BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (4 page)

“Laci,
there’s been an accident. Your parents were hit by an eighteen-wheeler that
swerved across the median.”

“Oh my
God! What’s going on? Are they okay? Nobody was hurt, were they?” A little part
of me already knew the answer.

“I don’t
know right now, sweetie. They’re in surgery at Wings of Hope Hospital. Is there
any way you can come here?”

I was
barely able to choke out my answer. “I…I’ll be there in an hour.”

“Be
careful, sweetie. I’m sorry you had to hear it like this. I’ll meet you there.
Call me when you arrive and I’ll let you know where I am.” I hung up the phone
and looked at Emily in shock.

“Mom and
Dad were in an accident. They’re in surgery. That can’t be good, can it?”

“Oh my
God! Where are they? What happened?”

“Wings of
Hope. An eighteen-wheeler crossed the median. Emily, what am I going to do? I
can’t lose them.”

“Everything’ll
be okay, Lace.” The doubt in her voice said what I was feeling. She wasn’t so
sure they would be. Trucks like that didn’t just dent a bumper; trucks like
that took lives.

I could
barely breathe, let alone say anything.

Aunt Sara
was already at the hospital when we got there. She and Mom are twins. Thank God
they’re fraternal, because if I had seen a clone of my mom at that moment,
looking completely perfect while my mom was in some room hooked up to a bunch
of machines, I probably would’ve had a complete meltdown.

“Any
word?” Emily asked as I fell into my aunt’s arms.

“Still in
surgery. The doctors said there’s a lot of internal bleeding,” Aunt Sara
responded.

I had to
know when I could see them. “Any idea how long it’ll be ‘til they’re out?”

My aunt
shook her head. “No, but these kinds of reparative surgeries are always up in
the air, sweetheart. It just takes however long it takes to fix the damage.”

I felt
sick to my stomach. I knew that wasn’t the effect she was going for, but I
couldn’t help it.
What has Dad been
teaching you all your life? Be realistic. Keep your feet on the ground.
Somehow,
I hardly thought that being realistic would be the best thing in this
situation. Even if I was realistic and they didn’t make it, I knew I’d still be
just as crushed as if I gave myself whatever hope I could muster. So, that’s
what I tried to do.

“They’re
fighters, it’ll be alright,” I started. “Remember that story you told me about
how Mom got trampled by that horse when
ya’ll
were
eleven? Her skull was fractured, and
she made it through that.”

Sara
nodded.

“And, Dad
was a champion wrestler all through high school and college, so that means he
can take a hit and recover from it, right?” When neither Emily nor Aunt Sara
answered me, I asked again. “Right? Please tell me I’m right.” Still, I got no
answer and desperation rose in my chest. “I’m not the only one who believes
they’ll make it, am I?” I felt like I was talking to a wall. Suddenly dizzy, I
sank to my knees, my body shaking with fresh sobs. Two hands started rubbing my
back just as I heard a voice.

“Miss
Daniels? Laci?” I didn’t recognize the man, but he introduced himself as
Detective Mahoney. I lifted my head as he knelt down beside me and asked,
“How’re you holding up?” I didn’t answer. What kind of detective couldn’t tell
that I was a mess? “Can I ask you a few questions?”

A few
questions were the last thing I wanted to deal with. Aunt Sara’s motherly
instincts kicked in. She looked him dead in the face and started in. “If you
think for one second that she’s in any shape to answer questions, you should go
hand in your badge now. I mean, look at her.” Aunt Sara stared the man down
until he muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t hear and walked
away.

“What an
ass,” Emily said.

“Why does
he want to ask me questions, anyway? It’s not like I’m gonna know anything about
the crash.”

“I doubt
he actually expected you to have any answers, but he’s got to cover all of his
bases, right? He’s just doing his job, even if he picks the worst possible
time,” Aunt Sara explained. Footsteps approached again, and I geared myself up
to tell the detective to buzz off when I noticed that it wasn’t Mahoney. It was
a doctor.

“Hello,
Sara. I assume you’re Laci?” she added, looking at me. I nodded, then she
continued. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. Your father is out of
surgery. It went as well as can be expected with injuries this extensive. We
were able to stem the bleeding, but your dad had such an extreme head injury
that he suffered a severe stroke from the swelling in his brain, restricting
oxygen flow.” I was so numb I couldn’t even react at that point. The doctor
seemed to be so practiced in this sort of next of kin notification that she
kept droning on like a robot. “Your mother should be out in about an hour. Her
spinal cord was severely damaged. If she makes it through, there’s a high
chance she’ll be paralyzed. We’ve lowered your father’s body temperature to
preserve as much brain function as possible; we’ve done everything we can for
him at this point. The next twenty-four hours will be critical. Your parents
both have living wills registered so that you don’t have to make any life or
death decisions. We are hoping it doesn’t come to that. I’m sorry. I’ll keep
you posted on your mother’s surgery.” She attempted a sympathetic look, but
failed, and walked away.

At that
point, I’m certain both Emily and Aunt Sara expected a total
meltdown
because they just stared at me like I
was a ticking time bomb. All I could get out was, “I want to see them.”

“Are you
sure that’s a good idea?” Emily asked.

“Dad’s out
of surgery. I want to see him,” I repeated. Fully comprehending that I wasn’t
going to budge on the matter, Sara agreed to find out what she could. When she
came back, she told me that the nurse would take me to Dad’s room and asked if
I wanted her to come with me. I shook my head. I needed to him alone. I needed
to talk to him (even if he couldn’t hear me or respond) and try to make some
sense of what was going on.

They made
me wash my hands before I could go inside. When I’d finished, a different nurse
than the one who’d brought me to the room opened the door and followed me
inside, showing me the button to press if I needed anything at all. I thanked
her, and she bowed out of the room with an apologetic expression that actually
looked genuine.

I stood by
his bed and just looked at him. He looked so broken, so battered and beaten up
that I could barely recognize him. For a minute, I almost thought about walking
out of the room and demanding that they check for a DNA match or something to
make sure it was really him, but deep down, I knew they’d probably already done
something to positively confirm their identities. I sat down in the chair by
his bed and took his hand, trying not to sob uncontrollably.

“
Hey,
Daddy. It’s me. I’m here.” I tried to pull
myself together enough to talk. “I love you, Dad. I love you and Mom so much.
And, if you can hear me, I need for you to know how much I need you both. I
need you to pull through this.” Suddenly, everything I hadn’t done yet started
running through my mind. Things I wanted my parents by my side for. My first
movie. My wedding. Grandkids. They had to pull through. But what if they
didn’t? What if this was my last chance to tell them everything I never told
them? I cried uncontrollably for a few minutes, then tried to calm myself down.
Something deep inside knew I needed to tell my father what he meant to me, just
in case.

“Dad, I
know you can hear me. You’ve always heard me, you and Mom both
have
always listened when I talked. And, I can
never thank you both enough for that. Thank you for all the time you spent with
me, the lessons you taught me, the love you always make me feel. You and Mom
are the best parents a daughter could ask for. I hope you know how grateful I
am for you both. I love you, Dad.”

Before I
could think anything past that, the heart monitor sounded an uninterrupted
tone. It took a second to sink in before I screamed for help and smashed the
button as many times as I could. Nurses and doctors stormed the room and shooed
me out, closing the door. I pressed my face to the glass and yelled for them
not to let him die. Sara and Emily must’ve heard the commotion
because,
at that moment, they both came and
dragged me away from the door. Tears silently ran down Sara’s face, and Emily
was even sniffling. When they’d gotten me to the waiting room, I slumped into a
ball and just wailed. I couldn’t tell you how long it was, but eventually, a
doctor came out to us.

Doctors
only come out when it’s bad news.

My dad was
gone.

Two hours
later, Mom was, too.

***

I was
beginning to realize that I couldn’t stay at Emily’s house forever. I plopped
into the front passenger seat of her car.

“You don’t
have to do this yet, you know,” she told me. “You can keep borrowing my clothes
and stay with me forever if you want.”

“No, it’s
okay. I have to do this,” I assured her.

She nodded
and drove to my house—
a house
which I was
now the sole owner of. When she pulled into the driveway, I looked at her.
“Come in with me?” She didn’t say a word, but instead, got out of the car and
walked over to open my door. She offered her hand, and I took it to step out of
the car. I wouldn’t have made it through the front door if it hadn’t been for
her. I wouldn’t have made it through the last few days, really, without Emily
and Aunt Sara.
 

We
approached the front door of my house, and I fought down the hot lump rising in
my throat. You know, the kind where you’re trying to choke back tears, but
you’re failing miserably. I pressed my key into the lock, turned it, and pushed
the door open. The aroma of Mom’s potpourri hit me like a brick wall and the
tears spilled over my cheeks. It was going to be harder than I thought.

I stepped
into the house and took a look around. Bad idea. The first thing I laid eyes on
was my dad’s old typewriter. “I can’t do this,” I told Emily. “Em, I can’t do
it.”

She
squeezed my hand and told me just to hold on for a few minutes. “Keep it
together long enough to grab a few bags of your stuff, and then you can fall
apart. I’ll be here to put you back together. Come on.” Guiding me up the
stairs she knew so well, Emily pushed open my bedroom door and went straight
to
my closet, pulling out the eight-piece
luggage set Aunt Sara had sent me as an early graduation gift. She opened each
of the suitcases and started packing them with my clothes, shoes, and makeup.
All I could do was pick up the jewelry box my dad had given me and put it in
the overnight bag before wrapping the scarf my mom had made for me at Christmas
around my neck.

When the
bags were packed, she helped me lug them down the stairs and plunk them into
the trunk of her car. I locked the door to the house again and slid into the
front seat next to Emily.

“You
okay?” she asked, putting a hand on my arm.

I shook my
head. “No. But maybe I will be, eventually.”

“You know,
you don’t have to hold it together for me.” God, she knows me. Hearing those
words broke the floodgates and I bawled like I hadn’t before. I don’t think I
had really let it out before that moment. Sure, in the hospital I’d lost it,
but when the doctor came out and told us they were actually gone, I was just
numb. At the funeral home visitation the night before, I was out of tears to
cry and screams to scream. But in the car with Emily, I finally let myself
actually feel it.

She didn’t
say a word, just sat there silently with a hand stroking my hair as I melted
down. I needed that.

If I
hadn’t had that breakdown, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the
funeral that afternoon. Thankfully, Aunt Sara had made all of the preparations,
because I was too busy blaming myself
to do a
damn thing
. She had said that the reason my parents were on the road
that day was to pick up some last minute supplies for the surprise graduation
party they’d planned for me to come home to. If they hadn’t been trying to
finish getting the party ready for me, they wouldn’t have been on the road and
they’d still be alive.

After the
service, Aunt Sara asked how I was holding up. She knew I was essentially
living with Emily because there were so many memories of my parents in the
house I grew up in that I just couldn’t stay there.

“You need
to be with family now more than ever,” Aunt Sara declared.

I couldn’t
argue with her. Only, the family I wanted was gone.

She
insisted I come spend the summer on the family ranch in Alabama. A part of me
remembered the ranch from when I was very young, maybe four or five. I had
memories of riding a horse for the first time ever with my mom there. It dawned
on me that I hadn’t seen my grandma in at least ten years. Filming didn’t start
until August, and anything that needed dealing with on that front was being
taken care of by Jason, my dad’s second in command at his agency—something else
I now owned and didn’t know what to do with. Nothing was keeping me from going
and I couldn’t just sit around wallowing.