Yellowstone Heart Song

by Peggy L Henderson

  He carefully did what she instructed. When he gave her a questioning look, she said, “The boiling water kills bacteria, which would kill Elk Runner if it got in his wound. That’s why I had you boil the spoons. They should now be sterile and safe, but if you touch them, you will get bacteria on them again.”

  “I don’t know what bacteria is,” Daniel said with a confused look on his face.

  “Well, baby, this is where I know more about survival than you do,” she smiled. “Just as I trust you to know more about surviving these mountains, you’ll just have to trust me to know how to doctor up a wound like this, okay?”

  Daniel merely nodded.

  She selected a scalpel from her medicine cache, and made a quick incision in the skin on either side of the hole where the arrow disappeared into Elk Runner. He barely flinched, which meant the lidocaine had taken effect, at least on the surface. She sighed in relief. She wasn’t sure she could go through with her operation if this man felt everything she did. The lidocaine would only minimize the pain as it was. She suddenly gained a deeper appreciation for the origin of the phrase bite the bullet. Elk Runner might have to do just that to get through this.

  She took the spoons Daniel held, and used them to gently pry the tissue apart. “Hold these again, and . . . and don’t move them,” she ordered. Daniel obeyed. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she stuck her finger inside the hole. The two Indians standing close by kept murmuring.

  When Elk Runner let out a loud moan and began to squirm, she retracted her finger quickly and drew up some more lidocaine, squirting it directly into the wound. A minute later, she inserted her finger again, and felt around. She could feel the arrow clearly penetrate the abdominal wall, but luckily it had missed the stomach and intestines, and had stopped just short of the kidney.

  “Oh, phew, that was lucky,” she mumbled. She swiped her arm across her forehead. There was nothing she could have done if it had penetrated a vital organ. Under these primitive conditions, he would die of septicemia. Daniel was right when he’d said this was an agonizing death. She had no antibiotics to give him. All she could hope for was to keep the wound as clean and sterile as possible, and that his body’s own immunity would fight off any organisms.

  She wrapped her finger around the arrowhead and pulled it out. Blood flowed immediately out of the wound, spilling over and seeping down Elk Runner’s torso like thick red paint. Quickly, she pressed her free palm over the wound to slow the bleeding. She tossed the arrow aside and grabbed a handful of gauze squares she had laid out in preparation. She stuck a few inside the wound to buy a few seconds time while she tore open a pack of suture material.

  Thinking for a moment, she opened a new syringe and drew up some of the hot water, into which she mixed some of her betadine solution. Her eyes darted to Elk Runner’s face. He was drenched in sweat, his eyes focused at the sky. She couldn’t imagine a modern-day patient remain so calm under these circumstances.

  Aimee squirted her betadine mixture into the wound and wiped it out with sterile gauze. She did this several more times, and by feel, began suturing the tear in the abdominal wall. When she was satisfied it was closed, she told Daniel to release his hold on the spoons. She dabbed at the wound again to wipe off the blood, then quickly and efficiently sewed the skin together. She poured a little betadine wash over the now-closed wound, applied some Neosporin ointment, taped a large gauze square over the incision, and wrapped her spare ace bandage around Elk Runner’s torso.

  Finished, she straightened her back and sighed in relief. She’d done all she could. She knew Daniel cared deeply for his friend. It would devastate him if he died.

  When she looked up, three pairs of eyes were staring at her in utter disbelief. Elk Runner’s companions were murmuring excitedly, and pointing at her supplies that were now littered all over the ground. She heard them repeat the word puhagant, while motioning to her.

  “I’m sort of a healer back home,” she offered tentatively as an explanation, giving Daniel a sheepish look. She figured in this time, she could run circles around any doctor, so the fact that she was only a nurse was an irrelevant little detail. She hastily gathered the trash, and threw it in the fire. Glancing around, she made sure nothing remained. Too late, she realized she was not going to be able to explain all of this. Her only focus had been to save Elk Runner’s life, so discreetness with her modern supplies was forgotten.

  “Tell them,” she motioned with her head towards the two Indians, “to keep an eye on him, and he needs to lie still and be kept warm.”

  Aimee’s eyes swept the area a second time, making sure she hadn’t missed anything that should be thrown away. She repacked her medical kit and shoved it in her pack. With a final glance at Elk Runner on the ground, she rose to her feet.

  “I’ve never seen anything like what you just did.” Daniel loomed in front of her, looking down at her intently. “Who are you?”

  “You know who I am.” She avoided his stare. “Just a city girl lost in the wilderness.”

  “This is what white healers do in the east?”

  “Where I come from, we do,” Aimee replied vaguely.

  “You speak with strange words sometimes, and you don’t behave or think as any woman I have ever met. One day you will tell me the truth, but I won’t ask again.”

  “Thank you.” She gave him a grateful look. She was tired of the lying.

  “Will he live?” Daniel nodded at Elk Runner.

  “He’s got a good chance. As long as infection or septicemia,” she saw the frown on Daniel’s face and amended, “ . . . um . . . blood poisoning doesn’t set it, he should survive. I took all the precautions I can under the circumstance. The wound needs to stay clean now, and it should heal. Internally, there’s no damage to the vital organs.

  *****

  “They can’t move him yet!” Aimee shouted and ran from the cabin a mere few hours later. She had gone inside to put her things away and remove her hiking boots. Her moccasins were definitely more comfortable. She’d set some meat in water to soak to prepare a meal for the men. To her horror, Elk Runner was getting up from the ground with the aid of his companions. He clutched his side, and his face contorted in a grimace. “It’s crazy for him to try and travel. He has internal injuries that need to heal. Tell them, Daniel.” Her eyes darted from the Indians to Daniel. She ran up to him, waving a hand towards Elk Runner.

  “I can’t make them stay here against their will, Aimee,” Daniel tried to reason with her. “These people live in seclusion most of the time, and they want to return to their camp.”

  “Then at least tell them to leave Elk Runner here with us. In a week or so, he should be ok to go.”

  “He won’t stay.” Daniel shook his head.

  “I can’t believe you people,” she ranted at the Indians, throwing her hands up in the air. “This is insane. First you think he’s going to die, then I save his life, and now you’re going to kill him after all!”

  There was nothing she could do or say to keep her patient from leaving. She had to concede that this was a different environment, these were hardened people, not like what she was used to. It was either survive or die in these elements, no matter what got thrown at you.

  *****

  Daniel watched in bemusement as Aimee unleashed her temper on the Tukudeka hunters. They seemed to be too stunned by her behavior to react. Women rarely behaved disrespectfully around men. He chuckled quietly, folding his arms across his chest. She reminded him of a mother grizzly protecting her young.

  “Call off your woman, White Wolf,” one of the men finally called to Daniel, who grinned widely.

  “I can no sooner call her off than I can call off a blizzard in the winter.” He gently tugged on Aimee’s arm. “Let them go, Aimee. They can’t stay.” Turning to Elk Runner, he said, “Perhaps it would be wise to stay.”

  “Have you followed my advice, brother?” Elk Runner asked Daniel weakly.

  “No,” Daniel said, knowing
full well what he meant, and not wanting to get into this conversation.

  “She is a brave woman, White Wolf. She will make a good wife and give you strong sons. She also has powerful medicine,” he said in awe. “Tell her I am forever grateful to her for my life. And if you do not take her as your wife soon, I may take her back as my second wife, no matter that she is too small.”

  Daniel laughed, and so did the other two men. “I will think about what you have said.”

  Aimee remained quiet as the hunters left the valley. He thanked the heavens that she didn’t direct her temper at him.

  “What does puhagant mean?” Aimee asked when they were once more alone. “I heard them use that word over and over again.”

  He studied her for a moment before answering. “A puhagant is a person who has been favored by the spirits. Such a person is one of the most powerful of the warriors among the Shoshoni. It is said that they possess powers no other man has. Many warriors go on vision quests to attain this status, but few succeed. What you did today was powerful medicine, and they believe you are blessed by the spirits as a great healer.”

  “Oh . . . well, I don’t know about being favored by any spirits.”

  “Perhaps Elk Runner was right, and you did fall out of the sky.” A grin spread across his face. “You are most definitely a great mystery.”

  “What else did Elk Runner say?” Aimee’s eyes narrowed.

  “He said he is grateful for what you did for him, and he is considering taking you back and making you his second wife.” He could barely maintain a serious facial expression. “Even though you are too small for his taste,” he added.

  “Oh, you men are just infuriating.” Aimee spun on her heels and disappeared into the cabin.

  Chapter 12

  Aimee had the time of her life in the days that followed. She soaked up all the knowledge Daniel threw at her about the mountains and forests. While he left on his trapping expeditions each morning, she prepared the meal that she would cook in the evening, and look forward to their forays into the woods. He was a patient and able teacher. He seemed more talkative with her now and more relaxed, and she enjoyed every minute she spent with him. She was especially relieved that he no longer questioned her about herself. She sometimes caught him looking at her in a way that made her heart do flip flops, but not once did he make the slightest attempt to touch her, whether intentional or accidentally. He was truly a man of his word.

  Nevertheless, she felt her heart falling a little more each day. Daniel was an amazing man. As gruff and surly as he had seemed a few weeks ago, he acted mostly kind and friendly now. She often lay awake at night, fantasizing about being held in his strong arms, being kissed by him, or what kind of lover he might be. She knew that it was for the best that nothing happened between them. Her heart would ache enough when she returned to her own time.

  “Today you will learn how to load and shoot a rifle,” Daniel announced one morning while they shared a breakfast of leftover venison and cornmeal mush.

  “Why do I need to learn to shoot?” she asked, a little shocked. She had seen and treated enough gunshot victims at the hospital to know that she didn’t want to have anything to do with guns.

  “You’ve done well learning the deer trails, so now it’s time you track one and make a kill,” Daniel said enthusiastically. “You have earned this privilege.”

  “No way!” she shook her head. “I am not going to kill Bambi, no way.”

  “What’s a bam bee?” Daniel asked, confusion in his stare.

  “Bambi is a deer. I can’t kill a deer, Daniel.”

  “You eat meat,” Daniel stated, his incomprehension as to her logic clearly visible on his face.

  “I know that. I should really be a vegetarian, but I do like a good steak. But that doesn’t mean I have to be the one killing it.”

  “Vegetarian?” The skin between Daniel’s eyes couldn’t furrow any deeper.

  “It’s someone who doesn’t eat meat,” she explained hastily. “Please don’t ask me to shoot and kill something. I just can’t do it.”

  “I have given up some time ago to understand your ways.” He shook his head with a smile. “I’ve seen you catch fish, but you won’t kill game?”

  “Fish are different,” she argued. “Oh, don’t give me that look, like you think I’m high,” she added in exasperation. His “look” only intensified, with her unfamiliar phrases.

  “Are all white women as difficult to understand as you?” he asked in an exasperated tone.”

  “That’s what all men say.”

  “They say you are difficult?”

  “No, I don’t mean me personally, but women in general,” she huffed. “Men always complain that the minute they think they’ve got a woman figured out, the woman does something to completely confuse the man again.”

  Daniel nodded. “I would agree with that.”

  “Well, that’s because men are simple minded and uncomplicated.” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with him. “All a man needs is food and…..” she stopped herself. Oh, she really didn’t want to go there! Why did she have to start this conversation?

  “Food and what?” Daniel pressed.

  She took a deep breath. “Give a man food and sex” – there I said it – “and they’re as happy as clams.”

  Daniel almost choked on a piece of venison. A split second later, a thoroughly devilish smile spread across his face as he intently peered up at her from across the table. She held her breath. God, why did he have to be so damn good-looking, especially with that heart stopping smile of his!

  “Well, your cooking’s been real good so far,” he drawled, his eyes smoldering as he stared at her.

  She waved her hands in front of her, palms out, and abruptly left the table. “Okay, this conversation has gone far enough. You are a typical man, Daniel, and it brings me to my final point,”

  “Point?”

  “ Men are pigs.”

  She grabbed her plate off the table and quickly left the cabin. Things had been so nice the last couple of weeks. Talk of sex would ruin all that. Or would it? She groaned out loud as she put some distance between herself and the cabin.

  *****

  Daniel chuckled, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe where this conversation had led. He had to conceal the surprise he felt at hearing her use such a word. He could picture a dozen eastern women, his aunt included, who would absolutely faint at even hearing that word spoken out loud. Aimee seemed fairly at ease with the subject, just as she was at ease with the way she dressed, and even sometimes undressed to a point, around him. She hadn’t acted shy or frightened since the day he had walked in on her in the cabin when she was wrapped in only that blanket.

  The day he almost kissed her.

  He inhaled deeply and followed Aimee outside, watching her as she cautiously knelt at the river’s edge, rinsing out her bowls. His mind reminisced about that day. He felt his body grow hot at the memory. What would have happened had she not pulled away?

  He had given his word that he would not repeat his actions, and he had kept it. With every passing day his admiration and desire for her grew, but he’d kept his emotions well hidden and he never touched her. He was still convinced that she needed to return to her own people in the big city, and somewhere out there was the man who could legitimately lay claim to her.

  He enjoyed every moment he spent with her. She was adventuresome, determined to the point of being stubborn, and without fear of most tasks he put before her. His days had definitely not been dull with her around, and he was glad she was at ease in his presence again. The fearful way she had acted that day, which was not her normal way, had disturbed him greatly.

  Movement between the trees to the west drew his attention, and he became instantly alert. It was not the random movements of deer moving through the forest. He recognized the shapes of people walking along almost single file, some riding horses. Reflexively, he reached for his rifle.


  A distraction was good right now. He didn’t like where his thoughts were leading. He knew that what he felt for Aimee was more than merely a man’s need to bed a woman. He cared for her as he never thought possible. But he could not allow himself to show his feelings. Once he took her back to St. Louis, she would be forever out of his life, and he hoped he would forget about her in time. He was selfish for thinking she might be able to live in these unforgiving mountains. His father had taught him better than that. Zach had loved his wife dearly, but in the end, love hadn’t been enough to save her life.

  *****

  Before they emerged from the woods, Daniel recognized most of the group as Shoshoni. The women wore deerskin dresses that came past their knees, and the men all wore buckskin shirts and leggings. Their clothing and hair was unadorned with fur or feathers, yet the leatherwork was of the finest quality. Some women carried woven baskets on their backs, and a large number of dogs pulled travois behind them.

  Daniel scanned the group. He hoped to see Elk Runner among them. It was past the number of days that Aimee had asked him to come back so she could look at his wound.

  His gaze fell on Aimee by the river. She was looking at the group as well. She had become much more alert to her surroundings in the last few weeks. His heart swelled with pride.

  As they emerged from the forest, he recognized not only the familiar family members of Elk Runner’s clan, but also several families of strangers. They were not Shoshoni. Several men rode horses, and most wore no shirts. Breechcloths, leggings, and moccasins made up their attire. The men’s hair was braided in two long braids, most adorned with fur and feathers. Several of them carried rifles. The women also wore their hair in braids, and their dresses showed obvious wear.

  “Where are all these people going?” Aimee asked as she joined him in front of the cabin and waited for their visitors’ approach.

  “They are on their way to higher country for the summer hunting grounds,” he explained.

  “Is Elk Runner among them?”