by Kat Brookes
“What happened?” Tucker asked.
“Thrombosis of the inferior vena cava.”
“Which is what?”
“A liver abscess,” Garrett explained, “which led to a serious infection near the heart.”
Jackson shook his head. “A real shame. He’s been a good bull. Hopefully, The Duke and Wise Guy will come into their own this year.”
“They showed promise last season, so maybe this will be their year,” Garrett acknowledged with a nod, recalling the two newest additions to Kade’s rodeo bull lineup. “At least, Kade still has some top contenders that rank right up there with Little Thunder for the upcoming season.” Their first scheduled rodeo fell during the second week of June. Without having promising stock to offer for rodeo competition, contractors risked losing out on future contracts. That’s why they made sure their stock stayed strong and healthy, sending the best they had to offer out to the various rodeos.
“True,” Jackson agreed with a nod as they watched Tucker move in slow, fluid circles from where he stood in the center of the corral, following the movement of the mare as it made its way in larger circles around him.
Garrett slid his cell phone from his jeans pocket once again. A quick glance told him there were still no messages from Hannah or the hospital. That had to be a good thing. At least, he prayed it was. If something had happened, surely someone would have contacted him. Hannah had placed his name on the very limited visitor’s list, along with his cell phone number.
“You don’t need to be here, you know,” his brother said, his tone no longer teasing. “Tucker and I can handle things here if you want to go to the hospital to check on Hannah and the baby.”
“You and Tucker can’t see to the blood draws,” Garrett pointed out. “Besides, it’s not my place to be there with her,” he muttered, despite the pull he felt. The last thing he wanted to do was force himself in her life.
“You’re right,” Tucker agreed as he turned, following the horse’s path. “Best you stay here and be useless, because your focus is anywhere but on what you’re supposed to be doing this morning.”
“And I’m sure Hannah prefers to be alone in that big old hospital with no one to turn to if she starts feeling overwhelmed with everything,” Jackson tossed out. “And with her baby being in neonatal ICU, you can pretty much bet she’s at least a little fearful—”
“Point made,” Garrett grumbled. If he wasn’t already worried about Hannah, he would be hard-pressed not to be after his brothers’ guilt-inducing comments. But she’d refused to let him call her father the night before. She’d said she’d needed a little time to let everything sink in, and that even if her father had wanted to come to the hospital to be with them he couldn’t. Not while he was sick.
“Someone should be there for her.”
“I could go after I’m done here,” Tucker volunteered as he relaxed his posture, signaling for the horse circling about him to slow down. “Seeing as how you’re digging in your heels at the thought of doing it. I could pick up Autumn on the way. I’m sure she’d like to know how Hannah’s doing, her having helped with her baby’s birth and all.”
Garrett shot his youngest brother an incredulous look. “Appears I’m not the only one lacking focus today. Yours is supposed to be on that horse right now, not on other people’s conversations.”
Tucker chuckled. “What can I say? The good Lord blessed me with the ability to be a successful multitasker.”
“He is, at that,” Jackson agreed. “Listen, I’m almost done here. Why don’t I run over to the hospital and sit with Hannah for a few hours, seeing as how you and Tucker are going to have your hands full for a while with breaking horses and performing vet duties?”
His brother’s suggestion immediately had Garrett rethinking his decision to put off going to the hospital until after he’d done blood draws. There was no reason he couldn’t finish them up on the remaining horses later that day, or even tomorrow, for that matter.
“I rescued Hannah and her baby from that rising creek,” he said determinedly. “That makes them my responsibility. So, if anyone’s going to the hospital to sit with her, it’s going to be me. I can see to the blood work later.”
Jackson’s mouth tugged up at one side, displaying the lone dimple all three brothers had inherited from their father. “Far be it from us to try and usurp your responsibility, big brother.” He started for the barn, calling back over his shoulder, “Tell Hannah she’s in my thoughts.”
“Give her my regards as well,” Tucker called out as he turned, gaze fixed on the young mare he was working with as he queued her to speed up.
With only a wave of acknowledgment, Garrett walked away. He would go to the hospital, but he was only going to stay long enough to make certain Hannah and the baby were doing all right. He didn’t want to feel as if he needed to be there with Hannah and her son. Didn’t want to care more than he already did in the brief time since he’d come across Hannah’s partially submerged car at the washed-out bridge. Because other than the love he held for his family, he preferred not to care with any real depth for anyone else ever again.
He had just reached his truck when his mother called out to him from the chicken coop, “Garrett!”
Turning, he started toward her, meeting her halfway. “I was just—”
“Heading to the hospital,” she finished for him as she switched the basket of eggs she’d collected to the crook of her other arm.
“How did you know?” he asked in surprise.
“Because I know you, and you’re not the type of man to leave something unfinished.”
He looked at her questioningly.
His mother tilted her head to look up at him, the morning sun glinting off her smiling face. “You’re the reason Hannah and her son are alive today, with the good Lord’s guiding hand, of course,” she was quick to add.
“He’s not her son,” he said. “She was carrying that little boy for her sister who died in a car accident a few months ago.”
“I know,” she said, her eyes filled with compassion. “Jackson explained things to me when he called for us to come over and help with the baby’s birth. And then Hannah filled in the rest when Autumn and I were helping to deliver her baby. Such a heartbreaking way to become someone’s mother. And that’s what she is now—that boy’s mother. Something Hannah might not have even had the chance to experience if you hadn’t come along when you did.”
He nodded in agreement.
“That being the case,” his mother went on, “it only stands to reason that you would feel the need to look in on them today and for however long they’ll be in the hospital. The three of you will forever share a very special connection.”
“What if I’d rather not feel any sort of connection to them?” he muttered with a frown.
His mother’s expression softened even more. “Honey, I know you’d rather live your life free of any sort of emotional entanglements, but they’re a part of life. No matter how large or how small, they help to shape the man you are and the man you will become.”
He was content with the man he was now. He had a good life. A supportive family. A successful veterinary business. Part ownership of a thriving rodeo stock company. He didn’t need shaping, and he certainly didn’t want entanglements of any sort.
“Your needs aside,” she said in that motherly tone he knew so well, “you and I both know there are still going to be some hard days ahead for Hannah. Not only with her own physical and emotional recovery, but with the baby’s health as well.”
“Garrett Austin,” he said, recalling Hannah’s words the afternoon prior.
His mother looked up at him in confusion. “What?”
“Hannah asked if I would mind if she named her son after me.”
His mother’s eyes teared up. “What a truly touching thing for her to do.”
Ignori
ng the lump that formed in his throat, Garrett muttered, “I just hope Hannah doesn’t regret that decision down the road.”
“Whatever makes you think she’ll regret it?”
“Because she’s been through so much,” he explained. “Losing her mother, and then her sister and brother-in-law so close together. Then having to come to terms with the knowledge that she’s going to be the one raising her sister’s son. And if that wasn’t enough for one person to shoulder, she got caught up in a flash flood while in labor. She might have second thoughts on a name she chose when her emotions were so taxed.”
His mother nodded. “It’s true. That poor dear has had more than her share of tough times. But she’s here, her son’s here, because of your selfless actions yesterday. You and I both know how easily that ground along the side of the creek could have given way while you sought to rescue Hannah from her car. Garrett, you took such a risk to save them.”
He could hear the worry in her voice. “But it didn’t. Although I admit I did a fair amount of praying yesterday.” The second he’d realized someone was trapped inside that partially submerged car, he knew he would have done whatever he could to help. “From the moment Hannah looked up at me through the driver’s side window, her eyes wide with fear, I knew I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let her die. Not like I had Grace.”
“Oh, honey,” his mother said, her eyes now filled with unshed tears, “your love kept Grace with us longer than she might have been without it. I truly believe that in my heart. But it was her time to go. Just as it’s time for you to let go of the guilt you’ve held on to for so long. Guilt that’s not yours to harbor.”
His mother became a hazy blur in front of him as moisture gathered in Garrett’s eyes. “I don’t know if I can.”
She reached out and placed a gentle hand atop his forearm. “You’ll never know unless you try. And I will say that if Hannah chooses to honor your act of selflessness by naming her son after you, accept it graciously. That little boy couldn’t be named after a finer young man.”
Garrett cleared the emotion from his throat. “I am the man I am today because of you and Dad.” Leaning forward, he kissed his mother’s cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He drew back. “Don’t hold supper on my account if I’m not back in time. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying at the hospital.” If Hannah was having a day even half as emotionally trying as the one before, then he would stay and do whatever he could to lift her spirits. Because, like his brother had pointed out, she was all alone.
His mother looked up at him with a tender smile. “Please let Hannah know she and the baby are in our prayers. And, if she needs a place to stay until she’s recovered enough to go home, she’s more than welcome to stay here at the ranch.”
“I’ll be sure to let her know,” he said and then started back toward his truck.
“Garrett...”
He stopped, casting a glance back at his mother.
“If things get too hard for you, being there at the hospital and all, call me. I’ll come relieve you and keep Hannah company.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said determinedly. Because this time it wasn’t about him. It was about Hannah and what she needed. That meant pushing past his own emotional hang-ups and proving that he was the man his daddy had raised him to be. With a wave, he strode off, thoughts of Hannah and her precious son front and foremost in his mind.
* * *
Hannah paused in the doorway of the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit to cast one more glance back at the incubator that held her sister’s precious little son. No, she had to think of him as her son now. But guilt kept her from accepting it fully. Austin, as she was calling the child, was Heather’s. It didn’t seem right claiming him as her own, especially after reminding herself throughout the entire pregnancy that the baby she carried inside her wasn’t hers. But her sister and Brian were gone, and their son needed, at the very least, to have a mother in his life. And truth was she needed him, too. So very much.
If not for Garrett Wade, she and Austin would have become yet another flood statistic. Brushing a tear from her cheek, she sent a silent prayer of thanks heavenward. The Lord had sent her a real-life hero if ever there was one. He had come to her rescue not once, not twice, but three times.
First, when he’d pulled her car from the rushing floodwaters and got her to safety. Then when he’d brought his mother and sister-in-law in to help with her baby’s untimely arrival during the storm. And then afterward, when the ambulance couldn’t get through because the main road remained cut off and the baby had begun having problems breathing. Garrett had gotten them to the hospital—to the medical care her son desperately needed.
“I thought you were supposed to be resting.”
As if he’d stepped right out of her thoughts, Hannah turned to find Garrett standing in the hospital corridor, a worried frown on his handsome face. She managed a small smile, even though her heart wasn’t in it.
His brow creased as his gaze lit on her face. “Hannah?” Looking past her, he said, the words strained, “The baby?”
“He’s holding his own,” she answered.
With her reassurance, his focus returned to her. “Thank the Lord.”
“I was just going back to my room,” she said, feeling drained.
“I’ll walk you there.”
“Thank you.”
Garrett stepped around to place a supportive arm around her waist as he accompanied her. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.”
He nodded in understanding. “Should you be up moving about on your own?”
“They encourage it,” she replied as they made their way down the corridor.
Garrett, bless his heart, didn’t look happy about it, but kept his thoughts to himself. “Can I get you anything?” he asked as they turned into her room. “A glass of water? Crackers?”
“No, thank you.” She wasn’t certain she’d be able to keep anything down.
He turned his back to her as she settled herself into the hospital bed and drew up the covers.
“You can turn around now,” she told him.
He did and then stood there looking anything but comfortable.
“You don’t have to stay.”
He shook his head. “I want to. That is, if you want me to stay.”
“I...” The tears she’d been holding back spilled down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry,” he said with a groan. “I don’t have to stay. I probably shouldn’t have come.” He started for the door.
“Please don’t go,” she said with a hiccupping sob, futilely trying to brush the tears from her cheeks.
Garrett stopped and then turned, hesitating for a moment before finally making his way over to stand next to her hospital bed. He looked unsure of what to do. Like he wanted to be anywhere else but there, and she couldn’t really blame him.
“They’re sending me home tomorrow,” she explained between tearful gasps.
He exhaled in relief, the worry leaving his face. “So those are happy tears. For a minute there, I thought...” His words trailed off as she began sobbing again. “Hannah?”
“Garrett, I don’t have a home to go to,” she said. “Not here, anyway.”
“Yes, you do,” he told her. “Mom wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to stay with them until you’re feeling up to traveling back to Colorado.”
“That’s so kind of her,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “But how can I even think about leaving Austin? That’s what I’m going to call him, even though his given name will be Garrett Austin Sanders.”
“I like it,” he told her. “But then I’m a bit partial to the first two names, having had it myself for the past thirty-four years. And, just to be clear, the invitation from my mom was for the both of you. She’s ra
ised three sons of her own. She’ll be more than happy to help you with the baby.”
“That’s just it,” she said with a sob. “They want to send me home without him. Because he came early, he’s not ready to leave the hospital yet.”
“Then you should stay here with him.”
“I already asked, but there aren’t enough available beds for me to continue staying on here.” She looked up, meeting his gaze, her heart breaking. “Garrett, I can’t leave my baby here all alone. Not while he’s hooked up to all those machines.”
He placed his hand over hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. “He’s in good hands, Hannah. You need to focus on that. Did they say how long until he can go home?”
She shook her head. “It’s too soon to know, but it could be weeks.”
“Whatever it takes to get your son strong enough to come home to you,” he told her, his determined words touching Hannah deeply. “In the meantime, I’ll bring you to the hospital anytime you want and pick you up whenever you’re ready to come home. I’ll even stay when I can.”
“Garrett, I can’t ask that of you,” she said, shaking her head in refusal.
“You didn’t,” he said with a warm smile. “I offered.”
“But your job...”
“Isn’t going to be an issue,” he assured her. “Most of my income comes from my share of the rodeo stock contracting business I co-own with my brothers, and we aren’t into the start of the rodeo season yet, so there is no issue there. As for my being a vet, I work mostly with our horses, but make a few large animal calls here and there. We have another vet in town who can cover for me if the situation arises.”