“Any objections from you, Bear?” Mark asked and turned the man’s wrist slightly, looking at the wound that ran all the way around his wrist. “Otherwise, we’ll just send you off to the ER in town.”
“Nope. She said it’s kind of like folk medicine, and I’m okay with that. Anything to take the sting out of it is okay with me, and I don’t want to go to the ER. I got stuff to do.”
“Aromatherapy is widely used in Europe, and I’ve used it before on burns, though not one as large as this.” In the kitchen she was a klutz and had succeeded in burning herself in myriad ways, so she kept a bottle of lavender essential oil handy to treat herself with.
“Okay, Nurse Ellie. Do your thing.”
Mark issued the order, and she was suddenly energized by his open-minded nature. Working with him might not be so bad after all.
“I’ll be right back.” She raced to her room, grabbed her kit of aromatherapy vials and quickly returned to the lodge. Unzipping the protective neoprene case, she pulled one bottle out and clenched it in her hand. “Keep holding your arm over the sink, will you? In case anything drips off,” she said.
“I think you did a good job of cooling the injury right away, Bear,” Mark said and stood to observe Ellie’s treatment.
“Hurts like hell though,” he said, grumbling, but allowed Ellie to minister to him. The first few drops of oil hit his skin and the fragrance permeated the kitchen. “You didn’t tell me it was perfume!” Bear cried and tried to pull away from her.
Grabbing him by the apron front, she kept him in position. “It’s not perfume. Now live up to your reputation and hold still, will you?”
“Oh, man. The guys will never let me live this one down. My wife, neither.” He bowed his head and shook it in disgust, certain his fierce reputation had just been torn to shreds.
Beside them, Skinny snickered, but quieted after a glare from Bear.
“It’s better than being in pain, and it’s certainly better than a burn that could scar badly and prevent you from cooking for all these campers.” Gently, she used her fingers to rub the oil over all areas of the burn. “There are wonderful healing properties in this oil, as I said. Who cares what it smells like, right?”
Bear gave a sniff of lingering disapproval, but relented. “I guess.”
“If it will make you feel better, you can tell people I held you down while Ellie poured it on you,” Mark said.
Bear gave Mark’s thin frame a glance and snorted. “Now, no one’s gonna believe that one.”
“I’m stronger than I look,” Mark said and flexed his left bicep.
Bear barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I make biscuits bigger than that, Mark.” Bear relaxed, and Ellie knew that had been Mark’s intention.
The tension between the three of them eased. “Did Ellie get her doughnuts?”
“No. I burned myself just as she walked in. They’re still in the cooler.” He nodded to indicate which one.
Mark rubbed his hands together at that information. “Any others that you want to get rid of, like Boston cream? Breakfast was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, help yourself. There’s a couple left.” Bear held still while Ellie wrapped a light gauze dressing to his injury.
“That ought to do it.” She applied one strip of tape to keep the end of the gauze secure.
“I can’t cook wearing this thing. I look like a mummy.”
“Leave it on through the afternoon. Step back and just supervise for a meal, then come see me before dinner. We’ll take it off then and see how it’s doing. You might not even blister,” Ellie said, pleased that she’d been able to help him right away with her essential oils. The more she used them, the more uses she found for them.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours, then. Get your doughnuts, and I’ll clean up this damned mess I made.”
Skinny stepped forward with a grin. “I can help you, Bear, since you have a sore paw.”
Bear turned quickly with a growl. “Now, don’t be making cracks about me bein’ lame…” Bear said and grabbed a towel with his left hand and snapped it at Skinny, but he missed by a long measure. “Put that broom to good use and help me clean this mess up.”
The two engaged in what appeared to be a long-standing, good-natured argument. Thus dismissed, Mark and Ellie gathered their medical supplies and returned to the infirmary.
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