A Man with a Past by Mary Connealy
THIRTY-THREE
What do you mean he’s dying?” Kevin rushed up the stairs behind Molly. “He was shot days ago. And yes, he had a little fever, but it was nothing serious. Why’d it go up so high today?”
“Just help me.” She’d been going half-mad all day waiting for someone, anyone to come home. She wasn’t in the mood to answer questions.
Win was on Kevin’s heels, Andy thundering up the steps after Win.
Molly had raced for the kitchen when she’d heard them come riding in and called for help.
They gathered around Wyatt’s bed as she bathed his face. “I need cool water. I need willow bark. I dosed him with the last of it. Someone needs to ride to Bear Claw Pass for more.”
A movement at the door drew her attention. Rubin Walsh had followed them up. “I’ve got some willow bark in the bunkhouse and a few other things.” He spun away and was running downstairs.
“He needs to be packed in something cool. I got ice earlier, but I need more.” She looked at Andy. “You, go fast.”
Her little brother was gone, sprinting.
“Win, we’ll need to pack the ice somehow. I want a lot of it. Enough to put some on his head and behind his neck. Along his sides. Anything to get his fever down.”
“Pillowcases. Towels. I’ll get it.” And she was gone.
“I thought the fever was going down yesterday?” Kevin asked.
“It was. When I came up here to check on him, I found him like this. I had hoped he might break the low fever today but—”
Wyatt tossed his head and muttered, “Cheyenne. Chey. Where’s Chey?”
“He’s been saying that off and on all afternoon. He wakes up enough to drink water and have some broth, then he lapses back into this delirium.”
Kevin rested a hand on Wyatt’s forehead while Molly dunked her cloth to cool it and wrung it out. “He’s burning up.”
Pressing the cloth to Wyatt’s face, his neck, his chest above his nightshirt collar, she said, “The fever came down for a time after the willow bark tea, but I used the last of it. I tried a second batch, using the willow over again, but it didn’t work. I’d’ve ridden to town myself, but I just didn’t dare leave him that long.”
“I’m sorry, Molly. I should have checked before we left. I’ve been leaving everything in the house to you, and the doctoring, and there’s been plenty of it.”
“I’ve wanted the job. I’ve needed a way to help out, but Kevin . . .” Molly’s eyes came up. She felt the fierce anger of being abandoned with too few supplies and a man who might well be dying.
“What?” Kevin was only kind, only always her best friend as well as her brother. But he’d betrayed her when he’d eloped with Win. Oh, not a terrible betrayal, understandable honestly, but it had shaken Molly wide awake.
This day. This long, frightening day had hit her, too. None of this was hers.
It might be that Kevin had an honest claim to it, but she didn’t.
Andy had cowboying.
Kevin had Win.
Cheyenne was a rancher.
Win a married lady now.
“The school session should start up any day now. I believe I mentioned I’m going to apply for the job, and if I get it, I’ll go.”
“Molly, no! You can’t—”
She cut him off. “I’m going to find a life of my own.”
“I want you here with me. I’m building a cabin soon.”
Talking over him, she said, “A cabin for you and your wife. And that’s as it should be.”
Something flickered in Kevin’s eyes and was gone so quickly she could lie to herself and say she hadn’t seen it. But she had. She did her best not to flinch. But she saw the truth in him. He did want a cabin and a life with Win. It was as it should be. That was only right.
“Cheyenne and Falcon haven’t come back. It’s been too long.” She wrung out a cloth and pressed it to Wyatt’s fevered brow. “I can only hope they’re after Ralston and will finish this by capturing him.”
Win rushed in with the pillowcases and towels.
A glance at her told Molly that Win had heard enough to know Molly was leaving. Well, Win couldn’t go back to teaching. She had told Molly that when they’d talked about the teacher job. No married woman would be allowed the job. Now that they knew Clovis and her ma’s marriage wasn’t legal, Molly wasn’t even born outside of marriage anymore. Kevin was. Her reason for being fired from teaching back in Kansas was no more.
Andy rushed in with a bucket of ice, chipped from a block. Ready to use.
“Thank you, Andy, that’s just what I needed. If Wyatt gets well—”
Win’s shocked gasp stopped the words.
“No!” Andy shouted.
“When,” Molly corrected quickly. “I meant when he gets well.”
She looked at Andy, sorry for scaring him. “I do mean when, Andy. I expect him to be fine.”
She prayed in her deepest soul God would protect Wyatt. Protect this whole family. Protect her when she was out on her own with no one.
“When he gets well, I’m going to get the teaching job and move to Bear Claw Pass.” She talked as she worked.
“Molly, we need you here,” Andy said.
They really didn’t.
But they loved her, her brothers. She knew that. She didn’t bother arguing with Andy. She’d already been clear with Kevin. “When he gets well, I’ll go, but I’ll come out if anyone needs doctoring.”
She hoped, after her bold declaration, that she got the teaching job. But it mattered not. If the school wouldn’t hire her, someone else would. She was a fine cook and kept a tidy house. She could find work in a diner or cleaning a hotel if there was one. And if not in Bear Claw Pass, then she’d go somewhere else to find work. Her family loved and wanted her, but they didn’t need her anymore. She felt like a poor relation being kept around out of duty. She needed to be needed. It felt as important as life and death. Whatever she did, she was done living here.
She wrung out the cloth and rested it on Wyatt’s fevered brow. She put just a thin layer of ice in one pillowcase, spread a towel under Wyatt’s head, and rested his neck on the ice. Kevin was there, helping her lift Wyatt a bit so she could get the ice in place and make sure it wasn’t uncomfortable and lumpy for Wyatt to rest on.
“Let’s put ice in two pillowcases and—” She went back to rapping out orders, and everyone jumped to obey.
A brother who was young enough to almost think of her as his mother, but he was growing up and was even out in the bunkhouse with the men.
A brother who was once her closest companion, her partner in caring for a farm and a young boy, and who now wanted a home with his wife.
Rubin came in with several jars of medicine, and the others, all but Molly, gave way to him so she could see what he had.
Working with the medicine ended the unpleasant talk of her leaving. Yes, her time was past to live with her brothers, like some kind of child still in the family home. Or considering all the people who’d been leaving the work to her, more like an unpaid servant.
She’d been cooking for and cleaning a home that wasn’t hers. She felt the self-pity well up in her, and she was disgusted with herself. She ruthlessly shoved the pathetic thoughts from her brain and focused on Wyatt. Some of these medicines she’d never used before, and she listened intently as Rubin told her how to prepare them.
It was a relief to stop talking and go back to fighting for Wyatt’s life.
Cheyenne led a grim parade. A picket line of four horses, each with a man draped over the saddle. Two alive, two dead. Amelia rode after the four downed men. Falcon brought up the rear.
They were headed for Bear Claw Pass with prisoners and a story to tell.
Cheyenne took the lead. She figured Falcon could probably find the way home, but even she wasn’t sure where they were for a while, so she wanted to take charge.
She needed to contact the other ranchers and tell them where their cattle were. By the time Mathers was done unloading his gun, along with Amelia and Cheyenne, all the ruckus had sent the cattle running wild. Since none had been left in the canyon once Mathers had appeared, who knew how far they might roam?
They reached Bear Claw Pass in another forty minutes, and the first thing she did was find two riders. One she sent to the HC to get Roger Hanson, and the other to North Bend Ranch to tell Judd Black Wolf what was going on.
She hadn’t even tried to explain where those cattle were. Instead, she’d told the messengers who she was and to have the men come find her. She’d lead Hanson and Black Wolf out to the canyon and help them find the cattle, wherever they’d gotten to.
She also sent a rider to the Hawkins Ranch for Rachel Hobart to come fetch Amelia. Cheyenne figured Hobart would take charge of Amelia, but if necessary, Cheyenne would let the young woman stay at the RHR until it was decided how she’d arrange to go home.
Amelia had objected when she’d heard about the message to Hobart because any message would also be heard by Oliver.
“Stay with me, Cheyenne. I’ve no liking for Oliver Hawkins, and I don’t want to be alone with him—ever.”
Cheyenne felt her forehead furrow. Amelia had said a similar thing about Mathers and had gone on to shoot the man. She hoped Amelia had no plans to unload a gun at Oliver.
Amelia sounded like a fairly tough young woman. Somewhat lacking in common sense but bold. Cheyenne couldn’t fathom being afraid of Oliver. He was just too mild mannered. So why didn’t Amelia want to be alone with him? Maybe she was just generally afraid of men.
It hadn’t been a long ride back to Bear Claw Pass. They’d been days on the trail following Ralston, but those had been slow, painstaking miles searching for a well-hidden trail. Cheyenne pressed hard to get to town in a fraction of the time, since the fool outlaws had squandered most of the day with their poor cattle driving.
They had ridden into Bear Claw Pass just as the sun was setting. She was weary to the bone and wanted desperately to sleep in her own bed.
She hoped the sheriff locked these prisoners in a cell and let Cheyenne, Falcon, and Amelia come back tomorrow to explain things.
She remembered she was supposed to get married the next time they were in town, but taking prisoners and killing a man had sapped all the romance out of her. Not to say she didn’t fully intend to marry Falcon, she did. Oh, she surely did.
But not tonight.
It would have to wait until she’d rested and dealt with the law.
And going home reminded her of Wyatt. She thought they’d get home to find him up and about. Fussing and fuming because he was laid up with his shoulder. But well on the mend. She couldn’t wait to see him.