Her Guardian Rancher

by Brenda Minton

  That had taken Emma by surprise. Jamie always wanted her mommy. Sometimes she wanted Art. But last night she’d wanted the person who had been their rock during a difficult time.

  Emma had to admit, she missed him, too.

  His parents were wonderful. They were kind and caring. They loved their son. They might interfere in his life and want something different from him, something other than the career he’d chosen. But they were good people.

  Emma turned on the lamp. It was still dark outside, but she could hear people stirring. Daron’s parents insisted on going with her to the hospital. Granddad, of course, would be with her. He was always with her. He was her rock. She wouldn’t forget that. He’d been wiping her tears and cleaning up her messes for a long time.

  Her granddad had taught her what a real man was and how he should treat a woman. He’d been everything to her: a mom, a dad and a grandfather.

  Jamie huddled on the bed in her robe. “I want cereal.”

  “No cereal this morning, sweetie. Later you can eat.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  Emma gathered her daughter up. “I know, honey. I promise you’ll get to eat. Just not right now.”

  Jamie sobbed against her shoulder. “Mommy. Please.”

  “Soon. And you’re going to feel so much better. You’re going to run. And you’re going to chase the kitten.”

  “I can run fast.”

  “Yes, you’ll run even faster.” And not be tired after playing. She wouldn’t need to catch her breath after chasing her kitten.

  Two hours later the nurse escorted Emma, Art and the McKays to a surgical waiting room where they would be given updates. The pediatric cardiologist had explained the process of threading the catheter through the vein in Jamie’s neck to fix the hole in the ventricular septum. He explained the possible problems and what they would do if any of those problems occurred.

  Emma sat by the window and prayed. She prayed for her daughter, for the surgeons, the nurses, the anesthesiologist. The door to the waiting room opened.

  The Shaws, Andy’s parents, stepped in. Mrs. Shaw looked unsure. “We wanted to be here, for you and for her. Is that okay? We understand if you don’t want us.”

  “No, please stay.” Emma wiped at her eyes. Silly, useless tears. “The procedure just started. It could be several hours.”

  “Can we get you anything?” Mr. Shaw asked.

  “I’m fine,” Emma answered. Then she let the rest of them talk in soft whispers, about Jamie, about the weather and about politics. She watched the clock. The minutes ticked by so slowly. Her heartbeat caught the rhythm of the clock. Each tick, each heartbeat, one step closer.

  The door opened again. Her heart did a funny catch. She turned, hoping, expecting. Wanting Daron. It was a nurse, smiling at all of them.

  “I wanted to update you. We’re halfway there. She’s doing great. The doctor said he doesn’t foresee any problems at this point.”

  Emma blinked back more tears. She nodded and thanked the nurse, who slipped quietly out of the room.

  She wanted to call Daron. She wanted him to know that Jamie was doing well. Of course they’d known she would. She thought about how different it would have felt had he been here. She was surrounded by people, but she felt alone. If Daron had been here, she wouldn’t have felt alone.

  He was her partner. He’d become her partner the day he stepped into her hospital room after Jamie was born. He’d brought flowers and told her he would always be there if she needed anything.

  She’d sent him away. Now she was in the wilderness alone. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No, not alone. It was almost as if God was speaking to her heart. She wasn’t alone. He had this. He had a plan. He had the path before her and He would be her light.

  The nurse returned a little over an hour later. “We’re all finished. She did great and she’ll soon be moved to a room.”

  Emma stood. She couldn’t sit. She had to hug someone, so she hugged the nurse. “Thank you.”

  The nurse returned the hug. “You’re so welcome. She did the hard work. Jamie and Dr. Lee.”

  The nurse left. Emma stood in the center of the room surrounded by people she hadn’t expected to have in her life. Granddad, of course. Andy’s parents, though, they were a surprise. She accepted their hugs and well-wishes.

  “We’re going to go now,” Mr. Shaw told her. “Can we visit tomorrow?”

  “Of course you can.” She hugged her ex-mother-in-law again. “Jamie will like that.”

  After they left she hugged Daron’s parents. “Thank you for being here with us. And for letting us stay with you. It has meant so much.”

  Nora McKay held her in a tight hug. “Of course we wanted you with us. And I know Daron wanted to be here. He’s been working in Dallas.”

  “I know.” She walked away, back to her window.

  “Should someone call Daron?” she said, without looking back at his parents. It was easier to sit facing the window. That way, she didn’t see their concern. She didn’t have to make conversation.

  “What if I just show up?” The voice, low, so sweetly familiar that it almost undid her.

  She flew out of the chair. He was standing in the doorway, his hair a mess, a suit with the tie loose around his neck and the jacket unbuttoned.

  “You’re here.”

  “Yes, I’m here. I had to be here.”

  She wanted to touch him, but they had an audience, a very interested audience. She focused on the tie, hanging loose around his neck. She straightened it a bit and smoothed down his collar. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  She caught his gaze and held it. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too.” He exhaled, then pulled her close. “I hope you understand what this has been like for me. I hope, and I mean this with love, that you’ve been just as miserable.”

  “I have. I really have.”

  The door opened again. The nurse smiled at them all. “Mom, do you want to come down and see your little girl?”

  “Yes, please.” More than anything. “Can Daron come with me? She’ll want to see him.”

  “Is he family?” the nurse asked, still standing in the doorway.

  “He’s my best friend.”

  The nurse smiled. “I think we can allow a best friend today. Especially if it will make our patient happy. Before the anesthesia hit she was telling me about a kitten and a guy named Daron that her mommy loves.”

  Emma felt heat crawl into her cheeks.

  “You love me?” Daron whispered as they walked down the hall.

  She didn’t answer.

  At the door to the cardiac intensive-care unit, the nurse stopped them. “We have her in here for now, just to monitor her and make sure all her vitals are strong. We’ll probably move her to a regular room in the morning. I’d like for you both to scrub hands and arms and put on a gown, and let’s limit the visit to five or ten minutes right now. We’ll need to do some work with her and she’s going to be tired. But I promise in about thirty minutes or so we’ll come back and get you for a longer visit.”

  “Thank you.” Emma moved to the sink the nurse had indicated. She scrubbed her hands and arms.

  Daron waited until she finished and was gowning up before he stepped forward to wash. She held a gown out and he slipped into it. Hand in hand, they walked through the doors into that brightly lit and sterile world.

  When Emma spotted her daughter, she wanted to cry. She wanted to pick her up and hold her. But she couldn’t. There were tubes, monitors, IVs. She looked so small and fragile in the hospital bed, surrounded by equipment, monitored, watched by a nurse.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Daron said. “She’s strong and she has a mommy who’s tough.”

  She leaned into
him. “Yes, she’s going to be fine.”

  Jamie opened her eyes, then opened them wider when she saw Daron. She smiled, just a tiny smile but it was her smile. She whispered, “Mommy?”

  Emma kissed her cheek. “Mommy is here. And Daron came to see you, too. We love you.”

  We. She didn’t know that they were a “we,” but it felt right for the moment. They could be a “we” when it came to Jamie. The two of them were both there for her.

  She sat in the chair next to her daughter’s bed and held her hand until she fell asleep. Daron had slipped away, telling her he would meet her in the chapel.

  When the nurse told her she’d have to leave for a bit, Emma kissed Jamie again and slipped from the room as her daughter slept.

  Where was the chapel? She vaguely remembered seeing a small prayer room near the surgical waiting room. She headed that way. When she got there she peeked in and she saw Daron at the window. His head was bowed. She waited and finally he turned.

  He had flowers and balloons.

  “I don’t know if they’ll let her have flowers,” she said.

  “They’re for you.” He looked up at the balloons with the words Get Well Soon printed on them, and he grinned. “It’s all they had in the hospital gift shop.”

  Daron looked awkward with the bouquet. He handed them to her and she took them, looking up at the balloon with the get-well message.

  “I know you need time,” he started, pushing a hand through his hair. “But I don’t,” he said next. “I don’t need time to know that I love you. I love Jamie. Every moment since Christmas, I’ve missed you. You are my life, Emma. You are my next breath. Good grief, you have me spouting poetry. I know this is not the best time. I know you’re worried about Jamie. But I can’t do this life thing without you.”

  “Get well soon?” She looked up at the balloon and laughed.

  “You’ll never forget this moment,” he assured her with that dimple showing in his cheek. He settled a hand on her waist and pulled her close.

  “No, I guess I won’t.” She leaned close, breathing him in, wishing he would kiss her.

  “I don’t want time to think. I want time with you. Let’s just pretend that balloon says something totally different.”

  She felt lighter than she’d felt in days. A giggle erupted and she touched his cheek. “What does the balloon say?”

  He dropped to one knee and she couldn’t breathe. The room spun in a crazy way and he smiled up at her. “The balloon says I love you and I plan to love you more each and every day. I want to have a family with you. I want to grow old with you. Will you marry me?”

  Tears began to fall and she laughed through the haze of moisture. “We’ll need a bigger balloon.”

  “This is not a moment when you want to tease a man.” He was still on one knee. “I just poured my heart out to you. Don’t leave me hanging. Or kneeling, as the case may be.”

  She put the flowers on the table next to them and leaned to cup his cheeks and kiss him.

  * * *

  Daron stood up, holding her hands in his. She’d kissed him. That meant he probably ought to kiss her back.

  “Will.” He kissed her. “You.” He kissed her again. “Marry.” And again. “Me?”

  And then he settled his lips on hers, kissing her the way he’d wanted to since she walked into this room. He kissed her until he hoped her knees were weak, and so was her resolve to resist him.

  When he pulled back she was clinging to his arms. “Please answer me.”

  “I can’t. You keep kissing me,” she said.

  For that he kissed her again. Her lips were sweet beneath his, and her hands held tight to his shoulders.

  This time when he pulled away from her, she nodded.

  “Yes, I think I will marry you.”

  He picked her up and swung her around the small room. Her foot hit the flowers and he caught them before they could hit the floor.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as he scooped her up. He grabbed the flowers and put them in her hands, then carried her back to the waiting room.

  As they stepped through the door, everyone inside stood and applauded. His parents. Art. They all looked pretty pleased.

  “I guess I don’t need to announce that I’m the happiest man in the world?” Daron asked as he set Emma on her feet next to him.

  “I think we were all just waiting for the two of you to figure things out,” Art said. “Good thing, because I was tired of waiting. I’d just like to tell you, I hope you’ve got an in-law room in that big house of yours.”

  “Art, we have plenty of room for you.”

  The door opened again and the nurse peeked in. “I’m glad you all are celebrating. Our little patient would like some company.”

  Daron walked down the hall at Emma’s side. Always at her side. That was where he planned to stay. Forever.

  Epilogue

  April was the perfect month for a wedding in Texas. The reason was simple: the bluebonnets were blooming. Nothing was more beautiful than Texas Hill Country in spring.

  She also chose to get married in the country church where Remington Jenkins was pastor. The church was situated in a valley with fields of wildflowers spreading out from it like deep purple carpet. It was as if God was the florist for her wedding.

  “Are you almost ready?” Lucy stepped into the room wearing a black evening dress.

  She wasn’t a bridesmaid. The bridesmaids wore dresses the color of spring. No, she was one of the groomsmen. She and Boone. Oregon and Lily were the matron of honor and bridesmaid. Oregon wore a pale lavender dress. Lily’s dress was pale yellow. The bouquets were filled with wildflowers in shades of yellow, purple and white.

  Jamie was her flower girl. Her blond hair in ringlets and a wreath of baby’s breath atop her little head. She carried a basket of flower petals that she would sprinkle along the aisle of the church. If the petals survived. At the moment she had several of them lined up on the windowsill and she was arranging them like little flowers.

  “I’m almost ready.” Emma looked into the mirror. She hadn’t known until recently that her grandmother’s wedding dress, the same wedding dress the Lewis women had worn for three generations, was in a box in Art’s closet. He’d had it sealed, in case she should ever want it.

  He hadn’t told her before. She didn’t ask why.

  Oregon stepped forward to adjust her veil.

  “You look beautiful,” Oregon said softly, a shimmer of tears in her eyes. “I’m going to cry.”

  Lily groaned. “I don’t get that. It’s a wedding. It’s a happy time. I think when I get married, I’ll elope.”

  “Don’t you dare,” all three of the women said in unison.

  “I should go check on the groom,” Lucy said as she opened the door. “He’s a little bit nervous. He actually sent me in here to make sure you didn’t duck out the back. I think Boone made him watch the movie Runaway Bride.”

  “Tell him I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Except down the aisle,” Oregon added. “And tell him she loves him.”

  “Yes, I love him.” She loved him so much it hurt.

  The next person to pound on the door was Granddad. Oregon let him in. “My goodness, you are beautiful, Em.”

  “Granddad, have I told you how much I love you?”

  “I love you back.” He took her hand and slipped a pretty ring on the finger of her right hand. “I want you to have this. It was your mom’s. Now, don’t cry. Something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new. I guess I said that wrong, but I’m close. That ring is old. I believe it was my grandmother’s. And now it’s yours. But I’m also giving you something new.”

  “And
what’s that?”

  “New hope and a new beginning.” He grinned. “Now, that’s something not everyone can give their girl. But you deserve it and I’m glad you stopped being afraid to accept it.”

  “Me, too, Art. Me, too.” She hugged him tight. “I think it’s time.”

  “Yes, I believe it is. Do you like my new bibs?”

  She laughed and dabbed at her eyes with the tissue Oregon pushed into her hand. Art preened a bit in his dark blue bib overalls beneath a sport coat.

  “I wouldn’t have you any other way. You look very handsome.”

  “I thought so. I even let Allie at the Clip and Curl trim my hair and give me a shave. I kind of liked that.” He rubbed his hand across his very smooth cheek.

  He crossed the room to Jamie, kissed her cheek and told her she was as pretty as a field of wildflowers.

  Oregon peeked into the hall. “It’s time.”

  She opened the door wide. She went first down the hallway and Lily followed. Jamie walked in front of Emma and her grandfather. Emma put her hand on Art’s arm and they took their time walking down the dimly lit hall to the outside door. They walked out into fresh air and she breathed deep as Art guided her up the front steps of the church. Jamie waited for them at the top of the steps. She had a flower petal on top of her head and she was grinning as if she might be up to something.

  Music was playing. Someone was singing. Emma had picked the song and now she couldn’t remember which one. She could only think of one thing—Daron. After today they would be married. She, Daron and Jamie would be a family. And Granddad. She smiled up at her grandfather.

  “Here we go, kiddo.” He smiled down at her. “I sure love you and I’m sorry that life has been hard, but you’ve been a blessing to an old man. And I hope this young man is a blessing to you.”

  “Granddad, I’m going to look terrible if you make me cry. My nose will be red and mascara will run down my cheeks. But I love you, too.”