Braced for Love, page 8
“Kevin, what happened?”
“You’ve been shot.”
She blinked her dazed eyes.
“I’m getting on my horse to carry you back to the RHR.”
“Are we safe?” Her voice was weak, addled.
“Yes, Falcon came along, and he’s chasing the man who shot you. I didn’t see who it was.”
“Someone sh-shot me?” There was a break in her voice as if she might cry. If not now, then never.
His stomach twisting, he had to admit, “I think you got in the way of a bullet meant for me. It’d be a big surprise if there were two killers out here, one after me, another after you. I’m so sorry. Do you remember knocking me down? You must have seen something.”
He juggled her into one arm, and he dragged himself onto the horse’s back. Shifting her weight, he got her balanced across his thighs and clucked to the horse to head out.
“I do remember. I’m shot?” She was having trouble understanding in the midst of pain and confusion and being toted around.
He looked from the trail to the blue eyes in her ashen face. The pain in them made him want to find the man who’d shot her and tear him apart with his bare hands.
“It’s a crease. A mean one but not dangerously deep—it cut both your shoulder blades. The bullet must have clipped you as you were knocking me out of the path of it. We’ll get you back to the house and tend your wounds.” He swallowed hard. “You saved me, Winona.” He held her tight. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
She managed a weak smile and rested her head on his shoulder. Sounding a bit like her sassy self, she said, “I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did.” He found a smile in the middle of the madness. “Molly’s had some experience tending wounds. So have I.”
Experience tending wounds. That was a mild version of events.
“She’ll help me bandage you up. I’ll fetch your pa, he’ll want to—”
“No!” She grabbed the collar of his shirt in one fist. A flush of color bloomed on her cheeks. “I don’t want him to know if we can help it.” Her dazed vision cleared as she held tight enough to strangle him.
“Why not?” The trail ahead widened, and he urged his horse into a trot, then a canter.
“He might make me go home. I—I don’t want to be over there. I stay either here or with Parson Brownley in town when school is going on. I never stay with him.” Her expression changed as she looked at him. He knew she was remembering how close they’d been before the gunshots.
Her pretty blue eyes locked with his.
For a second, despite everything, he thought of that almost kiss. Thought about making it more than almost.
Before he could act on that wayward thought, he emerged from the trees and saw the house ahead.
As they galloped straight into the ranch yard, he said quietly, “I won’t go for your pa without your say so.”
“Thank you.” A faint smile curved her lips, then her eyes fluttered closed.
TWELVE
Kevin, what happened?” Molly didn’t wait for an answer. Fool question. Time for that later. Instead, she went to work. It was all so familiar.
“Where’s she hurt?”
“Shoulders—bullet wound.”
Molly gasped.
Kevin shook his head. “It’s ugly, but she’ll be all right if an infection doesn’t catch hold. A crease across her back. The bullet didn’t go in, just cut her skin. Her spine wasn’t hit. I got the bleeding stopped—I hope. But it was bleeding hard.”
Andy grabbed everything off the table to clear it.
Molly rushed ahead of Kevin. “Facedown. I need to see what happened.”
She shoved the chairs aside. “We need bandages. Andy, look through the cupboards here, and, if you need to, tear the whole house apart. They’re bound to have something.”
“I’ll get a basin of hot water and a cloth.” Kevin rushed to the water well on the cast-iron stove. Molly heard the clatter as he snatched up the basin they’d used at the noon meal to wash up. There was a ladle hanging on the wall.
Molly trusted Andy and Kevin to find what she needed and pulled the back of Win’s shirtwaist aside. She went to work removing Kevin’s rough bandage. He had it tight, and when she pulled aside the edges of the pad of cloth he’d used to press against the wound, she saw the nasty cut, but the bleeding had mostly stopped.
“I have to stitch it up,” she said as Kevin reached her with a steaming basin of water. He set it down on a chair seat beside the table and bent his head to look at the wound.
“Do you think you can find a needle and thread?” She spared a look at her brother. He was upset, but as always, he was doing what had to be done.
“I’ll find them.” Kevin was gone in a flash.
She should call after him to look in Win’s room and Cheyenne’s. Likely they had sewing supplies. But Kevin would know that.
Molly wrung out a cloth in the hot water and began cleaning the mess, looking for bits of dirt or threads from her shirtwaist, which might cause the wound to become infected.
A groan from Win stopped Molly from working on the wounds. The blood had mostly washed any bits and pieces away. All Molly had to do was wait for her brothers.
To get down to Win’s level, Molly sat on the chair next to the one holding the water basin.
Win turned her head to the side and met Molly’s eyes. “How bad is it?”
“It’s not too bad. It’ll need stitches, there’s an ugly cut across both your shoulder blades. But wounds on the surface like this rarely get bad infections. And I don’t see anything cut but skin. No muscle involved. You’re going to be hurting for a while, and you’ll have a very interesting scar, but you’ll heal.”
Win closed her eyes as if to block her vision of the near future and the stitches that needed to be set.
“Should I send to town for a doctor? Is there a doctor in Bear Claw Pass?”
Win shook her head as best she could with the right side of her face pressed firmly to the table. “Not one who’s known for a steady hand. Fond of the drink, is our doctor. I think Cheyenne has stitched up a few cuts.”
“I’m planning to do it. I know the way of it. You can trust me. Kevin is hunting right now for needle and thread.”
Win, already pale, went pure white. Molly hoped she’d faint dead away and sleep through this next bit.
“Do you want me to send for your pa?”
Win jumped. She pulled her arms up and pushed as if to sit up.
“Stay down there. You’re white as milk. If you sit up, you’ll end up collapsed on the floor.”
“Don’t send for Pa. Kevin promised he wouldn’t.”
Patting her on the shoulder, careful to avoid the bullet crease, Molly held her in place. It wasn’t hard, the poor woman was out of strength.
“If Kevin promised, then his word goes for me, too.” Molly wished Win wasn’t alone with strangers. “How about sending for Cheyenne and Wyatt? Cheyenne could hold your hand and distract you.”
“We’re halfway through the afternoon, aren’t we?”
There was no clock to be seen anywhere. “I think more than half. You’ve been gone for hours, and the sun is getting low in the sky.”
“They’ll work until dark, but the days are long. I don’t want to interrupt them.”
Molly leaned close to her, almost nose to nose. “You’ve been shot, Winona. That’s important. They need to know, and when they get here later, don’t you think they’ll wish they’d known sooner? They’ll want to come running to be with you.”
Win swallowed hard. Molly could see she was tempted. She really did want someone here with her.
Except, could Kevin find his way back to the branding?
Molly heard footsteps thundering on the steps. That sounded like Andy coming. “We’ll get on with fixing up this cut and see what Kevin thinks about riding out for Cheyenne.”
A barely visible nod was the only answer Molly got. Molly pulled a cloth over Win’s back to shield her.
Andy came in. “I found a good supply of bandages. They have a closet upstairs with everything we need.”
“Thank you.” Molly gave her brother a smile. He was too grown up for his age. He’d never had much of a childhood. They’d all had to grow up hard and fast.
“You shouldn’t be in here now, Andy. I have to expose her back, and it’s not fitting she should have men looking at her when she’s uncovered.”
Molly could see he was curious and eager to help. But he didn’t voice a single protest. Instead, a pink flush colored his cheeks. He nodded and nearly ran out of the room. It was a reminder of how young he actually was.
Molly rinsed out her cloth and once again bathed Win’s back gently. Her clothes were soaked in blood, likely ruined, as were her underpinnings. She was living here. Surely, she had a change of clothes.
Molly opened her mouth to shout for Andy to go to Win’s room to find a nightgown or something just to give him a job, make him feel needed. But she snapped her mouth shut. She couldn’t have Andy pawing through Win’s clothes.
She felt bad about casting Andy out, but clothes for Win? That was all for later. They were a long while from worrying about that.
THIRTEEN
Kevin came down the stairs. He rushed into the kitchen with a small bundle in his hands. “Here’s a needle and thread.”
Win’s eyes were closed, and it looked like she had fainted again. His stomach twisted with worry as he thrust the supplies at Molly.
“You should get out. I just sent Andy away. It’s not right you should see her so uncovered.”
“You need a second set of hands, and I’m not leaving.”
Molly stared hard at him, then seemed to accept him at his words. “All right. Keep this just like . . .” She held the edges of the open wound closed.
Together he and Molly worked carefully on Win’s back. It made Kevin sick to see her hurt. As Molly finished the stitching, Kevin finally felt like he had a moment to talk. “Whoever shot her was almost certainly trying to kill me, Moll.”
Molly gasped, but quietly. It shocked her to hear it, but she was a woman used to being shocked and used to handling things while madness roared around her.
“She saved me. She saw something. She must have. I asked her about it on the ride in but . . .” Kevin shook his head and went on. “It has to be the same person who attacked us on our way to Bear Claw Pass.”
“They’ll try again,” Molly said. Their gazes met across Win’s prone body.
Molly took the bandages Andy had found and formed two pads, one for each stitched-up shoulder blade. The cuts weren’t terribly long, three inches maybe. And with the blood bathed away and Molly’s tidy stitches, they weren’t as horrible to look at.
But those threads, those tight black threads, were the beginning of lifelong scars. Something for Win to carry with pride. She’d acted with courage and speed and saved Kevin and herself. But still, it was a burden to know how violence could explode into any life.
Molly’s scars were all in her heart.
“Wyatt took me to a place I think we could build a nice house.” Kevin changed the subject. “He’s no farmer, but he thinks the soil is good there. I saw it and agree.”
“Where was Wyatt when you got shot?”
Grim silence stretched between them. “Surely he’s not such a fool that he doesn’t care if Win is in the path of his bullets?”
Molly shook her head as she wrapped bandages around the pads covering Win’s stitches. “I’d say he’s not, but then, if he’s a killer, he might not care all that much who he kills.”
“I accused him of attacking us.”
That jerked Molly’s gaze up to meet his. “Do you think it was wise to let him know we suspect him?”
Kevin hesitated before saying, “He convinced me it wasn’t him. Then he rode off back to the branding, and Win took me on a different trail that was a direct path back here. He knew where we’d be, and the attack came from behind. But no.” Kevin shook his head. “No, I can’t believe he’d risk shooting Win. He treats her like a big sister.”
Then he remembered the most mysterious detail of his story. “And Falcon showed up.”
“Well, we saw him get off that train this morning. He couldn’t have shot up our camp last night.”
“Nope, and anyway, I could hear the man coming after us when Falcon showed up beside me.” He looked at Molly and couldn’t stop a tight smile. “He just appeared there.”
“Appeared?” Molly finished binding the wound.
“Like a ghost that popped up in complete silence.”
“Where is he now?”
“He went after the man trailing us.” Kevin told her the details of the attack. Molly listened as she adjusted the bandage until she was satisfied with it.
“You know we’re good at slipping around,” Kevin said.
“We had to be.”
There was another tense silence between them. Then Kevin went on, “But we’re not a patch on him. I can’t quite believe he could move with such complete silence on a ground covered in twigs and dead brush and leaves. It’s impressive. I’m hoping he comes back in here soon dragging along some varmint he caught, even if it is Wyatt Hunt.”
“It’s not Wyatt, for heaven’s sake.” Win, her voice groggy, woke up to defend her friend.
Molly leaned down so Win could see her. “We’ve stitched you up. I’m going to your room to get a nightgown or something for you to wear. I don’t want you to put on anything tight.”
Win told her where to find the clean clothes and tried to roll to her side, but Molly pressed firmly on the tops of her shoulders. “You’re not decent if you sit up. We had to cut the back of your shirtwaist open.”
Win dropped flat on her front and turned to glare at Kevin. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
Kevin was so glad to hear her talking that he managed a smile. “I know. But you’ve been modestly covered, and Molly needed help, though she tried to toss me out.”
“I’ll be back fast. Don’t let her up.” Molly darted out of the room and went thundering up the stairs.
Win clutched the remnants of her shirtwaist to her chest.
“Your shirtwaist still has the sleeves on it. Molly covered you except right where she was working.” He pulled a chair around so he could sit in front of her. He wanted to get down low enough she didn’t have to tilt her head up one bit more than necessary. “There, now I can’t even see where you’re bandaged.”
When he saw her ashen face, he wanted to hold her, but instead he said, “I trusted Wyatt when we talked about the men who came into our camp early this morning.”
“Have you only been here one day?” Win asked. “It seems longer.”
Kevin gave a tilt of his head. “I’ll admit it’s been a long day.”
He thought of how he’d almost kissed her out in that forest. That wasn’t right, not after knowing her less than a full day. What had come over him?
Then he thought of how she was alone in this house with a pack of strangers. She needed someone here for her. Someone she knew. “I’d like to know why you don’t want me to go for your pa, but considering my worthless pa and even worse Molly and Andy’s pa, I’ll allow as to how fathers are sometimes trouble. I think I should ride out to get Cheyenne. It’s nearing suppertime anyway, so she at least could come in so you’d have her company.”
“Do you think you can find them?”
Kevin hesitated as he went over the winding route they’d taken out there. He was a man who studied the land and looked to his back trail. But he had to admit he wasn’t used to mountains, and he’d spent the ride considerably distracted by Win. “I’ll find them.”
Win nodded silently. “I’d like her here. I expect Wyatt will come with her if you tell them I was shot. And they’ll probably work until dark if you don’t go. Cheyenne has been on a tear since we read the will. It’s a busy time of year, and good thing, or she might’ve knocked the whole house down just so she’d have to build a new one to keep her distracted from what the Sidewinder did to her.”
“He was a poor excuse for a man.” Kevin studied her, judging if she’d pass out again. She was probably awake for good now. As long as she stayed on the table.
“He was that. And you say your ma’s second husband was worse?”
Kevin shrugged. “She weren’t no judge of men, that’s the hard truth.”
Molly came in. “At least Clovis had the good sense to pretend he was dead. My pa wasn’t so helpful. He insisted on staying with us.”
“When he wasn’t out terrorizing folks in the night, to keep them from voting to abolish slavery,” Kevin added. “Even though he had no slaves and never had. He just liked the terrorizing.”
“You go, Kevin. Win should have Cheyenne or Wyatt here. And tell Andy to stay out while she changes. I don’t want her to try the stairs yet.”
“I can wait if you want and carry her up.”
“Go on,” Win said quietly. “I’ll be fine, and once I’m decent, maybe Andy can support me well enough I can move into a chair. I think I’d as soon stay down here for now.”
Kevin stood, and Win’s hand reached for his and grabbed hold. He didn’t know if she’d planned that, but he liked the way she felt, solid and strong.
She said softly, “Whoever shot at you might still be out there. Ride careful.”
“Wyatt, Cheyenne! Win’s been shot.”
Kevin might as well have thrown dynamite into the crowd of cattle and cowpokes. Nothing could have hit harder.
Cheyenne tore out of a cloud of dust, straight for a bareback horse.
Wyatt had a calf at the end of his lasso. He dropped the rope and charged for his horse.
Kevin spoke loud enough for Cheyenne to hear. “She’s not hurt bad. She’s been doctored. But she needs someone with her.”
Cheyenne swung up on her horse and rushed at Kevin. “Where is she?”
“At the ranch—”
She was gone, bent low over her horse’s neck. Wyatt was astride, and he took off after Cheyenne. Kevin kept up. Well, he kept up with Wyatt, there was no catching Cheyenne. They raced across the rugged ground. With his jaw tight, Wyatt turned to give Kevin a burning look.
