Conner's Contrary Bride

by Barbara Goss

  “Now, with the injured patient carried off, and Conner missing—probably forced at gunpoint—I’d say the hideout is somewhere in this area. I’ll round up a posse and search all of Hays City and it’s outskirts.”

  Now Elsie was even more scared. “What if the patient dies, and they kill Conner?”

  Bertie’s hand flew to her face. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Now, ladies, let’s not jump to conclusions. We’ll find them and Conner.” Babcock put his hand on each woman’s back and led them to the door. “Go home and keep busy. As soon as we find Conner, we’ll bring him home.”

  Elsie couldn’t relax once back home. She was pacing the floor when something dawned on her, and she ran into the kitchen where Bertie was trying to look busy, scrubbing a perfectly clean table.

  “Bertie, I don’t think Conner has enough supplies in his bag to treat a patient for long as he just carries the basics—do you agree?”

  The housekeeper stopped to stare at Elsie. “Yes. He wouldn’t carry more than a day’s worth of dressings or laudanum.”

  “That means unless the patient is already dead, they’d have to come back to the clinic to get more supplies,” Elsie said.

  “And...” Bertie looked confused.

  “We’ll hide and wait for them and follow them to wherever they’re hiding.”

  “Oh, Elsie. That sounds dangerous.”

  “Conner would do it for us. We’ll need another horse—do you ride, Bertie?”

  “Yes. How about you, Elsie, do you ride?

  “Yes, though I’ve never ridden a nice horse like Conner’s. I have ridden some old nags back home—it was the only way to get around.”

  Bertie said, “I’ll run down to the livery, get another horse, and hide it behind the house. You can saddle Conner’s horse in the meantime.

  “We’ll need pants, Bertie. These skirts won’t do for what I have planned.”

  “I’ll get some of Conner’s pants and shirts for us. We can tuck the extra length in our boots. Do you have boots, Elsie? I’ll borrow a pair of Conner’s old ones.”

  “I have a pair. We should dress in dark colors, too.”

  “All right. I’ll get the clothes ready and then get another horse.”

  Conner worked frantically on Mac. The men harboring the patient had failed to change his dressings, their hiding place was filthy, and Mac had contracted an acute infection. Conner put carbolic acid on the wound and wrapped it in fresh bandages from his bag. The man had a raging fever, but all Conner could do was to sponge him off with spring water found near the old abandoned mine where the men were hiding.

  The mine was a good five miles west of Hays City, and so hard to find that Conner hadn’t recognized it until he was right in front of it. The entrance was just a hole in the side of a hill, framed in old rotten wood. Someone had nailed boards across the entrance, but they’d been able to squeeze through. It was an old gold mine, dark and dirty. Conner had found Mac lying on a stone shelf. There were two men, and one of them held a lantern over Mac while Conner worked on him. Conner learned that one man was Mac’s brother. The two in jail were also brothers, named Gus and Pete. He wasn’t sure who the other man was, but the one called Moe, who was holding the lantern, seemed the most concerned.

  Moe didn’t talk much, but when Conner first started working on the patient, he said, “If Mac dies, you die, so you’d best save him.”

  After a few hours of sponging Mac, Conner told the men, “I don’t have enough supplies in my bag to do too much more.”

  “What do you need?” one man asked.

  “More laudanum to ease his pain and a lot more clean bandages and carbolic acid. I carry enough in my bag for emergency treatment, but not enough for lengthy ones.”

  The men exchanged looks and shrugged. Finally, Moe spoke up. “One of us will take the doctor back to his clinic to get more supplies.”

  The other man said, “What if someone sees us?” He turned to Conner. “Who lives with you?”

  “Just my housekeeper and my medical assistant might be there.”

  Moe grunted. “If you see either of them, tie them up and get back here with the supplies for my brother.”

  Now, Conner knew that Moe was another brother of theirs.

  Conner prayed all the way back to the clinic. Poor Elsie and Bertie. Elsie, his sweet, contrary wife. His heart throbbed in his chest, thinking of how frightened she’d be if the men tied her up... and for how long?

  And Bertie, his sweet, faithful housekeeper, and friend. He never prayed so hard as he did on the ride back to the clinic.

  It was late afternoon when they approached the clinic. He knew Bertie usually cooked supper about this time, and Elsie might be in the clinic or the house, he wasn’t sure which. They dismounted and entered the clinic. Conner scooped up the supplies he needed as quietly as he could. If Bertie or Elsie didn’t hear them, they wouldn’t come out, and they’d be safe.

  “I have everything I need,” Conner told the man who’d accompanied him, whose name he learned was Abe. “Let’s get back quickly with this laudanum for Mac.”

  Abe waved his gun around. “Where’s the housekeeper and assistant?”

  “They must have gone out,” Conner said.

  “I gotta be sure.” Abe poked the nose of his gun into Conner’s side. “Call them out here.”

  “Look, if they were home, they’d have come out here.”

  Conner felt the gun push harder into his side.

  “Call them out here.”

  “Bertie… Elsie,” Conner called.

  “Louder,” Abe ordered.

  “Bertie! Elsie!”

  Abe moved the gun from Conner’s side and aimed it at the door leading into the house. When no one came out, he walked over, opened the door, and peered inside.

  “All right, let’s go,” Abe said.

  Conner breathed a sigh of relief, but he wondered where Bertie and Elsie had gone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Elsie and Bertie trailed along behind Conner and the other man, but far enough so they could remain hidden. They often rode on the grass beside the road to silence the sound of their horses’ hooves.

  Before she and Bertie had left the house, Elsie had found Conner’s gun belt. There was a gun in each holster, and she’d wrapped the belt around her hips. She hadn’t ever shot a gun before, so Bertie had loaded them for her.

  Elsie worried, and her clammy hands trembled as she held the reins. She didn’t know what she and Bertie might do once they’d found their hiding place. Elsie also worried about how many men they might find inside. Storming in with the guns wouldn’t work, so she kept on riding and thinking.

  Finally, the men turned off the dirt road and crossed into a wooded area, and Elsie lost sight of them when the thick foliage and trees blocked their view. She decided it was time they stop and proceed on foot.

  “We need to tie the horses up and walk. I can’t see the men anymore,” she whispered to Bertie.

  The two women made their way through the copse of trees until they caught sight of the men who were trotting along slowly. Elsie and Bertie ducked behind a large tree when the men dismounted, and Elsie wondered why they’d stopped when she didn’t see any buildings. Then she saw them disappear into the center of a large hill. Elsie signaled for Bertie to follow her, and they crept silently closer while trying to stay within the foliage as best they could. When they reached the spot where the men had disappeared, Elsie saw the mine opening.

  “That’s their hideout,” Elsie whispered.

  “All right, so now what do we do?” Bertie asked.

  Elsie plopped down on the ground. “I don’t know. Do you think God might help us?”

  Bertie sat down beside her. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

  “Does that mean we can just storm in there and God will help us?”

  Be
rtie shook her head. “No, I wish it did. He gave us a brain to use at times like this. He’ll protect us, but we have to do our part as well.”

  It was nearly dark by then, as the sun was sinking below the horizon. Elsie shivered. “Will we have to stay here all night?”

  “One of us could ride to town and bring the sheriff back here,” Bertie said.

  “Since I have the guns, you can fetch the sheriff,” Elsie said. “I’ll wait for you unless I see some way to get to Conner.”

  “Don’t do anything crazy,” Bertie said before turning to go back to the horses.

  Chapter Twelve

  The moon was bright that night and the sky clear, making it less scary for Elsie. She had to rescue Conner, but she didn’t know how to go about doing it.

  She soon saw some movement. Someone had stepped out of the mine. Elsie couldn’t see his face, but she knew it was Conner. Another man stood at the mine entrance, watching Conner, who carried a bucket.

  Elsie moved in the direction that Conner had gone as quietly as possible, grateful for the thick brush to hide her. She saw him stop at a well, and luckily, there were enough bushes for her to crawl closer to the well. Conner was pumping water. She knew he couldn’t leave because one of the men was watching him from about twenty feet away.

  “Conner,” she whispered loudly.

  Conner swung his head in her direction, still pumping water. “Elsie?” His voice came out in a whispered squeak of surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to bring you home.”

  Conner didn’t look at her, but he kept pumping water. “Go home and stay safe. I can handle things. I don’t want to have to worry about your safety, too.”

  “How many men are in there?” Elsie asked.

  “Two and the... um...patient.”

  Elsie could see that the bucket was full, and Conner would need to return to the mine. Before he turned back, he whispered, “Go home!”

  “Wait!” Elsie whispered back.

  Conner purposely stumbled, spilling half of the water. He turned back to the well to pump more. “What?”

  She took a gun from her holster and tossed it near his feet. “I have the other one.”

  In the moonlight, Elsie saw Conner’s mouth drop open. They noticed his guard lighting a cigarette, so Conner bent to pick up the gun and stuck it in his boot.

  “The man watching me is getting nervous. I have to get back. Go home!” He turned and walked back to the mine, the bucket sloshing at his side.

  Elsie heard the man at the mine entrance say, “It took you long enough.”

  She watched them disappear into the mine before crawling back to where she was sitting before.

  So, there were only two men. Conner had a gun, and she had a gun, but the patient wasn’t likely to have a gun. She smiled and whispered to herself, “We can do this,” before she crept slowly up to the mine’s entrance and slipped between the boards. It was dark inside, but she could see a dim light around the corner of the wall.

  Elsie heard men’s voices, and she took out the gun, but her hands shook too much for her to make a move. She had to calm herself before her plan could work. If she went storming in, shaking like a leaf, they wouldn’t be bullied by her at all. She had to go in strong and be sure of herself. How could she find the courage she needed?

  She prayed to God for strength, courage, and protection. She recalled the preacher telling the people in church to invite the Holy Spirit into their hearts and become one with God. He said that all a person had to do was acknowledge God and that his son, Jesus, died on the cross for all our sins. Elsie prayed as the preacher had instructed, and she felt strength almost immediately. She knew she could do this with God at her side. Was it God causing her to rethink her plan?

  Her problem was what if Conner was bent over the patient or had his back to her, he wouldn’t have his gun at the ready when she snuck up on them. They could grab her, and her plan wouldn’t work at all.

  She backed out of the mine, knowing she had to have a better plan.

  Elsie went back to her original spot, and she thought hard about how to go about getting Conner out of there.

  What if she stormed in there, and Conner pulled out his gun, and the two of them had the men surrounded... what about the patient? Conner would never leave a dying man, even to save himself.

  Elsie shrugged. All she could do now was wait for Bertie and the sheriff. She decided that while God had given her strength and courage, He also had given her a brain, and she had to use that first.

  She was sitting and using the brain God had given her to figure out her dilemma when a sudden movement caught her eye: a man smoking a cigarette walked out of the mine, strolled a few feet away, and unbuttoned his britches to relieve himself. Elsie noticed a huge rock nearby, and she stood, walked over to it, and hoisted it up. She crept closer to the man, who was whistling as he relieved himself, which helped to hide the noise of her creeping up on him. Could she lift the heavy rock high enough? She didn’t have time to wonder. The man began buttoning his pants, and Elsie prayed as she hefted the rock high and brought it down on the man’s head.

  He fell face down in the high weeds. Elsie grabbed him by the boots and pulled him farther into the weeds so he’d be hidden from sight. Next, she disarmed him and returned to her hiding place.

  It wasn’t long before the other man came out, stood near the entrance, and scanned the area. “Abe?” he called. “Abe?” When there wasn’t an answer, he stepped out and started walking toward the well.

  Elsie had a gun, but she knew she couldn’t kill anyone, so she picked up the rock and moved through the brush toward the well. It was a cumbersome crawl, holding the large rock as she went, but she finally made it.

  The man wouldn’t hold still, so she left the rock and drew her gun. Without thinking, and purely on instinct, she stepped out into the open, pointed her gun at the man, and yelled, “Hands up.”

  The man froze and raised his arms. “Who are you?”

  Elsie realized that she was no longer scared. Besides having God with her, she knew that Conner was nearby, and that gave her extra courage. This was the last of the wicked men.

  “A concerned citizen,” she said. “Now, throw down your gun belt and move back into the mine.”

  The man did as he was told, but then he turned in her direction. “Hey, you’re just a young girl.” He went to grab her, but she fired the gun at his feet.

  “One more step and I’ll shoot higher.” Elsie hoped the man couldn’t see her hand shaking.

  The sound of the gunshot must have alerted Conner, for he came rushing out of the mine with his gun drawn. “Do as the lady says.”

  Conner forced the man back into the mine, and Elsie followed. Once inside, she saw the patient lying still on the shelf. She watched as Conner tied the man’s hands behind his back—Conner had called him Moe.

  Moe was compliant but curious. “What’s gonna happen to my brother?”

  Conner took the sheet covering Mac and pulled it up to cover his head. “I’m sorry, Moe, but Mac died about an hour ago.”

  Moe shook his head, and his bottom lip trembled. “And you said nothing?”

  “How could I?” Conner asked. “Today wasn’t my day to die.”

  “That’s one thing me, Mac, Abe, Gus, and Pete never done was kill anyone. We was just trying to scare you.”

  “Just so you know,” Conner said, “he would have lived had you not taken him from the clinic and brought him to this dirty mine. You never put a clean bandage on him. He died from an acute infection.”

  Moe opened his mouth to speak, but the sheriff silenced him. He and his posse, stormed in with guns drawn.

  Sheriff Babcock looked at them in surprise. “Whoa. Looks like Conner has everything under control.”

  “No,” Conner answered, “my wife has everything under control.” He gave Elsie a smile that told her how proud he was of her.

  Conner put his arms out, and she flew i
nto them. He held her while the sheriff gave Moe to his posse.

  “Where’s the other one?” Babcock asked.

  Conner smiled. “You need to ask my wife.”

  Elsie moved from Conner’s arms reluctantly, and she led the sheriff to the weeds where she’d left Abe.

  Abe groaned when the sheriff picked him up, and it relieved Elsie to know she hadn’t killed him.

  Conner had followed them out of the mine, carrying a lantern.

  “Hey, Doc,” the sheriff called to him, “you have another patient. Your wife conked him on the head. Follow us to the jailhouse, and you can treat him.”

  Conner nodded. “My pleasure.”

  “Where’s Bertie?” Elsie asked the sheriff as he mounted his horse.

  “I sent her home. She knew we could handle the situation.” He waved and rode off with Abe straddled over the horse’s rump.

  To Elsie’s delight, Conner set the lantern down and held out his arms. “Come here, Mrs. Van Gates.”

  Elsie went into his arms.

  “You surprised me. I never realized how brave a tiny bit of a woman like you could be. You hit Abe over the head with a rock?”

  Elsie still trembled a bit at the thought of what she’d done, but she nodded. “God gave me the courage and the brain to know when the time to strike was right. I just felt moved and did it without a thought of danger.”

  “God? You believe in Him, now?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Conner bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for and praying for.”

  Elsie was still reeling from his sweet kiss. “What?”

  “I couldn’t let myself fall for a non-believer. The Bible tells us that. Had I known you weren’t a believer, I never would have married you. I was clear about that on my questionnaire.”

  Elsie felt confused. “I was clear about my disbelief, as well.”

  Conner laughed and hugged her again. “I think this may be the beginning of something special, despite those daft questionnaires. I can’t thank you enough for coming to my rescue tonight.”