The Cowbear's Secret Christmas Baby: Christmas Paranormal Romance (Curvy Bear Ranch Book 1) (8 page)

“I will.”

As he drove toward Bozeman, Rachel spoke into her phone. “Yes, it won’t stop bleeding. We’ve tried putting pressure on it… he’s burning up. I gave him the prescription medication but it’s not working. Okay. We should be there in about two hours… yes, we’ll be careful on the roads.”

Brady’s arms went rigid as the truck fishtailed around a corner. He eased his foot off the accelerator. If they skidded off the road into the river, they’d all die. As much as he hated to have to do it, he slowed down.

Rachel said, “We’ll make it. We have to.”

“I’ll go as fast as I can, but the road hasn’t been salted yet. It’s still slick from the storm.”

“Do you believe in God?”

He thought back to the violence he’d seen in Afghanistan. “I don’t know. But I have to believe that if He’s up there, we’ll have a chance.”

“Please, God. Please don’t let him die,” she whispered.

Brady clenched the steering wheel and focused every ounce of concentration on the icy road.

“Dr. Landry wants to do the procedure right away. She said there are risks either way, but I don’t want to wait.”

He clenched his jaw. “I didn’t try shifting.”

She whipped her head in his direction. “Oh, God.”

“If I shift mid-procedure…”

“We just have to pray that you don’t.”

He cautiously reached for her hand and squeezed. “I’ll take the risk if it means saving our son’s life.”

Rachel cried, “I can’t lose you too. I can’t lose either of you. I can’t.”

In the most soothing tone he could manage he said, “Shh… everything will be all right. The surgery will work and we’ll both be fine.”

He released her hand and shivered. There were so many things that could go wrong during the operation. The stress alone could unleash his bear. He’d have to do everything he could to try to stay calm. If he went into the operating room as stressed as he was right now, he’d shift for sure.

He took a calming breath and blew it out. He had to relax as much as he could. His son’s life depended on it.

Chapter 8

As they pulled up to the front door of the hospital, Rachel jumped out of the truck. She cradled Jimmy in her arms as she rushed toward the sliding glass doors.

Brady threw the keys toward the security guard. “Tow me if you have to.”

After taking one look at Jimmy, the guard said, “No problem, I’ll park it.”

As she ran into the reception area, she spotted Dr. Landry. She almost fainted with relief when the doctor raced forward with a gurney.

“Set him here,” Dr. Landry said.

She placed her son on the sterile white sheets. As she stepped back, she swayed only to be caught in Brady’s strong arms.

“Come on, honey.”

Guided by Brady, she followed the doctor down the hall toward a set of doors marked:
Stop! Operating Rooms. Staff Only
.

Dr. Landry spun to face her. “You can’t go any further. I’ll send someone out to keep you updated.”

Rachel blurted, “Brady didn’t shift. I mean. We don’t know. Oh, God.”

The doctor waved over a nurse. “Get something to relax her and take her to the waiting room.”

The nurse smiled softly. “Come with me, dear.”

“Wait! Wait!” Rachel ran over to Jimmy and kissed his hot cheek. “It’s going to be okay, baby. Mommy loves you very much.”

She turned to find Brady climbing onto a gurney. After rushing to his side, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You’ll be okay too. You have to be… you have to be.”

Brady said, “We’ll be fine, sweetheart. I’ll be out soon. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“I have to take them now,” Dr. Landry said. “We need to go.”

Rachel nodded. “Please, take care of them.”

“I will. I’ll send someone out to talk to you as soon as I can.”

As the doctor rolled Jimmy through the doors, Rachel let out a small cry. Watching Brady disappear behind him set the world spinning.

The nurse caught her and half-carried her to the nearest chair. “Let me get you some water and something to help you stay calm. I’ll be right back.”

Rachel put her head between her knees until the room stopped spinning. She couldn’t stop thinking that they could die. If her son died, she’d die with him. And if Brady died, she’d wilt into a shadow of the woman she once was. The doctor had better be right. She’d better be able to save them.

The nurse returned with a paper cup filled with water and a white pill. “Take this. It will help you relax.”

Rachel took the cup and shoved the pill into her mouth. As she slurped the water, the pill slid down her swollen throat.

“When you feel okay to walk again, let me know and I’ll take you to the waiting room,” the nurse said.

“I’m okay now.”

She wasn’t. But the sooner she got to the waiting room, the better she’d feel. What if they came out to give her news and she wasn’t there? She had to get there immediately. She rose on unsteady legs and took a wobbly step toward the nurse.

The nurse frowned. “Let me get a wheelchair. You sit back down.”

Rachel fell back into the chair. Her heart clenched so hard that if she didn’t know better, she’d think she was having a heart attack.

The nurse returned with a wheelchair. After climbing into it, the nurse rolled her down the hall and through a series of doors. The white tiled floor rolled past ominously. She hated hospitals. When she was ten, her best friend had fallen off a snowmobile and had been struck in the head. She’d been in a coma for three weeks. Rachel had visited her and had prayed over her every day, hoping that her friend would open her eyes. If she had just woken up, everything would have been okay. But she never did.

Rachel shivered and pulled her sweater around her shoulders. The waiting room was cold and empty but for one other woman who sat in the corner with a shocked expression on her face. Rachel met her eyes for a moment before quickly looking away.

The woman crossed the room and sat next to her. “I hope you don’t mind. I just can’t be alone anymore.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

“Hours.” The woman’s gray-green eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Black lines of mascara had left trails of sorrow down her cheeks. Blonde hair stuck out from what had probably once been an elegant chignon. She wore a sparkling red dress.

Rachel wanted to ask what happened, but didn’t want to be rude.

The woman said, “My name’s Bailey.”

“Rachel.”

“If you want me to go back to the other side…”

Rachel couldn’t decide if she wanted company or to be alone, so she didn’t say anything.

Bailey leaned back slightly. “We were at the company Christmas party. I don’t know why they have them so early in the month. I guess they know that we have other obligations. Anyway, we were driving home from the party when we got into an accident. Henry, my husband, didn’t see a patch of black ice. We skidded off the road. I was thrown out of the car on impact and ironically, it saved me. I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt. Can you believe that? I only have a few scratches but Henry…”

Rachel knew exactly how the other woman felt. Sometimes fate was a monster, claiming people before it was their time. She hoped it wasn’t Jimmy’s time. She hoped it wasn’t Brady’s time either. She needed the two most important men in her life to survive.

Bailey asked, “Who are you here for?”

“My son. Leukemia. And my… well… his father’s here to do a bone marrow transplant.”

The woman squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry to hear about your son.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sure everything will turn out all right. Just like my Henry’s going to be fine. We’ve been married twenty-five years. He’s my soulmate. I couldn’t live without him.”

Rachel smiled through tears. “Brady, my son’s father… well… things are complicated.”

“Unfixable?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had enough time with him…”

“When he makes it through the surgery, don’t wait to tell him how you feel. Life’s too short for petty arguments.”

“It’s more than just a petty argument.”

Bailey shrugged. “If he didn’t kill anyone, then it’s fixable.”

Rachel realized that she didn’t really know what had happened in Afghanistan. Not that it mattered; he was only doing his duty. But he’d alluded to something bad happening and she hoped he’d be able to talk to her about it. She wanted to know everything about what had happened to him during the four years they’d spent apart.

She sighed. “I’ll talk to him. I think we can work things out. I just hope he makes it.”

Bailey nodded.

Both women looked up as a silver-haired doctor walked into the room. The man held his scrub cap against his chest. The look in his eyes told them everything they needed to know.

Bailey screamed. Her face turned a deathly shade of gray. The doctor rushed forward to catch her as she slid to the floor.

“I need help in here,” he yelled.

Two orderlies ran in and helped him lift Bailey back into the chair. Rachel stood to get out of their way. She backed away from the horrifying scene, wondering if she’d be the next woman to pass out in this room. Blood pounded through her ears to drown out the wailing woman’s ear-splitting screams. Twenty-five years. One fateful patch of black ice. And gone. Life was so fragile.

Rachel stared at the doctor as her vision narrowed as if encapsulated by a dark tunnel. She couldn’t pass out now. Dr. Landry could be coming in at any moment to give her good news. She couldn’t give up hope this easily. Death couldn’t come to take her son and Brady too, could he? Was he that merciless?

A loud alarm pierced the relative silence. In the corner of the room, a bright blue light flashed. She stared at it, somehow knowing that it was warning her. But of what? She couldn’t think. The whole world had become a haze of light and sound.

But in an instant, her senses sharpened in a rush of screeching alarms and screaming nurses.

“Code Blue to OR one. Code Blue to OR one.”

***

Rachel jumped up as Dr. Landry rushed into the waiting room. “We have a huge problem. I need you to put this on and come with me.”

After slipping into a blue hospital gown and stuffing her hair into a blue surgical cap, Rachel ran through the OR doors. “What happened?”

Dr. Landry yelled over her shoulder. “We’d just finished the bone marrow harvest. He’d almost shifted a few times, but we just kept pushing more sedation. Apparently his metabolism is too high when he shifts because he resisted the last dose. He shifted.”

The doctor shoved a door open to reveal an operating room. Droplets of blood littered the formerly pristine tile. Instrument trays rested on their sides and scalpels littered the floor. The shrill beep of a flat line rang through the room.

In the corner, an enormous grizzly bear stood with his back to the wall. His brown fur stood on end. Saliva dripped from his wide-open mouth. The second he spotted her, he roared.

When Rachel tried to step closer, Dr. Landry grabbed her upper arm. “Wait. He’s dangerous. When bears shift, they’re completely unpredictable. He might attack you.”

“I can handle it. Where’s my son?”

“He’s in OR two.”

“Is his surgery done?”

“No.”

Rachel whirled to face the doctor. “Go. I can handle Brady.”

Dr. Landry hesitated. Two security guards rushed into the room, guns drawn. Rachel jumped in front of them. “Don’t shoot.”

Dr. Landry yelled, “There’s oxygen in here. If you shoot him, we’re all dead.”

The guards stood down.

One asked, “Tasers?”

“Only if she can’t get him to shift,” Dr. Landry said while pointing at Rachel.

The guard’s eyes went wide. “He’s a shifter?”

Rachel watched as he narrowed his gaze. A tremor of fear raced down her spine. In an instant, she knew that if she couldn’t get Brady to shift back, they’d kill him. Guns or not, they’d find a way. The malice in their eyes clamped steel bindings around her heart. She struggled to breathe. The consequences for what she was about to do could be deadly.

“Get out,” Rachel snapped.

The guards glared.

Dr. Landry said, “Please come outside and guard the door. If he escapes the room, then do whatever it takes to capture him. But don’t kill him.”

Rachel swallowed as the guards left the room.

Dr. Landry said, “I have to get the bone marrow to your son. If I don’t do the transplant soon—”

“Go!”

Dr. Landry turned on her heel and raced out of the room.

Alone with the bear, Rachel took a tentative step forward. “Brady? Honey, it’s me.”

The bear answered with another powerful roar.

“I need you to stay calm.” She wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince more, him or herself.

As she inched closer, he pawed at the ground, leaving a trail of deep scratches in the tiled floor. The scraping sound of nails on a chalkboard accompanied each swipe of his paw.

“Brady, I know you’re in there. You need to control your bear. The procedure is done. The doctors are gone and they won’t hurt you anymore. But you need to return to your human form.”

The bear rose up on his back paws and sniffed the air. She hoped he’d recognize her scent. She hadn’t been in the presence of his bear in years and the animalistic side of himself might not remember her.

He turned in a circle, revealing a long gash in his back. A thick patch of gauze covered most of the surgical site, but a corner had ripped lose. A viscous mat of blood saturated his fur. Thick drops of fresh blood landed on the tile near his paws.

She had no idea how to reach him, so she just said anything that came to mind. “Remember the time we went out to Old Faithful to watch the full moon rise? We saw that moon rainbow in the geyser’s mist and thought it was the most magical moment of our lives. That night, you kissed me for the first time. Bright stars twinkled in the sky. The ground was covered in shimmering snow. It was so silent. We felt like we were the only two people left in the world. Do you remember that night?”

The bear cocked his head to one side, as if trying to remember.

Encouraged by his changing demeanor, she continued, “I wanted to make love under the stars, but I was too afraid to tell you. I was a virgin and so incredibly shy that I thought I was going to faint when you kissed me.”

The bear dropped to all fours and sat back on his haunches.

“It took me another two weeks to summon enough courage to kiss you again. But when I did, I wanted to kiss you forever.”

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Brady, come back to me. I need you. Your son, no…
our son
needs you.”

The bear’s fur slowly receded. His paws transformed into hands and feet. His body cracked and twisted as bones retracted and reformed.

Rachel stood in awe as the powerful beast morphed into the man she couldn’t help but love. She raced forward as he collapsed onto his side.