Winter's Refuge

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-One

HEYES

We got the Kid settled in Rocky's bed, but it took all of us to get him in there. When we laid him down and removed his pants, Lom gently tried to get the bloody bandage off. Most of the blood was at the lowest part of the wound. Dr. Pollia told us that the bullet started just barely under the skin and went deeper as it went down his thigh until it hit a bone.

"Bandage is sticking to the wound," Lom said, as Aiden came into the room.

"Bullet?" Aiden asked.

Lom nodded and I said, "Yes."

"Hot water and alcohol, Mrs. Heyes, please," Aiden told my wife. "Then please check on Miss Chrissy."

LOM

I wasn't sure what to do. Chrissy had ordered me out in no uncertain terms, but Aiden was issuing orders to Heyes and me as he examined the Kid. I told him what Dr. Pollia had said, and he nodded. When that man focuses, he only sees the patient in front of him.

"Very clean. It was stitched nicely but most of the lower ones have been torn out. Lom, this could have been avoided if he had stayed in Cheyenne and rested another three to four days," Aiden said. And it sounded like he was scolding me, too. He propped the Kid's leg up on a pillow.

"We could have, but the Kid heard that Chrissy was asking for him and had the baby, and there was no way I could stop a determined Kid Curry," I answered.

I heard Heyes give a subdued chuckle at that.

"Go get a warm glass of water and put two teaspoons of the laudanum in it," Aiden ordered.

When I returned, Aiden had the bleeding stopped and the wound restitched. The Kid didn't complain about the pain still being stoic.

"Jed, drink this." The doctor's voice echoed of authority.

Rising onto his elbows, the Kid refused to take the cup. "Gotta take care of Chrissy," he said.

"You are in no condition to take care of anyone! Drink this. All of it! And maybe when you wake up you can sit in the chair next to her bed."

The Kid took half of the contents of the glass in one long gulp. "Aiden, the baby, my son, is he sick?"

Aiden took a breath as the Kid finished the medicine and made a face at the taste. "My ma used to put honey in it," he complained.

"The baby is early. Earlier than any other of Chrissy's babies. He needs to learn to suckle better. We'll help him learn," Aiden explained.

I could tell the medicine was making the Kid relaxed and sleep would follow, but he was fighting it. "I need to see Chrissy," he demanded in a sleepy voice. He closed his eyes.

"May I please see my nephew now!" McNamara demanded from the doorway.

Fighting the healing sleep, the Kid raised his head. "Nephew?" he asked confused, then the medicine was stronger than his will and sleep overcame him.

The elderly man leaning on a cane in the doorway looked angry. No, maybe determined. No, both.

"Nephew?" I asked.

"I'll tell you about Charles McNamara and you tell me how you and the Kid captured the Black Brook Gang," Heyes told me as he put his arm around me and led me to the kitchen table. I could see into the living room. Angie and Martha were cleaning up where the Kid had bled on the floor and furniture.

Wayne ran across the room and into my arms. "Needed hug, Papa. Down now," he told me and ran off to play.

"Where's Auntie?" I asked.

"I'll explain that, too." Heyes sighed. Then he turned toward the old man. "Great Uncle, you may join us, if you care to," he added reluctantly.

HEYES

I didn't want to invite Great Uncle to talk with us, but I figured he'd be less annoying if included. Rocky, Steven, and Vince joined us quickly. Everyone was curious. Even Aiden stayed. And Chrissy insisted on hearing what happened with the Kid and Lom, so we left her door open.

I gave Lom the update on the day all three babies arrived. I knew Lom would be interested, but I was surprised that Great Uncle listened attentively. He interrupted to ask just who Auntie and Stephanie were but that was all. I imagine that all the things that happened that day were more than what had happened in his life in years.

"That's not exactly all that happened that day," Rocky said softly. I wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he was avoiding my eyes. "Sheriff Birde came to the blacksmith shop looking for me."

"What?" I asked. He had everyone's attention. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"You were in Three Birds. It was the day all the babies came," Rocky said. He still refused to make eye contact with anyone at the table. I realized that Steven was looking down, too.

"Why was the sheriff looking for you?" I asked.

"It's a long story," Rocky answered.

Lom leaned forward and said, "Well, that's why we're around this table, catching up on what happened when we were separated. I suggest you tell us what happened right now."

Rocky took a deep breath, raised his eyes to mine and started talking.

"Well, there's this girl that brings a horse in every single day for a horseshoe," Rocky started.

"Every day?" I asked.

"For the last week or so. Sometimes it's a different shoe on the same horse and sometimes it's a different horse. But it's always just one shoe. Her name is Regina Brown. So anyway, she came that day and asked the same thing, for me to change one of the front horseshoes. I told her I had two horses in front of hers and she could wait in the library. That's what she usually does. But today she said she wanted to watch. I pointed to Mr. Curry's sign that says please wait outside of the blacksmith shop. She smiled all pretty like and said, "That don't apply to me, sweetie."

"How old is this girl?" Angie asked.

"Don't know. It's hard to tell with girls, maybe about fifteen," Rocky answered.

"Hussy!" declared Great Uncle. He's probably right but I wanted to laugh, he was so direct about it.

"Rocky, go on. Did she wait outside?"

Rocky looked around the table but avoided looking at Great Uncle. Then he continued. "Well, not at first. She kept asking to watch, but I know Mr. Curry put that sign up because customers can get hurt by a little flying piece of metal or an ember so I was firm. I finally said I wasn't going to shoe the horse unless she went to the library or sat in the chairs under the big tree. She chose to sit in the chair and pout. When I was done, I called her over and she paid me and left without saying a word.

"That's what I told Sheriff Birde. She went to him and accused me of stealing her bracelet. That's about the time Miss Chrissy had her baby. Steven and Michael stopped at the blacksmith shop on their way to town. Michael wanted to read Doc Arden's journals and get some medicine for the baby's eyes. I was working facing the forge, so they had to get off their horses to talk to me. Steven went up behind a bush and relieved himself and Michael yelled at him to hurry up. Half an hour later, the sheriff came."

"Sorry, son, Miss Regina Brown says you stole her silver bracelet. I have to search you and the forge," he said. He didn't need to remind me I'm still on parole.

"I didn't steal any bracelet or nothing else," I said to him. I didn't like being accused of something I didn't do. I told him how she brings a horse in to get shoed every day.

He was real nice and all but he looked everywhere, even had me take my shirt off to see if the bracelet was stuck in the back waistband of my pants. I felt like I was in prison again.

Then he looked in every little drawer and crevice in the forge and the back room…and found nothing.

"I didn't steal nothing. Satisfied?" I told him again. I kept telling myself this was all a mistake, but I was afraid I was going back to prison. I promised myself I'd never go back there again. I felt like picking a fight with him for accusing me, but that would surely make Mr. Curry mad.

"I don't see the bracelet," Sheriff Birde said, all calm like. "I'll go back and talk to the girl and see if there was someplace else she could have lost it." Then he winked and added, "She's awfully cute, don't you think?"

"Hadn't really noticed," I answered. "But I didn't steal that bracelet."

"The sheriff left without going up to the house. Don't know if he knew what was happening up there."

"Well, what happened? Was the bracelet found somewhere else?" McNamara demanded.

Steven spoke up. "What happened was when I went to pee, I found the bracelet hanging from a branch of the bush next to the chair. It was all sparkly and looked like someone had placed it there carefully. I picked it up and put it in my pocket and forgot about it as Michael and I raced into town. My mind was on getting the eye medicine and giving Michael a little time to look at the journals and get him back to Phoenix. Dr. Crehan had his hands full with Miss Denise and Miss Daisy and Miss Beverly was helping him."

"On our way back to Phoenix, we met Sheriff Birde returning to town…and I remembered the bracelet. None of the ladies at Phoenix wear a bracelet like that so I told the sheriff where I found it and gave it to him. 'Course Rocky didn't know any of this. Sheriff Birde took the bracelet and laughed. "Seems I've got an apology to make. Go on boys, you were in a hurry."

Rocky took up the story. "So, Sheriff Birde did just that and came back and said he was glad he was wrong, but it was his job to investigate. "I think this was just a case of a woman's wiles," he told me. When I didn't understand what he meant, he said he thought the girl was sweet on me.

"Why, she's just a kid…younger than Steven even," I answered.

"Kids have a way of growing up when we're not looking. Watch out for that one," the sheriff said before he left.

"And that's why the sheriff came looking for me and with all the goings on about the baby and Mr. Curry not being here, I just forgot to tell you," Rocky finished, crossing his arms across his chest so we would know the subject was closed.

Great Uncle leaned toward Rocky. "Boy, you're going to invite her to the next dance around here, aren't you?"

Rocky shook his head and blushed bright red while Steven laughed loudly.

Angie refilled our coffee cups and Lom started to talk about the operation to catch the Black Brook Gang. Before he had finished describing how he had pieced the information from the newspapers and US Marshal reports together to find their next move, Chrissy yelled out from her room. I had forgotten she was listening.

"You promised Jed safe if he go with you," she said accusingly.

"I know, Chrissy, I'm sorry. He kinda got shot protecting me," I apologized again.

"He no go next time," she said firmly. Then she was quiet until she said, "I know he always go. Glad he had your back… He always had Heyes' back, too." She sighed.