Page 12 of Raymond's Forever

“You’ve been here a month? Are you on vacation? Can you take that much time away from the office?”

“No, I work over at New Double, I might be taking on a legal case though.”

“Can you practice law here? What about your firm back home?”

“Sold it, I’m here now.” He held his hand to his side, like he was whispering, but talking in his normal voice. “I’m not saying this to alarm you, because I was alarmed myself, but my doctor told me I had to slow down, or I would be dead in five years. He said it was too much stress.”

“Dad, why didn’t you tell me? Are you okay now? Please tell me you didn’t have a heart attack.”

“I’m fine, I’ve lost eighteen pounds in the last month, and no, I did not have a heart attack, but I was heading in that direction.” He looked around and turned back to her with a grin. “Which one of those guys standing over there is your beau?”

“Dad,” Opal said as she blushed and looked over and waved someone over. “Dad, this is Denver, Denver, this is Dad.” They shook hands.

“Sir.”

“Denver, please call me Raymond.”

“Yes, Sir, ah, Raymond.”

“We’ll have to get together soon. Like I told Opal, I’m working over at New Double, I’ve been here for a month. My life back in North Carolina is dissolved. I’m here to stay.”

“May I ask what brought this on?” Denver asked.

“I’m not putting any pressure on either of you, but if you two decided to ever get married, and the kids start coming, I don’t want to live on the other side of the country to see them. Now, I’m just down the road.”

“That’s good news, Sir. I know Opal’s been wanting to see if you would come out for a visit.”

“Well, I’m here to stay.”

“Great news, Sir.” Denver shook his hand again, gave a mock salute, and walked away.

Raymond looked at his daughter with a raised brow.

“Yeah, he’s the strong silent type.” She laughed and hugged her father again. “What are you doing here? Not working for Riceman, but here at Broken?”

“Oh, this is Dr. Amelia Johnson.”

“Hey, you’re the new doctor that’s going to be working at Broken Two. When are you starting over there?”

“A week from Monday. I’m familiarizing myself with all the ranches today. This is Betty Laurel. If all goes well, she’ll be my nurse in a couple of weeks.”

“What field do you practice in?”

“General medicine and orthopedic surgeon.”

“Do you do OB/GYN?” She refused to look at her father. At the sound he made, she turned and shook her head at him. “No, I’m not pregnant, but Denver and I are talking about ditching the birth control. If it happens, it happens.”

“I don’t,” Amelia said.

“I’m a mid-wife,” Betty spoke then. She looked at Amelia and shrugged. “Not officially, I’ve been taking the classes on my days off, I’m about six months to a year away from getting all my credentials. When the time comes, I can see you as an OB.”

“We’ll talk,” Amelia said to Betty. “I’m not mad, I’m plotting,” she said with a gentle smile, and tapped the side of her head. “Remind us again what Broken Wheel does?”

“All the horses here were rescued from the slaughterhouses, or sometimes the police and the SPCA would contact Erin about an abused horse. They asked if she could foster them. Once the criminal case against the abuser was over, and the sentence handed down, Erin made a generous donation to the SPCA in order to be able to keep the horse. Nine times out of ten, these cases ended with the previous owner in jail, for a few months to years, told to pay a hefty fine, and they were unable to own an animal after being released from jail. If by some chance they didn’t get sent to jail, they were still ordered to never own any type of animal again. These horses were broken when they came here. So were we.” She lifted her left arm, and for the first time Amelia realized she was missing her arm above the elbow. Her face must have shown shock, or something, because Opal grinned.

“I want to say it wasn’t that bad, but it was a targeted hit, and not a military one. I was on leave when this happened. Maybe one day when you’ve been here for some time, I’ll tell you about it.” Opal whipped her head around and looked directly at her father. “Did you sell everything back home?”

“Yes, and I brought your things that you left there.”