Nodding, the doctor put the stethoscope back into his bag.
“Let me have a look at your head. How do you feel?”
“I have headaches. Some worse than others,” Madelaine said truthfully.
“Do you remember the fall?” he continued, as he began to remove the bandage around her head.
“I remember falling…” Madelaine replied tentatively.
“The wound on the back of your head is already healing very well,” he said, as he examined it. “No need to worry. But you should rest. Allow your body to heal,” he said to Madelaine. “I assume that you might be suffering from amnesia. We need to wait and see what the long-term effects will be. Sometimes, the memory comes back, and sometimes, it does not.”
He put his things back into his bag before closing it.
“If you’d like, I’ll come back in a few days, and we’ll see if anything has changed.”
Madelaine nodded. “Thank you, doctor.” She was so very grateful that this scenario was finally over, and she didn’t have to lie any more than she already had.
“If at all possible, it would be nice if Miss Peterson could stay here for a couple of weeks to get some rest,” he said to Evelyn, who’d come back into the room with Belle.
“Of course. Luke said she should stay as long as she needs. We will look after her and the children while she recovers,” Evelyn said reassuringly.
“Very well, I’ll return in a couple of days.” The doctor took his hat, put it back on his head, and left.
And just like that, Madelaine had a couple of days to figure out what to do next.
Chapter Seven
Sheriff’s Quarters, Stevensville
A couple of days later
As usual, Luke had been out of the house working since the early morning hours. However, these last few days, since the unplanned arrival of his new houseguests, he’d started to come home early instead of spending all night there. He hoped to garner more information about his young woman and her bizarre circumstances. More often than not, he’d leave just before sundown, closing up the sheriff’s quarters in town unusually early.
It didn’t go unnoticed. People began to ask questions.
News about a shootout near Bitterroot River in the early morning hours almost a week ago had already created quite an uproar among residents, and understandably, the folks in town demanded answers.
Unfortunately, the gang shootout wasn’t the only news people talked about. It had somehow gotten out that Luke had brought the victims—two small children and a pretty young lady, no less—to his ranch, so now the townsfolk had begun pestering him about the situation in his home, and what his relation was to this young lady.
All the gossip floating around the saloon and barber shop was enough to deal with, and being questioned like this was not something he was used to. He was a respected authority in his town, and all this nonsense and the jibes from other people didn’t sit right with him.
Getting his beard trimmed at the barber shop, he cut everybody’s banter short and openly announced that he’d simply hired a new housemaid. And that was that.
Tonight, as he arrived home in the fading daylight, he saw that most of the windows had a warm golden glow in them, which reflected in the freshly fallen snow.
It was beautiful to see, but it somehow filled him with sadness and resentment. He still hadn’t fully processed his previous loss, so this outside image of a warm, happy home didn’t sit right with him. It felt like a betrayal to Isabelle and their children.
However, since he’d been the one who brought them here, he couldn’t backtrack now, and he had to shelve his emotions.
He made sure that Chester had fresh straw and water for the night before he went and checked on Tinsel. The beautiful white mare with those light gray spots covering most of her back seemed to be feeling much better. His ranch hand—Alvarez, a whitehaired Mexican in his sixties—had done a great jobcleaning out her wound, applying ointment made from herbs and chewed-up bread from an ancient remedy to it daily.
As he entered the main house, the smell of delicious food wafted toward him, and the air was filled with the pitter-patter of tiny feet and squeals of laughter. His heart clenched at the sound of it, and for a moment, he stood inside the front door, slowly taking off his hat and coat while battling emotions of loss and guilt. He feared he would forget his lost loved ones.
Once again, he had to rein in his emotions, which tended to pull him to a darker side. These people did not deserve this side of him.
From what he had observed over these last few days, he was certain that Madelaine was a good person. Carefully, so she wouldn’t notice, he had secretly watched her. The woman seemed to be selfless, always happy to help Evelyn with anything. The way she took care of her much younger siblings as if they were her own children was heartwarming.
Rather interesting was the fact that Madelaine loved to spend a lot of her time in the stables with the horses. She checked on her beloved mare regularly, and it was even more interesting to see her work with the injured horse, socializing her with his other animals while her leg was healing. It became apparent that she had great knowledge regarding horses in general—she’d even showed Alvarez a few tricks, which was surprising since he was a seasoned horseman, fully trusted to look after all of Luke’s animals.
