Regan kept her anger from her face. She knew he was trying to provoke her and he’d done a good job. Were her rifle within reach, she would’ve blown him to Tucson.
Smiling, he touched his hat and moved out of the way. She drove past him without a glance.
After they cleared him, Anna asked in a soft voice, “Who was that?”
“Vermin.”
“I don’t like vermin.”
“Neither do I.” She’d be sharing the encounter with Colt and Whit when they returned. In the meantime, she’d keep an eye out for him and on Anna.
That evening as they were eating dinner, Colt came in. Anna screamed, “Papa!” She ran to him and climbed like a squirrel up a tree. “I missed you!”
Laughing, he hugged her tight. “I missed you, too. Have you been good?”
“Yes. I’m so glad you’re home.”
Still carrying her, he walked to the table and gave the equally happy Regan a warm kiss. “Welcome home,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“As a bear, and so tired I’m surprised my eyes are still open.”
“Sit. I’ll fix you a plate.”
She returned with a plate groaning with large slabs of ham, yams, collards, and three biscuits. “I dreamt about a meal like this.”
Anna asked, “You didn’t have food?”
“Not a lot, no.”
Regan could see his exhaustion and that he’d lost weight. Eating, he asked, “How have you two been?”
“We’ve been well,” Regan replied and told him about the school renovations.
“You all did a lot while I’ve been gone.”
“We want to open in a few days.”
“Are you still going to teach?”
“I am. Mr. Nelson said he may have found a prospect in Laramie. He’s waiting to hear back.”
He asked Anna, “What do you think about your mama being your teacher?”
She shrugged. “It’s okay I guess. We saw a man named Vermin today.”
He paused. “Vermin?”
She nodded. “He said he was watching over me and Mama while you were gone.”
This was not how Regan wanted the topic introduced but the cat was out of the bag now. “Dun Bailey. He was on the road. I’ll tell you about it later.”
His eyes flashed to hers.
Anna continued. “I told Mama I didn’t like vermin. She said she didn’t either.”
“Finish eating, Colton,” she encouraged her husband gently. “We’re fine. He can wait.”
She could tell he wanted to have the conversation right then but he grudgingly acquiesced and returned to his food.
After eating, he stayed awake long enough to tuck Anna into bed, and when he and Regan left her bedroom, Regan asked, “Do you want me to run you a bath?”
“No, I’ll probably fall asleep and drown. I just want to lie down, preferably with my wife but I’d sleep through that as well.”
She walked with him to his room and watched as he fell facedown onto the bed.
“After ten days of sleeping on the ground, this feels so good. Too tired to even take my boots off.”
“Here. I’ll help.”
Once they were removed, she asked, “Anything else you need?”
“Besides you?” he mumbled, still facedown and fully dressed.
She was so happy to have him home where he belonged. “I’ll turn out the lamps so you don’t forget and burn the house down.”
The room plunged into darkness. “Good night, doctor man.”
Snoring was his reply.
Chuckling, she left him to his dreams and closed the door softly behind her.
The next morning, while Colt slept like the dead, Regan and Anna were having breakfast when Spring stopped by.
“I’m on my way to town to get feed for the piglets. Wanted to see if Anna would like to go with me.”
Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “May I go, Mama, please? I like feeding the piglets.”
Regan said, “Yes, you may, but finish your eggs, then you can get dressed.”
While Anna finished her breakfast, Regan said, “Colt came back yesterday.”
“Good. I was starting to worry.”
“He was so tired, he’ll probably sleep until Christmas.”
Anna took her now clean plate into the kitchen and hurried off to get dressed.
Spring asked, “Shall I tell her those little piggies that she adores will be on her plate as bacon one day soon?”
Regan laughed. “Don’t you dare.”
“I’m just teasing. When my father told me the truth, I was probably just a bit older than she is now. I didn’t eat bacon for months.”
Regan told her about the arrival of the school supplies and the encounter with Dun Bailey.
Spring went still. “If that bastard even looks at Anna when I’m around, I’ll geld him and watch him bleed to death on the ground. How dare he threaten you two that way. Does Colt know?”
“A little of it. I’ll tell him the rest when he gets up.”
Spring was still fuming when Anna appeared, but brightened. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s head out. We’ll be back around suppertime. That okay with you, Anna?”
“Yes.”
They started for the door and Anna called back, “Mama, tell Papa I love him and that I’m still glad he’s home.”
“I will, sweetheart. Have fun.”
Around noon, Regan was on the back porch leafing through one of the readers she’d taken from the crate of school items when Colt stepped outside. “Good afternoon, lazybones,” she said to him.
“I woke up with all my clothes on.”
He looked so confused, she stifled her grin. “You went to sleep that way.”
“I don’t remember taking off my boots though.”
“That’s because I did the honors.”
He shook his head and ran his hand down his unshaven face.
“Did you sleep well?”
“I did. Still tired though.” He still looked tired, too.
“You were snoring before I left the room.”
“Sorry.”
“No apologies needed. Hungry?”
“Very. Where’s Anna?”
“With her beloved Aunt Spring. They went into town for piglet feed. She’ll bring her back by suppertime. Anna said to tell you she loves you and is still glad you’re home.”
He smiled. “She’s something.”
“Yes, she is.”
Regan cooked him a hearty breakfast and sat with him while he ate. “Tell me about Dun,” he said.
She gave him the details and saw his anger as he asked, “Does he think talking about Anna that way is something we’d laugh about?”
“He was deliberately trying to provoke me.”
“I’ll kill him if even looks at her.”
“I let Spring know before she and Anna left.”
“Good.”
“I don’t think he wants to tangle with any of us.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
To take his mind off Dun for the moment, she said, “Tell me about Rock Springs.”
“Lieutenant Levi Spalding was there.”
She stilled. “Did you use your scalpel on him?”
He grinned. “No. Told me to tell you he was sorry he lied.”
She rolled her eyes. “Forget him, tell me the rest.”
He did, and she was moved by how the Chinese suffered. He told her about Dr. Crane and finished with how the Union Pacific Railroad tricked the Chinese miners. She was speechless for a few moments. “That’s unconscionable.”
He nodded. “Yes, it was and they were furious to find themselves in Rock Springs. Reminded me of the government’s broken treaties with the Native tribes. Promise something knowing it’s a lie.”
Regan was outdone, but pulled her mind away from the railroad’s atrocious actions. “I put all your mail in your study.”
“Thank you. I’m
going to sit and enjoy being home. With any luck, no one will break a leg, fall off a horse, or get eaten by One Eye for the next day or two.”
“And I will leave you alone, for today at least. I’ve missed you. Been a while since I’ve made you run amok.”
He gave her a grin.
She paused at what she saw reflected there.
He stood, walked over, and picked her up. She laughed. “What are you doing?”
He carried her purposefully to his bedroom and set her down on her feet. “Time to run amok, Mrs. Lee. Kindly take off your clothes, so I can determine how much you really missed me.”
Laughing, she said demurely, “Yes, Doctor.”
Two days later, the school officially reopened and Regan surveyed the faces of her students. They looked skeptical, including Lucky the dog lying at the feet of his owner, Silas Taylor. She cleared her throat. “So, how did Mr. Adams usually start the day?”
Anna said, “He’d collect the work we did at home.”
“Ah.” Since there wasn’t any, she plunged ahead. “Then what?”
Wallace Jr.’s hand shot up.
“Yes.”
“We’d get recess for the rest of the day.”
His classmates snickered.
Regan smiled. “Since we know Wallace Jr. is pulling my leg, who can name the current president of the United States?”
Livy raised her hand.
“Livy?”
“Mr. Grover Cleveland.”
“Very good. Who knows the name of the country’s very first president?”
Livy’s hand went up again.
“Let’s give someone else a chance, Olivia, okay?”
She looked disappointed but nodded.
Regan looked to other children but no one volunteered to respond. “Silas?”
“George Washington,” he groused. “I’m nine years old, Mrs. Lee, why do I have to answer baby questions?”
Regan was thrown by that. “I’m sorry. What’s twelve multiplied by nine?”
He didn’t hesitate. “108.”
She was impressed. “Very good. Do you know all the tables of multiplication?”
“Yes. Lucky and I know everything,” he replied proudly. “Don’t we, Lucky?” The dog barked in agreement.
Regan stifled an eye roll and wondered where Silas had gotten the preposterous notion. Her first thought was to ask him how many people lived in China, but wasn’t sure teachers were supposed to snatch the rug from under their students on the first day. “I’ve never met anyone who knows everything.”
He puffed up. “I do.”
The other children were viewing the conversation eagerly as if enjoying the new teacher being challenged, even Anna. Traitor!
“Did Mr. Adams know that?”
He blinked and turned slightly red. “No, ma’am.”
“How about your parents? Do they know they’re wasting your time and their money sending you to school?”
He shook his head.
“Okay, then let’s make a deal. Pretend you don’t know everything, and I’ll pretend to know more than you.”
He nodded.
She smiled.
In the month that followed, Regan grew more comfortable standing at the front of the classroom and the students grew more comfortable with her being there. She worked reading and spelling one-syllable words with the children in Anna’s age group, and three- and four-syllables with self-proclaimed genius Silas Taylor. They went for hikes to look at nature, laid in the grass during recess to find cloud shapes, and held spelling bees. She made Wallace Jr. sit in the corner at least once a day for terrorizing the girls; Felicity seemed to be his favorite target because she’d cry instead of socking him the way Livy had when he slipped a tiny frog down the back of her dress. Each day at two, Regan went home exhausted, but pleased by the growth of the young minds she was helping to mold.
The town council meeting held during the last week of July was packed. On the agenda was the hiring of the new teacher, Mr. Irving Dunbar, a recent graduate of an Illinois college and the nephew of one of the members of the Ranchers Association. People turned out to watch Regan and the ladies turn in the petition the council had asked for, holding twice the number of needed names, to make sure the mayor and the other members kept their word about paying the new teacher a decent wage.
And when all went well and the meeting was adjourned by the sour-faced Arnold Cale, the roars of approval shook the walls of his bank.
That evening on the back porch, Regan sat cuddled in her husband’s lap. “So now that you’re no longer the teacher, how are you feeling?”
“Sad. Teaching was exhausting but I’ll miss being with the children.”
“Even Wallace Jr.?”
“Even Wallace Jr.”
The rumble of his chuckle played against her ear on his chest.
“So, what are you going to do with yourself all day now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Odell will let me deliver the mail.”
“If I get a vote, I say no.”
“Then it’s good you don’t get one.”
Again, the rumble of amusement.
She sat up. “I have an idea. How about I come to your office every day, slip beneath your desk, and make you run amok.”
He laughed. “No.”
“No one will know. They may wonder why you’re having trouble breathing and why your eyes have rolled back into your head, but I’ll be very quiet. Promise. Let me show you.”
She slid to her knees and as she demonstrated, he had lots of trouble breathing. His eyes rolled so far back into his head it was a wonder they didn’t jump free and spin around in the darkness of the porch floor, but she kept her promise. She was very quiet.
Chapter Nineteen
A few days later, Regan dropped Anna off at school. After waving good-bye and watching her enter the building, she decided to drop in on Spring and invite her to dinner. She was about halfway there when the crack of a rifle broke the early morning silence and pain exploded in her back and shoulders. Her first thought was to get off the seat, find cover, but another crack followed, and she screamed as the next bullet brought even more pain. She tried to pick up the reins because the horses had panicked and were running, but her back was on fire, her vision hazy. She pitched forward. It was the last thing she remembered.
Glad that one of Ed Prescott’s new foals was finally responding to the colic medicine he’d prescribed last week, Colt headed home to see if he could steal a few kisses from his wife before riding to his office. He didn’t see the wagon, so he assumed she hadn’t made it back from the school yet. He’d just dismounted and was on his way to the door when the sound of thundering horses made him stop and look back at the road. It was his wagon but where was Regan? He ran to intercept the team, and that was when he saw her slumped over the footboard, caught in the reins, bobbing like a bloody rag doll. “Regan!”
Frantic, he stopped the horses, climbed onto the seat, and attempted to visually assess the damage even as he threw open his bag and grabbed a scalpel to cut her free from the leads. She moaned while he worked. “I’m sorry, darlin’, but I have to get you inside so I can see how bad this is. Don’t you dare die on me, Mrs. Lee.”
It took him only a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime to get her from the wagon to the house. He wanted to run but forced himself to walk so as not to jostle her. Once inside, he carried her into his room and gently laid her down on her stomach on his bed. Scalpel in hand, he quickly made a cut that split the back of her bloody shirt open from collar to tail and did the same thing with her blood-soaked shift. Using a pad of clean gauze, he gently wiped at the blood so he could see the source of the bleeding while she moaned and shrank away from his touch. “I’m sorry I’m hurting you.” He found two bullets. One just below her shoulder. The second, low on her back, just to the left of her spine. Cursing the unknown person responsible, he left her for a moment and hurried to the kitchen. The new stove had a hot water receptacle
that held three gallons of water. He placed his hand against it and found it still warm from breakfast. He opened it, placed the surgical instruments he’d be needing inside, and added more wood to the stove to bring the water back up to a boil. He needed to tell Whit what happened, and later, Anna would need to be picked up from school but he refused to worry about any of that now. His only concern was Regan, and with that in mind, he buried the part of himself that loved her and became the emotionless detached doctor who’d been trained to save lives.
“How is she?” Spring asked Colt as he stepped out of his bedroom. She’d come by an hour or so ago to drop off Regan’s weekly supply of bacon not knowing Regan had been shot.
“I got the bullets out. She lost a fair amount of blood. Had the bullet in her upper back been a few inches lower it would’ve pierced her heart, and the one in her lower back was only inches from her spine, so she was lucky in that sense, but there’s some internal bleeding. The next day or so will be critical.”
Spring rubbed his arm consolingly. “She’ll pull through. She’s tough.”
He hoped she was right. “I need to go back in and check on her. Can you do me a few favors?”
“Whatever you need.”
“Go into town and let Whit know what’s happened. Tell him the shells were from a Springfield just like the last time. And later, would you pick up Anna from school? I may need her to stay with you a few days until I’m sure Regan’s recovery is going the way it should.”
“I’d love to have her, but prepare yourself, she may balk about being away from Regan. That little girl loves her mama.”
“Yes, she does and so do I.”
Spring studied him. “I’ve noticed. Glad you figured it out.”
“I’ve come a long way since that night I came to you for advice.” Regan held his heart, which is why he needed her to live.
“Have you told her how much she means to you?”
“Every chance I get.”
“Good for you. There’s hope for you yet.” She threw her arms around him and gave him a strong hug. “You two have earned your happiness.”
Colt couldn’t remember the last time they’d shared a hug, but it felt good.
When they parted, she said, “You go see about my sister-in-law and I’ll ride into town. Is there anything you need from your office or from Miller’s?”