by Kat Brookes
Her fingers curled around his hand. “You are such a good man, Garrett Wade. I’m so thankful God brought you into my life.” She thought about the precious little boy she’d given birth to and added with a teary smile, “Our lives.”
Before he could respond, her cell phone, which was lying atop the wheeled side table, rang out. With his free hand, his other still held in Hannah’s determined grasp, Garrett reached for the phone and handed it over to her.
“It’s my father,” she said with a worried frown. “What do I tell him?”
“Probably best to start with the truth,” he answered. “He’s bound to pick up on your emotional state and will worry more if he thinks you’re keeping something from him.”
She nodded. Garrett was right. She needed to tell her father what had happened. Bringing the phone to her ear, she answered, “Hi, Dad.”
Garrett mouthed, “I’ll step out and give you some privacy.”
She shook her head, praying he would stay. His being there gave her comfort and helped to calm her fears.
Thankfully, Garrett nodded, falling silent as she took the call.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hi, honey,” her father replied and then paused to cough, the sound clearly coming from deep in his chest.
She gasped. “Dad, you sound terrible. Have you seen your doctor yet?”
“Not yet,” he admitted. “I was hoping the cough would start to ease up now that the cold’s finally out of my head, but it hasn’t. I’m going to call Dr. Mason today.”
“I’m glad.” She had enough worries on her plate without adding her father’s ailing health to them.
“I wasn’t calling to talk about me. I was worried about you,” he said. “I thought you were supposed to get home last night, but when I woke up this morning and realized you hadn’t made it home... Well, all sorts of things went through my mind.”
“I’m sorry to have caused you worry, Dad,” she said. “I never meant to. I really thought I’d be home last night.”
“It’s all right, honey. All that matters is that you’re all right,” he said, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. “I know how hard it had to be for you to take your sister’s and Brian’s ashes to Shoshone Falls. I wish you would have let me ride along with you.”
Having lost both his wife and his daughter in just over a year’s time, the task of delivering Heather’s ashes to a place that was very special to her would have been unbearably hard on him. Especially with him not feeling up to par. “You weren’t feeling well, and taking Heather and Brian’s ashes to the falls was really something I needed to do on my own.” In truth, the long drive had given her time to reflect, to mourn, to start to plan her future. One that now included raising a child.
“I understand,” he said. “When do you think you’ll get here?”
“About that...” she began.
“Hannah,” he said worriedly. “What’s wrong?” The question was followed by another round of coughing.
This was something she would rather have told her father in person, so he could see that she and the baby were all right. But that wasn’t an option. Not with her son needing to remain in NICU for an undetermined amount of time. “I’m in the hospital.”
“Dear Lord,” he groaned.
“I’m fine, Dad,” she hurried to assure him. “But I was in labor when Garrett rescued me.”
“Rescued?” her father gasped between coughs.
Hannah cringed. Why had she even brought that part up? Her father hadn’t needed to know about that. “Dad? Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” he rasped out as his coughing subsided. “Hannah, what happened? Where are you?”
She went on to explain everything that had happened in a shortened version and with far less detail to spare her father any further stress.
“Well, thank the good Lord for sending that young man there. I couldn’t bear to lose you, too.”
“You won’t.”
“How is the baby?” he asked hesitantly, as if fearing what her answer might be. “I know my grandson wasn’t due to arrive for another month or so.”
“Apparently, your grandson was tired of waiting. Garrett Austin came into the world wailing loudly.” And he had, but that was before her son’s breathing issues began.
“You named him after the man who rescued you from the flood,” he acknowledged, his words filled with emotion.
“Yes,” she answered. “If not for Garrett, we wouldn’t be here today.” She felt Garrett tense up beside her. Her praise might embarrass him, but it was true all the same. “Your grandson is small, and in need of a little extra care, but he’s going to be fine,” she said determinedly. He had to be. Like her father, she didn’t think she could bear the loss of yet another person she held dear.
“That explains why you didn’t call.”
“I was waiting to talk to the doctor this morning before I called you. He came by a little while ago to tell me that they’re releasing me tomorrow, but Austin has to remain in the neonatal intensive care unit until he’s strong enough to go home. Do you mind watching the boys until I can get home?”
“You don’t even have to ask,” he answered with a wheeze. “But I’d prefer to be there with you and the baby.”
Her frown deepened. “Dad, listen to you. You sound awful. As much as I would love to have you here with us, I have to ask you not to come. It’s too risky for the baby. And if I get sick, I won’t be able to be around him either.”
“Ah, honey, I understand. I just hate the thought of the two of you being there all alone.”
She looked up at Garrett and managed a small smile. “We won’t be alone. We have Garrett and his family here to watch over us. Mrs. Wade has even offered her home to me during my stay here. So, please, go call your doctor and get yourself well, so you can love up your grandson when the time comes for me to bring him home.”
“I will,” he said with a resigned sigh. “Make sure you keep me updated with how things are going. You and my grandson are all I have left in this world, and as soon as the doctor considers me well enough to be around the two of you, and I can find someone to watch over the dogs, I’ll be there.”
“You’re all we have,” she replied. “So please take care of yourself.”
“You can count on it. And tell that young man who rescued you that I look forward to meeting him someday soon. I want to thank him in person for what he’s done for you and my grandson.”
“I’ll let him know. I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too, honey.”
Hannah hung up and looked to Garrett. “He sounds awful.”
“A cold?” Garrett surmised.
“Yes,” she said with a worried frown. “It’s pretty deep in his chest, but he assured me he’s going to get in to see his doctor.”
“Then you need to set that worry aside and focus on getting your strength back, and on that little one of yours, so we can get him home with his big brothers as soon as possible.”
“Brothers?” she repeated in confusion.
He looked chagrined. “I wasn’t trying to listen in, but I heard you ask your father if he’d mind watching over your boys for a little while longer. I know how hard being away from your boys for any length of time is going to be for you.”
She smiled. “Oh, it will be.”
He studied her, as if trying to find the humor in the situation. “I’m sure Mom wouldn’t have a problem with them coming here to stay with you until you can go back to Steamboat Springs. Unless they’re in school. I have no idea how old your boys are.”
“Garrett, you’re sweet to think of my boys, but you should know that Buddy and Bandit already graduated from school.”
His chestnut brows lifted.
“Puppy school,” she added with a grin. “They’re my two-year-old golden retr
ievers.”
He let out a husky chuckle. “You had me worried for a moment. I was wondering what mother would ever think to name her son Bandit.”
“He likes to take things and hide them,” she explained, the temporary redirection of her thoughts to something other than the seriousness going on in her life helped to lighten her heavy heart. Hannah sighed. “I’m really going to miss having those two underfoot.”
Garrett squeezed her hand. “It won’t be for long. We’ll have you home with all three of your boys before you know it.”
The conviction in his words made her believe that no matter what the coming weeks brought about everything would be okay. Garrett would make certain of that. Hannah sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the Lord for sending her this unexpected pillar of strength in the form of this kind, lone-dimpled cowboy.
Chapter Four
Garrett glanced again at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was five minutes past the last time he’d looked. It had been five minutes the time before that. He should have taken his mother up on her offer to pick Hannah up from the hospital that morning and bring her home. He hadn’t. And, for the life of him, he couldn’t say why.
Every trip he made to that place stirred up memories. At first, they were of Grace and those final days he’d had her in his life. But then other memories took over. Memories of the storm. Of Hannah’s pretty, fear-stricken face looking up at him from where she sat trapped in her car. Of the trust he’d seen in her eyes when he’d told her she was going to be all right. Of her brave smile.
Frowning, Garrett shook his head and crossed the room to grab his cowboy hat from the end table, settling it onto his head. Guilt pricked at his conscience. How could he allow his memories of the only woman he’d ever loved—girl, actually, because that’s what Grace had been when she’d died—to be so easily set aside?
Not that he hadn’t gone out a time or two during his rodeo days. But he’d done so, knowing those women were more interested in snagging themselves a professional rodeo rider than in dating the man he was inside. They’d been safe, because he knew feelings would never come into play. When he would tell them he wasn’t interested in starting a real relationship, they would simply move on to another. But Hannah, in what little time he had known her, had made him feel so many things—fear at the thought of her or the baby she’d been carrying dying, determination to save her like he hadn’t been able to with Grace, the need to protect her and admiration for the strength he saw inside of her.
His cell phone rang, pulling Garrett from his troubled thoughts. He hurried to dig it out of his jeans pocket, praying, as he did every time his phone rang, that it wasn’t the hospital calling to say he needed to get there right away. Only in Grace’s case, it had been her father who had made the call, telling Garrett to get to the hospital right away. His trepidation eased when he saw the caller ID on the screen.
“Justin.”
“Garrett,” his friend said in greeting.
“How’s the new foal getting along?” Thankfully, it had survived what sounded like a rough delivery. One Justin had tended to on his own, thanks to the poorly-timed storm.
“Couldn’t be better,” the sheriff replied. “The reason I was calling was to let you know where Miss Sanders’s car was towed to, and to let you know that they found a small overnight bag in the backseat. I picked it up and was going to run it over to her, but I wasn’t sure if she was still in the hospital, or if she had already been released. I know they don’t keep anyone in for long these days.”
“I was just about to leave for the hospital. Hannah’s being released today. Are you at the office?”
“For another hour or so.”
“I’ll swing by and pick the bag up on my way to the hospital. Hannah might want to wear something else to come home in.” At least, this way she would have a choice. His mother had taken the clothes Hannah wore the day before when she’d gone to visit her and the baby at the hospital and had washed them for her so she would have something clean to wear when she was released. They were already in his truck, all neatly folded inside of a canvas tote.
“How’s the baby?”
“Unfortunately, he’s not able to come home yet,” Garrett replied with a frown, hating that Hannah had to be separated from her son. “But it won’t be long. She’ll be staying at my parents’ place until her son is able to travel back to Colorado with her.”
“I didn’t realize she was so far from home,” Justin said. “I need to fill out a report, but I can do that once she gets settled in at the ranch. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to keep her and the baby in my prayers.”
“I’m sure Hannah would appreciate that. See you soon.” After hanging up the phone, Garrett grabbed his truck keys and headed out.
He stopped in the building he’d constructed next to his house that served as both a clinic and supply storage to double-check his schedule before setting out. Thankfully, he only had a few appointments scheduled for the next week or so, vaccination updates and such, since he’d be making a fair number of trips to the hospital with Hannah to see her son.
Her son. That tiny little blessing Garrett had held in his arms; perhaps he would have had his own son if Grace had lived to give him the family they’d talked about having someday. Who would have thought a baby could have such a pull on a man’s heart? But Hannah’s son had done just that.
Lord, please keep that precious little baby safe, he prayed and then headed for his truck.
Fifteen minutes later, Garrett pulled into a parking space outside of the sheriff’s office. He stepped from his truck just as the building’s front door swung open and Justin, dressed in his uniform, came out to greet him, a quilted floral travel bag held in one hand.
“Cute bag,” Garrett remarked with a grin, as he moved toward his friend. “The pink roses go remarkably well with your uniform.”
Justin held it up, turning it to and fro. “Thanks. I thought so, too.” He handed the bag over to Garrett, and then extended his hand, giving Garrett’s a firm shake. “How are you holding up?”
“Me?”
Justin nodded. “You. It’s no secret that you’ve had an eventful few days. Flood rescue, baby delivery and then personally taking on the responsibility of looking in on Miss Sanders and her little boy.”
“I see you’ve been talking to Jackson,” Garrett said.
“Your father, actually,” the sheriff admitted. “I ran into him this morning at Abby’s. He snagged the last crème-filled donut, leaving me with the remaining selection of cake donuts.”
“Not surprised,” Garrett replied with a chuckle. All the Wade men had a sweet tooth.
“He was on his way out, so we didn’t have much of a chance to talk, but he did tell me that you were spending a lot of time at the hospital with Miss Sanders.” His expression sobered somewhat. “I know that can’t be easy for you.”
He nodded. As Jackson’s best friend, Justin had been around when Grace took ill. He knew what Garrett had been through. “It hasn’t,” he answered honestly. “But Hannah’s father is sick and can’t be here with her.”
“What about her mother?”
“Passed away. And then her sister died a few months ago. And being miles from home doesn’t make things any easier.”
Justin’s teasing grin flattened. “And now she’s going through all this.” He shook his head. “The Lord knew what He was doing when He placed her in your family’s lives.”
Before Garrett could reply, one of the deputies came out to let Justin know that his sister was on the line and that she sounded upset. Excusing himself, he immediately went to take the call.
Garrett understood the look of concern he’d seen on his friend’s face as he’d strode off. A little over a year earlier, Lainie, Justin’s little sister, lost her husband when a drunk driver struck their car. She and her seven-year-old son had remained in Sacramen
to, despite the urgings of Justin and his parents for her to move back home.
Though he’d never made mention of his suspicions to anyone, Garrett thought that at least part of the reason Lainie hadn’t come home was because of Jackson. While she and Jackson never dated, there had been a time when Garrett thought his younger brother might have feelings for Lainie and her for him. But then Jackson went off to ride in the rodeo and Lainie headed to college, finding love elsewhere. Now, with no husband to take care of her and her son, Justin was determined to be there for them. Just as Garrett would be there for Hannah and hers. For now.
* * *
“Morning,” the two nurses on duty in the NICU said in quiet greeting when Hannah stepped into the room.
“Morning,” she replied, keeping her voice low as well. Only Austin and one other newborn, a little girl born two months too soon, were being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit at that time. Seeing that fragile little girl, so much smaller than her own son, made Hannah want to cry. Life could be so unfair sometimes.
She had taken only two steps across the room, in the direction of the incubator that held her newborn son, when she noticed an odd glow filling Austin’s temporary crib. A sense of unease filled her as she hurried over to it. Inside, her son, dressed in only a diaper, his eyes covered with a small white mask, was bathed in the glow of a deep blue light.
With a worried gasp, Hannah pressed a hand to the clear side of the incubator.
“It’s called a bili light,” a soft voice from behind her stated.
Hannah glanced back to find the younger of the two NICU nurses, Jessica, if she remembered correctly, standing there, an empathetic smile on her face. “What is a bili light?” she asked anxiously, her attention returning to her son.
“A type of phototherapy used when a newborn is jaundiced,” she explained.
“Why is he jaundiced?” Hannah asked, her panic growing. Why hadn’t she read up on more than just what could happen during pregnancy? Maybe because what happened after were the things her sister should have known about. Not her. And when Heather and Brian had died, her focus had been on getting through the grief.
