David protested, but Mitch wasn’t about to argue. David’s color and raspy breathing was beginning to alarm him.
“I want you to go sit in the Jeep.”
“I need to help Jenny!” His voice was a thread of a whisper.
“Do it, David!”
Without waiting to see if he had been obeyed, Mitch turned back to the car.
“Okay, Renee. I need you to hold the door open. Do you think you can do that?”
She nodded, reaching to hold the handle, which Mitch relinquished to her. Climbing onto the side of the car, Mitch straddled the door. Bending down and leaning his upper torso way into the car, he slowly undid Jenny’s seat belt. He felt her body sag against his arm, almost catching him off-balance. Taking a firmer grip, he pulled her from the car as gently as possible. He was thankful that she was unconscious. There was no telling what pain he might have caused her otherwise.
Lifting her into his arms, he swiftly plowed through the thickening snow and crossed the road, Renee trotting beside him.
Pulling open the back door of the Jeep, he glanced quickly at David, whose head was resting against the rolled-up passenger window in the front seat. The raspy sound of his breathing concerned Mitch.
“Sit in the back, Renee. I’ll lay Jenny across your lap. Hang on to her. I’ll have to go quickly, but I’ll try not to jar her too much.”
Renee clambered onto the backseat. “Will she be okay?”
“I don’t know. We’ll just pray real hard. Okay?”
Renee gave him a tentative smile and nodded her head. As Mitch set Jenny into her care, she looked at her brother for confirmation, but he didn’t answer.
Once in the driver’s seat, Mitch leaned across the seat and lifted the lid of David’s eye. The pupil was dilated and unresponsive. Shock and pain had rendered him semiconscious. There had to be more wrong with David than mere bruises.
Mitch started the Jeep and shifted into gear in one quick movement. Thank God he had remembered his snow chains. He would need to head for the nearest hospital, and that meant traveling on the freeway. He only hoped that the snowplows had already cleared the road.
It seemed to Mitch that they were crawling along, but he knew that wasn’t so. The freeway had been cleared of snow and he had been able to travel quickly, but it wasn’t quickly enough for him. The only thing that kept him from doing something foolish and putting his foot down hard on the accelerator was the three precious lives in his care.
Pulling into the hospital emergency entrance, he realized that almost two hours had passed since he had left his ranch. He had no idea how long Jenny and the twins had been trapped in the car with no heat.
Shoving open his door, he swiftly crossed the parking area and disappeared inside the building. Moments later he emerged with a hospital crew and two gurneys.
What followed was the worst nightmare Mitch had ever experienced; short of the time his mother had abandoned him. The weeks he had spent sitting at the window, watching for her return, had seemed an eternity. Now the time seemed to drag by just as slowly as he waited for Jenny, Renee and David to be examined. The antiseptic smell that permeated all hospitals brought back painful memories of the past. His father had died of complications resulting from cancer surgery while he had been waiting in just such a room. Mitch hated hospitals.
Before long Renee joined him in the waiting room. He studied her carefully. “Are you all right?”
“Just some bruises,” she told him.
Sitting next to him, she reached her hand across and curled her fingers around his. Turning his head, he tried to smile reassuringly, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. They both waited in silence; it was comforting for each of them just to be near one another.
After what seemed an eternity, a white-coated doctor appeared. Mitch breathed a sigh of relief as he recognized his friend from church. The man strode across the room, pulling up in front of them. Mitch got to his feet.
“How is he, James?”
“David has several fractured ribs. The position he was in caused them to puncture his right lung. Fortunately, it’s not too serious. He should be fine. Barring complications, and depending on how long it takes to reinflate the lung, he should be able to go home in four or five days.”
Mitch nodded. “And Jenny?”
The doctor shook his head. “I don’t know. My colleague is with her right now. He’ll let you know when he finishes examining her.”
“Thanks, James. When can we see David?”
“He’s sedated right now for the pain. You can see him later, when he wakes up.”
Mitch swallowed hard as James exited the room. He hadn’t realized how much he had grown to love the young teen. He glanced at Renee and realized that he loved the whole Gordon family. He wanted to protect and care for them all, and not just now. He gritted his teeth at his helplessness in controlling the situation, and turned to stare hollowly at the door.
It was some time later before the doctor appeared. Renee had curled up on the sofa and was fast asleep. The best medicine for shock, James had assured Mitch. Mitch gently draped his jacket across her. Leaving her there, he met the other doctor in the doorway.
“Well?”
“You’re James’s friend, the one who found them?”
Mitch nodded.
“My name is Adams. Dr. Benjamin Adams.”
He held out his hand and Mitch clasped it briefly. He seemed to be studying Mitch before he gave a brief smile. “Jenny has a severe concussion. My main concern is not for that, but the huge loss of blood from her head wound. The fact that the temperatures were so cold probably kept her from bleeding to death.”
Thank the Lord for freezing temperatures, Mitch thought.
“Will she be okay?”
“Her vitals are good, though a bit sluggish. We’ll watch her carefully tonight and be able to tell you more in the morning.”
“Can I see her?”
Dr. Adams hesitated.
“I know I’m not her husband, but I’d really like to see her. Just for a few minutes.”
The doctor heaved a sigh before reluctantly nodding his permission.
“But only for five minutes. I must warn you, she hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Mitch watched him walk away before turning to Renee. He gently shook her shoulder. Slowly she opened sleep-drugged eyes.
“We can see Jenny now.”
* * *
Staring down at Jenny’s swathed form, Mitch felt a tightening in his chest. She looked so tiny. So vulnerable. He lifted her small hand from the covers and held it between his own two larger ones.
Renee stood on the other side of the bed and suddenly burst into tears. Mitch quickly replaced Jenny’s hand on the bed and swiftly went to Renee’s side, pulling her gently into his arms.
“Shh.” He rocked her back and forth. “We can’t disturb her, you know.”
Renee continued to sob against his shirt. “Please don’t let her die. Please don’t let her die.”
Mitch was unsure whether she was talking to him or asking for Divine intervention. Nevertheless he pulled her from the room and led her back to the waiting room. Seating her in a chair, he squatted in front of her.
“She’s not going to die, Renee. God won’t let that happen.”
She buried her face in her hands, rocking herself back and forth on the chair. “He let my parents die.”
The bitter accusation hung in the air between them. He wasn’t sure what to say to such a statement. How could he explain that bad things happen, but that didn’t make it God’s fault, especially when it suddenly occurred to him that he had been doing the same thing for many years?
For the first time he realized that ever since his mother had left him, he had blamed God for it. Knowing in his mind
it wasn’t true didn’t stop the feeling inside that God could have somehow prevented it. He could certainly empathize with Renee’s feelings.
Reaching out, he lifted her hands away from her face, curling his strong fingers around them and giving them a slight shake.
“I don’t know if I can explain this or not. Maybe I’m not the best one to try. Do you remember in Brother Taylor’s sermon Sunday that he talked about how Paul had written the Romans that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord?”
“I remember.”
“Paul didn’t say most things, and he didn’t say some things. He said all things.”
Renee looked unconvinced. “How can Jenny’s being hurt be good?”
Mitch smiled. “It doesn’t say all things are good, Renee, only that it will work out for good. The bad things that happen refine us, prepare us for the good God has in store for us.”
The thought uppermost in Mitch’s mind right now was that if he had married Amanda, by now they would both be miserable and he would have been stuck when Jenny walked into his life. The thought of life without Jenny didn’t bear thinking about.
“How can my parents’ death work for good?” she asked hopelessly.
“I don’t know how it will work out for your good, but for me, it brought you into my life. In the book of Job it tells us that a man’s days are numbered. We all have an appointment with death, Renee, and even though your parents’ appointment was earlier than we would have wished, God knew that I would be there to take up the slack. I’m here for you, Renee.” He didn’t know what else to say. “We just have to have faith,” he told her, knowing that it had been sadly lacking in his life. Thankfully, God hadn’t given up on him.
Renee pulled her hands from Mitch’s clasp. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She looked so tired, so utterly forlorn.
“I’ll be okay if you want to go see Jenny.”
He realized he needed to give her time to think about what he had just said, so he left her alone and went back to Jenny’s room. He stayed only a moment.
She laid still and quiet, her face pale against the white hospital sheets. He felt so completely helpless. He was a man of action, and it was frustrating to know that there was nothing more he could do, other than pray. It occurred to him that he hadn’t been doing much of that lately, either. Maybe he hadn’t really believed that God would truly listen. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he hadn’t been the kind of true Christian that he should have been. He had only been going through the motions.
Bowing his head, he prayed, “Father, forgive me for pushing You away all these years. Help me to be the godly man You meant for me to be. And please, let Jenny get better and give me another chance to apologize to her and tell her just how much I love her.”
Bending, he kissed Jenny softly on the lips. He leaned his forehead gently against her bandaged one a moment before he turned and walked out of the room.
He found David in a room much like Jenny’s. Breathing equipment was connected to him, tubes snaking in several directions.
When Mitch padded softly across to the bed, David’s eyes slowly opened. The boy smiled a lopsided smile.
“How’s Jen?” His dry, cracked voice pleaded for reassurance.
“So far, so good. It’s a good thing she has such a hard head, huh?” Mitch’s attempt to lighten a serious situation had the desired effect. A slight grin touched David’s mouth and he tried to nod his head, flinching at the discomfort.
“How are you doing, buddy?” Mitch asked, noting that a little color had returned to his face.
“I’m okay. Just a little sleepy.”
Reaching out, Mitch pushed back the damp tendrils of hair curled across David’s forehead.
“Go to sleep, then. Everything will be all right.”
“What about Renee?” David croaked.
“Renee’s fine. Just a little banged up. She wants to see you, but I think I’ll have her wait till morning. Get some rest, okay?”
Mitch watched his eyes close slowly before returning to the waiting room. He found Renee much as he had left her.
She accepted Mitch’s explanation that David was resting and was doing fine, and that she could see him first thing in the morning.
They found a hotel in downtown Prescott and registered for the night. Mitch walked Renee to her door, which was next to his own. He pulled her into a reassuring embrace, kissing her on the forehead and reminding her again that he was there for her.
She gave him a tired smile.
“Lock your door,” he admonished softly, pushing her gently into the room. “And try to get some rest.”
After waiting until she closed and locked the door behind her, Mitch went to his own room and called Hattie. He made arrangements for the next morning before hanging up and walking to his bed. Without undressing, he lay down on the covers and stared up at the ceiling.
Chapter 13
When Jenny was finally released from the hospital, she came home with less energy than she could ever remember having. She spent the largest part of her days reclining on the sofa and contemplating the future.
Since the accident, she’d been struggling with fears she hadn’t considered before. What if she had died? What would have happened to the twins? What if David had died? Or Renee? So far away from any people, it could have happened. If Mitch hadn’t come along when he had, she would probably be dead now, and possibly David and Renee, as well. Every time she thought about it, her blood went cold.
For the first time in a long while her faith had been shaken. Not since before her acceptance of the Lord into her life had her faith wavered in such a way. She felt guilty. What kind of Christian was she that at the first sign of trouble she doubted her Lord? She knew in her heart that God had not abandoned her, but her head was getting in her way.
January blew in as cold as December. The lack of heat in the cabin was beginning to aggravate her. They could freeze. Her incoherent thoughts raged on, making her more and more dissatisfied with her life. Summer would soon come and with it the almost unbearable heat. Things that hadn’t bothered her before now loomed like a giant monster just waiting to devour her shaking faith.
Jenny seriously considered selling the ranch and moving somewhere else. It never occurred to her that a large part of her dissatisfaction had to do with the fact that she hadn’t seen Mitch since the day before she’d left the hospital. Hattie had been the one to bring her home. Why was he staying away? It only proved to her that he had no real feelings for her. Were it the other way around, nothing in the world would have kept her from him.
* * *
Jenny had no way of knowing that Mitch was having an emergency of his own. He was standing even now in the same waiting room where he had waited for news of Jenny and David.
His mother had collapsed only days after Jenny’s return. It had come as a shock to Mitch to find out that she was dying of inoperable lung cancer. He had wondered at her lack of appetite and worried at her loss of weight, but had attributed it to being isolated at his ranch again. He had assumed that she was dying to leave, and instead she had been literally dying. How ironic that when he had finally come to believe in her ability to change, when he was finally able to forgive and have her back as his mother, she might be leaving him for good. Thank God they had resolved their differences. What saddened Mitch the most was the thought of all those wasted years.
Sitting, he buried his face in his hands. Heaving a great sigh of regret he pleaded with God to let him have more time with his mother. He wanted so much. He wanted her to be able to experience her own grandchildren. She had spoken of that often in the days before her collapse.
But that was not to be. That day Delores Anderson died quietly in her sleep without ever having awakened from the coma she had slipped into.
Hattie was with Mitch at the hospital when it happened. She wrapped her arms around Mitch’s neck. He resisted but a moment, before pulling her close and burying his face in her neck. The sobs that shook his body made him realize that he truly had forgiven his mother for all the pain of the past.
* * *
Jenny heard a car coming up the track and her heart did a hopeful little hop.
“I wonder who that could be.”
She glanced from Renee to David in time to catch the look that passed between them.
“What’s going on?”
They shrugged their shoulders, hastily getting up from their seats.
“I have some homework to do,” Renee told her, heading for their bedroom.
“Me, too,” David agreed.
Since she normally had to coerce David to do his homework any other time, she was skeptical. Something was definitely wrong and she headed for the door with a near premonition of impending disaster.
Hattie was just emerging from her car, the lack of a smile causing Jenny a twinge of alarm. Her vivacious personality was more subdued than Jenny had ever seen it. Something terrible must have happened, and the twins seemed to know about it. Butterflies flittered in her stomach as she studied Hattie’s set face.
Jenny invited her in, offering her a seat. It was impossible to miss Hattie’s nervousness as she twisted a handkerchief through her fingers and refused to meet Jenny’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked, getting right to the point.
Hattie leaned forward in her seat. “I have something I need to tell you about Mitch.”
Jenny felt her heart constrict, her eyes widening in alarm. If anything happened to Mitch...
Hattie hesitated and Jenny had to stifle the urge to reach out and shake her.
“What is it?”
“Mitch’s mother died last week.”
Jenny felt the blood drain from her already pale face.
“Are you all right?” Hattie asked anxiously, reaching across and squeezing Jenny’s hand.
Was she all right? Right now she felt like a wooden statue, with just about as much life in her. Renee and David came and sat to each side of her, their desire to comfort her touching her deeply.
The Rancher Next Door Page 15