"But if it happens, he'll need help, right? We have to check on him."
Dinah held her gaze, and too much fear churned inside Naomi to hide it from her sister. Dinah's eyes glistened, and she nodded. "I'll see if Jericho can follow his tracks. I can tell him what to look for when he finds Eric. If anything serious is wrong, he can bring him back here."
"Will you go with him? Please? If Eric has organ damage, you'll need to treat him there, won't you?"
Dinah's mouth pinched, but the corners tugged a little. "I'll go with him." She moved to the washbasin to scrub her hands.
Naomi eased out a long breath. Now that Dinah had a mission, she would carry it out quickly. She would make sure Eric wasn't suffering. That his injuries weren't severe.
And that was all Naomi wanted, right? After all, she’d agreed to marry Jonah. She could be civil to Eric, even friendly, but she couldn’t love him. She had to work harder at squelching that emotion.
Yet it seemed impossible.
She wanted Erichere. To meet his daughter. To help her stack blocks on the floor and give her a horsie ride on his legs. To look up at Naomi with that tenderness that made her insides melt. The expression that said she meant everything to him. That he treasured her and wouldnever leave.
The stinging pricked her eyes again. She could never have the happy scene she was imagining, not without it being tainted with all the tears and heartache that came after he’d abandoned her.
She had to come to terms with this reality they faced. And decide what was truly best for herself and her daughter.
Eric's consciousness stirred as a firm hand gripped his shoulder. Voices sounded in the distance. A woman's. And a man's.
The grip rocked his shoulder, shooting pain through his body. The strength of it drew him from the remaining clutches of sleep. He opened his eyes to a world blurred at the edges. Then the form in the middle came sharper.
A man. Black haired with the look of a native.
Eric tried to sit upright, but the effort sent a fiery pain through his ribs. He clutched the place, squeezing his eyes closed as he waited out the blaze inside.
"Easy, friend." The voice was familiar.
He cracked his eyelids. The Coulters' friend he'd met in the town. "Two Stones." He mumbled the name, relaxing against the dirt and letting his eyes shut again.
"Yes. And Heidi. It is good we came this path and found you. Else your spilled blood might have drawn an animal who would not be as gentle as I am."
Eric parted his eyelids again. "Blood?" He'd thought all his wounds were inside.
Two Stones touched the corner of Eric's mouth with a finger, leaving behind a slight ache that came nowhere near that in his belly. "Your lip is split." He ran that same finger over Eric's hand. "And flesh missing here."
Eric shifted his hand to view the spot. Three knuckles withthe skin peeling. The reminder of the fight soaked over him like sour milk, bringing back all the frustrations. He would do better tomorrow.
He squinted at the sun shining through the treetops. "Is it still daylight?" He needed to relieve his horse of the saddle and bridle.
Two Stones followed his look to the sun. "The sun is two fingers from the noon mark."
Eric eyed him. Two fingers from...noon? Had he slept...? "Is it morning? Did I sleep all night?"
The chill in his bones knew the answer even before Two Stones spoke. "Yes."
Eric rolled onto his side, grabbing grass and pulling in order to move without using his belly muscles. "I have to get..." He fought back a groan as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees. "...to Mary Ellen."
He couldn't lose the chance to see his daughter.
"Why don't you eat first?" The woman crouched before him. "Here’s some cammas bread. It will give you strength." She hadn't talked much back in Fort Benton, but so many other people had been around.
She held out a chunk of bread with an expression of compassion that made her feel more like a friend than anyone else he'd met since stepping off the steamboat.
He shifted into a sitting position, then eased out a long, slow breath before taking the food from her.
Two Stones crouched before him. The same friendliness his wife had just offered formed in his expression. "Will you tell me what happened?"
