Page 57 of Bernadette
“What do you mean?”
“I heard everything Morgan did and said, but for the life of me I couldn’t open my eyes. I heard her cry out my name, felt her kneel beside her, feel my neck for a pulse, run her fingers and hands over my body looking for any broken bones.” He took her hand in his, then looked at her with a wink. “I heard you cuss out Mable when it sounded and felt like she’d run off.”
“She did.”
Wyatt nodded and drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He took both of Morgan’s hands in his one good one, and didn’t speak until he had her full attention. “I also heard a gunshot. You had to put Midnight down, didn’t you?”
Morgan hadn’t realized she was crying until Wyatt wiped her tears. “Yes. He had two broken legs. Later, both Dillon and Wilson said I did the best thing for him.”
“I heard them.” He looked at the doctor again. “Like I said, I heard everything, but my eyes wouldn’t open, no matter how much I willed them to open, or tried to force them. I heard our help arrive, I heard and felt my brother and ranch supervisor feel for my pulse, and any broken bones, the same as Morgan had. Morgan drag me to safety. She even threw herself over top of me to protect me when the shots fired again.”
“Was there a time that you didn’t feel or hear anything?”
“Yes, and I didn’t wake up until just a few minutes ago from that. During that time, I don’t remember anything. I didn’t hear anything, and I didn’t feel anything.”
“When was the time you stopped doing that? Do you remember the exact moment?”
“When the helicopter lifted off. I felt myself being loaded, heard the emergency workers talking, heard, and felt Morgan’s hand when she said she was with me, then the roar of the rotors and felt us lifting off. There was like a little jerk, my stomach seemed to bottom out, then nothing.” Wyatt looked at the doctor, scowled, then nodded. “Oh, and I felt like someone took a baseball bat to my head. Then nothing.”
“Before, when you were on the ground, did you feel anything wrong with your head?”
“No. I only felt that little pit of pain in my shoulder when I heard a bone break, I don’t even remember if I felt the impact of my hitting the ground. The entire time I listened to Morgan and then my family when they arrived, I had no feelings anywhere. I couldn’t feel my hands, feet, legs, nothing.”
The doctor immediately lifted the blankets off Wyatt’s feet and took what looked like a little triangular shaped rubber hammer from his pocket. He first took a pen and ran it over the bottom of Wyatt’s feet, and the entire room sighed in relief when they jerked away from it.
“He’s very ticklish,” Morgan said. It took an hour, but the doctor did a complete neurological exam, and at the end he shook his head. “I have no idea why you experienced what you did, and why you seem perfectly healthy now. I’m going to order some tests, and maybe we can get an explanation for it.” He left shortly after, then the FBI agents said they’d call it in that he was awake, and left them alone.
As soon as they were alone, with his hand still in Morgan’s, Wyatt looked at Lucas. “Thank you.”
“What? What did I do? I didn’t do anything but come late to the party.”
“Lucas, you saved both Morgan and me.”
“How the hell do you figure that, Uncle Wyatt? I waited until six-thirty to get help.”
“But you got it.” Wyatt looked at him, then settled back into the bed. “I told no one, and I mean absolutely no one where we were going for our honeymoon. Not your father, not Wilson, and not Dolly. If anyone asked, I just smiled and walked away. I didn’t even tell Morgan.”
“But she gave me the paper.”
“Right, that’s how I told her. I had written our destination on a piece of paper, and told her to trust me. She took it upon herself to tell you.”
“Why did you do that?” Lucas scowled at her.
“In my experience in the military, you never, ever, go on a mission without someone back home knowing at least some part of it. Whether it’s the location, the time you are expected back, or whatnot. In our case, you had both. I told you because I trusted you to follow out my orders if we didn’t return on time.”
“But I was too late.”
“No, you were right on time,” Wyatt said.
Lucas looked at the two of them and felt his frustration grow, and when Wyatt took his forearm in his, he tried to shake it loose, but Wyatt wouldn’t let it go. He waited until Lucas seemed to calm, then he looked at the younger man. “You couldn’t have prevented what happened to us. No, hear me out,” Wyatt said when Lucas started to talk. “The shooting, and my accident happened around three in the afternoon. Three hours before you were to come for help, so the twenty-nine minutes you’re worried about don’t really count. Not in my book. What does count for me was that Morgan told you, and I knew you would gather everyone you could and come. It was only a matter of time.”
When it still looked like Lucas wouldn’t agree, Wyatt sighed heavily and asked one last question. “If Morgan hadn’t told you, or anyone, we would still be out there waiting for help. Who knows what would have happened to either of us. I realize now in hindsight, I should have told someone where we were going and when to expect us back. With Morgan stressing the time to send the cavalry, we were saved. Before you fight me on this, look at Morgan, what would have happened to her if you hadn’t come? No matter what time it was? You got to us, and we were able to get help. If you don’t agree, think of this. We had no food, no water, and were pinned down with those asshats shooting at us. How long would we have gone before one or both of us turned up dead?”
No one said anything for a long time, until Lucas looked at his uncle, then cracked a grin.
“Why don’t I like that expression? What did you do?”
“Made an executive decision and fired someone.”
