by Barbara Goss
“Why? It’s a free country. If Violet has a problem with it, then it’s her problem, not yours.”
“Peggy!” Gavin scolded. “That’s not how I want to do things.”
Peggy sulked a bit, so Gavin squeezed her hand.
“Let’s go into town and get those rings,” he said.
Violet poured tea for herself and Rose.
“I want to know what you’re thinking, Violet.” Rose said. “Gavin has changed, he’s a different man. Peggy said he’s never once gotten out of order with her. He loves her, and I just need to know what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking I can’t face him at family functions at all. I just can’t. It brings back all of the unpleasant memories,” she said.
“Well, he chose Peggy, and there is no way you can stop him from coming to any Iverson functions, or to our church,” she said.
Violet sighed and rubbed her arms as if she had a chill. “I was wrong to give him that choice, wasn’t I? I was so sure he’d choose the camp.”
“You know what you need, sister dear?” Rose said. “You need to make new memories with Gavin and Peggy. That way, when you see him, you won't remember the old and ugly memories, but only the new ones you've made.”
“You make it sound so easy, Rose.”
Rose stood. “I have to get home to feed Abby, but promise me you'll think it over, won’t you?”
“I will,” Violet said, staring off into space. “I will.”
“Oh,” Rose said as she stopped at the door. “I may as well tell you because you’re bound to hear it elsewhere. Miles and I are going to be witnesses at Peggy and Gavin’s wedding.”
Chapter 11
After picking out their rings, Gavin and Peggy went to the court building to get their marriage license.
“There’s no backing out now, Peggy-Iverson-soon-to-be McKenzie.” Gavin said.
Peggy smiled, folded the license, and put it in her reticule. “It’s legal and we’re one step closer to being a family, Gavin.”
“I can hardly wait,” Gavin said, hugging her before helping her into the buggy.
“What’s next on the list?” Peggy said.
Gavin sighed after he sat down and picked up the reins. “I guess the bank.”
“Oh. Do we have to?”
“Yes. Contributions have already started coming in.”
Gavin started the carriage and headed toward the bank where Miles worked. He parked the buggy, jumped down, and then helped Peggy down.
“Would you like to do some shopping while I do the banking?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m sure the banking will be boring, and I need to buy a few new things for our honeymoon.” She winked.
“Hmm, I can hardly wait,” he said, giving her a devilish smile. “Meet me back at the buggy when you’re through, but don’t be too long. The bank transfer should only take about twenty minutes.”
“I’ll hurry,” she said, and she walked toward the mercantile.
Gavin walked into the bank, and as he approached Miles’s desk off to the left side of the tellers, he noticed that Miles had a male customer with him, so he took a seat next to a potted plant, and waited. He took out his list and began checking off the items they’d accomplished, when four men burst into the bank and yelled, “Hands up!”
The men had bandanas around their faces. Three of them pointed guns at the tellers and the other people in the bank, while the fourth bandit aimed directly at Miles.
Gavin sat, frozen and unsure of what to do. He couldn’t just sit there and let them rob the bank, could he? Yet he never carried a gun, and neither did Miles.
He saw Miles spring up and walk toward the tellers. One bandit yelled, “Halt! Come closer and I’ll shoot.”
Gavin bit his lower lip. He spoke to Miles in his thoughts, saying “Give them the money!”
Miles froze when the robber told him to halt. The last time there was an attempted robbery Miles had been shot, but that had been with a lone bandit. This time there were four, and there was no way he could stop them from robbing the bank.
The robber who seemed to be the leader had the tellers put all the money from their drawers into his bag. Miles watched, his heart pounding, feeling helpless.
Then the leader pointed his gun at Miles. “Open the safe!”
“I can’t. Only Mr. Lebold has the combination,” he lied.
“Open it, or else!” the robber pointed the gun at Mile’s chest. “I saw you open it the other day!”
“Shoot ‘em fer lying,” another of the robbers yelled. “’Cause we gotta get out of here!”
Gavin saw the leader aim his gun at Miles. What could he do? He couldn’t just let them shoot Miles—he had a wife and child. Just as the leader was about to pull the trigger, Gavin picked up the potted plant and threw it at the aimed gun. Two things happened simultaneously: the robber’s gun flew to the floor and slid near Miles. One of the other robbers saw what Gavin had done, and aimed at him. As Miles bent to retrieve the gun, the other robber shot Gavin. When the robbers saw that Miles had a gun, they all fled the bank.
Peggy came out of the mercantile carrying a box that contained the most sheer and lacy nightgown she could find. She’d do her part to make this the best wedding night, ever. As she approached the buggy, two things surprised her: the buggy was empty, and several people were running out of the bank as if it were on fire. She threw her box into the buggy and ran for the door to the bank.
“Is there a fire or something?” Peggy asked the people scrambling out. “What’s going on?”
“Bank robbers!” someone yelled as he sped by.
“Are they still in there?” she asked whomever would answer.
A heavy-set woman who was slowed by her bulk, answered as she tried to pick up speed. “The robbers have fled, but they need a doctor in there. Someone’s been shot.”
Another man yelled, “I’m getting the doctor, and my wife is getting the law.”
Peggy’s legs turned to jelly. Gavin was in there! She yanked open the door to the bank, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Gavin, lying on the floor, in a pool of blood. Miles was leaning over him inspecting his wounds.
“Oh, no! Dear Lord, please help Gavin!” she prayed out loud. She ran to him, and picked up his hand, and squeezed it.
To her relief, he squeezed back.
“Peggy,” he said, his voice sounding gravelly. “If I don’t make it…”
“Stop talking!” she ordered. “Lie still. The doctor is on the way. You will make it because I’m praying for you to make it.”
She watched Miles rip his own shirt and place the material against Gavin’s chest, and put all his weight on it.
“Ah-h, Miles, take it easy,” Gavin croaked.
“I have to stop the bleeding, Gavin. Hush,” Miles said.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Peggy whispered to Miles.
“I don’t know. Where’s that doctor?” he said.
“I’ll go and see,” Peggy offered.
Peggy ran to the bank door just as the constable pushed his way in, followed by a man carrying a medical bag. She watched the doctor squat down beside Gavin and start examining him, while Miles reported to the constable what had happened.
Peggy knelt down beside Gavin and took his hand. He turned and gazed at her, and she saw him swallow hard. He could barely speak, but he squeezed her hand and said, “I love you, Peggy.”
Peggy kissed his forehead. “I love you, Gavin. Please lie still and don’t try to talk.”
Miles, the constable, and the doctor carried Gavin to the buggy, and Miles drove it to their house where Peggy led them to a spare room in the rear.
They laid him on the bed. The doctor asked for hot water, clean cloths, and a bottle of whiskey.
Fortunately, Pearl had a bottle of whiskey in the cupboard. She’d said her husband used to sip it when he had a bad cough. Peggy wiped the dust off the bottle and gave it to the doctor along with the water and rags.
Soon, Miles joined them. “The doctor's stitching his wound, now that the bullet has been removed.”
“Gavin saved my life,” he said. “Or, at the least, he saved me from going through what he’s going through right now.”
“Tell us what happened,” Peggy said.
Miles told Peggy and Pearl exactly how it happened.
“I have to get home. If word gets to Violet that the bank has been robbed and someone was shot, she’ll be frantic.” He turned toward the front door. “Tell Gavin I’ll visit him tomorrow.”
When Miles reached home, Violet was just hitching up the buggy. When she saw him she ran to him and flew into his arms. “Randy Cole stopped by, and said the bank had been robbed and a man was shot.” She hugged him tighter. “Oh, Miles! I thought it was you again.”
“No, it was Gavin McKenzie.”
“Gavin?” she asked, as she broke her hug.
“He took the bullet for me,” Miles said.
Violet simply stared at him.
“Who’s watching Andrew?”
“I asked Randy to send Ivy over. She’s with him. I was on my way to the bank when you rode in.”
“Violet, if it wasn’t for Gavin McKenzie, I might not be standing here right now. The bandit aimed his gun at me, and Gavin threw a potted plant at him just as the gun went off. Another bandit turned and fired at Gavin. I owe him my life—or at the least a lot of suffering and pain.”
“How bad is his wound?” Peggy asked the doctor while both women wrung their hands.
“It could turn nasty, or he could heal quickly and completely. I've removed the bullet, but I'm fairly sure, by his breathing and voice, that his lung's punctured; I just can’t tell how badly the bullet grazed the lung. If only there were only a way to look inside and see.”
“What can we do to help him recover?” Peggy asked.
“He needs plenty of water, fresh air to breathe, and plenty of rest. His condition depends on so many factors. If infection sets in, it could be nasty. If his lung is more seriously injured, we could lose him.”
Peggy gasped. “No!”
“I’ve seen so many injuries like this that I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the lung injury is just a graze. I’ll stop back tomorrow to check on him. Keep him quiet. That’s all we can do for now. If he spikes a fever, or if he starts gasping for breath, come and get me.”
Both Peggy and her mother bid the doctor goodnight with tears in their eyes.
Pearl took charge. “We’ll watch him in shifts. You watch him for four hours, then wake me and I’ll watch next.”
“All right,” Peggy said. “Thank you, Mother.”
Chapter 12
Peggy sat by Gavin’s bedside as he slept, her chin resting on the mattress to hold up her head. She was exhausted, but she still had another hour to go before her mother came to relieve her. Concentrating on Gavin’s labored and rhythmic breathing had begun to make her drowsy.
When she could no longer keep her eyes open, she stood and started to pace. What would she do if she lost Gavin? She gasped. Timothy! She had to contact whoever was watching him. She knew it would be either Mrs. Thompson or Trina. She’d go there as soon as it was light and bring him back here to her house. Mother would love the company.
Gavin stirred, and she sat back down and looked at him carefully. She put her hand on his forehead. She let out a breath of relief. He wasn’t feverish. What bothered her most was his rough breathing and the noise he sometimes made that sounded like a gurgle. She continued to pray for him. She begged God to spare him, although she knew, without a doubt, that if he passed he’d be in God’s loving arms.
When her mother relieved her she went up to her room and collapsed on the bed. She slept until she felt her mother shaking her. Owing to her grogginess she’d forgotten about Gavin’s injury, and nearly snapped at her mother for waking her so early. Then she remembered and sprang up.
“Is he all right?” she asked, in a panicky voice.
“He’s the same. He woke once and I gave him some water.”
“Did he speak?”
“No.”
“I need to notify his son, Timmy. Can I bring him here?”
“Of course you can, but I need some sleep,” Pearl said.
“I’ll sit with Gavin until Miles comes. He said he’d visit, and it’s Saturday, so the bank is closed.” She slipped from the bed and said, “I was just going to say that I wouldn’t want my husband working at a bank, but Gavin didn’t work there and got shot, anyway. So if it’s going to happen, it will, I guess.”
When Miles came to see how Gavin was, he agreed to sit with him so Pearl could get some sleep and Peggy could go for Timmy.
Miles sat by the bed feeling a real kinship with Gavin McKenzie, the man he had once wanted to throttle. He very well might have saved his life. When Gavin opened his eyes he seemed to scour the room, looking for something or someone. Then he saw Miles and he smiled.
“Peggy went to pick up Timmy,” Miles said, knowing it was Peggy he was searching form. Gavin closed his eyes as if in relief, and said, “I’m glad.”
“How bad is my injury,” he said, a scratchiness in his voice.
“A nice bullet hole that damaged your lung a bit, which is why your breathing and voice are a bit rough.” Miles felt Gavin’s forehead. “No fever, so that’s a good sign.”
“Thank you for saving me, Gavin. If not for you…” Miles broke off his sentence.
“It was an impulse. You would have done the same for me,” he said.
“I hope I would have.”
Gavin closed his eyes and fell back asleep. Miles picked up a newspaper someone had left on the bedside table and began to read.
When Peggy came back with Timmy, she saw Violet sitting on her front porch. She walked up to the porch, while holding Timmy’s hand.
“Hi!” Timmy said. “That’s my teacher, Miss Jeffries.”
“Her name is now Mrs. Croft.” Peggy said, as she climbed the steps to the porch.
“Violet,” Peggy said with a curt nod.
“Hello, Peggy,” she said, barely loud enough to hear.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize to Gavin, but haven’t gotten up the nerve yet. How is he?” she asked.
“He’s hanging on,” Peggy said. “Did you come with Miles? I didn’t see you here when I went to get Timmy.”
“No, Miles came by horse,” she nodded toward his horse tied to the post in front of the barn. “I came in the buggy.”
“You know Timmy, then?”
“Yes. Hello, Timmy,” Violet said.
“When you decide to come in, you’ll be welcome,” Peggy said, and steered Timmy into the house. She knew that would be what Gavin would have wanted her to say.
“I’ll show you to your room and you can drop your things off, and then we’ll go see your father,” Peggy said to Timmy.
“Okay,” he said, following her up the stairs.
Miles stood when Peggy and Timmy entered Gavin’s room. “He drank a bit of water and he’s still feeling cool.”
“Good. Thank you, Miles. Did you know Violet is sitting out on the porch?”
“No!” he exclaimed. “I’ll go see what’s going on, then.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Timmy crawled up on the chair by the bed, put his head near Gavin’s, and said. “Hello?”
“Shh,” Peggy said, with a finger to her lips. “He’s asleep, Timmy.”
“But it’s daytime,” Timmy said. “I want him to wake up.”
Peggy shuddered when she thought about how different things would have been for the boy if Gavin had been killed. Timmy would have wanted him to wake up, and he never would.
“Remember I explained that he’d been shot, and that he was now a h
ero?”
“Yep, I ‘member.”
“Well, the gunshot in his chest has made him very tired.” Peggy ruffled his hair.
Timmy slid off the chair and walked to the window. “Can I play in that swing until he wakes up?” He pointed to a swing hanging from a tree in the yard.
“Yes, you may. My brother and I used to love that old swing,” Peggy said. “I’ll call you when he wakes up.”
“I’m awake,” a gravelly voice said.
“Papa!” Timmy cried, jumping onto the bed and trying to hug Gavin.
“Careful of his chest, Timmy,” Peggy said.
“You’re a hero, Papa,” Timmy said.
“If you think I am, then I won’t deny it.” He touched Timmy cheek. “Did you thank Peggy for bringing you here?”
“Uh oh. I forgot, Papa.”
“Well, it’s never too late.”
“Thank you for picking me up so I could see Papa.”
“It’s quite all right,” Peggy said.
“Can I go out and swing now?”
“Absolutely,” Peggy said.
When Timmy had gone, Peggy kissed Gavin’s lips before she settled into the chair beside the bed.
“Hmm,” Gavin said. “Even though my chest hurts like the dickens, your kiss still thrills me.” He squeezed her hand.
“Your voice sounds a bit better than it did yesterday and your breathing sounds better too,” Peggy said. “I’ve never been so frightened. I thought I’d lost you.”
“You’ll have a hard time getting rid of me, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. Nothing's going to keep me from our wedding.”
“I think we might have to move it back a few weeks, Gavin.”
“No. We’ll do it from this room if we have to,” he said.
She frowned. “What fun would that be, Gavin? We can wait until—”
She was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called, thinking it was Miles or her mother.”
