Chapter 59 Evan Wakes Up
Evan awakened several times along the trail and muttered some directions to Casey that were unintelligible, and then he drifted back off. The blow to his head was still working on him. As far as Casey knew, the quaky bark might even be a part of the cause of him fading in and out. He had never studied the truth behind the use of it for a pain reliever; he just knew that it worked. It could be that a large amount might be harmful to a guy. He worried over that, along with looking back to see that Evan was still securely fastened in the saddle as he worked his way back up the trail. Lucy and Sam trailed along beside Cherry, looking up at their master every few paces to make certain that he was still there.
A very groggy Evan was lolling about in the saddle, and he was being led along behind Casey’s horse by a cotton lead rope attached to the halter when the rest of the cowboys found them coming along the trail between Elk Creek and Brush Creek. They spoke little when they saw Evan’s condition and fell in alongside and behind the pair, creating a procession toward the ranch. “I’ll head down the Ridge Trail and meet up with the others and turn them back to the homestead,” one of the cowboys suggested. They all wanted to know the story, but at the moment, it was more important to make sure that they brought Evan down off the mountain and got him some medical care. The normal banter and quiet conversation of the cowboys was covered by a heavy blanket of silence as they worked their way along the trail.
Some of his trip off the hill and to the hospital was clear in Evan’s mind, and other parts of it were completely lost. He still had the headache, but much of the pain was dulled by heavy medication, which had made him sleepy. He had heard Casey telling the cowboys what little he knew about Evan’s accident in a low tone, but only Bob was sitting in the hospital room, dozing when he came to. His head snapped up, and he cleared his sleepy eyes as he heard Evan stir. “How are you feeling?” his deep voice thundered, although he tried to speak in a low tone. The rich quality of his voice wasn’t conducive to whispering or quiet speech.
“I’ve been better, but I think I’ll pull through,” he replied.
“He’s alive then,” Ryan’s voice called out as he came into the room with two cups. The hot coffee inside was releasing steam into the air, and Evan could smell the fresh brew.
“You have another one of those?” he asked.
“Hell, take mine, Evan,” Bob said. “I’ll go grab another one. I need to stretch my legs a little.”
“You go ahead, Bob,” Ryan said. “I’ll keep him tied down.”
The stiffness of years of riding and likely several hours in the chair beside Evan’s bed caused him to wince a little as he arose from the chair. Bob slipped out of the room in search of coffee.
“He sat here with you all night,” Ryan said.
“All night?” Evan asked. “You mean it's...”
“Damned near noon, boy,” Ryan grinned. “You’re burning daylight.”
“Where’s Casey?” he asked. “I need to thank him. He damned sure took good care of me.”
“Casey was here all night, too, but he said he had to go run an errand and he’d be right back,” Ryan answered. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been a hell of a lot better, but I’ll be alright,” he said. “How soon do they plan on letting me out?”
“You just now woke up, Evan,” Ryan scolded. “Take a minute or two to rest.”
Evan considered for a minute. He had never liked being cooped up and hated hospitals worse than any other place. He did hurt a little, and though the pain killers were helping a good deal. “What all did they do to me?”
“Your ankle was pretty bad; they had to put a couple of pins in your arm to get it to set right. They’ve mostly been worrying over your head. With you slipping in and out of consciousness so much, they weren’t sure what was going on, but if you stay awake for a while, it will probably help them some. You have one hell of a lump on the back of your head.”
“Yeah, I can feel it,” he replied dryly.
“Do I need to get a hold of Alexandra?” Ryan asked quietly. “I didn’t even know that she left until I went to look her up after I found out about your accident.”
“I don’t have any way of contacting her,” Evan admitted. He looked down at his hand and tried to avoid Ryan’s eyes. He hadn’t thought of Alexandra while he was flashing in and out of consciousness. He felt a little bit guilty about it. He felt some burning desire to keep pushing himself and to fight through the darkness, but he couldn’t recall any thoughts about her.
Ryan saw the expression on Evan’s face and realized that he had hit a painful chord. It wasn’t his usual manner, but he plunged ahead anyway. “You two seemed pretty tight. I figured things were pretty good between you two.”
“She went on to Glendale,” Evan replied. “She had a fiancé there.”
“Ah,” Ryan said. He wanted to pry a little more, but he kept his mouth shut. Evan would tell him what he wanted him to know in due time. He watched Evan’s face. Not all of the pain that was registered there was from his physical injuries; there were a lot of emotions hammering around in there, causing nearly as much, if not more, pain than his broken bones.
“She was pretty special, wasn’t she?” Evan said.
“Yes, she was,” Ryan responded. He waited a moment for more from Evan. When nothing else was forthcoming, he spoke again quietly. “I sure liked her.”
“Me too,” Evan said. His mind wandered off to the rides that they had taken together. He thought of how they chased the herd of elk, how scared she was that first time, and then how her face was lit up brighter than the sun when they rode together right before she drove away. He had spent nearly all of the day before thinking about his past and his relationship with Grace. He had begun to recognize that his luck with relationships may not have been so damned good. He was too eager to please and too quick to jump in with both feet. It would be better if he could just put both of them completely out of his mind and simply go on with his life.
The medication was making him drowsy, and as much as he fought to stay awake, the last thoughts that he had before he faded off to sleep again were of Alexandra looking up into his eyes as they were making love. It was as sweet a memory as he had ever had. He never even took a sip of the steaming cup of coffee on the tray table beside his bed.