Chapter 367 Separated

Chapter 367 Separated
They stood there next to the road as the horse and carriage approached and came to a stop.  A man sat on the driver‘s bench and gave Lou a wide eyed look as he hopped down.

“Little lady, your daddy’s gonna be mighty sore at seeing you out here. I just dropped him off in town at the Leslie Estate. He’s been looking for you and was hoping to find you there with Mister Benjamin.” 

Lou mentally rolled her eyes, of course her dreams contained rich, demanding fathers.  She nodded her head in Dominic’s direction.

“Can you help me get him into the carriage and take us into town?”

The driver shook his head but gave Lou a bright smile.

“You sure got yourself a big heart, missus. You know you’re lucky. I stumbled upon you on this road.  Them yankees are crawling around these woods.” 

“Yes, we sure are lucky.” 

She muttered while getting situated in the carriage and putting Dominic‘s leg into her lap as he grunted in pain. 

“What’s next?”

Lou asked Dominic as the carriage turned around and went back the way it came.  Dominic shook his head.

“That strong feeling of coming this way is gone.  I don't really have much to go on now.”

Lou blinked at him a few times as she felt a tingle in her gut.

“Somethin’ tells me we have to go to town.  But, Cowboy, you sound like a yankee and your southern accent is terrible so leave the talking to me when we get there.” 

He barked a laugh and shook his head.

“Yes Dragon Lady.” 

She rolled her eyes. They were in the carriage about ten minutes before they heard other horses on cobblestone and people talking and laughing while the sound of music lilted through the warm air. 

“How can people party with that battlefield right there?" 

Lou muttered. 

“Because if they don’t, they’ll kill themselves.” 

Dominic said softly back as they both looked out of the window.  They came to a stop and the door opened and the footman helped them both down. 

“Thank you so much for this.” 

Lou said, glad Dominic seemed to take her advice and not talk.

“Now you know I gotta be tellin’ your daddy cause if he don’t hear it from me I’ll be in a whole heap of trouble, but I’ll give you a fifteen minute head start to go be doing what you need to be doing, m’am." 

She nodded as she slung Dominic’s arm over her shoulders and again acted as his crutch as they walked down the crowded sidewalk.   Walking for a block until Lou stopped in front of a store window.

“Why are we at the butcher’s?  You think you can get rid of me that easily?” 

Dominic chuckled, but Lou could hear the stress in his voice and knew he wasn’t enjoying the lack of control. 

“Butchers were also surgeons back in this time.  If anyone has anything resembling medical tools, it's a butcher.”

Lou said matter of factly as they stepped into the shop.  A deep, gravelly voice came from the back. 

“We’re closed, come back tomorrow.” 

Lou rolled her eyes and turned in the direction the voice came from.

“I don’t need a side of beef. I need the surgeon.” 

They heard a chair scrape against the floor and heavy foot steps coming around the corner as a large man with a blood-stained white apron stepped out from the back, wiping his hands on a rag.  His dark eyes studied them for a moment before he turned and gestured for them to follow him.  He pointed to a table but Dominic ignored him and stood leaning against the door frame, his arm tightening protectively around Lou’s waist.

“Haven’t seen anybody coming in from the battle for a few hours now.” 

“Well, we got one more.” 

“Do not let him touch my leg.” 

Dominic muttered into her ear. 

“Hush. I’m right here watchin’.” 

“You know, miss, your daddy came by earlier asking if I’ve seen you while you were treating the soldiers.” 

“And what did you tell him?”

"The truth.  I hadn’t seen you since you were out on the battlefield running around like a chicken with your head cut off.” 

“Sounds about right.” 

Dominic grunted out as he sat down on the table Lou all but dragged him to. The butcher came walking over, reaching his hands out to touch Dominic‘s open wound.  Lou, thinking fast, not wanting the man's dirty hands on Dominic’s open wound. 

“I think we’re gonna need some whiskey first, doc.”

She said quickly. The bulky man stopped walking towards Domninc and turned towards Lou, his face looking thoughtful.

“I reckon we might.” 

He said and then turned, crossing the room to open a cabinet and pour drinks of amber liquid. Dominic gave her a look asking ‘what the fuck are we going do’ with his wide eyes. Lou just looked at him and shrugged and took another look around the room seeing all the cutlery and tools, but nothing small enough to resemble her scalpel.   She felt her lips press together tightly in disappointment.  She hadn't brought Dominic to a butcher to get his leg treated.  This just seemed like a common sense place to find the scalpel-anchor they needed to get out of here. They heard the front door open and close again and the butcher muttered something under his breath before walking towards the front of the shop.  Lou had a strange feeling as she heard another man’s voice, joined by the deep gruff of the butcher’s as the two men appeared. 

“Well, little lady, look who I found. Your fiancee, Benjamin Leslie, has come calling.” 

A tall, thin man with chestnut hair, brown eyes, and a scowl that looked permanent on his face stepped into the room, pinning Lou and Dominic with a very unfriendly look. 

“Why in tarnation am I hearin’ about my betrothed carryin’ another man around town from whispers on the street?  You’re a battlefield nurse and that ends when the battle is over.”

Lou crossed her arms across her chest and lifted her chin, looking this angry man in the eyes.

“I would argue that’s when it really begins.” 

The man ignored her words and continued his tirade.

“My parents are in the middle of hosting our engagement party and you ain’t turned up yet.” 

“Got sidetracked.”

Lou said, not liking a single word coming out of the man’s mouth.  As the man took another step into the room, Lou stepped backwards, maintaining the distance between them. Something in Dominic told him to stay quiet, but it took everything in him.  Especially as the man moved quickly forward and reached out, grabbing Lou’s arm.  Lou saw Dominic twitch, ready to move when she pinned him with a glance and shook her head.  He needed to keep his mouth shut. 

“Your daddy and I both have half a mind to lock you up during these battles so you quit runnin’ out there.” 

“Well one of us has to go out there during battle.” 

Her implication landed as a direct hit.

“You callin’ me a coward?”

“If the hoof fits.” 

Lou had no idea where this was coming from. She didn’t know this man from any other, but obviously she had a bone to pick with him and she was going to let herself pick it clean. His face turned red as he grit his teeth.

“I’m in charge of men and it means I’m strategizin’. My life ain’t expendable like his.” 

He said as he nodded towards Dominic.  She saw Dominic open his mouth and she knew she had to say something and fast to keep him quiet and safe.

“If I promise I’ll be right there in five minutes, will you leave me to finish with my patient first?”

The man snorted and laughed in Lou’s face.

“Your patient?  You ain’t no doctor, woman.  Come along, let the butcher do his job. While he take’s that man’s leg off, you and I got a waltz to dance.” 

This was quickly getting out of her control and Lou needed to turn the tables.  She glanced around and saw the giant butcher knives. She was about to reach for one and start hacking at the the rude as hell dream man, but then the butcher stepped in front of her.  She couldn’t take them both on and she didn’t want to wake up with any injuries like Dominic told her they could so she abandoned that plan.  She turned and looked at Dominic again. 

“Stay.”

Her voice sounded more confident than she felt.  Dominic opened his mouth to argue but she shook her head and pointed to her gut, hoping he got the message that she was following her intuition. It freaked her out that she knew next to hardly anything about dream walking thing yet she was the one with seemingly all of the current warm and tingly feelings about what they should be doing next in here. Lou didn’t think that was fair at all, but here they were.  She looked at the man who continued to grip her arm and scowl at her.  Finally, the butcher spoke.

“Go.  I’ll look after him.”

“All right, fine.  But I got an early bedtime.  Needin’ my beauty sleep and all that.” 

She said as the man pulled her towards the front of the shop. 

"Shut up and come on.” 

He said, dragging her behind him. Once they were gone, the butcher turned to look at Dominic. 

"Well I can sew you up now or let you get more whiskey in your gut.” 

Dominic swirled the glass and took a sip, immediately biting back the cough as the bitter rot gut hit his tongue.  But this had to be better than letting this guy sew him up.  

“More whiskey, please.”

He croaked out after taking another huge sip to finish the glass.  The butcher shrugged, grabbing the glass and walked back to the cabinet to refill it, talking as his back was turned.

“Where are you from, boy?” 

Dominic thought fast and tried to put on southern accent. 

“Tennessee.” 

“Tennessee? So, here?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

The man turned and set the glass on the table and tilted his head, studying Dominic.

"You don’t sound like you’re from Tennessee. Matter of fact, you don’t sound like a southern boy at all.   Be honest with me son where are you from?” 

Dominic felt his spine go rigid as he glanced around for a way to defend himself from the large man.  Normally, he wouldn’t feel at such a disadvantage but his leg hurt really fucking bad.  Then he felt a tingling in his gut that he should trust this random man.

“Missouri.” 

The butcher gestured with his hand for Dominic to be more specific. 

“St. Louis.” 

Dominic stated.  The man nodded his head and sat down.  Dominic released the breath he’d been holding. 

“I got family up there.  Mighty fine town. Are you going home to see your family soon?”

Dominic opened and close his mouth, unsure of what the correct answer was to give this man.  Luckily, the man continued. 

“Because if you are, I got some packages I might need you to deliver to my family members there in St. Louis." 

The man’s tone had changed and Dominic gave him a curious but guarded look.

“I figured that’s why the lady brought you to me.” 

Dominic gave the man an even more confused look and the butcher started explaining. 

“She and I have had a lot of trouble finding Northern boys on the battlefield willing to help us.  But if she trusts you, that's good enough for me.” 

“Help you?” 

It was the man’s turn to look confused.

“Ain’t you part of the railroad?” 

“The railroad.” 

Dominic muttered to himself and then it dawned on him - the Underground Railroad. The Butcher said he and Lou have been working together. Fuck, he was so proud of his woman, even if it was just in a dream. Dominic smiled and nodded his head.

“Yes, but I can’t go without her.” 

The butcher pursed his lips and shook his head.

“Listen boy, I don’t know what you think you feel for that nurse but her dad is the richest man in town. He ain’t lettin’ her leave no matter how much of a monster that fiancé of hers is.” 

“He didn’t seem too pleasant, did he.  But we haven’t completed what we need to do and she’s a clever one.   She only agreed to go with him to get him out of our hair. Can we wait to do anything with my leg until she comes back?” 

The butcher snorted something to himself and then sighed.

“Alright, but it’s your funeral, not mine.  But we don't have all night to wait around.”