Page 51 of A Rugged Beauty
"Another animal friend?" There was an impatience to his tone but the boy didn't seem to hear it.
Alex shook his head. "No, it's—can we hurry?"
Doc didn't particularly desire to patch up another in the menagerie he'd been shown three days ago after stitching up the boy's dog.
"Don't you want..." Doc turned slightly as he gestured to Maddie.
Her head came up, and he saw the judgment in her eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking. "He asked for you," she said in a low voice.
"Doc, it's my sis! She's bleedin' everywhere."
It only took a second to register that what Doc had taken for excitement was fear and that the boy was trembling and gasping with urgency.
Alex had his full attention now.
He started running, the boy beside him. Aware of Maddie abandoning her basket and lifting her skirts to run, too.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Ma told my brother to watch Jenny, but Pa told him to fetch his bridle. I was over by the fire. Paul put Jenny in the wagon, but she fell out!"
That could mean any number of injuries. He'd said earlier that she was bleeding. Had she cut herself? Broken her arm so badly that the bone was protruding?
The wagons in sight, the boy let out a sob.
"Which way?" Doc asked.
The boy bent over and retched, clearly out of breath and worked up from what he'd witnessed and his wild run to find Doc.
"This way," Maddie urged. "Catch up to us," she called back to the boy.
For a breath, he was grateful that she knew where she was going. He spared a moment to ask Alex to fetch his doctor’s bag from his horse.
He could hear the pained screams before they reached the circle of wagons.
"How old?" he asked Maddie.
She was breathing as hard as he was, chest heaving. "Not yet two."
That would make things more difficult. A child that age couldn't tell them where it hurt.
Moments later, they slowed and approached two other women, mothers he recognized from the company. They seemed relieved to see him—or possibly Maddie—and faded into the background, revealing a young man no older than thirteen holding one hand over a squirming toddler's cheek. Blood trailed down his arm, was smeared over her face.
The little one slapped at her brother's hold, trailing blood farther.
The young man—Paul?—was crying.
"Miss Maddie, ya gotta help!" he said.
"Let me," Doc said as he shouldered Maddie out of the way. He reached out for the girl. "Be still now."
But the wailing babe screamed louder and struggled against him when he tried to hold her.
"I got yer bag." Alex ran up, extending the black leather bag toward Doc. He bobbled it and almost dropped it.
"Be careful," Doc barked. There were medicine bottles inside, and if one got crushed, precious remedies would be lost.
"Put it down," he told the boy, who looked frozen, tears welling in his eyes.
