The Wedding Kiss

by Hannah Alexander

  Susanna nodded.

  “I’m worried about trying to remove the bullet, and I’ll need your help if I’m to use your supplies.”

  Susanna’s eyes glazed over as she laid her head back against the pillow and winced.

  Belatedly, Keara saw a patch of blood on the pillow. Oh, jiggers, what had she missed? “Susanna, I think you hit your head. I’m going to have to check you out and see if there are any other injuries.”

  A loud whoop reached them from downstairs, and Susanna tensed.

  “It’s okay,” Keara said. “Elam won’t tell them you’re here.”

  “I did come to the right house, didn’t I?”

  “You’re at Elam Jensen’s house.”

  “You arrived with him.” Susanna closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly against obvious pain.

  “Don’t worry about that right now. You don’t want anyone to know you’re here, and I’m the only thing close to a doc around without calling one from town.” Keara didn’t want to touch that head wound, but she moistened another cloth with the whiskey and dabbed at a weeping lump the size of a hen’s egg on the left side of Susanna’s scalp.

  This time Susanna cried out, and once more she lost consciousness.

  Elam stepped from the shadows of the barn, hating that many of the wedding attendees from town had ridden the five miles from Eureka Springs to join in the fun. This hadn’t been the plan. Not at all. Raylene Harper and her parents were part of the crowd—friends of the family. He and Ray had done a lot of business together over the years.

  Carl Lindstrom had driven his sister Cynthia in their parents’ buggy. The Lindstroms had moved to Eureka Springs from back East not long after Gloria’s death last year, so therefore Elam, in his time of mourning, had spent little time becoming acquainted with the newcomers. Though he didn’t know Carl well, his sister had made it clear to anyone who would listen that she despised the state of Arkansas, despised the people in it, and she despised Eureka Springs most of all. Perhaps the reason Raylene Harper befriended her was because she behaved so much like a wounded animal.

  Before Elam could cross from the barn to the house, Raylene sighted him and came running from the bonfire that had been built since he’d crossed the clearing to the barn. Though nineteen, she still behaved like someone much younger, as if she were still just a child in a woman’s body, who didn’t quite know what had happened. And her choice of friends, after she’d been so sheltered at home, was not helping.

  She sidled up, nudged him with her elbow, and pointed toward the lighted window upstairs. “Is your shy bride afraid to come down and join the fun? Jacob Minor’s already rosining his fiddle bow.” Others were setting up lanterns between the yard fence and the corral as the ladies set up a makeshift table for outdoor refreshments.

  “Keara will likely join the party later.” Elam stepped aside, the medical saddlebags slung over his shoulder.

  “Dibs on a dance.” Raylene nearly danced a jig in his wake.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gently, “but I’m dancing with only my bride tonight. If you will excuse me, I have a gift to deliver.”

  Raylene tapped her fingers on the saddlebags he carried. “A gift? Oh, come on, Elam, Keara may know a few things about plants and such, but a doctor’s saddlebags?”

  He ignored a prickle of annoyance and reminded himself to speak to her as if she were a child. “Raylene, the gifts I give to my bride are of no one’s concern but mine and hers. Now, I’d like a few moments alone with her.”

  He ignored her protest, not worried about offending her father by snubbing her. Ray tolerated his only daughter’s recent behavior with loving indulgence, but he knew Elam’s stock would bring top dollar to buyers all over the country.

  Three more people interrupted Elam’s progress before he could make it to the front door of the house. He only prayed no one would try to follow him up the stairs. He would have to confide in Kellen and Jael, at least, about Susanna as soon as they arrived. His sister and brother-in-law were steadfast and could help form a shield for him and Keara. He only wished David and Penelope had planned to attend, as well, but Pen insisted on extra rest with another little one on its way.

  Problem was, Kellen and Jael were nowhere to be seen. It had taken Elam longer than he expected to unsaddle that big mare of Susanna’s and cool her down. She’d been ridden hard and long, and though the mud had dried, it had taken him awhile to comb it from her hide. Where, along that ride, had Susanna run into trouble?

  In the medical bags, besides medical instruments, he’d found a sheathed knife and a Colt .44 revolver that had been shot recently. Susanna Luther knew how to protect herself, as had Gloria and the rest of their eleven siblings, having been raised on a farm at the foothills of the Appalachians. But all that knowledge hadn’t protected Gloria from death. It was yet to be seen whether Susanna had been able to protect her own life.

  Keara heard her name being called by men and laughing women from below the window. Fiddle music reached her, and the scent of roasting meats drifted up the stairwell and beneath the door. Someone had brought the party into the house. She heard the tromping of footsteps on the wooden floor and the booming laughter of men who may have already had a little too much to drink. For a moment she doubted Elam’s ability to keep everyone out of Britte’s room.

  She checked Susanna’s breathing and heart rate. They were both steady for now, but she’d seen things change quickly with Mother near the end.

  This was not the end for Susanna! Mustn’t even think that way.

  Keara needed cool cloths from the springhouse to place against Susanna’s head and reduce the swelling—even ice, if a block had been brought from town. She needed everyone out of the house so she could at least do what needed to be done—and forget this secrecy. If Keara couldn’t take action quickly, all the secrecy in the world might not save Susanna.

  Keara was halfway down the stairs, bracing herself for the crowd, when a familiar voice reached her. Jael. She was obviously commandeering the kitchen. As Keara entered the large front room, several neighbor women and ladies from the church looked up from their laying out of food they had brought, enough to feed the whole population of Eureka Springs, it appeared. This would be a long night.

  “Surprise!” Jael said, looking up at Keara. “I’ve been roasting this hog all day, and our friends brought desserts and potatoes. You won’t have to do a…” Her gaze fell to Keara’s arm, and she gasped. “Honey, what happened to you?”

  Too late, Keara remembered the blood on her sleeve. Too much happening, too many distractions.

  As Jael rushed toward her, Keara backed away. “Just an accident, nothing to worry about. I’ll be okay.” It was totally true. “I was on my way out to the springhouse for a pitcher of cold water. I don’t guess anybody brought ice?”

  “On its way from town,” Mrs. Harper assured her. “Sugar, did you hurt your arm?”

  “Oh no, my arm’s fine. This is just a…stain from…another injury.”

  “But this is a lot of blood.” Jael reached for Keara. “You need to let me take a look at it. How did you do it?”

  “Silly accident. I had my mind on other things, wasn’t paying attention.” Keara hesitated only a second. Her problem was solved. “Now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit shaky.” It was no lie. “Would you come with me back up the stairs? I could use help with bandaging.”

  One of the ladies—trim and tiny Clydene Brown—volunteered to help fetch the cold water, while another asked if Keara had her “doctoring stuff” with her.

  Keara reassured them over her shoulder as she urged Jael up the steps to Britte’s bedroom.

  When the door opened, Jael caught sight of Susanna and gasped.

  “Shush!” Keara drew Jael inside and closed the door behind them. Thank goodness Elam had built these doors so thick.

  “Keara, she looks like—”

  “It’s Gloria’s sister.”

  Jael leaned closer and studied the pale f
ace by the light of the lantern then sighed and nodded. “Of course. Susanna. I remember her now. What could I have been thinking?”

  “Pretty much what Elam and I first thought. They could’ve been twins.”

  “But what’s she doing here? And what’s wrong with her?”

  “She’s been shot.”

  Jael gasped.

  “She told me so herself.”

  Jael pressed her hand to her chest. “Goodness, Keara, who on earth would have shot her?”

  Keara checked Susanna’s pulse and breathing again. “She told us a man tried to kill her. She was desperate that nobody finds out she’s here. You’ll help us keep this quiet, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will.” Jael leaned more closely over the woman, fingered the long strands of dark hair that had fallen across the edge of the mattress. “How terrifying, Keara!”

  “It never set right with Elam that Nathaniel Luther could’ve had a shooting accident while cleaning his own hunting rifles in his own office, and I agree.”

  Jael straightened, her eyes black in contrast to the sudden paleness of her skin. “Murder,” she whispered. “We’re talking about someone attempting to murder her right here in the hollow.”

  Keara felt a shiver. There’d been no time to dwell on what had happened. “Sure looks that way.”

  “She rode a horse here in this condition?” Jael gave a shake of her head, as if in awe of Susanna Luther. “Tell me what I can do to help. She’ll need a doctor.”

  “Elam says no.”

  Jael looked at Keara, eyes widening. “Oh, my dear, you’re having quite a day of it.”

  “I need you and Kellen to help us.”

  Jael took a deep breath and nodded. “Gloria always did say her baby sister was indomitable. Sort of like Gloria, I always supposed, but Gloria never got herself shot at.”

  “She made it to the front steps, where we found her. She must have fallen and hit her head there. Elam took the mare to the barn.”

  Jael paced to the window and looked down on the yard then paced back to the bed. “Lots of people down there, even folks from town we barely know, tourists from out of state, for Pete’s sake, hoping to see what hillbillies from Arkansas do for a good time.”

  Keara knew what she meant. Oftentimes the locals felt as if they were on display for the entertainment of the sightseers.

  “Show me what to do and I’ll do it,” Jael said. “Did she at least say who did this?”

  “No. She’s not been awake enough to answer many of my questions.”

  “Well, if this isn’t your blood on your sleeve, get this dress off and pull on another. I can distract the ladies with the stain while you see to Susanna, otherwise half of them will soon come barging in here to see if they can help.”

  Keara silently blessed her new sister-in-law for her grasp of the situation, as well as for the immense relief of loosened stays. While Jael pulled one of Keara’s high-necked church dresses from the bureau, Keara rechecked Susanna’s heart rate and breathing, raising her eyelids to see if her eyes looked okay. They did.

  When someone knocked on the door, it took all of Keara’s selfcontrol not to yelp.

  “Coming!” Jael called. “Need a little privacy.” She rushed to the door and cracked it just enough to slide the wedding dress out.

  “Clydene brought in the water, cold as can be. Here you go.” It was Mrs. Harper’s voice.

  “Wonderful. Thank you. Cold water is also just the thing to stop the stain from setting in the dress.”

  “Is everything okay?” Mrs. Harper’s voice was filled with concern.

  “Oh, she’ll be good as new in no time,” Jael said, voice softening. “It’s unfortunately in a rather…delicate area, so you can understand why she won’t want the whole party to come clomping into the room to check on her. Would you mind keeping everyone downstairs for us while I help her clean up?”

  “Oh my.” Mrs. Harper’s voice dropped to match Jael’s. “It isn’t that time of—”

  “No, not at all. Everything will be okay if you’ll see to it her dress isn’t permanently stained. It has a lot of sentimental value for her, it being her mother’s wedding dress.”

  “Why, uh, certainly, if you don’t think you could use help. I’ve doctored many a wound with all my boys over the years. Granted, our little caboose, Raylene, wasn’t nearly as feisty as her brothers, but she’s had her scrapes with all the little critters she brought home. I’m surprised she didn’t get rabies.”

  Keara nodded to herself. Raylene’s five older brothers were all out on their own now. They weren’t there to keep an eye on her. A pity she didn’t have little brothers to keep her occupied, like Keara did. Maybe Raylene had spent so much time with her critters over the years that when it came time to make friends, she didn’t know how to choose properly.

  While Jael assured Mrs. Harper that all would be well, Keara quickly buttoned her fresh dress.

  “Isn’t this a shame?” Mrs. Harper continued, obviously reluctant to skedaddle as quickly as Keara would like. “And on her wedding night.”

  Jael agreed with Mrs. Harper that it was, indeed, an awful shame and finally closed the door and leaned against it. “How are we going to keep her unnoticed through the night?” she whispered.

  Susanna moaned again. Her face pulled into a grimace of pain, and then her eyes opened wide in the lantern light. She spared a look specifically for Keara.

  The echo of footsteps receded down the stairs, and they could hear the muffled voice of Mrs. Harper explaining the situation to the others. There was a gaggle of female voices, but the door blocked a great deal of noise. Thank goodness. They would be kept busy for at least a few minutes discussing the best way to take the stain from the material.

  “Susanna Luther,” Keara said, despite the woman’s continuous stern look, “this is Jael Pettit, Elam’s sister. You can trust her as well as you can trust Elam, and I need her help.”

  “Susanna, you look so much like your beautiful sister, I took you for her at first,” Jael said, motioning for Keara to open her drawer of bandages and poultices. “It gave me quite a shock. I met you once, at your sister’s wedding.”

  “You mean Gloria’s?”

  “That’s right.”

  Susanna nodded, obviously attempting to be polite for a moment in spite of her pain. “Then she was your sister-in-law.” Her alto voice was soft enough to not be heard downstairs, but stiff enough to cause a chill when her gaze returned to Keara’s face.

  Jael placed a hand on Susanna’s arm. “We need to help you, and quickly. Keara says you were shot.”

  Susanna’s fierce look grew less intimidating as she turned it on Jael. She nodded.

  “That’s a nasty lump on your scalp, and Keara will need to treat it.”

  Susanna sniffed then wrinkled her nose. “Whiskey?”

  “It’s all I had to clean the wound,” Keara said.

  Susanna nodded, winced. Another moan, and she was out again.

  “What are we going to do?” Jael asked.

  “All I know to do is watch her.” Keara reached for bandages and soaked them with the water that had been brought up. “The bleeding’s stopped. Let’s wring these out and place them on her head. I need ice if it gets here.” A quick check told her the egg-shaped swelling had not grown, but there was no way of knowing how hard Susanna may have hit her head, nor if the swelling might go inward.

  “I’ll go check to see if it’s arrived,” Jael said.

  “If only we could call for a doctor.”

  When Jael stepped out and shut the door behind her, Keara placed a cold, wet bandage over the lump. She took Susanna’s hand in her own and squeezed. The woman was obviously thinking straight enough to guess about the wedding. Any woman would be disturbed—angry, furious—if her dead sister’s husband was to up and marry someone else not even a year after the passing of his wife.

  “Lord,” she whispered, “let Susanna wake up again so she can ream me out good.�
�� It could mean she’d live through this night.

  Susanna moaned again.

  “It’s okay,” Keara assured her. “I’m going to do all I can to get you through this.”

  Susanna’s mouth moved, and the bare breath came out in whispered words that were too soft for Keara to hear.

  Keara leaned forward until her ear was close to Susanna’s lips. “What can I do for you?”

  “Don’t trust…”

  At first Keara took Susanna’s words to express distrust of her. But then the woman moaned again, and in an even softer whisper, she said, “Don’t trust anyone.”

  “We’re keeping your arrival quiet. You can trust me, and you can trust Elam and his family.”

  Susanna’s hand tightened on Keara’s.

  “Obviously, Jael’s already seen you,” Keara said, “but she’s tightlipped. Nobody’ll get a hint from her. She’s like her brother. Her husband, Kellen, comes from good stock. He’ll protect your secret, as well.”

  Susanna opened her eyes again, trying to withdraw her hand from Keara’s grasp. “You married Elam?”

  Keara held the woman’s gaze for a moment then nodded.

  “So…soon.”

  Anger was a good sign. It meant she might be strong enough to fight this thing—if she didn’t spend all her energy fighting Keara.

  “Gloria was my best friend,” Keara said. “She told me all about you. She was so proud of you, and when she…when she was taken from us, Elam needed help with the children and the farm. When I recently lost my home, we decided it was practical to help each other in this way.”

  The words obviously didn’t register. Susanna had lost consciousness once more.

  Six

  “Elam Jensen, you sly fox!” The deep voice of bearlike Ray Harper came from the front porch, where several men had congregated, obviously to enjoy the smells of warm food coming from the kitchen.

  “Sure thing,” another called. “Folks never learn. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life. Teach a woman to catch a man, and he’ll learn how to fish just to get out of the house.”