Page 26 of Conveniently Wed
When she and Seb had bent over and examined the wound, there had been no visible puncture marks, only a furrow where the snake’s fang might’ve scratched through Edgar’s skin. Perhaps it would be worse if the fangs had punctured directly?
“Where’s my brother? I don’t need to be babied.”
“I believe he’s gone back to his bedroll,” she snapped. Seb had first ridden out to the other brothers, relaying Edgar’s wishes. Then he’d only gone back to sleep after her insistence that she would care for Edgar in the night. After seeing how long a day the cowboys had had in the saddle, if her stubborn husband insisted they move on in the morning, all the men needed as much rest as they could get.
Edgar struggled to his elbows, but the effort cost him. His face went pale above his beard.
“Why don’tyougo back to bed,” he ordered her weakly. But then he lay his head back down in her lap.
And began to shiver.
She pulled the bedroll up around his shoulders, being careful of his injured hand.
She stopped bathing his face as the chills racked his body, then started back up again a few minutes later as he began to sweat again.
Thankfully, Emma had never woken. Fran didn’t want to give her sister something else to fear out here.
The fire began to die down again. Gradually she could see less and less detail in the wagon and bedrolls, their little camp.
And still the prone man struggled. Should she call for Seb? But what could the younger man do? There was no doctor nearby, no help.
“What will they do if you die?” she asked quietly. Because she didn’t dare ask,what willIdo if you die?
“Not gonna die,” came his slightly slurred response. “Seen someone bit by a rattlesnake before. If I was gonna die, it would’ve already happened.”
Well, that was a relief.
“Might get infected, could lose the arm, but…” he trailed off as if he’d forgotten what he was talking about.
His pain was obviously affecting his responses. He’d hardly spoken to her before this, except at their abbreviated wedding. She should have compassion on him.
But she couldn’t waste this opportunity to find out a bit more about the man she’d married.
“Why is it so important for you to get the cattle where they’re going?”
“Promised my pa,” he mumbled.
“Surely he would understand if you had to delay in order to save your arm.”
He smiled, eyes closed. “Pa would.” Then his lips turned down in a frown. “My own pride wouldn’t. I owe it to him.”
“Why?”
His eyes still closed, he didn’t respond for a long time. Then, quietly, “He took me in when no one else wanted me.”
She’d known he was an orphan, of course. The latent pain still in his voice, emotion that she somehow knew this man rarely shared….
“Bear Creek was the last stop on a long orphan train. I was ten.”
Her breath caught. She hadn’t known they’d shared a similar experience. Was that why he’d been so offended that she’d lied about her age and taken advantage?
“How long ago?”
“Almost fifteen years now.” So he was almost twenty-five. Six years her senior.
“What kind of man is your father? And your mother?” She couldn’t picture the people who would take in so many orphans.
“Jonas took us in before Penny ever came along. Seven of us boys and Breanna.”
