This was insane, but it was a neat place that obviously had three animal-loving girls and needed a bit of help. Nothing major—not an overhaul, just a?—
“Help! Help! Somebody help me please. Please, are you still here, mister? I need help!”
Cam wasn’t sure which girl it was, but she was panicked, and when she started screaming, he came running out of that barn like a shot. Rosie barking and fighting desperately to get to the girl, too.
It was Sarah, and she was standing there, tears streaming down her face. “Bekka said to get help. Daddy fell. We can’t get him up. We can’t wake him up. You have to help.”
“Show me where.” He took her hand because she looked like she needed it, and he ran with her back inside.
Mitch was lying right at the beginning of the hallway leading back to the bedrooms and bathrooms, and he imagined the man’d had to go.
He tried not to move Mitch too much when he checked for his pulse, making sure he hadn’t thrown a clot or had an aneurysm or something and just popped right off.
It made him a little nauseated, but he was feeling a steady pulse under there. Mitch had passed right out. Hopefully he hadn’t hurt that damn back again.
“He’s gonna be all right, honey. I promise.” Cam looked at the other two girls who stood over their daddy crying. “I’m afraid to move him too much, though, until he wakes up. Somebody getme some pillows to put under his feet. Sarah, honey, can you get me some kind of blanket or something off the couch that I can roll up and put under his neck to make sure it doesn’t move?”
“I can do that.” Sarah disappeared like smoke.
“I’ll get the pillows.” Bekka leapt over her father like a gazelle.
The littlest one stood there, eyes huge. “Should I pray to Jesus? Is he dead? He can’t be dead. I never even got to meet my momma. He can’t be dead.”
Oh, Jesus Christ. “He is not dead. He was hurting, and he passed out. That’s all. He’s not dead, I promise.”
“Okay, you have to stay here. You can’t leave us alone, okay? You can’t leave us without a grown-up here. Bekka’s only a girl. She can’t be a momma.” The little one was hysterical, and Cam held out one hand to her.
“Come here, honey. It’s okay. I promise, it’s okay.”
She ran to him, face in his shoulder, sobbing to beat the band. This poor family. They needed help.
Momma, as irritating as she was, and as much as he hated to admit it, was right. They were in need, and he’d be damned if he let this baby girl be so frightened.
Bekka came running with pillows, and then Sarah came with a blanket and covered him up. They got everything settled about the time Mitch’s eyes fluttered open.
“Why am I on the floor?”
“Daddy! Daddy, you fell down.” Sarah’s eyes were huge. “You fell down and you scared us!”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to get up off the floor.” Mitch’s eyes met his, the man obviously confused for a second. “Cam? Can you help me up? I didn’t know you were still here. I had to go to the bathroom. Istillhave to go to the bathroom.”
“No problem, I can do that. All right, Miss Bekka, get the pillows up from under his feet so that we can get him up. He has to go use the facilities.”
Bekka’s eyes were huge. “If he stands up, is he going to fall back down? Did he break his back again?”
“I’m wearing my brace, baby. I didn’t hurt my back. I just fell. I stood up too fast. I’m sure.”
“It’s going to be all right. We got this. No worries.” He looked down at Rachel. “I’m gonna have to stand up now.”
She grabbed his leg. “You can’t leave though. Promise you won’t leave me here alone, and I can’t be here with just my sisters. We’re not grown-ups.”
“I’m fine,” Bekka answered, and Rachel turned on her, screaming.
“You can’t drive. You are not a grown-up. You are not a mommy!”
“Okay, all right, girls. Everybody breathe.” Mitch was staying calm and speaking to the girls, and Cam could see the exhaustion and the hurt there, but he kept it from them. “I fell. I’m fine. No one is going to leave you girls alone. Bekka is not a grown-up, but she is my best oldest daughter. Sarah, you are my best middle daughter. Rachel, you are my best baby girl. But I need to let Mr. Halley get me up so that I can go to the bathroom, and then we’ll talk about making a snack and everybody just sitting and having a breath. Okay?”
“Promise, Daddy. You promise you’re okay. Because you can’t die. Because I need you so bad.”
