“Annabelle?” Mrs. Miles tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned slightly, trying to avoid knocking anything from the table they stood next to.
“Are you okay, dear?” Mrs. Miles patted Annabelle’s cheek. “I saw you almost take that dreadful fall.”
“Mr. Kincaid rescued me, Mrs. Miles. I’m quite all right.” The dining car door opened from the other end, and Jake stepped into the aisle. He stopped and tilted his head as if to make sure he was seeing correctly. They’d been found out a little earlier than Annabelle had hoped.
“Mother? Annabelle?” Jake hovered behind Mr. Kincaid. “What are you doing here?”
Mr. Kincaid stepped aside.
Annabelle scooted past him and grasped Jake’s arm. “Surprise! Your mother and I thought it would be wonderfully fun to go with you to visit Heaven.”
He scowled at her. “You did, did you?”
Annabelle dropped her hand to her side. She hadn’t expected him to be happy, and he wasn’t. He resembled Mrs. Cooper’s growling terrier that used to plague her and Heaven when they walked to school. She backed up a few steps, letting his mother get closer.
“Jake, when she asked me to escort her, I couldn’t think of a better thing to do. I’ve not had a chance to visit with you since you came back, and now I’ll get to see Heaven as well.” Mrs. Miles tugged at her son’s sleeve. “Have you eaten? Annabelle and I were getting ready to have lunch. Of course you haven’t. That’s why you’re in the dining car.”
“Mother …”
“Now Jake, don’t be angry at us. We girls need a little adventure in our lives. So come, sit and dine with us. Then you can tell us how you’re going to catch Heaven when she faints at the shock of seeing you.”
“Mother, I told you …”
“I know, Jake. You think you’re going to break that girl’s heart again and tell her you can’t marry her. I think when you see that lovely girl again, you’re going to change your mind.” Mrs. Miles stopped at a table and waited for her son to pull out her chair. “Annabelle, come, sit by me.”
“Yes Annabelle, please sit by my mother. It’s quite kind of you to accompany her on this unsafe journey.” His face said otherwise, lips drawn in a straight line and no hint of friendliness in his eyes.
So that was why he was angry. He thought she’d endangered his mother. She hadn’t. So far everyone had been kind and helpful. “I knew we’d be safe once we found you. And that didn’t take long.” Just long enough to keep you from making us leave the train.
A server placed steaming bowls of tomato soup in front of each of them. Annabelle bowed her head and silently gave thanks, pushing back the nagging feeling she shouldn’t have left home without talking to her father one more time. She would have though, if he’d been home. She was right to take this opportunity, since her father wouldn’t be home for two more weeks. Waiting that long wasn’t possible. Not with that northern, fiancé-stealing woman in town.
Annabelle observed Jake as Mrs. Miles engaged her son in a stilted conversation in which he gave one-word responses. The Jake she knew always wore a smile, suggesting something fun was about to happen. His blond hair hung shabbily around his ears, and his face held a sharpness that wasn’t there when he left. What had happened to him while he was away? Everyone said he was a hero, the only man in his regiment to make it out alive from the Battle of Shiloh. Most southern men wouldn’t brag about that but would wear it like a suit of fine clothes everywhere they went.
“… luggage, Annabelle?” Jake stared at her. “Mother said you brought luggage. How many bags?”
Around them dinner plates were kissed with the sounds of silver. The dining car steward walked the aisles refilling glasses.
“I have a trunk filled with things for Heaven.” And what I need when I leave Heaven’s. No need to fill him in on that plan just yet. For now she’d keep that secret tied up in her heart.
“With Mother’s things, I’ll need to arrange transportation to Friendship. I had planned to rent a horse.”
“How far is it from the station to Heaven’s?” She hadn’t considered getting the trunk delivered.
“We’ll disembark in Jackson. The rail line doesn’t stretch to Friendship.”
“Stagecoach then? Or can we rent a buggy?” She wondered how much extra that would cost. She had to be careful with her money if she wanted to succeed on her own.
“Something. We’ll have to wait and see what’s available.” Jake picked up his glass and drained it. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to the smoking car.”
“Jacob, I had hoped we could talk more after dinner.” Mrs. Miles’s shoulders sagged.
“Not tonight, Mother.” Jake stood and nodded at Annabelle. “Pleasant dreams, ladies.”
He’d grown ungrateful as well. Annabelle reached over and squeezed Mrs. Miles’s hand. She wished her mother were still alive. Jake should be more thankful. “We’ll have a nice time without him. I brought a new book along, and we can take turns reading to each other.”
Mrs. Miles’s lips rose up gently. “I’d like that.”
Chapter 8
Travis set the bucket of cold water he’d collected from the pond on the floor next to the bed. “She’s going to wake up when her toes hit that water. It’s likely she’ll be fightin’ mad. Angel, I want you to step back so she doesn’t land a solid hit on you if she starts swinging her fists. Might be right nice if you’d pray she doesn’t hit me.”
Angel backed up against the cabin wall. With great gentleness, Travis slid one arm under Heaven’s head. Using the other hand, he maneuvered her into a sitting position.
“What are you doing? I hear the blankets moving, and I can’t see you!”
“I apologize. I did say I would tell you everything. Your sister needs to be in a sitting position, so I slid her up against the wall close to the edge of the bed. That way I can dangle her leg over the edge into the bucket.”
“Heaven’s not going to like this—you sliding her on the bed and touching her leg, not being married. No, she won’t like this at all. It’s not proper, not proper at all.”
“No, not for anyone, unless they are a doctor. Don’t you forget that only a doctor can do this sort of procedure, and that makes it proper.” God forgive him, he had no idea if the ladies of society would ever forgive Heaven for this, but they would never find out. He didn’t have a choice, or at least not one that wouldn’t put Angel in danger of getting hurt.
Heaven’s eyes slid open one at a time. “Please, Dr. Logan, say you’re going to marry me.” Then, just as quickly as her plea expanded into the room, her eyes closed.
Angel was still praying when Travis heard her say, “If Heaven wants to marry Dr. Logan, that’s okay with me, too …”
He had to get out of this house. Too many marrying-minded women for him to be around. Heaven’s head lolled to one side, and then her shoulders began to follow. He bent over her and placed his hands under her arms to level her.
Heaven reached out and grabbed him with both hands and pulled him close. “Dr. Logan, you have my permission to kiss me, but just this once.”
He was sorely tempted to do just that to those rose-colored lips. He grunted. It had been a long time since he’d kissed anyone. Mary had been the last. “Maybe another time, Miss Wharton, when you’re not drugged. Angel, I’m propping your sister against the wall, and then I’m stuffing a blanket around her so she doesn’t slide down again.” After he was satisfied she wouldn’t be moving, he stooped, grabbed her foot, and plunged it into the cold water.
Her shriek pierced his ears. Her fist landed on his cheek mere inches from his wound.
“Leave it there!” Travis barked. “It’s sprained, and if you don’t leave it, your foot will swell like a watermelon.” He held her ankle with one hand and fended off her fists with the other. “Be still, please, Miss Wharton. I’ll let you remove it in a few minutes.”
“What happened?”
Heaven’s fingers were st
ill curled into tight fists, but at least they weren’t flying at his head anymore.
“You tripped in that hole you’re always warning me about.” Angel sat on the bed next to her sister. “You done swinging your fists at him?”
Heaven groaned. “I did? I told you it was dangerous. Did I hit my head, too?” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Why is my mouth filled with cotton?”
“The laudanum you had stored but didn’t remember to use on me? I gave you some. It makes you thirsty, gives you a headache, and does a few other things.” He thought better of telling her the drug made her talk out of her head and say things she didn’t mean. There wasn’t a need to embarrass her. He looked at Angel and wondered if she would tell her sister about the marriage proposal. Right now she was stroking her sister’s hand. Maybe she realized her sister wasn’t in her right mind when she said those crazy things.
The cabin was getting colder. The fire had feasted on the logs he’d put in earlier. He’d tend to it and then wrap her ankle.
“Angel, can you get your sister a cloth to dry her foot? I’m going to throw another log on the fire.” He turned back to Heaven. “Keep your foot in there until I get back.”
“Just make that fire roar. The water is so cold. I have goose bumps.”
Travis took a quilt from the end of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Maybe that will help.”
She tugged the quilt tight around her shoulders. “Hurry back. I don’t know how much longer I can keep my foot in here.”
Travis added several more logs to the fire. Angel waited by her sister and held out the cloth to him.
“This will be fine, Angel.” With his fingers, he tilted Heaven’s chin, trying to ignore how soft it felt. He inspected her eyes, looking for signs of too much of the painkiller. They didn’t seem overly glazed or dull. He was reluctant to give her more, but if she fought him too much, he would. “I don’t want to give you any more laudanum, so this is going to hurt a bit. You can scream if you want to. Angel and I won’t judge you for it.”
“What are you going to do to me that will make me scream?” Her voice wavered.
He knew she wasn’t as sure as she wanted to sound. She probably didn’t want to cause any distress for Angel. “First, I’m going to take your foot out of the water and dry it. I don’t want you to try and help me support it. If you do, it will hurt more. Let me do all the work, and the pain will be less.”
Heaven nodded and sucked in her breath and held it.
Either she would yell really loud or pass out. He hoped for the latter.
Travis lifted Heaven’s foot from the water. Water drops plunked back into the bucket. He resisted the urge to rub her icy foot with the towel to get the blood circulating. Instead, he gently patted the cloth over her diminutive foot. A foot he wouldn’t normally ever see unless he was married to her.
Especially since he had given up doctoring. “You all right?”
She let out a ragged breath. “Maybe there’s still some drug working to keep the pain away.”
“Maybe.” He was feeling his own injury now and was a bit tired and shaky. “Angel, can you scoot the stool over here for me? I need to sit while I do this part.”
Angel did as he asked and then climbed on the bed next to her sister.
He rested Heaven’s foot on his lap.
She gasped and brushed the quilt from her shoulders. “Dr. Logan!”
“Does it hurt now?”
“No, it’s just my foot”—her face was flushed—“is in your lap.”
“Excuse the impropriety, Miss Wharton. It’s the only way I can wrap it tightly. My head is hurting, or I’d try and do this another way.”
Her head lowered, and her hair fell over her face, hiding it from him. “Much obliged, Dr. Logan.”
Angel couldn’t see the two of them, but she found the exchange interesting. With Heaven declaring her love for Dr. Logan and him taking such good care of Heaven, Angel was thinking of possibilities. She liked Dr. Logan, and Pa had given him their home. If Dr. Logan liked Heaven, they would have a place to live.
She heard carriage wheels rambling down the lane. “Someone’s coming. I’ll find out who it is.” She slid off the bed and headed for the door before her sister had a chance to respond.
Stepping out on the porch, she could hear voices in the distance. She grinned. God must agree with her plan, because those were the voices of Preacher and Mrs. Reynolds. She couldn’t wait to bring them inside to meet Dr. Logan, who at this very moment had his hands on her sister’s leg.
A rooster bickered with another one out in the yard as the buggy creaked to a stop. Angel listened to the huff of the horses’ breath and the creak of the springs on the carriage as someone stepped out. Preacher Reynolds probably, since the man always got out first and helped his lady out. Angel had no idea why that was so important. She didn’t need help getting out of a carriage. Maybe that changed when you got as old as Mrs. Reynolds.
She waited, not yelling a hello as she normally would. She was practicing her lady skills just as Heaven would want her to. No shouting at the company. Company should come to the door and be asked in immediately. Company should be offered something to eat and drink. That’s what she would do, with one little bend in the rules. She’d wait until they were on the porch before saying anything to Heaven about their guests.
“Come on in. We are so glad you stopped by. Heaven will be thrilled to see you. She’s in here.” Angel maneuvered them to the bedroom doorway. “Look who’s here, Heaven. Preacher and Mrs. Reynolds came by to say hello.”
Horrified couldn’t be the best word to describe how Mrs. Reynolds looked, but it would have to do. She stood there with her mouth forming an O, taking in Heaven’s exposed leg draped across Dr. Logan’s lap. And him—he looked frightful. Still in his clothes from yesterday and the bandage around his head.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Preacher Reynolds pushed past his wife. “Why is there dried blood on the sheets? Who is this man? What’s he doing here?”
Heaven’s mouth refused to work. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“I’m Travis Logan—Dr. Logan.” He offered his hand to Preacher Reynolds, who stared at it and then smiled and offered his own back.
“Dr. Logan. We hadn’t heard about you setting up an office in Friendship. Welcome to our town.”
Heaven relaxed a bit.
“Thank you, sir. I haven’t set up an office yet. Not sure I will. I planned on raising horses on what I thought was a vacant farm.”
“Now why would you think that it was uninhabited?”
“He galloped down the drive like he was going to steal everything we owned. And that’s when Heaven …” Angel stood behind the Reynolds, who seemed to be frozen between the two rooms.
“Heaven thought she and Angel were in danger yesterday, and she shot in the air to warn me away. Except she missed. That’s why there’s blood on my clothing and the bed.” Travis finished Angel’s sentence.
Mrs. Reynolds rushed into the room. Tears welled in her eyes. “Heaven, Angel, I’m so sorry. This has been an awful year for you. I’m so glad we came to see you. Preacher Reynolds heard about a man coming out here, and we wanted to check on you. It’s a good idea we did. Why didn’t you come and get help after you shot him?”
Heaven wanted to scream. Why wasn’t that an obvious answer? “I couldn’t send Angel, and I didn’t want to leave her here with him. If I took her along, the man might have bled to death before we returned.”
“It’s not good to be this far out of town when you’re alone. I don’t know what your father was thinking when he left you.”
Heaven forced her brain to pay attention. She was walking on marshy ground. Soon it wouldn’t only be marauders she had to worry about, but the good church people wanting to help her. She wouldn’t mind some assistance, but not the kind they would want to give to her and Angel.
“Now you’re hurt. I don’t think you should be living
out here alone. We need to find a place for you to stay.”
Yes, that was the kind of help they would offer. “We have a place.” Heaven flashed a quick look at Dr. Logan. Please don’t tell her, not yet. She moved her leg, and the pain in her ankle caused her to yell.
“Heaven took a misstep on her way back from the barn and sprained her ankle. Right now I’m wrapping it. I’m grateful you’re here, Mrs. Reynolds. Angel was chaperoning, but with her unable to see, it’s questionable if she’s suitable.”
“I am suitable.” Angel stormed into the tiny room overflowed with people. “You told me everything you were doing so it would be as proper as it could be. It wasn’t like I could go for help.”
“Humph.” Mrs. Reynolds moved closer to Heaven. “Very questionable situation. Are you saying this man slept here overnight with the two of you?”
Heaven did her best to follow the conversation—the one said aloud and the unspoken one. Was the woman suggesting that she and Angel climbed under the quilts with Dr. Logan? “Not with us, Mrs. Reynolds. He was here, Angel was in the loft, and when I wasn’t checking on him, I was sleeping in the rocking chair or reading my Bible.”
“So your sister wasn’t even downstairs? Preacher, we need to plan a wedding this weekend.” Mrs. Reynolds patted Heaven’s hand. “Now don’t you worry. We won’t let anyone know about this indiscretion. It will stay right here in this cabin, but we’ve got to make it right with the Lord.”
“But …” Heaven tried to think of a response.
“It’s okay. Heaven already asked him to marry her.” Angel beamed brighter than the afternoon sun.
“Marry?” Heaven glared at Travis. When had she asked him to marry her? It was the last thing she wanted to do. Marry the man who stole her family farm? There was another reason she was mad, too, but her mind seemed to be loosely wrapped in cloth, allowing only a few thoughts to slip through.
“Sir, nothing improper happened here.” Travis stood chest to chest with the preacher. “It was two people needing immediate care, is all. There’s no need for forcing a marriage.”
Bride's Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee Page 8
