SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH (16 page)

Chapter 25

Loren slowed her horse to a walking pace when the barn was no longer in her sight.  Dakota was hot and sweaty from the workout that she had just put him through.  She felt a pang of guilt for having ridden him so hard without regards to his own safety, but at the time all she could think of was that she had to get as far away from them as possible.

She could see now that she had set her hopes too high when it came to Sam.  He had just been using her all along and she had been too blind to see it.  Maybe she should just put the ranch up for sale and move back to Atlanta.  If she did it quickly, she wouldn’t even have to tell Sam about the baby.

Loren was kind of worried about what her parents were going to say, but when it was all said and done, she knew without a doubt that they would welcome her home with open arms.  There really wasn’t much one could do to fix a situation like this, but at least she could count on them to help her sort things out and do what was best for the baby.

Tears had started to stream down her face as her anger began to subside and hurt took its place.  This isn’t how things were supposed to turn out.  If only she could turn back the hands of time and start over.

There was a rustling noise coming from the bushes up ahead.  Dakota’s ears stood to attention, trying to distinguish if the noise was
a threat to them or not.  Loren’s sobs had become so loud at one point, that she had probably unintentionally alerted every wild animal roaming around in the area.

The horse
was becoming more fidgety the closer they came to the noise.  Following her gut instincts, Loren decided it would be best to turn around and go back the way she had just come.  The last time that her horse had acted this way, they had encountered a mountain lion.  She had no desire to repeat that same scene again, especially by herself.

Before she could get her horse turned completely around, she heard another horse approaching.  It sounded like it was in a dead run, coming straight towards her.

It had to be Sam, but why would he come after her?  Loren kicked her horse hard in an attempt to run away from him, forgetting that she was supposed to be riding away from possible danger instead of riding towards it. The rustling in the bushes up ahead was long forgotten.  All she was concerned with at the moment was getting away from Sam.  Loren didn’t want to see him or talk to him.  It was over between them and there was nothing more to say anyway.

“Loren, please stop!” Sam yelled.

“Leave me alone.  I hate you!” she screamed back at him.

In Loren’s haste to get away from Sam, she did not see the small bear cub that had ran out into the path of her horse with a mother bear quick on its heels.

When the mother bear caught sight of Loren and her horse running towards her cub, she stood on her hind legs and roared at them.  She was certain that if she tried, she could probably count every sharp tooth that the bear insisted on showing her as it continued to roar.  She didn’t even want to think about its razor sharp claws that could rip her flesh to shreds, should she get close enough.  As bad as the situation was, she knew that the bear was only trying to protect her cub.

She pulled back on the reins so hard that her knuckles turned white, causing Dakota to stop with a hard jolt.  Loren fell forward in the saddle, causing her body to slam into the saddle horn.  The contact caused a searing pain in her stomach.

Lord please let the baby be okay,
she silently prayed.  She released her tight hold on the reins giving Dakota his head.  Without any warning, he reared on his own hind legs, which caused Loren to lose her seat.  She hit the ground with a hard thud.

Before she could get to her feet, Sam was by her side.  Her lower abdomen was cramping so bad, that she didn’t protest to his help when he picked her up to move her to safety.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest and continued to pray that the baby would be okay.

Sam quickly carried her to a safe distance and sat her down on the side of the trail.  “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she replied.  She felt the threat of t
ears at the backs of her eyes at the thought of losing the baby.

“I’ve got to see to the horses,” he said.  Then he turned his attention back to the commotion still going on up ahead.  The best that Loren could tell, the
bear was still roaring and Dakota was dancing around acting like a crazed horse.

She closed her eyes trying to block out the stabbing pain that continued to spread across her abdomen and then around to her back.  The pain was getting so excruciating, that she felt like she was going to pass out.  But just as she was about to give in to the black abyss that awaited her, a shot rang out bringing her attention back to the reality of this nightmare.

Loren opened her eyes just in time to see the bear with its cub disappearing back into the woods.  Sam had fired a round of shots into the air to scare them off.  Now he was busy trying to calm the horses.

The way that he handled the horses was amazing.  Loren watched him in awe, wishing he was her Cowboy.  But the ugly truth was that he belonged to someone else and the sooner she accepted that the better off she would be
.

Sam led the horses over to where she was sitting and held Dakota’s reins out to her.  Doing her best to hide the stabs of pain that refused to go away, she stood and took the reins from his hands.  But before she could mount up, a searing pain over took her and she doubled over.

Her muffled cry alerted Sam that something else was wrong.  He immediately went to her aide again.  “What’s wrong?” he asked.  She could see the worry in his eyes, in the moment right before she passed out.  The blackness claimed her body and mind as if it owned her very soul.

Sam was able to break her fall as she fell limp against him, causing them both to fall to the ground.  “Loren, wake up,” he
pleaded, as he shook her.  She remained unconscious through his efforts to revive her.  He breathing appeared to be normal and he didn’t find any broken bones.

Once he was able to get to his feet, he put her on his horse and mounted up behind her.  Sam placed one arm around her waist
pinning her against his chest so that she wouldn’t fall off the horse.  Then he gathered the reins in his other hand and kicked his horse into motion.  Dakota followed along behind them.

“Hold on Loren, it w
on’t be much longer now,” Sam said, as the barn came into view.  Loren was still unconscious, but he was willing her to hear him.

Stephanie came running out of the barn at the sound of the a
pproaching horses. She instantly knew something was wrong when she saw Loren was on Sam’s horse with him and her horse was following along behind them.  She ran back in and grabbed Sam’s keys off his night stand and then hurried to get the truck started.

Sam quickly jumped off his horse, then lifted Loren off the horse and placed her in the cab of the truck.  He was surprised to see that Stephanie was still at the ranch, then he remembered that she had left her car at the bar last night after picking him up.

Well, he didn’t have time to drop her off now; she would just have to make the trip to the hospital with them or stay at the ranch until he got back.  He didn’t care which; he just knew that he had to get Loren some emergency care as soon as possible.

Chapter 26

The drive to the hospital had been slow and treacherous with the fresh snow on the ground.  A few roads in the city had been cleared, but the secondary roads remained covered in some areas.

Sam parked the truck on the curb outside the Emergency Room Entrance and ran in to give the nurse a quick briefing on what had happened.

The nurse on duty immediately jumped into action alerting the correct hospital
personnel to aid in getting Loren moved from the truck to a stretcher.

Just as Loren was wheeled through the double doors, Dr. Kim came running towards them.  Luckily she had been at the hospital making some rounds with a few of her other patients when she heard the emergency call come over the intercom.

“What happened?” she asked Sam.

Sam gave Dr. Kim a short version of what had happened, leaving out the details of their
argument.  He really didn’t feel like that much information would be relevant to the situation anyway.

While
Loren was rushed into a room to be examined, Sam and Stephanie were directed a short distance down the hall, to a nearby waiting room to wait for news from Dr. Kim.

Sam paced the floor, running his hands back and forth through his hair, while Stephanie remained seated in a chair over in a deserted corner.

Time had seemed to tick by so slowly.  Stephanie finally got to her feet to go in search of some coffee right about the same time that Dr. Kim entered the waiting area.

“How is she?” Sam
immediately asked, rushing up to meet her.

“She is going to be fine, but we have some internal bleeding that we need to get stopped.  Loren is being prepped for surgery as we speak,” Dr. Kim replied.

“Are you sure she is going to be alright?”

“Yes, Sam.  I
’m confident that she is going to be fine.  The surgery shouldn’t take too long and then she will have about another hour in recovery after that,” Dr. Kim reassured him.  “You should go home and get some rest, maybe clean up a bit, you smell like a brewery.  By the time you get back she should be up to seeing visitors.”

Sam watched Dr. Kim’s retreating back and she made her way back down the hall towards the operating room, and then disappear behind the double doors.

“Do you want some coffee?” Stephanie’s voice was a reminder of why all this had happened in the first place.  He was trying hard to control his temper and not be angry with her.  After all, this whole ordeal was part his fault too.

“No thank you,
but we do need to figure out how to get you home.” Sam said.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”  Sam could hear the pleading in her voice.

“I am not sure it would be a good idea for you to be here when Loren wakes up,” he replied.

Tears welled up in Stephanie’s eyes.  She knew that Sam didn’t want her here, but it was just so hard to really let go.  By the time that she had re
alized that she still loved him it was too late.

Anger replaced her hurt and Stephanie decided to pull the last straw that she had left.  If this didn’t work then Sam w
ould be lost to her forever.

Stephanie took a deep breath.  “Fine, I will call a cab to
take me home, but before I go, there is something that you should know.”

“
What is it?” he asked, sounding irritated.

“I need to talk to you about Jordan,” she said.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he is fine.  It’s just that what I need to tell you may come as a shock and I don’t want you to be mad.”

Sam looked confused.  What could she possibly tell him about Jordan that would make him mad or even shock him? He really was clueless this time.  He stood there and waited for her to say what was on her mind.

“Remember
a few years ago when I came home for a visit and well, we spent some time together?”

Sam had truly forgotten about that time. 
It just happened to be another one of those times when he had been too drunk to drive and Stephanie had come to his rescue.  He wouldn’t necessarily call that spending time together.

“I vaguely remember it,” he said.  “What does that have to do with Jordan?”

“Jordan is your son, Sam.”  Stephanie watched for a reaction to her words, but he just stared at her with a blank expression.

Sam felt like the life had been knocked out of him.  He found that he didn’t even know what to say.  Hell, he didn’t even know how to respond.  So he just sat there and looked at her with disbelief.

“Hey you guys!” Missy’s familiar voice rang into the room, announcing her presence.  “How is Loren, is she going to be alright?” she asked.

Sam struggled to find his voice as he stood up to receive the hug that she offered to him.  “Dr. Kim says that she has some internal bleeding, but once they get that stopped, she should be fine
.”

Hal and Jordan came into the room a few minutes later. 
Both full of questions about what had happened.  Hal had heard about the accident as it blared across the police scanner, in which Missy always said was a nuisance and a waste of good hearing.

Sam found it hard to not stare at Jordan, looking for some kind of resemblance.
  His eyes met Stephanie’s and instantly knew they were thinking about the same thing.  How were they ever going to work this out?  If what she said was true, then he had responsibilities to Jordan.

But then he had to wonder what this meant for him and Loren.  Would she be able to accept that he had a son with Stephanie?  His worried thoughts quickly turned back to angry thoughts when he thought about the secret that Stephanie had kept from him all these years.  Not only did she keep the secret from him, she had
lied to Jordan and let him think someone else was his father.  Then he had to ask himself how Jordan was going to take this news.  Sure he seemed to like him enough right now, but what would he think when he learned the truth?

“We are going to take Jordan down stairs to the snack bar
for some hot chocolate,” Missy said, interrupting his thoughts.  “Do you guys want to come along?”

Sam declined the invitation, stating that he wanted to be close by should Dr. Kim come out with news about Loren.  Hal remained behind with his friend.

As soon as the women were out of ear shot, Hal turned to Sam.  “So you and Loren are involved, aren’t you?”

Sam thought abou
t lying, but changed his mind.  “Yes we are or at least we were before this happened,” Sam answered.  “I am guessing that she will probably never speak to me again once she wakes up.”

“What do you mean?” Hal asked.

Sam tried to give Hal as brief of an explanation as he could about how he had become involved with Loren and then fell in love with her.  Hal had been his friend for a long time and he knew that he could trust him with his life, so he went on to tell him about what Stephanie had just recently told him about Jordan being his son.

“Are you sure you believe her?” Hal asked.

“Why would I not believe her?”  Sam was surprised that Hal would even question whether Stephanie had told the truth or not.  He hadn’t even given it a second thought that she could be making it up.

“Well, after all that you have just told me, I have to wonder if she is just pulling your strings trying t
o stall for more time.  People will sometimes do crazy, out of character things when they are desperate.”

“I will request a blood test and I know it sounds crazy Hal, but I do believe her. 
I have a hard time believing that even Stephanie would stoop that low.”

“So do you remember anything from back around that time that would give her story any credibility?” Hal asked.

“I remember her driving me home in a drunken state that night, and then she helped me into the house.  When I woke up the next morning, I was alone.  I could have sworn that we had made love, but when I called her and asked about it, she convinced me that nothing more than a little kissing had happened between us.”

“So you believed it had all been a dream or maybe wishful thinking.” Hal stated.

“Exactly!” Sam replied.

“Well my friend, I don’t envy you one bit.  You have some serious sorting out to do between yourself, these two women, and a son you didn’t even know you had,” Hal said.