The Prairie Doctor’s Bride. Kathryn Albright
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the windowpanes and her cheek mashed against the table. Her entire body ached from sitting in the chair through the night.
Across from her, Doc Graham slept with his head cushioned by his arm. The other arm was stretched most of the way across the table. His dark hair, longer on top than on the sides, flopped over his face with just enough wave in it to make him appear boyish in his sleep. A coarse, dark stubble had grown on his jaw overnight.
She shook the remaining cobwebs from her mind, stood, stretched briefly and then crouched down to check on Tommy. His breathing was even and deep. He slept. Peacefully. She peeled back the cover over his feet to check his bandage. It still looked fresh. Why hadn’t the doc wanted to use her honey? Didn’t he know it was good for cuts and such? And Tommy’s cut was the biggest she’d ever seen. She’d make sure to add some when she changed the bandage later, after she returned from taking the doctor home. She put Tommy’s cover back on and stood.
The doc had done his part. Tommy was healing. The least she could do was offer him breakfast before taking him back to town. She sure didn’t have any money to pay him for his doctorin’. Didn’t even have any eggs to send with him! She filled the tin pot with water from the pitcher and threw in two handfuls of chicory. Then she hung the pot on the hook and swung it over the hearth. She set another chip on the fire and stirred up the ashes.
Quiet as a mouse, she slipped outside to see to her needs and those of her animals. An inch of new snow had fallen during the night and the air was crisp with the tang of winter’s end. In the shed, she gave Berta a measure of oats, checked on her sheep and milked her goat. Then she walked to the chicken coop and gathered the eggs. Seven eggs—that was plenty for the three of them and the number was a good sign. She carried the pail and basket back to the house.
When she walked through the door, the doc was crouched over Tommy.
“Is he all right?” she asked quickly.
“He might have some dizziness for a few days.”
She knelt before the hearth. “I’ll have breakfast for you directly.” She pushed the iron skillet closer to the hearth. “Then I’ll take you back to town.”
She heard the door close behind her. Had he left? Was he walking back to town? She jumped to her feet and rushed to the window. He stood in the middle of the yard and stretched. My, but he was a tall man! Much bigger than Thomas had been.
She took in the yard, trying to see it through his eyes. It was always a bit muddy and dreary this time of year. Only the hardiest of weeds had gotten a start in the dirt. At least last night’s snow covered most of it and made the yard look clean. She let out a sigh. It wasn’t much to look at. Not when compared to the fine houses in town. Each new house that was built in Oak Grove looked bigger and finer than the last.
Well, it was all she could do to keep the place running as it was. There was no time for prettying up things. But it was her place. Hers and Tommy’s and built by his father. And that meant something. She wasn’t going to apologize for it.
He headed for the rain barrel on the far side of the cabin, moving with a measured steadiness that had a way of calming a person. He leaned over and splashed water on his face. His gasp and quick shudder at the coldness amused her. The man probably had someone warm his water at home—straight from a pot on a fancy stove. Well, he would just have to forego that kind of coddling here.
She couldn’t seem to hold back from stealing one more glance. If coddling made a man weak, like Carl had said, the doc didn’t look weak in the least. His shoulders were broad as a barn door and his linen shirt stretched over them in a manner that made butterflies suddenly swarm in her tummy. He looked full of health...full of vigor. Her cheeks warmed at the thought. It had been a long time since she’d noticed a man’s qualities.
When he stepped inside the privy, she pulled away from the window, not wanting to puzzle out why she had stood there watching him for a spell when she had so much to do. Not wanting to decipher that at all. She moved back to awaken Tommy and help him with his morning needs.
The doc strode through the door and stopped when he saw the spread on the table. Coffee, fried eggs, toast and jam. She fixed a plate for him and set it across the table. Then she fixed another plate for Tommy and gave it to him there on his pallet. Last, she fixed one for herself.
He waited for her to sit down, like a gentleman. She said grace, adding at the end how grateful she was for Tommy feeling better and for the doctor’s skill. Then the man waited for her to take a bite of food.
“It’ll get cold fast, Doc. Eat up.” She was awkward with his ways. The last person who sat at the table with her, besides her son, was Tommy’s father and he’d not been one to wait on her to start eating first.
“This is every bit as good as the breakfast I get at the restaurant in town,” he said, after a few bites.
“Can’t mess up eggs and toast, Doc,” she said, amused.
He gave a derisive snort.
“You mean you can’t cook a simple thing like this?” The thought struck her as comical. “Didn’t you learn growin’ up?”
He shrugged. “I’ve always had someone cook for me. I take my meals at the restaurant, often with Mayor Melbourne. Sometimes the sheriff joins us. It gives me a chance to catch up on what is happening in town. Things like kidnappings and such.” He added the last smoothly.
She pulled a sharp breath. She hadn’t thought through what would happen next after forcing him here. If he went to the sheriff...
She put down her fork, no longer hungry. All she’d done to get him here...was wrong. She was ashamed she couldn’t pay the doc like most folks and instead had to go and do such a terrible thing. It couldn’t be helped, she told herself for the tenth time since Tommy had hurt himself yesterday. She’d do it again if she had to. But Tommy was innocent in all of it and she didn’t want him sharing in the burden of the guilt she now carried.
She stole a glance at her son. He was done eating and had lain back down. His eyes were closed, but his breathing wasn’t the deep, even breathing of someone who was asleep. Most likely he was listening to all that was being said. She didn’t want Tommy hearing what she’d done.
Doc Graham leaned back in his chair and studied her.
Her gut knotted. It was like he knew the predicament he’d put her in by his words. Guess she’d better say something despite Tommy. The doc deserved that after all he’d done. She couldn’t look him in the eye, so she stared at her plate. “I’m sorry for the way things happened last night. I—I guess I panicked some. I was afraid if you knew I couldn’t pay you, that you wouldn’t help Tommy. I just didn’t know any other way to make you come here.”
“All you had to do was ask.”
His soft words struck right to her core. She drew in a sharp breath, feeling even more remorseful.
“I take my oath seriously, payment or no payment, although a hearty breakfast eases the lack of coin immensely. While I was learning medical skills, you were obviously learning to cook.”
He liked her cooking? The tightness inside her eased. Slowly, she raised her gaze. He was sopping up the yolk with his toast and appeared to be enjoying the meal immensely.
“Seems a man who can’t cook should hire one,” she said cautiously. “That’d be the smart thing. Then maybe he wouldn’t be out in the evening and getting himself caught up like a rabbit in a snare. Ain’t nothing good that happens after the sun goes down.”
Did his eyes just twinkle?
“Odd you should mention that. Those were my exact thoughts. The celebration going on at the new town hall was to welcome a handful of women from back East. They came to marry. I hope to take one of them as my wife, thereby solving my problem of lack of a cook.”
“Can’t believe a woman would come so far just to marry a man. What if she ends up with a lout?” Carl came to mind. Anyone who ended up with him