Chasing the Sunset(48)

“Oh, dear,” she said, her towering coil of white hair wobbling precariously on top of her head as she shook it back and forth. “Oh, my, poor, poor Ned. Of course you must stay with me. At least he has got adequate medical care. I remember the terrible man we had here before. Dreadful, uneducated, coarse fellow. I was glad when young Doctor Fell took his place.”

“Young Doctor Fell has been practicing here for forty years,” Kathleen whispered to Maggie when Aunt Agnes left the room to see her housekeeper about readying two rooms for ‘her girls’. “Aunt Agnes is years older than my mother, who is her baby sister. Trust me, she is much older than she looks, and she sometimes lives in the past, but she is sweet as sugar and nothing bothers her. She will not be angry if we run in and out at all hours of the day and night, and she will do anything she can to help. Do not worry.”

Maggie squeezed Kathleen’s hand. “Let’s get over there as soon as possible, all right? I want to be there when Ned wakes up.”

Agnes willingly loaned them her coach and driver, and they were at Ned’s bedside twenty minutes later. Duncan smiled at Maggie encouragingly as he listened to Ned’s heart and breathing and checked his bandage for bleeding.

Doctor Fell was out for the rest of the day; he had gone to the Booker house, where Mrs. Booker was in the process of delivering twins–a fact that been a surprise Duncan himself had sprung on the unsuspecting Bookers on his last visit. The couple had been childless for ten years, and Mr. Booker was so nervous he had nearly fainted when given the news. Duncan did not envy Doctor Fell his task, and he was glad that Mr. Booker had requested the older doctor for the delivery. It had not hurt his feelings a bit. He had rather stay here with Ned any day than deal with a first delivery and a nervous father.

“He is doing fine,” he told Maggie now. “He is just beginning to stir, and I want him to wake up all the way before I give him anything else for the pain.”

Kathleen stared down at Ned, laying her hand beside his cheek. “I do not think about how old he is,” she said in a shaken manner, her voice quivering. “I never notice. He is so vital, and alive, and he bounces around and crows like a little banty rooster. But now . . . he just looks so fragile.”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” Duncan said. “He is very strong and healthy. He just needs to have time to heal, and he will have it here.”

“Let’s leave Maggie alone for a moment,” she said abruptly. “I need to talk to you.”

Duncan raised one dark, slashing eyebrow. “Indeed?” he asked coolly. “I would have thought that we said everything that we had to say last night.” His voice turned sardonic. “But anything to oblige a lady. Perhaps you would like to join me in my office, Miss Donaldson.” He held the door open. “After you.” His voice changed when he talked to Maggie, turning warm and sweet as molasses. “Call me if anything changes, Maggie. If he wakes up, or if he seems hot . . .

I am right in here.”

Kathleen swept grandly through the door with her nose turned high up in the air as she

preceded him into the cluttered space. Maggie barely noticed them go, all her attention focused on the man in front of her now, the one who seemed so deceptively frail. She clutched his hand and sat down, stroking a finger lightly down the side of his face. He slept on, and she stayed, content for the moment to be where she was at, at her uncle’s side.

When Kathleen burst out of the office with a furious Duncan right behind her, that is where they found her, curled up in the chair beside his bed and sound asleep, Ned’s hand still cradled between hers as they rested beneath the cheek nestled close to his head. Kathleen smiled, and made motions for Duncan to follow her out into the little anteroom.

“I will stay out here for a while, and let her sleep,” she said, and then her tone turned tart again. “Do not think that all this food I brought you means I am falling in with my mother’s wishes. I always bake when I am nervous.” She crossed her arms over her chest and dared him to say a word.

“Of course, Kathleen,” he said smoothly. “I would never misunderstand your motives. I am happy, also, to eat any donations you make to this bachelor establishment.”

Kathleen looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he made fun of her, but his face was appropriately serious.

Not that I can tell anything about old stone-face, if he ever once smiled at me I think his face might crack. Does not seem to have any trouble being nice to everyone else, though, she thought. Hateful man.

Kathleen had brought her knitting needles and yarn along, and she was halfway through a scarf when she heard a noise in the next room. She had been peeping through the door periodically, and it had seemed to her as if Ned’s sleep was lighter than before. He was beginning to roll around. She knocked briskly on Duncan’s door.

When they entered the room, Ned was muddled but awake. Maggie was sitting up with tears rolling down her face while he tried awkwardly to soothe her.

“Now, now, girl,” he croaked in a hoarse voice. “None o’ that. I am fine.”

Duncan’s hands came down firmly on Maggie’s shoulders and moved her away from the bed and into Kathleen’s waiting clasp. He checked on the older man quickly and efficiently, and Kathleen grudgingly admitted to herself that he was a good doctor with a good bedside manner. He offered Ned a sip of water, propping the older man up on pillows.

“I am going to give you some laudanum for the pain,” he said. “I want you to keep your lungs as cleared as possible–that means cough a lot, no matter how badly it hurts. I am instructing Maggie and Kathleen to give you as much water and broth as you can keep down, because you need the fluids.”

“Well, if Kathleen is staying then you might as well consider it done,” Ned sighed, hangdog in face and manner. “She will bully me mercilessly, she will, until I just give in and do it. And if I have the temerity to actually die, I have no doubt she will follow me down to hell to harangue me there as well.”

Duncan laughed silently, his massive chest shaking, and Kathleen glared at him. Maggie hid a smile behind her hand.

"That is right," Kathleen said sharply, hands on hips. "Even the devil himself cannot keep me from my duties. And if you ever once doubt that I could do it, just take a look at what spawned me. So there will be nothing but getting well around here, is that understood?"

"Aye, Kathleen," Ned whispered shakily, a slight smile creasing his face. Kathleen smiled tenderly back, and Maggie felt more tears mist her eyes as Kathleen put out a trembling hand to stroke Ned’s face.

“Ahem . . . Regardless,” Duncan said. “This is what you need to do until you are well. I will keep evaluating your wound, and I want you kept here at least until the end of the week.” He pulled up a chair and sat down beside Ned’s bed. “Do you remember what happened? I dug two bullets out of your shoulder, Ned. Who attacked you?”

“Well, I do not rightly know,” he said, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “I remember I went to go check on Jet, and Sadie growling . . . and then I felt like someone punched a knife

through my shoulder. I fell down, and somebody kicked me in the head. He said he was going to kill me, then Sadie jumped on him and the gun went off again. I do not remember anything past that until I woke up here with m’ niece blubbering all over me.”

“I will tell the sheriff,” Duncan said. “I was hoping for more, but at least I know now where you got that goose egg on the back of your head. Take this laudanum now,” he commanded, stirring the liquid into a small glass of water. “If you take care of the pain while it is small instead of waiting until it is excruciating, it goes away much more quickly and with less medication. I am not like some doctors: I do not believe that it is good for the healing process if the patient suffers. I want you as comfortable as possible, and I want you to tell someone right away if the pain gets severe.” He cast a stern look on the older man. “It is not manlier to suffer, and I do not want to hear of you acting in such a ridiculous manner. I will sic Kathleen on you if you do not listen to me in this,” he said gravely, a slight smile twitching the corners of his mouth.

Kathleen shot him a foul look, and Ned chuckled and agreed sleepily, the laudanum already taking effect, and Duncan left his bedside.

“He will sleep for hours,” he told Maggie gently. “You and Kathleen get something to eat, one at a time if you do not wish to leave him alone. There is a restaurant in the hotel that serves a decent steak.”

Maggie told Kathleen to go on first, and Duncan offered to escort her. Kathleen did not seem too pleased with the suggestion, but could not get out of it without seeming rude. She gave Duncan her arm reluctantly. Maggie thought that there was something going on between them, despite all Kathleen’s protests. She had seen pure male appreciation light up Duncan’s eyes more than once as he watched Kathleen covertly.

Maggie wrapped herself in a shawl and watched Ned sleep peacefully, the lines on his face and forehead relaxed. He hardly stirred, and Maggie nearly put herself in a trance watching the