The Circle Eight: Caleb (24 page)

She was relieved there was a doctor to be fetched. Where she lived, most times the midwife doctored folks or they begged at the Garza hacienda for his personal doc. Rory had been lucky to receive his services. Most folks were turned away.

“How’s he doing?”

“Breathing.” She didn’t feel much like talking.

“Is there bleeding?” He was persistent, just like his brother.

“Not that I can see or feel. He’s mighty hard to keep upright and keep the horse in a straight line. So if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you could shut up until we get there.”

Silence met her clipped words and she waited for him to curse or yell at her. Rory wasn’t a soft-spoken miss but she didn’t normally tell a big man like Matt Graham to shut up. Her own emotions were overwhelming her, making her act like a bitch protecting her cub. It was madness.

“I’m guessing my wife would say you’re just anxious about Caleb. If I listened to my own counsel, I’d take care of him myself.” Matt’s voice was low and tight. “I’m gonna give you a chance, Miss Foster.”

“Mrs. Foster.”

He whistled through his teeth. “Are you telling me that my brother is keeping time with a married woman?”

“We are not keeping time, and I’m a widow.” She could see the flowers in a garden behind the house. It all looked so normal, so homey. She wanted something like this for herself, had it when her parents had been alive. Until the fire destroyed their house and death took them.

“If you’re not keeping time then Caleb is an idiot because I can see you have feelings for him. What I don’t understand is how you could be with my brother and be the blacksmith he was sent to kick off Texas land.” Matt pulled up close, his blue-green eyes so much like Caleb’s, it made her heart ache.

“I’m done talking about this, Graham. We can wait to pull out our fists until Caleb wakes up.” Her voice vibrated with anger.

“It’s hard to sleep with you two yammering at each other.” Caleb’s voice scared her bad enough she let loose a cry of surprise.

“Caleb? Damn, boy, you still alive?” Matt sounded relieved and shaken.

“For now, but you two are making my ears bleed.”

Rory kissed the center of his back and closed her eyes. Thank God he’d woken up. She didn’t know what she was going to do if he hadn’t.

“We’re almost home, Caleb. Eva should be ready to fix you up. I sent Nicholas for the doc.” Matt reached over and touched his brother’s arm.

Caleb cracked one eye open and looked at his brother. “Why are you half-naked? Are you telling me you were stepping out on Hannah with my woman?”

Rory barked a laugh at the same time Matt did.

“You don’t need to worry about that. He’d probably rather shoot me than kiss me.” She touched his makeshift bandage. “That shirt is keeping your wound clean until we get you a real doctor.”

“Hannah is gonna be mad you ruined your shirt.” Caleb’s words slurred.

“I’m sure she’ll forgive me.” Matt turned toward the house. “Here come the women.”

True enough, a tribe of women emerged from the back of the house and stood in a crowd waiting for them. Rory counted six of them, some young and some old. Every one of them were wringing their hands and looking as worried as she was. Caleb did have a big family. He said four sisters and three brothers, but there were older women there too, along with a pair of twin girls with crooked braids. Whoever they were, she was glad they cared for him.

When they arrived at the front of the house at last, the women were waiting. Matt dismounted and rushed over to Diablo. The stallion tried to bite him and he jumped back.

“Damn.” He speared Rory with a glare. “That horse is dangerous.”

“I warned you he was difficult.” She reached for the leather strap. “Help me get this undone.”

Matt grunted at her, sounding like his brother, and together they managed to get Caleb untied. Without his brother and friends to help him, it was now up to Matt and Rory to get Caleb down off the big horse.

She hopped down, keeping her hands on Caleb to steady him. He wasn’t unconscious but he wasn’t in any condition to dismount. Matt took the bulk of his brother’s weight while Rory grabbed his legs. The women hovered around, none of them of any size or strength to contribute. One of them looked like she wanted to help more as she held the door open.

Caleb was a big man and Rory had little strength left after the last week, but she dug deep and found a well to tap. A huge table dominated the big room and Matt headed for it. Rory set Caleb’s feet down and then dropped to her knees. She sucked in huge breaths, willing herself not to puke or pass out in front of his family.

One of the twins came over and put her tiny hand on Rory’s shoulder. “You need water, lady?”

Rory glanced up and saw the Graham look, but didn’t know which one the little one belonged to. “Water would be good.”

She took off running, her chubby legs pumping until she slid into the wood sink, making the Mexican woman screech.

“Meredith,
hija
, slow down. We do not need any more injuries today.” The woman helped her pump water into the sink, then put some into a tin cup.

The little one, Meredith, carefully walked it back over to Rory and held it out to her. “I didn’t spill none.”

“Thank you.” Rory sipped at the cool water until she was more in control, then she threw back the rest of it, letting it slide down her throat.

They had already removed the makeshift bandage and his shirt. Water was currently heating on the stove and they all stood there, watching Caleb breathe. Rory got to her feet and their gazes turned to her.

“Who is she, Mama?” The other twin, the one in a blue dress, peered at her from beside the brown-haired woman. She wasn’t a Graham by birth, so she must be Matt’s wife.

“Hello, I’m Hannah Graham and these two are Meredith and Margaret. Elizabeth, Rebecca and Catherine Graham.” The young woman all nodded as their names were offered. “My grandmother Martha, and Eva, who runs the house.” The woman smiled at her, although lines of worry creased her face.

Eva. She’d heard of this woman but didn’t remember much about her other than she had been their housekeeper and cook. The others were Caleb’s sisters and nieces. So much love, so much family. A pinch of envy coated her tongue.

“I’m Ror—Aurora Foster.” She glanced at Caleb, whose glassy eyes were focused on her. “I’m a friend of Caleb’s.”

Matt snorted. “Friend? She’s more like a bodyguard. Thought she’d take my head off with that hammer of hers.”

“Hammer?” Eva looked between Caleb and Rory. “I think there is more than a hammer at work here.”

Rory wasn’t ready for that conversation. Hell she was barely upright. “If you folks don’t mind, I’m gonna go outside and tend to the horse, get some air.” She had the irresistible urge kiss Caleb but didn’t think it wise considering the company. Instead she took his hand and squeezed it tight. “Don’t die on me, Ranger.”

“I’ll do my best.” Caleb’s shaky smile made her lips twitch.

Their gazes followed her as she stepped back outside. The morning heat shimmered in the air, but it was better than sucking in the thick atmosphere in the house. She sat on the porch steps and put her head in her hands. Her entire life had changed since Ranger Graham had stepped onto her property. Now she had to make sense of it.

The door opened and closed behind her and she wanted to run like hell away from whoever had followed her. She didn’t look up while whoever it was sat beside her.

“The Grahams can be a little overwhelming.” It was Hannah, the woman who had married into the family. Her soft voice was welcome after all the noise and violence Rory had been through. “I see that you care for Caleb and so do I. He’s a good man, one who is so wrapped up in trying to prove himself, he forgets how much he is worth to his family.”

“I can believe that.” Rory rested her arms on her knees and stared down at the ground.

“I’d like to be your friend if you’ll let me.”

Rory’s laugh was more like a sob. “I could use one right now.”

“Don’t let Matt intimidate you. He’s all manly bluster but inside, he’s only concerned about his brother.” Hannah snorted. “Now that I’m increasing again, I can make any demands I want and he’ll follow through. I’ve had to put him in his place more than once.”

Rory would have liked to have seen that. “I think Caleb and I have had a few of those moments too.”

Hannah chuckled. “I knew there was something special there. I was hoping you would be able to tell me what happened, how Benjy came home with Caleb and most of all—” Hannah put her hand on Rory’s, “—how you came to be in love with my brother-in-law.”

Rory looked up at her new friend. The urge to tell somebody everything raced through her. “It started on Friday when a neighbor, Eloise, told me a ranger was looking for me. Then everything changed when he walked into my smithy.”

The entire story spilled out, and she found herself telling Hannah things that hid deep in her heart. Her feelings for Caleb sharp and poignant, dug down deep within her lonely existence. She spoke of Horatio, losing her parents and having no family. Hannah sympathized with it all, an orphan with no one but her grandmother until she met Matt Graham.

Their paths had been different but similar enough that by the time Rory had finished the story, she truly was friends with Hannah. It was a relief to unburden herself to someone who cared, although the situation was still grim.

A carriage pulled into the yard with the young Nicholas beside it on his horse.

Hannah’s expression tightened. “The doctor’s here. You want to be inside for this or find something else to do?”

Rory was no coward and Caleb might need her. “I’m coming in.”

Caleb gripped the sides of the table, hanging on as Eva poked and prodded at him. She made all kinds of hmph noises as she peered at him. Her dark gaze moved to his.

“Is this ash?”

“Ash?” He tried to see what she saw. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s a mixture of ash and urine.” Rory stepped up to his side, her face tight with worry.

“You pissed on me?” He stared at her, not understanding what she was talking about.

“It’s an old remedy from my father. Stops the bleeding and keeps a wound clean until it can be doctored.” She shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you pissed on me.” He didn’t know whether to be insulted or amused.

“No, I pissed on the ash.” She peered at his wounds, bringing her tits within inches of his mouth. Now was not the time to be thinking about them but he couldn’t help it. He knew what they tasted like and his mouth watered to lap at them once more. Perhaps the blood loss made him stupid.

“Interesting.” Eva raised one brow at Rory. “I never heard of this remedy but you are right. It worked.”

Doctor Simpson washed his hands at the sink, listening to them. He was an older man, with a balding pate and a protruding belly, who had moved to Texas a year ago to get away from the climate in New York. He was a bit gruff around the edges but had served the people of the area well, delivered plenty of babies and doctoring lots of wounds.

After drying his hands, he pulled his spectacles from the top of his head and gingerly placed them on his nose. “Now, let’s see what we have here.”

“A bullet in his back.” Rory was as blunt as always. “No exit wound, bled plenty, enough that he’s paler than milk. Dig it out of him with care, Doc.”

The doctor’s eyebrows went up. “Didn’t know you had a guard dog, Caleb.”

Although a little color graced her cheeks but she didn’t lose an inch of her sass. Caleb enjoyed her discomfort as much as he enjoyed the way she protected him.

“Get to it, Doc. It’s been at least an hour since he was shot.” Rory settled on a chair, taking Caleb’s hand in hers. It was what he needed, knowing more pain was coming.

“Ah, an ash poultice. Nice work, whoever did it.” The doctor scraped away the ash, then used clean water to wash away the rest.

Caleb gritted his teeth, his side on fire. He’d been shot before, but never in the back. Most times wounds like that could fester and kill. Funny how he’d been shot on the left side and Rory had been wounded in the right. Like two halves of one wounded critter.

The doctor worked for a while, Eva at his side, for an hour. Rory didn’t leave her perch, her hand the anchor he needed. She flinched when he flinched, groaned when he groaned and tightened her grip when he did. Rory might be a tough, hammer-swinging smithy but she was a hell of a human being too.

Fortunately the rest of his family stayed at a distance. He didn’t want an audience, especially if he started crying or something equally as embarrassing like shitting his drawers.

“Ah, there it is.” The doc used some kind of torture device to pull the slug out of him.

Caleb saw stars as pain ripped through him. A hot gush of blood slid down his side. Eva murmured and leaned in close, sopping it up with rags. Rory scowled at her and the doctor.

“You about done bleeding him? I think we need to leave some left in his body.”

The doctor didn’t pause with what he was doing. “I don’t know you, young lady, but I would appreciate it if you could keep your opinion to yourself. I’m trying to save this young man’s life.”