“Is he okay?”
In the dance of light, Crystal saw more blood than fur. Rip didn’t move. She couldn’t tell if he was breathing. She feared he was dead.
“He’s badly hurt, sweetie.” In some sluggish part of her brain, she realized she needed to soften her delivery and give Tori some hope. “I have to get him to the vet. Jack Palmer can fix him.” Maybe. His injuries looked grave. Crystal doubted that Rip could be pieced back together again.
“Can I get down?”
“No, honey, stay in the tree. The coyotes may come back.” A moment of clarity struck, and Crystal didn’t want the little girl to become terrified of the wild creatures. “They’re hungry. It’s not that they’re mean. Their tummies are empty, and they need food. To them, Rip and No Name are food, not our little friends.”
“Oh,” Tori squeaked. “Am I food, too?”
“No.” Crystal laid her palm over Rip’s torn shoulder and thought she felt a pulse. “But right now you may smell like Rip and No Name, so please stay in the tree.”
“Okay.”
Crystal’s brain felt like congealed mush. “Tori, will you stay in the tree while I go get my car? We need to take Rip to the clinic.”
“Yes.”
The child sounded sincere, but it occurred to Crystal that she’d also agreed to stay in the yard earlier. If Crystal left and the coyotes returned to feed on Rip, the little girl might shinny down the tree trunk. Coyotes weren’t given to attacking kids, but they were predators, and these animals were clearly hungry. The immediate area was splattered with blood, which would excite their primal instincts. She couldn’t gamble with the life of a child. Only what else could she do? Just kneeling here while Rip bled to death wasn’t an option.
“Okay, Tori. You can get out of the tree and go with me to get the car.” Crystal hated to leave Rip here alone, but just as Tuck had recently tried to explain, sometimes a dog’s life took second seat to a human’s. She didn’t like that reasoning. As she looked down at Rip, her reluctance to abandon him rose up in her throat like bile.
“But who’ll protect Rip?”
Crystal said the first thing that came to her mind. “God’s angels, sweetie. We’ll hurry and get back with the car really fast.”
“No! I’ve read about coyotes! They know he’s hurt, and they’ll come back to eat him. He got hurt saving me! I can’t leave him!”
Tears burned in Crystal’s eyes. She understood the child’s feelings. Oh, did she ever understand. “Get down,” Crystal ordered. “Now.”
Tori drew up her feet to perch on the limb. “You can’t make me. I’m higher than you can reach.”
Crystal’s shoulders slumped. “All right. Stay in the tree. I can’t leave you here to go get the car. It’s too dangerous. So I’ll stay, and Rip won’t go to the hospital.”
“No!” Tori cried. “Then he’ll die for sure!”
Just then it seemed to Crystal that it suddenly turned daylight. Confused and blinded, she turned to locate the source of the glare.
“Crystal? Dear God, what happened? I saw the light and figured it had to be you this close to the house.”
“Tanner?”
“Daddy, we have to save Rip!” Tori screamed.
Resembling a shadow dancer cast against a white wall created by headlights, Tanner moved toward them. It wasn’t until he was only a few feet away that Crystal could make out his face. He knelt beside Rip. “Oh, Lord, what happened?”
“No Name ran away!” Tori cried. “And then the coyotes tried to get him. Rip saved him . . . and me!”
Tanner yelled, “Michael, bring me my jacket!”
Seconds later Michael appeared. Tanner jerked the garment from the boy’s hand and spread it on the ground. Then he carefully lifted Rip onto the denim. “Crystal, can you grab that end? It’s the only way to carry him without moving him too much. We’ve got to get him to the vet before he bleeds out.”
Chapter Nineteen
For Crystal the rest of the night was like a bad dream. Jack Palmer met her and Tanner in front of the clinic. He said two techs were on their way to assist him during surgery. She and Tanner carried Rip between them to the operating room. Jack was already in scrubs and washing up before Tanner led Crystal back toward the front of the clinic.
Once in the waiting room, Crystal collapsed on a metal-frame chair. With every beat of her heart, she heard the rush of her blood. Did Rip even have any left? She looked down at her crimson-streaked hands. Tanner sat beside her. At first he didn’t speak, and she was relieved. Any exchange would have required brain function she momentarily lacked.
She felt Tanner touching her lower leg. “Oh, dear God. You’ve been bitten.”
Crystal tried to focus on that. Before she could make sense of the words, he’d scooped her up in his arms. He carried her to an examining room and set her on the counter, jerked off her sandals, and lifted her feet into the sink.
“What’re you doing?”
“Washing out these punctures. When a person’s bitten by possibly rabid animals, thorough cleansing of the wounds minimizes the chance of contracting rabies.”
She endured his ministrations for a moment, too numb to worry overmuch about getting rabies. Only then she remembered the coyote leaping on Tori. “Oh, God, Tanner. Go check Tori.”
“She’s fine. I got out blankets for both kids. Michael’s going to sleep up front. She’s going to snuggle with No Name on the backseat.”
Crystal grabbed his broad wrist. “I can cleanse my own wounds. Go check on your daughter. A coyote got past Rip and leaped on her back.”
Tanner’s face lost color. “Was she bitten or scratched?”
“There wasn’t time to check. That’s why she was in the tree. I was afraid the coyotes might go after her.”
* * *
Tanner found a bite on Tori’s back and a scrape on her upper arm. He put Michael in charge of the kitten before, heart pounding, he ran back to the clinic, took Tori to another examining room, and began washing her broken skin.
“It hurts,” Tori complained.
“I know, but these punctures have to be flushed out.” Tanner used paper towels to dry her off and then carried her to the waiting room, where Crystal was once again sitting. “I need to take her to the ER. You should be seen, too.”
“I can’t leave Rip,” she said. “I just can’t.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” he told her. “You can’t help Rip by sitting out here. Please come with us to see a doctor.”
She shook her head. “I’ll go later.” She glanced at Tori. “Focus on her, Tanner. I’ll go in for treatment later—after I know how he’s doing.”
Tanner truly didn’t want to leave her. But it was his duty as a father to seek medical treatment for his child. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Take her to St. Matthew’s in Crystal Falls. The emergency care here is limited.”
Tanner carried his daughter from the building, but he left part of his heart in that waiting room. In Crystal’s eyes, there was a blank, distant expression that worried him. He sensed that she shouldn’t be alone right now.
* * *
The minutes crept forward as slowly as ants trying to crawl over tacky lacquer. Crystal glanced at her phone countless times to see how long Rip had been in surgery. One hour turned into two, and she was alone with her thoughts every second. Each time she glanced down at her hands, she remembered the blood that had been caked on them before she washed them, and she was swept back in time to the afternoon she killed her sister. Although twenty-one years had passed, Crystal still felt as if it had happened yesterday. For her, there was no escaping those memories or the devastating sense of guilt.
Another hour slogged by, and finally Jack Palmer appeared. He wore a rumpled shirt and faded jeans. His hair was tousled. A shadow of whiskers darkened the low
er part of his face. He pulled over a chair to sit across from her.
“He’s still alive,” he said. “As long as we can keep him that way, he may make it through this. He lost a lot of blood. We transfused him to keep him stable during surgery. The coyotes tore him up badly. I’ve never seen the like.”
Crystal still felt numb. “So you’re not sure he’ll make it.”
Jack slumped his shoulders. “It’s up to God now. I’ve done all I can for him. I know how much you love him. I wish I could offer you more hope.”
She nodded. “It’s not your fault, Jack.” She paused to search his weary gaze. “I’d like to stay with him. Can you arrange that? Call me silly, but I think he’ll sense that I’m here.”
“I have cots and bedding in the back. If you’d like, you can bunk near his cage. You can’t get much closer than that.”
Crystal nodded. “I’d like that. Thank you, Jack.”
“I’ll ask the ladies to get things set up for you. I’ve used a cot plenty of nights. They’re fairly comfortable.”
Crystal doubted that she would be able to sleep. “That’s good to know.”
* * *
Tori received an injection of rabies immune globulin, which would start to protect her from contracting rabies right away. Tanner was given a follow-up schedule for a series of four more shots, and the ER nurse stressed to him that Tori had to get the injections on the specified dates. After sticking a list of possible side effects in his shirt pocket, Tanner led Michael from the hospital while carrying his drowsy daughter. When they reached the truck, he saw No Name peering out at them over the edge of the blanket.
Acutely aware that he’d left Crystal stranded at the vet’s, Tanner took his kids to his mother’s house. Hair mussed from her pillow and still half-asleep, she met him at the door, took one look at his face, and came wide-awake.
“Tanner, what happened?”
He gave her the briefest version of the story possible, helped get the kids settled in the extra bedrooms, and then went over the common side effects of the RIG injection. “If any of these things happen, call the ER. If you need to take Tori back in, please call me. I’ll meet you at St. Matthew’s.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I left Crystal at the vet’s without a car. She was also bitten. More times than Tori. The ER doctor said I should get her in as soon as I can. Even though cases of rabies in this area are rare right now, he can’t rule out that those coyotes have lost their natural fear of people because they’re rabid.”
“Playing it safe was the right decision, Tanner.” She followed him to the door. “And antirabies shots aren’t that bad anymore. Just get Crystal in for an injection.”
“I’ll try. Right now she won’t leave the dog.”
“He saved Tori’s life. All of us owe him a debt of gratitude. Please tell Crystal I’ll keep Rip in my prayers.”
* * *
Tanner was too upset to feel drowsy as he drove back to Mystic Creek. When he reached the clinic, he found Crystal sitting in the waiting area. He sank onto a chair beside her and reached for her hand. She jerked at his touch and drew away. “You need to go,” she told him in a flat voice. “I stayed out here to tell you that. You need to go.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere that’s away from me. Everything I’ve ever loved, except for Tuck, has died. I have a gift for making stupid decisions and putting those I love in danger. Protect yourself. Protect your children. You need to stay away from me.”
Tanner couldn’t quite believe his ears. “What? How can you blame yourself for what happened tonight?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I’m the one who let Tori play outside with Rip after dark.”
“With the porch light on and the door wide-open. You were only a few feet away. I do that all the time in the summer. It’s a safe neighborhood.”
“My neighbors are coyotes. I wasn’t worried about them jumping the fence. They’ve never gotten that brave. But I didn’t take into account that No Name might go outside if the door was left open, and I didn’t think about Tori leaving the yard to go after him.” She rested her clenched fists on her knees. “That’s a clear case of me not considering all the possibilities and making unsafe decisions for a child in my care.”
“Tori should have called for you. According to what she said, that was the agreement. Instead she took off after the kitten alone. I plan to have a talk with her about that tomorrow.”
Crystal sent him a withering look. “Tori is eight years old. I’m thirty-two. I should have known not to take her at her word. Children don’t consider the possible consequences of their actions. It’s up to the adult in charge to do that for them.”
“Please don’t beat yourself up about this. Tori’s going to be just fine.”
“Rip isn’t. When that one coyote got around Rip and jumped on Tori, I realized that the animals were in a frenzy. They were between me and your child. I gave Rip the command to attack, Tanner. I sent him to his death.”
“To save my daughter.”
“Yes. But was it really necessary? In the end, I used the flashlight as a club and chased off the coyotes without Rip’s help.”
“For the love of God, Crystal, my daughter had just been bitten by a wild animal, and now you’re questioning your decision to sic Rip on the pack to keep Tori safe. No offense intended, but it’s almost as if you want to blame yourself.”
She looked as if he’d just slapped her, and Tanner wished he’d chosen his words more carefully. There was a look in her eyes that he could only describe as haunted. Maybe, to satisfy some twisted need within herself, she actually was searching for reasons to blame herself, but it sure as hell wasn’t his place to tell her that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“I think you did.”
“Let me just say that I consider my daughter’s life to be far more important than a dog’s. I’m glad you commanded Rip to attack the pack. He created a distraction that allowed you to reach Tori and get her up in the tree where she was safe. I think you made the only decision you could under the circumstances, and I’ll always be grateful you did.”
“But was it really necessary?”
Tanner knew he shouldn’t feel frustrated, but he had an awful feeling Crystal intended to end their relationship over this. If he didn’t get through to her now, she might never give him another chance. “You can second-guess every decision you made tonight, but I’m looking at the end result. My daughter lived through it. Why can’t you pat yourself on the back for that instead of finding reasons to eat yourself up with guilt?”
“Because, in the end, I have to go back to the decision I made to let Tori play in the yard in the first place. If I hadn’t done that, Tori wouldn’t have been in the woods. Rip wouldn’t have been out there, either. It was a domino effect, starting with me. As a result, the last domino has yet to fall. Rip may die.”
“And you’ve convinced yourself it’s all your fault. Well, that’s just great.”
She shook her head. “There are things about me that you don’t know, Tanner. It’s true, what I said. Anything I’ve ever loved has ended up dying, and each death was caused by stupid decisions I made.”
Tanner looked deeply into her eyes, and all he saw was pain. She began to talk, telling him in stark detail about her sister’s death. He sat there in shock, listening and wondering how an eleven-year-old girl could survive such a thing.
“Tuck got me away from my parents and took me to his ranch. Right away he bought me a horse. I fell in love with her. She had a registered name, but I just called her Beauty. She ran like the wind. Then Tuck got me a puppy. Beauty’s former owner didn’t warn Tuck that she didn’t like dogs in her stall. Tuck always took his dog Tabasco into the stables with him, but Tabasco was old and horse smart. He didn’t get within hoof reach of equines he didn’t know. I named my pup Lucky. I too
k him everywhere with me, just as Tuck did Tabasco. One afternoon Beauty kicked Lucky in the head and killed him. He wasn’t so lucky. He got me for an owner.”
Tanner’s heart twisted. “Oh, Crystal.”
She fixed him with a tear-filled gaze. “Tuck said it wasn’t my fault. Beauty’s former owners should have warned him. But the truth is that any horse may kick. A responsible dog owner trains a puppy to stay back and respect a horse’s personal space.”
“You were just a kid,” he protested, but it was as if she hadn’t heard him.
“About two months later, I was exercising Beauty. I didn’t hold her to blame for killing my puppy. I knew it had been my fault. It’s important for you to know I wasn’t angry with her. I was just riding her around the pasture. I wasn’t even running her. She stepped in a chuckhole and broke her front leg. Tuck had to put her down. Again, he said it wasn’t my fault, but I hadn’t walked that area to check for holes before I rode Beauty there. Good horsemen check.” Her mouth quivered at the corners. “Since that day, with the exception of Tuck, I’ve never let myself love anyone or anything. Until I met you.” One of her eyelids started to twitch, and she looked away. “That’s not turning out well. Tell me I’m not the key factor in these situations, Tanner. Tell me it wasn’t due to my decision that Tori was out in the woods tonight.”
Tanner felt like he’d fallen down an elevator shaft and left his stomach several floors up. How the hell could he deal with this? He groped for something reassuring to say. “Crystal, you made the best decision you could in the moment.”
“And it was the wrong one. Rip may die before morning.” She held up her hands in silent appeal. Then she said, “If Tori has No Name, please let her keep him. I don’t want him anywhere near me.”
“No Name loves you, not Tori.”
“He’ll grow to love Tori. She’s a precious little girl, and No Name will be safe with her.”
“That’s nuts. In fact, every word you’ve said since I got back is nuts.”
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