"Those are bad bulls," Abby said again. "Is Josh going to die like Mommy?"
Genie looked at Abby in alarm. "Of course not," she said. "Josh has on a big thick vest that keeps the bull from hurting him."
Abby gripped Genie's arm and said nothing, just sat staring across the arena at Josh who, with the other bullfighter, positioned themselves on either side of the gate, while the barrel man stood inside his barrel some distance away, all waiting for the chute to open.
"The last rider is Jeremy Hansen and he's riding a bull named Trouble Ahead who's anything but rider-friendly," the announcer said, "Trouble Ahead comes out of the chute like a spinning top, but when the ride's over, look out, because Trouble Ahead's not finished."
It came to Genie that this was the bull Jeremy wanted to draw, the same bull as the one in the video, that repeatedly went after the downed rider. Having made that connection, she sat with her hands clasped together, and Abby clinging to her arm, while repeating to herself, like a mantra, that it would be over in eight seconds. She also knew she couldn't watch Josh do this again. While he was getting his adrenalin rushes, she was going through hell.
"Jeremy Hansen comes from three-generations of rodeo cowboys," the announcer said. "His father and grandfather were champion bull riders, and his brother, Josh Hansen, is one of the bullfighters down there. Josh just won the freestyle bullfighting event, and man did he put on a show. This young gun is smokin' hot!"
From behind came the voice of one of the bull riders, saying, "About this time Jeremy Hansen's strapping himself to 1,800 pounds of snorting, murderous rage capable of bucking him off and stomping his head into a sticky paste, and you can bet your sweet saddlebags he's glad his brother's there to distract that hell-spawn until he's able to scramble his spurs to safety."
Genie had barely digested that image when the gate swung open and a huge brindle bull with forward-curved horns lunged out of the chute and immediately went into a fast spin, while at the same time, coming down on his front legs while sending his back legs shooting almost straight up in the air. As the bull continued to buck and spin, Jeremy rode like he was attached to it, all the while Josh and the other bullfighter were dancing around the bucking bull, inches away from hooves that could kill them in an instant. And then the eight-second buzzer sounded.
Jeremy let go of the rope and rolled off of the bull's hindquarters and hit the ground. He was in the process of getting up when the bull pivoted and charged him from behind. Josh was immediately around the bull, waving his arms to distract him long enough for Jeremy to get up, but when Jeremy tried to scoot away, his boots had no traction and the bull slammed into his back and knocked him flat on the ground. An instant later, Josh was on top of the bull, pulling on his horns and turning his head upward, but the bull dipped his head, sending Josh plunging to the ground. Josh had barely hit the dirt when he was up, scrambling over to where Jeremy was pulling himself up, and threw himself over his brother as the bull came at both of them.
The bull slammed into Josh from the side while the other bullfighter waved his arms for the bull to come after him. When the bull turned, Josh lifted himself off Jeremy, who got to his feet and raced for the fence. Josh had just regained his footing when the bull pivoted and came after him again, hooking him and tossing him in the air. He'd barely hit the ground when the bull slammed him yet again. The other bullfighter jumped and waved for the bull to come after him, but the bull was intent on going after Josh, slamming into him once more. It wasn't until pickup men on horses lassoed the bull that they were able to herd out of the arena, leaving Josh laying immobile. Medics rushed in and crowded around him, while Genie sat frozen, too stunned to move until Abby screamed, "He's dead! You said he wouldn't die. You lied. I hate you."
Genie immediately snapped out of it. By then the medics had Josh strapped to a stretcher. But when they lifted the stretcher to leave the arena, Josh raised his head and gave a thumb's up.
Genie shook Abby, whose eyes were tightly shut while she clung to Genie's arm, and said, "Come on, honey, he's okay. We'll go see him." By now Abby was sobbing and shaking and choking from the tears trailing down her face and clogging her throat, so Genie picked her up, and said, as she elbowed her way through the crowd, "Please, let us pass, we're family."
On hearing her words, a man, who appeared to be a security guard, stepped in front of her and parted the crowd, while saying, "Let the man's wife and daughter through."
It was a slow, laborious process as the man ushered them down the steps of the bleachers, while slowly making their way through what seemed like a solid wall of people, and after guiding them in a wide arc through the darkened area below the seats, they finally arrived at the medical units, where the security guard led them inside.
On seeing Josh, who was sitting on a cot, Abby wiggled out of Genie's arms and threw herself against him, while sobbing and crying in a ragged voice, "Don't die like Mommy."
"I'm okay," Josh said. "The bull was playing tag and he got too rough." He peered over Abby's head at Genie, who was swiping a tear from her cheek, and offered his hand for her to take, while saying, "Honey, come here." When Genie took his hand, he said, "I'm sorry what I put you and Abby through, but what you saw rarely happens." Glancing around, he added, "Meanwhile, you remember my mom and dad don't you?"
It wasn't until then that Genie looked beyond Josh and saw Grace and Jack Hansen standing at the back of the room, with Jeremy beside them, but Genie was too upset to do anything but nod. Grace, whose gaze shifted from Genie and Josh's clasped hands, nodded to Genie. "Of course, it's nice to see you again." Turning to Josh, she said, "Are you sure nothing's broken?"
"I'm fine, Mom," Josh said. "I told the medics when I was on the stretcher that I was okay. This is just routine."
"You will have the doctor check you though," Grace said.
"Yeah, Mom, I don't have a choice, so stop worrying."
About that time a medic stepped out from an adjoining room and handed Josh a cup of water. Setting Abby down, Josh popped a couple of pills in his mouth, swallowed them in one gulp, and said to everyone, "As soon as those babies kick in I'll feel like a million bucks."
Genie looked at him, unnerved. "You were knocked around like a rag doll and carted out on a stretcher, and you act as if nothing happened."
"It didn't really," Josh said. "Getting tossed around isn't bad because I had on my vest. It's landing and not knowing where the bull is that's the worry, but my bullfighting buddy's always there to take over when that happens."
Jeremy stepped forward and gave Josh a light rap on his shoulder, and said, "Since you're still in one piece I'll head for the pub." But before leaving, he gave his mother a hug, and said, "Stop worrying, Mom. He's not even scraped."
After Jeremy left, Josh said to his parents, "You two go on back to the ranch. I'll be there as soon as I can get away from here."
"Okay, son," Jack replied. He gave Josh's shoulder a squeeze, then he took Grace's arm and turned her away, while saying, "It's okay, honey. Josh is fine."
Genie said nothing, but it hit her that this was a small sample of what her life would be like if she married Josh. She didn't know if she could live with it, yet she couldn't imagine walking away from Josh either.
CHAPTER 17
While the doctor checked Josh, Genie and Abby stood outside the medical unit with Annie and Ryan, who was holding Cody. Matt and Ruth left for the ranch as soon as they knew Josh was okay.
Annie, looking at Abby with concern, said to Genie, "Ryan and I are heading back now. We can take Abby if you want, and maybe she could stay the night and help me collect eggs and feed the baby goats, and our second baby hinny needs a name."
Genie looked at Abby, whose face was still blotched from crying, and said, "You want to go with Annie?"
Abby looked at Genie with teary eyes, and replied, "I want to stay with you and Josh."
"It's going to be a while before we can get away," Genie said, "but we'll be home as soon as the d
octor makes sure everything's okay, which it is because we just saw Josh and he's fine. You go on with Annie and feed the baby goats and help think of a name for the baby hinny."
Seeming satisfied, Abby looked at Annie, and said, "Can I name it Angel?"
"The baby hinny's a boy," Annie replied, "and Angel's more of a girl's name."
"No, Angel's a boy's name," Abby said, with a little hint of attitude, which Genie viewed as a positive sign because the incident with Josh was behind, at least it was for Abby.
"Criss Angel," Genie said to Annie. "Another illusionist."
"Okay then, Angel it is," Annie said. "So let's go sprinkle some water on Angel's head and christen him." She offered her hand, which Abby took.
As they were walking off, Genie glanced around, startled to see Dr. Stafford, one of the doctors from her hospital in Portland. He recognized her about the same time she spotted him. Crossing in long strides toward her, Dr. Stafford said as he approached, "Did you get the message I left on your cell?"
Genie looked at him, puzzled. "I haven't checked my messages in a few days. What was the message?"
"To get in contact with me," Dr. Stafford said. "There was a rumor going around the hospital that you might not be returning and I wanted to find out if it was true."
"Actually, there is something to it," Genie said, and realized she'd just made a decision after deliberating for over for a month, even though she had no alternative job. "I have my little sister to look after now, and at the hospital with the understaffing, mandatory overtime, and irregular hours, it doesn't work for me anymore, so I'm looking around some and trying to decide what to do."
"Maybe I can help," Dr. Stafford said. "The reason I was trying to contact you was because Health and Human Services is setting up a clinic in Pine Grove to serve southern Harney County, and I'll be the physician there and I need a nurse assistant. I knew you recently got your RN license, and your leave papers said you were at a ranch near here, so it seemed like a good fit."
"Did you come all the way here to tell me that?" Genie asked.
Dr. Stafford shook his head. "I'm here looking for a place to live. It's just me and my wife now so we don't have to worry about kids and schools."
"Is the job full time?" Genie asked.
Dr. Stafford shook his head. "Three days a week." He reached into his billfold and pulled out a business card. "Here's where you can reach me," he said. "I'm looking to fill the position as soon as possible."
While Genie looked at the card, Dr. Stafford gazed off at the hills and buttes and rangeland that stretched into the far distance, and said, in a brooding voice, "It's pretty barren here. I can see why the population of Harney County's so low. There's not much around to attract a person."
"It grows on you," Genie said, while looking off at an entirely different vista from what Dr. Stafford was seeing. Dr. Stafford saw barren hills. She saw buttes that were catching the lowlying sun and turning them into reddish gold, and mountains in the distance with little peaks of white from the winter snows, and slopes with groves of aspen and juniper and high-mountain mahogany, and sage-covered foothills dotted with cattle.
About that time the door to the medical unit swung open and Josh appeared, ragged, and rumpled, and covered with dust, but with his face now scrubbed free of grease paint. Catching sight of Genie, he smiled at her and said, "Okay, babe, I'm good to go. You ready?"
Dr. Stafford eyed Josh with a blend of concern and curiosity, then said to Genie, "I'll be in touch," and walked off.
"What was that all about?" Josh asked, as he approached.
Genie shrugged. "He used to be one of the doctors on staff at my hospital, but he'll be working at a clinic in Pine Grove when it opens," she replied, while slipping the business card into her purse. She wasn't ready to share the information with Josh. She was still shaken by the incident with the bull and concerned about Abby's reaction to it, and she needed to resolve that first before telling Josh about the job offer, and maybe making a lifelong commitment to him.
During the drive back to the ranch, Josh said, "Will you come to my place tonight? We need to talk about what happened with the bull since it doesn't happen very often."
Genie, who was sitting beside Josh in the truck, with his arm curved around her, said to him, "I agree we need to talk about it, but with your parents at the ranch, it would be awkward being at your place because they might think we were having sex, even though we wouldn't be because you're too sore right now, but I wouldn't want them to jump to that conclusion."
Josh kissed her on the side of the face, and said, "Babe, I'll never be too sore to make love to you. As for my parents, they'll be gone most of the evening with Matt and Ruth. They've been invited to a neighboring ranch so they won't be back until late, and Jeremy won't be back until Pete's closes since all his buddies from the rodeo will be there, along with every buckle bunny in the county. So we'll have the place to ourselves."
Genie smiled and nestled closer against Josh and rested her hand on his thigh. She couldn't seem to get enough of being with him, and already she felt her anticipation growing.
On returning to the ranch, she went to Annie's house to check on Abby and bring her a change of clothes for the next day, along with pajamas and a couple of bedtime books for Annie to read to her. But when she arrived, she was surprised to find Grace Hansen there, but then she realized Grace was not only Annie's mother-in-law, she was a doting grandmother as well. She was also a person Genie wanted to talk to alone, though she had no idea how to do that, or how to initiate the conversation she wanted to have. But her opportunity came when Grace told Annie that she needed to get back to the house because they were going out, which was about the time Genie was ready to leave, so Genie said to Grace, "Mrs. Hansen, may I walk back with you? I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes if I could."
"Of course, honey," Grace replied. "We can talk on the way to the house."
As they started out, Genie said, "It's about rodeos. Jeremy mentioned that you don't go very often, and since I didn't grow up in a rodeo family I'm having a hard time trying to adjust to… what Josh does, and he's talking about… that is, we're discussing…" She stopped, uncertain how to bring up the extent of her involvement with Josh.
"Honey, I'm aware of your relationship with Josh," Grace said, "and I also understand your concern since I've lived with the same concern from the time my sons were big enough to crawl onto the back of a young bull."
"Then how do you do it?" Genie asked. "Isn't the stress wearing?"
"It could be if I let it," Grace replied. "The thing is, when I made the decision to marry Jack, I knew he was from a rodeo background and that it would always be a part of our lives because that's who Jack was, and I'd already decided I wanted Jack."
"Then he was still riding bulls when you married him?" Genie asked.
Grace shook her head. "He'd been out of it for a few years and thought he was getting too old to get back in, so he transferred his love for bull riding to the boys. Rodeo's a lifelong passion that starts at a very young age. Before my boys could walk, Jack would get down on his hands and knees, with a baby on his back holding onto his head, while he crawled around the floor, and by the time they could walk, the boys would climb on top of him and grip with their legs and hold on tight while Jack bucked, and then they graduated to sheep, and calves. They were competing in Little Britches Rodeos by the time they were five, and riding young steers in it by the time they were eight, and they all loved it. But Jack also sent them to bull-riding schools so they'd learn from the pros and get a good foundation."
"Didn't they get hurt?" Genie asked.
"On occasion," Grace replied, "but when you raise boys that's going to happen, whether it's breaking an arm by falling out of a tree, or popping wheelies on a bike, or riding the farm stock. It's been a good life though, and it's actually made our family close. On rodeo days when the kids were growing up, we all got up at the crack of dawn because the boys had to get their chores don
e before it was time to head out, so they'd work together to make sure they got everything done, which created a sense of closeness and camaraderie, with them all working towards the same goal."
"I never thought of it that way," Genie said. "I did notice that many of the spectators at the rodeo were families."
"Ranch families," Grace said. "Like Jack's family, many come from a long line of ranchers, which means rodeo folks. I look at it this way. My boys could be into drugs or racing hot cars or engaging in any number of risky behaviors that kids get into these days, but with bull riding they're in danger for only eight seconds, so I weigh that against all the hours they could be spending doing things that were just as dangerous, and I'm thankful they're in rodeo. It's a family sport, and kids become involved with wholesome things like raising stock to show at the fair, and preparing for rodeos. But they didn't just ride bulls when they were growing up. They tried their hands at all the other events, then began to narrow it down as they got better in one area."
"But you still don't go to rodeos very often," Genie pointed out.
"True," Grace replied. "Watching makes me nervous, so a long time ago I decided to attend the ones that were important to the kids and avoid the rest. My kids now tell me that every time I went, something happened, which seemed to be the case… probably because they knew I was sitting there fretting and stewing and it affected their concentration. So I stay home and put it in the Lord's hands and no longer worry."
"Would you stay home if it was your husband riding?" Genie asked.
Grace pondered that for a moment, then said to Genie, "I think what you're really asking is, if you were married to Josh, should you stay home, and I can't answer that for you. I do know that my sons will give up their dreams for the women they love. Ryan did in a sense, but he also had a love for working with horses that filled the void. With Josh though, his dream is rodeo, but he'd still give it up if it came down to that. So in the end, you'll have to make that decision."
Dancing With Danger: Book 8: Dancing Moon Ranch Series Page 21
