by Jackie Anton
However, his warning didn’t go unheeded by two small black pups—one with a cast on its front leg—that immediately attacked Patrick’s pant leg. Fortunately, the tall western boots protected his leg. “Will someone confine these ankle biters somewhere?”
Maria once again scooped up the puppies, but this time she closed them in the bedroom that used to be where Lexie slept. She was not brave enough to try to remove Skip, and neither was anyone else.
When the paramedics moved Cutter out of the way so they could attend to his wife, he latched on to Skip’s collar and hauled the reluctant dog away from Lexie. Patrick seized the opportunity to have Cutter cut a few of the blood-soaked hairs from the dog’s chest, and place them in an evidence bag.
Cutter accompanied his wife on the life-flight chopper, and the big dog just sat out where the metal bird had carried of his mistress, looking off in the direction it had flown.
Patrick was grateful that Cutter was no longer there when Deputy Smith loped in like a modern day Barney Fife to report two more injuries, and the suspect nowhere to be found. Patrick put out an APB on Decker; the chances were he was going to need medical attention, judging from the blood loss and description of his wounds provided by two ranch hands with major headaches.
Pete had been trying to wrap up David’s wounds when he was hit from behind, and Sam had been knocked unconscious by the larger of the of Decker’s accomplices; still, he was able to give a rudimentary description of the two assailants. Jim drove Sam and Pete to Lubbock for medical treatment while the deputies documented the mess on the previously pristine floor, and debriefed Maria. She walked Deputy Boyd through the events from the time Decker burst through the mudroom door, taking her hostage until she ran for help.
Cutter had known as soon as they arrived that the fire, at the site of the old Lazy K ranch house, the blaze had been deliberately set, but that didn’t minimize the hazard. If the wind had kicked up again like it had the past few days, the embers would spread the fire for miles. The recent rains and melting snowfall were a godsend, but they were a long way from being out of the woods. Rubble not yet removed had been piled high, resembling a celebratory bonfire; fumes from the gas accelerant still lingered in the night air.
A panicked call from Maria that Lexie had been shot sent him and Jim racing back to the ranch. The pair of somber husbands left the others behind to finish the extinguishing of the fire. The scene that greeted them on their arrival would remain imprinted in Cutter’s mind until his dying day. His small, feisty wife was lying in a wounded heap on the office floor. Maria was trying to clean up Lexie’s bloody face while an equally bloody Skip stood guard. Cutter moved in to take over the task of caring for his wife. The head wound wasn’t too bad, just bleeding profusely. A lump was rising, and it was going to take a few stitches. Of more concern was the blood flowing from the gunshot wound.
He had to caution the paramedics about what they gave her. Poor Skip didn’t want to leave her any more than he did. Her dog was still in the same spot when Cutter finally returned home the afternoon of the following day. Once Lexie was out of recovery and safely out of harm’s way, he’d called Jim for a ride home. His foreman and friend provided an update on events after he and Lexie had flown off in the helicopter.
“Evidently, Sophie’s no-good grandson had a couple of sidekicks for his planned abduction. They waylaid Sam and Pete making a clean get-away with David Decker. Patrick Boyd was livid that Decker had slipped through his fingers again. The Sheriff’s office, the Texas Rangers, border patrol, and law enforcement in neighboring states got descriptions not only of the suspects, but also a detailed account of the dog bite injuries to Decker. If he tries to get medical assistance, they have a good chance at nabbing him.”
“You know, Jim, there are doctors who deal with gunshots, knife wounds, and the like off the books and out of the mainstream. He might already be patched up enough to have made it to Mexico. How are Sam and Pete doing?”
“Sam has a dislocated jaw, but he is down at the Sheriff’s office going over mug shots. The clinic sent Pete over to the hospital for a couple of days of observation to monitor his concussion.”
Back home, Cutter cleaned up the Shepherd and himself. He had some lunch, but couldn’t convince the dog to eat or drink. After a brief nap, he snatched the precious quilt Lexie’s grandmother had made for her, and Skip’s seldom-used leash, before heading back to see his wife. Getting Skip into the Yukon was a chore; once he was back outdoors, he took up his vigil, scanning the sky for the helicopter that had whisked away the focus of his life.
Lexie finished her dinner and turned on the TV. She was hoping to catch something on the news about Decker’s arrest, but all the channel surfing produced zero. She opted for the country music channel to occupy her. She hadn’t seen Cutter all day, but she’d been assured by Doc Callahan that her husband had been with her all night, and only left after she was declared out of danger and on the road to recovery.
She didn’t even have her phone to call home to wish her mother and grandmother a Happy New Year. The landline had been removed from her room, and she wondered if it was the cost reduction thing, or the doctor and her husband had ordered it taken out. Lexie decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. She’d heard on the news that some hospitals were making reductions to the old phone in every room. The rationalization was that everyone now used cell phones. That was all fine and dandy if you happened to have one. Otherwise, patients needed to use a phone at one of the designated nursing stations or information desks. At least one positive thing happened between lunch and dinner: her IV was removed, making trips to the small bathroom on the other end of the room a much less of an ordeal.
She’d just made it back under the covers after such a journey when her husband appeared in the doorway. He peeked around the partially closed door and scanned the room.
“Can we come in?”
Lexie was wondering who the “we” were. She was delighted to see Skip. Cutter unhooked him and closed the door. Skip made a beeline for her. She sat on the edge of the bed ruffled his hair and hugged him. “That’s my brave boy!” She praised him while taking a closer look at the vest he was wearing. It had a round patch with a blue cross that was decorated down the middle with a medical caduceus. The red letters that encircled the emblem centered on the white background boldly stated, “Service Dog Access Required”. She noticed her husband remove his sunglasses when he entered the room from the darkness of a starlit night.
“How did you get the service dog vest?” She asked, trying to choke back the laughter bubbling up at the site of Cutter playing a sight impaired person in need of a service dog, just to bring Skip up to visit her. She was touched by the gesture.
“I bought it off of a real service dog’s handler this morning on the way out. Fortunately, that dog was very large, too.”
Lexie lost it and laughed so hard at his rendition of the ruse to bring Skip to see her that her shoulder began to bark at her. Her mirth was quickly contained when Cutter explained that Skip had still been in the same spot as the previous night waiting for her return. Her husband unwrapped a small bowl and a plastic bag filled with kibble from the folds of her quilt. He shook the quilt out before placing it on the bed.
“I thought you might like to have it while you are here.” He kissed her soundly, and then went to fill Skip’s bowl with water. “He refused to eat or drink. I literally had to drag him away to wash off the dried blood, and force him into the vehicle to come here. Thankfully, he put up with the annoyance, and didn’t take a chunk out of me. Jim and Maria took the other puppies home with them last night, but Skip growled and bared his teeth when they tried to remove him from his post, so they reluctantly left him for the night.”
The canine under discussion wandered over to lap water from the bowl and try some of the dried food that Cutter had sprinkled on the floor.
“I guess he is content and hungry now that he knows you’re alright.”
Along
with the rest of his stash, Cutter had brought a deck of cards. They played rummy talked, and half listened to the TV New Year’s Eve party. Lexie was disappointed that Decker had once again escaped the clutches of the law, and was probably well south of the border by now. But Cutter, Sam, Pete, and Maria had all made statements and filed charges, so if he set foot in the States again he would be apprehended. Lexie would feel a lot better when he was in jail, and she would definitely testify against him. Unlike Mel, she had plenty of other witnesses to his assault and attempted kidnapping.
Husband and wife kissed in 2012 and tilted the world on its axis—at least it felt that way to Lexie. Before he and Skip left, half an hour later, he pulled her little phone from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She let out a barely audible giggle when he said he had to go before their celebration got out of hand. Thanks to her considerate husband, she was able to wish in the New Year with her grandmother and Mel. It seemed that her mother was out at a New Year’s Eve bash with Booker. So she settled for leaving her a voicemail greeting.
Lexie had plenty of company on New Year’s Day: Cutter and his service dog returned, Jim and Maria came by, Sam and Pete dropped by, and Patrick Boyd even made an appearance.
She was released on the third, after a consultation with her new O.B. G.Y.N. and Dr. Callahan.
She was given a prescription for a diuretic to combat the water retention, and to help with the swelling of her hands and feet. “Great! I’m going to blow up like Harry Potter’s nasty aunt!”
She must have said the last thought out loud, because the new female doctor, Irene Gomez, who had been referred through the clinic that Lexie’d been attending, told her to drink plenty of liquids including water. It seemed the more she drank the less likely her body would be to retain fluid.
Early February, the rains came, and some snow! Temperatures hovered in the thirties. Lexie felt the baby move, and decided it was time to let her mom and grandma know. She waited until closer to Valentine’s Day, and then sent them each a card elevating the usual greeting to Grandma Eve and Great-grandma Jane. She wasn’t sure what to do about Melinda. Her friend had been devastated at the loss of her unborn child, and Lexie was afraid the news would bring back unhappy memories. She settled for signing Mel’s card as always, but adding an invitation to visit her and her new family that summer.
The phone calls began the day before the official holiday. First, Mom called, and Lexie was on the phone for a good hour trying to explain why she hadn’t let them know earlier. Then, she had to explain it all again to Grandma. A lot of it was fabrication, but she didn’t want them to know about the incident with Decker for fear it would get back to Mel. On the hearts and candy day, Mel called; she had heard the news from Lexie’s broadcasting mother. She sure hoped Booker didn’t share anything with her mom that he didn’t want spread to half the town.
About a week later, a case of anti-stretch mark cream arrived from her mother. Her note of instructions read to be applied daily by the culprit responsible, and Cutter enthusiastically adhered to the instructions, making for some interesting foreplay that they both enjoyed. He would linger over swollen abdomen longer as their child became more active and he could feel the movement. Occasionally, he would get a swift kick in the palm of his large calloused hand. His expression was priceless, and would usually cause her to break out in delighted laughter.
Things were progressing well at the Rocking R. The rain barrels were better than half full. Maria and Lexie had come to an accord, and little Alex, now twice her previous size, was running like she’d never had a broken leg. Maria fell in love with the brave little pup the night that she, cast and all, had joined in the attack on Decker and then decided she was going after Patrick Boyd. Alex seemed to return Maria’s affection, so Lexie agreed to the cook’s request to adopt the pup. All four abandoned puppies found good homes. Cutter would often sit in one of the armchairs in the evening with Bib in his lap while he attempted to teach his wife the game of chess.
Late March saw another unexpected delivery to the Rocking R’s kitchen in the form of hams. She accompanied her husband on his pre-Easter rounds, like she had done in December on the turkey run. Lexie finally got him to admit to her that he paid out of his own funds for the annual gifts, and that was the reason she didn’t have any invoices for the purchases. She also gained the knowledge that he had always paid cash for the turkeys and hams for the better part of a decade. The practice of delivering a holiday turkey for the crew once a year had begun when his father ran the place, and at that time they went through the accounts as a Christmas bonus. After his father literally drank himself to death, Cutter changed the practice; that was another discrepancy in Bob Henson’s books. He had entered the turkeys and hams as paid out of cash funds from the ranch operating accounts. Lexie had a hunch that the old bookkeeper had found a way to pocket a substantial sum twice a year. She intended to have an accredited CPA verify her findings before she again brought the subject up with her husband.
Lexie didn’t get out much after Easter. She stopped riding, and had to force herself to walk the dogs a couple of times a day just to get some exercise. She was getting huge! It got more difficult to carry the baby around the closer she got to her due date. She was sure she had to be carrying twins, but Dr. Irene performed another ultrasound and assured her there was only one very large baby boy. The next nine and a half weeks allowed her to near completion of her CPA classes. Once the baby was born, just a quick review should be sufficient for her to sit for the exam. She still held that she may need the skill somewhere down the line, and was reluctant to be entirely dependant on her husband.
After ten hours of blinding pain and some-no-so-complimentary expletives aimed at her husband, little Benjamin Cutter Ross made his debut. He weighed in at a whopping nine pounds and two ounces. No wonder he had felt like he was going to fall out the front of her the last few weeks! It was Cutter who brought up the coincidence of their child’s birthday.
“Lex, do you realize that it was one year ago today that I pulled you out of the mud and brought you home with me?”
“Truthfully, I don’t remember much after you and Jim pulled the calf out of the muck, but I guess it was fate or something.”
Lexie loved her big-hearted husband who did his best to hide that heart beneath a gruff, no-nonsense exterior. She was more positive than ever a woman just never knew when or where the love of her life might show up.
Another Chance at Mr. Right
1
Two-year-old Ben Ross visited with his godparents while his mom and dad made the trip to Lubbock International to pick up their houseguests. Lexie’s mother and grandmother were due to arrive shortly, but you never could tell about airline departures, or arrivals any longer. It would have been too much for their active little son—the long drive and the inevitable wait at the airport.
Eve’s nerves were raw, and her mother’s constant complaining about the decline of the airline industry was not helping her condition. She was having second thoughts about Booker. He made her feel young again. It had been a long time since she had a serious relationship with a man. She had met Booker while planning her daughter’s wedding to Cutter Ross. Now, it was her turn to walk down the aisle, and she hoped things would not be as tumultuous for her and Booker as her daughter’s relationship was with her tall Texan.
Lexie was the reason for the plane trip to the Texas Panhandle. Eve had made the mistake of telling her daughter that Booker had proposed. Lexie grabbled the bull by the horns, so to speak, and made arrangements to have the wedding at a small church near the ranch that she and her little family attended. Mom and she would be staying at her daughter and son-in-law’s home until the pending nuptials. Mom was going to visit while she and Booker went on a two-week honeymoon. Eve sure hoped that Lexie knew what she was doing. Mom wasn’t as spry as she used to be, but she was just as opinionated and quarrelsome.
Her intended had driven them to Hopkins and accompanied them to baggage c
heck-in and that was as far as anyone not on the flight could go. That had started Mom on the good old days when family or friends could wait in the boarding area and see the plane leave the gate. She had been on a rant since, and Eve thought that maybe her mother was just nervous about just flying. Booker would be flying in tomorrow with the Potters in their private jet. That was Lexie’s doing, too. When she found out that Booker had asked Patrick Boyd to be his best man, she switched from matron of honor to bridesmaid. Lexie relinquished the honored spot, using the excuse that she could pair up with her husband, who was Booker’s only choice as an usher. Eve couldn’t shake the feeling that her daughter and her soon-to-be groom were teamed up as an unlikely pair of matchmakers. Eve had been back for little Benjamin’s christening, and last June for his first birthday, but Melinda had not been back since the summer the girls graduated from Ohio State.
Cutter questioned his wife as he pulled their new silver Yukon in to a parking spot near the terminal. “Are you sure you know what you are doing, Lex?”
“Grandma will only be with us for a couple of weeks, and I gave Maria a heads-up about her personality quirks. You will be out of the house most of the day, so she shouldn’t make you too crazy.”