Conner's Contrary Bride by Barbara Goss (accelerated reader books .txt) 📗

cooking. Elsie still hated seeing blood, but she finally overcame her fainting by using Conner’s exercises. She could now assist him, sterilize his equipment, and keep his appointments straight.

While Elsie worked at sterilizing the recently used tools, Conner went to the general store to pick up the mail. Meanwhile, a woman ran into the clinic with a small child in her arms.

“Help my daughter, please. She has a fever,” the woman cried.

Elsie dropped the tool she’d been cleaning and ran to take the child who looked to be about four-years-old. With Conner away, she didn’t quite know what to do. She thought about what her mother had done years ago when she’d had a fever.

Elsie laid the girl on the bed and said, “I’ll be right back.” She ran out of the clinic, grabbed the bucket outside the clinic door, and raced for the well pump. Once Elsie had filled the bucket, she ran back inside the clinic, grabbed a towel, and began sponging the girl’s body.

Conner walked in and watched for a moment.

Elsie looked up at him with a worried look. Had she made a mistake? Was she doing the right thing? Then Conner winked at her, and she smiled; he approved.

He dropped the mail on the desk and took over treating the little girl. He said, “Elsie, get my medical bag,” and began thoroughly examining her. Conner took out a gadget, so valuable, he kept it in a velvet case.

“Open up,” he said, touching the girl’s mouth gently. “This is one of the latest inventions. I was lucky enough to come across one while I was in Boston. It’s called a thermometer. It will measure your fever.” The girl let Conner put the shiny instrument under her tongue. “Now, we have to wait awhile.” He turned to the mother. “How old is she?”

“She’ll be four next month. Will she be all right, doctor?”

“She has a mild ear infection from what I can see in her left ear. I’ll give you some medicine for it.” Conner removed the thermometer and read it aloud: “Ninety-nine-point-five, almost normal… thanks to my wife, Elsie.”

Elsie had to smile. He sounded so proud of her.

After the mother and patient had gone, Conner cleaned his thermometer and placed it back inside the velvet-lined case.

Elsie dumped the water, put the towel in the laundry basket, and changed the sheet on the bed.

Conner moved to the desk. “There’s a letter addressed to you.”

“Me?”

Conner crossed the room to hand her the envelope.

“I can’t imagine who’d write to me.” Elsie ripped open the envelope but before reading it, she let her eyes drop to see who’d signed it. “Why, it’s from Mae Thornton, the woman I lived with before I left Gobbler’s Knob.” She read the letter and gasped. “Oh, no!” Her entire body trembled as she read Mae’s words.

“What is it?” Conner asked. “Is she all right?” He rushed over to put his arm around her. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“Frank visited Mae and forced her to tell him where I went. She didn’t say, but...” Elsie trembled again, and Conner’s arm tightened around her. “I think he must have used physical force—although she doesn’t say so, I know that’s the only way she’d tell him. Mae is the most loyal woman I know.”

Conner pulled her closer. “Don’t worry—you have protection now.”

“What if he comes here?” Elsie was embarrassed that she’d nearly fallen to pieces while reading the letter, but having Conner so close was reassuring, and her trembling stopped.

“I’m not sure what to do, exactly, but I think we should see Sheriff Babcock and tell him the whole story,” Conner said. He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before letting go of her and returning to his work.

She missed his arms around her.

When Conner did his paperwork, he always put on his glasses. Elsie thought he looked so scholarly wearing them. She still worried that Frank might find her. He was a big, mean man, and while Conner was tall and strongly built, she didn’t see how he could win a physical fight with Frank; Conner was a doctor, with gentle hands and soft fingers.

Elsie moved closer to the desk. “Do you have any guns?”

Without looking up from his paperwork, Conner said, “My first week in Hays City, I learned that a gun and gun belt were a necessity. I don’t wear them most of the time since I feel safe here at the end of the street, but I wear my guns if I have to go into a saloon to fetch a patient.”

Elsie still worried. “Do you know how to use them?”

“Yes, I’m no stranger to guns. I’ve been a hunter for years.”

His words of assurance made Elsie feel better. For the first time in her life, she felt protected and safe.

Conner pretended he wasn’t worried. Elsie was upset enough. This Frank sounded like a monster. Yes, going to the sheriff was the best thing to do.

Strangely, as odd and contrary as she was, she felt good in his arms. He supposed it was because he missed Mary so much, and Elsie was the first woman he’d held in his arms since Mary had died. He’d prayed to God every night for Him to send Conner a partner with whom to share his life... and He’d sent Elsie! “God,” he said while saying his nightly prayers, “what were You thinking? She’s a country gal and hates the city, she isn’t a Christian, she prefers country dances to operas, she doesn’t eat beef, and she can’t cook.” Then Conner realized it wasn’t God’s fault. What had that matchmaker been thinking? Well, he’d married her now, and he couldn’t send her back. He liked her well enough, but he couldn’t imagine them ever becoming romantic or sleeping together. Conner sighed and eventually