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He mumbled something before completely passing out. Horrified, Erika sat staring at him for a full second before she was spurred into action.
“Fiona!” she called out to the housekeeper, then more desperately, “Fiona, come quick!”
The woman appeared suddenly in the entrance. “My God! What happened?”
“Fetch Dr. Ennis,” she said. “Tell him to come quickly. Hurry!” she added when the women took a half second too long.
Fiona disappeared down the street toward town, and Erika looked back down at Jay. His huge frame was crumpled up like one of those pretzels displayed in the bakery shop. His body looked so twisted and wretched lying there in a heap on the laneway in front of her home.
She was at least grateful the bleeding had stopped. However, it could not stop the horrible guilt eating at her insides. Knowing the pain he suffered resulted from her very own hand.
With determination, she pushed her wretched guilt aside and focused on Jay. He was far too big to try to move so she settled with laying his head gently on her lap. She stroked his face and held her guilty thoughts at bay.
From a distance, she heard the rattle of a wagon making its way toward her house and prayed it was the doctor. When it finally rounded the corner, she breathed a sigh of relief once she saw it was indeed him.
“What happened?” he asked at the same moment he leaped from his buggy and came to kneel beside her.
Her eyes shifted unconsciously to Fiona who was seated next to him, before she admitted, “I struck him.”
“Good God!” Fiona gasped and Erika couldn’t bear to look at her, so horrible was the shame.
The doctor’s face, however, eased slightly and he even offered her a small grin. “It would take a greater force than your tiny person to knock Jay Colby down, Erika.”
But she wasn’t relieved. Especially when he put a stethoscope to Jay’s chest, paused to listen, and then watched as his mouth dipped at the corners.
“Come, help me lift him to the wagon.” He motioned for Fiona to assist.
“Shouldn’t you bring him inside?” Erika stated, rather than asked.
For the first time, she noted the look of worry on his face. “No, Erika, its best I get him back to my office.”
With every ounce of her being, she kept her trembling anxiety from erupting. Nodding, she joined Fiona and together with the doctor, they hoisted Jay off the ground.
He was undoubtedly heavy, but Erika hardly noticed. Remarkably, she found the strength to lift Jay and place him on the back of the doctor’s buckboard. As soon as they had him settled, she went immediately to climb up next to him, but the doctor stayed her. “I think it’s best if you wait here.”
With resolution, she brushed him aside and hoisted up her skirts to climb up next to Jay’s limp body. “I’m coming.”
The doctor looked at Fiona who only shrugged and gave Erika a disapproving glare. Obviously, still blaming her for Jay’s state. “You mind that temper, girl.”
She ignored the comment, turning her attention to Jay once again and placing his unconscious body in her lap. Before they pulled away she heard the doctor say in a hushed voice to Fiona, “Go to the Colby farm and tell them to come to my office immediately.”
Again, that voice of apprehension toyed with her thoughts, but she would not allow it to take form. Jay needed her strength, not her ability to succumb so easily to her fears.
The ride to the doctor’s office was quick. Together along with his assistant, they hauled Jay off the wagon and into the patient room where they laid him down on the bed. Erika’s muscles strained from the effort, but she ignored them and hurriedly did her best to make Jay comfortable.
The doctor allowed her to fuss over the unconscious man for a little while longer before drawing her out of the room. “Come, Erika. It’s time to leave him.”
Not wanting to abandon Jay’s side, she nevertheless followed the doctor dutifully. Mostly because she needed answers. “Why is he unconscious? How could I have done this?”
“This isn’t your fault,” he told her grasping her shoulders in a reassuring manner.
“Then I don’t understand. What’s wrong? Why is he bleeding? Why won’t he wake?”
“He has slipped into a coma.”
“W-what—how?”
Then the doctor dropped his hands and took a step back, his expression suddenly taking on a look of uncertainty. “It is his wish that no one is to know.”
