Despite being as careful as possible, Will bit down on his lip as they maneuvered his pants off.
“Mrs. Clemmons tells me you’ve been climbing trees, young man.” Dr. Clemmons entered the room, all bluster and vibrant energy. He eyed Will on the table and winked. “And I’ll bet it was a whole lot of fun until you fell.”
Will smiled. “I was in the woods all night.” Now that he was safe with adults taking charge, it appeared his adventure had taken on a better light. Gone was the frightened little boy, and in his place was a young man bragging about his exploit.
“Well, let’s see what we have here.”
About an hour later, Will’s leg was set, splinted and plastered. “I’m afraid you’ll be unable to use that leg for a while there, young man. Might be a good time to catch up on schoolwork.”
Will groaned, then cast a guilty look at Rachel.
“He’s ready to go home anytime. I’ll give you some pain powder you can mix with water. Mrs. Clemmons is searching for a pair of crutches I have in the attic.”
“Thank you.” Rachel turned to Rusty. “How will we get him home?”
“I want to talk to you about that. Doc, we’ll be right with you.” Rusty grabbed Rachel’s hand and dragged her out of the room.
“You can’t bring him back to the boardinghouse.”
“Why not? That’s where we live.”
Rusty rested his hands on his hips. “From what I’ve seen, the bedrooms are on the second floor. It will be hard enough on Will getting around on crutches, without having to climb stairs.”
She stared at him for a minute, completely at a loss since she knew he was right.
“I have two bedrooms on the first floor at the ranch.”
“I’m not leaving Will in your care. You have too much to do each day to see to him.”
“I was going to suggest that you both move into the ranch house. I can go back to the ranch to get the wagon. We can leave Will here until you can pack your things at the boardinghouse. I’ll be back to pick you both up.”
“I can’t live at the ranch house! I have to go to work every day.”
“Honey, Will needs you. You can’t go to work every day and leave him alone in the boardinghouse. Mrs. Beamer didn’t sign on for nursing duties. You have to leave the Café while Will is recovering.”
Too tired to think about all he said, she lowered herself to the sofa. “I never thought about my job.” She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. “What am I going to do?”
Rusty squatted and took her hands in his. “Let me take care of you and Will.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean? I have a reputation, you know. I could move in with my aunt and uncle while he recovers and still make it to work every day.”
“Is that what you want? To leave his care to someone else?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I’m too tired to think about all this now.”
He rubbed his fingers over her knuckles. “Then I suggest we follow my plan for now and we can discuss all the details when you’re feeling up to it.”
“My Uncle Jesse will skin you alive if I move into your house. And if memory serves, my brother, Michael is already readying his shotgun for you.”
“Then marry me.”
She jerked back as if he slapped her. “Marry you? No. It would never work.” She pulled her hand away and stood. “I will gather up our things and move into my old house at the ranch. Will can recover there, and I can help out in some way to earn our keep.”
***
It was probably the best he was going to get out of Rachel right now. And this was certainly not how he’d intended to propose marriage. It had to be at the right time, but he was getting desperate with her arguments. He would have little opportunity to repair the damage he’d done if she stayed at the boardinghouse.
“I can agree with that. We’ll ask Mrs. Clemmons if we can leave Will here while you pack and I fetch the wagon.”