her, and she quickly dug into her pocket. “I need to eat,” she finally admitted. She pulled out a hard candy and tried to unwrap it. Instead, it fell from her fingers, which felt prickly and numb at the same time.
Ward bent to get it, because everything in Dot’s world was suddenly moving at half speed. She drew in a long breath, trying to make her diabetes behave with oxygen alone. The cold air shocked her lungs, but it didn’t affect her blood sugar.
He unwrapped the candy and handed it to her. She stuck it in her mouth and took his hand again. “I’m okay.”
“I don’t think you are.” He didn’t move, but she didn’t see anywhere to sit. Not that such a thing mattered. If Dot couldn’t stand, her body would simply force her to the ground. She moved over to the fence, which separated the lawn from the graveled area in front of the homestead and leaned against it.
“What do you need to eat?” he asked, right there at her side. “I’ll go grab it from the homestead right now.”
Dot shook her head, her thoughts so foggy. “I…don’t know.”
“Okay,” he said, as if she’d just told him she’d like a chocolate chip ice cream cone.
The candy tasted like lemons, and Dot normally loved it. Today, though, she could barely keep it in her mouth. She yelped as someone grabbed her, and the next thing she knew, she lay in Ward’s arms.
“I’m taking you inside the homestead,” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulder. “Someone’s going to feed you, and I’m going to call your brother. Where’s your phone?”
“In my back pocket,” she said, though she told her brain to tell Ward to put her down. Don’t you dare call Tyson. I’m fine.
Dot wasn’t fine, and she and Ward both knew it.
“I have insulin at your house,” she said, but that didn’t make sense. She didn’t need to lower her blood sugar…did she? Confusion riddled her mind, and she looked at Ward with a frown.
“I’ll send someone for it,” he said. “Talk to me, Dot. I don’t really know how to take care of a diabetic.”
Her lips tingled, and irritation flashed through her. “I have candy in my pocket.”
“You already ate one of those,” Ward said, his steps going up jostling her. How he opened the door with her in his arms, she’d never know. “I need help, please,” he called, but he didn’t slow down.
“What’s going on?” Bear asked. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s diabetic. She needs to eat, I think.”
“Orange juice,” Dot said. “That helps a lot, usually.” Her words slurred over the last couple.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?” a woman asked.
“And they’ll do what?” Ward barked. “We can’t get on or off the ranch.” He sat down, but he did not let go of Dot. “She has insulin at Bull House. In the fridge. Link? Could you go get it?”
A dog whined, and Dot felt the cold touch of his nose to her arm. She jerked it away, but it just came back.
“She doesn’t need insulin,” someone said. “She needs to raise her blood sugar, not lower it.”
“Orange juice,” someone else said. Dot had met them all, and she recognized their faces—at least until they started to blur along the edges. A woman—Ward’s sister, Etta—held out a glass of orange juice.
Ward finally slid her onto the couch instead of his lap and took the glass of orange juice. He knelt in front of her and held it out. “Come on, now,” he said. “You’ve got to drink this.”
“This says a couple of sugary snacks,” someone read. Cactus. His name was Cactus. Dot remembered, because it was such a funny name for such a tall, good-looking cowboy.
Ward held the glass even after Dot curled her fingers around it. She drank, and nothing had ever tasted as wonderful or as cold as that glass of orange juice. It went down easily, and Dot greedily drank the whole thing.
“Now we wait ten or fifteen minutes, and she needs to check her blood sugar,” Cactus said. “She should have a glucose monitor?”
“I have one,” Dot said, finally finishing the orange juice. “It’s in the bedroom at Bull House.”
“I’ll go with the boys,” Cactus said. “Link gets distracted by butterflies, for crying out loud.” He walked away, barking, “Come on, Galaxy. Leave ‘er alone.”
The dog whined again, her big, black head in Dot’s lap now. She smiled down at the dog and scratched her head.