Healing Hearts (Easton Series #2) (14 page)

Chapter 22

  
H
e said his name was Jake Spooner, and he loved pancakes with molasses.

  
The young healed quickly, and Jake
was no exception. Four days after Roy delivered him he was walking and talking.
Hannah spun in circles finding him chores, anything to burn up his youthful
energy.

  
Roy Easton hauled over his young
sister-in-law, Emily Anders, to act as interrogation assistant. Jake’s brown
eyes lit up when he saw Emmy’s golden curls. He eagerly chatted with the pretty
girl.

  
“You like horehound or licorice?”
Emily held candy across the kitchen table where they were seated.

  
“Both,” he replied as he scooped
up the gift.

  
“Your pa, does he have brown eyes
too?”

  
His lower lip jutted out. “I ain’t
got folks.”

  
“You were with your uncle, then?”
 
Emily’s blue eyes narrowed. “My uncle
took us after my ma and pa died.”

  
His eyes softened. “No, miss. I
was a stowaway, and when they found me they tossed me off.”

  
“Oh.” She frowned.

  
“I ‘spect I had it comin’,” he bit
into the licorice and chewed. “You live around here?”

  
“Yes, and I plan to marry Roy
Easton when I grow up.”

  
“The sheriff? Ain’t he too old for
you?”

  
She shrugged. “I go to school. If
you’re feeling well enough you can come with me tomorrow.”

  
He bristled. “I ain’t got a
slate.”

  
“I have an extra,” Emily retorted.
“I’ll come by on my way.” She smiled then, a smile that made his eyes glisten,
a smile to make a lad follow her anywhere.

  
“Are there . . . boys at the
school?”

  
“Sure, and your age, too. Rusty
and Tom are eleven. Gabe is twelve.”

  
Roy left the youngsters to chat,
and he cornered Hannah and Jed in the parlor. “Nobody’s coming back for the
kid. You two planning to keep him?”

  
“For now,” Hannah rushed in,
before Jed could state his objection. “He’s polite, and a hard worker.”

  
Jed rolled his eyes skyward.
“Seems angry and hardened to me.”

  
“Some folks in this town have
experience with that,” Roy tossed his comment pointedly at Jed and rubbed his
whiskers, “I expect he can take the bed in the kitchen, since you two sleep upstairs.”

  
Hannah’s gaze fell to the floor.
 

  
Jed looked away.

  
Roy grinned. “Good. I thought as
much. It works fine. When the lad grows muscle you can send him out to work for
Cal at the Mineral Creek.”

*
            
*
           
*

  
Damn Roy Easton.
The meddling lawman had befriended Jake so he
could get regular news on Jed’s domestic affairs. Jed cursed and wiped his brow
as he assembled a straw pallet in the upstairs hall. Now he’d be camped out in
the little space outside Hannah’s room, mere feet from hearing and smelling her
every night. It would be pure hell.

  
If that wasn’t enough, Watkins was
sending gew gaws to their house twice a week, and charging them against his
account at the store! “Something to keep your new wife happy,” he’d say. Hannah
was surprised and somewhat embarrassed by the gifts, and oddly Jed made a case
study of her reactions. She told him to stop them, but of course he couldn’t, because
Watkins was the one sending the ribbons, combs, bracelets, candy, and tins of
oysters.

  
Hannah was down at the hotel,
visiting her friend Nelda and playing with the baby. Jake was at school with
Emily.

  
Jed shoved at the straw to spread
it throughout the mattress. He could smell Hannah’s light lavender scent
wafting from her bedroom. The door was open a crack, and against his better judgment
he peaked in. Her sketchpad was lying askew on the bed, as if she’d been
drawing and had lazily tossed it aside.

 
He punched down a lump under the canvas
and wondered what she drew in her private time. It couldn’t hurt to take a
look.

 
Jed rose and entered her sanctuary.
Hannah’s nightclothes were hung neatly on the hooks close to the door. Her
brush, mirror, and hairpins littered the top of the oak bureau. He edged closer
to the bed to glance at the sketch she was working.

  
It was him.
 
Jed’s
throat tightened. His heart lurched. She’d drawn a remarkable likeness in his
wedding day finery, in the church. He had a stern demeanor with the hint of a
smile upon his lips. Jed studied the charcoal rendering and wondered
, was this how she saw him?

  
He sat on the bed and flipped
through pages. He saw himself in various positions – in the surgery, covering
first base on the ball field, at his writing desk.
 
All were dated and initialed; all had
been drawn since his recovery.

  
His eyes swept the room, and he
spied Hannah’s journal on a chair. His hand reached out for it, and he settled
it on his lap, turned the leaves, and he paused on the page where she described
their wedding day:

  
Jed was anxious to get on with the wedding for appearances sake, in
spite of my not being a suitable wife. There was also the issue of keeping me
in the town, and the marriage brought the load home, so to speak. In spite of
it all, I’m pleased he is well . . . yet my fondness for him cannot extend
beyond our friendship, which I pray will sustain me through the coming winter .
. .

  
Jed slapped his forehead. She thought
she
was unsuitable? Didn’t she know how beautiful she was, and what
he’d give to wake up to her warm body and soft voice every morning?

  
Jed couldn’t help himself. He
flipped through the pages, reading snippets of her perfect cursive hand
.
 

  
The prairie is lonely
at first, but the people here are warm and caring and appreciative.
 
There is plenty to be done here, from
early morning till late night, but it is a fine life. I’ve found my new family
. . .

  
Jed felt a stabbing guilt in his
gut. He slammed the book shut and fled the room.

Chapter 23

  
   
When the Jake wasn’t making
progress in his learning at school he was fetching water, gathering wood for
the stove, holding a patient down or running medicine to families in town. His
origins still a mystery, he took to calling Hannah his Ma, and insisting Jed,
“Pa”, kiss her when he returned home from his rounds.

  
Hannah suspected Roy Easton was
firmly planted behind the kissing idea, but she and Jed played along until it
became a familiar routine. If it gave Jake a sense of family and security it
was worth the effort, but she wished her heart didn’t race and her hands didn’t
want to thread her fingers through his thick hair whenever Jed put his lips to
her cheek.

  
Occasionally Hannah’s thoughts ran
to wondering about what it would be like to be Jed’s
real
wife, not just in name. It was like a gash which should have
healed by now. She knew she
shouldn’t
have these feelings, indeed she
couldn’t
have these feelings. The urge to talk about her needs preyed on her, but there
wasn’t anyone to talk to, not even her friend Nelda Rose. She wouldn’t serve up
her worries for others to chew on.

  
Hannah’s skills and practice grew
with each passing day, and she met new and interesting people as their clinic
reputation grew. Soon patients were coming from great distances to obtain
advice and treatment.

  
Indeed, on this day Mr. and Mrs.
Kelpin arrived, after a two day journey.

  
Hannah slipped her fingers into
her skirt pocket and pulled out her stethoscope. Settling the instrument around
her neck, she led the young couple into the surgery. Mrs. Kelpin was hobbling
and leaning the bulk of her small frame against a willow walking stick. Hannah
beckoned them to sit in chairs behind the curtain.

  
“You must be tired from your
trip.”

  
The girl smoothed her dress, and
the man used a shirtsleeve to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead.

  
“I’m Doctor Hannah.” She extended
a hand, and looked into the face of the pretty girl, who she judged to be about
fourteen. Hannah gazed intently to print an image of the patient in her mind.

  
“I’m Adella.” Her smile revealed
perfect white teeth.

  
“I’m Pete.” The husband, a tall
gangly man, pushed close to the wife and held her hand.

  
“You’ve hurt your foot?”

  
Adella pursed her lips, leaned
forward, and presented a linen-wrapped appendage. “It’s been this way since I
was born. I can’t wear a proper shoe,” she explained.

  
“How old are you, Adella?”

  
“Sixteen.”

  
Hannah leaned forward to take a
look, and upon carefully unwrapping the limb she quickly lowered her head and held
back a gasp. The congenital defect explained the woman’s poor gait. She had to
be walking on the side of her foot, thought Hannah. She examined the thick callouses
and severe bend of Adella’s ankle.

 
Then Hannah rose, cupped a hand over her
brow, and looked out the window.
 
She heard the thwack of a neighbor
splitting wood, and the bray of a donkey, but there was no sign of Jed. “A-Adella,
I’d like my partner to take a look-see. Sometimes two heads are better than
one. He should be back from the store with Jake any minute.”

  
She managed a tight smile, and
Pete leaned over and kissed his wife on the top of her thick curly mop of hair.
“We appreciate that.”

  
Hannah anxiously looked out the
window again, and this time she saw Jed striding up the path, with Jake’s curly
dark head bobbing behind him. “Ah, here they come now.”

  
Jake was gesturing excitedly and
waving his arms.

  
As soon as Jed entered Hannah
scurried to meet him. “I need you for a consult. I’ve never seen a club foot
before,” she whispered.

  
Jed’s eyes widened. “It’s not
usual. Haven’t seen but two myself.”

  
Jake, meanwhile, looked like he
was about to burst. He tugged at Jed’s sleeve.

  
“Tell Doctor Hannah, I mean Ma,
what I did while you were in the store!”

  
Jed grinned. “Jake and Emily
Anders met up in front of Watkins. It seems they were the welcoming committee
for the medicine show wagon.”

  
Jake’s eyes were wide and his
cheeks were ablaze.
 
“Ma, we ran the
quackery man off!”

  
A smile lit up Hannah’s face.
 
“You don’t say. Oh my. You chased away
the medicine show man?”

  
“Yes, ma’am! We told them we have
real doctors in this town! Their elixir is watered down whiskey!” Jake puffed
up and stood with his legs spread apart just the way he’d seen Jed do on
countless occasions.

  
Hannah doubled over with laughter,
and when she came up for air she hugged Jake. Most surprising, he accepted the
embrace.

  
“Jake, would you bring in more
wood?
 
Doctor Jed and I have a
patient waiting in the surgery.”

  
“You bet!” Jake turned and ran out
the back door.

  
Jed and Hannah exchanged an amused
look as entered the room together. Jed introduced himself and shook hands with
Adella and Pete. Then he scooted over to a stool, which he placed in front of
the woman. He took her foot into his lap and examined the deformity. “Does this
hurt?” He rotated her foot slightly.

  
“It’s stiff.”

  
“Have you had treatment in the
past?”

  
“Yep, a metal rod.”

  
Jed winced visibly. “The Thomas
wrench?”

  
“Yep, that was it. It hurt too
much. I couldn’t abide by it.” A look of guilt crossed her face, and her eyes
misted. “I tried. Truly. I did.”

  
‘It’s ok, sweetheart,” her husband
whispered and squeezed her hand gently.

  
 
Jed stood back and put a hand to his
chin. His eyes moved to the left as he remembered the two cases he’d seen in
Minnesota. “Pete, I’m going to show you some things you can do to move Adella’s
foot. It will take some time to work.”

  
He asked Adella to lie down on the
table, and he showed Pete how to hold the foot in the correct position to
manipulate and stretch it. Hannah watched silently as Jed showed Pete the
motions, and then he made Pete try it.
 
“Do this three times a day to start, gently at first, and then work up
to five times. Work harder as her range of motion improves.”

 
“That’s it?” Adella’s voice pitched
higher, betraying her disbelief.

  
“Well, it’s not all of it. After
you see some improvement we’ll consider using braces to move it further. You
can wear the splints at night.”

  
“You’ll make those?”

  
He nodded. “We will. You’ll have
to be patient. It’s a slow process that can take two years to move the foot to
proper position, and you might have to go to Minnesota for a surgery. Are you
willing to give it a try?”

  
“If Pete thinks so,” Adella said.

 
 
“Sweetheart, we can work together on it.”
Pete squeezed his wife’s hand.

  
Jed smiled tenderly at Adella, and
he turned to her husband. “OK. Pete, show me what I just taught you.”

  
Jed was suitably impressed with
Pete’s technique, and as they left he praised them both for their dedication to
the task. Hannah walked with them to the porch, and they watched the couple
move away and back to the hotel, where they’d taken up residence. Adella leaned
into her husband as he tenderly guided her down the street.

  
“He doesn’t see it,” Hannah
mouthed with awe.

  
“See what?” Jed retorted.

  
“I’m surprised she’s married . .
.”

  
“Maybe nobody ever told her she
couldn’t get married.”

  
“Perhaps. My mother –“
Hannah clamped down on the thought and folded her slender arms under her
breasts.

  
Jed leaned against the porch rail
and looked into Hannah’s glazed eyes. “Would you tell Jake he can’t marry
because of his injuries?”

  
“Of course not!”

  
Jed edged forward, grabbed her
hand and pulled her into his shadow space. He brought her against him in one
swift yank, and before Hannah could protest his lips bore down on hers, soft and
probing and then urgently pleading.

  
She pulled away, breathless.
“Doctor Rutherford!”

  
“I won’t apologize. There are
times I battle myself to be a gentleman, and that’s a fact, Doctor Sutton.”