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He went over the plans for the next several weeks, including the PT schedule I would follow and some proper care instructions now that my leg was exposed. It included cleaning the surgery wound and instructions to use my crutches or chair to get around still, though crutches were preferred now.
“Let’s get you upright some more. You’ll feel better the more balance you get back.”
We left his office with a load of knowledge and high spirits. Though admittedly, the high spirits were in part to where we were headed next.
Daddy left me on a bench near the elevators as he went back down to the truck. I watched people mill around the hospital as I waited.
Thankfully, it didn’t take him long. When the elevator opened to him holding a large bag over his shoulder like Santa, I threw my head back, laughing. It garnered a few odd stares, but the minute he kissed my laughter quiet, I think people understood.
“You ready for this? They’re going to love it,” Daddy asked.
I nodded as I rose up on my crutches. “Let’s go see.”
We got back in the elevator. Instead of going down, we went up two floors from the doctor’s office. After exiting, we followed the arrows around the corner to the nurse’s station.
A couple of women stared at us curiously as we approached. One asked, “Can we help you, gentlemen?”
I shared a smile with Daddy then turned to answer her. “Hi, yes you can. A doctor friend of ours mentioned there was always a short supply of blankets and hats for babies in the NICU and Pediatric area. Since I’ve been healing from a broken leg, I took up knitting. We brought some of our creations for the babies. I hope that’s ok.”
Their cautious stares turned friendly. They rushed over to look at what we’d brought. When Daddy opened the bag, they all gasped.
“You’ve been busy,” an older woman with a kind smile said. “There are so many in here.”
“Yes ma’am, there is. And we made various sizes too. Blankets are at the bottom.” I leaned into Daddy as we watched them fawn over the goodies.
When one of them pulled out her phone and demanded a picture, we didn’t turn her down. They seemed more than eager to capture the shot.
It wasn’t until days later that we figured out why. The picture of us smiling and holding up blankets and hats while standing with the nurses had gone viral. Someone had found out our names and knew about my military service. People recognized the ranch we worked on thanks to Ean’s support of the market.
Comments poured in on every social media outlet stating they wanted to come support us. Veterans, LGBT cowboys, and supporting NICU babies apparently did it for people. It meant we had lots to prepare for the next market, and I was more than looking forward to it.
My knitting was purely for me to give away but knowing it had brought more attention to the ranch, to the men I called family now, made me feel good.
Epilogue II
Corey
Noneof us could have imagined what me and my boy knitting baby blankets would do for the ranch. What was supposed to be a simple way for us to spend time together bonding had turned into a whirlwind of press coverage. TV news stations had reached out to interview us and there was even someone wanting to write a tell-all book about the ranch since it had garnered so much interest from people.
Atticus hadn’t been fond of the book idea, but he did let a news crew come out with their cameras again. They showed up at the first market after the initial bout of press coverage. We showed them around and did mini interviews to share glimpses of the ‘why’ behind it all.
We really thought that would be the end of the excitement.
Boy were we wrong.
It seemed like each market grew and grew until we were barely able to keep up with people. We had to extend hours and there was even a shuttle of golf carts one of the people in town had invested in to offer people easy access back to their cars.
It had been the wildest fucking ride.
Today was another market day, and we’d been projecting big numbers for those showing up. Our vendors had told us they’dtripled what they had on offer to meet demand, and Harlan had been cooking all night to ensure as many people could eat as possible.
As much as we planned for things, there was still no way to keep up with all the people. Ean and Rhett had shown up with some of their friends to enjoy the experience, as well as give people something to talk about. There was always excitement when Ean was anywhere, despite him no longer acting like he had been.
The entire day was full of fun and surprises. We rolled with the flow of it all, never letting something derail us from enjoying the beautiful thing we’d all built.
When the last round of customers loaded up to leave, we quietly worked together to take the pens and tables down. We’d have left it for later, but we found that people would stick around if we didn’t start the breakdown process right away. It was like they thought they’d catch some last-minute sales or something. Never mind most people had sold out hours ago.
We’d only finished a few minutes prior, and we were all sitting around a freshly started fire when headlights came from the distance. We watched them amble down the driveway.
