Win Me Over

by Heather Slade

  “Tristan, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. It’s your dad,” she heard Liv say. “We need to get you home.”

  “What’s happened?” Bullet heard his mother ask Lyric, who had rushed over as soon as she saw Liv approach Tristan.

  “I’m not sure,” he heard his sister answer.

  Liv was standing in front of Tristan, with her hands cupping her shoulders. When she said, “It’s his heart,” Tristan literally crumpled in his arms. He caught her the moment she lost consciousness, and held her until she came to. The pale gray color her skin had turned terrified him.

  She looked back and forth between Liv and him. “Will he be okay?” she asked, in no more than a whisper.

  “We don’t know much at this point, sweetheart,” Liv told her. “Ben is making arrangements to fly you home now.”

  When Ben came back inside and walked over to the table where Bullet still held Tristan as close to him as he could, and reached out to take her hand, Bullet wanted to hold on and not let her go.

  “The plane is ready for us,” Bullet heard him say. “We’ll get you home.”

  Tristan stood and let Liv and Ben take her away from him. She didn’t say a word, didn’t look back; she just kept walking.

  His heart seized, and he brought his hands to his head. What was happening? Should he follow? Should he offer to go with them? He had no idea what to do.

  His father rested his hand on Bullet’s shoulder and squeezed.

  “I don’t know what to do, Dad,” he whispered.

  “Let her go, Bullet.”

  Let her go? No. He couldn’t let her go. Not ever.

  Bullet shook his father’s hand away and sped out of the restaurant in time to see Tristan climb into the back seat of Ben’s SUV.

  “Wait!” he yelled as Liv climbed in after her.

  He ran over and held the door open. “Tell me what I can do.”

  “We’ll call you as soon as we know something. I promise.”

  Bullet stepped back and let them drive away.

  Tristan went wherever Liv led her, in a daze every step of the way. When she encouraged her to close her eyes and rest, once they were on the plane, Tristan nodded but couldn’t keep her eyes closed. Whenever she did, all she could see was her mother, and the way she looked the last time she saw her, before she died in the car accident. Was the reason she kept seeing her mother because she was there to take her father to heaven?

  “Have you heard anything?” Lyric asked when she saw Bullet looking out the kitchen window at the sunrise. She’d stayed up with him most of the night, waiting for word, until she finally drifted off to sleep on the couch. He hadn’t slept at all.

  “Not yet.”

  He thought about calling, or texting, or driving to the airport and getting on the next plane to New York. But he didn’t do any of those things. He just waited.

  1972

  Bill had been premature in asking Clancy to be his best man, but four years later, it was finally happening. Tomorrow afternoon he and Dottie would be man and wife.

  Dottie insisted they wait to marry until after they’d both graduated from college. As it turned out, they didn’t have much choice.

  She started out at Western State even though Bill was going to school in Colorado Springs. Two years later, Dottie was awarded a scholarship, and was able to transfer to Colorado College, the prestigious liberal arts institution. It wasn’t far from where Bill attended the Engineering School at University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

  Unfortunately, Bill transferred to Colorado State College in Fort Collins right before Dottie found out about her scholarship.

  He’d been approached by the school, which was Clancy’s alma mater. They offered him a spot in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and his own scholarship, as a rider for the CSU College Rodeo Team. They competed from March to May, which didn’t take much time away from his academics.

  When he gave up rodeo after he graduated from high school, he turned to the only other thing he knew and loved—ranching. Now he’d be able to do both.

  As part of his degree, Bill studied Agricultural Economics, Animal Sciences, and Soil and Crop Sciences. With all he was learning, he and Clancy could modernize the operation in Black Forest and work the land to its maximum potential while, at the same time, preserving its natural resources.

  Right before he and Dottie graduated, Clancy finished the construction on the three-story ranch house he’d designed for Jane and him to live in.

  Bill’s younger sister had married her high school sweetheart the previous summer, and the two made their home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he’d gotten a management job with what was known as the “Daddy of ’em All” in the rodeo world, Cheyenne Frontier Days.

  Clancy and Jane gave Bill and Dottie the original ranch house, which had belonged to Russ Snyder, as a combined wedding and college graduation gift.

  The house didn’t look much like it had when Bill first saw it all those years ago. Clancy had added a front porch that spanned the entire front of the house, along with bricking over the original wood siding. “Gets damn cold out here, on the prairie,” he’d said when he talked to Bill’s mama about it.

  Over the course of the last four years, Clancy had either remodeled or repainted every room of the house. Bill lived in it and helped with the work the first two years he was at UCCS. That was when the major renovations had been done. It didn’t have to be spoken between them; Bill understood, as well as Clancy did, that they were eradicating all signs of the former owner.

  Apart from what little Bill remembered of the time before his daddy got ill, he’d never seen his mama as happy as she was with Clancy. He remembered what Clancy told him years before, about women trying to tame him. He didn’t seem much different now than he was then, just happier. And he didn’t seem to miss the attention he’d gotten at the dude ranch from all the ladies. The only lady he seemed to care about was Bill’s mama.

  The day of Bill and Dottie’s wedding was what was known as a “Bluebird Colorado Day.” The sun shone brightly, the sky was blue as a bluebird, and the only clouds they saw were soft, white, billowy ones that gently drifted overhead.

  Bill and Clancy had constructed a gazebo near the new house, and they both had an unobstructed view of Pikes Peak, the fourteen-thousand-foot mountain that defined the Colorado Springs area.

  The backdrop of the majestic mountain, the wildflowers in the meadows of the ten-square-mile ranch, and the babbling stream that ran through it, set the perfect tone for the wedding.

  Dottie wore a simple white dress that her Aunt Sadie had made, and Bill wore a black suit, white dress shirt, and black cowboy hat. The bouquet Dottie carried was made of a collection of the wildflowers found on the ranch, held together by a thin leather tie-down.

  Instead of going on a honeymoon, the two of them wanted to spend their first few days as a married couple in their new home. After being apart so much of the previous four years, they wanted to spend their time walking the ranch land, riding horses, and planning their future together.

  Bill woke and saw the note from Dottie resting against her pillow. She’d gone up to what they now called the main house, to pick up a few ingredients she needed to make breakfast.

  He didn’t know how long ago she left, so he decided to take a shower before she got back. She’d shoo him away from the kitchen anyway if she was cooking something she wanted to be a surprise.

  As he turned the water off, he heard the phone ringing. He grabbed a towel and walked down the hall and into the kitchen, dripping water as he went. He knew he better get it cleaned up before his wife got back, or she wouldn’t be too happy with him.

  The phone stopped ringing before he got to it. He was five paces away, headed back to the bathroom to dry off, when it started ringing again.

  “Good morning, Patterson Ranch, this is—”

  Before he could finish, his mama stopped him. “Bill get over here, quick. Something’s happened to Dottie. I called the a
mbulance, but Clancy needs your help.”

  Bill left the phone receiver dangling in the kitchen. He grabbed his pants and boots, and flew out of the house. He was halfway across the meadow by the time he pulled his shirt over his head. He could see Clancy kneeling on the ground, next to a person that had to be Dottie.

  Two days into their perfectly idyllic life, Bill feared it was coming to a horrible end.

  18

  By the time they landed, Ben made arrangements to rent a car, and he, Liv, and Tristan arrived at the hospital, it was close to four in the morning. While she hadn’t slept at all, she was able to think far more clearly, for some reason, than she had on the plane. Second only to her father, the person she was most worried about was her grandfather.

  When they checked in at the information desk in the lobby of the hospital, they were directed to the third floor, to the Cardiac Trauma Center.

  Liv kept a tight hold on her hand as they waited for the elevator. Tristan looked back and forth between her and Ben. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being with me.”

  “You’re family,” Ben told her, and Liv squeezed her hand.

  When they approached the room where they were told her father was, the door was open. Tristan’s father was sitting in a chair near the window, and her grandfather stood next to him.

  He looked fine. There were no wires connected to him, he didn’t even have an IV. “Daddy…”

  “Sweetheart,” he answered. “I’m so sorry you had to rush back here.”

  “How are you feeling? What happened?”

  “He collapsed,” her grandfather began. “We were on our way back from a trail ride, almost to the barn, when this one slunk over…” Her grandfather’s eyes filled with tears, and he looked away from her.

  “It’s okay,” she murmured and put her hand on his arm.

  “I thought we lost him,” he said, so quietly his words haunted her. He wiped his tears with his handkerchief and turned to face her.

  “I called 9-1-1. He was breathing, and his eyes were open, but he wasn’t there…”

  “We don’t have to do this now,” Tristan offered.

  “No. It’s all right, sweetheart. Anyway, the damn fool came to and told me to hang up the phone.”

  Tristan looked back and forth between her father and grandfather, both of them were smiling.

  “I thought I’d just passed out for a few seconds,” her father explained. “Turns out it was a lot longer than that.”

  “Four minutes and twenty-seven seconds,” added her grandfather. “He tried to dismount, but then he got woozy again, so I told him to stay put. A few seconds later, the ambulance pulled up, and they took over.”

  “Did you have a heart attack?” she asked.

  Her father’s smiling face turned sullen, and he shook his head. “Not a heart attack.”

  “The doctor came and talked to us a few minutes ago,” said her grandfather. “Your daddy here needs part of his ticker reworked.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked both of them. “Do you need bypass surgery?”

  Her father shook his head. “Valve replacement.”

  Instead of trying to explain further, her father handed her a piece of paper. “The doc said to have the nurse give her a call when you arrived, and she’d come back and talk with you.”

  Tristan leaned forward and kissed her father’s cheek, and then hugged her grandfather. When she walked out of the room to go to the nurses’ station, she found Ben and Liv waiting a few feet away.

  “I’ll know more soon,” she said, approaching them. “You don’t have to wait around here. I know you need to…uh…” She wasn’t sure what to say. They probably didn’t want to hop back on the plane after landing just a couple of hours ago. “Do you want to go to the house? I can give you directions.”

  “We’ll wait a little while longer,” said Liv, linking her arm with Tristan’s. “So, tell me what you do know.”

  They walked arm-in-arm to talk with the nurse, who told Tristan the doctor would be right up, and directed her to a family waiting area. “She’ll explain.”

  While they waited, Tristan told Liv and Ben what her father and grandfather had told her.

  “It’s a miracle he didn’t tumble off the horse,” Ben commented.

  Tristan shook her head. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “Miss McCullough?”

  “That’s me.” Tristan went to stand, but the doctor motioned for her to stay seated.

  “I’m Dr. Perry and I’m a cardiologist.” The doctor shook her hand. “What has your father told you so far?”

  “Not a lot.”

  “Essentially, he needs aortic valve replacement.” She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and drew a simplistic human heart. “Most of us have what’s called a tricuspid valve, but your father’s is bicuspid instead.” She sketched a few more images. “It’s a genetic condition. We rate the risk of this particular diagnosis on a scale of one to five. Your father is as close to a five as I’ve ever seen. It’s a wonder he hasn’t had any episodes previous to this one.”

  Tristan wondered. As stubborn as her father was, it was certainly possible that he had fainted before and not told anyone.

  “What is the treatment?” she asked.

  “Aortic valve replacement. There are options that we’ll discuss in depth with a cardiac surgeon, but I have to stress, there can be no delay with your father having this surgery.”

  Tristan nodded. “What are the options?”

  The doctor explained the difference between a mechanical valve and one from a bovine. “In some cases the bovine’s are larger, which means it’ll last longer. At your father’s age…well, we’ll let the surgeon give us his opinion first. His name is Dr. Fredericks, and I’ve specifically requested him. In the world of aortic surgery of any kind, he’s the rock star.”

  Tristan smiled at Ben.

  “I’ll warn you, though, he looks like he’s in his early twenties, but I assure you, he’s much older and the best-qualified surgeon I know. Of course, you’re also welcome to get a second opinion.”

  Tristan wasn’t sure what her father would want to do, but if Dr. Perry was telling her that the surgery had to be performed as soon as possible, did they really have time for a second opinion?

  “I’ll call Dr. Fredericks and ask him to come down as soon as he’s available.”

  Tristan thanked the doctor, and then again asked Liv if she and Ben wanted to go back to the house.

  “How’s your grandfather?” Liv asked. “Maybe he’d like something to eat, or a cup of coffee.”

  Tristan hadn’t thought of that, and now that she was here, he could go home for a while and get some rest.

  “Is there anyone you’d like us to call?” asked Ben.

  Tristan shrugged. “I don’t know who. I mean…”

  “What about Bullet?”

  “I guess, although, I’m not sure he…I don’t know. Would he…”

  “Yes.” Liv smiled. “He would.”

  Her grandfather took Liv and Ben up on their offer to go back to the house, and left Tristan the keys to his truck.

  “Do you want to get back in bed, Daddy?” she asked after they were gone.

  He didn’t answer right away, but after a few minutes, stood, walked over to the bed, and sat on its edge. “I’m sorry about this, sweetheart.”

  Inwardly, Tristan rolled her eyes. This wasn’t a condition he could’ve done anything to prevent. He’d been born with this deviation, from what the doctor said.

  “You need to get checked out too,” he told her. “All these years, I’ve had a heart murmur and not a single doctor told me to get what’s called an echocardiogram.”

  “What’s that?”

  He explained that it was essentially an ultrasound for the heart. If he’d had one, they would have been aware of his condition. In the event it worsened, he could have been on the proactive side of surgery. He also warned her that if she ever h
eard the words “heart murmur” to get one done herself.

  Bullet jumped when he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He pulled it out and answered without bothering to see who it was.

  “Bullet, this is Liv Rice calling.”

  “How’s Tristan?” Bullet guessed he should’ve asked about her daddy first, but he was more worried about her. He still hadn’t been able to sleep, he was so concerned.

  “She’s better now that she’s seen her father.”

  Liv explained as much as she knew and said that whenever there was an update she’d let him know.

  “He needs surgery soon, so I should be able to give you an update tomorrow.”

  “Can I talk to her?” he asked.

  “We’re not at the hospital now, but you can call her, Bullet. I’m sure she’d be glad to hear from you.”

  He thanked Liv, hung up, and immediately called Tristan.

  “Is that a call you need to answer?” her father asked when she looked at her phone.

  “Not now. I can call him back.”

  “Him?”

  “It’s just one of the riders, Daddy. It’s not important…”

  “Try again, and tell me the truth this time.”

  Tristan smiled. “We can talk about him later; it really isn’t important now. We need to talk about your surgery.”

  Her father was shaking his head. “We’re gonna talk about it right now, Tristan. This very minute.”

  “He’s somebody who works for Flying R. He’s a hand, but I don’t think anyone really considers him that. He’s so much more than he gives himself credit for.”

  Ten minutes later, her father was smiling from ear-to-ear, and Tristan couldn’t believe how long she’d gone on about Bullet. There were certain things she left out, like how he had a little girl with a woman he’d never married, and about them being together at Black Mountain Ranch.