Chapter 5
“Ready?” Raymond asked as he parked at the end of a long line of vehicles.
“We are now at what is called The Broken Wheel Ranch. All the employees here are former military, and the horses are rescues. Over the last three to four years, humans have worked with the horses, and now this is a rehabilitation center for patients that need it. Whether it’s for mobility, therapy, both mental and physical, but this is what goes on here.
As you saw, the only way onto this ranch is through Erin’s Way.
It is what we consider land locked. We’ll show you around here, then take you over to Broken Two, where Dr. Johnson will be working. ”
“Please, call me Amelia.”
“Okay, and call me Raymond.” He gave a start when someone started banging on the side of his window, and he hadn’t even had the truck turned off before his door was opened and a woman jumped up and hugged him tight.
“DAD! What are you doing here?”
“Hold on, Baby Girl!” He laughed as he unbuckled his seatbelt, and looked at Amelia. “Can you tell we haven’t seen each other in some time.”
He exited the truck and gathered his daughter in his arms. They were both laughing as he twirled her around.
When she was on her feet, they both started talking at once, but Raymond laid his hand gently over her lips, the same gesture he used to do when she was a little girl and was excited to tell him something.
“We can catch up later. I arrived here the day you left on your mission.”
“You’ve been here a month? Are you on vacation? Can you take that much time away from the office?”
“No, I work over at New Double, I might be taking on a legal case though.”
“Can you practice law here? What about your firm back home?”
“Sold it, I’m here now.” He held his hand to his side, like he was whispering, but talking in his normal voice. “I’m not saying this to alarm you, because I was alarmed myself, but my doctor told me I had to slow down, or I would be dead in five years. He said it was too much stress.”
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me? Are you okay now? Please tell me you didn’t have a heart attack.”
“I’m fine, I’ve lost eighteen pounds in the last month, and no, I did not have a heart attack, but I was heading in that direction.” He looked around and turned back to her with a grin. “Which one of those guys standing over there is your beau?”
“Dad,” Opal said as she blushed and looked over and waved someone over. “Dad, this is Denver, Denver, this is Dad.” They shook hands.
“Sir.”
“Denver, please call me Raymond.”
“Yes, Sir, ah, Raymond.”
“We’ll have to get together soon. Like I told Opal, I’m working over at New Double, I’ve been here for a month. My life back in North Carolina is dissolved. I’m here to stay.”
“May I ask what brought this on?” Denver asked.
“I’m not putting any pressure on either of you, but if you two decided to ever get married, and the kids start coming, I don’t want to live on the other side of the country to see them. Now, I’m just down the road.”
“That’s good news, Sir. I know Opal’s been wanting to see if you would come out for a visit.”
“Well, I’m here to stay.”
“Great news, Sir.” Denver shook his hand again, gave a mock salute, and walked away.
Raymond looked at his daughter with a raised brow.
“Yeah, he’s the strong silent type.” She laughed and hugged her father again. “What are you doing here? Not working for Riceman, but here at Broken?”
“Oh, this is Dr. Amelia Johnson.”
“Hey, you’re the new doctor that’s going to be working at Broken Two. When are you starting over there?”
“A week from Monday. I’m familiarizing myself with all the ranches today. This is Betty Laurel. If all goes well, she’ll be my nurse in a couple of weeks.”
“What field do you practice in?”
“General medicine and orthopedic surgeon.”
“Do you do OB/GYN?” She refused to look at her father. At the sound he made, she turned and shook her head at him. “No, I’m not pregnant, but Denver and I are talking about ditching the birth control. If it happens, it happens.”
“I don’t,” Amelia said.
“I’m a mid-wife,” Betty spoke then. She looked at Amelia and shrugged. “Not officially, I’ve been taking the classes on my days off, I’m about six months to a year away from getting all my credentials. When the time comes, I can see you as an OB.”
“We’ll talk,” Amelia said to Betty. “I’m not mad, I’m plotting,” she said with a gentle smile, and tapped the side of her head. “Remind us again what Broken Wheel does?”
“All the horses here were rescued from the slaughterhouses, or sometimes the police and the SPCA would contact Erin about an abused horse. They asked if she could foster them. Once the criminal case against the abuser was over, and the sentence handed down, Erin made a generous donation to the SPCA in order to be able to keep the horse. Nine times out of ten, these cases ended with the previous owner in jail, for a few months to years, told to pay a hefty fine, and they were unable to own an animal after being released from jail. If by some chance they didn’t get sent to jail, they were still ordered to never own any type of animal again.
These horses were broken when they came here.
So were we.” She lifted her left arm, and for the first time Amelia realized she was missing her arm above the elbow.
Her face must have shown shock, or something, because Opal grinned.
“I want to say it wasn’t that bad, but it was a targeted hit, and not a military one. I was on leave when this happened. Maybe one day when you’ve been here for some time, I’ll tell you about it.” Opal whipped her head around and looked directly at her father. “Did you sell everything back home?”
“Yes, and I brought your things that you left there.”
“Oh, there can’t have been that much left.”
Raymond grinned at her. “All your high school things in the attic.”
“Eew,” Opal laughed, then sobered quickly. “What about Melissa and Amber’s stuff?”
“Dumpster. Everything. They won’t be needing it anytime soon, and I sure as hell won’t be renting a storage unit for them.” He grinned, and Opal laughed, and snorted at the end.
“Good one. Did you even tell them you were leaving North Carolina?”
“Nope, once the divorce was final, and their sentence was read, I washed my hands of the both of them.” He turned to look at Amelia and Betty.
“My second marriage ended badly, and both the ex-wife and her daughter from her first marriage are currently sitting in jail for twenty-five to life. Maybe when you come to live here permanently, if you’re bored one night, I’ll tell you the story, but you’ll have to like true crime to hear it. ”
“Oh, wow, it’s sounds interesting.”
“It is,” Opal said with a laugh. “Dad has my permission to tell you what happened to me.” She then changed the subject to tell them what Broken Wheel Ranch did, and they went into the barn, and there were several men and women instructing kids and adults on the horses that were being led around the arena, or some were riding them by themselves, but had someone holding the lead rope.
“There’s Caleb,” Opal said, and he turned and jogged over to them.
“Dr. Johnson, what are you doing here?” He held his hand out and they shook hands. “When do you start?”
“A week from Monday. I have this next week to finish up at the clinic, then I’ll be here permanently next weekend.”
“Great. Come watch,” he said in excitement.
No one spoke until they were at the gate that surrounded the arena with the horses.
“I’m the therapist for three of the clients inside the ring.
I don’t have to, but on the weekends, I like to see how they’re doing so I can adjust what I do for them, or not.
So far, I’ve only had to adjust my therapy sessions only once. ”
“Why?” Betty asked, then explained. “I’m Betty Laurel, a nurse at the clinic. I’m also thinking of coming to work with Dr. Amelia in a couple of weeks. It’s still up in the air, at least until she’s settled over at Broken Two.”
“Ah, yeah, I had heard we would be sharing a receptionist until you can hire someone.”
Amelia turned to look at Raymond. “Do you think we should read Caleb into my situation?”
“Yes, but not here,” Raymond said as he leaned down to whisper in her ear, and caught the scent of vanilla from her hair. He drew in a deeper breath, held it, then let it out in a slow exhale.
“What situation?” Caleb asked quietly to just the two of them.
“I’m facing a certain situation and I’m going to need your help. Medically.” At his expression she shook her head and held up her hand. “Not for me. I’ll explain it all I promise.”
Caleb looked at someone behind them, and they all turned to see Kevin standing there.
“I’m giving them the tour.”
“Ah, okay. I’m done here with my clients if you want to drive over to Broken Two.”
“Please,” Amelia said.
“Inland or on the road?”
“Inland,” Kevin said, and turned to the others.
“This ranch is totally land locked. The only way to and from is through Erin’s Way, the way we came in, and now I’ll take you the back way over to Broken Two.
The clients use this when they stay in the bunktel.
” He grinned at their expressions. “I’ll show you. ”
They climbed back into their vehicles, and followed Kevin as he drove past the barn, down a well paved path, and in five minutes, they came out to four buildings.
Kevin parked, got out, and had them park.
“These are the bunktels, think of a combination of a hotel and a ranch bunkhouse.” He walked forward and opened the door to one of the buildings and invited them in to look around.
They spent a good amount of time looking around and when they left, they were impressed by the accommodation.
“Where to now?” Betty asked.
“Over to the other buildings at Broken Two. The office buildings, and then we can go to the cabins. It’s my understanding that there are two cabins empty and available.”
“They are.” Caleb agreed. “Katherine and I have one, and Ilsa and Jason share the other leaving two empty.”
Everyone nodded and climbed back into their vehicles and followed Kevin over to the office buildings.
This time, Caleb led the way, and he took his keys from his pocket, unlocked the door to one of the identical buildings and had them enter before him.
“This is my office building for my chiropractor and therapy offices. Dr. Staci Hardt also has her office and work room here. Her title is Dr. but she’s not like the two of us where she sees patients on a regular basis, though she does see them, but only for her specialized work. ”
“What does she do?” Amelia asked.
“She makes prosthetic limbs for military veterans.” Caleb looked at Raymond. “I believe Opal’s on her list to get a new arm.”
“Cool, I’ll have to talk to my daughter about it.”
“What’s in the other building?” Betty asked.
“That’s going to be Amelia’s office. I brought you here so I could get the keys to that building.
It’s currently empty.” He walked into an office, opened the top, middle drawer of the desk, and withdrew a set of keys.
As he came out, he looked at Amelia with a grin.
“Since the building was empty, Erin thought it would be best that I held onto the keys. I keep them in the desk so I don’t confuse them with mine.
Currently, the alarm has the same code as this one, but once you’re settled you can change it if you wish.
” They followed him out of the first building and into the second.
Everyone stayed back as Caleb let the women inside, and the men stepped in after the alarm was shut off, and lights were flipped on.
Thirty minutes later, Amelia and Betty joined them, and Amelia asked, “Who’s Dr. Sara Monroe?”
“Who?”
“There’s a plaque on a desk back there that says, Dr. Sara Monroe.”
“I have no clue.” Caleb pulled his phone sent a text, and the response came back quickly.
“I just asked Erin, her text says that it’s Julie’s sister, she’s a psychiatrist, but decided to stay in Denver for more experience before opening her office on her own.
” He looked up, and snapped his fingers.
“Now I know, she wants to work with veterans, and her specialty is PTSD.”
“Well, if she wants more experience before branching out on her own, I can totally understand. It took me almost two decades to branch out by myself, that’s why I’m here.”
“Yeah, it only took me a couple of years, but I wanted away from Seattle.” He looked at his father with a grin. “I had to get away from Karen.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here, and to be closer to you.”
“Karen?”
“My ex, and his mother. Long story.”
“So,” Caleb said as they stood in the reception area of the new building. “What are you going to be needing my help with?”
“Let’s go back over to your building,” Raymond said, and they closed up the one they were in and went next door. Caleb started a pot of coffee and stood there with his arms crossed until it perked.