The Best Catch in Texas

There was a moment’s pause and then he said, “My patient is demanding to see you. Seems you’re his favorite doctor and he won’t trust me to treat him unless you’re here. I tried to explain—”

“Who’s the patient?” Nicolette interrupted him again.

“Dan Nelson. He’s—”

Dan Nelson was ninety-one years old and had worked as a wrangler for the Sandbur until he was in his mideighties. He was a prickly pear of an old man, but she adored him. “Yes, yes, I know the man. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Wait, Nicolette. Driving to the hospital might not be necessary. Talking to him over the phone might work,” Ridge told her.

“He’s more important to me than that,” she said curtly.

There was another short pause and then he said, “All right, I appreciate your help. And by the way, I’m at the county hospital.”

“I’ll find you.”

Nicolette dropped the phone on its hook and scurried from the bed.

As she hastily grabbed clothes from the closet, she groaned out loud. Meeting Ridge Garroway in the middle of the night was the last thing she wanted to do. But Dan needed her and she was a medical provider first, a woman second.

As long as she could keep that fact in the back of her mind, she could meet the new doctor head-on and never suffer the slightest heart murmur.

Twenty minutes later Nicolette wheeled her car into the hospital parking lot and hurried inside. At the double elevators, she smashed the up button, and as she waited for a door to open, she hurriedly jerked a white lab coat over her shirt and jeans and fastened the buttons.

Once she reached the third floor, where most of the internal medicine patients were located, she hurried toward the nurses’ station, where several women were clustered behind a tall counter.

Bess, an older nurse sitting at a computer located directly behind the counter, looked up at Nicolette with faint surprise. “P.A. Saddler, is that you?”

Nicolette unconsciously lifted a hand to her long hair. She’d not taken the time to fasten it with a barrette or even a rubber band and now it was flying around her shoulders. Her face was bare of makeup and she realized she must look very pale and very unprofessional, but her appearance was the last thing she was worried about at the moment.

“It’s me, Bess, I’m looking for Dr. Garroway. Is he on the floor?”

Bess nodded. “Last I saw he was down at room 301 with a Mr.—” she glanced at a clipboard with a list of patients’ names “—Mr. Nelson.”

“Thanks.”

From the nurses’ station Nicolette made a quick turn to the left, which would take her down an east wing. She was almost to the private room when Dr. Garroway suddenly stepped out in the corridor.

He smiled and waved. Nicolette swallowed hard and hurried toward him.

“How is he?” she asked before he had a chance to say a word.

The apprehension on her face caused the doctor’s brows to lift. “Are you close to Mr. Nelson?”

“I’ve known him since I was a very small girl. He worked for my family for more than fifty years. Of course I’m close to him. I love him.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. Nicolette had not been asking for any comfort from the man, but she realized the strength of his touch was very steadying and, at the moment, very welcome.

“Relax. I think Mr. Nelson is going to be fine. That is, if he’ll allow me to treat him. He needs a shot of diuretics to reduce the fluid in his lungs, but he won’t agree to let me or the nurse give it to him.”

A sigh of relief rushed past Nicolette’s lips. “I know his heart isn’t the best in the world. I was afraid he’d suffered an attack.”

“No. Nothing like that. Right now this is mainly a pulmonary problem.”

Nodding that she understood, Nicolette grimaced. “Years of unfiltered cigarettes,” she explained, then added, “I’ll see what I can do. He’s usually good for me.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Ridge said, then gestured toward the closed door.

Nicolette knocked lightly and stepped into the small room. One fluorescent light burned over the head of Dan’s bed, illuminating the older man’s wrinkled face. At the moment, his faded blue eyes were closed, but when she spoke they flew wide open.

“Dan? It’s me, Nicci,” she said softly. “How are you feeling?”

He held his hand out to her and motioned her to his side. Nicci hurried to him and clasped the bony hand between hers.

“Nicci, honey, I thought you’d never get here.”

She rubbed his arm and then passed her fingers over his damp forehead. “Well, I’m here now. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothin’s wrong! I’m just havin’ a little trouble breathin’. That damned old woman who thinks she’s my keeper thought I needed to come to the hospital. I’ve already told her I’m gonna fire her for this,” he muttered. “All I need is a good shot of bourbon. But she wouldn’t give it to me!”

In spite of the situation, Nicci had to hide her smile. “You’re talking about Opal? The lady that keeps house for you?”

“That’s her. Nosiest female I’ve ever seen.” He snorted, then pointed over her shoulder to where Ridge stood just inside the door. “And that young whippersnapper over there wants to jab me with a needle. He don’t know what I need. He’s still wet behind the ears!”

Nicolette rubbed her hand gently across Dan’s chest. “Dan, Doctor Garroway is trying to help you. And he does know what he’s doing. The shot will help your lungs.”

“Hmmp. Well, that stuff will make me go to the bathroom all night long. Nope—I won’t take it.”

The old man stubbornly shook his head, and Nicolette turned a stern look on him. “You will take it or I’ll get Mother in here after you,” she warned. “And you know she won’t be nearly as sweet with you as I’m being.”

He studied her through squinted eyes, then gave her a weak grin. “Honey child, you always were my little sweetheart. I guess if you say I need the shot, then I’ll just have to take it. I won’t like it, mind you, but I’ll take it. For you.”

“That’s my guy,” she said happily, then leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I want you to get well. That’s why you’re going to do everything Dr. Garroway tells you. Okay?”

He nodded and she placed one last kiss on his cheek before she straightened to her full height and motioned for Ridge to join her.

“If you have the diuretic with you, I’ll give it to him,” she told the doctor.

“The nurse took it back to the station.” He picked up the call button and quickly ordered the medicine back to Dan’s room. Once the RN returned with the prepared shot, Ridge instructed her to leave it with Nicolette.

Quickly, before the old wrangler had a change of heart, Nicolette injected him with the medicine and promised him she would be just outside the door if he needed her.

She and Dr. Garroway left the room and walked a short distance down the hall. Since it was long past regular visiting hours, the lights in the corridor had been dimmed and the hospital wing was quiet. Once they were far enough away from Dan’s door, Ridge paused and turned a grateful look on her.

“Thank you, Nicolette, for all this trouble you’ve taken. It’s ruined your night and I feel badly about that. But Mr. Nelson will get well much more quickly now. I could have badgered him into taking the shot, but I didn’t want to put added stress on the man. And I’m not too proud to ask for help when help is needed,” he added with a grin.

Apparently not, Nicolette thought, and the fact surprised her very much indeed. She’d figured that at his age, he would be a doctor who thought he walked on water and never needed help from anyone, especially from a mere physician’s assistant. It was nice to learn she’d been wrong.

“Don’t worry about it,” she assured him. “Dan pretends to be grouchy, but he really has a heart as soft as a marshmallow. I don’t think he’ll give you any more problems about medication now.”