Page 68 of Texas Splendor
“I just want to make certain the gash is clean before I stitch it up. We don’t need any infection,” Dr. Freeman said, his tall skeletal frame thinner than Austin remembered.
“Are you sure Loree is all right?” he asked. Afraid she might have been hurt earlier, he had insisted Dr. Freeman examine her first.
“She’s fine,” Dr. Freeman said. “She just doesn’t have much stomach for blood is all.”
Austin figured he wouldn’t either if he’d watched someone murder his family.
“Who attacked you?” Dallas asked from the doorway.
“I don’t know.”
“Duncan?”
Austin glared at his brother. “I said, I don’t know. He came at me from behind and slammed my head against the wall. Everything went from black to blacker.”
“I’ll ride out and talk to Duncan tomorrow—”
“And what? Tell him to stay away from me when you don’t even know it was him? He’s not the only one in town who thinks I should have hanged.”
Dallas’s eyes narrowed. “Who else?”
“Most of the town.”
“Then I’ll set them all straight.”
“It’s your word against a verdict of guilty. Just stay clear of this. You’re only asking for trouble if you get involved.”
“Goddamn it! This started with me!”
“And it’ll finish with me.” He heaved a weary sigh. “I appreciate your willingness to take a stand, but the truth of the matter is that I did some stupid things without thinking them through. They were my mistakes, and I’m the one that has to pay for them. Without those mistakes, no jury would have ever found me guilty.”
He expected a further argument. Instead, he saw abiding respect delve into his oldest brother’s eyes. “Christ, you did grow up, didn’t you?”
Austin gave him a halfhearted smile. “Yeah.”
The door opened and Dee poked her head through the opening. “Dr. Freeman, Loree said something is happening with the baby.”
Austin shot off the table. “Dammit! I thought you looked her over.”
“I did,” Dr. Freeman said as he shuffled from the room, following in Austin’s wake.
Loree was sitting in a stuffed chair in Dr. Freeman’s front parlor. Austin knelt beside her and wrapped his hand around her tightened fist. “Loree?”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Oh, Austin, I think I’m losing the baby.”
Austin heard bones creak as Dr. Freeman made his way to his knees. “How badly did it hurt?” he asked.
A look of surprise swept over Loree’s face. “Well, it didn’t hurt exactly.”
“What exactly did it do?” Dr. Freeman asked.
Loree cast a sidelong glance at Austin before turning her attention back to Dr. Freeman. “Well, it sorta felt like”—she gnawed on her lower lip and furrowed her brow—“you know when you jump into a creek and air gets trapped in your pantaloons and sorta sits there for a minute after you hit the water and then it bubbles out and tickles? That’s what it felt like.”
Austin thought Dr. Freeman looked as though he were on the verge of busting a gut, his face turned crimson and Austin could tell he was fighting to hold back his laughter. “Can’t say I’ve ever had air get trapped in my pantaloons.” He glanced over his shoulder at Dee. “Think she just felt the baby roll over?”
Dee smiled warmly. “I think so.”
With wonder reflected in her golden eyes, Loree pressed her hand against her stomach. “I felt the baby roll over? She’s all right?”
