Chapter 18
Miss Westlake Would Have a Fit
How they managed to get Adam up onto Hoss’ horse, Juliet never quite remembered. There had been some struggle—with Hoss already on his horse, reaching down for Adam trying to drag him up, and Juliet giving her best to hold the limb, mud-covered, slippery body upright until Hoss got a hold on him. Their attempts had seemed futile for some time, but at the end they had succeeded. Hoss had ridden back to the house, sitting behind his brother, with one arm holding him tightly to his chest, while he had kept the reins in his other hand. Juliet had followed them, leading Sport behind her on a long rein. She had never felt so entirely helpless.
At the ranch house, Hoss carefully lowered Adam into Juliet’s waiting arms. She staggered under Adam’s weight, but managed to keep him and herself upright until Hoss had dismounted and taken his brother in his strong arms. Juliet followed him into the house and upstairs into Adam’s room. When Hoss made to lay Adam on his bed, Juliet stopped him.
“Wait! I’d better cover the bed first.” She took a blanket from the footboard and spread it over the bed covers. “We have to clean him first.”
Hoss laid his precious burden down on the blanket and looked at Juliet in astonishment. “Do ya know what to do, ma’am? You’re not a nurse, are you?”
Juliet gave him a short, impatient glance. “No, of course I’m not a nurse. But I’m not a complete fool, either.” She took a deep breath and looked up into Hoss face. When she registered his hurt frown, she offered him a small smile. “My…brother was a wild boy. He needed quite a bit of nursing from time to time.”
“Your brother?”
She cringed as if she had already given away too much and shook her head. “Not now, Hoss. Please.”
She bent over Adam and started to open his shirt. “We have to get him out of these soiled clothes.”
Hoss pushed her unceremoniously out of the way. “I’ll do that, ma’am!”
“What in—?“ Juliet stepped aside, her arms crossed, her brows furrowed. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “brute” to Hoss, but honestly, he didn’t care much for that now.
Hoss worked feverishly to open Adam’s filthy shirt. His fingers fumbled with the buttons, and for a split second he wished he had let Miss Juliet do this. Finally he got the darned things open and ripped the garment out of the way. He and Miss Juliet simultaneously gasped at the sight they where presented with. They stared in horror at the mixture of dirt and blood. The hole in Adam’s right side, somewhere under his lower ribs, was barely visible. His whole upper body was covered in blood and grime and only the slight movement of seeping fluid indicated the actual position of the wound. Hoss knew there wasn’t much time left.
“I hafta clean ‘im and dress that wound.” He turned to Juliet. “There’s hot water on the stove, I gonna get some. Can you stay with Adam fer a spell?”
“Of course.”
“An’ get that gunbelt off him, will ya?”
He was gone to the kitchen and back to the room with a bowl of water and linen for bandages in seconds. He hesitated for a moment, then went again and returned with a stack of towels.
He sat on the bed next to Adam and carefully washed dirt and blood from his brother’s belly while Miss Juliet was hovering anxiously at his back. Eventually he laid open the wound: the diameter of barely a thumb, slightly ripped edges, seeping blood even though Hoss could see the bullet was still in. He padded at the hole until the blood was pure red, without the slightest tinge of muddy brown.
“Gimme some of the cloth there,” he asked Juliet, and when she handed him some linen, he formed a wad and pressed it gently on the wound, then secured the wad with linen stripes he wound around Adam’s waist. When he checked the firmness of the compress, he was satisfied that the pressure had already slowed the bleeding down a bit. But still, judging from the amount of blood on Adam’s clothes, and from the fact that he hadn’t stirred even once while Hoss had probed and padded at him, Hoss could tell that all his attempts weren’t enough to save his brother’s life. However, there was nothing else that Hoss could do. He didn’t dare to dig for the bullet. It was located far too deep, and Hoss knew he could easily do more harm than good if he tried anyway.
No, someone had to get the doc, and pretty soon. Adam needed the bullet removed and professional wound care as quickly as possible. This left Hoss in a dilemma: he didn’t want to leave his brother’s side, not now, where he depended so much on Hoss’ experience in tending injuries. Not now, where the only other person around was a snooty damsel in a huff. But then there was no way Miss Juliet would make it to town fast enough to get the doctor back in time. Even if she found the shortcut through the rocks—and Hoss was sure this was nearly impossible—she’d never make it through without breaking her neck. He had seen her riding, and as much as he appreciated Adam’s progress with Niobe, Juliet remained an unstable, inexperienced and anxious rider—even if she probably would never admit that. The broad road to Virginia City was the only way Juliet was skilled enough to use, and even if she managed to make it at a faster pace than before and without any accident—and again, Hoss grumpily doubted her being capable of doing that—she would need hours to get to the doc. Hours they didn’t have. Hours Adam didn’t have.
So despite everything Hoss felt he really wanted, there was only one way to handle this, and he desperately hoped he was making the right decision here and would not regret it later.
“Miss Juliet, I hafta go and get the doc. Will ya be alright stayin’ with Adam?”
“You—what? You can’t—”
“Please, Miss Juliet, I hafta. The bullet has ta come out.”
“Why can’t you do it, Hoss? You seem to know quite well how to—”
“Ma’am, I can’t do that.” Why was she making it so hard? “We need the doc fer it.”
“Then send a ranch hand!”
“Ma’am, it’s Sunday. The hands are all in town. And Hop Sing—”
“…is in San Francisco, I know.” Juliet looked at him with panicked eyes. “I could ride…”
“Miss Juliet,” Hoss really didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he didn’t have time for this. “You will never make it in time. Never!”
For a moment Hoss thought she wanted to argue this, but then she cast down her eyes. “I suppose you’re right.”
Hoss sighed with relief. “Thanks ma’am. I’m on ma way then. Will ya be alright, Miss Juliet?”
“I will, Hoss. Now go!” She nodded at him encouragingly. “Be quick!”
Hoss looked from her to his brother and back. “Yes, ma’am.” He gave Adam’s shoulder a final pat, then hesitated, biting on his lips and eating the words that wouldn’t come out. Finally he turned and made to leave.
“And Hoss?”
He looked back.
“Be careful, too!”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hoss flashed a short surprised smile, then lowered his head in embarrassment and fled he room.
Juliet sighed. She contemplated the situation for a moment, gazing at the prone, mud covered man lying on the bed. There was a lot to do. Well, first things first, she thought. Adam was soaked to the bone. The dirt had gone through all his clothing, and if she didn’t want him to get even sicker, there was only one thing she could do.
“I guess I’ll be your bath attendant then.” She reached for a towel and soaked it in the bowl Hoss had left on the bedside table. “You know, after this you will owe me, Adam.”
She started with his face. This was going to be the easy part. She wiped him with careful, tender strokes and pats until the grime was gone. Under the dirt his skin was as pale as a sheet. But what frightened Juliet even more was that through the whole procedure he hadn’t so much as stirred or even twitched a muscle. This stillness reminded her too much of another still face she had washed so many years ago. She anxiously fumbled for a pulse at his throat, and was relieved to find one. Thready, weak, and far too fast, but there. She watched his face for a moment. Sweat was forming on his forehead, and the skin around his mouth was an even whiter shade of pale. She checked his temperature with a hand on his forehead. Normal. At least! She combed his hair with her fingers, and they came out dirty. She would have to do something about that, too. Later.
Now she worked to remove his shirt. She didn’t dare to move Adam, in fear to start the wound bleeding again, so this turned out to be harder than anticipated. She struggled with the non-responding material until she got angry enough to turn to Adam’s desk and rummage in the drawers for a pair of scissors. After she succeeded in her search it was only a matter of seconds to cut off the soiled clothing from Adam’s arms and pull out the remains of the shirt from beneath him. She stared at his furred chest for a moment. Don’t stare, Juliet, she heard Miss Westlake’s voice in her head admonishing her. A lady wouldn’t stare at a bare-chested man. She got a grip on herself and soaked a fresh towel to wash Adam’s upper body. It wasn’t easy to get the clotted mass of blood and mud out of his chest hair, but Juliet had patience and determination. You do like this far too much, Juliet! Juliet shook her head to get rid of the annoying voice of her former governess. She rubbed at a particularly grimy spot near the bandaged area with maybe a bit more vehemence than strictly required, and this time Adam let out a faint groan. Juliet stopped her movement immediately. She studied his face.
“Adam?”
No reaction. Juliet ran a hand over his cheeks and over his brow.
“Adam? Do you hear me?”
Nothing. Juliet sighed and let her hand linger at his cheek for a moment. “You’ll be better soon, you’ll see.” She said it more for her sake than for his.
She went on washing him methodically. His long arms, his hands, every single finger got special attention, and even the dirt under his fingernails was cleaned away. At one time she went downstairs into the kitchen for fresh, hot water.
When she had finished with his upper body, she covered his chest with a blanket. Then she went to the foot of the bed, took off his boots and his socks and somehow managed to rid him off his trousers, too. She cleaned his legs and feet with the same efficiency she had exercised on the rest of his body, all the time suppressing the voice of Miss Westlake, that wanted to tell her how highly inappropriate her actions were.
After this was done, there remained the matter of the inexpressibles. Juliet stared at Adam’s pants: the wet mud hadn’t spared them. Juliet…This time she couldn’t block out Miss Westlake’s warning voice. Juliet, don’t you dare….
“Oh, would you please shut up!” Juliet cried out loud. She clapped a hand at her mouth and quickly checked Adam’s face. He was as silent and still as before. Juliet returned her attention to the problem at hand. Well, at least there was no one around to witness her humiliation. And it had to be done. And— she could do this!
“I can do this!” It was spoken so low that it hardly counted for an encouragement, but Juliet took whatever she could get. She heaved a deep breath, hooked her thumbs under the waistband of Adam’s pants, and, closing her eyes, carefully pulled them down.
Juliet considered it as a grand cosmic joke when the blasted (blasted! ) pants got stuck. She was sure somewhere in the spheres someone was having great fun with her. To divert herself she tried to find some literary parallel, but her mind was blank and she couldn’t find any. Finally she settled for seeing this as a great Greek tragedy. And just like the hero of a great Greek tragedy she knew there was no way out of it but getting through with it. And so she opened her eyes, slipped the pants over what they had stuck to and pushed the garment all the way down Adam’s legs and off his body.
With a calmness and casualty that surprised her even more than her sudden courage, Juliet soaked a last towel and washed Adam there. Miss Westlake remained amazingly silent during the whole process. Presumably she had died from a hysteric fit. Juliet fulfilled her task with the same businesslike demeanour she had displayed earlier…but only until her careful ministrations evoked, well, some response. Juliet froze. She quickly turned her head to gaze intently at Adam’s face. He was deeply unconscious. There wasn’t any indication he was aware of what was going on. Only his body had reacted. Juliet let out the breath she had been holding and returned to her assignment. She couldn’t completely suppress a giggle. In her imagination Miss Westlake tried to stir once again, but Juliet rigorously shoved her back into the far depths of her mind. This was nothing she hadn’t seen before, after all. But surely Miss Westlake would not approve that, either.
After she had toweled Adam dry, Juliet decided she wouldn’t bother and try to get him into a nightshirt. She removed the soiled blanket Adam was still lying on, and covered him with clean sheets and covers. This would have to do. She checked Adam’s temperature for what must have been the hundredth time. Still not too hot.
Juliet gathered the soiled towels in the now empty bowl. She gave Adam a last glance.
“I’ll be right back,” she said softly.
She took the bowl, piled high with bloodstained towels, and headed down to the kitchen.
I just love so much that you developed a friendship between Adam and Juliet in this series before developing a romance (though of course there were sparks from the start). ? I just always feel like friendship is so important for a couple …
Enjoyable, as your writing always is. So glad there’s more to go. Thx for writing! (And hope all is well w you …)
Oh, oh, I’m so happy you are starting to read the series!
I agree, friendship is important for a couple. And I really wanted to explore why they would fall for each other rather than making it love at first sight. Even though I suspect ghat at the end of the day it was love at first sight, only they did not recognise it for what it was.
I hope you’ll enjoy the otherbstories, too.
(And yes, all is well. Just keep my fingers crossed it stays so.)
I would pay to give Adam a bath!!!? Like the way this is headed.
Well, yes, who wouldn’t? 🙂
Thanks a lot, Neano, for reading this and for letting me know you liked it. It’s very much appreciated!