PART 8
“Colleen! Andrew!” Sully yelled out to the two young
doctors who were standing in front of their clinic.
Colleen stayed where she
was, while Andrew ran over toward Sully.
“What’s wrong?” he saw Nan in Sully’s arms, “What happened?”
“She’s been shot, “Sully
handed her down to Andrew. Nan was now
unconscious. Andrew carried Nan inside,
while Colleen followed close behind.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * *
“Nan! Where’s Nan?” Nat asked impatiently as he
ran into the clinic.
Sully stopped him by placing
his hand on Nat’s shoulders. “Nat, calm
down. Colleen and Andrew are taking
care of her.”
As Michaela went in to lend
some help, Dan walked up behind Nat.
“Nat,” he said quietly.
Nat turned around and looked
up at his friend, “Dan,” tears came to Nat’s eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“Of course not. You two were meant to be together,” Dan gave
Nat a comforting hug.
“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” Dan said confidently.
“I hope so,” was all Nat
said.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
The three doctors had just
finished up taking the bullet out, cleaning up the wound, and stitching and
wrapping the arm when they heard Nan moan.
Andrew stood over her. “Nan, can you hear me?”
“Nat?” she said
quietly. “Nat? Where’s Nat?”
“Nat’s waiting outside,” he
nodded over to Michaela to go get him.
“Hank.” Michaela stopped as
she heard the name. She looked at
Andrew and Colleen. All three were
confused. Why had Nan spoken Hank’s name?
“Nan, dear, what about
Hank?” Michaela asked her, as she kneeled back down beside her.
“Hank. Gun,” she explained weakly.
“Did Hank shoot you?”
“Yes,” Nan closed her eyes
to rest them.
“I’ll go get Nat,” she told
the others. Michaela walked out the
door.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *
“Dr. Mike?” Nat stood up as he saw Michaela walk into
the waiting room. “How is she?”
“She’ll be fine, Nat,”
Michaela told him.
Nat let out a sigh of
relief. “Thank goodness,” he said. “May I see her?”
“Not yet, Nat. I have something to tell you first.”
“I thought you said she was
Ok.” Nat looked worried.
“She is. She’ll need time to recover, but she’ll be
fine.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s about who shot her.”
“Did she tell you?” Sully
asked, stepping forward to join the group.
“Yes, she did.”
“It was that Hank guy,
wasn’t it?” Dan guessed.
The three of them looked at
Michaela. “Yes.”
“That’s it. I’m going after him,” Dan said firmly.
“No, Dan,” Sully placed a
hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“Why not? There’s no sheriff in town. Somebody has to go after him,” Dan argued.
“We don’t know if he did it
on purpose,” Michaela said quietly.
“Purpose?” Nat
complained. “Of course he did it on
purpose. He still thinks that Nan
killed Emily.”
“I’m going after him,” Dan
said angrily.
“Then I’ll go with you,
Dan. We’re going to be calm about this,
Ok?” Sully reasoned.
“Fine.” Dan agreed. “But let’s go.” Sully and Dan left.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * *
Nat sat beside the woman he
loved. She lay on the bed asleep. She would be weak, but she would be OK. He looked over at her face. She was pale, but she was beautiful to Nat.
Nat stood up and walked
around the room quietly, careful not to wake his wife.
He walked over to the window
and looked outside. It was light
outside, but it wouldn’t be much longer.
He hoped that Dan and Sully would find Hank before dark.
“Nat?”
Nat heard a familiar but
weak voice call out his name. He turned
back toward the bed to see his wife’s eyes opened.
“Nan?” he walked over to her
side. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m Ok. A little dizzy, but I’m Ok,” she told him.
Nat looked at her
sadly. Why did this have to happen to
his wife? “Good. You just get your rest. You’ll be up and around in no time,” Nat
smiled sweetly at her. He gently took
her hands and rubbed them. Then he took
her right hand and kissed it. “You gave
me quite a scare, you know?”
Nan didn’t say anything.
“Nan?” Nat paused for a
moment before continuing. “What
happened?”
“It was Hank,” she paused,
but Nat didn’t say anything. He just
sat there beside her. He was ready to
listen. “I was riding home from helping
Colleen and Andrew. I took one of the
other roads. I wanted to get a better
view of Pike’s Peak, I guess. It was
beautiful; the whole west is,” she stopped as she realized she had strayed from
the topic at hand.
“Anyway. Hank had followed me. I didn’t realize he was there till I heard
him. I turned around and there he was. Holding a gun on me,” she stopped as she
began to cry. Nat pulled her as close
as he could without hurting her.
Nan cried a few minutes,
then caught her breath and continued.
“He was drunk. He was wobbling;
had a slur in his voice. He told me to get
off my horse. I did, and then he shot
me. Before he pulled the trigger, he
said that he was doing something he should have done a month ago.” Nan began
trembling.
Nat pulled her close again
and let her cry.
