Alexander Ranch

by Marla Josephs

  “I don’t care what it looks like and it’s not funny, Daisy. Damnit! This is serious.”

  “Ok, ok. You really are upset aren’t you?”

  “Yes! I could have killed her!”

  “Oh, Jordan. You wouldn’t have hurt her,” The woman named Daisy, chided gently.

  “Not on purpose anyway,” he retorted dryly. “Heck, I didn’t know how badly she was hurt or if she would survive the night.”

  “Well, my initial check shows she has some injuries but nothing life threatening. Why don’t you tell me what happened,” Daisy suggested, sounding much more concerned now. What did she mean her initial check. Had she checked me? Did I sleep through that?

  “I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset. I was looking forward to spending the night all alone and having the cabin to myself,” Jordan began. “I should have known better than to spend the last week with Logan and those two monsters he calls children.”

  “Yes, you should have known better. He’s your brother. Don’t you know yet when he’s suckering you?” she laughed.

  “Apparently not. It was fun, but I was exhausted. Who knew a 22 month old and a three year old took that much work? Danielle was a drill sergeant in a baby’s body. She had us all wrapped around her little pudgy finger, and she knew exactly how to make us snap to attention. And, Tyler was just a blizzard that never seemed to sit still. He reminded me of the Tasmanian devil character in the LoonyToons cartoons.”

  “But, you knew this before you left, Jordan,” Daisy mused, sounding puzzled. “You really are rattled, aren’t you?”

  “Of course I am. When Logan talked me into this joint venture it hadn’t occurred to me that he himself was afraid to be alone with his overly active children. So, he sold me this false bill of goods that it would be awesome with just us men at the cabin with the kids. And, after being tortured by his heathens, I end up with a woman practically dying at my feet on my only night alone.”

  I didn’t hear anything for a moment. Then, Daisy spoke in a calming voice, “Jordan, take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

  “I’m sorry. As I was saying, I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset. Then, all of a sudden she was there.”

  “What do you mean she was there?”

  Jordan sighed.

  “I mean I was sitting there enjoying the sunset, with all the beauty and different colors. I was peacefully, listening to the waves crashing upon the shore. You know, relaxing. I dug my feet into the sand and savored the feel of it squeezing through my toes. The normal things people do on a beach.”

  His voice had taken on an edgy, irritated tone. He was talking to the woman as if she were dense.

  “I get it. You were enjoying the beach. Where did she come from?”

  “I don’t really know exactly. She did tell me she’d been hiking when she came across some men,” Jordan continued. He told her the story I’d told him, explaining how I came upon the men. Daisy was perfectly silent now as he went on.

  “I’m telling you, I think my heart stopped. I had closed my eyes and was breathing in the scent of earth, trees, water and nature, trying to do that one with nature crap Grace suggested. I didn’t hear or sense her until she was there. She must have made a sound or something. I opened my eyes and she was standing there looking at me. I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things, but she was still there.” I could hear the frustration, fear and anxiety in his voice now.

  “She was just standing there?”

  “Well actually I open my eyes and looked towards the beach where the trees and the water met. And she came stumbling out of the trees,” Jordan amended, sounding as if he were reliving the entire scene. “She was so small, dirty, and ragged looking, definitely worse for wear. Her eyes met mine and widened in alarm. I couldn’t do anything but stare back. Then, as I sat there frozen like an idiot, her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled right there in the shallow water. I thought she was dead.”

  “Oh, Jordan,” Daisy sighed sympathetically, “I’m sorry for teasing you. That must have been awful.”

  “Anyway,” he grunted, “I was on my feet when she crumpled not knowing how I got there. She was filthy. I knew somehow, even under all that dirt and clothing, that this person was a she. Without making the decision to do so, I was lifting her out of the water and into my arms. What else could I do? I couldn’t just leave her there.”

  “You did the right thing, Jordan.”

  “She was totally unconscious and limp. Her head lolled around as I shifted her trying to determine if she was breathing without touching her. I put my face close to hers and miraculously felt a faint wisp of air. She was breathing. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I just knew she was dead.”

  He sounded so frazzled and tortured, I was feeling sorry for him. I was also shocked at hearing his account of what happened.

  “You didn’t try to figure out where she came from?” The Daisy woman asked.

  “How could I? She came from the trees and my main concern was to keep her from dying on me,” he said sounding irritated again. “I looked around to see if she were being followed, because it definitely appeared that she’d been running from something, or someone. I didn’t see anyone. She’d looked terrified and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me, and she was all bloody. I figured I needed to get her inside, not only to deal with her injuries but, to get her out of the open. If she was being pursued, she wouldn’t be safe out there.”

  He explained in detail how he’d taken me to the cabin. I’d been so cold and he needed to get me warm fast. He ran a bath of tepid water and climbed in with me. He’d slowly increased the temperature of the water to increase my body temperature. Now all of my fragmented dreams made sense. He hadn’t been trying to drown me or take advantage of me. The story had been difficult enough to listen to up to this point. However, when he explained to Daisy that I was wearing her clothes because he’d had to remove mine I wanted to be swallowed up by the floor. And, yet, I was touched at the care he’d taken of me.

  “How ironic is this?” he continued ranting, “I, of all people, was supposed to save a life? I was out here in the middle of nowhere with no phone, no car, and no way to contact anyone for help. And, no one would be here until you came to pick me up.”

  “Well, you kept your head and didn’t panic. I’d say you did great job, Jordan.”

  From the sound of his voice and his constant spewing of words, I couldn’t help but think he wasn’t holding it together quite so well now. What a relief it must be for him to unload all of his pent up emotion on this Daisy. I would undoubtedly do the same with my brother, Blake, once he returned home. Blake! I would need to call him. He was probably worried sick.

  “Oh, I panicked. I just did it on the inside. I was afraid if I freaked out she would be more freaked out than she already was. I put her clothes in the washer. They’re dry now. She had jeans, a flannel shirt and t-shirt, socks shoes and a big huge floppy hat. Though, the shirt has a bullet hole in it.”

  “A bullet hole?” Daisy gasped out in alarm.

  “That’s what it looks like, and she said that one of the men shot at her. It appeared that she’d been pressing the side of her shirt to her wound. Thank goodness the shirt was all wet and it hadn’t stuck to her. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had needed to pry it from the wound. Blood was also still oozing from the wound when I cleaned it. She was thankfully unconscious and only moaned a couple of times. It wasn’t a deep wound though.”

  “Is the bullet still there in her side?”

  “No, it looks like it just nicked her or maybe an in and out. It just tore the skin rather than leave two holes.”

  “Poor girl! She’s been through it, hasn’t she?”

  “Yes, well, we both have. And now, I’m handing her over to you. I washed and dressed her wounds as best I could. I tried to keep her hydrated and breathing. Now, let’s get out of here. I’m not sure these guys won’t come back. I do
n’t want to be here if they do, nor do I want to have them see us leaving.”

  “I’d better check on her before we move her,” Daisy said.

  “She’s unconscious, Daisy. Just heal her. I’ll call Logan and tell him what’s happened and that we are on our way.”

  Just heal me? What was that supposed to mean?

  Daisy’s voice was gentle when she spoke, “You’ve not only not hurt her in all this time but took care of her, Jordan. You can’t possibly be afraid of hurting her now.”

  “Just please, Daisy!” Jordan snarled. He really did sound like he was on the edge. He’d not shown me any of this anxiety or whatever it was.

  “Ok, ok,” She placated, “Just let me check her over and make sure she’s ok. I’ll call the hospital and take her in myself. Hopefully we can figure out who she is and notify her family of where she is.”

  I heard footsteps coming my way and then they stopped.

  “What’s her name?” came Daisy’s voice from the doorway.

  Jordan said nothing and then after a moment I heard footsteps coming towards me again. Her voice was closer when she next spoke.

  “Never mind.”

  I kept my eyes closed and lay still. Admittedly this probably wasn’t the smartest course of action, but I didn’t know what to do. I was weak and, after hearing their strange conversation, didn’t know how to face this woman. I felt her kneel down beside me and gently lay a hand on my cheek, then my hair. When she’d touched my cheek I felt a cool heat, like the way peppermint is warm and cool to the mouth. It was quite odd. She slowly moved a hand to my shoulder and gently ran it down my side. After a brief moment, she stood and walked back towards the kitchen.

  “She’ll be fine. She’s weak, probably from loss of blood and exhaustion. She’s also probably a little dehydrated. You did a great job, whatever you did. I didn’t really touch her much. I didn’t want to startle her. I only touched enough to see what I could get and checked her energy. I’ll need to quickly do a more thorough check when she’s awake, and before we leave. I’m going to wake her before I move her. I need her to be aware of what’s going on so she doesn’t panic.” Daisy’s words broke off abruptly. After a moment she spoke again in a concerned voice, “What’s wrong?”

  “Logan, has ordered us to protect the woman and bring her home. Apparently she stumbled upon those scumbags trying to kill Ethan.”

  “What?” Daisy’s voice was shocked. “Is Ethan ok?”

  He’s fine. Let’s go, Daisy.”

  “Ok, yes, let’s go,” Daisy sounded flustered and worried now. “Her name is Lela by the way.”

  “How do you know that?” Jordan asked, momentarily distracted.

  “I looked in her backpack and found her driver’s license,” Daisy responded matter of factly.

  When had she gone through my backpack? Wasn’t it right on the side of the sofa near me? I turned over to see. Yep, there it was.

  “You snooped?” Jordan hissed, his voice sounded as appalled as I felt.

  “Of course, I did. We needed to identify her. And, apparently you never thought to ask her,” she teased. I wondered how she could tease now when everything felt so tense to me. But, then her voice gentled, “We need to go. It really will be fine, Jordan. Trust me and trust yourself.”

  “Logan wants to talk to you,” Jordan said tightly. After a moment Daisy began speaking again. Her voice was all seriousness now.

  “Logan? Logan, what’s happening?”

  I wondered who Logan was. There was silence, and then Daisy continued, recapturing my attention.

  “Oh my God! Is he ok?” More silence. “Yes, ok. I understand.”

  I could hear Jordan moving around in the other rooms of the cabin before heading back to the kitchen.

  “Logan says we have to get out of here,” Daisy stated briskly. “It’s going to be fine – ”

  “It is not going to be fine!” Jordan growled, cutting her off. “Logan is just cranky because he’s been left alone with those heathen kids of his, and he’s taking it out on me.”

  “Oh, Jordan, come on,” She countered sounding angry now. “Who else is going to protect her? We’re here and she’s clearly in a lot of danger. She stumbled around in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, if she hadn’t, Ethan would probably be dead. Personally, I’m grateful and will help her in any way I can.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, Daisy,” he said sounding mildly contrite. “My stomach clenches at the idea that, while Logan and I had been here enjoying the beach and playing around, Ethan had been being tortured and starved. According to Logan he’d managed to escape but was so weak that regular people had been able to capture him. They’d been about to execute him when this woman stumbled across the scene and distracted the would be murderers.”

  “Indeed. We owe Ethan’s life to this woman,” Daisy snapped.

  “But, having her guarded by me seems poor payment for her good deed,” came Jordan’s low, cryptic reply.

  Daisy made an irritated lip popping sound. Who the heck was Ethan? And, what where they talking about? My mind was whirling.

  “Look, I’m going to go wake her now. We need to go quickly.”

  “I’ll gather up her clothes and my things and pack up the car while you’re getting her up,” Jordan sounded chagrined.

  I sat up now with my eyes open and got my first glimpse of this Daisy person. She was quite pretty actually. She had sandy hair and a thin, athletic body. She seemed tall, at least taller than me. Considering I am vertically challenged, she might just seem tall to me. I am a mere 5”5’. She halted at the door when she saw me sitting up and then a bright smile covered her face.

  “Oh, good. You’re awake,” She said, then started forward in my direction. She squatted down beside me, “I’m Daisy.”

  “Hi,” was all I could say. She was very disarming with her warm friendly demeanor.

  “Jordan has told me what happened so far. Sounds like you had a rough day yesterday. But, we are here to help you, if you’ll let us.”

  Put that way I was totally disarmed. She seemed so sincere. I nodded.

  “First, I just want to check you over. Is that ok?”

  “Are you a doctor?” I asked.

  She laughed.

  “More like a nurse. But, my sister is a doctor.”

  “Oh,” I mumbled. I was still sore but surprisingly less than I’d expected upon moving. All I’d had was two measly pain pills the night before. Maybe they were something stronger than ibuprofen.

  “I’m going to unwrap you just a bit and you can tell me where you have any pain, ok?” She asked. I nodded and then she began slowly pulling the blankets apart. “Hey! That’s what happened to my shirt. I hadn’t realized I left it here.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t put it on,” I began stumbling over my words. How embarrassing to be caught wearing a strangers clothes. “What I mean to say is, I woke up with my clothes gone and I was wearing these.”

  “Its fine,” she assured me, “I don’t mind a bit, and Jordan knew that.”

  She tried to sound casual, but I could tell she was very curious. It was embarrassing enough to be found in her clothes. I hadn’t meant to make it more embarrassing by telling her Jordan had changed my clothes. I could feel my face flushing.

  “So, Jordan helped you change your clothes?”

  “Well, he actually put them on me. I was, uh, unconscious I guess. When I woke up I was dressed in these clothes and wrapped up like a burrito,” I explained resignedly.

  “Well, he took good care of you,” she said smoothly and began to probe the bandage. I could swear everywhere she touched felt a little warm. Her hands were very warm and my skin seemed to tingle where she touched me. I could swear the pain or ache also lessened where she touched. She ran her hand down my arm and I felt that weird warmth again. Then she ran a hand over my bandaged side and the heat there made me gasp and then the pain subsided. It was quite strange.

  “Did that hurt?”
she asked.

  “Yes, just for a moment. But, then the pain subsided. I keep getting a weird hot and cold sensation where you touch me.”

  She frowned and then removed her hands abruptly, “Hm, how odd. We’ll have to tell Grace about that. You are doing really well. Now, we need to take you home. Well, to our home. My sister is a doctor and she’s ready and waiting to see you.”

  “That’s ok. I can see my own doctor. But, thank you,” I assured her. I was sure her sister was a fine doctor, but this seemed to be going above and beyond the call of duty. They weren’t responsible for me.

  “Yea, about that,” she hesitated, “That little situation you walked into yesterday has put you in a bit of danger. Fortunately, Jordan and I are part of a security detail who was looking for those exact, uh, bad guys and we’ve been assigned to protect you and escort you home to safety.”

  I stared at her. What was she talking about? I didn’t know the people I saw yesterday and they didn’t know me. How could I possibly be in danger?

  “I don’t understand,” I said, finally.

  “I know,” she said gently, “And, I promise to explain it all and answer your questions. But, we have to move you out of here. This is the first place they will come looking for you. So, once Jordan and I are done packing up everything and we are on our way, we’ll explain everything to you.”

  As if on cue, Jordan walked through the room loaded down with bags and headed out the front door. I noticed he had my backpack. He came back in a few moments later and stuffed my clothes in a bag and carried them out too.

  “Our family runs and investigative business,” Daisy was saying, “and, Jordan and I work for this business. The guy you saw get shot works there too. Actually, he’s my cousin. I am very grateful to you because if you hadn’t been there to distract the men he probably would be dead. From what I’ve been told, when they went chasing after you he was able to get away.”

  This was all just so unreal. I’m not sure what she saw in my face, but a look of concern came over her expression. “I know this is all pretty overwhelming. But, let us get you out of here, ok?”