Free Lucinda by Paige Mallory Page B

up here.  Are you hurt, Gladys?”
    “No, Abraham.  Doc Z’s new wife protected us.  I never saw those two men before,” she said, and told the entire story to her husband.
    “I’m grateful, ma’am.  Grateful,” he said emotionally.  “Gladys, I don’t want you out by yourself until this Apache flare up is over.  Too many men in off the range with nothing to do but drink and act like fools.”
    “Bill, are you all right?” Abe asked as he came out of the infirmary, a bandage on his head.
    “I’ve got a headache, but I’m fine.  Feel stupid for letting that fellow get the best of me like that.”
    “There’s a wild bunch in town right now,” Abe said, shaking his head.  “Doc Z, your wife is sure special.  She saved her and Gladys from them two.  Mac is gonna have to clamp down tight on all the strangers in town.  It ain’t safe for the women folk to walk the street in broad daylight now!”
    Mac came inside and said, “You going to be okay, Bill?”
    “Yep.  No need to fuss.  I’m going back to the store before I get robbed blind.”
    “I got someone watching the place for you.  I sent for Hughie.  Why don’t you go and lie down; you don’t look so good.”
    “I’m fine,” the man grumped, and then said, “Thanks, Henry,” as he let himself outside.
    “You got those two locked up, Mac?” Abe demanded.
    “Yes.  They’re so drunk they won’t remember a thing tomorrow,” Mac stated.  “One of them has a bad cut on his back, Doc.  I’ll understand if you want him to rot in hell.”
    “I’ll get my bag,” Henry answered, resigned to treating the man.  “Lucy, will you stay with my patients and keep an eye on them?  One of the men keeps waking up and wanting to leave.  He needs to stay in bed.”
    “I’ll keep him there,” she promised, wondering why he was so angry with her.  His blue eyes were still full of rage, and she feared he was going to spank her the very second they were alone.  Soon everyone had left, and Lucy went to check on the patients.  One of the men was awake, and she told him he was too injured to follow after his Captain.  He nodded, and then went back to sleep.
    Lucy was surprised that she felt like crying, but she did.  Her life had changed so much since she left Boston.  She was no longer under her Father’s thumb, but now she had a husband, and somehow it was worse.  Henry said he cared about her, and she knew that she had feelings for the man, in spite of the fact he spanked her several times.  He married her to keep her reputation in tact, but would there ever come a time she didn’t make him so angry just by being herself?  Lucy decided it was pointless to sit around feeling sorry for herself.  She was a married woman now, and she needed to make the best of things.  Perhaps baking a cake for her husband would help him see her as more of a lady and less of a problem maker?  She busied herself, trying not to think of Henry tending a man who’d wanted to harm her.  She just finished putting the cake in the oven when she heard one of the patients calling out.
    She hurried into the infirmary to find the other man wide awake… and in some pain.  She did her best to reassure him he would be fine, but told him she had to wait until the Doctor returned before she could give him something for the pain.  She hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer.  Fortunately, Henry came back a couple of minutes later, and he praised her for waiting to check with him before acting on her own.  He gave the man something to ease his pain, and it didn’t take long for the soldier to fall asleep again.
    “You are going to be a good nurse, Lucy,” Henry said with a proud smile.  “You have no idea how pleased that makes me.  As long as it is something you wish to do…?” he asked her.  “I won’t force you to help out in here if you don’t want to.  Mari couldn’t stand it…”
    “I want to help.  I like to be useful,” Lucinda