by Sassie Lewis
When the boys came in for dinner, asking where their dad was, Tia just shrugged. It wasn’t her business to tell them.
Axton called her later that night, and she told him about what had happened. All he said was it about time that his brother moved on. She didn’t mention the incident with Jimmy, even though she desperately wanted to. She figured that it was something to tell him when he was standing in front of her, not when he was so far away.
He told her he should be home Friday sometime—two days before her birthday—and he couldn’t wait to see her. She could hear in his voice that he was missing her just as much as she was missing him. He told her not to expect a call tomorrow as they might not get cell service where they were headed. Apparently something had happened to the satellite phone, so they only had their cells. After giving each other their love, she went to sleep dreaming about Ax holding her in his arms and making love to her.
Chapter 14
Fucking hell, he was suppose to be home already. The bad luck from the ranch had followed Axton to Tennessee.
After finally arriving late Sunday night they had checked into a cheap hotel to grab a couple hours sleep. Which would have been fine, if the room had walls thicker than paper. Apparently Joe and ‘ride-me’ slut in the room next door to them had no consideration for those in the surrounding rooms.
It didn’t help listening to some woman screaming out Joe’s name the whole night, reminding him of the way Tia called out his when he was buried balls deep inside of her. So he had laid there with a stiff cock all night, thinking about Tia and not being able to do anything about it, seeing as how Luke was asleep in the bed right beside him.
The next morning, with little sleep, they’d headed out to the stables holding the stallions. He left Luke to look over the horses and get them ready for transport while he headed into town to get the present he had ordered for Tia. They’d rushed it and it cost him a pretty penny to have it ready on time, but he couldn’t wait to see it on her. When he’d first ordered it, he’d had about a minute of doubt, wondering if he was giving her the right thing. With all the tension between him and Jack, this was only going to add to it. But when he thought about not having her in his life, both his stomach and heart began to ache. He couldn’t picture his future without Tia in it.
Once they had hit the road heading back home, they’d had one problem after another. First, Luke had left the satellite phone in the back with the horses. By the time he realized what he’d done, one of the stallions had already stomped all over it. Add in a little shit—literally—and the thing was now useless. That night they pulled into the hotel where they’d booked a room, only to discover they weren’t able to get one. They were three days late, and there was some kind of festival taking place in town, so the hotel was booked solid. At least the owner was kind enough to let Ax and Ethan stable the horses over night, allowing the animals to stretch their legs, and gave them the chance to give the beasts a good rub down.
After an uncomfortable night sleeping in the back of the trailer that Ax had mucked out better than he had ever done before, the owner again showed his country hospitality and offered them both the use of his personal shower. Thank Christ. He didn’t think he would be able to sit in the truck for another eight hours with his own stench, let alone combined with Luke’s.
The day before they were suppose to arrive home, the truck broke down in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere’s-ville, and of course, there was no cell service there.
After standing on the side of the road for nearly two hours, he considered riding one of the stallions out of there, but seeing as he was yet to ride either of them, he didn’t think that was a good idea. It was different riding an unknown horse with a saddle than bareback. At least with a saddle you had something to grip onto. Apart from the lead lines there was no other riding gear in the truck, so he’d have to go bareback. And with his luck at the moment he was likely to get bucked off, break his leg or neck, and it would take even longer for him to get home to Tia.
As the idea of riding out started to have more merit—damn the consequences—an elderly couple drove past. Being good country folk, they’d offered them a lift. He’d sent Luke with them as he waited with the horses, taking them out one at a time to give them a stretch.
He hadn’t spoken to Tia that day, which wasn’t helping his foul mood. God, he missed her! The next time he had to go away for any length of time, any time at all really, he was taking her with him. He checked the pocket of his jeans to make sure her present was still there.
It took Luke four hours to return with a tow truck. After being towed to the nearest town, they got the horses settled in the garage owner’s small pasture. While he was looking the truck over, Ax’s mood got progressively worse. When the mechanic told them that the alternator needed to be replaced, and he wouldn’t be able to get a new one until the morning, then he needed another four hours to change it over, Axton saw red.
He didn’t care that it was a rental and he’d be paying for something he didn’t own to be repaired. He wanted to get the fuck home. Axton made arrangements with the mechanic to take care of the truck and his horses—apparently his little girl loved the beasts and had to get rid of the one she’d had, so she was as pleased as punch to be looking after the two now in their pasture. Then they found a small B-and-B to check into.
He called Tia from the payphone in the entrance room. Ax needed to hear her voice and let her know they would be late getting home. The connection was shit. He tried to make sure she had understood him, but he still wasn’t sure about that. But before Ax could say anything further the line went dead.
It was now Saturday and they wouldn’t make it home tonight. It was Tia’s birthday tomorrow and all his plans had gone down the toilet. If things stayed the way they were going, they’d be lucky to make it home mid-morning tomorrow. When he mentioned to Luke that he wanted to drive through the night, Luke was all for it. Ax wanted to make sure the horses would be okay, and Luke told him if they stopped every couple of hours they should be fine.
Chapter 15
It was Tia’s birthday, and she woke up depressed. Why change things now? She’d been feeling this way for days, so what made her think that just because it was her birthday things would change? If anything, she felt worse than she had all week. Axton wasn’t home yet, and since Wednesday she’d spoken to him once. The connection had been terrible, and the only thing she could make out was something was broken on the truck and they would be home late.
So there she was sitting in her room not wanting to go downstairs. She’d have to pretend that she was excited over the presents they would surely give her. But the only thing she wanted was for Axton to be home and in her arms.
She would also have to witness Jack and Leonie being all lovey-dovey. Since they’d worked out their problems and told the boys on Thursday, whenever she now saw them together they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Normally, that would have been fine, but not when she didn’t have her man there to cuddle up against.
As she was getting ready to walk out of her room, trying to plaster a smile on her face, the phone rang. Tia didn’t think it was physically possible to fly, but she was pretty sure that’s what she did, landing face first on her bed and snatching her phone off the bedside table. It was Ax’s ringtone—he was finally calling her.
“Happy birthday, baby.” He sounded so tired.
“God, I miss you. When are you going to be home?” The demanding tone in her voice must have been what made him laugh.
“We’re at a diner about an hour outside of Mason, so we should be home in around four hours. I wish I was there with you. I’m never going away without you coming with me again. Ever.”
“I’m in total agreement. This has been the longest week of my life. The chick with a brain, who can normally do a million things at once, has spent the last week thinking about only one thing. You.”
“Same here, baby. Well, not that I can… Ah, you know what I mean. I
haven’t stopped thinking about you either.”
Tia laughed her first real laugh of the week.
“When I get home and have unloaded the horses, I need a quick shower, then I want you to come up to my place so I can give you your birthday present. Okay?”
“That sounds great. Are you going to give me a clue about what you got me? Although you in a big bow... No, change that. You on your bed naked except for your boots and a hat. Yeah, that works for me.”
“Don’t say shit like that at the moment, Tia. I have to sit in a truck with Luke for another couple of hours. Crap! Now I’ve got a stiff cock. Come up to the house about one, and I’ll give you two presents. Don’t eat. We’ll cook something.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“Love you too, Tia. See you in a couple of hours.” He hung up the phone.
With a real smile on her face this time, she was ready to face the rest of the family and get presents. Yee-haw! You are never too old to get presents.
A big breakfast with Uncle Jack, Leonie, Rick, Tiny, and Ethan had her sitting back in her chair. She felt a little ill, but when Leonie handed over the first present she forgot about her tummy churning, and opened them with the exuberance of a ten year old.
Leonie had bought her a gift certificate to the day spa in Mason. Rick had given her a new saddle for Thunder. Tiny, a hand-carved wooden sculpture he’d picked up for her while he was in Hawaii. And Ethan had bought her a weekend away at a couple’s retreat in Houston.
Uncle Jack gave Ethan a funny look when she opened his present. “Why would you give her that?”
Ethan just said, “It’s good for a year. She could meet someone and take them.”
To distract him from asking more questions, she asked where his present was, batting her eyelashes at him, causing him to laugh.
“Come sit by me, sunshine.” There was a bit of shuffling around so she could do as he bade. When she was settled in her new seat, he handed her a big tube, inside were what looked to be blueprints.
“It’s lovely, Uncle Jack. But. Umm. What am I looking at?” It appeared to be a small building, but Tia wasn’t sure.
He laughed at her. “Well, I did tell you that I was going to build you your own lab. They start building next month. That gives you enough time to make any changes that you need. I talked to that doctor guy you mention from Mason, and he helped me with the initial specifications.”
Tia was speechless. Yes, he had mentioned it, but she didn’t think it would happen this quickly.
“Oh, and this is for you to start ordering your equipment.”
Tia just sat there staring at the lined picture of a building, that would soon be her lab, and the little black credit card beside it. It wasn’t until a big drop of water landed on the paper that she realized she was crying, breaking her from her silent stupor.
Throwing herself into his arms, she kissed him all over his handsome face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“You’re more than welcome, sunshine. Thank you for being part of our lives.”
“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” she said, wiping the tears from her face and smiling.
“You are so spoilt, smelly butt,” Rick said as he kissed her on the head. “I have things to do, so I’ll see y’all at dinner.”
Just then the house phone rang, and Rick answered it on his way past. She knew who it was when he asked, “What’d you want, Barbie?”
She snatched the phone out of his hand before they could start bickering at each other. Tia slapped him on the back as he walked away. She spent the next half hour talking to Shelley. No sooner did she hang up than the phone rang again. This time it was Mara. For over an hour she fielded calls from the aunts, uncles, and cousins, all wanting to wish her a happy birthday.
By eleven-thirty she was starting to feel a little restless. After her last phone call, the wait for Axton to get home seemed to be a perpetual loop of minutes. There may be only sixty seconds in each minute, and sixty microseconds in each second, but each one of those seemed to take an eternity. After watching the clock tick away those endless microseconds, it was enough to drive her mad. She looked at the clock one last time to see that only another of those infinite minutes had passed. Tia decided it was time to get out of the house.
Changing into a pair of jeans, she let Leonie know that she was going for a ride on Thunder. It was as good a time as any to break in her new saddle. An hour’s ride in a new saddle was about all her ass could take anyway.
It was another overly warm day, but the humidity hadn’t risen and the breeze blowing over her face would feel ten times better with a good-paced ride. Tia felt a little dizzy as she jumped onto Thunder’s back, but it passed as quickly as it came. Shaking her head to clear the fuzzy feeling, she rode out of the stable at a gallop.
* * * *
Ethan had just turned from talking to one of the hands near the stable when he saw a fully saddled Thunder heading his way. He looked around for Tia, thinking she must have just dismounted. He’d felt a bit bad about giving her his present, but it wasn’t his fault that Ax was late getting back and he figured… Well, he thought he should apologize.
Thunder trotted up to him and nuzzled his shoulder. He took hold of the reins and scratched the big beast’s muzzle.
“Where’s Tia, boy?” He hadn’t seen her yet, and that wasn’t like her. Thunder was Tia’s baby, and she would never allow him to roam around where vehicles frequented without being near.
“Trick!” he called to one of the younger ranch hands. “Hold Thunder for me for a minute.” Ethan ran up to the house to see if Tia had gotten waylaid.
A quick search of the area showed no signs of Tia. As Leonie was telling him that she had gone for a ride about half an hour ago his dad walked in.
They raced out to the barn, looking for the still missing Tia.
They found her in the north field. She didn’t seem to have any broken bones, but she did have a huge lump on her head, and when she had finally come to, she’d started vomiting. It was a much longer ride back to the truck as they had to keep stopping to allow Tia to vomit. Ethan held her in his lap on the back seat of his dad’s truck as they sped the whole way to Mason Memorial Hospital.
Chapter 16
Tia felt like shit. Her head hurt, and her stomach kept flipping over. She’d already vomited a few times, but the nauseous feeling wouldn’t stop. She wasn’t sure, but she thought it was Ethan who had found her. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened. Her last recollection was sitting astride Thunder, a wave of dizziness had come over her, then it was all a little fuzzy.
She’d had a concussion once before, but nothing like this. Her whole body ached and she couldn’t open her eyes. When one of the poor doctors had shined a light into them, she’d vomited all over him.
Eventually they moved her from the triage area to a private room, which she was grateful for. It was reasonably quiet and dark, unlike the emergency area. They—the McGraettys—were waiting for a doctor to come and see her, but again she couldn’t be sure if they’d already been, as she kept slipping in and out of consciousness. One minute she was vaguely aware of what was going on around her, the next time she would come to, she could tell time had passed.
A soft squeezing of her hand brought what little attention she had back into focus. “Hello, Tia. I’m Doctor Rolan,” a raspy, masculine voice whispered, but it sounded like he was screaming straight into her eardrum. She whimpered in pain. “Shh. I know your head hurts, but I need to ask you a few questions. I heard that you came off your horse? If that’s what happened, you can squeeze my hand if you can’t talk yet.”
Tia squeezed it.
“Good. Well, you have a nice-sized lump on your head, so we’re going to send you down for an x-ray to make sure that nothing cracked. I’ll also give you some medicine that will help with the nausea and pain.”
She squeezed his hand again before he let it go. Ethan asked him a few questions that she couldn�
�t hear as they were talking so softly.
“Oh! I forgot to ask. Standard procedure...is there any chance you could be pregnant, Tia?” His voice was louder, but still soft enough to not hurt her aching brain.
Before she could say anything Jack answered for her. “No.” Until he spoke she’d forgotten he was even there.
Her head was killing her, and she still couldn’t open her eyes. She knew Ethan was in the room, not only had she heard his voice a few times, but he also hadn’t let go of her hand since he had found her. She squeezed his hand to get his attention.
“What is it T’T?” he asked, leaning down close to her so she didn’t have to talk loudly, which she appreciated since the sound of her own swallowing was hurting her head.
“You. You…you need to tell the doctor.” She squeezed his hand again to try and get her meaning across. Her and Axton hadn’t been using any form of protection. And in all honesty, she had never once thought about it.
“Okay, sweetie. Is there anything else?” Ethan asked, bringing her thoughts back into focus.
“I...I had a dizzy spell when I first got on Thunder. But…it passed quickly. I think, I might have been dizzy again and that made me fall.” God, every word she said was painful.
Ethan let go of her hand, and she heard him tell the doctor that she’d been dizzy. The doctor said something about running some tests. Just as the doctor left, she heard Ethan tell them he was going out to make a call. She hoped he was telling the doctor that there was a possibility she could be pregnant. If she was, she didn’t want to take anything that could hurt the baby. Come to think of it, her period was due three days ago. With that thought Tia either passed out again or drifted off to sleep.
The next time she awoke it was to her uncle telling off some poor nurse. “Why haven’t you given her anything for the pain? She’s been lying there moaning in her sleep.”
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to quiet down. Loud noises are not going to help the young lady,” replied a matronly voice.