How he knew their names, Jesse didn’t know, but Hawke had told him once that Bear remembered the name of every person he’d ever met or heard about.
“Hey, big guy. Why don’t you come over here and sit down?”
Wearing his bearskin coat, Bear walked to one of the cots and sat. He took a furry mitten off his left hand to reveal large gash that was badly infected. When he finally spoke, his words and manner of speaking were like that of a child. “I hit myself with my ax. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
Jesse patted him on the shoulder. “Accidents happen. Let’s see what we can do to help you feel better. How long ago did this happen?”
“Seven days,” Bear answered. “Stupid.”
Jesse met Ellie’s gaze, both of them thinking the same thing. It was too late for a tetanus shot.
With Ellie’s help, Jesse coaxed him out of his coat and the buckskin beneath it so they could take his vitals.
“You’ve got a fever, Bear,” Ellie told him. “That means your body is fighting hard to stop this infection. We need to clean your wound and stitch it. I think you’re going to need intravenous antibiotics, too. Do you know what that means?”
Bear shook his head.
Jesse got out an IV kit and showed him, explaining what everything was for. “We can’t give you the stitches or the antibiotics you need here, but we can get the IV going and get you to the hospital.”
Bear’s eyes went wide with fear. “The hospital?”
Ellie rested a hand on his shoulder. “We care for everyone there. That is our job. ‘For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord.’”
This seemed to make the big guy relax.
Jesse called for the ambulance, leaving the IV to Ellie, who had more experience than he did and would probably cause Bear less pain. But when the two EMTs walked in with the gurney, the fear returned to Bear’s face.
Ellie took his hand. “Do you know Lolly?”
“Lolly Cortez,” Bear answered.
“Yes. She’s there at the hospital. I called her to tell her what has happened, and she’s going to take good care of you.”
Bear got up onto the gurney, hugging his big bearskin coat against him, clearly going on faith that this trip into the unknown wasn’t going to harm him. “Thank you.”
“You’ll be feeling much better soon. I promise.”
Jesse waited until Bear had gone. “Damn, you’re good. I didn’t know you were religious.”
“I’m not, but Bear is.”
A man with blisters and an ice climber with hypothermia rounded out the next hour. And then it was time for Ellie’s shift to end, one of the fire department’s paramedics taking over for her.
“Are you coming over tonight?”
He wanted to draw her against him, to answer the question with a kiss, but they had an audience. “I’ll see you around nine.”
And he was bringing trouble.
* * *
Ellie heardthe back door open and finished shimmying into the lavender silk chemise she’d bought to surprise him. She walked out of her bedroom, excited to see his response, and froze.
He stood in the living room in a pair of heavy black work boots, faded, tattered jeans, and a black leather jacket, his chest bare, his jaw dark with stubble. His gaze moved over her, his expression inscrutable.
Oh, God.
He was acting out one of her fantasies.