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“Huh?” She scowled at him so fiercely that Bridget almost smiled.
“Let’s talk. What do you know about Morgan horses?”
As a distraction, that just might work. But Bridget had no idea how Molly would react. She held her breath until her daughter suddenly spoke.
“A lot,” Molly declared. “Justin Morgan lived right here in Randolph—the man, not the horse.”
“Where did the horse live?”
“The horse lived here, too, but his name wasn’t Justin Morgan.”
The nurse and Jonas exchanged a conspiratorial smile that Molly didn’t see.
“What was he called?” Jonas asked.
Molly blew out an exasperated breath. “The horse was called Figure. Later on, when he got to be famous, they started to call him Morgan’s horse.”
“Why was he famous? What made him so special?”
Molly winced, but the effort of thinking distracted her from the pain. “The Morgan horse was special because he could do everything. He could work in the woods all day hauling logs, sometimes pulling logs that other, bigger draft horses couldn’t, and he could run faster than anything around.”
Nothing wrong with her memory, Bridget thought, amazed by how readily her daughter responded.
“What else?” the nurse asked. “Now you’ve got me interested. You learn something new every day, isn’t that right, Dr. Concannon?”
Bridget guessed he’d introduced himself. That shouldn’t annoy her but it did. Audrey was pretty and very capable.
“He was as gentle as a kitten. And he was the first American breed of horse,” Molly declared.
“I didn’t know that,” Jonas said.
The nurse shifted her attention to Molly’s leg, cutting a slit up the pants leg.
“That isn’t all.” Molly sat up slightly. Now that she was beginning to impress him with her knowledge, she wanted to enlarge on it. “The other American breeds like the American saddle horse, the Standardbred and the Tennessee walking horse—all of them can be traced back to show a Morgan cross in their beginnings.”
“I’m impressed. I didn’t know Satin came from such a distinguished ancestor.”
“Satin is awesome,” Molly said stoutly.
The nurse looked over at Bridget. “Her knee is going to need a butterfly bandage. She has a fairly deep gash there.” She turned to look through a drawer of medical supplies, and frowned. “Shoot. None here. I’ll be right back.”
When Audrey got up and left the room, Bridget hesitated only a second. Touching Molly’s hand lightly, she said, “Lie still,” and motioned Jenas out into the corridor.
“Do you think she’ll need stitches on her knee?”
“I’m not the attending physician. I really can’t say.”
“But you could ask the nurse. She’d listen to you.”
Jonas gave her an amused look. “Seems to me that Audrey knows what she’s doing. Anyway, you’re Molly’s mother. You should ask questions like that.”
Bridget just stared at him, struggling to control her temper. “Somehow I don’t think you should be giving me parenting lessons, Jonas,” she said. There was a distinct edge to her voice. “This isn’t the time or the place. And you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to that.” Her voice cracked and she wiped away a tired tear. “Not like you have a kid, right?”
“No, I don’t. But doctors and nurses can make mistakes.”
“Don’t say that! Molly’s never been seriously injured before! You’re scaring me!” She wanted to bawl but she was damned if she was going to do it in front of him.
“Take it easy, Bridget. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. All the indications are that Molly will be fine.”
