Chapter 12

12

L eah couldn't breathe. She tried and gasped, but couldn't force air into her lungs. Her chest might explode any minute. She clawed at the ground, trying to push herself onto her knees, anything to get breath. With that movement, pain shot through her right leg and a flash of light burned her eyes.

"Ahh!" It was all she could say. Her leg hurt so badly, she couldn't think or speak. At least her breath was coming a little easier now.

"Wait. Don't move just yet." A voice crooned above her while big hands gently rolled Leah onto her back. Was that God? The voice didn't boom like she'd always imagined the Lord's would, but was a mixture of strength and honey, both manly and gentle. She allowed the hands to work as the agony shot bullets up her spine. Maybe if she were perfectly still, she would lose consciousness and leave this searing ache behind.

"Can you tell me where it hurts?"

She squinted up, trying to find the source of the voice.

Gideon. His green eyes were pools of concern.

The question he'd asked finally registered, and she took a quick inventory of her body. It was hard to tell with the pain shooting up her leg and overflowing through her other limbs.

"Just…my leg and…my chest…I think."

"Leah." Miriam's worried face came into view beside her brother's.

Gideon didn't acknowledge his sister, but studied Leah's skirts with a wrinkle between his brows. "I'm going to need to move your skirts a bit." His gaze went to Leah's face. "Is that all right?"

"Yes." If he could make the torture stop, he needed to get on with it.

He eased the bottom of the skirt up on her right side until he sucked in a breath. A flicker of ache showed in his eyes. "I'm going to carry you into the house now. It's going to hurt, but we have to get you inside so we can splint your leg. You can scream or squeeze the life out of my arm, whatever you need to. All right?"

He looked at Leah like he was waiting for her consent. What else was she going to do? She could hardly breathe with the pain, and she could only pray he would do everything he could to make the movement bearable.

Miriam's gentle hands propped up her shoulders as Gideon slipped his arm behind her. His other arm went under the bend of her knees, and the touch seared like fire in her bone. She sucked in her breath and grabbed his shoulder, trying to claw away from the agony.

"Easy there. I've got you. Easy now." His steady cadence and the smoothness of his movements helped calm her a bit. His chest was strong, like a shelter from the raging torment. She buried herself in it. Was this what it felt like to hide under the shadow of the Almighty's wings?

Too soon, she was being lowered into a bed. Again, the touch of her foot on the mattress sent a jolt of fire through her leg.

"Miriam, I'm goin' to get supplies from outside. Need you to gather a long bandage to wrap the splint and some clean cloths."

"All right. I'll put on some willow bark, too."

The exchange sounded far away, the misery inside her screaming too loudly. She tried reciting Scripture under her breath.

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul." She wanted to scream, it hurt so bad. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."

A cool cloth covered Leah's forehead and a gentle hand smoothed the hair away from her face. She opened her eyes to Miriam's smile, but its sweetness seemed dim by the pain.

"Gideon will be back in just a minute, and he'll get you fixed up."

So much fog clouded her mind. "Is the doctor on his way?"

"I'm sorry, Leah. There's not a doctor in Butte or anywhere close. The nearest is in Helena, about five hours away."

She wanted to curl in a ball and block out the pain. "Is he going to take me in the wagon then?"

Miriam brushed a cool hand over her brow. "The wagon ride would be harder on you than anything, and probably mess your leg up even more. 'Sides, Gideon knows what to do. He always was the best at doctoring people and animals. He's splinted more broken bones than I could count on both hands."

The man himself entered the room with two flat boards in one hand and a small leafy branch in the other. He moved around to the foot of the bed near Leah's injured leg and placed the boards on the floor.

He looked into Leah's face. "How're you feelin'?"

She tried to form a smile, but even that brought on pain. "Hurts."

His expression tightened. "I'll be honest, it's gonna hurt a bit more when I start workin' on it. But then you'll feel better." His eyes met hers with an intensity. "Do you think you can make it?"

She could only nod. If she could look into his deep emerald eyes the entire time, she just might be able to do this.

He seemed satisfied with the nod and turned to his sister. "Is the tea ready? She needs some before we start."

Miriam disappeared from the room, and Gideon tore the long cloth into strips about the length of his arm. He moved down to her feet, and cold air brushed her skin where her skirts had been.

"Here you go. This'll help with the hurting." Miriam entered the room with a steaming mug and a spoon. The first spoonful singed her mouth, but not as much as the fire seared her leg. Miriam ladled two more sips of the bitter stuff, then Leah finally shook her head.

"I can drink. Just help me." If this tea would make the pain go away, she wanted it down as quickly as possible.

When she'd drunk it all, Miriam stepped back and Gideon took over.

Standing by her leg, he looked into Leah's face again. "I need you to stay as still as possible, all right? Even when it hurts."

She nodded, biting her lower lip. She would do everything she could to obey. "All right." Her voice sounded as small as she felt with him standing over her.

Gideon shifted her leg to rest on the cloth bandages, then tucked some of the leaves from the branch against her skin. He wrapped both hands around her calf, and she forced her mind to focus on the feel of his callused hands instead of the burn inside her limb.

And then, with a flick of his wrists, he squeezed and jerked her leg in a single excruciating movement. An explosion of white fury shot through Leah's body, clearing away every other thought. She moaned and clutched Miriam's hand.

A gentle hand stroked her hair, and tears streamed down her face. But she was too miserable to care.

The hard press of boards barely registered, but she did her best to focus on what Gideon might be doing as she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain.

He seemed to be tying the boards to her leg now, then he wrapped a bandage around the base of her foot so her ankle made the shape of an "L". The inside of her leg ached, but the bone itself didn't scream quite as much now.

He stopped working, and she finally managed to open her eyes. He was studying her face, his expression nearly as pained as her own must be.

"I'm sorry." He almost whispered the words. She answered with a nod. He hadn't wanted to inflict so much pain, but he had to so the leg would heal correctly. She understood.

Miriam appeared at Leah's side with another steamy mug before Leah realized she'd gone.

"Here. Drink one more cup of the tea and we'll let you sleep."

She was too exhausted to do more than swallow as Miriam poured the warm liquid down her throat. When it was finished, she sank against the pillows, letting her eyes drift closed.

Gideon stood in the bedroom watching Leah sleep. She looked so small and fragile, surrounded by pillows with her leg cinched between two planks. She was small and fragile. What was she doing out here, anyway? This country was wild and tough—not for the delicate.

He couldn't shake the feeling of her snuggled in his arms as he'd carried her. It had been so long since he'd held a woman that close. It made him want to protect her, to shield her from all pain and danger. It had been harder to splint her shin bone than any other he'd had to fix. Knowing the agony he was inflicting had almost sent him storming out the door and far away from the cabin.

How had he let this happen in the first place? It was that blasted porch. If he'd put a rail around it like he'd thought about doing so many times, this never would have happened. Well that was something he could fix now.

But then a niggling of responsibility kicked in. He'd fix the porch right after he gutted the deer. No sense in wasting good meat.

The pounding wouldn't stop.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

"Oohh… Come in." Her words came out more of a moan than a call. She needed to make the pounding stop.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

"Leah?" Miriam poked her head in the door. "I thought I heard you awake. How do you feel today?"

She wanted to clutch her hands over her ears. Between the fire in her right leg and that awful racket, she could just scream.

Miriam's head disappeared from the doorway, then reappeared again with the rest of her body, hands carrying a wooden tray.

"You're probably hungry and ready for some more tea, huh?" She set the tray on a bedside table and reached for the mug. "Let's start with the tea, though."

"What is that banging?"

The corners of Miriam's mouth lifted. "Gideon."

Leah couldn't hold back an annoyed look. She didn't have the tolerance for word games right now. "You mean Gideon's tearing the house down?"

Miriam giggled as she held the cup to Leah's lips. "No, silly. He's building it. Adding a rail around the porch, that is."

Leah took the cup from Miriam's hands. "He is?"

Miriam looked so proud of herself. "Yep." She sank onto the bed and leaned forward like she had a great secret to tell. "He felt terrible about you falling. He's been out cuttin' wood half the night and should be done with the porch in just a bit."

She took another swig of the bitter drink and sank back against the pillows. "But it wasn't his fault. I lost my balance, that's all. It was my own mistake for leaning over so far."

Miriam's green eyes lost their vibrancy for a moment. "Oh, Gideon always takes other people's problems on himself. Blames himself for everything bad that happens around here."

Leah reached for Miriam's hand. "Please tell him my accident was not his fault. He needn't feel bad about it."

The twinkle reappeared in Miriam's eyes as she reached for Leah's empty cup and replaced it with a bowl of mush. "You tell him that yourself. Now, eat a little bit, before the tea puts you back to sleep."

Leah wrinkled her nose. "I can't sleep all day. I need to be helping you with your work. Is there something you can bring me to do in bed? Sewing maybe?"

"Hush now." Miriam rose from the bed as if to escape the talk of Leah working. "You need rest to help your leg heal. But maybe I'll bring in potatoes this afternoon and you can help me peel them for dinner." She held up a finger. "If you rest all morning and are feeling better by then."

Miriam leaned forward to plant an affectionate kiss on Leah's forehead. "Just put your bowl on the tray and I'll be back for it in a while. Sweet dreams."

It wasn't until after Miriam left the room that Leah realized the hammering on the porch had stopped. She smiled. Maybe Miriam was right. Gideon—the mountain man— could be kind and considerate.