Joelle's Secret

by Gilbert, Morris

  She gathered up the biscuits in a sack and walked across the camp. Most of the women had finished breakfast, and the men had eaten and were leaving. When she reached the Riker wagon, she found Edith trying to cook breakfast, but her face was pale.

  “Mrs. Riker, I brought some biscuits over. Harry made too many of them.” She handed the sack to Edith who said in a weak voice, “Thank you. That’ll help.”

  “You don’t look at all well. What’s the matter?”

  “Oh, some kind of stomachache. Probably something I ate.”

  “Well, you go sit down. I’ll fix breakfast. You got any eggs?”

  “Yes, we have a few left.”

  “Well, I’ll soft boil a couple for you. That’s always good for an upset stomach.”

  “I don’t want anything.”

  “You need to eat. You go sit down.”

  “I’ll be all right.”

  At that moment Artie Riker came around the end of the wagon. “Hi, Joe.” He took Joelle’s greeting and then looked at Edith and said, “Ma, you look terrible.”

  “Just a stomachache.”

  “You go lie down. I’ll take care of the driving today.”

  “What’s the matter here?” Lyman Riker appeared, accompanied by the two other sons.

  “It’s Ma. She doesn’t feel good.”

  “What’s the matter with you, Edith?” Lyman asked. “You ain’t no better?”

  “I’ll be all right.”

  Lyman glanced at Joelle, and his eyes narrowed. “What do you want, boy?”

  “We made too many biscuits. I thought I’d bring some over for you folks.”

  “We can cook our own grub, I guess,” Riker said shortly. His manner was surly, and his face showed displeasure.

  “Pa, she’s been sick for two days.”

  “You keep out of this, Artie. Women have aches and pains. There’s nothing really wrong with her. Now you get to work.” He gave Joelle a hard look and was about to say something but changed his mind. He said grudgingly, “Thanks for the biscuits.” It was a dismissal, and Joelle left at once.

  When she got back to the wagon, she found Harry and Chad at the oxen yoke. Chad turned to her and said, “Hello, sleepyhead.” He grinned crookedly, and Joelle thought, He doesn’t know how good-looking he is and how attractive he is to women.

  “I did oversleep.” She turned to Harry. “I took some of your biscuits over to Edith.”

  “Lyman have anything to say about that?”

  “No, but Edith is sick.”

  Chad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Reckon we got a herb woman on the train?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Joelle said.

  “Well, maybe she ate something that disagreed with her. She’ll probably be all right. We better get moving.”

  * * *

  THE TRAIN HAD MADE good time by midafternoon, and the men were looking for buffalo. Both Chad and Owen had talked about seeing a big herd sooner or later. Artie Riker had been left alone, and after a time he went in to see how Edith was. She had tried sitting on the wagon seat, but she had been unable to stand the pounding. Artie insisted that she lie down in the wagon. He filled a cup with tepid water, took it into the wagon, and found her lying on covers.

  “Ma, drink this. You need lots of water.” He helped her to sit up, and when she drank it thirstily, he saw that her face was drenched with sweat. He put his hand on her forehead. “Ma, you’re burning up. Where does it hurt?”

  “My stomach, Artie. It’s killing me.” She suddenly arched and let out a moan of pain and grabbed at her abdomen.

  Artie stared at her and then said, “I’m going to get some help.” He paid no attention to Edith’s protest but leaped out of the wagon. He searched for Logan Temple. At first he was afraid that Temple would have gone with the others hunting buffalo, but he found him talking to Ralph Ogden. “Dr. Temple, I got to talk to you.”

  “What’s the matter, Artie?”

  “It’s Ma. She’s real sick. You got to come and look at her.”

  At once Ogden said, “Did your pa send you?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  Ogden hesitated. He knew that Lyman Riker’s jealousy could reach dangerous proportions, and he shook his head. “Better wait until your pa gets back.”

  “It won’t wait, Mr. Ogden. You got to come now, Doctor.”

  “I’ll just go have a look at her. Can’t do any harm. You go on back. I’ll be right there.”

  As soon as the boy left, Cleo Ogden came and stood beside her husband. “I’m worried about Edith. She’s always been so healthy.”

  “Well, I’m worried about Riker. He treats that boy Artie like dirt, and Artie’s the best of his boys.”

  “I’ll go see how she is. Hopefully it’s just something minor.”

  * * *

  EDITH FELT THE WAGON give as someone came in. She called Artie’s name, but then a voice said, “Not Artie. It’s me, Logan.”

  “Logan, what are you doing here?”

  “Artie says you’re feeling bad. I need to ask you a few questions.”

  “You better not be in here in this wagon with me. You don’t know how my husband is.”

  “He couldn’t object to my looking at you.”

  Edith didn’t answer for the pain was taking her.

  “Where does it hurt, Edith?”

  “Right—here.”

  Temple put his hand on Edith’s stomach and pressed slightly. She gave a small cry. “Is that it?”

  “Sometimes. Sometimes it’s the other side.”

  Temple felt her stomach, and then he put his hand on her forehead. “How long have you had this fever?”

  “I don’t know. A couple days. What do you think it is, Logan?”

  Logan started to answer, but then he heard horses riding up and heard Riker’s strident voice. “There’s your husband. I’ll go talk to him.”

  “Be careful!”

  Temple stepped outside as Riker dismounted. Artie was waiting for him. “Pa, Ma’s worse. I got the doctor.”

  Riker looked up as Logan stepped outside of the wagon, and his anger flared. He suddenly struck at Artie, hitting him on the neck with a heavy blow that staggered the boy. “You fool, boy! I’ll say when somebody goes to the doctor!” He turned and walked over to Temple. “And, you, you can get out!”

  “Mr. Riker, your wife is very ill,” Temple said in a calm, reasonable voice. “She needs medical attention right away.”

  Riker began to curse, and in the packed vicinity of the wagons drawn in a circle, a crowd began to gather. Riker paid no attention. “You couldn’t wait until you put your hands on her, could you?” He suddenly struck out, and his fist caught Logan in the mouth. It drove him backward.

  Still cursing Riker moved forward and drew back his foot to kick the man, but suddenly he was seized by the back of his shirt and jerked away. Furious, he turned and saw Owen.

  “You take your hands off me! No man touches me, Majors!”

  “Then act like a man.”

  Chad, Jump, and Joelle had come along. They all saw Clyde and Sid Riker advancing with fight in their eyes and their fists doubled.

  Chad stepped in front of them with Harry by his side. “Hold up there, boys,” he said.

  Sid stared at the big man. “Get out of my way, Hardin!”

  Suddenly Harry Jump drew his gun. “You boys are too big to fight, but you ain’t too big if I put a slug in your knees. You’ll be crawling around for quite a spell.”

  Clyde Riker stared at the smaller man. Clyde, like his father, could not stand to be crossed. “You won’t always have that gun, Jump.”

  “I’ll always have the gun anytime you need it.”

  Owen held the gaze of Riker for a moment and then turned to say, “What do you think, Temple?”

  “I think it’s appendicitis.”

  “What does that mean?” Artie asked quickly.

  “Most people call it blocked bowels.”

  Pearl Taylor s
poke up at once. She had drawn close along with her husband. “My little sister died from that.” Most of the people from the wagon train had gathered, it seemed.

  “My mother died of it too,” said Aiden Hall.

  “What—what can you do, Dr. Temple?” Artie asked.

  “You keep out of this, Artie.”

  Artie faced his father. “I won’t keep out of it, and if you were any kind of a man, you’d be more interested in your wife’s health than you are in keeping men away from her.”

  “You’re no son of mine.”

  Artie Riker was the mildest and meekest of young men, but he had been pushed too far. He was genuinely fond of Edith, and a lifetime of being pushed and bullied by his father and his two brothers suddenly came to a boiling point.

  “I don’t like being your son anyhow, so suppose we just call it off.” Artie’s face was pale, but there was a certainty and a determination that no one had ever seen before—least of all his own family.

  Lyman Riker stared at his youngest son in total astonishment. Artie had always been a mild-mannered young man, and Riker suddenly grew flushed and said, “Fine. You go your way, and we’ll go ours. Don’t come running to me when you need something.”

  “You can believe that.” Artie turned and said, “Do what you have to do, Doctor.”

  “Wait a minute!” Riker said. “I’ll make the decisions here.”

  Owen’s voice grated, and his eyes were angry. “Riker, only a fool would act like you’re doing.”

  “It’s my family.”

  “She’s your wife, but you’re not acting like it,” Joelle spoke up before she even thought. She turned and said, “What can you do for her, Dr. Temple?”

  “I can operate. Take her appendix out.”

  “What will happen if you don’t?” Chad asked quickly.

  “She’ll die.”

  A silence fell over the group, and Lyman Riker never felt such pressure as he did at that moment. He glanced around the circle and saw not one friendly expression. There were scowls on the faces of some and disdain on others, and he wanted to lash out, but he knew he could not.

  Chad called out, “I shouldn’t have to be saying this, Riker. Your boy is right. What will it be? Will you let her die? And I warn you, if you do, you won’t go anywhere with this train. I’ll run you and Sid and Clyde off. You can make it to California on your own.” With a smile, he added, “The Indians will love that, a single wagon. You won’t get very far.”

  Riker was furious, but he felt intimidated. He hesitated and then shrugged angrily, putting his eyes on Temple. “Do what you want to.”

  “Fine,” Logan said caustically. “I’ll need some help. Some people can’t watch a thing like an operation. Need someone with steady nerves and clean hands.”

  “I don’t know anything about it, but I’ll help,” Joelle said quickly.

  “That’s fine. We’ll need a tent.”

  “You can use ours,” Ralph Ogden said. “What else do you need?”

  “It would be nice to have something built up about waist high.”

  “I’ll take care of that with some kegs and some boards,” Ogden said quickly. He watched Riker walk away. “I can’t believe a man would be that little,” he muttered and then spoke to Caleb Taylor, his close friend on the train. “Come on, Caleb, let’s get this thing set.”

  * * *

  THE TENT WAS FAIRLY cool, but sweat was still running down Joelle’s face and her body. The men had done a good job, making a table on which Edith Riker now lay on several folded blankets. Her eyes were on Temple as were Joelle’s.

  “This looks fine,” Temple said. He said to Edith, “I don’t want you to worry about this. It’s really a very simple opera tion.” Edith looked up and studied his face. “Have you ever done it before, Logan?”

  “Oh yes, many times. It’s not really complicated. The first one I know about was done by a surgeon in the English army. He had to do it without ether, but it was successful. Since then a Harvard doctor wrote it up for the medical journals so now it’s fairly common. You’re going to be all right.”

  “I trust you, Logan.”

  “Good. Well, let’s say a prayer, and then we’ll get at it.” He bowed his head and spoke a simple prayer. “Lord, be with this woman and be with me and give my hands skill. We thank You for Your healing, for You are the healer, and I know that Jesus will be with us. Amen.”

  Joelle felt a sudden burst of admiration for this man, and she saw Edith’s face grow peaceful.

  “We’ve gone over this. All you have to do is put this cloth over the lower part of Edith’s face. When I tell you, put on three drops. We’ll watch and see. That should put her under,” Logan said. “On long operations you have to do it again several times, but not this time, I think. Are you ready, Edith?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “All right. Begin, Joe.”

  Joelle put a cloth over the lower part of Edith’s face, covering from her eyes down to her mouth. She carefully counted three drops and watched as the woman almost at once began to breathe more deeply.

  “She’s asleep. You just hold the cloth in place and tell me if she starts waking up, but I don’t think she will. This will be very quick.”

  Afterward Joelle remembered little of the operation. She was studying Edith’s face, and only twice did she glance down. The first time she saw a small opening, and the second time Logan was putting stitches in.

  “All done,” Logan said. “You did fine, Joe.”

  “It wasn’t much.”

  Logan was staring down at Edith’s face. “It’s a good thing that we did this. She wouldn’t have made it otherwise.”

  “She would have died?”

  “Almost certainly. Well, let’s go tell the folks.”

  The two stepped outside, and Artie was there instantly. “Is she all right, Doctor?”

  “She’s fine. She’ll need someone to stay with her until she wakes up. Shouldn’t be any problem.” He smiled at the relief on Artie Riker’s face. “Don’t worry.” He turned then and said, “Mr. Riker, she’s going to need some care. Do you want me to do it?”

  Riker recognized this as a challenge, and Logan was staring at him in a determined fashion. He glanced around and saw that many of the travelers were watching him. “Do what you have to,” he grunted ungraciously, then turned away.

  “Thank you. I appreciate that,” Logan said tersely.

  Owen asked, “How soon can we get under way, do you think?”

  “I’d like to take the day off tomorrow. The day after be all right with you?”

  “Yes, we’re still ahead of schedule.”

  “Someone needs to stay with Mrs. Riker. Can one of you women do that?”

  “I’ll do it,” Aiden Hall said. She entered the tent.

  “Guess we can go back to our wagon,” Owen said. He started back with Joelle beside him, and he asked, “What was it like?”

  “It was so quick, but she would have died if Logan hadn’t been here.”

  “Kind of lucky, wasn’t it, picking up a doctor, out of all the men in the world?”

  “I don’t think it was luck.”

  Owen gave her a quick glance and smiled faintly. “You think it was God, don’t you?”

  “Don’t you?”

  Owen didn’t answer, and finally he nodded. “I’m inclined to agree with you. I think God was in it. That Logan Temple is some man.”

  “Yes, he is,” Joelle answered. Her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking of Logan Temple’s attitude as he was treating Edith Riker. There was more to it than a clinical interest, and she recalled now that she had seen the man looking at Edith with interest. She had made little of it, but now she thought, They would have been perfect for each other. Edith has made a horrible mistake, and now it can never be right. The thought discouraged Joelle, and she went to bed early that night, troubled by the situation.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “ARE YOU ALWAYS THIS embarrassed
when you examine a woman, Logan?”

  Logan was checking Edith’s incision one more time. Three days had passed since the surgery, and he had no doubt from his past examinations that all was fine. Still, he found himself examining her again. She had given him an odd look when he said, “I need to take one more look at that incision and see how long before the stitches come out.”

  Edith had paused for a moment and then nodded. “All right. Perhaps we’d better go in the tent.” She turned and moved inside the walled tent that Sid and Clyde erected for her each night, rather sullenly, but both men knew that the entire train was watching them for signs of ill treatment of their stepmother. Inside, she unfastened the buttons of her dress and pulled it down. Beneath it, she was wearing only a thin cotton vest. She pulled up the edge of the vest at her waist and watched Logan. He avoided her eyes but leaned forward and took no more than a cursory look at the wound.

  “That’s fine,” he said hurriedly, and when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, he saw she was smiling.

  “Are you always awkward examining your female patients, Logan?”

  Logan couldn’t answer. He felt his face burn. He had long thought he was able to deal with the intimacy that existed between doctor and patient, but he was attracted to Edith. He recognized that, despite the harshness of her marriage, she possessed pride, honesty, and graciousness. Without trying, she had ignited in him the flame of hungers he had thought were long buried. He gave a half-startled look and noticed her small smile.

  Suddenly Temple returned her smile. “I thought I had gotten over all that when I studied medicine.”

  “And I suppose women have tried their wiles on you from time to time.”

  Her words amused him. He allowed himself to smile. “A few, I suppose.”

  “I can tell you what happened.”

  “What do you think?”

  “You ignored them.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “It’s written all over you, Logan. You’re a noble man, a man of integrity. You wouldn’t take advantage of a woman’s weakness”

  “Don’t be too sure of that, Edith.”

  His words brought a puzzled expression to her face. “Why would you say that?”