Josie had gathered her doctor bag and was heading to the door when she notice two men ride into town. Normally, it was not a thing she noticed, but these two sent a shiver down her spine. The one in front, the dark haired, bearded one looked over at her, taking note of the bag in her hand. She saw him lean over to the other who nodded, ‘yes’ to whatever question was asked.
When she turned to tell Mason where she was headed, another three riders came charging down the main street. The stout one, seeing Josie, shouted, “Get back inside ma’am, you’re in danger.” Then the three continued to thunder on.
Shouts and shots were heard from the area of the general store. Josie was torn between heeding the man’s advice and heading to where the shooting was occurring. The doctor in her warred with the fear from the warning. The doctor won out.
Heading the three blocks to the store, Josie was met by chaos. People were running in all directions. The two who’d ridden through first were coming from the store, firing as they headed for their horses, money slipping from the bag in the dark-haired one’s hand, only to be picked up by the other without dismounting.
“There she is!” he shouted to the other, jumping his horse toward Josie, just as Homer came up.
“Told you to get back inside,” the stout one called as he chased after the first two, holding his fire as Josie was swept up by strong arms and thrown over the front of the horse, pommel biting into her stomach.
“You let her go,” Josie heard Homer shout, only to hear someone fall just as the horse she was on took off at a run.
With the breath forced from her stomach, Josie heard a shouted “Get your horses, that damn man is not going to get away with taking a woman, specially not a doctor.”
“What?” Josie began, only to have her captor reach over, lift her head and order, “Be quiet.”
“No, I won’t be quiet,” Josie countered, struggling to rise and slip off, despite the speed with which the horse was running.
“Oh no you don’t, I went to a lot of trouble to get you, now behave,” she was told, a strong hand pushing down on her back, forcing even more air from her lungs.
“I will not,” Josie shot back, her hand reaching up to swing, upsetting the man, and causing Josie to slip off, clutching her bag.
Just then, shots rang out and Josie took advantage of the disruption and start to run, only to fall, hitting her head.
Slightly stunned, Josie watched as the other three sped up, with the leader stopping to dismount and check on her. It was at that moment the other two fired and, with horror, Josie watched a crimson stain appear on the shirt of the man in front of her.
A brief smile appeared on the man’s face before he slumped at Josie’s feet. By the time Josie recovered from her shock, the other two had returned. Without a word, they helped the man back to his horse, and placing Josie behind him they started out, but not back to town. Instead they headed into the open country to the west.
“Where are we going? Who are you?”
Neither of the other two men answered, so Josie asked again, adding, “My office is back in town.”
“We don’t dare go back to town, we have a place not too far from here,” one of the men answered.
The second added, “We don’t want those two to find us or you, it’s safer this way.”
“Safer for who, this man is badly hurt, I need to—”
“You can take care of him when we get to where we’re going,” she was told.
The next hour was one of worry and a bit of terror on Josie’s part. That the man in front of her was suffering, she knew. Her fear was they would not get to where they were going before it was too late. She also worried about the people in Kiowa Wells. Had any of them been hurt? What of Mason, Amos, and Mrs. Anson’s baby? Somewhere along the way, Josie dozed, fear and tension taking a toll on her strength.
Next thing she knew, the horse had stopped and the man in front of her was helped down and then she herself was. At first she didn’t see anything, then noticed a door in the dirt in front of her. Inside, she noticed three rooms, with an opening in the earth behind the front opening. She’d never seen such a place, but somehow knew she would probably be spending some time here, and hopefully could do something to help the man who’d tried to help her. But why wouldn’t they return to town? Somehow, she felt she’d not gotten the whole story.
As they made the man comfortable on the cot in one of the rooms, one man returned outside while the other said, “Do what you can, he’s a good man.”
“I will, and he is,” she said, and believing it, “I’ll do what I can.”
“You better hope it is enough,” was the soft-spoken threat
Chapter 27
Will rode into a town filled with chaos. He looked in the hotel to see if Josie was there, but not finding her, he started down the street. Near the store, everyone was running around, people crying and shouting. Will tried to ask where Josie was, what had happened, but he was ignored. Finally he pulled his pistol and fired into the air. Silence greeted him, as everyone turned to look, fear in their eyes.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” Will asked.
Micah and Mayor Greene exited the store, and seeing people standing around, turned to Will. “Did you fire off that shot?” the Mayor asked.
“Yes, can someone please tell me what’s going on and where Doctor Josie is? I’ve a sick man coming in on a wagon who is going to need her help.”
“We don’t know,” Micah answered. “A man who’d been in a few days back returned with another man. They robbed the store and started shooting.”
“So has anyone gotten together to go after them?” Will inquired. His question was met with embarrassment. “Can anyone tell me anything?”
The mayor stepped up, “We were taken by surprise. I know that’s no excuse, but,” he paused, taking a breath, then continued, “the bearded one said, compliments of Bull.”
The minute Will heard ‘bearded,’ he knew that Richard was involved somehow. Turning to his horse, Will shot back, “I suggest you stop running around, organize and then take stock of what went on. Then, organize and follow.”
Coming back to the hotel, Will saw Homer wandering in front of the hotel. Coming up to the boy, Will placed a hand on Homer’s shoulder. Turning, Will felt Homer’s shoulders relax.
“They took her, those men!” Homer cried.
Will noticed a bruise forming on the boy’s cheek. “Did one of them hit you?”
“I tried to stop them,” Homer whispered, “I really did, and when I woke up after the horse hit me, I didn’t know whether I should try to go after them, or—” Homer finished in a rush.
Placing an arm around the boy’s shoulder, Will looked down, turning Homer’s face toward him, and looking him in the eye said, “You did the right thing, you did what you could.”
Will needed Homer to calm down enough so he could question him. Questions Will hoped would help him to figure out what really happened.
As the boy relaxed and his breathing slowed, Will asked, “Now Homer, what can you tell me about the men?” With a pat on Homer’s back, Will continued, “The more you can remember, the better we will be able to try to find Josie.”
Straightening his shoulders, Homer drew a deep breath, looking to Will before saying, “Do you think I can help rescue Dr. Josie?” Hope flitting across his features.
“Once we have your story, we will have something to stick the rest of the clues to,” Will assured the young boy, although, in retrospect, Will felt the incident was doing a lot to make Homer a mature young man.
“Two men came up and grabbed Doctor Josephine,” Homer started, his eyes unfocused as he worked to remember the details. “One was kind of short with dirty light brown hair, I think he was riding a gray horse, and he had a bag on his saddle. The other one was about your height, maybe, and he had black hair and a beard. He was riding a red horse,” Homer paused, shaking his head.
“Do you know, was this before or after the store
was robbed?”
“They robbed the store? Was anyone hurt?” Homer quickly asked.
Will thought that question sounded so much like something Josie would say. It hurt that she wasn’t here, that she may be in danger somewhere. Will stopped, mentally shaking himself. If he was going to do any good, he needed to stay to the task at hand, and that was continue to gather all the information he could and head out as soon as possible.
“You can go check as soon as we finish here. Was there anything else?” Will asked.
‘The two men came up, but wait,” Homer stopped, then continued, “there were three men who rode up before the two came from the other direction, and one of them told Doctor Josie to stay inside, that she was in danger. Then the shooting started and she went toward the shots.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise Will, Josie could be pretty determined, and if she thought someone was hurt...but back to what Homer was saying.
“Anyway, the two men came riding up and the one with the beard grabbed Doctor Josie and threw her on the front of his horse. I tried...”
“You did all you could,” Will declared. “You can be proud.”
“One other thing, the three others rode up and they chased the other two out of town. At least I think it is what happened. I started falling as that occurred,” Homer quickly added.
Will could see Josie in his mind’s eye and it hurt that he hadn’t been here to maybe do something to help. Still, she was a spitfire, and she would be okay, she had to be. If anything, she seemed more assured since he’d met her, but that was just his opinion. Will pulled himself back to the present. He felt he had something to go on and it was time he took off.
As Will was mounting up, Louisa and the wagon drove into town. In his worry, he’d forgotten about her. Who would take care of Delbert?
“I wish—,” Homer began, stopping when Will dismounted, going over to the woman on the wagon. Homer watched while Will explained that the doctor wasn’t in town.
“But Delbert — what about my son?” she cried.
Homer moved over to the wagon, gently moving the cover back from the man in the wagon. Climbing aboard, Homer felt of the man’s head.
“What are you doing?” Louisa demanded, when she turned and saw Homer.
“Checking to see if he has a fever, and he does.” Homer said. “We need to get it down as soon as possible.”
Will squeezed Louisa’s shoulder and moved over to Homer. “Do you think you can help him?”
Nodding in the affirmative, Will returned to Louisa and guided her over to a chair outside the hotel. “He has been working with the doctor and he can help until the doctor gets back,” Will gently said, hoping that he was telling the truth.
Will was maneuvering to get Delbert from the wagon when he stirred. “Where? NOOOOOO,” Delbert cried as he began thrashing about.
Louisa ran toward her son, shouting, “Delbert, Delbert, it’s okay,” but nothing anyone did calmed the big man down. The more they tried to calm him, the more violent he became. One wild swing hit Louisa, knocking her backward. Will struggled to keep the man from escaping down the street — as Delbert began running out of town — by tackling him, only to have the heel of Delbert’s foot graze the still tender wound on his head. For mere seconds, Will felt the world tilt as he tenaciously held on to the terrified man.
The pounding of feet running toward them renewed the terrified man’s efforts to get away. Will wondered how much longer he could hold on. On top of that was a pair of green eyes begging him to hold on, but to come save her at the same time. With renewed effort, Will slowly moved his arms up Delbert’s legs, gaining a firmer hold and taking the kicks on his stomach and ribs, which, while painful, kept his injured head out of the line of fire.
Realizing Delbert was upset, Will tried to think of ways to calm the man, but wasn’t sure what that might be, for Delbert hadn’t even noticed his own mother. Into the maelstrom, Will saw Homer coming toward the struggling man.
“Get back, Homer, get back,” Will ground out, as Delbert redoubled his efforts. Instead, Homer calmly came on, telling those who had run up to stay where they were. Behind him, the wolf with the cat riding on its shoulders followed the fifteen year old boy.
When the trio was in front of Delbert, the wolf sat on its haunches and the cat moved to the top of the wolf’s head. If Will hadn’t been hanging on for dear life, he would have started laughing at the sight.
“What is your name?” Homer gently asked, standing just beyond the reach of the big man’s arms. “My name is Homer, and this is Romeo,” Homer said, indicating the wolf, “And the kitten is Cassie. They are friends. Would you like to be friends?”
Delbert stopped struggling as the tableau in front of him captured his attention. “Wolf?” he asked.
“Yes wolf, and it and Cassie are friends. Strange isn’t it?” Homer continued.
“Kitten?”
“Yes, the kitten is Cassie,” Homer answered.
At the sound of her name, Cassie jumped off Romeo, and walking over to Will, gently put its paws on his head, then when the wolf advanced toward Delbert, it followed suit. Will could hear the collective in-drawn breath of the watchers.
Leaning over the downed man, Romeo started licking one side of Delbert’s head and Cassie licked the other. Soon Delbert was giggling, reaching up to pet first the kitten then the wolf. Homer advanced, and gently asked, “Would you like to come inside where we can talk?”
“Will Cassie and Romeo come, too?”
“If they want,” Homer replied. “Let’s go inside and I can help make you feel better.”
It was a silent group who watched Homer lead the big man inside the hotel, followed by the cat and wolf.
“You sit in that chair,” Homer directed the man. “It looks like Cassie and Romeo will join you. I’ll be inside in a minute.”
“Okay.”
Will slowly regained his feet, the world spinning and tilting briefly before he went over to Homer.
“You did a great job,” Will told Homer as he squeezed the young man’s shoulders. “I don’t know if Josie could have done any better.”
“If Josie has been…,” Homer started only to stop, his tears, the ones he’d been struggling to hold back, began to fall.
“I know,” Will said, hugging the young man close. “I’ll find her, I swear. She’s pretty resourceful,” he added, praying that what he said was true. “Now, I think you have a patient waiting.”
Drying his tears, Homer went inside with Louisa. Will turned to be confronted by the townspeople.
“What you said was true, Mr. Murphy,” the mayor began, “but we need help. Would you consider—,”
Will interrupted, “I’m going to find the doctor and bring her back. I want to get started before it gets much later.”
“What can we do to help?” Micah asked.
“Help Homer, assess the damages, and send out word to the ranches and homesteads about what happened. Give them a description of the two men and have them be on the lookout.”
“We will,” the mayor called as Will mounted up and headed out of town, praying there would be enough time remaining to find a trail, a direction before it got dark.
Chapter 28
Josie sank to her knees beside the wounded man. Exhaustion invading every portion of her body. She knew being a doctor was what she’d wanted, and even now at the point of falling asleep on her feet, she knew she’d made the right choice. Still, it was at times like this she wished she had someone to share her joys and disappointments with. She smiled as Will’s face floated through her mind. Then, taking herself to task, she whispered, “He doesn’t care for me, except as the doctor who helped heal him.” While that hurt, she knew that it would have to be enough. She had healed him, with the help of a storm she mentally added.
“Will he recover?” The question was thrown at her, the tone demanding an affirmative answer. The problem was, she couldn’t lie about this. She realized she’d been so t
ired she hadn’t even heard the man approach.
“I don’t know, the damage was pretty extensive, and he lost a lot of blood while we were riding here,” she replied, too tired to even attempt rising. “But he’s still with us and that is a good sign.”
Buck pulled her upright with her left arm, pulling her close, whispering, “You better hope—”
“Buck, what do you think you are doing?” Case demanded, coming inside the door and seeing Josie pulled close, advanced on the man.
“It’s because of her that Bull got shot,” Buck answered, still holding Josie in a tight grip around her arm.
“Buck,” Case said, “we knew when we went into town what might happen. Getting angry and hurting the doctor here will not help anything.”
“She’s got to save him,” Buck said, letting go of Josie’s arm.
Josie turned tired eyes toward the two, “So all of this—” she asked, her hand indicating the man she’d been treating, “more or less happened and your friend was hurt because of me?”
Perhaps it was more than just the treating of the injured man that had drained Josie. Thinking back, the wounded man telling her to go back inside. The kidnapping and rescue, the roundabout trail to this place, despite her plea to return to town so she could treat the man in her office. Glancing out the door that Case had left open showed a dark sky, stars popping out like diamonds. How long had she been here? Why had the other man grabbed her, and who and why had these three interfered? Josie put a hand to her back, stretching and turning back to the man on the bed, asked. “Why?”
“You better hope you save him,” Buck said again.
Case, after telling Buck to stand guard, answered Josie’s question. “To make a long story short, the man who grabbed you, Richard Danson is his name, is crazy. We’d left Pond City, Kansas with him, but soon parted ways. When we heard he’d planned to rob your town and grab you, well...” Case looked down, then up again at Josie, “we knew we had to try and stop him.”
None of this made any sense to Josie, but she accepted Case’s explanation, and told him, “Only time will tell if your friend — Bull was it — will make it.”
Josie's Dream (Grandma's Wedding Quilts Book 9) Page 10