The Cowboy's Christmas Miracle

by RaeAnne Thayne

  She was exactly right. A week ago, he would have taken great satisfaction in telling her his life was exactly the way he wanted it. Now he didn’t know what the hell he wanted.

  He needed to get out of there. Now. He pulled out his cell phone to call Carrianne to arrange the details and see how quickly she could find him a way out of the area when he suddenly realized he hadn’t seen Jenna’s van head down the mountain yet.

  He moved to the window overlooking the back driveway and frowned. What was she doing? Her van was still parked there but Jenna was nowhere in sight. He stood for another moment, baffled at the delay, then with growing uneasiness, he opened the door.

  His heart clogged his throat and icy panic crackled through him. She hadn’t gone to her van because she hadn’t made it beyond the back steps. She was lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes closed and her face deathly white to match the snow drifting down to cover her skin.

  Chapter Twelve

  He shoved open the door, barely aware of the bitter cold that cut through his clothes or the snowflakes that had turned mean and hard.

  He rushed down the steps, then scrambled to grab hold of the handrail when his feet started to slip out from underneath him. Why was it so damn icy? He had installed radiant heat under all the sidewalks and steps leading to the house to melt the snow.

  Something must have gone haywire with the system. He suddenly remembered her saying that morning to her sister-in-law and children that the steps were a little icy but he hadn’t paid much attention to her words.

  In her anger at him, Jenna must have rushed out of the house without remembering her own caution or how treacherous it was.

  None of that mattered, he thought as he crouched down beside her still form.

  “Jenna?” He reached a hand out to cup her cheek, sick fear curdling in his stomach at the cool fragility of her skin. “Jenna? Come on, sweetheart. Answer me.”

  She made no response at all. He wanted to shake her awake but he was afraid to move her in case she had a spinal injury. He didn’t want to cause any more pain than he had already done.

  He took his hand away from her cheek and smoothed her hair away from her pale features. He was almost certain it was his imagination when she moved slightly toward him, as if seeking the warmth of his fingers.

  “Come on, Jenna. Wake up and we’ll get you home.”

  She moaned a little but didn’t open her eyes. He did a quick physical assessment and saw that one arm was tucked underneath her back. Even with his limited experience, he could see something was drastically wrong with the unnatural position of it.

  His fault. All of this was his fault. He had goaded her, had done his best to make her as angry as possible with him for his own self-serving reasons, so he could push her away to the safe distance where he kept everyone else in his life.

  He should have known the radiant-heat system wasn’t working right but he had been so preoccupied the last few days that he hadn’t paid any attention to something as critical as her safety.

  Hell, she wouldn’t have even been at Raven’s Nest to fall down his steps if he hadn’t forced her to go against her better judgment and bribed her into cooking for his house party.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna. Just wake up and I’ll make it better. Come on.” He squeezed her fingers, trying desperately not to remember the last time he had begged a woman he cared about to wake up, eighteen years ago as he watched Suzanna slip into a coma as a result of her eclampsia.

  “Damn it, Jenna. Wake up,” he ordered, his voice harsher than he intended. “Your kids are waiting for you at home. They need you right now.”

  That did the trick. She moaned a little more but blinked her eyes open.

  Relief coursed through him, hot and fierce. On a purely rational level, he was quite certain it hadn’t been more than a minute or so since he opened the back door and found her lying on the steps, but he felt as if he had lived through two or three lifetimes in that miserable span of time.

  She moaned a little more and tried to rise to a seated position but he gently pressed a hand to her chest to hold her in place.

  “Don’t try to move yet, at least until we can figure out what kind of damage you’ve done.”

  She blinked up at him like a sleepy kitten. “What…what happened?”

  “I didn’t see, but I can guess. You must have slipped on the icy steps. Apparently the radiant-heating system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. Looks like you must have taken quite a header.”

  She touched her right hand to the back of her head then moved as if to lift the other arm from beneath her and he saw raw pain spasm across her features.

  “Ow! Ow, ow, ow.”

  Her distressed cry just about broke his heart. “I know. You’ve hurt your wrist pretty badly. We’re going to get some help. What else hurts? I tried to do a quick assessment but I don’t really know what I’m looking for.”

  Her lovely features contorted with pain. “Head. Arm. Ankle.”

  “I’d say that about covers it. Okay. I left my phone inside. I’m just going to grab it and a blanket for you while I call the ambulance. I’ll be back before you know it, okay? Just hold still.”

  Despite his order, she pushed up with her good arm until she was sitting on the icy step, her hand pressed to the back of her head and the other arm hanging loosely at an awkward angle. “I’m okay. Don’t call an ambulance.”

  “You are very far from okay, Jenna. You’ve taken a terrible fall.”

  “Freezing.”

  He didn’t think she had any spinal injuries and he hated the idea of her having to sit out here in the snow while he called for help. Since she had already taken it upon herself to sit up, he supposed there was no harm in taking her in the house.

  “Come on. Let’s get you where it’s warm.”

  He carefully scooped her into his arms, wondering how she could feel so delicate and be so stubborn at the same time. Her back was cold where she had been lying on the icy steps and he felt sick inside all over again.

  He carried her to the sitting area of the kitchen and pulled a knit throw off the corner of the sofa, then turned the gas fireplace on high.

  “Don’t call an ambulance,” she repeated when he crossed the kitchen for his phone. He was relieved to hear she was already sounding more like herself. “I twisted my ankle and bunged up my arm. You don’t need to bother the volunteer paramedics with a silly thing like that. They have much more important things to worry about.”

  Nothing is more important than making sure you’re okay, he wanted to say, but he knew he would sound ridiculous.

  He could see the determination in her eyes and knew she would not appreciate it if he went against her wishes and called the ambulance anyway.

  “Okay,” he finally said. “We’ll do things your way. I can take you to the hospital in Jackson Hole or the one in Idaho Falls. Your choice.”

  “Neither. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

  “Pick one.” He could be just as stubborn as Jenna Wheeler and it was high time she realized that.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “Jake Dalton at the clinic in town can take care of this. I would appreciate it if you could drive me there.”

  She looked as if the words just about choked her. Under less stressful circumstances, he might have smiled, but he had a feeling it would be a long time before he found anything amusing, especially since all he could think about was that terrible moment when he had opened the kitchen door and found her lying so still on his steps.

  “If you know the number, I’ll call and let them know we’re on our way.”

  She gave it to him and he punched it into his phone, thinking he would just call after they were on the road. “Be sure to tell Jake I have to stop at my house first and make sure the kids are still okay.”

  “We’ll call them on the way.”

  “Carson—”

  “Brace yourself.” He scooped her up again.

  “Honest
ly,” she exclaimed. “This is not necessary.”

  “Says you.”

  “I can walk if you put me down.” Her voice was muffled and he was glad to see color returning to her features. He held her tighter, knowing he shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. It seemed slightly warped when she was in such pain that he could find such contentment just having her in his arms.

  “It’s this or the ambulance. Which would you prefer?”

  “Neither,” she muttered.

  “Too bad,” he said as he reached the garage. “I’m not taking any chances, Jenna. You took a hard fall and that wrist looks seriously injured and I can already tell your ankle is going to swell.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” she wailed. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!”

  Guilt pinched at him as he set her in the backseat of the ranch’s Suburban. She had wanted to make the holiday idyllic for her children. He remembered her telling him about the last rough two Christmases and how things had to be just right this year.

  How was she ever going to do that, battered and sore as she was now?

  And how was he ever going to forgive himself for ruining the perfect holiday she had planned out so carefully?

  An hour later, Jake Dalton pursed his mouth as he looked at computerized X-rays. “Well, Jen, you’ve done a real job on yourself.”

  “I know. I’m such a klutz.”

  He grinned. “How would I ever pay my bills if not for klutzes like you? I’d be out of a job.”

  She made a face at him. She knew perfectly well Jake Dalton was probably the most underpaid doctor in Idaho. He opened his clinic at least two days a month for people who didn’t have health insurance and he and his wife, Maggie, spent several weeks every summer volunteering in poverty-stricken areas in Central America.

  As much as she liked and admired Jake and considered Maggie one of her closest friends, she would rather be just about anywhere else on earth right now than sitting in one of his exam rooms in a hospital gown.

  “So do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Jake asked.

  “I hate when you say that. Give me the good news first, I guess, so I have something positive to think about while you give me the bad news.”

  “Well, you’ve got a mild concussion.”

  “That’s the good news?”

  “It could be worse, darlin’. And I’m happy to report that your ankle’s not broken, only sprained. You’re going to have to stay off it for a day or two but you should be dancing by New Year’s Eve.”

  “I suppose that’s something. What about my wrist? Is that the bad news?”

  “You could say that. Take a look.” He swiveled the computer monitor around so she could see the screen. If the drugs his nurse practitioner wife gave her hadn’t already been making her woozy, the X-ray would have done the job. She could clearly see the jagged bones sticking out at an odd angle.

  “I guess I’ll be in a cast for Christmas. It could be worse, right?”

  Jake’s face grew solemn. “Jenna, I’m about ninety-nine percent sure you’re going to need surgery. That’s the bad news I was talking about. This looks beyond something I can take care of here in the office, just because of the break’s location. I’m going to get on the phone with the hospital in Idaho Falls and see if they can schedule you in today or tomorrow.”

  She thought of all her plans, of looking at Christmas lights and reading stories and Christmas dinner with her children’s remaining grandparent. “No. No way. Jake, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. I can’t ruin this for my kids again.”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have much choice in the matter, at least about the surgery. But nobody said it has to ruin anybody’s Christmas. It’s most likely an outpatient surgery. You could have it done first thing in the morning and be home by early afternoon.”

  “Couldn’t you just cast it and let me have the surgery after Christmas? Please, Jake.” She pleaded with him as a neighbor and as a friend. “I swore to myself I wouldn’t let anything ruin Christmas for my boys and for Jolie. You know what it’s been like for us. Two years ago Joe was dying and then last year we were dealing with Pat’s stroke and Jolie’s pneumonia. I can’t do the hospital thing again. Everything has to be perfect this year.”

  “Nothing’s perfect, Jenna.”

  “I know that. I just don’t want to see the inside of a hospital this Christmas.”

  He studied her for a long moment and then he sighed. “You’re a hard woman to say no to. Has Maggie been giving you lessons?”

  She smiled. “It’s a gift we share. What can I say?”

  “Look, I can try to set it here. I’m not sure we can put the bones back into the right position but we can try. It won’t be easy.”

  What in her life was? Jenna thought. “Thanks, Jake. I just need to make it through Christmas and then you can do all the surgeries you want.”

  “I don’t want to do any surgeries. My preference would be to have you home safe and sound without mild concussions or sprained ankles or anything.”

  She nodded, grateful beyond words that Jake had decided to come back to Pine Gulch to practice medicine. He could have taken a job anywhere but he had opted to become a family physician in his own hometown and the entire town owed him a huge debt for it.

  “This is going to take a while and we’ll have to get you good and loopy. Are your kids okay?”

  She hoped so. She had called them on the way here and all seemed to be under control, but with her children, that could change in an instant. “Yes. Erin’s with them and Terri said she would run out and help her.”

  “What about a ride home? Can McRaven stick around and wait for you? You’ll be in no shape to drive for a while.”

  “You can send him home,” she said. “Terri or my brother can give me a ride back up the canyon.”

  “I’ll do my best. But I’ve got to tell you, the man looks pretty settled out there in the waiting room. I don’t think he’s going anywhere. Let’s get you into the procedure room then I’ll go talk to McRaven.”

  Sure enough, Jake returned a few moments later with Maggie and an ominous tray of medical implements—and the news that Carson insisted on staying until her arm was set and casted.

  Jenna wanted to protest, but the medication Maggie had given her for the pain was making her far too muddleheaded to think straight.

  The next hour passed in a blur. Jake first made sure her entire arm was numb and she was blissfully chatting with Maggie about shoes and shopping and the Daltons’ two-year-old, Ada, who was currently spending the afternoon with her grandmother.

  Afterward, she vaguely recalled Jake warning her to keep her head averted while he worked the pieces of bone together, then enduring another X-ray to make sure everything was set correctly.

  She also had random snatches of memory of Maggie helping Jake cast her arm in a festive red, which she assured them she had to have so she could match her new Christmas dress.

  Finally, Jake told her he would drop by her house to check on her the next morning and she was to come back the day after Christmas for another X-ray so they could see if the bones were staying the way he set them.

  In the meantime, she was also under strict instructions to stay off her sprained ankle.

  “I would give you crutches,” Jake said, “but having one arm in a cast makes getting around on them a little difficult. You’ll have to use a cane and just be on your honor that you’ll keep the weight off that foot.”

  Jenna nodded, wondering how in the heck she was going to cook Christmas dinner when she couldn’t stand up. She would figure something out, she thought. She always did.

  Carson jumped up the moment Jake wheeled her into the waiting room and she flushed, embarrassed that he had hung around for her longer than an hour in a room full of crying babies and sniffly children.

  “What are you still doing here? My brother or his wife could have given me a ride. Now I’ve ruined your whole day.”

  “The day’s not over
yet,” Carson said with a smile and Jenna could swear she heard several of the young mothers in the waiting room give dreamy sighs.

  “So you’re good to go?” he asked.

  She looked to Jake for confirmation. “Just make sure you take the pain pills I gave you on schedule,” the physician said sternly. “Don’t try to be a hero or I promise, you’ll suffer for it later.”

  She nodded, suddenly weak with exhaustion as Carson took over behind the wheelchair and pushed her out the door toward his black SUV.

  She must have dozed off on the six-mile drive up the canyon. She didn’t awaken until he pulled up in front of her house and turned off the engine, when the cessation of noise and movement jerked her out of sleep.

  The smell of leather and enticing male filled her senses and she blinked her eyes open, to realize that somehow in her sleep she had moved across the seat and was resting her head on his shoulder.

  Out of sheer instinct, she jerked her head away, then gasped when pain cut through her like a buzz saw. The acute nature of her wrist and ankle injuries had taken center stage the last hour. Somehow she had forgotten the crack her head had taken and the concussion that had resulted from it.

  Still, she made herself pull away from Carson. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” And she meant that quite literally.

  He smiled that devastating smile again. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad my shoulder was here. I thought about just driving so you could rest but I figured you would feel better when you were home.”

  “I do need to get back to my children. I’ve been away too long as it is.”

  He studied her for a long moment and she saw something that looked suspiciously like guilt flicker across his features. “You know you’re going to need help, right?” he finally said. “Is there anyone you can call?”

  Panic flickered through her whenever she thought about how much her injury complicated her already hectic life, but she ruthlessly shoved it down. “Hayden and Drew can help me.”