Page 24 of Take Me Please, Cowboy
“He has a history of heart disease.The series of strokes have compounded the problem.”
Ansley shook her head.“Wow.I’m… shocked.”
“High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes have weakened his heart, creating a perfect storm for heart disease and the resulting strokes.”
Ansley’s chest felt tight and heavy.Everything the doctor was telling her was scary.Uncle Clyde was going to need real care soon, not just her in and around the house, and decisions on what to do with the ranch would need to happen sooner than later.If Clyde couldn’t manage it—which he hadn’t been—someone in the family needed to step up, or the ranch needed to be sold or leased.She was willing to help manage her uncle’s care, but she drew the line at ranch management.“When… when can I bring him home?”
“Probably Wednesday.He’s hoping to get home sooner, but I’m not sure that’s realistic.Before we discharge him, we will want to make sure he has sufficient mobility once he gets home, which means sessions with a physical and occupational therapist to prepare him for returning home.”
“Will he need a wheelchair?”she asked, glad she had a few days to get things in order for his return.
“He’s been up on his feet.The nurses have made him walk a little, but he needs support, preferably a walker, but that will have to wait until his wrist has healed.”
She’d forgotten his wrist.She’d forgotten that initially she’d thought he’d only hurt his arm.Instead, it was so much more serious than that.“Thank you for taking such good care of him.”
Dr.Maida smiled.“That’s what we’re here for.Any questions?”he asked.
“It sounds like he might need a wheelchair, and if not a walker, then a cane.”
“Again, it depends on how well he responds to physical therapy.That’s going to be important for his recovery.”
“I need to do some reading and research.This is all new to me.”
“There’s plenty online, and it wouldn’t hurt to visit the Alzheimer’s Association’s website—”
“He has Alzheimer’s, too?”
“No, but there’s a good section on VCI on their site.It would help you prepare for what’s to come.”
What’s to come.
How forbidding that sounded.She stiffened, her heart falling.It was time to get her parents involved.Her dad and uncle did not speak, but this was bigger than their feud, and she needed her mom and dad’s involvement.
Leaving the hospital Ansley checked her watch.Forty-five minutes had passed since she entered the hospital and yet it felt like hours.Flattened, she walked to her car and took backroads to the highway, avoiding the traffic downtown.
She reached the turnoff for Miracle Lake before Rye arrived, and instead of phoning her parents in Last Stand, she used her phone to go to the Alzheimer’s Association website feeling as if she needed more information before she talked to them.Ansley skimmed different pages, skipping around until she found the section on VCI.Everything listed was what Melvin Wyatt had reported to her parents last April.Changes in thinking and personality, impaired planning and judgment, the declining ability to pay attention, and difficulties functioning socially.
Mr.Wyatt had observed it all and had insisted someone from the family come to Montana, as something had to be done.Her dad, a former military man, was as alpha as they came, and didn’t like being told what to do, but he’d grown up with the Wyatts, and had been a friend of his sons, playing ball with them and riding all over the mountain—and so he flew out with Ansley’s mom, and they spent a long weekend at the house with Clyde.It was the first time Clyde and Callen Campbell had been in the same room in almost forty years.Ansley didn’t know particulars of that weekend, and could only imagine the tension in the farmhouse, but by the time her parents returned to Last Stand, they’d agreed with Melvin Wyatt that Clyde couldn’t be left alone, and they’d send one of their family members to stay with Clyde for the summer until more permanent arrangements could be made.
None of her brothers volunteered to go to Montana for the summer, so Ansley agreed to do it.But her parents had never scheduled Clyde for a doctor’s appointment, and Ansley hadn’t done it, either.She regretted her lack of foresight, because if her uncle had been seen by a medical professional, surely the doctor would have picked up on the symptoms.
Troubled, Ansley closed her phone and got out of the car to go stand in the shade of the big pine trees which smelled like Christmas and the forest, one of her favorite smells.But it was hard to feel good when her insides were heavy with worry.She felt guilty for not taking better care of her uncle, but also angry, because shouldn’t her parents have done more?Why would they think she’d know how to handle Clyde’s declining cognitive skills best?Families needed to take care of each other, and in this instance, Clyde was her dad’s brother.Her dad needed to let go of the hostility and try to have a relationship with his younger brother before it was too late.
The sound of a vehicle pulling off the highway drew Ansley’s attention.It was Rye in his blue and white truck.She crossed to the driver’s side and leaned into his open window, mindful of the traffic flying past behind her.“Follow me to the exit for Emigrant.We’ll get steaks there.”
He kissed her.“Great.Now get back in your car where you’re safe.”
The kiss made her warm, and she felt the rush of heat all the way through her.She couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his hard jaw with the bristle of a beard.“You are so handsome.”
“You need some glasses.”
She laughed.Rye had a way of making her feel good.He just… did it… for her.Back in her car she drove the six miles to Emigrant and then with steaks and potatoes purchased, they were back in their cars heading to the Campbell ranch.
Rye parked next to her car in the gravel driveway.His gaze swept across the barn and outbuildings and then to the old white farmhouse.“This place has been here a long time.”
She nodded.“About one hundred years, settled here in the 1930s.”
“They don’t make farmhouses like this anymore.”His eyes narrowed.“You’re in desperate need of a new roof, though.If it isn’t leaking now, it will soon.”
