Page 6 of The Cowboy's Christmas
She hoped that Deke could come home with them but didn’t know if that was possible, since she didn’t know the extent of his injuries. What she did know was that her headstrong uncle was not above checking himself out of the hospital and finding a friend to deliver him to the ranch. Rather than wait to see if he managed to jailbreak the place, she’d packed her nieces into the truck as soon as the storm had passed, checked road conditions one last time—clear and sanded—and headed to town.
For safety reasons, she’d taken the long route from the ranch to the highway, through the neighboring Anderson Ranch, where the wind tended to scrub the road clean of snow, making it worth the extra eight miles it added to the trip. She knew from the location of the accident that Deke had taken the shorter route which tended to drift in. Apparently he’d busted through the final drift at exactly the wrong moment, and been T-boned by a guy who’d probably been driving too fast for the conditions. Or at least that was the way it sounded when the deputy had described the accident.
Savannah’s jaw started aching again, and she made a conscious effort to relax the muscles there, hoping that the rest of her body would follow suit.
“Will Uncle Deke have Band-Aids?” Sophie asked as Savannah pulled the keys from the ignition.
“He might.”As well as bandaged ribs and perhaps a cast.She turned to look over the seat at the girls’ concerned faces. “The doctor can make it okay.” Jessa and Sophie nodded in unison as Savannah reached for her door handle.
“Doctors can fix a lot of stuff,” Sophie said wisely.
“Yes, they can,” Savannah agreed. She hadn’t wanted to scare her nieces but didn’t want them confused and wondering what was happening, so she’d simply told them that Uncle Deke had hurt his arm by falling, which was true. According to the deputy who’d scared the bejeezus out of her with the words, “there’s been an accident,” the collision hadn’t hurt him. He’d taken a tumble on the black ice covering the highway. As to the other driver, he wasn’t hurt, but the damage to his vehicle had been considerable. Since Deke’s handmade flatbed was as sturdy as a tank, she was not surprised.
Savannah opened the rear door of the truck, then forced a smile as she lifted the girls to the ground, one after the other, doing her best to pretend that all was well.
“Why are you making that face?” Jessa asked before pulling on her mitten with her teeth.
Savannah’s fake smile turned into the real thing. “I don’t know,” she confessed.
The vague answer seemed to satisfy the little girl, and Savannah made a mental note not to fake smiles when stressed and held out her hands. “It might be slick.”
“Don’t worry. We won’t let you fall.” Jessa kicked the sidewalk in front of her as if to emphasize her point, the toe of her boot catching on a crack. She stumbled a little and would have gone down if Savannah hadn’t had her hand. She smiled up at Savannah after regaining her balance.
“Close call.”
“Very,” Savannah agreed. They approached the automatic doors without further mishap, then stepped into the blessed warmth of the building. “Let’s find out where Uncle Deke is and if he’s up to having visitors,” she said in a low voice as they approached the information desk and were then directed to the nurses’ station where Bonnie Maddox, one of Savannah’s former classmates, was manning a computer.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Bonnie said with mock relief. “I swear he’s ready to hitchhike home.”
“Can he be checked out?”
“The doctor will talk to you about that. I think he’s—” Bonnie raised a hand and Savannah turned to see a man in jeans and a sweater approaching. “Doctor Gallagher, this is Mr. Hudson’s niece.”
After a warm handshake and a smiling hello to the girls, the doctor gestured to a private alcove adjacent to the station.
“Your uncle is a strong-willed individual,” he said dryly.
“He is,” Savannah agreed, holding her nieces’ hands a little tighter.
“I want him to spend the night so that I can monitor his concussion. Not,” he continued quickly as Savannah’s eyebrows lifted, “that I think there’s a problem, but in the case of head injuries, its best to play it safe.”
“Uncle Deke hurt his head?” Jessa asked.
“Took a bump,” the doctor said with a solemn nod. “We want to make sure he’s better before he leaves.”
“How about his ribs?” Savannah asked.
“Cracked, not broken, but they’re going to need a rest, too. His wristisbroken. He took a bad fall.”
“Sounds like it.” And he wouldn’t have fallen if he hadn’t been T-boned—or left the ranch in the first place. Savannah sucked a silent breath in between her teeth as she told herself to chill.
“If all goes well, you can pick him up tomorrow morning. And you can see him now.”
“Please tell me he can’t check himself out.”
“Maybe you can help me out there,” Doctor Gallagher said with a smile.
“I’ll do my best.” She paused to gather her thoughts, which were ridiculously splintered, and stood holding her nieces’ hands, trying to discern what was and was not possible. “Quick question. If all’s well with the…” she glanced down at the girls, who were staring up at them with wide, curious eyes, waiting for the next nugget of information, “…bumpon the head, when can he do ranch chores? I need to know how long to rein him in for.”
