Yesterday's Magic (17 page)

Just what the hell was she supposed to tell
the rest of group when she returned?
Oh, by the way, Jed and I
were swapping spit outside and it was very cool until he panicked
and hit the road at a dead run.

Well, that ought to get the dinner
conversation going.

She squatted and with quick, determined
movements, she loaded her arms with wood. She entered the cabin and
with her back to the rest of the group, she dumped the wood near
the fireplace.

“Where’s Sheriff McNeil?” Constance asked,
her tone accusing. “I was watching out the window and saw the two
of you talking near the wood pile. Then a few minutes later, he
rode out.”

It dawned on Bella that Constance seemed too
interested. Was it possible that she was checking out Jed? Maybe
she had a thing for lawmen? Had she guessed what Bella and Jed were
doing at the side of the house?

Bella had a lot of questions and very few
answers. She turned to face the room. “Jed and I chatted for just a
minute. He mentioned that he’s not going to be able to stay for
dinner.” She turned toward Elizabeth. “He said he’ll be back in two
hours to pick you up.”

Mrs. Bean made some sort of odd noise in the
back of her throat which caused Aunt Freida to slam a dish down
onto the stove. She no doubt wanted to defend her friend but likely
had no interest in starting a debate with Thomas’s mother.

String Bean put his thumbs in his vest
pockets and looked more ridiculous than ever. “I guess he was more
bothered about what I told him than he let on.”

“What did you tell him?” Thomas asked his
brother.

“I told him that when I was speaking to Ben
Stroud at the dance last night, he mentioned that he intended to
stay over in Mantosa for a couple of days.”

“Why would that upset Jedidiah?” Elizabeth
asked.

“It’s not that he’s staying over,” String
said, “it’s the reason why. A couple weeks back, some stranger
passed through Shinoah. He and Stroud played cards and Stroud was
the big winner. Evidently Stroud had heard that this stranger is on
his way to Mantosa. Stroud is already practically counting his
winnings, he’s so confident his good luck will hold.”

Thomas shook his head. “I never thought
Stroud was all that talented of a card player.”

“I know. He’s been known to stir up a fuss
when he loses, too. I imagine Jedidiah is concerned that things
will get out of control.”

“This stranger have a name?” Aunt Freida
asked.

“Oddest one I ever heard,” String said. “Goes
by the name of Rantaan Toomay.”

The potato bowl slipped out of Bella’s hands.
It hit the table with a thud. Fortunately, the mashed potatoes
stayed in place.

“Is something amiss Bella?” Aunt Freida
asked.

Other than it was show time? Bella shook her
head and tried to look very innocent. “No. Of course not. Food
looks so good I guess I’m just anxious to get started.”

“I’ve always appreciated a woman with a good
appetite,” String proclaimed.

***

When Bella woke up on Monday morning, she had
a terrible headache. She scooted up in the bed, until her back was
propped up against the wooden headboard. She’d left the curtains
open the night before and now the gray light of early morning
slipped in, casting the room in shadows.

She wanted caffeine and sugar—and then some
more of the same. “I’ll have a double Expresso,” she whispered.
“And one of those special cinnamon rolls with the pecans on
them.”

The rough wooden walls of her small bedroom
mocked her.
This ain’t no Starbucks, honey,
they said.

Damn. Right now she’d give up her purse
collection for a Diet Coke and a candy bar. She looked out the
window. Her squirrel was back, sitting five feet from the privy, as
if he was waiting for her. “Make that a Hershey’s with nuts and we
could split it,” she said.

She swore the squirrel smiled. She rolled to
her side, sat up, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She
winced when her bare feet hit the cold floor.

She’d been cold since she’d arrived in
Kansas.

Well, not exactly true. She’d been pretty
damn warm right before, during, and after Jed had kissed her. Oh,
baby. The man oozed sex appeal and he could kiss like…well, to tell
the truth, he could kiss like a man who had been trained to kiss.
Like a man who’d gone to kissing college and gotten his doctorate
with honors.

However, she was pretty sure it came
naturally to him. Sort of the same way the ability to piss her off
came to him. He didn’t seem to be working very hard at that
either.

It was a good thing she was only going to be
here a couple more days. She planned to avoid him and heaven help
him, if he tried to kiss her again, only to afterwards act like as
if it had been the biggest mistake of his life, she was going to
wring his neck. That might be a problem, since he was the sheriff.
Bart Schneider would probably throw her butt in jail before she
could deal with Toomay and once again, she’d have screwed things
up.

Not. This. Time.

She slipped on her yellow dress. She ran a
brush through her hair and gathered the wad up in a ponytail. When
she opened the bedroom door, Aunt Freida was already standing at
the stove.

“Good morning,” Bella said.

“Morning dear. How did you sleep?”

“Good.” She’d actually slept better in Kansas
than she ever did at home. Probably the erotic dreams featuring Jed
were wearing her out. Damn. She hoped whatever tossing and turning
she was doing during those brief but very pleasant interludes used
up some calories because if she wasn’t mistaken, Aunt Freida had
made biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

She really wished she could take Aunt Freida
home with her. “Think we’ll be busy today?” she asked.

“Probably about like any other day,” Aunt
Freida asked.

Today might to be very different from any
other today. Rantaan Toomay was on his way to Mantosa.

After Bella had two helpings of biscuits and
gravy, they got the horses ready and drove into town. When Bella
and Aunt Freida got to the store, the streets of Mantosa were
empty. Bella wondered if the early morning shoppers were still hung
over from drinking the spiked punch or had finally come to their
senses and decided it was just too damn cold to be out and
about.

She looked down the street and could see a
faint light coming from the window of the Sheriff’s office. It
barely cast a glow out into the street but it was enough to make
Bella’s heart skip a beat. Was he there? Would he stop by later? If
he did, was she a good enough actress to make him think that she
hadn’t given a moment’s thought to yesterday’s kiss or his abrupt
departure.

Two hours later, she was halfway through
organizing the canned goods when she heard what sounded like a high
pitched squeal before the back door slammed shut with a solid thud.
She walked toward the back room, scanned the space, and when she
didn’t see her aunt, she quickly crossed the room and opened the
back door. What she saw made her heart jump into her throat.

There was a glaring patch of ice, almost two
feet wide, and Aunt Freida, her eyes closed, lay flat on top of
it.

“Oh, no,” Bella cried. Moving fast, but
carefully, so that she too wouldn’t slip, Bella knelt down next to
her aunt. She put her hand on the woman’s chest and was comforted
slightly by her shallow breaths. And there was no blood. That had
to be a good sign.

“Oh, Aunt, Freida,” she said. “Open you eyes.
I’m absolutely no good at this stuff. Come on, sweetie. Talk to
me.”

Aunt Freida licked her lips. Her eyes were
still closed. “If it’s all the same to you,” she said, her voice
much softer than usual, “I don’t feel much like talking.”

Bella wanted to weep with relief. “I’m going
to go get some help,” she assured her aunt.

That got Freida’s eyes to open. “Better see
if Doc Winder is in. I’m pretty sure I broke my leg. I heard it
crack and it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch.”

Broken leg? That could be fixed. Right. Damn,
maybe she could just whistle and one of the many orthopedic
surgeons hanging around Mantosa in 1877 would come running? She
tried to think of every hospital drama she’d ever seen on
television. That was the extent of her medical training.

“I’m going to get you a blanket,” she said.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t move,” she said.

“Not much chance of that,” her aunt said,
closing her eyes again.

Bella hurried inside. She grabbed three of
the thickest blankets off the shelf and her cloak as well. When she
got back to Freida, she left one of the blankets folded and gently
lifted Freida’s head so that she could slip the cloth under it.
Then she shook out the remaining two blankets and covered
Freida.

She buttoned her cloak as she ran toward Dr.
Winder’s office. It took her three minutes to get there and another
two to tell him what had happened and wait for him to put on his
coat and grab his medical bag. It was the longest five minute of
her life. Then the two of them make their way back to the
Mercantile. Just as they crossed the street, Jed walked out of the
Sheriff’s office.

“Jedidiah,” Dr. Winter called. He raised the
hand that wasn’t carrying his medical bag. “I may need your
assistance here.”

Jed covered the distance between them in
about twelve steps. His eyes made a fast sweep, starting with
Bella’s face and ending at her toes. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

It dawned on her that he sounded
concerned—which was more than she expected from a man who’d made it
clear that she was an inconvenience.

“Freida has slipped on the snow outside the
back door of the Mercantile,” Dr. Winder explained.

Jed looked at Bella. She wondered if he was
remembering how she’d slipped going into the dance, how he’d pulled
her tight into his body, how nicely they’d seemed to fit. She felt
warm suddenly and she looked away before he could guess what was
making her face red.

Dr. Winder shifted his black bag to his other
hand. “Bella tells me that Freida thinks she broke her leg. If
that’s true, which I suspect it is since Freida is not a woman
prone to exaggeration, I’m going to need a thick board to lay her
on and a few strong men to carry her to my office.”

Jed nodded once. “We’ll be there in five
minutes.” He took off running the other direction.

Bella took her first deep breath since seeing
her aunt. It would be okay. Even if he didn’t like her, Jed really
liked Freida. When she and Dr. Winder reached Aunt Freida, the
woman opened her eyes and gave them a half smile. “Doc, I think I
really did it this time,” she said.

The man rubbed the back of his hand across
her aunt’s cheek. “Don’t fret, Freida. I’ll have you dancing again
in no time.” He lifted Freida’s long skirt up to her knees and
gently ran his hand down the front of her leg. When he got near her
ankle, he probed the skin. “It’s broken, for sure,” he said. Just
at that moment, Jed, Bart, Wymer, and the bartender from the saloon
rounded the corner. Jed carried what appeared to be a thick, wooden
door under his arm. Dr. Winder pulled Freida’s dress back down.

“We need to get her to my office,” the doctor
said to the men. He looked down. “We’re going to be as careful as
we can, Freida, but I’m warning you, it’s going to hurt when we
move you.”

Jed squatted down next to Freida. He took her
hand in his and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “With the big
dance over, you figured we needed some new excitement?” he
asked.

He’d tried but he hadn’t been able to hide
his concern. It was in his voice, in the stiff way he held his
shoulders.

She watched as Dr. Winder and Jed took the
board and slid it up next to Aunt Freida. The doctor put his hand
on Aunt Freida’s shoulder. “Roll to your side, Freida. We’ll slip
this under you.”

Aunt Freida didn’t argue but once she moved,
a soft grunt told Bella it was easier said than done. Jed and Dr.
Winder wedged the board up against the side of her body.

“Roll back,” Dr. Winder said.

When she did, Bella could see that her aunt’s
eyes were closed and even though it was probably zero degrees
outside, there were beads of sweat running down her face.

“Let’s go, Gentlemen,” Dr. Winder said.

Each of the four men took a corner of the
board and lifted. When Freida was waist level, Bella reached out a
hand to her aunt. “I’ll be right beside you.”

Aunt Freida shook her head. “No, Girl. You
need to take care of the store.”

“But—“

“I know it’s a lot to ask, Bella, but can you
do that for me?”

She didn’t know anything about managing a
store. She did
store windows,
not stores. And how was she
supposed to keep an eye out for Rantaan Toomay? The man was coming.
He could arrive at any minute.

“Please,” Aunt Freida added. The woman’s
voice sounded weaker.

She squeezed her aunt’s hand. “Of
course.”

Dr. Winder had gathered up his bag and now
stood next to Bella. “Excellent. That’ll be one less worry for
Freida. I’ll set this leg and then give her something for the pain.
She’ll sleep most of the day away.”

Great. By the time she woke up, she’d
probably be bankrupt.
“Sounds like a plan,” Bella said. She
bent over and kissed her aunt’s cheek. “I’ll take care of
everything here. Once I close up tonight, I’ll be by to take you
home.”

Five minutes later, she was standing in the
middle of the store, turning in slow circles, not having a clue
what to do first, when Jed opened the front door. He still didn’t
have a coat on. “We got Freida settled at Doc Winder’s,” he said,
before she could ask.

“Thank you,” Bella said. She thought of
Freida lying on the cold ice, her leg badly broken. She thought
about the care Jed had shown when he’d knelt down next to Aunt
Freida and the strength he’d demonstrated when he and the others
had picked up the board. “We could not have managed without your
help,” she said, knowing it was true.