AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.All right, then. There was really only one option that didn’t make his stomach twist into nautical knots.
Bedpans it was.
He squared his shoulders and marched into the clinic, praying the bedpans in question were empty. Judging by Doc’s smile…he wouldn’t bet his last dollar on it.
Chapter Fourteen
Adam dropped onto his bedroll, his body aching for sleep. Doc’s quick tour of the clinic had turned into a full inventory and reorganization afternoon. If Adam saw one more roll of bandages, he’d have to shove them in his mouth just to keep the scream in.
He rubbed his hand over his face, scrubbing at his burning eyes. For once, he was actually tired enough he might even sleep through the cacophony of sounds being produced by his neighbors.
A feminine giggle drifted to him through the open hole of his window, and he sat up so he could peer down to the street below. So much for sleeping. Two young women were huddled just below his window, one of them growing increasingly more agitated as the other tried to shoo her off.
“Calm yourself, Annie. It’s going to work.”
The other girl, Annie, he presumed, huffed and folded her arms. “You don’t know that. And even if it does, you don’t know what kind of man you’ll be getting.”
That perked Adam right up. He shimmied as close to the window as he could get without being seen.
“I’ll get a man—that’s enough for me.”
Annie tried again. “You don’t need to do it this way, Sally. You heard the rules. All the single men in town have to get hitched if they want to stay. You could have your pick!”
Sally snorted. “The best ones were spoken for long before the sheriff got involved. The ones who are left are either too old or too good at avoiding me. Until this new one rode into town.”
Adam’s heart thudded.Hewas the new one. What did the little schemer want with him? Well, never mind. He could guess. Why she thought he’d go along with it was a better question.
“Yeah, but he was with all the couples who got hitched. Him and Nora. You saw it.”
There was a soft, feminine grunt and the sound of something large being dragged and then a sigh. “Yes, but I told you, Mrs. DuVere said they didn’t actually do it. Or they did, but not really.”
The other girl let out a frustrated groan. “That doesn’t make any sense. They are either married or they aren’t.”
“I don’t know all the specifics, Annie. All I know is that whatever they did, it didn’t take, so he’s up for grabs.”
What? No he wasn’t. A knot of dread settled in his gut as more scraping sounds filtered up to him.
“You know Pa’ll be furious. He says you’re still too young.”
“Yes, well, once I’m married, he won’t be able to say a thing about it. And I’m not much younger than Ma was when she married him, so that argument isn’t a very good one.”
“Well, fine then, why do we have to go sneaking in the window in the middle of the night? I heard he’d been fired from three jobs already, so he’s gotta be desperate for a wife if he wants to stay. Just let him know you’re interested. I bet he’d be thrilled.”
He quietly snorted. She’d lose that bet. And what did she mean, three jobs? It had only been two. So far.
The thought of what new ungodly surprises might await him at Doc’s the next day set his stomach churning again, and he tried very hard to put that out of his head for the moment. He had a bigger problem at hand—two apparently very young women who seemed set on whatever wild scheme they were hatching.
Sally scoffed. “Why dawdle around with courtin’ and all that nonsense when this is so much easier?”
This?Adam frowned.What is this?He risked another peek out the window.
Sally put a foot on the ladder that still leaned against the wall from earlier in the day, but Annie grabbed her leg.
“Sally,” she hissed. “This will never work. Come back down.”
Sally shook her off. “Of course it’ll work. But only if I get up there before Pa shows up. Once he finds me with my ‘beau,’ he and his shotgun will make sure I’m married before sunup.”
And that was all Adam needed to hear. He grabbed his saddlebags and was reaching for his bedroll when the ladder clapped against the outside of his window. He dove through the sheet separating his room from the one next to it, abandoning his bed gear. It was replaceable; his bachelorhood was not.
