Page 48 of The Wedding Ranch
“I’ll take care of everything here. Call me and let me know what’s going on.”
“You’ll be the first to know as soon as I do.”
He’d driven with his flashers on as fast as that diesel truck would run, daring anyone to try to blue-light him on the way. Prayers and promises rose with every passing mile. The thought of either of them hurting tore at him.
He didn’t even park his truck. Just left it sitting with the keys in it under the emergency entrance.
“My son was airlifted. My wife? The last name is Bolt. Valerie. Ronnie Dwayne is my son.”
“Let me check, sir.” The attendant had reacted with little surprise. “I’ll have the doctor come out and talk to you. Please take a seat.”
He’d stood there for a long time. The hospital sounds muffled by his heartbeat.
“Mr. Bolt?”
Ryder spun around. The doctor, dressed in blue scrubs, wasn’t any older than he was. “Where are they? I need to see them.”
“You can follow me.”
Ryder breathed a sigh. Thank goodness. He’d see them. They’d get through this. He was here for them now.
The doctor led him through a set of shiny automated doors, then turned into a waiting area. Ryder noticed how tired and worried the people looked. The doctor walked to the far end of the waiting area.
“We can have some privacy here,” the doctor said as he opened a door.
“Privacy?” Ryder dropped into the chair.
“Your wife sustained life-threatening injuries in the crash. We did everything we could do, but the internal…”
Ryder sat there not hearing any of the words. It was as if this man were talking in another language.
“Valerie? My wife?”
“She’s gone, but your son is in the ICU. He’s in critical condition, but Ican take you to sit with him. He should be your focus right now. If you have other family that you want to bring in, it’s a good time to make those calls.”
Valerie was gone and his son was clinging to his life.
“Please take me to my son.”
The doctor took him to the intensive care unit and introduced him to the nurse there. “She can help you contact family. We’re here to answer questions. The next few hours are critical for your son.”
Ryder remembered staring through the glass at his son, so swollen and bandaged that he wouldn’t have recognized him. He’d almost tripped racing to his bedside.
When he stood there looking over that tiny body he sobbed when he saw the tiny freckle on his earlobe. There was no mistaking this child was his. He touched his own ear, where he had the same freckle.
“Mr. Bolt, I brought you some water. Who can I call for you?” She’d pushed a pen into his right hand and a piece of paper onto the table next to him. “Write down the numbers and I’ll call them.”
He looked through tear-filled eyes.
The older woman held her soft blue eyes on his. “Let me help you.”
He scratched down the numbers and she slipped out, closing the glass door behind her with a whoosh of air.
“Ronnie Dwayne. Son. Can you hear me? It’s me. Dad.” He smoothed the covers across his body.
“You are the best thing I ever made in this lifetime. You are my heart, young man. We have so many more things to do together. Fishing. Riding. Learning to ride a bicycle. Kiddo, that’s a lot harder than riding a horse. I still have a scar on my forehead from when I learned. Fight, little man. You have a cowboy heart. We’ll get through this.”
He sniffed back a sob. Ronnie Dwayne’s tiny hand was so cold.
