Part 28 (1/2)
”If your stomach keeps it down, then you can try some potatoes once I mash them.”
He looked at the stove and pastry table. ”What about all that?”
”That's for the men.”
”I'll have what they're having.”
”You'll have the broth and, later, perhaps some potatoes.”
”I'll have what they're having.”
”You'll have what I give you.”
He took a sip of the broth. When he was done, if she didn't give him what he wanted, he'd get out of bed and get it himself-he didn't care how much it hurt his head. He needed to get out of bed anyway.
He was just finis.h.i.+ng the soup when he heard the men approaching the yard.
Anna hurried to the door. ”What on earth? Supper's not for two more hours.”
She barely had time to open the door before they poured into the house, all talking at once.
”Ronny!” she exclaimed. ”Are you all right?”
The boy's exuberant eyes connected with Joe's. ”I made it to town in the rain and pitch black!”
Joe lifted his brows. ”You did?”
”I did!”
Anna touched Ronny's sleeve. ”Are you all right?”
He nodded. ”I'm fine. And Shakespeare is, too.”
”He's lucky he didn't break his neck.”
Joe quickly found the owner of the amused voice. Doc Maynard. He topped most of the crew by an inch or so, though he didn't have the breadth the other men did. Joe figured it was his accomplishments that made him seem bigger than he was.
Maynard had named Seattle. He'd brought the first residents to town, established the first store, the first restaurant, first hotel, first saloon, and first wh.o.r.ehouse. And that last bit had endeared him to most every man in the territory.
”Hear you jumped in front of a falling tree,” Doc said.
”Something like that. I'm all right now, though.”
Doc nodded, then moved his gaze to Anna.
”This is our cook, Miss Anna Ivey,” Joe said. ”One of Mercer's girls.”
”So I heard. How do you do, miss? I'm Doc Maynard.”
She bobbed a curtsey. ”Thank you for coming. Can I offer you some lemonade?”
”With pleasure.” He shooed the other men toward the door. ”You can tell Joe about your ride to town later, Ronny. For now, you and the boys leave me with my patient.”
Anna slipped into the milk room.
”I don't need a doctor.”
”Of course you don't. But after coming all this way, I'd at least like to sit awhile and visit.” He opened the door and stood beside it, looking at the men expectantly. They filed out. Thirsty pilfered a pastry off the table before making his exit.
Joe threw off his covers and swung his legs over the bed. The room whirled. The soup threatened to come back up. He kept it where it belonged by force of will.
The doc wasn't fooled. ”No need to put up a front,” he said, closing the door. ”Miss Ivey's out chipping ice for my drink.”
Joe scowled. ”You shouldn't have come.”
”Where does it hurt?”
”Nowhere.”
Anna came around the corner, then handed Doc a gla.s.s of lemonade. ”He has a huge lump behind his left ear. The light hurts his eyes. He's tossed up the contents of his stomach and he's weak as a babe.”
Joe gritted his teeth. ”Would you excuse us, Miss Ivey?”
”Not just yet,” the doc said. ”I'd appreciate the a.s.sistance.”
He smiled at Anna. ”That is, if you don't mind?”
”Of course not.”
He raised his gla.s.s to her, drank deeply, then set it down. ”How long's he been like this?”
The two discussed his accident and ailments as if he were a child.
”I can answer my own questions,” Joe growled.
The doc didn't so much as acknowledge him. Scowling, Joe stood up. The sheet twisted around his legs. Whipping it away, he tossed it on the bed and moved toward the door.
The room went from normal to dark, then back to normal. Almost. Concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, he lengthened his stride. He would not black out. If he could make it to a chair on the porch, no one would be the wiser.
He made it as far as the door before the room spun like a whirling dervish. Doc caught him around the waist and wedged his shoulder under Joe's. Without saying a word, he guided Joe back toward the bed, but Joe wasn't sure he'd make it that far. And once he blacked out, no telling what the blasted man would do to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.
The war had changed many things in Anna's life, not the least of which was that social conventions about ladies-particularly unmarried ladies-being present during the examination of a man had loosened. She hadn't realized the practice had reached clear out here, though.
Yet the doctor didn't hesitate to recruit her help, seemingly unaware of Joe's state of undress. She'd seen him s.h.i.+rtless many times, of course, and it never failed to disconcert her. But his unconsciousness and the doctor's presence made it worse somehow. Much worse.