The half hour ride felt like it stretched two hours, but at last they rolled into the yard.
Sampson poked his head from the barn, and when he saw the women, he stepped all the way out, striding forward.
Jericho jumped to the ground as his second-to-youngest brother met them. "Go to my room and see things are straightened. Jonah's hurt, and we're going to bring him into the bed there." He glanced toward the quiet house. "Where are Sean and Lillian?"
"They went with the others to handle the foals."
Maybe that was for the best. The children didn't need to see all this blood, though Lillian would have been a help in getting Jonah settled.
As Sampson sprinted to the house to obey, Jericho turned his attention to helping Jude lift their brother's limp body from the wagon. Jude carried the blanket at Jonah's head and led the way into the house. The doctor woman followed right behind Jericho, clearly feeling it her duty to stay with her patient.
Or maybe she was using him as an excuse to invite herself into their cabin. What had she said? That one of them was coming to be his bride?
What kind of hogwash was that? A woman was the very last thing he would invite onto their ranch. Or rather…awife.
He could deal with that ill-begotten notion in a bit. For now, they had to get Jonah comfortable so he could start recovering. Unfortunately, it seemed they'd be beholden to the doctor woman for help with that task.
* * *
Dinah adjusted Jonah's leg, carefully straightening the femur now that he was settled in the bed. She would need to create some type of traction to extend the leg so his fractured bone could heal without any further displacement. And hopefully that would help the femur maintain its original length and minimize any permanent limp.
The bed frame was made of logs, with a rough-hewn footboard just high enough to work perfectly.
She had enough bandages in her supplies to wrap the ankle, though she might need more later when the incision had healed enough to add a splint. "What will I use for weight though?" She eyed his leg. She'd have to gauge that once everything else was in place.
As she turned to send someone for her case, Naomi's quiet presence near the door grabbed her focus.
Dinah frowned. "You need to be sitting with your feet up."
Naomi offered a weary half-smile. "I'm fine."
Dinah turned to the man who'd first found them by the creek. She still didn't know his name, and maybe that needed to be remedied before anything else. "Who are you, sir?"
He opened his mouth to speak, then paused. Something flashed across his face. Something like uncertainty.
Then he closed his mouth, and determination replaced anything else he might have displayed. "Jericho Coulter, ma'am."
She nearly choked on her breath. This was Naomi's intended? She couldn't help a quick glance down his grubby clothes. He was much younger than she'd first supposed. No more than thirty, surely.
But…he didn’t appear to be what she'd call respectable. Not with his shoulder-length hair loose and a beard covering most of his face. He still wore his hat, even in the house, and though his leather clothing disguised any dirt, she had a feeling he was covered in plenty of grime.
She turned back to her patient so she could gather her thoughts. They could worry about matters of the heart later. For now, she had two patients who needed care.
"Can you please bring a chair for my sister? And my case from the wagon? I'll need the larger bundle that’s tied behind my saddle too." She kept her gaze toward the bed but listened for his footsteps to signal he’d obeyed.
As he left the room, she moved to her patient's head and lifted his eyelids to check their color. Would it be better to give laudanum now to see if bringing his pain down made him more alert? But that almost seemed unkind, to wake him so he could experience the agony. Perhaps letting his body take the lead in this situation would be best. He could rest better like this.
A moment later, the scrape of the outer door sounded in the front room. All had been quiet from there, but now a host of voices sounded, some of them young.
She met her sister's gaze, but Naomi looked too exhausted to worry about who might be entering. Maybe they had another bedchamber she could rest in.
A young man poked his head through the doorway, his gaze landing on the man in the bed. Then he stepped in and nodded to Dinah. He saw Naomi tucked behind the open door and offered her a nod, too, before his gaze roamed back to Jonah. "How is he?" His voice came out quiet, as though he didn't want to wake the sleeping man.
"In pain. He needs a great deal of rest and time to heal. I pray he'll make a full recovery, but time will tell if he lost too much blood."
Jericho entered, with a chair in one hand and her case in the other, her pack thrown over his shoulder.
The younger man removed his hat, as though coming to his senses. "My name's Gilead Coulter. Most folks call me Gil."
