It was evening by the time Zoe arrived in Richmond. The place was much larger than Shaniko, and when Zoe arrived she was at a loss as to where to go. She found a safe place to tie up her horse before searching out the town’s doctor. It took some questioning and rousing Doctor Quartermaine from his dinner, but eventually, she found where Quinn was being treated.
“Who did yah say yah were?” the doctor asked her, as he unlocked the door to his office.
“A friend of Mr. Mortensen,” she answered distractedly. She did not need the questioning, only to see Quinn. Once she was sure all was well with him, then she could answer all the questions in the world, but not before.
She was greeted by the barrel of a gun. Her heart beat faster in her chest, despite the fact that it was already racing. She called his name in the hopes that he recognized her. Immediately he dropped the gun. Zoe did not have a chance to be thankful, her concern overwhelmed her and she was by Quinn’s side in a moment. She inspected him carefully and noted the wound in his abdomen which was oozing blood.
It was clear that Quinn had not been expecting her at that moment, which only meant one thing. Victor was alive and Quinn was concerned that he was coming back to finish him. She was not about to let that happen. But what exactly had happened? Once Zoe had assured him that she would take care of him, she set about getting an answer to her question.
Quinn explained everything, the town-to-town chase, the shootout at Picture Gorge, and then how Victor had ambushed him at Bone Yard Canyon. It was all harrowing. “I do not know how you do this,” she stated. “Chasing a man who might kill you.”
“He didn’t, and he won’t,” Quinn assured gently. He was in some pain, she could see it by the grimace that covered his face every time he spoke.
Quinn was so sure, but she wasn’t. Victor had shot him. He planned, waited and when the time came, he acted. He wasn’t going to stop as long as Quinn was alive and chasing him. He would kill him; that much was certain. Zoe simply couldn’t let it happen. Quinn couldn’t stay at the doc’s office. It was too obvious and the first place Victor would come looking.
“Doctor, does he have to stay here?” she asked, as she turned to look at the man who was watching their exchange with keen interest. The older man looked at her in surprise, as if he hadn’t realized he was gawking at them for the past several minutes.
“I would prefer it, but no, he doesn’t have to,” Doctor Quartermaine confirmed.
“Good,” Zoe said as she got to her feet. “Then I’m takin’ him with me.”
“Zoe…” Quinn interrupted, but she wasn’t hearing it.
She turned to him with a stern expression. “You heard me. I’m taking you out of here and tending to you myself. I don’t want any arguments.” She turned back to the doctor. “Tell me what I’ll need and I’ll get it.”
The doctor sighed, but Zoe didn’t care if he approved or not. He didn’t understand the situation Quinn was in. He didn’t know who Victor was or what he was capable of.
“I’ll put some things together for yah,” Doctor Quartermaine replied. “I’d like to come to check on him every few days just to be sure he’s progressing well.”
“That’s fine, Doctor Quartermaine,” Zoe agreed, as she followed the man from the room.
“Zoe…” Quinn called after. Her name was a groan on his lips as he tried to sit up. She turned to look at him. It was painful to see him in such a state. The strong man who had so much to stay for and more gusto than one person should be allowed, was now weak, in pain, and fighting for his life.
“I’ll be right back.”
“You don’t have to do this,” he reiterated. “I’ll be fine right here.”
“I heard you,” she answered. “But I told you that I’m going to take care of you, so stop arguing.” She turned and followed the doc.
“You’re goin’ to need some bandages and liniment,” the doctor said aloud as he began putting together the items in a bundle. “And his infection medication.”
“Infection?” Zoe asked concerned.
“Yes. He has the signs of one startin’ but I’m doin’ my best to stay it off,” the doctor explained. “He seems a bit better than earlier, less sweatin’ but you can never be too sure.”
“All right,” Zoe replied, as she tried to focus on the instructions the man was giving her to the administration of Quinn’s medication and the changing of his bandages.
“I still don’t know how you plan on gettin’ ‘im outta here. He isn’t no babe and you ain’t no lumberjack.”
“I’ll get some help,” she assured. “Don’t you worry about it.”
“I’m not,” the man responded callously. “Once you make a decision against my recommendations, the repercussions are at you,” he said flatly, as he placed the bundle in her arms. “If he dies, it’s on your head.”
The words sent a chill through Zoe she never felt before. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. “Thank you for your concern, Doc. It means a lot,” she said sarcastically. She didn’t care what he said. Quinn was going to be just fine. She would see to it, but most importantly, she would keep him safe while he recovered.
Zoe returned to Quinn’s side. He was lying back against the pillow with his eyes closed. His dark hair was damp and stuck to his skin. He was resting, but he didn’t look peaceful. She couldn’t imagine the pain he was in. He coughed and she almost jumped.
“Zoe?” he called to her as his eyes opened.
“I’m here, Quinn,” she replied, as she walked over and sat beside him on the bed. She placed her hand on his stomach. “You’re in a lot of pain.”
“This? No,” he lied.
She shook her head. Even now he was trying to play things off as if it was nothing, but she knew better. “I’m going to secure a room and get you moved there tomorrow.”
He took hold of her wrist firmly, yet gently. “I told you that you don’t have to.”
“I know what you said. However, I know what I’m going to do, and that’s take care of you. And it’s too late now. I just took half the doc’s supplies for your care, so there is no going back now.”
“Zoe, it isn’t safe,” he said in a low tone.
“That’s why I’m doing this,” she answered honestly. “The first place Victor will come is here. You can’t stay here any longer.”
“I can take care of myself,” Quinn answered, as he sucked in a pained breath.
“Sure you can. However, this time, just let me do it. You don’t have to do everything on your own,” she stated as she looked at him tenderly. “There’s a reason you called me here, and I don’t think it was for no reason.”
A half smile tugged at the corner of Quinn’s mouth. “No, it wasn’t for no reason,” he confirmed.
“Then good. Let me do what I can for you, all right?” Her words sounded like a plea, and that wasn’t something Zoe was used to doing. People usually did what she asked without question, but Quinn was different. He challenged her. He made her laugh. He made her want more than she should. She turned away from him.
“What is it?” he asked. Zoe kept her back to him as she answered.
“Nothing. I was just thinking of the best place to stay where I can take care of you.”
There was silence, but Zoe dared not turn around. Her emotions were too unnerved and she was sure the slightest thing would be visible on her face.
“There’s a hotel just outside of town,” Doctor Quartermaine suggested. “It ain’t the cheapest, but it’s clean and the service is good. Most people lookin’ to stay in town a while stays there.”
Zoe raised her hazel eyes in the man’s direction. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to my dinner.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry, Doc,” Zoe apologized, as she got to her feet. She turned to Quinn. “I’ll be back in the morning to get you.”
“I’ll be right here,” he joked.
“You better be,” she
answered. She gave him a smile of encouragement as she followed the doctor from the room. It was only on her way out that she noticed there was someone else in the room. The man was looking at her seriously. Zoe met his eye but quickly turned away. Whoever he was, he had nothing to do with her.
It took two days to get a place for them. The hotel was full the night Zoe arrived, but they had a vacant room soon so Zoe stayed at the Doc’s, sleeping in a chair at night, until it was ready. She paid a dollar a piece for some sturdy men who were passing through town to pick up Quinn from the doctor’s office and take him to the hotel.
The room was small, with only one bed and a single window. Nothing like what she had at home. However, it was clean and cool. It would do for the time. Zoe hoped they wouldn’t need to stay in Richmond long, but when she went that morning to collect Quinn, her hopes were dashed.
“Easy,” she instructed the men as they carried a grimacing Quinn into the room. “Put him on the bed. Gentle!” she yelled as one man practically dropped Quinn on the mattress.
“He’s heavy,” he answered.
“And you’re getting paid to bring him safely here. If you hurt him you don’t get your money,” she said sharply. The man’s lips pursed but he said nothing. He wanted his payment more than he wanted an argument.
“Quinn?” Zoe called as she stepped closer to him. He didn’t respond. He was sweating so profusely that his hair was slick against his neck and his bandages were soaked through. Despite the doctor’s efforts, infection had taken hold, and now Quinn was facing the battle in his system to ward it off.
“Here,” she said shortly. “Here’s your money. Thank you,” she stated as she placed the money in their hands.
“You sure you don’t want one of us to stay to carry him out later? He don’t look good,” the taller of the men offered.
Zoe was appalled at the suggestion and quickly refused him. “That won’t be necessary. He’ll be just fine. You can go,” she urged.
“Fine, but you can find us here at the hotel for a few days if things go south,” the man replied. “The undertaker in this town’s a friend a mine. I can get yah a good deal on a coffin.”
“I won’t be needing it, but thank you,” she reiterated. She got the men out the door and locked it securely. She turned to look at Quinn, who was mumbling incoherently as he trembled with fever.
“I should’ve told you to be fit when I came back,” she told him as she gathered a basin of water and a cloth. She sat beside him on the bed and began to dab his forehead.
His skin was so hot. It took several passes with the cloth before it began to cool in the slightest measure. “Quinn,” she said softly, as she passed the cloth over his chest and torso. There was blood coming from his bandage. The wound was probably torn by the treatment he received getting there. Those men were hired for their strength and not their gentleness.
Quinn didn’t respond to her call. He continued to mumble incoherently and his body flinched again and again.
“You have to be all right, Quinn,” she encouraged.
I don’t care if you can hear me or not Quinn Mortensen, I have to say this.
She looked at him thoughtfully as a sad smile lifted her lips.
It’s so quiet in here. I wish you were awake to talk to me, to make me feel better. The silence is so loud in this room with only the two of us, and you not able to speak. I can’t stand it.
“You need to wake up, Quinn.”
We should be walking down to my office right now for a private lunch and one of our long talks, not sitting in this small room with you in this state. You made me feel so good talking with me like that. I never realized how much I missed it until you came to Shaniko. We should be playing cards and enjoying a home-cooked meal right now. You shouldn’t be fighting for your life in this strange town, and I know it’s partially my fault.
“We’re going to play cards when you’re better,” she declared, as she turned off her voice in her head. She didn’t want to think whose fault it was that he was laying there. “I’m sure a game of poker will be right up your alley. I’m sure you’d like to get back some of what you lost to me last time,” she joked. The levity was wasted. Quinn couldn’t hear it and it did nothing to help her disposition, but she had to keep trying.
“Plans for the ball are coming off well,” she stated. “People from all around Oregon are coming to join the celebration. The Mayor’s got so many important people coming to visit him before that day. He’s preening like the biggest peacock in town,” she said with a small laugh. “You should really see him.”
Her voice broke slightly. She couldn’t do this. She set the basin and cloth aside as she turned her back to Quinn. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked out the window. How could she joke at a time like this? How could she care for this man who trusted her enough to call her when he was in trouble, when she knew she was deceiving him?
She walked to the window and looked out. The world was passing by below without a care, but Zoe had nothing but cares. Somewhere out there, Victor was lurking, waiting for a chance to end this thing between him and Quinn. Neither of the men could let it go and the stakes were getting higher by the minute.
Zoe’s eyes turned to Quinn. How would he react if he knew she was acquainted with Victor? Would he want her there? Would he call her the liar that she was? It was strange, but the thought of it hurt. The thought of Quinn not wanting her around was painful. She couldn’t let that happen. He could never know the truth, and hopefully, there would never be a need for him to know.
Victor, wherever you are. Stay away.
Chapter Eleven
The weeks passed by slowly, too slowly for Quinn’s liking. There was no way of knowing where Victor had hidden, or where to resume the search. It frustrated Quinn endlessly, however, there was a good factor to all of it. Zoe. She had come for him. Despite the fact that she had her business to run and a ball to plan, she left it all behind to come to him in Richmond.
Quinn wasn’t entirely sure why he had sent the message, but at the time, when he thought he might be dying, the only person he wanted to see was her. When she arrived, he all he could think of was protecting her. Victor was still around and if Quinn knew the man, which he did, then he wasn’t very far away. It wasn’t safe for Zoe to be anywhere near him, but she insisted. She was so stubborn, but in the end, he was thankful for that stubbornness because once the fever took hold he was no help to himself.
Quinn remembered little after Zoe arrived. He had been feverish for more than a week and completely incoherent, so Zoe told him. His first memory was waking up in the middle of the night to someone in bed beside him. He tried to react, but he was too tired and weak to do anything. It took him several seconds to realize that it was Zoe.
That night, Quinn didn’t fall back to sleep immediately. Instead, he lay there watching her by the dim moonlight through the window. He remembered thinking how beautiful this woman could be. She was serene, lying there without a care in the world. It was the first time he ever saw her with her hair down, and it fell around her shoulders in a thick blanket. Quinn contemplated long before he reached out and touched the soft strands, silky against his rough hands.
Now, as he stood outside the boarding house in Shaniko waiting for her arrival, all he could think of was the feel of those strands between his fingers and the sweet smell of her hair.
He was dressed in a suit that Zoe had gotten for him. He tried to tell her that he could wear his normal clothes, but she insisted he dress up for the occasion. He felt odd in formal wear. It was years since he’d had any occasion to wear anything of the sort.
Quinn’s eyes searched the street as guests continued to arrive. They filtered past him and into the boarding house, where the music was playing and folks were already mingling and enjoying themselves. It was too much for the solitary man he’d become. He preferred to stay outside and wait for Zoe to arrive.
He caught sight of her walking along the sidewalk. Her hair wa
s pinned up in some ornate twist that Quinn could hardly wrap his mind around. She wore a dark cloak, which was fastened around her neck in a bow. He found himself smiling as the view of her became clear beneath the lamp posts as she passed. She was stunning.
Quinn couldn’t take his eyes off her and she seemed to have the same problem. The closer she got to him, the more she smiled. Her eyes met his and they just wouldn’t leave. He didn’t want them to. He had realized it late. It wasn’t until the days alone, as Zoe took care of him, that he realized how much she’d come to mean to him. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen by far, but it wasn’t the beauty of her appearance that got him. It was her heart and her honesty.
Finally, they were on the same walkway together. Quinn straightened up to greet her. He had passed the time by resting against a pole to ease the lingering discomfort in his midsection. The wound he had was mostly healed, but too sharp a movement and it was still painful.
A Western Tale of Love and Fate: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 9
