by Beverly Long
“What happened in the store has nothing to do with it,” she said.
He didn’t look like he believed her. “What’s waiting for you at home?” he asked.
Her life. Her magic. And she wanted it back. “Everything is waiting,” she said. Hoping he wouldn’t press for details, she took up the reins and got the horses moving forward again.
When she got to Dr. Winder’s office, she was relieved to find Aunt Freida awake. The woman was lying down on one of the two beds that were in the doctor’s back room. Both legs were stretched out straight and her long skirt was pulled down over them.
She had one shoe on but the other foot was bare. It was easy to see why. Her aunt’s foot and ankle were both swollen with very visible bruises.
“Hi,” Bella said. She walked over to her aunt’s side. “I spoke to the doctor earlier. He thinks you’re going to be just fine.”
Aunt Freida reached down and lifted her skirt. Bella saw that the broken leg was wrapped in strips of white cloth that might have been sheets at one time. There were solid wooden splints on both sides to keep the leg immobile.
It looked positively scary.
Her aunt grabbed for her hand. “Don’t fret, now. I’m not doing too bad for an old fool woman who isn’t as careful as she needs to be.”
“Are you in a lot of pain?”
“Not so much. Doc gave me laudanum and he’s sending some home with me, too.”
At that moment, Dr. Winder and Jed came into the small room. “I’m glad you brought Jedidiah with you,” the doctor said.
Bella didn’t bother to correct him. She was suddenly very glad that Jed was there. She was so going to need help getting Aunt Freida into the wagon. In fact, she didn’t have a clue how to go about it.
Jed stepped forward. “Your rig is just outside. I’ve got it filled with straw and plenty of blankets to keep you warm on the ride. Doc and I’ll each take a side and walk you out there. Once you get home, I’ll make sure you get inside.”
Bella patted her aunt’s hand. Okay. They had a plan. Well, at least Jed had a plan. She was just hanging on by a thread.
Aunt Freida, however, seemed game and within ten minutes, she was bundled in her coat, with one arm wrapped around Jed’s back and one arm draped over Dr. Winder’s shoulder. She kept her weight totally off her one leg and hopped to the wagon. By the time they got there, her mouth was a straight line and the muscles in her neck were so tight that Bella thought a vein might burst.
“Take it slow,” Jed cautioned Bella as she climbed back into the driver’s seat. “She’s going to feel every bump.”
She kept the horses at a slow walk and did her best but the fresh snow covered up the ruts in the road and she didn’t know they were there until the wagon clunked over them. The approaching darkness didn’t help. “Sorry, Aunt Freida,” she yelled, for the tenth time.
“She can’t hear you,” Jed said. He was on his horse, keeping pace with the wagon.
Bella stopped the horses and peered back at her aunt. It was now too dark to see her face. “Aunt Freida?” she said, anxiety making her voice shake.
“She’s not dead,” Jed said. “Doc said he gave a big dose of her medicine about a half hour before we got there. He figured it might help on the way home.”
Bella settled back in her seat and picked up the reins. Maybe if she was lucky, the doctor had given Aunt Freida more than enough Laudanum and Bella could have a few sips. Passing out seemed like a really good alternative right now.
When she pulled into the yard, it took all her strength to get the horses to stop. Now that they were close to the barn, they seemed to have a mind of their own. “Just a minute,” she said to them. “I need to take care of Aunt Freida first and then it’s your turn.”
By the time she set the brake, Jedidiah was off his horse and standing next to the wagon. He extended a hand to help her off and since she’d lost her pride somewhere back in Dr. Winder’s office, she took it. Once she was on the ground, she moved quickly to the back of the wagon. “Aunt Freida,” she said. There was no answer. Before she could move, Jedidiah was climbing into the back of the wagon. He shook her aunt’s shoulder gently.
“Come on, Freida,” he coaxed. “Nap time is over.”
“Jedidiah,” her aunt said, her voice soft. “I never did like you.” Her words were slurred, almost running together.
“We can sort that out later,” he said. “I’m going to take one side and Bella will be on the other. Together we’re getting you inside. It’d be a whole lot easier on us if you helped a little.”
Ten minutes later, Bella barely remembered to move the dolls and teacups before she collapsed into a chair. It hadn’t been fast or pretty or graceful, but they’d somehow managed to scoot Aunt Freida out of the wagon and help her hobble inside. She was lying on her bed with her clothes still on.
Jed was building a fire. He still had on his thick coat and from behind, his shoulders looked incredibly broad. Bella knew first hand how strong he was. He’d handled most of Aunt Freida’s weight, hardly letting her bear any.
He stood up and stretched his big body and all she could think about was how she’d been plastered up against him earlier in the day. It made her cheeks feel hot which was ridiculous because the cabin was freezing.
“Thank you, Jedidiah,” Aunt Freida said. Her eyes remained closed.
“Yes, thank you,” Bella echoed. She really did appreciate his help. She would not have been able to do it on her own.
He patted the end of Freida’s bed. “Just get some sleep,” he said.
“I will,” Freida said. “It’s good to be in my own bed.”
He walked over toward Bella. “Maybe I should stay,” he offered, his voice low, so that her aunt couldn’t hear him. The message was clear. He’d rather be anywhere else but he wasn’t sure she was going to be able to cope.
“We’ll be fine,” she whispered back. She could talk a good game. “I’m going to fix us some dinner and then I suspect Aunt Freida will sleep most of the night.” Out of her pocket, she pulled the big brown medicine bottle that Dr. Winder had given her. She set it down on the table with a quiet thud.
It matched the sound her heart was making. She was nervous as hell but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him know that.
“I’ll bring my sister by in the morning,” he said. “We’ll get here in plenty of time for you to open the store.”
“Perfect.”
He jerked back and she realized, rather belatedly, that that was exactly what she’d said earlier that day, at the store, right before she leaned in and planted the big one on him.
“I mean, fine. That’s fine.”
“That’s what I thought you meant,” he said. He opened the door and left.
Bella sat down and put her hand in her pocket. She fingered the edges of the white handkerchief that he’d left with her. He was getting to her. Badly.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Bella figured it took her twice as long as it would have taken her aunt to fix them both a ham sandwich and a cup of hot tea for dinner but at least it happened. And she hadn’t let the fire die out. And her aunt was resting comfortably.
Bella ticked the items off as she sat in the chair and watched her aunt sleep. She’d felt a little bad about impersonating the niece before but now she felt really bad. Freida deserved to have family with her at a time like this.
Those thoughts caused her to think about her own family. She could not let Father and Averil down. Would tomorrow be the day that Rantaan Toomay came to town?
As she rocked in the chair, she could feel her eyelids grow heavier and knew she was drifting off to sleep. She gave her aunt one more look and was satisfied that all was well. She pulled the blanket closer around her and tried to get her neck at a somewhat comfortable angle.
Sometime later, she woke up. Her first thought was that the cabin was colder. She looked at the fire and saw that it was almost burned out. Then she heard a noise and realized it was
a moan coming from the bed.
She threw off her blanket and grabbed for the lantern. She hurriedly lit the wick. Her aunt had thrown her covers off and she was turning her head from side to side. Another soft moan escaped.
“Oh Aunt Freida.” Bella moved quickly to the woman’s side. She placed a hand on her forehead and was shocked that her aunt’s skin was so warm.
She grabbed the cloth napkin that Freida had used at dinner and dunked it into the water pitcher that sat on the table near Freida’s bad.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
“Fuck.” She said it loudly, letting the whole place know she was seriously pissed. She wanted to kick something, to pound a hole in a wall, to dent a car hood.
Anything to avoid having to admit how scared she was. “Oh, Aunt Freida. Don’t do this. Please, please, don’t do this.”
Her aunt opened her eyes, licked her dry lips and tried to smile. “Don’t fret, Bella.”
Don’t fret. Oh, she was fretting all right. She was one big fret right now. “I don’t know what to do for you, Aunt Freida. You’re burning up. I think you might have some kind of infection.”
“I’ll be fine. Just need some sleep. And my medicine.”
Bella’s hands shook when she measured out the medicine. She helped Aunt Freida sit up and then she wrapped an arm around the woman’s back to keep her steady while she drank the dose. Once she got her aunt settled back onto the pillows, Bella again dunked the cloth napkin into water, wrung out the excess, quickly folded it, and laid it across her aunt’s temple.
She did that six more times before she sat back in the chair that she’d pulled close to her aunt’s bed. She was wide awake now and so cold. She walked over to the fireplace, carefully added another big log and a few smaller ones, and stood close while the fire roared back to life. It cracked and sizzled and all Bella heard was Bessy Forth.
That poor woman had died after her leg had gotten infected. This was serious business and unfortunately for Aunt Freida, Bella had slept through her science classes.
Bella felt very cold even though the fire was burning strong. She didn’t know how much time had passed when her aunt stirred again, but she didn’t think it had been more than a half hour. “Go back to sleep,” she urged her aunt.
Her aunt moaned and tossed her head on the thin pillow. “Herbert…”
Oh boy. Her aunt was calling out for her dead husband. Bella gently shook her aunt’s shoulder. “It’s Bella,” she said. “You’re going to be all right.”
Who was she trying to kid?
Her aunt needed a doctor. And there was only one person in the room who could make that happen.
How tough could it be? She’d gotten them home tonight, hadn’t she? The horses knew the way—all she had to do was keep the reins a little loose and she’d be knocking on Dr. Winder’s door in fifteen minutes. Well, make that thirty. It was probably going to take her fifteen minutes to figure out how to attach said horses to the wagon.
“Hang in there, Aunt Freida,” she said. “I’m going to get you some help.”
Her aunt mumbled something that sounded very much like “there’s pizza in the oven” but Bella figured that was just wishful thinking on her part. She walked over to the chest where Aunt Freida kept her clothes. She would swim in them but she figured there might be something she could borrow that would provide a little extra warmth on the ride to town.
She found a loosely-knitted sweater in a pale yellow with what looked like pearl buttons. She buttoned every one of the buttons and then pulled it over her head. It was too loose at the collar, too long in the sleeves, and it hung down past her hips. She rolled up the sleeves and forgot about the rest. Then she found some thick socks that she pulled on under her long skirt.
However, her silly shoes wouldn’t fit so that sent her looking for a pair of Freida’s. The woman didn’t seem to have another pair besides the ones she’d worn that day. “It’s not like you’re going to need them soon,” Bella said, as she slipped her feet inside. They were still way too big so she pulled a second pair of socks out of Aunt Freida’s drawer and put them on. The shoes were still loose but she figured they’d do.
She spied Aunt Freida’s hat hanging on the hook by the door. “Not all that worried about hat hair,” she said. She pulled it on, grabbed her cloak, and once it was all buttoned up, she wrapped her scarf around her neck. She yanked on gloves, checked Freida one last time, opened the door, and stepped outside.
The snow had gotten angry. What had earlier been soft kisses against her cheeks were now hard bites. The wind whipped the snow around and when she took another step, she sunk into a drift that came up past her knee.
She hated Kansas.
She hated snow.
She plowed forward and found a strange comfort in the sound of her own huffing and puffing as she made her way to the barn. “I’m telling you,” she said, “Dorothy was taking some serious drugs if she couldn’t wait to get back to Kansas. She should have been clicking her heels and saying there’s no place like Jamaica, there’s no place like Jamaica.”
She opened the barn door and heard the horses snort and move around. She played blind girl until she came to the lantern and managed to get it lit with the second strike of a match.
The horses were staring at her. “We’re going into town,” she told them.
Rain tossed her head wildly before settling her glossy black eyes on Bella. Her look said it all. Give me a break.
“You wish,” Bella mumbled. She led them out of their stalls and then proceeded to replicate what she’d seen Aunt Freida do to hitch them up to the wagon. It took her twice as long as it would have Freida because she fumbled around with it but finally she thought she had it.
By the time she was sitting on the wagon seat, she was sweating. She jiggled the reins the way she’d seen Aunt Freida do but the horses didn’t move.
No way. If she’d managed to figure out how to hook them up, these two were not going to refuse to cooperate. She let out a hiss of air. She shook the reins again and clicked her tongue.
And halleluiah, they put their heads down and plowed forward. It might not have been cinematically beautiful but when they got to the end of Aunt Freida’s lane and turned right, toward town, Bella let out a breath. They were going to make it. Aunt Freida was going to make it.
There was a sliver of a moon. That, combined with the blanket of white snow, gave the night an eerie glow. It was light enough that she could see the snow swirling around, like the winds couldn’t decide which way to blow.
It was impossible to see where the road ended and the countryside started. She tried to stay oriented by looking at the trees but everything looked different. The tree that earlier that day had looked welcoming, like it was stretching it’s snow covered branches up to embrace the sky, now looked threatening, like it was poised to snatch her up in its twisted and snarled branches.
“Sunshine. Rain. Good job. I’ve got a lot of faith in you,” she yelled. She could do this. She wasn’t going to screw it up.
Minutes later she realized her confidence might have been a bit premature when the horses suddenly stopped. Rain reared back on his hind legs causing the tension between the wagon and the horses to lessen. Of course, when he came down on all fours again, the tension suddenly increased and Bella was practically thrown off the wagon.
Which would have been a big problem because, unless she was crazy, there was a bear less than twenty feet away.
***
Jed sat at his desk, feeling uneasy. He tried to tell himself that the storm was the cause of it but he knew he’d spent many a winter nights in similar conditions and had not been bothered. It snowed in Kansas. Sometimes more than other times. And in the more times, it was a pain in the ass to contend with. But it wasn’t something that couldn’t be managed.
Most everybody, even the boys that were accustomed to drinking well into the night, had taken a look at the late afternoon blue-gray horizon and headed fo
r home. There was livestock to see to, families to tend. His town was quiet. That should have been a comfort. If he was so inclined, he could get comfortable on the cot in the empty cell and get in a good nap.
He hadn’t been comfortable since she’d come to town. He couldn’t figure her out. By the way Doc had described it, she had no intention of staying around to help Freida. That had caused Jed to see red when he’d heard about it. He’d spent most of the afternoon wondering exactly what it was that the woman had waiting for her in Ohio that was so all important to get back to, especially since Freida was going to need some help?
He’d managed to work himself into quite a state by the time he’d walked over to the livery and got her horses ready. He was confident that her willingness to leave Freida at a time of need was a direct reflection of her character.
He’d stood outside the store and convinced himself that he wasn’t going to bother himself about it. She could go and he and his sister and probably a line of others would take care of Freida. They didn’t need her.
Then when he’d looked inside the window and had seen her going about her tasks of closing up, looking so concerned about taking the proper care of Freida’s store, he’d been a mix of emotions. She’d come out, gotten her pretty little bottom on the seat of the wagon, and, God help him, he hadn’t been able to not ask the question.
She hadn’t really given him an answer but he’d been less angry with her because it had seemed as if she was truly sorrowful about her need to leave. Then an ugly thought had occurred. Did the widow have a prospective new husband waiting at home for her?
He’d practically fallen off his horse and since he hadn’t done that since he was eight, he had to admit that he was more than a little bothered about the notion. The woman had kissed the breath out of him. She’d rubbed up against him and he’d have been a blind man not to notice that the nipples of her breasts had been hard, fairly begging for attention.