Cattleman's Courtship. Carolyne Aarsen

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      Right behind her stood her uncle, Alan Morrison.

      Nicholas caught Alan’s piercing gaze. It was as if he were making sure Nicholas didn’t “hurt” his precious niece yet again. Nicholas wanted to reassure him that as far as Cara was concerned, he had gotten the memo long ago.

      Then Nicholas saw a look of puzzlement cross Alan’s face as his step faltered. Alan’s hand clutched the handrail on his right side as he cried out.

      Then, as if in slow motion, he crumpled and folded in on himself.

      Cara turned. Her aunt Lori screamed.

      And as Nicholas watched in horror, Alan Morrison fell heavily down the rest of the stairs.

      Nicholas was the first one at his side. Cara right behind him. “Call an ambulance,” Nicholas shouted to the people who now milled around.

      “Stretch him out.” Cara pulled on Alan’s arm, falling to her knees beside him. “Straighten him out and open his coat.”

      Alan’s face held a sickly gray tinge, his eyes like dark bruises, unfocused, staring straight up.

      As Nicholas unbuttoned Alan’s suit jacket, Cara placed her hand above his mouth then, bending over, put her mouth on his and gave him two quick breaths.

      Her fingers swept his neck, pressing against it.

      “No pulse,” she murmured.

      “I’ll do the CPR, you take care of the breathing.”

      Nicholas counted to himself, one and two, pressing down on each count. Cara was bent over her uncle’s head, breathing for him.

      Nicholas felt vaguely aware of the people around them as they worked, Lori crying, someone else telling people to move away.

      But for Nicholas, the only thing that existed was the two of them fighting to save Cara’s beloved uncle’s life. A tiny cosmos among the shifting crowd around them.

      He didn’t know how long they worked. It seemed like a few moments, a brief snatch of time.

      Yet by the time someone called out to make room for the paramedics, the tension knotted his shoulders and the hard floor dug into his knees.

      “I’ll take over, sir.” Hands pulled him back as others caught the rhythm he had maintained.

      Nicholas caught the glimpse of two uniformed men and he got slowly to his feet, his legs tingling as the blood rushed back to them.

      Another paramedic strapped an oxygen mask on Alan’s head, manually pumping life-giving oxygen into him.

      Cara sat back, her hands hanging slack by her side, her eyes huge in her pale face.

      Nicholas tried to work his way around Alan to be at her side. But someone else took her by the shoulders. Lifted her up. Held her as she visibly trembled.

      That’s my job, my place, he thought, feeling ineffective and surprisingly possessive as someone else stroked her hair in comfort.

      In a flurry of activity the paramedics had Alan on a stretcher and then wheeled him out the doors.

      Beyond the double doors Nicholas saw the whirling lights atop the ambulance and the enormity of what had just happened struck him.

      “Cara. Go with him,” Nicholas heard Lori Morrison called out.

      Cara glanced around, looking confused at the sound of her aunt’s voice.

      “Please,” Lori pleaded. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

      Nicholas found her this time and gave her a gentle push in the direction of the ambulance. “I’ll take care of your aunt. You go. Be with your uncle.”

      He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before she whirled away, running after the paramedics.

      Nicholas hurried to Lori’s side. “I’ll take you to the hospital,” he said, slipping his arm over her shoulder. “We’ll meet Cara there.”

      Lori only nodded, clutching his arm.

      He steered Lori to his truck and soon they were speeding down the highway to the hospital, trying in vain to keep up with the ambulance. Lori sat curled against the passenger’s-side window, a silent figure clutching her coat, her face strobed by the flashing red lights of the ambulance they were following.

      While he drove, Nicholas sent up a quick prayer for Alan Morrison and for Cara, praying the ambulance would get to the hospital on time.

      Chapter Two

      Sorrow, huge as a stone, lodged in Cara’s chest. Tears threatened, but she held them back. In the past couple of hours her aunt had cried enough for both of them.

      She wanted time to rewind. She wanted to go back when her uncle was still walking around. Still talking and telling his terrible jokes.

      Not strapped to a gurney with a paramedic working on him while they raced to the hospital in the swaying ambulance.

      Myocardial infarction, the paramedics had said. Heart attack.

      How could a heart suddenly decide to stop working? What triggered it?

      Images flickered in her mind. Uncle Alan wheezing as he lifted a box. His unusually high color.

      Though he only worked part-time, Cara knew he’d been under stress lately. The practice had been extremely busy and Alan was called more often to fill in on the large animal work.

      Another vet, Gordon Moen, was supposed to be coming to help out, but he wasn’t arriving for another three weeks.

      Too late for Uncle Alan.

      The stone in her chest shifted and tears thickened her throat.

      Please, Lord, don’t take him away, too. You already took my mother, please spare him.

      Then she caught herself.

      God didn’t listen to prayers. How many had she sent up that her mother would come back to her? Would put her first in her life?

      Had God listened when she prayed Nicholas would choose her over his work? Over his ranch?

      Sometimes she wondered if her prayers were selfish but she believed that anyone else in her situation would want the same things.

      Aunt Lori always said God moved in mysterious ways. Well, they were certainly mysterious to Cara.

      Cara rolled her head slightly, chancing a glance at Nicholas, who had stayed at the hospital. The knot of his tie hung below his open collar of his rumpled shirt. She couldn’t help the hitch of her heart at the sight. He looked more approachable now, more like the Nicholas she remembered.

      As if aware of her scrutiny, he glanced back at her. And again their gazes locked. СКАЧАТЬ