Sagebrush Bride

EPILOGUE


Elizabeth had had very few customers; with two new physicians in Sioux Falls, the competition was just too great. And it didn’t help much that she was in the last days of pregnancy. The women seemed not to be bothered at all by the fact. The men, on the other hand, didn’t seem able to look her in the eye without blushing. Most of them seemed hesitant to come to her when either of the other two male doctors suited them better. At least it seemed they thought so.

So when Jo rushed in, supporting Dick Brady so that he wouldn’t fall on his face, Elizabeth was naturally ecstatic. She rose as quickly as she was able from behind her little desk and waddled toward them, her smile enormous. A white-faced Katie scurried in after them.

“He tripped over Shiftless,” Jo exclaimed.

“But he scared ‘im, that’s why!” Katie added plaintively. “And that’s why he bited him, too!”

And it didn’t take much to deduce where, Elizabeth thought, her brows furrowing, as she inspected Brady’s face. Canine teeth marks ringed his bulbous nose, but only one of the puncture marks was of any consequence, and it was bleeding very little, if at all.

“Snake-headed dog,” Brady muttered drunkenly. “Blamed thang yelped ‘n’ turned on me—made no never mind that I was flat on ma face already. Iffen ya ask me, I say he was bent on bitin’ me!” He grinned suddenly and winked. “But I tol’ Miss Jo here you’d fix me up right fine, ‘n’ here I am.”

His disclosure thrilled Elizabeth, though she tried not to show it. He’d actually chosen to come to her? She had to remind herself not to be too delighted. The man was suffering, after all. She put on her most solemn expression. “Does it hurt very much?”

Brady shook his head, then nodded.

Elizabeth’s brows lifted in confusion. “It does? Doesn’t?” He shook his head. “Does?” she tried again, and Brady nodded. “Oh, you poor thing!” she said, giving him her compassion as she glanced down at Katie. There was so much of herself she saw in Katie, more each day; from the way she watched, wide-eyed, while Elizabeth treated patients, to the way she defended those she loved, even when they were in the wrong. Yet, as doting of Katie as Elizabeth was, she forced herself to give her niece a reproachful frown.

“But Aunt Lizabeth!” Katie protested. “Shifless was just taking a nap! That’s all!”

Cutter appeared in the doorway, filling the room with his presence. He didn’t have to speak for Elizabeth to know he was there. She sensed him and glanced over her shoulder, giving him a welcoming smile as she lifted the lid from a small glass container of gauze pads. He was wearing black trousers and a black shirt, but no guns, and no hat, and the grin he sported as he leaned against the doorframe gave him an almost boyish appearance.

He winked at her, raking a hand through his head. “Wrasslin’ bears again, Brady?” he asked casually.

Surprised by the statement, Elizabeth gave Cutter a baffled glance. How had he known about that? And then she recalled, and her gaze flew to Brady. Brady’s expression was so comically confounded that she pursed her lips to keep from giggling. He twisted his fingers together as he stared down at the wooden floor, and suddenly Elizabeth couldn’t contain her mirth. She envisioned him stabbing and wrestling with nothing but himself, and began to giggle, softly at first and then with hilarity, clutching instinctively at her abdomen. Suddenly she gasped as a searing pain tore through her, doubling her over.

At once both Jo and Cutter hurried to her side. Despite the fact that Cutter was farthest, he reached her first. “Elizabeth!”

Jo’s face paled with concern. “Are you all right?”

Katie’s face paled, as well.

Together, Cutter and Jo began to lead Elizabeth up the stairs to their apartments above the office.

“No!” Elizabeth gasped, pushing Jo away as another pang shot through her. “Stay—stay with Mr. Brady! Don’t let him near—” she tried to whisper a warning into Jo’s ear, but another pain came, making it sound more a shriek “—the knives!”

When Elizabeth doubled over, Cutter swept her into his arms, carrying her up the stairs and straight to the room they shared, leaving Jo downstairs with Katie. He laid her gently upon their bed, and then removed the shiny new spectacles he’d ordered for her.

“The water,” Elizabeth groaned, trying to rise.

“Easy now,” Cutter told her. “Jo will know what to do! We’ve gone over it enough!”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You’re right,” she relented. Laying her head back against the pillows, she forced a smile. Cutter’s words were reassuring, but his tone was frantic, and she knew that she would need to remain strong to coach him.

All at once, Katie came racing in, with Shiftless barking at her heels. “He’s bleedin’, Aunt Lizabeth! He’s bleedin’!”

Within seconds, Jo appeared as well. “Katie Elizabeth, get that dog out of here!”

“Oh, yes, ma’am!” Katie slapped her little leg, calling Shiftless. “Come on, boy! Come here!” Grasping the dog by the collar when he came close enough,

Katie dragged him from the room. Jo followed her as far as the door, closing it behind Katie, and then she turned to Elizabeth. “That man!” she declared.

Elizabeth’s face whitened as dread, along with another contraction, ripped through her. “Good night!” she moaned. “He’s stabbed himself!” Again, she tried to rise.

Cutter forced her back down to the bed, glaring at her.

“No. No. Nothing like that,” Jo assured her.

“Then what?” Elizabeth asked, giving in to a little hysteria. “He wasn’t bleeding when I left him!”

“Dammit, Liz, don’t worry about Brady!” Cutter broke in. “You’re bringing our baby into this world, and that’s all you need to be thinkin’ of just now.”

Elizabeth’s gaze returned to her husband. “Our baby,” she whispered reverently, and then another contraction squeezed her, and she gritted her teeth until it ebbed. When it was over, she swallowed and opened her eyes to look into Cutter’s. His expression was full of concern.

“Cutter’s right,” Jo told her. “You don’t need to be worrying over Brady. Besides, it’s just that I socked him one,” she disclosed. “Just an itty-bitty nosebleed is all he’s got.”

Both Elizabeth’s and Cutter’s gazes snapped back at Jo. “You socked him?” they asked simultaneously.

“Well, yes! You’d think he’d’ve learned by now to keep those dirty paws o’ his off o’ me!” She smiled at Elizabeth, winking.

“You see, I knew you were gonna be a little busy, so I thought I might bandage him myself... and the idiot pinched me.”

“Where?” Cutter demanded, his gaze jerking up.

“Now, Cutter, he didn’t mean any harm,” Jo replied. “It’s the red-eye that gets him roused. He can be a perfect gentleman when he’s sober.”

Elizabeth grimaced. “Trouble is, he’s rarely—” she grunted as another contraction besieged her “—sober!”

she screamed, clutching desperately at Cutter’s arm.

“Lucky man,” Cutter said savagely.

Elizabeth blinked, surprised by the remark, and tried to remember to breathe. Her eyes felt as though they were crossing.

“Why is that?” Jo asked.

“Because... if I weren’t busy playing doc just now, I’d break the son of a bitch’s nose! As it is, you’d best get out there and tell the yack to leave before I’m tempted to finish the job you and Shiftless started.”

Elizabeth grunted, concentrating on the soothing sound of Katie’s voice outside the door. She was speaking gently to Shiftless, and she imagined that Katie was petting the dog, as well—much as Cutter was doing to her just now. She wished he would quit, but didn’t have the heart to tell him to get his hands off of her!

“Don’ worry!” Katie crooned. “Don’ worry! Everything gonna be all right... You seeee... Aunt Lizabeth don’t wanna go to heaven yet! She don’ want to!”

Dear Lord, is that what she thought? Did she think her mother had had a choice? Elizabeth vowed to speak to Katie as soon as she was able—make her understand that no one would leave her by choice. She was just too special. She looked beseechingly at Jo.

Jo nodded, understanding Elizabeth’s silent plea. “I’ll stay with her,” she said, “but first I’ll fetch water and blankets.”

Seven weary hours later, Cain Michael McKenzie was born into his father’s hands. Clutching his son protectively, Cutter ran to the door, shouting, “We have a son! A son!” He came back to the bed and dropped to his knees.

Both Jo and Katie rushed in at once to greet the newest addition, leaving Shiftless to whine and scratch at the door. They cooed over Cain as Cutter took him from his mother to bathe him, and then compared his hands to Katie’s while Elizabeth held him.

“Oooh! They’re so little!” Katie marveled. “Do you think he’ll like Shifless, Aunt Lizbeth?”

Elizabeth nodded dreamily, her eyes drifting shut as she watched the doting scene before her. Glancing up, Jo must have caught her weary expression and rose from the bed. She ushered Katie out, explaining as she closed the door that Elizabeth and Cain were getting too sleepy.

When they were gone, Elizabeth gazed down at her son, her weary eyes reflecting her pride. The pain had been more than she could ever have imagined, but worth it, she thought as she glanced up adoringly at her husband. She just couldn’t believe it. And Cutter had done so well, giving her strength when it seemed she had none of her own. “You saved my life,” she whispered worshipfully.

“No,” he murmured, lifting her hand and kissing it with so much emotion that Elizabeth thought she would burst into tears. She blinked as moisture pooled in her eyes.



“Much as I’d like to take the credit,” Cutter told her, his voice hoarse, “I just followed directions. You did all the work.” He gazed at her, then at his son. Black hair, and blue eyes that appeared more black than blue. “Besides... ” he whispered as he caressed his son’s downy head. He reveled in the feel of the silky hair against his scarred fingers... so much softness in his life. “Even if it were true... you save my life every day. Before you, Liz, I was dead inside and didn’t even know it.”

Elizabeth swallowed, fighting the wave of exhaustion that waited to claim her. “You were?” Tears shimmered on her lashes.

Cutter’s eyes lifted, moisture glistened in his black eyes, making them sparkle like ink-colored glass.



“I was,” he assured her with a wink. His gaze lowered briefly to the child who lay between them, and then back to his wife’s face, still disbelieving that she was really his. His. She’d given him so much. Everything he’d ever searched for was right there in her golden eyes. “I’m richer ‘n Midas,” he told her with a gleam in his eyes, “and aim to be just as greedy. Can’t get enough of you... never want to.”

“I... I love you, Cutter.”

Cutter smoothed the hair away from Elizabeth’s forehead and bent to kiss her eyes closed. “And I love you, Doc,” he whispered back.

Elizabeth smiled, and let her cheek fall against the pillow. As she drifted, she listened to the sounds Cain made as he suckled.

“More than you’ll ever know,” Cutter whispered. But Elizabeth didn’t hear. She’d fallen asleep. It didn’t matter. “‘Cause I’m going to prove it to you every day of the rest of our lives,” he swore.

He lifted his son up into his arms, his eyes full of warmth and a touch of arrogant pride as he secured the blanket around his baby boy.

“You’re gonna hafta take real good care of those little jewels, son. Give me lots of fine grandchildren.” He grinned as he looked down into Elizabeth’s sleeping face, chuckling richly as he then advised in a husky whisper, “Only ride double with the woman you intend to make your wife.” He sank back into the nearest chair, propping his boots upon the edge of the bed to settle down for a long man-to-man chat with his firstborn son. Cain gurgled happily and curled his tiny fingers around Cutter’s scarred thumb. “Yeah,” Cutter agreed, his voice soft as he stared at that flawed thumb with those tiny wriggling fingers holding it in unconditional acceptance. His heart surged. “That’s right...” He nodded as a lump of pride thickened his throat. “Like your pa, you see...”

Unbeknownst to Cutter, Elizabeth’s smile deepened