Free Calico Brides by Darlene Franklin

rest of the chicken soup yesterday. For himself, he hadn’t eaten more than that bowl of charred oatmeal since then.
    “Good. Then we can eat together.”
    After they finished the meal in companionable silence, Gladys insisted she would stay up that night with Mr. Keller. “You need to get some rest yourself, before you come down with whatever he has.”
    When she volunteered to share his burden like that, it was hard not to think of her as a potential partner in more than taking care of his sick grandfather.

    On Wednesday night, Mr. Keller was restless enough to need laudanum. “I think it’s gone into his chest,” Gladys told Haydn.
    “Do we need to go get that other doctor?” Haydn asked.
    “Stop talking about me as if I’m not here.” Coughing broke up Mr. Keller’s words. That last bout of chest-racking coughs had awakened him. For the past twenty-four hours, he hadn’t been able to sleep more than half an hour at a time. “I told you. No doctors. I hauled Minnie all the way to Topeka to see a doctor, and he didn’t do her any good.”
    Gladys couldn’t combat that argument, even when Haydn looked at her so pleadingly for an answer. “You heard what Dr. Devereux said. There’s not much more the doctor could do.” Taking Mr. Keller’s hand, she made him look at her. “Mrs. Fairfield promised to ask Ma to bring over our medical book the last time she was here. It’ll have some ideas we haven’t tried yet.”
    She didn’t add that she had asked Ma to also bring the small box where she kept her savings from work. She’d intended to use it for setting up her own house when she married, but she would willingly spend every penny if it would help Mr. Keller get better. Of course he had plenty of money, but she didn’t know where he kept it. And she wouldn’t feel right if she took it without asking him, even if it was to pay for his own supplies.
    Someone knocked. “There she is now.” Gladys hurried to the door.
    Ma entered. “Mr. Johnson.” She nodded at Haydn. Walking closer, she sat by Mr. Keller. “And Mr. Keller. It’s good to see you again, although I wish it was under different circumstances.”
    “Is that Gladys your gal?”
    Ma nodded, and Mr. Keller nodded with satisfaction. “She’s a good one. I’ve told Haydn to hold on to her.” He coughed and sank back against the pillows.
    Ma handed Gladys the medical book. “I’ve marked a few remedies I’ve found work best. Go on, both of you, and look them over, while I visit with Mr. Keller.”
    Hugging the tome to her chest, Gladys walked into the kitchen, Haydn following behind. Neither one of them mentioned Mr. Keller’s continued references to a match between the two of them. Keeping her tone brisk, Gladys turned to the first marker. “Here the author’s talking about tea. Tea with honey—we’re already doing that—and lemon.” Her nose wrinkled. Lemons in February were as rare as fourteen hours of daylight. “Also peppermint is a good flavor for the tea. Maybe we can melt peppermint candy in hot tea. I wonder if that would work the same way. Maybe lemon drops, too.” They’d be easier to find than an actual lemon.
    Haydn nodded. “Those sound too simple.”
    “There’s more.” She turned to the next section that described what to feed their patient. “It does recommend chicken soup. But listen to this. It says to cook it with cayenne pepper. And even to add hot peppers with the vegetables.” She hadn’t cared for green peppers the one time she’d tried them. “I might be able to get hold of some green peppers.”
    Haydn shook his head. “Green peppers aren’t hot. It’s talking about chili peppers or something like that. I had some once when I went to Texas. They burned my mouth. Maybe it’s supposed to burn away whatever is troubling his chest.”
    “I’ll ask Ma.” Flipping to the last marker, she found the section on steam treatments and scanned the article. “It says oils can make steam more