My stomach might've been happier with me, but I knew I'd done the wrong thing by the time we got back to the doctor's office. Once Bret helped me with my coats and my shirt, I could tell that I'd broken the stitches open and there was bleeding going on. When Doctor Demmers unwrapped his bandaged work, I heard the "Well, damn," and knew what was coming.
"I gotta re-stitch you, boy," he pronounced, and I had no one to blame but myself. "And this time you're not going anywhere afterwards."
I glanced at Bret and he was shaking his head. "Don't be givin' me that. You've done the same thing," I told him. "Not even over to Maggie Sawyers house if I promise to rest and not leave?" I asked, practically begging to be released from the doctor's office.
"Only if I get to talk to Maggie first," Doc answered.
I looked at Bret. "Could you?" I pleaded, and Bret sighed.
"Be right back," he answered, putting his coat on again.
"Sure you don't want some whiskey?" Doc asked.
"I'm sure," I told him.
He was just getting started with the stitching by the time Bret and Maggie got back. I sat there and gritted my teeth while he re-stitched and discussed my future behavior with Maggie.
"Keep him still, Maggie. No getting up and walking around, no using that arm for anything. For anything, understand?"
"Yes, sir," she laughed.
"Ow!" I yelled as he hit a particularly tender spot. If I expected sympathy from any of them, I was out of luck.
Doc ignored me and continued instructing Maggie. "And I want you to change the bandage twice a day, and clean it off with what I give you before you re-bandage it."
"Maggie, you don't hafta do this. I can go back to the hotel room."
"No, sir, you cannot. If Maggie won't take care of you, you just have to stay here." Doc was gonna be stubborn about things. "Since you seem to be so well acquainted with Rally, you two can stay in the same room."
I looked at Maggie. "I'll do whatever I'm told," I promised her.
"Get that in writin', Maggie," Bret whispered to her. He thought I couldn't hear him.
"Never sign anything," I reminded him, quoting Pappy.
"WOULD YOU SIT STILL?"
I sat still. Who knew Doc could yell that loud?
When he was done Bret helped with my shirt and coat again. Doc looked to Maggie. "Are you taking him?" he asked her.
She nodded her head, thank God. I had no desire to bunk with Rally Simmons. Bret helped me get up, and this time I intended to do what the doctor told me. With Bret on one side practically holding me up and Maggie on the other side we left the office, headed to Maggie's house. "Guess you get to play poker another night," I told my brother, but he shook his head.
"Nope, I'm goin' back to Pete's. Constance is plenty upset about June and Simmons. Didja know he asked her to marry him?"
I grinned. "Nope, but that explains why June's like a different person."
By the time we got to Maggie's, I was worn out. She got me settled on the settee while Bret started a fire, then insisted on taking my boots off. "What's that for, Pappy?" I asked.
"You're not goin' anywhere without your boots. That's the only way I can guarantee it. And you can't put 'em on yourself, so I think it may be safe for me to leave." The man is downright sneaky. "What time do you go to work, Maggie?"
"I start at ten o'clock, Bret. Why?"
"I'll come by right before you leave and stay for a while, just to check on yer stubborn patient. That alright by you?"
"Certainly," she told him. "There's a spare room here, you're welcome to stay if he needs you."
"Hello," I said from the settee. "I'm alive over here. I can hear you both."
"Do you need anything?" Bret asked before he went out the door.
Maggie shook her head. "No. We went to the store yesterday."
Bret gave me a look. "Ya did, huh? Don't let him give ya a hard time. And you," he said, pointing at me, "behave yourself."
"What else am I gonna do?"
Maggie laughed and closed the door behind him. She shook her head as she came back over and sat down in a chair next to where they had me trapped. "Your brother loves you a lot."
I started to shake my head but quickly thought better of it. "Naw, he'd just miss the aggravation if I wasn't around."
"How about some coffee?"
"You read my mind."
She talked to me as she made the coffee. "Bret told me about the year you were lost in Arizona."
"I wasn't lost. I knew exactly where I was." There he was again, tellin' stories on me. Of course, he could only tell her what he knew about it.
"The year you thought you were Doc Holliday," she corrected herself.
That I couldn't deny. "It was an . . . . . . . interestin' period in my life."
"You really believed it?"
"I did. So did everybody around me, too."
"Amy Stanhope." Maggie brought two cups of coffee over and set one down on the table next to her chair.
I hadn't thought about Amy for a while. "Amy, and her father Gage, and everybody that worked for them. To name just a few."
"You should have seen his eyes light up when he talked about the day he found you."
I changed subjects on her. "Did he tell you about Althea Taylor?"
"A little. It's obvious he still loves her."
This time I did nod. "To everybody but him. That's why I'm glad we're here. Time and distance, ya know?"
"It seems like he's gotten attached to Constance." I set my cup down. It was empty already.
"Yeah, but not like that. He needs somethin' to keep his mind occupied. When he comes back tonight, I need to discuss some things with him."
"Things you can't discuss with me?" she seemed a little sad about that.
"For your own protection," I told her. "There's things you don't know; that's what keeps you safe. I'd like to keep it that way."
"Like who it was that shot you?"
"No, I really don't know who it was. I have suspicions, but until I can find out some things that's all they are – suspicions."
"You're a careful man, aren't you?"
"I have to be. When Bret's not around, I've only got me to watch my back. You wouldn't believe some of the characters I've met."
"Don't you ever want to stay in one place?"
I thought about Dry Springs, and then Lakota Pass. "I did, once or twice."
"What happened?"
"Somethin' awful happened in the first place, and the second place didn't belong to me. So I left both of 'em."
"What about here?"
I almost laughed at that. "Winter's too cold. Besides, if I was gonna live in this climate, I'd go live in Montana. Our sister's there, and a business we both own part of."
"Why don't you then?" was her next question.
"Maybe someday. Not now. Too many places to see, things to do. Not ready to stay in one spot."
"Oh." I heard her disappointment in the way she said the word, but I wasn't going to lie to her. Even if I was ready to settle down, Sioux Falls was not where I would be doing it.