Beauty & the Beasts by Anne Weale, Janice Kay Johnson Page B

took an effort. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “you’re not here because of yourmother’s remarriage. I love you. I want to spend time with you. This is the only way I can do that. I know it’s not perfect. I know it would be a hell of a lot easier on you if your mother and I had stayed married. But we didn’t, so it’s this or nothing. I would have missed my father if he hadn’t been part of my life. I hope that, looking back, you’ll feel the same.” He went to the door. In exactly the same tone, he added, “Now, I’m going to put dinner on. Why don’t you unpack?”
    He was just opening the refrigerator when the phone rang. Snatching it up, he snapped, “Yeah?”
    “Dr. Bergstrom?” The voice belonged to one of two women who ran the extremely efficient message service the veterinary hospital used.
    He shoved the refrigerator door shut and leaned against it, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hi, Beth. What’s the bad news?”
    “Dr. Hughes is already out on a call and Jed Rice just phoned. His shepherd—you know, that big black one? She got hit by a car. She’s in a bad way, he says. He’s on his way to the clinic with her right now. Dr. Hughes is up almost to Darrington. She’d be nearly an hour even if she turned around now.”
    “Okay,” Eric said, resigned. As busy as he and Teresa were getting, maybe they needed to hire a young vet as an assistant. “Tell her to finish up there. If Jed phones in again, let him know I’ll meet him at the hospital in ten minutes.”
    A moment later he knocked on Garth’s door. No answer. He swore under his breath and went in.
    The suitcase still sat, untouched, where Eric hadleft it. Garth was sprawled on the bed, headphones on, eyes closed. For an instant Eric thought he was asleep, until he saw that Garth’s fingers drummed a beat on the bedcovers.
    “Garth.”
    The boy muttered some lyrics under his breath. His eyes remained closed.
    Eric shot a glance at his watch, then crossed the room and touched his son’s shoulder.
    Garth’s eyes opened. He yanked off the headphones and glared up at his father. “What?” he asked belligerently.
    “Can you get yourself something to eat? One of our clients is on his way into town with a dog that was hit by a car. I don’t know how bad it’ll be or how long I’ll take, but I’m guessing an hour minimum.”
    Garth jerked his shoulders. “Sure.” He settled the headphones back over his ears and added flippantly, “Have fun.”
    Anger churned in Eric’s stomach, but it was depression as heavy as a winter cloud cover that rode his shoulders as he drove to town.
    Jed had beaten him there. Eric unlocked the door, and the two men staggered under the weight of the huge shepherd as they carried her from the back of Jed’s canopied pickup into the hospital.
    She was bleeding and in shock, and one leg was obviously fractured. Eric started an IV, sedated her and took an X ray. The break was clean enough to set.
    “You’ll have to keep her off it,” he warned. “Itwon’t be easy. Start by planning to carry her up and down any stairs when she has to go outside. Somebody will have to watch her to make sure she doesn’t do too much. In a few days she’s going to want to put weight on the leg, and she shouldn’t.”
    The farmer, a brusque man in his early fifties, had his head bent as he stroked the big dog. “It’s okay, girl,” he murmured. Lifting his head, he said, “We’ll manage. Got the grandkids here for the month. They can take care of her. Bonanza here, she’s the wife’s baby. Well, hell.” He ducked his head. “Mine, too. Nicest dog we ever had. When they were tots, the grandkids climbed all over her. Won’t hurt ’em to pay back now. I can handle the trips outside.”
    “Then we’ll go ahead.” Eric reached for the razor to shave Bonanza’s foreleg.
    Two and a half hours had passed by the time he quietly let himself in the front door of his house. Hannah was waiting, and Eric