Chapter 214 – Trying to Treat Jack (long)

Doug and Dee were still sitting at the table talking about a few other things when Elizabeth came downstairs.

"Dee." Elizabeth said. "Faith is asking for your help. They want to give Jack a little ether to help with the pain."

Before anyone else could react, Doug was out of his chair and heading up the stairs.

"Stop, no!" Doug shouted, several times.

When he got to the room he barged it.

"Stop." Doug said.

Jacobs and Faith just looked at Doug. Jack sort of looked at him, but it didn't register who it was. Dee had raced after Doug and stepped in the room only moments after Doug. Faith had the mask and container of ether in her hands. Jacobs didn't look like he was happy they were interrupted. Jack was trying to figure out what was going in the haze of pain that he was in.

"What is the problem?" Jacobs asked in a very stern tone.

"You can't give Jack ether." Doug said. "Last time he was violently ill and ended up unconscious for three days."

"When was this?" Jacobs asked.

"His last year at the academy." Doug said. "He got hit by a bullet that ricocheted when a new cadet dropped their weapon. It hit him in the right lower abdomen. They had to remove a fragment. The doctor said the ether almost killed him when it was a relatively minor wound."

"Doug." Jack said wearily.

"I am right here." Doug said, moving closer to the bed.

"Then we are going to need both of you." Faith said. "I don't have chloroform and this is going to be painful even with morphine."

Doug knelt down and looked at Jack.

"Jackson Alexander." Doug said. "You survived chicken pox and measles. You have survived four bullet wounds and a tangle with a bear cub, you can do this."

Jack nodded.

"Here." Doug said. "Take the pillow and roll onto it. Hug it tightly. Just like when we had to remove the thistles when you got thrown. I will be right here."

Jack took the pillow, rolled onto and buried his head in it.

"Dee shut the door and come here." Jacobs said.

Dee did as he was told. Jacobs had Dee sit on the edge of the bed and hold Jack's legs.

"Everyone ready?" Faith asked.

Doug nodded. Dee nodded and Jack gave a shaky thumbs up.

"I am right here, brother." Doug said.

He sat down next to Jack on the bed. Knowing Jack's modesty, he moved the sheet just enough to expose his hip. He took the extra towel and laid it across Jack's backside. He nodded to Faith and then Doug leaned across Jack's back, but facing away from Faith.

"I am right here." Doug said. "I want you to think of your beautiful wife downstairs and that baby she is carrying. You are going to be an amazing dad. I can't wait. Hopefully it is a boy and when he is old enough we will all need to get together and go fishing. Think about that and not what is going on here. Go to that place where you are happily fishing and drawing."

Faith gave Jack the full shot of morphine in his butt on the same side as the wound. Jack moaned into the pillow. Doug held him still and kept up a steady stream of conversation. Faith undid the wrapping and removed the bandages covering the wound. All it caused Jack pain, but he kept his head buried in the pillow. Not only was Doug talking to him. With his free hand he was gently rubbing his shoulder and neck in a calming way.

Once they had the wound exposed, Faith took tongs and dipped some gauze in the hot water and gently dabbed the area to clean it. Jack screamed in pain, but did his best not to move. Once she was sure the area was cleaned with water, she cleaned it with the alcohol and rinsed it with water again. Finally, she dipped clean pieces of cloth in linseed and covered the wound.

By this point Jack had passed out again. Doug felt him go limp, so turned Jack's head so he could breath. He continued to stroke Jack's hair in a soothing manner, talking to him the whole time.

"We are done." Faith said. "It looks better than I thought, but we will still need to be careful. I will see about ordering some chloroform. Doug, I think we will need your help next time."

"I will be here." Doug said. "Just tell me when."

"Why don't you help me get Jack situated on his side." Jacobs said. "Then we will go downstairs and talk about things."

Faith cleaned up the bandages and instruments while Jacobs and Doug got Jack settled. Doug made sure Jack pretty much stayed covered the whole time. Before they headed down, Faith checked Jack's heart rate and breathing one more time.

"I think he will be out for awhile again." Faith said.

"Probably the best." Doug said.

The group headed downstairs. When they got there, Wynn had his arms wrapped around a sobbing Elizabeth. Dee immediately went to her.

"Jack is okay." Dee said. "Doug kept him calm. He passed out again. Between the pain and the morphine he will be out for a while."

Elizabeth sat back and wiped her face.

"I am going to go lay with him." Elizabeth said.

"Before you go up." Dee said. "Let me properly introduce you."

Doug stepped forward and held out his hand to Elizabeth.

"Constable Douglas Burke, ma'am." Doug said.

"Nice to meet you." Elizabeth said. "Sorry about all of this and my reaction."

"Apology accepted, but not needed." Doug said. "It is nice to finally meet you, I have heard a lot about you. Jack is like a brother to me and I will do anything for him."

"Thank you." Elizabeth said. "Please stay and have supper with my family. It is just leftovers, but there is plenty."

"Thank you kindly." Doug said. "I hope you are okay with me being here and helping. I have a couple of weeks and I came to meet you and see Jack."

"Thanks for helping keep him calm." Elizabeth said. "Hopefully we can all visit once Jack is feeling a little better."

"Of course." Doug said.

Elizabeth turned to head upstairs.

"Elizabeth." Faith said.

She turned to look at the nurse.

"Someone will be up every hour to check Jack's breathing and take his heart rate." Faith said. "We will clean and rebandage the wound in the morning. I gave him a full dose of morphine so he should be out for a while. Later if he is in pain, try to get him to drink some of that tea. He absolutely cannot have any more morphine until morning. I would even advise against any aspirin tonight. I know that it will be a long night, but with his lungs as they are, we need to be careful giving him too much pain medication."

"Understood." Elizabeth said.

"Don't hesitate to have someone come get me if needed overnight." Faith said. "Otherwise, I will be back at about six. He will definitely be hurting by then. Someone make sure to try and take his temperature at least a couple times tonight and mark it down."

"We will." Dee said.

"Thank you everyone." Elizabeth said. "But I need to go lay down now."

"Go." Wynn said.

Elizabeth headed upstairs and Faith left. After Elizabeth was upstairs, Andrew stood up and walked over to Doug.

"It was nice to meet you." Andrew said. "Hopefully, I will see you around. My brother and I will probably be here most of the week."

"Nice to meet you as well." Doug said.

Andrew then turned to Wynn.

"Dad." Andrew said. "David and I are going to head back to the saloon. Some of the guys working here in town invited us to join them for supper and a game of darts and maybe a game of cards."

"Fine." Wynn said. "Just be careful if Charlotte sits down at your table."

"Yes." Doug said. "Charlotte is quite the card shark and she is extremely hard to read."

"Thank you for the information." David said. "We will see you in the morning if not later tonight."

"Abigail will have breakfast for us before services." Elizabeth Rose said. "She might not be officially open, but she will be feeding the Mounties. Otherwise it is porridge at the saloon."

"Got it." Andrew said.

With that David and Andrew turned to finish packing up their stuff. Jacobs looked around.

"Sir." Jacobs said. "I think we all need to sit down and make a plan going forward. As you heard, someone is going to need to check on Jack through the night."

"Good idea." Wynn said.

"Gentlemen." Elizabeth Rose said. "Please have a seat around the table. I will start the hot roast beef sandwiches, since the potatoes are done, and the gravy is almost ready."

"That sounds like a good plan." Wynn said. "Jeremiah, please have a seat and join us for supper."

Elizabeth got upstairs and looked around her room. She knew that someone would be coming in throughout the night to check on Jack. She thought for a moment and then she changed out of her clothes, pulled on a pair of Jack pajama pants and then his henley shirt. She knew that she probably looked ridiculous, but she felt like she was closer to Jack. After she changed, she made sure that Jack was still covered as she had realized that he was still in bed nude. She stood there looking at her husband for a moment and tears slipped down her face. She saw his wrapped torso.

When she covered him back up, she saw some of the bruising that had started to cover his lower body. For a moment she cried and wondered if her husband would ever come back to her and what this was doing to him. With one hand on her baby bump, Elizabeth carefully sat down behind Jack, being careful to not touch his hip. With her other hand, she stroked his hair.

"Heavenly Father." Elizabeth prayed. "Please heal my husband. Help me to have strength to help him. Please make us whole again and help us prepare for his wonderful gift that you have given us. Please, God. I can't do this by myself. Please send my Jack back to me. We have so many plans. Please don't take him from me. Amen."

Elizabeth sat there for a few moments as tears streamed down her cheeks. With one hand, she rubbed her baby belly which was bigger than she swore it was that morning and with the other she stroked her husband's hair. Once the tears stopped, Elizabeth wiped her face and went around the bed. She crawled in facing Jack and pulled the covers over both of them. She lightly touched his chest to check his breathing. Satisfied that he was breathing, she left her hand on his chest and closed her eyes.

Wynn, Dee, Doug and Jacobs all took a seat around the table as David and Andrew slipped from the house and headed back to town.

"I am staying here." Dee said. "So I can check on Jack."

"I am more then willing to help." Doug said. "I just need to get Pegasus settled. My rucksack and bedroll are at the jail."

"We have the guards as well." Dee said. "If something happens, we can send one of them in to get help."

"Dee." Jacobs said. "Are you okay with Constable Burke staying downstairs here with you?"

"Of course." Dee said. "I can go upstairs and get clean sheets for the bed. I can go back to the cot by the fire. I actually prefer that. I can hear what is going on and react if there is a problem."

"I don't mean to kick you out of your bed." Doug said.

"It is fine." Dee said. "The mattress is actually too soft for me. I am used to sleeping on a harder surface. The cot is perfect for me right now. I honestly don't mind. I slept on the cot when Dad was staying here before Mom came."

"Okay." Doug said. "As long as you don't mind."

"Good." Wynn said. "Now that is settled. After we eat, the rest of us will head back to town. We will be back in the morning. We will help with the checks so you two can rest. We will make a new plan tomorrow based on how Jack is doing."

"I am sure that if you talk to Joe." Doug said. "He will be more than willing to help out as well."

"I know" Wynn said. "But right now, I need him to continue to act as Constable of Hope Valley and take care of Jack's duties. Bill Avery, who is the sheriff, and McGinty are taking care of the day to day safety of Hope Valley while being backed up by the Cadets and other Constables.

While they are making sure everyone is safe, Jacobs and I are working through the mess that was left behind by Henry Gowen and Pacific Northwest. Dee is helping us as he was part of that investigation for a time. Just so you know, we are working out of the mayor's office across from the mercantile. There is a lot going on in town, so if you are here and can focus more on helping Jack that would be wonderful."

"I will do whatever you need me to do." Doug said. "If that means helping Jack, fine. I don't care if you have me hauling water or chopping wood. I just want to be here and do what I can to help. I know how much this town means to Jack and for him to be injured again must be hard for everyone."

"Thank you for your willingness to help." Jacobs said. "For now, we will have you stay here tonight. There will always be two guards, most always cadets guarding the house. We have ten Cadets and eight other Constables in town beside those here. One of those Constables is still working undercover and we are going to leave him undercover for the time being."

Elizabeth Rose quickly set plates in front of each of the men, then made sure nothing would burn and sat down with her plate. Once she was seated, she nodded to her husband.

"Let's bow our heads and pray." Wynn said. "Heavenly Father. We come to you tonight once again with heavy hearts. We know that you are the Most High Physician. So we once again give you Jack, we ask that you heal him and bring him through this. We also thank you for bringing his friend, Constable Burke here safely. Please be with Beth would survive that kind of loss right now. Finally, we ask You to bless this food to our bodies. Amen and give her strength as she watches her husband once again struggle. Be not only with her, but the baby that she is carrying. Please protect that precious gift You gave them as I don't think they."

"Amen." Elizabeth Rose said.

"Amen." Everyone else echoed.

They started to eat the wonderful meal of leftovers that Elizabeth Rose had made them.

"Thank you, Mrs Delaney." Doug said. "This is the best meal that I have had in months."

"Please call me Elizabeth." She said. "Just so you know, that is why we call my niece, Beth. It cuts down the confusion when we are together. Just know that she prefers others to call her Elizabeth."

"Got it." Doug said.

"If you think leftovers are good." Dee said. "Wait until Mom fixes you a regular meal."

"Or he eats at the cafe." Jacobs joked.

"Oh, I have heard about Mrs Stanton's biscuits." Doug said. "I look forward to having them one morning. Jack joked that he had to chop wood just to stay in shape living here."

They all laughed because they knew how right Jack was.

"I am surprised that you have allowed the Cadets to eat there." Doug said. "Aren't you afraid they will get spoiled?"

"Well." Elizabeth Rose said. "They may be eating there, but they are eating rations that we shipped in for them. Abigail, me and the other ladies just have been fixing them."

"They are still better than what they would get at the academy." Dee said.

"I know." Wynn said. "But it was all we could do. They also know that if they cross me they will be eating out of a tin over an open fire. We already have them doing dishes, hauling water and wood for the cafe."

Doug laughed.

"So who did they piss off first?" Doug asked. "You or Inspector Avery. I know how he feels about Cadets."

"It was actually me that they upset at first." Jacobs said. "It was Easter Sunday and we allowed them to sit down and have a nice meal at the cafe with Abigail, her family, Pastor Frank, the Delaneys and the Thorntons. They were being rude and pushing Jack when he said he didn't want to talk about something."

"Oh boy." Doug said. "I am surprised that Charlotte didn't launch into them."

"She wasn't given the chance." Jacobs said.

He wasn't going to say that Charlotte wasn't there, he understood why she had needed time. The rest of the meal was fairly relaxed. They spent time sharing a little about different places they had been or things they had seen on the job. Doug decided that Jack was right and Dee was a great guy. He still felt weird being so relaxed with two superior officers, but he figured if Jack was okay with it, he would be as well. Doug also understood that it was a bit different for Jack as DC Delaney was technically family. He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around it. He knew that at some point, he was going to have to sit down and talk to Joe about everything.