Chapter 61 – A New Day
Bill had given Lee the list of injured and dead, as well as the names of the missing, but he didn't need it. Those names were etched in his brain forever. They had learned that at least a dozen of the men had been married and that there were about fifteen children that had been at the settlement. Bill was angry at Rushman and he was also heartbroken about what happened at the settlement. He started to wonder if there was something more that he could have done, but quickly realized that they had no warning for the flash flood. At least Jack had planned well enough that they were able to help the people that they did help. Bill wondered if they hadn't been checking on the Silverton settlement, if the same thing could have happened. Bill stopped his horse and looked over at Jesse, Floyd and the other men. He shook his head and then continued moving. He knew that he wouldn't quit until he made sure that everyone was accounted for one way or another. Bill just hoped that everyone back in Hope Valley understood why he needed to know.
Bill knew that he had seen a lot over the years as a Mountie, but what he had seen over the last few days. It saddened him to think of those children growing up without mothers and fathers, but he was also impressed with the way that the people of Hope Valley had pulled together to help strangers. Bill knew that there was something special about the town he had ridden into over seven months ago. As he was heading toward the settlement, he realized that Hope Valley was not only the place that he called home, but the place that he had lived the most in almost five years. He realized that he had made the right decision to leave the Mounties and not travel across the country chasing case after case.
McGinty and Lee carefully lead the wagons away from the mine and toward Rock Creek, then on to Hope Valley. Charlotte had been torn about whether to go with the children or go look for others, but when the twins refused to leave her side, the decision was made.
The group made a brief stop in Rock Creek to let the mayor and townspeople know about the settlement and to be on the lookout for anyone else. Mayor Logan, said they would let them know if anyone else was found, regardless of the condition. Lee thanked the man and got the group moving again. He knew that once they were on the main road that it would be easier to travel, but they would still have to take it slow. Lee hoped that no one else was injured while they were moving people. From what he could tell, many of the injuries weren't that bad. It seemed like an all or nothing, which was very different then the Silverton slide. There were only two fatalities there, where they had five this time. He wondered what the difference had been. Chris rode up next to Lee and brought him back to reality. Lee looked at his friend and could tell that the deaths had hit the man hard. Lee knew Chris had seen death before while working on the logging crews, so he wondered what the difference was this time that seemed to have Chris shaken.
"Chris." Lee said. "What is going on? You okay."
"I can't get the missing children out of my mind." Chris said. "It seems that there should be evidence of them being washed away."
"You want to head back and look?" Lee said.
It was more a statement and not a question.
"Do you mind?" Chris asked.
"No." Lee said. "I get it. I would be out there too, but Bill is trusting me to get this group back safely."
"I will find you when we get back to Hope Valley." Chris said.
"Be sure that you do." Lee said.
With that Lee watched his friend turn his horse and head back toward Rock Creek. Lee knew that Chris had a soft spot for children. It was part of the reason that Lee was surprised that Chris had never settled down and had a family of his own. Lee also knew that Chris was battling demons of his own past and maybe that had something to do with. Lee turned and looked over the group that was riding toward Hope Valley before going over and riding next to McGinty.
Tuesday morning dawned bright in Hope Valley. It was really the first day that the sky had been clear since well before the landslides. Elizabeth was up early. She didn't feel good, but didn't move from her spot next to Jack. She was worried, because he didn't move all night. The only reason that his arm was draped across her body was because she had put it there when she had crawled into bed the night before. Normally, Jack would have pulled her closer during the night even if she had rolled away from him. She laid her head on his chest to listen to his heart and breathing. Elizabeth was worried about Jack, she knew that he had pushed it when he had insisted to his mother that he go out the day before. Elizabeth said a quick prayer as she tried to slow her thoughts and focus on Jack's breathing and heartbeat. Jack's breathing seemed shallow and sounded raspy to her and she wondered if he wasn't getting worse. She didn't remember the raspy sound before when she was laying near Jack. She also noticed that his heartbeat seemed faster, she knew that it should slow down when resting.
Finally, she decided that she needed to get up. She quickly dressed and headed downstairs. She found Abigail in the kitchen, but motioned that she needed to go out. When she got back inside, she shared her concerns with Abigail about Jack and his breathing. Abigail headed up to check on Jack, while she had sent Elizabeth to get Faith. She figured that she would either be at the infirmary or the apartment upstairs. Elizabeth found Faith in her apartment and explained what was going on. Faith said that she would be there shortly, but for Elizabeth to head back and see if she could wake Jack and maybe get him to sit up, it might help with his breathing. Elizabeth headed back and Faith finished getting ready before heading to the cafe. Elizabeth went straight upstairs and found Abigail trying to wake Jack, but he didn't want to open his eyes.
"Faith said to try and sit him up." Elizabeth said. "Here help me and then I will try to wake him."
Together that got him sitting up, but he still had trouble opening his eyes.
"Jackson Alexander Thornton, you open your eyes right now." Elizabeth said in the most stern voice that she could muster.
Elizabeth was able to wake him, but he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. Abigail excused herself and headed to the kitchen to get some coffee for them. She hoped that Jack wasn't worse and he was just tired. By the time that Abigail got to the kitchen, Faith was coming in. Faith nodded hello before heading upstairs. Abigail was quickly behind them. When they got to the room, Jack was a little more awake. Abigail stood back, but she could see the concern on Elizabeth's face. She wondered if it had been a bad idea for Jack to be outside.
Faith started to check him over right away. She agreed that his breathing sounded worse than it had the day before, but she wondered if he just hadn't over done it. She also noticed that the bruising across his chest had spread and looked worse. Abigail had been shocked to see the extent of the bruising on Jack. She couldn't even imagine what he had been through. She had left his care to Elizabeth and Charlotte because she had so much other stuff going on. She realized that Jack was a lot more injured than anyone had let on, including Elizabeth. Abigail had looked at Elizabeth when she saw the bruising, and noticed that Elizabeth couldn't even look at the cuts and bruises on Jack's chest. Abigail also knew that she was going to have to talk to Wynn, because she doubted that either Jack or Elizabeth would be completely honest with him about how injured Jack was.
"I am concerned." Faith said. "You are going to stay in bed today. No more little excursions. I think that you over extended yourself, but I will keep an eye on things. The bruising is worse, which I expected. I also think it is contributing to the problems you are having. Because of the chance of pneumonia, I didn't wrap your ribs which I now think was a mistake. If you want I can wrap them, but it is going to hurt and it might even make the bruising worse before it gets better. Does it hurt to take a deep breath, or is there pain anywhere?"
"It does hurt to breathe." Jack said weakly. "Not much pain anywhere else other than my chest. I mean my shoulder still hurts, but I think that was from where I fell. I think I agree with you about the ribs. I think that wrapping them would help. I will keep an eye on the bruising."
"So will I." Elizabeth said.
"Then let's get you sitting on the edge of the bed." Faith said. "Then I will wrap your ribs. Actually, I think I will wrap your chest from your armpits down to your naval. It will be uncomfortable while I do this. Abigail, do you think that you can help me?"
"Of course." Abigail said. "What do you need?"
"I need you to help me keep the wrap tight, but not too tight." Faith said. "It will take several pieces of cloth to do it, but it needs to be done. I am sorry that I can't give you anything for the pain, Jack."
"It is okay." Jack said.
Abigail and Elizabeth helped Jack sit on the edge of the bed. They then removed his shirt all the way. Abigail couldn't help but gasp as she took in the sight of Jack's bruised and battered body. He had cuts and bruises all across his chest and back."
"Ready?" Faith asked.
Jack nodded.
"Take a deep breath and let it out." Faith said.
Jack did as he was told, but it really hurt and he started coughing. Faith waited. When Jack's coughing spell passed, Faith and Abigail quickly and efficiently wrapped Jack's torso. Elizabeth tried to keep Jack calm and handed strips of cloth to Faith as she reached for them.
"I know it may not be as comfortable." Faith said. "But I would like for you to try and sit up more in bed today, instead of laying flat. Maybe that will help, also after you eat, if you want to have an aspirin you may. Please don't take more than two and no more until I check you again. I don't want to alarm you, but if your breathing is not better, I might not have a choice, but to send you to Union City. Take it easy and I will be back to check on you. I still don't know what is going on with Rock Creek, but I will try to be back about lunch. If you are not better, I am going to have to have one of the men take you."
"I promise to be good." Jack said, his voice raspy. "Let me know about Rock Creek."
"He isn't going anywhere." Elizabeth said in her teacher's voice.
"You need to rest mister." Abigail said. "We can handle anything that comes in from Rock Creek. I have some tea or coffee here. I will bring breakfast up in a bit."
Jack sighed. He knew that there was no point in arguing with Elizabeth when she was in full on teacher mode.
"Thank you both for your help." Faith said.
"I will make sure that he follows your orders, Faith." Elizabeth said. "I will have some tea and I will come get breakfast when it is ready."
"I will have tea as well." Jack said, looking at Elizabeth.
With that, Abigail left the tray with the tea and took the coffee pot back with her. Faith followed Abigail down. When they got to the kitchen Abigail turned to look at Faith.
"I am sorry." Abigail said. "I assumed Wynn talked to you."
"No." Faith said. "What is going on?"
"It sounds like there will be sixteen injured coming from Rock Creek." Abigail said. "They should be here at about noon. I don't know how badly they were injured, but it sounded like there were at least four or five dead. There were also at least five children found after a flash flood ripped through the settlement. There could be others that are injured and haven't been found. I just don't know. We will have to wait and see what arrives."
"Thanks." Faith said. "I think that I will try to put the most severely injured in the saloon and others in the tents. I saw that they were up."
"Yes." Abigail said. "Dee got them up and we will do what we have to. As soon as they arrive, I will sound the whistle if we need more hands. But I suggest that you use the tents for the injured. We can put the children in the saloon. It will be easier to watch them."
"Sounds like a plan." Faith said. "I think I will see if I can get some cots set up in the tents and we will just have to wait."
It didn't take long for the rest of Hope Valley to start to stir as most of them were awake and tending to their own families before tackling the other chores of the day. The people from the settlement were slowly awakening, but the events of the last couple days had started to wear on them. People knew that there was still a lot to do, but it was hard when you didn't know what was going to happen next. Many people were worried about jobs and where they were going to live. Others were worried about how the town was going to deal with everything. People were also worried for their Mountie and school teacher. No one had really seen either of them since Jack had been hurt. They had seen Jack briefly when he was out the day before, but many were too shocked about what had just happened to really take much time to see if he was truly alright.
Wynn and Dee arrived at the cafe shortly after Faith had left. They let Abigail know that they had eaten at the house, but they wanted to get people feed and see what needed to be done. It wasn't long after Wynn and Dee arrived that Mary Graves, Clara and Ann Grady arrived to help as well. Since they knew that the injured would arrive sometime around noon, they decided to see if they could get a couple of the apartments cleaned, as well as Gowen's old house. They agreed that they would get some of the older girls to help. The boys could help set up cots and get blankets on them. Dee volunteered to get the kids from the row houses and Ann said that she would get the settlement kids going. It was also agreed that Edith could handle watching her little one as well as the other two little ones. If not, she would be able to take them to the field by the row house to play with the other little kids.
About twenty minutes later, both Dee and Ann were back with the kids that they had rounded up. The bigger boys were told to find Faith and talk to her about getting cots set up and when they were done, they were to report back to Mrs Stanton at the cafe. The rest of the children and a couple of the mothers all headed out with Dee toward Gowen's old house. They wanted to have it cleaned top to bottom. There would also need to be a supply of wood in the house if they were going to move a few families into it. It hadn't been decided who would be moving to the house at that point. Wynn headed out to find Hickum and see what needed to be done to get a couple of the apartments ready. If they needed to be repaired, he wanted a list. When Wynn got to Lee's office, not only did he find Hickum, but he found another man.
"Hickum." Wynn said. "I was wondering if you could help me."
"If I can." Hickum said. "What do you need?"
"Bill told me there are four apartments that can be used." Wynn said. "I need to know what needs to be done to make them livable. I want to know if repairs can be done and how soon."
"I can do that." Hickum said. "You are in luck. This is Andrew Palmer. He works for Lee as well. He is handy with all sorts of things. He has been helping me fix up my place in exchange for a place to stay."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Palmer." Wynn said.
"You as well, Sir." Andrew said, shaking Wynn's offered hand. "Please call me Andrew."
"Please call me Wynn." Wynn said. "You are not one of my Mounties, so no need for sir."
Both men went with Wynn to check out the apartments and make a list of what needed to be done. Wynn also said something about the cabins.
"Let's get the apartments in town done first." Hickum said. "I know the cabins that you are talking about. I don't stay too far from there. I know that one is in pretty rough shape, but the other two we might be able to do something with. Let's get these done first. At least this will be something."
"Agreed." Andrew said. "It is getting nicer and if people are in tents through the spring and summer, it wouldn't be that bad. I am sure that we could have more housing ready by fall."
"Alright let's get moving." Wynn said. "I expect the rest to be back by noon with the injured."
