Page 41 of A Gentleman Never Surrenders
“Owen!” Milly ran to her husband and knelt by his side as he struggled for breath. When she jerked her head toward Jack, her eyes blurred with tears. Panic crashed in around her but she struggled to stay afloat. She had to be strong for Owen.
“Jack what happened?”
“I was trying to end my life…The fool tried to stop me. Damn you, Owen, damn you!” Jack shouted, tears streaming down her face.
Owen clutched Milly’s hand, gasping and whispering her name.
“Milly…”
“Shh…” She tried to calm him down before she looked at Jack again. “Weren’t you a medic during the war? Can’t you do something? Anything?”
Suddenly Jack’s panicked expression hardened and he nodded curtly, dropping the gun on the floor with a thunk as he suddenly straightened.
“Yes, yes, I can!” He rushed over to his suitcase and pulled out a small medical bag. While he sorted through items, laying them out on the bed, Milly turned her attention back to Owen.
“Milly.” The one name was so soft she barely heard it. He could die. Her husband. How could he do that to her? Not after she was foolish enough to go and fall in love with him.
I love him…
“Owen.” She cupped his face between her hands, and his eyes focused on her as she bent over him. “Owen, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you and if you…” Fear and anguish squeezed her throat closed for a moment and she couldn’t breathe.
“Please, Owen, fight to stay with me.” There was still pain in every syllable, but she felt her own strength, too. She would fight to keep him and he needed to fight to stay with her.
He swallowed hard, his breath short. “You were the best thing…in my life.” He seemed to struggle hard to get the words out. Once he’d said them, his head dropped to the ground and his eyes closed.
“No!” she screamed. “Don’t you dare leave me!” Tears pooled so thick in her eyes she couldn’t see.
“Jack, he’s…”
Jack knelt beside her, his gray eyes sharp and clear. “Put pressure on his stomach. Can you do that?” The cloud of depression and listlessness was gone from him.
“Yes.” Milly did not like the sight of blood, but she could do this for Owen. She pressed the heels of her palms on the wound.
“Good.” Jack lifted several tools up. “I’m going to lift him and see if the bullet lodged in his back or if it passed through.” He lifted one edge of Owen’s shoulder and pressed a hand beneath him, then frowned.
“What is it?” Milly demanded.
“Didn’t pass through. I’ll have to dig the bullet out.”
“What?” Milly’s stomach rolled violently.
“Go fetch some brandy or scotch. Any type of stiff alcohol will do.”
Milly stood and rushed from the room. Mr. Boyd, Mrs. Nelson, and the entire house were gathered outside.
“Owen’s been shot. We need someone to go to the village and fetch a doctor immediately. And we need alcohol and clean cloths.”
“What about hot water?” Mrs. Nelson suggested as Mr. Boyd issued further orders.
“Yes!” Milly nodded before rushing back into the room.
Jack had stropped Owen’s shirt off in the minute she’d been in the hallway and he was heating his scalpels in the fire.
“Sterilization,” he hastily explained. Milly didn’t care. She dropped down beside Owen, clasped one of his hands, and brought it to her lips, kissing his palm, his knuckle, anything to give him comfort, even though she knew he probably couldn’t feel it.
Mrs. Nelson entered and handed Jack a bottle of gin. He dosed several cloths with it and handed them to Milly.
“Wash his wounds and then I’ll dig out the bullet.”
