said that,” he apologized to her door, his arm propped against the frame and his head against his arm.
“You shouldn’t be up here, if someone came by right now they would think the worst,” was her response.
A few moments later her door opened and Alexandria emerged with a quilt draped over her left shoulder and tucked under her right arm, leaving only the injured portion of her shoulder and back exposed. With part of the quilt trailing behind her and her head held at a regal angle she looked like royalty; indignant royalty.
“I’m sorry, that was cruel of me,” Jonathon again apologized.
“You’re right I’m not a…”
“Don’t!” he cut her off. “I don’t even believe that, I don’t even know why I said it. I was scared, I guess. If those wounds aren’t seen to it could make you very sick,” he told her.
“I know,” she admitted and started down the stairs. Jonathon surveyed her back closer once she was again seated and cringed. She had several scrapes and a few gashes down her shoulder. All but one or two were fairly shallow and minor. There were two that he was concerned might need stitching. That would mean sending for the doctor.
“Your shoulder looks pretty nasty,” he informed her. He started cleaning the area; flesh blood started flowing. “Am I hurting you?”
“It’s a little tender, but I’m okay.”
“I can’t tell you how bad I feel, Alexandria. That was a terrible thing for one friend to say to another.” He still couldn’t believe he had said it.
“You count me as a friend?” she tilted her head back to look up at him.
Jonathon smiled down at her, “Does that surprise you?”
Alexandria considered it a moment; then shook her head. “We are friends aren’t we?” She was smiling now.
“We are, now would you look down so I can finish this before someone comes in and thinks I really am…” his words were cut off by a commotion at the door seconds before Anna appeared in the kitchen doorway; her eyes went wide and her face red. She turned and fled from the room.
“Uh oh,” Alexandria muttered. Lilly had entered and scrambled to the table. Millie entered, looked momentarily shocked and then came to stand behind Alexandria.
“That looks nasty” she commented. “Would you like some help with that?”
“Yes, thank you. Alexandria, this is going to burn; Millie, if she even looks like she’s going to faint…”
“I’ve got smelling salts right here,” Millie held them up.
“Good,” Jonathon nodded to the practical older woman. “Alexandria, I’m going to put Carbolic acid solution on your back, brace yourself.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she grabbed the table for support. She felt the burning start as soon as the liquid hit her back and blinked against the stars that began dancing in front of her eyes. A moment later she jerked upright after Millie waved the smelling salts under her nose.
“Good gracious! That stuff is awful!” she commented.
“It works,” Millie countered.
“Do you think either of these needs stitches?” Jonathon asked Millie. She studied them and then shook her head. “They’ll heal fine on their own.”
“I’ll let you wrap it. I hadn’t quite come up with a decent way to do that yet,” his cheeks were red.
“I’ll finish; you go on,” she shooed him out the door. A few moments later Alexandria went to her room and dressed in a fresh shirt before stepping into the hallway.
Anna was waiting.
“Just what do you think you’re doing with a man in the house and you not even properly dressed?” Anna demanded.
Alexandria could feel her cheeks heat with both anger and embarrassment. “Just what do you think you saw, Anna? Do you really think I decided to start a sordid affair with my foreman at the kitchen table?” Alexandria watched her sister color before continuing.
“If you think I derived any pleasure from that humiliating experience you’re wrong. I’m not after your stupid crush!” she bit out.
“You think this is another of my crushes?” Anna’s voice was shrill.
“What would you call it?” Alexandria’s voice rose. “You know nothing, NOTHING about him!”
“I know plenty about him, I know he has two brothers, a sister, I know…”
“Details! Those are details, Anna. What do you really know? What makes him tick, what touches him, how does he think? Find those things out. Do you have any idea what it is like to love a man, to be married to him, and be all but invisible to him because he’s in love with a dead woman?”