by Marla Monroe
Today, the guys had agreed to let her outside to get some fresh air. While the guys shoveled snow off the front solar panels she was amusing herself by building a snowman in the back yard using the snow they’d shoveled away from the barn door and back walk. She’d just finished the base when she heard something. Holly looked up but didn’t see anything. Shrugging her shoulders, she bent over and continued to roll the ball of snow around to make the base.
The next thing she knew something swatted her and sent her rolling like her snowball across the snow toward the barn. When she stopped, she looked up and screamed as a giant paw swiped at her. She rolled in an attempt to get away but felt it slide down her back through her clothes.
Holly rolled then crawled toward the barn door and screamed again as she reached it and pulled herself up by the door handle. She could hear the bear huff out a growl as she bolted inside and slammed the door shut behind her. She struggled with the wooden bolt to hold the door shut as the bear slammed into it. Had the men heard her scream? What would they do? They didn’t have any weapons.
She looked around for something to use to defend herself and found the pitchfork. She grabbed it and waited. The bear’s loud growls and banging on the door didn’t stop until the shouts and angry yells of the men grabbed its attention. Then it yowled as they fought it with what she could only assume were their shovels.
She unfastened the latch to the barn door and opened it then slid through the barn door before closing it behind her once again. She held up the pitchfork and while the guys had the bear preoccupied, she ran it into the bear’s side so that it pierced him. The bear roared and swung around, knocking the wooden handle out of her hand as it did.
“Damnit, Holly. You should have stayed in the barn,” Evers shouted.
“I couldn’t leave you out here to fight alone. All you have are shovels.”
“And now you have nothing. Get behind one of us,” Evers said.
The bear beat at the pitchfork and swung around back and forth as it raged. Evers and Jessup continued beating at the animal with their shovels. When it turned away from Jessup once more, he managed to get hold of the pitchfork and pulled until he dislodged it and pulled it out, then he acted fast and shoved it back into the bear’s chest. This time it stopped the bear dead. It gasped, sputtering blood and hit the ground hard.
“Fuck!” Evers said.
“I think it’s dead,” Jessup said.
“Don’t touch it yet. Let’s wait a second and see if it moves,” Holly said.
Evers poked at it with his shovel. “I think it’s dead. Jessup must have gotten it in its heart and lungs.”
“I can’t believe we just killed a bear,” Holly said. “The thing swiped at my back and chased me into the barn.”
“It got you? Let me see. Why didn’t you tell me it hurt you, baby?” Evers dropped his shovel and twisted her around to face him. “Where?”
“My back. I’m fine.”
He twisted her around and cursed. “Fuck. You’re bleeding. He got you on the back, babe. We need to get you inside and check this out.”
“It doesn’t even hurt. I’m fine.”
“It’s the endorphins,” Jessup said. “It’ll start hurting soon enough. Get inside with Evers and let him take care of you, sweetness. I need to see about our next meal.”
“Really? Bear?” she asked.
“Good meat and an even better fur. We’ll have a bear skin rug for the den,” Jessup said.
Evers grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the house. She looked back at her half-done snowman then at all the blood in the snow and shivered. So much for a fun day. Nothing was ever easy in the Border Lands.
Evers started pulling off her coat and scarf and other winter paraphernalia as soon as they were inside. Then he pulled off her shirts and grimaced at the four large furrows down her back. Now he wished he hadn’t insisted that she stop binding her breasts. The binding might have given her another layer of protection from the fucking bear claws.
“How bad is it?” she asked.
“Bad enough. You need stitches in a couple of places. I can stitch you up, but we don’t have any way to deaden it before I do,” he said.
“It going to hurt any worse than the bear?” she asked.
“Don’t know. How bad did it hurt when the bear got you?” Evers asked as he grabbed the first aid kit from the pantry.
“Didn’t really notice it at first.”
“Yeah, then. It will be worse than the bear. Do you need me to go get Jessup to help hold you still?” he asked.
“No. I can be an adult about it. I might cry though. Don’t you dare hold that against me,” she said.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, baby,” Evers said. “Be right back. Need to get some things.”
He left her in the kitchen with just a towel over her back and her ruined shirts between her chest and the chair back. Seconds later he returned with a pillow and a towel to cushion her chest as he got started cleaning the slashes.
“Try to remain as relaxed as possible so that when I sew these up, they aren’t awkward and pull when you relax. Okay, babe?” he asked.
“Okay. I’ll try,” she said.
The first stick of the needle wasn’t so bad, but by the third one, she was crying and biting back curses. She stopped him twice to breathe through the pain. Still, she managed to get through the sixteen stitches without screaming bloody murder and without tensing up too much. When he promised they were done, she’d collapsed against the chair and cried while he dressed her back. Then he kissed her and carried her over his shoulder to lay her face down on the couch in front of the fire.
“Here, drink this baby girl. It will make you feel better.” Evers handed her a glass of something that smelled strong.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s homemade hooch. Strong and not very tasty but it will help dampen the pain and help you rest. Not much there, just drink it down fast.”
Holly took a deep breath then downed the contents and nearly sputtered it all back up once it burned her throat going down. She gasped and coughed and cried until it was finally settled to burn a hole in her stomach.
“Rough, huh?” he said with a laugh.
“That was mean,” she gasped out.
“Give a few seconds. You’ll be happy for it. You’ll see.”
“Any day now,” she said narrowing her eyes at him.
Then her back eased and she felt a little floaty. She couldn’t help but smile.
“I see that it’s starting to work. Just take a little nap now, babe. I’m going to go help Jessup. Don’t get up. I’ll check on you in a few minutes, okay?”
“All good, every baby. All good.”
She was floating and happy. This was fun. She might like whatever this hoochy gootchy stuff was. She’d have to ask him how they made it. They needed to make more. Then she was dreaming all about the zoo and how she loved the lions and tigers and bears, only there weren’t any bears at the zoo she went to. They were all gone for some reason.
* * * *
Jessup had to concentrate to keep the tremor from his hand as he began removing the guts from the bear. Dressing a bear wasn’t easy. It was much more difficult than a deer since you couldn’t hang it up like you did a deer. Instead you had to bend over or kneel over the animal and cut out the insides then cut the meat from the bone and the hide from the meat. Concentrating on what he was doing was helping the tremor, but he still couldn’t get the sight of those claw marks down Holly’s back out of his mind.
She’d been so close to death today. How had that happened? One day outside and she’d nearly died. They shouldn’t have let her out of their sight. She’d only been in the back yard. The backfuckingyard!
He nearly cut his hand as he lost his concentration. He had to pull back and lean against his heels to draw in a deep breath and force his thoughts back to the task at hand. She was fine. Evers would take care of her.
The back door opened, and
the other man walked outside. He looked a little upset but wasn’t blanched as white as he’d been when he’d urged Holly inside earlier when they’d realized she’d been hurt.
“She okay?” Jessup couldn’t wait for the other man to reach him before he called out.
“Yeah. After I cleaned her up and sewed up what needed to be closed, I gave her some of our homemade hooch and she’s probably fast asleep by now.”
“Aw, hell. She needed stitches?” Jessup wanted to tear into the bear all over again.
“Yeah, sixteen stitches. Sixteen. ’Bout killed me putting them in. Didn’t have nothing to deaden her with.”
“Should have given her some of the hooch first,” Jessup said before he could stop himself.
“Don’t you think I know that? I didn’t fucking think of it in time. I’m an ass!”
“Sorry. You wouldn’t have. It’s not like we drink that shit very often and we wouldn’t have offered it to her for any reason anyway. She’s okay though, right?”
“As long as she doesn’t get an infection. I cleaned them best I could. May need to pour some of that hooch over them to be sure all the bacteria are cleaned out. Didn’t think of that either until just now. Fuck.”
“We’ll see how it is tomorrow. If they’re hot and red, we’ll do it then,” Jessup said.
“Where did that fucking bear come from? I haven’t seen bear tracks around our land in nearly a year?” Evers said.
“Don’t have a fucking clue. Big mother fucker, too,” Jessup said.
“I’ll help you and we’ll get this thing finished so we can get inside. I don’t want to leave her alone for too long,” Evers said.
They worked in silence for nearly an hour before Jessup spoke up again, voicing his concerns. He’d been worrying about why a bear would be out in the wintertime.
“Do you think there’s another bear? They should be hibernating. What got this one out of its hibernation? Another bear maybe? A sow?”
“That’s a good question. I don’t know. No more going outside for Holly. We go out together and always with a weapon close by. I’m not sure why this one was out, but he was an angry bear so maybe something interrupted his sleep and took his cave or whatever. That would make me mad as hell,” Evers said.
“I agree. We could have lost her. We just found her, and she could have been gone just like that,” Jessup said.
“Stop thinking about it. You’ll make yourself crazy. She’s going to be fine. We won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“That’s why there are always two or more men now. One to stick close to the woman. I get it now,” Jessup said. “I might not have really understood it before, but now I do.”
“Know what you mean. Even when we are right here at the house, someone has to be with her outside on the same side of the house at all times.”
Jessup nodded and sighed. Having a woman in their lives was the best thing in the world, but it was a lot more complicated than they’d ever imagined. There were a lot more responsibilities associated with the relationship than he’d first imagined. He wouldn’t trade them for anything else, but he needed to recognize them and make sure he covered them every day. Holly was special and the most important person in his life now. She came first.
By the time they’d finished the bear, they were both covered in blood and other things and were worn out. They rinsed the meat in melted snow then locked the meat up in one of the food lockers then shoveled the bloody snow out away from the house. Then they stripped off the clothes in the kitchen and after checking on Holly, who was still sleeping, took showers in separate bathrooms.
They returned to the den fully dressed and watched Holly sleep. She had a slight snore that was endearing as she slept with one arm hanging off the couch. Jessup tucked it back on the couch next to her, but it promptly fell off again. He just shook his head and adjusted the blanket before following Evers into the kitchen to deposit their dirty clothes into the laundry room to be washed later.
“How about I make us something to eat and you watch over Holly?” Evers said.
“Sure. Probably just some stew would be fine. Something you can throw on the stove to simmer until she wakes up.”
“That will work. Be back in there in a little while,” Evers said.
“I’m going to make some coffee. I could use a cup,” Jessup said.
“I’ll make it and bring a mug in to you when it’s ready.”
“Thanks.”
Evers nodded and turned toward the pantry. Jessup walked back into the den to sit at the end of the couch where Holly’s feet lay. He picked them up and sat before settling her feet and the blanket onto his lap. She didn’t even stir. He gently massaged her feet through the blanket and smiled. She was so precious. In the short time they’d had her with them he’d grown to care deeply for her. She wasn’t spoiled or demanding, or needy. She was independent but knew when to ask for help. He liked that about her.
In fact, he liked a lot of things about her. With time, he had a feeling he was going to love her, as well. He was well on the road to that already. She fed a need inside of him and gave him something that had been missing in his life, stability. Yeah, he and Evers had been working this plot of land for the last seven years, but it hadn’t felt like a home until now. Now he felt like they were beginning to put down roots.
With her, they would soon start a family. It was inevitable. Unless one of them was sterile, they’d have children soon. They sure weren’t abstaining from sex. She was more than happy in that department, as well.
Jessup smiled as he looked at the side of her face. She was beautiful and sweet all rolled up into one. He couldn’t wait to see her round with their baby. He didn’t care who planted the seed. It would be their baby no matter what. And he couldn’t wait.
Chapter Nine
“Ugh.” Holly scrunched up her shoulders then relaxed them again. She eyed the corner where the two door facings met and contemplated using it to scratch her back with but knew it would make the guys mad.
“What’s wrong?” Evers asked, walking into the kitchen.
“My back itches. When can these stupid things come out? I’m going insane with them,” she said.
“If they look okay tomorrow, I’ll take them out. Not before tomorrow though. That will be pushing it,” he said. “Come here and I’ll rub around them some for you.”
She jumped over in front of him and presented her back to him. His low chuckle made her smile. She loved hearing him laugh. It was so rare. Now Jessup? He laughed all the time, but Evers was more reserved, and his smiles and laughs were much sparser.
He lifted her shirt and began to rub around her stitches. She moaned and hung her head as he put her out of her misery for a short time.
“How much longer until the snow stops?” she asked.
“Do you mean now or for good until next winter?” he asked.
“For good.”
“Another month. Spring here is usually not until around the end of April. Maybe the first of May. Then we have to get through all the thaw which leaves the ground muddy. Can’t do much with all the mud.”
“Yuck. You guys will be tracking in the house, won’t you?” she asked.
“We’ll leave our boots at the back door, so we don’t do that,” he said, laughing again.
“See that you do. I don’t want to spend all my time mopping,” she said, using a stern voice.
Evers stopped scratching and rubbing and planted a sharp slap to her ass before twirling her around and kissing her soundly on the mouth. Holly opened to him and he deepened the kiss. She let him in and stroked her tongue against his as he melted her insides. When he finally withdrew and dropped a little kiss on her nose, she was breathless and dizzy.
“All better now?”
“Yeah, thanks. Can we do that again in about an hour?” she asked.
He laughed. “Sure. If you can’t find me then get Jessup. He can do it for you.”
“Do what?” Jessup asked, wa
lking into the kitchen.
“Scratch around her stitches when they get too bad for her to handle,” Evers said.
“I can do that. What’s cooking, anyway? It smells delicious,” Jessup said.
“Bear stew. Does have a different scent to it, doesn’t it,” she said.
“Use anything different in it?” he asked.
“I used more herbs than usual to help with the stronger taste but that’s really about it. I’ve never had bear meat before, so this should be interesting,” she said.
“It’s a little stronger than other meat, but you’ll like it,” Evers said. “I’m going to go upstairs and work on cleaning out that back bedroom.”
“What’s in it?” Holly asked.
“Some old furniture that we didn’t need and a lot of old clothes that are either dry rotted or we couldn’t wear. Why?” he asked.
“Let me see whatever you have before you do anything with it. I might use it somehow,” she said.
“Okay, but I don’t see how,” Evers said.
“You’d be surprised what alternative uses things have these days.”
Evers walked out of the kitchen, leaving her with Jessup. He kissed her forehead then sat at the kitchen table while she pattered around the kitchen cleaning up from having put together the stew for supper that night.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Hmm? Oh, fine. Other than my back itching like a sea of ants are running over it.”
“Evers said he thought the stitches could come out tomorrow. That will help,” he said. “Then you can get your back wet and wash it off. That will help.”
“I can’t wait. You have no idea.”
“I’m just thankful that they didn’t get infected,” Jessup said.
“I agree. I really hadn’t thought about that until Evers said the same thing.”
“You were very lucky.”