How did she learn such procedures?
Jonah stopped shifting beneath his hands, maybe passed out from the pain. Jericho's own body trembled.
God, if You're looking down on this, help my brother. Don't let us lose him.
Had the doctor been right that his brother could bleed out from a broken bone? A river of crimson had run from the leg, pooling in the blanket before it soaked through the fabric.
At last, the woman straightened and blew out a breath, wiping the hair from her face with the back of her arm. "There. Now I'll stitch and bandage, then splint the legs together."
She glanced at Jonah's face, but she gave no hint of what she thought about his brother's blanched skin.
Then she lifted her gaze to Jericho, and the intensity in her blue eyes struck him just as it had every other time she'd looked at him. This woman did nothing in half measure.
"I think he's passed out, so you don't need to hold him. You can prepare transportation to take him home."
He kept his own expression from showing his surprise at the stark words. She was simply stating the facts. He should appreciate that.
Turning to Jude, he nodded to the wagon, using his eyes to silently ask if there was room to lay Jonah. They'd been in the process of loading crates when he'd heard Crowley’s shrill cry that strangers were around.
Jude moved to the rear of the wagon. He would clear a spot. They had no blankets, but hopefully these women would allow them to lay Jonah on the quilts they'd covered him with.
At last, the doctor finished her bandage and, using a long strip of cloth, tied Jonah's legs together in four different places. She straightened and looked around, probably checking to make sure they'd accomplished her instructions.
He nodded toward the wagon. "We have a place to lay him."
With the doctor lady giving directions, they shifted the blanket beneath Jonah so it could act as a stretcher. Then he and Jude lifted him, hoisting him over the side of the wagon.
Crates still lined the other side of the conveyance. It would have been better if Jude had moved all the boxes back into the storage building, but that would have drawn attention to the shed. In case these women ever discovered what the Coulter family actually did on their property, he certainly didn't want them to know where the crates were kept.
He nodded to Jude. "Can you drive?" Jericho would stay in the back with Jonah. Especially since the doctor was already climbing up beside him.
Her sister held the reins of their two horses, and looked like she might need help mounting. The women certainly bore a resemblance, but this one carried a few more pounds than the doctor.
He took the animals’ reins from her and received her thanks with a nod. He'd have thought she would be able to mount on her own, given the fact that they were traveling alone out here in the mountain wilderness of the Montana Territory. But after she struggled to lift her leg up to the stirrup, then gave an unsuccessful hop that was probably intended to pull herself into the saddle, he moved in.
"Here. Put your boot in my hand."
She didn't argue, just removed her left foot from the stirrup and placed it in his cupped palms. As she pulled herself up, he lifted, and though he had to endure a face-full of skirts, they managed to get her into the saddle.
She was breathing hard as she settled. "Thank you. That's getting harder every day."
Strange thing to say.He nodded and helped her gather her reins, then handed over the leathers for the horse she would lead. A few months in this land would slim her down, no doubt. Food was too hard to come by out here to overindulge.
He turned to the wagon and climbed in as Jude started the team moving. The doctor woman—he should find out her name—sat in the only open spot beside Jonah, so Jericho settled onto the crates.
He needn’t have worried about her scrutinizing the boxes in the wagon. She kept her attention locked on Jonah, glancing from his bandaged leg to his pale face. His mouth puckered in a frown, but he showed no other sign of wakefulness. Was that good?
Jericho certainly didn't want him to be in pain, but wasn't his being unconscious for this long even more concerning? Would this doctor know? If she possessed any experience in her profession, she should.
He gripped the side of the wagon as the wheels bounced over a low boulder mostly covered by dirt. "Why hasn't he woken up?"
"He's lost a lot of blood, and the pain has caused a shock to his system. Once his body rests and makes new blood, he should be more alert."
She looked up at Jericho, her expression serious. "Do you have a place he can lie without being disturbed? A clean bed. He'll need foods to rebuild his blood too. Liver, or any kind of meat, really. Greens, nuts, and beans."
He nodded, his mind scanning the few crates of supplies they had left. "We've plenty of meat. There might be some beans too." It'd been a few weeks since it was his turn to oversee the cooking, and even longer since he'd made a supply run to Missoula Mills.
The woman frowned but refocused her attention on Jonah's leg.
