Mason's Rescue Read online

  Mason’s Rescue

  Peggy L Henderson

  Copyright © 2017 by Peggy L Henderson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Editor: Barbara Ouradnik

  Proofreading: Behest Indie Novelist Services

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  Contents

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Introduction

  Welcome to Burnt River, Montana! Five western romance authors got together to write a series set in this fictional, small western town located in the heart of Montana’s horse and cattle country. Burnt River is a close community of characters who’ve been brought together for the memorial of a beloved teacher who inspired many of his students to follow their dreams and do their very best. In the Burnt River Series, we get to meet some of these students, and how the lessons from high school has shaped their lives a decade later…

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  We hope you enjoy their stories!

  The Burnt River Series Authors,

  Shirleen Davies, Peggy L Henderson, Kay P. Dawson, Amelia Adams, Kate Cambridge

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  Please join us on our Series page on Facebook, and our Burnt River Facebook group , where readers can discuss the stories with the authors, and where we will have special contests, giveaways, and prizes!

  Mason’s Rescue …

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  When your life’s plans change in a heartbeat, you have a choice…

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  Do you give up?

  Mason Taggart’s one goal in life has always been to become Burnt River’s veterinarian. In the blink of an eye, an accident leaves him bound to a wheelchair, shattering his dreams. Since no one can tell him for sure if he will ever walk again, he sinks deeper into despair as time passes. Starting over seems impossible, until he gets an unexpected nudge from the new vet in town.

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  Do you run away?

  Coming from a long line of surgeons, Lori Emerson made the choice to go against family tradition and strike out on her own in a different direction. Fighting against long-held stereotypes and her own demons, she finds temporary solitude in small-town living, until her past catches up with her. Leaning on the hometown boy for support might force them both to confront their deepest fears.

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  Do you take a chance and face the unknown with someone you love?

  Mason is convinced he’s unable to continue in his career because of his handicap. Lori’s insecurities prevent her from doing her job effectively. As they struggle alone, will they realize they are stronger together, both professionally and as a couple?

  Prologue

  Burnt River High … October, 2010

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  The halls of Burnt River High looked deserted. Mason Taggart paused before stepping through the door into the main building. The loud click of the latch behind him sounded almost like a gunshot as it echoed in the eerie quiet.

  Mason glanced up the long corridor. Lockers lined either side of the walls, some of them left open, no doubt by eager students ready to leave school behind for the weekend. All of the classroom doors were closed, and the lights turned off. There wasn’t even a custodian in sight.

  It was Friday afternoon. Most everyone would have left by now. Everyone, except for the person he’d come to see. As abandoned as the school appeared to be, there was at least one teacher who hadn’t left, yet.

  Mason moved down the hall toward the staircase that led to the second story. His boots on the slick floor sounded unnaturally loud as he made his way along the corridor. He paused when he came to locker number 309.

  He touched the metal door. His mouth widened in a slow smile, as his fingers slid over the letters “MT” and the year “2007” that had been etched into the metal. Clearly, the lockers hadn’t received a new coat of paint in quite a while. Somewhere down one of the other corridors, someone laughed, and a door slammed shut.

  Mason turned away from the locker. Ghosts of years gone by scurried past him. Friends and nameless students filled the hall. Kids laughed and talked. Shane, his twin brother, stood next to him, along with Jerry Cooper and Boone Macklin.

  Excitement sparked through the halls as they discussed tactics for the upcoming game. Girls passed them and giggled as they made eyes at him and the other members of the Burnt River High football team. Jerry called out a provocative remark, and the girls giggled even louder.

  Mason blinked. Fond memories of high school were all around him. It hadn’t all been pleasant, but the tough recollections got pushed aside to make room for the good ones. He hadn’t walked these halls in nearly four years, when he’d graduated near the top of his class. This had been a good place. Between difficult, easy, and downright boring and useless classes, he’d had fun with his friends, and they had lived for Friday nights, when they were the stars on the football field.

  Another door slammed somewhere up the hall. Mason stepped away from his old locker and continued on his way. He took the stairs leading to the next floor two at a time with a spring in his step. The classroom he sought was the third door on the right. He smiled. The lights were still on inside, just as he’d known they would be.

  Mason peered through the small window on the door. Sure enough, Mike Weiker sat at his desk, shuffling papers. Mason knocked, but didn’t wait for a reply. He opened the door and stepped inside. A quick glance around the room indicated that nothing had changed in four years.

  The large tables were cleared of lab equipment. Specimen jars preserving different kinds of biological organisms lined the back wall – everything from worms to frogs, fetal pigs and body parts. The familiar odor of formaldehyde was a constant smell in this room. Mike Weiker glanced up from his work. He instantly smiled as he pushed his glasses up his nose. He moved his chair away from his desk, stood, and held out his hand.

  “Mason Taggart, what a pleasant surprise.”

  “Mr. Weiker.” Mason shook his former biology teacher’s hand with a firm grip. Uncanny how the man could still easily tell him apart from his twin.

  “What brings you to Burnt River High? If you’re in town, I’d imagine you’d be at tonight’s football game.”

  Mason nodded. “I plan to be there.” He tilted his head slightly as he studied the shorter man, and smiled. “Have you stopped going to the games?”

  Mike Weiker laughed. “Of course not. Wouldn’t miss them for anything. I’ve got a few papers to grade, and then I was leaving.”

  “Are you still stopping at the diner for a bite to eat before the game? I’d be happy to go with you.”

  “That would be nice, Mason.” Weiker studied him. “How’s school going? You’re in your final year of undergrad studies at the University of Montana, am I right?”

  Mason nodded. Mike Weiker knew all his students, both current and former. The man’s memory was better than an elephant’s.

  “Are you still planning to go to veterinary school?”

  “That’s my ultimate goal,” Mason c
onfirmed. “It’s what I’ve always wanted. Old Doc Johnson keeps in touch. He says he’s waiting for me to graduate, so he can retire and hand his veterinary practice over to me.”

  A twinge of sadness passed over Mr. Weiker’s face. “I’m so sorry about what happened to your mother. It must have been very hard on your family.”

  Mason held the older man’s eye contact, then glanced out one of the windows.

  “It hasn’t been easy. Raine took it very hard when Mom had her stroke. We all did, but she and Mom had a special bond. It’s a good thing it happened after Raine’s graduation. She didn’t want to leave to go to nursing school after that, but Shane talked her into it.”

  Mike Weiker nodded. A sympathetic smile returned. “Shane’s become quite the man of the family. It must be tough on him. I admire him for taking over the family business the way he’s done. Shame, though, that he couldn’t continue with college.”

  “It’s been hard, but we’ll manage. We always do. Shane’s heart has always been at the ranch, not in a classroom.”

  Mike Weiker smiled in agreement.

  Mason pushed the twinge of guilt aside. His twin brother, Shane, had become the serious head of the family. Mason would always be grateful to his brother for letting him pursue his dream, and for making it possible to stay in school so he could become a veterinarian.

  “I would have stayed home to take care of family business, too, but Shane told me not to leave school. He urged me to stay in Missoula, and wouldn’t hear of it when I said I would come home and help him with the ranch.”

  Weiker nodded. “And from everything I’ve heard, Shane is doing a remarkable job of running the business.” After a quick pause, he added, “So, what brings you to see me today?”

  Mason looked Mr. Weiker in the eyes. “Applications are due soon for vet school, and I was hoping you’d write me a letter of recommendation.”

  “I’d be more than happy to write you a letter. I saw your passion for what you want to do with your life years ago when you were one of my best students. I see that hasn’t gone away.”

  Mason held out his hand to shake Mike Weiker’s again. “I sure appreciate it.”

  “I’ll get on it this weekend. You let me know where to send the letter.”

  Mason smiled. Life was good. His future looked promising. As sure as he breathed, he would be accepted to Colorado State’s veterinary program for next fall, and there was nothing that was going to stop him from fulfilling his dream.

  Chapter 1

  Burnt River August 2017

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  Mason leaned forward in his chair and gave his mother a hug. The woman struggled in her wheelchair, her hand trembling as she raised her arm in an uncoordinated fashion. With the support of her full-time nurse, she was able to reach out and touch Mason on the shoulder. Her lips moved in what could have been a smile. Mason shot a grateful look at the caregiver for her help.

  “Hey, Mom. It’s good to be home. We make quite a pair, don’t we?”

  Mason returned his mother’s smile and kissed her on the cheek. She opened her mouth and a sound came out that could have been his name. Her hand patted his arm. At least she recognized him this time.

  When he’d come home from vet school three years ago, it had taken nearly a week for her to fully know him again. Most of the time she’d thought he was his twin brother, Shane. The few short visits home during his eight years spent in school in Missoula and then Colorado hadn’t been enough time to jog her memory that she had two sons. This time was different. He hadn’t been away that long. Only about six months, and now he was home for good.

  Mason glanced around the expansive living room of the Taggart Ranch. It was good to be home, in a way. While he’d been here a month ago for his brother’s wedding, he’d only stayed a couple of days. He’d needed to be back in Salt Lake City to finish his rehab. The doctors had now told him they’d done all they could for him, and he would be better off at home. Missoula was much closer for weekly physical therapy sessions and his case could be handled by one of the doctors there.

  Mason’s eyes fell on his brother, who stood slightly apart from their mom, studying him intently. Mason nudged his chin at Shane and continued to grin. They’d always been close growing up. Things hadn’t been the same between them, however, since the accident six months ago. Shane needed to get over it and stop blaming himself.

  Alley, his new bride, strode into the room at that moment with a satisfied smile on her face. She carried something on a tray that resembled a clod of dirt, but was probably intended to be a chocolate-frosted cake.

  “My first attempt at making a cake that didn’t come out of a box may not look pretty, but I think it’ll taste better than its appearance would indicate.”

  Shane took the tray from her. “Now that we’re all here, how about we go and sample it in the dining room?” He leaned forward to kiss his wife on the cheek, putting the lopsided cake in a precarious position, in danger of tipping over completely and crash-landing on the hardwood floor.

  Alley glanced at Mason. “I heard chocolate cake was your favorite, so that’s what I attempted to make.”

  “You shouldn’t have gone to so much fuss because of me.”

  “No, but it was a good excuse for Alley to experiment in the kitchen. I think she misses her lab and chemistry sets she had to leave behind in New York.” Raine, the little sister Mason and Shane had always loved to tease, calling her the baby in the family, sauntered into the room.

  “Baking is a lot like chemistry,” Alley defended. “It’s all about precision and mixing ingredients the correct way and in the proper order. Every measurement has to be exact, or the cake won’t turn out right.”

  “And from what I saw when you were weighing and measuring everything and then mixing it together, a precise cake is exactly what we’re getting.” Raine shot a wicked grin at the cake, then at Alley. “Except when it came time to assembling and frosting it. Then you created the Leaning Tower of Pisa.” She strode over and bent down to wrap her arms around Mason’s neck. “It’s so good to have you home,” she whispered against his ear.

  Mason reached up and returned the hug. “It’s good to be home.”

  How many times would he have to repeat that statement? Was it really good to be home? Maybe if he said it a few more times, he’d start believing it. If these first few moments since his arrival were any indication, home might be the last place he wanted to be.

  The uneasy looks everyone cast at him and exchanged between themselves were hard to ignore. Everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around him. Hell. They all acted as if he had some terminal illness and wouldn’t live much longer. Mason plastered his practiced grin on his face again.

  “I’m anxious to taste the cake.”

  He straightened in his chair and wheeled himself through the room and into the adjoining dining room. Shane set the cake down in the center of the table and rushed forward to remove the chair at Mason’s usual spot to make room for the wheelchair. Shane’s jaw visibly tensed. No doubt he was cursing himself that he should have thought to get rid of the chair before Mason’s arrival. It was just one more reminder that he was paralyzed.

  “Guess you can take that thing to the barn and use it there.”

  A frown from his brother was the response to Mason’s teasing remark. Telling Shane to stop looking so serious would have to wait. No sense getting into a potential argument in the first hour of his homecoming, and especially not in front of their mother. Her stroke had left her without speech and with poor coordination, but she was still their mother, and she got visibly agitated when there was arguing in her presence.

  “You’ll be sitting in your usual seat again soon, I’m sure. For now it can stay in the corner and out of the way.” Shane pulled a chair out for Alley to sit while responding to Mason’s remark, then did the same for Raine. There was already an empty spot at the head of the table for their mother’s wheelchair.

  Mason mumbled under his
breath. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

  The doctors had given him a fifty-fifty chance of regaining the ability to walk again. No one had been able to make a definitive diagnosis six months ago when he’d been admitted for an incomplete spinal cord injury caused by a horse that had slipped and fallen on him. Everyone had said, “Wait and see. We won’t know for sure what the extent of the injury is until the swelling goes down.”

  So far, the swelling hadn’t gone down completely, but the doctors were still optimistic that there was no complete severing of the spinal cord. After his initial internal injuries had healed, he’d entered rehab to regain as much mobility as possible. His upper body had never been stronger, but his legs were a problem. He still had no feeling from his waist down, and couldn’t move his legs, no matter how hard he concentrated. Discussing these things with his family was best avoided.

  Alley dished up the cake, serving Mason first, while Raine poured coffee.

  “You’re treating me like a guest, Alley. I’ve lived here a lot longer than you.” Mason winked at his sister-in-law.

  “I know you have, but today is a special day for all of us, and you’re sort of the guest of honor. Tomorrow we’ll be putting you to work.”

  Mason shrugged. The psychiatrist had said it could be like this for a while. People would treat him as if he were completely broken and couldn’t do anything for himself. It would be up to him to prove them otherwise.