Jo Ann - The Amish Christmas Cowboy

He wasn’t sure he could hurt it worse. Each time he took a breath, stabs of pain danced around his ankle, setting every nerve on fire.

“I’m fine right here.” The idea of moving was horrifying.

“There’s a bench on the other side of the fence. You can sit there until the EMTs arrive.”

She didn’t give him a chance to protest. Squatting, she moved beneath his right arm, which she draped over her shoulders. The top of her kapp just missed his chin. She put her arm around him. With a strength he hadn’t expected, she assisted him to his feet. His face must have displayed his surprise.

“I’ve been wrangling four kinder , cowboy,” she said in an easy copy of his boss’s drawl. “One bumped-up cowboy is easy.”

“I’m sure it is.” He glanced at where the kids were watching, wide-eyed.

Why hadn’t she sent them into the house? He didn’t need an audience when he hopped along like a hobbled old man.

Pride is a sin. His daed’s voice ran through his head. Daed had always been skilled at preaching the dangers of hochmut . Maybe if he’d been a bit less judgmental, the family could have settled somewhere instead of continuously moving to another district.

Sharp pain coursed up his leg and down to his toes. Had he broken something? He didn’t think so. Was it only a sprain? Each movement was agonizing.

“It’s not far,” Sarah said.

To herself or to him? His weight must have been wearing on her slender shoulders, though she didn’t make a peep of complaint.

A scent that was sweet and woodsy at the same time drifted from her hair. She was careful to help absorb each motion as she helped him from the paddock and out onto the grass.

“This is far enough,” he said, panting as if he’d run across Texas.

“You’re right.” She hunkered down and let his arm slide off her shoulders.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“I’m okay.” She smiled, but her eyes were dim enough to confirm he was right. Her shoulders must be aching.

Toby was grateful when she waved the kinder aside and urged them to let him get some air. He thought they’d protest, but they turned as one when the distant sound of a siren resonated off the foothills, rising beyond the stable.

“They’re coming!” the older boy—Toby couldn’t recall his name through the curtain of pain—shouted.

The siren got louder moments before a square and boxy ambulance appeared around the side of J.J.’s trailer. The kids let out squeals of excitement, but Sarah hushed them. Had she guessed every sound reverberated through his throbbing ankle?

Two men jumped from the ambulance. Each one carried emergency supplies. Shouts came from the direction of the house, and Toby recognized his boss’s anxious voice.

What a mess he’d made of this! The boy he’d once been would have offered a prayer to God to bring him fast healing, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d reached out to God. He didn’t want to make that connection, either, remembering how his Heavenly Father seemed to stop listening to his prayers when Daed had moved them yet again before Toby had even finished unpacking the two boxes he took with him from one place to the next.

“Hi, Sarah!” said a dark-complexioned EMT who wore thick glasses. “What happened here?”

She explained and introduced Toby to the man she called George. The other EMT, a short balding man, was named Derek. They worked on the volunteer fire department with her brothers.

He didn’t want to know that. Everything she said, everyone she introduced him to, every moment while depending on someone threatened to make a connection to the farm and the community beyond it. To say that would sound ungrateful. He needed to focus on getting on his feet again so he could help with their next delivery.

As they knelt beside him, the two EMTs began asking him question after question. Ja , he replied, his right ankle hurt. No, he hadn’t heard a cracking sound when he stepped wrong. Ja , he’d stepped on it after feeling the first pain. No, it didn’t radiate pain except when he’d hopped to where he sat.

“Let’s get a look at it,” George said with a practiced smile. “Sorry if this hurts.”

That was an understatement. When George shifted Toby’s right foot and began to slip off his boot, the world telescoped into a black void of anguish sparked with lightning.

“Stay with us, Toby,” crooned Derek as he pushed up Toby’s sleeve and grabbed an IV needle and tube. “Slow deep breaths. Draw the air in and hold it and let it out. Nice and slow.” He kept repeating the words in a steady rhythm that was impossible not to follow.

The darkness receded, and the sunshine and the smells of animals and dirt rushed to awaken Toby’s senses.

“Back with us?” George asked.

“I think so.”

“Good. Breathe deeply. It’ll keep you from getting light-headed.” The EMT stuck the needle into Toby’s left arm.

Though Toby didn’t wince, he heard the kids groan in horror.

Sarah hushed them but gasped, “Oh, my!” when George rolled down Toby’s sock with care.

Her reaction was a warning, but Toby was shocked to see how swollen his ankle was. Twice its usual size, it was turning as purple as an eggplant.

“What’s happening here?” called J.J. as he reached the paddock with Mr. Summerhays in tow. Ned trailed after them like a half-forgotten pup. He must have gone inside to alert their boss to what had happened.

“A horse wanted to dance,” Toby replied with grim humor, “but he didn’t want me to lead.”

“Is he hurt bad?” J.J. looked past him to the EMTs.

“We’ll know when we get X-rays at the hospital,” George said.

“Hospital?” Toby shook his head. “Bind it, and it’ll be fine.”

“I didn’t realize you were a doctor, Mr. Christner.”

The kids giggled on cue, and Sarah smiled at the EMT’s jest. Yet, in her gaze, he could see her anxiety. He wanted to tell her not to worry about him, though he guessed he’d be wasting his breath. As much as she focused on the kinder , she might be the type to fret about every detail of every day.

The last kind of person he needed in his life.

If that was so, why did he keep thinking about how sweet it’d been to lean on her? She’d been strong and soft at the same time, a combination that teased him to learn more about her.

Toby shut his mouth before he could say something. Something that would make him embarrass himself more. He’d thought nothing could be worse than the pain in his ankle, but he’d been wrong. The only way to keep from saying the wrong thing again was to do what he always tried to do: say nothing.

Chapter Three

Hushing the kinder , Sarah moved aside to let the EMTs stabilize Toby’s ankle. How useless she felt! If she’d had the training she yearned for, she could have helped him instead of having to wait for the rescue squad to arrive.

“Sarah?”

She looked at Mr. Summerhays, who crooked a finger to her. Telling the youngsters not to move or interrupt the EMTs, she went to where her boss stood by the paddock fence.

Without preamble, he said, “I want you to go to the hospital with him.”

“Me? But why?” The words were out before she could halt them.

“Someone needs to go.” He glanced at J.J.

Sarah understood what her boss didn’t say. He wanted to get his business with the Texan taken care of as soon as possible. With the racing season underway at Saratoga, Mr. Summerhays made it a practice never to miss a single race of his horses or horses that might compete with his.

“Ned could go,” she said.

“Ned?” When she looked past Mr. Summerhays toward the overbearing cowboy, he frowned. “We’re going to need an extra hand to get the horses settled.”