Not a minute too soon. Using the edge of the bed, she pulled herself up and went to the door. “Corky, chip some more ice for me. And bring me the sheet from my bed and the scissors. They’re in the bottom of the rag box.”
“I will,” Corky called back.
She dropped back to the floor and unwrapped Jake’s leg. Yes, it was bleeding, but not badly. She plucked the bloody rags one by one and added them to the pile.
“What did you want with the sheet?” Corky asked as he entered the room. He handed her the sheet and scissors and set the pot of ice beside her.
In answer to his question, she cut the sheet at one end and ripped a long strip off.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s doing fine, Corky,” Jake said, and his voice no longer held the hard edge of pain. Juliette released a sigh of relief. If she wasn’t mistaken, his foot was turning pink again.
“That’s good.” Corky turned bashful, no doubt unsure how to respond to a man in Jake’s condition funning him. “Is there anything else I can do, Jul?”
Juliette gave him a grateful smile. “Go see about Annie, and thank you. I couldn’t have done without you.” He was such a good boy. All of them were—the boys and Annie. Pa and Grace would have been proud.
By the time she’d packed Jake’s leg with ice, the sound of hooves thundered in the yard. More than one horse. That had to be Thad and the doctor. Praise God.
The door creaked and she heard Thad and Dr. Kane’s voices. She scrambled to her feet. “That’s the doctor, Jake.”
“Bet you’re as glad as I am.” He tried to smile, but hardly managed to crook his lips.
Dr. Kane stepped inside, medical bag in hand. Thad followed.
“We couldn’t get him on the bed, Doctor, but I cleaned the wound as best I could,” Juliette said.
Inclining his head, Dr. Kane squatted beside Jake to examine the leg.
Thad plucked Jake’s boot from the floor. “How’d you cut this off?”
“With tin snips.” Juliette pulled the bed covers down. “Doctor, Thad can help you get Ja…Jake on the bed.” She didn’t even know his last name, but that hardly seemed important. “Is there anything I can do?”
Dr. Kane stood and sent her an apprising glance from under bushy brows and a kindly smile. “Thad told me how this happened, and he’s already volunteered to assist me, Miss Kendal. It appears you’ve done an excellent job of preparing the wound, bad as it is. Take this time to clean up yourself.”
Her glance fell to her blood splattered dress and hands smeared with the same blood. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed tendrils of hair falling down over her cheeks. She must look a fright.
She nodded, and Dr. Kane followed her to the door. “I can tell there are several broken bones and deep lacerations. It would be best to take him to my office where I could put him to sleep to set the bones and clean and stitch the wounds, but I fear the journey would cause more damage, so I’ll have to get by with the laudanum I brought.”
“The poor man is in horrible pain.” She lowered her voice. “All I had to give him was whiskey.”
“Unfortunately, he’s going to be in more pain. After you clean up, I suggest you take Annie and Corky outside while I’m working on the patient.”
She didn’t know whether that was to keep her out of the room or because the sounds coming from the room might be upsetting to the children, but she was more than happy to comply.
A tub bath would be nice, but Juliette made do with a wipe-and-dry at her washstand. After removing the bloody dress, she donned a lilac plaid, a Sunday dress, but all she had that was clean. What a wash to do tomorrow. She didn’t bother with combing her hair out—it needed a good wash too—instead, adding some pins to anchor it in place.
A male shriek rent the air, and she cringed. The doctor must be setting Jake’s broken bones.
She ran from the room, carefully avoiding the door where the agonizing groans and yells vented. A white-faced Annie and an equally scared-looking Corky met her in the parlor. Without saying a word, she grabbed them on either side of her as Jake’s screams shattered her nerves.
Guilt sliced through her, knowing if she hadn’t told the boys that story about the bear, they wouldn’t have set the trap. And this innocent man wouldn’t be suffering.
Chapter 5
Juliette remembered doing the same thing the night Grace died. Dragging the frightened children out the house and to the barn. Where they couldn’t hear their mother’s screams.
Grace always had problems birthing babies, and Harp kept refusing to fetch the doctor. As Grace’s labor hardened and lingered through the day and night, making it evident something was wrong, he’d finally gone. Too late. Juliette blamed Harp.
She blamed herself for not going for the doctor herself.
As the sounds faded, she shoved Corky and Annie inside the barn and pulled the door closed, like she was keeping some wild animal out. “Go find your cats, Annie. Corky, take care of the horses.”
She used to be able to pray in times like these, but her prayers were never answered, and it seemed like God took pleasure in letting people die before her. Including Pa.
She’d gone to work that day, not realizing how sick he was. His leg had caught under the plow and almost severed his leg. Like Jake. She didn’t know the injury had turned gangrene. Pa always hid his ailments, always downplayed danger. She should have seen through him.
God had made her witness the deaths of four people now, and she was only twenty-three.
No—she couldn’t blame God for Harp’s death. She just blamed Him for Harp’s coming. But no doubt she was to blame for Jake’s accident. She’d made up that story about the bear to explain Annie’s fright and fall into insanity—hopefully, temporary insanity. She ought to have known the boys would try to catch the bear. Nothing good ever came from lying. Her lies had her caught in a trap as dangerous as the one that injured Jake’s leg.
After seeing Annie settled down, playing with the barn cats, Juliette found a curry brush and joined Corky to help with the horses. And tried to ignore the torment Jake must be enduring.
One thing was certain. He would not die on her watch if she could help it.
The sun rode low in the sky when Thad’s long shadow showed in the barn’s doorway. “Juliette.”
She pulled Annie to her feet and left the stall where they’d been waiting. “Is the doctor through? Is Jake all right?”
“He’s better than he was. What are we going to have for supper? I asked Dr. Kane to stay.”
Supper? She hadn’t even thought about it. “There’s some ham left in the icebox and enough bread for sandwiches. Half a cobbler. If there’s any ice left, I’ll fix some iced lemonade.”
While Juliette mixed the lemonade, Annie set the table, and the boys fixed the sandwiches. Dr. Kane sat at the little desk in the parlor, Juliette supposed, recording his assessment of the patient.
When the doctor joined them, Annie grabbed her sandwich and fled. He took the chair at the end of the table. “How is Annie doing?”
Seated at the other end of the table, Juliette said, “I’ve managed to keep her from running from the house so often, but this…situation…has been unsettling to her.”
“To all of you, I expect. I wrote to Dr. Goldstein in Atlanta, but haven’t heard back yet.”
It was just as well. Juliette didn’t know how she’d be able work with Annie and take care of Jake.
They all ate in silence for a while, then talk steered to the ordinary—the weather, crops, how neighbors were doing. Juliette suspected the doctor deliberately avoided any mention of Jake’s condition while they ate.
“Some more cobbler, doctor?” There was but a couple of spoonsful left.
Dr. Kane wiped his mouth with his napkin. “No, Miss Kendal, but it was the best I’ve ever eaten.”
“Thank you. I wished I’d had time to whip some cream to go with it.” She rose from the table and began collecting the empty plates
.
The doctor cleared his throat. “If you’re agreeable, I’d like to leave Mr. Gresham here for the next several days. Moving him might reopen the wounds.”
Juliette hadn’t even considered that Jake might be moved. “Of course. It’s quite all right, if you’ll tell us how to care for him.”
“You’re a wonderful nurse, Miss Kendal, but it’s going to be a demanding job.” Dr. Kane propped his elbows on the table. “I’ll be honest with you. I tried to convince Mr. Gresham to let me amputate the leg. He would recover a lot faster, and if he develops gangrene it could kill him.” He shook his head. “But he wants to try to save his leg, and whether he does or not will depend on his treatment.”
“Boys, would you check on Annie and hitch the doctor’s horse to his buggy.”
When Corky and Thad left, she took the chair opposite the doctor. “I’ll do my best nursing Mr. Gresham, though it’ll be difficult with all the other work.”
Truth be told, it was already more work than she could get to. Harp had lost their farm acreage, and she had to grow enough food to put up for the winter, and the boys had their job picking cotton.
“I think Miss Lydee would be willing to come and help you with the cooking and housework and look after Annie. Mr. Gresham will pay you for his care, so Thad could quit his job. That way, he could take care of the patient’s personal needs while you take care of the medical.”
She understood. “I thought Miss Lydee and Miss Maybelle ran that café in the building with the jail in back. Can she get away?”
“She’d be happy to. They’ve hired a colored woman and her daughter to do the cooking, and Miss Lydee told me yesterday she was trying to think of an excuse not to go with Miss Maybelle to their cousin, Hester Layton’s, for an extended visit.”
“Why wouldn’t she want to go?” As far as Juliette had heard, Miss Lydee and Miss Maybelle, two old-maid sisters, were inseparable.
“Miss Lydee and Miss Hester had a falling out some years ago over a suitor and don’t get along.” The doctor chuckled. “Since they’ve hired a cook for the café, she no longer has that excuse to stay behind. I know she’d be more than pleased to help out. Besides, Mr. Gresham will pay her as well.”
“Mr. Gresham must be wealthy.” Juliette hadn’t pegged him for a wealthy man. His hands were callused like one who worked for a living. His golden tan testified to a man who worked outside.
Not to mention his hard muscles.
“He works for a wealthy man and has a good bit of money on him. He’s on a mission to inspect some land for his employer.”
“Oh.” She’d wondered what brought a western man south. What land could he be inspecting? Harp had sold all their land to Mr. Blythe to pay off gambling bills. “I’d be happy to have Miss Lydee’s company and help.”
Dr. Kane got to his feet. “Fine, then I’ll be going. I left a list of instructions on your writing desk. It will tell you about the medicines and the dosages. I expect Mr. Gresham will sleep until morning, considering how much laudanum I gave him. Feed him light fare—toast, scrambled eggs, broth, weak soups. I’ll come back in a couple of days to change the dressings. By then, we may know if his leg can be saved.”
After the doctor took his leave, Juliette found his instructions and trekked to the room she now thought of as Jake’s.
He lay perfectly still in deep sleep, his chest rising and falling evenly. Nothing visible would make one think he wasn’t a strong, healthy young man. The doctor and Thad had removed his clothing and dressed him in a blue nightshirt. She didn’t recognize it and assumed it belonged to him.
Who was he? Where did he come from? His voice alone indicated he wasn’t from around here, and she didn’t know any rich men who’d need a cowboy.
It might be considered snooping, but she dragged the saddle bag from the corner and, sitting in the bedside chair, opened the flap.
***
Throbbing pain warred with darkness as Jake climbed out of the pit that held him. Inch by inch remembrance returned. His leg didn’t hurt as much as before, but it still radiated fire all the way up from his foot to his thigh.
The riffling of paper caught his attention. And human awareness. He opened his eyes into slits, his lids being too heavy to lift any further. Instead of daylight, lamplight draped the room.
The woman sat beside him. His Juliette. She’d dominated his dreams and not just this night, but for a long time. It was as if he’d known her ever since he’d first noticed females. And she’d been waiting for him.
That fancy would probably take flight as soon as his mind cleared.
His drugged brain finally brought her into focus. In his dreams he’d not been able to discern what she looked like, but even then, he’d known she was beautiful. The soft lamplight cast a sheen over her auburn hair, drooping on each side of her face. Long, dark lashes cut crescents on her creamy cheeks. Her brows scrunched as she handled the papers from his saddlebag, as ruddy, full lips pursed.
“You could just ask me what you want to know.”
She started and deep blue eyes flashed wide. Then her shoulders slumped, and a small smile tipped each side of her mouth. “I was too curious to wait, I guess, and I certainly didn’t want to wake you. How are you feeling?”
“I couldn’t use the words that describe how I feel in the presence of a lady.”
He’d hoped to make her smile widen but failed. “Can I get you anything? Something to eat?”
Now that she mentioned it, his mouth felt full of cotton. “Water.”
A tray with a pitcher of ice water and glass rested on the bedside table. She dropped his saddlebag to the floor and poured the water. He didn’t know whether he enjoyed the cool water slipping down his dry throat better or her hand holding his head up. Or the fragrance of rosewater drifting from her hair.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
She favored him with that full smile he’d been hoping for, and it transformed her face from merely pretty to heart-skipping beautiful. “You’re welcome. Who’s Carianne?”
“She’s my boss’s wife.” Juliette must have seen the correspondence from Carianne in response to his reports. With a little sigh, she returned to the chair. “She’s the reason I’m scouting the area. Carianne is a well-known philanthropist, and everyone in the country with some charity asks for her help.”
“What charity could possibly interest her down here?”
“Do you know a fellow by the name of P. H. Fitzgerald?”
Her pretty brows furrowed. “Never heard of him.”
“Not surprised. He’s the editor of the American Tribune up in Indiana. He wants to start a settlement of former Union soldiers down here in Georgia. The idea is if former enemies get to know each other, they’ll stop hating and become friends.”
“A noble idea. Too bad it can’t be extended to the whole country.”
“It’s an idea that Carianne latched onto. There’s a bunch of Nebraska farmers who moved out there right after the war. A lot of them are having a hard time because of draughts and because they just didn’t know how to farm. Anyway, Carianne told Mr. Fitzgerald she wanted to sponsor some of those farmers when he identified the land. And he has.”
“Where is the land he identified?”
“Well, that’s the question I’m supposed to answer for her. All I know it’s virgin timberland near here. The only town we know is Swan.”
She nodded. “I know where Swan is, but I wouldn’t call it a town. It’s more like a little community with a country store, like Bowen’s Mill where we get our supplies between trips to Abbeville or Ocilla, which are the only real towns near here.”
He winced as a sharp pain raced up his leg. “Trouble is, I’m supposed to meet this Mr. Fitzgerald tomorrow at Swan.”
“Thad can meet with the gentleman, tell him what happened, and bring him back here for your meeting. But I’m not sure you’ll be up to it that soon.”
“I’m sure the fellow won’t want to extend his trip till I ge
t well. I’d be obliged if Thad could go meet him and bring him to see me here. With your good nursing, I should feel up to it by tomorrow.”
“I hope so.” Her brows pulled into a line like she doubted it. “Would you like for me to bring you some paper and pen to write to your employer?”
He started to shove upright and quickly fell back down. “If you don’t mind, would you write for me? Every time I raise up, my head goes swimming around the room.”
“Of course. I should have thought of it. But I think we’d better wait until the morning. You need to get some sleep if you can.”
She turned down lamp, and moonlight from the open window revealed her beautiful face and a smile wide enough to show several even, white teeth. “Good-night.”
“Juliette.” She was already at the door. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done without you…and the boys.”
She turned her profile to him. “I’m glad we could help. I’ll leave the door ajar. Just call if you need anything.” Her voice quivered like one unused to receiving compliments. Which wasn’t right. A woman as kind and lovely as she was should be appreciated.
Chapter 6
“Yoohoo!”
Juliette dropped the paring knife and the potato she was peeling. She hadn’t heard anyone come up, but then her ears were strained to pick up any sound from Jake’s room. The high-pitched tone sounded a lot like Miss Lydee.
She hustled to the parlor, wiping her hands on her apron as she went. Sure enough, Miss Lydee O’Grady stood just inside the door, carpet bag in hand.
“Let me help you with that, Miss Lydee, and thank you so much for coming. I didn’t expect you until tomorrow. How did you get here?” She looked around the empty yard before closing the door.
“I caught a ride with Hiram Ledbetter. You know he hauls the cotton for the Blythe farm.”
“I know he has to leave Abbeville very early.”
“Five o’clock.”
Juliette hugged the spry, little woman. “You beat everything, but I’m so glad to have you.”
“My dear, you saved my life. If I’d had to go with Sister to Cousin Hester’s for a month Hester would have killed me, or I would have killed her.” She snickered under her breath. “It would have been humiliating to be held in my own jail, wouldn’t it?”
Escaped (Intrigue Under Western Skies Book 4) Page 4
