Ghost of Christmas Past

Five

Five

 

“Davy!” Lilly’s sweet voice swirled through his head. She sounded so close… so real… he didn’t want to wake up and feel the pain and misery that awaited him. He wanted to live in his dream and listen to Lilly call his name. He longed to—

“Davy, wake up!”

Pain shocked through his upper body and down his right arm as some outside force rocked him. Hard. He moaned.

“Oh, my God, Davy, you’re alive!”

Struggling to gain his bearings, Davy forced his eyes to open, and blinked in surprise as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. The lovely visage of his wife rested just inches from his face. Her hair was pulled away from her face and a brimmed hat rested on her head. Worry creased her smooth forehead and red rimmed her blue eyes as though she’d been crying. Still… a more beautiful sight had never met his gaze. “Lilly?” he rasped, confused. He must be hallucinating. He’d seen many a dying man carrying on conversations with thin air. That must be it. He was dying, and his mind had conjured an image of his wife for comfort.

“Yes, Davy, I’m here.” She took his face in her hands. “I can’t believe I found you.”

Another sharp pain sliced down his right arm, and he groaned again. Heaven help him he was so stiff. Every fiber and muscle in his body screamed with agony, and his arms and legs were numb with cold. “Lilly,” he repeated, forcing his foggy brain to focus on her. He definitely wasn’t hallucinating. His dream Lilly would never be covered in that much dirt. “How did you get here?”

“Jack Dawes came back to Crossroads and said you’d been ambushed.”

Ambushed… Ha! “Wasn’t an ambush…” he searched for the words to explain what had happened, but he was struggling to stay awake. His tongue felt as numb as his fingers.

Concern laced Lilly’s pretty visage. “Davy, you’re cold as ice.” Her warm fingers closed around his hands. The heat felt so good. “I’ll be right back.” She left him briefly, but he didn’t quite have the strength to watch her go.

* * * *

Heart racing Lilly ran back to Lady and retrieved a heavy wool blanket, matches, and the saddlebag filled with medical supplies. She returned quickly to Davy’s side and tucked the blanket around his broad shoulders. “Stay with me,” she instructed. She didn’t want him drifting to sleep again. His color was ashen and he’d obviously lost a great deal of blood. She feared he’d slip away entirely if she didn’t keep him awake.

His eyes fluttered open and his unsettlingly blue eyes locked briefly with hers. Despair lurked in the depths and Lilly knew if she’d arrived any later it would have been too late.

“I’m going to build a fire to warm you up,” she said. “Then I’m going to dress your wounds.” She grabbed the matches and re-lit what remained of the cold fire. “It is a good thing your brother sent medical supplies along when we moved west. We’re going to need them.” She kept up a constant stream of distracting chatter as she gathered up more wood and set to heating some water in the small tin she’d packed. Soon flames leapt and danced, throwing a goodly amount of heat.

“The fire feels good,” he murmured, a little more strength in his voice.

Lilly’s spirit leapt with hope as she pulled clean bandage rolls from saddlebag. “Where are you hurt?” She knelt beside him and pulled the wool blanket back. So much blood crusted his clothes she couldn’t tell where the injuries actually began.

“My shoulder. I think the round passed through, but he shot me in the back as well.”

“He? You saw who attacked you?”