Chapter Seven
June 2
“How are you feeling about going back out in the groves, Lea?”
Lea gave Jody, the twenty-nine-year-old woman who was dressed in Levi’s and a long-sleeved white canvas shirt, plus cowboy boots and a straw Stetson on her short blond hair, a frown. “Uh-oh, I think Logan’s been telling you that I don’t feel safe out there by myself?”
It was nine a.m. and the sky was blue, the sun bright. It was a beautiful day in the valley.
“Yes, he mentioned it. Do you feel unsafe out there working alone?” Jody asked, driving the company truck down a twisting road that led to a high elevation where the maple grove was located.
“Men scare me, and I admitted it to Logan one day. I guess he took what I said seriously and thought I might like a buddy out there while collecting wood, is all.”
Jody’s lips curved and she slanted a quick look in Lea’s direction. “Being wary of males in general is number two on my list, so I’m not far behind you.”
“A lot of women are leery of men. Most everyone I know, is. A man has done something awful to them, and their trust is broken with all men as a result.” Lea held on as Jody slowly drove the truck up and around on the bumpy, deeply rutted gravel road that had a hairpin curve to it.
“The #MeToo movement erupted like an ancient, simmering volcano,” Jody agreed, easing the truck around the tight, narrow turn. “Like you, I haven’t met one woman in my life who hasn’t been harassed, touched when she did not want to be touched, raped, or sexually assaulted. It’s a silent epidemic, and thank goodness women are speaking out about it now. It’s time males realize what they’re doing to us as a gender. We women need to put a stop to it.”
“I would imagine you’ve found that to be true in the military, too?” Lea was wearing a black baseball cap and pushed some errant strands away from her face. They were now within the huge grove where most of the trees were at least a hundred years old.
Her lips twisted. “To say the least. I’ve just never met any woman who didn’t have a story to tell me about unwanted sexual attention, assault, or worse. And rape is not about sex,” she reminded Lea. “It’s an act of power over a woman, domination and violence. It’s hatred of women—misogyny.”
“I hate to ask this, but have you experienced it too, Jody?”
“Yep, I’m one of the many.” She glanced over at Lea, turning down a smaller, narrower dirt road that led into the heart of the maple grove. “What about you?”
“I’ve got my own sad story, but nothing close to rape. But it was enough to make me wary of men in general.” Lea told her about her assault as a young teen.
“This behavior has been normalized by societies around the world over the last ten thousand years,” Jody grumped. She brought the truck to a halt, looking around the grove. “I feel the most important thing women can do together is vote. Vote for candidates who are women. There’s a low percentage of twenty-first-century males who are with us on this badly needed societal change, but it’s on our shoulders as women to make this happen via our political clout.” She looked around the deeply shaded grove, sun dappling golden spots on the earth beneath the trees, changing and dancing around with a light breeze.
“Oh, no question. At least women are banding together.”
Jody rested her hand on the top of the steering wheel. “Change of topics. I’m checking the area out before we get out of the cab, per Logan’s request. Looking for anything out of place or different than I recall.” She tapped the leather holster at her waist that carried a .45 pistol. “I know how to use this, too. Years in the military, plus combat, I always carry my pistol on me. Logan agreed with the idea, and most of us do carry, and we have a permit to open carry here in the state.”
Lea gazed around. “Did he ask you to carry a weapon for this trip, too? I don’t feel vulnerable out in the groves.”
“I should give you some time on our shooting range. Logan had it created for all of us so we would keep up our skills with the weapon we carry. Are you interested?”
“I don’t know if I could pull the trigger, Jody. Maybe I’m a coward?”
“No, you aren’t. A lot of people just can’t kill even if they’re threatened with death by another person.”
“I hate to ask you this, and tell me if it’s none of my business, but have you been in a firefight?”
“Yes,” she answered grimly, unsnapping the safety on the holster. Pulling out the .45, she efficiently placed a bullet in the chamber, leaving the safety off. Sliding it back into the holster, she said, “That’s where my PTSD came from. I get flashbacks, but they’re less now than before. And,” she said, opening the door, “nightmares, which are at least a couple of times a week. Come on, the coast looks clear. Let’s look for those special branches you need for Logan’s cupboards.”
* * *
“Just having you help me is wonderful,” Lea admitted as they placed the last of the five branches in the back of the truck. It had been an enjoyable hour with the other woman. She saw Jody preen.
“Good to know. As long as I’m here at the ranch and you need a hired gun at your side, I’m available. Just ask me to escort you, okay?”
Laughing, Lea said, “I doubt I’ll be asking you to be with me, although it was fun having company out there.” She climbed into the truck. Jody was pure athlete, and boneless in the way she walked, always a telltale sign of being in very good physical shape. She herself was still clunky and awkward in comparison, not used to the demands of being a wrangler, which were many.
Once in the truck, they belted up and Jody backed around, taking them out of the grove and down the hill.
“Since you’re wary of men,” Jody said, “how is it, working in close proximity with Logan?”
Lea knew that Logan treated Jody as if she were like the younger sister he’d never had. She felt comfortable saying, “Logan is what I call a twenty-first-century man. I see him struggling at times when we’re in conversation, but he always manages to think before he speaks. I like him a lot. He’s a visionary for this beautiful valley, with solid roots in common sense and practicality.”
“He got that from his parents. I sure miss them, but I know they’re happy down in Arizona. They’ve worked all their lives for this ranch. They deserve retirement. I don’t think Logan will retire.” She drove around the hairpin curve at a crawl.
“No?”
“He’s married to the land.” Jody chuckled. “He’s the kind of guy that loves hard, daily work. Loves the challenge. And I don’t think he sleeps more than five or six hours a night. He’s enthused about what needs to be done at the ranch. And, on top of that, he’s a great manager. His wranglers dote on him. They brag to other ranch hands when they get a chance, on how fair and caring he is of them and their families.”
“He’s got a lot of great attributes, no question.” Lea frowned and then said, “He was married at one time, from what Poppy told me.”
Jody slowed and braked as they left the hill and turned toward a more major dirt road that would lead them back to the main ranch house. “Yes,” she offered, sadness in her tone, “and his daughter, three days later, after the birth. It devastated him to his core.” Jody whispered softly, “I was hired on to the ranch about three months before it happened. I didn’t know Logan that well at the time, but Elizabeth was a bright, beautiful light in his and everyone else’s life. She was the type of person who was just naturally warm, nurturing, kind, and softhearted. Logan loved her fiercely. And you can understand why.” She opened her hand resting on the steering wheel. “I’ve just never seen two people more in love than them, Lea. They were made for one another. They had grown up together here in the valley, met in the first grade and became the best of friends. And I think that’s what made what they had so special. They had a long buddy relationship, and then in middle school, they became best pals. By high school, they had puppy love from what Elizabeth told me. By the time they were eighteen, they were engaged once they graduated. Logan went off to the army for four years. On his return, they married. She got pregnant three months later with Jessica. Logan was twenty-three when everything suddenly went to hell in a handbasket when she died in a car accident. They saved the baby, but she died three days later from complications. That’s why Logan has been single, I think. He still loves the two women in his life who died too soon.”
“Grief has its way with us, no question,” Lea murmured, seeing the main ranch complex coming into view, her heart aching for Logan.
Jody gave a sharp laugh. “Seriously, yes. I don’t know why people think if you grieved a year, that it’s long enough and you should be over it. From what I can see? Grief over a major loss is more like five to seven years long. Logan is now thirty, and I see signs in him that he’s finally allowing Elizabeth and his baby daughter to rest gently in his heart instead of ripping him up daily, like it had before.” She gave Lea an evil, teasing glance. “In fact? Ever since you’ve come here, I’ve seen a real change in Logan.”
“What does that mean?” Lea asked warily, watching as two wranglers rode by toward a corral filled with Herefords. Her heart beat a little harder because Jody was giving her a look she couldn’t read.
“He’s more upbeat, outgoing, and I’ve never seen him smile or laugh as much as he does since you arrived.” She drove into the gravel driveway and parked. “I think he’s sweet on you, Lea. Are you aware he’s interested in you?”
Gulping, Lea sat there, feeling the shock roll through her. “Well . . . uh . . .”
“Come on,” Jody goaded, turning off the engine. “You can’t tell me he’s not handsome, he’s intelligent, kind, and every single woman in the county has him in her sights.”
Opening her hands, Lea looked at the calluses on her palms. “I like Logan a lot, Jody. I’ve been drawn to him since I first saw and spoke to him. I knew he’d lost so much, and I’ve tried to keep my distance from him partly because I was sure he might be grieving the losses.”
“Well”—she chuckled—“how’d that go?”
Laughing nervously, Lea said, “Not very well.”
Jody stared at the ranch house. “I’ve never seen him interested in any woman except you, Lea. That’s the truth.” Glancing in her direction, she added humorously, “I keep hoping you two will let down your walls and really get to know one another. Logan already likes you, but you pretty much stay in the shop all day long. We don’t see you very often. I wondered if you were hiding from him.”
“No,” Lea answered sadly. “I’m hiding from the world. After I got bullied and beat up by three boys, and I became a total introvert. I know I’m not very social, or very outgoing.”
“Well, an experience like that would make you become a shadow of your former self. Bullying is horrible. It does terrible things to people for the rest of their lives.”
“I’m a good example of it,” she admitted, clearing her throat. “I wish I wasn’t such a scaredy-cat. I used to be much more extroverted, but after that, I ran and hid. I’m not very proud of myself. I know where my weaknesses are. And I am trying to stop the past from controlling me so I get out more, and become more social.”
Reaching out, Jody squeezed her forearm. “Listen, we all hide in some way. I know I do. I just shove it so far down in myself it will never see the light of day again.”
“Because of the sexual assault? Was that when you started doing that?”
Jody nodded. “Exactly. Like I said, we all run and hide. The how is different, but the outcome is the same . . . quiet shadows who don’t want to be seen by men who harass women.”
“That’s heartbreaking for all of us,” Lea whispered, shaking her head. “Why don’t men realize that their actions against us brand us for the rest of our lives? We’re never the same after that. I know I’m not. Are you?” She looked at Jody’s serious expression, her blue eyes dark.
“No one is,” she admitted, frowning. “Hey, let’s go do something happy. Let me help you carry those branches into the shop?”
“Thank you,” Lea said, opening the door. “I appreciate your help.”
“Next time,” Jody said, joining her at the rear of the truck and releasing the tailgate so they could reach the wood, “if you need help, why not reach out to Logan? He’s not dumb. He’ll pick up on that subtle signal. Maybe what the two of you need is to start working together where and when you can. It’s a good way to ease into a relationship and see if it’s going to work or not.”
Jody’s radio, which she wore in her shirt pocket, went off.
“Hey, Jody, this is Barry. Got an emergency out at barn two. Logan was on a ladder coming off the second floor when the step busted on him. He’s either got a broken ankle or it’s badly sprained. Can you get out here with your ER bag?”
“Roger that,” Jody said tersely, giving Lea a glance as she signed off. “Do you want to go with me—”
“Absolutely,” Lea said, throwing the branches back into the rear of the pickup. “Where’s your ER bag?”
Jody pointed to the aluminum metal locker up at the front of the bed. “It’s always with me. Hop in!”
Heart pounding, Lea jerked the door open and hopped in. Barn two was three miles away. Jody turned on the truck engine and they raced out of the driveway, kicking up a rooster tail of dust in their wake.
“He doesn’t need this right now,” Jody growled, both hands gripping the steering wheel.
“Isn’t the fair happening pretty soon?” Lea asked.
“Yeah, he heads it up and everyone counts on him to take care of all the details. If he’s broken his ankle, that’s really going to stress him out because the demands are huge, beginning next week.”
They arrived at barn two, a group of wranglers standing in the maw of the huge red building. Jody leaped out and climbed into the back, opening the locker. She hoisted a red canvas bag out and threw it over the side of the truck into Lea’s waiting hands.
Leaping off the bed, Jody took it, throwing the strap up and over her head, the bag large and unwieldy. Lea followed at almost a trot, trying to remain calm, but that was impossible.
“In there,” one of the wranglers told Jody, pointing toward the side of the barn. “He took a really bad fall . . .”
“Thanks, Larry,” she said, hurrying by the knot of cowboys who were all frowning.
The lights were on, high above them, and Lea saw Logan sitting down, scowling darkly, his foreman, Barry, squatting at his side.
“Hey,” Jody said, unloading the bag and setting it nearby as she knelt down on one knee next to Logan. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“A step broke,” Logan growled, pointing above. “I fell, slammed into a rusty nail that went through my boot, and I landed on my right foot. It buckled and I went down.”
Jody nodded, quickly looking at his right cowboy boot. She saw a four-inch nail, only the head and one inch protruding out the side. The other part had gone into his foot. “Pain?”
“Yes,” he muttered, teeth clenched, giving Lea a glance as she halted nearby.
Gently, Jody ran her hand, now encased in a latex glove, above the top of his boot. “When was the last time you had a tetanus booster, Logan?”
“Don’t remember,” he gritted out, his gloved hand going to just below the knee.
Frowning, she leaned over and with both hands, gently pulled up the hem of his jeans to expose the top of the boot.
Logan stiffened. “That hurt.”
Jody placed his foot on the barn floor. “I have to see if there’s blood coming up and out of that boot of yours, Logan.”
“That nail is making my foot ache like fire itself,” he mumbled.
Jody looked up at the foreman. “Barry? Call 911. Get an ambulance down here, stat.”
Barry nodded and quickly pulled his cell phone out, punching in 911.
Lea swallowed her gasp, arms across her chest, her gaze riveted on Logan’s face. Even though Jody was being very careful, her movements designed not to cause him more discomfort, she could see pain reflected in Logan’s darkened eyes. His mouth was a slash and she knew that meant he was in agony, his one leather-gloved hand flat against the aged floor. Watching Jody ease the hem upward, she gasped as blood poured out of the opening, dripping onto the wooden floor. Clapping her hand against her mouth, Lea hadn’t meant to make a sound. Logan saw the blood.
“Well, hell,” he snarled, “this isn’t good.”
“No, but we’ll find out once we get to the hospital. They’re going to have to x-ray through your boot to see where that blood is coming from. Could be the nail puncture.”
“Just drive me to the hospital,” Logan demanded as Jody worked, wrapping the boot, and the bleeding stopped.
“No way,” Jody said. “Logan, I hate to say this, but you may have an open fracture, and if it is, that means the broken bone could have cut into an artery. We need to keep this boot around it in order to support your bones as well as to slow the bleeding.”
“Awwww, come on, Jody!”
She gave him a one-eyebrow-raised look, and finished off the wrapping with an elastic bandage. “No griping, Logan. This is serious.” She looked up at Barry. “Tell the hospital to have their ortho surgeon standing by, just in case. Have a tetanus booster ready. Antibiotics, too. And I also want two pints of blood type A on standby.” She glanced over at Logan. “. . . Just in case, Logan. I don’t know if an artery has been nicked by one or both of your bones breaking, or it’s cut clean through. We won’t know now, but we’ll know at the hospital. Are you feeling light-headed or dizzy?”
“No, just absolutely, certifiably pissed off. I got too much to do, Jody, without something like this happening.” He jabbed his index finger down at his injury.
“I know, I know,” she soothed, watching the top of his boot for blood to well up in it.
“Ambulance will be here in seven minutes,” Barry told them. “Jody? The ortho is in surgery right now, but she’s ordered up everything you said.”
“Good,” she whispered, relieved. “It’s going to be all right, Logan.”
He glared around the barn and then back at Jody. “Any good news?”
Laughing, Jody said, “You’re still alive, aren’t you? And you are breathing. Right?”
The wranglers in the barn, who had crowded in a semicircle around them, laughed. Jody was a fixture at the ranch, Lea realized, and the men treated her like a beloved sister. She had been at the ranch a lot longer than most of them, except for Barry, the foreman.
“Very funny,” Logan groused. “Give me your paramedic opinion. What do you think about this?” He jabbed down at his ankle once more.
“I’m hoping that the bone, when it broke on impact, nicked the artery. If that’s the case, then that’s easy enough to repair with surgery. A bone takes six weeks to heal, Logan. A sprain can take two or three months, depending. And I’m also hoping that the MRI won’t show any of your muscles or your ligaments torn. That’s another thing to consider here. That means six months before you’re off medical help and devices. And let’s not forget this nail in your foot. That has to be removed, too, and, hopefully, it hasn’t done damage except for a nasty puncture wound.”
“I’ll take the broken bone,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Six weeks is a helluva lot better than six friggin’ months.”
Lea forced herself not to smile over Logan’s rough language. She’d never heard him curse, much less raise his voice, until now. But he had good cause under the circumstances. Even though he had the beginning of a good tan from being outdoors, she could see he was pale. And his brow was sweaty, as well as wrinkled. She understood pain could do both.
“I hear the ambulance,” one cowboy called from the door.
Barry looked at one of his wranglers. “Charlie? Go meet them. Take Jody’s truck and bring them down here. They may not know where barn two is located, and we don’t wanna waste time getting Logan into the ER.”
Jody stood and tossed Charlie the keys to the truck. The wrangler nodded, turned, and trotted quickly out the door.
Jody knelt down again, warily watching his boot.
“What are you looking at so intently?” Logan demanded.
“See if the blood starts oozing up and out of the top.”
“And if it does?”
“It probably means an artery is involved, instead of maybe something lesser, like a small vein.”
“Hmph.”
“You aren’t a very good patient,” Jody teased, giving him a warm look, trying to get him to relax a little.
“I know,” Logan said, giving her a look of apology. “This isn’t your fault. I shouldn’t be grousing at you.”
“No,” she said lightly, smiling, “but I have a wide set of shoulders and I can take anything you dish out.”
The siren got louder. Lea stepped aside. “Can I do anything to help you, Logan?” Her heart melted when he gave her a little boy look. The expression happened so fast, she wondered the next moment if she had imagined it. She could see something in his eyes, too, but couldn’t translate it.
“Would you drive the ranch truck to the hospital? I don’t intend to stay there any longer than I have to. You can hitch a ride back with Charlie.”
Jody snorted. “Logan, that isn’t gonna happen. This is a serious injury. I’m sure the doctor will keep you a lot longer than you think she will. In fact, the bleeding will probably put you in a hospital room under observation for at least a night. Why don’t you let Lea stay with you? That way, she can give Barry, here, updates on your condition because everyone will want to know how you’re doing. You need someone from the ranch to be there for you, for us.”
Lea could have hugged Jody in that moment. She saw Logan hesitate. Why? She wanted to be there with him and didn’t try to ignore why. “I’d be happy to do that, Logan. Besides, if after the examination the doctor tells you that you can go home, I can drive you back to the ranch.” She saw his brows draw downward, his gaze left hers, and he looked torn. It was time to stand up and be counted. “Logan, I’m going to drive to the hospital. If you want me to stay for a while, I’d like to be there for you.” Fear hit her and she fought it back. She was really stepping outside her safety zone, but it was past time. She was tired of being a meek, scared mouse, little more than a shadow stepping quietly through life. Lea didn’t care anymore. Logan was wrestling with real pain, trying to remain levelheaded and acting as if he were in charge. But he wasn’t.
“Yes,” Logan said, holding her gaze, “I’d like that.”
“I’m the most expendable around here,” Lea added. “Everyone else here at the ranch has a lot to do.”
He gave her a mirthless look, managed a tight, one-sided smile, and then nodded. “Okay, it’s done. Come along and be with me.”
The ambulance pulled up outside. Jody stood. “I’ll be back with them and the gurney. Don’t move, Logan.” She shook her index finger in his direction, sounding more like a mother scolding a recalcitrant child who might misbehave in her absence.
Logan looked up at Barry. “You ever get the feeling that I’m really not in charge around here?”
Chuckling, the foreman said, “You’ll always be the boss.”
In a few minutes, the two firefighters, a woman and a man, brought in the gurney. Lea stood back and Jody calmly directed everything. Logan didn’t like being carried over to the gurney to be strapped in. It took four wranglers to manage him. Most important, Jody kept an eye on his leg, making sure all was well for the transit. Lea decided to ask Charlie to take her to the main ranch house, where she could unload the branches at the shop. Then, she could follow the ambulance to the hospital. She didn’t know that much about trauma, aside from her own run-in with bullies, but understood Jody’s concern over an artery that might have been involved in Logan’s injury. Inwardly, she felt scared for him. Who knew a wooden ladder step could give way? Had the wood rotted out? Had there been an unseen crack in the wood and Logan’s weight, at the right time and right place, made it fall apart? So many questions and no answers.
Charlie was more than happy to take her back to the ranch house. There, he helped her with the wood she’d selected and he carried it to the shop for her. Thanking him, she quickly grabbed her purse and the keys to the personal truck that Logan had assigned to her. As she walked to the truck, the ambulance passed nearby, its lights flashing, but no siren. She thought she glimpsed Jody in the back with Logan, sitting nearby. That made her feel good because Jody, being a paramedic, knew what to tell the ortho surgeon once Logan arrived at the emergency room for examination. She hoped his injury wasn’t life-threatening, but it nagged at her anyway. He’d already lost his wife, Elizabeth. Could someone die from falling off a ladder? Yes, they could.
Her hands wrapped tightly about the steering wheel and it was easy to catch up to the ambulance, which was taking its time on the dirt road. Once they got on the highway, it would be about ten minutes to the hospital by Lea’s guess. Her emotions skewed one way and then the other as she drove a good distance behind the ambulance. The midday June sun was bright and unrelenting, the temperature easily in the eighties, she would guess. How bad was Logan’s injury? Would it require surgery? She hoped not, having a bad taste in her mouth for anything in general having to do with hospitals. No one ever wanted to be that sick, to be forced to go to one for help. Logan was only thirty years old, in the prime of his life, and then this had to happen.
By the time she got to the hospital, found a parking spot and walked quickly into the ER department, Logan and Jody were nowhere to be seen. She went to the nurses’ station and gave her name and asked if she could see Logan. The clock on the wall said it was 12:15 p.m. The day had flown by.
“Are you his wife?” the woman asked.
“Uh . . . no, but I work for him.” Lea saw the young nurse grimace. “He told me to come along. I’m here and I’d like to see him.” Again, she was pushing out of her comfort zone, but Logan was too important to her to let this nurse tell her no.
“You’re not kin,” the nurse said.
“I don’t care. He asked that I come along and be with him. Can I talk to your supervisor about this?” She turned, seeing five closed doors, each a room for someone who had an emergency. The hall was empty.
The nurse said, “No, I’ll go ask him myself. What’s your name?”
Lea gave her name, keeping her voice respectful, but firm.
“Wait here,” the nurse instructed.
Lea watched the woman, dressed in what looked like blue surgery scrubs, go to door three, enter and disappear. So, Logan was in there. At least she knew something about his location.
Jody came flying out the door, heading straight for her. “Hey,” she called, “come on in, Lea.”
Relieved, Lea saw the young reception nurse frowning, but she said nothing, bypassing her and heading back to the desk.
“Thanks, Jody.”
“No problem.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “They have rules they have to follow. Logan was asking for you and he made it clear to the nurse that you were to be in the room with him.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The orthopedic surgeon just got out of surgery and she’s in there with him, as well as two other nurses. He’s in good hands, so don’t worry.”
Walking quickly to keep up with Jody, she asked breathlessly, “But . . . what about his bleeding?”
“Don’t know yet.” Jody opened the door. “Go on in . . .”