The McKettrick Legend by Linda Lael Miller

Author:Linda Lael Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2010-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

1919

Doc Willaby was with them for three full days, waiting for his bumps and bruises to heal and the weather to clear. He played endless games of checkers with Tobias, next to the kitchen stove, and Hannah and Doss tried hard to pretend they were sensible people. The truth was, they could barely keep their hands off each other.

“How come I have to move to the other end of the hall?” Tobias asked Doss, on the morning of the third endless day.

“You just do,” Doss answered.

Early that afternoon, the sleigh came pulling into the yard, drawn by Cain and Abel and driven by Kody Jackson, from the livery stable. Two outriders completed the procession.

“Glory be,” Doc said, peering out the window, along with Hannah. “They’ve come to fetch me back to Indian Rock.” He looked down at Hannah and smiled wisely.

“Now you and Doss can stop acting like a couple of old married folks and do what comes naturally.”

Hannah blushed, but she couldn’t help smiling in the process. “It’s been good having you here, Doc,” she said, and she meant it, too. “You saved Doss’s life the other night, coming all that way to fetch me, in the shape you were in. I’ll be grateful all my days.”

He took her hand. Squeezed it. “He loves you, Hannah.”

“I know,” she said softly. “And I love him, too.”

“That’s all that counts, in the long run. Or the short one, for that matter. We each of us get a certain number of days to spend on this earth. Only the good Lord knows how many. Spend them loving that man of yours and that fine boy, and you’ll have done the right thing.”

Hannah stood on tiptoe. Kissed the doctor on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said.

Doss came out of the barn to greet Kody and the other men.

They all went down the hill together to set the other wagon upright, leading the team along behind them. Doss put Cain and Abel away, while Kody drove the rig up along side the house.

Doc was outside by then, ready to go, with his medical bag clutched in one hand and his cane in the other. He turned and waved at Hannah through the window, and she waved back, watching fondly as Doss and another man helped him up into the wagon box.

When Doss didn’t come back in right away, Hannah busied her self making the kitchen presentable. Tobias was upstairs, resting in his new bed room at the front of the house. Now that he’d adjusted to the change, he liked being able to see so clear across the valley from the gabled window, but what had really swayed him was the reminder that Doss and Gabe had shared that room when they were boys.

She swept the floor and put fresh coffee on to brew and even switched on the light bulb instead of lighting lamps, as wintry afternoon shadows darkened the room.

Still, there was no sign of Doss, so she built up the fire

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