Page 7 of Sweet Beginnings

“Uh…” A quiet moment passed. “I’m sorry. I thought I was dialing the doc’s number.”

“You are, but he’s not here at the moment.”

“Sarah Sue?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Preston. Preston Sweet.”

“Oh, hi.” She hadn’t recognized the voice at first, but now she did. All the Sweets had a deep soothing timbre that made a person want to sit back and listen to them read a phone book.

“There’s been a little accident.”

From his tone she couldn’t tell how serious.

“Little?”

“Mom fell off a horse.” She could hear Carson mutter from somewhere nearby.

“I did not fall!” his mother hollered from within earshot of the phone.

Sarah chuckled softly. If not for the reassuring sound of Alice Sweet’s irritated voice, the wordsMom fell off a horsewould have sent chills down her spine. “I see your mom hasn’t changed much since I left town. Plenty of sass.”

“No,” he chuckled too, “afraid not.”

“I was thrown,” his mom continued. “And by one of the best.”

“Thrown?” She didn’t need to be a doctor for a list of potential internal injuries to run through her mind, along with memories of every time her father had grumbled over a simple injury going south from unexpected complications. “How bad is she hurt?”

“Not really sure. She’s conscious—and sassy—so I’m assuming that’s a good sign, but I’m an accountant, what do I know about broken people.”

His choice of words wasn’t at all reassuring. She wanted to know how broken was broken.

“She won’t come to your father. We’re heading back to the house now and need your dad to please come check her out. There was no answer at his office. Is he home yet?”

“Afraid not. The Mahoney baby thought today would be a good day to arrive.” At least she hoped it was going to be today. And soon, if not already. She reached into her pocket. “Hold on, I’ll text him and see how much longer this baby is going to take to make an appearance.”

“Thanks. Normally, I wouldn’t want to interrupt a man delivering a baby, but I think having someone who knows more than spreadsheets and profit statements to look for broken bones, things none of us know to look for, and stitch her up would be a good idea.”

“Stitch her up? Where’d she fall?”

“On the fence line.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. Her family weren’t cattle ranchers, but she’d grown up next door to them and knew exactly what falling on a fence meant—barbed wire. She really, really hoped that Mrs. Mahoney’s baby was in a hurry to arrive.

“Easy, Carson,” Preston snapped. Sarah had never heard him speak so sharply. “Sorry. The Jeep hit an uneven patch of dirt and Mom winced.”

She could hear Carson barking back,I’m going as easy as I can and still get us home in one piece before the next millennium.Growing up, she’d spent as much time at the Sweet house as she had her own, especially after her mom passed. She knew the whole family well enough to recognize things had to be worse than Preston was letting on if both brothers were losing their cool. Normally she would have texted her dad as she’d said, but this was important. If he was too busy to answer, he would let it go to voice mail.

One ring and her father picked up. “Doc here.”

She sure hoped that meant he was finishing up. “Dad, how’s it going?”

“Seems we’ve got more time than we thought.”

Not what she’d wanted to hear. Talking as fast as she could, she shared what little info she had and then picked the handset up off the counter. “I’m sorry. Mrs. Mahoney is still only six centimeters. It’s likely going to be a while.”

Preston didn’t have to say anything for her to know that wasn’t what they wanted her to report any more than she’d wanted to hear it. “Got it,” he muttered.

---