Chapter 19

As Cotton and Daniel rode through the horrible weather, the rain gradually abated, improving visibility.

“Where is he?” Daniel asked, riding closer to his uncle.

“Not far from your ranch.”

“How do you know this?”

Cotton glanced at Daniel. “The spirit that visited me tonight told me.”

Daniel frowned and shook his head.

Cotton’s expression darkened over his nephew’s disbelief. “You will see that I am right.”

He urged his horse faster, the need to find Wheels driving him onward.

“Uncle! There is a horse in the road ahead!”

Cotton saw a horse standing off to the right side of the road and slowed his mount. The other horse whinnied and trotted over to them.

Daniel said, “It’s Flash.”

Flash returned to where he’d been standing and pawed the ground. Dismounting, the men went to him and saw the inert figure lying on the ground.

“Wheels!” Daniel dropped to his knees and shook his friend’s shoulder gently.

Cotton had also knelt and ran his hands over Wheels. When he came to Wheel’s left shoulder, he felt the unnatural bulge in it. “His shoulder is dislocated. We need to put it back before we move him.”

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know how.”

“I do. I’ll tell you what to do.”

Cotton guided Daniel through the process of reducing the dislocation. Daniel grimaced slightly at the grinding in Wheels’ shoulder and the popping noise when it went back into the socket, but he watched everything Cotton did, committing it to memory. It was a good skill to have, he reasoned.

Cotton finished and stood up. Flash had been hovering close and Cotton made him stand still. He helped Daniel lay Wheels over Flash’s back. They lashed him to the horse and slowly headed for the Lone Wolf ranch.

Someone pounded on the Ellis’ door and Nora flew to answer it even though it wasn’t her house. She’d been pacing, unable to sit down. Wheels should have been home hours ago, but he hadn’t arrived. The storms had finally ended, but her husband hadn’t shown up. Dread filled her as she pulled open the front door.

Her eyes widened, and her heart throbbed painfully at the sight of Brock on the other side of the threshold. She beckoned him inside, her eyes searching his face intently. He wore his deputy’s face, which didn’t comfort her any.

“Where’s Wheels?” she asked.

The rest of the adults had arrived in the parlor, looking expectantly at Brock.

“He’s up at the hospital. I’d have called from there, but the telephone lines are down. Vin’s working on him.”

“What happened?” Nora asked.

“Near as we can tell, he got caught in a tornado that went through out near our place. He’s alive, but not in great shape.” Brock called on his professional detachment to continue. “Cotton and Daniel found them on their way out to their place. His left shoulder was dislocated, but they got it back into place. Scrapes and whatnot. He was still unconscious when I left the hospital a few minutes ago.”

“Take me there,” Nora demanded, desperate to get to her husband.

Brock nodded.

Carl said, “Mama, Daddy, you go on with Nora. Call us when you know more.”

They promised to do that and left with Brock.

Dr. Vin Ellis rubbed his tired eyes and made one more notation in Wheels’ chart. He handed it to a nurse, looked at his nephew, and sighed. He’d seen him look better, but at least he was alive. Then he went out to the waiting room to face the rest of his family.

“Hello, everybody,” he said, spying them off to the side.

Nora and her in-laws stood up. Johnny and Ray had also come to the hospital and joined them.

Vin’s dark eyes reflected the gravity of the situation and his frustration. “Cotton and Daniel did a good job putting his shoulder back in place. He’s most likely got a concussion and he’s full of scrapes and cuts. His left ankle is broken, but that’s the least of his worries since he can’t feel it. It was a simple fracture and I cast it.

“It should heal fine. Honestly, I don’t know any more than that because he hasn’t woken up. I can’t determine if there’s been any further damage to his spine or not. His back looks fine outside of being scraped up, though. We won’t know anything else until he comes to. C’mon with me.”

He led them back to Wheels’ room. Nora rushed to his side, putting a hand to her mouth over his bedraggled appearance. Scrapes and bruises covered his arms and his left temple had also been bruised. Nora could only imagine what other injuries lie beneath his sleepshirt and the covers.

Gingerly, she took his right hand, noting the bandages that covered his forearm. Then she pulled the bedside chair over and sat down, taking his hand again.

“I’m staying right here,” she announced.

Susan nodded approvingly. “I think it’s only right. After all, you are his wife.”

A silent understanding passed between the two women. Even more than on the day of their wedding, this was a symbol that Nora had become the most important woman in Wheels’ life, and Susan had just passed the baton to Nora.

Vern hid a smile, knowing exactly what had just occurred.

As she looked at her youngest son, Susan’s mind replayed the memory of his birth, how he’d been impatient to come into the world, arriving a month early. He’d been in a hurry most of his life, including when he’d been a baby. Walking early, grasping abstract concepts and talking sooner than many babies.

Although her other two children had good senses of humor, Wheels was their funniest child. He’d always been an instigator, getting his siblings in trouble by coaxing them into being accomplices in whatever mischief he’d thought up.

He’d been an excellent student, particularly in mathematics and science, learning with ease. Watching him grow had been a joy. He’d gone from an adorable child to a tall, handsome man in what seemed like the blink of an eye to Susan. She felt the same way about all her children.

Since Vin gave the family permission to stay for a little while, a couple of other chairs were brought in for them to sit on. Susan sat down, her gaze settling on Nora, who sat holding Wheels’ hand. The love and worry in Nora’s expression only reconfirmed her good opinion of her daughter-in-law.