This Side of Heaven (13 page)

And then the blasted Mathiesons would laugh at her again!

She was so busy keeping an eye on the forest that she did not realize how far she had come until she heard the rhythmic whack of an ax. An off-key hymn being roared as accompaniment clinched the matter. Her destination was at hand.

Caroline took a deep breath, almost surprised to dis
not appeared, and nothing had jumped out of the woods to devour her—yet. But of course she wasn’t safely over the knoll yet either.

It was with a feeling of relief that she finally topped the small knob and saw them. Daniel and Robert were at work in the middle of the field. Daniel was gouging furrows out of the dark soil with a hand plow while Robert, walking behind him, dropped in seed and shoved the earth back into place. At one end of the field Matt, singing, wielded an ax while Thomas pushed against the trunk of a gigantic oak they were chopping down. The tree towered over its neighbors. Its shadow was far-reaching enough to block the bright sunlight from much of the field. Which, Caroline supposed, was the reason Matt and Thomas labored so mightily to bring it down.

Despite the chilliness of the day, Matt’s shirt was off as he worked, and his torso gleamed with sweat. Even at that modest distance, the well-defined vee of his physique was evident. The muscles in his back and arms bulged as he swung the ax. Caroline, watching, felt a stirring of purely female appreciation. Vexatious or not, he was certainly a beautiful man.

Raleigh, who had apparently been exploring the woods near where Matt and Thomas labored, was the first to catch sight of her. He exploded across the field with an earsplitting volley of barks that made Caroline jump a foot in the air. All four men looked around to see what had caused the dog’s excitement, while Caroline, unable to help herself, started backing away from the animal’s onslaught. It took a tremendous effort of will for her to stop and stand her ground. She would
conquer her fear of the dog if it was the last thing she ever did! And really, he had not even eaten the Indian; it was quite unlikely that he would devour her.

“Ahoy, there! Food!” Daniel, spotting Caroline, let out a shout. Putting down their tools, Robert and Daniel came to meet her. Matt, after one brief glance, continued to chop at the tree, although he stopped singing. Thomas stayed with him. Raleigh beat the lot of them. He jumped excitedly around Caroline, yapping until her ears rang from the noise. She expected him to leap at her at any moment and knock her to the ground. Tightening her grip on the bucket, she prepared to swing it in her own defense if need be. It was stout wood bound with iron, and heavily loaded, but would it be enough to hold off that monster of a dog? Not that she expected to have to use it, of course.

Just then the wind caught her skirt and sent it billowing. With her hands full, there was nothing she could do to prevent the approaching men from getting an eyeful of her stockinged legs halfway to the knee. To their credit, neither Daniel nor Robert so much as blinked. She could only be thankful that Matt’s attention continued to focus on the tree. She was in no mood for another scolding, and had he offered her one she would probably have clouted him with the jug.

“Stop it, Raleigh!” Despite his words, Daniel did not sound particularly convincing as he and Robert converged on her at the edge of the field. It came as no surprise to Caroline when the dog ignored him. Daniel shushed the animal again as he reached to take the bucket from her, while Robert, unspeaking, relieved her of the jug. The wind had died again, as she should
have expected it would now that her hands were free to control her skirt. Keeping a wary eye on Raleigh, who finally quit barking in favor of sniffing interestedly at the air as the men rooted through the bucket, Caroline flexed her shoulders. From the aches that bedeviled her already, it was clear that her body was unused to physical labor; if she was to uphold her part of the arrangement, she would have to toughen up.

“Fresh-baked bread!” Daniel sounded like a child with a new toy as he held aloft a loaf. “And venison! ’Tis a veritable feast! See, Rob?” He sounded triumphant.

“At least this time the dog didn’t get it,” Rob responded, but despite his words he accepted a chunk of bread from Daniel and popped it into his mouth. Swallowing, he turned to shout to his other brothers, who glanced around, waved, and then abandoned their labors in favor of joining the three of them. A great gash, looking for all the world like a huge whitish smile, had been hacked from the oak’s trunk, but still the behemoth stood. Caroline supposed that Matt and Thomas would tackle the job with renewed energy after they had eaten.

“Hey, save us some!” Thomas bellowed good-naturedly to his brothers. He was several yards ahead of Matt, his hand cupped around his mouth to call to them as he hurried across the field. Behind him, Matt came toward them at a more deliberate pace, the ax slung over his shoulder.

“You’d best hurry!” Robert yelled back, grinning as he pulled off more bread to stuff into his mouth. The
elaborate gesture was clearly meant to tease his brother, and it worked as Thomas, with a loud protest, broke into a run.

Another strong gust of wind caught Caroline’s skirt and ruffled the men’s hair. This time she clapped both hands to the front of her dress as the hem swirled upward, thus managing to preserve her modesty. As she did so, a great tearing noise rent the air.

For a moment Caroline was puzzled. Then her attention was caught by the great oak as it slowly began to tilt toward the field. The wind in its branches had apparently finished what the men with their axes had begun. She watched with wide-eyed interest as, first with majestic dignity and then with hurtling force, the mighty tree fell.

Beside her, Daniel gave a sudden hoarse cry. Following his horrified gaze, Caroline saw the reason for his fear. Trapped in the shadow of the falling tree Matt, who like Thomas had run for safety at the first loud crack, stumbled and fell. Though he scrambled almost at once to his feet, his bad leg slowed him down so that he wasn’t going to get clear. Then with an earth-shaking crash the tree hit the ground, bounced once, and, with its branches quivering, lay still.

As Caroline screamed, Daniel and Robert were already off and running toward the spot where Matt had disappeared.

13

“M
att! Matt! Damn it, where is he?”

“Here he is! Quick, help me get these branches out of the way!”

“Oh, God, is he …?”

Sprinting toward the site of the accident, Caroline was still not nearly as quick as Daniel or Robert. They reached the tree just an instant after Thomas, who had been much nearer, and the three of them spent an agonizing few seconds looking through the still-trembling foliage. She came panting up as they found him. Daniel went down on his hands and knees, worming his way between branches stuck into the earth like the tines of upended forks as he fought to reach his brother.

“He’s alive!” At Daniel’s muffled cry Caroline released the breath she had not even realized she was holding. “Quick! We’ve got to get this tree off him! He’s trapped, and he’s hurt!”

Robert and Thomas had worked their way through the tangle of branches to where Daniel, kneeling, was almost hidden from view. Caroline scrambled after them, her heart pounding with dread. The tree was huge, its weight immense. Matt must surely be crushed beneath it. Please God that he was unconscious,
so that he wasn’t suffering, she thought. But then she heard him groan. If he had been unconscious, he was no longer. The low sounds he made were those of pain.

Caroline felt her heart twist even as she reached the men and was able to see, through the heavy curtain of greenery, Matt’s black head flung back against the rich earth of the new-turned field. From what she could discern, he was prone, with his hands outfiung. His eyes were closed, his skin white as paper, his lips drawn apart as those awful groans emerged from between his clenched teeth.

Around him his brothers worked furiously, their faces nearly as pale as his as they fought to shift the tree.

“Rob, get over on the other side. Thom, you pull him out when we lift. Rob, when I say three.”

Daniel’s voice was urgent but determinedly calm. He counted three, and he and Robert strained with all their might. The tree moved just the tiniest bit, then thudded down again.

Matt screamed. Caroline shuddered, her hands rising to clench her breast. If the pain was so bad that it forced such a cry from a man as strong and stoical as Matt, it must be unbearable. Was he dying, even as they struggled to get him out? Please God, she thought, please don’t let him die! The very thought pierced her like a knife to the heart.

“It wasn’t enough! I didn’t have time to pull him out! Oh, sweet Jesus, we’ve hurt him more!” Thomas cried. There was no further sound from Matt. The
excruciating enough to render him unconscious. At least, so Caroline hoped. The alternative was unthinkable.

“Dear God, give us strength in this our hour of need!” Daniel prayed aloud. Then he and Robert braced themselves and, bending, wrapped their arms around the massive trunk, oblivious of the many branches that scraped and poked at their skin.

“Wait!” Caroline clambered over the last of the branches separating her from Thomas. “I’ll help you pull,” she told him. Neither he nor his brothers argued. Caroline bent down and caught hold of one of Matt’s arms, while Thomas grabbed the other.

“At three!” Daniel said. Then he counted to three and, with mighty groans, he and Robert lifted the tree. Just a few inches; their faces turned as red as though their hearts would burst as they held the huge oak off the ground. Caroline pulled with all her strength; Thomas did the same. Matt was a big man, and heavy. Injured as he was, he was also a dead weight. It seemed impossible that they could move him, but they did. Matt slid forward—and then the tree crashed to earth again.

But this time Matt did not scream. Did it miss him, or was he beyond pain?

“He’s free! We’ve got him free!” Robert scrabbled to take Caroline’s place, pushing her aside with scant ceremony.

“Let’s get him out of here!” Daniel took hold of Matt too, and the three of them dragged him clear. When he was out in the open, lying supine in the rich soil, his brothers let him go and knelt over him. Raleigh
joined them, sniffing anxiously at Matt’s hair until Daniel, with an impatient exclamation, shoved him away. Pushing out of the entangling foliage, Caroline blanched as she came up to them and took in the extent of Matt’s injuries.

His eyes were closed, his lashes dark stubby crescents against cheeks that were as white as death except for the places where seeping blood painted his skin scarlet. Scratches covered his face and neck and crisscrossed the right side of his chest. More blood spread across his breeches in a widening stain. As Caroline looked more closely, she had to bite back a gasp. His right leg was broken below the knee; the white, shattered end of a bone, surrounded by welling blood, protruded through flesh and stockings. The sight of the jagged shards made Caroline feel sick.

“Is he …?” She couldn’t finish the question.

“He’s fainted,” Daniel answered curtly, his large hands surprisingly gentle as they ran along his brother’s skull and neck, then probed his shoulders and ribcage. “The only serious damage I can find is the leg, but that’s bad enough. There’s no telling about his insides. In any case, he’ll be hurting bad when he wakens. We’d best get him to the house quick. Thomas, you go for Mr. Williams.”

“Is he the doctor?” Caroline asked, her voice hoarse. To see Matt’s hard-muscled body lying broken and bloody in the dirt bothered her more than she would have thought possible. If he were to die … Caroline was surprised at the distress the thought caused her. How, in the short time she had known him, had he come to represent security to her?

“The apothecary. We’ve no doctor in Saybrook at present. Go, Thomas!”

Thomas got up off his knees and ran off in the direction of the village. Matt’s eyelids fluttered, and he groaned.

“Stay out, Matt,” Daniel muttered, and to Caroline’s relief Matt obliged, subsiding into waxen stillness once more. “We need a branch to brace that leg before we move him. Rob …”

But Robert was already stripping the limbs from a sturdy branch that had broken off from the oak when it fell.

“Here.” He handed it to Daniel, who hesitated a moment, looking from it to his injured brother. Then Daniel glanced up at Caroline.

“We must needs slit his breeches,” he said, sounding ridiculously prim, considering the circumstances. “ ’Twould be best were you to go back to the house and ready a bed for him.”

“Yes. Yes, of course.” It occurred to Caroline to argue that under the circumstances she was certainly not squeamish about seeing Matt’s bare leg. But then she realized that Daniel’s suggestion had merit. Even as she turned away to hurry back to the house she heard the sound of ripping cloth, and, seconds later, another groan. Poor man, poor man, she thought, and broke into a run.

By the time they carried him into the house, she had the kettle boiling, her own best petticoat (’twas the cleanest linen in the house, as she had not yet time to do that portion of the wash) torn into strips for bandages, and Matt’s bed readied. In one of her trunks
were the remnants of the medicines she had used in nursing her father. The most likely of these she set by the bed. She heard them enter, and hurried to the top of the stairs just as they began to ascend.

They barely acknowledged her presence as they bore him straight up to the second floor. Robert had his hands under Matt’s armpits, bearing the weight of his shoulders and chest, while Daniel had carefully positioned himself so that he supported his brother’s hips. The broken leg, bound to the branch with strips of what must once have been Matt’s shirt, jutted over Daniel’s shoulder. Despite their care, they were unable to avoid banging Matt’s foot into the wall as they maneuvered him through the narrow doorway.

“Oh, do be careful!” Caroline cried as she retreated before them, wincing for Matt’s pain. But if he felt anything, he made no sound. His head lolled back against Robert’s chest. His eyes were closed, and she thought that he must be unconscious again. Blood dripped onto the floor with a rhythmic plopping sound from the gaping wound in his broken leg. His skin was ashen. His lips had taken on a bluish tinge.