RNWMP: Bride for Elijah (Mail Order Mounties Book 2)

by Kay P. Dawson

  How could Pearl have known what she was thinking?

  She didn't know, but she realized that this woman walking beside her knew Elijah better than anyone. She would trust her to be right.

  The alternative was just too painful to believe.

  Chapter 19

  Elijah tried to move, but every time he went to sit up, his head would spin. He knew he had to get to his horse, and hope she could carry him back to town. The rain had finally let up, but he was wet and cold. He also knew he still had a ways to go before he got back to town.

  He pushed onto his elbow to try once more. Pain shot through his ribs, forcing him to lie back down. He clenched his eyes tight to try blocking the pain.

  He knew he was at the mercy of any wild animals in the area, as well as the elements that were leaving him vulnerable. He could already feel his body shivering from the wetness, and as the night grew colder, he knew he was going to have to fight to stay warm. If only he could drag himself somewhere that would provide some shelter.

  As the hours went by, he drifted in and out of consciousness as he struggled to keep warm. The warm trickle of blood coming from the back of his head dripped down his collar.

  This was exactly why he hadn't wanted to get married. How would Rose manage on her own out here?

  He cringed as he realized she'd be left to deal with her father, who would most likely drag her back to Ottawa to marry that pompous man who'd tried to ruin her reputation.

  No, he couldn't leave her like this. He'd drag himself back to town with his bare hands if he had to.

  He started to pull himself up, hoping the pain would eventually ease. But he couldn't get anywhere without seeing stars and feeling like he was being ripped in half. He fell back against the hard ground, cursing to himself at his own stupidity. He should have been paying more attention to the road, and riding to the conditions.

  Instead, his mind had been on Rose and how he needed to get home to see her.

  Hearing a noise in the bush, he reached down to see if he could grip his gun. As he did, pain shot through his ribs again, and he knew he'd never have the strength to pull it out. Just as blackness overtook him again, he made out the faint outline of familiar antlers making their way out of the trees.

  "Look after her for me, Monty. Don't let them make her go back."

  His words were mumbled as he let the darkness win.

  "Dear, you're going to leave a hole in that mat if you don't sit down." Pearl had brought some knitting with her and she was sitting in the rocking chair next to the window, busily clicking her needles together.

  "Mrs. Thorpe, why don't you get some sleep? You must be exhausted after your trip here." Rose turned and smiled at the woman. It had been dark for a few hours already, yet the woman refused to go to bed knowing how worried Rose was about Elijah.

  Rose had set the bed up for the woman to use and had planned to lay some extra blankets on the floor for herself, even though the woman had insisted that she could share the bed with her.

  Rose couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering her, but something just didn't feel right. Even though her father had tried to make her believe Elijah had run, wanting to get the money from her family, Rose couldn't believe it.

  But as the hours ticked by, she had more doubts creep in. When Theodore had asked her if Elijah had come home yet, she'd noticed the flicker of worry in his eyes too. He'd said it wasn't usually a patrol that would take this long, but perhaps Elijah had run into something that was holding him up.

  She'd seen the concern in the other man's face.

  "I've already told you to just call me Pearl. Or, you can call me Grandma, since we are family now." The woman winked at her as she continued to knit without even looking at what she was doing.

  Rose moved to sit on the other chair by the table. "I've never had a grandma. Well, I did, but I never knew them. I always imagined having a grandma would be wonderful."

  Pearl set her knitting on her lap and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "You poor child. Everyone should have a grandma."

  Rose shrugged and laughed softly. "I always thought so too."

  They sat quietly for a while, listening to the sound of the wood in the stove that was keeping the house warm from the chill of the night.

  "You know, I was sure surprised when Elijah sent me a letter saying he'd got married. I had no idea he was looking for a wife. He'd always said he was going to stay single so that he didn't have to worry about leaving a wife behind, like his pa had done to his own mother."

  "He told me his mother died of a broken heart." Rose watched as Pearl nodded her head sadly.

  "When my Pete died, poor Alanna was sick with grief. But she'd contracted pneumonia shortly after my boy was shot, which was what really took her, even though Elijah always believed it was her broken heart."

  "How awful for him, to be left without any parents." Rose imagined the young boy, with his curl hanging down in his eyes, grieving for both parents at the same time. She was glad he'd had his grandmother to care for him.

  At least he'd had that much.

  "It's nice of your parents to have come all this way to celebrate your marriage."

  Pearl was watching Rose closely, making her statement almost sound like a question. Rose was quickly finding out that Elijah's grandma was a very perceptive woman.

  But she didn't want to burden her with the details of her own situation.

  "Yes, they arrived over a week ago."

  Pearl continued watching her, until Rose was sure she'd have to pour out her entire story to the woman.

  "You love Elijah, don't you?"

  Rose's eyes suddenly filled with tears. What was wrong with her? The woman had simply asked a question, and she was ready to break down in front of her.

  Nodding her head, she wiped at her eyes and stood up, bringing her hands down to smooth out her skirt.

  "It's complicated. We were married without really knowing each other. And I wasn't really sure I could fit in and manage here. The poor man hasn't had a decent meal since I arrived, because I can't cook. And truthfully, I'm sure he wishes I’d just hop on the first train out of here so he didn't have to worry about having his house burned down to the ground when I try to make him a simple meal…"

  "Rose! I can assure you, Elijah doesn't think any such thing."

  Swallowing the lump in her throat, Rose moved over to look out the window into the darkness. She'd let all the worries tumble out and now she probably sounded like a fool. Thankfully, tonight Jess had brought some extra food over that she'd made to welcome Pearl to town. So, she hadn't had the misfortune to see how bad things really were for her grandson.

  As she stared out toward the trees at the edge of town, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Probably just Monty up to no good again, she thought to herself.

  Her heart jumped into her throat though as she realized it was Theodore and Kendall, racing toward her house. Another horse was running behind, without a rider.

  Elijah's horse!

  Where was he?

  She stumbled to the door and threw it open, racing out onto the step as the men pulled up outside.

  "Rose, we found him lying on the ground about an hour outside of town. He's bleeding pretty bad from his head, and he hasn't regained consciousness at all since we got him."

  She ran toward Theodore's horse, finally noticing the figure slumped over in front of him. She reached up to try and help, but was quickly pushed back by Kendall, who had already dismounted and rushed over to help Theodore get Elijah to the ground.

  A sob escaped from her throat and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth as she saw the blood. The men carried him into the house and straight into the bedroom, while she ran ahead to pull the sheets back on the bed.

  Lifting her head as the men placed Elijah on the bed, her eyes met Pearl's and she could feel the anguish in her own heart as they both silently prayed for him to be all right.

  Chapter 20


  She wrung the cloth out and placed it back on his forehead like she'd done since the others had left hours ago. Light was starting to come in between the opening in the curtains, yet she still hadn't seen Elijah open his eyes once.

  Theodore and Kendall had wrapped his head with some cloths to stop the bleeding, but they said they couldn't be sure how hard he’d hit it. They also didn't know how long he'd been lying out there in the cold, wearing his wet clothes.

  They’d mentioned some worries about pneumonia and other conditions she didn't understand, because her mind had been so consumed with worry.

  She stood and pushed on the ache in her back. She needed to stretch her muscles after sitting on the edge of the bed all night. She wasn't surprised to see Pearl sitting in the chair knitting as she went into the other room. Since she hadn't been able to use the bed, Rose had tried to lay out enough blankets to make a soft enough bed for her to sleep on, but she could tell the woman hadn't slept at all.

  "Good morning, Rose. I've made us some coffee."

  She smiled at Pearl. "Thank you. I could use a cup."

  "How's he doing?"

  Rose could see the hope in his grandmother's eyes. "He's still resting, so that's good." She honestly had no idea how he was. He hadn’t woken up since the men brought him in, and that scared her.

  But she didn't want to let on and cause Pearl to worry too.

  Hearing a knock at the door, she walked over to answer it. Theodore stood there with another man she didn't recognize.

  "I've brought Doc Sturgis over to take a look at Elijah. He'll check to see if he has any other injuries, and make sure he's not getting any infection or anything else to worry about."

  She opened the door wider to let the men in. "Thank you, Theodore. He still hasn't woken up, and I've been keeping cool cloths on his head like you asked me to."

  She showed the Doc into Elijah's room, then went back to sit with Pearl in the other room. Theodore followed her out and sat down at the chair across the table from her.

  "Elijah's tough, and just stubborn enough that I know he'll pull through. So, try not to worry too much, Rose. He's going to need you to take care of him until he's feeling better."

  She nodded and smiled at Theodore. She appreciated that he was trying to ease her worry.

  "How did you know where to find him? I didn't get to ask you anything last night during all of the confusion and chaos of bringing him home."

  "Well, after dropping you both off at home, and you mentioning he still hadn't come back, I couldn't shake the worry that something might be wrong. So Kendall and I decided to follow the roads he’d have taken for his patrol." Theodore stopped and shook his head slowly and gave a short laugh.

  "We might have ridden right past where he was lying in the dark if not for a strange snorting noise that drew our attention. There was Monty, standing off to the side, as though he was guarding Elijah on the ground. As soon as he saw us, he turned and ran back into the woods."

  Rose could picture it, and she had to smile. Somehow she wasn't surprised in the least that Monty would be around somewhere during it all.

  Suddenly, a loud wail could be heard coming from the bedroom. Theodore jumped up and raced in to help the doctor. Rose followed, stopping in her tracks at the sight of Elijah moaning in agony as the doctor wrapped some tight bandages around his chest.

  "Looks like he might have a broken rib or two. Not much we can do for that except try not to let him move too much."

  Rose stepped around the doctor and sat on the edge of the bed, taking Elijah's hand in hers. She looked down into his face, noticing how red it had become since she'd left him.

  "Is he awake?" She turned to look at the doctor in confusion.

  "No, he was just responding to the pain of being moved." The doctor closed his bag and stood up to leave. "Just keep him comfortable, and hopefully time will help to heal his injuries. Not much else we can do except pray at this point."

  She didn't even turn as the men left the room, reaching back into the bucket of cold water she'd left in there to soak the cloth again. She wrung it out, listening to the droplets hitting the water in the pail. Placing it on his head, she struggled to keep her tears from falling.

  He looked so fragile lying there with his curl hanging down over his forehead and his eyes clenched closed. She pulled at the blanket to bring it up and cover his bare chest above the bandage. Never in her life had she felt so helpless.

  Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she raised her head to see Pearl staring down at the man on the bed. Seeing the love in her eyes tore at Rose's heart. She could never imagine having anyone love her the way this woman did her grandson.

  If love could heal Elijah, Rose knew that there was more than enough in this room to save him.

  The other women had taken turns bringing food over for them, and sitting with Rose, while Pearl took turns with Elijah. At night, Pearl would sleep at Jess's, and Rose would curl up in a chair next to his bed.

  He still hadn't woken up, and every day that passed scared her even more.

  As she sat staring down into the face she'd come to love, she leaned over to place her head gently on his chest, careful not to hurt his ribs. Hearing his heartbeat and feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath was a comfort, knowing he was still with her.

  Pearl had already left for Jess's for the night, so Rose was left with only the sounds of his rhythmic breathing to break the silence in the house. She'd been sleeping on this chair for the past couple days now, and exhaustion had taken over.

  As she faded into sleep, she dreamed that Elijah was awake. She could feel his fingers caressing the skin on her cheek, and moving into her hair to brush it back. Sighing, she let herself enjoy the feeling of him being back with her.

  "Rose, as much as I could lie here and look at your beautiful face all night, you're hurting my ribs."

  The chest beneath her rumbled, and with a start, she realized she'd fallen asleep but she wasn't dreaming. She whipped her head up, and as she tried to stand, she fell forward, narrowly missing elbowing Elijah in the ribs.

  "You're awake!"

  His face was grimacing as he tried to smile at her. "I am. I didn't want to disturb you, but the pain was becoming unbearable."

  "Oh, I should go get Theodore or maybe Doc Sturgis. Just stay there…are you hungry? I can get you something to eat. No, let me get you a drink. The only fluids you've had the past few days are the bits I've been able to get down your throat while you slept."

  She turned to run to the door so she could get some fresh, cold water from the pump.

  When she came back in, she rushed over and tried to help him sit up. Lifting the cup to his mouth, his eyes closed as he savored the wetness of it touching his lips.

  After he’d finished, she set the cup down on the table by the bed and stood up. "I'll go get Theodore now."

  She didn't know what else to do. Her heart was telling her to throw herself on him, telling him how much she loved him and was thankful he was alive. But she also wasn't sure how he'd react. These feelings were all so new to her, and he’d just been through a serious injury. She knew with her track record, she was likely to break a few more of his ribs if she tried anything like that.

  Before she could get away from the bed though, Elijah reached out with his hand and grabbed hers. "No, just stay here with me. You look like you haven't slept in days. The only thing I need right now is you beside me."

  "But…" What did he mean?

  "Rose, just this once, could you do something without arguing with me? I've got lots of room beside me, and nothing would make me feel better than having you here with me."

  "What if I hurt you?" She'd thought of just crawling onto the bed beside him many times over the past few days, but had been afraid she'd bump him or do something that would cause him even more pain.

  "You won't. Just come and lie down so you can get some sleep. We’ll let everyone know I'm okay in the morning. For now, let it just
be us."

  His voice still sounded raw from days without speaking, and she could see he was in some pain as he winced when he moved slightly. But he still held her hand and wasn't letting go.

  "Just lie with me."

  As she looked into his eyes, she knew there was nowhere else in the world she'd want to be. Moving around to the other side of the bed, she gently crawled on top of the blankets, careful not to bump him. He put his hand out for her, and she slowly tucked herself into his side.

  The sound of his breathing soon told her he was asleep again. But this time, she didn't have to worry that he wouldn't wake up.

  Letting herself drift off to sleep, she knew that in this moment, this man had become her whole world. And she would never let anyone take him from her.

  Chapter 21

  "I'm fine. I'd be a lot better if you two women would stop fussing over me. I'm a grown man, and I think I know if I can stand up on my own or not."

  He was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to stop the room from spinning, and both Rose and his grandma were hovering and fretting that he should stay in the bed.

  "Just wait until Theodore gets here. What if you fall?"

  He took a deep breath and sighed.

  "Rose, just come here and let me put my arm around your shoulder to steady myself." He couldn't lie in this bed another minute. He was humiliated at having his needs tended to by his wife, grandmother and his friends. He was sure if he got up and moving around, he'd be fine.

  "Well if you end up falling and breaking anything else, you have no one to blame but yourself." Rose came over and leaned down beside him, helping him get his arm around her shoulders.

  She stood, helping him to stand. He couldn't believe how weak he felt, but he wasn't going to let these women know that. They'd be insisting he get back into the bed.

  He'd been so surprised to see his grandmother when she came to the house in the morning. She'd promptly scolded him for scaring her so badly, then hugged him until he'd thought he would pass out from the pain.