Chapter 51

Finally his words of assurance that it was indeed him started to sink in and she pulled away from him. "Let me look at you," she told him. She placed her hands on his arms and that's when she noticed his left arm in a sling and his bloody shirt poking out from under his jacket.

"Kid!" she exclaimed. "Oh my God, you're bleeding. Jimmy said you were hurt bad but I didn't want to believe him. Let me see how bad it is." As she rambled on about his injury, Lou's hands flew all over his body. She would touch his cheek then the next instant be tugging at the sleeve of his coat, trying to get it off, then would be back up to his face to caress his cheek once again. She even took off his hat so she could run her hand through his hair.

Finally Kid grabbed hold of her hands to still them and began to laugh. "Lou, I'm fine. It happened several days ago; it would have healed by now if I hadn’t have moved around so much. Buck cleaned and bandaged it yesterday then again this morning. Come here."

She looked at him in confusion as he drew her to his chest and slowly wrapped his right arm around her small body. "Oh, yeah. See? Now that's the best medicine a man could receive."

"Kid, I'm serious," Lou protested, trying to pull away but even with one good arm, Kid held her in such a way that all she could do was manage to look up into his face.

"So am I, Lou," Kid said, grinning at her.

"You think you could hold on any tighter, Lou?"

Both turned to see four grinning men staring down at them from their mounts. Kid and Lou looked at each other, not believing that they hadn't heard them ride up.

"I wasn't doin' the holdin', Jimmy, Kid was. All I'm tryin' to do is do some mendin' but he won't take me serious." She finally squirmed her way out of her husband's hold. She straightened her dress then stood staring at him with her hands on her hips.

"You're not showin'," Kid stated. At her confused stare, he explained, "Your stomach, it's still flat. I didn’t miss any of it."

Lou blushed as she heard Jimmy and Buck chuckle. After giving them a nasty look, she walked closer to her husband and quietly said, "Of course it's still flat - you've been gone barely a week, Kid." She reached up and touched his cheek once more.

"It felt like so much longer. I kept dreaming about you and our baby, I guess that's why I pictured you further along," Kid quietly told her.

"Kid, it was just your mind playin' tricks on you. It's like seein' water where there ain't none - you were probably just imaging us as your way to gather strength to pull through the situation you were placed in. Now you've done your part, let me do mine. Let me take care of you; that arm looks bad."

"I told you it's fine," Kid said, trying not to be serious once again. He'd revealed more than he wanted to in front of the others but from the looks on their faces, they all understood where he was coming from and had been there themselves at one time or another. The only difference was that none of them ever had someone like Lou waiting for them at home.

"Come on, Kid, she wants to take care of you. I'd let her if I was you," Jimmy said, grinning.

"Yeah, Kid, she's got quite a temper, even more of one now thanks to that little one," Buck teased and laughed as Lou stuck her tongue out at him. "I wouldn't get her riled up if I were you."

"Oh I know better than to get Lou's temper flaring but like I keep saying, I'm fine. All I need is some rest so the wound will close up on its own."

"Then rest is what you'll get," she told him. "I'm taking you straight up to bed and tucking you in and if you even think of getting up before I say so, I'll hold you at gun point." She paused so he could see how serious she was; there would be no compromising on this issue and he was quickly beginning to understand that. "What you need is your own private nurse nursing you back to health."

"Is that an offer?" Kid teased, bending down to try to kiss her lips.

She pulled away from him. "It's a threat. I want you in bed, now, so I can start takin' proper care of you." She stood with her hands on his hips.

Kid knew that stance all too well, as well as the tone of her voice. "Yes, ma'am."

She took hold of his good arm and steered him toward the house. Not looking back, she called over her shoulder, "And one of you boys had better ride into town right now and bring the doctor back with you."

The four men looked at each other, grinned, and answered, "Yes, ma'am!"