“Good boy,” Cody said, “keep them away from the herd, and especially any baby calves.”

He’d barely gotten the words out of his mouth when he noticed the four-wheeler nose down in a hole. He hit the gas pedal a little too hard and fishtailed all over the pasture for a few seconds before he got control. When he came to a stop, the pickup’s bumper was just inches from the rear end of the four-wheeler. He grabbed his phone from his pocket, slung open the truck door, and called Stevie. Surely she was on her way back to the ranch house or was already there.

Cody could hear the phone ringing in the distance, and he started to run that way. He slipped and fell flat on his butt, and that’s when he saw Stevie, lying next to an old scrub oak tree. He crawled over to her and laid a finger on her neck. Her lips were blue, and she had a nasty gash on her forehead, but she had a pulse. As a doctor, he knew he should put a neck brace on her and use a board to move her, but he had neither one and he had to get her to the house. He took time to check her pupils and they were only slightly enlarged. He ran his fingers down the bones in her neck and back. He couldn’t feel anything broken, which were all good signs.

“Hang on, love,” he said, hoping that would make her open her eyes, but it didn’t.

He gently laid her on the bench seat and cradled her head in his lap all the way back to the bunkhouse, where his supplies and doctor bag were. “Wake up, Stevie. Please, wake up,” he begged as he moved her head to the seat so he could get out and open the gate.

When he finally reached the bunkhouse, he called Addy, told her in a few words what had happened, and then carried Stevie inside. He laid her on the sofa, checked her to be sure no bones were broken and that the only blood was coming from the gash on her forehead. Then Addy was there, running her fingers over Stevie’s scalp checking for knots or soft spots.

“Here it is,” Cody said when he had wiped all the blood away. “See this indentation. This could possibly be a concussion. We need to get her to a hospital for tests,” he said as he applied butterfly bandages to hold the wound together.

“Not possible. We’ll have to do the best we can right here,” Addy said. “Her lips are getting color back in them, and she’s breathing normal, so I don’t think she has punctured either of her lungs. We’ll have to wait for her to wake up to make sure she can walk and there’s no damage to her back.”