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Thatch bit the young woman in the belly, on the opposite side of where Maggie had. He could taste the difference in her blood. She was changing. But that didn’t mean a hill of beans toward whether she lived or not. That was a different can of worms altogether.
They both stayed with her, dressed now, until the ambulance came that he’d called. The girl was better, but her burns would be there until she had a chance to shift. Thatch knew that she could still die—her wounds were horrific and extensive—but they’d helped her and that was all he could do right now.
Thinking of his oldest, he reached out to him to tell him what they’d done for her. She saved all the Conrads, son. Every last one of them. And you should know that it was at great risk to her life. Had we not changed her when we did, she’d have died, and that would have been a terrible shame. Thatcher told him that they were on standby at the hospital, waiting for the first of them to come in. I can tell you now what’s what. The man—someone shot him in the shoulder, and it isn’t too far from his heart. Couple of more inches and he’d be a goner. The missus, she has a broken leg, a lot of cuts and such, but is fine as rain other than that.
And the children? Are they all right? He told his son that the boy had a broken leg and a lot of burns, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. And the babies? Dad, I delivered those two. I don’t want anything to happen to any of them, but those little girls are special.
Yes, they’re good. A little upset with all the hoopla, but fine. Got one of them sucker things in their mouths, but they’re not hurt at all. The woman, she’s in bad shape, Thatcher. I don’t believe she’s gonna make it even with what your mom and I did for her. And it was your momma that did it. She was bound and determined that Rogen—that’s her name, by the way—wouldn’t die. He asked him why someone would do what Rogen had done. I don’t know, but she surely saved those people. And the only way we’re going to find out about it is if she lives. I hope she does. I really do, son.
When she gets here, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make that happen. I want answers too. Like why would someone, a stranger to the town even, risk their life on a family that she more than likely didn’t know? Thatch said he didn’t know, but he was glad that she had. I am as well. All right, Dad. I’ll talk to you in a bit. You and Mom coming in?
Yes. We’re going to come in the ambulance with the babies. Help the drivers out a little. They sure are cute little things. Oh, I should contact the alpha. He’ll be happy for his pack too. The Conrads, they’re good people.
Thatch called the pack leader next. Shane Picket was a good leader—had him a nice sized pack, too. He was a little busy, but said that if he’d hold on a bit, he’d talk to him. Thatch waited on hold while the first group was put into the ambulance. The young woman was first.
“I’m sorry, Thatch. I have a bit of an issue here. I have a family missing.” He asked him if it was the Conrads. “Yes. What’s happened? You know where they are?”
“Yes, they’re on their way to the hospital. Car accident is all I can tell you right now. A young woman, a human, pulled them from the car, it looks like, before it blew. She’s in bad shape, the girl is.” He asked if he could do anything. “Maggie and I changed her to save her. Right now, Shane, I don’t have anything to tell you other than the man had been shot. The woman and the children—thanks, as I said, to the woman—they’re all fine.”
“Mark was supposed to meet me this morning for a monthly meeting. He’s never late. We went by their home and it’s been torn apart. Like someone was looking for something. And I’m thinking that they didn’t find it from the mess they made leaving.” Thatch told him what he knew about the accident and the woman, Rogen. “Rogen Hall? She has a brother too. I can’t think of his name right now. They’re renting the Parker farm from us. Never seen it look so good. I’ll be going to see him. Jamie, that’s this name, Jamie Hall. I’ll go by their place and see if I can get him to come with me. They’re a very shy couple of kids, if you ask me.”
The ambulance was back and they loaded up the man and his wife. She was awake now and asking after her children. Watching her with the kids just made his eyes fill with tears. They were all together now, and it was because of the kindness of a single person. Thatch turned away, blowing his nose, and saw something shiny near the accident.
Asking the police who were all over the scene if he could have that, it more than likely belonged to the girl, Thatch was told he could have it but not to turn it on or anything else right now.
“Surely you don’t think that she might have done this.” Chief of Police Andrew Keen said he wasn’t sure of anything at the moment. “Yes, well, I can see that. It is a mess here.”
Andrew asked him again what he’d seen when he came up on the accident. After telling him for the third time, he was allowed to go to the hospital with his wife. They weren’t hurt, but perhaps they could help out with the children until the mother was released.
Thatch thought about asking his son if she was going to make it but didn’t want to bother him right now. Thatcher was a surgeon, a very good one if anyone asked him. Thatch was proud as a peacock of all his boys, and he’d hurt the man who said anything bad about them.
They had raised
them on a dime between them, he liked telling people. Then one day his missus, always the luckiest person he’d ever known, had won the lottery. One of the big ones, as a matter of fact. And they’d been set up for life. They’d even been able to send all the boys to college, as well as put some money away for a rainy day. Jonas, his second to last son, had gone into banking, and had turned that into a nice little investment firm. Not only did he take their money and make a great deal more for them, but he’d been able to make it so the little town profited by it as well.
The hospital was busy, of course. When an accident like this one happened, they all came together to make sure that everyone got the best of care. And their little hospital had been winning awards because of their good work up until a few years ago. Now they’d be lucky if they were able to stay open the way things were going. Most of it still being open was due to his boys; both Thatcher and Dawson worked there and kept it up.
Dawson was his youngest and was an emergency room doctor that specialized in trauma. Thatch wasn’t sure what that meant—all the things that brought you to the hospital, he thought, were considered trauma—but he kept that to himself. He didn’t want to sound foolish to anyone with such smart children.
Dawson was working on the woman. She was giving him a hard time about keeping her from the children, and he laughed when Dawson did. Mrs. Conrad had been Dawson’s teacher’s aide in grade school when she’d been fresh out of college.
“I’m going to have to keep you all overnight. You know that, don’t you, Mrs. Conrad? I can’t let you go home and find out you might have gotten a little more bumped around than it looks like. And the police want to talk to you.” She asked about her husband. “He’s in surgery to remove the bullet, but he should be fine too.”
“I haven’t any idea what might have happened, Dawson. We were driving along and then there was something popping around us. Then Mark fell forward. After that, it was a blur of things going on.” Dawson didn’t say anything about the woman who rescued them, he noticed, and wondered at that. More than likely the staff had been told not to say anything until the family remembered. He was still playing with the baby when Thatcher spoke to him.
Dad, she’s out of surgery, but I’m going to pop in and see how Dan is doing in the other room. He won’t need me, but I’m going to check anyway. He asked about the woman. I don’t know. I’ve done about all I could for her. She’s going to need skin grafts as well as lots of care. You were right to warn me about how bad it was. It was the only thing that kept me upright when I saw her. Damn, I hurt for her.
She more than likely would have done it again too, I’m betting. They’re all safe, the Conrads. And Shane, he knows her brother, and he was going to go by there and talk to him. I don’t know the situation there, but they’re renting the old Parker farm. You remember that place, don’t you, son? Thatcher said that he did. It was a sore spot for a long time. I surely hope they’re not paying that much.
I haven’t been by there in twenty years. But I’ll be down in a few minutes. I want to check on my patient. Dan has finished up with Mr. Conrad, and he’s going to recovery now.
Thatch told Mrs. Conrad, and she seemed so relieved that he hugged her when she started crying.
Taking the baby out to the lobby, he was told that someone from the pack was coming for the children. Levi, their brother, was going to have to stay overnight. His burns weren’t that bad, but he had broken his leg.
Thatcher came down about an hour after the babies left, and he looked a little worse for wear.
“Son?” Thatcher waved him off, and he wondered what had happened. Thatch just knew that Rogen had died, and he was having a hard time thinking of how to tell him. “It’s all right, son. She did a good thing, and she surely helped a lot of people. I’ll tell her brother for her so that—”
