by Heather Gray
“But..? How..? Why..?” Sarah could find no coherency to translate her battered thoughts into understandable words.
Mrs. Smith kindly interrupted, “You can’t stay here with him without a chaperone. Doc is without a nurse right now and has other patients that need him and this room. This is the best solution for everyone.”
As Mrs. Smith rounded to go, Sarah got to her feet and reached out to touch the woman’s arm. Mrs. Smith faced Sarah with gentle inquiry in her eyes. Sarah pulled the woman into her arms, giving her the tightest hug she could remember giving anybody in many years. Holding the older woman close in her arms, Sarah whispered into her ear, “Thank you. For everything. For years of everythings.”
As Sarah released Mrs. Smith, who had been holding her equally as tight, the woman backed away a half step, put her hands on either side of Sarah’s face and peered directly into her eyes. “Sarah,” she said clearly, “it has always been my pleasure. I love you, dear, and don’t you ever forget it.” Having had her say, Mrs. Smith let go of Sarah and stepped out the door, closing it softly behind her.
****
Hours passed. Sarah sat right beside Samuel the entire time. She read to him from her Bible, looking through and finding passages she had marked at different times, telling him about why those passages had mattered to her at the time. As she journeyed through her own Bible, she witnessed her personal transformation. This Bible had been a gift from her father upon her fourteenth birthday. Passages she had marked as an adolescent were quite different from passages she marked later in her life. Her Bible markings were a visual representation of the change in her attitude. At one point the scribbled comments in the margin were full of wonder and awe. As her script matured, though, there appeared to be less awe and more order. How placid she had become! Even her relationship with God and the way she understood His word had changed from something exciting and vibrant to something dull and ordinary, bordering on lifeless.
Sarah began chastising herself only to remember she’d already committed to change her ways. Okay, God, I know you can see me. I am going to torment myself with my past mistakes if I don’t give this over to you soon. I know I already gave it over once, but it appears I decided I needed to worry over it some more. Please take this burden from me. You’ve already forgiven me. Help me to remember you have placed my sins as far as the east is from the west. Give me excitement about my relationship with You. I want to dance with joy at the thought of my eternal salvation. Help me to embrace the freedom I have in Christ. Give me the courage to be Your child completely, wholly and everyday from this point forward. And please heal Samuel.
Sarah heard a moan coming from the bed. Her eyes shot to Samuel’s face in anticipation, only to be disappointed to see he still appeared to be sleeping. His face was no longer the pale death mask it had been before, though, and she found encouragement in that.
The outside office door opened, and a moment later a group of men quietly shuffled into the room where she sat with Samuel. Doc instructed the men in the careful movement of his patient. They all washed their hands with hot water and soap before approaching the sickbed. The sheet beneath him became a gurney as the men lifted it to move him. Working slowly and carefully, the group didn’t want to cause any harm to the man they had been entrusted to move. Sarah recognized all of the men and realized every single one of them had been recently serving as a deputy. They all nodded to her as they filed out, carrying the precious cargo gently between them.
Sarah followed the procession down the street. It was evening by then, and many folks were already home for the night. Some people peeked out from behind curtains as they trudged by. Thankfully it wasn’t far to the mayor’s house, and the men were able to get Samuel settled onto the bed in the sitting room in fairly quick order.
The men did not immediately leave when Samuel was settled. Sarah watched them, not quite sure what to say. She had already said thank you many times. Surely these men did not expect her to pay them? Hadn’t they done this out of the kindness of their hearts? Apparently at an impasse, she was about to speak up when Isaac, one of the men, stepped forward and removed his hat.
“Miss Sarah,” he began, “we all jist want you t’ know we’ll be prayin’ fer Samuel. He saved all our lives today, prob’ly saved th’ whole town. It’s not right he’s the one got hurt. We jist want you t’ know you got a fine man there, is all.”
Isaac’s heartfelt words stopped her from hollering at them all to get out so she could see to Samuel. “Thank you,” she said humbly, taking the time to shake each man’s hand as he shuffled out the front door. Though touched by their words, she didn’t understand how her mysterious Samuel had saved the town today. She wanted a future with this man, and she stood taller knowing he was well regarded by others in Larkspur.
When she turned back to the bed where Samuel lay, she saw his color had again faded. He wasn’t as pale as he had been before, but the jostling of being moved appeared to have caused a fair setback in him. Arty, who had arrived as the men were shuffling out, settled himself into a chair in the corner of the sitting room. Doc worked to make sure Samuel was comfortable and settled and then left with instructions for Arty to come get him should the need arise during the night.
Settled in next to Samuel, her Bible in hand, Sarah picked up reading to him where she had left off. Before long, her arm grew tired, and she set the Bible in her lap. Sometime after that, she nodded off, and the Bible slipped to the floor. Sarah had no idea how long she had been asleep, but she woke to the sound of Arty’s urgent voice.
“Miss Sarah. Miss Sarah!”
Sarah jumped up, accidentally stepped on her fallen Bible, lost her balance, waved her arms wildly to regain her balance, and eventually fell backward into the chair she’d presently vacated. She fought to give Arty her attention as she tried to wake up enough to focus on what he was saying. Words like fever, hot, and red, swam through her mind in Arty’s voice. As she perused Samuel’s face with her eyes, she saw that sure enough, his cheeks bloomed with color, and his lips looked as though he’d painted them as some women were wont to do. The biggest risk was infection, and fever was a sign that it had come. Samuel couldn’t have gotten an infection and fever this quickly, though, could he have?
With panic lacing her voice, Sarah sent Arty to go fetch Doc Billingsly. While he was gone, she picked up her Bible and tried to set the room back to rights. Pacing and praying, she finally stopped to rest her hand on Samuel’s cheek only to pull it away as she felt burned by the heat. Her panic rising minute by minute, she jumped when she heard the front door open.
“Doc Billingsly!” she yelled much too loud for the small sitting room. “Something’s wrong!”
“Quit your hollering! You’re going to wake the whole block if you don’t stop!”
The doctor’s words caused Sarah to look toward the windows where she saw nothing but inky blackness. Had night already fallen? She had lost track of time as she’d sat there with Samuel. She had no idea what time it was. Doc Billingsly took the final steps to Samuel’s bedside. Jacket thrown on over a nightshirt tucked into his pants, Doc was a sight to behold. His hair was jutting up and out in every direction giving him the look of a mad scientist. “It’s two o’clock in the morning, Sarah. No more yelling, okay?”
Sarah was so caught off guard by the doctor’s appearance she could do nothing more than mutely nod.
Doc Billingsly took one look at Samuel’s flushed appearance and muttered, “Fever.” He put his hand to Samuel’s forehead and cheeks to feel the warmth and then examined all of the surgical sites from the bullet wounds. When he returned his attention to Sarah, she was still staring at Samuel, mouth agape as though words were fighting to come out but found the way blocked. “Sarah?” he said to get her attention.
Though her eyes had been hazy and out of focus, at the sound of her name, Sarah snapped to attention and zeroed in on Doc’s face. “What can I do?”
Doc Billingsly sent Sarah to get some fr
eshly pumped, nice, cold water and some clean linen strips. When she returned, she saw that, in her absence, Doc Billingsly had rolled up Samuel’s pant legs to right below his knees. He had also removed the sheet that had been previously draped over Samuel’s upper body. All business, the doctor took the items from her and spoke crisply.
“This is what we are going to do, Sarah. We have fresh cold water and clean linen. Dip the linen in the cold water, wring it out, and then place it over his skin and leave it there. Avoid putting the cloth directly on any of the areas I stitched. Do not cover his mouth or nose, either. Aside from where he has stitches and what he needs to breathe, though, you need to cover every square inch of his body with wet cold cloths. As soon as you are done, go back and start over. Remove each cloth, one at a time, re-dip it in the cold water, wring it out, put it back. Do you understand?”
Sarah nodded and began to do as Doc Billingsly had instructed. While working, she asked, “Why do we leave the cloth there?”
“Your folks might have rinsed your forehead with a cool cloth when you had a childhood fever. That’s okay. Nothing wrong with that. This is a lot more effective, though. Cools the skin down much faster and allows the inside of the body to release its heat quicker. The kind of fever you get from surgery or from infection is a whole different thing than the type of fever children get from a cold. We have to treat it more aggressively.”
She wanted to ask more, if only to keep her mind occupied, but Sarah wasn’t sure it mattered right now. Knowing why this method was supposed to work better wouldn’t help Samuel in the least. Sarah worked quickly and efficiently, following the doctor’s instructions. Never had she touched a man so intimately before, nor had ever seen so much bared skin on a man. She knew she should be scandalized, but her concern for Samuel overrode all of her genteel instincts.
Sarah was shocked at how hot the linen strips felt as she removed them from Samuel’s body. When she asked Doc Billingsly about it, he explained, “The fever is high. His insides are hot, and his body is releasing the heat through the skin. By cooling his skin down, we allow his body to release more of the heat it’s holding on the inside. As we bring his temperature down and the fever becomes less severe, you should find that the cloths heat up slower and slower. Not everyone will agree with my method, but I’ve found it to be most effective over the years.” Sarah worried her lower lip as she continued to work. Doc Billingsly had been right. This fever was something altogether different than anything she’d ever dealt with before.
Arty came in from an errand the doctor had sent him on. He saw what they were doing and went to get more fresh water for them. Then he settled back into his chair in the shadowed corner of the room and left Sarah and Doc to their work.
Doc Billingsly and Sarah labored side by side for more than an hour. When the doctor yawned for the fifth time in three minutes, Sarah told him to go back home and get some sleep.
“I can handle this. You need to get some rest so you can take care of your patients, including Samuel, tomorrow.”
The doctor asked if she was certain, and Sarah assured him she was. With a twinkle in her eye and a smile lighting her face, she said, “Besides, if something comes up I can’t handle, Arty here will drag you back for me.”
The doctor chuckled, placed his hat on his head, and slipped out the front door.
Glancing at the clock, Sarah saw it was approaching four in the morning. The town would start to wake up in another hour and would be wide awake within two, she figured. Minnie would probably come check on her at first light, maybe even spell her for a bit. Vibrant irritation coursed through her body at the thought, taking her by surprise. As she continued to change out the linen strips draped across Samuel’s body for fresh cooler ones, she saw the source of her irritation. While she had not given much thought to Samuel’s body during this time, the thought of Minnie ministering to the half-naked man in the same way she was currently doing filled her with possessiveness.
“Well, Samuel, that settles it. You need to get better quickly because I don’t think I can let any other women in here to help take care of you.” Sarah blushed at her own words.
Her eyes darted the corner where Arty was sitting, and Sarah saw that he appeared to have dozed off. What a relief! Whether he was actually asleep or faking it, she wasn’t sure. She was simply glad she didn’t have to meet his eyes after what she’d said. Talk about mortifying!
Sarah became aware of the apparent intimacy of the situation for the first time since everyone had gone to bed. Understanding dawned as Sarah realized one of the reasons Mrs. Smith had insisted Samuel be brought here must have been so Sarah could care for him without giving the town gossips too much fuel. Whether it was fatigue or familiarity, though, the longer Sarah cared for Samuel, the more she became aware of his body laying before her. Guilt nipped at her like an unseen foe in the dark.
“You’re sick, and I’m helping take care of you. That’s all,” she muttered to Samuel’s still form, not sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. “I’m here to see to your care and well-being, not to get distracted by how attractive you are.” Sarah bit her lower lip as her gaze shot again to where Arty appeared to be sleeping.
“It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. Just because you’re a handsome man, that doesn’t mean I’m going to automatically throw myself at you. Let’s face it. You’re unconscious. Even if I wanted to throw myself at you, there’s not much you could do about it.”
Despite her self admonition, Sarah was coming to look at Samuel more as a man and less as a patient in need. Giving voice to her thoughts did not cause them to dissipate as she had hoped. Sarah noticed a scar on his left bicep. And another on his right calf. What stories did those scars tell? Sarah wondered. There were small scars littered across the backs of his hands, clearly old and not so prominent that she’d ever noticed them before. Were they the result of rambunctious trouble he had gotten himself into as a young boy? Next, her eyes noticed the shape of his lips, kissable and strong. She reached out to smooth his eyebrows, which had become mussed from all the wet linen applications. Then her fingers slipped down to his ear, tracing its outline as she wondered what the future held for the two of them.
Chapter Fourteen
Feeling as though she’d been burned, Sarah snatched her hand away from Samuel. Holding her fingers to her lips, she stared in wonder at the man before her. Not understanding her own reaction, she closed her eyes and pivoted away from him.
She paced around the room a couple of times before she decided she needed to change the cold linen strips again. Forcing her mind to focus on the task at hand, she quickly removed and reapplied all of the cloths she had previously draped across Samuel’s body. When she started over again to repeat the process, Sarah noticed the linen was much cooler than it had been previously. Did this mean his fever was breaking? Doc Billingsly had warned her about applying the cloths after his fever broke, telling her it could lead to him getting the chills if his temperature was already down. He’d headed back home and to bed with strict instructions for her to wake him if Samuel worsened.
Sarah made quick work of removing all of the cloths and covering Samuel with a light blanket. She was still deciding what to do when Minnie, who had come quietly down the stairs, entered the sitting room. Arty, it appeared, was truly asleep. His soft snores filled the room as Minnie asked what she could do to help. Sarah was about to send her for Doc Billingsly when there came a soft knock at the front door.
Hoping it would be the doctor, Sarah went to answer the door. With surprise, she took in John and Ida standing there on the front porch. She invited them in, and John quickly explained, “Ida has spent so much time with you at the stage office these past few weeks, she has this notion that, between her and Minnie and the Martinez boys, they can probably hold the fort down for you at least for a few days so you can see to things here. I wanted to escort Ida, though, and make sure the Martinez boys were there before I left her alone. The town’s
supposed to be cleaned up and safe now, but…” he shrugged, as though expecting everyone to understand his concern.
Sarah fought to focus on John, Ida, and Minnie and nod her head. She felt fatigue pulling at the features on her face. “Thank you, Ida, Minnie. Anything you can do to help at the stage office is welcome. I’d completely forgotten I have a job that needs doing.”
Ida was the first to speak up, “You do have a job that needs doing, Sarah. Take care of my cousin and make sure he gets through this – that’s your job. He was raised by my parents, you know, and he’s more of a brother than a cousin. All those years as a Secret Service agent, and I never realized how dangerous his job was, never realized how worried I should have been. Now that he’s out of law enforcement and working as a plain old businessman, I suddenly get to witness how much he put his life on the line to protect people, and it’s left me a bit shaken. He’s a special man, Sarah.”
Sarah stared at Ida, flabbergasted at what her friend had said. “Secret Service?”
Kindness marked the gentle smile on Ida’s face as she reached her hand out to touch Sarah’s arm. “Samuel didn’t want to keep secrets from you. It tore him up, but he felt he needed to honor the mayor’s request. I made no such promise, though, and plan to stop by today after we close the stage office so I can tell you all about my cousin Samuel. From his childhood to his career to his favorite foods and ticklish spots.”