Page 294 of Conveniently Wed
“Come on, we’re wasting time discussing it.” Garrett wiggled his gloved fingers her direction, motioning for her to take his hand.
She walked over to the horse and looked up at him, noticing his eyes were the same silvery shade as his mother’s. “I’ve never been on a horse, so tell me what to do.”
Garrett recalled Erik saying his bride-to-be was a city girl, so he offered her an encouraging smile. Since her skirt wasn’t full enough for her to ride astride, she’d have to sit in front of him. He had no doubt she’d think the proximity to him highly inappropriate.
“Just stick your foot in the stirrup and I’ll pull you up.” He was impressed that she didn’t put up a fuss, instead showing a strong, practical nature when she nodded her head.
Garrett held her left hand to steady her while she gathered her skirts out of the way with her right. He caught her wince.
“Why didn’t you tell me your arm was injured?” he asked, leaning over and grabbing her around the waist, lifting her in front of him. The mud-flecked feather on her bedraggled hat smacked him in the face and he fought the urge to grin.
“It’s fine.” Aundy swallowed back a moan. The throbbing in her arm made her feel lightheaded, or maybe it was the impropriety of riding across a stranger’s lap. With Erik injured, what society deemed proper no longer seemed very important. She stiffened her posture and tried not to think about Garrett’s arms around her as he urged his horse through the mud.
“Sure it is. If I was a betting man, I’d wager it hurts like the dickens.” Garrett observed the woman possessed an obvious obstinate streak. He studied the road in front of him, attempting to ignore the feel of the woman held so close to him as he kept an eye out for the wagon. After rounding a little bend, the wagon was easy to spy, turned over in the middle of the road. It was hard to miss Erik trapped under the back of the wagon, his face a ghostly shade of white beneath the mud coating his head.
Garrett stopped Jester, his horse. He gently held Aundy by the waist and set her feet on the mud-slicked road. Easily swinging a leg over the back of his horse, he dropped to the ground.
“Erik? Can you hear me?” Garrett knelt by his neighbor and friend. Although the man was more than ten years his senior, they often talked over the fence about farming, ranching, and life in general. Erik had been a guest at the Nash dinner table many times over the years and they were all pleased for him when he announced his plans to wed.
Erik didn’t move and appeared to be barely breathing. Garrett took off his glove and felt along the man’s neck finding a pulse, although the beat was faint.
“We need to move the wagon.” Garrett stood and pulled on his glove. He looked around, expecting to see Erik’s team. “Where are the horses?”
“Erik instructed me to unhook them before I went to get you,” Aundy said, sitting next to Erik, holding his head in her lap again. “He said they’d find their way home.”
“They’re probably already at the barn, waiting to be fed.” Garrett had no idea how badly Erik was injured but getting the weight of the wagon off his chest needed to happen immediately. Taking stock of the situation, Garrett noticed for the first time Aundy’s trunks scattered on the ground near the wagon. He strode to where they rested in the mud, picked up the first one, and carried it to the back corner of the wagon. He did the same with the second, placing it next to the first trunk.
“We’re going to have to work together to do this, Mrs. Erickson,” Garrett said, looking into her scared face. He surmised she was much younger than he first guessed. She wore confidence in an easy manner, but currently looked very young and frightened.
The accident was a terrible way to welcome Erik’s bride to Pendleton.
When she nodded, he motioned her to stand at the end of one of the trunks. “I’m going to lift this corner of the wagon. When I do, push that trunk beneath it to hold it up. We’ll do the samething with the second trunk. As soon as it’s secure, I’ll pull Erik out.”
Aundy nodded her head, frightened by the thought of the wagon falling back on Erik or trapping Garrett as well.
“Don’t you dare use that arm.” Garrett stared at her left arm, still held tightly against her side. “Get down like this and push with your back and shoulder.”
He demonstrated how he wanted her to move the trunks and she got into position, lifting her sodden skirts out of her way as best she could by placing the hem in her injured hand.
Garrett grunted and strained, putting all his strength into lifting the wagon. Finally, he hefted the corner of the wagon off the ground high enough the trunk would fit beneath it. “Now!” The muscle in Garrett’s jaw worked as he bore the weight of the wagon. Aundy quickly slid the first trunk into place, followed by the second.
With a speed borne of fear, he hurried to take Erik by the shoulders and move him from beneath the wagon.
“Get back from there, please, Mrs. Erickson. I don’t know if the trunks will hold it or not and I don’t want you to receive more injuries,” Garrett said, pulling Erik a safe distance away.
If Aundy had two good hands to work with, he would have had her pull Erik out from beneath the wagon when he lifted it. Her injured arm, combined with Erik’s deadweight, meant there was no possible way she could have moved her husband using one hand, no matter how hard she tried.
Curious as to what kept his mother and their hired hand, he turned to mount Jester and ride back to the ranch. The jingle of harness let him know his mother approached.
Jim drove Nora right up to where Garrett and Aundy kept watch over a motionless Erik. Prepared to jump down into the muddy mess, Jim’s restraining hand on Nora’s arm kept herfrom leaving her seat. “Just stay here, Mrs. Nash,” Jim said, setting the brake and handing her the reins.
“My gracious, Garrett! We’ve got to get that poor man home,” Nora said as Jim and Garrett carefully carried Erik to the back of the wagon and gently laid him on some old blankets she’d spread in the wagon bed. Jim climbed up to the seat while Garrett tied Jester to the back of the wagon then swung Aundy into his arms, setting her close to Erik.
She glanced at Garrett, uncertain his behavior was appropriate, especially since she was now a married woman. His touch made a jolt zing through her from the top of her head to her mud-covered feet. Surprised by his strength, Aundy thought Garrett acted like she weighed no more than a bag of flour and she knew for a fact she was taller and sturdier than many men.
Carefully cradling her left arm against her chest with her right, Aundy continued her prayers on Erik’s behalf while Jim urged the wagon toward Erik’s farm. Only by staring intently at her husband’s chest could she see it barely rise and fall. That had to be a good sign, at least she hoped it was.
The wagon turned and she looked up to see a house in the distance along with a big barn and several outbuildings. While not as big or impressive as their neighbor’s abode, Erik had what appeared to be a solid one-story home with a porch across the front and back, and a yard with a nice fence. His horses stood at the barn dragging the reins of the harness behind them, waiting to be relieved of their burden.
