Counting on Love (Contemporary Cowboy Romance) (Carson Hill Ranch series: Book 3) by Amelia Rose

in an overly cheerful voice. Gracie bounced in her seat and clapped her hands, ready to soak up any normal teenager experience she couldn’t do on the ranch.
    They left the restaurant and went to a salon, where the stylists made disappointed clucking sounds over the state of the girls’ nails. The three exchanged looks when one of the manicurists announced, “It looks like you’ve been digging in a barn with these hands!” Instead of taking insult, Miranda and Gracie laughed out loud at the very real comparison.
    “If you must know, we have been digging in a barn! Digging manure, if you want to get technical about it,” Miranda fired back at her, still laughing. What did she care what this city woman thought of her hands? Miranda had earned every callous and torn cuticle, earning it side by side with her husband, working land that had been in his family for generations. She was proud of her worn-down nails and cracked skin. She had earned them while living a life she had come to adore.
    “Have you heard anything else from Casey yet? Have you checked your messages?” Emma asked, bringing Miranda back to the present and to the reason for this trip. She shook her head no, but reached into her bag to pluck her phone out with two still-wet fingers to check her messages just in case.
    “Nothing yet. But this isn’t at all strange,” Miranda reassured her. “He’s probably having to wait in different waiting rooms every time they pass him off to another doctor or department.” Emma sighed, blowing her bangs out of her face in frustration as she exhaled. Miranda was just as worried about Joseph, but she couldn’t help but be a tiny bit thrilled that Emma and Joseph had hit it off so well. “Here, I’ll shoot Casey a message and ask for an update. Maybe by the time we’re finished here, they’ll know something more about Joseph.”
    Emma nodded, and dunked her hands back in the solution the manicurist was using to soften her ragged cuticles. She hadn’t been the praying type, but she knew that now would be as good a time as any to start. Anything that could help Joseph through this process would be worth it.
     
    ****
    All three Carson men looked up when the doctor entered the small office, pausing for a double take when he took in the identical twins, Casey and Carey. He smiled, then sat down behind his desk, facing the chairs where the family waited anxiously.
    “Well, we still have some more tests to run, but my initial findings aren’t good,” he began, opening the manila folder in front of him and flipping through the top pages. “We did the x-rays immediately and those showed that every bone was still intact but the MRI showed us the real problem.” The doctor tapped several keys on the laptop on his desk, then turned it around to show Bernard, Casey, and Carey some blob-like images that didn’t mean anything to them.
    He pointed to various places along the blobs with the tip of his pen, calling out the problem areas as the three men looked on quietly. Finally, he leaned back in his chair, announcing, “So it looks like the only treatment at this point would be surgery.”
    “Wait, what?” Casey demanded, looking up from the computer in alarm. “I’m sorry, I can’t speak for these two, but everything you said just went right over my head. Why does Joseph need surgery?” Bernard and Carey turned their attention to the doctor as well, searching his face for answers.
    “The injury your brother initially sustained has healed, but a nerve in his back was basically trapped in the bone as new bone material formed around it. Now, every little movement your brother makes pulls on that nerve. He can’t so much as take a breath without yanking on that nerve in there. Quite frankly, I’m amazed he’s been able to function this long without medical help.”
    Out of the corner of his eye, Casey saw his father drop his face into his hands. Joseph had been calling out for help, maybe not with so many words,