Chapter 30
Sitka; Two Days Later
“So there’s no lasting damage to my lung?” Rosalind sat with her arms raised, trying not to wince as Kate wrapped a bandage around her chest.
“There doesn’t appear to be, no.” Dr. Reid stood beside the bed, scrawling notes onto the pad he’d used to track her respiratory rate and symptoms for the past two days.
“Your trouble breathing now has to do with pain from your broken ribs, not because air from your lung is leaking into your pleural cavity.”
“I see.” Or at least she tried to see everything that he was explaining, but all she knew was that every breath still seared the bottom of her chest.
“There, how does that feel?” Kate pinned the end of the bandage to the top of her chest, then sat back. “Does it hurt less when you breathe?”
Rosalind took a slow breath, dragging air partway into her lungs. “The pain feels duller now, though it’s still there.”
Dr. Reid gave a short nod. “That’s to be expected.
We’ll keep your ribs bound constantly for the next few days, but I’d like to move toward unwrapping them at night as soon as possible to prevent pneumonia.
We don’t know exactly why restricted breathing leads to pneumonia, but you’ve been through enough already. ”
Yes, she had been through quite a bit, hadn’t she? She pressed her eyes shut, memories of the past three days filling her mind.
Both her father and Uncle Simon were in jail, and they must be furious. This wasn’t the first time they’d done something illegal, but it was certainly the first time they’d been arrested for it, and without a judge on the island to set bail, they would be there for a few more days at least.
Deputy Marshal Redding said he was going to petition the judge to deny her father bail because of the severity of the charges, but the judge might let him post bail anyway. What would happen once he was released? Would he come to the Amoses’ house and try to get her?
The Deputy Marshal was less optimistic about the judge denying her uncle bail. He was only facing arson conspiracy charges, and it would take a good bit of nerve for a judge to force the governor of Alaska to stay in jail until trial.
She looked up at Dr. Reid. “How long until my ribs are healed?”
“Usually about six weeks.” He wrote something down on one of his charts. “But yours could take longer given the severity of the damage.”
She couldn’t stay here six more weeks. Her father would surely find a way out of jail by then, and her uncle had already said Leeland was coming back to Sitka.
She clasped her hands together, trying to ignore the gnawing sensation that had lodged itself beneath the pain in her ribs. “I can’t stay here that long. What’s the earliest I can travel?”
“I suggest staying here until you are fully recovered.” The doctor sent her a stern look.
“I can’t. It’s not safe.” She’d been supposed to leave Sitka yesterday with Yuri, and though they’d clearly missed that ship, she had to get away from Sitka before Leeland came for her or her father got out of jail.
Was Yuri even planning to take her away from Sitka anymore? Would it be possible for them to sneak away now that the entire town knew she was staying with the Amoses?
Or perhaps it was still possible for her to sneak away, but it would be impossible for the Amoses to appear as though they had nothing to do with her leaving.
A brisk knock sounded on the door; then it cracked open.
“Can we come in?” Alexei poked his head inside and looked at Dr. Reid.
“Yes, as long as Miss Caldwell is feeling up to visitors?” The doctor looked at her.
She nodded, and Alexei stepped into the room with Yuri following behind him.
Something in her chest loosened. Yuri hadn’t left her side that first day after she’d been injured, though she’d barely been awake long enough to recall anything other than her uncle’s visit.
But every time she’d awakened, she’d found her hand in his and heard his gentle voice trying to soothe her through the pain.
But yesterday, Bryony had taken over most of her nursing. The doctors made regular visits, of course, but she’d seen Yuri only a couple of times.
“Rosalind?” Yuri must have sensed her worry, because he crossed the room in three strides and gripped her hand. “What’s wrong? Is it the bindings? Are they too tight?” He sent a glare his sister’s direction. “I told you to be gentle with her.”
“She has five broken ribs.” Kate threw up her hands. “Even if I wrapped her in clouds, she’d be in pain for weeks.”
“It’s not the bindings.” Rosalind tightened her hand around Yuri’s.
“Then what, Ros? What can I do to help?” He bent down until his face was even with hers, then he smoothed her hair away from her forehead. “Tell me, and I’ll make it better.”
Her eyes filled with tears. Oh, why did Yuri have to be so kind? It was almost too much.
“Rosalind?” he asked again. Then he straightened and sent another angry look across the room, this time glaring at both his sister and brother-in-law. “What did you do to her? Bryony said she was fine after lunch.”
Dr. Reid shook his head. “We didn’t do anything. I was answering questions about her recovery timeline when you came in.”
“If you told her she won’t recover, I swear I’ll—”
“I can’t stay here,” she blurted before Yuri charged across the room and throttled his brother-in-law. “Everyone in your family has been so kind and wonderful, but I need to go, before my uncle and father get released from jail. Before Leeland comes to Sitka.”
“Absolutely not.” Dr. Reid made a slashing motion with his hands. “Your ribs cannot handle anything other than you lying in bed, not to mention the incision from your cannula insertion still isn’t healed, and we need to monitor you for signs of infection and pneumonia.”
Yuri and Alexei exchanged a glance, then Yuri blew out a breath. “That’s actually what we were coming to talk to you about.”
“You were?” She swiped a tear away from her cheek. “Does that mean you have a way for me to leave?”
“Not quite,” Alexei said, his voice low and serious. “It means we learned this morning that your uncle was released from jail.”
“But how? Is the judge back? Is he going to release my father too?”
“The judge isn’t back yet,” Alexei answered. “The head jailer decided to release him last night anyway.”
Her hand fisted in the fabric of her quilt. “Why?”
Alexei shrugged. “Probably because your uncle threatened the man to within an inch of his life, or maybe he bribed him. Whatever the case, the jailer doesn’t know about the seal-harvesting ledgers and probably thought it unlikely your uncle would end up in prison long-term, meaning your uncle’s threats carried enough weight that he got released. ”
“Did he come looking for me again?” She glanced at the door. “What does he want?”
Alexei shook his head. “Nothing, apparently. He left Sitka on the first ship out of the harbor this morning.”
“He . . .” She lay back on her pillows. “But why did he leave? Where is he going?”
“Nobody seems to know.”
“Could he go to Washington, DC? Could he be after my mother’s money?” She sprang into a sitting position, ignoring the fire in her ribs, and threw off her covers. “I have to leave.”
Yuri moved to stand directly in front of her, blocking her ability to stand, never mind that she wasn’t sure she could stand in the first place. “You’re not going anywhere like this.”
“But I have to.”
Yuri gave her a stern look. “You’re too unwell to travel.”
“But what if—”
“No. You’re staying here.”
“For today, yes, and probably tomorrow too,” Alexei said. He’d taken a position against the wall, arms crossed as he surveyed the room. “But she needs to leave as soon as possible, Nathan.”
Dr. Reid scowled at Alexei. “That would be six weeks. Maybe eight.”
“No. It has to be sooner.” Alexei scrubbed a hand over his face.
“We don’t know how long her father will be in jail.
We have another week at best until the judge and Marshal Hibbs return, and there’s no saying what will happen after that.
If we knew when Secretary Gray would be arriving, that might help.
Both Caldwells will likely be arrested again as soon as we show him the seal-harvesting ledgers.
But in the meantime, we don’t know what her uncle is up to or how long he’ll be gone.
And we don’t know when her fiancé will return either. ”
“There is no way Rosalind can get the medical care she needs on a ship or train.” Dr. Reid slung a hand on his hip.
Alexei shook his head. “Rosalind was injured three days ago. The longest we can risk keeping her here is another four, maybe five days. Teach Yuri how to do anything that will need to be done after that.”
Rosalind’s mouth fell open. Teach Yuri how to care for her?
Did Alexei realize she’d just had her ribs wrapped?
That not even Dr. Reid had been involved in the process?
Kate had done it. She wore only her chemise and bloomers beneath the bindings.
It wasn’t exactly the type of thing a woman wanted a man to do.
Kate must have been thinking the same thing, because she stepped forward, her brows pinched. “Are you sure you want me to teach Yuri how to wrap her ribs? That isn’t exactly . . . er . . . appropriate for a couple that isn’t married.”
Dr. Reid arched an eyebrow at Alexei. “Sending the two of them across the country together isn’t exactly appropriate either.”
“I’m aware.” Alexei looked between her and Yuri. “That’s why they’re going to get married.”
“No.” The word erupted from Yuri’s mouth.
Heat pricked Rosalind’s eyes. She wasn’t sure how she felt about marrying Yuri, but did he have to reject her so quickly? He hadn’t even taken a full second to think about the idea.