Touched by Time

by Zoe Matthews

  “That sounds like a great idea.” Kimberly was glad Patrick was willing to let Keegan continue his schooling.

  “I want to be a doctor someday,” Keegan told her, a blush creeping on his cheeks. He seemed embarrassed, and didn't look at her.

  “That’s a great goal. Did you know I am a nurse?”

  He looked directly at her eyes for the first time. “Really? Can you tell me what it was like? How did you learn? Did you go to school?”

  Just then Bridget and Colleen came into the cabin. Bridget had a basket of green leafy plants in it. Kimberly knew that it was time to start dinner.

  “We can talk about this later,” Kimberly told Keegan. “I will tell you anything you want to know.” Within reason, of course, she thought. She stood to follow Bridget to the kitchen when Keegan called her back. He had stood and took one of the carvings off the shelf and handed it to her.

  “You can have this,” he said almost shyly. She accepted the gift and saw it was one of the bears he had carved.

  “Thank you, Keegan,” Kimberly was touched he could give one of his carvings to her. “I will cherish this.”

  ****

  “I wanted to let everyone know I have seen signs of bears close by,” Patrick announced to the family at dinner. “I’m pretty sure it’s a mother with cubs.”

  Kimberly felt frightened at his words, but also a bit of excitement. Bears were nearby? She would love to see some cubs in the wild. She promised herself she’d keep her eye out for them, although she knew she would need to stay away from the mother bear. She had heard horror stories about what happens to people who get too close to a mother bear and her cubs.

  “Do you hear that?” Shaun asked his daughter. “You stay close to the cabin and don’t go wondering off until we know the bears have moved on.”

  Colleen nodded her agreement. “I don’t go wondering off anyway, Pa.”

  Kimberly knew this was true. She rarely saw Bridget without Colleen by her side.

  “Has it attacked any livestock?” Keegan asked.

  Patrick shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve just seen their tracks along the river. Hopefully they were moving on deeper into the mountains.”

  The conversation shifted to other things, but Kimberly was still secretly hoping she could catch a glimpse of the bear family.

  ****

  Nicky slammed down the phone in frustration. This was the third time she had been on the phone with the police, and they still refused to start a search for Kimberly because it hadn’t been long enough since she had been missing. They were starting to get frustrated that she kept calling. She could tell by the short curt answers they would give her. She didn’t care.

  Tears started streaming down her face. She was so scared for her friend. Kimberly could be somewhere hurt and cold right now, and no one but Nicky seemed to care. She walked dejectedly to Kimberly’s room, and stared at her bed.

  Questions had been spinning through her head since she read Kimberly’s note. What were you thinking Kim? And, one that made her heart ache: Why did you want to leave so badly? She knew Kimberly’s job was stressing her out, but thought their time together watching movies, or playing games with Justin and Garrett, was enough to keep her happy. She must have been wrong. Nicky stumbled into Kimberly’s bed, and pulled up the covers. She focused on the one thing that would allow her to sleep at night.

  I will bring you home safe, Kimberly. I will find you. I promise.

  Chapter 13

  The next morning Kimberly was helping Bridget with the noonday meal. She was feeling proud of herself for cutting the vegetables so well. She knew it wasn't much, but it was a lot more than she would do when she was in the city. She suddenly heard a loud cry of pain. Both women immediately ran outside to see what happened after Bridget told Colleen to stay put in the house.

  They quickly located the source of the cry. Keegan was on the ground near the woodpile clutching his leg. Kimberly immediately saw that he had injured himself. As she approached the boy, she saw his pants had been cut and blood seeped through a large open wound.

  “Oh, my heavens,” Bridget breathed. Kimberly saw Bridget grow pale at the sight of the blood that was oozing from the wound and pooling to the ground. Keegan was still groaning in pain. Kimberly knew she needed to act quickly.

  “Bridget, go get some cloth, and then get Patrick or Shaun,” she ordered as she dropped down beside Keegan. “Hold as still as you can, Keegan. Can you tell me what happened?”

  “I was cutting wood and the ax slipped,” Keegan told her as he gritted his teeth. “Stupid.”

  Kimberly’s training as a trauma nurse quickly kicked in and she immediately could tell that he hadn’t cut a life-threatening artery. But he did have a severe wound. She could see almost to the bone in his leg. This was not good. For the first time since she had arrived, she wished she could act on her knowledge she knew from her time. She knew how to fix this type of wound, but would she be able to and continue to hide her secret at the same time?

  Bridget thrust a handful of towels at her and then ran towards the barn, shouting for her brothers. Luckily, both of them were nearby and responded to her calls immediately.

  “What happened?” Patrick shouted as he bent down beside his brother. He gasped as he saw the open wound. The look he gave Kimberly was of pure terror.

  “He said the ax slipped,” Kimberly tried to talk calmly like she would have if she was in the ER she had worked at. “We need to get him inside.”

  Patrick and Shaun lifted Keegan and very quickly he was settled in his bed in the cabin. Kimberly ordered them to bring her water and more cloth, as well as any alcohol they had on hand to clean the wound.

  “What are you going to do?” Shaun asked suspiciously.

  “I’m a nurse. I can help him,” she responded firmly, not looking at him. Patrick had already left the room for the water.

  “Are you sure?” Shaun questioned. “In my experience, nurses don’t know how to handle this bad of a wound.”

  Kimberly opened her mouth to try to convince him, but Keegan was the one who answered.

  “Let her help,” he said weakly. “She’s better than nothing, isn’t she?” Shaun looked at Patrick, expecting him to interfere. When he didn't, his mouth opened in shock and anger.

  Kimberly watched as Shaun whirled away and stormed out of the room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the cabin door slam. It would be better if Shaun wasn’t around while she worked on Keegan if he was that angry.

  Patrick brought in some water and Kimberly went to work. Over the next hour she cut the pants off and started to clean the wound. She cursed to herself when she realized she didn’t have much to work with, not in 1892. Then she thought of her medical kit hidden in the bottom of the trunk in her cabin. Did she dare go and get it?

  Kimberly decided to do what she could first with what they had. Bridget came in and instructed Keegan to drink some type of tea she had prepared, and Kimberly allowed it, although she didn’t know what it was. The family had been living in these mountains, isolated for years. Surely they had ways to fix injuries and sickness she didn’t know about.

  She was able to get the wound to stop bleeding so heavily, but she was very concerned. As far as she could tell, no major arteries or tendons were cut, but it was a deep wound and it really needed to be stitched closed. Did she dare try? In the end, she decided to wait and see if the wound would heal on its own. She wrapped Keegan’s leg tightly the best she could. Surprisingly, Keegan had drank the tea and kept it down. Whatever was in it had made him groggy and he was soon asleep. Patrick had stayed with them the entire time, never once flinching when Kimberly ordered him to do something. She was glad he trusted her with his brother.

  Kimberly cleaned up the mess she had made while she worked on Keegan and decided she would burn the bloody rags in the wood stove in the kitchen. When they entered the kitchen, she saw that Bridget was sitting at the table with Colleen leaning against her. Shaun was pacing
the small length of the room.

  “I think we need to take him to Denver to a doctor,” Shaun told Patrick.

  Patrick turned to Kimberly. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think he should be moved,” Kimberly responded. “If you will let me, I can care for him. If it looks like he isn’t doing well in the next few days, then you can take him to a doctor.” She said this, knowing that if that happened, she would get out her medical kit and do what needed to be done. It wouldn’t matter what they saw. Keegan’s life was more important than a secret that she had promised to keep.

  Patrick turned to his brother. “I watched Kimberly as she helped Keegan. She knows what she’s doing. I say we listen to her.”

  Shaun looked at Patrick in disbelief. He turned and stormed outside, muttering as he went.

  “I’m sorry. Staying is just my opinion. If you feel you need to take him to Denver, then…”

  Patrick shook his head. “It’s too late in the day to go anywhere. We’d be traveling at night. I don’t know how close that mama bear is. If we left and she smelled blood… no, we will stay like you suggested.”

  Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief. “I will do everything I can to help him.”

  “You already have,” Bridget broke into the conversation. She stood up and started to make dinner. “I get so lightheaded when I see blood. I am grateful you were here. I don’t think I could have…” She stopped talking and started to chop some vegetables.

  “You could make him a broth with vegetables and beef or chicken,” Kimberly suggested. “That would help Keegan.”

  Bridget smiled at her in relief. “Yes, I can do that.” She went to work, glad that she could do something that would help her brother. “I do have a few packets of herbs we have gathered for medicinal purposes. Maybe some of them will help.”

  Kimberly agreed. “Show them to me, please. You probably will need to explain their uses. I haven’t learned much about herbs.” Bridget seemed surprised, and Kimberly realized that nurses at this time would have been taught about herb uses. She tried to backtrack. "I have learned about most, but need a reminder."

  Over the next hour, Kimberly helped Bridget start the broth, and then looked over the herbs she had. She really wasn’t sure if they would help Keegan or not. She had been trained to use drugs for healing, not herbs. But they didn’t have any drugs available. One of the herbs was supposed to be for pain and another for inflammation. A third one sounded like it could be a natural antibiotic, but Kimberly wasn’t sure. When she asked Bridget where she had gotten the herbs, she explained that they were found in the mountains. There was a tribe of Indians that lived about ten miles away from them during the summer months. One of the women who lived there had taught Bridget about the herbs. Most of the herbs were to be used as a tea, but the one that Kimberly suspected might be an antibiotic was supposed to be made into a paste and placed directly on a wound.

  Did she dare put that particular herb right on Keegan’s wound? It seemed very unclean to her. What if it made it worse? His wound was very deep. She decided to wait until morning to make that decision.

  Dinner was a quiet affair. Shaun did come in and eat, but it was obvious he was still angry at everyone for listening to Kimberly. She was glad he didn’t say anything. He just quickly ate and then left the cabin, this time taking Colleen with him.

  Kimberly stayed the night in the family cabin. She sat next to Keegan, caring for him when he needed it. The tea Bridget had made for him earlier did seem to help his pain, so she asked Bridget to make it again. He was able to drink a few swallows of the broth his sister made. By morning, it was obvious the wound needed more attention than what she had given it the day before. When she unwrapped the wound, Keegan had cried out in pain, and it looked red and angry. Instinctively, she knew it was not going to heal on its own.

  Patrick was standing by her when she exposed the wound and he gasped in disbelief. “It doesn’t look good, does it?”

  Kimberly made an instant decision. She had the training and the means to heal this wound and she was going to do it.

  “Maybe we had better get him to Denver,” Patrick continued.

  “Patrick, I am going to ask you to trust me. I know you don’t know me well. Shaun obviously doesn’t believe I can help, but I can. I have had extensive training for these types of injuries. Please let me have today. If it looks worse tomorrow, then you can take him to Denver. I really don’t think it will be a good idea to move him. It might make the wound worse being jostled around on a horse. He would lose a lot of blood in four hours.”

  “Do you really believe you can help him?” Patrick asked her.

  “Yes, I can help him, although it won’t be pleasant for him.”

  He looked intently into her eyes, then said, “Okay. Do what you need to do.”

  Kimberly was floored that Patrick trusted her so completely with his brother. She excused herself and ran to her cabin. She dashed inside and quickly located the medical kit. When she exited the cabin she ran straight into Shaun who grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

  “Patrick told me he’s not going to take Keegan to Denver today,” he yelled at her. “If he dies, this will be your fault!”

  Kimberly tried to speak calmly to Shaun. She knew people said things they really didn’t mean when they were scared and hurting, and especially when someone they loved was injured and suffering. “I promise you, he will not die.”

  “How can you promise that? You know how bad the wound is! You’re a nurse after all,” he sneered.

  “I can promise,” Kimberly said and pulled away from him. She knew she had her work cut out for her this morning, but she felt a peace inside as she ran back to the cabin. She knew Keegan would be okay.

  When she was back in Keegan’s room, she set her medical kit down and ripped it open. She quickly laid out the supplies she would need. The gloves, the syringes, the thread, the needles. She gasped in delight when she saw a bottle of penicillin. When had she put that in her kit? She also saw a supply of ibuprofen.

  “What are all those things?” Patrick asked her with curiosity.

  Kimberly just shook her head. She didn’t know what she was going to tell him after this was all over, but she didn’t want to explain now. “Can you help me?”

  Patrick nodded.

  “Please tell Bridget to leave the cabin with Colleen.” She waited until Patrick had left and then felt Keegan’s head. She could tell he was starting to get a fever. The wound was infected. “Keegan, can you hear me?”

  The boy nodded, his face wet with perspiration. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “I am going to need to clean out the wound really good. Then I am going to stitch it up. It’s going to hurt.”

  Keegan nodded his understanding and said bravely, “Do what you have to do.”

  Patrick was back at her side and waiting for her next instructions. After getting her all the water she needed, she told Patrick to do his best to keep Keegan from moving. In her time, the area around his wound would be numbed, or he would be put to sleep. She didn’t have anything to help with that. She just hoped Patrick would be able to keep Keegan from moving a lot. She did have a small tube of numbing cream, but it wasn’t enough for such a large wound. She would use it on top of the wound after she stitched it.

  Using the Betadine, she did her best to clean the wound as best as possible. She took her time even though she knew Keegan was in a lot of pain; it was vital that the wound was cleaned thoroughly. When she was finally satisfied it was clean and she hadn’t missed anything, she got the needle and thread ready.

  “I’m going to stitch it up now,” she told Patrick. Both Keegan and Patrick were sweating. “I’ll work as fast as I can.”

  It took 20 stitches. When she put in the tenth one, Keegan passed out, and Kimberly was grateful. Never before had she been grateful for nature’s anesthesia of fainting. She finished as quickly as she could before he woke up. When she was finally done, she in
spected her work and was satisfied. It would take awhile, but she knew it would heal. He’d have a large scar, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that.

  She smeared some antibiotic cream and the numbing cream on the wound, and then wrapped it up tightly with an Ace wrap.

  “He will need to be still for the next week or so, but I think he will be fine,” she looked up at Patrick. “I have some medicine to give him that will…”

  She stopped talking when he pulled her to his side and gathered her into his arms. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome. I'm so glad I was here to help.” Kimberly responded, relishing being in his arms. She hadn't felt this safe and loved since before her parents passed. She leaned into his chest and closed her eyes, feeling all of the stress from the last day seep out of her.