Charlotte's Mail Order Husband (New Montana Brides series) (6 page)

chapterThirteen

Going Home

After they
finished breakfast, they walked to Silas Farmer’s store. He followed them as they walked through the store, taking note of what they wanted or needed. When they finished their selections, Silas said, “Give me some time to get this together, and I’ll have it ready for you.

“So you’re finally getting into your house? He asked Zebulon.

“Yes, we are, and right in time too. While you’re putting that together, we’re going to Western Union and let our families know about the wedding,” Zebulon said.

Lottie put her hand over her mouth. “I’m ashamed to say I forgot all about letting them know. I should have written that I got here too, but didn’t.”

“If we send a telegram today, they’ll get it tomorrow,” so it’s no big lapse on your part,” Zebulon said.

“Except
a telegram will scare Mama to death. I doubt she even knows anyone who’s ever received a telegram,” Lottie said.

“Just think, she’ll have something to tell all of her friends.” he said. “Silas, we’ll be back in a little while.”

Zebulon sent Mary a wire announcing their wedding. Lottie did the same for her parents, and Martha. They strolled slowly back toward the livery stable to get their carriage. Back in the store, Silas said, “Everything’s just about good to go. If you start loading that up, I should have the rest of it by the time you finish.

With his arms full, Zebulon didn’t know she was there until he heard Elizabeth Palmer say, “Zebulon, I’m glad I ran into you this morning.
I’m sorry Carter and I didn’t make it to your wedding. He had an emergency, and I went along to help. I did so want to meet Charlotte.”

“
Elizabeth, we missed you. Let me put these down. Lottie is in the store. Come back inside, and I’ll introduce you.

Inside the store…

“Lottie, this is Elizabeth Palmer. She’s the wife of the doctor. Elizabeth, my wife Charlotte, but everyone calls her Lottie.”

Lottie said, “I’m so pleased to meet you. I understand you’re from Maryland? We were practically neighbors. I’m from Baltimore.”

Elizabeth took Lottie’s hand in both hers. “I was just telling Zebulon, Carter had an emergency delivery and I went along to help. I’m sorry we had to miss the wedding. I heard it was nice.”

“I think it was. Everyone was so gracious, they made me feel right at home,” Lottie said.

“Elizabeth smiled, “They have a way of doing that, don’t they? I’ve felt at home since Carter brought me out.

“
I have to get back home, Carter has a couple of patients coming in this afternoon, and I need to get lunch going.

“
Let’s get together soon.”

“We’ll do that. Carrie and I plan to have lunch at our place next week, but I’ll see you in church before then. It’s nice to have met someone from back home.”

The carriage was loaded with their food and luggage. Zebulon helped Lottie onto the carriage, climbed in, picked up the reins and clucked to the horses, and said, “Let’s go home.

When they pulled up between the house and the barn, Clem came up and said, “I’ll take care of the horses
, boss.”

“
Give me a hand with the victuals first, will you please?” Zebulon said. “Everything going okay?” he asked.

“
Finer than frog hair, boss. I think everything’s ready in the house. Whit and the others are out on the south range. My horse threw a shoe and I came in to get another,” Clem said.

“What’s going on out there?”
Zebulon asked.

“It looks like the Sioux ran off a few
head, and Whit wants to get a count to see whether it’s enough to go get them back. I’m going to catch up with them.”

“Okay, Clem. Tell Whit to let me know if he needs any help.

“You got it, Boss,” Clem said.

An hour later…

There was a loud knock at the back door. Lottie went to see who it was, and found Clem standing there, hat in hand. “Miss Lottie, where’s the boss?” asked a distraught Clem.

“Is there anything wrong, Clem?”

“I need the boss, Ma’am,” he said.

“What is it Clem,” asked Zebulon, who had just walked up.

“Can I talk to you outside?” he asked.

Zebulon stepped outside, closing the door behind him. “What is it, Clem?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to say this in front of Miss Lottie. We got ambushed, boss,” Clem said. “It wasn’t the Sioux, it was rustlers, and they had run off over a hundred head. Whit was trailing after them, but the rustlers ambushed them. They got Jasper. He took a bullet in the back. The rest of them managed to get to the rocks.

“
Whit sent me for help since I had the freshest horse. He said to tell you he doesn’t know how long they can hold out before they run out of ammunition.”

“How many
were there, Clem?” asked Zebulon.

“
Whit said there were at least ten. They’re in the canyon that runs alongside the Lazy J.” Clem said.

“Change horses, and
get the cartridges from the shed and we’ll go help them.”

He went back into the house, and said, “I’ve got to go, honey. Whit and the boys were ambushed by some rustlers and I’m going to help
them.”

“Do you have to go?” she asked. “Won’t they be able to handle it?”

He replied, “I don’t know. This isn’t the kind of thing you take a chance on. You don’t just leave your men.”

“
Don’t go, Zebulon,” she pleaded.

“I have to go. They’re my men.”

“What about me? If something happens to you, what will I do?” she begged.

“You’ll be all right, Lottie. My men are in trouble, I have to go, they’re counting on me,” he said.

“Be careful, Zebulon. Please be careful,” she said.

“How long do you think it will be?” she asked, a tremor in her voice showing her fear of the unknown.

“I just don’t know. Now I’ve got to get going.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll have Jed keep an eye on the house. I don’t suppose you’ve ever fired a rifle, have you?”

“No, why?” she asked.

“Never mind,” he said. “Just do what Jed says.” With that, he turned and rushed from the house.

A distraught Lottie stood at the back door, watching until her view was obscured by the dust.

Two hours dragged by with no sign of Zebulon or the men. Then a third. It had begun to get dark and still no sign. She heard noises outside and rushed to the door. Whit dismounted and looked toward the house. She rushed up to him.

“Where’s Zebulon?” she asked.

“He’s been hurt, Miss Lottie. We wuz getting the best of it, and they rushed us trying to break out and get away. Zebulon took a bullet in the chest. It was closer to the Lazy J so I had them take him there, while I came for you. Mr. Jamison sent someone to get Doc Palmer and asked me to come get you.”

“He’ll be all right, won’t he Whit? He’s not going to die is he?”

“I don’t know, Miss Lottie I just don’t know. I’ll get the horses hitched up. You get whatever you need, but hurry.”

chapter fourteen

Zebulon Is Wounded

The Lazy J Ranch…

Without waiting for Whit to help her down from the wagon, Lottie hopped down and rushed to the door. Carrie Jamison was there to let her in.

“Is he alive, Carrie? Please tell me he’s alive.”

“He’s alive and conscious,” Carrie said. We sent a rider to get Carter. It will be at least an hour before he gets here. We
did get the bleeding stopped.”

“I want to see him. Please take me to him,” Lottie said.

Carrie said, “First, let me tell you what you’re going to see. He was bloody, when he came in. I cut his shirt off and cleaned the area around the wound. The bullet is still in there, and Carter will have to take it out when he gets here. Honey, Carter was a surgeon in the war. He’s good. He worked with the Army when he first came out here
too.

“I know you’re upset, and scared. You have to be strong for him. He’s a tough man, so you need to be also.”

“Now, he’s in here,” she said, and led the way to the bedroom, where Zebulon lay on a bed. Lottie tried not to look at the pile of bloody clothes on the floor.

Lottie rushed to the bedside and took Zebulon’s hand. “I’m here, Zebulon,” she said.
“Can you hear me? If you can, squeeze my hand. Hold on, they’ve sent for Doctor Palmer,” She could feel him putting a small amount of pressure on her hand. She sat there for an hour, holding her husband’s hand and talking to him

She turned to Case. “What about the others? Was anyone else hurt?”

Case had a distressed look on his face. Carrie came to his rescue, and said, “Jasper was killed, but no one else was hurt.”

“Why can’t you just let the sheriff handle things like this” she asked?

Case said, “You can’t do that. You have to take care of your own. If you don’t, they’ll take everything you have. Frontier justice is swift out here. It has to be,” Case said.

“What about the men that shot him. Won’t they just do it again?”

“No, these men will never do this again,” Case said with finality.

“How can you be sure?” she asked.

Carrie said, “Honey, they’re all dead.”

“Oh dear God, what kind of place is this?” Lottie asked. “How can you live like this?”

“Fortunately, there are a lot of really good people that make up for the bad,” Carrie said. “I think I hear Carter.”

A tired looking man in
his mid-thirties rushed in, followed by his wife. “You must be Lottie. Elizabeth told me she met you. I’m Carter Palmer.

“
Let me wash my hands, and I’ll check him out and see what we have here.

“Carrie, I’ll need hot water,
” he said.

“It’s already on the stove
, Carter. I washed his chest with alcohol, too,” Carrie said,

“Case, help me roll him over and hol
d him while I check for an exit wound.”

They rolled him
onto his side, and Case held him in place while the doctor checked for an exit wound. There was not one. “It must have missed the major blood vessels, or we’d have a lot more blood. His heartbeat is steady, so it must have missed that. If it didn’t fragment, the kidneys and liver are probably okay.

Using ether, he anesthetized his patient
. As he waited for the ether to take effect, he removed some instruments from his bag, and put them in the boiling water. After three minutes, using forceps, he removed a probe, and inserted the tip into the wound. After several tries, he made contact, enlarged the wound and using the forceps, he was able to extract the bullet.

“It looks to be intact,” he said, holding the lead up for the others to see. He
soaked gauze with carbolic acid and applied it to the wound to sterilize it,

He turned to Lottie, and said, “I’m pleased to meet you
, although I would have preferred different circumstances. I don’t want him to be moved for three days. After that, barring infection, he should be okay to be moved.

“I gather he’s not still sleeping in the bunkhouse?”

“No, as a matter of fact, we had just moved our things into the new house today,” Lottie said.

“I’ll stay today until the anesthetic wear
s off and I am sure he is alert. I’ll check on him daily. I think he will be okay. He was lucky the bullet missed the organs, and arteries.

“I understand this was the work of rustlers?”

“Yes, it was,” Case said. “They lost one, and have one other man injured you might need to check on. He’s up and around, so it’s not too serious. I think he went to the bunkhouse.”

“I’ll check on him in a few minutes.”

“Lottie,” Carrie said, “You can stay with us until he can be moved. Can you get your foreman to bring some things for you?”

“As a matter of fact, they’re still
lying on the bedroom floor. We hadn’t even unpacked when they came to get him.” She had resumed her seat in the chair by the bed and was holding Zebulon’s hand. She was on the verge of tears.

Carrie motioned to Elizabeth to step outside. “I think she is on the verge of losing it,” Carrie said. “It is a violent i
ntroduction to ranch life. I believe she is questioning her decision to come out here.”

“I can understand that,” Elizabeth said.
“I get to see people in the worst moments of their lives. Most of them were born to it, but for a newcomer to be exposed to this sort of violence before they even get moved in, is traumatic. I’ll talk to her.”

“Let me,” Carrie said.

“I’ve known her two days longer than you,” she said, and laughed.

After Carter had determined the effects of the ether had worn off, and Zebulon was stable, he and Elizabeth headed back to Helena and his other patients.

Later, Carrie said, Lottie, could we talk?”

Lottie looked up from her bedside chair and said, “Yes, of course. Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” Carrie said.