The Cowboy Next Door by Brenda Minton

Author:Brenda Minton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Jay stepped onto the hospital elevator and rode up in silence, people around him talking in quiet tones. One lady laughed at something the man standing next to her said. And Jay couldn’t smile, not when he remembered too clearly a trip in this same elevator.

The door slid open. He walked onto the pediatric floor, much the same, but changed. There were murals on the walls now. The bright colors depicted children playing in a park. It was the best the hospital could do for the patients who were here, who couldn’t go outside.

They could watch painted children playing in a painted park. They could solve puzzles in a playroom, or watch a clown make animals from balloons.

His stomach tightened into a familiar knot. He stopped at the desk, got a name tag and signed the log-in sheet. The lady behind the desk smiled and buzzed the door for him to enter.

She had given him the room number for Rachel on a slip of paper that he crumpled in his hand without thinking about it. He walked down the hall, breathing in the antiseptic air of the hospital. Oxygen that smelled like medicine. It was cold and clean.

The door to the room was open. He peeked in. Lacey was sitting in a chair, her eyes closed. His mom sat next to the bed where Rachel slept, hooked to IVs. She put a finger to her lips to silence him.

He stepped softly, hoping he wouldn’t wake Lacey. As he got closer to the metal crib, he realized that Rachel was awake. Her bright blue eyes were open and clear, not glazed as they had been that morning. She even smiled a little.

“She’s much better.” Wilma patted the seat next to hers. “But Lacey is worn out. She was up a lot last night, checking Rachel and giving her medicine.”

He nodded, but he didn’t know what to say. The last few days hadn’t been easy for Lacey. He took that back. Since Corry arrived in town, Lacey’s life had been turned upside down.

“She’s strong,” he told his mom. “She’ll be fine.”

“Even strong people need help.” Wilma said it with soft but firm tones that he couldn’t argue with.

“I know.” He touched his mom’s arm. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll be here for a while.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? The doctor said that if Rachel’s fever stayed down, he’d let her go home this evening.”

“I don’t mind.” He glanced again at the sleeping Lacey, amazed by the softness of her features when she slept. “Does Bailey know?”

“She came up earlier. So did Pastor Dan and Lillian.”

“That’s good.”

She leaned and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you at home.”

He watched her go and then he sat back in the seat, his legs stretched out in front of him, but not relaxed.

Rachel cooed. He reached through the bars of the crib and rubbed her arm softly, careful of the IV. “Little baby, life isn’t always easy.”

She didn’t realize that she’d already found out that life wasn’t easy.

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