Dorothy Garlock (25 page)

Boone motioned for the doctor to step away from the table and follow him to the door.

“Doc, my name’s Boone. The boy is Leroy Carter. I live on the place north of the Carters’. The boy’s brother is Marvin Carter. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s a mean, unreasonable son-of-a-bitch. That’s his sister out there. Marvin wouldn’t let her get help for the boy last night or this morning. She came for me as soon as Marvin left the house. You might have trouble with him when he finds out I brought the boy here.”

“Let him come,” the doctor said confidently.

“Marvin had the kid out helpin’ set up a roadblock so they could waylay a feller. Man refused to stop and hit the mule the kid was on.”

“A man who’d not get help for a kid hurt that bad isn’t worth a bucket of spit. The boy’s ear has got to be sewed on. I doubt he’ll hear out of it again. I’m not sure about the eye. I’ll do what I can for him, then worry about the Carters.”

“He might call in his kinfolk. I hear the Carters are a clannish bunch.”

“Let him. I’ve got a few friends myself, and some of them are tough as shoe leather.”

“Ya’ll not be alone, Doc. I’ve been in a few brawls and got pretty good at bustin’ heads.”

“Stay with the sister. My wife is a nurse. She’ll help me.” Dr. Perkins went back in the room and closed the door.

Tess, looking like a small frightened child, sat with her hands tightly clasped together. Her hair, in a thick blond braid, lay over her shoulder. When she saw Boone, she smoothed the sides of her hair back from her face with her hands. She had removed her bloody apron and wadded it in a ball. Boone sat down beside her.

“What did he say about Leroy?”

“He said that he was going to sew his ear on. The doctor’s wife is a nurse and will help him. The anesthetic will put him to sleep so that he’ll not feel anything.”

“I’m glad of that. Did you tell him that…Marvin might come and make a fuss?”

“I told him. Don’t worry. I’m thinkin’ the doc can handle himself. His only concern now is for Leroy. He’ll fix him up the best he can and give him somethin’ to ease the pain.”

“I couldn’t stand it, Boone. Leroy has swaggered after Marvin since he was little-bitty, trying so hard to be like him. And Marvin didn’t care that he’d got hurt. He ranted about him and Bud not stopping Mr. Appleby’s car.”

“It’s a good thing for Marvin they didn’t stop the car. Appleby would have come out shooting, and one or all of them could be dead.” Boone took her hand. “Marvin will take out his anger on you. I don’t want you to go back there.”

“I’ve got to go back and take care of Leroy. Bud would do it, but he won’t stand up to Marvin.”

Boone put his fingers under her chin and turned her face toward him.

“He hit you, didn’t he?”

“He slapped me this morning because I wanted to come get you. He said that if Leroy died, it was Mr. Donovan’s fault because he wrecked his car.”

“That makes a hell of a lot of sense.” Boone held her hand in both of his. “Tess, honey, I don’t want you to go back there,” he repeated. “If Marvin lifts a hand to you again, I might…kill him.”

“The Carters will find me wherever I go. They’re scattered all over the Missouri hills.”

“I’ve got to stay here until Murphy gets back. When he does, we’ll leave here and go far away.”

“I can’t leave Leroy while he’s helpless.” The emptiness in her voice brought an unexpected ache to Boone’s heart. “He said that he’s sorry for the way he treated me.”

“It may not be too late to change him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Folks change, but they have to want to.”

“I think he and Bud finally saw Marvin for what he really is. But that doesn’t mean they’ll do anything about it. They know nothing but to live the way they’ve always lived, and they’re scared of Marvin; they’ll do what he tells them to do.”

“But you know there are better ways?”

“Yes. I lived with my mother’s sister, my aunt Cora, for a while and went to school. Then—”

“Then…what—”

He heard Tess gasp.

“What is it? Honey—” He pulled down the hand she had clapped on her mouth.

“I just thought about something. I don’t have money to pay the doctor, and Marvin…won’t pay him.”

“Lord, ya scared me. If Marvin won’t pay him, I will. Don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t let you do that. It was good of you to bring us here and good of Mr. Appleby to lend his car after what Marvin tried to do. He’ll be madder than ever at Mr. Appleby and now you.”

“Marvin is a bully, honey. How many men my size has he come up against?”

“You don’t understand him. He wouldn’t go up against you man to man. He says that’s stupid. He’d sneak and do something.”

“Yo’re not to worry about it, hear?”

Too tense to talk, they sat quietly, waiting for the door to the surgery to open. When it did, the nurse came out. They both stood.

“The doctor will be out soon.” She smiled reassuringly. “Meanwhile, I need to know a few things, like name and age and so on.”

“Ma’am, this is Tess Carter, the boy’s sister.”

“How do you do? Please take a chair.” The nurse sat down behind a desk and pulled out a blank chart. “What is the patient’s full name?”

“Leroy Carter.”

“Age?”

“Eighteen.”

“Do you know if he’s had the smallpox vaccination? His arms are so bruised the doctor couldn’t find a scar.”

“I’m sure he hasn’t. Our folks didn’t believe much in doctoring.”

“They were not alone.” The nurse smiled. “Since we came here, we’ve discovered many families from the surrounding hills who have never been to a doctor.” She continued to write, then looked up again. “Are you the next of kin?”

“One of them. Our parents are dead.”

The doctor came into the room, closing the door behind him. He stood behind his wife and read what she had written. His glance shifted to the delicate features of the small woman standing beside Boone. She didn’t fit at all with what he had heard about the Carters. The man with her had alert black eyes that missed nothing. His hand was on her back in a proprietary kind of way that suggested the two were more than just friends.

“Ma’am, your brother had injuries other than those to his face and ear. His nose was broken, and a cheekbone. I don’t know yet if he has lost the vision in one eye. His ribs are cracked. Thank God they were not broken or one of them would have punctured his lungs when Boone carried him in here. He has a broken collarbone and several broken bones in his left hand.”

“Is he…going to die?”

“He has lost a lot of blood, and there is the danger of infection,” the doctor said, avoiding answering her question. “We have two rooms here we use for patients. One of them is empty. We’ll keep him here for a while. He’s resting now. When he wakes up, we’ll give him some nourishment through a straw.”

He wasn’t aware that the woman was crying until he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks. She was holding her head erect and had not made a sound. Proud as a game rooster, he thought.

“I can’t pay cash money,” she said, refusing to allow the tears to thicken her voice. “But I will find a way to pay you.”

“Get us a bill, Doc. We’ll pay.” Boone’s hand moved up to Tess’s shoulder.

“We can talk about that at a later time. Do you want to see him before you go? He’s sleeping.”

Without waiting for an answer, Dr. Perkins opened the door and stood back. Boone followed Tess into the room. Leroy had a bandage wrapped around his head covering his ear and his damaged eye. His rib cage was bound from beneath his armpits to his navel. More wrap encased his broken hand.

Tess stood beside her brother for a moment, touched his hand, then turned to the doctor.

“Thank you.”

“Doc…” Boone waited until she left the room before he spoke. “Are you sure ya can handle what might come from Marvin Carter? I could stay—”

“It isn’t necessary. I’ve got a shotgun and two stout men who would like nothing more than to tie into that man after they see the boy.”

“Will the sheriff help out?”

Dr. Perkins laughed. “As an officer of the law, Stoney Baker is as useless as teats on a boar.”

“Why in hell did folks elect him?”

“Politics. Kaiser Bill could be elected if no one ran against him.”

“It’s a sorry state of affairs, if ya ask me.” Boone went to the door. “Thank ya, Doc.”

“Come back tomorrow. We’ll know by then if we got to him before an infection set in.”

Chapter
18

A
S SOON AS HIS CAR DISAPPEARED DOWN THE ROAD trailing a cloud of dust, Corbin began to plan on what to do if Marvin Carter mustered some of his relatives and came looking for Tess and his brother after discovering them missing.

“Jack, get the shotgun and the rifle out of the barn. Annabel, do you know how to handle the pistol?”

“Boone taught me.”

“Good. Get it and check to be sure it’s loaded.”

“Do you think we’ll need guns?”

“I don’t know. But I want to be prepared. When Marvin finds Tess and his brother gone, he’s going to guess that she had help from here. If he comes looking for them, it’ll not be a friendly visit.”

Corbin sat on the edge of the porch, checked both barrels of the shotgun and put several extra shells in his pocket. He looked over the rifle. The firearms were in good condition; he expected them to be, considering how well Boone cared for his weapons while they were in the cabin in the hills.

“Do you know how to handle this?” he asked Jack.

“I’ve been hunting since I was knee-high to a short frog.”

“Got extra shells?”

“In my pocket.”

“Is there a place in the barn where you’ll be out of sight and still have a good view of the yard?”

“The hayloft.”

“You’ll be my backup. It may be necessary for you to show yourself so they’ll know I’m not here alone. If he comes, he’ll have some of his kinfolk with him.”

“If I see anything, I’ll signal.” Jack put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. “One if he’s alone. Two or three depending on how many he has with him.” He flung the sling of the rifle over his shoulder and went to the pump for a drink of water before disappearing into the barn.

Corbin walked around the house several times during the afternoon. Seeing the front door standing open, he told Annabel to shut and lock it. He checked to make sure that there were no spots in the approach to the house that Jack couldn’t see from the hayloft. Satisfied he had covered most, if not all, possibilities of surprise, he went back and sat down on the back porch.

Days were long this time of year. Several hours had passed when he looked toward the west and saw the sun disappearing beyond the horizon. A raucous mass of gulls flew over on their way to the river to spend the night. Then a formation of ducks, high in the sky, passed overhead. Corbin watched a hawk soaring on the prowl, and the thought struck him that this house on the hill was a very pleasant location for a home. The only drawback was that it was surrounded by Carters.

The events of the entire day seemed unreal to Annabel. She couldn’t imagine that they were preparing to defend themselves with
guns
. Corbin knew what he was doing. He must believe they were in a dangerous situation to make such deadly preparations.

The last rays of sunlight came through the kitchen door and bounced off the wall. She sat on a chair at the table, folded her hands, put her chin on them and stared at the light playing on the wall and kitchen floor.

Papa, come home. Corbin shouldn’t have to fight our battles with only a boy to help him. None of this would be happening if you hadn’t lost your temper and pushed Marvin Carter’s car off the road.

Corbin came to the door and saw her sitting at the table, her shoulders slumped dejectedly. He called to her.

“Annabel? Are you worried?”

“A little…about Boone.” She arranged a smile on her face so he wouldn’t know how really worried she was about Boone, Tess, all of them. “Did you notice how concerned he was for Tess? I think he’s in love with her. In all the years I’ve known Boone I’ve never heard him mention a woman or seen him give one a second look.”

“It happens that way sometimes. A man sees a woman and knows right away that she’s the one for him.”

“I hope his…wanting to be with her doesn’t cause him to get crippled up or…killed.”
And you, my love. Being here with me could get you killed. I couldn’t live with that.

“Your father must think he’s a pretty tough nut to crack or he’d not left you here with him.”

“Boone and Spinner may be the only two people in the world besides me that Papa trusts. I’m very fond of Boone. He was with us when Mama died. I’ve spent more time with him and Spinner these past few years than I have with my father.”

“From what I’ve seen of Boone, he’s a levelheaded, capable man who has been in tight spots before and knows how to take care of himself.”

“Why do you and Boone snap at each other?” she asked suddenly.

He answered her frankly. “It irritates me the way he tries to keep me away from you. I like the big galoot, but I don’t want him to know it.”

“He said he liked you, but Papa told him…to look out for me.”

“Your papa told him to keep
me
away from
you
. I won’t stay away until
you
tell me to.” His face slowly broke into a grin like that of a young boy, and it was endearing.

“I don’t want you to stay away,” she replied softly.

“It’s what I hoped you’d say.” He opened the screen door and reached for her hand. “Why don’t you come out and sit on the porch with me?”

“I need to feed my chickens.”

She went out onto the porch with a small bucket and dipped it into a feed sack. She really needed to go to the privy. She hadn’t gone since she left the house this morning to go to town with Jack. As soon as she scattered the grain, she would slip into the outhouse.

Before she could step down off the porch, Corbin said, “I think we should get a few things out of the way before it gets too late.” Looking off toward the woods, he continued, “Why don’t you feed your chickens and go to the outhouse? I’ll go when you come back.” He spoke as matter-of-factly as if he were talking about the weather.