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“I charge by the word as a rule.” He took a pencil from behind his ear and quickly calculated the words on her two notices, then gave her a price.
She paid him. “When can I expect these to run?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll be printing five issues a week to start. Would you like your advertisements in consecutive issues, as well? As long as I have the type set, I’m happy to do that for free for, say, another week? Or until you find your assistant, if it takes less time than that.”
She blinked in surprise. “Yes, thank you.”
He wrote her a receipt and handed it to her. “My pleasure.”
“Also,” she said, “you’ve probably met more townspeople than I have since you’re gathering news. Would you know of a guide or anyone who would be willing to escort me on a short trip outside of town?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“There’s a Cheyenne encampment to the south. I want to visit them.”
“Visit the Cheyenne?” Lines formed between his brows when he frowned. “Tensions are high between the Army and the Indians. There’s only a tenuous balance of peace. I don’t know that that’s wise.”
Her determined gaze locked with his, and she hoped he could see that she would not be dissuaded. “I’m going.”
Chapter Three (#u68f9dd3b-8a08-5054-847e-a9a9f8ae97d1)
“The soldiers are unable to accompany me,” she continued. “They said I’d need an escort.”
“Indeed you will if you persist with this plan. If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to go there?”
“I want to see if they need medical attention.”
“They’re Cheyenne, Marlys. They have their own medicine.”
His use of her given name startled her, and she looked at him more closely. His ebony hair had a disheveled look, as though he’d run a hand through it recently. His furrowed brow showed only concern. He had a half-inch-long curved scar on his cheekbone under his left eye that she hadn’t noticed before. It was still pink, as though it was fairly new.
“That’s another of my reasons for wanting to meet them,” she admitted, tucking the receipt into her pocket.
He nodded, but his look of censure remained. “It wouldn’t be safe. Relations between the Army, the settlers and the Indians are touchy. There are entire regiments assigned to protection when those provisions are delivered. It’s not unusual for the Sioux to try to steal goods from the Cheyenne.”
“I don’t have anything to steal, and they have no reason to fear me.”
“That’s naive thinking, doctor. You don’t want to land yourself right in the middle of unexpected danger.”
She gave her head a little shake. “You’re entitled to your opinion.”
“You’re a bullheaded woman.”
“Which is why I will ask for a guide at the hotel and the sheriff’s office if you don’t have any better suggestions.”
“You’ve made up your mind you’re going.”
“I have.”
“I’ll find a scout and go with you, then.”
“You?”
“Is that so hard to imagine? I spent the whole of the war in the Army. How about you? Do you ride well?”
“I do.”
“When would you like to go?”
“Thursday?”
“I’ll meet you here at seven, then.”
* * *
Ben’s sergeant was with him when Marlys returned. “Is Private Cross able to be moved to the hotel?” he asked. “I will engage another private to stay with him.”
“Mr. Cross should be fine as long as he keeps his weight off that foot for at least another few days. I have crutches he can borrow until then, so he can get around unassisted. I’ve learned they have two small rooms on the ground floor, so ask for one of those.”
“I have to admit I wouldn’t have believed how good his foot looks in only a few days if I hadn’t seen the difference myself.”
“He was fortunate,” Marlys replied. “Nothing was broken, and his friends got him here quickly.”
“He was fortunate you were the doctor they brought him to.” He took bills from a flat purse on his belt and handed them to her.
“You already paid me,” she said.
“Even this amount is inadequate for your services. He will be back with the regiment soon. He may have been forced to leave the Army had you not healed his foot.”
“God created the body to do the healing itself. I simply treat the symptoms in a manner that best advances the process.” She accepted the payment. “Thank you.” She gathered Ben’s belongings and ushered them to the door.
A minute later, she patted the cash in her pocket. She now had the time and the funds to have some additional work done to her office. First thing she would do was find someone to install a secure lock on her medicine pantry. Many of her tinctures and oils could be harmful if used improperly. She gathered the laundry and headed out. After dropping off yet another heavy bag, she paid to have it delivered, then carried her clean clothing items to the boardinghouse. After putting them away in her temporary room, she found Aunt Mae bustling about the kitchen.
“Hello, dear,” the short, round woman said with an easy smile. “There’s certainly a lot of talk in town today, and you’re the topic of one choice tidbit.”
“The soldier’s injury, I presume,” she said.
“Yes, that.” She sliced two loaves of bread in deft strokes. “How is the fellow doing?”
“Quite well. His sergeant just took him to the hotel to finish recuperating.”
“And have you heard all the talk about Quincy Davis’s mail-order bride?”
Marlys puzzled over that one. “Wasn’t he the previous sheriff who was killed?”
“Precisely. But unbeknownst to everyone, he’d sent for an Austrian bride, and she arrived ready to give birth. Leah, the midwife—do you know her?—attended to her, and the blacksmith married her on the spot so her baby would have a name and a father.”
That seemed like a hasty decision, but she addressed the medical aspect. “Is she faring well?”
“Seems it was touch and go for a long while. Doc Fletcher couldn’t be reached.”
“Someone should have sent for me.”
“Leah’s a competent midwife.”
“I’m sure she is.”
“Stay for lunch as long as you’re here. I made a hearty soup and this warm bread. You skip too many meals, and they’re included in your rent.”
“Thank you.” She carried the basket of bread to the dining room, where the boarders were just settling into their places.
Old Horace was probably in his seventies, and wore his long gray hair in a tail down his back. Gus Russell had a white beard and was probably about the same age. In summer the two of them played horseshoes in the lot behind Booker & Son. Sunny days in winter afforded them afternoons on a bench in front of the mercantile. They knew all the comings and goings of the residents and newcomers. Though they often contradicted each other, their friendship was obvious.
“Howdy, Doc Boyd. Heard about the little German baby born last night?” Horace asked.
“He ain’t German. He’s Austrian,” Gus corrected.
“Same thing, ain’t it?”
“Same language, but different countries,” Marlys said. “There are different inflections in their dialects.”
Gus licked his lips at the steaming bowl Aunt Mae sat before him. “You speak German?”
“I do. I’m looking for someone to teach me Cheyenne.”
Gus squinted at her.
She seated herself and thanked the proprietress. She tasted the hearty soup. “I’m also looking for someone to install a lock on a storage pantry. Is there a local locksmith?”
“The farrier does locks,” Horace told her. “Colton Werner’s his name.”
“He’s the blacksmith who married the Austrian woman,” Aunt Mae explained.
“So, I’d find him at the livery to the north on this same street?”
“That’s the one,” the woman replied. “Speaking of newcomers, we have a new boarder. Georgia Morris is her name. She’s here to make a marriage, so she won’t last long.” She eyed Marlys. “Are you making friends in Cowboy Creek?”
Sam had asked the same question. Why did everyone want to know? While she wasn’t averse to having friends, she had simply never had the time. “I haven’t been here long enough.”
“Maybe, but you’ve stayed to yourself for the most part. There’s church service on Sundays, and this week there’s a gathering afterward. You should go. Just meet people. They’ll be more likely to trust you with their medical concerns if you’ve made their acquaintance.”
Marlys studied the older woman thoughtfully. As a doctor, she had a lot working against her, to be honest. She was a woman in a man’s profession in a man’s land. She didn’t practice conventional medicine. She had never been outgoing or personable. She didn’t care about fitting in, but perhaps giving the appearance of fitting in would make her more appealing and earn trust. Aunt Mae was genial and well-meaning, and she had no lack of helpful opinions. Marlys appreciated learning, so perhaps there was something to be learned from this woman everyone liked.
Marlys finished her lunch and thanked her landlady.
The blacksmith was a large man with a nice face and scarred hands. He listened to her explain what she needed, and told her he’d be able to do the work the following day.
She stopped at Godwin’s boot and shoe shop, and a thin brown-haired woman wearing a print dress and a white apron greeted her. “Good afternoon. I’m Opal Godwin. Can I help you?”
Marlys removed her scarf. “I hope so. My boots get wet so often, they’re never dry by the next time I go out. I need another pair.”
“It’s going to be a long winter,” the woman said with a smile. “Have a seat and I’ll draw your foot for my husband.” She knelt and unlaced Marlys’s boots. “Are you Miss Morris?”
“No, I’m Dr. Boyd.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about you from Pippa. Sorry I haven’t made it over to welcome you. I’ve been busier than usual.”
The fact that she’d meant to stop over heartened Marlys. “That’s quite all right.”
“Your boots are very well-made.”
“And comfortable. I want practical and comfortable.”
A thready high-pitched cry arose from the rear of the room. Opal placed a hand over her breast and glanced up. “It never fails. He cries as soon as I’m busy. And I’m always busy.”
“Bring him to me while you do that. I’ll hold him.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. It’s practical.”
Opal returned with a baby wrapped in a white crocheted blanket. He looked to be only a few weeks old. Marlys looked him over, even listened to his breathing and held him up to rest her ear against his chest. He flailed his arms, so she tucked him snugly back in the blanket. “His heart and lungs sound healthy. He appears to be a sturdy child.”
Opal blinked at her, and then smiled. “I was extremely exhausted while I carried him, but Richard’s a good eater and is growing.”
“You probably needed more minerals and protein in your diet. Nourishing him depletes your own reserves. Are you eating well now?”
“Yes.”
“Drink as much milk as you can. I can make a supplement that will help you, too.”
Opal appeared somewhat uncomfortable with her suggestion.
“I suppose you’ve heard things about me.”
“No, it’s just that Leah is my friend...”
“And the midwife, I understand.”
Opal nodded.
“Well, talk to her first, and then come to see me if you choose.”
Opal drew patterns of both of Marlys’s feet on brown paper and wrote on them. She showed her leather samples, and Marlys chose a supple dark brown.
“And we’ll make you a sturdy heel. Just enough to be fashionable, but not so much as to lose comfort.”
“Perhaps another fur-lined pair as well as a pair for indoors,” she decided.
