Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Seth
What in the world?
It was five thirty a.m. and I had a big day on the farm ahead of me.
Ten of my heifers were about to give birth.
I was making my way into the milk industry, hoping to expand the business, and I was starting out with these ten heifers.
But I wasn’t sure I could make my meeting with my foreman, Russel, today.
He was more than capable of handling things himself, but I liked my work and being involved in the daily activities.
I shot him a quick text.
Me: I think I have the flu. Can you handle today?
Russel: You got it, boss. Rest up.
I relaxed a little. Russel lived on-site at the back of my property in a ranch house I’d built five years ago for him when I’d offered him the position.
He worked hard, was respectful, and came from a family of five generations of cattle ranchers.
He was a wealth of knowledge, the only reason I could leave town or fall ill and not have the ranch fall apart.
I went to make my coffee, and when I reached out to hold the mug, I nearly dropped it. My finger joints were on fire and weak.
What in the world?
I still felt dizzy, so I sat down and felt my forehead. No fever. What else made you feel so achy with no fever?
I ran my fingers through my hair in a nervous gesture and paused when I felt a lump.
“Oh no,” I breathed. After walking over to the guest bathroom, I grabbed a pair of tweezers and tried to lift them up to the engorged tick in my hair, but my elbow ached, and I lowered my arm. “Dang it.”
I’d been bitten by ticks plenty of times; it was part of the job.
But tick bites that came with symptoms like this were bad news.
I’d need to get it out quickly, though it had probably been attached for a few days to be this big and causing symptoms. I’d have to go into town and see a doctor to get antibiotics.
Maggie wasn’t here. Russel was busy. And I didn’t want to bother a ranch hand with something so personal.
Upon reaching for my phone, I dialed Ella. She sounded like she’d been dead asleep. I normally didn’t have her start work until eight a.m.
“Hey, sorry to wake you. I…might need some help. I’m not feeling well. I have a tick embedded in my scalp, and I think—”
“I’m coming over,” she said quickly and hung up.
I ended the call and sagged in relief. My whole body felt like it was on fire.
I had a buddy who’d gotten Lyme disease from one of these things and it ruined his life for many years.
He was on disability for a while and couldn’t work.
I remembered his advice. “If you ever feel like you have the flu but you find a tick, get on antibiotics right away.” He hadn’t, and he regretted it.
Ella knocked on the door just as I was swallowing two Advil. I slowly walked over, squinting at the light I’d just turned on, and opened the door.
Ella was still in her PJs with her hair tied into a topknot. She looked beautiful.
“You okay?” She peered at me with concern.
I nodded but then winced because my neck felt stiff.
She stepped inside and shut the door, going into mother-hen mode. “Lie down on the couch. Do you have a thermometer? Tell me your symptoms?”
I rattled them off.
She frowned. “Sounds like a tick-borne disease. I read about them when I did my crash course on farm life.”
She disappeared into the bathroom and returned with the tweezers and a baggie.
“You gonna keep it as a souvenir?” I managed to say between the pain in my body and my foggy thoughts.
She smiled, and Lord, it did things to my heart when that woman smiled. “According to the internet, you can test a pulled tick for diseases if you mail it off.”
“Oh. That’s smart,” I said as she started digging into my hair. “Over here.” I grasped her fingers and moved them towards my right ear, where the tick was.
Her eyes bulged when she felt it. “It’s giant.”
I nodded. “Been there a few days, I think.”
She winced as she went in with the tweezers. “For the record, I hate bugs.”
“Noted,” I told her, and again, that easy smile was back.
She looked down at me, and the smile grew. “You’re good for me,” she said seriously, and it felt like my heart stopped in my chest.
“You’re good for me, too,” I responded, and she said nothing more. She didn’t need to. That was enough to last me a lifetime. I’d wait forever for this woman just to get a little more of that.
There was a slight tug at my scalp, and then Ella squealed before dropping the sickly gray, fat tick into the bag with a grunt. “Gross.” She sealed it up and threw it onto the coffee table like it was a bomb about to explode.
Now, I was smiling. She was adorable.
She pulled out her phone and dialed someone. “Hang on. I gotta ask my boss for the day off so I can take you into town to see a doctor.”
The joke didn’t register until my phone rang, and it showed Ella calling.
I chuckled, picking up. “You can have the day off,” I told her.
She smiled and hung up.
With a helping hand, she lifted me up and guided me into the garage, where I got into the passenger side of my truck. Then we discreetly drove to town. Her belly was touching the wheel; she was already so big. She seemed to instinctually know I wouldn’t want my staff seeing me like this.
“Thanks for being there for me,” I told her as I leaned my sore head against the cool window and peered out at the rising sun.
“It’s the least I can do, Seth,” she said, and I prayed to the Lord at that moment that, one day, Ella would be my wife. I no longer wanted the love and affection of a good woman. I wanted the love and affection of this good woman.