“Take your time cleaning up, I’ll meet you downstairs. I will need to take your statement and handle the details.”
Tucker strides to the door and pulls it open. Both Mothers are pacing outside his door and he grins at them.
“She said yes.”
Abbie laughs out loud when the excited screams erupt and then moans at the pain in her back.
Beth hurries to her and frowns at her. “Come on Abbie, let’s get you into the bath.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” she wonders until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is a tangle of eggs, shell, and straw and her dress is no better.
“He must love me if he asked me to marry him, looking like this?” Abbie says with a laugh. Tears threaten again and she lets her mother strip her filthy dress from her body.
Both women pause when they see the bruises littering her body. “Abbilene!” Beth exclaims.
“It’s okay, Mama, you should see the other person,” she starts laughing and soon she’s sobbing as the reality of almost losing Mason strikes her.
“He was going to kill us both,” she sobs.
Nora leaves them and goes to find some medicine to help with Abbie’s pain. She stops and watches Tucker shout orders to begin the clean-up and frowns.
“How long till it hits him that he almost lost them both?” she wonders.
Chapter 60
Sterling hangs onto the horse as long as he can. Lucky for him the horse was well trained and trotted back to town.
He vaguely hears voices shouting as he finally slips off the beast and slams into the ground.
“Gunshot!” someone screams, and his world goes black.
Soft weeping registers in his mind and intense burning in his side. “Sterling Gilbert you open your eyes right now!” a gentle voice demands. “I only just found you, please don’t leave me,” she weeps against his shoulder.
His hand comes up and cradles Minnie’s head. “Sterling!”
His eyes open slowly, and he winces against the bright light. “Minnie?” he groans.
“Yes, I’m here,” she weeps and smiles when he finally looks at her.
“He shot me!” Alarm has him struggling to sit up. “Abbie’s in trouble!” he tries to sit up and Minnie calms him.
“No, she’s okay. Sheriff Manning shot him. Everyone’s safe,” she promises.
Sterling flops back on to a bed and grabs her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
“Thank you,” his eyes close and when she tries to leave, he squeezes, “Don’t go, Minnie. Need you,” he murmurs.
Relief floods through her soul. “Okay, rest Sterling. I’ll be here when you wake.”
He nods and slips back to sleep and Minnie flies from the room shouting for the Doctor.
The next time he wakes Minnie is helping the Doctor change the bandage over his wound. “What about the head wound?” she whispers.
“It should be fine. It was a nick compared to this one.”
“I’m too stubborn to die, Doc,” Sterling hisses when he presses a cloth against the wound.
“There’s truth in those words,” Doctor Jansen laughs. “Sterling the bullet passed through, which was a blessing, but you’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to rest. We are watching you closely for infection.”
“Whatever you say, Doc,” he hisses at the burning in his side. “Water?”
“A sip,” Minnie says.
“Give us a few minutes Minnie. I’d love some coffee,” the doctor says.
“Yes, Sir.” She stops at the door and turns back to look at Sterling.
“Thank you, Daddy,” she whispers.
“Daddy?” Sterling gasps and she smiles before leaving.
“Minnie’s my only daughter. She’s been worried about you. In fact, she’s refused to leave your side. That worries me, considering you call out for another woman in your dreams.”
Sterling laughs and grabs at his side. “Sir, the last time I closed my eyes the man who tried to kill me was on his way to kill my cousin’s wife. Abbie is family. If I survive this, I’d like permission to court your daughter.”
Doc Jansen smiles and nods. “You have it, but don’t break her heart or I’ll make this gunshot look like a scratch.”
“Yes, Sir,” he whispers and leans back to close his eyes.
“If you’re up to company you have a large group worried about you.”
“Minnie first,” he mumbles and struggles to sit up.
“Of course,” he leaves, and Sterling knows the minute she returns. The scent of roses wraps around him and he smiles.
“Minnie?” he whispers, “Come closer.”
She gasps and rushes to his side, leaning over to check him for fever. She presses a cold hand to his forehead and then his cheek. “What can I do?”
His eyes open at the same second, he seizes her wrist, holding her still. “Kiss me,” he demands.
Minnie leans forward and presses a soft kiss to his lips, and he’s startled when he tastes the saltiness of her tears.
“Don’t cry,” he pleads. “I promise I’m not going to die.”
“I’m sorry, but I was so worried,” she lays her forehead on his bare shoulder.
“I promise to make it up to you,” he shivers, and she jumps up to grab a blanket.
“If I’d have known that getting shot would give me such a beautiful nurse, I would have done it months ago,” he teases, and she blushes as she tucks the blanket around him.
“No need to go that far, Sterling.” She avoids his eyes. “Would you like a fresh shirt before your guests come in?”
“If it brings you back to my side, then yes,” he murmurs.
Minnie turns and grabs a fresh shirt and walks over to him. “Don’t move too much, the stitches are fresh. Just let me do the work,” she orders.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Sterling smiles through the pain. Minnie sits beside him on the bed and helps pulls him to a sitting position. She gasps when the
