The Bride Price (25 page)

Jamie startled her, and the horse, as he
grabbed her from behind. “Sophie, what are you doing? He’s already
kicked two men while they were trying to bandage him. You need to
stay back. We’ll have Michael look at him and then you can visit
when he’s all fixed up.”

The horse nickered, almost in
disagreement.

“Jamie, he’s not going to hurt me, he knows
me.” She moved back to the horse’s side and slowly moved her hand
down his rear leg, crooning sweet words to him the entire time. He
lifted his hoof automatically, but rather than kicking out as
everyone expected, he held it still for her to look at more
closely.

“Good boy.” She pulled the bandage off and
took a closer look, scrunching her nose up at the sight. Shrapnel
and dirt were encrusted in the deep wound and a flap of skin peeled
itself away from the leg, which would more than likely need to be
stitched back. It looked painful and her heart broke for him as she
took a deep breath and stood slowly.

“Sophie,” Jamie warned.

“What?” she snapped in irritation. “He is not
going to hurt me.” She moved to his neck again and then around to
the other side of his body. Other than the wound on his leg, the
other injuries were somewhat superficial and would heal on their
own. “Samson, you are such a brave boy.” She stroked his nose as
she kissed his cheek. “We’re going to get that cleaned out and
fixed up so that you can heal properly.” The horse nuzzled and
pushed at her shoulder. Sophie raised her eyebrow at Jamie in
triumph. “I’m going to get some warm water and get this cleaned out
so that Michael can suture it. Can you help me, or do you need to
tend to the men?”

Jamie grinned reluctantly. “I’ll help you.
I’ll check in with the doctors first and then we can look Samson
over. I’ll find Michael as well. It’s his horse, so he’ll probably
want to know what’s going on.”

Sophie led Samson over to one of the smaller
tents. She found Topper carrying bandages to one of the doctors.
“Topper. You weren’t fighting, were you?”

“No ma’am.” A rare smile framed his face. “I
have been assisting with the wounded. I heard Samson’s
injured.”

Sophie nodded. “He is. I need to get a few
things, but he won’t tolerate anyone holding him.”

Topper set the bandages on a table set up
outside the tent. “He likes me, Sophie. Lieutenant Emerson and I
have been working with him.” He reached his hand out, and Samson
didn’t bite him, which in Sophie’s opinion was good enough.

“Great. Could you stand with him for me,
then?”

He nodded, so she handed Topper the reins and
made her way to the larger hospital tent. She noticed Christine
standing over a patient, her face red with apparent anger. Sophie
moved toward her. When Sophie saw who she was speaking with, she
wasn’t surprised. It was Dr. Palmer.

As Sophie approached, she saw that the
patient was an unconscious Richard. “What’s going on,
Christine?”

“He wants to amputate Richard’s leg.”

Sophie frowned. “You can’t take his leg, Dr.
Palmer.”

“Mrs. Ford, the leg is too far gone to save.
It will be kinder just to amputate. If we don’t, he’ll be in pain
for the rest of his life and probably walk with a limp.”

“Please, Dr. Palmer. Think of Richard as your
friend, rather than a patient. You have known each other for a long
time, and you know he’d rather have you try everything, right?
Can’t you do that? What harm is there in doing everything possible
to save it, and then if that doesn’t work, you can amputate later.”
Sophie was a little desperate for him to see her point of view,
holding her breath in anticipation.

“All right, ladies. We can wait.” Both Sophie
and Christine let out a collective sigh.

Sophie stared down at Richard. He looked so
peaceful. His beard now completely full, he was dirty and bloody,
but at least he was alive. She turned to Christine. “I have to tend
to Samson, but I’ll come back as soon as I’m done and help you with
Richard, okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine, Sophie. I’ll sit with him
for as long as I can. We seem to be slowing down now with the
influx of wounded. I’ll come and find you if that changes.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later.” Sophie
gathered up several of the supplies she would need, trying to
juggle them somewhat unsuccessfully. Jamie met her at the tent
entrance and took her burdens from her, carrying them over to the
horse. He appeared calmer than he had before and Sophie smiled as
she thanked Topper.

Jamie and Sophie started to work on Samson’s
leg. At first, Sophie held him and tried to speak to him as Jamie
went to work on his leg but he kept trying to kick him. He wouldn’t
let Jamie near him.

“Let me try,” Sophie said.

“Sophie, he’s in too much pain, he’ll kick
you.”

“Or, maybe he’ll let me near his leg because
he knows me.”

Jamie stood for a minute considering her
argument. “All right, I’ll hold him, but be careful. If he tries to
kick you, even once, Sophie, that’ll be it. Understand?”

She walked up to Jamie, reached up, and drew
his head down for a quick kiss. “Yes, my big strong protector, I
understand.”

Stroking Samson’s nose quickly, she moved her
way slowly to his injury with a bucket of warm water and a soft
rag. She was going to try and clean the wound out as much as
possible, but she knew it would hurt. As she made her way to his
back leg, Samson bent his head towards her and watched her
intently. Jamie tried to pull him up straight.

“Baby, let him look at me. It might help him
accept the pain he’s going to feel.”

Jamie let the reins slack slightly but
appeared ready to grab Samson if he tried to kick out. Topper
stroked Samson’s neck, also in an effort to keep him calm.

Sophie poured the warm water over the horse’s
wound and was able to get a lot of the debris out. Looking up at
Samson, she said, “I have to clean this, boy, which means I need to
get closer.” She waggled a finger at him. “Do not kick me.”

“Sophie!”

Ignoring Jamie, she climbed under the horse’s
belly, soaked the rag with clean water, and gently cleaned the rest
of the dirt out. It wasn’t as bad as she originally thought, which
meant it would heal quicker. When she finished, she climbed out
from under and chuckled when Jamie let out a long breath. “I was
fine!”

Before Jamie could comment, they were both
distracted as Michael rushed over to them. “I heard he has a nasty
gash.”

“He does. I just cleaned it, and he was an
absolute champ.” Sophie patted Samson’s neck. Michael moved to the
horse’s side as Sophie stayed by his head and felt Jamie brush
against her as he stood vigil. Samson skittered slightly the closer
Michael got to his leg, and Sophie felt Jamie tense as Samson’s
ears went flat.

“Shh, boy,” Sophie crooned, but the horse
wouldn’t calm and kicked out. Jamie grabbed her arm and pulled her
roughly away.

“What are you doing?” she screeched.

“He’s kicking out.”

“At
Michael
. Not me,” she snapped as
she pulled her arm away.

“Soph, stop.”

She ignored him and rushed back to get Samson
under control. Michael avoided another hoof, but Samson grew
increasingly agitated, even with Topper trying to help. Ears back,
eyes wild, and snorting as though he were a bull ready to
strike.

Sophie tried everything to get him under
control but he seemed too far-gone, so she tried something she’d
never done before. She sang to him the song she wrote with Jamie.
Although Samson threw his head a few times in frustration, she
wouldn’t give up. She continued to sing quietly until he lowered
his head and nuzzled her shoulder.

“Good boy.” She turned to Michael. “Try
again.”

The doctor sidled up to him, and this time,
Samson let him examine the leg. Michael was efficient and smiled as
he made his way back to Sophie. “Well, that doesn’t look so bad.
However, we are going to have to stitch him.”

Sophie shook her head. “He’ll never tolerate
a needle. What if we bind his wound tight? Could the skin fuse back
together, do you think?”

“I suppose that’s a possibility. I’ll make a
poultice and we’ll bandage him up. The leg isn’t broken, so we’ll
watch it over the next few days to see if we need to go
further.”

Sophie stayed close to Samson as Michael
prepared the special medicine and then they wrapped the wound
tight. When Michael was finished, he went back to the soldiers.

“Can you come back to the house, Jamie? Then
stay for dinner?” Sophie asked.

He nodded. “I’ll check in with my men and
meet you over at the house. Give me an hour or so.”

Jamie left her and Sophie decided to check on
Richard one more time. He was sleeping comfortably, and as several
other nurses arrived to take over for the ones who had been there
all day, Sophie found Christine, attached Samson’s reins to the
back of her carriage, and they made their way back to the
Wades.

CHAPTER TWENTY

After making sure Samson was cared for, Sophie went
back to the house and found that Christine had organized cool baths
for the both of them. After almost twenty minutes of soaking, she
didn’t want to get out of the water, but knew Jamie would be by to
see her soon. She climbed out of the tub and found the coolest gown
she had in her wardrobe and dressed quickly.

Making her way straight to the kitchen for a snack,
she chatted with Mary who allowed her a fresh peach, and then she
settled herself in the library. She’d been reading for less than an
hour, when he heard Jamie in the hallway.

“She’s probably in the library, Daniel. I’ll find
her.”

Sophie closed the book and set it aside. Rising to
her feet, she arrived at the door just as Jamie opened it.
“Hi.”

Jamie wrapped his arms around her and pulled her
close.

“What happened?”

Jamie straightened with a sigh. “We lost Ash and
twenty of his men.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.
Any of yours?” He shook his head. She raised an eyebrow. “Because
of…”

He nodded. “Yes.” He rubbed her back and then pulled
her back to her favorite chair. “I remember you and two guys
playing with model horses and watching you argue about the position
of fake soldiers.”

Sophie clapped her hands. “Oh, I remember that day.
Wow. That’s when we first met. Um, we had an assignment in history
class to see if we could have done something different in any of
the historic battles… we got to choose…and we had to chart it out
and reenact it using models. I chose Gettysburg and forced Seth and
Connor to team with me.”

He rubbed his forehead as he sat on the hearth facing
her. “Didn’t Hannah choose Iwo Jima?”

“Yes.” Sophie grinned. “You remember Hannah! That was
a while after I graduated, but she and Emma worked on it together.
Emma didn’t do as well as Hannah, but she got into the code
cracking side of it.” She reached for his hand. “Baby, you’re
remembering.”

Jamie sighed. “Little bits here and there, but I
remember your presentation, because I ran your scenario with my
men.”

“You did not!”

“I did.” He smiled. “No one even received so much as
a scratch.”

Sophie let out a little squeal. “That’s so unreal. Do
you think we changed history?”

Jamie shrugged. “It’s certainly a possibility, but I
don’t feel as though I had much of a choice.”

“What do you mean?”

He leaned forward, forearms on his knees. “If we
are
here for a reason, then I imagine we’re supposed to
survive, right?”

Sophie chewed her thumbnail. “Probably a good
assumption.”

“I mean, just being here is a change in history
anyway. So, maybe we’re supposed to do something really big…and
maybe we’re not. Until it’s clear, and until I can remember
everything about life together, I’m going to focus on staying
alive.” He pulled her thumb gently away from her teeth. “And loving
you.”

She leaned in for a kiss. “I’m all for that.” When he
broke the kiss, Sophie leaned back and grinned. “I feel so
vindicated right now! After the ribbing I got from Seth, and I was
right after all.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “He had a thing for
you.”

Sophie smacked his knee. “He did not.”

He raised her hand to his lips and gave a gentle nip
to her knuckles. “He absolutely did. I had to have a couple, “Come
to Jesus” discussions with him.”

Sophie wrinkled her nose. “I wondered why he started
to avoid me.”

Jamie kissed her hand again and then rose to his
feet. “I really need to check in.”

She followed. “Will you come back for dinner?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you don’t, I’ll bring dinner to you.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes. “Make sure you bring someone
with you. Topper or someone else of the male persuasion.”

Sophie pursed her lips. “I’ve been living with these
men for months now. I’ve formed friendships with many of them. If
someone tried to do anything to me, and you weren’t around, I’d
have a dozen men defending my honor. And if Andrew’s around…” She
waved her hand in the air. “…forget about it. The attacker would be
dead, or maimed.”

He grasped her upper arms gently and leaned down to
kiss her cheek. “Bring Topper.”

She nodded reluctantly and he turned to leave the
room. She couldn’t resist a gentle smack to his behind as he moved
away from her.

* * *

Sophie woke the next morning and forced
gritty eyes open. She stretched, her body sore, although not
unpleasantly so, and sighed. “Jamie.”

Needing to see him, she pushed herself out of
bed and dressed quickly. Relieved to find no one about downstairs,
she grabbed a slice of warm bread and took her morning walk to see
Samson. Arriving at his stall, she heard commotion going on near
the arena and cornered one of the men who had stepped into the
barn. “Is Lieutenant Emerson working with the horses?”