by Gina Danna
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“Drink this.” Dr. Spalding pressed a cup to her pale lips. Jack’s alarm grew. Jesus, if he lost her now, he’d die.
As the brown liquid seeped into her mouth, she sputtered. Jack had to bite back a grin when he caught a whiff of the stuff and saw her face redden. Straight whiskey often revived one.
“Jack?”
“I’m here, sweetheart,” he said softly.
“Mrs. Bealke,” the doctor said, pushing Jack out of the way and putting his finger to her wrist, “how are you feeling now?”
She looked confused and stared at Jack. He knew he looked a sight. His cheek was swollen, one eye blackened and his lip torn, but he thought he had wiped off most of the blood.
“Fine, I’m fine,” she answered.
The doctor scoffed. “Mr. Fontaine, do try to control yourself. A lady in this condition must be treated delicately.” He closed his medical bag with a snap.
It was Jack’s turn to be confused. What condition? Emma was blushing.
“Rest. I’ll be back t’morrow ta check on you,” the doctor told her as he walked out the door.
Jack held her hand. “What condition, Emma? Have you been ill?”
She glanced downward. “Where’s Francois?”
His brother. She wanted to know about him? “Mother pulled him away,” he answered coldly.
She waited for more.
“They’re walking in the garden or something.” His tongue was tied in frustration. She wanted his brother instead of him. But could he blame her? If you’re willing to fight for her, make her yours truly…Charles’ voice sounded in his head.
“Emma,” he squeezed her hand. “Please listen to me. I, I’m sorry.”
“Did you willingly participate in that?” She didn’t need to clarify what “that” was.
He sighed. “Not willingly. I was ‘inducted’ into the practice early. I was made to lie with a slave who I’d grown up with, considered a friend. She was a virgin,” he swallowed the knot of regret. “I hurt her. I couldn’t live with it, so, yes, I ran. It, it killed her,” he chanced a glance at Emma. Her eyes didn’t waver from his face, but tears welled in them. The pain caused by Jack’s revelation equaled the agony in his soul, but she said nothing. He swallowed before continuing. “She had twins. I’m sure you’ve seen them. I, I didn’t know, not till today. The whole event haunted me for years. To my father, it was a tradition and part of my responsibility to the family and so forth. I’m sure it doesn’t make sense to you. Your family had no such ‘tradition.’”
“No, but it wasn’t perfect.” She sounded sad and made him wonder just how much Caroline’s greediness and arrogance had cost Emma.
“I sent you here because my father is wealthy and well known. He could send you anywhere you wanted to go. I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.” He touched her cheek. “Emma, this is where I need to be. With you. I love you.”
The tears now trailed down her cheeks. Tears of joy? Or regret?
“I hurt you with Caroline. I, it—” How could he get through this? “A mistake. Terrible. Look—” He was faltering and knew it. “I’ve always loved you. Ever since I met you.” Her hands trembled inside his. “Marry me. Not Francois.”
The warmth of her smile vanished as did the color in her cheeks, and she withdrew her hands. It was as though a wall had suddenly been erected, separating them. “Jack, no, I, I can’t.”
Inside, his heart skipped. Had she still told him no? He had asked for her hand before but married Caroline instead…But Charles’ advice echoed again. Jack would have to fight for Emma.
“Emma, I love you,” he pleaded softly, taking her hands back. He believed that if he held her, she would feel his love.
Tears streamed anew. “No, please, Jack. If I allow myself to believe you, I’ll just get hurt again, and I’m not sure I’ll survive it,” she sobbed, trying to pull her hands from his. “Everyone’s left me. And you’ve left me more than once! You betrayed me with Caroline. I don’t think I could take your rejection again.”
Anger surged through him, mixed with understanding. Charles had told him the same thing. And she was right. He had left her twice–both when he took Caroline as his wife and when she believed him dead from the firing squad.
“I’ll never leave you. I promise, with all my heart and soul.” She remained silent. Waiting for a battle to begin was easier than waiting for her response. But she said nothing. He asked, “So you love my brother?”
She tentatively shook her head.
“But you’d marry him? A man who carries on the ‘family tradition’ of coupling with slaves to breed more of them to sell? Is that what you want for Nathan? For yourself?”
“But Francois has stayed with me …”
Jack laughed spitefully. “You’d rather him than a man who’d love you and only you forever?”
Jack saw the war in her eyes as she swallowed hard. He’d give anything to make her understand. “Darling, what do I have to do to make you see? I love you and want to grow old with you, the two of us, with Nathan—”
“Jack,” she whispered. “I have something to tell you.”
He looked up, hopeful.
A timid smile came to her face and she tried to wipe her tears away. “What Dr. Spalding said, about my condition? It’ll make you leave me again.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m with child.”
His heart plummeted as he examined her appearance more closely. He thought her slightly fuller form was the result of having more and better food and greater comfort under his mother’s care.
“My brother’s—”
“Yours.”
His heart skipped. “What?”
A smile came to her trembling lips. “I carry Nathan’s brother or sister.”
The news hit him hard. A baby. He grinned as his heart swelled. And just as quickly, it deflated. She carried his child but didn’t love him. “Good,” he said stoically, focusing on the wall behind her, frantically working to mask his disappointment.
She lifted his chin. “I didn’t want to tell you unless I knew you loved me. Considering all you’ve gone through to be here, to tell me you love me—”
“It’s true,” he interjected, his gaze back on her. “Marry me, Emma. We may not be able to stay here or even want to. There is still a war going on. It won’t be easy, but I promise, as God is my witness, I’ll never leave you again.”
The wind blew gently, the southern sun and warmth spilling into the room. He watched her, praying that God would convince Emma of Jack’s sincerity.
She bit her bottom lip, a habit he had always adored. He’d gladly spend the rest of his life soothing that abused lip if she’d give him the opportunity. Slowly, she gazed up at him, her eyes glowing. “Yes, Jack Fontaine, I will marry you. You know I will follow you anywhere. Because I love you.”
His heart leaped. He took her in his arms as he leaned her back against the pillows, kissing her deeply.
Through the open windows, in the distance, the faint roar of Union naval artillery upriver blasted at Vicksburg—the last remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. The War of the Rebellion raged on.
~ The End ~
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my support team for helping get Jack & Emma ready for publication. I’d like to thank the Rom-Critters critique group, especially Ella Quinn, Kary Rader, Tmonique Stephens and Carrie Ann Ryan. Without their reading and critiquing from the get-go, this tale would never have happen. I’d like to thank Marc Kollbaum, close friend and curator of Jefferson Barracks Historic Site in St. Louis for a ton of help, too numerous to try to list! To my co-workers at Jefferson Barracks who helped, rather they wanted to or not – Jack Grothe – the Billy Yank of all time! I'd also like to thank George & Mary Rettig who helped me with Louisiana geography and family/social histories for the Fontaine family. To JJ Jennings and Mark O’Leary for their support. To my editor, Bernadette LaManna, who helped correct my grammar, my ru
nning descriptions/sentences/paragraphs, and my repetitiveness that can happen on a saga this overwhelming.
And I especially would like to thank my mother, who quietly waited for her daughters to realize that not only was our father’s Sicilian heritage fascinating, so was her family – a family that has been in the USA since the 1600s and fought in the American Revolution and the tumultuous American Civil War. She is the one who introduced me to the autobiography of one of our ancestors who was a Confederate surgeon, who shared with me the family genealogy and stories she knew. It is her who spurred me to follow my historical interests (though I’d bet she would have chosen a more lucrative degree than my BA & MA in History). Thank you mom! I wish you were here to read Jack & Emma and realize it is in memory to your side of the family. History is my favorite subject, the American Civil War my particular interest.
Also want to thank Rich – He’s my warrior, my knight and my love whose strength and support helps me when my muse disappears or when deadlines seem impossible and willingly puts up with my rantings.
Without all these people, The Wicked North would have never made it to paper but stayed as a muse running rampant in my head. Gratitude!
Novels by Gina Danna
Her Eternal Rogue
The Wicked Bargain
Love & Vengeance (Book I of The Gladiators series)
Love & Lies (Book II of The Gladiators series)
Great & Unfortunate Desires
Author Note
Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved two things – horses and history. I got my childhood wish fulfilled when I found my Arabian in 2009. As to history, I have had the pleasure of not only getting my BA & MA in history and work toward my PhD in Civil War history but also using my degrees as my career in the museum field. I have been a curator at the Missouri State Museum, a museum educator at Jefferson Barracks Historic Site in St. Louis and park guide in interpretation at the National Park Service at Vicksburg National Military Park. And while working at JB, I discovered the world of Civil War reenacting. Being a living historian or reenactor, adds such depth to historical interpretation that simple research cannot touch. To try to go back in time and live as our ancestors did opens the mind to being closer to what they experienced, how they lived, makes everything more real and fabulous. It is a hobby that is addicting and expensive – I probably own more Civil War dresses than modern day!
All of this background helped me immeasurably in making Jack & Emma’s story more real. The Wicked North took longer to write than any of my other novels because I wanted to be dead-on accurate in my details while drawing the reader into that era, that time when tensions were so tight, a war that tore this nation apart erupted.
My personal library on Civil War books is extensive but by no means complete. But to those readers who are interested in more, I will list some of the multitude of books I referenced in writing this novel, not in specific order –
Generals In Blue by Ezra J Warner
Generals In Grey by Ezra J Warner
Robert E. Lee by Emory M Thomas
JEB Stuart, The Last Cavalier by Burke Davis
Gateway to the West, The History of Jefferson Barracks Vol. 1 by Marc Kollbaum
The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War
War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
To The Point, The United States Military Academy, 1802-1902 by George S. Pappas
The Civil War, The First Year Told By Those Who Lived It ed. By Brooks D Simpson, Stephen W. Sears and Aaron Sheehan-Dean
Nothing But Victory, The Army of the Tennessee 1861-1865 by Steven E. Woodworth
Within the Plantation Household by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
Civil War Medicine by Robert E. Denney
Journal of a Secesh Lady, The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, 1860-1866
The Life of Billy Yank by Bell Irvin Wiley
The Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Irvin Wiley
The Civil War by Bruce Catton
The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, Fashion and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley
Civil War Era Etiquette by Louis Martine
The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861-65) – Official Records
Autobiography of John Taylor, Confederate Surgeon, State of Mississippi
This is a light smattering of references used. For more, please contact me or visit www.ginadanna.com
Stay tune for the next in the Hearts Touched By Fire series –
Unconditional Surrender – coming Fall 2016
Author Bio
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Gina Danna has spent the better part of her life reading. History has been her love and she spent numerous hours devouring historical romance stories, dreaming of writing one of her own. Years later, after receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in History, writing academic research papers and writing for museum programs and events, she finally found the time to write her own stories of historical romantic fiction.
Now, living in Texas, under the supervision of her two dogs, she writes amid a library of research books, with her only true break away is to spend time with her other life long dream – her Arabian horse – with him, her muse can play.
Copyright 2016 Gina Danna
The Bitter End Publishing
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