Page 15 of The Cowboy's Redemption
He lingered in the doorway. This was it. The last time he’d see her. The last chance he had to take her up on her offer. Otherwise, any exploration he’d be doing tonight would be on his own.
“Good night,” she said, as politely as if this was the first time they’d ever met, and he’d made zero impression on her.
Then, she closed the door on him.
*
Levi was inRyan’s office at the main house the next morning, involved in a discussion about the benefits of registering the DNA of their first calves, when the landline rang. He recognized the brisk voice on the other end—Handy, one of the ranch hands—when Ryan picked up.
Handy skipped the formalities and got straight to the point. His voice, loud and clear, carried. “Levi still there?”
Ryan, who wasn’t much for pleasantries either, wordlessly passed the receiver across the pristine desk to Levi, who hoped this call was important. Ryan also wasn’t known for his patience.
“Dana Barrett’s here,” Handy said, which made no sense to Levi. It was almost eight o’clock. She should have been at Otto’s long before this.
Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. “And?”
“She rode across country. She says to tell you Otto needs you straight away.”
Levi’s bad feeling shot through the roof. Cross country would be faster than hauling a trailer on a bumpy back road. This was a medical emergency, then. His fingers tightened on the receiver, and he leaned forward, Ryan’s presence forgotten. “Have you called an ambulance?”
“For Otto?” Handy’s tone suggested Levi had lost his mind, and rightly so. The only way they’d get Otto into an ambulance was if he was dead.
Ryan, correctly assessing events, abandoned his desk and disappeared from the room, shouting for Dallas, another one of the owners. Dallas, a family doctor, ran a free clinic that belonged to the ranch, and he hadn’t yet left for work.
“Tell Dana to wait there,” Levi said to Handy.
“She’s already gone.”
Levi hung up the phone and followed Ryan into the common area of the mansion. The common area separated the offices from the owners’ individual living quarters. Dallas burst from his apartment just as Elizabeth O’Connell, Ryan’s wife, emerged from theirs.
Elizabeth, a tiny social worker who managed the group home for the ranch, was a serene, unflappable redhead. She carried their sleeping baby in her arms, its wispy coils of coppery hair bright against the shoulder of her fluffy white housecoat.
Dallas, in a white shirt and charcoal-gray dress pants, was already dressed and ready for work. His black curls were always too long to be tidy, no matter how often he had his hair cut, and he had electric-blue eyes that shone with kindness. He looked more like a graduate student than a doctor.
Elizabeth had stopped in the doorway. “What’s wrong?” she asked, rocking the baby.
“Some kind of emergency with Otto,” Ryan said.
Dallas shifted to business. He pulled keys from his pocket and tossed them to Levi. “Go get my car. I’ll grab my bag.”
Ryan started after Levi. “I’m coming too.”
Dallas stopped him. “No. Otto hates you. I don’t want him more agitated than he likely already is.”
“He doesn’t like you either,” Ryan argued, at which point, Levi was through the front door and couldn’t hear anything more. He ran for Dallas’s SUV, parked near the garage.
He hoped Otto was okay but braced himself for the worst.
*
Dallas won theargument with Ryan, and Levi and Dallas arrived at Otto’s cabin without him. Then Levi won the argument with Otto, who was in no shape to fight, and Dallas took charge.
Levi stepped outside to give the old man his privacy and leave him some dignity, too. Getting old wasn’t easy on anyone, and for Otto, who was so independent, it was harder than most.
Dana’s truck and trailer were parked in the yard. The trailer was empty, meaning she’d ridden Lady rather than take one of Otto’s horses, which further explained why she hadn’t returned yet. She’d take a gentler pace now that help had been summoned.
He needed to busy himself to take his mind off his worry. He checked to make sure Otto’s horses had water while he waited for Dallas to finish with Otto. Nova and Tanoa grazed together, as usual. He rubbed Nova’s poll, ruffling her forelock with his fingers, and wondered how she’d manage alone after Dana took Tanoa away. He didn’t like to put pressure on Otto, especially now, but he had to understand that it was time to sell his herd off.
