Читать книгу A Ranch for His Family - Hope Navarre - Страница 13

CHAPTER FOUR

ROBYN SAW ELLIE Bryant was crying as she hurried out of the drugstore, and her annoyance at Neal grew by leaps and bounds. Apparently, nothing she’d said had gotten through his thick head. He followed his mother out of the store a few moments later, and they drove away.

The truck door opened and Robyn’s mother stuck her head in. “All done. What shall we do next?” Her mother’s chipper voice rang hollow.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“I can’t believe what a relief it is to have finally done this.”

“I’m glad.” She would try to be supportive for her mother’s sake.

“I need to run into the drugstore for a minute. Then I’ll be ready to go.”

“I’ve got the whole day off, so take your time. Tell you what, let’s have lunch at the Hayward House, my treat.”

“Sounds great.”

Her mother entered the store, and Robyn turned up the radio to listen to her favorite country song and hum along. A few minutes later, her cell phone rang. Frowning, she pulled her phone from her purse. She’d taken Chance to a sitter today, something she didn’t normally do. She hated leaving him with anyone but her mother. She’d given the sitter this number.

Her feeling of alarm vanished as soon as she saw the caller ID. She recognized the voice on the other end. It was the hospital operator.

“I’m glad I got you, Robyn. Dr. Cain needs you to come in right away.”

On her day off? What could be so important? “What’s going on?”

“It’s Mildred Eldrich, one of our deaf patients. She’s had a stroke. We need your help to communicate with her.”

Robyn saw her mother walk out of the drugstore. “All right, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She snapped the phone closed as her mother climbed into the truck.

“Who was that?” Martha asked.

“The hospital. Something has come up and they need me.”

Martha scowled. “Can’t they get along without you for one day? I declare, that place will suck the life out of you if you let it.”

“They need someone who can sign for a deaf patient.”

“Oh, well, that’s different. If it’s not too much trouble, can we run by the Bryant ranch on our way home?”

She shot her mother a suspicious look. “Why?”

“The pharmacist said Ellie came in to get a prescription refilled, but then she left without it. It’s for her high blood pressure. He’s afraid she’ll run out. I told him we could drop it off on our way home. I left a message on her machine so she doesn’t turn around and drive back in.”

Robyn had seen Ellie in tears as she’d left the store. It wasn’t surprising that she’d forgotten her medicine. Having Neal Bryant for a son would be more than enough to raise any sane woman’s blood pressure.

“Sure. We can drop it off after lunch.”

“Well, if you’re going to the hospital, I’m going shopping. The dress store is having a sale. Give me a call when you’re done at the hospital and I’ll meet you at the restaurant.” She opened the truck door and hopped out.

“See you then.”

A few minutes later, Robyn entered the Hill County Hospital through the front doors. After checking to find which room Mrs. Eldrich was in, Robyn made her way down the hall, pushed open the door of 106 and entered quietly.

Dr. Cain sat beside the bed of the small, elderly woman and wrote on a pad with a blue marker. He held the message up for her to read, but she pushed it away with her left hand and moaned softly. He bowed his head a moment, and then he reached out and laid his hand gently over hers. “That’s okay, Mrs. Eldrich, we can try again later.”

Robyn said, “Hello. What can I do to help?”

He glanced up and smiled as she moved to stand beside him. “Am I glad to see you.”

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Mrs. Eldrich has suffered a stroke that has paralyzed her right side. She won’t answer any of my questions and I can’t tell why. The nurse from the care home says she hasn’t had any trouble reading lips or writing until this morning.”

“Has she tried writing with her left hand?”

“She’s tried, but I can’t make out any of it.”

Robyn sat on the bed and touched the woman’s shoulder.

Mrs. Eldrich opened her eyes, but she seemed to have trouble focusing. Robyn began to sign, but the woman closed her eyes and tossed restlessly in the bed. Her left hand twisted the covers into a tight wad and then slowly she began shaping letters.

“What is she saying?” he asked.

“She says, ‘See half.’”

“See half of what?”

Robyn glanced at his perplexed face. “I think she means she can only see half of everything.”

Comprehension dawned on his face. “Hemiopia. No wonder she can’t read lips or my writing. She has vision only in the left half of each eye. Why didn’t I think of that? Ask her if she’s in pain. Man, I’m glad you showed up.”

They spent the next hour assessing Mrs. Eldrich. Robyn spelled the questions slowly on the woman’s hand, letting her feel each letter, and waited as she spelled her answers slowly with her left hand in return. Finally, Dr. Cain called a halt.

“Tell her to rest now. I’ll have the nurse bring her something to help her sleep.”

Together, they left the room. Out in the hall, he paused. “Thanks for coming in. I don’t know how I would have managed without you.”

“No problem. I was already in town. I have an idea how the rest of the staff can communicate with Mrs. Eldrich.”

“How?”

“We could use a raised alphabet board. We have one for the children to play with in the lobby. Mrs. Eldrich could feel the letters to spell words for the staff, and the staff could guide her hand to each letter to spell a reply. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it might work.”

He smiled and started down the hall. “That sounds like a great idea. You amaze me. Did they teach you to be this creative in nursing school?”

She fell into step beside him. “Sure. Don’t doctors have to take Make Do with What You’ve Got 101?”

He shook his head. “I don’t remember it. I may have cut class that day.”

She grinned. “You must have missed it when you were in Basic Bad Handwriting.”

“Hey, my handwriting isn’t that bad. Is it?”

“For a doctor or for a preschooler?”

“Ouch! I don’t think I deserved that.”

“Maybe not,” she conceded.

He stopped beside the nursing station and faced her. His expression grew serious. “My handwriting may be bad, but my eyesight’s not. I know a good nurse when I see one.”

Surprised, she said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Have you ever thought about going on with your training, maybe into advanced practice, like a family-medicine nurse practitioner?”

“Sure, someday I’d love to, but I can’t afford to go back to school anytime soon.”

The additional years of education to become a family-medicine nurse practitioner would allow her to diagnose and treat patients without the constant supervision of a physician. She would be able to perform prenatal, well-child, and adult checkups, even diagnose and manage minor traumas like suturing cuts and splinting broken bones, things she wasn’t allowed by law to do as a registered nurse. Her ability to make treatment decisions, order tests and write prescriptions would free up the physicians to concentrate on more complex diseases and conditions. An NP would be a welcome asset to a rural hospital already struggling with a shortage of doctors, but education costs money.

“Didn’t you get the application for the NP scholarships I gave to the nursing supervisor?”

“You did that?” she asked in amazement. She’d only worked with him for a few short months.

“Yes. Did you fill it out?”

She hadn’t, but she hadn’t thrown it away, either. It lay in the top drawer of her desk, tempting her with its possibilities, even though she knew she couldn’t send it. Not now, not with her family losing the ranch.

Now more than ever, they’d need a steady income until the ranch sold, and who knew how long that would take? But she wasn’t about to discuss her financial problems with him. “I like what I’m doing, and I’m needed here.”

“Think about it. You have a gift for medicine, and I’d hate to see it go to waste.”

“Thank you, but I hardly think my talent is going to waste here. You needed me today.”

He flipped open the chart. “Indeed I did. I’ll just scribble a few illegible orders here.”

She grinned. “Sorry about the handwriting crack.”

“You can make it up to me.”

“And how would I do that?”

He closed the chart and smiled at her. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

His request caught her totally off guard. Quickly, she glanced around to see who might have overheard his offer, but the nursing station was deserted. She stared at his friendly, handsome face and blurted out, “I don’t know what to say.”

His bright blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “How about, ‘Yes, Adam, I’d love to have dinner with you. I thought you would never ask.’”

She clasped her arms across her middle and stared at the floor. “I can’t.”

“Tomorrow night?” he asked hopefully.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He was silent a long moment. When she glanced at him, his kind smile made her regret her hasty decision. “You didn’t upset me. You just surprised me.”

“You realize you are condemning me to another night of cafeteria food, don’t you?”

Her smile returned. “If that is a bid for sympathy, you’ll have to do better. The food here is excellent.”

He chuckled and put the chart back into the wire rack. “Yes, it is. The coconut-cream pie is the main reason I moonlight here. So why won’t you have dinner with me? Do you avoid doctors in general, or are you involved with someone?”

“I don’t think it would be a good idea since we have to work together. It might create a problem.”

“I see. I thought maybe you and your bull rider were trying to work things out.”

“Neal?” she asked in surprise. “What gave you that idea?”

“I saw your face when they brought him in. I’d say there are still some pretty strong feelings on your part.”

“Well, you would be wrong. That was over a long time ago,” she snapped. She refused to accept there was anything left of her former feelings for Neal except the remnants of an adolescent fantasy.

Adam held up both hands. “Whoa. I’m sorry I said anything.”

Her protest had been too sharp. She forced a smile to her stiff lips. “You need to understand that his mother and mine are best friends. They’ve been our neighbors all my life. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard the phrase, ‘You and Neal should get back together.’ It’s kind of a sore subject with me.”

He nodded solemnly. “Gabriella Prichard.”

She frowned. “Who?”

“Gabriella Prichard. That’s the woman my mother wants me to marry. I call her Crabby Gabby. Not to her face, of course. She feels the same about me. Our mothers are the best of friends. They throw us together at every opportunity. Neither of them will accept the idea that Gabby and I aren’t right for each other.”

Robyn had to laugh at his glum expression. “I know how hard that can be.”

He brightened and flashed an impish grin. “It seems you and I have quite a bit in common.”

“Maybe,” she admitted cautiously.

“If you won’t go out with me because we work together, I can always stop working here. Say the word.”

“That’s blackmail. You know we need you.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, but is it effective blackmail?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. It had been a long time since a man had showed interest in her as a woman. It gave her ego a much-needed boost. She didn’t believe for a minute that it was anything more than Adam’s boredom at being stuck in a small town. So what would it hurt to go out and have a little fun? Besides, it might take her mind off a certain irritating cowboy.

“I’ll think about it,” she conceded.

* * *

NEAL STEPPED OUT of the car as soon as his mother pulled to a stop in the drive, but he made no move toward the house. Restlessness rippled through him. He didn’t want to go inside. He’d spent too much time indoors. He was going stir-crazy.

“Are you coming?” his mother asked, heading to the front door.

“I think I’ll take a walk down to the barns.”

She nodded and disappeared inside the house.

She was probably glad to get him out from underfoot. He hadn’t been the best of company. He had managed to apologize for upsetting her on the way home, but she was still dead set against his returning to the rodeo.

After crossing the ranch yard to the first of two large red barns, he stepped into the welcoming dimness. The smell of animals, hay and oiled leather mingled with the faint scent of dust. He smiled. Now he really felt like he was home. He and his brother, Jake, had practically lived in the barns.

Together, they had raised and trained some pretty good cow ponies. While Neal had drifted away to the rodeo, Jake had continued breeding quarter horses and training them for roping and cutting. His nearby ranch, the Flying JB, was renowned for producing quality stock horses.

Down the wide front aisle of the barn, four horses looked over their stalls and whinnied. Neal’s mother maintained an expansive cattle ranch with the help of a few hired men. Like nearly all Flint Hills ranchers, she still used horses to work cattle. ATVs were useful, but they couldn’t learn to read which way a calf was going to break from the herd the way a good cow pony could.

Neal stopped at the first stall. He drew a hand down the horse’s silky neck. “Think I came in here to feed you? No such luck, honey. You must be one of Jake’s.”

The sorrel mare nodded her head as if in agreement.

Neal grinned. “I thought so. He’s not the only one that can spot a good horse.”

He moved past them to where his saddle and his rigging rested on worn sawhorses at the end of the aisle. They had been cleaned and oiled by his brother, no doubt.

He checked over his bull-riding rig carefully, as much from habit as anything else, and slipped his hand into the handle. Suddenly he was trapped in the rope, dangling from the bull’s side. The room tilted as sweat broke out on his forehead.

He yanked his hand away. Taking a step back, he sucked in a heavy breath to slow his racing heart. As much as he wanted to believe it had been a moment of dizziness caused by his headache, he knew it wasn’t. It was pure and simple fear.

One of the horses whinnied again. Neal focused on the animal. Maybe a horseback ride was what he needed.

Sure. Once he got back in the saddle, a ride would blow the cobwebs from his mind.

If he could even stay upright on a horse. Sometimes he had trouble just standing.

He looked around. He was alone. Now was as good a time as any to find out if he could do it. When there wouldn’t be any witnesses if he fell off.

He saddled the mare and led her outside. Dizziness made him sway when he swung up into the saddle, but he stayed on. Once his head stopped reeling, he sat up straight. It felt good to be back on a horse, even if it did make his ribs ache.

Without a word to anyone, he turned his mount and rode out into the wide, rolling grasslands of the Flint Hills with one special destination in mind.

* * *

ROBYN MULLED OVER Adam’s surprising offer as she and her mother ate lunch at the Hayward House restaurant, but she didn’t mention it. Later, as she drove the familiar miles back to the ranch, her mother sat beside her and rambled about the things that needed doing around the ranch before it could be sold. Her monologue didn’t require a reply, so Robyn was free to let her mind drift.

If nothing else, Adam had given her self-esteem a nice lift. He not only wanted to take her out, but he was the one who’d submitted her name for the scholarship. It was nice to have her skills noticed and appreciated. He thought she was a good nurse. Well, she was, and she’d be a fine nurse practitioner, too. Someday.

At the thought, her happy mood faded. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t go after her NP now. That dream would have to wait, but she refused to accept that she wouldn’t reach it. One of her dreams had to come true.

Adam’s flattery aside, the real question remained. Should she go out with him? The prospect was tempting. He was fun to be around, very good-looking and nice...for a doctor.

She glanced at her mother. Maybe going out with Adam would prove to some people once and for all that she wasn’t waiting for Neal to drift back into her life and sweep her away.

She could do better than a bacon-brained, two-timing, stubborn, ill-tempered rodeo cowboy.

“Robyn, you missed the turnoff! We were going to stop and give Ellie her prescription, remember?” Her mother’s voice snapped Robyn back to the present.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I forgot.”

Turning the truck around on the narrow highway, she drove back and turned into the Bryants’ half-mile-long gravel lane. As they pulled into the ranch yard, she saw Ellie beside the corral, trying to catch a loose horse. The sorrel mare paced wide-eyed with her head high and trailing the reins. Her chest was bathed in lathered sweat and flecks of foam. Ellie gave up trying to catch her and hurried to the truck.

“Oh, thank goodness. You have to help me find him.”

Robyn stepped out of the truck. “Find who? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Neal. He rode out hours ago, and his horse just came in without him.”