Sawbones Read Online Free Page B

years before, and the loss of her family on the voyage.
    “We will stay in Galveston for a few days and let you recuperate. I will go to the apothecary when we land.”
    “You won’t. I’ll be fine.”
    Before I could reply, a sailor walked by, his pointed disinterest in us serving to magnify my suspicion. I bowed my head and hoped the thin veil covering my face was sufficient. Maureen’s sickness, which had tied us to our cabin for the entire voyage, had been a blessing, though I was sure Maureen did not think so after vomiting for three days. I made sure the cabin boy who brought our food never got a clear view of my face.
    Maureen lowered her voice and continued. “You stay away from the apothecary. Last thing you need is to bring attention to yourself.”
    “I hardly think—”
    “You agreed,” she said, with more force than I would have expected from her weakened state. “You’re a midwife now, not a doctor. I know it’s gonna chafe you something fierce, but you have to listen to me this one time. If not me, then Camille.”
    They were correct. A midwife was commonplace. A female physician would turn heads, pique curiosity, and remind someone of the scandal that had rocked New York City weeks before. I feared the story had made the papers across the country, especially with the bounty on my head. Even if the story had not made the Galveston papers, from the number of ships in harbor, it had certainly traveled to this port and many others by sea.
    I grasped Maureen’s arm as we wobbled on sea legs down the pier, two sailors from our ship hauling our trunks a few steps behind. The aroma of grilled meats and roasting nuts made my mouth water and my stomach rumble in anticipation of a meal that did not subsist of thin soup and hard, coarse bread. The wharf was full of sailors, stevedores, businessmen, and street urchins selling peanuts and newspapers with one hand and stealing pocketbooks with the other. Even the foul smells of body odor, dead fish, and bird droppings could not diminish my hunger or the thrill of being around civilization once again.
    We stopped in front of the wharf office. “Here is fine,” I said to the sailors. They loitered, waiting for a coin. I had paid the captain handsomely for the voyage, much more than I should have; by rights, he should pay the men. I could not risk their ire. I pulled two precious gold coins from my reticule and handed one to each. They tipped their hats and walked away.
    “Wait here.” I leaned down, checked her forehead for fever, and whispered, “Hopefully James has sent good news.”
    Inside, I asked the clerk, “Do you have a telegram for me? Maureen O’Reilly?”
    “I’ll check.”
    I wandered over to a bulletin board covered with a thick layer of handbills for wanted men. Horse thieves, bank robbers, gunfighters, and outlaw gangs left little room for an adulterous murderer. If my poster had been on this wall, it had long since been covered. I was lifting up the corner of a bill to examine what was beneath when the clerk called me back. He handed me the telegram with a sad smile.
    “You are so kind.” I walked to a quiet corner of the room, took a deep breath, and opened the telegram from James with a shaking hand.
    Regret to inform you cousin Catherine has passed away STOP Body found by river three days after you left STOP Buried in family plot next to uncle STOP Safe journey STOP
    I read the telegram three times before my knees gave way and I collapsed into the nearest chair.
    Dead? I am dead? Who on earth did they find in the river? I visualized what the waterlogged, decomposed body must have looked like and shuddered. Did James identify an unknown woman as me so I would not always be glancing over my shoulder? I could never return to the East, or use my real name again, but it was a small price to pay for staying alive.
    I was dead. They’d had my funeral. I wonder who had showed up, if anyone. Camille and her girls would have attended, as well