Page 22 of A Letter to Carolina
“I’ll need towels and a pair of scissors. Molly, I need to get you out of this gown.” She cast a sharp look over her shoulder at Nate.Were nurses always this bossy?
Pushing Tater into the hallway, Nate returned with clean towels and handed Carolina a pair of scissors. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.” His wife nodded and cut Molly’s dress.
“What happened?” Nate turned to the man that had grown up with them. Tater sat on a bench in the waiting area, holding his head in blood-soaked hands.
“We were talking in the corner when the Pharoah game went sideways. One of those cowboys that came through with the last round-up lost his temper and threw a bottle. Fighting broke out, and I think she got hit in the back of the head.” The man twisted his hat in his hands.
“What about the cut on her side?”
“What cut? I don’t know about a cut. She mentioned she hurt her side. Maybe she fell in the glass when that cowboy pushed her?”
“Do you know anything about her medical history?”
“Nate!” Carolina’s sharp cry had him rushing back into the exam room.
“What is it?”
“Someone has beaten this woman recently.” Her tone was accusatory.
“Tater wouldn’t have done that. He said there was a fight at the saloon.”
“These bruises are less than a week old. You didn’t treat her?”
He watched as she rinsed her rag and gently washed the woman’s abdomen, her hands steady, rage clear in her eyes.
“I’ve never met this woman. I believe she’s the woman Tater intends to marry.” A moan escaped the girl on the table, and he realized she was unconscious.
“Why wouldn’t she come to you or Doc for help?”
“I told you; we don’t tend them unless they ask us.”
“Ohhh! Here. We are going to have to wrap her ribs. She has a knot on her head, and I don’t know if she’s unconscious from her current injuries or the previous ones.”
“What about the cut?”
“It wasn’t as bad as it appeared. It is just on the surface. I’m more concerned about everything else.”
She slapped the wet rag against his chest and hurried to the door. “Tater, I need to know what you know. How long has she been unconscious and when did she hurt her ribs?”
“She passed out when I was carrying her over here.” Nate could see the other man’s shadow crowding the doorway. “What’s wrong with her ribs?”
“How well do you know her?”
“I’ve been courting her for near seven months now, but she’s been at Miss Marcy’s for more than a year.”
Nate let their conversation flow over him as he eyed Molly. Someone had beaten her. Her slight frame wasn’t built like a man’s, but it reminded him of the time Bass had thrashed Simon with the horse brush for being aggressive with the animals.
“Carolina. I think she passed out from the pain. I’m going to need you or Tater to help hold her steady while I wrap her ribs. She’ll need to stay here until we can speak with her.”
“Until I can speak with her,” Carolina asserted. Nate heard the door creak open. “If you’re going to pass out, go back out to the waiting room. Otherwise, come in and help us get her bandaged and splinted so that her body can quit fighting the rest that she needs.”
Carolina came around the table, looking at Molly with compassion. Then Nate heard the door close and boots shuffling to the end of the exam table.
Tater looked at his lady friend with such sadness in his eyes, it nearly broke Nate’s heart. “What do you need me to do?”
“We need to lift her so that we can put the cloth strips down, without jostling her too much,” Nate said. “I don’t think Carolina can lift her on her own.”
Tater nodded, setting his hat on the chair in the corner and stepping over beside Carolina. “Molly, my girl, I’m going to lift you so Miss Carolina and Doc can do what they need to do. Maybe this will be enough for you to listen, when I tell you that marrying me would take you away from all of this.”
