Page 5 of Whispers of Fortune (Golden State Treasure Book #1)

F IVE

“They need you here, Brody.” Lock was rushing around, following orders.

Thayne was across the small examination table from Brody, helping calm a little girl with a cut on her leg, deep enough she needed stitches.

Her ma was standing at the foot of the exam table, holding a crying baby, with a toddler clinging to her ankles.

Lock brought a basin of warm water to the table beside Brody, who angled his body away from the anxious mother and whispered, “See if Ellie is busy.”

Lock arched his brows, a look of relief sweeping across his face. He quickly but quietly left the doctor’s office. He didn’t even slam the door. Brody appreciated that because he was afraid the distraught mother might’ve jumped high enough to crack her head on the ceiling.

“Now, don’t you cry, Belinda,” Brody said in his crooning voice. The girl didn’t stop crying, but she did look at Brody.

He smiled his best, gentle smile at her. She was his fourth patient of the day. He’d been awakened just after dawn by a cowhand with a sprained wrist. Not broken, thank heavens.

Next, a very pregnant woman had come in to say hello and tell him she was worried because she felt like she was having labor pains, and it wasn’t time yet.

Brody calmed her down with talk of false labor and got to know the woman a bit. It was her first baby, so she was delighted that she’d have a doctor’s care.

Then a blacksmith came running in and clutching his throat. He’d burned himself pretty severely from a burst of flying sparks.

Now a hysterical mother, and it wasn’t even time for the noon meal yet. It wasn’t breakfast time either, since Brody hadn’t had time to eat anything before having to treat patients. What did these folks do two days ago when there was no doctor? He decided to ask her that very question.

“We always went to the big house with our injuries and illnesses.” The nervous mother was squeezing the baby too tight. Probably not strangling the tyke, but the kid wasn’t going to calm down as long as his ma was halfway to crushing him.

“Mrs....” Brody went blank on her name, if he’d ever known it. He turned to make eye contact with her. Her gaze was riveted on her daughter. “Excuse me, ma’am? Momma?” He was practically shouting before she finally looked at him. “Can you please come and hold Belinda’s hand? Give the baby to my little brother, Thayne.”

Thayne was reading Brody’s mind by this point. They were doing everything they could not to say anything to make the situation worse and still do what needed to be done.

Thayne moved slowly but relentlessly toward the fretful mother, then had the littlest possible tug-of-war with her over the baby.

“Go on and hold Belinda’s hand,” said Thayne. “I’ll watch your two little ones.” He wrestled the baby loose, substituted his own leg for the one the toddler was clinging to, and the mother, startled into action, rushed to little Belinda’s side.

“Just hold her hand and talk quietly to her.” Brody saw Thayne pluck the toddler up into his spare arm. He was a decent hand with the little ones. Maybe they’d taught him that at the school.

Momma held Belinda’s hand and talked quietly to her, as if her good sense finally had a chance to assert itself without the two fussing babies to tend.

Thayne walked and bounced and crooned. Momma bent low over her daughter and got her full attention. Belinda’s wailing eased to sobs as she threw her arms around her ma’s neck.

“Why don’t you sing to her. Does she have any favorite songs?”

Brody took a deep breath, dreading the stitches he had to set on this little girl. To keep the family in a calm state, he sang along with “Rock-a-Bye Baby,” the lullaby the mother had chosen.

Brody pressed a cool cloth against the leg and held it as tightly as he could to stop the bleeding and numb the pain. He needed Thayne or someone with a free pair of hands. This little girl was going to have to stay still. He didn’t think asking the mother to hold her down would be wise. The woman looked as though she was barely holding on to her calm for Belinda’s sake.

And Thayne sure enough had his hands full.

Once Brody had threaded the needle, he drew a deep breath, dreading what came next. He held the two sides of the wound together. It was a nasty cut three inches long. There’d been a broken glass of some kind involved. Brody had looked carefully and double-checked that no shards remained in the girl’s leg.

He braced himself, wishing he’d kept Lock here or that his brother would get back. If he couldn’t find Ellie, then Brody needed his brother.

Everyone was calm for now, but he knew it wouldn’t last, and the wound was bleeding stubbornly. She’d lost too much blood. He had to close the wound.

Brody met Thayne’s eyes. Thayne arched his brows. He wasn’t going to be much help. The young ones were still fussing, and honestly Brody thought the toddler was slipping. Dropping the little boy wasn’t going to help things.

Brody reached for Belinda’s leg with the needle, then heard running footsteps. He said a quiet, desperate prayer it wasn’t someone else in need of doctoring.

The door swung open, and Lock came in. A pace behind him, Ellie arrived.

“Good,” said Brody, “you’re back. Lock, show Ellie where to wash her hands. Then help Thayne—he’s got his hands full.”

“Debra, Belinda cut herself?” Ellie, who knew the names of all these folks, brought an immediate sense of peace and order to the room. She stood beside Debra, nearer Belinda’s legs.

Brody said to Ellie, “You hold her still while I stitch up the wound.”

He saw Ellie look at the cut, and all the color leached out of her face. But she squared her shoulders and took a firm hold of Belinda’s knee.

The next half hour was anything but calm. Momma, baby, toddler, and Belinda were all crying again before Brody was done setting the ten stitches needed to close the wound.

Then came a bandage and a few instructions to the mother and a promise to bring Belinda back at the first sign of trouble. If all went well, she’d return in a week to get the stitches out.

“Thayne, can you carry Belinda home if Debra leads the way?”

He glanced at Belinda, who nodded and swiped tears from her face.

Thayne handed the baby to her, then picked up Belinda.

Brody said, “Lock, take your little guy along.”

Ellie went to Lock and spoke so quietly, no one else could hear her. Debra led the way out. Thayne and Lock followed.

Ellie fumbled her way to a chair and sank into it.

“Thank you for not fainting.

“It was a nasty-looking cut.” Ellie breathed in and out slowly. Her face had regained a bit of color simply from the fight to hold Belinda still.

Brody needed to clean the place up, but for a few moments he decided he’d go ahead and take a seat beside Ellie and rest a minute. “What did you say to Lock?” he asked.

“I told him to come straight to the house for a meal. I heard you had an early patient. When you didn’t come for breakfast, I knew that was why.”

“This was my fourth patient today. Is it always like this?”

“I wouldn’t have thought it was. Randy spraining his arm, Josh was there for that. His horse did some crow-hopping, as many of our green broke horses do when a rider first mounts up in the morning. Josh sent him over. If you hadn’t been here, he’d’ve just checked to see if the bone was broken. If it wasn’t, he’d’ve wrapped Randy’s arm and told him to take it easy for a few days.”

Brody nodded. “Which is exactly what I did.”

“I’ll bet you did a much better job of it than Josh would have.” Ellie stood and began gathering bloody rags.

Brody felt like he could do no less than help her tidy up the doctor’s office.

Ellie went on, “Josh might’ve ended up sending him to town if he wasn’t sure there was no break. Having you here helped us and got Randy care much more quickly.”

“Then a woman called Harriet came in to talk about her baby that’s soon to be born. It’s her first, and she’s thirty-five. She’s a level-headed lady with a few premature contractions, which made her nervous. Early contractions like that are normal, nothing serious. We had a nice talk about what to expect. She was glad to find out there was a new doctor, and she wanted to meet me. The blacksmith burning his throat, it was plenty painful, but he’ll be fine. Is there anyone on your ranch who can set stitches?”

The two of them talked as they straightened the room.

“Come on over to the house,” said Ellie. “It’s well past the noon meal, but there’s plenty of stew left over. Did the boys eat lunch?”

“They had breakfast at the school but nothing since. I’ve been working them hard.” Brody smiled at just how hard. “I haven’t even had a chance to talk to them yet. I hoped today would be about spending time together and enjoying being with family again. I’ve been gone most of the last three years, attending medical school. The train connects Boston to New York, but money is always tight. Instead of buying a train ticket, I always sent the money home.”

He didn’t say it because there was no point, but he was regretting agreeing to this job. If he and his brothers could have just ridden off together...

“Let’s head out before anyone else finds a reason to visit the doctor.” Ellie went to the door, poked her head out to look left and right, then said, “Hurry, the coast is clear.”

Brody laughed. He had taken the job, and one morning wasn’t giving it a fair test. He moved quickly. Ellie had been at least partly teasing, but Brody didn’t want to have any more wounded patients catch up to him. Not with his stomach growling like it was.

They reached the house just as Thayne and Lock came into view, jogging as if they were starving to death. Which, being growing boys, they probably were.