Delaney nodded. “I will. Thanks again.”
Amy shut the pickup door and Delaney headed home, consumed by her thoughts and sickened by her concerns for Klayne. Perhaps all her worrying was for nothing. Maybe he’d survived the raid and was right now back on a base in the states. That thought calmed her considerably as she parked the pickup near the bunkhouse and grabbed a sack of groceries off the seat.
“Hey, Dee. I thought maybe you’d stay in town and eat supper with Amy,” Butch said as she walked inside the bunkhouse. “You have more to carry in?”
She nodded and Duffy ambled out to bring in the rest.
Dill, who just walked in, took one look at her face and opened his arms to her. She rushed to her father and buried her face against the front of his dusty shirt, not caring if it got all over her dress.
“What’s wrong, Sis?” he asked, giving her a tight squeeze before releasing her and taking a step back. “Did something happen in town?”
“I saw Klayne,” she blurted as tears burned the back of her eyes.
Dill’s hands curled into fists and he moved toward the door. “You mean that no-good low-life is back in town and didn’t even let you know? Why, I’ll teach him…”
Delaney settled a hand on his arm before he could march out the door. “No, Dad. He’s not back.”
At her father’s confused look, she hurried to explain. “Amy and I went to see a movie. The newsreel was about the raid on Tokyo. It showed the men who went on the mission, and there was Klayne, larger than life on the screen.” Delaney’s voice caught and she brushed at a wayward tear that trailed down her cheek. “I’m worried, Dad. What if his plane was shot down? What if the Japanese took him captive? What if he’s lying injured somewhere in some…”
Dill gave her a comforting hug as she fought to subdue her tears. “Don’t jump to conclusions that likely didn’t happen. That raid was weeks ago. By now, he’s probably safe at a base, if not here, then one of the American bases overseas. The news I read in the paper said everyone was fine and no planes were lost.”
“I know what it said, but I still have this feeling that something happened to him, Dad. Something horrible.”
“You can’t go around borrowing trouble, Sis. Why don’t we go to the airfield tomorrow and see if we can find out anything from them?”
Delaney sighed and paced in front of the old table. “I tried that already. Amy went with me. The guards wouldn’t even let us in the gate until Amy threatened to scream as though she was being murdered. The officer we spoke with was kind, but he said there is no record of Klayne being married and they can’t give me any information because I’m not listed as his wife.”
“Surely there’s something that can be done,” Dill said, watching his daughter prowl around the bunkhouse kitchen like a caged animal. “Just calm down and we’ll figure it out.”
“How can I calm down, Dad?” Delaney yelled. “My husband may very well be dead or dying and no one will tell me a blessed thing.” Before Dill could offer her any words of comfort or advice, she ran out of the bunkhouse and inside the house. The slamming of the back door echoed to the three men as they stood in the doorway, watching her run away.
“I sure hope that young man of hers comes back, Dill. She really and truly loves him,” Butch said, moving over to the stove where he took a casserole out of the oven.
“I hope he comes back, too,” Dill said, sending up a prayer for the young man he’d only briefly met.
The next morning, Delaney wrote a letter to the man who had reportedly been in charge of the mission. She highly doubted her letter would reach him, but it made her feel better.
After that, she pulled on a pair of work gloves and headed out for a full day of work.
The teen boys they’d hired arrived and their help on the ranch made a noticeable difference in what was accomplished each day.
Delaney worked alongside the rest of the men while Butch took over all cooking duties. Even if Delaney had time to cook, which she didn’t, the smell of coffee percolating or meat frying sent her rushing for the bathroom. Finally, the morning sickness that plagued her subsided, but her energy flagged every afternoon. Most days, she managed to sneak in a quick nap, although it took evasive measures on her part to keep her dad from discovering that fact.
One morning, two of the five boys they hired helped Dill sweep out the loft in a shed where they planned to store the freshly cut hay, once it dried enough to stack. The June day was warm and bright as they worked.
Delaney labored in the garden, watering plants and pulling weeds. She waved to her dad as he pushed remnants of last year’s hay, dust, and who knew what else off the edge of the loft to the ground below. Part of it drifted over the grain drill that seeded the fields. Duffy had repaired a broken brace on it the previous evening and left it sitting there. One of the boys would scrub it clean before Duffy put it back in the equipment shed, ready to seed the next crop. The repair work they usually accomplished in the early spring had been delayed by the shortage of help, so the men worked on it whenever they had a chance. With the extra hands, they were finally catching up on the work that a month ago had seemed so endless.
Dill leaned on the broom handle and returned her wave before going back inside. Delaney resumed weeding and watering, and praying for Klayne. Constantly, her thoughts turned to him, wondering if he was well and safe. Questions about when he’d get in touch with her and if he’d come home kept her anxiety simmering.
As she tugged weeds from between the feathery tops of the carrots, she heard a yell and spun around.
Dill bounced off the top of the grain drill, hit the metal bars across the front, and caught the hitch with his foot before landing on the ground with a sickening thud.
Chapter Sixteen
“Dad!” Delaney screamed, racing toward him as the boys poured out of the barn and shed. Duffy jumped off a tractor he’d been fueling and Butch hurried out of the bunkhouse.
The two boys who’d been working in the shed reached Dill first, followed by Delaney. She dropped to her knees in the dust and touched her father, grateful his chest continued to rise and fall. Blood poured out of his nose and from a cut on his lip, but it was the wounds she couldn’t see that worried her most. Both of his legs rested at unnatural angles and the ankle of his left foot appeared twisted to the side.
“Someone phone the hospital,” she said, flapping her hand at the boys. One of them ran to the house.
“Do you think his back is broken?” Duffy asked as he knelt beside Delaney.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, yanking a handkerchief from her pocket and holding it beneath Dill’s nose.
Butch reached them, assessed the situation, and took charge. “Tommy and John, go take the door off the tack room and hurry right back with it. Gordy and Jason, run into the bunkhouse and grab the stack of blankets off the bed closest to the door.
The boys hurried to do his bidding, leaving Duffy and Butch to give each other silent looks over Delaney’s head. Butch took a step closer and placed his hand on Delaney’s shoulder. “Go get your pickup, Dee. Drive it right over here close so we can load your dad.”
Numb, Delaney sat for a moment until Butch squeezed her shoulder. She bolted to her feet and raced to her pickup, starting it and turning around in the driveway.
She eased it close to where her dad sprawled in the dirt, his face a ghastly shade of white beneath the red blood smeared across his skin. The boys returned with the door and blankets. Butch padded the door with two folded blankets then working together they all carefully lifted Dill onto the makeshift stretcher.
“Heft him into the back of the pickup,” Butch ordered. Delaney scrambled into the back and guided them as the men and boys hefted. The one who called the hospital said they could send someone out, but it would be at least half an hour.
“Go back in and tell them we’re on our way,” Butch said, sliding behind the wheel as Delaney sat next to her father in the bed of the pickup.
The trip to Pendleton was the longest Delaney had ever taken. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she did her best to cushion the bounces while Butch roared down the road. Staff poured out of the hospital when they arrived, moving Dill onto a stretcher and wheeling him inside.
A nurse cornered Delaney and started asking questions. She answered them then nervously paced back and forth, wishing someone would tell her what was happening.
She jumped up from the chair she’d been sitting in when Doctor Nash appeared in the waiting area.
“Doc! How’s Dad?” she asked with a pleading look in her eyes. Nothing could happen to her father. He was all she had left in the world. With her mother gone all these years, she’d always relied on the steady presence of her father. Mac was at sea, no doubt heading into battle, and Klayne… Delaney choked back a sob as a thought of her husband’s probable whereabouts flashed through her mind. “Will Dad be okay?”
“Let’s sit down,” Nik said, guiding Delaney to a nearby seat. “What happened to Dill?”
“He fell out of the hay loft on top of the grain drill. He hit the top of it facing down, bounced off the cross bar, then hit the hitch,” Delaney said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. “The boys don’t seem to know what happened. One moment he was sweeping out the loft, and the next he’d fallen.”
Nik shook his head. “That explains his injuries. He busted both legs, Dee. The femur, that’s the bone in your thigh…” Nik pointed to his leg to demonstrate where he meant. “Dill must have snapped them both when he hit the top of the drill. The good news is both breaks were clean. The bad news is it’s going to take a while for those to heal, especially when he doesn’t have a solid leg for support. He also broke his left ankle. It’s going to require surgery. In addition, he has seven cracked ribs, one of which punctured a tiny hole in his lung.”
Delaney’s face paled and she felt woozy. Nik pushed on her back until she bent forward with her head between her knees. “Just breathe, Dee. Take in a deep breath.”
She did.
“Now, take another.”
She inhaled and released the breath, took another, then slowly raised her head. Calmer, she faced the doctor. “Is Dad going to be okay?”
“Eventually. The punctured lung can be dangerous, but you got him here quickly and we were able to treat it right away. Surgery on his ankle is next, then we’ll set both of his legs. Oh, and he broke his nose, again. What’s that? The fourth time?”
Delaney nodded. “Third, but who’s counting?”
Nik grinned and patted her shoulder. “If you want to go home to rest, I can phone you when Dill is out of surgery.”
“No, I’ll stay. Butch is here, too. He went outside to get some air,” Delaney said, wanting Nik to know she wasn’t alone.
“That’s good. As soon as we finish setting his legs, I’ll give you an update on how he’s doing.”
Delaney bobbed her head in agreement, finding it hard to speak.
The doctor pointed toward a chair in the corner. “Make yourself comfortable and don’t forget to take care of yourself. You know you have more than just your health to consider.”
She nodded again and watched as he walked away. When Butch returned, she told him what the doctor said. The two of them waited for what seemed like hours. As afternoon edged toward evening, Butch went to find them something to eat. Delaney had no appetite, but she knew she needed to eat something for the sake of the baby.
With no one else in the waiting room, she settled her hand on her abdomen. So far, the tiny bump of the baby didn’t show enough anyone had noticed.
Delaney knew she needed to tell her father, and she wanted to tell Amy, but she just couldn’t find the words. Her father already had too many things on his mind, worrying about the crops and the cattle when they were having to make do without experienced help. The distance he’d put between them when he found out about Klayne devastated her. She couldn’t imagine what her father would do when he found out she was expecting Klayne’s baby.
“What a mess,” she mumbled, leaning back in the chair and closing her eyes. The crinkle of a paper bag alerted her to someone’s presence. She opened her eyes and watched as Butch sank onto a seat beside her. He took hamburgers out of the bag and passed one to her, along with a cold bottle of milk.
“Eat up, Girly. You’ll need your strength,” he said, taking a bite of the hamburger.
“Thanks, Butch.” Before eating the hamburger, she took a long drink of the milk. Hungry, she ate every bite of her meal, then finished the milk.
She got up and walked around a while then resumed her seat. Butch appeared to be dozing with his face propped on one hand, elbow braced on the arm of the chair.
Delaney picked up a copy of a popular magazine. Surprised to see it was the current issue, she studied the image of Hedy Lamar on the cover. Vaguely recalling the actress had a new movie releasing soon, she supposed that was the reason for the cover story.
She flipped through the magazine, noticing a cigarette ad with pictures of uniformed soldiers. The ad said, “You want steady nerves when you’re flying Uncle Sam’s bombers across the ocean.” The ad made her think of Klayne. She wondered if he smoked. Although it seemed everyone smoked these days, she detested the habit. His kisses tasted like spearmint gum, not the residue of cigarettes, but she supposed it was entirely possible he could smoke like a steam engine and she’d never know.
Annoyed by how little she knew about the man she married, perhaps she shouldn’t have been so eager to say “I do.” Yet, when she thought about how Klayne made her feel, how much she loved him, she was glad she had agreed to marry him before he left.
She just wanted him to come home. At the very least, she needed to know he was safe.
With a weary sigh, she continued flipping through the magazine. She glanced through an article about three things every woman could do to help the war effort. A photo showing a woman cleaning and servicing her sewing machine caused Delaney to roll her eyes. She’d have to brush the cobwebs off hers before she could clean it, and that would only be after she remembered where she’d stored it. She didn’t have any particular talent at sewing and rarely had the time. If she needed something new, she ordered it from Ilsa Campanelli. If something needed to be patched, there was a widow woman in town who gladly did the work to make extra money.
Delaney perused an article about Yale at war then read the article about Tortilla Flat, the movie Hedy Lamar starred in, based on John Steinbeck’s novel. Her eyes lingered over lovely drawings of birds, making her think of peaceful spring days.
Since she’d gone through the magazine so quickly, she turned back to the front and slowly thumbed her way through one page at a time. She’d just turned a page when a familiar face jumped out at her from a black and white photo.
“Thunderation!” she exclaimed, sounding just like her father.
Butch jumped and nearly toppled out of his chair then glared at her. “What’s all the ruckus about? Is Dill okay?”
“Doc hasn’t come back yet, but look at this,” Delaney said, shoving the magazine into Butch’s face. She tapped the image of her husband with her finger. “That’s Klayne, Butch. Right there! That’s Klayne!”
“Well, quit waggling the durn thing all over the place and let me get a gander,” Butch said, taking the magazine in his hands. He studied the images of the young soldiers, his gaze coming back to rest on Klayne. “He’s a fine-looking man, Delaney. Stands tall and proud, but what impresses me is the look in his eyes.”
“What look is that?” she asked, curious.
“One of kindness,” Butch said, handing the magazine back to her. “He looks like a good man, Girly.”
“He is, Butch. He really is.”
Another hour passed before the doctor appeared, letting them know Dill did well in surg
ery. Both of his legs were set, but he’d be in the hospital for a while, recovering.
“You two might as well go home and rest. Dill won’t be awake for a while and he’ll be so groggy, he won’t know what’s going on anyway. Come back in the morning and he should be ready for a visitor or two then.”
“Thank you, Doc,” Delaney said, giving the doctor a quick hug.
“My pleasure, although I should tell you I watched while one of the young whippersnappers did the surgery on Dill’s ankle. He did a great job on it, too.” Nik smiled and thumped Butch on the back. “Take this gal home and make sure you both get a good night’s rest.”
“I’ll do it, Nik.” Butch placed his hand on Delaney’s arm, guiding her toward the doorway. “Thank you for taking good care of the boss.”
Nik nodded then left.
Delaney and Butch returned to the pickup and made their way back to the ranch. They found all five of the boys still there, keeping busy as they waited for news.
“Dad is out of surgery and he’ll recover, but it’s going to be a long, slow process,” Delaney said, explaining the extent of her father’s injuries to the boys. “If you know anyone looking for work this summer, let me know. We could use another pair or two of hands since Dad won’t be able to get out of bed.”
“Would you hire a girl, Miss Delaney?” one of the boys inquired.
“If she can work hard, I sure would.” Delaney grinned at Tommy. “You have someone in mind?”
“Yep, but I’ll ask her first, to see if she’s interested.”
“Fair enough,” Delaney said, motioning for the boys to leave. “You boys worked hard today and I appreciate all your help. Have a good evening.”
“We will. Good night, Miss Delaney. We’re awful glad Mr. Danvers will be okay,” Tommy said.
Delaney nodded. “Me, too.”
The next morning, she flipped on the radio in the kitchen as she nibbled a piece of dry toast. She listened to a man state the Battle of Midway continued, with the U. S. Navy fighting hard against the Japanese. Somehow, in all the trauma with her father’s accident, she’d somehow missed the fact that the American Navy battled against the Japanese in the Pacific.
Home of Her Heart (Hearts of the War Book 2) Page 20