The Heart the Cowboy Broke

by M J Andrews

  When the flashing lights of the ambulance and patrol cars came into view, Sawyer breathed a sigh of relief. Jack ran to greet them concern etched across his face as he saw his sister lying lifeless in Sawyer’s arms.

  “God no,” he huffed and fell to his knees. Finn grabbed him and carried him towards the ambulance.

  “She’s still with us, Jack,” Finn assured him.

  Sawyer ran straight for the ambulance and laid her on a gurney. The paramedics worked around him setting her up with monitors and IVs. He glanced at the door to see his brothers and Jack watching and feeling helpless.

  “Jack, I’m going with her. Meet me at the hospital,” he ordered and all three men nodded.

  “Her pulse is weak. She’s lost a lot of blood,” the paramedic said before she hit the roof and the ambulance took off towards the hospital. Sawyer held her hand the whole way and waited for some sign of life. Her breath was ragged and her colour hadn’t changed from the sickly grey she had in the field.

  He caressed her cheek hoping for any movement from her. If nothing else he just needed to touch her to know that she was still here. He gently moved in and placed a kiss to her forehead, lingering to memorize the feel of her and the smell of her. He rested his head by her ear and took a deep breath. He was numb. He couldn’t feel the bullet wound, but the ache in his heart was torture.

  “I love you, Lexi. I love you so much. You can’t leave me. I need you. You hear me, Lexi. I can’t live without you so I need you to pull through okay?” he pleads as he pulled back.

  “We’re here, Sheriff” the paramedic prompted just before the door flung open and they were hustled inside.

  Sawyer gripped her hand until he couldn’t anymore and the staff had to pry him away from her. The nurses had finally set him up on a bed where they treated his bullet wound. He already knew it was a graze, but they weren’t letting him leave without seeing it treated. Once he was cleared he moved to the waiting area outside the OR.

  He exited the door and was struck with a force of nature. His sisters had bombarded him with love and affection as they cried.

  “I’m okay,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around all three of them. Remi managed to pull his wife off of him and held her in his arms. “Jo-Jo?” Sawyer whispered to his eldest sister. She was always a pillar of strength so seeing her cry was a sure sign that they were beyond worried.

  “Y-Yeah?” she said as she lifted her face from his chest and stared at him with her bloodshot eyes.

  “Can you do something for me?” he ran his thumb under her cheek to wipe away her tears.

  “Anything,” she answered without hesitation.

  He kissed her forehead, “Can you find out anything about Lex? You got some pull here right?” She nodded her head and pulled away. She turned to walk down the hall and came face to face with Chase. He looked frazzled and unkempt, a crease formed in his usually soft face. They stood still staring at each other for a brief moment. Neither certain how to move forward.

  “Jordan,” Chase muttered as he reached for her. Tears flew down her face and everyone stood silent waiting for her response. She was in a fragile state and Chase had always been a sour topic for her. Despite their broken hearts, both of them still cared for each other. Jordan met his gaze and he moved to wrap his arms around her.

  Behind them, a frantic Mr and Mrs Scott stormed through the hospital doors. Jack greeted them before they could freak out.

  “Where is she? Is she okay?” Jessica cried in her son’s arms. Baxter quickly moved towards Sawyer and clasped his shoulder. He looked as though he’d aged twenty years in twenty-four hours.

  “Son, tell me what’s happening with my baby,” he begged.

  Sawyer settled in and went through the entire story with his family and Lexi’s family. Once he had thoroughly explained the situation to all of them, he turned to Baxter and Jessica.

  “I couldn’t keep her safe. I’m sorry,” he confessed.

  With that, Jessica rose from her seat and fell to her knees in front of him. She grabbed his hands firmly but in a motherly way that Sawyer had almost forgotten. It’d been so long since his mother had been around and Jessica reminded him of everything that was great about mothers.

  “Sawyer, look at me,” she demanded and he followed her order. Like her daughter, Sawyer had a hard time denying the woman anything.

  “This is not your fault. Lexi is strong and she will come through this and we will be there for her every step of the way. Just like last time.”

  A silent tear slowly trickled down his cheek and she reached up to brush it away and held his jaw in her small delicate hand.

  “You love her,” she announced.

  “More than life itself,” he admitted. He cautiously met her gaze and saw the tears in her eyes and the smile that danced along her face. “And with your permission, I’d like to marry her if she’ll have me.”

  Chapter 24

  Lexi

  Lexi’s eyes were crusted shut and her ability to move was limited. There was a recurring beeping in the darkness and each breath scratched against her throat roughly. She was groggy and everything in sight was blurred. She heard the movement of someone else in the room and she tried to see who it was. But her eyes shut close.

  “P-P- Pain…” she managed to huff through the pain. Her throat was on fire and her voice sounded like she’d been smoking for a hundred years. A nurse gently touched her shoulder to provide some comfort.

  “I’ll get you something for pain, Ms Scott,” the nurse said before she scurried off. Lexi didn’t know if she returned or not because she was swept back into unconsciousness. She woke again on her own and her head didn’t feel as dizzy but she desperately needed to get her hands on some water. She licked her lips to ease her dry chapped lips.

  She took note of her body and her surroundings. Her left hand was in a cast, which she expected considering the injury she had inflicted. She was in a scratchy hospital gown and fortunately was still wearing underwear. Using her right hand she pushed off the blanket to look at her leg. It was bandaged but she was able to move her toes.

  Movement in the dark corner caught her attention. Slung over a hospital chair with his head rested against the wall was Sawyer. He slept with his arms crossed and his body stiff. Passed out on the floor beside him was her brother. He looked like shit. His hair was completely mussed and there was an unknown stain on his shirt and he wasn’t wearing pants.

  She chuckled briefly before a pair of green eyes captured her attention. Finn. He stood in the doorway of the dark room. His beautiful green eyes darkened by circles and lines which screamed that he wasn’t sleeping. He stepped forward and pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. He then moved over to where his brother was sleeping and grasped his shoulder. Sawyer stumbled awake and looked up his brother.

  “She’s awake,” he said softly.

  Sawyer was out of his seat and at her side before she could blink. He sat on the side of the bed and wrapped his arms around her. Tears engulfed her eyes and she didn’t fight them off. She needed to be in his arms and she needed his strength. He nuzzled into her neck and Lexi felt the beat of his heart in his chest against hers.

  “I love you, Lexi. I love you so God damn much and I don’t want to live another day without you knowing it,” he said into her neck. He pulled back briefly and their foreheads met as Lexi closed her eyes.

  “Sawyer, you don’t have to say it just because I did…” she managed. He got to his feet quickly and paced the room as Jack and Finn stood to the side and watched in amusement.

  “Jesus Lexi,” he cursed while running a hand through his messy hair, “I love you and not because of what happened. I should have told you that I loved you when you said it that morning, but I was scared.”

  “Scared of what?” she demanded.

  “That I wouldn’t be enough. That one day you’d wake up and fly back to New York and I’d be left in a pile of cow shit crying,” he yelled.

  “Sw
eet Jesus…” Finn said from the corner, his hand raised to muffle his laughter.

  “Don’t you have somewhere else to be right now?” Sawyer barked at his brother.

  “Nope…” he replied with a full-on smile on his face.

  “Son of a …” he muttered.

  “Sawyer,” Lexi sighed, “I would never do that to you. We’ve spent ten years pushing each other away. There is nothing back in New York that would ever be more important than a life with you.”

  Sawyer pushed a chair up to her hospital bed and gently took her right hand, careful not to touch the IV. “I almost lost you,” he whispered before kissing her hand. Lexi pushed forward and captured his lips in a sweet and longing kiss.

  “And that’s our cue to leave,” Finn and Jack groaned.

  Just after they left, there was a knock on the door and a young woman appeared in her long white coat. She was about Lexi’s age and had long blond hair and beautiful eyes. The couple broke apart but Sawyer remained by her side.

  “Nice to see you’re up, Ms Scott. I’m Doctor James and I’ve been taking care of you,” she acknowledged with a smile. “I want to go over what happened medically and your recuperation process,” she continued.

  “Okay…” Lexi agreed. Dr James eyed Sawyer speculatively, “It’s okay Doctor James. Whatever I need to know Sawyer can hear.”

  She nodded before she went through the surgery on her leg and the break of her hand. Lexi had lost a lot of blood and fortunately, they received a huge influx of people from the community who wanted to donate blood.

  “You’re a strong woman, Lexi. Especially a woman in your condition, I was expecting much worse,” she said.

  Lexi went through her brain as to what she could mean by her “condition”. Lexi had been perfectly healthy before the incident unless she was talking about her previous injury.

  “Oh, my previous injury from the car accident doesn’t have any physical impacts now. I wouldn’t say it’s a condition,” Lexi countered.

  Doctor James glanced up from her clipboard, “Lexi, that's not the condition I was speaking about.”

  Lexi’s mind went into overdrive. Could it be that they discovered some condition or disease when she was in the OR or during this hospital stay?

  “What do you mean? Is there something wrong with me beside the leg and hand?” Lexi questioned, anxiety prickled at the back of her neck, but Sawyer moved closer and wrapped his hand around the base of her neck. Massaging the muscles in light gentle strokes.

  Doctor James put her chart on the end of her bed and a smile crossed her face, “No Lexi, nothing like that. But we did find out during blood work that you’re about five to six weeks pregnant.”

  Sawyer’s touch ceased and Lexi’s heart jerked causing the heart monitors to beep rapidly. Lexi's hand went to her stomach and a different type of fear took hold.

  “Oh God, is the baby okay?” she gasped.

  “He or she is fine. We completed an ultrasound while you were in recovery and the baby, much like its mama is strong,” she smiled and picked up her chart before turning to the door. “You’ll be discharged in the morning and congratulations.”

  Lexi couldn’t hold back the tears as she rubbed her belly. There was another human being in there. She was going to be someone’s mother. And Sawyer would be…

  “Sawyer,” she said gently as she wasn’t sure what kind of reaction to suspect from him. Sawyer was great with children, but they hadn’t even talked about the future and now there was a baby.

  “Are you okay?” she asked reluctantly as Sawyer stared out into the distance without blinking. He was in shock. Definitely in shock. There was no way he could stay silent that long.

  “A baby…” he whispered, “we’re having a baby.” Then he unleashed a smile that brightened the room. A megawatt smile that Lexi had never seen him share before and her heart bloomed with hope. He grabbed her face and kissed her passionately. “I love you, Lex,” he whispered against her lips.

  Then he gradually moved his face down to her belly and placed a kiss above her belly button. “And I love you peanut. We’re so excited to meet you little one,” he said quietly.

  Lexi had never been so happy. Brant was dead. Sawyer was in her arms and she was about to be a mother. Her life had taken such a turn for the better and she wondered whether her Nana knew it all along. Maybe she forced her to return to heal her broken heart, or maybe she knew that everything she needed to complete her heart was in Silverton. Her parents. Her brother. The ranch. And the cowboy who broke her heart and was the only one who could complete it.

  Épilogue

  2 years later…

  “You ready for this, Sawyer?” Remi asked over the top of his beer as they sat on the front porch of their family home.

  “There’s no going back once the ring is on your finger,” Finn continued from his other side.

  Sawyer smiled, “Y’all trying to talk me out of it?”

  “Hell no! She’s the best woman you’ve ever had. But if you’re not going to follow through, I might give it a go,” Finn jabbed.

  “That’s it,” Sawyer said as he stood and grabbed the scruff of his brother's neck, pulling him into a headlock. Before he knew it, they were on the grass rolling around.

  “Take it back!” Sawyer yelled from on top of Finn’s back and twisting his arm until he tapped out. Both laughed in between stunts, but Sawyer wasn’t letting him get away with that dig.

  “HEY!” a strong feminine voice bellowed from the steps.

  “Uh oh,” they muttered together. Sawyer released his brother and they both stood. Miss Martha wasted no time stalking to them and grabbing them both by the ear.

  “Ow, shit,” Finn cussed.

  “What have I told you two about roughhousing?” she drawled.

  “That we’re bad examples,” Sawyer muttered.

  “Exactly, but you’re also going to get your clothes covered in grass stains,” she muttered before sauntering into the house. Sawyer strolled back to his seat where Remi held out his beer.

  “Babe!” Aubrey called from inside the house before sticking her head out the screen door.

  “Yes firecracker,” Remi answered.

  “Do you think you could help me?” she cooed.

  “With what?” he asked.

  A blush ran up Aubrey’s cheeks as she hesitated to answer, “My dress, Remington.”

  “Gotta go, boys,” Remi smiled as he sprinted to the door and a feminine yelp was heard as Sawyer suspected Remi had tossed his wife over his shoulder.

  Emma and Leo appeared from around the corner of the house with Jordan. All were dressed in their fancy Sunday clothes. Jordan had on her bridesmaid dress and Emma her flower girl get up. Leo was going to be one of Sawyer’s groomsmen and looked dapper in his suit. Jordan was carrying a squirming little boy who was eager to get down.

  “Hunter, you aren’t getting down on the grass. You’ll ruin your little suit,” Jordan said firmly.

  “Nooooo! Hate suit!” he grumbled and pushed out his little bottom lip in a pout.

  Jordan rolled her eyes before she got to the step and put Hunter down. He ran over to Sawyer and hopped into his arms. He was fourteen months old and still learning to run, but his walking had improved. Hunter turned in Sawyer’s arms and pointed out towards the farmland.

  “Grass!” he declared.

  “You heard Jo Jo, Hunter. Your mother will kill me if you get dirty,” Sawyer sighed as the baby pout worked him over.

  “WE’RE READY!” Daisy bellowed from inside the house and they all made their way to the rear of the house where guests were already sat and the priest was already standing at the makeshift altar

  Sawyer carried Hunter with him as he moved to take his place at the end of the altar. Daisy had done an amazing job getting things together.

  Fifty white garden chairs were placed on either side of a long white runner of satin. Mini lights had been strung from the tears and flowers decorated the aisle and alt
ar.

  “Grandma!” Hunter cried from his side as he spotted Jessica coming towards them. She smiled and blew them a kiss before taking her seat in the front row. She looked amazing in a dusty rose dress.

  Once everyone had taken their seats, the groomsmen came to join Sawyer’s side. All dressed in light blue Levi’s, white button-downs and a vest, they all looked like sensible men. Brett clapped him on the shoulder before swinging in to ruffle Hunter’s light brown hair.

  Sawyer turned to the little menace in his arms, “Now, you remember what Daddy said about staying by him when mommy walks towards us, right?”