Pregnant with the Rancher's Baby: Reclaimed by the Rancher

After giving the air-ambulance service the information and their location, Nate knelt down beside her and held her hand. “Stephenville Hospital is closer, darlin’. We could see a doctor sooner if you go there.”

She shook her head. “If I have to have surgery it might cause me...to go into labor,” she tried to explain. Breathless from the pain, she finished, “The hospital where I work has one of the...best neonatology units...in the state. It’s where our baby would have...the best chance of survival if she’s born because of this.”

“I give you my word that’s where I’ll make them take you,” he stated.

Jessie could tell by the determined look on Nate’s handsome face that if the paramedics tried to talk him into letting them take her to the nearest hospital in Stephenville, they would have a fight on their hands. And although that was normal medical protocol, she knew what she needed and didn’t want to waste the time being assessed by the medical staff in Stephenville only to be sent to Waco later anyway. That would be a huge waste of precious time and might prove to be too late for her or the baby—or both.

* * *

As soon as the helicopter took off with Jessie on board, Nate jumped into his truck and drove like a bat out of hell toward Waco. When he asked if he could go with them, he was told there wasn’t enough room. Although he hated being away from her, he understood. He wanted them to be able to do whatever needed to be done for Jessie and if that meant leaving him to get to the hospital on his own, then so be it. Fortunately, he had a friend who was a member of the Texas Highway Patrol and with one phone call to explain the situation and what he needed, Nate had a police escort from Beaver Dam all the way to the hospital’s parking lot.

Even though he made the drive in record time, when he ran into the hospital and up to the desk in the ER, he felt like it had been an eternity since he had watched the helicopter lift off from his ranch yard. “My...wife, Jessica Farrell was brought in a little while ago by helicopter,” he informed the older woman behind the desk. “She’s five and a half months pregnant and thinks she might have appendicitis.”

The woman nodded. “She’s in triage now and the trauma surgeon on call is with her. If you’ll please have a seat in the waiting area, the doctor will come out and talk to you as soon as he’s finished assessing your wife.”

Too keyed up to sit still, Nate stepped outside to make a quick call to his brother Sam to let the family know what was going on, then went back inside to stand just outside the double doors leading back to the examination rooms. He had lied to the receptionist about being married to Jessie, but he didn’t give a damn. Jessie was his woman, pregnant with his baby and he didn’t want to take the chance of them refusing to give him any information about her condition or allowing him to see her.

“Sir, I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the waiting room,” the older woman insisted when she noticed him stationed by the doors.

Walking back to the desk where she sat, he shook his head. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. My whole world is just beyond those doors and if I can’t be with her, then I want to be as close to her as I can get.”

The woman stared at him for a moment before she pointed to a spot close to where he had been standing. “Stand over there, son. You’ll be out of the way and as close as I can let you get right now.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure the doctor will be out soon to tell you what her diagnosis is and what they need to do to treat her.”

“Thank you,” Nate said, walking over to where the woman had indicated.

He could see through the small narrow windows on the doors, but he had no idea where Jessie was and his view was obscured by the drawn curtains of the cubicles. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he wondered what the hell could be taking so long. They needed to do something and soon.

Nate’s stomach drew up into a tight knot when he watched a man in blue scrubs and a white lab coat leave one of the cubicles and start walking toward the doors. Opening one of them, he asked, “Mr. Farrell?”

“The name’s Rafferty,” Nate said. “Jessica Farrell is my wife.” That was twice he’d lied in the past twenty minutes and two times more than he had in the past twenty years. But he wasn’t taking any chances of them not letting him know what was going on.

He briefly thought the doctor might question them having different last names. But the man didn’t even bat an eye. Of course, a lot of married women chose to keep their own surnames these days, so he probably didn’t think there was anything unusual about it.