Chapter 15
“There you go,” the doctor, or Zeke as he’d asked her to call him, said as he cleaned around the last staple in her scalp. “Water is fine. Avoid shampooing the area until I look at them next Friday.”
“I hate sounding vain, but will this leave a noticeable scar?” Kate hadn’t had a chance to look at the cut.
“Your hair is thick enough it shouldn’t be noticeable. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?”
“I was in the military. I’m completely up to date on all vaccinations.” The Army was a bit anal about all things preventive.
“Good.” He opened the drawer and handed her a small mirror. “This is Stephanie’s, but she got a new one after I asked to borrow hers ten times a week.” He laughed.
“All the women need to look beautiful?”
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you, but it’s mostly those hard and weathered cowhands. They need to check out my stitching. They’re so used to doing their own that anything less than perfection would be something they’d fuss about for the next ten years. There’s another mirror over the sink.” He helped her stand up. “Good?”
“Yep. No worries.” She walked over to the mirror and grimaced. “Can I borrow this sink and a ton of soap?” she asked while looking at her face, which was smeared with dried blood.
“I’ll get you a towel. The paper towels are like sandpaper.” Zeke took off his gloves and threw them away before he opened the door. She heard Lawrence’s voice but was too busy scrubbing her face and hands to turn around.
“Zeke said you have a hard head, and you’ll live,” Lawrence said from behind her.
She mumbled a few choice words under her breath, and Lawrence laughed and handed her a towel when she finished washing. “Thanks.”
“Garth is here to take your statement,” he said when she’d finished blotting her face dry. “You’re a mess.”
She straightened up and looked at him. “You’re so kind.”
“No, I mean your shirt and jeans.” He pointed to the dried blood that had dripped onto the front of her shirt and the places where she’d wiped off her hands on her jeans.
“Hopefully, Tegan won’t mind me washing a load at his place.” She took her phone out and glanced at the face. “He hasn’t called or texted. Have you heard from him?”
“I have. He was worried about you. I told him I’d bring you back. Your truck is still at the stockyard. Tegan jumped in the sheriff’s SUV, and they flew like a bat out of hell to his place. I couldn’t keep up.”
That made sense. She folded the towel and laid it on the sink’s edge. “So, lead me to your deputy.”
“Our deputy,” Lawrence said. “Do you need help walking?”
“Not since I was two.” Kate snorted. “I got hit in the head. It isn’t that bad.”
“Five staples should be considered in the almost really bad arena,” Zeke said as they walked out of the exam room.
“Really? Is it really?” Kate asked him in a joking fashion. “In the grand scheme of things, this is just a cut.”
“No, ma’am, that there is a felony.”
Kate turned to the person who spoke. “Deputy Garth?”
He extended his hand, and she shook it as he spoke, “Yes, ma’am. Stephanie said we could use her office to get your statement.” She followed him into the small office. Stephanie stood up and directed her to the seat behind the desk. “There’s coffee in the pot, and I’ll make myself scarce. I have an exam room to clean up.”
“Thanks, Stephanie.”
“No worries. I’m so glad it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.” The woman spun and headed to the exam room.
“Would you like some coffee?” Lawrence said from beside the coffee pot.
“Yes, please, with sugar and cream. I want a treat after this.” She turned to the deputy. “What do you need?”
“A statement detailing the information from the time you arrived at the ranch to the time you were hit over the head and anything you remember after that. Please include as much detail as you can about the man’s looks, anything out of the ordinary you noticed about him, things of that nature.”
“All right.” She accepted his clipboard and pen and started where he indicated on the form. A cup of coffee was put in front of her, and she thanked her brother before writing. As she got to the part where she was struck, she stopped and stared at the clipboard. “He was wearing Army boots.” She looked up. “Old ones. They’d seen a lot of action. The tread was worn. Black leather. Camo pants, digital camo, Army. Not Navy or Marines and definitely not Air Force.” She wrote down the information, then focused on him running to the tree line. “His gait was off. Like he’d been injured, but he was moving fast, so it wasn’t something that slowed him down. Maybe an old injury he’d adapted to …” She continued to write and drink her coffee. When she finished, she handed the statement back to the deputy.
He read it and chuckled. “Could we use you to give a course on how to write a statement?”
“Bullet points.” Kate smiled. “Say what you mean to say and not anything more.” The Army loved bullet points. Hell, they had an entire language based on acronyms and brevity.
Garth swore her to her statement, and Lawrence signed it as a witness. She finished her coffee, and they headed out of the office. Stephanie came out of the exam room with her coat. “Don’t forget this, and I’ll send the bill to your insurance.”
“I’m not sure how much they’ll pay, but it was an emergent situation, so it shouldn’t be too much of a fight.” She’d told the insurance representative she’d be relocating and going on terminal leave, so there shouldn’t be any problem with coverage.
“Believe me, I’m used to fighting with insurance.” Stephanie laughed. “I’m so stubborn I rather enjoy it. Have a good night.”
“Thank you for everything,” Lawrence said before she could. Kate said goodbye after she slipped her coat on.
“How are the kids?”
“Hailey is sleeping in Craig’s room until I get home. I told him to load the four-ten and keep it in his rack.”
Kate sighed. “I hate that someone has caused everyone to feel unsafe.”
“Not your doing,” Lawrence said as he pulled out onto the highway. “You’re a pretty tough broad, you know that?”
“Tough? It doesn’t take much to get whapped over the head.” She leaned back against the headrest.
“It takes moxie to keep your wits about you. You didn’t go into the house. He could have killed you if you had.” Lawrence shivered. “I just couldn’t lose you, too.”
Kate sat up and reached over to place her hand on his arm. “You didn’t lose me.”
“Yeah.” Lawrence nodded. “I’m kind of glad I have an appointment on Monday.”
“So am I,” she said, leaning back. “It’s helping?”
Lawrence shrugged. “It’s nice to have a place where I can lay it all out. The crazy in my head and the hurt in my heart.”
“Tegan’s a good guy. Glad you two got back together,” Lawrence said after a couple of minutes of driving in the quiet.
“We still have a lot of distance to go. We’re different people now, but yeah, he’s the best.” And the chemistry between them was still off the charts hot. The man was so much more than others saw. His protective growliness was exactly what she needed and wanted. The military instilled self-sufficiency. There were times, however, she wanted someone else to take the lead. She was tired of leaning forward alone in the harness, pulling solo against the weight of life. Having Tegan beside her was a step toward the peace and kind of life she’d recently figured out she wanted. She smiled at the thought of Blessing’s words last year. If Blessing hadn’t put the thoughts into her mind, she would have missed this. Missed him.
Her phone vibrated in her jacket, and she pulled it out and smiled. It seemed just thinking about the woman could conjure a call from her. “Hi, Blessing.”
“Are you all right? I just can’t shake this feeling something bad happened.”
“I was hit over the head with a horseshoe tonight.”
There was silence for a minute. “By the man from the past.”
“Ah, by a man, yes. What do you mean from the past?”
“Not yours. You fell into his path. Be careful, Kate. There’s something dark building around you. You’re going to be touched by it, but … I think the man from the past is there for someone else, and he’s intent on causing harm. No one in your aura is affected by the darkness, so your family and your young man will be okay.”
“Well, that’s good to know, and I’ll keep all that in mind going forward. I’m sorry I caused you to worry.”
Blessing made a humming sound. “I worry about all my friends. Call me next week, and we’ll visit.”
“That sounds like a plan. Thank you, Blessing, you’re so sweet to call. Thank you.”
“I had to make sure. Good night.”
“Who was that?”
“A wonderful woman I met about a year ago. A friend.” Kate smiled, but inside, she worried about the warnings Blessing gave her. A person from the past who was intent on doing harm. Well, he’d already caused harm, but Kate knew instinctively the harm caused that night was probably just the beginning.