Authors: Sandra Robbins
Anna stiffened and stared at him. “B-b-bears?”
“Oh, yes. They're all around here. But don't worry. They're almost as afraid of you as you are of them.” He pulled the poker from the fireplace and pointed it at her. “Remember I said
almost
as afraid.”
“I will.”
He chuckled. “Don't look so scared. You probably won't even see one this summer.” He turned back to the fire and nestled a log into the glowing embers. Flames began to lick at the underside of the wood.
“Did I hear somebody mention bears? Simon, you tryin' to scare Anna on her first night here?” Granny wagged her finger at Simon as she entered the room.
Simon flashed a grin in Anna's direction, but she caught the mischievous glint in his eye that he couldn't hide. It reminded her of how her brother used to tease her when they were younger. “Sorry, Anna. I'll be nice.”
Granny walked to the fireplace and turned her back to it. She held her hands behind her toward the flame and smiled. “That feels mighty good.”
Simon placed the poker back on the stone hearth and pointed to the other chair. “You and Anna can sit here and get acquainted. I need to be getting on home.”
Granny glanced from him to Anna. “Don't go rushin' off on my account, boy.”
He shook his head. “It's late, and I'm supposed to go hunting with Will Parrish tomorrow morning. If I kill a rabbit, I'll bring it to you to cook.” He stepped to Granny and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for supper.”
“My pleasure, but you don't have⦔
“Granny, I need help!” A fist pounded on the front door, and then there came a scratching sound as if someone was pulling on the latch.
Fear rose in her throat and Anna gripped the edge of the chair. Granny's mouth turned down at the corners, and she shook her head. “That sounds like Luke Jackson. What's he wantin' this time of night?”
Simon's hands balled into fists and he strode toward the door. “I don't know. Let me handle this.”
Anna jumped to her feet and whirled at the moment Simon pulled the door open. His back filled the opening, and she couldn't see who stood on the porch. She inched closer to Granny, who reached out and grasped her hand. “It's all right, Anna. Jest one of the Cove fellers. Must be hurtin'.”
“What do you want, Luke?” The sharp edge of Simon's voice sent chills down her back.
“I got hurt. I needs to see Granny. She here?” The words were so slurred Anna had trouble distinguishing one from the next.
Her mouth dropped open, and she directed a wide-eyed stare toward Granny. “Is he drunk?”
Granny's grip on her hand tightened. “Yes, but don't worry.”
“How'd you get hurt, Luke?” Simon asked.
“This feller thought I was a-cheatin' him and pulled a knife.”
“You've been playing cards and drinking over at that tavern at Wear's Valley again, haven't you? Just this afternoon I talked to you about staying away from that place, and you said you had promised Naomi you wouldn't go back there.”
“I know, Simon. I shoulda stayed home like you said. I tried to leave, but one of 'em held me whilst t'other one cut me. Honest, Simon. It weren't my fault.” Now the words were not only slurred but had a whine to them.
“It never is to hear you tell it, Luke.” A sigh rippled from Simon's mouth.
Granny let go of Anna's hand and walked over to Simon. “Let 'im in. I'll see what I can do.”
They stepped away from the door and a man staggered into the
room. One eye was swollen shut, and underneath the other was a nasty-looking gash. Blood covered the front of his shirt and dripped onto the dirty pants he wore. Anna's stomach roiled at the smell of whiskey and cheap perfume that filled the room.
He only made it a few steps into the room before his legs gave way and he sagged downward. Simon caught him before he hit the floor and pulled him to his feet. Granny grabbed the other arm and helped support his weight.
“Let's put 'im on the kitchen table,” she said. She glanced at Anna. “There's water in the kettle on the stove. Pour some in a pan and git some cloths out of that chest in the corner of the kitchen. I'm gonna be needin' you to help.” Anna stood frozen in place as Simon and Granny pulled the man forward. Granny frowned at her and jerked her head in the direction of the kitchen. “This man's a-bleedin' bad, Anna.”
Anna took a deep breath and ran to the kitchen. Behind her she heard them enter the room and the thud of the man's body tumbling to the top of the table. She didn't look around until she had the pan of water in her hands and the cloths draped over her arm.
Simon had positioned himself at the man's head, but Granny stood beside the table as she cut the man's shirt from his body. Anna stepped to the other side and held the water for when Granny needed it.
When Granny pulled the shirt free, she muttered something under her breath. Then she took a deep breath. “It 'pears that Luke took quite a beatin' tonight. You think he'd learn his lesson.”
Only then did Anna glance down. Blood matted the black hair that curled across his chest. His rib cage rose and fell with each breath. And with each pump of his heart, fresh blood poured from a gaping wound that ran from the edge of his right armpit to his navel. Her fingers tightened on the warm pan of water in her hands and she swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. She swayed on her feet.
“Are you all right, Anna?” Simon's concerned voice floated to her from far away.
She nodded and directed her attention back to Granny, who
glanced up at her. “I'm gonna have to sew this here cut up. Whilst I'm a-gettin' my kit, you wash this wound out real careful, Anna. I kin see all kinds of trash down in there. They must've rolled 'im on the ground after they cut 'im up. I don't want to git nothin' in there that'll make infection set up.” She paused and studied Anna's face. “Kin you do that?”
Anna tried to force a smile to her face and nodded. “Yes.”
Setting the water on the table near the man's head, Anna dipped the cloth in, squeezed it, and inched it toward the open wound. She leaned closer to study the gash and began to wipe at the blood that poured across her fingers. A piece of what looked like tree bark lay inside the wound, and she caught it between the thumb and index finger of her left hand.
A growl followed by an angry curse roared from the man's mouth as she pulled it free. His eyes flew open, and he glared at her. He exhaled a deep breath, and the sour smell of whiskey that drifted up made her retch. Before she could move, his eyes narrowed, and his left hand circled her wrist in a vise-like grip.
“What you tryin' to do, woman? Kill me?”
Anna gritted her teeth and tried to jerk free, but she only succeeded in knocking the pan of water to the floor. Simon's hand snaked across the table and pried the man's hand from her arm. “Let her go, Luke.”
The man's fingers loosened, and his head lolled to the side. “Sorry, Simon. Didn't mean no harm.”
Simon released his grip. “Yeah, that's something else you always say.” He glanced at Anna. “Are you all right?”
She shrank against the pie safe on the wall behind her, rubbed her wrist, and nodded. Tears flooded her eyes and ran down her face. She glanced back at the man on the table, then to the blood on her hands, and backed away. Nausea rose from her stomach. She grabbed one of the cloths from the edge of the table and clamped it over her mouth.
Turning, she ran out the back door into the cool night. She made it to the side of the cabin before she could go no further. She gagged but couldn't repress the sick feeling any longer. Minutes later she sagged
against the side of the house, her stomach now empty of the supper she'd enjoyed.
There was a sour taste in her mouth, but worse than the taste of bile was the shame at what had happened in Granny's kitchen. How would she ever face Granny and Simon again? After a moment she pushed away from the house and stumbled toward the well.
She drew a bucket of water and set it on the ground. Bending over, she cupped some water in her hand and rinsed her mouth. Then she scooped up a handful and splashed it in her face. After another drenching, she turned back toward the house but stopped.
She couldn't go inside as long as Simon was here. She didn't want him to hear the things Granny was going to say to her. Walking to the tree where she and Simon had sat earlier, she dropped to the ground, circled her knees with her arms, and pulled them up under her chin. Maybe her dress would be dry by the time Simon left.
How long she sat there she didn't know. What seemed like hours passed before she heard footsteps leaving the kitchen and the sound of voices from the front of the house. She stood up and crept toward the back door in hopes of entering the house undetected. The kitchen proved to be empty and she slipped inside.
Tiptoeing to the door that led to the front room, she listened to Granny and Simon talking on the front porch. “You sure you kin make it home with 'im on his horse?”
“I'll have to. I keep thinking if I had stayed longer at Luke's house this afternoon, he might not have gone over to Wear's Valley. Maybe I could have kept this from happening.”
A snort of disgust rumbled from Granny's throat. “You gotta quit thinkin' like that, Simon. Luke is a grown man, and he makes his own decisions. All you kin do is talk to 'im and pray.”
“I do pray for him, and I pray for Naomi and the children too. She'll be worried if he doesn't come home.”
“I reckon she will be, but land's sakes, I don't know why. This man gives her more grief than any woman ought to have to live with.”
“I know, Granny, but he's her husband. Tell Anna goodbye for me, and tell her I'll see her tomorrow.”
“I'll do that.”
Anna turned and ran to her bedroom. She didn't want to hear Granny tell Simon what a disappointment she was. Granny probably already regretted allowing her to come. Closing the bedroom door behind her, she threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the goose-down pillow.
A breeze blew through the open window, reminding her of other summer nights when she was a child and she would be tired from playing all day. She would fall asleep on the parlor sofa and Poppa would pick her up in his strong arms and carry her to her bedroom. She wished she could be a little girl again. She had been happy then. She'd thought she could accomplish anything she dreamed about. Tonight she had learned that wasn't true.
A soft tap at the door made her sit up on the bed. Granny's voice drifted through the door. “You all right, Anna?”
“Iâ¦I'm fine.”
“You sleep well, and don't worry 'bout tonight. We'll talk in the mornin'.”
“You sleep well too.”
Fresh tears rolled down her cheek. She could imagine what they would talk about in the morning. Granny would tell her she wasn't cut out to be a nurse, and she would send for Uncle Charles to come take her home. Then she'd have to face Robert and tell him he'd been right all along. She didn't have the grit it took to be a nurse.
That thought sliced through her heart, and she fell back on the pillow and buried her face again. She wanted to learn to help people who were hurt and sick, but tonight she had failed in her first attempt. If by some chance Granny let her stay, which she hoped with all her heart she would, she had no idea if she could do what was expected.
In the front room herbs hung on the wall, and drugs she would never be able to tell apart sat on the table. She'd thought she would only be watching and learning, but Granny had hinted that she might have to perform procedures by herself.
I'm not ready for that
, Anna thought.
I'll never be ready for that.
Perhaps the most troubling thing about her failure tonight was the
fact that Simon had witnessed it. There was a quality about him that had made her like him from the very first moment they met. She'd never talked as freely or felt so at ease with any man as she had when they sat under the tree and peeled apples.
She thought of his cut finger and how she'd held his hand. Even though she'd told him he was her first patient, her racing heart was not that of a nurse helping someone in pain. That emotion scared her more than anything else that had happened tonight.
If Granny did let her stay, and she was prepared to beg for the chance, she had to be careful. Right now the most important thing she could do was salvage what was left of her dignity and work to prove her brother wrong. She couldn't afford to let anything else distract her.
A
nna had been awake for an hour, but she couldn't make herself open the door of the room where she'd slept. The smell of baked biscuits drifted from the kitchen, and her stomach growled with hunger. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the door. At some point she was going to have to face Granny and take the tongue-lashing she deserved. She couldn't put off the inevitable much longer.
What had made her think she could be a nurse? After her complete failure to help with an emergency last night, she feared Robert was right in refusing to let her go to New York. If Granny sent her packing today, she would have to put up with his I-told-you-so for the rest of her life. Facing Granny couldn't be worse than living with Robert's smug attitude about her failure.