Rodeo Daddy: Book 3 in the Stubborn Texas Siblings Trilogy (9 page)

Jeff pounded on Mandy’s door late that night, holding a
bouquet of roses he’d paid through the nose for. This time
of year they were bloody hard to come by. He smiled at the
frail woman who answered the door. “I’m here to see Dana,
and I won’t take no for an answer,” he said boldly.

“What do you mean gone?” he asked in con
fusion, putting
his foot in the way so she couldn’t close the door. “Has she
gone to the store in town to get you more meds?”

“No. I convinced her to leave town. It’s for her own good,”
she explained as he opened his mouth to demand an
explanation. “She needed to hear a few home truths about
the man she was wasting her time with. It took a lot more
than I figured it would, but after I told her that you most
likely had dozens of kids you’ve never even bothered to
look for out there because of your frequent donations to the
sperm bank, she couldn’t seem to get out of here fast
enough.”

“In this weather? Are you insane?” he asked, looking
frantically over his shoulder, dropping the flowers onto the
porch with a soft plop. “If she’s upset in the least she won’t
be able to focus worth a shit, and it’s almost impossible to
see through this wall of snow falling anyway. You may as
well have just signed your own sister’s damn death warrant
woman… Which way did she go?”

Mandy paled as she realized what she’d done and s
he
weakly lifted her arm to point in the direction of the
freeway. “She was headed back home. By now, she could
be miles down the interstate… Oh God… what have I
done?”

By this time Jeff was running back towards his truck. He
knew there was no time to waste. He picked up his cell
phone and shakily dialed his brother’s number. At a time
like this, he needed Eric’s help and support. If ever there
was a time when his older brother would understand what
he was going through, this would be it, given what had
happened to Eric’s first wife.

His voice was full of sleep when he answered and Jeff felt
guilty. Eric had three small children at home, a wife and a
ranch full of animals he had to be up early to take care of
the next morning. If he hadn’t needed the help so badly, he
would have said he was sorry and found another way, but
he did need help.

“Eric, I need you, bro,” he said gruffly as he ca
refully
maneuvered the truck out onto the road. “Dana and Alexis
are out in this shit storm somewhere, and thanks to Mandy,
she’s upset. She could be in serious danger… I need all the
help I can get to find her. Mandy said she was headed
towards the interstate. … Please….” he sobbed hysterically.
“I can’t lose either one of them.”
“Say no more,” Eric said grabbing his jeans and pulling
them on while holding the phone up to his ear. “Give me
four minutes and I’ll have my gear in the truck and I’ll be
headed your way. Don’t worry little brother… we’ll find
them.”

Jeff was frantically searching the sides of the road for any
sign of a vehicle in trouble. There were no other headlights
or taillights anywhere as far as he could see. No one else
was stupid enough to go out in the middle of the blizzard
they were having. The further he went without any sign of
Dana, the more freaked out he became. He was about as
jumpy as a kitten on crack cocaine and he knew it.

Suddenly an ambulance seemed to appear out of nowhere
from behind him and went zipping by him so fast, Jeff
could have sworn the tires were on fire. A lump of fear
formed in his throat and he guided the truck to the side of
the road carefully to pick up his phone so he could update
Eric on what he’d just seen. If that ambulance was heading
for an accident, it was a good chance it was Dana… and the
speed that the driver was going in almost whiteout
conditions couldn’t mean anything good for the accident
victims.

After telling Eric of his concerns, Jeff hung up and pulled
back out onto the road. He had to know one way or the
other if the ambulance was responding to a call that
involved Dana and Alexis. They were his world… his
future, and if he had anything to say about it, he wasn’t
going to lose them now.
Eric and Jeff got to the scene of the crash at almost the
same time and Jeff’s legs collapsed out from under him
when he saw the condition of Dana’s car. They had used
the Jaws of Life to peel the roof of the vehicle off to get
Dana and Alexis out of it. Jeff’s eyes were wild as he
scanned the scene for some sign of the two most important
females in his life. “Where are they?” he asked desperately.
“God, Eric… Where the fuck are they?”

“But…” Jeff argued with
crazed eyes; the desperation in
his voice as clear as the day was long. Eric wrapped his
arm around his little brother and patted his shoulder
reassuringly. “The woman and child from that car… where
are they?” he asked patiently.

“I’m afraid I can’t …” the EMT began to explain. Eric
interrupted him before Jeff could do it, since he knew that
if his brother did anything, it would be to deck the
ambulance driver first and explain himself after the fact.

“They’re my brother’s family,” he said kindly. “Give the
guy a break will you, and just tell him where his daughter
is?”

The EMT nodded his head, finally understanding the
situation. “Your daughter was lifeflighted about five
minutes ago… I’m afraid your wife’s condition was much
worse… she was taken by lifeflight first.”
Jeff almost fell over again and Eric caught him. “Could you
see that my brother’s truck is towed back to the mechanic’s
garage? Our sister will know what to do with it and she’s
there. I’ll drive my brother in to the hospital so he can be
with his family. Thank you for your help.”

“I wish I had better news,” the EMT told them as they
scrambled back into Eric’s truck. Jeff was as white as a
ghost as Eric drove towards the hospital. His fingers
clutched at the dash as Jeff stared blankly out at the still
falling snow. “I never even told her I loved her,” he said
desperately. “God… What if she dies not knowing? I can’t
lose her, Eric… What the fuck am I going to do? I’m not
strong enough to go through what you did with Vic… I’m
just not.”

“Pray,” Eric said honestly. “Pray harder than you’ve ever
prayed before… and the second you do see her, don’t waste
a damn minute. Life is entirely too short to let time go by
without telling the ones we love how much we care as often
as we can… and when you’re not telling them, show them.
Believe me, brother. I learned the hard way. I kiss my wife
every chance I get, and I tell her how special she is… how
much I love her and how my life would be nothing without
her. I cherish my family, Jeff and they know it, because I
make damn sure they have no doubts.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been such an ungrateful bastard all these
years, Eric,” he said, as a tear slid down his face. “I was a
heartless coward… too afraid to let love destroy me to
allow anyone in. I fought you tooth and nail when you tried
to get me to see the error of my ways… and now because
of that, the woman I love may very well die not knowing
how I feel about her. The last thing she heard about me was
that I made countless donations to that damn sperm bank
and never bothered to look for any kids that may have been
born because of me. Dana thinks I’m a monster that doesn’t
care about his kid.” Jeff broke down then and sobbed
uncontrollably. “God, that couldn’t be further from the
truth. If anything happens to Alexis….” He couldn’t finish
that sentence. The thought was too terrible to give voice to.

“God will protect her,” Eric said confidently as he pulled
into the hospital parking lot and found a place to put the
truck. “We’ll pray together when we get inside, and we’ll
call and wake Laurie too. The more prayers we can send up
at the same time, the better. You know what they
say…whenever two or more are gathered in His name…”

“If that’s the case, why did Mom die?” Jeff asked tearfully.
“God knows we were all desperately praying she’d pull
through. The tailspin it sent Dad into killed him and again,
all of us kids were praying for him.”

“It was their time to go,” Eric said sadly. “God answers
prayer, Jeff… Just sometimes, we have to learn to accept
that the answer has to be no. After Mom went, Dad was
miserable. Had God answered our prayers to keep him here
with us, it would have only extended his misery. This is a
little girl we’re talking about here. It isn’t her time yet. We
have to keep the faith that God will take care of her.”

Jeff gave a shaky sigh and walked into the emergency room
entrance with Eric right on his heels. He walked over to the
woman at the desk and prepared to do battle if need be in
order to be allowed to see Dana and Alexis. He realized
that unmarried, he had no rights as far as Dana went, and
they still hadn’t fixed Alexis’ birth certificate, so he had no
legal rights there either. It wasn’t a happy moment for him
when he recognized the fact that this woman could very
well deny him access to both of his girls and there wasn’t a
bloody thing he could say or do about it.

The woman at the desk looked up at him and offered him a
harried smile of condolence. “I’m sorry… but I can’t give
you any information… Family only.”

“Alexis is my daughter,” he said desperately. The woman’s
eyes got big and she swallowed hard. Nodding to her left.
“She’s in the children’s wing… third cubicle on the left. I
have to warn you… it isn’t pretty.”

“And Dana?”
Jeff asked, wanting to go to his daughter, but
needing to know about the woman he loved too badly to
walk away without asking.

“Your wife sustained some pretty nasty injuries,” the
woman said kindly. “So far, her prognosis is shaky. We
found a little something that the doctor’s worried about
though…. You should know … she’s about three weeks
pregnant by the look of things. It could go either way at this
point. With the extent of her injuries, it doesn’t look good
for the fetus.”

Jeff felt unsteady. As much as he found he wanted that
baby, he wanted Dana more. “Do whatever you have to
do… just keep her safe. We can always have more babies.
Her health and wellbeing is much more important.”

The woman nodded. “Because of the severity of her
condition, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to see your wife
until she wakes up. But you’re free to go see your daughter.
Just be prepared… like I said before. It’s not pretty…. Just
remember, it isn’t as bad as it looks.”

The words were said kindly as Jeff pushed past his brother
and hurried down the hall towards Alexis’ room. He didn’t
have to be told twice that it was alright for him to go to her.
In that moment, he was pretty sure that the worst bull he’d
ever tried unsuccessfully to ride wouldn’t have been able to
keep him out of that cubicle. His daughter needed him.
Since there was nothing he could do for Dana right at the
moment, he needed to see to Alexis. When the woman he
loved woke up, she’d thank him for making sure their
daughter got the best possible care. Assuming she didn’t
slap him for what her sister had told her about him and then
demand he get out of their lives.

The sight he found when he got into Alexis
’ room scared
him alright. There were tubes and wires coming out of
every orifice of her tiny little body. The oxygen mask that
covered her mouth and nose was so big, it dwarfed her. His
heart broke when he saw the bandages wrapped around her
shaven head. Those red curls he loved so much were gone
to be replaced by bloody gauze and medical tape.

Jeff fell into the chair by her bedside and picked up her tiny
hand in his own. “Oh, baby… Daddy’s here…” he soothed
tearfully. As bad as his daughter’s injuries were, he was
even more frightened for Dana. The EMT had explicitly
told him that she was in much worse shape than Alexis had
been. And she was pregnant with his child…. Again.

He swore in that moment that if she made it through this
and the baby was still okay, he would be there for every
minute of every day. He wasn’t going to let even a minute
go by this time around, not being by Dana’s side. His
decision made, he picked up the phone in the room that sat
beside the machine that beeped every time his daughter’s
heart beat in her chest. The noise was the most blessed
sound he could remember ever hearing in his life. It told
him that despite all the ugliness of her wounds, his
daughter was still with him.
When the head of the National Rodeo Association
answered his call, Jeff cleared his throat loudly. “Yes, this
is Jeffry Schmidt. I’m calling to officially retire effective
immediately. My injuries are worse than we’d first believed
and I will be unable to ride again. I’m sorry I can’t come
back and defend the championship one more time, but I
understand if that means you have to strip me of the title
and give it to the second place winner. Just let me know
what you need me to do. My time in the rodeo is officially
over.”

His eyes were on his daughter’s face as she slowly opened
her beautiful green eyes to blink up at him as he hung the
phone up. “Hey Princess,” he soothed as happy tears ran
down his face. “Have a nice nap?”

Alexis tried to sit up and he held her down with his massive
hand. “Nope… You’ve got a big boo-boo that needs time to
heal. You need to stay lying down for now like a good little
girl, okay?”

She started to fuss and reach for her oxygen mask, calling
for her Mommy and Jeff lowered his face to her tiny chest,
allowing himself to sob. “Mommy’s hurt real bad, baby
girl. Daddy needs you to be a brave girl and try real hard to
get better.”

Her breathing became even again and he looked up at her
face, realizing she’d fallen back asleep. The medication she
was on must be making her drowsy. He stood on shaky legs
and quietly left her room. Now that he’d seen her, he
needed to see Dana and if the woman at the desk tried to
stop him, he’d run her over like a steamroller. One way or
another, he was getting into Dana’s room.

Thankfully, a different woman was at the desk when he
went back to ask what room Dana was in. “I just finished
visiting my daughter Alexis Miller, who was just awake for
a minute or two by the way… Now, if you could point me
in the direction of her mother… I really need to see that
she’s alright with own two eyes.”

The oriental woman nodded her head and looked at the
white board behind her that listed what rooms everyone in
the ER was being kept in. She turned back to Jeff and
spoke in a whisper. “She’s down the hall to the right….
First cubical on the left. She’s still unconscious at this
point, but I don’t think having her husband in the room will
hurt anything.” The words were said kindly and Jeff wasn’t
about to correct everyone’s assumption that he and Dana
were married when he’d just been given the permission he
so badly needed to look at the woman he loved in person to
see that she was still breathing with his own two eyes.

“Thank you,” he rushed to say before hurrying down the
hall before the other woman came back and made him stop
before he got a good long look at Dana. He entered the
room quietly and gasped, forcing back the tears at the sight
she made laying in the bed. She looked so fragile… There
were bloody bandages all over her body. Her head had also
been shaved and wrapped in bloody gauze, but her arms
and legs were also covered in cuts and gashes. There was a
large bruise on her chest in the shape of the steering wheel
and Jeff felt himself become nauseous as he realized how
hard she had to have hit it to leave that perfect imprint on
her delicate skin.

Swallowing hard, he fell into the chair beside her bed and
took her hand in his, trying hard not to disrupt the IV as he
did. He rested his forehead on the bed beside her arm and
prayed harder than he’d ever prayed before; making
promises to God that if He allowed Dana to pull through
this that he’d be a better man… the kind of man that she
deserved as a husband and father of her children.

“I’m here, baby,” he said, his voice breaking when he
finished praying. “I’m right here and I’m never leaving you
again,” he promised solemnly. “Just come back to me,” he
begged.

The door opened and the first nurse came in. The look on
her face said it all as she stood there pointing out into the
hall way. Jeff placed a shaky kiss on Dana’s still lips,
whispered the words “I love you…” and then walked
reluctantly out of the room, glancing back at her one last
time before he went out into the waiting room and sat
between Eric and Laurie who’d arrived sometime while
he’d been in with Alexis and Dana.

He lowered his face into his hands and sobbed and they
both wrapped their arms around his shoulders in support;
both speaking at once. “What can I do? I want to help…”

Jeff looked up at Laurie first. “I could use a job, since I just
quit the rodeo for good… What do you say? Got room in
that garage of yours for a half way decent mechanic while
you take a much needed maternity leave? Just long enough
for me to get my shingle hung as a trainer and get things
rocking in that direction?”

She stared at him as if she’d never seen him b
efore for a
few minutes before she finally found her voice. “Are you
serious? Just like that? You just
QUIT
?”

“Just like that. My family needs me,” he said, looking first
down one hall towards where Alexis was healing and then
down the other. Eric cleared his throat as emotion clogged
it. “No doubt, they do need you… what can I do?”

Jeff turned towards his brother and caught his big hand in
his own. “Besides continue to pray and be there for me the
way you always have? You could go get your razor and
shave my head…”

When both of his siblings looked at him as if he’d lost his
mind he explained. “Both Alexis and Dana had theirs
shaved… I want to show my support to both of them so
they don’t feel bad when we go out in public together.
We’ll all be bald when I convince that woman to marry me
and put me out of my misery.”

Eric let out a brittle laugh and patted his brother on the
back. “You’ve got it little brother. Anything for the cause.
Hell, I’ll shave my head too. We’ll make it a family affair.”

Laurie lau
ghed. “Don’t look at me… Travis would have a
shit fit if I shaved off the hair he loves to much. Is it
enough that little Travis Junior was born bald?” she asked
hopefully, looking from one brother to the other.
Jeff let out a much needed whoop of laughter and sighed
when it came to an end. “Yeah, sis… that’ll be enough.
You give me that job, and I’ll count that as more than
enough support to my family.”

“You know, before Travis Junior was born, I would have
rather gouged out both my eyeballs with a plastic spoon
than admit I needed help at the garage… but knowing that
in hiring you, I’ll be the one providing the help, I’ll admit I
could use the time off to be a new Mommy. It’s more
exhausting than I had imagined it would be.”

Eric laughed heartily. “I could
have told you that. Being a
new Dad was rough on me, but it was nothing compared to
what it did to Madeline.”

Jeff paled again. “I’m so damn ashamed of myself for
making Dana go through that alone with Alexis. But damn
it, not this time.” It took him a moment of being stared at
blankly by both of his siblings before Jeff realized he’d just
given away a secret that even Dana didn’t know yet. “The
doctors found a little something when they brought her
in… She doesn’t even know yet. They said it might be too
early on, given her injuries… But I put in a good word to
the Big Guy,” he said, looking up at the ceiling as if he
could see straight through to Heaven. “I have to believe Ma
and Pa are up there, egging Him on, backing up my plea for
His mercy and grace for my family.”

A doctor came out into the waiting room and started
heading straight for Jeff. He stood on wobbly legs, unsure
if he was strong enough to hear whatever the man had to
say or not. It wasn’t until the older man smiled and offered
a handshake and a positive nod that he finally relaxed a
little bit. “Your wife is awake now,” he said gently. “You
can go on back and see her. She’s a little groggy and isn’t
sure what happened, so try not to upset her too much.”

T
he doctor smiled wider. “So far, so good. Seems the
pillow of protection in there is keeping the embryo padded
well.”

“No… I thought I’d let you give her the good news,” the
doctor answered, turning around and walking away. Jeff
took a stabilizing breath and rubbed his hands together.
“Wish me luck… I’m about to go beg on bended knee that
the love of my life takes mercy on me and agrees to marry
this old worn out, retired rodeo cowboy. I have a feeling,
after I tell her I managed to get her pregnant yet again
without a wedding ring on her finger… I’m going to need
all the well wishes and good luck I can get my hands on.
She’s gonna be fit to be tied.”

Dana was sitting up with her back propped up on a stack of
pillows when Jeff walked in. She looked a little better than
she had when he’d snuck into her room just a few minutes
ago. Her eyes looked more beautiful than ever before as she
looked up at him with love shining there in their depths. He
had to look hard to see past the pain and concern for their
daughter, but he could see it none the less and it gave him
the courage to do what he wanted and needed so badly to
do.
He walked over to her and took her hand in his. “You
scared the bejesus out of me,” he said softly scolding her as
he sat down beside her on the edge of her bed. “Promise me
you’ll never try another stunt like that as long as you live.
Then when you’re done doing that, tell me you’ll forgive
me for my stupidity and stubbornness and agree to marry
me as soon as possible.”

She couldn’t speak because of the tube that was down her
throat so she nodded happily with tears rolling down her
face. Jeff reached up and wiped them away with the pad of
his thumb. “I quit the rodeo business… I’ll be working
down at Laurie’s garage until I get my training business up
and running.” She looked frantically around and Jeff knew
what she was worried about. “Alexis is hurt pretty bad, but
the doctors say her prognosis is good. Her injuries are
nowhere near the severity as yours… You took a terrible
risk, Dana… I almost lost you… All three of you,” he said
meaningfully, placing his large open palm over her still flat
belly and looking deeply into her eyes.

“I would be lost without you, Dana,” he told her honestly.
“I love you so damn much, it hurts…” Tears rolled openly
down her face and she reached up to touch his cheek in
awe. Jeff knew she was trying to echo the words he’d just
said in the only way she could and he loved her that much
more for it. “I know baby… I know. We’re going to be
fine… the four of us. We’ll be happy together, you’ll see.”

Dana nodded her head in agreement, squeezed his hand and
closed her eyes. She needed to get better as fast as possible
so they could get started on their very own happily ever
after. It was beyond her wildest hopes, and she wasn’t
altogether sure she wasn’t dreaming even now, but if she
was, she didn’t want to be woken up. It was all just a little
too good to be true and she meant to enjoy it for as long as
it would last.