The Forest Ranger's Child. Leigh Bale

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Shelby cleaned the deep scratches on his side and bandaged them. No big deal. They’d heal up fine.

       Back outside in the reception room, Nate slumped on the sofa and borrowed Shelby’s cell phone to call his office at the ranger’s station. His cell phone had been ruined by water and his people should know what had happened and where he was.

       “You don’t know who the woman is?” Margaret, his office manager, asked.

       “Nope, but Clara Richens recognized her. Her car’s still out there, buried in the riverbed. She probably got caught in the flood when she tried to cross the stream. Can you make some phone calls to each of the ranchers in Emerald Valley? Warn them to use the Bailey bridges or stay put. I don’t want anyone else trying to cross a flooding stream until it stops raining up in the mountains.”

       “Will do.”

       “And Margaret? Ask Matt if he’d mind driving out and checking the status of the flood. Tell him not to cross it or do anything that might get him hurt, but see if the flood has passed yet.”

       “You got it. You take care and check in with us later, okay?”

       Nate hung up the cell phone, his body feeling wilted, his mind full of activity. What if the woman lost her baby? What if she died after all? Somehow he felt responsible for her. His heart went out to her and her child. He should call her husband, but had no idea who that might be. Her ID was probably still in her car.

       He stood and approached the front counter. “Any news yet?”

       Shelby shook her head. “I’m sorry. The doctor’s still with her.”

       An hour later, Nate had laid his head back against the sofa in the waiting room to rest. Dr. Kenner came down the hall, a stethoscope dangling around his thick neck. Nate breathed a sigh of relief and stood. Finally some news.

       “Hi, Nate.” The doctor smiled, his bald head and ruddy cheeks flushed with color.

       “How is she?”

       “She’ll be fine. She’s resting now. A very lucky young woman. What you did was heroic.”

       Nate ignored that remark. He didn’t feel heroic. He just felt worried. “And her baby?”

       “The baby seems fine. Strong heartbeat, vigorous movement. Lily’s almost six months along, but she didn’t receive any trauma to her abdomen, just her head. She took eight stitches in her scalp, but that’ll heal soon enough.”

       “Lily is her name?” The delicate flower of the resurrection.

       “Yeah, Lily Hansen. Hank Hansen’s girl. I was there when her momma died after being bucked off one of those wild mustangs she loved to ride. She trained horses for the rodeo. Quite rare for a woman.”

       She sounded like Nate’s kind of gal.

       “I didn’t know Hank had any kids.”

       “Just Lily.”

       A twinge of sympathy pinched Nate’s heart. Hank owned Emerald Ranch and was one of the grazing permittees on the national forest. Hank kept to himself for the most part, but he and Nate had become friends. Both men had ridden the national rodeo circuit at one time. Even so, Hank was one of the most irascible men Nate had ever met. If he’d lost his wife in a horse-related accident, Nate could understand why. The man also seemed to be having some financial troubles of late. “Last I heard, Hank was ailing. Heart attack or something.”

       The doctor didn’t respond and Nate figured the man knew the details but was maintaining patient confidentiality.

       “It’s probably good that his daughter has come home to take care of him,” Nate said.

       “Yeah, she grew up here in Jasper, but she left right after high school. After her mom died, she and her dad didn’t get along too well. I’ve just called Hank to let him know she’s here. He’s driving into town as soon as he can.”

       Nate frowned, hoping the rancher didn’t try to pass the stream while it was still flooding. Hank should use the high Bailey bridge the Army Corp of Engineers had constructed across the river a couple of weeks ago.

       They chatted for several more minutes, mostly with Nate asking questions the doctor did his best not to answer.

       “She’s waking up. You can go in and see her for a few minutes if you like.”

       “Me?” Nate hesitated.

       Dr. Kenner clapped a hand on Nate’s back and smiled broadly. “You’re the man who saved her. Shelby will take you back.”

       Shelby stepped around the front counter to guide Nate down the hallway. A happy smile beamed on her face. “What a great day. Lily took up with a n’er-do-well from Reno and broke her daddy’s heart. He’ll be so happy to see her again. This story is sure to make the evening news. You’re a hero, Nate. You saved her life.”

       As Nate’s heels thudded against the tiled floor, he didn’t feel like a hero. He felt like a worried husband and father, which wasn’t right. This wasn’t his wife and child. He knew nothing about Lily Hansen or her life, yet he couldn’t stop worrying about her. Her pitiful cries for help still tore at his heart. They each could have died today and he realized how precious life was.

       For some odd reason, Nate hesitated at the door to Lily’s room, looking in at her still form lying on the narrow hospital bed. Wrapped in sterile blankets, she looked so helpless. So cold and vulnerable.

       He’d saved this woman and her unborn child. He couldn’t help remembering what his mom had taught him about being his brother’s keeper. Some cultures believed if you saved someone’s life, you were then responsible for them until the day you died. A heavy thought indeed. Being responsible for Lily Hansen and her baby the rest of his life made his insides jittery.

       Protecting Lily Hansen was her husband’s job.

       As he stepped into the room, Nate felt as though he were walking off the precipice of a cliff, prepared to hit the jagged rocks below. And somehow he knew his life had just irrevocably changed. He’d never be the same again.

      Chapter Two

      Lily slowly opened her eyes, moving her head on a lumpy pillow. Thin blankets covered her and someone had dressed her in a hospital gown. From the dim spray of sunlight streaming through the window, she could tell it was late afternoon.

       Her head hurt and she lifted a hand, finding a small bandage covering the right side of her forehead. She flinched as the memory of the flood rushed into her mind. And her rescue.

       Scanning the small hospital room, she swiveled toward the door…and froze. He stood there. The man who had saved her life.

       Correction: their lives. Hers and her baby girl’s.

       She pressed a hand to her abdomen and breathed with relief when the baby wiggled against her palm. Thank the Lord her child was okay.

       The man had his hands slung low in his pants pockets. A long-sleeved, yellow shirt covered his powerfully built arms and shoulders. СКАЧАТЬ