Page 12 of Married By Midnight
It wasn’t an animal at all! It was a man.
She lifted her skirts and ran to the kitchen to open the door.
Chapter 4
Sarah opened the door to greet Dell and Dusty. “What’s this?”
“One of the cows got spooked and bolted right out of the barn. I went to go get her and found him in the crik.” Dell answered.
“Oh, my goodness. Was that with him?” She pointed to the bag Dusty held in his hands.
He nodded. “Yes, but everything is wet. We didn’t open it.”
“Take him into Lacey’s room.”
“Miss Sarah,” Dusty protested. “We don’t know who he is. He could be one of those cowpokes from over at the Snyder place.”
“Hush, Dusty. We don’t know that. He’s injured and needs help.” She looked at the man’s face. It was covered in blood and she could see a gash where he must have fallen and hit it. “I don’t recognize him.”
“Neither did I,” Dell offered, moving past Sarah with the wet cargo.
“Get him out of those wet clothes and under the blankets. I’m going to get my sewing kit.”
Dell kept moving. “Come on Dusty,” he called back. “I’m going to need your help.”
Sarah heard the two men bicker as they closed the door to tend to the man. Sarah quickly filled the kettle and placed it back on the stove. While she was waiting for the water to warm, she looked for her sewing kit and an old sheet she could tear into rags. She returned to the kitchen where Dusty was pouring water into the bowl she set out.
“I don’t like this, Miss Sarah.” Dusty was a few years older than her. He started working for the Abrahams three years prior. “I don’t think it is safe for you to be here alone with him.”
Sarah placed her hand on his arm. “Thank you, Dusty. I appreciate that. I don’t think he can do me any harm in the state he’s in.”
“What about when he wakes up?”
“Then I’ll deal with that at the appropriate time.” She grabbed a bar of soap from the cabinet and headed out of the kitchen. “Will you carry that bowl for me?”
Sarah pushed open the door and spied the man lying there on the bed.
The man was pale lying on the sheets. He was covered in a quilt of pink, yellow and blue. All of Lacey’s favorite colors. Sarah tried to stifle a sob as she pulled a chair to the side of the bed. Taking the bowl from Dusty, she placed it on Lacey’s nightstand.
“I’ll need some cool water, if one of you can get that for me.”
“I’ll get it,” Dell said as he hurried from the room.
Sarah looked at her patient. He was rather handsome if you could look past the swelling of his cheek and the gash on his forehead. She tore a strip of linen from the sheet and put it in the water, swirling it against the bar of soap in the water.
She washed his face, trying to remove as much of the dirt and blood as possible. The gash wasn’t as bad as she expected. Her mother always told her that head wounds bled worse than any other types. “It’s still going to need stitches.”
Now that she could see his face, she took a good look at him. His skin was tanned, as though he had spent some time in the sun. Given that it was early spring, he must have lived somewhere south. Everything north was still covered by snow or was overcast.
He had a sharp nose and high cheekbone. She could see that his hair was a lighter brown, now that she managed to remove most of the blood that was caked in it. He had long eyelashes and Sarah would bet that his eyes were brown as well.
He had a square chin with a dimple at the bottom. She had never seen anyone with a chin like that.
He had broad shoulders. Sarah could see the discoloration on one shoulder. Since it was on the same side where his gash was, she would venture a guess he hit that along a rock too.
Sarah went to lower the quilt covering him. She would try to remove as much dirt as she could.
“Wait!” Dusty said. “He don’t have anything on under there.”
