Chapter 3 #3
Rosie was shaking, but he stopped growling.
The boofy body tensed along Cam’s chest as he knelt next to the big dog.
Rosie was skinny as hell for a Rottie, but still basically solid, and those teeth could take a chunk out of him, so he had to be careful here.
He found the wound easily, and, while it was big, it wasn’t deep.
If he could get Rosie contained somewhere, he could probably treat that wound.
But he would need help, so he’d have to call the vet out.
“Let’s see if I can get you on some sort of a leash.
” The only thing he had was his belt. So he kept one arm around Rosie’s neck and used the other to take his belt off so he could make a loop out of it and slip it over Rosie’s head.
He’d have to be careful it didn’t tighten too much, but it would work.
That seemed to relax Rosie, and he started to pant. Someone was used to having a collar on.
“All right, come on, let’s go back into the barn. Let’s call the vet. Okay?” He pulled gently and Rosie came right along, wagging and panting as if he knew what was what.
Well, thank God for small favors.
He nodded and got the big old boy into an empty stall in the barn and then called his momma while he filled a water container.
“Momma, I need you to get me a vet out here. There’s a hurt dog, and I just need him doctored up. Possibly the rest of the animals need checked on.”
“Everything okay?”
He didn’t sigh, but he did roll his eyes. “Like I said, there’s a hurt dog, and the girls are attached to it. So I want to get it fixed up. Can you get that vet to come out or not?”
“Sure, no problem. I can do that for you. I’ll call Dr. Harris, and I bet she’ll be out in two shakes.”
“Thanks, Momma, you’re a peach.”
“So Mitch didn’t throw you out?”
“Momma.” Cam didn’t have time to play games, not right now.
“You know I’m curious, son. That’s all. But if you don’t have time I’ll talk to you later tonight.”
“I definitely don’t have time, and no, he didn’t throw me out. He’s not looking great. I’ll see you back at the house, okay?”
“Okay, baby boy. I love you.”
“I love you too, Momma. I’m gonna get everything I can battened down around here. Then I’ll be back there.” He hung up before she could say anything else and got Rosie some water before he moved on to look at some of the other animals.
They were all okay, maybe a little worse for wear, but basically, he could tell that before the accident, these animals had been adored, and they were all desperate for attention.
He leaned on a couple of the horses, giving them a brush and a snuggle before he opened the back doors of the barn to check the cattle.
They were fine, a mix of calves and cows, with a single pretty bull out there with his girls.
He found a chicken coop full of brooding hens and a Leghorn rooster that strutted as his ladies scratched. He’d already discovered a smattering of polydactyl barn cats.
This was insane, but it was a neat place that obviously had three animal-loving girls and needed a bit of help. Nothing major—not an overhaul, just a—
“Help! Help! Somebody help me please. Please, are you still here, mister? I need help!”
Cam wasn’t sure which girl it was, but she was panicked, and when she started screaming, he came running out of that barn like a shot. Rosie barking and fighting desperately to get to the girl, too.
It was Sarah, and she was standing there, tears streaming down her face. “Bekka said to get help. Daddy fell. We can’t get him up. We can’t wake him up. You have to help.”
“Show me where.” He took her hand because she looked like she needed it, and he ran with her back inside.
Mitch was lying right at the beginning of the hallway leading back to the bedrooms and bathrooms, and he imagined the man’d had to go.
He tried not to move Mitch too much when he checked for his pulse, making sure he hadn’t thrown a clot or had an aneurysm or something and just popped right off.
It made him a little nauseated, but he was feeling a steady pulse under there. Mitch had passed right out. Hopefully he hadn’t hurt that damn back again.
“He’s gonna be all right, honey. I promise.
” Cam looked at the other two girls who stood over their daddy crying.
“I’m afraid to move him too much, though, until he wakes up.
Somebody get me some pillows to put under his feet.
Sarah, honey, can you get me some kind of blanket or something off the couch that I can roll up and put under his neck to make sure it doesn’t move? ”
“I can do that.” Sarah disappeared like smoke.
“I’ll get the pillows.” Bekka leapt over her father like a gazelle.
The littlest one stood there, eyes huge. “Should I pray to Jesus? Is he dead? He can’t be dead. I never even got to meet my momma. He can’t be dead.”
Oh, Jesus Christ. “He is not dead. He was hurting, and he passed out. That’s all. He’s not dead, I promise.”
“Okay, you have to stay here. You can’t leave us alone, okay? You can’t leave us without a grown-up here. Bekka’s only a girl. She can’t be a momma.” The little one was hysterical, and Cam held out one hand to her.
“Come here, honey. It’s okay. I promise, it’s okay.”
She ran to him, face in his shoulder, sobbing to beat the band. This poor family. They needed help.
Momma, as irritating as she was, and as much as he hated to admit it, was right. They were in need, and he’d be damned if he let this baby girl be so frightened.
Bekka came running with pillows, and then Sarah came with a blanket and covered him up. They got everything settled about the time Mitch’s eyes fluttered open.
“Why am I on the floor?”
“Daddy! Daddy, you fell down.” Sarah’s eyes were huge. “You fell down and you scared us!”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to get up off the floor.” Mitch’s eyes met his, the man obviously confused for a second. “Cam? Can you help me up? I didn’t know you were still here. I had to go to the bathroom. I still have to go to the bathroom.”
“No problem, I can do that. All right, Miss Bekka, get the pillows up from under his feet so that we can get him up. He has to go use the facilities.”
Bekka’s eyes were huge. “If he stands up, is he going to fall back down? Did he break his back again?”
“I’m wearing my brace, baby. I didn’t hurt my back. I just fell. I stood up too fast. I’m sure.”
“It’s going to be all right. We got this. No worries.” He looked down at Rachel. “I’m gonna have to stand up now.”
She grabbed his leg. “You can’t leave though. Promise you won’t leave me here alone, and I can’t be here with just my sisters. We’re not grown-ups.”
“I’m fine,” Bekka answered, and Rachel turned on her, screaming.
“You can’t drive. You are not a grown-up. You are not a mommy!”
“Okay, all right, girls. Everybody breathe.” Mitch was staying calm and speaking to the girls, and Cam could see the exhaustion and the hurt there, but he kept it from them.
“I fell. I’m fine. No one is going to leave you girls alone.
Bekka is not a grown-up, but she is my best oldest daughter.
Sarah, you are my best middle daughter. Rachel, you are my best baby girl.
But I need to let Mr. Halley get me up so that I can go to the bathroom, and then we’ll talk about making a snack and everybody just sitting and having a breath. Okay?”
“Promise, Daddy. You promise you’re okay. Because you can’t die. Because I need you so bad.”
Mitch blew Rachel a kiss. “Bah. I’m a crusty old man. There’s nothing that’s gonna get me down, girls. You know that. Now let Mr. Halley get me up.”
The girls all moved, Bekka grabbing the youngest one, Rachel, and pulling her away.
Waiting until they were out of earshot, Cam peered down at Mitch. “Does anything new feel cracked or broken?”
“I don’t think so? I have new X-rays day after tomorrow anyway, so it can wait. I just got overwhelmed.”
“Uh-huh.” He got his hands under Mitch’s arms and around one hip, then helped him up off the floor. “Bed.”
“Oh, no, I need to go sit with the—”
“Bathroom, then bed,” Cam stated. “The girls can climb into bed with you and watch TV in there.”
“Shit.” Mitch limped along, leaning hard on him all the way through the bathroom to do his thing, then to the bedroom. “Okay. I ain’t got the energy to argue. But I got to feed…”
“Nope. I was working with the animals when you fell. I’ll deal with that. And the kids… I can order a pizza. I know Columbo’s delivers here.”
“They do.” Grimacing, Mitch eased down on the bed, letting Cam get his legs up.
“The brace?”
“Off. Please. I just want to relax.”
“You got it.” Cam helped Mitch remove the brace before propping him up on pillows. “Let me go get the girls. I’ll be around doing work, so if you need to get up, have one of them come get me.”
Mitch just nodded, his lips tight, his jaw clenched.
“Do you need a pain pill?”
“I can’t take one yet, but I would take some Tylenol.”
“You got it.” Cam could do that.
And then he had to make a plan. Because dammit, as much as it wasn’t his place, he was going to have to take care of this man and his kids and this little ranch for the time being.
So he was going to cowboy up and figure it out.