The Rancher's Redemption

“Lizzie?”

“Adam!” She ran toward him, her face so anguished that he scrambled to get out of the cab to reach her. “Help me!”

“What’s up?”

“It’s Roman. He’s unconscious! I need to get him to Dr. Tio’s.”

“Where is he?”

She ran toward Gabby Kennedy’s house and he followed her through the front door, momentarily blinking at the sudden darkness as she kept going straight out into the yard.

Gabby was holding the boy in her lap. “I think he was stung.”

“Okay.” Adam gathered the boy up in his arms and checked his airway and breathing. Roman’s face and lips were already swelling up. “You call ahead, Gabby. Lizzie and I will take him.”

“Already done.” Gabby looked like she was about to burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Lizzie.”

Adam ran back to the truck. Lizzie climbed into the passenger seat, and he handed her the boy.

“Hold on to him. I’m going to go as fast as I can.”

“Thank you.” Lizzie’s voice was barely audible as she cradled her son’s head. “Neither Gabby nor I have a car here, so I didn’t know what to do. I was just about to pick him up and start running.”

“It’s all good,” Adam reassured her, his gaze everywhere as he tore down the narrow street, hazard lights blinking. Where was Nate Turner when you needed him? “We’ll be there in a minute.”

He swung into the parking lot behind Dr. Tio’s medical center, getting as close to the door as possible, shut off the engine, and ran around to help Lizzie get down.

Dr. Tio appeared at the rear door of the twenty-four-hour medical center, his cell phone clamped to his ear and waved at them. “Bring him right in.”

Adam took the boy from Lizzie and went through the door, aware that Roman’s breathing had deteriorated, and that the swelling was getting worse.

“Set him down here.” Dr. Tio immediately started checking Roman’s pulse as the nurse took his temperature and blood pressure readings. “Was it a bee sting?”

“Yes.” Lizzie nodded. “I think so. I’d just gone to pick him up, and he was playing in the yard. When I went out to get him, I heard him cry out, and he just dropped to his knees.”

Adam instinctively grabbed Lizzie’s hand as she faltered through her explanation, her voice shaking.

“I don’t suppose you got the bee, did you?” Dr. Tio asked as he stripped Roman down to his dinosaur print boxers.

“No. Does it matter?” Lizzie bit her lip.

“Not really.” Dr. Tio placed an oxygen mask over Roman’s mouth. “I’m going to give him a shot of epinephrine. Would you two mind stepping back a bit so Adrianna and I can work?”

Chapter Two

Lizzie found herself crowded back against the considerable bulk of Adam Miller, his big hands steady on her shoulders as Dr. Tio cared for Roman. Even though, at six-foot-four he was about a foot taller than her, she was glad of his support. Her own legs were shaking like Jell-O. Seeing her son drop to the ground had frozen her to the core—until panic set in, and she’d ended up flagging down the only man in Morgantown who consistently tried to avoid her.

Dr. Tio looked back at her and smiled. “He’s responding well to the epinephrine, and he’s about to wake up. Do you want to come up here and reassure him that everything’s going to be okay?”

Nodding like a fool, Lizzie went toward Roman, and tried to smile as he focused on her.

“Mommy?”

She patted his hand. “It’s okay, baby. You got stung. Dr. Tio is taking care of you. I’m going to stick around until he says it’s okay for me to take you home.”

“Okay.” Roman closed his eyes again. “I’m sleepy.”

Her anxious gaze flew to the doctor.

“It’s all right if he wants to sleep,” Dr. Tio said. “Adrianna is going to stay and monitor him until he’s ready to go home.” He smiled at Lizzie. “Why don’t you go through to the front and sort out the paperwork? I’ll call you back in once Roman is settled.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Lizzie said fervently. “Thank you so much.”