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In the next moment Professor Adamson called for a show of hands: all those in favor of an extra vacation day at Christmas?
Just as Winifred thrust her arm in the air, the door burst open and a young messenger boy entered, waving a telegram. Rolf Adamson snagged it, tipped the lad, then glanced down at the address.
“Miss Von Dannen, this is for you.” It was passed down to her, and then everyone resumed the conversation about Christmas vacation.
Winifred ripped open the telegram.
ZANE SERIOUSLY INJURED STOP
COME AT ONCE STOP
DR. SAMUEL GRAHAM
With a cry she started up from her chair. She felt numb, her mind suddenly a dark fog. In an instant Millicent was beside her.
“I must go to Oregon. To Smoke River.” She stumbled over the words.
“Now?” Millicent whispered.
With an answering nod, Winifred crumpled the telegram in her hand and moved toward the door.
Millicent followed. “Professor Beher, could you drive Winifred to the train station once she’s ready to leave? It’s an emergency.”
Winifred didn’t wait to hear his response but fled down the hallway, out the conservatory entrance and down the street toward her home. Oh, dear God, let him be all right. Please, Lord. Please.
* * *
She stepped off the train into a face-nipping wind. She gripped her hat and closed her eyes, her entire body shaking with exhaustion.
“Miss Winifred,” a voice shouted. She opened her eyes to see a slim young man striding toward her.
“Sandy Boggs, the sheriff’s deputy, remember? Doc Graham sent me to meet your train.”
“Oh, Sandy, thank you.”
He grabbed up her valise and took her elbow. “Buggy’s right here. You wanna go straight to the hospital?”
Winifred nodded.
“Thought you might. I’ll drop you there and take your luggage on up to the doc’s house. Wing Sam’s expecting you.”
“How is—?” She couldn’t finish the question.
Sandy pursed his lips. “He’s still unconscious, ma’am.” He loaded her valise and handed her into the buggy, climbed aboard and whipped the horse into a trot. “Been four days now and he hasn’t woke up. Doc Graham’s waiting for you at the hospital.”
Four days! Her heart dropped into her belly. It all felt unreal. The street, the people, even the white-painted hospital looked just as it always had, but everything was different. Inside that building Zane lay fighting for his life.
She struggled to wrap her mind around what had happened, to stay calm, to be strong. She would not cry. She bit down on her lower lip so hard she tasted blood.
At the hospital, Dr. Graham grasped her elbow. “Thank God you’re here, Winifred.” He ushered her into a small reception room adjoining the wide entrance hall.
“Before you go in to see him, let me prepare you.”
Her stomach clenched. The doctor sat her down in a straight-backed chair and reached for her hand. “It’s a head injury. There was an accident at the sawmill. Zane was pulling the man out from under a belt when the log slipped. It caught him across the back of his head.”
Winifred sucked in a breath. “Will he live?”
The gray-haired physician hesitated. “Can’t say, to be honest. I won’t lie to you, Winifred. He hasn’t regained consciousness since they brought him in, and the longer he stays that way, the slimmer his chances are.”
She pressed her fist against her mouth and bent her head. “May I see him?” she whispered.
Dr. Graham rose and helped her to her feet. “You look done in, my dear. Maybe you should go on up to the house and rest first.”
“No. I want to see him.”
He nodded, then walked her down the hall to a room with a No Admittance sign on the door, pushed it open and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
She stepped to the single bed and a stifled sob escaped. Zane lay half-covered by a sheet, his chest bare, arms at his sides. But his face— Oh, God. His skin was paste-colored and white gauze bandages swathed his head. His closed eyelids looked bluish and his breathing was very rapid and shallow.
“You can talk to him if you want, Winifred. The last sense to go is hearing, so it’s possible he might be able to hear you.”
She lifted one of his limp hands. “Zane.” Her throat closed. “Zane, it’s Winifred. I came as soon as I could.”
After a few moments, Dr. Graham gently disengaged Zane’s hand from hers and turned her away from the bed. “That’s probably enough for right now.”
