They finished the burial and stuck a crude wooden cross into the dirt. The three men removed their hats, and Luke spoke the words. “Lord, do whatever you want with them.” I know what I want to do with the two that lived.
That was all he intended to say. He turned toward his horse. “I’d rather head back a ways before we make camp,” he told the others. “I know you’re tired, but a couple of hours’ head start will help for tomorrow, and I need to get back and check on Mrs. Winters. What happened here left her pretty shaken, and even I would rather not stay in that cabin tonight. Besides that, I’m not feeling too good. I’m thinking I might need the doctor back in Lander.”
“Whatever you say,” Big Jim answered. “You’re the one payin’ us.” He tied his shovel back on his horse, and Blaze did the same. Luke mounted up, grunting again at the pain in his side. “Damn,” he muttered. He kicked Red into a fast trot. The memories from that cabin were too much…beauty and then ugliness. It seemed that everything about life had been ugly ever since he rode off to war.
They rode nearly two more hours before Luke could go no farther. He nearly fell off his horse, rather than making a normal dismount. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he went to his knees and vomited, realizing how right Kate had been when she’d told him to go see a doctor as soon as they got back yesterday.
“What’s wrong?” Blaze asked.
“It’s this wound in my side from the shoot-out at the cabin,” he answered, grasping his side and falling over.
“Why, hell, Luke, you should have seen a doctor before we left,” Big Jim said.
“That’s what Kate told me, but…I thought…I’d be okay,” Luke answered.
Blaze spread out some blankets. “You just lay down here, Luke. We’ll make the fire and something to eat, and we’ll get you back to Lander right away come sunup.”
“Thanks.” Luke thought how odd things were here in outlaw country. Blaze was a smart-ass kid looking to get himself killed some day in a gunfight. God knew what he was capable of. And Big Jim was an uneducated, unwashed, rather simple-minded man who probably didn’t usually care much about another man other than someone to talk to incessantly. Yet right now they both seemed to really care what happened to him. Still, they’d probably rob him blind if he died out here.
He fell asleep. Or did he pass out? He only knew that when he woke up before dawn, he couldn’t move.
Twenty-eight
Kate fingered a bolt of cloth, deciding that if she was going to stay in Lander the whole winter, she needed more than the two dresses Luke had bought for her. She’d always made her own dresses, and considering that she was a good seamstress, she decided that might be a way to make money over the winter. There was surely a need for mending pants and shirts, and to make new clothing for both men and women.
Before he’d left her the night before last, Luke had given her money to buy whatever she might need. She was determined to find a job and pay him back for everything he’d done for her. After that, she would pay for her own needs. After all, if they were going to live apart and eventually go their separate ways, she needed to fend for herself. If she had a job, she could even save some money so she wouldn’t arrive in Oregon penniless. She wouldn’t want to be a burden to her brother-in-law and his family.
She studied a lovely mint-green cotton material dotted with tiny pink flowers. If she could buy or rent one of those newer sewing machines powered by a foot pedal, she could make all kinds of clothing, maybe even new dresses for the woman who owned this shop. They could be sold here for a commission. She took the bolt of cloth to the glass counter behind which an older woman was rearranging some hair combs.
“I’d like six yards of this,” she told the woman.
The short, gray-haired clerk straightened. “Certainly, dear. I saw you come in but I had to go into the back room for a few minutes. You’re the woman who came into town two nights ago with that hanged man, aren’t you?”
Kate smiled. “Well, he was not exactly hanged. He is still alive.”
The woman laughed. “Oh, but the whole town knows what happened to him. They are still talking about the shoot-out he had with the men who’d tried to hang him.” She looked Kate over. “You’re the woman who saved him, aren’t you?”
Kate was amazed at how fast news traveled in this remote town, but then she figured gossip was probably a form of entertainment here. I saved him and fell in love with him, she wanted to answer. “I just did what any decent person would do,” she replied. “He was still alive when I cut him down, so I helped him recover.”
“The hanged man—what’s his name?”
“Luke Bowden.”
“Yes! He told a couple of men after that shoot-out here that he had to hurry and get back to the woman who’d saved his life. He bought a good deal of supplies before he went back for you. In fact, that dress you are wearing came from this very shop. He brought a…well…a woman from one of those saloons to try it on, said she was about your size. He was right. It fits you beautifully! And you look very nice, dear, for what you’ve been through.”
“Well, I didn’t look so nice when we first got here,” Kate explained. “It’s a wonder what a real bath and washing your hair can do for you. Mrs. Keil—that’s who I’m staying with—walked me to the bathhouse this morning and then here. Betsy at the bathhouse did my hair up for me. I haven’t felt this human since I was first stranded in the middle of nowhere, before I found Luke.”
“I find it amazing that you survived,” the woman told her, shaking her head. “By the way, my name is Esther Pierce. My husband and I own this store.”
“And I am Mrs. Kate Winters, as you apparently already know. I’ll be here in Lander until spring. I’m headed for Oregon to live with my husband’s brother and his family. My husband was killed in the war.”
Esther shook her head. “Too many good men died in that war,” she told Kate, “including my own son.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!”
“My husband and I came out here to get away from familiar things back in Missouri. Figured the challenge of life in this land would keep us busy and keep our minds off of losing our son.”
“I can understand.”
Esther began cutting the bolt of cloth.
“Mrs. Pierce, I am wondering if you might need some help,” Kate asked. “I’m an excellent seamstress, and I thought maybe I could make new pants and shirts for men and dresses for women, and you could sell them here and give me a commission. It must take weeks to months to get in new shipments of supplies and cloth and the other things you sell.”
The woman nodded, her gray eyes showing her delight. “Yes! I do a lot of my own sewing, but it’s hard to keep up and also run the store. My husband is full of arthritis, and it’s hard for him to stock the shelves and such.”
“Do you have a foot pedal sewing machine?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I’m able to come here and work several hours a day,” Kate said, “if you will let me. I don’t know anyone in town, and Luke is also going to look for work, since we can’t leave until spring.”
“I’d be glad for the help, but you must be careful around here, Mrs. Winters,” Esther told her. “It’s a dangerous place, that’s certain. But most of the men in these parts recognize a good woman, and they don’t bother the store owners, because without us, they wouldn’t have the things they need.” She began folding the material. “A lot of them are thieves and killers, but out here they live by their own code. If a good man or woman is wronged, the wrongdoer pays for it. That’s how it is in places like this. No lawmen are needed, and those that come here don’t last long.”
Kate shivered. “So I’ve heard.”
Mrs. Pierce wrapped the cloth in brown paper. She tied it with string and handed it to Kate. “You come by in the morning, dear, and I’ll show you the sewing machine and tell you what’s nee
ded. In your spare time, you can use it to make your own dresses.”
“That’s kind of you.”
Esther patted her hand. “There are several families here, Mrs. Winters—even some children. You’ll be fine.”
“That’s good to know.” Kate took the package and headed out, not quite so afraid to be walking alone. Nora had taken her around town yesterday and introduced her to a couple of wives of men who lived here—one family because the husband was wanted, another because they had moved here to open a general store.
Some had hope that Lander would one day be a town of law and order, but Kate doubted that would happen any time soon. For the past two nights, she’d heard nothing but saloon ruckus and occasional gunfire. Yesterday morning, she and Nora had stepped over the bodies of two men passed out from drink. Kate still wondered how she would get through an entire winter here, but she had little choice.
She headed down the boardwalk for Nora’s rooming house, happy for the new material and anxious to start on her new dress. Now that she looked and felt like a normal woman again and had a job, maybe she could get over all that had happened and start over.
Someone suddenly rode up beside her. “Mrs. Winters!”
Kate turned, realizing she’d not brought her revolver with her. She clung to her package as she looked up at Big Jim. Her heart tightened at the worried look in his eyes. “What is it, Big Jim?”
“It’s Luke, ma’am. I’ve been ridin’ around lookin’ for ya’. That wound in his side, it’s worse. He’s at the doc’s now, and he can’t move. Doc says it’s bad infected.”
Kate put a hand to her chest. “Can’t move?”
“No, ma’am. You want I should take you over there?”
“Yes, please!” In spite of his foul odor, Kate walked around and raised her arm. Big Jim grabbed it and helped her up onto the back of his horse. He headed down the street toward the doctor’s office. “Luke was supposed to see the doctor before he left,” Kate told Big Jim.
“He didn’t do it, ma’am. Said he figured he was okay.”
“But he promised me.”
“Men in these parts ain’t much for keepin’ promises, Mrs. Winters. Not much for goin’ to doctors either.”
“Hey, whaddya’ got there, Big Jim?” a man in the street called out. There came some hoots and whistles.
“I got me a fine lady,” Big Jim told them, “and the next man who gives her a hoot or a whistle will get my fist in his face.”
Men backed away, and Kate quickly surmised that no one wanted to get into a fight with Big Jim. He rode up to a sign that read Physician and helped her down.
“Take this package to Nora’s Place,” Kate told him, handing up the wrapped dress material she’d purchased. “And thank you for coming to find me.”
“Yes, ma’am. I hope Luke will be okay. We got him here fast as we could.”
Kate rushed inside the small doctor’s office to see Luke lying on a cot, looking far too pale. She rushed to his side and knelt beside him. “Luke!”
He did not reply.
Twenty-nine
Kate looked up at the slim, gray-haired man with bloodshot eyes who came out of a back room carrying a towel. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and his black pants were held up by suspenders. He smiled at her, revealing a missing eye tooth.
“I’m guessing you’re Kate Winters,” he said. “Big Jim said he was going to find you. You must be the woman who saved Luke from a hanging.”
Kate wondered when people were going to stop referring to Luke’s hanging and the fact that she was “the woman who’d saved him.” “Yes,” she said, rising to face the man. She smelled whiskey on his breath when he came closer and put out his hand.
“I am Doctor Richard Gray,” he told her, “and I served with the Union. I tell people that, because some who believe in the Confederacy won’t let me touch them.”
“It makes no difference to me,” Kate said. “My husband died fighting for the Union.”
“In that case, I am at your service, and I assure you that I am very accustomed to bullet wounds and infections and how to treat them.”
“Perhaps you are, Doctor Gray, but your drunkenness might render you incapable of proper care. Mister Bowden means a lot to me, and I want him to have the best care. You, sir, reek of whiskey.”
The doctor grinned with a bit of shame in his eyes. “I am not drunk, Mrs. Winters. I admit I have a hangover, but I am never drunk this time of morning, and I am sober enough to do what is needed. If you feel you must, you are perfectly welcome to sit with Mister Bowden and help me with him.”
“I would like that.”
Luke groaned, and Kate looked at the doctor pleadingly. “How bad is he, Doctor Gray? Big Jim said Luke couldn’t move!”
The doctor nodded. “He can’t for now, but I think that will improve as the infection subsides. He is not paralyzed, Mrs. Winters. He is simply in a lot of pain. He has a clean bullet wound. By clean, I mean the bullet went right through the flesh. I don’t think any vital organs were affected, but bullets can carry germs like anything else. After all, men load bullets into their guns with their own hands, and Lord knows where those hands have been.” The man wiped at his forearms with the towel. “The medical industry is proving more and more that infection often comes from wounds that aren’t cleaned up good enough, or that become infected by germs on dirty hands. I cut into the wound a little and cleaned it out, then dumped a lot of whiskey into it. Whiskey still seems to be the best cure for infection. I stitched the wound and wrapped it. Now we wait.”
Kate felt pain in her chest at the thought Luke could die. She’d seen too many men die from simple wounds when she helped nurse some of the soldiers who returned home during and after the war. It still made her sick that she couldn’t have been with Rodney when he died, couldn’t hold him once more or tell him she loved him.
Doctor Gray pulled a wooden chair over next to Luke’s cot. “My wife is in back. Would you like some tea or something?”
“Not right now, thank you.” Kate sat down in the chair and grasped Luke’s hand. “He’s so hot! Can you bring me a pan of cold water so I can keep cool cloths on his head?”
“I’ll have my wife bring what you need.”
Kate blinked back tears. “How much pain is he in?”
“Well, right now he’s full of laudanum…at least as much as I could get down his throat. He was already close to unconscious when Big Jim brought him in. It took them all day to get here, so I couldn’t treat him as quickly as he should have been treated. I’m guessing when the laudanum wears off, he’ll be in considerable pain. I’m afraid I can’t guarantee that what I did was enough, Mrs. Winters. He’s in bad shape, and we all know how infections this bad usually turn out.”
Kate fought not to weep openly. Luke had been adamant they should appear to be just friends, but she wasn’t sure she could keep up the front. This was her brave, handsome, able Luke, who’d saved her leg and probably her life—who’d carried her around and tended to needs no stranger should have to tend to. This was the man who’d come back for her, bringing her creams and dresses and combs and most of what a woman needs besides food and water. He’d defended her in that cabin, made sure she was comfortable once he got her to Lander…and this was the man who’d made love to her, every touch respectful and adoring…the man who’d not told anyone or bragged about it once they got to town. He’d kept his promise to be discreet.
“He promised me he would come and see you to have his wound cleaned up better before he left yesterday,” she told the doctor. She squeezed Luke’s hand. “Why didn’t you keep your promise, Luke? Why?”
“I expect he figured he was okay,” the doctor said. “I’ll go get my wife. Her name is Emelia. We came out here after the war, like so many others did. Like Esther Pierce and her husband, we lost our only son and that c
hanged everything for us. We had to get away from familiar things.”
Kate kept hold of Luke’s hand and lowered her head, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. “I think just about everyone out here came because of the war,” she said, “as did I…and so did Luke.” How could Bonnie hurt him the way she had?
She heard a door softly close and looked up to see the doctor had left the room. She leaned closer to Luke, taking the moment of privacy to kiss his cheek, his forehead, feeling terror at how hot he felt. “Don’t you dare die on me, Luke,” she said softly into his ear. “Who will take me on to Oregon? You’re the only man in this whole great big land that I trust to truly protect me with his life.” She lightly touched the scar on his neck. “And I didn’t save you from a hanging to watch you die this way.”
He groaned again, but she couldn’t tell if it was from pain or if he was trying to say something to her.
“I’m going to stay right here with you,” she told him then, “just like you stayed with me when I was hurt.”
The door to the back room opened again, and a woman of perhaps fifty years old came into the room carrying a pan of water. She looked haggard and sad and had too many lines in her face that were accented when she smiled at Kate.
“I’m Emelia Gray,” the woman told Kate. “My husband said you want to sit with Mister Bowden for a while and try to keep his fever down.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Emelia set the bowl on a nearby table. “Just don’t overdo yourself, dear. From all I’ve heard, you’ve been through a lot yourself.” She dipped a washrag into the bowl and wrung it out, handing it to Kate. “I promise I will help my husband take good care of him. Mister Bowden seems like a fine, honest man who didn’t deserve that hanging and certainly doesn’t deserve this.”
“He is a fine man,” Kate answered. She folded the towel and laid it across Luke’s forehead. “And like most men out here, he’s had an unhappy past, and he suffers from things that happened in the war.”
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