Page 15 of Rawhide and Ransom

She wanted to accept his offer — badly — but she still hesitated. “Like I said, we have family here on the rez.” Granted, Uri Dakota was a distant relative by marriage whom she’d never met in person. A man who might have no interest in getting to know her and her daughter, much less helping them find a place to live.

“Do you really want to meet him before squeezing in a measly shower?” Hawk’s dark gaze coaxed her to reconsider.

A snicker escaped her as she sent a mock accusing look at her daughter. “Are the two of you trying to say I stink?”

Her daughter gave an innocent shrug. “If the rain boots fit…”

“Yep, you’re still a brat.” Annalee leaned over the basket, intending to rummage through it. To her dismay, she kept going and would’ve face-planted inside the basket if Hawk hadn’t caught her arm again.

“Easy there, cowgirl.” He helped her regain her balance. “You’ve been through a lot.”

She gripped the sides of the basket, hating her current state of weakness. “I’m sorry to be such a burden.” She wasn’t normally in constant need of assistance.

He moved to the kitchen and returned to press a chilled bottle of water into her hands. The kind gesture made her want to weep. For the past twenty-four hours, she’d been utterly dependent on the kindness of strangers. It wasn’t a feeling she liked. “Thank you,” she whispered, uncapping the bottle and tipping it up.

The water tasted so good. She hadn’t realized how parched she was. She closed her eyes and sipped on it until the dizziness faded. When she reopened her eyes, Hawk had left the room.

She remained seated on the floor while poking through the basket for a change of clothing. She found a white cotton blouse and jean leggings with plenty of stretch in them that should fit just fine. Glancing toward the bathroom, she tried to decide if she had the strength to make it all the way there on her own.

“Come on, Mom. I’ll help you.” Miley shrugged off the blanket, still shivering with a fever as she pushed herself to her feet and held out a hand.

Annalee swallowed a sob as she allowed her ill and injured teenage daughter to haul her to her feet. “What a scraggly pair we make!”

“So? We’re still standing.” Miley’s expression was stubborn.

“Barely.” Tears of shame slid down Annalee’s cheek. “In the past month, I managed to lose our family farm, total my truck, and misplace my only child.” She had a little money left in the bank, but it wasn’t enough to buy another vehicle.

Miley grunted. “You know what they say about hitting rock bottom?”

“Only way is up, or so we’ve been told.” Annalee sniffed back more tears, knowing there was no way to explain to an eighteen-year-old how much of a failure she felt as a parent right now. Starting over probably felt like one big, exciting adventure to her. For a woman of thirty-five, however, it was a terrifying prospect. Annalee was supposed to be providing for her daughter, not the other way around. At the moment, however, Miley was the only one with a job.

Despite her injured arm, she also managed to help her mother reach the bathroom. She gently kicked the door shut behind them and guided Annalee to the toilet seat. “Keep drinking water,” she commanded while bending over the faucets to draw a warm bath — so warm that steam rose from the water.

“You’re going to scald the skin right off of me,” Annalee protested.

“It’s not that hot, Mom!” Miley turned on the exhaust fan. Then she knelt in front of her mom to help tug her rubber boots off with one hand.

“Eww!” She wrinkled her nose. “Mind if I throw these out?”

“Oh, please do!” Annalee nearly gagged at how much dirt was between her toes. “Though I was raised on a farm, I’ve never been this dirty in all my life.”

Miley helped her tug off the uniform shirt next. “Your back is a million different colors,” she squeaked. “Are you sure you didn’t break anything?”

“Pretty sure I’d know if something was broken.” She must’ve gotten banged up pretty severely for the bruises to still be healing three weeks later. It was no wonder she was still sore. “Sorry you had to see that. I’ll, um…” she shooed her daughter toward the door, “take it from here.”

“Are you sure?” Miley looked reluctant to leave her alone.

“I’m sure.” Annalee rolled her eyes. “I’ll leave the door unlocked to make it easier for you to come scrape me up if you hear a thud.”

“That’s not funny,” Miley grumbled as she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Annalee gritted her teeth from the effort it took to finish undressing and step into the tub. The water quickly turned cloudy from all the grime she scrubbed off. After draining the water, she turned the shower spray on and remained sitting beneath it to wash her hair. Admittedly, she enjoyed the warm water a little longer than it took to rinse the suds from her hair.

She didn’t want to even think about what she and Miley were doing to Hawk Chesney’s water bill. Her daughter had never been one to take short showers, and their host probably wasn’t accustomed to having two women in the house. She made a mental note to contribute to his water bill just as soon as she could log into her bank account online.

Boy, but it was going to be a job to replace her driver’s license, social security card, and debit card! Her throat constricted at the possibility that someone might’ve gotten their hands on her wallet while she was in a coma and drained her bank account.

Please, God, don’t let that be the case.What little money she had left in savings she desperately needed to help get her and her daughter through the next few hours, days, and weeks.

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