“I didn’t know you was supposed to be a doctor.”
Ignoring his protests, Temperance carefully removed the shirt, which was caked with blood and slashed to ribbons. She tossed it to the ground, and Thad protested, “Hey, that’s my good shirt!”
“It’s filthy! It hasn’t been washed since we left Walla Walla. Besides that, it’s cut all to pieces.”
Sitting there before her, Brennan felt naked and exposed. He watched her as she moved to the wagon, and when she returned with another small wooden box, he was aware a crowd had collected. Belle had appeared, and beside her were Bent and Rena, who was holding Bess. Rose stood next to her, and Billy was sitting on the ground, playing with a block of wood, his favorite toy. Timothy was on a blanket, sound asleep. Brennan looked around at the children staring at him and said, “Get out of here! Go somewhere else and play.”
No one moved a muscle, and at that moment Gus walked slowly over to Brennan, reared up, and put his big paws on Brennan’s leg. The two stared at each other, and Brennan snapped, “Well, what do you want?”
Gus said, “Wow!” and, dropping to all fours, walked away, his head in the air.
“You kids go somewhere! This ain’t no sideshow,” Thad snapped. Not a one of them answered him, but he could see Belle was grinning. By that time Temperance had found a pair of scissors and was cutting the rough bandages that covered his chest. “This is going to hurt,” she said. “Maybe I ought to soak it off.”
Thad shook his head. “Go on and pull it off.”
“No, I’m going to soak it.”
The soaking took considerable time. She took fresh water and slowly poured it over his chest. The blood had dried to a thick, brown crust, and it took the better part of twenty minutes until finally she had removed the last.
“Gosh, look at that!” Bent whispered. “That injun really chopped you, didn’t he?”
Thad looked down at his chest. There were two major cuts, one down his side and another across his chest. Both of them were seeping blood, and he muttered, “Well, ain’t that a pretty come-off! That’s worse than I thought.”
“It’ll have to be sewed up,” Temperance said firmly. “I’ll get my needle and thread.”
Thad stared at her with apprehension. “Did you ever sew anybody up before?”
Temperance’s mouth pursed. “Just Suzy.”
“Who was she, a relative?”
“No, she was our pig. Cut herself pretty bad on barbed wire, and I had to sew her up.”
“Well, I ain’t no pig! I don’t want no amateur practicing on me.”
Belle suddenly laughed. “That’s what doctors do, Thad. They study awhile at school, then they practice on their patients until they learn something. Some of them never do, of course.”
Temperance had walked to the wagon. She returned with a jug of whiskey, and Thad’s eyes brightened. “That’ll help deaden the pain.”
“Laudanum’s for that.” She set the jug down, pulled the dark brown bottle of painkiller out, and said, “Here, take a couple more swigs of this.”
“It tastes awful.”
“You’re going to need it,” Temperance said grimly. “This is going to hurt.”
Thad drank three healthy swallows of the laudanum and handed it back. He watched as she capped the bottle and then said, “What’s that whiskey for?”
“To clean you up. I’m going to wash the wounds with it.”
“That’s a dadgummed waste of good whiskey!”
“Well, you don’t drink anymore,” Temperance said, her eyes suddenly showing humor. “Christians don’t drink whiskey.”
“Some of them do,” Belle said. “They just don’t let people find out about it.”
Ignoring Belle, Temperance poured whiskey into a cup. She took a rag and began applying the alcohol to Thad’s wound. His eyes widened, and he said, “Woman, that hurts!”
“I know it hurts, but it has to be done. Now be still.”
The next half hour was about as painful as anything Thaddeus Brennan could remember. The laudanum helped, but still he was well aware of the needle poking his flesh. He tried not to look, but it was fascinating the way Temperance could stitch the skin together.
“Why, you sew better than anybody I ever saw, Temperance,” Rena said. “You want me to try it?”
“You keep your grubby hands off me, Rena,” Thad snapped. “Peabody’s doing fine.”
Belle watched for a time and moved closer. “You’re going to have some scars there. You can tell your grandchildren about how you fought the whole Cheyenne nation.”
“I don’t have no grandchildren.”
“Well, you’re a young man. You’ll have some sooner or later.” She smiled and added, “You know, there’s lots of things you’re going to have to give up now, Brennan. Drinking, wild women like me, and gambling. Just about anything that’s fun.”
Temperance looked up and said, “Stop teasing him, Belle. I’m happy that he’s found the Lord, and he should be too.”
Finally the task was done, and she said, “I’m going to have to tear up a sheet to make bandages. Then we’ll have to wash them out before we change them.”
“Why don’t you use some of that fancy underwear?” Rena grinned.
“That’s a good idea, but it’s too thin for that.”
“What underwear is that?” Belle asked curiously.
“Thad won a bunch of fancy underwear, playing poker, but Temperance won’t wear it. Says it’s unseemly.”
“I like unseemly things,” Belle said at once. “Let me see them.”
“No!” Temperance snapped. “Now, here. You have to have another shirt.”
“I bet Quaid’s got one,” Bent said. “He’s got lots of pretty clothes.”
“That’s probably true. You can just sit there until he gets back.”
* * *
QUAID RODE IN THIRTY minutes later, and Temperance met him at once. “Quaid, do you have a shirt that Thad can wear? His is too far gone.”
“Sure, but I’m bigger than he is.”
“Are not!” Thad snapped.
“Am too,” Quaid grinned.
“You ain’t either, and I don’t need your old shirt!”
“Get a shirt, Quaid,” Temperance said.
“All right. After that, I’ll tell you how to fix breakfast the way I like it.”
Quaid brought a fancy shirt and said, “Here, the best shirt you’ve ever had on, Thaddeus.”
Thad moved so abruptly he hurt his wounds, but he put the shirt on and buttoned it up. “There’s something wrong with a man that wears fancy shirts like this. Like that man in the Bible.”
“What man?” Quaid demanded.
“The one named Lazarus that went to hell. He had fancy shirts, I’ll bet.”
“Nothing wrong with a believer having nice clothes. Now, I’m going over and help Miss Temperance Peabody cook breakfast.”
Brennan watched Quaid as he joined Temperance. Rena sat down beside him and pestered him with questions. Bent moved to his other side so that Thad was framed like a book with living bookends. Brennan watched as Quaid carried on a running conversation with Temperance, and more than once she laughed aloud at his words.
“I don’t like the way Peabody’s acting.”
“Why not?” Rena said.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Rena reached over and pulled the back of his hair. “You need a haircut,” she said. “I’ll cut it for you. And I understand, all right.”
“You keep your hands off of me. What is it you understand?”
Rena was grinning mischievously. “I understand you’re jealous of Mr. Quaid.”
“You’re—you’re crazy! Why would I be jealous of him?”
“Because Temperance likes him.”
“I don’t see why.”
“Well, I don’t either. Maybe it’s because he’s rich and the best-looking man I ever saw and he’s got good manners.”
“I’ve got good mann
ers.”
“You don’t have any manners at all.”
“Well, when you get older, Rena, you’ll find out that men with lots of manners shouldn’t be trusted by women and especially dudes who wear foppish attire like Quaid Mitchell.”
“Oh, I see. You think men who are dirty and need a shave and have bad manners are better for women.”
“I told you you wouldn’t understand.”
Rena was quiet only for a few seconds, then she said, as if she had been preparing a speech, “I got to tell you something, Thad. When the Indians had us, I never thought you’d come after us.”
“I did,” Bent said eagerly.
“Yes, he did,” Rena nodded, “but I didn’t believe it.”
A wonder had come into her face as she sat cross-legged. She looked at Thad and her voice was soft. “Nobody ever done nothing like that for me. I won’t never forget it. It was noble, Thad.” She got up and walked away quickly before Brennan could answer.
“What’s the matter with her?”
“Aw, it’s just that nobody was ever good to her before, or to me either. I think she’s stuck on you.”
“She’s twelve years old!”
Bent ignored this. “When you get to feeling better, will you take me hunting again?”
“Sure I will, partner.”
Brennan’s reply warmed Bent. He said, “I ain’t never had a friend like you.” His countenance darkened. “What’ll I do when you leave us?”
“Your people will be good to you.”
“No, they won’t.”
At that moment Belle brought a plate of food and a brimming cup of coffee. She sat down and held his coffee as he balanced the plate on his knees. “Here,” she said. “They’re having so much fun over there that Temperance burned the bacon. I guess she’s not used to a good-looking man fawning over her.”
Brennan was ravenous. He quickly ate the bacon, freshly made biscuits, and the grits.
Belle watched him, then tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know, I had pretty big plans for us, Brennan.”
“What kind of plans?”
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll never happen now.”
Brennan turned to watch her. She was still an attractive woman although hard living marked her features. “Why not?”
“I’m a pretty earthy type, Thad. You were just what I wanted. You and I could have had some good times. But you got a thing with God now.” She studied him for a moment and asked abruptly, “You wouldn’t sleep with me now, would you?”
Brennan stared at her, unable to answer, somewhat shocked although he was accustomed to her ribald teasing. “I don’t know about that.”
Belle laughed and squeezed his arm. “No, you wouldn’t. Well, it’s just as well. Rena would shoot me. You made a conquest there.”
“Don’t be foolish.”
“She never takes her eyes off of you. She can’t stop talking about how you came charging in and wiped out a whole set of Indians.”
“She’s just a kid.”
“She’s older than her years. She never had a father, and she sees that in you. If you let her down, Thad, it’ll break her heart. You’re the only man she ever knew that she can trust. I’m glad she found one. I never did.”
Brennan was unhappy with her words. “She ought not to be that trusting with a stranger.”
“By the time I was twelve years old, I’d fallen in love a dozen times.”
“That’s just the way with kids.”
“I know it is. That’s what I’m telling you.” She suddenly met his eyes, and there was pain in her expression. “I wish somebody had been good to me when I was her age. Don’t you hurt that child.”
“Why, I wouldn’t think of it.”
Belle watched him and noted that he was thinking deeply. “You know, I was worried about you and that preacher woman. I think Temperance had as bad a case on you as Rena, but I’m not worried now.”
“Why not?”
“Why, she’s got an admirer. A gentleman friend. Look at them, Thaddeus.”
Thad involuntarily put his eyes on the pair. They had finished the meal and were sitting together. He noticed that Quaid was wearing fine clothes, even on the trail, and he was close-shaven. His face glowed with health, and his eyes were bright as he spoke with enthusiasm.
He saw also that Temperance was looking at Quaid in a way he could not quite define. It had something of admiration in it, but it was more than that.
“They just look kind of like husband and wife,” Belle said.
“You talk foolishness, woman! Get me some more coffee.”
* * *
FOR TWO DAYS THAD endured the jolting of the wagon. He was too weak to walk and knew he was unable to contend with Judas, so he had suffered the indignity of riding in the wagon. Most of the time Rena and Bent were obviously idolizing him. He was unaccustomed to children and found himself amazed at Bent’s imagination. The young boy could make up stories one right after the other, and finally Thad asked, “Bent, how do you think of all those things?”
The boy stared at him with amazement. “Don’t you think of stuff like that?”
“Nobody does,” Rena said. She was sitting on the wagon seat next to Thad and said, “I think he’s going to write stories for a living.”
“I could do that,” Bent said eagerly.
Rose was also in the wagon holding Billy. “It won’t be too long before we get to Fort Smith,” she said. “That’s when I’ll get to meet my grandma and grandpa.”
“Well, I’ll bet they’ll like you and Billy,” Thad said.
“What are you going to do after you get us all delivered?” Rena asked.
Rena’s question brought only a silence from Thaddeus Brennan. Ever since his experience with God, he had been quieter than usual, and as he sat there with the children, he realized his only immediate destiny was to get them delivered. He had no plans after that. He finally shrugged his shoulders, which brought a twinge to his wounds, and said, “I don’t know. Just have to wait and see.”
* * *
THE TEMPERATURE WAS CHANGING as they moved farther southeast. The flat plains of the Platte Basin had given way to hillier country. There were sections now of trees worthy of the name, and it was beneath a grove of these that Quaid pulled the wagon that night. As soon as the oxen stopped, Thad climbed painfully down. He started toward the oxen, but he was intercepted by Temperance. “Where are you going, Thaddeus?”
“Going to help unyoke the oxen.”
“No, you’ll pull those stitches out. You go sit down.”
“A man can’t sit the rest of his life, woman, for crying out loud!”
Temperance took him by the arm and led him to one side. “You sit right there. I’m going to dress those wounds of yours after supper.”
“I don’t need it.”
Temperance shook her head. “You are just like a child,” she said with exasperation. “Quaid will take care of the oxen.”
Brennan glared at her resentfully, but she ignored him. “You’re getting to be downright bossy,” he muttered.
He sat there, all the time noticing again how Quaid never missed a chance to move closer to Temperance and say a word to her. He was an efficient sort of fellow and had the oxen unyoked and staked out for the night in plenty of time to chat with Temperance and Belle as they fixed the evening meal.
The supper was good, for Quaid had shot a fat doe, and the meat was almost as tender as home-grown beef. As they sat around the fire, eating the evening meal, Quaid, as usual, was lively. He tried to draw Brennan into the conversation by asking him, “You remember that time we run into that bunch of Kiowas? Tell them about how you saved our scalps that time.”
“I disremember.”
“Did he really save your life, Quaid?” Temperance asked.
“Oh, we took turns saving each other’s lives. I forget which one of us is up on the other one. But old Thaddeus there, he’s a good man to have on your side.”
F
inally the children went to bed, and Belle sat beside Quaid, listening as he told more of his story. Temperance came to Brennan and said, “I’m going to change that dressing now.”
“It don’t need it, woman!”
“Yes, you do.” Without further argument, she unbuttoned his shirt and helped him take it off. “I’ll have to wash this shirt,” she said. She removed the bandages, which still showed bloodstains, and said, “I’ll wash these in the creek. I’ve got some fresh ones.” She once again applied whiskey to the wounds and saw that he didn’t flinch. “That doesn’t hurt anymore?”
“Not much.” Reluctantly he said, “You’re a good doctor, Temperance.”
Temperance had been dabbing at his wounds, but she stared at him, open-eyed. It was one of the few times he had ever called her anything except Peabody. She looked up quickly and saw that he was watching her. She could not understand his expression. She didn’t comment on the use of her name, but she hoped he would use it again. “I wish you’d tell me how you feel, Thaddeus.”
“Feel about what?”
“Well, your life’s going to be different now that you’re a believer.”
Thad glanced at the fire thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking about that some. I don’t know how to start.”
“You mind if we talk about it?”
“I guess it’s all right.”
“Well, every new believer needs to be baptized.”
“There’s nobody here to do that.”
“There will be in Independence. We’ll look up a church and a preacher. I’ll be so proud to see you baptized.”
“Why is that so important?”
“Because Jesus commanded us to be baptized. It’s kind of a sign.”
“What do you mean ‘a sign’?”
“Well, when a person begins a new business, they put a sign out in front of it: ‘Mary Smith—Dressmaker.’ People know what she does, what she stands for. When a man or a woman or a child is baptized, it’s like they’re hanging out a sign. Yours would say, ‘Thaddeus Brennan—a Christian.’”
“Never thought of it like that.”
“The next thing you need to do is read your Bible. Have you read the Bible much, Thaddeus?”
“No, I tried it a few times, but I didn’t get much sense out of it.”
A Man for Temperance (Wagon Wheel) Page 22
