The Cowboys Heart 1 (8 page)

The tone of his voice gave me pause. “Why?” I asked slowly.
“Is something wrong? Did something happen to the ranch?” Panic swelled in my
chest, choking me as I tried to swallow.

“No, the ranch is fine. It’s your mother, Heather. She’s in
the hospital.”

I swore my heart stopped beating and all the color drained
from my face. I reached for Hudson to steady myself. The last time I’d gotten a
call like this, my grandmother had fallen ill then died a few weeks later. The
thought of losing my mother, too, was too much to handle. “We’re on our way,” I
said, ending the call.

To be continued...

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(Excerpt)
The Cowboys Heart II

by

Helen Evans

Chapter One

I
felt like an awful mother leaving my son in the city like I had, especially
knowing his grandmother was ill, but I also knew he wasn’t ready to leave. And
in light of everything else, I couldn’t handle an argument with him about going
back to the ranch. And it wouldn’t be forever, just a few days. Besides, Jamie
needed the time with his father. It’d been far too long since they’d had any
real quality time together. I only hoped it went well and that Jamie’s father
didn’t spend the next few days buried in his work – or his new girlfriend. I
frowned.

“Hey.”
Hudson took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure your mom is going
to be fine.”

I looked
over and smiled at him. “I know. I’m sure she will, too. I’m more worried about
Jamie. I shouldn’t have left him in the city.”

He took my
hand and gave the back of it a kiss. “He wanted to stay there,” Hudson reminded
me. “He was excited about it. And despite the problems with you and his father,
I doubt he’d ever let anything happen to Jamie.”

I sighed.
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” I settled back and got as comfortable as I could
in the airplane seat and closed my eyes. Jamie was a smart, resourceful kid. If
things got bad, he’d call me. He always called when he needed help. I was
confident in that thought. What I wasn’t confident of though was Jamie’s
willingness to return home when the time came.

Having
Hudson here with me helped calm my nerves, too. Even though he’d lied to me, I
took comfort from his presence, and I truly believed he never would’ve made
that deal with Buck if Hudson had known me. I made peace with my decision to
forgive Hudson, and I’m glad I did. There was no way I’d make it through this
without him.

“I left my
car at the airport,” Hudson said, interrupting my thoughts. “When we land, we
can go straight to the hospital.”

“Thanks.” I
smiled.

Hudson
leaned across the arm rest and gave my lips a soft kiss. I really had missed
him. “Thank you,” he whispered against my lips.

“For what?”
I asked, confused.

“For
forgiving me and giving me a second chance. I swear to you, Heather, I will not
mess it up again.”

I rested my
forehead to his and sighed. “Let’s just put it behind us and forget about it,
okay?” Because honestly, I couldn’t handle dealing with mine and Hudson’s rocky
past and abrupt break up on top of my mom’s illness. Dad hadn’t said what was
wrong with her, only that she was very sick. My mom had always been in good
health, and other than childbirth, I couldn’t remember a time she’d ever been
hospitalized.

“Thank you,”
he whispered again.

I nodded,
and we fell silent, which was fine with me. I was hoping to get some sleep
during the flight because I hadn’t gotten much last night.

***

“Oh, God, Mom!” I cupped my hand over my mouth and stifled a
gasp. She was lying in the hospital bed, pale as a ghost, tubes and machines
hooked up to her everywhere. I’d never seen her look so sickly and helpless
before. Dad was sitting in a chair near her bed, and he looked just as tired
and sick as Mom did. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked.

Dad shook
his head and stood. Then he extended his hand to Hudson. “I don’t believe we’ve
been formally introduced. I’m Dean Walsh, Heather’s father.”

“Hudson
Lyle,” he said, shaking my father’s hand.

“Sorry,” I
chimed in, feeling foolish for not properly introducing them. But in light of
the current situation, I was sure my father could forgive my bad manners just
this once. “So, what’s wrong with mom?” I approached her and took her limp hand
into mine. It was leathery and cold. I cringed. Mom always took so much pride
in her appearance. She’d be mortified to know she was in this condition.

“It’s nice
to meet you, Hudson,” Dad said, still ignoring my question. “Where’s Jamie?”

“In the city
with his father for a few days. I didn’t know what the situation was here and
didn’t want to bring him back only to leave him at the ranch alone,” I
explained. Still, I was bothered that he wasn’t close. There hadn’t been a
single time in his life when I’d been away from him for more than a few hours
at a time.

“Yeah,
that’s probably smart,” Dad said his gaze focused on Mom.

“I’ll give
you two some privacy,” Hudson said. He gave my cheek a kiss and then left the
room.

I was tired
of being ignored. There was obviously something seriously wrong, and I wouldn’t
give up until I had some answers. “Dad?” My voice was firm. “What is wrong with
mom? Why is she so sick?”

He sighed
and rubbed his hand over his stubbled jaw, making a scratching noise. “They’re
not a hundred percent sure, but in the last couple of days, there have been at
least two dozen other people admitted with the same symptoms.”

“What?” I
had to have misheard him. “Is this some sort of virus or epidemic or
something?” Suddenly, I was very glad I’d left Jamie in the city. I didn’t want
him exposed to any of this. “How can they not know? Did they call in a
specialist or the CDC or something?”

“Okay, now
you’re getting ahead of yourself. It’s not that serious.” Dad returned to his
chair and sat. “But…” He looked away.

This man was
not my father, at least not the father I knew. My dad was always so firm,
honest. He didn’t beat around the bush, so when he did, I knew there was
something seriously wrong. Pulling up another chair, I sat beside him. “But
what, Dad? Please, tell me what’s going on.”

“The city
thinks the water supply has been tainted, and that’s what’s causing all these
people to get sick.”

“Okay,” I
said slowly. “So, that’s not so bad, right? I mean, it’s bad, but they can test
the water, figure out what’s wrong. And the town can just boil it until it’s
fixed, right?”

Dad rubbed
at his jaw again then around to the back of his neck. My stomach dropped. He
only did that when he was really stressed out and hadn’t been able to find a
way to fix the problem. Whatever he was about to tell me wouldn’t be good.

“Well…yeah…the
mayor has already issued a statement regarding the water, but…”

“Dad! Just
tell me,” I snapped.

“They think
the drilling on your property is the cause.”

It was as if
the entire world stopped moving and everything came to a screeching halt. My
ears rang, and my face was burning hot. I took a deep breath that felt like I
was inhaling razor blades. I stood and clutched my chest. “What?”

“Look, they
don’t know anything for sure yet, Heather, so don’t you go worrying for no
reason.”

“Have they
made an announcement about this yet?” A thousand different thoughts ran through
my mind, but the two that took up dominance were: Buck would use this to his
advantage to get his hands on my ranch, and if the oil drilling really was the
cause, I was probably going to be sued by everyone who was sick. That would
financially destroy me. More so than losing the income from the oil company.

“No. My
friend Dan is on the town board. He gave me a heads up, thought I’d want to
warn you.”

“I have to
stop it,” I said automatically. “I have to go to the oil company and tell them
to stop. I can’t be responsible for the town getting sick and possibly…” My
eyes widened. “Has anyone died from this?”

“No.” He
shook his head adamantly. “No,” he repeated a little less forcefully. “Your mom
was the first to get sick, so they’re monitoring her very closely.”

Tears had
started to fall, and I hadn’t even realized it. I couldn’t stand the thought I
was responsible for this. I’d thought the oil drilling was the answer to my
prayers, my financial solution, but now it was like a personal nightmare. The
oil company had promised me this was safe, they’d shown me the statistics. Had
they lied to me? I wouldn’t put it past them. And that pissed me off. How could
they do this?

“Look,” Dad
took me by the shoulders and made me face him, “there’s no saying it’s not
something else. But it might help calm things if you can get the oil company to
stop for a few days, just until the city council can come up with an alternate
solution to all of this.”

I nodded and
wiped at my tears. I knew Dad was just trying to help, to make me feel better,
but it wasn’t working. Deep down in my gut, I knew I was responsible for this.
And I was the only one who could stop it. I had to.

“Is she
going to be okay?” I whispered, glancing toward Mom.

“Yes. She’s
going to be fine. They gave her more pain medication half an hour before you
arrived. It makes her sleepy. She’ll be sorry she missed you,” he said.

“I can stick
around until she wakes up.”

“You’ve had
a long flight. You should go get some rest, too.”

“Yeah, probably.”
As if on cue, I yawned. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until right then.

“Is it safe
to come back in?” Hudson knocked on the door frame and peeked his head inside
the room.

“Of course.”
Dad smiled and released me. “I was just telling Heather she needed to head home
and get some rest. You can take her?”

“Yeah,
sure,” Hudson said, looking to me for confirmation.

I really
didn’t want to leave my mom without having the chance to talk to her, but I had
no idea how long she’d be asleep, and I’d already been away from the ranch for
a while. I’m sure Richard needed my help. Finally, I nodded.

“You’ll call
me as soon as she wakes up, right?” I asked Dad.

“Absolutely.
Now, go.” He kissed my forehead and then firmly nudged me toward the door. “And
I meant what I said. Don’t make yourself sick over this, Heather. Do what you
can and leave the rest.”

I nodded
again and took Hudson’s hand. We walked in silence back to his car. My stomach
was in knots, and my head was spinning. I couldn’t make sense of any of this.
What if the town found out it was the oil drilling? Would I be held personally
responsible? I gasped for breath.

“Heather?
Are you all right?” Hudson asked once we were in his car and headed back to the
ranch.

“No, I don’t
know.”

“What did
your father mean about doing what you can and leaving the rest?”

I should’ve
known Hudson would ask about this, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him. The
oil is what caused all of the problems between us. I had it on my property and
he wanted it for his “friends.” He’d even gone so far as to lie to me about it.
How could I bring it up now?

“Whatever it
is, you can tell me,” he prodded.

“My mom
isn’t the only one who’s sick. Several other townspeople are sick, too, and the
town thinks the water has been contaminated by the drilling on my property.”

“What?” he
asked shocked, inadvertently jerking the wheel. He corrected it quickly and
then glanced over at me. “Do they have any evidence it’s the drilling?”

“No, but
c’mon. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Everyone was
healthy. The oil company starts drilling, and now everyone is getting sick.
It’s the only thing that makes sense.” I buried my face in my hands and cried
some more. “What am I going to do Hudson?”

“We’re going
to go talk to the oil company. I’m sure once we explain the situation to them;
they’ll stop and do whatever they can to make sure no one else gets sick. The
last thing they want is bad publicity and a lawsuit.”

I nodded,
but I wasn’t so sure I agreed with him. I mean, I was sure the oil company
didn’t want bad press, but they did want their money, and I was confident
they’d do whatever was necessary to keep drilling so they could continue to
line their pockets. I should’ve known better than to sign an agreement with
them. My grandmother had always told me – if it’s too good to be true, it
probably is. She also told me that all the best things in life don’t come easy.
This money had come way too easily.

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The Cowboys Heart
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The Cowboys Heart
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The Cowboys Heart
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