One Night with a Cowboy (Paint River Ranch) (Entangled Indulgence) by Elizabeth Otto Read Free Book Online

there.
    “Hi mom, it’s Sophie.”
    Carla scoffed. “She’s not stupid, Sophie. She knows it’s you.” Carla patted her mom’s hands. “She’s probably just shocked to see you. It’s been a while, hasn’t it mom?”
    Sophie bit back a sharp reply. It was true. She’d wanted to visit more often, had even considered moving to Missoula during one of Carla’s guilt-tripping phone calls, but her jobs as paramedic and an occasional dance instructor left her little time. After being laid off, she’d been too emotionally strained to make the trip. Thinking of herself, she supposed, but making the long drive with all the noise in her head had seemed impossible and unsafe. But when Carla had called to say Violet was worse, it had changed everything.
    “I’m here for a bit, mom. I’ll come see you more.”
    Carla shot her a scalding look. “Don’t make her promises you can’t keep, Sophie!”
    Sophie straightened in her chair and tilted her head, her lips set defiantly. She was about to retort when Dr. Keen walked in with a file. Tall and willowy, Amy Keen had a calm presence and steady voice that fit her profession well. She pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose and smiled.
    “Morning, ladies,” she said. Her reassuring voice soothed Sophie’s frazzled nerves. Dr. Keen leaned over Violet with a big, warm smile. “Good morning, Miss Violet.” Violet made no response.
    “Carla, Sophie, let’s chat in the family room.” Sophie had met Dr. Keen several times during her visits here and had grown to admire the doctor’s honest, caring demeanor. The physician’s shoulders were set a little straighter as she walked them to the family room, her deep, bright smile less radiant than usual. A pang hit Sophie straight through the gut as the worried sensation she’d had earlier strengthened.
    Settled in the family room, Carla poured more coffee as the doctor laid the file open. “The results of Violet’s latest scan are here, and I’m afraid it’s not good news.” The doctor placed two gray and white images of Violet’s brain side-by-side on the table. “As you know, she has an inoperable blood clot here and a pinpoint aneurysm in her brain here. It’s been slowly leaking off and on, but has remained remarkably stable all this time. Except now it’s grown in size since her last scan.” Dr. Keen used a pen to indicate a small dark gray area on the first image. Then she pointed to the newest scan. The gray area was twice as large as the first. Sophie leaned in closer, dread multiplying in leaps and bounds at the image.
    “This dark area here shows how much brain tissue has died since her last scan four months ago. The doctor believes she’s had a stroke sometime in between then and now, and this damage here is the result.” The doctor pulled the pen back and looked at them both. Sophie couldn’t meet her eyes.
    “This area here,” she said, pointing to the new scan with one beautiful fingernail, “is the new bleeding from the enlarged aneurysm. So, what this all means is that the aneurysm is bleeding more than before, and her risk of rupture, massive stroke, or, at the very minimum, multiple mini-strokes, is very high.” Sophie attempted to set her coffee mug down, but her hand wouldn’t stop shaking and her arm refused to extend toward the table. Carla was silent, never a good sign. Sophie slid a sideways glance at her sister; her face was pale and drawn.
    Dr. Keen cleared her throat and continued. “We can’t say when a life-ending stroke or bleeding may happen. All we know is that it’s inevitable and, unfortunately, there isn’t any type of treatment that is going to make a difference. Keeping her comfortable is our main priority at this point. I’m very sorry.” A soft touch alighted on Sophie’s hand, but she couldn’t move her eyes from the floor to acknowledge Dr. Keen’s gesture. Inevitable. Of course it was; they’d known that all along. But there was always hope that