of hotels and restaurants near the football stadium up the hill to the east of the hospital. “There’s bus service, or I have some cash on me you can use for a cab after visiting hours are over.”
“I’ve got an old friend who lives close by. I’ll call Emma and see if I can crash there. C’mon, let’s get up there and see if we can get in to see that man of mine.” Mary grabbed Michelle’s hand and pulled her down the hall toward the main lobby and the public elevators.
The area was packed and they had to wait for two elevators before they could squeeze into one. Michelle trailed behind Mary as she marched off the elevator. Bypassing the nurse’s desk she strode along the hall and turned in at a door near the end. Michelle paused in the door way and took a deep breath. The hospital smells invading her nostrils stirred up best forgotten memories of visiting her dad in his last illness. She took a steadying breath and closed her eyes. Doc is not dying. Get over yourself and get in there.
“Chelly, are you coming?” Mary stuck her head back out the door. “Oh, there you are. I thought I lost you for a moment.”
“I’m right here. Hey, Doc. You’ll do anything to get out of farm calls,” she teased him while she hovered in the entrance.
“Get yer butt in here and give an old man a kiss,” Doc’s voice was thin and a bit reedy.
The clay colour of his face sent fissions of fear through Michelle, as did the quiver of his hands on the cover. Forcing a smile on her lips she crossed the tiled floor and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Careful, young lady. My wife is a mighty jealous woman.” He squeezed her hand and winked. “I’m fine, girl. You look like you’re already on the way to my funeral.”
“Don’t even say that,” Michelle gasped and glanced at Mary.
The older woman blinked and fished in her purse. “I’ve got to call Emma,” she said waving a cell phone before she exited the room.
Doc’s eyes followed her. “Oops, I’ll have to apologize to her in a bit.”
Michelle patted his hand. “Not something you should be joking about given the circumstances.” She glanced around the room and waved at the closed privacy curtains around the bed.
He glowered at the monitors beeping and tracing squiggly lines across their screens. Doc plucked at the electrodes protruding from his hospital gown which apparently angered one of them as it emitted shrill alarms.
She slapped at his hand. “Now you’ve done it.” Michelle moved out of the way as a herd of care givers arrived like the cavalry.
“Get away, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Doc protested while they swarmed around him. One nurse escorted Michelle out of the room. She ran into Mary outside the door. The woman’s face was paper white and she trembled so hard Michelle was afraid she’d fall.
“He’s okay, Mary. The old goat yanked on those wire thingys they’ve got attached all over him. He’s fine.” Michelle gathered her friend into her arms.
“I’m gonna kill him, I swear. Just as soon as he’s well enough.” Mary laughed and cried at the same time. “I got a hold of Emma, she’s on her way over. Promised to stay until I’m ready to leave Luke, and I can bunk at her place as long as I want.”
“That’s a blessing.” Michelle glanced at the closed door. Doc’s voice could be heard arguing about something but she couldn’t make out the words. She glanced at Mary and grinned. “I’ll stay til she gets here.”
The commotion within died down and the door opened. “Hello, I’m Dr. Winston, the cardiologist in charge of Mr. Cassidy’s care. He’s been given a sedative to calm him and he should sleep for a while if you ladies would like to take a break. The prognosis is good if he’ll just let us take care of him. Perhaps, you can have a word with him when he wakes up?” Dr. Winston eyed Mary.
“I’ll certainly try, doctor. Thank you for your patience with him,” Mary replied.
“Just doing my job.” He smiled. “If you have any questions you can ask Mr. Cassidy’s nurse, she’ll be able to answer most inquiries.” Dr. Winston hurried off, unclipping the beeping pager on his belt as he strode away.
“Look at the time,” Mary consulted her watch, “you should get on the road, Chelly. It’s getting dark and you’ve got chores to do still. The stock doesn’t care if Luke is sick.”
“I know, but I’ll wait until Emma gets here. Did you tell her how to find us?”
“Here she is now,” Mary exclaimed and rushed down the hall to embrace a tall woman with strong handsome features.
The two women walked toward Michelle, arms around each other’s waist, heads close together. “Hi, Emma,” Michelle greeted the newcomer. “I’m glad you could some so quick. I really need to get back to the ranch but I didn’t want to leave Mary on her own. Thanks so much for coming.” She hugged her.
“You should run along, Chelly. Cale will have finished at the clinic and the farm visits long ago. He’ll be worried about Luke, and about you. Have you texted him with any news?” Mary clucked like a mother hen.
“Crap, no, I forgot with all the carry on in there.” She tilted her head toward Doc’s room. “I’ll try to call him when I get out to the truck. Call me if you need me, Mary. Or, if he takes a turn…”
“Don’t worry your head, Chelly. You heard the doctor, he just needs to rest and behave. You run along now.”
Michelle poked her head in the door. Doc was asleep, snoring softly. He did look a bit better with more colour in his face. “Don’t you dare die on me,” she whispered so Mary couldn’t hear. “I’m not ready to do without you, and you have to bounce my babies on your knee.” She smiled and sniffed back a sob. Backing up and turning around, she hugged Mary and smiled. “Okay, I’m off then. Thanks again, Emma.”
She left the hospital and paused at the entrance to the parking lot. Where did she park the damn truck? Somewhere…Michelle surveyed the multitude of vehicles in vain. Finally, she pulled out the keys and pressed the unlock button. From the far side of the lot a flash of lights beckoned her. Bother and damn, all the way to the farthest corner. A few minutes later she slid into the cab and called Cale. She tapped her fingers on the wheel while the phone rang and rang. Finally the answering service kicked in. Humpff, maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to me. But he must be anxi
ous for news about Doc. Maybe he’s still out doing farm calls. She checked the time on her phone. Eight-thirty. I sure as hell hope he hasn’t left Storm and Crazy Puppy in Mary’s kitchen all this time. I’d best stop there on the way home and make sure. She fired off a quick text to Cale, saying she was just leaving Foothills and Doc was admitted so they could monitor his condition.
Her eyes burned and the oncoming headlights half blinded her. Maybe she’d talk to Cale tomorrow instead of tonight, she felt like death warmed over. The unintentional thought of death send a shudder through her. Instead, she turned her thoughts to the upcoming rodeos she needed to get to. Calgary was a no go this year, she missed qualifying by a few points. The points she was accumulating now would count toward qualifying for next year. She needed to be in the top six in her association. She’d been running well since Christmas and things were looking good. Currently, she stood atop the leader board. Last year was rough, losing Tags after the Canadian Finals Rodeo the year before had been a big blow. It had taken the whole season to work out the kinks with Spud. She grinned, who would have thought that a horse bred in P.E.I. would end up barrel racing in Alberta. The big chestnut gelding was flashy with lots of chrome, but as Grampa had often said, ‘you don’t ride the colour’. Once the gelding got over the nonsense of trying to buck her off every time she threw a leg over his back Spud had been unbeatable this year. It made up for the multitude of times she’d eaten dirt when the gelding would rather sunfish than turn a barrel.
Michelle turned off the number 2 highway and drove the short distance into town before she pulled into the clinic. No lights showed in the house and only the reception area light was on in the clinic. Cale’s truck was nowhere in sight. Sighing, she got out of the pickup and picked her way up the back walk in the dark. No barking heralded her approach which was a very good sign. The last thing she felt like doing was cleaning up Crazy Puppy’s mess all over the kitchen. Extracting the key from its hiding place she opened the back door. Except for a dirty coffee mug on the counter, the place was clean and tidy. Thank God. She paused for a moment and looked around the familiar room. “Get better quick, Doc. We need you here,” she whispered.
Shaking her head, she left the house and locked the door. A brief stop at Harvey’s to thank him for covering the reception desk and update him on Doc’s condition slowed her down a bit. The moon was riding high in the sable sky when she passed the Wilson lane and continued on to Cale’s, and home. The light from the kitchen window illuminated the yard. She parked in the lee of the building. Cale’s truck was missing so she poked her head into the house to check on Storm and her offspring. The two dogs were curled up on the large dog bed by the wood stove. She ducked back out without waking them and headed to the barn to start chores. Spud was in the barn, along with a young horse she was bringing along for next year. She’d taken Rain to a few smaller events and the mare had done rather well for herself. She didn’t have the explosive speed of the chestnut, but she was smart and cat like on her feet. The time they lost in the straight away she more than made up for with her turns, especially on the top barrel. She hummed as she tossed hay in to them and readied their grain. Flipping the light off she went to do the chickens.
The wind whipped up the coulee and dust devils swirled across the yard. Michelle shivered and pulled the collar of her coat up around her ears. Just because it was mid-April didn’t mean it couldn’t turn bone chilling cold. The chicken house was warm inside, the hens all settled in their roosts. She gently removed the eggs from under them and placed them in the basket she kept on a shelf. “Thanks, ladies,” she told them. Carefully, she closed and latched the door, shoving an old burlap grain sack under the bottom of the door to stop the draft. The cold hurried her on her way to the house.
After shedding her outer clothes in the mud room, Michelle started a pot of coffee and then washed the eggs in the sink. Placing them in a clean carton she stored them in the small fridge kept for that purpose. There was no message on the house phone and no answer to her text when she checked her cell phone. “Cale, where are you?” It was almost nine-thirty. Surely, he couldn’t still be doing farm calls? Against her will, she looked toward the Wilson place across the coulee. The large yard light was on and as far as she could make out, only Stacey’s fancy low slung car was visible. “Hmmpf, so where are you?”
The coffee maker beeped and she poured a huge mug. Taking it with her, she went into the office and spent an hour entering data. Closing the program and shutting down the computer, she stretched and yawned. The coffee hadn’t done much to curb her exhaustion. Rubbing her eyes, she took the mug to the kitchen and let Storm and Crazy Puppy out to do their business. Shivering in the doorway, she watched them casting about for a good place to relieve themselves. “Hurry up, dogs, I’m freezing,” she called. A few clouds scudded across the moon and she glanced up. No headlights traced out the road around the coulee. Jealousy stabbed suddenly. Maybe Stacey wasn’t home after all, maybe she was out with Cale in his truck. She twisted the diamond ring on her finger, started to yank it off and then changed her mind. Nope, I’m not cutting and running. I’m sure about what I want. I only hope Cale hasn’t changed his mind. Her teeth gnawed her bottom lip. Storm and Crazy Puppy trooped back inside and she shut the door.
Michelle turned out the kitchen light and went down the hall, Storm and Puppy following. Storm turned into Cale’s bedroom and flopped on the mat by the bed. The puppy snuggled with her. She hesitated and glanced up the stairs toward the room she’d occupied the previous night. Until Cale cooled off maybe she should just stay up there. Her heart said otherwise, though. It would be harder for him to ignore her if she was in his bed. Making her decision, she joined the dogs and flicked off the hall light. The wind whistled through the cracks around the windows. They really did need to get around to replacing the windows this summer. Stripping to her skin, she slid into the bed and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, she turned off the bedside lamp and quit checking her phone for the time, or a text from Cale. Despair knotted in her chest and soured her stomach. Was this how it ended? Before it really began? And all because Rob was a jackass and thought he was God’s gift to women. She ground her teeth and pounded the pillow.
Her nose prickled with the pressure of unshed tears and her tired eyes burned. Finally, she gave into the tears and let them come. Storm got up and licked her face which only made her cry harder. The black dog heaved herself onto the bed and pushed her head against Michelle’s shoulder. “Oh, Storm, what are we going to do if he decides he doesn’t want us anymore?”
Outside the wind picked up and rain rattled the window panes. She shivered and pulled the duvet higher around her ears. Storm whined and shifted so Michelle tugged the blankets from under her and took the dog under the covers. Crazy Puppy circled a few times and then jumped up onto the end of the bed.
Chapter Five
The thump of Storm jumping off the bed woke Michelle. She rolled over and peered at the clock radio through half-open eyes. God, it was six-thirty and the sky was grey. Struggling to a sitting position she surveyed the room. Cale’s side of the bed was empty, the pillow showing no indent where his head had laid. Despair and fear washed over her in a cold wave. He didn’t come home last night. What was that supposed to mean, and how was she supposed to react to that?
Storm whined and Crazy Puppy licked her bare leg where it dangled over the edge of the bed. “Okay, okay, I’m coming. Keep your hair on, dog.” Dressing in haste she padded down the hall with the mutts in hot pursuit. Frost glittered on the frozen earth and dressed everything in lacey ice crystals. Michelle hovered in the doorway while the dogs went about their business. Her breath hung in the air and she shivered; the boards of the mudroom floor cold on her bare feet. “C’mon you guys, in,” she commanded and Storm obediently came as fast as her three legs would take her. Crazy Puppy galloped behind abandoning his exploration of the fence posts in the corral.
She dumped food in the dog dishes and filled the wate
r bowls. Hurrying down the chilly hall to the bedroom, she dressed and returned to the kitchen. Grabbing a go mug of coffee and a breakfast bar she bundled up and made her way to the barn. The truck needed to go into Harry’s today for a tune up and she might as well drag the trailer in as well and get it a once over. Later, she was scheduled to do some practice runs at Prairie Winds. Pat was training for the Kananaskis rodeo in Coleman as well as Michelle. With any luck there wouldn’t be a big snow storm to drive through. Ever since the accident that took Tags, Michelle hated to haul in the snow. But if she wanted to rack up enough points to get to the CFR and finish high enough in the standings at the end of the year to qualify for Calgary, she’d best bite the bullet and get it done.
She brushed Spud and Rain while they ate their grain and then threw them hay. Spud’s blanket had come askew and she straightened it before leaving to check on the outside stock and do the chickens. Once assured everything was in order, Michelle ducked into the house to check on the dogs and grab the truck keys. “You two be good, you hear,” she told the dogs. Crazy Puppy looked up and woofed. “You, especially. No chewing my chair pads, you hear?”
