Texas Christmas

by Holly Castillo

  Gabby turned to her medicine bag and quickly pulled out her small jar of crushed poppy leaves and gently smoothed the paste-like substance inside his lower lip. Within minutes he wasn’t groaning as much, and he didn’t seem as mindful of the pain, though his arm was still shaking.

  “Here you go, little Miss. I had a bucket of water outside earlier, and it nearly froze over, but not quite. Will that work?”

  Gabby looked up at the servant and smiled at him. “Yes, that will work just fine. Thank you so much.” Again, his eyes widened in surprise as he handed her the bucket of water. She dug a couple of fresh cloths out of her medicine bag and soaked them in the icy cold water, then carefully draped them over the burned arm.

  The man sighed heavily and then, blissfully, passed out. Gabby and Luke worked together quickly to keep the man’s arm moist and cool. Gradually the remainder of his jacket fell away from his skin and Luke focused on removing the man’s entire sleeve.

  Gabby gathered together her essential burn ingredients: lavender, chamomile, and witch hazel. She blended the ingredients into a thick paste, then, at Luke’s nod, began to smooth it onto his arm carefully. He moaned a couple of times, but, fortunately for him, remained unconscious.

  Finally, with the paste applied, Luke took the bandages out of his bag and Gabby helped him wrap the man’s arm gently. He began to move around more, and Gabby nudged Luke. “He’s beginning to wake up.”

  Luke nodded and drew a vial out of his bag and poured a small amount onto a spoon and tipped it into the man’s mouth, and he reflexively swallowed. Gabby desperately wanted to ask Luke what it was, but he hadn’t questioned her on anything she had done. She would have the same faith in him.

  But he must have known, because as he closed up his case, he murmured to her, “It was morphine. Only a small dose. I’ll send some home with the wife to keep him numb to the pain the first few days. Then he’ll need to go through the healing process without the help of medication. Do you have a paste you can give her?”

  Gabby wanted to kiss him right there in front of everyone. But she knew it would cause quite the scandal. Already there were questions circulating about who they were and if she was his assistant. She didn’t mind the idea of being his assistant. A healer was a healer, no matter what title she went by.

  The man stirred awake, though he was groggy. “My arm...” he said thickly.

  “Is going to hurt for a while, my good man. But you’ll be fine in no time. Do you think you can stand?” Luke asked, offering a hand to help him up. Fortunately for the man, it had been his left arm that had been burned, not his right.

  The man nodded and he took Luke’s outstretched hand, then stood slowly, leaning briefly against Luke as he tried to gain his balance. “Have a seat here,” Luke said, guiding him towards a couch and the crowd quickly cleared the way for him. “Let’s sit and talk for a bit while you get your bearings. You’ve had a bit of a fright.”

  The man nodded, obviously still fuzzy on everything that had happened. Luke took the small vial of morphine and gave it to Gabby. “Would you mind talking to the wife? Then you can bring her back over here so she can see her husband is okay.” Gabby nodded and took the vial and headed for the parlor where the woman had been escorted. But as she entered the parlor she was plagued by one thought. Luke hadn’t said if he still wanted her or not.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “You’ll only want to give him a little bit of this at a time,” Gabby said gently to the wife who was still suffering from hiccups. Her crying had dissolved as soon as Gabby had told her that her husband was okay, but hiccups lingered. “It is meant to treat the pain. The less you give him, the longer you can stretch out the medicine.”

  “But won’t that mean he’ll—hiccup—be in more pain? Shouldn’t I just—hiccup—give him more?”

  “You don’t want to give him too much. More than just a tiny spoonful every four hours could kill him.”

  The wife went pale and looked like she was about to faint. “So,” Gabby pressed again, “use this as little as possible.” She pressed the vial into the woman’s cold hands.

  “Now, to treat his burns, here is some ointment. I’ve also added some painkiller to it that should numb his arm, making him ask for the other one far less often. Make sure his arm has a fresh layer of this paste on it every day. Don’t be surprised if some of his skin comes off.” Now she was certain the woman would faint. “But it won’t be much, just the upper layer. We got to the burn fast enough to stop it from going deep into his skin. So he should be feeling good soon. Right now he just needs you to take care of him.”

  The woman nodded, dabbing at the last of her tears with a kerchief that she then stuffed down into her ample bosom. She stood and her circle of friends stood with her, walking with her back into the ballroom where her husband waited.

  “That was incredibly brave of you.” Rebecca Ann stepped forward and sat down next to Gabby. “The two of you make quite the pair. Were you able to resolve your differences?”

  While Rebecca Ann had been making sure that Gabby looked her absolute best, Gabby had nervously confessed to her about everything that had happened. She confided her biggest fear was that she didn’t even know if Luke would take her back.

  “I don’t know,” Gabby said hesitantly. “I said everything that I needed to tell him. But I don’t know if he still wants me. I may have ruined my only chance with him.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible. Father wants to speak with both of you, though. He is extremely grateful for what you did.”

  Gabby was trembling slightly as she stood and followed Rebecca Ann, wondering how women could survive being garbed in such a fashion. Her feet hurt, the dress was even more scratchy than her new cotton ones, and she had to constantly watch where she was going for fear of knocking over a table or lantern with her skirts.

  But when she saw Luke, all thoughts of discomfort fled. She stood as straight as she could and smiled at him, pleased just to see his face. When he didn’t immediately return her smile, her heart fell to her stomach. She knew it had been too much to hope for. She had lost him.

  Much to her surprise, though, he held his hand out to her and pulled her close to his side. President Lamar looked at her and gave her a hesitant smile. “Thank you, so much, for all of your help. The man you aided is a dear friend of mine, and I would have hated for him not to be cared for by the very best. Which leads me to an odd question, my dear... What exactly is your profession? Are you a nurse or—or an assistant of some sort?”

  Gabby let her breath out slowly. She wouldn’t lie about who she was. She never had, nor had her mother. There was a sense of pride in being a healer, even if others didn’t see it that way. She opened her mouth, but was cut off by Luke.

  “She’s a healer, sir. Or, at least, she was up until she arrived in San Antonio nearly two weeks ago. Since then she’s been my assistant, though I think I am learning more from her than she is from me.”

  Gabby looked up at him to convey her gratitude, but he didn’t look down at her. Something wasn’t right. Her eyes returned to President Lamar.

  “There’s a young man here. He is quite adamant that you are his betrothed from Corpus Christi. He said you are a healer, but that Doctor Davenport lured you here. He will not leave without demanding satisfaction.”

  “Demanding satisfaction? What does that mean? This is absolutely insane!”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Luke said softly. “But he won’t go. Not unless I fight him.”

  Gabby whirled to face Luke, squeezing his hand tightly. “No, Luke, you can’t. You mustn’t. It isn’t the man you want to be anymore.”

  “Yes, Doctor Davenport has shared with me a bit about his unusual upbringing. Are you afraid for him, or are you afraid for your fiancé?”

  Gabby turned back to face the President, feeling as if he had just stabbed her in the back. “You know nothing of my life, dear sir, so I kindly thank you for not making any assumptions about it,
” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Very well, she isn’t worried about the fiancé,” the President said, smirking slightly. “Otherwise she would have begged me to stop this whole thing instead of trying to pick a battle with me.”

  Gabby squeezed her eyes shut at the laughter that rang out among the small crowd that had gathered around them. “I am so very sorry, President Lamar. I meant no ill will.”

  “Of course you did.” He chuckled. “And I don’t mind. You are ready to do whatever it takes to protect the man of your choice. I wish I could find a woman like that for myself. Now, what are we going to do about the man outside?”

  Gabby’s mind was racing and she said the first thing that came to mind. “Do you have another bottle of morphine? I could convince him it was a drink from the party and he’d be out for hours...” Again there was laughter from the crowd.

  “Gabby...”

  “Or perhaps I can just go out there and talk to him and explain everything. I’ll let him know that I came here on my own.”

  “Gabby...”

  “Can’t you scare him away with some gunfire?” she asked President Lamar. The laughter was even louder this time.

  “Gabby!” Luke’s rough, firm tone grabbed her attention and her eyes shot to his face, then down to his hands where he was rolling up his sleeves. “I’m going to fight him.”

  “Oh, no, Luke, you can’t. You’re a doctor now. You’re no longer a boxer or fighter or whatever you were called over there. You’re meant to protect and save lives, not do them damage.”

  “Which is why I’m only going to shake him up a little, and then we can all have that talk you want.” He began to move forward but she stepped in his path.

  “Don’t do this, Luke. Not for me.”

  “I’d do anything for you,” he whispered against her cheek, then headed towards the door. She stood as though paralyzed, hearing tidbits of conversation as it passed her.

  “Did she say ‘boxer’?”

  “...it can’t be! I know he’s...”

  “Yeah, he’s British, and he’s got the right name.”

  “...Luke the Champion, here in Texas?”

  “...best damn entertainment of the year.”

  Oh, dear God, her fears were coming true. She had to stop them!

  Luke hadn’t been nervous before a fight in years. But he was nervous this time. Because this time he wasn’t fighting just for his life. He wasn’t just fighting for a title or a scholarship. He was fighting for Gabby, and he couldn’t lose her, not after what they had been through. He had left her when she needed him most, and he wasn’t going to do it again.

  “It’s about time you came out. I wondered how long you were going to hide behind her skirts,” Dominic growled. He was obviously drunk and furious. Usually the best kind of guy to fight. But also the most unpredictable.

  “I was trying to convince her not to save you. She’s all torn up that I’m going to mess up that beautiful face of yours.” Luke took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do to stay true to himself and to protect Gabby. “Let’s go.”

  “I’m putting my money on Luke!” someone yelled out.

  “I’ll take that bet,” yelled another, and before they knew it there was a full-out betting process in play.

  “I don’t want to fight you, Dominic. She chose me. You’re just taking it a little hard. You barely knew her. Go home and find another woman who will enjoy marrying you.”

  “I don’t want another woman,” Dominic said through gritted teeth. “I want Gabby.”

  Luke was finally standing near Dominic on the porch and glanced over. There were dead rose bushes, frozen on the other side of the porch, nearly ten feet below them. If he could just knock Dominic hard enough in the chest to go flying backwards...

  Dominic suddenly lunged at him, a roar coming from his lips. But Luke was able to sidestep him and he crashed his shoulder into the column that framed the front of the house. Luke was almost positive he heard the bones of the house groan in protest. He could only imagine how much his own bones would have groaned if it had been him.

  “Do you plan on running away from me all night?” Dominic said slowly, his words slightly slurred as he turned to face Luke, and Luke suddenly realized he was in the bad spot, where he would get thrown off the porch if Dominic hit him just right.

  “No, dear fellow, not all night. Just until you pass out.”

  Gabby watched everything going on around her in horror as bets continued to be made and people were cheering for either Luke or Dominic. She couldn’t let them fight. She had to stop them.

  She finally pushed her way through the crowd and saw that Luke didn’t even have his fists up, though he was in a defensive stance. What was he thinking? Dominic could have him reduced to a pulp if he hit Luke the right way. She understood that Luke never wanted to fight again, but this was not where she expected to find things when she came outside.

  Dominic made another lunge at Luke, which Luke smoothly sidestepped, and he shoved Dominic in the back as he went flying past him. The only thing Gabby could think of was that Dominic must have been rather intoxicated. He weaved as he regained his balance, then aimed for Luke again.

  Gabby couldn’t stand to watch the fight any longer, although, so far, there had been very little fighting. She was determined it wouldn’t escalate beyond that. And she was so self-certain of her plan that she didn’t expect either of the combatants to know what she was doing and she thought they would just stop fighting to listen to her.

  So she didn’t hesitate to make the run between them, right as Dominic’s legs began pumping forward. She stopped directly in front of Luke and turned towards Dominic, yelling, “Stop!”

  But unfortunately for her, his body was already in motion, along with his fist. She felt Luke try to grab her around the waist, but he wasn’t fast enough. Dominic was moving at a very high speed for such a large man.

  His fist collided squarely with her jawbone, and pain burst through her head. She heard Luke yell her name and suddenly felt the porch railing catching her at the base of all of her large skirts. She heard a faint scream, but it sounded far away and insignificant. She had to stop the fight between Luke and Dominic!

  But suddenly her skin was on fire as she fell through the rose bushes and the icy ground below caught her in its hard, cold mitt. From a distance she heard both Dominic and Luke yelling for her. She could hear the sound of gasps and cries from women who had earlier been cheering on the fight. But then sound and light faded away and all she knew was darkness.

  The soothing sound of a crackling fire was the first thing she heard. Then there was the soft voice of a woman, met by the low rumble of a man’s voice in return. She felt as if she was floating, but memories were beginning to return.

  Luke. She had to help Luke. She had to stop...something. She felt as if she were drifting on top of water, bobbing along with the current, and it was pulling away everything she was trying to concentrate on.

  The fight! She came awake in a rush and instantly gasped as pain burst through her head. Following that was the tiny fires all over her skin. Luke’s face appeared above her, and she sighed. “The fight,” she said, then winced because it felt as if her jaw was going to break.

  “Lie still and try not to talk,” Luke said, lightly caressing her cheek. “You’ve had a rough night.”

  “What...” She stopped and squeezed her eyes shut. Finally, she opened them and looked at Luke, trying to convey her need for answers.

  “I’ll explain in a moment. I know you are in a lot of pain. I gave you some morphine already, but very little. Do you want some more?”

  “No,” she whispered, barely moving her mouth and was relieved that she wasn’t overwhelmed by pain again.

  He frowned but nodded. His fingers moved from her cheek to her hair, where he pulled the strands through lightly, fanning her hair out around her. “I need to check your head. You took a rather nasty fall.”

  She watched him
with trepidation as he began to gently feel around her head, and all seemed fine until he touched the back of her head at the top. Pain burst forth and she winced, drawing in a deep breath to fight the tears of pain.

  “Just bear with me,” Luke said softly as his fingers continued to probe around the area that was so painful. Finally, he carefully laid her head back down on the pillow and felt along her neck, searching for any tender spots, and she was grateful when he didn’t find any.

  With a sigh he leaned back, looking slightly relieved. “Other than your jaw, you’ve got a nasty bump on the back of your head, but it, too, will heal with time.” He hesitated before he continued, “I don’t know how much you remember, so I’ll begin from where I think you’ll remember. It was after we had tended to that man with the burn on his arm. Dominic showed up and demanded a fight for you. He was rather drunk, and not quite in his right mind at the time. I do believe you broke the poor man’s heart.”

  Gabby’s heart sank. “But I never...” The pain came again and she closed her eyes, trying not to cry.

  “I know you never told him otherwise. But in his mind you left him to be with me. And he couldn’t process the fact that he could lose you so easily. He wanted to fight, but I did not. So I wasn’t going to. I decided to let him wear himself out trying to fight me until he either gave up from exhaustion or just simply passed out.

  “But then this petite woman, this little slip of a thing—you—had to come running into the middle of the fight. You tried to stop Dominic, but he was in a blind rage. He didn’t see you until it was too late. He caught you square on the jaw, and you fell backwards. Those damned skirts of yours tripped you to the edge of the porch, and you fell over, through the dead rose bushes to the ground. You’ve been out for nearly three hours now. You’ve had me quite worried.”

  Gabby felt the heat of a blush creep into her cheeks. “All those people...”

  “Yes, a lot of people saw what happened, and were about ready to lynch Dominic. I was able to save him, though, with a few quick words to President Lamar, and he is sleeping off his drunken rage down the hall.” He shook his head at her. “I can’t believe you did that. Who were you trying to save? You’re half the size of either of us—you couldn’t have stopped anything. Except, well, except by doing exactly what you did, I suppose.”