Love Inspired September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Montana Twins\Small-Town Billionaire\Stranded with the Rancher (44 page)

The even and rhythmic sound of the baby's heartbeat echoed in the room from the ultrasound speaker.

“Hey, Emily. How's your patient?” Dan asked, with a wink to the woman in the bed.

“Ha. The patient. I'm between contractions. Thanks for asking. Did you bring me chocolate?”

“Oops. I clean forgot.”

The blonde, who had to be the Emily Dan and Abel had mentioned, crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Dan in a warm hug. The woman's smile was almost intimate and Beth looked away, surprised at the kick of jealousy rising in her.

Of course women were attracted to Dan Gallagher, she told herself. He was a handsome man. A nice man, as well. More important, he was merely an acquaintance in her world, and his relationship with Emily was none of her business.

When the midwife glanced over Dan's shoulder and met Beth's gaze, her eyes widened a fraction, and she stepped away.

“Oh, hi. I didn't realize Dan brought a friend.” She looked into his face. “We go back a long way, right, pal?”

“Uh, yeah. Kindergarten. Emily, this is Dr. Elizabeth Rogers.” He turned to Beth. “Beth, meet Emily Robbs, midwife, and Karen Frank, chocoholic.”

Karen smiled and then flinched, her hands gripping the sides of her large, round abdomen. “Nice to meet you. I'd get up, but I don't think I can.”

“Dr. Rogers?” Emily said with a lift of her brows.

“Ben is my cousin.”

“Oh. I didn't realize he had any family in the area.” She moved back to the bed. “Roll, honey, and I'll give that lower back a good massage.”

“I'm just here visiting,” Beth answered. “I was waylaid by the storm.”

“Nice of you to come out in this weather.” Emily gave her a sincere smile before her gaze slid to Dan. “Have you known Dan a long time?”

“No, not very long,” Beth answered.

“I thought you couldn't get through. Mind explaining how you managed to wrangle Deke's snowmobile?” Dan asked.

Emily applied a washcloth to Karen's forehead. “Wrangle? I like to think of it as a negotiation.”

Dan laughed. “Oh, boy. Maybe I don't want to know the details.” His expression became serious. “How's his dad?”

“I called before I got here. He's out of surgery. No complications.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“When did you arrive?” Dan asked.

“About forty-five minutes ago. At first I wasn't sure I was going to make it, even with Deke's beast machine, but God was with me all the way.”

He looked at Karen. “What's the status of our mother here?”

The midwife grabbed latex gloves from a box at the bedside. “She began labor during the night and things are moving along pretty quickly. The pregnancy has been unremarkable, so we don't anticipate any problems.”

“All the other births were at home, weren't they?” Dan asked.

Karen nodded. “Yes. Apparently, I pop them out like gum balls, although this one is moving even faster than my other babies, and according to Emily—” Karen swallowed “—he's breech.”

“Breech?” Dan's voice went up an octave.

“Relax,” Emily said. “We managed to coax little Oscar into a more appropriate presentation.”

“But it wasn't easy. He's stubborn, like his father,” Karen added. “We prayed. A lot.”

“Have I mentioned how glad I am you're here?” Dan said to Emily.

She grinned. “I'm glad you're here, too, sweetie. Just remember that the next time I call and ask you to take me to the Founder's Day Supper.” She glanced at her watch. “Should be starting again, Karen?”

Karen nodded and gripped Emily's hand. “Ooh, I think this is it. I really think this is it.
He's coming now.
”

“Easy, Karen. Yes. He's crowning. I see a dark scalp. Lots of hair, too.”

“Here you go. More ice chips and towels,” Abel announced. Beth and Dan turned when he strode into the room at the exact moment his wife pushed, and the baby's head and shoulders appeared.

“Good girl, Karen. Once more and we'll have our baby boy,” Emily said.

Abel's face paled and his eyes rolled back. The big man dropped the glass and towels as he crumpled like a house of cards.

Dan raced toward him, but not fast enough. Abel landed with a thud, right on the broken glass.

“Abel!” Karen screeched.

The cries of a newborn tangled with her scream.

“I've got him, Karen,” Dan said.

He rolled Abel over to his side, and using the dropped towels, brushed the large piece of glass Abel had landed on out of the way.

“Can you tear that fabric away from his back so we can examine him?” Beth asked.

“Tackle box. Top drawer. Scissors,” Dan said.

Abel moaned.

“Gloves?” Beth asked.

“Right drawer.”

She pulled out two packages and tossed one to Dan before pulling on her own.

“I've got him,” she said, as she held Abel's torso so Dan could tug on his gloves and slice through the blood-soaked shirt.

When he was done, he grabbed saline and sterile gauze and placed them next to her.

Beth leaned forward. “Suture kit?”

“Got it.”

“What?” Abel said, trying to get up.

“Hold still, Dad,” Dan commanded, with a hand on the big man's shoulder. “Let us clean this up and you can meet your son.”

“Any allergies?” Beth asked.

“None,” Abel groaned.

Dan held Abel firmly as Beth doused the area with sterile saline and carefully picked out smaller bits of glass with forceps. Then she swabbed the area with Betadine.

Anticipating her needs, Dan filled a syringe with lidocaine, before opening the suture kit and placing the contents on a sterile field.

Beth injected the anesthetic on both sides of the wound, and then began putting in stitches. Six sutures later and the wound edges were approximated. Satisfied, she laid the knot down flat and then dressed the site.

“Nice work,” Dan commented.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“You need to ask my mother to teach you to needlepoint. You're a natural.”

She chuckled and their eyes met and held. Her face warmed.

“Can I see?” Abel asked.

“Let me get you a mirror,” Beth said.

“Not my back, Doc. I want to see my baby.” Abel slowly sat up and then stood, leaning on Dan.

Emily laughed. “Your son is ready for you.”

Karen smiled from the bed, where she lay propped against a pillow, a small bundle in a blue blanket cradled in her arms.

“So this is what your rescue team is all about,” Beth said quietly to Dan.

“Not always such happy endings, but there's not a day that I'm not glad I'm doing the work God intended for me to be doing.”

“God intended,” Beth repeated.

“Yeah. It's definitely a calling. A ministry.”

She pondered his words.

“We could use someone like you on the team,” Dan murmured.

Beth met his gaze and paused. His smile caught her and she lost focus, lured for a brief, reckless moment into considering a future outside of her carefully laid plans.

Dan Gallagher stirred something in her that she wasn't familiar with. For the very first time in her entire life, she was tempted to consider acting from her feelings instead of her head.

She averted her gaze and rational thought once again took over. Paradise was, after all, merely a stop on the road to her tomorrow. Dan Gallagher a pleasant detour. That was the reality she had to cling to.

Chapter Five

N
early 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday and there was no traffic anywhere between Abel and Karen Frank's cabin and home.

The ride was eerily quiet, as though the rest of the world had disappeared. The storm continued to steadily dump thick snow on the valley. Anyone who lived in Paradise awhile knew that the best thing to do when Mother Nature raged was to lie low and wait her out. It was safer for everyone that way.

The snowmobile plowed on without incident. For that, Dan was grateful.

Arriving at the ranch, he slid from his seat and held out a hand to Beth.

She gripped it easily, the action as natural as the falling flakes. He had to admit there was something that felt right about Beth becoming more and more comfortable around him.

“We're going to check on Karen and Abel and the baby tomorrow, right?” Beth queried. “I mean, there's really no need for Emily to go out again when we can check everyone when we follow up with Abel's incision, right?”

“You're the doctor,” Dan said.

“What do you think?” she asked, tucking her helmet beneath her arm like an old pro. Beth neither realized nor seemed to care that her hair was flat and tangled and her mascara smudged.

It only made her more attractive in his estimation. Dangerously so. Dan averted his gaze.

“Good plan,” he said. “Unless the cows start delivering, or we're needed for a real emergency call.”

“Oh,” she said, crinkling her brow in thought. “I hadn't considered that.”

“No big deal. This was a field call. You're still on an adrenaline rush.”

Beth hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Are you and Emily, um, close?” Her cheeks flooded with color. “I mean, it's none of my business, but I didn't want her to think you and I...” Her voice trailed off and she glanced away.

Dr. Elizabeth Rogers was embarrassed? “We're only friends,” he assured her. “Since kindergarten.”

“Right. Yes. You said that.” She nodded and headed toward the house, then stopped and turned. “Aren't you coming in?”

“Going to check on the cattle.”

“May I help?” she asked.

“You've probably had enough fun for one day.”

“I'm not used to sitting around, and you're right, I'm still pretty wound up.”

“Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.” He put his helmet back on. “We'll take the four-wheeler to the barn.”

Once they were outside the barn door Joe's two border collie herd dogs enthusiastically greeted them. Dan slid through the open door and signaled for Beth to follow. Inside, Elsie stood, hands on hips, staring at the backside of a pregnant cow.

“What's going on?” Dan asked.

Elsie whirled around. “Dan. Thank goodness. Never a dull moment at the Gallagher Ranch,” she said.

He nodded toward the cow. “What's the story?”

“This poor thing wants to deliver,” Elsie said, propping a hand on the rough-hewn wood stall. “She's been pacing and pacing, and her water still hasn't broken.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“About an hour and a half.”

“Time to give her some help.” Dan cautiously glanced around the barn. “What other problems?”

“I had a delivery while you were gone,” Elsie said with a proud grin.

“Did you?” He shook his head. “Everything go okay?”

Elsie's grin widened. “Yes. Twins.”

“
Whoa!
You delivered twins?”

Elsie laughed. “Believe me, I was as surprised as you are. But the truth is, that cow didn't want or need my help. Imagine that.”

“Someone was watching over you,” Dan said.

“I have extra prayers stocked up in a reserve tank,” his mother returned.

“I guess so,” Dan said with a laugh.

“The momma and babies are in the far stall. The last time I checked, momma was acknowledging only one of her babies,” Elsie said.

Dan ran a hand over his face. “I'd say calving season has officially begun.”

“How long is calving season?” Beth asked.

“For us, around thirty to sixty days. Joe only has about two hundred head,” he said. Beth nodded. “Where's Amy?” Dan asked, with another glance around the barn.

“She was exhausted after getting up so early. I gave her lunch and she's taking a nap now.” Elsie held up a walkie-talkie. “The other one is next to her, and Millie is at the house as well.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“My pleasure. Contrary to popular opinion, I still have what it takes,” she said.

“I never doubted you for a minute,” Dan said.

“Ha!” Elsie zipped up her coat and then fished in her pockets for her mittens and put them on.

“Why don't you go in the house? You're freezing,” Dan said.

“I was fine when I was running around, but now that you're here to take care of things, I think I will. I could use a nap, too.” She glanced at her watch. “It's been an hour since my last check of the pen.”

“Thanks.” He put a hand on his mother's arm. “Seriously, Mom, you really did a great job.”

“You're welcome. I'll bring you back a colostrum bottle for that twin.” Elsie pulled up the hood on her coat. “Oh, and I forgot to ask. How did your call go?”

“Emily arrived just before us,” Dan said.

“I imagine you were relieved,” his mother stated.

“Yeah, and Beth got to suture up Abel. So it was worth the trip.”

“Abel hurt himself?”

“He fainted and ended up with a laceration requiring stitches,” Beth added.

“Oh, my.”

When Dan headed to the far side of the barn to retrieve a pitchfork, Elsie closed in on Beth.

“How did you like Emily?” Elsie murmured.

The barn acoustics were excellent and Dan didn't miss a single word of the inquisition.

“She was nice,” Beth said.

“Emily is crazy about Dan,” Elsie whispered. “Almost as crazy about Dan as Deke is over the moon for Emily,” she added.

“Oh?” was all Beth said in reply.

“My eye is twitching,” Dan called as he prepared the hay in another stall. “Are you talking about me?”

“That's not how it goes.” His mother laughed. “If your right ear itches, someone is talking bad about you. If your left ear itches, someone who cares about you is thinking about you.”

“Hmm,” Dan said. “You didn't answer my question.”

Elsie laughed again. “Didn't I?”

Dan led the pregnant heifer to the new stall and gently directed her into the head gate. The metal gate clanged shut around her, holding her in position. He patted her chocolate-brown hide and began to soothe the heifer. “Time for delivery, little momma.”

“And time for me to go,” his own mother announced. “I've had my share of childbirth for the day.” Elsie looked to Beth. “Do you want to come in the house? We've got hot cocoa.”

“I'd like to stay,” Beth replied.

“It might not be pleasant,” Elsie warned.

“I can handle unpleasant.”

Elsie cocked her head and offered another one of her knowing smiles. “I'm sure you can.”

As if to test the good doctor's comment, the moment the door closed behind Elsie, the cow's water sac broke. Beth jumped back and tensed.

“You okay?” Dan asked.

“Of course. I...I just haven't been around animals very much.”

“I thought you and Ben were raised in the country.”

“I only lived with Ben a short time.”

“Oh, I guess I thought you two grew up together.” He slipped on a clear glove that reached his shoulder, and lubricated his right hand.

“Are you checking the positioning?” Beth asked.

“Yeah.” The cow moved in agitation as Dan probed her. Satisfied, he removed the glove. “The baby is fine.” He looked to Beth. “Want to hold that tail out of the way for me? Toward you.”

She grabbed the tail and held it aside as Dan fastened chains on the protruding calf hooves. If Beth was nervous, she hid her emotions well. He reached for a U-shaped contraption.

“What's that?”

“Brace. I'll use the ratchet to ease the baby out, nice and low, like the momma would if she was pushing the way she ought to be.”

Dan gritted his teeth and pulled, his knees locked until he was nearly sitting on the ground. Finally, the dark rocket of a calf slid from her momma and into the hay. Dan grabbed the calf by the legs and moved her, releasing the chain. Then he gently stimulated the animal's throat and cleared the fluid from the nose. A dark, wide eye appeared and then another. The calf took a gulping breath.

“Yes!” Dan shouted in triumph.

Beth released a breath, as well.

Dan's gaze met hers and he smiled. “Pretty good show, huh?”

A smile touched the corners of her mouth and her eyes lit up as she nodded.

Dan lifted the little calf by her spindly legs over to the clean stall, then unfastened the momma cow and led her to her baby.

Arms resting on the top of the wooden stall fence, he and Beth watched the new family settle in.

“Something sort of basic about all this, isn't there?” Dan asked.

“How do you mean?” She turned to him.

“I don't know. This and Karen's birth today. Sort of levels everything down to the most common denominator. Makes you evaluate why we're here.”

Beth's blue eyes were clear as they met his. “It's a different world from what I'm used to,” she finally said.

“Yeah, it's a
real
world, although I'll be the first to admit that I didn't always appreciate that. There was a time when all I wanted was to get out of Paradise.”

“Oh?”

“Long story short—I went away to college and decided I wasn't coming back. I begged my father to buy me out of my portion of the ranch.” Dan's lips were thin as he admitted the truth, which still hurt after all these years. “He did, even though he knew I was making the biggest mistake of my life.”

“But you came back.”

“Yeah. The prodigal son returned. With a baby in one hand and my PharmD in the other. My father was dying and I realized too late that I needed to be with my family. Amy's mother didn't share my revelation.”

“She left?”

“Yeah. That was a painful time for all of us.” Dan paused and looked away. “I, ah, I haven't talked about this to anyone in a long time.”

“Maybe you needed to.”

“I guess.” His gaze met hers. “Sometimes I forget how fortunate I am.”

“A loving family makes all the difference.”

“Don't I know it? They were there for me and when the dust settled everything turned out all right. The best part is I'm happy and so is Amy.” He reached for a bottle of disinfectant.

“You're a good father,” Beth murmured.

Dan looked up as he cleaned his hands. “You barely know me. How can you be so sure?”

She shrugged. “Reading people accurately is a survival skill that I learned at a young age.”

“Survival?” Dan asked as he moved to the next stall to check on another heifer. “Is that why you're so guarded?”

Beth drew back and stared at him. “I'm not guarded. Cautious maybe.” She crossed her arms.

“Isn't that the same thing?”

“No,” she said.

“Hmm.” He knelt down and slowly ran a hand over the belly of a pregnant heifer, evaluating. “What about you, Beth?”

“What about me?”

Dan stood straight and narrowed his eyes. “What's your story?”

“I don't have a story.”

“I doubt that. Everyone has a story.” He looked her up and down, but her face remained impassive. “I will say that you're nothing like I expected.

“What did you expect?”

“Oh, you know. City girl. A diva who's more concerned about her shoes than people.”

“I like shoes.” She released a small laugh. “A lot, actually.”

He stared at her footgear. “Yeah, and those Mucks that Mom lent you look really good on you.”

Beth examined the oversize rubber boots that came nearly up to her knees. A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

“So, where
are
you from?” Dan grabbed the pitchfork and headed to one of the only empty stalls.

“Here, there and everywhere.”

“That sounds like someone avoiding a direct answer.” He spread new hay into the space, then straightened, leaned on the fork and pinned her with his gaze.

“We traveled around a lot when I was a kid.”

“We?”

“My mother and I.”

“I got the impression you don't have a mother.”

Beth turned away, looking at everything but him. “Everyone has a mother, Dan. Whether we like it or not.”

“Why did you live with Ben?”

She took a deep breath, her back still to him. “My mother took off.”

Dan grimaced, feeling the emotional sucker punch of her words. “I'm sorry. I—”

“It's not a big deal.”

He dug the pitchfork into the hay with a vengeance. Life could be pretty unfair, and no matter how nonchalant Beth Rogers tried to sound, he knew that her mother leaving was a big deal.
A very big deal.

A cow lowed loudly behind him.

“Uh-oh, I think we've got another delivery. You want to hold another tail?”

Beth turned. “Sure.”

Dan led the mooing cow to the fresh stall and donned a clean glove to check the calf. “Joe is going to owe me big-time.”

“Your brother is in Denver?”

“Yeah. Prosthesis fitting.” He fastened the head gate around the heifer.

“Do you mind if I ask what happened?”

“He wrestled with a tractor and lost.”

Beth gave a small gasp. “No.”

“He was trying to make a repair, and the tractor ended up landing on him. By the time I got to him it was too late to save his arm. I rolled the tractor off and applied a tourniquet and got him to the Paradise Hospital. They sent him to Alamosa by Life Flight, but still couldn't save the arm. There was too much damage.”