A cedar split during felling and crushed Jasper’s lower leg.
Men carried him back screaming.
Audra heard before they entered.
She cleared table.
“Here.”
Blood soaked his trousers.
Audra’s stomach turned.
She had butchered animals all her life.
Human blood different.
Reed cut fabric.
The break was obvious.
Possibly compound? Avoid graphic. Let's keep closed fracture but serious.
“Doctor?”
Audra asked.
“Dry Creek.”
“Road?”
“Snow.”
Reed’s face tightened.
“Six hours if team makes it.”
Jasper groaned.
Audra held his hand.
“Look at me.”
He tried.
“You're not losing leg today.”
“You don't know.”
“No.”
“I am lying.”
He laughed weakly.
Good.
Reed organized sled.
Audra packed hot bricks, blankets, broth.
Then surprised everyone.
“I’m coming.”
Reed looked up.
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
He corrected immediately.
“Road’s bad.”
“Exactly.”
“You can't—”
Audra stared.
Reed stopped before finishing sentence.
Not about her body.
But it sounded like it.
He changed.
“You'd be useful.”
“Yes.”
“But camp needs cook.”
“They can survive one day.”
Jasper whispered:
“No.”
Everyone looked.
He forced:
“Take her.”
Reed almost smiled.
Audra climbed onto sled beside Jasper.
The journey took seven hours.
Audra kept him awake.
Fed broth.
Adjusted blankets.
Held his hand when pain peaked.
The doctor saved leg.
Jasper returned three weeks later with splint.
Could not work for months.
Reed kept him on partial wages doing bookkeeping.
Audra suggested.
Jasper discovered talent for numbers.
By spring he became camp clerk instead of lumberjack.
His life changed because tree broke leg.
He hated when people called it blessing.
“Broken leg was terrible.”
he said.
“Clerk job was separate.”
Audra respected that.
Pain did not need romantic transformation.
February brought Boyd back.
He appeared during evening supper.
Thinner.
Angrier.
Alder Creek had not been what promised.
Two men injured.
One wage dispute.
Boyd stood in doorway.
Conversation stopped.
Audra’s hands tightened.
Reed rose.
Boyd removed hat.
“I need work.”
Reed stared.
“You have contract.”
“Quit.”
“Why?”
“They're cutting wages after storm shutdown.”
Reed looked toward men.
Then back.
“I don't owe you position.”
“I know.”
Boyd swallowed.