Danger on the Oregon Trail

Chapter 17

It was nearly dark when they walked back into town and both of them were exhausted, but they knew they'd have to stop at the Sheriff's office before anything else. Sheriff Reynolds was just about to leave for the night when they stepped inside. "What can I do for you folks?" he asked.

It was several more hours before they were free to go. The sheriff had interviewed them both, in depth, and documented everything. Michael had mentioned some information a friend of his had sent him in a telegram and the sheriff asked if he would stop by in the morning to drop it off.

"Go home and get some rest, both of you," he finally said as he walked them to the door.

"Well, I guess I'll walk you back to the boarding house before I ride back out to the homestead." Michael said, as Beth reached for the horse's reins. Thankfully the coroner had come after Sheriff Reynolds had sent one of his deputies and they'd taken the body away.

"Michael, it's almost eleven o'clock. You need those burns cleaned. You can't ride back out there tonight!" she said. He opened his mouth to argue but she reached over, took him by the hand and led him towards the boarding house. "We'll just see if Mrs. Abernathy has another room available tonight."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Well, I guess we are married."

"Beth," he said softly.

"I'm not letting you go back to the homestead tonight," she said firmly. "If that means you have to stay with me and Lilly, then so be it! It's not like we didn't just travel together for three and a half months!"

"That was before I declared my undying love for you," he muttered. 

"You may have declared it, finally," she said. "But how you felt hasn't actually changed, has it?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then I don't see how sharing a room is any different than-,"

"Than what?" he stopped and looked down at her. "Sharing the prairie!? It's a whole lot different, Beth!"

"Hm," she nodded. "So I guess you don't want to be married to me, then."

"Of course I do! It's just that so far, we've only been married on paper and that's it!"

She walked around him and continued on towards the boarding house. Then she stopped and turned to face him again. "Did you mean what you said when we said our vows?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. I did."

"So did I." she said. "So I guess we're really married, and you can stop acting like such a prude."

"Me!? I'm not a prude!"

"Sure sounds like it to me," she said, turning and walking off. "What exactly do you think is going to happen in a small room that I'm sharing with Lilly!?"

"Nothing. Nothing is going to happen!"

"That's right. So let's go get you cleaned up, for pity's sake!"

They were quiet when they stepped into the foyer, but Mrs. Abernathy was still up, just starting to turn off lights and lock doors for the evening. "Ah, you found him!"

"I hope Lilly wasn't in the way," Beth said.

"She was actually quite helpful. I hope you don't mind, but since I wasn't sure if you'd be back tonight, I let her spend the night with Hope. They were up late, but I'm sure they're asleep by now."

"That's fine. I'm sure it helped distract her. I hope it's alright for him to stay in my room tonight. I need to get him cleaned up."

"Of course," Mrs. Abernathy winked. "Should I send up water for a bath?"

"No, it's too late for that. But might I borrow a couple small towels?"

"Yes, let me fetch some." She returned a moment later with a handful of washcloths and a jar of salve. "If those are burns, this might help."

"Thank you," Beth said.

"Goodnight," Mrs. Abernathy said.

"Well, come on with you," Beth grabbed Michael by the front of his shirt and pulled him up the stairs. He let out a great big sigh, but followed her and sat on the end of the bed when she said so. "Don't look so scared," she said, picking up the basin from the dresser and carrying it over to the bed. She poured a bit of water from the pitcher and soaked one of the towels. Then she took a good look at him. "You're going to have to take your pants off."

"Beth!"

"If your leg gets infected, I will not feel sorry for you when a doctor has to amputate it because you were too much of a coward to take your pants off in front of your own wife!"

He opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it and slowly stood up.

Carefully cleaning both burns, Beth gently rubbed some of the salve over the angry, red marks. Michael barely flinched, though they did still cause him some pain. Thankfully, Harris hadn't held the poker against his leg long enough to kill the skin and muscle completely, but it was going to take some time to heal.

"I think it's going to scar pretty well," he said as she stood up to screw the lid back onto the jar of salve before setting it on the dresser beside the basin. He stood up and pulled his pants back up before she turned around.

When she did turn around, there were tears in her eyes and she could barely keep from crying. "He was going to kill you, Michael!" she sobbed.

Reaching for her, he held her for several long minutes until she was able to stop crying. It was as if it had occurred to her all of a sudden just how much danger he'd been in, and how, if she hadn't found him when she had, she may have never seen him again. At least not alive. "I know." he murmured.

She let out a long, soft sigh as she leaned against him. "I'm so tired," she said. "But I don't know if I could sleep right now."

"You've been up for close to thirty-six hours," he said. "I think you should try. I'll take the floor."

"You want to sleep on the floor?" she looked up at him as if he were crazy.

"I don't want to sleep on the floor," he said. "But under the circumstances-,"

"Fine. Sleep on the floor. I don't know what it is you think I'm going to do!" she snapped, walking over to the side of the bed, yanking off the thick top blanket and throwing it at him. She pulled back the rest of the covers and climbed underneath before pulling them up over her head and not saying another word.

Michael's shoulders drooped and swore under his breath at himself. But he sat on the chair in the corner and removed his boots before spreading the thick blanket on the floor and stretching out along the foot of the bed.

He lay there for some time before finally drifting off to sleep, though it was scattered with nightmares and he woke up several times throughout the night, startled by his own dreams and noises outside the window.

Beth opened her eyes when the sun began pouring in through the window and she realized that she hadn't pulled the curtains shut before she went to bed. She was about to get up and close them in hopes Michael hadn't woken up yet and closing them might allow him to sleep later, but quickly realized that her arm was pinned to her side and she rolled halfway over to find Michael asleep on the bed next to her, with one arm over her body.

Carefully lifting his arm, she slipped from the bed and quietly pulled the curtains shut. It didn't darken the room completely, but dimmed the light from the sun enough that he would sleep a bit longer. Then she gently climbed back into bed and laid her head on the pillow, watching him sleep until she drifted off again.