Page 4 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)
“He’s fine.” Lock lowered the baby—with a fuzzy head of blond hair that was only a bit of an improvement on bald—so that Harriet could get a good look at him.
Ellie moved back without releasing her hold on the cloth pads she’d used to stanch the blood, allowing Lock to lean in farther so that Harriet could see her son.
The little tyke had calmed down once he’d been rescued from the shaking house.
Now his arms waved, his feet kicked, he cooed and drooled and smiled at his ma.
Harriet calmed down, nodded, and moved her lips, unable to speak past the swelling that had blocked her airway. Thank you , she mouthed.
They’d barely gotten her and little Bo Jr. out of the house in time.
The earth shook again, more violently this time. Brody was glad he was kneeling on the ground or he might’ve fallen down.
“I’ll go to the doctor’s office when this shaking ends,” Thayne offered, “and haul your examining table outside. Then we can get Harriet up off the ground.”
“Good idea.” Brody released his grip on the pipette, then watched her chest rise and fall without assistance from him.
Thank you , Lord . “I don’t see any damage to her neck beyond the swelling, thankfully.
But she’s cut badly on her shoulder and arm where the rafter landed.
” He looked up at Ellie. Now that the worst was over, he felt nothing but relief that his wife was there to help.
“She’s going to need stitches. Ellie, get the needle and thread ready. ”
Ellie went to work preparing for the next step as they waited for Thayne to return from the doctor’s office.
Brody smiled up at her with appreciation. She was the perfect partner for him. “Thank you,” he said.
She gave him a firm nod and returned the smile.
“Let’s get this done fast.” Brody lifted the cloth and saw that the bleeding from the surgery had slowed but was still stubbornly oozing. “Lock, could you hold the baby so she can see him? Harriet, please do your best to hold still while I stitch you up.”
Harriet gave him a weak smile, then focused on her baby as Ellie presented the needle and thread to him.
As Brody reached for the cut, the ground trembled again and everyone paused. It was then that Thayne stepped out of the doctor’s office, pulling the bedlike examining table toward them.
One of the cowhands, an orphan who wanted to learn how to do ranch work, rushed over once the trembling stopped. “What can I do to help? The children are scared, and we’ve all been watching over them, but Zane sent me over to help.”
Thayne shouted, “Grab the other end of this bed!”
The young cowhand ran over to Thayne and helped move the bed over to Brody and Harriet.
“Is anyone else hurt here?” the cowhand asked.
“Dr. MacKenzie is stitching up my sister,” Nora said. “She’s seriously injured, but so far no one else is hurt. Are the children all right?”
“Yep, we got everyone outside, and fortunately no more buildings have collapsed. We’re not letting anyone else go inside until these aftershocks slow down and we’ve had a chance to look everything over and make sure it’s safe.”
Brody motioned for the cowhand to come and assist him. “Help me lift Harriet onto the bed. Thayne, you and Ellie get on the other side. We’ll lift her and move her forward. Mind that tube in her throat.”
The cowhand glanced at Harriet’s bleeding neck and flinched, then moved to stand by Harriet’s legs.
Once everyone was in place, Brody said, “Very smooth now, on the count of three. I don’t want to jostle the tube.”
The four of them tucked their hands under Harriet.
“One, two, three, lift .”
They lifted her in one easy move and settled her gently onto the bed.
Brody checked the tube. “She needs more stitches on her shoulder and arm. Lock, stay close with Bo Jr. Thayne, she may need to be held still.”
Harriet, her eyes alert now, looked hard at Brody and gave him a small wave of her uninjured hand. He could tell she was determined to stay still regardless of what lay ahead.
Brody turned to the cowhand. “Go check again to see if anyone else needs a doctor.”
He studied the nasty gashes on Harriet’s arm and shoulder, cleaned the wounds thoroughly, then took the threaded needle from Ellie and went to work. He wished he’d’ve gotten to the stitches before she regained consciousness. This was going to hurt.
Brody loved this kind lady. She’d been a teacher and had accepted spinsterhood until she’d come west with a mission group that included her sister, Nora, and Zane’s wife, Michelle.
Now she was a married woman with her first child as she neared the age of forty.
Even with an infant to care for, she helped at the school whenever she was needed, and she did it with a cheerful attitude.
“All right, Harriet, let’s get you patched up. Keep your eyes on Bo now.” Brody steadily and neatly put eight stitches in her upper arm, then fifteen more across the top of her shoulder. He tested the area for fear of a fractured collarbone, but it was intact.
“Ellie, you can bandage the wounds now.” Brody took an assessing look at Harriet. Though she’d had her teeth clenched the whole time, she never flinched once from the needle’s piercing.
“Yes, Doctor,” Ellie said, reaching for the bandages.
His wife was the best nurse he could imagine.
Brody addressed the group around him, “If any women with children to tend find they’ve got a hand to spare, have them watch over Harriet and her baby. I need to check around, see if there are others with injuries.”
Brody’s eyes met Ellie’s, and she gave him a look that warmed his heart.
He repacked his medical bag, then turned to leave just as riders came galloping into the yard—Josh and Cord and the others returning from their work on the range.
After Brody finished up here at the ranch, he would ride to Dorada Rio to see if they needed his doctoring skills in town. They had their own doctor, of course, but he might need more help. This earthquake had been an especially bad one.
Brody rushed away, heading first for the orphanage.