Lucinda (6 page)

“We let her sleep, Mac.  She’ll do better in the morning, once the shock of her switching and the pain of realizing that Jake lied to her have numbed a bit,” Henry answered.  In the meantime, I’m going to look for those damned letters Jake sent her and see what the hell he told her,” Henry stated without an ounce of shame as he approached her trunk and opened it.  The letters were right on top.  “He wrote this one the day before he died, Mac.  Damn it.  It’s no wonder she’s been so determined to blow my head off.  He lied to her, Mac.  Told her he was feeling much better, and getting stronger every day.  He lied to Lucinda, and it’s no wonder she thinks I murdered her brother.”  He shared the letter with his friend, who read it through without any shame.

“I could lay one on Jake for this,” Mac said quietly.  “If he’d at least told the truth in this one letter, that little gal would be home in Boston safe with her family instead of out here all alone and in the middle of this mess we’re in.”

“Mess?  You mean with the Apache?” Henry asked.

“Yes.  Part of me wants her on the stage tomorrow, and the other part of me is afraid to let her leave town.  I’d never forgive myself if I sent her out there and the coach was taken.”

Mac stayed late, but eventually went to his quarters behind the jail to get some rest.  Henry made himself a bed on the cot in the infirmary and went to sleep.  He was exhausted.

Lucinda moaned when she woke up and tried to move.  For one thing, she didn’t even know where she was, and for another, she was so incredibly sore from the switching Henry gave her that it hurt to move.  Still, she didn’t recognize the room she was in.  The last thing she recalled was standing in the street and hearing the plain truth from the Sheriff.  He’d made it clear she was to be on the morning stage, too, or he would punish her and put her on the stage himself!  She couldn’t bear the thought of that… and she doubted her bottom could tolerate riding on the hard seat of a stage coach, either.  Where on earth was she? she asked herself as tears filled her eyes once again.  She really hurt, inside and out.  Why had Philip lied to her? she kept asking herself over and over and over.

“Good morning; you’re awake,” Henry greeted the young woman.  “I hope you’re hungry; I made a big breakfast for us.”

“Where am I?” Lucinda asked, surprised to see him.

“In my bed,” he didn’t mince words.  “You needed medical attention last night, so Mac and I brought you here and I took care of you.  Do you feel better this morning?” he asked in genuine concern.

“I’m so sore I can’t move!” she complained, telling him the absolute truth, her green eyes letting him know she blamed him.

“I wasn’t talking about your sore backside,” he grinned.  “You earned a good switching for trailing after me and out into Indian territory, young lady.  We are so lucky we both survived that whole deal, Lucinda.”

She nodded in agreement.  “I was scared.”

“So was I,” he admitted.

“I owe you an apology, Henry.  I don’t know why Philip lied to me about his health, but I realized the Sheriff was telling the truth last night.”  Tears filled her lovely green eyes again and she tried to blink them away.  “I’m sorry I threatened to kill you; I was so wrong, and all I can say is that for some reason I don’t understand, Philip lied to me in his letters.”

“I know.  I took the liberty of looking at Jake’s letters to you.  I don’t know why he lied, either, unless he thought he was being kind by sparing you the truth.  I know he didn’t want you to see him suffering.  I’m so sorry about that, Lucinda.  I can only tell you that Jake loved you more than you’ll ever know.  He talked about you constantly, and the stories he told made him smile.”

“Thank you,” she whispered emotionally.  “Henry, if you’ll give me some privacy, I’ll get dressed and try to catch the stage before it leaves.”

“You can’t leave, Lucinda,” he said gently.  “The stage didn’t make it through.  The Apache are on the warpath, and Snowfall is blocked off from everyone.  No one is leaving town, for sure and certain.”

“Ohhhh.  Then I should get a room at the hotel!” she immediately decided.

“That’s not going to happen, either,” Henry said matter-of-factly.  “They’re full up with people trying to stay safe.  Families are even living in tents at the edge of town and in the backs of covered wagons,” he told her.  “The Apache have burned out a lot of folks already, and killed quite a few good people I knew.”

“That’s terrible!” Lucinda whispered, wondering where on earth she could go.

“You’re welcome to stay right here, Lucinda.  Jake was my friend, and I want to help you right now.  You can have my bed, and I’ll sleep in the infirmary, like I did last night.  You have my word that I will treat you with nothing but respect.”

“I can’t believe you would be so nice to me after I treated you so badly!” she whispered.

“I understand about grief, honey,” he told her.  “You get some clothes on now, and come on out to the kitchen.  I have breakfast all but done now, and since I didn’t eat much yesterday, I’m starving.”

He left the room, and Lucinda blushed to realize that she wasn’t wearing anything but her drawers and camisole.  Henry had made her as comfortable as possible when he put her to bed last night, and while she knew he was a doctor and used to that sort of thing, she couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.  Of course, he’d seen more of her when he bared her for that horrible switching in the livery stable.  Curiosity won out over embarrassment, and when she spotted the standing mirror in the corner of the bedroom, she quickly lowered her drawers to look at the stripes covering nearly every inch of her bottom and legs.  Henry thoroughly punished her, and sitting was going to be torture for a few days.  She pulled up her drawers, and took fresh clothing from her trunk and got dressed.  She decided to simply brush her hair and let it fall in a loose braid down her back.  For some reason, she didn’t feel particularly grown up today… and she suspected it was because of the switching she’d received.

Henry looked up from the stove when he sensed her presence in the doorway to the kitchen and gave her a big smile.  “Come on in and have a seat at the table, Lucinda.”

“I’m not sure I can sit down,” she admitted, her cheeks turning a bright pink at the admission.  “I’m very sore, Henry.”

“I’ll bet you are,” he agreed.  “I’m sorry I had to be so firm with you, honey, but what you did was extremely foolish.  You needed someone to impress that fact upon you… and you’ll be lucky if some other well meaning man in this town doesn’t decide to add his two cents’ worth.”

“The Sheriff?” she asked, horrified at the very idea.

Henry nodded, and then said, “My father-in-law, for another.”

“’Father-in-law’?” she repeated, surprised that she felt extreme disappointment to learn the handsome Doctor was a married man.  “Where is your wife?” she asked in the next breath.  “Won’t she mind my staying here?”

“Marilynn died over two years ago, Lucinda,” Henry said softly.  “Her Father owns the General Store…  She used to work for him.”  He filled cups with coffee, and then looked at Lucinda and said, “Mari caught her foot in the hem of her skirt when she was coming down a ladder, fell, and hit her head on the counter behind her.  She died before I got to her, and there was nothing I could do to help her.”

“I’m so sorry, Henry,” Lucinda felt tears fill her eyes.  “You must have been devastated.”

“I was.  I was so angry, and I was impossible to get along with.  Finally, Mac had enough of me acting like a jerk to everyone, and knocked me on my butt.  It still wasn’t easy, dealing with the pain and grief, but slowly it’s gotten easier over time, and now I enjoy living again.”  He put coffee on the table and said, “You’ll hurt less each day, too, Lucinda.  Now sit down and eat,” he ordered, putting biscuits and sausage gravy in front of her.

Lucinda tried to sit down but the hard wooden seat of the chair offered her no comfort at all.  “I really can’t sit down, Henry,” she admitted, her face red with embarrassment.  “It hurts too much, and I don’t have a high tolerance for pain of any kind,” she confessed.

Henry looked at her, and then left the kitchen to return a moment later with the pillows from his bed.  He plunked them on her chair.  “Sit now and eat.  I really shouldn’t do this, but I suspect you’ve learned your lesson about riding out of town right now.”

Lucinda was grateful for the pillows.  They didn’t ease all of her pain, but they did make it possible for her to sit down and eat her meal, and she was thankful.  Her stomach was empty and she was definitely hungry and needed to eat.  She also had other practical matters to think of.  She needed a job.  Her money was going to run out soon, and she couldn’t live here in Snowfall indefinitely without earning money to live on.

“Where do you think I could find a job, Henry?” she asked consideringly.

“A job?  There aren’t many of those here in Snowfall.  What jobs there are are filled by men.  We have a schoolteacher…” he said thoughtfully.  “Honey, you’d do best to wire your parents for money and then go back to Boston,” he said, surprised when he felt a pang in the pit of his stomach at the very thought of her leaving town.  “You can stay here until the Apache threat is taken care of.”

“No, I can’t!  What will people think?” she whispered, scandalized.  She knew precisely what her Mother would say… and her Father…  “I can’t go back to Boston, Henry.  If you knew Philip as well as you say, then I am sure he told you about our Father.  He won’t forgive me for coming out here, and in his mind, I am as good as dead.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, honey.  He’ll be relieved to hear from you and know you are safe,” Henry predicted.

“No, he won’t.  I am not going back.  All he wanted from me was to marry me off to a man who worked for him so he could benefit from the union.  I won’t go back to that,” she stated forcefully.  “I’ll just have to go and look for a job until I find one,” she stated with purpose.

“Most of the places that would hire you are not places you want to set foot in, honey.  Women around here just don’t work, unless they have a business like Miss McCrae.”

“Maybe your father-in-law could use some help in his store?” she suggested as she finished the last bite of her breakfast.

“He has a boy who works part time for him, Lucinda.”

“Doc!” there was a pounding on the waiting room door, and Henry immediately got up to go and answer the summons.  He was back in less than a minute.  “I have to go, honey.  Make yourself at home.”  He hurried into the infirmary, grabbed his black bag, and was gone just that quickly.

Lucinda finished her coffee, and then she put herself to work, washing up the dirty dishes and putting Henry’s kitchen to rights.  She then made the bed, and took the time to pin up her hair and make herself look proper.  Once that was done, she decided to leave and hunt for a job.  She would prove to Henry Zabarski that she could find a job… and another place to stay!

An hour later, she was feeling insulted and discouraged.  People were treating her like she was less than a lady, other women sweeping their skirts out of her way when she passed them and said ‘good morning’.  Lucinda had no idea what she’d done that was so improper, but Miss McCrae told her in no uncertain terms that ‘the good ladies of Snowfall didn’t want her kind around!’  Lucinda’s requests for a job were met with firm no’s everywhere she went, and she went everywhere… except the saloons, and since she couldn’t find anything else, she was going to have to resort to serving drinks, as much as she disliked the idea of working late into the evening all the time.  Resolutely, she headed toward the other end of town, determined to find work.

* * *

Henry’s face was red, and his redheaded temper was threatening to explode into white-hot fury.  It didn’t help any that his friend the Sheriff was giving him an, “I told you so,” every five seconds or so.

“For two cents, I could strangle that old woman!” Henry said through gritted teeth.

“She sure has stirred up folks,” Mac agreed.  “What are you going to do about it, Doc Z?”

“What can I do?” Henry growled.

“Well, you know what you need to do, and that is marry the girl.  Her reputation is ruined right now.  Thanks to Miss McCrae, the whole town thinks you bedded Lucinda.”

“Well, I didn’t!  I’m a doctor!”  He growled, and then left the Sheriff’s office, slamming the door on his way out.

Mac shook his head.  The glass in the door was doomed, and it was just a matter of time before he would have to go before the town council and explain why it needed replacing.  Most jails had a solid wood door, and he couldn’t believe this one didn’t.  He sighed, put his hat on his head, and went to follow Doc Z.  The man’s temper was terrible.  Mac quickened his step when he realized where Henry was going… Straight to Miss McCrae’s Dress Shoppe!

Henry was angry and he didn’t take pains to hide the fact as he opened the door to the Dress Shoppe.  There were several women inside, and that suited him just fine.  “Miss McCrae, I am not happy with you and the lies you are spreading around town.”

“I have no idea to what you are referring, Doc Z!” the woman pretended innocence, and Henry wished he could spank her!

“You are telling folks that I behaved improperly toward my patient, one Miss Lucinda Jacobs.”

“She is of ill repute,” the woman countered.

“Then, I suppose you are of ill repute, too?” he asked calmly, and barely refrained from grinning when all the women in the shop gasped in shock.  Miss McCrae was incensed.

“I most certainly am not!” she denied heatedly.

“If I recall, you spent a night in my infirmary two years ago after a spell with your heart.  That is all that happened with Miss Jacobs last night.  I was required to give her an injection because she was grieving uncontrollably for her brother, and she spent the night in my professional care.  What makes the situation different, Miss McCrae?  You both spent the night under my roof, in my bed.  If Miss Jacobs is of ill repute, then you, madam, are of equal ill repute.”  The women gasped again, and he was sure he heard some giggles.

“How dare you imply that my behavior is like that harlot’s?  She chased after you out into Apache country!  And everyone knows you switched her bare in the livery stable.  You should be ashamed, Doc Z.  You bared that young woman to whip her, and now you need to do the right thing and marry her!”  She looked at the other women and said with a smile, “Of course, I wouldn’t want to marry a woman who would ask for a job in a saloon!”