Beloved Physician (30 page)

It was a bay horse!

Her hand went to her mouth. “Is that Abe?” she whispered.

Hattie’s heart pounded while she kept her eyes glued to the horse. As he drew closer, she was able to make out the white blaze on the animal’s long face, and the four white stockings.

“Yes! It’s Abe and—”

Abe was limping on his right foreleg.
He was not carrying a rider
.

Hattie Kenyon’s skin tingled with consternation. Her pulse pounded. Her forehead dampened with perspiration. With a hot lump in her throat, she bounded off the porch and ran toward Abe, holding the skirt of her dress above her ankles.

The gelding saw her coming, lifted his head, whinnied, and kept limping toward her.

Hattie was panting as she drew up to Abe. He whinnied again and halted. Efforts to calm herself by a series of deep breaths proved fruitless. “Abe!” she cried. “Where’s Melinda? What happened?”

She stroked his long face and looked down at his injured leg. It was coated with a thin layer of mud. She could not see any torn flesh, but the leg was swollen considerably between the knee and the hoof.

Filled with alarm, Hattie took hold of the rein and led the limping horse to the barn. As she led him inside, she said, “Lord, what should I do? Abe can’t carry me. He’s hurt bad. George has our only other horse in town with him.”

Suddenly, Breanna Brockman came to mind. “Yes! Breanna!”

Quickly, Hattie removed the saddle and bridle from Abe and hung them on the pegs where they belonged. Leaving him inside the barn, she lifted her skirt ankle-high again and ran down the road. Ten minutes later, when she reached the gate of the Brockman place, she ran as hard as she could down the tree-lined lane and headed for the front porch.

Panting and gasping for breath, she bounded up the porch steps and pounded loudly on the door. “Oh, please, please be home, Breanna!”

All was quiet.

Hattie leaned against the door jamb and sucked hard for breath. “Please, Breanna. Open the door!” She pounded on it again repeatedly.

Just then, the door swung open and Breanna frowned as she saw the gasping, panting Hattie, whose features were plainly distraught. Before Breanna could speak, Hattie stumbled toward her and fell into her arms.

Breanna held her up, running her gaze to the yard to see if anyone was with her and noted that there wasn’t even a horse. Hattie broke into uncontrollable sobs. Supporting Hattie’s weight, Breanna said, “Honey, what is wrong?”

Hattie could only gasp and sob.

Breanna guided her down the hall. “Come on, Hattie, dear, let’s go into the parlor and sit down.”

When they entered the parlor, Breanna sat Hattie on the sofa and settled down next to her. She took the woman’s hands into her own.

Hattie set her tear-filled eyes on Breanna, gasped, and finally was able to say, “Melinda! Melinda! Abe—Abe came home—” She choked.

Breanna looked her in the eye. “Honey, slow down now. Tell me very slowly what has happened.”

Still trying to catch her breath, Hattie inhaled sharply, then let the air out in an attempt to calm her rattled nerves.

“That’s better,” said Breanna, rising to her feet. “Just sit here and get control of yourself. I’ll be right back with a bracing cup of hot tea. I was just drinking some myself.”

Breanna was gone less than two minutes when she came in and handed Hattie a cup of tea. “Take a few sips. It will help you. Then you can tell me about Melinda and Abe.”

Fifteen minutes later, having hitched one of the Brockman horses to a buggy, Breanna repeatedly snapped the reins and raced across the fields in a straight line toward the South Platte River with Hattie on the seat beside her.

As they were drawing near the river in the bouncing, fish-tailing buggy, Hattie pointed to a wide spot between the trees that lined the bank. “There! Pull up there, so we can see both ways up and down the riverbank!”

Breanna guided the horse directly to the spot and drew the buggy to a halt on the wet ground near the bank of the river. Rainwater was puddled all around.

Both women sat on the seat, craning their necks, looking up and down the bank and all around them when Hattie gasped and pointed at the yellow bonnet that lay in the grass near the river’s edge. “Breanna! It’s Melinda’s bonnet!”

Even as she spoke, Hattie jumped down from the seat and ran toward the bonnet.

Breanna followed, and just as Hattie was picking up the bonnet and wailing that something terrible had happened to Melinda, Breanna spotted the black slicker lying on the steep slope that led down to the water’s edge. She rushed to it and picked it up. “I’m sure this is Melinda’s slicker!”

Hattie burst into tears. “It is! It is!”

When Breanna reached her, Hattie grasped the slicker, held it close to her bosom along with the bonnet, and wept. Then she said, “Oh, Breanna, with both of these lying this close to the river, there’s only one thing that could have happened. I told you about the mud on Abe’s right leg and how swollen it is. For some reason, he must have gone down on that knee at a gallop, or at least at a fast trot, and Melinda must have been thrown into the river.”

With that, she burst once again into uncontrollable sobs, wailing, “She’s dead! My Melinda is dead, Breanna! She drowned in the river! She’s dead! She’s dead!”

Breanna wrapped her in her arms. “Honey, she might not be dead. Maybe she didn’t fall into the river. Maybe somehow, she’s stumbling up or down the riverbank, dazed and confused. She might have hit her head on the ground as she went out of the saddle when Abe went down.”

Hattie blinked and looked at her. “Do you really think so?”

“It’s possible. Let’s hurry into town. We’ll let George know about this, then advise John of it, so he or the sheriff can put a search party together and look for Melinda.”

A tiny ray of hope flickered in Hattie’s eyes. “All right, maybe she is still alive and somewhere along the river. We’ll have to let Tim know, too.”

“Of course. Come on. Let’s put the bonnet and the slicker in the buggy and head for town.”

When George Kenyon had been advised by Breanna and Hattie at the hardware store of Melinda’s disappearance, he went with them to the Chief U.S. Marshal’s office in the federal building, riding his horse. Together, they told Chief U.S. Marshal John Brockman the story. John said he would rather put together a search party than to have the sheriff do it. Some of his deputies were in town at the moment. He would gather them together and have them ready to go in about an hour.

George told the chief he wanted to be in on the search for his daughter. He felt that Dr. Tim would also want to be in on it, and because of Tharyn’s close friendship to Melinda, Dr. Dane would no doubt want to take part in the search also. They would be back to the chief’s office shortly with Dr. Tim and Dr. Dane.

Chief Brockman agreed and told them that he knew his pastor well enough that he would want to be in on the search too. He would send one of his deputies to the parsonage to inform the pastor what had happened and offer to let him be part of the search party.

As George, Hattie, and Breanna headed for the hospital, the chief went to work to gather his deputies.

When the trio entered the hospital, Breanna told George and Hattie that Dr. Dane was probably in Nelda Cox’s room with Eric and Nelda. She led them to the room on the second floor, and they waited in the hall while Breanna entered the room.

There she found Nelda lying in her bed, with Eric on one side and Dr. Dane and Tharyn on the other. Tharyn moved to Breanna and embraced her. “I didn’t expect you to be at the hospital today.”

Breanna shook her head gently. “I wouldn’t be, but I have something to tell you and your husband that you need to know.”

Dr. Dane frowned and looked at Breanna. “What is it?”

Breanna invited the Kenyons into the room. When she had finished telling the story to the Logans and the Coxes, Tharyn’s eyes were filled with tears as Dr. Dane said, “I have Nelda’s surgery to do first thing in the morning, but I sure can be in on the search for the rest of today.”

George said, “We’re going to find our future son-in-law and let him know about Melinda. I know he will want to be in the search party, too.”

“For sure,” said Dr. Dane. “He’s observing a cesarean section down the hall right now, but I’ll go in, call him aside, and tell him what has happened.”

Tharyn took hold of her husband’s hand. “Honey, I’ll be praying that the search party will find Melinda alive and well, and that you will find her quickly.”

“We’ll all be praying that way,” said Breanna. “Tharyn, Hattie is going to stay at my house while the men go on the search. Can you go with us?”

Tharyn nodded. “Yes. Nelda is in good hands with the nurses here. I’d like to be with you.”

Dr. Dane took time to pray once again with Nelda and Eric about the surgery that he would perform in the morning; then he and Tharyn left the room with Breanna and the Kenyons. Together, they went down the hall to the doors of the surgical unit. Saying he would be right back, Dr. Dane left the others in the hall and hurried inside.

Moments later, Dr. Dane came out with Dr. Tim Braden at his side. Tim’s pallid face showed the jolt the news had put on him.

The Kenyons clasped him in a three-way embrace, and after they talked about the situation, Dr. Tim told them he was going with the search party. He would go by Dr. Matt Carroll’s office, explain it to him, and they would head for the federal building.

When the small group arrived at the federal building, they found Chief U.S. Marshal John Brockman at the hitch rail with five of his deputies and Pastor Nathan Blandford. They were tying kerosene lanterns to the saddlebags. Chief Brockman and the pastor were glad to see that Dr. Tim and Dr. Dane were both going with them. Pastor Blandford spoke words of encouragement to the Kenyons and to Dr. Tim. John explained that they were taking the lanterns so that if necessary they could keep up the search after dark.

Dr. Dane told the chief he would need to go by the closest stable and rent a horse. John told him they had an extra horse in the federal building barn out back. They would saddle him up.

A short time later, the Brockman buggy hauled up to the bank of the South Platte River at the place where Hattie and Breanna had found Melinda’s bonnet and slicker, which were still in the buggy. Tharyn was on the front seat between Hattie and Breanna.

As the men in the search party dismounted, Breanna left the buggy and guided her husband to the spots where the bonnet and slicker had been found.

John ran his gaze up and down the riverbanks and said, “All right, men. We’ve got to split up. Half of this group will cross the river and work the bank both ways, while we do the same thing on this side.”

Breanna told her husband that she, Hattie, and Tharyn would wait right there in the buggy until it was almost dark. If none of the search party had returned by then, the three of them would go and wait at the Brockman house.

John assured her that if they hadn’t found Melinda by midnight, they would give up the search until morning. He told his
men if they found Melinda, they were to fire three shots into the air in succession, and everybody would collect at the spot on the bank where they were at the moment. They would also meet back at this spot at midnight if she hadn’t been found by then. He quickly named the deputies he wanted to work the other side of the river, and they guided their horses into the stream and headed for the other bank.

The chief U.S. marshal divided his half of the search party up, and the women watched from the buggy as the search began.

Hours later, when the searchers had not returned to the buggy and darkness was falling, the women headed for the Brockman place.

It was just after midnight and the silver moon was shining down out of a clear sky when the women heard the sound of horses blowing at the front of the house.

Having already put her two children to bed, Breanna led Hattie and Tharyn to the front door. They stepped out on to the porch and saw George, John, Dr. Dane, Dr. Tim, and Pastor Blandford dismounting in the moonlight.

As the men stepped up on the porch, it was obvious by the dejected look on their faces that they had found no sign of Melinda.