ate dinner with his grandmother, and it was only after he left and was driving out to the ranch that he realized she had looked a little peaked. Or maybe it was just his imagination; Gloria had bustled around her kitchen as always, hadn’t she?
Will phoned the following evening, which was Friday. “Ellie’s got a quilting thing—some kind of craft show at the fairgrounds—tomorrow. She said to take the boys and go fishing, with her blessing.” Will chuckled. “Sounds like she’s looking forward to a quiet weekend.”
After they hung up Bram began gathering his camping and fishing gear. He grinned when he realized that he was probably as excited about the coming weekend as Will’s boys undoubtedly were. Nellie was in the house, sniffing the sleeping bags and fishing poles Bram piled on the floor in the middle of the living room, and it was apparent to Bram from the collie’s happy gyrations that she knew a fishing trip was in the making. Bram always took her along, and she wore herself out trying to herd chipmunks, squirrels and gophers. The boys would wear her out, too, but that was a two-way street, for Nellie wore them out, as well. Truth was, they would all have a great time.
Bram finally had everything in a pile, except for the food he would take with him. He’d get up early, pack the three ice chests with ice and food, and load his SUV. Then he’d drive over to Will’s house and pick up him, the boys and all their gear. Eyeing the mound of items, Bram was about to go for a down-filled jacket—just in case the weather changed over the weekend and it got cold—when the telephone rang.
He picked it up. “Hello?”
“Bram…oh my Lord…Bram, Gran’s on her way to the hospital. I found her—”
“Willow, slow down!” Bram’s heart leaped into his throat. “What happened?”
“She went upstairs early, and I figured something was wrong then. But I was busy with customers, and when I finally had a moment to check on her I found her on the floor. The ambulance driver said something about a stroke. I’m hoping he was only guessing, but oh, Bram…” Willow began weeping.
“Okay, take it easy. Have you called the rest of the family?”
“I called you first.”
“Good. I’ll leave for the hospital as soon as we hang up. You stay there and call everyone. They all should be told.”
“What about Great-grandfather? Should I try to reach him?”
George WhiteBear wouldn’t permit electronic gadgets in his small, simply furnished house on a hundred sixty acres of land about thirty miles southwest of Black Arrow, and that included a telephone. Reaching George by phone meant calling his closest neighbor and asking her to drive over to George’s place to pick him up and haul him back to her place. Annie McCrary would do it—she had in the past during family emergencies—but Bram was worried about imparting this kind of bad news over the phone to his aged great-grandfather. He made a decision.
“No, don’t call Annie. If it’s necessary, I’ll drive out to Great-grandfather’s place later on. See you at the hospital, Willow.” Bram put down the phone and hurried out to his SUV, relieved that he hadn’t already loaded it with camping gear.
He’d gotten out of his uniform the second he’d arrived home, which was standard procedure, and he was wearing faded jeans and a black, short-sleeved T-shirt. Thinking of nothing but Gran, and praying she was all right, he pushed the speed limit all the way to the hospital. He parked close to the emergency room entrance and ran from his vehicle to the door. Immediately he saw Coltons everywhere, all but taking up the entire waiting room. He went over to them.
“Do we know anything yet?” he asked.
He got teary answers from everyone. No one knew anything, except that Gran was in the emergency room. Thomas, a twin to Bram’s father and Gloria’s only living child, said, “Maybe they’ll let you in there, seeing as how you’re the sheriff and all.” Thomas had married Alice Callahan in 1969, and they had had six children. The way the waiting room was overflowing, Bram was pretty sure that every Colton in the area had come to the hospital.
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Bram said, and walked away. He simply pushed open the door that bore a Keep Out sign and then checked the curtained cubicles until he found Gran. A doctor and nurse were with her. Bram’s heart sank when he looked at Gran, whose eyes were closed. She looked small and old and gray, and at that moment Bram knew that whatever had befallen her was serious.
Dr. Vadella motioned for Bram to follow him, and he took him to a quiet corner of the ER. “She suffered a stroke, Bram. What we don’t know at this point is its severity.”
“But it doesn’t look good, does it? Is she going to be paralyzed? Is she going to live?”
Dr. Vadella looked him in the eye. “Bram, don’t ask me questions I can’t answer tonight. To be perfectly honest we won’t know the extent of the damage the stroke inflicted for several days, maybe longer. Look, I know the family is in the waiting room. Do them and yourself a favor and tell everyone to go home. Mrs. Colton is going to be taken to Intensive Care. We’ll start running tests tonight, but most of them will be done in the morning. The family can see her tomorrow in between tests, but only one person at a time and each for only a few short minutes.”
Bram looked away. His chest ached and his eyes burned. He wanted to take Gran from that gurney, carry her out to his vehicle and drive her home. She hated hospitals. Always said that people died in hospitals and no one was ever to bring her to one. He felt like a traitor because she was here, and he also felt the same kind of pain he’d suffered when his parents died, the kind of pain one couldn’t eradicate by good-intentioned doctors with common-sense explanations.
There was nothing Bram could do except long for the way things had been only hours before. Gran was now seriously ill and he had to leave her here. He brought his gaze back to Dr. Vadella.
“I’ll tell the family what you said. Thanks for talking to me.”
Nodding, Dr. Vadella left to return to his patient. Bram went out to the waiting room and his family. He knew now that the fishing trip was off and that he would have to drive out to Great-grandfather’s place and tell him that his daughter was in the hospital.
Life had fallen apart very suddenly, very quickly.
Chapter Two
Will and Ellie offered sympathy and any help Bram might need when he told them about Gran. There were so many Coltons, though, that assistance from anyone outside the family wasn’t likely to be needed. Still, the Mitchells’ gesture was heartfelt and genuine, and Bram appreciated their concern.
Bram put work and everything else out of his mind and spent almost the entire weekend at the hospital. The rest of the family came and went, each spending a few minutes in Gran’s room and hoping to hear some good news. Actually, there was no news at all, either good or bad. The doctors and nurses that Bram waylaid in the halls and in Gran’s room had only one message to impart: there would not be a credible diagnosis or prognosis until all of the test results came in, which would occur sometime on Monday or Tuesday.
Time had never moved so slowly for Bram. He drank too much bad coffee and worried. He walked the floors of various waiting rooms and worried. He sat slouched on one uncomfortable chair after another and worried. And he took only an occasional break from his self-imposed post to dash home to the ranch for a shower, shave and clean clothes.
He
