Light the Stars

by RaeAnne Thayne

Knowing it was vital he stop—or at least slow—the copious bleeding, he yanked off his work shirt for the relatively clean T-shirt underneath to use as a pressure bandage.

  He was punching in 911 when Seth and the news crew came around the corner of the barn, probably to see what was taking him so long.

  When Seth caught sight of them, of Wade without his shirt and Caroline stretched out on the ground, he hurried over, Cody in his arms.

  "What happened?"

  Tanner suddenly started bawling and turned to his uncle for the comfort Wade didn't have time to give.

  "I went to get this k-kitty in the corral and Caroline came after me," the boy sniffled. "One of the c-cows got mad and ran to get us and Caroline pushed me out of way but the cow hurt her and now she won't wake up and it's my fault."

  Seth pulled him close. "Okay. It will be okay, bud."

  Wade hoped so. With all his heart, he hoped so. The 911 operator finally answered and he recognized a woman he'd gone to high school with, one of Andrea's cousins on her mother's side.

  "Hey Sharon, this is Wade Dalton. I need an ambulance up here at the Cold Creek for a thirty-year-old female who's been gored by a range cow. She's unconscious, with a possible concussion and likely a couple bruised ribs as well as a puncture wound in the back of her left thigh."

  "Is she breathing?"

  Wade watched the steady rise and fall of her chest and took some small comfort from that. "Yeah."

  "Is she out of harm's way?"

  "You think I'm going to leave her in a corral with an angry cow? Yeah, she's safe. Dammit, Sharon. Just send an ambulance fast!"

  "Sorry, Wade but I have to ask the questions. Stay on the line while I call the guys."

  It would be at least ten minutes before the volunteer paramedics could make it here from town, he figured. A moment later, Sharon returned to the line. "Okay, they're on their way."

  "Thanks, Sharon. Call Jake at the clinic, okay? Tell him it's Caroline and have him stand by."

  "Will do. Want me to stay on the line until the crew gets there?"

  "No. I've got it from here."

  She was waking up, he saw. She moaned a little and started to move restlessly, trying to roll from her side where he'd moved her, to her back. He held her still and he watched her eyes blink open as she tried to get her bearings.

  He saw the pain and confusion in her eyes as she looked blankly at the camera crew and Seth, then she turned her head slightly, probably so she could see what was keeping her from rolling back.

  The minute her gaze found him, the distress in her features eased and her body seemed to relax.

  "I guess I wasn't fast enough," she murmured.

  "Told you those range cows can be ornery buggers."

  He was astonished at the tenderness soaking through him, though it couldn't quite crowd out all the fear.

  She closed her eyes for a moment but opened them a second later and he saw they were wide and panicky. "Tanner! Where's Tanner?"

  "Over there with Seth, see? All safe and sound."

  She followed the direction he pointed and the relief in her eyes touched some deep chord inside him. She was battered and bloody, but her first thought was still for his son.

  At the sound of his name, Tanner approached them, his cheeks tearstained. He knelt down and grabbed hold of Caroline's hand. "Are you mad at me?"

  "Oh, honey. Of course not." She squeezed his fingers and Wade felt like some icy band around his heart he hadn't realized was there had started to loosen.

  "I'm sorry I went inside the pens where I'm not supposed to go. I'm sorry you got hurt."

  "How's the kitten?"

  "Good."

  He held it up for her and she sighed. "A lot of trouble for a little ball of fur. Good thing he's cute."

  The T-shirt Wade was using as a bandage was soaked with blood and he could see her features were getting paler. The kids didn't need to see all this, he thought, and he had a feeling Caroline would feel more comfortable without the crowd of onlookers.

  "Seth, maybe you should take the boys and our guests up to the house until the ambulance gets here."

  "You sure there's nothing we can do?"

  "Send somebody back with something clean I can use as a fresh bandage."

  Seth nodded and herded everyone toward the house.

  When they were gone, Wade folded his work shirt and tucked it under her cheek so she didn't have to lie in the dirt.

  "Thank you," she murmured, her voice weak and thready.

  "Hang on. The ambulance is on its way."

  Her eyes fluttered open and connected with his. "Oh, is that really necessary? I don't want to be a bother."

  "Honey, you've been gored by an eight-hundred-pound range cow. Trust me, it's necessary."

  She blinked and the pain in her eyes tore at his heart. He would do anything to take it away, but he was completely helpless. "Gored," she murmured. "That must be why my leg feels like it's on fire."

  "Afraid so."

  "I thought I just went the rounds with a freight train."

  "Yeah, a close encounter with a cow will do that to you."

  "You sound like you speak from experience."

  "A few times. You can't grow up on a ranch without your share of bumps and bruises."

  "Have you been gored?"

  She was talking to distract herself from the pain, he realized, and he felt another band around his heart loosen.

  "Once. I was fourteen and Jake dared me to do a little bull riding. Dad had this ornery bull he was selling to one of the neighbors, so he had it penned waiting for them to come for it. Somehow we managed to chase him into a chute and I climbed on. We didn't have a rope or anything, just me being an idiot. I probably lasted half a second before I went flying into the air. I was like you, I almost made it out before he caught me."

  The worst part of the whole ordeal had been Hank's fury when he'd found they had used an expensive animal for sport. He hadn't worried so much about his son as he had about the bull. Hank had even made him walk up to the house through agonizing pain, he remembered.

  Marjorie had almost left the bastard over that one, he remembered, then he realized Caroline's eyes were closed again and pushed the memory away.

  "Come on, honey. Hang on."

  "Hurts."

  He brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I know, sweetheart. But listen, there's the ambulance. Can you hear it? They'll be here in a minute to take you to Jake and he'll fix you right up. He's a hell of a doctor."

  "Will you come with me?"

  Her quiet words ripped out what was left of his heart. "I doubt they'll let me ride on the ambulance but I'll bring the boys and follow it to the clinic, okay?"

  She nodded just as the ambulance arrived.

  A moment later, the place bustled with paramedics. Wade stood up, shirtless and suddenly freezing in the cool wind.

  His hands were bloody, his chest ached, and he felt like he'd aged at least ten years in the last ten minutes.

  Chapter Twelve

  Two hours later, Wade decided he'd aged more like twenty years since seeing that cow heading straight for Caroline and Tanner.

  Now he sat across the desk from his brother in Jake's pathologically clean office at the clinic, where Wade had sat for the last two hours thumbing through journal articles on topics about which he had no interest or comprehension.

  "So what can you tell me? Are you done with her yet? Will she have to transfer to the hospital in Idaho Falls or can I take her back to the Cold Creek?"

  Jake leaned back in his chair twirling a pen in both hands with something perilously close to a smirk on his features. "I'm afraid that as you're not a blood relative of Ms. Montgomery, I'm not at liberty to give you any information about her condition unless she signs a release."

  He glared. "I'm your relative and I can still pound your smart ass into the ground without breaking a sweat."

  "Sorry, but self-preservation is not adequate justification for me to bre
ak the law. Bring it on, brother."

  Wade suddenly remembered just why Jake used to drive him crazy when they were kids. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

  "You've been pacing in here like a nervous father for the last two hours. I have to say, I haven't seen you this upset since…" His voice trailed off, along with his grin, and his mouth tightened.

  "Since Andrea's illness," Wade finished for him grimly.

  Compassion and regret flashed across Jake's features. "I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. I wasn't thinking about how all this must bring back memories of Andi."

  "It's not the same. Andi was my wife. My life. Caroline is just…just…"

  He couldn't seem to come up with the right word for the place she had filled in his life. Sometimes he wasn't even sure he liked her very much, then others he couldn't stop thinking about her, remembering that kiss they had shared, her crooked little smile that seemed to brighten the whole house, her endless patience with his kids.

  Despite his protestations to Jake, he had to admit that his emotions of the last two hours had been eerily similar to those terrible, helpless days he had prowled that hospital room in Idaho Falls while his wife had tried and failed to fight off the infection that had finally claimed her life.

  How could he even compare the two experiences? It made no sense and yet his worry and fear felt the same.

  "Caroline's a trooper," Jake said. "No tears, no hysterics. She even made a few jokes while she was under the local and I was sewing up the puncture wound. Forty-five stitches, all told, but she's doing fine."

  "I thought you couldn't talk about her condition with me."

  Jake pulled a paper out of a file and tossed it on the desk, his expression a little shamefaced. "Oh, look. A release form. I must have forgotten Connie had her sign it when they were filling out her insurance papers."

  Wade glared at him in disgust. "You always were a son of a bitch."

  Jake smirked. "How could I be otherwise when I had such a fine example in my older brother?"

  "So what can you tell me? What's the extent of her injuries?"

  Jake suddenly became all doctor, no longer a teasing younger brother trying to yank his chain. "Your triage assessment was right on. The X-rays showed two cracked ribs, just as you suspected, I'm guessing from hitting the fence. From what I can piece together, the cow came at her from behind, head down, and caught her in the leg."

  "Yeah, I know that part. I was there."

  Just remembering it sent cold chills down his spine. He knew he would never forget that horrible moment when she'd gone flying through the air. No doubt he would relive it in his nightmares for a long time.

  "Well, she was relatively lucky. It could have been much worse. As it is, she has a deep laceration in the back of her thigh. It went through the biceps femoris but missed the popliteal artery by a fraction of an inch. If it hadn't, she probably would have bled to death at the Cold Creek before you were able to summon help."

  Wade felt cold, light-headed, just thinking about the idea of a world without Caroline in it.

  How had she come to be so important to him in just a few days? He let out a ragged breath then covered it by coughing a little as if he were only clearing his throat.

  "What kind of a recovery time is she looking at?"

  Jake studied him closely and Wade hoped like hell none of his emotions were showing on his face.

  "Well, I can't lie to you, she's going to hurt for several days. The ribs are going to be the worst of it but deep tissue trauma like a gore wound isn't easy to bounce back from."

  "Yeah, I remember."

  "That's right, I forgot you've been there, El Matador."

  He narrowed his gaze. "You should be damn grateful you're a good doctor, otherwise you'd be too obnoxious to tolerate."

  Jake laughed, unoffended. "We gave her a local anesthetic while I was sewing things up and she's still a little numb from that but I don't think there's any need to transfer her to Idaho Falls to the hospital. I can keep a closer eye on her here. She'll have to stay off it completely for a couple days and I've urged her not to travel for at least a week. I figured she can stay at my place until she's ready to go back to California. I can take turns checking on her throughout the day with my clinic nurses."

  "Forget it. She's staying at the Cold Creek."

  His vehemence seemed to surprise Jake as much as it did him.

  He wasn't sure why he hated the idea of her staying with his brother so much. It probably made more sense all around. She would certainly be able to get more rest without his kids in the way and she would be closer to expert care with Jake in the same house, but he hated the whole idea.

  Jake folded his arms. "And why is that? Because, as usual, you think you're responsible for the whole world?"

  "Not the whole world. Just people who are injured on my ranch, by one of my cows, while they happen to be in the process of saving my son's life. I'd say that gives me some responsibility to see she's cared for properly."

  "You don't think she would be at my house? See that diploma on the wall? I do happen to be the doctor here, remember?"

  "As if you would ever let me forget. But just because you're the one with the fancy degree doesn't automatically make you the best one to take care of Caroline," he said. "You work eighteen-hour days and she would be alone all day except for the few times you sent people to check on her. She'd be miserable."

  "You're a great one to talk about working long hours! Your kids see you for five minutes a day if they're lucky."

  What was it with everybody telling him what a lousy father he was, all of a sudden?

  "Look," Jake went on, "I'm sure Caroline understands you're grateful to her for going after Tanner like that. But she also has to know you have your hands more than full at the Cold Creek. I haven't forgotten how crazy autumns on the ranch can be. And with Caroline on the injured list, you're back to where you were when Mom left, without anybody to help you with the kids."

  Wade clenched his teeth. "I'm well aware of that, but thanks for the reminder."

  "I'm only pointing out that you can't handle the load you've already got. What makes you think you can take on the care of an injured woman, too?"

  "We'll manage. I'll just have to take a few days off."

  Jake stared at him like a fat, wriggling trout had just popped out the top of his head. "A few days off what?"

  He shrugged. "Seth can handle things around the ranch and I'll stick close to the house and take care of Caroline and the boys until she's back on her feet."

  He braced himself for more arguments but whatever his brother threw at him, Wade refused to let himself be deterred. He had absolutely no intention of letting Caroline recover anywhere but at the Cold Creek.

  He owed her this for what she had done for Tanner—hell, what she'd done for all of them the last six days. She had stepped up when he needed help and he couldn't do any less for her.

  Something else had been bothering him these last two hours and Jake bringing up Andi's illness finally helped him crystallize it in his mind.

  When his wife had been so sick, he could do nothing for her but haunt the hospital, hound the doctors and spend every spare minute on his knees praying for God not to take her.

  He was a man used to doing, not sitting back and watching others, and it had been hell to stand by while his wife had grown sicker and sicker.

  Here was something concrete he could handle, something he hadn't been given the chance to do for Andi. And maybe by helping to nurse Caroline, in some way, another of the scars crisscrossing his heart might heal.

  "I'm taking her home," he said firmly.

  To his surprise, Jake—the same one Marjorie used to say would argue with her if she said his eyes were blue—completely folded.

  After another long look at Wade, he nodded. "Fine. I'll give you a list of discharge instructions before you take her back to the ranch. She's being fitted for a pair of crutches and I'll have to call in a prescripti
on for painkillers and heavy-duty antibiotics, then after that she should be good to go."

  Despite his relief at not having to engage in hand-to-hand combat with his brother over the rights to care for her, he suddenly felt a spurt of panic at the task in front of him.

  "Just like that? Are you sure you don't need to keep her longer for observation or something?"

  Jake seemed to be fighting a smile. "Oh, I think I've seen all I need to see."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

  "Oh, nothing." Jake stood up, stretching a little as he did. His surgical scrubs were sweat-stained and he suddenly looked as tired as if he'd spent all day in the saddle roping steers.

  "Never mind," Jake said. "I'll go let the nurses know you're ready."

  Ready? He wasn't sure he'd go that far. Still, he'd made his choice and he backed his words up with action.

  * * *

  Hours later, Caroline dragged herself out of an uneasy, pill-induced sleep to a muted bass voice, a higher-pitched whisper and pain in every single molecule of her body.

  Mercy, she hurt. For several moments after she awoke, she concentrated only on breathing past the pain until she could think straight. Even breathing hurt and she couldn't figure out why until she remembered the cracked ribs. Wade's brother had warned her they would probably hurt worse than anything else at first and she discovered he'd been telling the truth.

  Her leg burned and throbbed but she could endure that. What she hated was not being able to take a deep breath into her lungs for the pain.

  She did the best she could, keeping her eyes closed while she focused. Through the layers of pain, she listened to the voices—Wade and Tanner, she realized.

  "If you can't remember to whisper, you'll have to leave," Wade admonished his son.

  "I'll be quiet, I promise," Tanner said and Caroline almost smiled at that impossible claim. She wasn't sure Tanner could be quiet even if his mouth were taped shut.

  Her eyelids were just about the only part of her that wasn't sore right about now, so she propped one up just enough to see she was alone with Wade and Tanner in a room she recognized as one of the empty bedrooms on the main floor.

  Nat and Cody were nowhere in sight but Wade sat at the old-fashioned writing desk in the room with Tanner on his lap. The boy had a blueberry-colored crayon in his hand—his unbandaged hand, she saw with some delight, and his cute little face wore a frown of concentration, his tongue clamped between his teeth, as he peered down at what he was coloring.