“Nope. I just worry that sometimes it’s too hard.”
“You have given me so much more than you realize, and I love it here. I’ve never had so much freedom, and I’ve never felt so needed.”
“You are needed. I couldn’t do all this,” she gestured beyond the cabin to the addition and the ranch beyond them, “without you. I’m glad you like it here.” She reached for the bigger packages and handed them one by one to her wife, watching her unwrap the camera with pleasure. The cases that held the other things were nearly as fascinating, but she saw it was like a puzzle for Allyssa to figure out where everything went in the well-cushioned cases.
“Oh, Fey. It’s beautiful! How did you know?”
“I saw your Amazon wish list. I hope you don’t mind that I peeked?”
“Nope, because I got you this doing the same thing,” she giggled as she handed her wife a leather case that contained a well-organized portable desk, so she could write things on their stationary with the nice pen and pencil attached and have a supply of their brochures and business cards handy. She had stocked it well.
“Oh, this is even better than the one I chose. Look at this,” she said as her fingers caressed the leather, which would eventually age in her job but would hold up better than plastic. “And you filled it all,” she added as she looked at the accessories, well pleased.
“I made this,” she said, handing her the package with the mittens, scarf, and hat. “It’s not perfect but for a first effort I think…” she excused and then left off as Fiona opened it, not bothering with the delicate wrapping but ripping the paper like a child.
“Oh, Allyssa, it’s fine,” she exclaimed. “Where did you find such soft wool?”
“I ordered it after I started practicing on other stuff. I thought of looking for cashmere but….”
“What would I do with cashmere in my job? This is perfect. Oh look, the tassel leans to the right…or to the left, if I turn it like this.” She smiled as she played with her gifts. “These will go wonderfully when I get out of those gloves,” she said as she put on the mittens that came halfway up her arms to keep the snow out. “I promise not to calve with these,” she held up her hand solemnly in an oath.
Allyssa wrinkled her nose. She knew that was a messy job based on the clothes she had washed that contained the afterbirth. Fey had gone through some pretty messy births and her clothes and gloves had suffered. “I have this for you too,” she said, handing her a pair of jeans and a lined flannel shirt. They fit her wife perfectly and showed off her brown hair and eyes. “You look amazing,” she breathed, instantly attracted to her all over again.
“I got you this, but it’s more of a summer gift. I thought you might like it…” she began hesitantly, sounding unsure in light of the more practical gifts her wife had given her.
“What is it?” she wondered as she opened the box carefully, a little less exuberant than her impatient wife. The clothes box revealed a red satin nightgown with spaghetti straps. She held it up against her body immediately, and they both could imagine it on her despite the long underwear, jeans, and polo shirt she was now wearing. “Is this for me or for you?” she asked softly, seeing Fey blush at the innuendo.
“Well, maybe it’s for both of us,” she admitted, smiling at the view.
“Thank you for my Christmas nightgown,” she said as she leaned in for a kiss.
“And thank you for all this,” she returned, giving her a second kiss that proved interesting.
They went to bed early, and despite the cold, Fey got the treat of seeing Allyssa wear the red satin nightgown. It didn’t last long on her frame. It inspired lust in her wife, and they soon discarded it in favor of being naked together.
CHAPTER FIVE
Late February, the snows were deep, and Allyssa got a call that sent her heart into her throat. She rushed out of the cabin and headed for Pendleton in her Jeep. The rancher who had called told her that Fiona had been taken there after rolling her truck off his driveway. She’d slipped off the edge and the entire truck, camper and all, had rolled down the side of a cliff next to his driveway. By the time they pried her out of the banged-up truck, they had to medivac her to the hospital. From the sound of his voice, it didn’t look good. Allyssa never hesitated. She drove straight to Pendleton at speeds she knew Fey wouldn’t have approved of.
“I’m Allyssa Herriot. My wife was brought in here,” she announced at the emergency desk.
The woman behind the desk blinked briefly at the word wife before she said, “Please take a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.”
“Can you tell me how she is? Is she alive? She was flown in here…” Allyssa’s pent-up anxiety from the drive up was coming out.
“Someone will be with you in a moment. Your wife is alive, but I have to inform them you are here,” she explained kindly, seeing that the young woman looked distraught. Briefly, she wondered how old this woman was before she got up and went to find someone who could explain about her…wife.
Allyssa couldn’t sit still, so she paced. There were several other people waiting in the chairs, and they looked up, annoyed, as she passed time and again. She didn’t care. She wanted to know what was going on with Fey, and she wasn’t going to be patient about it. She was just about to return to the desk when someone came to the door and said, “Mrs. Herriot?” Allyssa turned so fast she nearly fell in her desire to answer the summons.
“I’m Mrs. Herriot. My wife?” she asked, hoping this wasn’t the end, that she wasn’t going to hear the worst. Several people looked up in surprise and a couple people’s faces showed disapproval when they heard the young woman say my wife and realized what it meant.
“If you’ll come with me,” he said kindly. As they turned away from the others, who were listening avidly, curious to hear about someone besides their own family or friends, he began to tell her. “Your wife has suffered some pretty severe contusions and abrasions, but the good news is she didn’t break anything. All the blankets piled in the front seat of her truck cushioned the initial fall and being buckled in kept her from bouncing about the cabin as the truck rolled.” Seeing Allyssa’s horrified expression, he added, “You did know her truck rolled, right?”
At her nod, he continued.
“She has a concussion, and I don’t think we will release her for a day, so we can observe her. She’s been asking for an Allyssa. I assume you are her?”
Again, Allyssa nodded. She had no idea how young she looked to the doctor at that moment.
“She will probably want to get up and move about, but I would suggest she stay confined to a couch or bed for a week after we release her.”
“That isn’t going to be easy,” Allyssa mumbled as she followed him down the hall.
“I take it from her agitation that she’s a get-up-and-go kind of person?” he asked kindly and smiled as Allyssa nodded once more. “Well, she banged her head repeatedly against the door of the cab and that caused her concussion. She needs to stay in bed, and if you can’t control her, we should keep her here longer. You do have insurance?”
“Yes,” she answered, knowing damn well they had insurance because she paid the bill. She was already irritated with this kind doctor. She wanted to see her wife now.
“Maybe we could keep her an extra day or two to observe her?” he offered helpfully.
“That might be a good idea,” she said. Allyssa knew she wanted Fey at home with her where she could watch her, but she also knew it would be hard to keep her wife down. Fey would be upset about totaling the truck and what this might mean to their livelihood. She hoped Fey was okay but had also thought about the truck on the way up to the hospital. The fact she had been flown out by the medivac had concerned her the most. Usually, they saved that for the most critical cases. The doctor unknowingly brought it up as he continued explaining about her wife.
“When they brought her in by chopper, we were relieved to see her alive and alert,” he said in a cheerful voice.
She re
alized he was attempting to be kind, but the doctor’s attitude was annoying Allyssa. “Why did they bring her by chopper?”
“They couldn’t get an ambulance through the narrow pass with the truck in the way as well as the vehicles of all the neighbors who had come to help.”
“What truck? Fiona’s?” she asked, confused.
“No, there was a big rig on the road. That’s what caused her to go off the road…he hit her. Didn’t someone tell you?”
Allyssa stopped, shocked. No, the rancher who had called hadn’t said anything about a truck. He hadn’t said Fiona was on a road. He had said she was on his driveway. Her eyes narrowed as she realized someone was downplaying this.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Herriot?”
“I am, thank you,” she said in a polite voice, but as he stopped outside a room she continued in to see Fiona laying there looking bored and pathetic. She was all bruised up and had several cuts. “Baby? How are you?” she said sweetly as Fey noticed her. She leaned over to give her a peck on the only unbruised spot she could find on her cheek. Even then, she saw her flinch.
“I’m better now that you are here. I’m sorry, baby. I totaled the truck.”
“I heard. It doesn’t matter. You are okay, and that is all that matters,” she told her, taking her hand and allowing the tears she had held at bay to fall.
“Shhh, shhh. Don’t cry,” Fey tried to get up and comfort her wife.
“I’m sorry. I’m just a blubber puss. I was so worried when they called.”
“I’m okay. They told you, didn’t they? No broken bones.” She said it triumphantly, as though it were something to be proud of.
“They told me,” Allyssa assured her wife, trying to get her emotions under control and stop the tears, which continued to flow despite repeatedly wiping them on her sleeve.
“We will be keeping her a few days. That concussion isn’t anything to fool with,” the doctor had changed his tone.
“Yeah, I’m a doctor too, or did you forget?” Fiona said to him almost bitterly.
“Of course not,” he said frostily.
“You aren’t giving these people a hard time, are you?” Allyssa teased, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly appeared in the room. “You are to lay there and rest,” she ordered through her tears, pointing an accusing finger at her wife.
“Yes, dear,” Fiona answered in a mocking, meek voice. Her bruised and blackened eyes twinkled at her wife as she squeezed her hand reassuringly. The bruising on the left eye was now darker than the right. She watched as the doctor left the room and left them alone before adding mournfully, “What are we going to do now?”
“You are going to take it easy for a week or so and let me take care of things while you heal.”
“Babe, I ruined our truck. The insurance is going to take weeks, and we need–”
“Shhh,” she said, stopping her own tears and placing her finger gently across her wife’s lips. “Let me handle it. You know I can and I will. Now, tell me what happened before you go to sleep and start recovering.”
Fiona told her she had been out to the rancher’s place to check on one of her patients. The drive was a bitch because she had to maneuver on this narrow road along the cliffs without any guardrail. “Wouldn’t you know it. Just as I was leaving, a big rig came down the drive. I backed up to what I thought was a wide enough section that he could squeeze by, but he was mad at me for being there. He was miming or saying something,” she explained as she animatedly gestured, “but I couldn’t make out what he was saying even when I rolled down the window. I rolled it back up when he didn’t roll his down. I could see he was angry as he inched along, and then he hit me….” She stopped for a minute to gather her thoughts. “The scraping against the truck was horrible. I started yelling and using my brakes to flash him, but it did no good. Next thing I know, he nudged me off the edge of the cliff and I was rolling. At first, I thought to brace myself using the ceiling, the ‘Oh, Jesus grip,’ or even the steering wheel, but something told me I’d break my arm if I did that. I tucked in and went with the roll. I had those blankets, you know, the ones I keep in the front seat?” She waited for Allyssa to nod before she continued, “Those cushioned me when I rolled to that side, but when I bounced on the other side, I hit my head.” She reached up to rub the bandages, and Allyssa lowered her arm to hold her hand tightly. “I must have passed out as the truck hit the bottom. Next thing I knew, there were guys with crowbars trying to get the truck open and get me out. Damn, I hurt,” she finished ruefully, feeling sorry for herself. “Something came loose in the cab and hit me here,” she indicated the right side of her face. “I think it was the CB. The crash must have forced it loose.”
“You and Rex are going to be bosom companions,” Allyssa teased, relieved the injuries weren’t worse. Rex was healed but still stiff as he became more active. The weather wasn’t helping things for the poor dog.
“I don’t think you realize…the truck is ruined, babe. All our dreams, our income…” She began to get upset, and Allyssa heard the beeping increase on the machine beside the bed in her wife’s agitation.
“Stop. I got it. That’s what I’m here for. I need information to see what I can do for us. Don’t worry. You can use the Jeep to get around. You just won’t be able to carry as much. Spring is around the corner, so maybe, if need be, you can sleep in it as well. Meanwhile, just relax. There isn’t anything you can do now. They are keeping you overnight.”
“You heard him,” she said disparagingly. “He wants to keep me several days.”
“You and your hard head,” she teased to get her wife’s attention back on her. “If you were nice to him, maybe he’d let you go sooner and I could take you home.”
“I just want to go home with you,” she complained sullenly and then looked up at her wife. “You think they’ll let me go sooner?”
Allyssa could see how worn out her wife was. The accident and the unceasing work she did was wearing on her, and now, there was added worry. She needed sleep now. She shouldn’t get so excited. “Please, baby, get some rest. Heal up, and I’ll see what I can do while you rest.”
“Don’t you do too much either,” she began, but she sounded so tired.
Just then, the nurse came in. “Doctor Herriot. Are you still awake?!” she exclaimed.
“I had to see my wife,” she replied, obviously ready to be combative.
“Well, now you’ve seen her and she’s seen you. If you don’t go to sleep, I’m going to have to give you a shot.”
“But I want–” she began to argue.
“Babe! Don’t make me ask her for that shot. I just got done telling you to rest,” Allyssa threatened.
“Not you too,” she mumbled bad-temperedly, obviously cowed by all their arguments.
“Yes, me too. And you are going to sleep in because you know I’ve got everything under control. I want you better, and I want you to promise to treat these people nicely and do as you are told for a change. You don’t always have to be in control, you know. You know I can take care of things.”
Fiona knew just that. The young woman she had married was very adept at anything she set her mind to, and she liked how fiery she had become. She enjoyed watching Allyssa grow into a woman that awed her. She only hoped to be able to hold her interest the rest of her life. “Okay, okay. I’m going to sleep. Stay with me until I’m asleep?” she pleaded a little, trying to smile and then grimacing at the pain.
“Yep, I intend to do just that,” Allyssa assured her.
The nurse smiled in gratitude. The veterinarian had been a most difficult patient, questioning everything they tried to do for her and insisting they give her nothing that would make her sleep until after her wife came. The nurse released the pain medication that would allow the patient to sleep comfortably under the guise of checking the leads. Allyssa smiled sympathetically as they both watched Fiona go under. When her hand fell lax in Allyssa’s grip, she held on for a while, thinking how lucky they had
been. If she had lost this amazing and brilliant woman, she didn’t know what she would do. She’d been lucky to find her and have her ask her to marry her. She was everything to Allyssa: her best friend, her companion, and her wife. Now, she would make sure that Fey had nothing to worry about. But Allyssa fell asleep in the chair holding her wife’s hand before she could do anything. She only woke when Fiona cried out in pain the next morning as they changed some of her bandages.
“I’m going to wash up and make a few phone calls, babe. I’ll be back,” Allyssa told her as she got up. “Keep her drugged up if you want any peace,” she murmured to the day staff nurse as she walked by to use the bathroom. She came out to find a different doctor checking on Fiona.
“Are you Mrs. Herriot?” he asked officiously.
“I am,” she responded.
“I’m going to order some drugs to make your wife sleep. I understand you authorized this,” he said, his glance taking in the nurse she had murmured to. Allyssa immediately nodded, seeing that Fiona wasn’t listening to them and was obviously in pain. He turned to the nurse, giving her names of some medications Allyssa recognized because Fey used forms of them on the animals. He smiled as he finished signing some papers and waited quietly with Allyssa when the nurse hurried off to get the drugs while he monitored his patient. Once Fiona was asleep again, Allyssa finger combed her hair to make it look presentable before she started thinking about food. She was just in time to see someone with a tray about to leave the room and relieved them of Fiona’s uneaten breakfast, so she could eat it herself. With the shock of the accident and all the drugs she was on, Fey wouldn’t be eating for a while, and Allyssa was starving. Afterwards, feeling better, she began to make calls from their cell phone.
The first call was to the insurance agency letting them know about the accident and the claims that would be coming in. Their health insurance was separate from their auto insurance, so she had to make several calls. A sheriff’s deputy had come to talk to Fiona, but since she was asleep, he condescended to talk to Allyssa and gave her the report number for her insurance claim. She also asked about getting a copy of the report as she suspected the rancher had deliberately withheld the information about the trucker from her for some reason.
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