Chapter 12
When at eve, thou rovest,
By the star, thou lovest,
O then remember me!
—THOMAS MOORE
Dancing Cloud felt pressure on his hand. A sweet, soft pressure. He felt the black fuzziness floating away. A dim, golden light was beckoning his eyes to open.
But the more aware he became of things, the more he realized the depths of the pain in his right shoulder. He groaned as he fluttered his eyelashes.
Lauralee stifled a cry of relief behind a hand when she heard Dancing Cloud make a sound and saw his eyes slowly opening. She rose to her feet and leaned low over him, her hands framing his face. She smiled down at him as his eyes locked with hers.
“Darling?” Lauralee said, tears warm against her cheeks. “Dancing Cloud, I’m here. Once I knew that you were here I haven’t left your bedside.”
She so badly wanted to hug him, but the bandages around his chest and up over his right shoulder gave her reason not to. She was afraid of hurting him.
“Lauralee?” Dancing Cloud said, his voice weak. “O-ge-ye? Where am I? How did I get here?”
Lauralee dreaded telling him about the ambush. It made her feel sick inside to know that someone could resent him this much. She was not sure if the resentment centered on him being a southern Rebel, or an Indian.
Either way, she regretted that he had been a target for someone’s prejudices.
“Do you remember anything about the shooting?” Lauralee asked, easing down on the bed beside him. She gently stroked his brow. “You didn’t get far from Mattoon. A farmer . . . a Noah Brown found you.”
Remembrances then came to Dancing Cloud in flashes. He had been aware enough of things going on around him after he had been shot by Clint McCloud to recall a kind man coming to his rescue.
If he recalled accurately enough, the man had said something to Dancing Cloud’s assailant about having lost a son in the Civil War, himself.
But that had not stopped the flow of this man’s compassion for an injured man from the South.
Dancing Cloud had passed out before he had actually been transported to the city.
Yet he would never forget the very instant that he was shot, nor by whom.
“Dancing Cloud, can’t you remember how this happened?” Lauralee pleaded. “Can you describe the man who shot you?”
“I remember most of it,” Dancing Cloud said, wincing when a fresh rush of pain flowed through his wound. He looked slowly around. “Where am I? Who cared for my wound?”
“A Dr. Kemper cared for you and performed the operation,” Lauralee murmured. She stroked his cheek. “To date, Mattoon has no true hospital. Dr. Kemper has turned his private home into a medical center. It seems to me that thus far it is serving the community adequately enough. The proof is in how the doctor was able to operate on you to remove the bullet, and to repair the damage the bullet caused.”
Footsteps entering the room caused Lauralee’s eyes to shift upward. She gave Dr. Kemper a sincere smile as he walked toward the bed.
“I see our patient has awakened,” the doctor said, stopping to stand beside the bed. Everything became quiet as he leaned over and listened to Dancing Cloud’s heartbeat with a stethoscope, while with his free hand he felt the rhythm of his pulse.
Lauralee looked adoringly at Dancing Cloud. She was grateful that he had finally awakened. She now even believed that he would have a full recovery. Soon Dancing Cloud would be well enough to leave the hospital.
She would make sure that he did not take off right away for his home in the mountains. He needed adequate time for total recovery. She would enjoy doting over him.
Her only concern was that the Petersons might resent her asking them to allow him to stay at their house. She had seen how her uncle felt about Dancing Cloud the instant he had seen her attentiveness toward him.
She had to chance going against their wishes.
For Dancing Cloud, she would chance any and everything.
Her love for him was total.
“Seems you’re farin’ well enough,” Dr. Kemper said, slipping the stethoscope into his front suit pocket. “Ready for some food, young man? It’s way past suppertime but I made sure some broth was kept steamin’ on the stove for you.”
“I appreciate your kindness,” Dancing Cloud said, his throat dry, his lips parched.
“And I shall get much delight in feeding him,” Lauralee said, smiling up at the doctor.
“Then, young lady, once he has had his fill of broth, I recommend that you go on home with Abner and get yourself a good night’s sleep,” the doctor softly urged. “Your aunt is awake now and farin’ well enough.”
Lauralee was relieved to hear the news about her aunt. She felt guilty for having given more attention to Dancing Cloud than to her aunt Nancy.
But her aunt had Abner.
While Dancing Cloud was so far from his home and family, he had no one but Lauralee.
“I’m so glad that Aunt Nancy is all right,” she said. “She will be well soon, Dr. Kemper?”
“With a heart condition, no one is ever totally well again,” the doctor said, slipping his hands into his front suit pocket. “She’ll require plenty of tender lovin’ care.”
“I’ll be sure she doesn’t want for a thing,” Lauralee said softly.
“Remember now, after you see that this young man is fed, I advise you to leave,” Dr. Kemper said bluntly. “Your uncle has been given the same advice. Your aunt and this young man need a full night’s rest. You can come tomorrow at the break of dawn, if you wish, and feed him some more solid food for his breakfast.”
“I would love to.” Lauralee smiled. She then gave Dancing Cloud a soft, wondrous gaze.
“A nurse will bring the broth soon,” the doctor said, turning to leave. He gave Dancing Cloud a lingering gaze over his shoulder, then left the room.
“There goes a dedicated man,” Lauralee said. “This city of Mattoon is lucky to have him. He not only gives up his home to the ailing people of the community, but gives his undivided attention to those who are ill.”
“The doctor said something about your aunt having a heart attack?” Dancing Cloud said, reaching a shaky hand to touch Lauralee’s face.
“Shortly after you left,” Lauralee said, leaning against his hand, melting inside at his mere touch.
Then a thought came to her that made her grow cold inside. She drew his hand away and held it on her lap. “Lord, Dancing Cloud, had I not had cause to come to the hospital, I may have never known you were here,” she said, her eyes wavering into his. “You would have been here among total strangers.”
Another thought sent shivers up and down her spine. “The man who shot you,” she said, her voice drawn. “I wonder if he knows that you were brought to the hospital?”
Then she sighed when another thought came to her. “But you are protected from him,” she said. “A man of law has been placed outside your door.”
“A lawman?” Dancing Cloud said, trying to lean up on an elbow as he looked toward the door. He groaned when the pain forced him to lay flat on his back again. “He is guarding someone he surely sees as an enemy?”
“It’s not entirely that. But yes, it is mainly to protect you from those who do still hold deep feelings against those who they fought against during the war,” Lauralee said. She once again stroked his perspiration-laced brow. “But there are only a few heartless cads who would act on their resentments. You just ran into one of those men today while leaving Mattoon.”
Dancing Cloud’s jaw stiffened as he recalled having come face to face with his wartime ha-ma-ma, enemy again. It was obvious that the man’s mind was twisted and might do anything to avenge his wooden leg.
“I do know the man. My bullet wounded him during the war,” he said, giving Lauralee a sudden look. “I am almost certain that one of his legs is gone and that a wooden one has replaced it. I could tell by the way he sat on his horse and by the way he held the leg out away from him so stiffly. This is how deep his resentment lays over having lost his leg—that he would perhaps go to any lengths to see me dead.”
“You know the man?” Lauralee gasped. “His name, Dancing Cloud. Tell me his name. I will go to the authorities so they can hunt him down and arrest him.”
“Clint McCloud,” Dancing Cloud said solemnly. “I have remembered that name with much anger in my heart since the war. I have remembered the face of the man.”
“Describe him to me,” Lauralee said anxiously. “That should help the sheriff. A posse can be sent out to look for him.”
“I am certain that many a man fits the description of my assailant,” Dancing Cloud said tersely. “I would be the only one who knows for certain that it is he. In time we shall meet face to face again. I then shall make sure he does not harm anyone else again.”
Lauralee’s heart ached to realize now just exactly what had driven the man to shoot Dancing Cloud. And if he knew that Dancing Cloud was not dead . . .
“I shan’t leave you tonight or any other night until you are safely out of this hospital and with me and the Petersons,” she blurted.
“You heard the doctor,” Dancing Cloud said, taking her hand. “You will got to the Petersons and get a full night of rest, as I shall get mine here. O-ge-ye, do not fret so over this Cherokee who allowed himself to get too careless.”
He looked slowly around the room. His gaze stopped on his clothes that were slung over a chair, as well as his saddlebags. His eyes locked on his rifle.
Then he shifted his gaze and caught sight of his sheathed knife where it lay among his moccasins and other articles of clothing on the chair.
“I see that someone brought my belongings to me,” he said, his voice revealing his fatigue. “Among them are my weapons.”
“I imagine Noah Brown found your horse and belongings,” Lauralee said softly. “Your belongings are safely with you now. I will find out where your horse is being lodged and will see that it is taken to my uncle’s stables.”
A young woman, wearing a floor-length white dress and apron, entered the room with a tray. She smiled over at Lauralee, then Dancing Cloud, as she set the tray on a table beside the bed. “Ma’am, Dr. Kemper said that you would be feeding the gentleman?” she asked as she poured a glass of water from a pitcher.
“It would be my pleasure.” Lauralee smiled down at Dancing Cloud. Then she gazed over at the nurse. “And thank you for bringing the broth for Dancing Cloud.”
She could see the nurse’s eyes waver at Lauralee’s mention of Dancing Cloud’s Cherokee name.
But Lauralee ignored this and went to the other side of the bed. She scooted a chair close and smiled another thank you to the nurse before she left.
She plumped a pillow beneath Dancing Cloud’s head in an effort to position him higher so that he would not choke on the liquids that she would feed him.
“You frightened me when you were asleep for so long,” Lauralee said, lifting the spoon of broth to his lips. “The ether. I am sure the ether was the cause. Some doctors use more than others to be assured their patients don’t awaken during surgery.”
Dancing Cloud felt the flow of the warm broth move down his throat and into his stomach and heartily welcomed it. It was not so much that he was hungry. He knew what was required to get his strength back.
Food, and exercise.
He would get out of bed as soon as his knees would hold him up. He had to be able to defend himself should the red-haired Yankee show up again.
Dancing Cloud had been alert enough after the ambush to know that Noah Brown had told the Yankee that he could not allow Dancing Cloud to die.
He also recalled the Yankee’s threats about what he would do if Noah revealed that it was he who had fired the shot.
That made Dancing Cloud even more grateful to the farmer for having saved his life. He was taking his own life in his hands by doing it, as well as those of his entire family.
Dancing Cloud managed to empty the bowl of broth, then drank down slow gulps of water.
As Lauralee eased his head back down on the pillow, he closed his eyes and sighed.
“It’s wonderful that you were able to take so much nourishment,” she murmured as she kissed his brow. “But I can tell, darling, that you do need your rest. Although I hate having to, I will leave you now. But I shall be here again early in the morning.”
Dancing Cloud eased an arm around her shoulders. He drew her lips to his. He gave her a kiss that left her shaken with desire.
Her face was flushed as she rose away from him. She smiled, then left the room, feeling that the promise of her future was bright again. Although she enjoyed her beautiful room at the Peterson House, she would willingly leave it behind to be with Dancing Cloud.
This time when he left Mattoon she would be with him.
She met Abner in the corridor. He gave her an affectionate hug, then placed an arm around her waist and ushered her toward the front waiting room.
“I wanted to see Nancy,” Lauralee said, giving an anxious look over her shoulder at the closed door of Nancy’s room.
“She’s asleep and resting comfortably,” Abner said, walking her on outside, to the horse and buggy. “She knows your thoughts are with her. You can sit with her tomorrow.”
“Would you mind if I gathered some flowers from your garden to take to Nancy tomorrow?” Lauralee asked. She smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt as she sat down on the cushioned seat of the buggy. Abner soon flicked the horse’s reins and rode away from the hospital.
“Yes, Nancy would like that,” Abner said, nodding. “Snapdragons. They are her favorite.”
They rode awhile in silence. Both were lost in their own thoughts.
But when Abner took a swing away from the Peterson House when they reached it, and traveled down a road away from it, Lauralee looked over at him with surprise.
“Uncle Abner, where are we going?” she asked softly. “You’ve gone past your house.”
“There’s someone who needs to be thanked,” Abner said, casting Lauralee a quick glance.
“Oh?” Lauralee said. An eyebrow raised quizzically. “Who? It’s getting quite late.”
“It’s never too late to say a polite thank you,” Abner said, laughing softly. “And who might we both be saying a thank you to, Lauralee? Noah Brown. That’s who.”
Lauralee looked quickly over at him.
“My dear, Noah saved your young man’s life today,” he said. He smiled at her. “I am taking you there to give you the opportunity to thank him yourself.”
Stunned, Lauralee looked away from him. Of course she knew that Noah Brown should be thanked. She wanted to oblige him with a heartfelt thanks. But having seen her uncle’s coolness toward Dancing Cloud, she had to wonder what his true motive was for taking her to the farmer’s residence.
“Noah has a son, Lauralee,” Abner said, eyeing her speculatively as she gave him another quick, questioning glance. “I think you might enjoy meeting him. He’d make some lucky woman an excellent husband.”
Lauralee’s spine stiffened. Now she understood. She understood that Abner was not truly concerned about taking “thank you’s” to Noah. Her uncle wanted to push another man on her in hopes that she would forget all about Dancing Cloud.
“Lauralee?” Abner turned quizzical eyes her way. “Aren’t you anxious to meet the son of such an honorable man as Noah Brown?”
Lauralee frowned at him and refused to answer. She most certainly was not going to play this matching game with him.
When Abner drew his horse and buggy into a narrow drive that led to a small farmhouse, Lauralee’s pulse raced.
She felt trapped.
Totally trapped.
And without even having met Noah’s son yet, she felt as though she was a part of the betrayal that Abner was forcing upon her.