Ray
I was really tired of everything going right in our lives, and then finding myself sitting beside one of my family members in a hospital.
Thankfully, Izzy hadn’t been seriously hurt. She’d been knocked unconscious when she fell off Oakley and was sporting a nasty concussion, but it hadn’t stopped her from asking every five minutes when she could leave.
“For the millionth time, Isabella Cortez, you are not going home until the doctor releases you, and he has made it exceptionally clear that you’re going to be here for at least a full night to monitor your concussion symptoms,” I scolded, standing beside her bed and tucking the blankets and sheets back around her body from where she’d thrown them off, insisting that she was checking herself out against medical advice.
“I’m fine, I need to go check on Oakley,” she grumbled, pushing herself to a seated position with a sharp hiss as pain radiated through her head. I gently pushed her back against the raised bed and shot her a look that said, “I’m not fucking around.”
Her sigh of frustration was loud enough to be heard from the hallway as Wade came back into the room carrying two cups of coffee, chuckling at her dramatics.
I had been furious at him for leaving me in the stands back at the arena to go check on Izzy, but after he’d had a chance to get her situated and we’d started following the ambulance in an Uber, he’d explained why he’d done it.
Although I was still frustrated at him for trying to shield me from the truth—I was a big girl, after all—but I couldn’t be mad at him for having my best interests at heart.
He knew better than anyone how sideways rodeo events could go, and he was trying to do me a favor by keeping me from seeing something that may or may not have haunted me for the rest of my life.
At the end of the day, I loved him for doing what he could to care for my sister and protect me at the same time.
“As your trainer, I’ll have to agree with your sister on this one.
You’ve got a nasty concussion, Izzy, and they can turn from bad to worse quickly.
It’s better for you to stay here and be monitored overnight.
I had Sterling head down to the stables and check on Oakley.
She’s spooked, but physically fine. I’ve already got a farrier lined up to come check out her shoes in the morning, and the vet is heading over there tonight to run a few tests. We’ve got her.”
My sister’s shoulders slumped in defeat as she’d been properly chastised. She’d been fighting with us for the last five hours to let her check out and go back to the arena. I feared, though, that if we let that happen, she’d demand a re-ride and do serious damage to herself or her horse.
She was reckless when it came to winning, and the NFR had taken so much to prepare for, that not placing was a hard pill for her to swallow.
A knock sounded on the door to her room as it slowly eased open. Slightly shocked, I watched as Tanner let himself in, coming to Izzy’s bedside and taking her hand.
“Babe, I’m so sorry I’m just getting here. Finding a flight last minute was insane, not to mention obnoxiously expensive, but I’m here. How are you? Do the doctors think you’ll make a full recovery?”
Wade and I looked at one another, rolling our eyes at his exaggeration of the severity of Izzy’s condition. He was acting like she was dying, and it had taken everything in him to make it here before she croaked.
When we’d spoken to him on the phone earlier, we’d let him know what was happening and made sure to tell him that it wasn’t necessary for him to fly all the way out there, and that we’d keep him updated.
“I’m fine, Tanner. I thought we told you that you didn’t need to fly all the way out here.”
The way her body recoiled at his touch had me on edge. Something about him had always given me the ick.
I didn’t know if it was his straitlacedness, how he was overly doting, or something else, but he had always had an air about him that unsettled me.
“I couldn’t let my fiancée wither away in a hospital bed without her man by her side.”
I closed my eyes to keep from rolling them, but Wade’s groan of annoyance was loud as it rumbled through the small room. I shot him a look to keep his thoughts to himself, and he stuck his tongue out at me.
So mature.
With his juvenile response, my eyes rolled on their own accord, no stopping them this time.
Tanner raised Izzy’s hand to his lips, leaning down to kiss where her engagement ring should have been, but instead met with an empty ring finger on her left hand.
“Where’s your ring?” he asked sharply.
She pulled her hand from his grasp, rubbing at where she generally wore the gaudy piece of jewelry.
It had shocked us all to see how large and obnoxious the ring Tanner had proposed with looked on Izzy’s slim fingers.
It was a huge three-carat solitaire diamond that was flanked by smaller diamonds on each side and a diamond-encrusted band.
I’m sure the thing cost a fortune, but money couldn’t always buy sense, and it was clear that he’d lost his mind the day he thought that was the type of ring my sister would have wanted.
“I don’t wear it when I ride. That thing’s a fucking hazard,” she grumbled, pulling the covers up around her like a shield.
“Watch your language, Isabella,” he scolded, as if he had any right to tell her how to speak.
She nodded demurely, and Wade and I looked at each other in confusion. I’d never seen my sister shrink under the gaze of anyone, much less a man, and seeing how defeated she looked after being scolded by her fiancé had my hackles rising.
“Knock, knock!” the nurse cheerfully called as she pushed her way into the room, grabbing a pair of gloves as she entered. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” she asked.
“Like all of this is unnecessary, and I want to go home.”
“I understand, sweetie. But I promise we will get you out of here as soon as we can.”
The nurse took a set of vitals, listening to Izzy’s breathing, pulse, and checking her reflexes. Everything seemed to check out as she stripped off the gloves and made notes on the chart at the end of her bed.
“While I’m in here, we were having a little bit of trouble billing your insurance.
” She looked down at the chart and flipped one of the papers over, looking for the information.
“It looks like the billing department contacted the policy owner to sort a few things out, and we just need a signature or two to send it back over. It looks like your—”
I didn’t miss the stiffness that fell over Izzy’s demeanor and the wild look in her eyes.
Something was off. She was old enough to be on her own insurance.
I had assumed she’d been given insurance through one of her sponsors or that she had signed up for her own policy once she’d been removed from Dad’s.
Another knock came from the door, interrupting the nurse, and we looked around, wondering who else could be showing up.
Pushing into the room, Sterling looked around from person to person, clearly uncomfortable.
He was still dressed in his riding gear, obviously having left the arena and going directly to the hospital after checking on Oakley.
His flannel shirt stretched across his broad chest, the sleeves rolled to just above his elbows, straining against his biceps and accenting the sleeves of tattoos that swirled around his forearms. He wore a leather vest littered with rodeo sponsorships and a black felt Stetson, which he respectfully removed.
“Ah, yes! Mr. Morgen, I was just telling your wife about the issue with the insurance.”
You could have heard a toad fart with how quiet it got in the room.
Wife?
What the actual fuck was going on?
“Uh, hey… wifey,” he choked out nervously.
Tanner looked from Izzy to Sterling, his face reddening with pent-up rage as he worked to figure out what in the world was going on. Welcome to the club, bud.
“Wife? You’re married?” he screeched, throwing Izzy’s hand back down in her lap. She clutched at her forehead, wincing with pain as he raged beside her.
“How about we all take a walk?” the nurse asked, giving Izzy the quiet she needed while recovering. “I’ll show you where the cafeteria is,” she said, guiding Tanner to the door.
I walked over to Izzy’s bedside, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “We’re gonna talk about this later.” She nodded.
Wade and I walked out the door, leaving her and Sterling to work out whatever the hell had just happened back there.
“And I thought we were the only ones who got married in Vegas,” Wade joked. I chuckled, nervous energy coming off me in waves as I looked back at the door, wondering if we should wait around.
“Sunshine, let’s leave them to sort their shit out. Sterling’s a good man, and Izzy is smart and strong enough to handle herself. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.” He ran a gentle hand down the back of my head as he pulled me into a hug.
Yeah, I hoped it was all just a misunderstanding, because explaining to my father that my sister was married while engaged to another man wasn’t going to go over well.
Izzy was released from the hospital that evening with strict doctor’s orders to go home, rest, and stay off the back of her horse for a couple of days.
Wade and I hadn’t stuck around for the conversation between her and Sterling, but whatever had transpired, he’d offered to drive her truck and Oakley back to the ranch so Izzy could fly home with us.
None of us was comfortable approaching the subject. Clearly, the two of them knew each other better than they had let on, especially since they were somehow married.
Tanner had stormed out of the hospital, not bothering to come back or offer to fly home with us. I could tell the exhaustion of the day’s events and Tanner’s fury were weighing on my sister.
“You okay?” I asked softly, the dashboard lights of Wade’s truck illuminating just enough for me to make out her downtrodden features.
“Fine,” she snapped, turning to look out the window, shutting me out. In the reflection of the glass, I saw the subtle swipe of her hands across her cheeks, brushing away tears as they fell.
I reached my hand over the seat, grabbing hold of hers, squeezing three times. She returned the gesture, never taking her eyes off the passing landscape around us.
“What a fucking day,” Wade groaned, throwing himself backward onto the plush mattress, not bothering to remove a stitch of clothing.
“You got that right,” I replied, climbing into bed next to him, snuggling into his side, and resting my head on his bicep.
“You know what I’m most disappointed about?” he asked, a devious grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“What’s that?”
“I didn’t get to join the Mile High Club.”
A loud laugh bubbled past my lips as I leaned over, crossing my arms across his wide chest, resting my chin atop my hands. I grabbed his hat off his head, plopping it down on top of mine.
“My poor cowboy,” I crooned. “How about I give you eight seconds and see if you can hold on instead?”
He growled, rolling on top of me as he stared down into my eyes.
“I love you, mi reina,” he whispered, never breaking eye contact.
“I love you too, Waddle.”