Between Two Worlds (26 page)

“There were two run-ins, actually.” She remembered the first time
when Hooper was beating his horse and he shoved her to the ground. “Anytime
that’s convenient for you will be fine with me.”

“I’ll pay you a visit soon. You’re staying at Charlotte Quinn’s
place?”

“Yes.”

“How’s the girl?” He jerked his head toward Jasmine, who lay prone
on the cot in the corner. None of the commotion of the past hour had awakened
her. Delaney suspected Gabriel had given her a large dose of drugs for her pain.

“Dr. Whitman feels she’ll come through it,” she answered. “We’re keeping
her here until she heals. That man did a real number on her.”

“She’s too young to go through such a terrible experience,” the
sheriff said, reflecting, before abruptly changing the subject. “So you’re the
Doc’s new nurse?” When he grinned, Delaney noted his front tooth was chipped.
She deemed him a handsome man, despite the broken tooth, which she thought gave
him character.

“Yes. It seems I came to town just in the nick of time. The
doctor’s business has picked up considerably.”

He tipped his cowboy hat. “Glad to have you with us in Phoenix,
ma’am. I’ll come by Charlotte’s when I can. I’d better get Ben home now. His ma
will want to pamper him.”

“Of course.” To Ben, she said, “Take care of that hand, and come back
and see Dr. Whitman in a week or so. You, too, Tommy.”

 “Yes, ma’am,” both boys quietly replied as they followed their
fathers out of the clinic. They looked like mummies in the making, one with a
wrapped head, the other with a bandaged hand.

“I’ll be going, too,” Donovan announced as he hopped toward the
door. He’d been standing silently in the back watching the flurry of activity.

“Wait!” Delaney called, too late. He’d disappeared like a puff of
smoke.

“Whew!” she exclaimed when they’d all left the clinic. She fell
into the chair Ben had vacated. Gabriel began to put away his supplies. “Let me
help you with those,” she offered, rising from the chair.

“I’ve got it,” he said. “Sit and rest.”

“Those poor boys,” she chuckled, sitting back down. “I’ll bet they’re
both going to get an earful tonight about skipping school.”

“I don’t doubt that. I thought Jake was going to go through the
roof when he heard you tell the banker it was Ben who caused the accident with
his stick.”

Delaney frowned. “I certainly didn’t intend on ratting on Ben. I told
Mr. Admirand the way it was.”

“Ratting? That must be another one of your slang words.”

She smiled. “It is. Sorry. I keep forgetting.”

“I assume ratting on someone means to tattle.”

“That’s right. I didn’t mean to be a rat.” She stood up and
strolled over to Jasmine. “I told one of the girls at the White Dog I’d stop by
this evening and tell her how Jasmine’s doing. How
is
she doing?”

Gabriel sidled next to her. “Time will tell. She needs as much
rest as possible.” It was obvious he wasn’t interested in talking about the
soiled dove anymore. “You were fantastic today. I’m sure glad I hired you as my
assistant.” He ran his hand under Delaney’s hair and brushed his lips against
the slender arch of her neck.

Her breath hitched. “Your moustache tickles.” She closed her eyes
as he began to nibble her earlobe. Although she enjoyed the sensation, she
couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing. Last night he’d put the brakes on
romance.
We’re not going to start this again.
She turned away and
hastily walked back to the chair.

The touch of his lips had sent a shudder through her body, but she
wasn’t going to allow them to lose control again. “Georgia gave me a good idea
today,” she said, attempting to keep her voice light-hearted. A look of
dejection momentarily crossed Gabriel’s face, but it didn’t matter. He’d thank
her someday when she’d gone without taking his heart with her.

“What’s that?” he asked, without much interest.

“I know how I can get back home. We can build a bridge! I don’t
know why I didn’t think of it before.”

He stared and shook his head. She knew helping her go back home
was the last thing on his mind.

“Did you hear me, Gabriel?” She waved a hand in front of his face.

“I heard you. You want to build a bridge.”

“Well, not me personally, but I was thinking we could take the
suggestion to the Town Council. There
is
a Town Council here, isn’t
there?”

He leaned against the exam table and crossed his arms. “Yes. You
didn’t time travel back to the prehistoric age, you know.”

Delaney noted the sarcasm, but she didn’t allow it to dim her
excitement. “You said the bridge over the Salt River was washed away last year
when the floods came. Why hasn’t the Town Council rebuilt it yet?”

“I don’t know. I suppose because there’s been other needs. There
probably isn’t enough money or manpower to take on such a big project.
Apparently the bridge wasn’t very important if we’ve gotten by without it this
long.”

Her shoulders sagged, and she sighed. She hadn’t thought of that. He
crossed over to her and drew her to his chest, but he pulled back when she stiffened
in his embrace.

“What’s wrong, Delaney? Why don’t you want me to touch you?”

“You know why,” she answered.

He wagged his head. “Do you know what it does to me when you talk
about leaving?” He balled his fists as if he wanted to punch something—or
someone. “If you don’t know by now how I feel about you, then you haven’t got
the sense of a loon.”

A loon? It took will power to keep from chuckling. “If you care so
much for me, why won’t you help me?” she challenged.

His face turned a deep red, and he answered her question with another
question. “Why would I help you to leave me?”

Unable to respond, she lowered her head and inched out of the
room. “If you don’t need me here right now…”

“Go on,” he said gruffly.

When Jasmine began to moan, Delaney spun around, and she and
Gabriel both rushed to the girl’s side. He placed his hand on her forehead to
feel her temperature.

“Is she hot?” Delaney asked.

“No.”

The young woman opened her eyes. “Where am I?”

Gabriel smiled down at her. “You’re at the medical clinic. Your
friends brought you in after you’d been hurt. You’ve been asleep for a while.”

“Can I sit up?” She struggled to prop herself up on her elbows.

“Of course, if you don’t feel dizzy. Let me help.” He placed his
hand on her back, and she scooted up and leaned her back against the wall.

“Ow.” She clutched at her side. “My ribs hurt.” She glanced down
and saw the bandages wrapped around her middle. “What happened to me?”

“You don’t remember?” Delaney asked, throwing a subtle glance at
Gabriel.

The girl thought a moment. “Yes. That man started hitting on me.
He didn’t want to pay and I back-talked him. I guess I made him mad.” She
touched her swollen lip with the tip of her finger.

“That man’s in jail now. He’s been arrested for assaulting you,”
Gabriel informed her.

Jasmine appeared surprised at the news. “He is?”

“Yes,” Delaney said. “Hopefully he’ll be going on trial in a
couple of weeks. If we’re lucky, he’ll be put in prison for a long time.”

“I remember you,” Jasmine said, eyeing her. “You’re that new lady
in town. The one who saved the little boy from getting run over by the wagon.”

“That’s me. My name’s Delaney Marshall. It’s nice to meet you,
Jasmine. Your friends told us your name.” She held out a hand to shake and
Jasmine hesitantly shook.

“I didn’t think a lady like you would want to shake hands with a
whore.”

“Don’t say that,” Delaney said, wincing at the word that she’d
noted was thrown around so casually by people in this time period.

“Miss Marshall is my assistant now,” Gabriel told the girl. “She’s
been nursing you.”

“Oh. Well, thanks.” Her wild mass of red hair was as unruly as
ever. She ran a hand through it and it caught in her fingers.

Delaney looked around the room. “If I had a brush, I’d brush your
hair for you. It’s so pretty.”

“I have one,” Gabriel said, striding to his bedroom. In a minute
he’d returned holding a pearl-handled lady’s brush.

When both women questioned him with inquisitive gazes, he muttered,
“It belonged to someone I knew a long time ago.”

With a twinge of jealousy, Delaney wondered who that someone had
been. She reached for the brush. “Thank you, Dr. Whitman.” She perched on the
edge of the cot and began to brush the tangles out of Jasmine’s thick hair.

Gabriel cleared his throat. He obviously knew he was a third wheel.
“I’ll go to my desk and catch up on some paperwork,” he said, sliding his
glasses on. Before he reached the desk, he halted his footsteps and turned
around. “How’s your pain, Jasmine?”

“My ribs are sore. My lip hurts, but I’m not too bad, I guess…considering.”

“I’ll change your bandages when Miss Marshall is done with your
hair. I’m afraid you’re going to be sore for some time to come, but I have
every reason to believe you’ll heal nicely.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Jasmine angled her head slightly to make it
easier for Delaney to reach the other side of her head. “Thank you, too, Miss
Marshall. That feels good.”

“You can call me Delaney.”

“All right.” The girl’s shoulders relaxed as the brush was raked
through her hair. “How much longer do I have to stay here, Dr. Whitman?”

He was shuffling through papers, though Delaney could tell he was
only pretending to work. He swung his head over his shoulder and peered over
the rim of his glasses.

“I’d like you to rest another day or so.”

Jasmine frowned at him. “I should be getting back to work. Madam’s
not gonna be happy if I’m out long.”

Delaney stopped brushing and eased Jasmine around by the shoulder
so she could look into her face. “No! You can’t go back to that saloon or to
that kind of work.”

“What?”

“I mean, not yet,” she said, backtracking, when she saw Gabriel
frown. “You’re not ready.”

Jasmine glared, and her lip quivered. “What you really mean is, no
man is gonna want to pay for me the way I look now. Right,
Miss Marshall
?”
She spit out the words.

“That’s not what I mean at all. Your bruises will heal. You’ll be
as pretty as you ever were.” The girl was tough, but of course she had to be,
in order to live the kind of life she did. Delaney felt it her obligation to explain
how she felt. “To be honest, Jasmine, I wish you’d never step foot back in that
place. You’re so young. It’s no way for you to live. Or those other girls
either.”

“What do you know about it?” Jasmine shouted. “That’s my home.
Those girls are my sisters. I’ve got no one and nothing else. Don’t tell me how
to live! You don’t know anything about me!” She scooted away toward the wall,
acting like an obstinate child, even though she couldn’t move far on the small
cot.

Delaney looked to Gabriel, but he only shrugged and went back to
his papers. She could see she was on her own, and she remembered what he’d told
her about only doing what they could to help.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “You’re absolutely correct. I have no
right to judge you, or any of the others. I don’t want to see you hurt again.
I’m concerned.”

Jasmine sighed and lay down on her side, facing the wall. She
pushed against Delaney with her hip, forcing her off the cot. “I’m tired,” she
said, ending the conversation.

Delaney sighed, too, and returned the brush to Gabriel. Her head
hung low. “I guess I’d better go, before I run out of feet to stick in my
mouth.”

“See you later,” he called to her back. She hurried out the front
door before tears of stress fell from her eyes.

Twenty

Delaney slammed the door behind her and stood on the boardwalk
outside the clinic. She moved past the window and pressed her back against the
wall. Her body began to tremble. Her emotions had been simmering on low boil
for a couple of days, but now they were about to erupt with the full force of a
volcano. It wasn’t just that the soiled dove had accused her of being
judgmental. It was this life in 1888. The Old West was hard on people, but
especially women, and there was nothing she could do to change it. As the town
doctor, Gabriel saw the injustices every day, but he’d admitted there was only
so much that could be done. It would take time for attitudes and laws to
change.

Gabriel. Wasn’t he the real reason she felt overwrought? Why did
she let him get to her? Every time he touched her, kissed her…she wanted him
more. No man had ever treated her so well, or driven her this crazy. Gabriel
was gentle and caring, but he was also loaded with fire and passion. It was a
perfect combination. He was her perfect man.

He’d admitted to falling in love with her, but she pushed him away
for good reason. They couldn’t become involved because she
had
to leave.
This was not the life for her. Why was she here anyway? How had this happened?
It was unbelievable. No one at home would ever believe she’d traveled through
time. She could hardly understand it herself. She kept asking herself the same question:
Why was she here? She was a modern woman with a career, financial responsibilities,
friends and family. Why on earth did Samuel McKinney push her across the bridge
into 1888? There had to be a good reason, but what was it?