Chapter 29

It was dusk before Steven returned to fetch them. He had two of the ranch hands from the search party with him. They were eager to apologize to Aiden for not finding him sooner, as well as express their happiness in the fact that he was alive and returning to the ranch.

Steven did a thorough job of describing the bullet wound in Aiden’s thigh, so Amy was able to pack first aid supplies accordingly.  They took the time to wash off the wound and apply a healing salve that had numbing properties before bandaging it.  Aiden sighed with relief as the pain and throbbing that he’d lived with for almost two weeks subsided.

They’d brought him a well-trained, sure-footed mare to ride back to the ranch, while Pauline was given one of Aiden’s spirited back-up horses.

“I think you have the horses mixed up,” Aiden said as he saw them hand the reins of his spirited gelding to Pauline.

She chuckled before mounting with the ea