Chapter 26
When Broken Spur finally emerged through the thinning snow, Henrietta almost failed to recognize it. The cabin crouched beneath a white roof. Fences had vanished under drifts. Smoke still rose from the chimney she had left burning, a narrow dark line against the washed-out sky.
Calvin stirred when he saw it.
“Home,” he whispered.
Henrietta heard him.
For the first time, the word did not sound like something that belonged only to him.
Dr. Mercer got Calvin inside and onto the bed before allowing Henrietta to remove her wet outer clothes. The cabin smelled of banked ash and cold iron. Henrietta’s hands shook so badly she could not undo the buttons on Calvin’s coat, and Mercer slapped them away.
“Sit.”
“I can help.”
“You can sit.”
“Doctor—”
“Mrs. Brooks, I have spent twenty-seven years being ignored by stubborn men. I will not add a stubborn woman merely for variety.”
Henrietta lowered herself onto a chair.
Calvin, white-faced on the bed, said, “He likes you.”
Mercer cut the trouser leg open. “I like cholera more than I like either of you at present.”
The setting of Calvin’s leg filled the cabin with one terrible sound.
Henrietta had thought she knew his capacity for pain after the ravine. She had not. Dr. Mercer pulled the bone into alignment while Calvin gripped a folded leather strap between his teeth and Henrietta braced his shoulders. His entire body arched once beneath her hands.
When it was over, Calvin lay drenched in sweat despite the cold.
Mercer bound the splints firmly, then covered him with blankets. “No riding. No standing. No ranch work.”
Calvin opened one eye. “For how long?”
“Weeks.”
“No.”
“Excellent medical argument. Weeks.”
“The cattle—”
“Will remain cattle without your supervision.”
“The north fence—”
“Will remain a fence.”
“I have work.”
“You have a fractured leg and frostbitten toes. Be grateful I am not discussing amputation.”
Silence struck the room.
Calvin stared at him.
Mercer sighed. “I said I am not discussing it. Circulation is returning. Slowly. If the color improves, we keep all the pieces you arrived with.”
Henrietta’s hand tightened around the chair.
Calvin noticed.
He looked away first.
Dr. Mercer rubbed his tired face. “Now. Before either of you collapses, tell me why you were examining bank notices on a mountainside.”
Henrietta reached inside her dry blouse, where she had transferred the paper after returning, and unfolded the notice onto the table. “Because this was in Calvin’s coat.”