Mail Order Bride: Westward Dance (4 page)

Dean and Marcus finished hitching up
the team and headed out of the barn. Once they were out on the main
road, Dean pushed the team as fast as they could safely go. With
every movement of the sun, the brothers’ sense of urgency to reach
Seth grew.

Seth faded in and out of consciousness
as he was pulled on the homemade travois that Marty and Ray had
built. Marty had been skeptical about it when Ray had first told
him his idea, but he had to admit that it was working. It had been
slow going because the travois had no kind of shock absorption and
Seth’s injuries were sensitive to every bump along the trail and
hard jerk of the conveyance. They’d hitched it to Hank.

Marty rode his horse and led Hank
behind him. Seth’s horse wasn’t used to pulling anything, but
didn’t make much fuss about it. It was as if he knew that his help
was needed to get his master home. Throughout their trip, the
little mutt, whom Seth had named Trouble, was never far from him.
Seth was surprised to find that it was comforting having his small
body next to him on the travois. Jasper came to check on Seth from
time to time, but he was needed to help with the herd and
therefore, couldn’t visit very long.

The trail they were traveling
intersected halfway between Wolfe’s Point and their ranch. Once
they’d reached the main road, Ray had taken off, riding for all he
was worth for the Samuels’ place. In the meantime, Marty stayed put
with the herd. He didn’t want to try to keep driving the herd and
lead Hank at the same time. Even with Jasper’s help, it would have
been dangerous to do so. It was better to wait for Ray to return
with reinforcements.

Ray had saddled a fresh horse and
caught up with Dean and Marcus. He led them along the trail to the
place he had left Marty and Seth. They came up over a rise and saw
the herd grazing in the shade of some box elder trees along a
stream. Dean wanted to urge the geldings into a faster pace, but
didn’t want to spook the herd. He kept them at a steady
trot.

Marty came out to meet them when they
were closer and rode alongside the wagon.

“How is he?” Dean said.

Marty shook his head. “Not good. He’s
hurting really bad. The collarbone is bad enough, but the leg is
what’s got me worried. Ray and I fixed it up as best we could, but
his thigh and calf bones are broken so it was tough to stabilize
it.”

Marcus jumped off the wagon and ran
towards Hank and the travois to which the horse was still hitched.
As he came close to his brother, something ran out and bit his
boot. Startled, Marcus hollered and kicked at it. He was rewarded
by weak laughter.

Marcus looked up and was shocked by how
bad Seth looked even though he was smiling. His face was gray and
his eyes a little too bright, most likely because he had a
fever.

“Trouble, come here,” Seth
murmured.

Marcus now realized that the furry
critter was actually a dog. It was the ugliest dog he’d ever seen
and he wondered how Seth had ended up with it.

He knelt by his brother. “Hey, Seth.
How are you feeling?”

“Like I was rolled on by a horse. Oh,
wait; I
was
rolled on by a horse,” Seth joked.

Marcus smiled, happy to see that Seth
still had a sense of humor. He looked down at Seth’s leg and sucked
in a breath. The entire leg was swollen. They’d had to cut slits in
the leg of his pants to accommodate the swelling. He swore just as
Dean came over.

“Oh, there’s the other one,” Seth
said.

“You just have to be the center of
attention, dontcha?” Dean said as he looked his brother
over.

Seth nodded. “Yeah, that’s me all
right. So you came to my rescue, huh?”

“Naw. We just wanted to see how fast we
could make it here,” Dean retorted. “Looks like Hank did a number
on you.”

“Well, this little idiot here was the
one who started it,” Seth said petting Trouble who had curled up
with him again. He told his brothers the rest of the story and his
brothers couldn’t believe what terrible luck had befallen
Seth.

“We’re gonna get you loaded onto the
wagon and get you home. Tessa went to get Doc Turner, so he’ll be
there to see you when we get back. We cushioned the wagon real well
so it’ll be easier traveling for you. You ready?” Dean
said.

“As I’ll ever be,” Seth
responded.

Marcus said, “We can just unhitch the
litter and use it to hoist him into the wagon. There’re four of us,
so we should be able to lift him on even though he’s gained a lot
of weight lately.”

“You just wait ‘til I can kick your ass
again,” Seth said.

Fifteen minutes later they had Seth
loaded and were under way back to the ranch. They had been as
careful as possible, but there had still been some jarring and Seth
had blacked out again. Dean figured it was for the best. At least
if Seth was unconscious he wouldn’t be feeling any pain.

Dean couldn’t get the horses moving
beyond a trot in some places because of deep ruts and pot holes. He
steered Buster and Nugget all over the trail sometimes. If anyone
had been watching, it would have looked like he was driving
drunk.

It was late June and it stayed light
out past six. Dusk was just falling as they turned down the lane
leading to the ranch. Tessa flew to meet them. She had been
standing out on the porch waiting for them.

“How is he?” she asked as she walked
alongside the wagon.

Dean just shook his head. His grim
expression told Tessa everything she needed to know.

“Dr. Turner is here. He’ll know what to
do, Dean,” she said in an effort to comfort her husband.

She moved back to see Seth as Dean
stopped the wagon in front of the house. She saw how awful his leg
looked and swallowed hard to keep from making any comment about
it.

Smiling at Seth she said, “That
certainly looks nasty. You’ll do anything to get out of
work.”

Seth saw the shock in her eyes but was
grateful that her response was humorous. He needed it right now. If
she’d have started crying, he would have, too.

“We’re going to take care of you.
Please don’t worry,” Tessa said. She squeezed his hand and then
turned back to Dean. “We have everything set up. We moved Mikey
upstairs with Jack and put Seth in the room next to us so that
we’re close to him.”

“Good idea,” Dean said.

“Is the herd all right?” she
asked.

“Yeah. A few minor bites and cuts, but
otherwise they’re fine. Ray and Marty are putting them in the back
pasture for now. Let’s get him in the house,” Dean said.

Dr. Turner came out and walked to the
wagon. He climbed up into it. Despite being an older man, he was
strong and spry.

“Evening, Seth,” he said as if they
were meeting on the street or at some social occasion.

“Hi, Doc,” the younger man
responded.

“Let’s take a look see,” Dr. Turner
said.

He started with the collarbone, noting
the bruising that had spread across Seth’s chest. It was most
likely fractured, but there was no bone protrusion, for which he
was glad. It would heal well in time. Seth’s leg was another
matter. He noticed that the bones had been set, but he was going to
have to look at the leg closer to determine how good of a job had
been done.

“Those splints look pretty good. Your
collarbone’s gonna hurt like the dickens for a while, but it’ll be
fine. I’ll be able to tell more about your leg when we get your
pants off and such,” he told Seth.

He hopped down off the wagon and they
set about getting him moved. Once he was lying on the bed in what
had been the Mikey’s room, he was given laudanum and left to rest
for a few minutes to allow the drug to start working. Then Dr.
Turner began undoing the splint and cutting away Seth’s pants. He
didn’t like what he saw as more of the leg was revealed.

With sheer determination Seth withstood
Dr. Turner’s examination. He saw the concern on Dr. Turner’s face
as he worked. Seth winced and gritted his teeth as his leg was
turned slightly.

“Doc?’ Seth said.

“Yes, son?”

“Tell me the truth. How bad is it?”
Seth asked.

Dr. Turner let out a sigh. “These
breaks are about as bad as I’ve ever seen. I’m glad that there’re
no bones poking out, but with the amount of swelling and bruising,
I can tell that they’re not clean breaks.”

Seth swallowed hard. “You’re not gonna
amputate,” he stated.

“No. No amputation. Not unless gangrene
would set in. Then that might be the only choice,” Dr. Turner said.
His brown eyes were somber as he spoke. He knew that Seth’s future
as a cattle driver was on the line and there was no way he could
offer any assurances. It was best to be honest with him.

Seth closed his eyes as many emotions
flowed through him. He took several deep breaths and felt a little
dizzy. The laudanum was strong and made him sleepy. Before he
passed out again, he raised his head and opened his
eyes.

“Fix it the best you can, Doc. We’ll
cross that bridge if we come to it,” he said.

“You bet,” Doc said and gave a curt
nod.

Seth awoke slowly. Once he was fully
conscious, he realized that he was in a world of hurt. Quickly he
tried to sit up and realized his mistake too late. More pain seared
through his shoulder and chest as his broken collarbone objected to
the movements. He felt a calming presence next to him and looked up
to see Tessa standing there.

“Shhh. It’s all right, Seth. Dr. Turner
didn’t amputate anything. He did shift some things around quite a
bit, however. I have more laudanum to give you,” she said and gave
him a dose.

Relief flowed through Seth that he was
home safely with his family and that even as messed up as it was,
he still had his leg. Tears rolled slowly from the corners of his
eyes. He saw that Tessa was crying with him and it made him break
down even more. She sat down then and held his hand until he fell
to sleep.

As Geoffrey read his daughter Tessa’s
letter, concern grew inside him. She told him about her
brother-in-law Seth’s horrible accident six weeks prior and it made
him very sad. Having spent some time with Seth when he had tracked
Tessa down three years prior, Geoffrey had grown fond of him. Much
like himself when he was younger, Seth was a ladies’ man and they
had exchanged stories about their wild youths.

Like his brother Dean, Seth was a hard
worker, but he didn’t relish staying home at the ranch the way Dean
did. The wide open places were where he preferred to be and it
seemed that being confined to bed most of the time wasn’t agreeing
with him.

“You can tell it’s very distressing to
her,” Maureen said as they sat in their front parlor that early
August night.

He sighed as he laid the letter down.
“Yes. She cares for Seth very much. It’s a very dangerous business
driving cattle,” he said. “I can understand why he’s so melancholy.
There’s a good possibility that he won’t be able to do that kind of
work again, which will be a big blow to him.”

“I can imagine. I would be devastated
if I couldn’t do the work I love,” Maureen said. “Having that
combination of purpose and enjoyment denied one is detrimental to
the soul.”

“You’re right, my smart wife. I feel so
helpless being so far from them. I wish there was some way to help
him. It’s just a good thing they were able to get that herd home
safely. They invested a great deal of money in it,” Geoff
said.

Maureen nodded. “I feel helpless all
the way around. It seems we're powerless to help our loved ones in
Montana and our poor wounded girl upstairs.”

“I know.”

They knew firsthand how even after the
physical injuries healed, the emotional ones lingered. Geoffrey
reached for Maureen’s hand and they sat that way for a long time,
drawing comfort from each other even as they worried about the fate
of their daughter.

“You want me to do what?” Seth asked.
“Have you been taking that laudanum?”

Tessa frowned at Seth. “No, I have not
and I don’t think writing some letters would be
difficult.”

“Why would I want to write letters to
your sister?” Seth said as he shifted on the sofa in the
parlor.

Tessa turned to the doorway to the
kitchen to make sure that no one was around. “What I’m about to
tell you must stay completely between us, Seth. Do you
swear?”

He could tell that Tessa wasn’t teasing
him. “Yeah, I swear. I won’t tell anyone.”

“You won’t tell
anyone
, Seth,”
Tessa said as she corrected his grammar.

“I just said that,” Seth
responded.

Tessa let it go. “Dean is the only
other person here that knows this. This is a subject of a highly
sensitive nature,” Tessa said.

Seth said, “I understand.”

“Several months ago, Maddie was
attacked by a young man she thought was her friend. I know him
personally and never would I have thought he would have acted this
way. He beat her very badly and would have, um, violated her
further had not some passersby stopped him,” Tessa said.