In short, this book is going to get you very, very hot!
© Susan Fleming
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any many whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination. Please note that this work is intended only for adults age 18 and over. All characters represented are age 18 or over.
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1: Bodie
Chapter 2: A Model of Good Works
Chapter 3: Any Beast of the Field
Chapter 4: They Will Rest From Their Labor
Chapter 5: When They Drink Deadly Poison
Chapter 6: For the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength
Chapter 7: Two Are Better Than One
Chapter 8: Him Who Strengthens Me
Chapter 1
Bodie
A thick layer of sandy topsoil covered the wooden porch. The Indian summer had brought plenty of it and no matter how often Abigail Abbott swept it away, she would find another layer had settled upon her return. Dutifully she swept it clean again, the twig broom clutched firmly in her worn hands.
“G’mornin’ Miss Abigail.” Abigail looked up from the porch to see Nathaniel tipping his hat.
“Good morning Nathaniel.” She offered before getting back to sweeping the porch.
“It never seems to quit, does it?” He nodded at the porch.
“No, it just keeps on coming. But, you know what they say, idle hands are the devil’s playground.” Reaching up she wiped sweat from her brow with her forearm. Nathaniel nodded.
“Yes, ma’am. There’s nothin’ idle about your hands though, Miss Abigail, you always seem to be elbow deep in somethin’” He smiled at her fondly.
“That’s precisely the point, Nathaniel. ‘The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” Nathaniel nodded.
“Amen.” Abigail looked up from her sweeping.
“Was there something I could help you with this morning, Nathaniel?” He shook his head.
“No ma’am. I was just passin’ and wondered if there might be anything I could do for you. Since Mr. Abbott went to be with the Lord we sure do worry about you down in the village what with your bein’ up here all alone.” Abigail stood her broom up against the porch railing and walked down the two rickety steps. Wiping her hands on her apron she approached Nathaniel.
“While I appreciate your compassion, you may tell the village that I have taken my refuge in the Lord. He has soothed my grief for my father’s passing and given me the strength to tend our property with my own two hands.” Nathaniel nodded.
“Yes, ma’am. I am certain that no one was questioning that the good Lord would provide for you. I rather think, however, that they feared that you may be suffering in isolation up here all alone in the hills.” Abigail straightened her apron and stared directly in to Nathaniel’s cool blue eyes.
“There is little time for suffering, Nathaniel. Anyone who thinks that there is may well have too much time on their hands.” Nathaniel nodded obediently. He had known Abigail Abbott since she was twelve years old and she had never wavered in her dedication to hard work nor her devotion to her Christian faith.
“Yes, ma’am.” Abigail tucked a few flyaway hairs under her bonnet and then gave Nathaniel an exasperated smile.
“Now, was there anything else? I don’t wish to be rude, but I have a birdhouse to clean, traps to check and firewood to stock all before sundown.” Nathaniel shook his head.
“No ma’am. If you might need a hand with any of your duties I’d be happy to offer.” Abigail seemed to consider his offer for a moment.
“You have no work of your own to complete today, Nathaniel?” He shook his head.
“No ma’am, my father relieved me of my duties today.” Abigail frowned, she disapproved of a man who didn’t work every day but the Sabbath. “Dust lung.” He added when he saw Abigail’s look of disapproval. Abigail nodded.
“Follow me.” She led him up the porch steps and through the large wooden front door to her cabin. “Sit there.” She pointed at a carved wooden chair next to the small wooden table. Nathaniel did as she instructed and watched her as she poured water into a pot and set it on top of the wood burning stove.
“This should have you feeling well quite soon.” She said as she took a small cup from a shelf beside the stove. “It is my mother’s recipe.” She began opening different small pots and taking out various ingredients, stuffing them into the bottom of the cup.
Nathaniel had never met Abigail’s mother, she had died before the family had reached the town of Bodie. Abigail didn’t speak of her much, she had been six when her mother died while giving birth to her brother – neither had survived.
“Thank you.” Nathaniel watched her pour the boiling water over the ingredients. Instantaneously the scent of thyme permeated the small one room cabin. The thought of drinking such a pungent concoction made his stomach knot, but the thought of offending Abigail was worse.
“Here you are, drink it all down.” Abigail set the cup on the table in front of him and returned to the kitchen to put another piece of wood on the stove. Nathaniel leaned over the cup, the smell was overpowering and he choked back a cough. Abigail turned back to him.
“Drink it, don’t smell it. It’s not going to do you any good just by smelling it.” Nathaniel took a deep breath, picked up the cup and drained it of its contents. Gasping for breath, he put the empty cup back on the table. Abigail nodded. “That’ll set you right in no time.” Nathaniel wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and stood up from the table.
Abigail stood at five feet five inches. She had a slender frame and a thick head of dark brown hair which she kept swept under her bonnet. Nathaniel dwarfed her at six feet two inches and while he wasn’t overweight, his muscular body made Abigail look like a wisp. Atop his head was a disheveled mop of brown hair which he kept covered with a granite colored western hat. Despite the fact that most of the women in Brodie found Nathaniel to be one of the most eligible bachelors, Abigail had never had any such thought. Certainly, she could agree that he was a handsome man and his healthy respect for the Lord was a plus, but she had no interest in nor time for seeking out any man’s affections.
“Thank you, ma’am. I reckon it just might.” He coughed dryly into his hand.
Chapter 2
A Model of Good Works
Abigail reluctantly agreed to allow Nathaniel to chop wood for her in return for her medicinal concoction. Nathaniel wasn’t the type of man who expected anything for free and truth be told, he would have moved heaven and Earth just to spend a little time with Abigail Abbott.
“Make sure to cut to the length of this stump, Nathaniel. Any longer and the wood will not fit in to the stove.” Nathaniel nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.” As he retrieved a log from the woodpile, Abigail tended to the chicken coop. With the axe in hand, he turned to face her. He had never known a woman to work as hard as Abigail Abbott, she could rival any man for the time she spent at work. Although it seemed unnatural, Nathaniel found something appealing about her indomitable work ethic. Where most women in Bodie took jobs as teachers, clothes makers and housemaids, Abigail took on the true spirit of a pioneer woman – she feared no job, no matter how masculine.
As Abigail bent over the chicken coup Nathaniel found himself staring at her rounded bottom. His cheeks flushed. The pause in chopping of the wood caused Abigail concern however and she soon straightened up and faced him.
“Is the job too much for you Nathaniel?” He blinked and shook his head slowly.
“No ma’am, I was just…” He wasn’t quite sure what to tell her as she stared at him questioningly. “I was just thinking that perhaps I ought to check the trap
s for you before chopping the wood. It would be far easier to chop wood in the darkness than to check the traps.” He breathed a silent sigh of relief at his quick thinking. Abigail pondered this idea for a moment before nodding.
“Let me fetch these eggs indoors and I will come with you.” She bent back over the chicken coop and picked up the remaining eggs one by one, placing them in a basket.
“I don’t mind going for you, so you can take care of your chores here.” Nathaniel offered. Abigail didn’t answer until she had placed all of the eggs in her basket and stood up straight.
“That is a very kind gesture, Nathaniel, but I would rather be there to see that each of God’s creatures are dispatched under the word of God.” Nathaniel nodded as Abigail took her basket of eggs back in to the cabin.
Nathaniel was no stranger to trapping, he and his father had trapped their land since they moved to Brodie. He never had thought to give any type of prayer for the animals that they trapped however, and thinking upon it now made him feel incredibly guilty.
“Miss. Abigail?” He asked, as the two walked across the brown grass field that lay behind Abigail’s cabin.
“Yes?” She held her skirt up with her hands as she walked.
“Do you suppose that even if we do not dispatch a creature under the word of the Lord, that the Lord knows that we are thankful for His creatures?” Abigail looked at Nathaniel with a smile touching her lips. She nodded.
“I believe that God always knows what is in our hearts.” She said. She couldn’t help the joyful giggle that followed and Nathaniel looked at her in puzzlement.
“What is it?” He questioned. Abigail looked down at the ground and shook her head.
“It’s just that a man like you, a man who spends his time working in the dirt, tilling the land…I didn’t expect such a compassionate question.” She giggled again.
“My father always used to tell me that I was a peculiar child for insisting that we dispatch our trappings with prayer.” She shrugged.
“I don’t think that I have ever met anyone who understands.” Nathaniel smiled at her.
“I understand. We have always given thanks for God’s bounty before we eat, so why shouldn’t we give thanks to the creature itself before we take its life?” Abigail nodded.
Abigail took the lead as she and Nathaniel entered a thick woodland.
“Just follow me. There are plenty of traps out here, you must be careful to follow me precisely.” Nathaniel nodded and took his place behind her. “I have six traps out in total, but three were checked early this morning, so we only need check the remaining three.” Nathaniel watched as Abigail stepped over large bundles of dried twigs and kicked her way through the start of autumn’s leaves.
When they got to the first trap, Abigail waved Nathaniel over to her side. A rotund raccoon struggled against the metal jaws that had snapped closed around its hind leg.
“Shhh shhhh…” Abigail approached it while Nathaniel stood back. “Shhh little one.” The creature stared up at her with wide eyes. Abigail reached down into her boot, pulling out a long steel knife.
“Dear God, we thank you for this beautiful creature and for allowing us to take its life so that we may live. Amen.” As she spoke the word ‘Amen,’ she reached down, grabbed the raccoon by the scruff of the neck and quickly cut its throat. Nathaniel watched in amazement. He had never seen anyone dispatch a trapped animal in such a way. Abigail reached down an opened the trap, releasing the dead raccoon and carrying it over to Nathaniel. “The bag please, Nathaniel.” Suddenly realizing that she was talking to him, he nodded and pulled out the burlap sack.
Abigail’s traps yielded nothing more than the single raccoon, but she seemed happy enough with the catch. They began making their way back to the cabin when Abigail surprised Nathaniel with a dinner invitation.
“There is more than enough meat on this to feed us both, I would like if you would join me for dinner. Think of it as my thanks for your accompanying me today.” Nathaniel smiled, he was flattered. For as long as he had known Abigail, he had never known her to entertain any man who wasn’t her father.
“That is very kind of you, but I am quite sure that mother would have supper prepared for my father and me.” When he saw Abigail’s face fall, he amended his reply. “Still, I am sure that father won’t say no to seconds.” Abigail smiled. She wasn’t used to requesting company, but after spending the day with Nathaniel she realized just how lonely things had been since her father died.
“I will get to preparing it once we get home. You can finish chopping the wood while I do.” Nathaniel nodded. It would be just as though they were man and wife.
Chapter 3
Any Beast of the Field
“We shall eat well tonight!” Abigail said happily as they trudged across the field of dead grass. “I shall make a ARGH!” Abigail stopped suddenly and looked down to her feet. The scream brought Nathaniel to her side in a second.
“What is it?” He peered down to see a thick rattlesnake with its fangs firmly embedded in the side of Abigail’s boot. There was no doubt that she had been bitten from the sound of her scream. Nathaniel looked around hurriedly and seeing a stick he picked it up and began to strike the snake. As he did, the snake readjusted its fangs, sinking them in to Abigail’s calf once more.
“ARGH! Nathaniel help me!” Her voice was panicked as she stared at the serpent’s brown splotched body. Nathaniel drew back the stick and this time he struck the snake just underneath its head, causing it to release its grip. It lingered for a moment before slithering away in to the camouflage of the dead grass.
“We have to hurry.” Nathaniel wrapped his arm around the small of Abigail’s back and just as he did so, she fell backwards and lost consciousness.
Laying her down gently in the grass, Nathaniel unbuckled his belt and wrapped it tightly around Abigail’s thigh. There was no way to get her back to Bodie before the venom rushed through every vein in her body, his only hope was to slow its progress.
When he was sure that the tourniquet was tied tightly and would not slip, he slid one arm under her knees and the other under her back. He would have to carry her as far as he could.
Nathaniel kicked at the door of the cabin until it finally flew open and slammed against the wall. Abigail hadn’t regained consciousness yet and the color was draining from her sun-kissed skin. He lay her gently on the small bed that stood against the far wall of the cabin.
“Abigail?” He shook her. “Abigail?”
“Mmmm…” She moaned and turned her head to the side. Beads of sweat were running down the side of her face.
“Abigail, I have to leave you to fetch the doctor.”
“Mmmm…” She moaned again, her eyes still not open.
“Abigail, listen to me. I have to leave you here to go and bring the doctor. I need you to be strong and stay here until I get back.” Abigail said nothing, her eyelids fluttered. “Abigail!” There was nothing more he could do without fetching Doc. Jacobson. Giving her one last glance, he rushed out of the front door, slamming it behind him.
Abigail’s cabin stood twenty minutes’ walk from Bodie, but in his rush to get back to town, Nathaniel ran there in ten. He could barely breathe by the time he hit Main Street and he cursed his dusty lungs for holding him back. Sputtering and coughing he flew down Main Street and through the door of Doc. Jacobson’s surgery.
“Doc! Doc!” Doctor Jacobson appeared from a door down the hallway. “Doc. You have to come with me, it’s Abigail, she’s been bitten by a rattler!” Doc. Jacobson shook his head.
“Son, there is no chance that she will survive.” Nathaniel glared at him.
“For God’s sake, at least try!” He bellowed. Doc. Jacobson shook his head again.
“She is too far from the village. By the time I get to her the venom will already be draining the life from her.” Nathaniel grabbed him violently by the collar of his dress shirt.
“You are going to come with me whether you like it
or not.” The Doc. Looked at him wide eyed and nodded hurriedly.
“Y…yes…whatever you want, Nathaniel.” Nathaniel released the small doctor who scurried into the room from whence he had come and returned with a large black bag. Nathaniel led the Doc. Outside and seeing a horse tied across the street he ran to it.
“Get on!” He yelled at the Doc. Without hesitation the Doc. did as he was instructed. Nathaniel untied the horse and climbed up in front of the Doc. With the thick medical bag wedged between them, Nathaniel spurred the horse onward in the direction of Abigail’s cabin. He only hoped that they wouldn’t be too late to save her.
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