by Barbara Goss
The farmer who was being robbed backed away from the man with the gun and ended up standing between Cecilia and the stairway.
The farmer refused to give the man his money. Cecilia started to push past him, dragging Susannah by the hand. Just then, the man with the gun fired, but he did so into the air in an effort to scare the man into handing over his money. The bullet went over the farmer’s shoulder, hit Cecilia on the right side of her chest, and she fell to the floor.
Susannah heard herself scream, though she failed to realize it was the perfect time to escape. Instead, she knelt down to check on Cecilia.
“Help me, Susannah!” she cried.
Susannah looked at the door, then at Cecilia bleeding on the dirty wooden floor. She should run‒surely someone else would come to Cecilia’s aid. Even so, she couldn’t move.
She looked up at the stunned men behind her and called out, “Can someone please help her?”
Susannah planned to escape as soon as she knew for sure someone was going to help Cecilia. The two cowboys rushed out of the door. It was the farmer who knelt down and picked Cecilia up, holding her in his arms until Cecilia passed out.
The serving woman peeked out of the kitchen, saw that the men with the guns were gone, and came over to them.
“Here’s the key to the room,” the woman said. “It’s number ten. Take her up and I’ll send someone for a doctor—if we can find one.”
The farmer carried her up the stairs. Susannah used the key to open the door and the farmer laid Cecilia down on the bed.
“I’m sorry this happened,” the man said. “I’ll have someone bring up water and towels.” He turned and left.
Susannah looked at Cecilia and felt the urge to run, but then Cecilia moaned, and Susannah rushed to her side.
“It hurts,” she groaned. “I need a doctor.”
“They’ve sent for one,” Susannah said. She sat on the bed beside Cecilia.
“Don’t leave me, please!” Cecilia gripped Susannah’s arm. “I don’t want to die alone.”
Susannah looked at her wound. The bullet hadn’t hit her heart, so unless she bled to death or got an infection, she’d probably pull through. Even so, Susannah couldn’t leave her.
The serving woman appeared with towels and water. “One of the men downstairs went for a doctor.” She backed out of the room as if she was afraid of Susannah. Seeing as Cecilia had told her she’d just been released from an asylum, of course she’d be afraid.
Having had no medical experience, Susannah had no clue as to what she should to do with the water and towels, and she looked at Cecilia, helplessly.
“Remove my dress,” Susannah, “so the doctor can get to my wound.”
Susannah thought she could at least do that much for her, and then, when the doctor arrived, she’d make her escape. Cecilia moaned in pain every time she had to move her right arm in order to remove the dress. As she slipped the dress, off Susannah felt the weight of the gun in the pocket of the dress. She lay the dress down, carefully put her hand inside the pocket, pulled the gun from it, and slipped it into her own pocket.
The wound was still bleeding. Susannah stood there, staring at it. She’d seen Carter stop an animal’s bleeding by pressing on the open wound with a wet cloth. Susannah took one of the towels, soaked it in water, applied it to Cecilia’s wound, and took a bit of pleasure in pressing on it as hard as she could. She kept telling herself to not pity the woman, as she deserved it, but she couldn’t make herself leave her.
Cecilia moaned and passed out again. Susannah reached for the dress Cecilia had worn, felt inside the other pocket, and found the wad of money. No, she couldn’t steal it. Taking a gun didn’t seem like stealing‒it felt more like protection‒but taking her money would be wrong. She stuffed the money back into the pocket of Cecilia’s dress.
It seemed like forever before a knock on the door sounded. Cecilia was still unconscious. Susannah was still holding the cloth on the wound, and she beckoned to whomever it was to enter.
An elderly man, carrying a black case similar to Carter’s medical bag, walked in and nodded.
“I’m Doctor Berger.”
Susannah simply nodded but she felt relieved. Now that the doctor had arrived, she'd be able to escape.
“Keep holding that cloth while I remove my coat. You’ve done a good job so far to stop the bleeding,” he said.
He threw his coat over a chair and rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll need your help, miss.”
Susannah was disappointed that she couldn’t escape just yet, but it also wasn’t in her nature to run out on someone in need, no matter who it was.
“I’ll need you to go downstairs and bring up a bottle of whiskey. Have you any money?”
“Yes,” Susannah said. She put her hand into Cecilia’s dress pocket and pulled a few bills off the wad. She ran down to the bar and brought up a bottle of whiskey.
The doctor looked at the bottle. “I hope they didn’t overcharge you; this is the cheapest brand in the house.”
“I’ll just be leaving now. I hope she’ll be all right,” Susannah said as she sidled toward the door.
“Oh, no!” he said. “You can’t leave. I’ll need your help to get the bullet out.”
Chapter 14
Susannah froze with her hand on the doorknob. All right, he needs my help. I’ll assist him with getting the bullet out and then I’ll make my escape.
She moved to the doctor’s side. "What should I do?"
“Hold her down. When I start digging for the bullet she’ll come out of her deep sleep and howl like a coyote. I want you to pin her shoulders down and be sure to look the other way. I’ve had too many helpers faint, so don’t look at what I’m doing."
She took hold of both Cecilia’s shoulders, put her weight into holding her down, and turned her head to the wall. She felt Cecilia’s body move with the doctor’s ministrations, and then she came to, yelling and struggling to get up. It took all Susannah had in her to keep her down.
The doctor sighed. “Got it.”
She heard the bullet hit the bottom of the metal pan that was holding the water.
“Keep holding her down‒I’m going to disinfect the wound with the whiskey and it'll burn like…well, it will sting.” He squeezed Cecilia’s cheeks with his hand and poured a good dose of whiskey into her mouth with the other. “This will help.”
Susannah still looked at the wall, but she could smell the whiskey and it burned her nostrils. She wondered how anyone could possibly drink that stuff.
Cecilia continued to moan and fight but Susannah felt her fight slowly abate as if she were too exhausted, or too drunk, to fight, and then she was out like a light again.
“Can I look yet, Doc?” Susannah asked.
“Not yet. I have to sew her up first.”
The thought of having your skin sewed together like a button onto a dress made her cringe, but Cecilia took it better than Susannah had thought she might. She gave a moan now and then, but she stayed pretty much unconscious. Susannah supposed the whiskey might have numbed both Cecilia and the wound.
“You can look now. Good job, miss. You made my job easier,” the doctor said.
Susannah looked down at the wound, but the doctor had already put a clean cloth over it and was in the process of wrapping her chest with strips of fabric.
“I’ll need you to watch over her all night. Have someone fetch me if I’m needed,” the doctor said.
“What? I have to watch her all night?” Susannah said.
“If she develops a fever, she could die. You need to try and get her to take fluids and stay calm, but most importantly, keep checking for signs of fever,” he said, moving toward the door. With his hand on the knob, he said, “I’ll return tomorrow if I don’t hear from you first.”
“But—” Susannah tried to explain that she couldn’t stay, but he was gone. Now she had a big choice to make: take the chance now to escape, or sit and nurse her enemy. What would God want her to do?
One Bible verse kept creeping into Susannah’s mind: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Did God realize how hard that was to do? This woman had taken her away from her loving home and husband. She’d locked her up and possibly endangered their baby. She threatened to shoot her, and she was an all-round nasty person to boot.
Susannah moved to the door, had her hand on the doorknob, and she hesitated. She could possibly stay the night. She wasn’t keen on traveling alone in the dark, anyway. She’d stay and care for her enemy as God had instructed, but only until morning, and then, surely, someone could be found to look after her.
She felt the heaviness of the gun in her pocket. She could escape anytime, but she'd do the right thing and nurse Cecilia, first.
Carter and Ben rode on horseback, hoping that, in doing so, they would beat the women who they'd assumed had traveled by buggy to St. Louis. Carter continued with his constant prayers. When they stopped to rest their horses and give them feed and water, he approached Ben who was sitting beneath a tree.
“Will you pray with me for Susannah?”
“I’ll do anything for Susannah, but I’ve never been much of a prayin’ man—I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“You never went to church and prayed?”
“A few times when I was young, but serious praying? I never did that.”
“You said you’d do anything for Susannah.”
Ben sighed. “Teach me how and I’ll do it gladly. Does prayer really work?”
“We've gotten this far, haven't we?”
Ben nodded. “Do I need to fold my hands and get on my knees?”
“No, we can join wrists, like this,” Carter grabbed both of Ben’s wrists and Ben grabbed his in return. “Now, close your eyes and think very hard about the words that I’m going to say.”
Ben nodded.
“Dear Heavenly Father, one of your lambs is lost, and I need you to lead us to her. Please protect her and keep her safe until we reach her. God, I know you love Susannah, too, and I'm begging you to keep her safe. Ben and I ask this in your son’s name, who died on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen.
“Time to move on, Ben,” Carter prompted. They mounted their horses and galloped off in the direction of St. Louis.
It was dark, and with just a sliver of moon in the cloudy sky they were slowed, owing to the poor visibility.
“Should we keep going?” Ben asked.
“We’ll have to stop. We can make up the time tomorrow. The women will have to stop as well. We’ll get a few hours sleep and then push on hard in the morning."
They took the saddles off their mounts and used them as pillows and the horse blankets to keep them warm.
At the first sign of dawn, Carter woke Ben and they saddled up. By the time they were ready to hit the trail the sun was just peeking over the horizon. They pushed their horses hard. By mid-morning, Ben had begun to lag behind. Carter turned and saw that Ben’s horse was limping.
He slid off his horse and walked back to where Ben’s horse had halted. He picked up one of the horse’s feet and frowned. “He’s got a torn tendon or ligament‒it’s hard to tell which, but it's already swelling, and we can’t ride him any further.”
“What will we do?” Ben asked.
“First off, I have to wrap his foot.” Carter tore a long strip from the horse’s blanket and wrapped it around the horse’s leg. “We can walk him a ways, but you can’t ride him, or it could cause a fracture.”
“We’ll have to ride double, but we can’t ride too long that way, as it's too burdensome for the horse. If we lose this horse we’re done.” Carter rolled his eyes. “Why didn’t I bring extra mounts? I always bring extra when traveling any distance, but I was just so anxious to catch the women I didn’t think.”
Carter and Ben rode double, pulling the injured horse behind them. Just as the horse began to show signs of exhaustion, they came upon an inn in the distance.
“C’mon, boy, just a few more feet and you can rest.” He looked at Ben. “While the horses are resting we can grab a bite to eat.”
Ben jumped off the horse. “I’m starving.”
“Me, too,” Carter said. “I’m thinking I’ll have to leave your horse here. I’ll ask later if they have a horse I could trade for him.”
They handed their horses over to the man in charge of the inn’s stable and went inside. They ordered the daily special‒beef stew‒and ate as if it were their last meal.
“I'm curious about God and prayer and all,” Ben said. “If God is helping us, why are we running into so many difficulties?”
“I don’t know, Ben. All I can do is have faith. I’ve been too upset this last week to even try to have faith in God, but after finding you and learning she’s still all right, I feel a bit better and I can finally put my faith in God to work again, so keep believing in Him.”
Ben nodded, deep in thought.
Having finished their meal, Carter paid the waitress.
“Happy traveling,” she said, smiling at the tip he’d left her.
Carter and Ben walked out of the inn and into the stable to claim their horse. The stable boys were harnessing two horses to a buggy, so they had to wait to get their horses. Carter was impatient to get back on the trail and so he began pacing as he watched boys’ progress. He could see they weren’t clamping the bits right and they’d wind up hurting the horse. He walked over, and stood there, frozen for a few seconds, when he realized he recognized the buggy.
“Here, let me do that,” he said. He then placed the bit properly and adjusted the bit for the other horse.”
“Thanks, mister,” the boy said. “I just got this job and this is my first hitch to a buggy.”
“Is the buggy’s owner leaving soon?” he asked.
“I was ordered to have it ready by noon,” he said.
“I’ll let the owner know the buggy is ready,” he said, trying to keep his heart from beating out of his chest.
Ben was saddling the horse they’d both rode in on.
“Take a good look at that buggy over there, Ben,” he said.
Ben glanced at it and shrugged.
“Look closer,” Carter said.
Ben walked closer to the buggy, then turned to Carter and mouthed, "Susannah."
Carter nodded.
“Let’s go find her,” Carter said, and he raced to the door of the inn with Ben following behind him.
When they reached the bar they asked the serving woman where they might find the woman who’d ordered the buggy.
“Why,” she said, “is there a problem with the buggy?”
“No, I’ve been looking for her‒she's my wife,” Carter said, trying to hold his excitement down.
“Which one is your wife? The raven-haired woman or her crazy sister?”
Carter simply stared at her. “Crazy sister?”
“Yes. The raven-haired woman said she needed a room away from everyone else, due to her sister being crazy. I guess she just come from an asylum, but as far as I could see, she seemed normal enough, especially after the shooting.”
“What shooting?” Carter’s heart thumped in his chest.
“One of the women was shot in a bar fight last night. It was an accident—”
“It’s my wife! Please, give me the room number.”
She must've remembered the generous tip he’d given her, because she told him, “Room 10,” without hesitation.
Chapter 15
The doctor examined Cecilia.
“She’ll live,” he said. “A bit of rest and she’ll be good as new.”
“Thank you, doctor. How much do we owe you?”
“Five dollars will do it.”
Once again, Susannah took the money from Cecilia’s pocket and handed it to the doctor.
“Would you kindly let the proprietor know I’ll be leaving and to get my buggy ready?” Su
sannah asked.
“You aren’t going to care for her?” He pointed to the sleeping Cecilia.
“Actually, I don’t even know this woman. I just happened to be standing behind her when she was hit. I have to get home,” Susannah said, silently praying for forgiveness for the tiny fib.
“I’ll tell the proprietor this as well. Since she was hurt in his establishment, he should be responsible. I’ll also let them know to get your buggy ready,” the doctor said.
After the doctor left, Susannah had no choice but to borrow a few dollars from Cecilia. In place of the money she removed the gold necklace from around her throat and put it into the dress pocket.
Susannah gave Cecilia one last look before she opened the door and ran smack into Carter!
Carter had been poised to knock on the door to room 10 when it opened and there stood Susannah. He grabbed her and squeezed her to him. She clung to him with her arms around his neck. They didn’t speak, for they needed no words. They just clung to each other. Carter knew she could feel his heart beating fast, as he felt hers beating just as rapidly.
Then Carter heard a throat clear. They turned to look behind them and saw Ben.
Ben tipped his hat at Susannah. “Nice to see you're all right. Where’s Cecilia?”
Susannah, still clinging to Carter’s hand, moved aside so Ben could enter the room.
“Will you stay and care for her?” Susannah said, tears of joy streaming down her face. “I want to go home.”
Carter wiped away her tears with his thumb. “Your buggy awaits. Let’s go home.”
“I’ll stay, then, and ride your horse home later,” Ben said.
Carter shook his head. “Keep the horse. Please take her back to St. Louis where she belongs.”
Ben nodded and the two men shook hands.
After Ben closed the door, Carter embraced his wife again. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead. “Is our baby all right?”
