The Rancher's Rescue

by Cari Lynn Webb

  She could go sit down. Later. Right now, he needed help and he needed it fast. “We have to get the puppy out of there.” Ethan glanced over Grace’s head and called out to his friend, his voice stern and commanding to break through Gordy’s panic. “Gordon, what are their names?”

  “Lucky.” Gordy’s voice shook along with the hand he used to wipe across his mouth. “The momma is Sunshine. Rosie named ’em.”

  “Frank, I’ve got a supply bag in the back of my truck.” Ethan tossed his keys at Grace’s father and looked at Grace. Would she forgive him for putting his career in jeopardy? He’d apologize another time. “You have a quiet place inside where I can treat them?”

  “My office.” Grace never hesitated, never second-guessed her decision.

  Ethan nodded, finding even more strength in her composure. “Lucky first. But we have to convince Sunshine to give her to us.” Sunshine bared her teeth at Ethan’s approach, her growl deep and guttural and pain induced. Had he not already decided to help, Sunshine’s suffering would’ve moved him into swift action. He’d always ached for an injured animal, no matter the size or the kind. Now the dog’s distress squeezed the breath inside him.

  Grace edged in front of Ethan before he could stop her and cooed at the sick, scared dog. Sunshine’s teeth slowly disappeared with each gentle sound. Grace extended her hand, let Sunshine sniff her palm, all the while talking to the dog about needing to treat Lucky and convincing the mother she wouldn’t be far from her baby.

  Grace moved in front of Ethan, blocking him from Sunshine’s view completely. Finally, she turned, her eyes round with surprise and triumph, Lucky cradled in her embrace.

  Ethan’s breath released. Apparently, mothers understood each other. “Let me get Sunshine. We’ll walk inside together. Don’t move out of Sunshine’s eyesight.”

  Grace waited while Ethan embraced the dog, keeping her within view of her puppy, and tried to mimic Grace’s earlier cooing.

  Pops held open the door and Sarah Ashley raced to clear Grace’s desk for their unscheduled patients. Frank followed and set Ethan’s medical kit, which was more toolbox style than black bag, on the metal folding chair. Alice brought blankets and clean cloths.

  Antivenom shots located and pain medication given, Ethan treated the dogs’ wounds with Grace’s assistance.

  Irritation once again climbed through Ethan. Grace was pregnant and needed to relax. To rest. Not tote around and help care for injured puppies. Ethan stroked his hand down Sunshine’s neck and said, “Looks like I’m having one of these too. I won’t hurt your little one, I promise.”

  Sunshine licked his palm as if to tell him everything was going to be all right. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Your puppy, I can definitely help.” As for his own child, what did he know about being a father? Being a dad? Big E wasn’t exactly the example he wanted to mimic. The my-way-or-the-highway approach Big E preferred had never sat well with Ethan. Animals, he understood. Little, tiny babies. Not so much. And what if he had a girl? He knew nothing about bows and braids and butterfly kisses.

  He did know veterinary medicine. Knew how to heal sick animals. Ethan focused on the puppy and what he was good at. Everything else he’d deal with later.

  Gordy peeked into the office with Alice beside him. Gordy looked anywhere but at the dogs. “Tell me they’re good, Ethan, please. I haven’t been able to answer the calls from home.”

  “They’re going to be good.” Ethan adjusted Lucky’s IV line. “But, Gordy, they need twenty-four-hour care with IV antibiotics.”

  Alice grinned and patted Gordy’s arm. “We set up a kennel area for the dogs at Pops’s place for the night. I already had everything from the fosters I’ve taken in over the past few years.”

  Ethan massaged the back of his neck, relieved the dogs wouldn’t need to be moved up to the Blackwell Ranch. He’d worried about the bumpy drive. Though he’d imposed on the Gardner family too much already. If he stayed around the Gardners much longer, he was bound to blurt out that Grace was pregnant. If only in an effort to ensure Grace got some well-deserved rest. Yet Grace and he hadn’t even decided how or when they’d tell Alice and Frank.

  “You aren’t going to change my mind.” Pops pointed at Ethan. “I don’t sleep well these days. The dogs will give me something to do tonight.”

  The dogs would give Ethan something to do tonight as well besides running through more possible places where Big E might’ve stashed extra money. Or corralling his panic over his bleak list of job prospects. Or dissecting all the ways he might fail as a father. Sunset was still hours away and yet Ethan’s evening already seemed endless.

  “I’m making beef Stroganoff for dinner.” Alice adjusted the blanket around Sunshine, gathered the soiled towels and emptied the trash can into a garbage bag she’d pulled from the shelf all within the short pause between sentences. “Ethan, you can stay for dinner and watch over the dogs until you need to head home.”

  Grace obviously grew from the same family tree branch as her mother. Neither one seemed capable of shifting into a slow gear.

  Frank’s voice drifted from the hallway, although Ethan couldn’t see him. “Pops has a couch Ethan could sleep on, if he doesn’t want to leave the dogs.”

  “I’m capable of caring for two dogs.” The surly catch in Pops’s voice matched his deep frown. “I’ve seen the births of more calves and foals than all of you combined.”

  Grace took the garbage bag from her mom, tied it and thrust it at Gordy, who shrugged and wormed his way out into the hall. Grace said, “Mom, I’m supposed to do the books up at the Blackwell Ranch tonight.”

  “That’s fine, dear.” Alice produced a cloth from her apron pocket and wiped down the desk. “You two eat with us, then head to the ranch. Ethan can drive you back here, and check on the dogs one more time before Pops takes over as the night nurse.”

  Grace set her hand on her forehead. “What did you say we were having for dinner?”

  “Beef Stroganoff.” Alice swung around with a wide smile for Grace. “Your favorite.”

  Ethan saw Grace’s cheeks pale and pull in like an over-juiced lemon. “Can we take it to go, Alice? We can have a working dinner at the Blackwell Ranch and I can get Grace home faster.”

  “I’ll get everything ready.” Alice tugged on Gordy’s arm. “Come along, Gordon, you need to call your family. I have some butterscotch cookies you can bring to the girls.”

  The office and hallway cleared out, leaving him free of further distractions and diversions. Even the dogs rested quietly on their beds that Ethan had put together, content to let him wade through the sudden awkwardness alone.

  He hadn’t been this unsure since the time his teenage brothers had encouraged, or rather dared, him to ride the thousand-pound bull, Buckeye, at the Falcon County rodeo. Did he press Grace to sit down and rest? It was her office. An invitation from him to sit wasn’t necessary.

  Did he ask how she felt? Did he ask her if she needed anything, like water? More mints? He needed several peppermints to calm his own restless stomach. He’d been around pregnant animals of every breed. Delivered numerous foals, calves and a dozen piglets from a sow more than once. But a pregnant woman?

  He watched her gather a stack of papers that had been knocked to the floor in the rush to make an exam table for the dogs. She avoided approaching the desk. Thinking the self-reliant Grace Gardner might be struggling too made him smile. He waited.

  Every stray paper picked up, Grace stood, her gaze skipping off the floor-to-ceiling shelves. “Thanks for the save with dinner.”

  “Figured you might want more soup instead up at the ranch.” Ethan bent down, spread his fingers into Sunshine’s fur, feeling the dog’s steady, even breaths. And steadied his own breathing. She was the steady Grace he’d known since grade school. The reliable middle Gardner sister. The mother of his child. He cleared his throat. “Sorry
about your office.”

  “I’m just glad you were here to treat the dogs.” Grace waved the papers she held, but seemed confused about where to put them. Even more confused about what she was saying. “By the time Dr. Terry finished his third apple turnover from Maple Bear Bakery, the dogs would’ve been in critical condition.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows lifted. When he had a chance to be alone with Grace, the last thing he wanted to talk about was the elderly vet. Of course, he hadn’t figured out what to say about the baby. Perhaps he’d stick with the safe topic too. “Dr. Terry has always been a good vet.” If not the most amicable person.

  “That’s been an ongoing debate the past few years.” Grace waved her hand about her as if she needed more air in the cramped office. “I believe there’s a pool over at Misty Whistle Coffee House for the month and year of Dr. Terry’s retirement. Winner gets free coffee and dessert for a year.”

  That wasn’t a bet Ethan would be placing. He didn’t want to risk becoming connected to Dr. Terry’s retirement debate. He certainly didn’t want to look like he might be interested in replacing a town staple like Dr. Norman Terry. That was the very last thing he wanted anyone to think, especially Grace.

  He’d treated Sunshine and Lucky for his longtime friend and football teammate. Nothing more. Setting up shop in Falcon Creek meant breaking a promise to himself. And like that, their conversation no longer seemed safe. “Can you help me carry the dogs over to Pops’s place? I need to get more antibiotics in Livingston.”

  “Sure.” Grace stuffed the papers she held between two bags of feed on the middle shelf as if she’d always filed financial reports among the inventory. “I’ll just drive up to the ranch later.”

  Ethan stroked Sunshine’s neck and whispered an apology for disturbing her. “That might be good. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get back from Livingston.” Or to think of what he wanted to say to her about the baby.

  “What about South Corner?” Grace adjusted the blanket around Lucky.

  “They can’t get the medicine until later tomorrow afternoon. I missed their deadline for deliveries by an hour.” As if he needed another con for living in a small town: the lack of readily available supplies. Life moved slowly and access to the latest of anything was always delayed. Sometimes the delay extended until the latest version had already been replaced by something newer, faster, sleeker. Had he been in the city, he’d have had the medicine he required within the hour, if not sooner.

  Grace cradled Lucky in her arms like an infant. She’d even secured the IV bag in her grip as if she’d transported ill little ones all the time. He lifted Sunshine into his arms and rose, leaving the small office and his indecisions behind.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  GRACE SORTED THROUGH the paperwork that had been scattered on the floor during the rush to get Sunshine and Lucky treated. Ethan had been calm and composed. Grace, at first, had felt frantic for the dogs, unable to stop wanting to order Ethan to take away their pain faster.

  He’d worked around Grace when she’d refused to move from Sunshine’s side, never complaining or insisting she leave. Her family had called her away enough. Once Grace had wrangled her distress, she’d managed to help Ethan, handing him the correct things from his bag as he called out for them. They’d made a good team. Same as they had when preparing the rooms in the guest lodge.

  Grace slammed her file drawer closed. She already had a team: her and the baby. She’d never considered Ethan a part of it because if she did, she’d want other things. Impossible things like the kind of love fairy tales promised. Things that Grace knew better than to wish for.

  Sarah Ashley strolled into Grace’s office and shut the door. “I tried to keep the parents away while you helped Ethan. But, as usual, they only wanted your assistance.”

  Seriously? Sarah Ashley couldn’t decide that she wanted to be involved in the store less than two weeks ago and expect everyone to believe her. Even if she did wear a Brewster’s polo shirt and matching name tag. “Is there another problem with the inventory you entered today?”

  Sarah Ashley perched on the edge of the folding metal chair and surveyed the tiny space. “You wouldn’t know two dogs had bled on these floors and all over the desk.”

  “That is the wonder of bleach and quality paper towels.” Grace shuffled papers from one side of her desk to the other, waiting for her sister to get to the reason for her impromptu drop-in.

  “Your abilities really don’t know any limits, do they?” Sarah Ashley sat back and studied Grace. “You are Mom and Dad’s left and right hands, a wizard with all things accounting, a competent vet tech and my ex-boyfriend’s confidante.”

  Her sister forgot the mother of her ex’s unborn child. Grace rolled her chair away from the desk, looking anywhere but at her sister as if she was back in elementary school and praying her teacher wouldn’t call on her to show the class how to solve the math equation again.

  “He won’t love you,” Sarah Ashley said.

  “Who?” Grace already knew because wishes on shooting stars didn’t come true. Leprechauns and pots of gold weren’t waiting at the end of rainbows. Men fell in love with Sarah Ashley, not Grace. She shoved more papers into the drawer.

  She locked her gaze on Grace. “Ethan Blackwell.”

  Grace took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “You’re telling me this why?”

  “You need to know.” Sarah Ashley grabbed Grace’s glasses and cleaned the lenses as if she intended to help her sister see more clearly. “Marriage won’t be possible with him either.”

  Grace snatched back her glasses. She saw things just fine, especially when it came to Ethan. Still, her voice snapped as if they were grade-school age and arguing about who got to choose what they played for Family Game Night. “This is all very informative. But if it’s all the same to you, I’ll leave marriages and husbands in your hands.”

  “Like I need another husband.” Her sister grimaced as if Grace had suggested white after Labor Day was no longer a thing. “One is proving more than enough.”

  Grace tipped her chin up and pushed her glasses into place. “I don’t need a husband either.”

  Sarah Ashley’s expression seemed confused. “You don’t want to get married?”

  “You always wanted to be the bride, not me.” Since they’d been kids Sarah Ashley had fantasized about her wedding. She’d spent her allowance on bridal magazines in high school and changed her mind about bridesmaids weekly. Grace had gotten her sister’s vision: the fairy-tale setting, the princess wedding gown, the flower crown, she’d just never envisioned it for herself. If she did, then she’d have to believe in love. She’d have to believe someone could love her with all his heart. Life had proven otherwise. And Grace would rather be alone than be second choice.

  “If you don’t want all that, then what do you want?” her sister asked.

  She wanted to stop talking about love and marriage and impossible dreams. She wanted to stop talking about falling for Ethan. Not that they’d started that conversation, but she was certain her sister would have multiple reasons Grace couldn’t be in love with Ethan. “I want my own business.”

  Grace cringed. She’d traded one secret to keep another safe for a little while longer. No one except Ethan knew about her work goals.

  Sarah Ashley lifted her hand to keep Grace from pulling back her confession.

  Her sister’s pageant-wide smile, the one she used when she knew she’d gained the upper hand and further secured princess status, told her everything.

  “I cannot believe you’re going to abandon Mom and Dad.” Sarah Ashley shook her head. “And leave the store to start your own firm as if the family business wasn’t good enough for you.”

  “I’m not abandoning Mom or Dad, or the store,” Grace clarified. “I intend to do both.”

  “Even you, with your cape and superpowers, cannot wor
k two full-time jobs. And let’s not forget the baby you won’t admit to. Being a mother is a full-time job by itself.”

  “And you know that because you’ve had... Oh, that’s right. You don’t have children.” Grace lashed out, tired of her sister’s continuous list of noes: no, Ethan won’t love you. No, you can’t handle your own business.

  Sarah Ashley lowered her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I have a husband and can start a family anytime I choose.”

  “No, you can’t, Sarah Ashley.” Grace relished the chance to say no to her sister. “You can’t have a child, Sarah Ashley, because you can’t put anyone else first. You’re too selfish.”

  Her sister drew back and winced. Just the smallest flinch around her eyes as if someone had blown dust into them. Grace knew she’d hit her mark.

  And just like that, the satisfaction dissolved. “Sarah Ashley, I’m so...”

  Her sister jumped up and smoothed her hands down her Brewster polo shirt as if she were checking for open wounds. “I told you what I did to protect you. To keep you from getting hurt. I may not always have the perfect words, but I come from a place of love. Sisters help each other.”

  Or in Grace’s case: betray her sister. By sleeping with her sister’s ex and then having his child. Worse, Grace was the selfish one. She’d didn’t regret her night with Ethan. And if given the chance, she’d repeat it. Guilt washed through her like a rainstorm on a parched pasture. “Sarah Ashley, you’ll make a good mother.”

  Her sister walked to the door and left without another word. Grace dropped her head on her desk and wanted to blame Sarah Ashley for goading her. But her sister had only told Grace what she’d already known. Only Grace hadn’t wanted to hear any of it. Perhaps she’d needed to hear it. Was better for her sister’s bluntness.

  She just couldn’t say the same for herself. Was Sarah Ashley better off for Grace’s cruelty? And how was Grace supposed to make it up to her?

  * * *

  SARAH ASHLEY SHUT her sister’s office door and straightened her shoulders. Into the empty hallway, she vowed, “One day, I’ll be a great mother.”