“What happened?” Her voice rose in alarm.
“Calm down. I’m fine. It’s just a cut. How’s Neetie?”
“Sleeping. A sure sign he’s sick. He would’ve been talking up a storm in his excitement about being stuck if he wasn’t. Here, wrap this around your hand.” She passed him her T-shirt.
Digging through the supply bag, she found a bottle of water. “Stretch your hand over here and out the window and let me wash it off enough to see how bad it is.”
He did, leaning hard against her. “I might get hurt more often if I get to do this.”
“Just like a man to take advantage of every opportunity,” she quipped without taking her eyes off what she was doing. She poured water over his hand, working toward the injury. She flinched at his hiss of pain when the liquid found his open wound. “I’m sorry.”
“Has to be done.”
She continued to pour water and use a gauze pad to clean the area. There was something she liked about caring for this big, strong man, just as she like having him care for her. Becoming so self-sufficient, she hadn’t realized that particular element had been missing in her life. “How did you do this?”
“I was pushing on the tailgate when the truck finally came out of the hole. My hand raked down the gate. There must’ve been a piece of metal sticking out.”
The two-inch-long gash continued to bleed across the palm of his hand and down his wrist.
“Woh, this looks pretty bad.”
“I’ll be fine. Put some butterfly strips over it and I’ll have it looked at when we get to the hospital. We’ve got to go.”
“I’ll do that for now but you’ll need a few stitches and an antibiotic.”
“Stop fussing, Nurse.” He moved back into his seat, still holding her shirt turned rag under his hand. “Now patch me up so we can put this mud hole behind us.”
Maggie worked as swiftly and competently as the cramped space allowed. When she’d finished, Court had a neat white covering over the palm of his hand.
“Thanks. Now to take off your clothes.”
“What?”
“We’ve got hours before we reach the hospital. We’re both soaked through. We need to get dry.”
“Oh.”
“Maggie, as desirable as I might find you, I don’t think now is the time to prove it. Get changed.”
She didn’t have to have a mirror to know her face had gone a deep pink. She grabbed her duffel.
Court turned to check on Neetie, giving her a moment of privacy. Too soon for her comfort, he straightened in his seat and began stripping off his soggy clothes.
Maggie started the truck and put it in gear, doing her best to avert her eyes. Unable to resist any longer, she glanced at him. He’d zipped his pants but remained bare-chested. Her gaze came up to meet his. Worry still filled his blue eyes.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to look,” he said drily. “We need to put some miles behind us, for Neetie’s sake. Step on it.”
* * *
Court woke with a start. He hadn’t intended to sleep and his hand hurt like the devil, throbbing with each beat of his heart. It was almost dark outside. “How close are we to the hospital?”
“Still about six hours out. At least the rain has let up.”
“Why don’t you stop for a few minutes? Let’s stretch our legs and I’ll check on Neetie. I’ll drive the rest of the way.”
“A stop would be nice. I’m so cramped I don’t know if I can stand.” Maggie arched her back and rolled her shoulders. “How’s your hand?”
“Hurts.”
“I’ll get you some pain-reliever when we stop.”
“No, I can live without it. I don’t want to take a chance on it making me sleepy. I’ll deal with it until I get to the hospital. Are you ever not in the nurse mode? Do you ever think of yourself first?”
“Sure I do.”
“I bet it’s not very often.”
A moment went by. “Maybe not.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Neetie’s been resting, the best I can tell. He woke long enough to eat a pack of crackers and drink some water. I reached back every so often to touch him. His temperature seems to be staying down.”
Court felt some relief at that knowledge. Maybe Neetie wasn’t as sick as he feared. “Yeah, but that may not last for long.” Did she hear the unease in his voice?
She pulled the truck to a stop. Preparing to examine Neetie, Court pulled the blanket away. “Don’t go far,” Court said as Maggie climbed out.
“Remember, I’m the one that lives here.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get lost.” His protective instinct worked overtime where she was concerned. Strangely, it didn’t feel wrong.
Maggie wasn’t gone long, and he stood beside the driver’s door, waiting for her return.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said as she walked to him, “about what you said about getting lost. It’s hard enough to find landmarks in the dry season but with the rain and darkness…” she shook her head “…I’m wondering if we should consider laying over for the night? We could get up at first light. You need to rest, take some pain meds.”
“I’m all right but you know this area better than I do.” Court looked off into the distance.
“We’d be safer if we stayed put. Will Neetie be okay?” Court felt more than saw her intense look.
“I don’t like having to wait but it sounds as if it might be the right decision.” Court ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “I’d like it even less if we slid off the road. I think we should drive until dark. Get as many miles under us as we can.”
“Agreed.” She seemed to be glad to have him make the call. His self-esteem ballooned.
That was quite a compliment, coming from the “let me tell you how to do it” Maggie.
“Then it’s a plan,” she said, climbing into the truck.
* * *
A low rumble of thunder across the expanse warned that rain was coming again soon. Court was disappointed at the amount of cumin-colored land they’d managed to cross when Maggie announced, “We need to stop while the rain has let up.”
“Okay. While I check on Neetie, you see if you can move the supplies around so we’ll have a place to sleep. We’ve had too hard a day not to lie down if we can. Get us close enough to the back of the seat so all we have to do during the night to care for Neetie is to lean over it.”
“I think that’s doable,” Maggie said, as she found the emergency supplies she’d packed while they drove. With flashlight in her hand, she climbed out of the truck.
“Leave securing the tarp to me. I’ll do that before I climb in.”
As another rumble of thunder and a big fat drop of rain hit the windshield, Court checked the sky. “We might need to put a rush on settling in.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
MAGGIE had managed, sometimes with difficulty, to move supplies to one side of the truck bed so there was room enough for her and Court to stretch out. A space less than a twin-size bed was better than nothing. Using two sleeping bags as padding and a couple of blankets to cover them, their quarters for the night were passable. She located the spare flashlights and switched one on.
Her heart went out to Court. He looked exhausted and pain etched his face. Even in the dim light of the cab of the truck, she’d seen the tight lines around his mouth and watched his jaw clench whenever they went over a large bump. Without an antibiotic soon, his hand would become infected. Then she’d have two acutely ill patients. Something she didn’t need out in the African plain during the rainy season.
By the shift in the tarp and a knock here and there, she knew Court would soon be climbing in. Having him along made her feel safe. She would’ve made it without him but there was a feeling of security in having him as a partner. Checking on Neetie, she was glad to find he slept peacefully. She stayed where she was in order to give Court as much room as possible when he got in.
Court
scrambled under the tarp and closed the tailgate behind him as it started to pour.
“Try not to get mud on everything.” She yelled to be heard above the pounding of the rain.
“Who are you, my mother?” he called back in an agitated tone before he turned round, sat down and removed his boots.
Maggie stiffened. Had she made him mad? He’d never used that antagonistic tone with her before. It hurt to have him talk to her that way.
The space was small but Court’s large body joining hers made it tinier. His shoulders hunched in the confined space as he worked with the laces of his boots. There was a thud and then another as his boots hit the metal of the floor. He began scooting backward toward her. “Do you have a towel, cloth, something I can use to dry off with?”
Without waiting for her reply, he started stripping out of his clothes. Maggie reached for her towel and handed it to him. He made a couple of ineffectual and awkward efforts using his left hand to dry himself before she took the cloth.
At his grunt of disapproval, she said, “I’ll do it.” She dried him the best she could, paying special attention to his hair and face before throwing the towel on a box above their heads. Court lay back and pulled the blanket to his waist.
“Here.” She offered him two tablets and a water bottle. He took them and she set the bottle aside before saying, “Let me see your hand.”
“Stop fussing.”