Page 19 of The Rancher’s Ecstasy

Cole cupped her chin and brought it up, so she could see him. “I’m not going anywhere until you’re better, so if you want me gone, you need to listen to Daisy, so you can get better quicker.”

Emily frowned but after a minute turned toward Daisy and dutifully opened her mouth. Daisy pulled the thermometer from Emily’s mouth a minute later and frowned.

“You have one hundred and two-point-three temp. We need to get this down.”

A sudden chill overtook her, shaking her in Cole's lap. Emily gritted her teeth to keep them from chattering.

Cole wrapped the blanket tighter around her and pulled her closer to his chest.

“What do we do now?”

“You said she took a few Tylenol a few hours ago, so we're going to give her two ibuprofen and then another two Tylenol in a few hours. Don’t wrap her too tightly in the blanket. It will raise her temperature.”

Cole scowled but loosened the blanket. “But she’s shivering.”

Daisy smiled in understanding. “I know, but it will get better.”

“I’m right here,” Emily grunted, then coughed. “I know what to do. I’ve taken care of myself and my children when they were sick.”

“I’m sure you’re an expert, but are you able to get up and get something to drink when you need it? And what about the drugs? Are you able to keep track of when you take something?” Daisy asked.

Emily unknowingly pressed her head under Cole’s chin. “It might be difficult, but I have been taking care of myself my whole life.”

Cole’s lips pressed together. “Are you saying you didn’t have help when you were sick before?”

Emily tipped her head back. “Sometimes the girls would bring me water, but I usually had to keep the household going even when I was sick.”

Daisy scowled. How could anyone treat this woman badly? She was one of the sweetest people Daisy had ever met.

Chapter Eleven

She hadn’t realized at the beginning of her marriage how truly awful her husband was. She was just glad they had separated before he destroyed her.

She’d never forget the time she had a bad case of the flu. Her temperature had been high, and she wasn’t able to keep anything down. Her husband had come home from work and laid into her because dinner wasn’t ready. Later that night, she’d driven herself to the hospital. She’d had a slight case of pneumonia and was dehydrated. After several hours of IV fluids and medication for pneumonia, she was sent home.

She was walking into the house as her husband was leaving. He didn’t ask how she was or if she needed anything. He just demanded she have dinner ready on time that night. Looking back on the many times he showed what a selfish bastard he was, she was ashamed of herself for not leaving him sooner. She always told herself it was better for her two daughters to have both parents together, but now she considered she might have just shown them it was okay to let a man treat you like their father treated her. And it wasn’t. It shamed her to know she hadn’t had the strength to leave him. He left her for a woman half her age who was more beautiful and exciting, as her husband liked to tell her often.

Emily had a college degree in business. That’s where she and Winston had met, and it seemed from the get-go he alienated her from her friends and started degrading her soon after the wedding. During her marriage, she worked full-time in a library and took care of the house and the girls, so there was seldom time for anything else. Looking back, she could see how much control he’d had over her, and she’d let him.

Emily knew most of it had come from his parents and his upbringing. No matter what he did, it wasn’t wrong and most likely spectacular. Winston was a totally selfish, conceited douche that she’d let make her life miserable for far too long. Emily had gotten along with his mom, but most of the time, she shared his father's mentality.

“Emily? Emily?” Cole barked.

Emily tossed her head. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked groggily.

Cole swept his thumb back and forth on her cheek. “You zoned out on us.”

Emily looked down at her hands in her lap.

Daisy came back into the bedroom. “First off, have you been vomiting at all?”

Emily shook her head against Cole’s chest.

“Okay, good. That’s one less thing we have to worry about. Here you go. Take these and drink this juice. If you can drink it all, that’s good.” Daisy set down the carton of juice on the bedside table.

Emily swallowed the pills and drank down the glass of juice before resting back against Cole.

“Thank you,” she said tiredly.