"OH," was all Ellie could say. Her face bloomed with color, then she reached over and handed him a blanket she'd gotten from one of the saddle bags. "Here, use this to cover up with." She said, then turned her back to him. Blake lay on the soft grass gritting his teeth as he undid his pants and slowly worked them down his lean hips, hissing and grumbling as the material brushed over the wound.
After a few minutes of colorful words, hisses and the flopping of material, Ellie was finally able to turn back around. Her eyes immediately settled on his exposed golden skin, she had never seen a man's naked thigh before. Trying to clear her mind, she fished around in the saddle bag and grabbed what she thought was a canteen of water then splashed a liberal amount over the wound.
"GOD DAMMIT!" Blake roared, his eyes closed only seconds ago were now wide open. "What in the hell are you trying to do to me woman?" It felt like she had shoved a hot poker through his leg.
"Blake Weston, don't you talk to me that way, I'll box your ears! I just poured some water from the canteen over your leg to clean it."
"Where did you get the canteen from?" He asked after a minute, still trying to catch his breath.
"From your saddle bags, why?"
"It wasn't water, it was whiskey! Didn't you notice the color of it?" God it felt like someone was using his leg as a drum.
"I, oh, I, well no, I didn't notice the color. I was trying not to look."
Blake rolled his eyes, "can you clean it, or do I need to do it myself?"
"There's no need to be so rude. I can clean it."
"Give me the canteen. Please." He added as he reached out his hand and sat up enough to take several big swigs, then handed it back to her. "I've got a knife with a needle and some thread in the small wooden box at the bottom of the bag. You never know when you're going to need to be sewn up," he threw in at her questioning look. After what happened to Cade, John had always made sure they both had a needle, thread and a small knife.
There was no exit wound, so Ellie knew she was going to have to get the bullet out. She grabbed the knife and poured a little whiskey over it and her hands, then slowly stuck her finger in the hole in Blake's thigh, praying it wouldn't be in very deep. Fortunately, it was only about a quarter to a half inch deep. She took a deep steadying breath, spread the hole apart with her thumb and index finger, and eased the knife down and under the bullet. After about a minute, Blake stopped her to drink more of the whiskey. Ellie was just about to give up when she felt it dislodge and move. As soon as she was able to grab the bullet, Blake rolled over onto his side and vomited.
She quickly grabbed two clean bandanas from his bag and ran to the edge of the river, soaking them in the cool water. Kneeling back down, she handed Blake some water and wiped his face and neck off. He was so very pale, she hadn't realized how much blood he had lost until she saw the entire leg of his pants was soaked all the way down to his sock. "Blake, I've got to put in a few stitches. I've got to stop the bleeding, you've lost a lot of blood already."
Unable to speak, he simply nodded. Ellie wasn't going for neatness, she just wanted to get done as quickly as possible. It was killing her to know that she was hurting him and there was nothing she could do about it. She gave him more whiskey so she wasn't sure if he passed out from the pain or was just sleeping.
She decided to dribble a little bit of the whiskey on the bandana she'd tied around his thigh for a bandage in hopes that it would keep infection from setting in. The sun would be setting soon, she needed to get him under the shelter from the rocks and a fire going. He was conscious enough to help her slide him back, then she went to gather wood for a fire. It had been several hours and still Blake slept. Ellie built a fire, made coffee, and warmed up a can of beans in the hopes that he would wake up and eat something. She reached over laying her hand over his forehead, he felt a little warm, but that could be from laying near the fire. Ellie checked to make sure there was enough wood to last through the night, then lay down behind Blake and closed her eyes.
She woke the next morning to find the fire crackling, someone had obviously just added wood to it. Then she looked around and noticed Blake was gone. She stepped out into the open, looking around, just about to call out for him when he stepped out from behind a small group of trees. A few minutes later he came limping back to the fire, sweating and out of breath. "Why did you go off by yourself? You could have fallen or pulled your stitches, or worse."
"I had to go," was all he said.
"Well you should have asked me to go with you."
"No, I needed to go by myself."
"Why, to prove you're a big strong man and you don't need anyone's help?" She was even a little shocked at the sharpness of her tone.
"Nope."
"Well then, why didn't you wake me so I could help you?"
Blake sat there for a minute, his lips twitched slightly. "I didn't need you to wipe my butt; however; if that changes, I'll be sure to let you know."
Blood crept up from her chest turning her face a bright crimson. God, she could feel the tops of her ears burning! "I, well, I um," her eyes cut over to where he sat by the fire. His turquoise eyes were filled with laughter. "You're an ass!" Ellie said, clearly not amused. She had been worried about his safety and he was making fun of her! She plopped a plate of beans in his lap, chuckling to herself when a few sloshed over the side onto his leg.
They ate in silence, each deep in their own thoughts. Blake took Ellie's hand in his when she reached over to pick up his empty plate. "I don't think I thanked you for everything you did yesterday." Her blue eyes held him mesmerized, everything around them seemed to stop. Her full lips caught his attention when she unconsciously licked them. "We need to get going." Blake hadn't meant for his words to come out as sharply as they did but he didn't apologize.
Ellie's brows drew together in confusion. One minute he was sincere and thanking her and the next he was snapping at her. "Shouldn't we wait at least a day to let your leg rest?"
"No."
By the time they stopped for the night his leg had opened back up and it felt like someone had shoved a hot poker through it again. Thank God they came across an old shack. Thunder rolled in the distance and the smell of rain was in the air.
"Do you need some help?" Ellie asked after he continued to sit his horse several minutes after they stopped.
Without saying a word Blake slowly lifted his rifle from the sheath and brought it to his shoulder and shot. Then he turned his head and said, "yes but we have to get the doe I just shot first."
An hour and a half later they were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace of the small cabin eating the deer meat Blake had just shot. This was the first fresh meat they'd had in several days and they were enjoying every bite. "Umm, that was so good, thank you."
"Thank you for cooking it, I was really getting tired of beans."
"I'll clean your leg and redo the stitches but we're going to have to stay here for at least a couple of days." Ellie looked over to gage his reaction to her suggestion at staying. To her surprise, he just nodded. The only light in the one room cabin was from the small stone fireplace, so she threw a couple of extra logs on to get it as bright as she could. There was one window with shutters but no glass on each of the four walls but it was dark outside. Unfortunately, other than the fireplace, the room was empty. "Why are there so many cabins like this?"
Blake looked over at her. "Well, some were built as hideouts for outlaws, some trappers would build shacks like this one to stay in while they were trapping or taking their skins to sell. Some are line shacks and others are homesteads that didn't make it. To be honest there's a lot more than you would think."
Lightning flashed through the cracks in the shutters and thunder boomed overhead shaking the little shack causing Ellie to jump slightly. "I'm so glad we found this place. I would not want to be sleeping out in this tonight. Do you think the horse will be okay?"
"He won't be happy but he should be okay tied behind the shack. The wind is blowing from the north," Blake looked over and saw Ellie's brows draw together slightly. He sighed, "The wind is blowing from the front, so as long as he stays close to the cabin, he should be fine."
"Okay, slide over here and take your pants down so I can look at your leg." Ellie slid the saddle over close to the fire so he could lean up against it, she also had a blanket out for Blake to cover up with.
"Will you still respect me in the morning?" Blake asked with a cheeky grin.
"Just take your pants off." As soon as she removed the bandana she could see he had definitely torn his stitches but worse than that, his leg had a fever and the skin around the wound was red and beginning to look angry. "I think I saw a few willow trees not too far from here, I'm going to see if I can find them tomorrow. Your leg looks like it might be getting infected. Isn't that what your papa said to use?"
"Yes, it is."
"I'll make a tea out of the bark." She pulled the canteen of whiskey out of the saddle bag along with the little wooden box containing the knife, needle, and thread. "You're going to need this." Ellie splashed a little on the knife and needle then handed him the canteen.
Blake took several swallows then leaned back against the saddle and closed his eyes willing himself not to think about what Ellie was doing. "Are you okay?" She had been trying so hard not to hurt him but she knew she was. It had to be more painful today than it was last night.
"I'm fine." Blake managed to get out between gritted teeth. He thought surely his jaw and teeth were going to break, he'd been biting down so hard.
"I'm almost done, I just need to tie this last stitch off and put a little whiskey on it to try and keep the infection down."
AN: Thank you again for reading! Please don't forget to vote and comment.