She reached out and laid her hand on his arm. "Tonight will be hard for Running Woman. I want her to pull through, but I need to be here."
He nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing. He didn't speak for a moment, then said, "I'll let Two Stones know we'll be staying."
She let the air ease from her lungs as weariness threaded back through her. "Thank you."
Then she turned and started toward the only lodge she hadn't yet visited. So much still to do, and nowhere near enough time to accomplish it all.
* * *
As weary as Jericho was, the woman walking beside him must be nearly dead on her feet.
He glanced sideways at Dinah as they made their way to another sick lodge. "After we finish here, you're going to lie down and sleep."
She gave him an exhausted attempt at a smile. "We'll see how Kicks the Stone is doing." Deep shadows lined her eyes.
Except for the few minutes when he’d found her slumped beside Running Woman, Dinah hadn't slept in the two days they’d been at Two Stones's village. Unfortunately, as he'd tried to back out of that hut without waking her, he'd tripped on a stick, and she’d jerked upright.
"Why don't you let me see to him? You've shown me everything that can be done." He'd stayed at her side as often as he could, doing whatever possible to ease her load and help those suffering around them.
She didn't answer right away. Probably too tired to form words. He was close to that point himself, though he'd slept a couple hours in the night.
But when she spoke, her voice came softly. "I'm concerned about him."
"Kicks the Stone?"
She nodded, her brow creased as she stared at the ground. "He's not gaining strength like I'd hoped."
But surely she could find a way to work the same magic with that boy that she had with Two Stones's mother and so many others. As weak as Running Woman had been when they first arrived yesterday morning, he'd thought he would be helping to bury her now. Instead, she was already starting to sit up and talking again.
Dinah had worked a miracle. Surely she could do the same with Kicks the Stones.
Maybe she needed encouragement. "What do you think should be done to help him?"
They'd nearly reached that family's lodge, though they were probably still far enough away not to be heard. Dinah stopped and turned to him, her gaze still troubled. "His mother. She's so deep in grieving the daughter she lost that she's not helping the son she still has. He needs his mother. I don't think anyone else can help him until he feels her love."
Jericho nodded, but the idea didn't fit clearly with the rest of his thoughts. "What...can you do?" Dinah had seemed so invincible these past days. Proving herself to be an excellent doctor, not just with knowledge, but she possessed a caring that infused hope in her patients. Just having her there seemed to give them strength.
She squared her shoulders, maybe trying to summon the determination she needed. "I'm going to talk to her." She met his gaze. "A mother is the heart of a family. If she loses hope, so does everyone else. I have to help her find that hope again."
Dinah must have also found the hope she needed, for she strode toward the lodge of Kicks the Stone's family.
As he started after her, a voice called his name. He turned as Two Stones walked toward him. He didn't look upset, so maybe nothing was amiss.
When he met him, Two Stones raised his brows. "You are faring well?"
Jericho nodded. It was Dinah he worried about, but he'd rather know what Two Stones had to tell him before he could offer small talk.
His friend likely realized that. "The boy has returned from your ranch."
The tension in his chest coiled tighter. With all the chaos and pain here, he'd forgotten Two Stones had sent one of the healthy boys with a note Jericho wrote to his brothers. He'd let them know what was happening here in the village, and instructed them to send word if they were urgently needed at the ranch. He hated being gone so long, leaving the family to manage without him. But he needed to be here.
To help his friends. And Dinah. He couldn't abandon her.
Two Stones held out a paper. Jericho's own note.
Jericho grabbed it and flipped the missive over. Jude's careful handwriting stared up at him.
We are well. Should we come help you there? Send for us.
