Katie nodded her head that she wasn’t. It had turned into one of the worst days and nights of her life and the only saving grace that she had found was the fact that there was a man and a horse suddenly in front of her and the forest had finally broken into some sort of civilization.
She couldn’t talk. Her mouth too dry and the man started asking her a barrage of questions. Instead of answering she looked to his horse and found some water in the saddle bag. No good cowboy would leave without something to drink and Paul was no different. After taking several drinks with him watching her in amazement, Katie finally answered some of his questions.
“I stepped on some kind of trap while I was hunting.”
He looked at her a little incredulously and she tried not to take offense. “I take it women don’t do much hunting in this area huh?”
Paul shook his head. This was not really the place to hunt. He and most others had enough meat from their animals, though there were a few that would go out for a deer before winter hit. When Paul looked at her, he didn’t see a gun or any other kind of equipment, but he did see that she was injured.
He bent down to get a good look at it and she backed up on her good leg. “Let me see it. I will see if there is anything I can do before I take you back to the ranch. There aren’t many doctors out here, but if I knew how bad it was, I could maybe help you Miss or get you a ride into the city to the hospital.”
“It’s going to need something for sure. I finally got my foot out of it, but I haven’t even looked at it yet.”
“Can I?”
She nodded, but she looked down with him and already there were tears in the flesh of her ankle. Grimacing and looking away, Katie started to get a little woozy from looking at it and tried to hold her composure.
“Are you okay?”
Katie didn’t feel okay suddenly, feeling blackness filling in her peripheral vision and then she closed her eyes, swaying on her feet. She would have fallen over if he hadn’t been there to catch her. As Paul looked down at her dirt-smudged face, he wondered where she had come from. He hadn’t gotten much out of her before she passed out, though he did remember the way she had drank from his canteen. It was clear to him that whoever she was, she had had quite an ordeal and he needed to get her looked at. From what he had seen, she was going to need some medical attention and though doctors were on short supply, there was a vet or two in town that had stitched him up on more than one occasion.
Carefully setting her over the saddle until he got on and held her against him, Paul made his way slowly back towards the ranch. He hoped that she would wake up, but by the deep sound of her breathing, she wasn’t going to be waking up anytime soon. Whoever she was, it was just pure luck that he was out there when he was. Paul was never usually out that far and so close to the woods, but he was suddenly glad that his horse had had a mind of his own that morning.
***
Scott looked at his brother as if he had lost his mind. “What is going on Paul? Who is that?”
“You are already back from getting the feed?”
He shrugged and started towards the brother with a woman hauled over his shoulder. “No I haven’t even left yet. Are we not going to talk about the woman that you are carrying? Are we just forgetting about that part of this all?”
Paul was not in the mood to have the conversation. She was hurt and he barked out some orders for supplies and some help instead of answering his barrage of questions. Paul didn’t even know what was going on, but he did know that he wanted to help her.
“Just get what I need Scott.”
Scott took off towards the bathroom and the first aid kit. He called Carol from in town and told her the situations. Carol would be over soon and as Paul laid her down and got her shoe off, it was actually worse than he had thought. He wasn’t sure how she had even been standing on it, let alone walking. It also meant that Carol may not be able to help her. He would know definitely when she got there and as he looked back up worried at her face, hoped that she was going to be okay.
Carol pushed him aside as she came in, taking over like she did everything. The older woman was sure of herself and even men like Paul and Scott moved out of her way when she told them to. There was no denying her natural lead and that day was no different. Paul felt more upset then he should have. He didn’t know her, but he knew that he didn’t like to see her hurt.
“Paul, why are you still standing around? I asked you to bring me some more towels.”
He met her light eyes finally and Carol looked like she wanted to ask more, but she didn’t. Instead she waited for him to go before looking back down at the hurt woman. She had her own questions to ask, but first she had to get the mysterious woman taken care of. The Callahans always made the best gossip and she didn’t think that this one was going to disappoint her.
When Paul came back in, she sent him out for something else to fetch for her. She could see in his eyes that he was too worried to be of much use and though it piqued her interest and made her wonder who she was. But for the time being, Carol just needed him out of her hair with that worried expressions on his face.
Paul finally wasn’t going to be put off anymore. “Carol dammit, is she going to be okay or does she need to go to the hospital? You have to tell me something.”
“She is going to be fine. Looks like she is a little dehydrated and lost a little blood, but she is going to be okay. Just a little rest and she will be up soon. Who is she Paul? I don’t think I have ever seen her before.”
Paul was relieved to hear that she was okay, but he didn’t know how to answer her questions. He didn’t know who she was, not even her name. He told her what he knew, which was the very little that she had told him about stepping on the trap while she was hunting. Carol had the same look he had had, though neither one of them were really hunters.
“Where did you find her?”
“Over by the Miller’s and that creek, right before you get to the woods. I don’t usually go over that way, but the damn horse went over there straight like a shot.”
“Well she is lucky that you found her when you did. She had lost a lot of blood and I don’t know how long she was out there, but if I had to guess, I would say over night.”
It was just more to add to the mysterious woman and he still didn’t know what to think about it. “Thanks for coming Carol. Just send me a bill for it.”
“Don’t worry about it Paul. Just promise me that you will tell me her story when you find out. We don’t get many strangers out in these parts and certainly not one like her.”
“What do you mean?” Paul’s mind went to how beautiful she was, but he didn’t think that Carol would be commenting on that, so he really was confused. All he could see was the refined features of her face and the strange color of her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. He wanted her to wake up, just so he could see her eyes again.
“Look at her clothes, the jewelry, this woman is quite well off. I haven’t seen any shoes like that, unless I was in the city.”
Paul looked down at her shoes and he didn’t know any difference than ever other pair of woman’s shoes. Carol came from money herself and she seemed to know what she was talking about. If she was wealthy as her clothing would suggest, he didn’t understand why she would be hunting in the first place. It didn’t seem like a very lady-like activity and the woman looked like she’d strayed too far.
Carol stayed for a while longer, having some coffee, but they both knew that she was there for when the woman woke up. Carol wanted the gossip, but as the time stretched on, she remembered the other places she still had to go. Her work was never done and she finally left, looking back once in hopes that she would get the story before she left.
“I will come back tomorrow and check on the foot, just to make sure that it hasn’t infected or anything, okay?”
“Okay Carol. Thanks again.”
She waved him off like it was nothing before she left, leaving Paul to look down at his guest and wonder when she was going to get up. He had his own work to do and as another half an hour went by, he decided that he had to go help Scott finish up. It wasn’t right for him to shirk his duties and he was once again feeling restless like he had been that morning.
He looked back one last time at the woman lying bandaged on his couch. There was something about her that made him wonder who she was and why she was there. Paul also had the strange feeling that he was supposed to have found her and that it was all supposed to happen. Was it fate or just luck? He didn’t know. What he did know though, was like Carol, he was waiting to find out more about the redheaded woman that had just been dropped into his lap.