Chapter 13
Julia looked back at the palefaced man lying on the travois
dragging behind her horse. They’d tied
her Aunt Lou’s bedroll to two young saplings in a triangle formation, with two
ends of the saplings tied together over the haunches of Julia’s horse. The wide end of the triangle dragged on the
ground behind the horse. Jamie had lost
consciousness when they’d moved him into the makeshift bed. That had been a godsend, given how much the
travois bumped and jolted with every step the horse took.
They’d had to go slow because of the extra weight the
travois put on the horse. And every
second felt like a millennium to Julia, each clop of the horses hooves like a
spike being pounded into her heart. Lou
seemed certain Jamie would be alright.
But he appeared half dead already. Julia didn’t know how much more he
could take. Thus the frequent, frantic
glances back to assure herself he was still breathing.
“We’re almost there,” Lou said, her breath puffing white
into the early dawn air. “I’m goin’ ta
ride ahead and let ‘em know we’re comin’ in.”
Julia perked up as she realized they had just one more
hillock to top and a short jog across the plains to the ranch.
“You keep my boy safe,” Lou said as she spurred her horse
into action.
Julia nodded as she watched Lou’s horse leap into a full
out gallop and wished she could hurry her mount along the same way, get Jamie
in out of the cold faster.
“I will,” she half whispered, looking back at him
again. “He’s not just your boy anymore,
after all.”
**********
“You grab his legs,” Uncle Kid ordered Jed and Willie. “I’ve got his head. Let’s get him into the infirmary.”
It might have been funny watching six grown men scramble to
grab any part of Jamie’s body they could reach to cradle a single man like a
baby as they transferred him into the Big House and Buck’s medical treatment
room.
Julia ran ahead and laid a folded up blanket down at one
end of the raised pallet her dad used for an examining table.
“Here,” she said.
“Careful with his head. He’s got
an awful big goose egg on it.”
“I’m much more worried about that leg of his,” Buck
said. “At least the cold helped keep his
body temperature down. That will have
slowed any swelling. There’s still a
chance I can straighten the leg and set it proper.” He looked deeply into Julia’s eyes as he
added, “But there’s a good chance it won’t heal perfect. He may have a serious limp the rest of his
life. If he doesn’t catch an infection
from the treatment.”
Julia looked away even as she nodded. She knew how bad his injuries were and just
what his chances of full recovery would be.
“He’ll…. he’ll be alive,” she mustered. “That’s all that matters.”
Lou put a comforting hand on her shoulder as Kid gave her
the hug Buck couldn’t at the moment. The
three of them watched, Jed and Willie standing right behind them, as Buck moved
over to Jamie’s side and began checking him over.
“Julia grab the shears and cut the rest of this pant leg
off,” Buck ordered brusquely. “We’ll
deal with the leg first, then his other injuries. We can worry about the rest of his clothing
later.”
Julia rushed to do as bid and soon Jamie’s injured leg lay,
the thigh slightly twisted at an odd angle, ready to be set.
Buck shook his head as he completed his examination. “There’s a good chance settin’ that leg’ll
rouse him. Normally I’d give him some
chloroform ta prevent it, but I don’t want ta risk that with his head
injury. Head injuries can be strange
things. Never good ta add anythin’ to
‘em that might muddle the mind. That
means y’all are goin’ ta have ta hold him down while I set his leg. If ya can’t stay strong durin’ this, then
leave now.”
He looked around at the concerned family members gathered
around the examining table and near the door to the room. His eyes met Dawn Star’s and she nodded and
began gathering the younger children up, chivvying them toward the kitchen.
“I’ll have a hot meal on when you’re ready,” she said
softly as she followed them youngsters out of the room.
Buck nodded, his face softening with love and
appreciation. He took a deep breath and
looked around those still in the room.
Harry, Jed and Willie stood uncertainly at the foot of the examining
table. Julia stood at her father’s side
and Kid and Lou were on the other side of the table.
He moved to the end of the table and picked up Jamie’s
foot. Looking at the three boys he said,
“One of you will have to pull hard on his foot.
You can’t waiver for even a second until I tell you I’m done. The other two will have to hold down his
other leg, keep him from moving. It’s
vital he be kept still while I piece his leg back together.”
The three boys nodded and Jed stepped up to take hold of
his brother’s foot while the other two moved over to his other leg.
Buck moved back toward Jamie’s thigh while looking at his
other three helpers.
“Kid,” he said, “you’re gonna have ta hold down his head
and shoulders. Lou, you and Julia will
each take an arm. Be ready. At first there’ll be no resistance, but once
he wakes up, he’ll fight hard. This is
gonna hurt like hell.”
Looking around to make sure everyone was in position and
ready, Buck nodded. “Alright then,” he
muttered. “Here we go.”
With deft, sure hands on Jamie’s thigh he ordered, “Jed,
pull.”
Julia put all her weight into pressing down on Jamie’s arm
at the command, flinching only slightly at the chest deep groan that escaped
her childhood love as Buck began maneuvering the two ends of the broken thigh
bone back into position.
She looked away after a moment, no longer able to watch the
disturbingly gruesome picture of the pieces of Jamie’s leg poking out at skin
again and again, in a way never intended by nature, as Buck pushed and prodded
them into place.
“Gaaaaah!” Jamie suddenly screamed in her ear, struggling
to sit up.
“NO!” she yelled at him.
“You’ve gotta stay still, Jamie.”
Tears rolled down her eyes at the pain he was going through. But she gritted her teeth and stayed the
course. “I know it hurts,” she said
hoarsely. “But we’ve gotta do it. Just hang in there, Jamie. Hang in there.”
“Hold him still, damnit,” Buck grunted. “Jed, pull harder, I need more room ta work.”
The fight to hold Jamie still seemed to take forever as he
shouted, groaned and squealed in pain, right in Julia’s ear.
Finally, Buck stepped back, “Done. You can let him go now.”
The others released their hold on Jamie, who, beyond
knowing what was going on, continued to struggle. As Julia released his arm it went
flying. The knuckles of his hand landed
right in her face, knocking her over.
***********
Julia sat in a corner of the infirmary, a hand-sized slab
of fresh meat plastered to her face over the growing bruise that was once her
eye. Her gaze had remained tight on
Jamie for hours as she waited for him to awake. Shortly after hitting her, he’d lost
consciousness again. But this time it
was a peaceful, healing rest. Eventually
exhaustion had claimed her, too. Now she
slept where she sat, snoring lightly, her head resting against the wall behind
her.
Jamie felt the warmth of the room first, then heard the
rumbling sounds of someone snoring. Hmmm,
things were heating up in hell, he thought idly to himself. His Ma had always told him sleeping in a room
with a snorer was pure hell, but this sound was almost… soothing. The Devil was off his game today. Even the warmth was comforting, not scorching
as he’d always imagined Hell to be.
Eventually he got tired of looking at the red-gold insides
of his eyelids and slowly flickered his eyes open. The pattern of the wood above his head looked
oddly familiar. He frowned. A snort off to the side had him turning his
head.
“Julia?” he whispered.
What was she doing in Hell?
Frowning slightly at the thought, he turned his head to look around the
room some more, wincing as the movement and light sent shards of pain lancing
through his brain. He was in the…
infirmary? “I’m not dead?”
“No, you most certainly are not. Although not for lack of trying, both on your
part and with the help of others.”
“Ma?” He turned his head quickly toward the sound of
his mother’s soft voice, then groaned at the pain that attacked him in
retaliation. Closing his eyes against
it, he said, “What’s goin’ on?”
“Bet that head of yours is hurtin’ ta fit the dickens,” Lou
muttered, half-smiling as she moved toward him with a cold cloth. “Forget geese. What you’ve got is more
the size of an ostrich egg.”
“Ostrich?” Jamie latched onto the unfamiliar word in his
confusion.
“A big bird, taller than a yer Pa. Read about it once in a book about strange,
monstrous looking animals,” Lou chattered on as she checked her son over to be
sure he really was going to be alright. Buck
had said so, but….. “They’re from Africa, though by the look of the animals in
that book I swear half of them are made up.
Maybe more. Then again, I’d a
never believed there existed a horse-like creature with a giant hump in its
back if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.
And it spits.” She chuckled. “How’s the leg feeling?”
At the mention, Jamie remembered his leg hurting
horribly. But now? Not so much.
Suddenly concerned, he struggled to push himself up on his elbows and
look down at the leg. Lou jumped in to
support his shoulders while he completed his inspection.
“It… aches.”
“That’s good. You let
us know if that changes. Achin’ means
it’s healin’ good. Anythin’ else, or the
least sign of a fever, could mean ya got an infection after all.”
Jamie nodded distractedly as she helped him lay back
down. His head turned back to where he’d
seen Julia, curled up asleep in the chair.
She was no longer snoring. Instead,
her eyes were open and staring at him. Well,
at least one eye was open. The other
remained hidden beneath that slab of steak.
Lou looked back and forth between the two of them and hid a
smile behind her hand. “Um, I think I better
go check on our prisoner. Now that yer
awake, I’ll need ta get him ready ta take ta town and put in a proper
cell. Tyin’ him up like a hog fer
butcherin’ may be personally satisfyin’, it just ain’t…. proper.”
She set aside the cloth she’d been wiping Jamie’s forehead
with and stood up to leave.
“I still think we should let him go,” Julia said quietly,
looking down at her hands in her lap. “This
isn’t his fault.”
“Like hell it ain’t!” Lou ground out through gritted
teeth. “And I’ve about had enough of yer
standin’ up fer the man what was gonna rape ya and kill my son.”
“But, I… I led him on.
He thought I loved him. I… I just
wanted to help. His Pa is such a mean
ol’ drunk. How was I to know he’d take
it otherwise? I just don’t think he
should be jailed for misunderstanding.”
“Oh, Julia, stop it!” Jamie grunted. “Yer always willin’ ta forgive everyone. Everyone but yerself. Other men misunderstand what a woman
wants. Hell, I’ve done it myself with
you a hundred times. But they don’t go
tryin’ ta kidnap and violate her. Which
was exactly what he was gonna do. He
shot me in the back, Julia. That’s more
than a misunderstandin’.”
Exhausted by his outburst, he leaned his head back on the
pillow and closed his eyes with a strained sigh. Julia immediately jumped to her feet and
rushed to his side.
“You need to take it easy, Jamie,” she chided him, pulling
the blanket up to his shoulders and straightening it. “I’ll…. I’ll let you get some sleep.”
Jamie’s eyes snapped open again at the way she said the
last and he looked into her eyes and knew, knew to his bones that she was
running away again. He reached out and
snatched one of her hands with his.
“What the hell are ya plannin’ this time, darlin’?”
“I… I….”
“Don’t lie ta me, Julia,” he warned grimly, then softened
his look with a lopsided smile up into her face. “Ya were never any good at it, anyway.”
She pulled free of his grasp and walked over to the window
by the door, staring out into the swirling morning snow. She couldn’t look at him when she told
him. “I… I’m leaving in the spring.”
“What?!”
“Iowa State College offered me a teaching position before I
left. I’ve decided I’m going to take
it.” She managed to get the words out
without breaking into the tears she could feel battering at her from the inside
out.
“But… why?” Jamie said so softly she could barely hear him,
sounding almost like a wounded little boy.
“Look at yourself, Jamie.
That’s what I do to people,” she huffed, using anger to control her
emotions as she turned to face him. “Look
at Carl, headed for prison. Because of
me.” She kept rolling in her tirade,
right over Jamie’s partially voiced objection.
“Because I’m Indian. Well, that’s
something that’ll never change. It
doesn’t matter how smart I am, how educated I am. It doesn’t matter what I wear or how I talk
or if I know which fork to use at the dinner table. I am, always have been and always will be,
nothing but a Red Savage in the world’s eyes.
My presence just paints a bright red target on you and everyone else in
this family. And I won’t be responsible
for that! ….. I… can’t.”
“Julia Wiggle Girl Cross, you get over here right now or
I’m getting’ up off this bed and comin’ after ya,” Jamie grunted, feeling his
own ire rise to match hers. Struggling
he began trying to push himself up to do just as he’d threatened and Julia
rushed to his side
“Don’t! You can’t
put weight on that leg yet! Pa hasn’t
finished splinting it!” she scolded him.
“That’s just a green splint for now.
You can’t get up until he comes back and fixes it proper so you can walk
on crutches in a few days.”
**********
“Well?” Lou whispered.
“What are they sayin’?” She stood
with the rest of the family just outside the door. The two in the infirmary had never even
noticed her departure.
“They’re still arguin’ over whether she should go teach at
Iowa State,” Kid answered, his ear pressed to the door.
“Teach? At Iowa
State?” Buck asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Did she say anythin’ ‘bout that to you?” he
asked Dawn Star.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not a word.”
“Hush! I can’t hear
what they’re sayin’ with y’all natterin’ on,” Kid hissed, waving a shushing
hand at the rest of their combined families crowded behind him.
**********
“Then don’t leave,” Jamie smiled triumphantly as he grabbed
both her hands and pulled her up against him.
“Cause every time ya do, I’m just goin’ ta get up and follow. No matter how far, no matter how often. Bum leg bedamned.”
Julia stared at him, her eyes filling with tears.
“What…. what are you saying, Jamie,” she whispered
hoarsely.
“I’m sayin’ that I love ya, you fool woman,” he answered,
pulling her even closer and smashing his mouth against hers, letting go of one
of her hands so he could reach up and press her head closer to his.
Julia lost herself in the power of his ardor. The feel of his lips hungrily searching hers,
the pounding of his heart pressed so tightly to hers, the strength of his hands
as he held her to him, as if afraid she’d leave, all sent her pulse skittering
sideways and froze her lungs in mid-breath.
It was passion with an edge and it could only last for so
long. Eventually he pulled back and
collapsed on the pillow behind him, as if he’d used up all his strength.
“Do ya understand now?
If ya gotta go back ta Iowa State ta teach, I’m comin’ with ya. If ya try runnin’ back ta live with yer Ma’s
folks, I’ll follow ya. I let my own
stubborn pride come between us enough.
No more.” Smiling, he reached up
and gently cupped her cheek in one hand.
“You’re mine.”
Tears of relief and love started escaping from the corners
of her eyes.
“Alright,” she hiccuped, smiling mischievously at him. “But only if you marry me first.”
His eyes widened at her unexpected words. He opened his mouth to respond, but she
pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him before he said a word.
“You don’t really think, after a kiss like that, things
would stay platonic between us, do you?”
“Lord, I hope not,” he breathed, pulling her down on top of
him as he pressed his lips to hers once again.
The duo was so caught up in each other they didn’t hear the
cheers and whistles from the crowd gathered outside the infirmary door.
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