Chapter 27

Lucy heard quiet stirring. Groggy, she tried to drag herself out of a heavy, dreamless sleep.

Chris.

She pushed herself upright, lifting her head from its resting place on his bed. Was he awake? Had his fever—?

But it wasn't Chris she had heard. Chris' friend Buck was moving quietly in the room. Lucy stilled, not wanting to draw any attention to herself, but he had noticed she was awake.

"Did you get some rest?" Buck asked.

Lucy nodded, her eyes feeling like sand was under her lids. Her head ached dully. It hadn't been good rest, but it had been rest. She looked over at Chris. His breathing was still rough, but didn't seem as labored. Lucy reached out a hand to his forehead and lightly felt the heat coming from his skin. She glanced over at Buck.

"Hopefully his fever will break soon," Buck said.

Lucy didn't dare let down her guard. And she could see the caution in Buck's eyes, Chris wasn't out of the woods.

Chris stirred slightly and Lucy automatically reached for the basin and washcloth on the nightstand.

"Sarah…" Chris rasped out, his voice trailing off into a coughing fit.

Lucy carefully bathed his face. "It's ok, Chris," she whispered quietly to him. She wanted to make the memories—whatever they were—stop for him. She wanted to take the pain.

When Chris settled again, Lucy set the washcloth aside and perched on the edge of her chair.

"He tell you about Sarah?" Buck asked.

Lucy glanced at him, before averting her eyes. She shook her head slightly. Buck settled in on a chair he must have carried in from the kitchen while she was sleeping.

When Buck didn't say anything more, Lucy risked another look at him. His ever-present smile was gone, sorrow pulling his face down. His eyes were staring at memories Lucy couldn't see.

"Sarah was Chris' wife," Buck said. "She and Chris grew up together. After the war they got hitched."

He was silent, something playing out in front of him that only he could see.

"They had a boy. Adam." Buck's voice was so quiet, Lucy had to strain to hear him past the sound of Chris' painful breaths.

Soot padded into the room and jumped up to the bed. His small frame didn't quite reach the top of the bed and he tumbled backwards, landing on the wood plank floor. The sound brought Buck back from wherever he was.

Buck cleared his throat, shook himself back to the present.

"Chris lost them both in a fire. Someone set it…well, it doesn't much matter. She was crazy. And vindictive. And it broke Chris."

Lucy didn't realize she had reached out for Chris' hand until she felt his fingers move under hers. She couldn't imagine what Chris had lost. What he had felt. The pain. Then she looked over at Buck and saw it was a loss he felt deeply.

"I'm so sorry," she said, knowing it wasn't enough to convey what she was feeling for what Chris, and Buck, had gone through.

Buck heaved a sigh and stood. "Thought maybe it would help explain why he's such a surly son of a—" Buck cut himself off and cleared his throat. "Why he can be a mite testy."

Lucy looked back at Chris. She barely heard Buck stepping out of the room, the front door to the cabin opening and closing.

#

Vin stood in the doorway to Mary's room, giving Nathan space to look her and Billy over. Vin watched the way Billy started at every sudden movement, every sound coming from outside. The way Mary tried to keep an arm around Billy, even as she looked ready to shatter.

Nathan spoke quietly to Mary, pulled a piece of penny candy from his bag to give to Billy and stepped back from the bed. Vin stepped aside to let Nathan pass. With a look over his shoulder at Mary and Billy, Vin stepped out of the room after Nathan.

"They ok?" Vin asked, making sure his voice wouldn't carry to the other room.

"They'll mend," Nathan said. "Might take awhile, but they'll get there."

Vin nodded. He heard what Nathan was saying. "Thanks, Nathan."

Nathan nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow."

Vin started back toward the room, leaving Nathan to make his way out, but stopped.

"How's Lucy?" Vin asked. She had been pushed from his thoughts with all his focus on Mary and Billy. "You went out with Buck to look in on her and Chris, right?"

Nathan gave a nod. "She's just fine. Buck's spendin' some time out there with her and Chris."

Vin let out a long sigh of relief. That was one less thing on his mind right now. He headed back in to see Mary and Billy. He'd see if they needed anything then set to heating up the soup and biscuits one of the ladies in town had brought over that morning.

Billy's eyes were heavy and he leaned against Mary. She tenderly rand her fingers through his hair.

"He didn't sleep much last night," Mary said softly.

Vin knew that. He had been up listening to Billy's cries and Mary's soothing words, wishing he could do something.

When Billy's eyes finally fell closed, Mary carefully lowered him away from her onto a pillow and pulled a blanket over him. She stayed on the bed next to him.

When she looked up at Vin, her eyes were a vibrant blue.

"Thank you for staying with us," she said. "It was a comfort knowing you were here last night."

Vin dipped his head in a nod. He had been the one who had gotten comfort from having Mary and Billy nearby, to be able to hear them and know they were safe.

"Do you need to be going?" Mary asked. She squared her slim shoulders, and Vin admired the way she looked to be bracing herself to be on her own if that's what was required.

Vin shook his head. "No. I don't got nowhere else to be. I'm here for you and Billy." He didn't say the words idly.

"Thank you," Mary said, her shoulders dropping in relief. She motioned to a book on the bedside table. "Would you like me to read?"

Vin liked the way Mary didn't make him feel like it was a problem he couldn't read hardly anything. Like she wanted his company and would enjoying reading for the both of them.

Vin handed her the book and sat down in the upholstered chair he had sat in for his vigil over Lucy when she had first shown up in town. They were both in a better place now. He had Mary and Billy at his side, and Lucy was safe with Chris taking care of her.

#

The night was interminable. Lucy was awake at every movement, every sound Chris made. She tried spooning the willow bark tea into his mouth. She backed away and watched as Buck drenched a towel in camphor oil and laid it over Chris' chest several times. She dozed fitfully and she didn't know how Buck managed to sleep awkwardly in the hard backed chair without falling off.

She dozed off sometime in the gray light of early morning. She jolted awake.

The light coming in through the window in Chris' room was bright. Lucy rubbed at her eyes, not sure what had wakened her. She didn't hear Buck in the cabin and felt a pang of guilt that he was most likely outside taking care of the animals.

It was silent in the cabin.

Silent.

Lucy startled, fully awake. She looked at Chris. His breathing was quiet, coming easily. His cheeks were pale, but no longer bright with fever.

Lucy risked a touch to his face. His skin was cool to the touch.

Lucy closed her eyes, thankfulness nearly overwhelming her.

"He doin' alright?"

She jolted violently, her heart stopping.

Buck stopped several feet from her. Lucy fought to compose herself.

"He—Chris—I th—think—maybe he—his fever—" Her hands shook and she fisted them, wishing she wasn't such a mess. This was Vin's friend, and Chris'. And Buck had been nothing but kind to her.

Still, she was relieved when he didn't come any closer, seeming to understand it was wise to give her space.

"His fever?" Buck asked.

Lucy drew in a breath, shaky but she managed to get her racing heart to calm some.

"I think it broke," she said, with only a slight shake to her voice.

Buck's entire face lifted and he crossed to Chris in two long strides. Lucy withdrew, giving him space.

"You old polecat," Buck said, a grin splitting his face. "You're gonna pull through."

Lucy bit her lips between her teeth, blinking rapidly at the tears that threatened. Chris was going to be alright.

Buck turned around to face Lucy again. "Why don't you go get some rest—some real rest?"

Lucy hesitated, wanting to stay near Chris until she could see his eyes open and know for sure he was just fine. But the exhaustion she had been holding at bay with worry and tasks to tend to washed over her like a wave.

"Go on," Buck encouraged. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Lucy chewed on her lip, looking at Chris' chest rising easily with every breath, no sound of constriction.

"Thank you," she finally agreed.

She made it to her room. Without pulling the covers back or changing from her dress, she fell into bed. She was asleep within seconds, pulled under with the security of knowing Chris was going to be alright.

#

Chris moved, not sure why every limb felt like it was weighted down under bricks.

"Take it easy, buddy."

Buck's familiar voice slowed his fight against the bricks.

But it wasn't Buck's voice he wanted to hear. It was another one. One he didn't recognize, but was familiar. One that reassured him. He couldn't remember the words, couldn't remember the nightmares. He only knew there had been someone comforting him, keeping him from succumbing to the threat and it hadn't been Buck.

"There you go," Buck was saying. "Nice and easy."

Chris managed to get his eyes open. He was in his bed. Buck on the chair across the room with a goofy grin on his face.

"How you feelin'?" Buck asked.

Chris took inventory. "Like I been horsewhipped, then dropped off a cliff," he answered. His throat was raw.

Buck got out of his chair and handed him a mug from the night table.

Chris took a drink, not sure why it felt like so much effort.

"I get shot?" he asked. Then quickly scanned the room, already trying to kick the blankets off. Something he would have been able to do if he wasn't as weak as a newborn calf. "Lucy? Did that ex husband of hers—"

"Lucy's just fine," Buck said, rescuing the mug from Chris before it spilled everywhere. "No one was shot."

Chris let out a breath and leaned back against his pillows.

"You had pneumonia. At least that's what Nathan said," Buck said, sounding entirely too cheerful about the news. "Didn't think you'd make it. But here you are." He grinned broadly at Chris.

Chris tried to take in what Buck was saying. That explained a lot. "Lucy?" he asked again. "She go stay with Vin in town?"

Buck gave Chris an odd look. "She's here."

Chris nodded. She must have given him wide berth. Tending a bedridden husband—even if it was a husband in name only—hadn't been part of the bargain. "Glad she had you here to deal with me. Thanks for that," Chris said.

Again, that odd look. "I only got here day before yesterday," Buck said. "That little gal was by your side for a couple days before that. Heck, even once Nathan and I got here, she wouldn't budge. Kept right on nursing you. Wouldn't leave you until your fever finally broke this mornin'."

Chris started to ask Buck where Lucy was, if she was healthy, but a cough started deep in his chest. Chris coughed, but it only made it worse until his entire body was racked by the spasms of uncontrollable coughing.

"I got you, pal," Buck said. He helped lean Chris forward.

Chris fought for breath between coughs, a losing battle. A solid blow struck his back, jolting him forward.

"What the—" Chris wheezed out before the coughs overtook him again. Another strike between his shoulder blades and Chris glared at Buck, not easy when the coughing had his eyes watering.

"Oh no…"

The words were faint, but Chris heard her voice and immediately turned. Lucy stood in the doorway of his room, her big blue eyes worried, hair escaping from what was left of the braid down her back, and making her look younger.

Chris wanted to tell her to stop staring like he was standing with one foot in the grave, but couldn't get the words out past the coughing and then Buck was giving him another hearty slap on the back.

"I don't think that's helping," Lucy said. Chris saw her worried brow knit further and wanted to tell her not to be fretting about him. He was supposed to be taking care of her, not having her hover around him in a sickbed.

"Buck!" she exclaimed, when Buck wound up for another hit.

Lucy quailed when Buck looked at her, taking a step back.

"Sorry. Sorry," she murmured, looking down.

"You're just fine, Darlin'," Buck said, clearly unoffended.

Lucy swallowed hard, but didn't lift her eyes.

"I'll go get that water that's hot on the stove," Buck said. "Make some tea."

Lucy darted aside when Buck moved past her. She skittered towards Chris' bed.

Chris' cough was finally easing.

"Thanks for calling Buck off," Chris wheezed out.

Lucy lifted tentative eyes to him. "I didn't mean to overstep," she whispered.

Chris gave a snort, then regretted it when it set him to coughing again.

Lucy quickly reached for something on his nightstand. She eased another pillow behind him and Chris gratefully leaned back, not sure how coughing could take so much out of him. He closed his eyes.

He heard her pick up a small pot of strong smelling salve and dipped her fingers in it, then efficiently started to spread it across his bare chest.

Her touch was gentle, spreading warmth across his skin. It had been a long time since he had felt a woman's touch. He opened his eyes and looked at Lucy.

Her long braid fell forward over one shoulder as she worked, her eyes fixed on her task. She looked up and saw him watching her. Pink tinged her cheeks and she pulled her hand away, straightening.

"I…it's for—for your cough…" Lucy stammered.

"Buck said you were takin' care of me," Chris said.

Lucy's cheeks deepened in color further. She focused her attention on cleaning off her hands, setting the small pot aside.

Chris reached out, stilled her movements and held onto her hand. She stood stock still, not looking toward him.

"Thanks," he said. His eyes were already feeling heavy, his entire body spent from his coughing fits.

Lucy's hand was soft on his and she didn't pull her hand away.

"It's ok," she said quietly.

The phrase was familiar, her touch recognizable. Chris let himself drift off with his hand holding hers.

#