Lucinda (10 page)

“Who is Jasper?” Lucy asked, but she locked the door again.

“The one who beat the hell out of Flo.”

“Oh…”  Lucinda wished that Henry was here, but he wasn’t, and she had to do her best.  She helped the woman whose name she didn’t know undress Flo, and Lucinda was shocked at the beating she’d taken.  She started cleaning the cuts and Flo moaned in pain.  “I’m sorry, Flo.  I know this hurts.”

“Son of a bitch,” Flo murmured.  “I’m gonna bust a bottle over his head,” she announced.

“I’d kick him where it counts,” Lucy added her two cents worth and the other woman laughed appreciatively.

“I’m Gracie,” she said.

“I’m Lucy,” Lucinda introduced herself.

“You married Doc Z, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“And he’s off delivering a baby on your wedding night?” the woman chortled.  “I’ll bet he’s not too happy about that.”

“He’s not,” Lucy admitted, wincing when Flo cursed again.  “I don’t know what else to do for Flo until Henry examines her.”

“You’re doing plenty,” Gracie said, and then her eyes went wide when she heard off-key singing.  “That is Jasper.  Be quiet and he might go away.”

The man banged on the door and when that didn’t gain his entry, he kicked the door and it flew open.  Lucinda told Gracie to keep quiet and she went into the waiting room, shutting the door to the infirmary with a firm click.  “Would you be quiet, sir!  You are disturbing my patients!”

“What patients?” Jasper slurred, and Lucy realized he was drunk.

“Two soldiers who were wounded by Apache.  Now what do you want?”

“I’m looking for Flo.  Thought she might be here.”

“Nonsense.  Now please leave before you wake those two brave men.”

“Where’s Doc Z?”   The man leered at her and Lucinda thought she was going to be sick.

“He’s busy right now.  Now, unless you are dying, leave at once.”  She made herself sound as firm as possible.

“Maybe I need me a little kiss before I go?”

“I’m going to give you a chance to leave peacefully, Jasper.  Try to touch me, and I’ll kick you down the steps and leave you there for the Sheriff to find.”

Jasper laughed.  “A little bitty thing like you?” he scoffed, and then grabbed for her.

Chapter Seven

Lucinda stepped back, still trying to discourage the drunken Jasper from putting his hands on her.  “You are drunk, Jasper, and you are going to get hurt if you don’t leave immediately.”

“Flo disappeared on me, so I’ll get what I want from you, and I’ll give you the same’s I gave her if you don’t do what I tell you to do.”  The man’s eyes glittered with a drunken rage.

“The only thing you’re going to get from me is more trouble than you can handle,” Lucinda told him matter-of-factly.

The door to the treatment room opened and the older of the two soldiers, obviously in great pain, stood there, gun in hand.  “Leave the Doc’s wife alone,” he said, trying to appear strong.

“You need to get back in bed!” Lucinda gasped, terrified the man would do injury to himself.

“I’m a man, and a soldier; I don’t stand by while a drunk abuses a woman,” he said forcefully.

“You want a fight, solider boy?” Jasper had a new target to vent his rage on, and he made a move toward the man.

Lucinda reacted with every bit of her training, fueled by her outrage.  She stepped between the men before shots were fired, and it didn’t take her long to disarm Jasper and leave him lying unconscious on the floor.  She turned to the shocked soldier and said with authority, “You get yourself back into that bed right now, soldier, and that is an order!”  Henry was going to have her hide if the poor man made his injuries worse!

“Gracie, you go for Mac.  If Jasper comes to before you get back, I’ll put him out again, so don’t worry.  We need to report what he did to Flo, too.”  Lucinda was outraged over the brutal beating he gave the other woman.

“Maybe we should tie him up first?” Gracie suggested, hoping the soldier, who was still standing there leaning against the door frame for support, would back her up.

“He won’t wake up for quite a while,” Lucinda said with confidence.  “Go on, Gracie.  I need to get this man back in bed and tend to Flo.”  Gracie finally nodded and took off running.  “I hope you know that Henry is going to paddle me if you’ve hurt yourself,” she muttered.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” the Sergeant asked weakly as he allowed her to help him back to bed.  “It was amazing and like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Lucinda answered him, and then made him comfortable before checking his wounds.  “Nothing seems to be any different,” she commented.  “Now please stay in this bed,” she said gently, and then smiled at him.  “Thank you for trying to help.”

“I wouldn’t of let him hurt you, Mrs. Z,” the man stated with conviction.  “You’re a sweet lady.”

“Thank you.”  She felt tears sting her eyes, but she went to check on Flo, who was crying softly and trying to hide it.  “The Doctor will be back soon, Flo.  I’m sorry I can’t take away the pain,” she said, trying to comfort the other woman.

“You’ve been real nice, honey,” Flo whispered.  “I’m sorry as hell that Jasper came here.  Doc Z won’t like that.”

“Henry will understand,” Lucinda stated firmly.  “Please try to rest now.”  She heard Gracie’s voice and then Mac’s.  “Excuse me, Flo, while I speak to the Sheriff.”

“Is Flo okay, Mrs. Z?” Gracie asked in a frightened tone.

“She’s in pain; I hope Henry comes back soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so anxious for that if I was you, little lady.  He’s going to scorch your backside proper,” Mac announced as he knelt beside Jasper.  “You can’t seem to keep yourself out of trouble for five minutes, now can you?”

“I hardly asked for this trouble, Sheriff!”  Lucinda’s tone was frosty and she was insulted when he pushed his had back on his head and just looked up at her in disbelief.

“You shouldn’t have let Jasper inside when he was drinkin’.”

“I did not open the door for him; he kicked it open!” she answered tartly.  “I insist you do your job and haul him to jail.  He beat Flo.”

“Yeah, Gracie said he did.  How bad is she hurt?” Mac wanted to know.

“I’m not sure; I’m not a Doctor, and I’ve done all I can do until Henry gets back.”

“Is Jasper going to wake up?” he demanded impatiently.

“He’s drunk; I didn’t kill him, just gave him some bruises he’ll feel as long as Flo feels hers!” Lucinda turned up her chin and answered.  “He deserves to stay in jail for a long time, Mac.  Flo has cuts and bruises all over her body, and I think she has bruised, if not broken, ribs.”

“You just let me do my job, little girl,” Mac scolded.

“What the…  Lucy, are you all right?” Henry demanded as he walked inside and saw Jasper lying on the floor of the waiting room unconscious.

“I’m fine, Henry, but Flo needs your help.  Jasper beat her and she’s in a lot of pain.  I didn’t know if I should give her some laudanum, or if I should wait until you examined her… so I waited.  I cleaned her cuts, and before you find out from anyone else, the Sergeant got out of bed to try and protect me from Jasper, which was totally unnecessary.  And, I did not let Jasper inside, either.  He kicked in the door and broke the lock!”  She said everything in one breath, speaking as quickly as possible.   “He didn’t hurt me,” she insisted and then added, “The Sergeant seems okay, but after you look at Flo, you should check on him, too.”  She paused to catch her breath.

“Is he just drunk?” Henry hung onto his temper with difficulty, looking at Mac for answers.

“No, your little wife clobbered him with that fancy fighting of hers.”  Mac didn’t even try to protect Lucy!  “I’ve been ordered to lock him up for a long time for beating Flo,” he added in exasperation.  “Lucy loves giving orders, doesn’t she?” he stated.

“Lucy loves disobeying her husband,” Henry replied, looking at his wife as he knelt beside Jasper and checked to make sure he was only sleeping off a drunk and not seriously injured.  After a few minutes, he said, “I’ll help you get him over to the jail, Mac.”

“I can manage.  You need to check on Flo and the soldier,” Mac stated forcefully, and then looked at Lucinda.  “Does that meet with your approval, young lady?”

“Flo needs attention; she is in terrible pain,” Lucy said, not about to let the Sheriff know he was upsetting her.

“Your wife needs her butt spanked hard, Doc, and I sure hope you tend to the matter soon,” Mac commented as he pulled the drunken man over his shoulder and left the office.  “Better get a new lock put on your door, too.”

“Mrs. Zabarski, you are in big trouble,” Henry started scolding the minute they were alone.  “For two cents I would bare you here and now!”

“What for?  I haven’t done anything wrong!” she argued.

“You opened this door, didn’t you?” he demanded.

“For Gracie and Flo, and Flo is hurt.  You need to see to her, Henry, and we can talk about this later.  Now just isn’t the time,” she pointed out.

“You can be assured that we are going to talk about this, and you will be across my knee when we have that talk,” he informed her, walking through the door into the treatment room.  His whole demeanor changed when he saw Flo lying on the treatment bench.  It made him sick to think of Jasper doing this to the much smaller woman.  “Let me look you over, Flo, and see if we can’t help you feel a lot better.  You cleaned the wounds, Lucy?” he asked.

“Yes, Henry,” Lucy answered.  “I considered laudanum, but wasn’t sure I should give her any until you made sure it was the right thing to do.”

“You did well,” he said in approved, checking Flo for internal injuries.  Her ribs were bruised, but nothing seemed broken.  Henry gave her pain medication and asked Gracie to sit with Flo while he went to check on the Sergeant and the young soldier.  The younger man was sleeping and doing well.

“Your little wife is some lady, Doc.  She handled that drunk sure enough.  I was going to shoot him dead; I sure couldn’t of done anything else, and I wasn’t going to let him hurt her like he done that other gal.  She stepped in front of me before I could get a shot off, and it didn’t take her long to make him howl in pain, I’ll tell you.  I’ve never seen anything like it, Doc!”  He shook his head, and then added, “I didn’t pull any stitches loose.  I’m doing okay.”

“You are on the mend,” Henry agreed.  Then he lowered his voice and said, “Thank you for trying to protect Lucy, Sergeant.  I appreciate that.”

“She’s a sweet little lady, Doc.  I wasn’t about to lie here and let someone hurt her.”

“You get some sleep now, Sergeant, and tomorrow we’ll get you up for a while.”

Henry left the room and went to check on Flo again.  She was sleeping soundly, and so was Gracie, who was sitting in a chair beside Flo.  He decided to go and find his wife.

Lucinda was in the kitchen, putting food on a plate.  She gave him a smile and said, “You must be hungry, Henry.  Sit down and eat.”

“Feeding me isn’t going to get you out of trouble,” he warned, but decided he really was hungry, and it was very nice to come home to a hot meal.  “Thank you, Lucy,” he said gratefully as she put a plate in front of him.   “This looks real good.”

“How did the delivery go?” she asked cordially.

“Fine.  Jenny had a baby boy,” he said proudly.

“You like to deliver babies, don’t you?” she asked, smiling at him.

“I do.  Bringing a new life into the world is a miracle, Lucy.  Jenny and her husband are happy with their son, and they are ready to be parents.”

“I’m happy for them, even though I don’t know them yet.”

“You’ll like Jenny,” Henry told her.  “All right, I want to hear what happened tonight, and don’t leave out anything.”

“I was sitting there and working on our new kitchen curtains, and there was pounding on the door.  Gracie was yelling for you to help her.  I could hear how frightened she was, and I let her inside and she was half carrying Flo.  She warned me to relock the door because Jasper might come here to look for Flo.  I did, and then I helped Gracie get Flo into the treatment room, and did what I could to help her.  That’s when Jasper came.  I told Gracie and Flo to stay in the other room, and I went to the door and told Jasper through the door that you weren’t here and that he was disturbing the soldiers.  He was sure Flo was inside, and making all sorts of threats.  I ordered him to leave, but he kicked open the door and came inside, making all sorts of threats about what he was going to do to me.  The Sergeant came to the treatment room door with his gun in his hand and told Jasper to leave, but Jasper was drunk and decided he was going to fight a wounded man!  I stepped between them and clobbered Jasper.  I know the Sergeant meant well, but I wasn’t about to let him re-injure himself!” Lucinda explained.

“You were told not to open the door in the first place,” he reminded her.

“I know, but Gracie sounded desperate.  I simply couldn’t turn her away, Henry!”  Her green eyes pleaded with him for understanding.  “Do you think Flo will be alright?”

“Yes, this time,” he answered.  “Honey, the saloon girls all come here from time to time,” he tied to explain.  “Men aren’t the best when they are drinking.”

“You aren’t excusing what Jasper did, are you?”  She put her hands on her hips and glared at her husband.

“No, I’m not.  I’m trying to make you understand that those girls can give as good as they get most of the time, and sometimes they get hurt.  Flo is lucky tonight.”

“Won’t Jasper be sent to jail?” she asked, clearly shocked at her husband’s attitude.

“He’ll get a sentence, probably for drunk and disorderly, battery, and breaking and entering.”

“Good!”

“Just as you are going to get a sentence because you did not obey me.”

“But, Henry…!  Gracie needed help with Flo!”

“You were told not to open the door, weren’t you?”

“Are you serious, Henry Zabarski?”

“Yes, I am.  I know your intentions were good ones, but that doesn’t put aside the fact that you opened the door after I specifically told you not to do so.  How am I to keep you safe if you won’t obey me?”

“I can keep myself safe,” she argued.  “I can’t turn away someone who needs help, Henry,” she said quietly.  “It’s not my nature.”