The Long Way Home (32 page)

As soon as they’d eaten, Jesselynn brought another mare into the corral and began her training. She followed the mare around the circle for a time to keep her moving. When the mare lowered her head and turned to face her, Jesselynn stopped and waited. When she took a couple steps backward, the mare came toward her. They continued the dance until the mare came right up to her, head lowered, acknowledging Jesselynn as leader of the herd. Jesselynn stroked her ears and rubbed down the dark neck. If only she’d learned this easy way of working a horse years ago, although the Thoroughbreds at Twin Oaks were handled from the day they were foaled and never had to be broken.

She slipped the loop around the mare’s neck and walked her around the circle, then turned the other way and walked figure eights. Always the mare followed. The only time she hesitated was when she heard her colt cry. They’d weaned the babies as soon as they arrived in camp, much to the consternation of both mares and offspring. Some were being more stubborn than others.

Stroking the mare, rubbing her with a cloth, then putting the saddle blanket in place—nothing bothered the mare, as long as Jesselynn stopped and backed up a step as soon as the horse began to tighten up.

Wolf leaned against the top bar of the corral. ‘‘You sure do have the touch.’’

‘‘Thank you. You can probably ride her tomorrow.’’ She crossed the corral, the mare following. ‘‘How are the geldings doing?’’ They’d gelded the five young stallions two days earlier.

‘‘You’d hardly know they’d been cut. Meshach is a man of many talents.’’

‘‘He says all you need is a sharp knife and someone to hold the horse down.’’

‘‘Benjamin sitting on their heads did that trick. No bleeders, no infection.’’ Wolf stepped back from the rail. ‘‘Ahab took care of the mare that came in heat. She’s good and sturdy, should make a good colt.’’ Since they had no idea how many of the wild mares were already bred, they were watching them carefully. They couldn’t afford to winter over a mare that hadn’t taken.

‘‘Think I’ll go up and see how Nate and Daniel are doing with the loggin’. You want to ride along?’’

‘‘Oh yes.’’ Jesselynn stopped. ‘‘No, I can’t. I promised Jane Ellen that we’d go looking for hazelnuts, herbs, and such as soon as I finished with the mare. She works so hard, she deserves a treat like that.’’

‘‘You’re riding?’’

‘‘Dulcie and Sunshine.’’

‘‘Agatha rode up with Nate and Daniel. Nate said she can snake a tree out good as any man. Those oxen do just what she tells them.’’

Jesselynn smiled up at him. ‘‘Is that what he says? I think he just wants to spend time with her away from all the prying eyes.’’

‘‘Up loggin’?’’

‘‘Heard tell she fixed a special basket for dinner. Even some molasses to spread on the corn bread.’’

‘‘Well, I knew he was sweet on her, but looks like it goes both ways.’’

I just hope her happiness spills out on the rest of us
. Jesselynn knew she particularly meant on her and Wolf, but others in the party had borne the brunt of Agatha’s displeasure too.

She’d just turned back to the mare when two rifle shots echoed down from the tree line. Two shots were a signal for help.

Wolf whistled. His Appaloosa broke free from the herd and galloped toward him. He swung aboard and galloped on around the bend up toward the hill.

‘‘Get my medicine kit!’’ Jesselynn called into the cave. ‘‘Something’s wrong up on the hill.’’ Benjamin had Domino saddled and ready for her, along with Dulcie for himself, by the time she had grabbed her small kit with extra bandages and had run back out to the corral.

‘‘Dear God, take care of them, whoever’s hurt.’’ She muttered the prayer over and over, both inside and out, as she galloped up the hill.

‘‘This way!’’ Nate hollered down the hill, waving his arm at the same time.

Jesselynn urged her horse straight up the incline rather than following the zigzags used to skid the logs down. Domino was heaving by the time they got to the site, but Jesselynn ignored that, dismounting and running for the body she saw lying on the ground. Aunt Agatha. Something had happened to Aunt Agatha.

‘‘The chain slipped and caught her hand.’’ Wolf kept his voice low. ‘‘She’s lost some fingers and fainted, I think from the pain.’’

Jesselynn dropped to her knees beside the pasty-faced woman. Blood everywhere told a story all its own.

‘‘I done de best I can.’’ Daniel had clamped his fingers over the blood vessel in her wrist so that the bleeding had stopped. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. ‘‘I shouldn’t a let her do de chain.’’

‘‘Hush, Daniel, no one
lets
Aunt Agatha do anything. She does what she thinks best.’’

‘‘But she saved my life in dat town.’’

‘‘Thanks to your quick thinking, she’s not goin’ to die. So you returned the favor.’’ As Jesselynn spoke, she inspected the mangled hand. Two fingers gone, another might have to go by the looks of the shredded flesh, a deep gash at the base of the thumb. She looked up to Nate, who now cradled the woman’s head in his lap. ‘‘How long she been out?’’

‘‘Since before Wolf got here.’’ He sniffed, his thumb stroking Agatha’s cheek.

Jesselynn bound the hand, tying a tight knot over the wrist. ‘‘You can let go now.’’ She glanced up at Daniel, who sat with closed eyes and mouth moving without sound. She knew he was praying. ‘‘Daniel.’’

The young man slowly opened his eyes. ‘‘You sure, Marse?’’

‘‘I’m sure.’’ She watched her aunt’s hand as he released his thumb. No gusher. She sighed, relief evident in every line of her body. ‘‘Aunt Agatha.’’ She patted the woman’s cheek. ‘‘Aunt Agatha, can you hear me?’’

A slight nod of the head. Nate leaned over and laid his cheek against her forehead.

‘‘You’ll be all right, my dear Agatha. You’ll be all right.’’

Agatha murmured something and turned her face into the cupping hand, her eyes slowly opening. ‘‘Hurts some bad.’’

Jesselynn uncorked the small flask of whiskey she kept for emergencies. ‘‘Here, drink some of this. It will help.’’

‘‘I don’t drink spirits.’’

‘‘Today you do.’’ A note of command in Nate’s voice caused Jesselynn to look up to Wolf, who smiled back at her.

A slight nod and Agatha swallowed several times. Her eyes flew open and her good hand went to her throat. ‘‘Oh! You are tryin’ to kill me!’’ She coughed and gagged. ‘‘Water.’’ Wolf held the canteen to her mouth for several more swallows.

‘‘We can dilute that with this.’’

Agatha shuddered. ‘‘No, thank you. I’m done with fainting now.’’ She tried to sit up, but before she could do more than make a motion, Nate had her propped against his knees and leaning back against his chest. Agatha looked at the bound hand and closed her eyes for only a moment. ‘‘How bad is it?’’

‘‘We’ll know more after we get you to camp and clean it up.’’

‘‘Then we better go.’’

‘‘Do you think you can ride?’’

‘‘If I must.’’

‘‘If you will ride in front of me, I can hold you secure.’’ Wolf looked her directly in the eyes when he offered. ‘‘Otherwise we will go for a wagon.’’

Agatha looked up to Nate, and at his nod, she did the same. ‘‘Th-thank you. I will ride.’’

Jesselynn knew her aunt well enough to know what this was costing her. ‘‘Daniel, switch my saddle to the Appaloosa.’’ She turned back to her aunt. ‘‘I’m going to bind that hand up to your shoulder, so you can’t bump it. All right?’’

Agatha nodded, her face still white from the pain, her lower lip quivering the slightest bit.

Jesselynn wanted to wrap her arms around her aunt and hold her close, but now was not the time for that.

‘‘I’ll go ahead and get things ready.’’

Agatha reached for Jesselynn’s hand with her free one. ‘‘Be careful.’’

Fighting the tears that threatened to flood her, Jesselynn raised her aunt’s hand and kissed the fingers. ‘‘I will.’’

By the time Wolf made his way down the hill and into camp, Agatha was near to fainting again. Her eyes fluttered open when they stopped, and she slumped into Meshach’s waiting arms.

‘‘God be takin’ good care of you,’’ he whispered as he carried her to a pallet laid by the outside fire pit. ‘‘Me ’n ’Phelia been prayin’.’’

Jesselynn had water boiling with her needle, thread, and scissors in it. Jane Ellen stood with the bottle of laudanum in one hand and the whiskey in the other, fighting the tears that seeped in spite of her efforts.

‘‘We takes good care of you.’’ Her smile wavered, but her words held firm.

‘‘I know.’’ Agatha lay down with a sigh. ‘‘Such a bother I am. But I wasn’t bein’ careless.’’ A trace of her normal asperity flavored her words.

‘‘I want you to drink some more of that whiskey. We can dilute it with water if you like.’’ Jesselynn shook her head. ‘‘Wish I had some honey for it to make it more palatable, but—’’

‘‘I can drink it if I must.’’ Agatha glared at the silver flask. ‘‘Let’s get this over with.’’ She held it in her own hand, swigged as much as she could before her eyes watered so bad she had to sniff, and her throat closed. She choked and coughed. ‘‘More?’’

Jesselynn nodded. ‘‘Just think, Daddy and Uncle Hiram thought this the best sipping whiskey anywhere.’’

‘‘Well, Joshua and Hiram weren’t always known to have the best of sense.’’ Agatha took another swallow and sucked in a lungful of air. ‘‘Huh.’’ She blinked and closed her eyes. ‘‘I burn so bad inside, I won’t feel you work on my hand.’’

Jane Ellen chuckled and rocked back on her heels. ‘‘You one fine, strong woman, Agatha Highwood.’’

‘‘I’m ready.’’ Agatha lay back and closed her eyes. ‘‘Don’t worry about gentle. Just get it done.’’

Jesselynn handed her a bit of clean rag. ‘‘Bite down on this if you have to. It can help.’’

With Nathan Lyons holding Aunt Agatha’s other hand and Wolf and Meshach ready to hold her down if necessary, Jesselynn unwrapped the mangled hand. Carefully she cleaned all the dirt and debris away and washed it with whiskey. She then sewed flaps of skin over the severed fingers and stitched up the slash on the thumb. While the third finger looked bad, once it was cleaned, she was able to set the broken bone, grateful to not see bone splinters. It didn’t look like the tendons had been severed either. When finished, Jesselynn poured more whiskey over the entire hand, took the thin wrapped board that Meshach handed her, and bound the hand to the splint.

‘‘Please, God, make this heal with no infection, so Agatha can have full use of her hand again. Thank you, this wasn’t worse.’’

‘‘Amen,’’ Agatha murmured from between clenched teeth. ‘‘Now, if I can have some of that laudanum, I will gladly and gratefully go to sleep. Thank you, all.’’

Jesselynn stumbled when she stood, for her feet had gone to sleep. Wolf caught her and held her against his chest.

‘‘You did a fine job. No doctor could have done better, and most of them not as well.’’

Jesselynn leaned against him. ‘‘That was a close one.’’

‘‘Yes, but as Agatha said, ’tweren’t her fault. She was bein’ careful.’’

She could hear his chuckle down in his chest. What a miracle that this man could still care for Aunt Agatha in spite of the way she’d treated him and his wife. She looked up into his eyes. ‘‘You know, Mr. Torstead, you are one fine Christian man, and I am right proud to know you.’’

‘‘Thank you, Mrs. Torstead,’’ he whispered in her ear. ‘‘And I’m glad to
know
you, and the more often the better.’’

She could feel the heat start low and race to engulf her face. ‘‘I better see to my patient.’’ She poked him in the chest. ‘‘And you, sir, mind your thoughts.’’ Her whisper was for him alone. His chuckle made her warm all over.

Several days later Jesselynn walked into the cave and stopped, placing her hands on her hips. ‘‘Aunt Agatha, what happened to your sling?’’

Agatha straightened from laying strips of venison across the drying racks. ‘‘It was in my way.’’ She poked her board-bound hand back into the sling of white muslin tied behind her neck. ‘‘There. Now are you happy?’’

‘‘Yes, although I’d be happier if you were to take it easy for a few more days.’’

‘‘I
am
takin’ it easy. If I went any slower, I’d be sittin’ down, and since I can’t knit or sew, I won’t sit.’’

‘‘As you wish. But the more you bump it, the longer it might take to heal.’’ Jesselynn left the cave before her aunt could have the last word. At least she was talking to them, oh happy day. And there was no sign of infection.
Ah, Lord, you are so good to us
.

Sunday, after Meshach read the Scriptures and they’d sung several songs, Nathan spoke. ‘‘I would like to say somethin’, if’n you don’t mind.’’

Agatha, sitting beside him, tugged on his shirt sleeve. ‘‘I’d like to speak first.’’

Nate patted her hand. ‘‘If you want.’’

Agatha stood up. ‘‘I have a confession to make, since the Bible says that we must confess our sins to one another so that we might be healed.’’ She held her wounded hand to her breast with the other. ‘‘All of you know how hateful I have been to Jesselynn’’—she nodded toward Jesselynn—‘‘and to Wolf.’’

Another nod. ‘‘In my own defense, I have to say that I only believed what I was born and raised in. But Meshach, with his wisdom of the Word, and Na—ah, Mr. Lyons, with his persuasive tongue, have forced me to look at other parts of Scripture. Jesus said to forgive as we are forgiven and to love like He loves, with no mention of skin color or anything else, just to love our neighbor as ourselves.’’ She paused and looked skyward, a ploy that helped fight unwanted tears. Taking a deep breath, she continued. ‘‘I want to love God with all my heart, strength, and mind and my neighbor as myself. Therefore, Jesselynn and Wolf and each of you that I have wronged with my self-righteous ways, please . . . forgive me?’’

Jesselynn stood and crossed to her aunt. ‘‘I forgive you if you will forgive me for being so angry at your bullheadedness.’’ The two hugged and sniffed together. Jesselynn took a square of calico from her pocket and wiped her aunt’s eyes. ‘‘I’m so glad to have you back. I’ve missed you terribly.’’

‘‘And I you.’’ Agatha turned to Wolf, who stood right behind Jesselynn. ‘‘And you, nephew, will you forgive an old lady blinded by color?’’