Yesterday's Magic (19 page)

Bella picked up the fork that Delilah had
placed on the edge of the plate. “Well, I wouldn’t want to
disappoint anybody named Snake. Is that his real name?”

Delilah smiled. “It’s what I’ve always heard
him called. Rumor is that he stuck his hand into a hole, not
realizing it was home to a rattler. Most men would have died within
the hour. Snake lived to tell about it. He’s a sweetheart of a man.
He owns the saloon and he cooks all the meals for the rest of us
who work there. He really watches out for us girls and if anybody
gets out of line, Snake takes care of it.

Where the hell had Snake been the night
Rantaan Toomay wrecked havoc? “How long have you worked at the
saloon?” Bella asked.

“I guess going on three years.” Delilah
picked up a green ribbon that was trimmed in gold. She ran her hand
across the fabric. “I came here when I was fifteen.”

Oh my God. That meant she was eighteen. Bella
would have guessed her at least ten years older. “Did you grow up
around here?”

“No. I was raised in Iowa. My momma and poppa
got sick and died three days before my fifteenth birthday. I was on
my way to go and live with my aunt in Denver but I got this far and
decided to stay.”

“Your aunt never came to find you?”

“No. She was probably relieved. She had ten
children of her own.”

Okay. So exactly what was so good about the
good old days? Dying young? Lack of birth control? Aging
non-gracefully? “I’m sorry,” Bella said.

Delilah shrugged. “There are lots that have
it worse.” She said it with more optimism than an eighteen-year-old
prostitute, who had little hope of next year being any different
than this year, should have. Bella understood why her father had
seen something in Delilah—had seen an innocence that life had not
been able to squelch.

Bella ate while Delilah sorted through the
various ribbons and pieces of lace. After she’d decided on several,
Bella added up the prices, took her money, and didn’t mention that
she’d given her a twenty percent discount. Somehow she just knew
her aunt would approve.

Within minutes of Delilah leaving, the door
opened again and Dr. Winder stepped inside. His eyes were red and
his mouth set in a straight line. Bella’s heart lurched and she
braced her hands on the counter. “Aunt Freida?” she asked.

The doctor’s head jerked up and he looked up
in a rather distracted manner. Suddenly he smiled. “She’s fine,” he
said, his tone reassuring.

Bella let out a breath. She knew it was crazy
since she’d only met the woman two days earlier and they obviously
weren’t really family, but she cared about Freida. “I got scared,”
she admitted to the doctor. “You looked so serious when you came
in.”

“I’m sorry, Bella.” The doctor took off his
gloves and shoved them into the pockets of his black coat. “I just
left Maude Thurguson’s house. I’d had to give her bad news about
Whiskey.”

“Her husband?” Bella asked, trying to piece
together the story.

“Oh, no. She’s been a widow for going on ten
years. Whiskey is her dog. His lungs are bad and that’s making his
heart work too hard.”

“Her dog?” Bella repeated. She didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry. Her aunt’s doctor was also the town
veterinarian?

Dr. Winder smiled. “Your aunt told me you
were from Ohio. Perhaps back there, doctors aren’t occasionally
called to administer aid to a four-legged-friend. Maude doesn’t
have anybody else. I do what I can for and her dog.”

It was sort of sweet. “As long as you’re
washing your hands between patients,” she teased. However, when the
good doctor only looked confused, it wasn’t a bit endearing.

She really hoped she didn’t get sick while
she was here. “What time should I pick up my aunt?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk about
with you. Best I can tell is that your aunt broke her leg in two
places. I’ve set it and splinted it, but it’ll be the middle of
December before she’s able to get around much.”

Middle of December.
That wasn’t going
to work. “But I’m only here for a couple more days,” she said.

The doctor smiled at her. “Surely you can
extend your stay by a couple weeks.”

No. Her father’s magic had gotten her here
and it would get her back to her own time. Assuming that she didn’t
screw up the exit that she and her father had so finely
choreographed. If she wasn’t in the right spot the evening of
December fifth, it could be a big problem. “No, I’m sorry. I
can’t.”

Dr. Winder shrugged. “Well, we’ll cross that
bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I’m not worried about
the evenings when you’ll be home to assist her, but she’s going to
need someone with her during the day as well. I thought perhaps
Elizabeth, Jedidiah’s sister, might be able to assist. If not her,
I understand the Bean brothers have their mother staying with them
right now. Perhaps she’d be willing.”

Bella figured Aunt Freida would rather give
birth to a full grown horse than have Mrs. Bean have to help her
with anything, especially if that anything was of a personal
nature. “I think Elizabeth is a great choice. Maybe we could start
there.”

“I will speak to Jedidiah about it,” Dr.
Winder said. He tugged the collar of his coat tighter around his
neck and opened the door. He looked over his shoulder. “There’s
snow coming, Bella. Close up early this afternoon. Then you can
come by and get Freida and still be home before dark.”

Bella nodded and he left. She opened the
drawer and began sorting receipts but before she got further than
the first couple, the door opened again and two women entered.
Three hours later, she realized the afternoon had flown by. She put
the Closed sign on the door and she replicated what she’d seen
Freida do the two previous nights. She pulled the money out of the
drawer, put it in an empty tin can, and shoved it behind several
bags of flour. Then she swept the floor and extinguished the fire
in the big black stove.

She’d somehow managed to keep the thing lit
all day and the store had been fairly warm. She only hoped she
could figure out the right combination of wood and newspaper to get
it to light from scratch. Otherwise, she’d spend the day waiting on
customers wearing her gloves and cloak.

She doubled-checked the back door, then left
by the front door. She pulled it shut, checked to make sure it had
locked, and pulled the collar of her cloak tighter. Dr. Winder had
been right. The snow had arrived. It was falling steadily and there
was already a fresh inch or so on top of the two or three inches
that they’d gotten two days earlier.

It had been cold when she’d run for the
doctor early this morning but now that the sun was low in the sky,
it seemed even colder.

She’d taken three steps when she heard her
name.

“Bella.”

She whirled. She saw the horses first and
realized they belonged to Aunt Freida. The wagon was there. Next to
it was Jed, sitting on his horse.

He put two fingers to the brim of his cowboy
hat and nodded in her direction. “I took the liberty of having
Wymer bring your rig over.”

His delivery was stiff, formal. It made her
remember how she’d felt earlier—sort of stiff and brittle--after
he’d left the store without even so much as a glance in her
direction.

“Thank you,” she said. She tried for
impersonal. She thought she managed constipated. She walked up to
the horses, patted each one of the forehead, leaned between them,
and softly said, “Cooperate. Please. I’ve already looked like a
fool in front of him once today.”

She looked up and realized that he’d gotten
off his horse and now stood next to the wagon. He offered his hand
to help her up.

She stared at it.

“I think I can manage,” she said. She hiked
her skirt up, grabbed on to the wagon with both hands, and pulled
herself up. Then she sat down and looked down at him.

“Good night,” she said. She took up the reins
and clicked her tongue the way she’d heard Aunt Freida do. The
horses, being the good natured souls they were, started
walking.

She felt pretty confident until she realized
that Jed’s horse was following them. She pulled on the reins,
stopping her wagon. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I suspect you’ll need some help getting
Freida inside the cabin.”

He said it like he wasn’t too happy about it.
His position on his big horse gave him a height advantage and he
used it now to look down at her. “Doc tells me you’re not planning
on sticking around to help Freida.”

So that was it. Mr. Responsibility thought
she wasn’t taking responsibility for her own. Well, she sure as
hell didn’t owe him any explanations. “That’s right. I can stay for
a couple more days but that’s it.”

He studied her. “If it’s about what happened
in the store, I mean, if you’re troubled that it might happen
again, I can assure you that you don’t have any cause to
worry.”

It was the longest sentence she’d heard him
say. Once she got past that, she realized he was seriously
concerned that he’d been so improper that her only recourse was to
run. If he only knew. If the two of them hadn’t been interrupted,
she’d have pushed him into the back room, gotten him naked, and
discovered how good of shot he really was.

“What happened in the store has nothing to do
with it,” she said.

He didn’t look like he believed her. “What’s
waiting for you at home?” he asked.

Her life. Her magic. And she wanted it back.
“Everything is waiting,” she said. Hoping he wouldn’t press for
details, she took up the reins and got the horses moving forward
again.

When she got to Dr. Winder’s office, she was
relieved to find Aunt Freida awake. The woman was lying down on one
of the two beds that were in the doctor’s back room. Both legs were
stretched out straight and her long skirt was pulled down over
them.

She had one shoe on but the other foot was
bare. It was easy to see why. Her aunt’s foot and ankle were both
swollen with very visible bruises.

“Hi,” Bella said. She walked over to her
aunt’s side. “I spoke to the doctor earlier. He thinks you’re going
to be just fine.”

Aunt Freida reached down and lifted her
skirt. Bella saw that the broken leg was wrapped in strips of white
cloth that might have been sheets at one time. There were solid
wooden splints on both sides to keep the leg immobile.

It looked positively scary.

Her aunt grabbed for her hand. “Don’t fret,
now. I’m not doing too bad for an old fool woman who isn’t as
careful as she needs to be.”

“Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Not so much. Doc gave me laudanum and he’s
sending some home with me, too.”

At that moment, Dr. Winder and Jed came into
the small room. “I’m glad you brought Jedidiah with you,” the
doctor said.

Bella didn’t bother to correct him. She was
suddenly very glad that Jed was there. She was so going to need
help getting Aunt Freida into the wagon. In fact, she didn’t have a
clue how to go about it.

Jed stepped forward. “Your rig is just
outside. I’ve got it filled with straw and plenty of blankets to
keep you warm on the ride. Doc and I’ll each take a side and walk
you out there. Once you get home, I’ll make sure you get
inside.”

Bella patted her aunt’s hand. Okay. They had
a plan. Well, at least Jed had a plan. She was just hanging on by a
thread.

Aunt Freida, however, seemed game and within
ten minutes, she was bundled in her coat, with one arm wrapped
around Jed’s back and one arm draped over Dr. Winder’s shoulder.
She kept her weight totally off her one leg and hopped to the
wagon. By the time they got there, her mouth was a straight line
and the muscles in her neck were so tight that Bella thought a vein
might burst.

“Take it slow,” Jed cautioned Bella as she
climbed back into the driver’s seat. “She’s going to feel every
bump.”

She kept the horses at a slow walk and did
her best but the fresh snow covered up the ruts in the road and she
didn’t know they were there until the wagon clunked over them. The
approaching darkness didn’t help. “Sorry, Aunt Freida,” she yelled,
for the tenth time.

“She can’t hear you,” Jed said. He was on his
horse, keeping pace with the wagon.

Bella stopped the horses and peered back at
her aunt. It was now too dark to see her face. “Aunt Freida?” she
said, anxiety making her voice shake.

“She’s not dead,” Jed said. “Doc said he gave
a big dose of her medicine about a half hour before we got there.
He figured it might help on the way home.”

Bella settled back in her seat and picked up
the reins. Maybe if she was lucky, the doctor had given Aunt Freida
more than enough Laudanum and Bella could have a few sips. Passing
out seemed like a really good alternative right now.

When she pulled into the yard, it took all
her strength to get the horses to stop. Now that they were close to
the barn, they seemed to have a mind of their own. “Just a minute,”
she said to them. “I need to take care of Aunt Freida first and
then it’s your turn.”

By the time she set the brake, Jedidiah was
off his horse and standing next to the wagon. He extended a hand to
help her off and since she’d lost her pride somewhere back in Dr.
Winder’s office, she took it. Once she was on the ground, she moved
quickly to the back of the wagon. “Aunt Freida,” she said. There
was no answer. Before she could move, Jedidiah was climbing into
the back of the wagon. He shook her aunt’s shoulder gently.

“Come on, Freida,” he coaxed. “Nap time is
over.”

“Jedidiah,” her aunt said, her voice soft. “I
never did like you.” Her words were slurred, almost running
together.

“We can sort that out later,” he said. “I’m
going to take one side and Bella will be on the other. Together
we’re getting you inside. It’d be a whole lot easier on us if you
helped a little.”