A Love to Last Forever (32 page)

Gwen nodded. “I have had a bit of an appetite lately.” She sank into the chair and shook her head. “But I never once thought about it being a baby causing all the fuss.”

Patience put the blanket aside and came to sit beside Gwen. “How far along do you suppose you are?”

“It’s been at least two months since . . . well . . . since my last . . .” She let the words trail off, feeling suddenly embarrassed by the intimacy of discussing such things as monthly cycles. “It might have been three months. I can’t recall clearly.”

“In another month or two, you should be able to feel some movement. It’s like the tiniest flutter of wings at first. My mama used to say it was the angels keeping the baby company.”

Gwen smiled at the thought. “Hank will be so excited. We’ve wanted this very much. I was so jealous of Millie that I could hardly stand myself. And then Beth married and instantly became a mother, as well.”

“And now you will join them. How exciting. Oh, I will start sewing things for the little one immediately. What fun this will be!”

Gwen could only nod at the thought. She was going to have a baby. The very idea left her feeling both overwhelmed and happy at the same time.

Lacy heard the first scream and stopped what she was doing to investigate. A second cry came very nearly on the heels of the first. Someone was clearly in trouble, and immediately Lacy thought of the bear. She grabbed up the revolver and headed out the back door with Major at her side.

“No! Stop!” The cry came from one of the prostitute rooms.

Lacy couldn’t be sure, but she thought it sounded like Ellie. “Come on, boy. Let’s see what’s going on.”

She stepped cautiously toward the saloon. The sound of commotion—fighting—could be heard. This was accompanied by a man yelling obscenities and accusations. Lacy listened for a moment but couldn’t clearly make out what was being said.

The woman screamed again and then came the sound of splintering wood. Lacy pressed on, though apprehension and fear coursed up her spine. She had no way of knowing exactly what was happening, but it was violent and wrong.

Major growled when they came to the door of one of the rooms. Lacy felt her stomach sicken. It was Ellie’s room.

She thought to knock but knew she’d never be heard. The man was continuing his tirade and now Lacy could tell it was Wyman.

She pushed open the door just as Wyman threw Ellie into the wall. The woman slid down to the floor. Her eyes fought to remain open, and Lacy wondered if she could even focus on the man standing in front of her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lacy called out. “Get away from her. Stop it!”

“Mind your own business,” Wyman demanded. He picked Ellie up and slammed her against the wall again. She moaned softly, but this time there was nothing else. He threw a punch into the nearly unconscious woman’s face.

Lacy grew sick at the thought that she might witness Ellie’s murder if something didn’t stop Wyman. It was then she remembered her revolver. She brought the gun up and pointed it at the enraged man.

“I said stop.”

Wyman glanced at her only momentarily, but it was enough for him to spy the piece. “And I said to mind your own business. You’re trespassing. Now get off this land.”

“Not without her. Rafe has already made a deal with Hank to set her free. I’m taking Ellie home with me.”

Wyman laughed and let Ellie fall to the floor. He took a step in Lacy’s direction but stopped when she cocked the gun.

“Are you planning to shoot me over a prostitute?”

“If need be, I will.”

There must have been something in her expression that betrayed the truth of the matter to Wyman. He folded his arms against his chest and narrowed his eyes. His gaze was unnerving, but Lacy held her ground.

“You have no right to beat her. You’ve very nearly killed her—just look at her face,” Lacy said, her anger building.

“She got mouthy with me. That was reason enough.”

“There’s never a good reason for hitting another person, especially a woman.”

Wyman guffawed at this. He threw his head back and laughed so loud that Lacy wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t lost what little sanity he possessed. The gun grew heavy in her hand. Her arm began to burn from the stress, but she remained fast.

“What’s going on here?”

Lacy turned to see Dave standing in the open doorway. “Thank goodness you’re here. Wyman was trying to kill Ellie.”

Dave gave Lacy a hard look. “Put the gun away.

“Wyman, what’s this all about?”

Lacy felt a sense of confusion at Dave’s angry tone. He’d looked at her as if she’d started this entire thing. She uncocked the revolver and put it in her apron pocket. The long barrel made it awkward at best, but it seemed the least threatening thing she could do.

“It was personal business,” Wyman replied. “An employee situation that Rafe asked me to deal with.”

Lacy rushed to Ellie’s side and gently lifted the unconscious woman’s face. She was nearly unrecognizable, her face bloody and broken. “Take him to jail, Dave. He would have killed her if I hadn’t come in when I did.”

“I wouldn’t have killed her,” Wyman protested. “I had no thought to kill her—just punish her.”

“Well, it seems you’ve punished her enough.”

“Arrest him, Dave.”

Dave turned to Lacy. “Let’s put our attention to getting Ellie the help she needs. I can deal with this varmint later.”

Lacy realized the sense in that. She nodded. “Help me lift her. We’ll take her to Gallatin House.”

“She’s not going anywhere until Rafe gets his signed papers.”

Dave was already lifting Ellie in his arms. Lacy stepped up to Wyman and narrowed her eyes. “I still have a loaded revolver, Wyman, and frankly, I would just as soon use it as not.”

“Not a very Christian thing to say,” Wyman mused. He looked at Lacy as if she were a silly little girl, speaking of things she didn’t understand.

“I’m not feeling particularly Christian at this point.” Lacy could feel the weight of the revolver in her pocket. Her breath was coming in a pant, and her heart raced at the very thought of what she might have to do.

“You’d best leave it alone, Wyman. She’s mad enough to do it,” Dave said as he moved with Ellie to the door. “If you enjoy life, you’ll leave us alone and go report to Rafe that you’ve done your job.”

Lacy waited only a moment longer before turning to follow Dave out of the room. She’d never been so angry in all of her life. The hatred she felt at this moment startled her. No, it terrified her. Where was such rage borne?

“Where should we take her?”

“The top room, where we worked on the stage man. We can go up the back way. It’ll be quicker.” Lacy hurried to get ahead of Dave. She held the door for him and grabbed towels and water as he carried Ellie up the stairs.

Lacy squeezed by him in the hall upstairs and hurried to open the bedroom door. She put the towels and water aside. “Put her on the bed.”

She pulled back the blanket and sheet as Dave lowered Ellie to the mattress. Lacy gasped again to see the brutality Ellie had endured. She put her hand to her mouth. How could anyone do something so heinous to another human being?

“It’s pretty bad,” Dave admitted. “I’d best go for the doctor. Where are Hank and Gwen?”

“They’re . . . ah . . .” Lacy couldn’t think. Fear and shock blended with her anger, leaving her weak and helpless. She thought she might even pass out.
You have to be strong,
she told herself. But it did little good.

Dave came to her and took hold of her shoulders. “Lacy? Are you all right?”

“I . . . um. . . .” She shook her head. “I tried my best.”

“You have to help Ellie. Don’t think about what you’ve seen today or even what she looks like now. You are her only help.”

Lacy met his sympathetic gaze and nodded very slowly. “I . . . want to help her.”

He touched Lacy’s cheek. “I know you do. But you can’t help her if you fall to pieces on me.”

She swallowed hard and drew a deep breath. “But what if she dies?” Lacy’s shoulders began to shake as tears came to her eyes. “What if she dies because I wasn’t fast enough to help her? What if I fail her, too?”

Dave pulled Lacy into his arms and gently stroked her hair. “You haven’t failed anyone. I know this is way too much for any one person to handle, but you have to be strong. I need to get help, and you have to tend to her now. Can you do that, Lacy?”

She sniffed back the tears and nodded against Dave’s chest.

“I’ll do it.”

He pulled her back and smiled. “Now tell me where Gwen and Hank have gone.”

She nodded again and the shock seemed to clear a bit from her mind. “Hank’s at the store. Gwen went to see your mother.”

“And Simon?”

Lacy hadn’t thought of how enraged Simon was going to be when he came home to find Ellie like this. “He’s in Bozeman with Justin. They’re getting the signed deed that will give Rafe the land behind the saloon.”

Dave blew out a heavy breath. “All right. I’ll go tell Hank what’s happened and get him over here. You do what you can, and I’ll find the doctor.”

Ellie began to moan, and this helped Lacy to put aside her last bits of doubt. She broke away from Dave and hurried to the woman’s side. Taking up a towel and dipping it in the water, Lacy spoke softly.

“It’s all right, Ellie. I’m here. I’ll help you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

It seemed like Dave had been gone forever, and Hank still hadn’t come to help Lacy. She tried to focus on cleaning up the cuts on Ellie’s face. The swelling was far more prominent than the actual wounds. Wyman had bloodied Ellie’s nose and cut her lip badly. There was also a cut above her eye, but it was the swelling and discoloration already setting in that distorted the young woman’s face so much.

Not knowing what else to do, Lacy decided to undress Ellie and get her into a nightgown. Blood on the mattress startled Lacy at first. It didn’t register for several minutes; then Lacy remembered Beth telling her about the pregnancy. Now it appeared Ellie would lose the baby.

She was immediately taken back in time to when their mother had been trying to deliver.

“She’s bleeding,” nine-year-old Gwen had announced.

“We need a doctor.”

“We need Papa,” Beth said. “Lacy, you’ve got to go get him.”

Gwen nodded. “Yes. Go get him. He’ll know what to do.”

Lacy frowned and pushed the memory aside when she heard someone just outside the door. She rushed to see who it was and felt a great amount of relief when Gwen hurried inside.

“I just got back. Hank was on his way over here and said there was an emergency.”

“There is.” Lacy hugged Gwen close for a moment. “I’m so scared. Ellie’s bleeding, and I don’t know what to do. I think she’s lost the baby.”

Gwen paled. “Oh no.” She left Lacy and went to Ellie’s bedside. It took only a moment of considering the situation.

“Lacy, get plenty of towels and more hot water. We’ve got to try and stop the bleeding until the doctor can get here. Otherwise, she might very well die.”

By nine that night, the doctor felt he’d done all that he could. Ellie had lost the baby, as well as a great deal of blood. She looked as pale as the bedsheets and didn’t so much as moan in her unconscious state.