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“Hogwash. I’m not dying.”
“Not yet,” the doctor said. “And probably not for a while. But I want you to stay overnight for observation.”
“Doesn’t seem like I have much choice in the matter.”
“You don’t,” Bliss said, straightening one of the crisp sheets covering her father’s thin body. He’d always been such a robust, strapping man, but now he seemed frail.
“I’ll stay with you,” Brynnie promised.
“He’s going to be moved to a private room. We’ve only got a couple here, but one’s empty and I can’t see sending him to the hospital in Medford. The room’s on the other side of the admitting desk and down a short hallway. Room three. You can wait for him there if you want to.”
“Oh, go on. Go home.” John grimaced as he shifted on the bed and Bliss was reminded that he was a terrible patient, hated being sick or laid up, had no tolerance for anyone who tried to wait on him. But at least she caught a glimpse of the man he used to be, the man who’d spent his life giving orders rather than receiving them. Good luck to the nurses who had the night shift.
“I will in a minute,” Bliss said, patting her father on the shoulder.
Brynnie didn’t budge. “I’m sticking around. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried, John Cawthorne.” A heavyset nurse had to walk around her to check Bliss’s father’s blood pressure, temperature and IV drip. Brynnie glanced up at Bliss. “You run along, now. I’ll take care of your dad.”
“I don’t need anyone taking care of me.”
“See, he’s getting better already.” Brynnie winked at Bliss. “I think someone’s waiting for you.”
“Who?” John demanded. “Oh, for the love of Mike, don’t tell me that Lafferty’s here!” Color boiled up his neck and cheeks.
“Oh, calm down, or I’ll call that doctor and have him admit you for the rest of the week,” Brynnie warned.
“I’ll see you later, Dad.” Bliss brushed a kiss against her father’s temple and he patted her hand.
“You’re a good kid.”
“Remember that when I insist you follow doctor’s orders.” Feeling as if an incredible weight had been taken off her shoulders, she hurried to the waiting area, where Mason had taken a seat and was involved in an argument with a preteen boy who sat stubbornly next to Katie. Dee Dee was still in her chair, legs crossed, pretending to be absorbed in her book, though her eyes peered over the tops of the pages as she watched her father.
“You have to show some respect, Josh. Not only for your mom, here, but other people as well.”
Josh—Katie’s son, Bliss assumed—was pouting and at Mason’s crisp words his lower lip protruded another half inch.
Katie saw Bliss and was on her feet in an instant. “How’s John?” she asked, her face a mask of worry.
“He’ll be fine. Heatstroke.” Bliss filled them in on the details and Josh dug at the carpet with the toe of his worn sneaker. Katie introduced her reticent son, then pummeled Bliss with questions while Mason, arms crossed in front of his chest, expression dark and serious, listened intently to every word she said. There was a part of him she didn’t know, couldn’t understand, a mystery that she hadn’t unraveled. Would she ever? she wondered and found herself staring at the hard slant of his jaw and the thin seam of his mouth. Did he care for her as she had begun to care for him? Or was his interest solely because of the ranch and this need she sensed in him—a need to outdo the man who had fired him years before? How much of John Cawthorne’s speculation—that Mason was only using her as a way to get to her father—was true?
He was offering to sell his portion of the ranch back, wasn’t he? How bad could he really be?
“Well, I’m going to see him as soon as he’s in his own room,” Katie said, ignoring any advice to the contrary.
“Ah, Mom,” the boy whined.
“You, too, kid. He’s your grandfather.”
“Yeah, right. Since when? A few weeks ago? Big deal.” Josh tossed a wayward lock of hair from his eyes and scowled as if the world had wronged him.
“It is,” Katie insisted.
“Yeah, so where was he before? Huh? He knew you were his kid and he just looked the other way.” Josh rolled his eyes expressively. “Real great guy.”
“All that’s changed.”
“Come on, there’s nothing more we can do. Let’s get out of here,” Mason said. “Dee Dee, are you ready?”
She looked up and her lips pursed for just a second. “Sure.” Then, as if sensing her father’s disapproval, she tossed her book into her bag and was on her feet.
