9781631052323ForeverKindofCowboySullivan

by Sandy Sullivan

  “I’ll be right there.”

  He jumped out of the bed, hopping around on one foot as he tried to put his legs into his jeans. This didn’t sound good. Accidents on the back roads of Bandera were bad. After he threw a shirt on, he slipped on his socks and boots before he made a beeline for the door to the lodge. His heart clenched. His mom had to be okay. She just had to be.

  The minute he went through the doors, he came to a sliding stop next to the crowd of his brothers to get the scoop. “What’s happened?”

  “Hang on. We are waiting for Joel and Mesa.”

  A moment later, the last brother came through the doors. “Tell us.”

  “Joey called a few minutes ago. Mom was hit head-on by a drunk driver. Right now, she’s on her way to the hospital in San Antonio by ambulance. She’s not conscious. They don’t know the extent of her injuries.”

  “What hospital?” Jeff rattled off the name of one of the biggest hospitals in the area. “I’m going,” Jeremiah said, spinning on his heels to rush to his truck.

  “Slow down, Jeremiah. I’m sure we all want to be there, but having the entire Young clan bombard their emergency room isn’t what is best for Mom.”

  “I said I’m going.”

  “All right, but I think it’s best if only a few of us go.” The boys all spoke up at once until Jeff raised his hand. “I know you all want to be there, but I think only three of us should go. Dad is already on his way behind the ambulance and Joey, so that would make four. I’ll stay here with Terri to make sure the ranch doesn’t fall apart. Jeremiah, you go.” He pointed to two other brothers. “Jackson, you and Jason go too. The rest of us will stay here. Make sure you call frequently with updates.”

  “Will do,” Jeremiah said, turning to the other two who would be going with him. “We should probably ride together so we don’t have all of our vehicles at the hospital.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jackson replied.

  A moment or two later, the three men climbed into Jeremiah’s truck to head to San Antonio. It would be a long ass drive without knowing what the hell was going on with their mother. How badly was she hurt? Jeff said she was unconscious. That wasn’t a good sign. He’d keep that thought to himself though. Talk amongst the three of them was sobering. They didn’t say much, watching the streetlights and empty buildings go by until they hit the interstate to take them into the big city. Luckily the hospital wasn’t that far and they made it there in record time as they pulled up into the emergency room parking lot.

  Jeremiah quickly called Jeff to let them know they’d made it safely. “Let’s hope Joey or Dad are out in the waiting room. I doubt they’ll let us back there.”

  “Right,” Jackson answered as they walked in through the double sliding doors.

  Joey stood off to the side with his back to the door, waiting.

  “Joey?” Jeremiah touched him on the shoulder.

  “Oh. Hey.”

  “How’s Mom?”

  “I don’t know. They haven’t told me anything. All I know is she regained consciousness for a few minutes when they put her in the ambulance, but Dad came out and told me she’d slipped back under by the time they got her here.”

  “Is Dad back there with her?”

  “Yeah.” Joey pulled his hat off and raked his fingers through his hair.

  He wasn’t the type to get upset normally, but this had hit them all in the gut. Their mother was the rock of the family. Having her hurt meant someone should die. “Where is the guy who hit her?”

  “He’s in jail.”

  “I would hope so.”

  “I should have stopped him, guys. He was drunk at The Dusty Boot. Drinking hard. I should have taken his keys or something.” Joey paced back and forth in front of the door.

  “Was it someone we know?”

  “I don’t think so. I didn’t know him before tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  Joey shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans as he exhaled forcibly. “His sister was at the bar trying to get him to go home. He’d had a few beers. Not too many, but we don’t know how much he was drinking before she got there.” He rocked back on his heels. “I danced with her. In the meantime, he took off. She and I went to find him if we could. We saw the fire trucks take off from the station and followed them. Came up on the scene to realize it was a Thunder Ridge truck. I didn’t know Mom was behind the wheel. When they cut her out, she was breathing but not conscious. She regained consciousness while we were there. Asked a few questions and said her leg hurt. When they put her in the ambulance she was awake, but apparently on the way to the hospital, she lost consciousness again according to Dad. They are doing some tests now to see what’s wrong.”

  Jeremiah clapped Joey on the shoulder. “This isn’t your fault, Joe. You couldn’t have known he would hit someone. You did what you could do to get him off the road.”

  “It wasn’t enough, Jeremiah. What if Mom dies?”

  “She’s not going to die!” Jackson spoke up for the first time. “Do you hear me? She’s not going to die!”

  “Easy, Jackson,” Jeremiah said as he placed his hands on Jackson’s shoulders. “She’ll be okay. She has to be.”

  Their father came through the double doors, walking toward them.

  “Any news?” Joey asked.

  “She’s regained consciousness, but doesn’t remember anything. They’re taking her back for a CAT scan now to see what’s up. She has a concussion at least, but they don’t know the extent of it right now. They’re concerned with bleeding on the brain. Her leg is broken at the femur so she’ll be laid up for a while. They’ll probably be keeping her here for a few days. She may need surgery on her leg. They’re more concerned with her head at the moment.” A tear rolled down their dad’s cheek. “I can’t lose her, boys.”

  “She isn’t going anywhere, Dad. Trust in God. He has her in His hands now.” Jeremiah hugged his dad and then stepped back to see tears rolling down his cheeks. It was difficult to see his dad so broken. They would all be in a world of hurt should anything happen to their mom.

  “I know, but it’s hard to see her like this. She’s so confused.”

  “Does she know who you are?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then she isn’t that confused.”

  James smiled. “After being together for forty years, I would hope she knew who I was.”

  The sad look in his dad’s eyes hurt Jeremiah’s heart. He knew how much in love his parents were. Someday, he wanted the same kind of love, a lifetime wouldn’t be long enough.

  Chapter Ten

  The doctor came out of the double doors. “Mr. Young?”

  “Yes?” his father answered.

  “We need to discuss your wife’s care.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “She has some bleeding on the brain from the accident. Her brain is swelling inside her head.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “She’ll need to be admitted into intensive care so we can watch her closely. We’re hoping the swelling will reduce on its own, but for now there isn’t much we can do. If the swelling gets too bad, we’ll have to do surgery.”

  “Holy shit.” Jeremiah’s breaths came out short and choppy through his nose and out through his mouth as he tried to control it. Panicking wouldn’t help the situation. “Surgery?”

  The doctor shoved his hands into the pocket of his lab coat. “Only if it gets bad. If the bleeding stops and the swelling goes down on its own, she’ll be fine. Right now, we’re monitoring her closely. We’ll keep her sedated to let her brain heal. We’ve put a breathing tube down her throat to make sure she has enough oxygen and to keep her sedated.”

  The boys gasped.

  “It’s only precautionary at this point. She could breathe on her own, but we want to make sure the swelling goes down. This will protect her airway while we do that. So far, everything looks good. The bleeding is in some small vessels so they will likely resolve on thei
r own.”

  “What about her leg?”

  “She’ll need surgery on it for a repair. We’ve stabilized it, but we don’t want to do surgery until the issue with the bleeding is controlled. A couple of days with the break won’t hurt anything. We’ve contacted our orthopedic surgeon to take a look at her x-rays. He’s in complete agreement.”

  Jeremiah felt like his world had crumbled around him. His mother was hurt. His father was a mess. What else could go wrong?

  “If you don’t have any further questions, I’ll leave you alone. We’ll be transferring her to intensive care in a few moments. Then let you know what room shortly.” The doctor put his hand on James’ shoulder. “She’ll be okay, Mr. Young. Have faith.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  When the doctor left them alone, the three boys each took turns hugging their father. “She’ll be okay, Dad. The doctor said so.”

  “God, I hope so. I can’t lose her, Jeremiah. She’s my life.”

  “I know.” His cell phone jingled in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he saw it was Jeff. “Hey.”

  “What’s up with Mom? You didn’t call.”

  “We just talked to the doctor, Jeff. Geez, give me a minute.” He told his brothers and his father he would fill Jeff in as he walked away so he could hear. After he gave his brother the report of what the doctor said, he closed the phone and moved back to be with his father. When the nurse came out to tell them what room they had moved his mother to, his father excused himself to go to the intensive care unit as they wouldn’t let them all in at once. He told them he would come back out as soon as he talked to the nurse to check on Nina.

  The boys took seats in the waiting room as they waited for news.

  “She’ll be fine. She has to be.” Joey leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “I want to kill the guy who did this. It’s a good thing he’s in jail.”

  “Me too,” Jackson replied. “I don’t see how you didn’t kill him right there at the accident scene.”

  “Trust me. If the cops hadn’t already had him in handcuffs, I would have. He was belligerent and self-righteous even though he was being arrested for drunk driving. I feel bad for his sister.”

  “Was it the same girl who got dumped on the floor?” Jackson asked.

  “Yeah. The one I was talking to at The Dusty Boot.”

  “When you two left, I left too. I took a cab home since I’d had a bit to drink. I must have been right in front of the accident on the road.”

  “Probably. We hit a couple of other bars looking for him before the fire truck peeled out of the fire house headed for the accident.”

  “I was in my room when Jeff called,” Jeremiah added. “I’d just gone to bed not too long before that.”

  “I wonder if we should go on home. There isn’t much we can do here.” Jason adjusted his hat on his head after he’d raked his fingers through his hair.

  “I want to see Mom first,” Jeremiah answered, with a resounding yeah from the rest of the group. “I hope Dad comes back out soon.”

  With each brother lost in their own thoughts, Jeremiah couldn’t help but compare the four of them. They all had their hang-ups and trials as life went on around them.

  Jason had Peyton now. They seemed happy. They hadn’t been together long. He hoped his brother enjoyed married life. He’d been kind of against it for a while.

  Jackson didn’t have a girl and didn’t seem to be worried about finding anyone. He did his part on the ranch, but he seemed really interested in the history of the land more so than the rest of them. Jeremiah knew he’d been doing a lot of digging into the past lately.

  Joey did his own thing with the horses. He was kind of tied up with the neighbor girl, although at eighteen she seemed kind of young for him. He’d been hot for her for a few years. Jeremiah hoped he didn’t get into trouble with hanging around her. Her daddy seemed kind of crazy.

  And then there were his issues with Callie lately. He needed to talk to her, but his mom came first. It would have to wait until Nina was better. He just hoped he’d have the time to straighten things out before all hell broke loose or she found someone else. He couldn’t handle that if she did.

  “Hey, Jeremiah. I saw Callie with Craig tonight at the bar.” Joey sat back in the chair with his legs crossed at the ankle.

  “And?”

  “She didn’t seem happy.”

  “No?”

  “When are you going to go after that girl?”

  “What the hell is it to you?”

  “Because if you don’t pull your head out of your ass, you’re gonna lose her.”

  “I plan on talking to her.”

  “Talking isn’t going to get shit done with her. She needs a man to take control.”

  He narrowed his gaze on his brother, thinking about the conversation at hand. “How would you know?”

  “I talked to her. She wants you, not Craig.”

  “I talked to her tonight too. She basically told me to eat shit and die.”

  “She was just mad. She’s upset because you’ve been giving her the cold shoulder treatment, or so she thinks.”

  “No I haven’t! I’ve been trying to tell her she belongs to me.”

  “Somehow I don’t think Callie is the type of woman to be told what to do,” Jason added his two cents. “She seems pretty strong-willed. She reminds me a lot of Peyton.”

  “Yeah, she does,” Jeremiah replied. “She doesn’t like me giving her orders.”

  “Have you had sex with her already?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And?”

  “It was mind-blowing. We’re good together, but I have to make her see we need each other, we complement each other in our personalities. She’s a great woman.” Jeremiah sat forward. “Did you know she volunteers a lot at the nursing home?”

  “Really?”

  “So what is the problem here?” Joey asked. “As I see it, you tell her you want her, she drops everything to be with you. Done deal.”

  Jeremiah laughed so hard, he hurt as he doubled over. “Yeah, somehow that isn’t going to work with Callie.”

  “It didn’t work with Peyton either. She’s very headstrong.”

  “Did you know she’s become good friends with Mandy?” Jeremiah asked. “In turn I would think that makes her pretty good friends with Peyton. Could be bad news if they got into too much trouble together.”

  “I’ll talk to Peyton.”

  “Yeah, you do that, bro.” Joey laughed. “If I know Peyton at all, she’ll tell you to stick it up your ass.”

  The boys shared a laugh at Jason’s expense as he glanced at his phone. “I’m going to call my wife.”

  Jeremiah thought about it for a moment before he asked, “Did Callie leave with Craig?”

  “No.”

  “She didn’t, huh?” He smiled. Maybe things were looking up for him after all. Jeremiah rubbed the fingers on his right hand, hoping to bring some feeling back into them. He was getting kind of worried that they kept going numb on him at odd times. Maybe had a pinched nerve or something. “I should call her.”

  “No, you should talk to her, but not by phone. This needs to be a face-to-face conversation,” Jackson said. “She’s important to you, yes?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then you need to make it a personal talk.”

  “You’re right.”

  Their father came out several minutes later. “The nurse said you can each go in one at a time. Don’t stay more than a few minutes.”

  “I’m assuming you are staying here, Dad?” Joey asked, getting to his feet.

  “Of course. I won’t leave her side if I don’t have to.”

  “We’ll hold down the ranch.” Jackson stood as well. “We should make this fast so Dad can go back in there.”

  “I knew I could count on you boys.”

  They each filed in one after the other until only Jeremiah was left. He wanted to see her, but then again, he didn’t. He wasn’t one for
hospitals, and to see his mother with a tube down her throat on a breathing machine messed with his brain. She’d been too lively and giving just a few short hours ago. What was she doing on the road at that late hour anyway? He’d have to ask his father when he had a chance.

  The moment he walked in, his heart sank. Tubes and wires strung to the box above her head monitored several things at once. He didn’t know what they meant. It frightened him a little. As long as they weren’t making loud beeping noises, he figured everything was okay. “Mom?”

  The nurse came in behind him. “Talk to her. She might be able to hear you even though she’s sedated.” She checked a few things, and then turned to leave. “You can stay five minutes.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He picked up his mother’s limp hand. “I’m sorry you are here, Mom. When we talked earlier, I never thought you’d be in this shape a few short hours later. You’ll be okay though. The doctor said you should be okay.” A tear rolled down his cheek, but he wiped it away angrily. “We’ll get the guy who did this to you. I promise. He’ll pay for hurting you.”

  Her fingers moved slightly.

  “Mom?”

  No more movement followed and he realized it was probably an involuntary reflex. It made him feel better though, hoping she could hear him so she would know they were all there for her no matter what it took to make her better.

  He squeezed her hand before he walked slowly back toward the door. After several peeks over his shoulder, he finally wandered out to the waiting room where his brothers stood talking softly. “Are we ready to go?”

  “Yeah,” Joey said. “You have your truck, Dad, so you should be good.”

  “I’ll be sleeping in the waiting room since they won’t let me stay in her room. If one of you could bring me some clean clothes at some point, I would appreciate it.” He glanced down at the mud on his boots. “I’ve been wearing these since this morning.”

  “Will do, Dad,” Jackson answered. “We’ll see you in a few hours. Some of the other boys might come in rather than us. I’m sure they’ll want to see Mom too.”