Crossing the Wide Forever by Missouri Vaun

Author:Missouri Vaun [Vaun, Missouri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626398528
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2017-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

*

Lillie waited anxiously for Cody to return. It seemed like forever before she saw Cody’s disheveled head appear at the opening at the back of the wagon. She held open the closure so that Cody could climb in. Her shirt was drenched through and clinging to her torso. Streaks of red began to slowly materialize, and Lillie realized the red seeping across the side of the now snug-fitting shirt was blood. Cody wrapped her arms around her chest and began to shiver.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Oh.” Cody looked down at the sleeve of her shirt. “Shadow got tangled in a giant thorn bush. No doubt he’s bleeding too.”

“You’re also shivering. We need to get you out of these wet clothes and into a blanket.” The storm had caused the temperature to drop. Even the air inside the wagon’s canopy suddenly felt much cooler.

Cody nodded and started to peel off the soggy clothing, necessity obviously overriding Cody’s usual shyness in front of her.

She wrapped Cody in a wool blanket, but not before she saw several raised cuts from the thorns on her arms and across her ribs.

“Let’s give you a chance to warm up and then I can put something on those cuts.”

“Okay.”

Lillie rubbed Cody’s back through the blanket draped around her shoulders in the hopes that the friction would help circulation and speed the warming process. “I wish I had something warm for you to drink.” Lillie looked around the cramped interior for a moment. “Oh, wait. I do have something.” She rummaged through a small chest near the front of the wagon and handed Cody a glass flask. “Brandy. I picked this up before we left. For medicinal purposes, of course.”

Cody smiled. “Of course.” She took a swig and then a second. She settled back a little onto the narrow mattress that lay across the length of the buckboard.

The rain continued to pelt the sides of the canvas covering while the low glow of the lantern created a small oasis of warm light in the interior space. Lillie noticed just then the dark, wet cloth of Cody’s trousers. She knew that to truly get warm Cody needed dry pants as well.

“Let’s get you out of the rest of these wet clothes.” Lillie was seated on a wooden box across from Cody as she bent down and began to tug at her mud-covered boots.

“You’re not gonna toss those outside are you?”

Lillie laughed. “Not this time.”

An awkward moment passed between them when Lillie reached for Cody’s belt and then hesitated. Recognition seemed to move across Cody’s face that she could either hold on to the blanket covering her top half or release it to unfasten her pants.

“Are you okay if I help with these?” It was one thing to unbutton Cody’s shirt playfully knowing that she was wearing an undershirt beneath it, but helping her with the trousers seemed somehow more personal, especially given their situation. Cody nodded.

She tugged the belt loose, and as she did, her fingers brushed against Cody’s stomach. Lillie tried

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