Page 58 of Rancher's Strength

“Lex, sleep,” I whispered, and she finally gave in.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

LEXIE

I’d had more visitors at the hospital than I could even remember. It seemed like everyone in town had filtered through. But the one constant was Ryder. If he slept, I never saw him, and I didn’t think he’d even left my side. Mom had agreed to stay with Ruby and Sawyer, and she’d bring them up after school. I loved hearing about their day and seeing what they’d done in class, and art projects hung on almost every surface of the room I was in. Mom had even taken them to see Dad. Thankfully, his good days were frequent right now, but that didn’t stop the kids from asking questions. Mom handled them like a champ. She was in her glory being a grandma.

A soft knock on the door made me look up from my e-reader. “I hope I’m not interrupting.” A lovely woman was standing at the door with a pen and legal pad in her hand. “I’m Doctor Walton, the psychiatrist. I hear you want to talk to me.”

“Please come in.” My heart raced, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake asking to talk to someone. She closed the door and took the seat beside my bed. “I don’t know where to start.” I shrugged with my good shoulder.

“Where we start doesn’t matter, just go with it and see where it takes you.” She crossed her legs and waited for me to begin speaking.

An hour passed, and I’d lost count of how many times she’d flipped her paper over, but I’d spilled everything that had been weighing me down. From my infertility to leaving Ryder, Anita and Hank’s death, my dad’s illness, what it might mean for me down the road, and what happened out in that meadow.

“I think you should enter into therapy for a while. This is a lot to work through in an hour. And I understand the challenges of getting somewhere, so if you’d like, I can set up Telehealth meetings for us.” She flipped the papers back over and waited for my answer. If my big, burly rancher could be vulnerable enough to know when he needed help, I could too.

“That would be wonderful.” I nodded as she placed her card on the bedside table.

“My receptionist will call you to book a time in a few days. I know you’re on your way home in a few hours, so we’ll let you get settled and be in touch.” She stood and left the room. Laying my head back on the pillow, I felt more wrung out than I had after surgery, but at least I wasn’t drowning with what was rolling around in my head now.

“Hey sexy, are you ready to swap this bed for mine?” His husky voice in my ear made me smile.

“As long as your bed involves lots of pillows and ice cream. Oh, and a bell so I can call you when I need something.” I held up the call bell that had been tied to the railing within arm’s reach. “I wonder if this thing is like what they use on Jeopardy?” I stared at the red button on the end of the control and tried not to laugh. “I’ll take Sexy Men for one thousand, please, Alex. The answer is, the sexiest man on the planet.” I hit the button and said, “Who is my husband?”

“How long ago did you get pain meds?” Ryder asked flatly, as if I weren’t funny—let alone hilarious.

“Thirty minutes ago, in preparation for her trip home,” a voice said from the doorway. I looked up to see the nurse standing there with a bunch of papers in her hands. “Ready to go?” she asked, arching a brow and smiling.

“She’s playing Jeopardy, badly. You tell me,” Ryder said flatly as he looked at the nurse. The nurse started laughing and turned to me.

“So ready.”

She went over all my discharge instructions and informed us that my prescriptions would be ready at the pharmacy in Weston Gap.

“I talked to Jake. He’s going to get them and bring them out to the house. He wants to check you over after the drive home,” Ryder said as he bounced his attention between me and the nurse.

“All I need is for you to sign here, and your chariot awaits.” She pointed to the corner of the room. Shakily, I signed the discharge form, and I was pretty sure that signature wouldn’t hold up in court because it looked nothing like mine, and I was high as a kite. “Sure is going to be a lot more drab in this room again now that you’ve taken all the art down.” She smiled as she looked around. Ryder had taken everything down and packed it in a bag because I wanted to save everything the kids did. They’d even drawn pictures for the nurses’ station, and I was excited to see them hanging up every time I made a lap around the unit.

“Thank you for everything,” I said as she gently helped me into a sitting position on the side of the bed. Ryder moved the wheelchair close, so all I had to do was turn and sit down. He would have made a great nurse, I thought to myself, and stifled a chuckle, mostly because it hurt to laugh.

Once I was in the truck and we were out of Everton, I took a slow deep breath for what felt like the first time in years. Ryder’s hand was possessively resting on my thigh, and I gently let my hand rest on his. I couldn’t help but stare at the rings on my hand. Ryder had slipped them back on after surgery, and I think I remember vowing never to take them off ever again.

A pothole apparently jumped out of nowhere, and I groaned. “Do I need to stop?” Ryder asked, his voice filled with worry.

“Nope,” I groaned as I shifted in the seat. “Maybe just try to miss the others?”

Turning onto our road, I smiled at the balloons on the rail fence. “Your mom helped the kids with that,” Ryder said, his tone slightly unimpressed.

“Call one of the guys to get them so they don’t end up in a pasture causing issues for the cows.” I knew exactly where his mind would go. Besides Ruby, Sawyer, and me, his next worry was always about the cows.

“I’m pretty sure Kipp was behind me, and he’ll get them.” My relationship with Kipp still felt as though it wasn’t on firm footing, but I hoped that as time went on and I proved that the only place I wanted to be was at Ryder’s side, he’d warm up to me again.

“I didn’t want to tell you at the hospital, and I’m not sure that now’s the right time either, but Violet’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” I turned slowly to look at my husband. “Like The Five dealt with her gone, or gone from town?”

“Gone as in went back to Kentucky.” He frowned and shook his head.

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