Cowboy Save Me: By Judith Lee (Tiller Brothers Book 1) (18 page)

Tammy was still in shock and she was shaking.  A paramedic who had come with the search team was checking her over and he called for a helicopter.  He said he needed to get her to the hospital ASAP.  While they were waiting, he removed as many slivers and broken glass from her back as he could and bathed her back in a soothing antibacterial cream before he laid her on her side and covered her up again with the blankets.  Cameron had found several pillows to put under her head and shoulder.

The Sheriff leaned down and told her not to worry, they were going to get her home.  She reached up and took his hand, “Thank you for helping rescue me.  Can you tell the owner of the cabin how sorry I am about this mess?”

“Now don’t you worry about that, the search party will board up his windows, and come spring we’ll help him clean this mess up.  Right now it’s an active crime scene.”

“Sheriff, he killed lots of elk and deer and butchered them and put them in the freezer, I don’t want the meat wasted.  Can you get the meat to town so someone can use it, or keep the electricity on so the cabin owner can use it?”

Cody shook his head, “Don’t worry about those things, Tammy.  They will take care of it.  All you need to worry about is get better.  Lie down and rest sweetheart.”

Even when she was in such pain she was thinking about someone else. Knowing her, she was even blaming herself for what had happened to the cabin.  He loved this woman so much.

Tammy’s eyes closed as she lay on the floor covered with several blankets.  It had all been too much for her.

The medic pulled Cody to the side and said, “I don’t want to alarm you but we have to get her out of here as fast as possible.  She has a very serious infection in her shoulder and she is still in medical danger.  You can come on the helicopter because she seems stronger when you are talking to her.

Cody sat back down next to her and held her hand.  If he could just give her some of his strength.  Hell, he’d give his life for her.

The medic checked Matt over and said he looked like he had a mild concussion but he was going to be okay and asked if he wanted to fly to the hospital with them to be checked out.  He had a black and blue bruise spreading over his left temple.  I’ve banged my head up a lot worse with the bulls.

The medic looked at him, “That explains it.  You guys never get treatment.  Just check in at the hospital in Laramie when you get there.”

“It doesn’t hurt that bad, I’ll go back with Dakota and Cameron.  I’ve got to take back my friend’s snowmobile back anyway.”

A half hour later, the helicopter landed in an open area near the cabin.  They first placed an air cast around Tammy’s leg, and then they put her on the stretcher and started an IV.  She needed liquids badly.  They also gave her morphine for her pain, and per the instructions from the hospital in Cheyenne ordered her to receive some powerful antibiotics in her drip.

Dakota, Cameron, Matt and the other officers watched her being lifted into the sky.  They would start the long journey back to the snowmobiles, and then they would drive to Cheyenne and hope her condition improved by the time they got there.  Dakota shook the Sheriff’s hand and thanked him for all his help in working with the power company and all the hard work they had all put in to get to this day where they could rescue Tammy.  He asked the Sheriff to radio for someone to tell Tammy’s parents that she had been found and she was being taken to the Cheyenne hospital. 

Dakota thought about offering to take Tammy’s parents to Cheyenne, but he figured that if the parents left right away after the Sheriff’s office notified them, they would get there quicker if they didn’t have to wait for the rescue party to make it back down the mountain.

Cody paced in the waiting room.  He rested his head against the window pane trying to relieve the headache that he had brewing behind his skull caused by all the worry and stress.  He’d ignore it.  Just thinking about all the pain that Tammy had endured was enough to make him want to punch something.  And the waiting was killing him.

They had whisked her off to surgery the minute she had arrived.  They asked if he was a relative because only relatives would be able to see her later.  He told them he was her finance and not to worry about the costs that he would pay for anything until they were able to get her insurance information figured out.

“Just take care of her now please,” he begged.

“Don’t worry Mr. Tiller.  Everyone in the state knows what she has gone through and no one would refuse to treat her.  We’ll get her information from her employer.  You can wait in the surgery waiting area.”

“Her parents are on the way, I just talked to them on the phone.  Can you send them to me as soon as they get here?  They are getting a highway patrol escort so you will know who they are.”

They agreed that as soon as they got there, they’d bring them up.

It had been an hour.  How long did it take to set a leg, and work on her shoulder and her other injuries, he wondered for the hundredth time?

The door opened and Tammy’s parents rushed in.

Mrs. Anderson ran over to him, “Have you heard anything yet?”

“No one’s come, and I’m glad you are here because they might not tell me because I’m not a relative.”

He shook Mr. Anderson’s hand.

“Thank you for finding her, son.  I heard how it was your idea that she was in Laramie and for them to check the cabins.”

“I can’t take all the credit.  My sister Jenny came up with the idea to have the power companies search for who still had power usage this time of the year.  And the Sheriff helped facilitate the search.”

“You told me a little on the phone about her condition, but I want you to tell me everything.  I could tell you were holding back some things.”  Mr. Anderson asked.

“Let’s sit down.”  Mr. Anderson held his wife’s hand and they sat on the couch.  Cody sat in the chair across from them.  “As I told you her shin was broken and she has a high fever from her shoulder infection.  They started antibiotics at the cabin.  She was beaten up badly.  Looks like he used a belt, and she had festering open wounds on her back.  Just before we got there he had beaten her with a broomstick, and then he had left to go hunting.  Matt got there before us, and that’s when he decided to go in. Marcus found them and he hit my brother in the head.  Marcus was planning on taking a chain saw to both of them, but we got there in time and he accidently killed himself with the saw.  Damn, I wish I could have killed him.  I would have ripped his heart out for what he did to Tammy.” 

Cody closed his eyes and rubbed his knuckles over them.  After a few minutes he was able to continue.  “Her eye was swollen shut.  He chopped off her hair in various places and when I got there she was covered in blood.  The bastard rubbed animal blood all over her.  The good news is she told me he hadn’t raped her, and she didn’t have any broken ribs.  The medic said he thought they were just bruised.  He doesn’t think she had a concussion.  There is a fresh bruise to her neck where he must have tried to strangle her.”

He couldn’t continue.  Mrs. Anderson was crying, and he couldn’t keep his composure any more.  Mrs. Anderson went over to him and put her arms around him.

“Don’t blame yourself,” she said through her own tears.

“Damn, I tried so hard to keep her safe.  That night I let her go on a girls’ night out with Jenny because she said she had never had one, but we all went to watch her.  We had a few too many drinks ourselves except for Jared and he was driving.  We tried to talk them in to letting us give them a ride home, and they said they were still on their girls’ night out and they were walking the three blocks to Jenny’s house.  We were following them, but the sheriff pulled us over because he thought we were all drunk. By the time we got there, Marcus had gotten her. I should have kept her locked in the house.”

“Son, you did the right thing.  She has been through so much.  Her freedom was important to her after being Marcus’s prisoner for over a year.  She won’t blame you. You would have eventually lost her if you had kept her locked away.”

“I asked her to marry me before she got kidnapped, and she said wouldn’t marry me before the situation with Marcus was settled.”  He smiled, “And then she chewed me out for not proposing to her properly and for not asking you for her hand in marriage.  Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, may I have permission to marry your daughter?  I love her with all my heart.”

“We’ll be proud to have you in our family son, but you better get her a ring, roses and get down on your knee because since she was a little girl that has been her dream.”

The doctor came in, and they all stood up.  Cody introduced Tammy’s parents.

“We’ve set her leg.  I think it will be fine after a couple of months and a little therapy.  The wounds on her back have been cleaned and thoroughly rinsed, and we are already seeing her temperature starting to drop. She is in the intensive care unit now and awake.  She is asking for you Cody, but we told her we couldn’t let anyone in the ICU while we monitor her condition after the surgery. But she’s going to be alright.”

“Thank God.”  Cody had to sit down.  He put his face into his hands and let go of his emotions.

***

Tammy was awake now and she had been moved into a private room.  Her hair was enclosed in a hospital cap and they had her lying on sheep’s wool to protect the injuries in her back.  The nurses had washed away all the blood and dirt away, and she had an ice pack over her eye.  She felt clean and smelled like soap and anesthetics.  She couldn’t wait to have her hair washed and the nurses had promises to wash her hair later after she had rested.

Cody and her parents came into the room.  Her parents ran to her bedside and hugged her.  They were all crying.  She looked over at Cody and he had a big smile on his face and she could feel the love pouring from his eyes.  She felt so blessed at that moment.

“Does it hurt much?” her parents asked.

“If it starts hurting all I have to do is push this button but it makes me sleepy and I’m just so glad to be alive right now, I’m not ready for a nap.  I just want to be with the people I love, and she held her hand out to Cody to join her parents.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and caressed her arm. 

“You don’t feel as hot as when we brought you in.  I was damned worried.”

She put her hand on his face to comfort him, “It’s down to 100 degrees and I feel so much better.  Oh my body still feel like I was run over by a truck and I ache everywhere but it’ll heal.”  She looked at her mom and dad, and then directly into Cody’s eyes.  “He didn’t break my spirit.  I may not have been able to fight him with my hands but I kept control of my mind.  I was never going to give into him again,” a tear rolled down her cheek.

“I can still see those beautiful freckles.” Cody whispered.

“Cody get me a mirror, I need to see what he did to me.”

“You look beautiful to me.  Let the healing process take its time.”

She grabbed his shirt, and pulled him close, “Get me that mirror or I’m going to give you a matching black eye,” she glared at him.

He just shook his head and went to find a mirror.  When he returned he said, “Are you sure?  He didn’t do anything that will be permanent.”

“Yes, I need to see what he did to me, and then I’m going to put it out of my mind.”

She looked into the mirror, and touched her eye and her neck where he had tried to strangle her.  She removed her cap and looked at her hair.

“Oh God, Matt was right, I really am having a bad hair day.” 

She laughed and Cody marveled at her beautiful spirit. 

Just then Jenny and Jared came running into the room.  Jenny threw her arms around Tammy as gently as she could.  “Oh my dear friend, I heard he did quite a number on you. She ran her fingers through Tammy hair and over her cheek, “But I’ve come prepared to save the day.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out scissors and a comb, deluxe shampoo and conditioner.  “I’ll wash your hair and cut it for you as soon as you rest.  Are you okay?”

“I am now that I get to see that you are alright.  He pushed you down so hard I was worried.”

“Don’t worry about me you silly girl,” and she hugged Jenny.

Tammy turned to look at Jared.  “Thanks for taking such good care of my best friend.”

Then Tammy gingerly set up and declared, “I want that shampoo right now, I can’t wait.  I think there are things growing in my hair.”

Cody told them he’d be right back.  He went and asked the nurse if they could wash Tammy’s hair, and they told him if they were careful and didn’t get her shoulders wet that they could. And they shouldn’t jostle her leg, or disturb her IV. They gave him a big plastic shallow tub, and a plastic sheet he was to lay on the bed, several towels and a plastic container they could use to rinse her hair.

Her parents said they hadn’t eaten for several days and decided that they needed to go find the cafeteria and they would be back soon.

Cody came back in the room and filled the large container up with warm water. He ever so gently lifted her head off the bed and he laid down the plastic behind Tammy, and placed several towels behind her neck.  He gently maneuvered her so her head was above the shallow tub. 

Jenny reached over to start washing her hair, and Cody stayed her hands with his big hand. “No, I want to wash her hair.”

He gently poured the warm water over her tangled, chopped hair and he rubbed the shampoo over her scalp and into the back of her skull.  He kept massaging her neck and skull until Tammy closed her eyes and he heard her moan.  He recognized that moan, and he couldn’t help it, he felt his cock tighten.

After rinsing her hair with conditioner, and then clear warm water, he wrapped the towel around her head.

Tammy had closed her eyes.  He removed the plastic sheet and towels next to her neck.  Cody signaled to Jenny that she should let her rest.

Jenny and Jared left the room.  Cody climbed into the edge of the bed opposite her broken leg and IV and he pulled her close to his body.  He needed to touch and hold her right now.  It only took a moment and they were both asleep.

***

When Tammy woke up hours later, she was lying on Cody’s chest and he was lightly snoring.  Jenny was standing next to the bed, with Jared’s arms wrapped around her waist.

“I don’t think he ever slept more than an hour or two a day while we were looking for you.  If you hadn’t come back to us, I think he would have died from a broken heart.”

She reached up and caressed his cheek and mouth.  He looked beautiful to her, he hadn’t shaved for a few days and there were circles under his eyes.

He opened his eyes, “How do you feel sweetheart?”

“So much better…shampooing ones hair should be at the top of the medical remedies for a quick recovery, and taking a nap next to you made me sleep deeper than I have in weeks.”

He got up and stretched his arms above his head and smiled at her. “Your color looks better.”

“Not as black and blue?” she teased him.

“Love that smart mouth of yours,” he kissed her lips.

“You and Jared go get something to eat, and let Jenny try to do something with this hair for me, okay?”

“You sure, I don’t mind staying here?”

“Scoot out of here, a woman needs some time to get pretty for her man in private.”

They went off to get something to eat.

Jenny laid a towel behind her still damp hair, and she spritzed it with more conditioner and gently combed all the knots away.  She took her time.  Then she took her scissors and started cutting off her hair so that it was all about one length.  She blew dry her hair and it floated softly next to her cheek.  Next she took a little cream and applied it to Tammy’s face, and patted on some power under her eye.  Her eye was already starting to open and the swelling had already gone down a lot from yesterday although it was still a greenish blue color.

“I found your gardenia cologne.  This should make you feel good.”  She dabbed some on her neck.

“Oh I feel so much better…like a human being again, thank you Jenny.  I was afraid I would scare Cody off and then he’ll never ask me to marry him again.”

“So he did ask you once.  I knew it.  But you didn’t say yes?”

“I wasn’t ready.  I needed the Marcus thing resolved before we could go on.”

“I understand.”

Cody and Jared walked back into the room.  They both whistled and told Tammy how pretty she looked.  She just smiled at them.

Jared walked over to Tammy and handed her a bouquet of bright colored daisies.  He kept one bouquet of roses in his other hand.  “Tammy, I hope you don’t mind but there is something I need to do, and after getting Cody and his brother’s permission, I can’t wait another minute.”

He turned back to Jenny and went down on one knee.  He gave Jenny the roses, and pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket.  “Jenny, I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I can’t wait one more minute to ask you to be my wife. I love you with all my heart.”