Chapter 14

I Remember

Lou was shocked when the older woman fired the gun and she heard Kid yell, "Lou!" as she fell to the ground. Lou opened her eyes and found Kid cradling her in his arms. "Lou, Lou are you OK?" He was asking.

Jimmy ran into the room with his guns drawn and said, "What the hells going on here?"

"Jimmy," Kid said looking up, "Lou’s been shot and I think Mrs. Beckworth has passed out. Go get the doctor. Now!"

Jimmy turned and ran for the door without hesitating. Kid was cradling Lou in his arms when she opened her eyes. "Kid?"

"Yea Lou, it’s me. Now lay still the doctor will be here soon."

"Kid it’s OK. It just grazed my shoulder. I’ll be fine." She smiled up at him. "How’s Mrs. Beckworth."

Kid checked Lou’s shoulder and realized she was right the bullet just grazed the top of it. "Then why did you fall like that? I thought she’d killed you." He asked with concern.

Lou giggled shakily. "I did to for a moment but when I realized it just grazed my shoulder I thought I’d better drop to the ground so she wouldn’t fire again."

Kid helped Lou to her feet and they both rushed over to Mrs. Beckworth to see how she was doing. Just about that time the Dr. Adams and Jimmy came into the room.

"What happened?" Dr. Adams asked anxiously.

Lou explained to Dr. Adams about going into Mrs. Beckworth’s room to search for the painting and being caught. "Then she accused me of trying to take her son away and then she fired the gun. Guess I’m lucky she isn’t a very good shot."

"Here help me," Dr. Adams said to Jimmy. The two men picked up Mrs. Beckworth and carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. The doctor returned to Lou’s side to check her wound.

"I’m fine doctor." Lou said, "Please just take care of Mrs. Beckworth. I really don’t think she knows what’s going on. Kid and Jimmy can bandage my shoulder in the sitting room."

Lou turned and walked out the door back toward the sitting room followed closely by Kid and Jimmy. Her legs felt weak and after she took a couple of steps she stopped and grabbed Kids arm.

"Lou are you OK?" Kid asked.

"I’m not sure," Lou said sagging against Kid.

Kid quickly picked her up and carried her to her room and laid her on the bed. Jimmy followed closely behind with a concerned look on his face. "Do you need anything Kid?" He asked.

"I think she’s hurt more than she was letting on." Kid whispered to Jimmy. Kid removed Lou’s blouse and looked at the wound. It was just a graze across the top of her shoulder but it was deeper and bleeding more than Lou was letting on. Kid cleaned the wound and bandaged it.

Jimmy had slipped out of the room and went down to the kitchen to let Cookie and Missy know what had happened. He also wanted to bring some tea back up for Lou she was looking very pale and he thought it might help.

Lou was feeling better as Kid bandaged her arm. The shakiness had left her legs and she could feel the color returning to her face. Kid touched her cheek softly and asked, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, much. You’ve got your memory back, don’t you?" she asked

"Yep," He smiled at her. "I heard Mrs. Beckworth yelling at you and came to see what was wrong. When I walked into the room and saw her fire that gun at you everything came rushing back. I thought I had lost you."

Lou smiled at him. "I thought I had lost you too. You were gone for so long." Lou put her good arm around Kid’s neck and hugged him tight.

Jimmy walked into the room at that moment, "Well I hope I’m interrupting something." He laughed. "Good to see your back to your old self." He clapped Kid on the shoulder and smiled at his friend.

Kid, Jimmy and Lou spent the next few moments talking and catching up with what had been going on. Kid explained to his friends about what he remembered the day he was shot. "I had just finished my delivery and was heading home. I hadn’t got too far out of town when these two guys stopped me. They said that Mrs. Beckworth back in Beckworth Falls wanted to see me. Well I didn’t know who they were talking about and told them they had the wrong guy. I turned Katy to continue on but then one of them shot me in the leg and the other in the side. I don’t really think they both meant to shoot me the looks on their faces were of sheer surprise. The next thing I really remember was waking up here and not knowing where I was or who I was. It felt like I was in a fog or a dream that I couldn’t wake up from."

Kid had been telling his friends this while holding Lou the hole time. He realized how much Lou had risked her life to help him these last couple of week. He also realized how much their time spent together had meant to him and how much he loved her. He was pretty sure by the looks she was giving him that she felt the same way.

The doctor came into the room a bit after Kid finished telling his story. Kid jumped up as soon as he entered. "How is she doing?" He asked.

"She’ll be fine. She’d like to see you though." Dr. Adams told Kid. Kid nodded and looked at Lou, who nodded at him to go.