“All right. But can I call my husband first? He’s at work now, but I really think if you’re taking Ryan to the hospital, then he should know.”
He told her that was fine, he was going to make a couple of calls then he’d come back to talk to her. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, handing the little boy back to his mom without telling her what he knew. While she was calling her husband, he made his arrangements as well.
By the time they were at the hospital, he and Mac had everything lined up. They knew now what they were up against, and when little Ryan arrived, they started running the tests. Time would tell if he was wrong or not. And Boyd hoped that he was.
Jon was in his office when the reports came back. He’d been right. There was a small tumor just behind the little boy’s eye that was putting pressure on his brain as well as his eye. He had to be in a great deal of pain, Boyd thought, and sat in his chair as he explained what he’d found, and how, to Jon.
“I didn’t know what you’d get from me. I had an idea, but not entirely.” Boyd believed him and asked him why he was there. “Well, I came to see the baby and if there was anything I could do to help. Besides giving him any of my blood. It’s too strong, and I haven’t any idea what it might do to his little system. Mine isn’t cut, you see, but pure with whatever I am.”
“I understand.” But he had a feeling that he was missing something. “Mac is setting things up for him. All we need to do is talk to the parents, then Mac will operate. I’m going to assist.”
“Yes, I understand.” He stared at the young man when he stood up. “I wish that I could help you, Uncle Boyd, but you know that I can’t. As I said, my blood is too powerful by itself. Being that it’s not diluted or anything.”
“Jon, do you think this is going to be ongoing? Me only having to touch someone to tell what is wrong with them? It would be helpful for me and my patients, but also a little scary. What do you think?”
“I would imagine that it will always be there. When you touched Ryan, what did you feel? The first thing?” He told him that he felt a little freaked out. “No, before you found the tumor in his head, what did you feel when you touched him?”
He had to think about that for a minute. By the time he realized that he’d felt a calmness that he’d never felt around a patient before, his office door was closed and he was sitting there all by himself. Looking at the file on his desk, he wondered where it had come from. Then he remembered that the nurse had brought it to him before all this happened.
After the brief knock at the door, Mac came in to tell him what she’d been doing and was now ready to begin when he was. But he kept thinking about Jon’s comments. She asked him what was bothering him.
“I don’t know. Jon was here a few minutes ago, and he said some things that were sort of cryptic. I think he was trying to tell me something, but I can’t figure it out.” Boyd told Mac what he’d said and why he couldn’t help the little boy. “What do you suppose he meant?”
“I don’t know. But I should have warned you that his blood is really strong—I would have had you cut it before tasting it if I had been there with you.” He looked at her when she said that. “What?”
“Cut it. We have to cut it to save him.” She looked confused and he stood up, smiling. “He can’t tell us everything. Something about rules and not changing the future about things. But he said that he couldn’t help because his blood was much too strong.”
“Okay. But I’m still clueless about what you’re saying.”
All he did to explain was hand her Ryan’s file. He left her there, laughing at how long it had taken him to figure it out. He was going to hug that kid when he got home.
Just as he was going in the nursery from the office he’d been in, he heard her laughing. It had taken her longer than it had him, but he was all right with that. Like Reilly, he wasn’t going to be expecting to be one up on his family, but when he was, he was going to enjoy the moment.
He asked to examine Ryan once more. The staff was more than willing to help him as he’d been a long-time doctor there, since he’d been out of med school. Picking the baby up, he held him to him for a little while and then looked down at him.
Boyd could see the pain in his eyes. Ryan had dark circles under his little eyes, and his cheeks weren’t rosy like one would expect from a six-month-old. Mac joined him when he was ready to give him some of his blood, and she pulled out a scalpel that was still in the packaging.
“No point in taking chances at this point. How much are you going to give him?” Boyd told her that he’d only give him drops, then wait between each of them to see whether or not it was working. “Good idea. But I think we should take turns giving him some of each of our blood. I don’t know what it would do if he were to get too much of one of us.”
“I think you might be right.”
She slid the sharp instrument across his thumb after cleaning it with a swab, and he watched his blood come to the surface. Putting it in the little boy’s mouth, he wasn’t surprised that he suckled it like a bottle. When he thought that he’d had enough, he pulled away and watched him.
The change was noticeable right away. The pained look was still there, but his cheeks were no longer dried and chapped looking. This time it was Mac who held Ryan, and Boyd did the cutting. As soon as he closed his eyes, Boyd put his hand on his head and “looked” for the tumor again.
There was nothing there. Not even any pain that he’d felt the first time he’d touched Ryan’s head. As Mac held him, Boyd asked about giving him just a little more just to make sure that it wasn’t so small that he’d not felt it.
“I have a better idea. I think you should take his blood. That way, you can sort of look around once in a while to make sure.”
He told her that was an excellent idea and licked his little heel, and using another scalpel, he cut the tiniest little cut there and tasted his blood. He could now look at where the tumor had been and could see that it was completely gone.
After another hour of watching him, still running tests to make sure that nothing was missed, Boyd released Ryan to his parents, who were happy to see his color had returned to normal and his appetite had returned. All in all, Boyd thought it was a good day. He only hoped that there were more like this in the future.
~~~
Ronny wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He’d been in nice homes before—it was part of his job, he supposed. But this house was much nicer than he’d ever had the pleasure of being in. And it was a very understated wealth too. Not a shoved in your face, I have it all kind of place like he’d seen before.
He knew that Reilly was working on something for the family. He’d woken up to a strange room, and it took him a few seconds to realize where he was and what had happened. Since he’d been hurt, he was afraid now almost every time he closed his eyes. The feeling of falling would make him cry out when he woke. Ronny looked at the man who had been sitting with him since he woke.
“You need anything? I have to tell you, that daughter of yours, she’s a pistol, ain’t she?” He grinned and told Mr. McCullough that he was right about that. “No need to be formal around us. We’re family, you know. And maybe soon we can share a grandbaby or two, or a dozen.”
“She’s been living with me for a few months now. Necessity, really, but it’s been wonderful having her around. I never realized how lonely I was until she was there for me all the time. And she keeps me in line as well.” Rich said that his wife did the same thing, and his daughters-in-law didn’t cut him any slack either. “You’d think they’d have a little more respect for us, wouldn’t you? I mean, we’re older and a good deal smarter. Not really, but I don’t think we’ll share that with them.”
They both laughed, and Rich handed him a glass of tea that had been sitting on the tray. There were other treats too, and when he was given a plate of cookies, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven because they were so good.
“Reese. She’s about the best thing that
has happened here with her cooking and all. And boy oh boy, can she bake. Most of what you had for breakfast, that was her. She got herself a restaurant now. My son and grandson got it for her for Christmas.” A restaurant. Who gave entire restaurants to someone for Christmas and never thought a thing about it? “You going to be staying around here then, I heard. Good for you. They’ll have you up and around in no time.”
“I have a house and a job, but I’m going to be staying with my daughter until I’m up and around better. I’m not sure how long I’ll be there.” Rich nodded and told him that he had options, and that was a good thing. “I’m to understand that Reilly is going to be working for Lauren. She’s scary, isn’t she? I mean, a little.”
“She’s terrifying is what she is. Good as gold when it suits her, but she has herself a temper too.” Ronny said that she frightened him every time she came into the room. “Yes, sir. You’ll learn to be all right with her around. As you said, she can be scary, but she’ll protect you like you’re her own kid. And she’s the leap leader too. Couldn’t have been prouder of her than if it had been my own son to take the leap.”
Ronny had heard that too. That she had whipped the leap into shape in a few days, and had made sure that they knew not to fuck with her, as his daughter told him. He wondered what sort of man could let his wife do that and feel good about it. Ronny thought that Colin was the perfect match for the intense woman. He was so laid back, he’d have to check his pulse when things were going on. Not really, but his mom used to say that about lazy people and he’d thought of it just then.
“She told me that she was working for Lauren and that she was on a case with her. That’s the reason that she’s been in and out a great deal.” Ronny had been brought here earlier this morning so that Reilly could go into town. He’d told her that he’d be fine at home, but she had him bundled up and had him here before he could point out that he’d been living alone for a long time now. “I’m sorry to have imposed on you today.”
“Imposed? My goodness, it’s nice to have another man to talk to after all them women around. I tell you, I was sure that they were going to put ribbons and bows all over this house when they came to decorate. Then I got to thinking about that and realized that not a one of them is the ribbon and bow sort of person.” Ronny laughed hard, and had to hold onto his wounds when they pulled a bit. “You coming over here is a good thing for me too. Got me out of having to go to the mall to do after Christmas shopping. I hate shopping anyway, and being at the mall for a sale, that ain’t my way of spending the day.”
The two of them talked about different things. Rich told him that he was going to go fishing as soon as there was a break in the snow. It wasn’t even January yet, so he was thinking the man was going ice fishing or something. Then they got around to talking about being a cat.
“When I was born, it was a different time than it is now. Virginia, you met her, she’s a famous author, and she wrote some pretty racy stories about our kind even before she realized that we were a real thing.” He said that Reilly told him that she was going on a book signing in Europe early next year. “Yes, about the time we’re going to be on our cruise. We might just pop on over there and see her then. She’s not much for people either. Anyway, we were to keep to ourselves and not let anyone know what we were. It was scary then, not trusting anyone. My dad, he died after my mom did when she was in a car accident that took her life. That kind of love, that’s not anything that humans understand. I don’t think.”
“Reilly’s mom wasn’t one to be kind to anyone. She was when we first got married. Then she got a taste for money. I’ve had some all my life, saving whenever I could, stashing away here and there. But once she found out about it, it was like she turned into a different person.” He thought of all the arguments they’d had over money. “When she found out that she was carrying Reilly, May, my wife wanted me to spend every dime on her to keep her happy. It didn’t work out. She wasn’t ever going to be happy. And then I told her that the money would go to the baby, for its education. After Reilly was born, a couple of days later, she up and left me, and then divorced me a few years later when she found herself someone else that would spend money on her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, I am. But you don’t seem any worse for wear about it, and you did a good job in raising Reilly by yourself. She’s working on making a name for herself with this help that she’s doing for Lauren. The rest of the girls, they have jobs on their own.” Ronny thanked him for that. “No need for that. A man thinks that he’s going to be lucky if one of his sons does well in finding himself someone. I got me five of the most incredible women a man could want. A surgeon, cook, author. I got me one that has the ear of the president. And your daughter, she fits right in there with them. A man couldn’t do any better than I have.”
“I’m to understand that Hawkins is the last of your sons that hasn’t found his other half. Do you think that will happen soon?” Ronny wasn’t sure that he was going to answer him. The man looked somewhat sad about it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something that is none of my business.”
“You’re family, Ronny. You can’t be thinking that when you have a question. But Hawkins. I’m hoping that he finds his other half. But he is going to be a hard man to love, I’m thinking. He’s seen too much and done more than that.” Ronny had noticed that the man had a haunted look about him. And he was quiet too. “His mate, she’s going to need herself some backbone to put up with him. He’s a little moody, and can’t stand to be around people all that much. Not even us. While I know that we can be a bit much on anyone, Hawkins will disappear for days on end when he’s had enough of us.”
“When he was talking to me at Christmas, he told me that he’d just gotten out of the service but that he still did some work for them.” Rich nodded and said that he did. “He seems to get along best with Reilly. I don’t know why I think that, but they seem to gravitate to each other a great deal.”
“I noticed that too. They can sit for a spell and not say a word to each other, and it somehow makes them both feel better. When Reilly first came here, it was Hawkins that kept her from doing something rash. Having that fool out there trying to kill her, he kept her safe and sound.” Ronny shivered when he thought of Ross Dander. “He’s gone now, did you know that? Boyd, he took care of him in the only way that is possible for our kind.”
“I heard.” He had heard a great deal about it, and decided that he’d stay on their good side even if he had to run away to keep from pissing them off. Smiling, he asked Rich how they took care of the body.
“They thought that he’d gotten in a car accident which is all right with me. I would have liked to have had a piece of him myself. But, as I said, Boyd took care of his mate.” As far as a son-in-law went, Ronny really liked the young man. And he made his Reilly happy. “You heard that the business with that house fire has been taken care of, haven’t you? I’ve been thinking on that some. Why do you suppose Reilly didn’t go searching for that all on her own?”
“She did.” Ronny thought of the day she’d told him what had really happened that night. “Reilly said that if she showed up with the evidence on the fire, everyone would think that she had made it up. That she’d forged things to make herself look innocent. And she had a reputation to maintain. One that would pay the bills for her after this was all done and she could make herself into something. I don’t think she counted on losing her job over it or having everything that she owned taken from her. When she came home, it was a blessing for me, but to her, she was a failure. So, when she got the research job working for Dander, she felt like she was going to be all right, even if she was broke most of the time.”
“Self-worth.” Ronny nodded at Rich. “She’s been working hard on this cold case with Lauren. I’m thinking that any day now they’re going to have answers that have been eluding the police for a long time.”
It occurred to Ronny that Rich was good at making himself look like a hick or country b
umpkin. Ronny would bet anything that the man was well educated, and that he had a head for things that others only dreamed about. It was a front, he thought, so that people would think they could take advantage of him, and that would be a mistake. Yes, he was a slick one, Rich McCullough was. Ronny would have to watch out for him. Smiling, he thought he was going to have fun being a part of the McCullough family.
Dinner was called an hour later. Ronny had to be brought his meals, as he was still laid up enough that he couldn’t walk around on his own. And a wheelchair was fine for a little while, but it would hurt his back and he’d have to lie down after only a few minutes of being in one. He was trying to sit up in the chair when Jon was suddenly there to help him.
“I think it’s about time, don’t you?” He asked him what he meant. “To heal you so that you can be getting around. I think today would be a great day, don’t you?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I’ve been laid up here for long enough. And perhaps if I’m healed up a little more, my daughter won’t treat me like I need a babysitter. She seems to think that I should wait until after the trial starts. I’m not one to sit idle when I can be moving around. So if you can fix me up, I’d like that.” Jon asked him if he thought that was going to be true, that Reilly wouldn’t worry about him so much. “No. I think I scared her a little. Scared me too, if you want to know the truth of it. I would appreciate any and all help you can give me, son. I surely would.”
It only took him a moment to get himself sitting up to take the younger man’s blood. And as soon as the elixir hit his system, Ronny felt like he’d put his wet finger in a live socket. He looked up at Jon and felt his world tilt a little, and found himself not just sitting up better on the couch, but he could actually sit up without any pain.
Boyd_McCullough’s Jamboree_Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance Page 15