Gold Rush Groom

by Jenna Kernan

  He nodded.

  “I’ll walk you home, then go tell her.”

  Lily could not push down the feeling that something was wrong as they headed to Jack’s claim. The timing was bad and they had to make their way in darkness, as the sun now disappeared for twelve hours and would not be up until after seven the next morning. The miners who had not come to town were all asleep, so Bill paddled undetected past the claims that lined the narrow creek.

  Nala greeted Lily when she was still half a mile out. That she had wandered so far afield did nothing to ease Lily’s growing concern.

  Nala barked as Bill grounded the canoe and then hopped aboard before they continued on their way. Lily now urged Bill to greater speed as her worry turned to panic. It seemed to take hours to reach Jack’s claim. At last the bottom scraped mud. Nala leapt from the boat, barking and cutting back and forth. The minute Lily had her feet, her dog was pushing her along. Lily did not need the urging. She lifted her skirts and ran.

  “Jack!”

  She arrived at his empty cabin, breathless and with a burning stitch in her side.

  “Jack!”

  She called again, to no avail. Nala barked from the mouth of the tunnel and then disappeared into the darkness. Lily’s stomach dropped.

  “Bring the lantern,” she called to Bill.

  Together they entered the tunnel, but as Lily continued, the light did not. She turned back.

  “Bill?”

  “I can’t go down there, Lily. I’m sorry.”

  Why had she brought a man who was good for nothing belowground? She dashed back to snatch the lantern from him.

  “Wait here.” Lily left him, hurrying into the cold earth, holding Nala’s collar, pressing her fingers into the solid reassurance of her thick coat and warm skin. “Jack!”

  Her voice echoed off the icy corridor. Please let him be alive.

  Lily came to the steam engine and pressed a hand to the boiler. It was cold as the grave. Before her lay a pile of uncollected gravel. She fingered the dirt, finding it had not yet frozen solid. Hoisting the light she searched the ground, seeing the wall before her that marked the end of his work. Where was he, still back in town, at some other saloon or with some whore at the edge of town? Lily cursed herself for a fool.

  “Jack?” she whispered.

  Nala whined and began to dig as if in a rabbit hole. Lily stepped forward onto the pile of gravel. Something moved beneath her feet. Lily shrieked as she stumbled back. She lowered the lantern and saw that what she first thought to be a rock was Jack’s boot heel.

  Lily cried out, laying the lantern aside as she fell to her knees and began digging with Nala. After a moment she had exposed his leg. Her brain began to work now, the panic lifting.

  “Find his head, you fool,” she muttered.

  Lily recovered the lantern and climbed the pile of debris. From here she could see that by some miracle his shoulders and head were not buried.

  “Jack!” She ran to him, laying the lantern beside him and brushing back the gravel that covered his hair and neck.

  “Lil?” he whispered. “Knew you’d come.”

  She stroked his cheek. “What have you done to yourself?”

  “Pinned. Can’t move.”

  Sweet Mother of God, was he paralyzed? Her heart hammered as she called her dog and together they dug.

  “Bill! Get down here now!”

  He didn’t. She kept digging.

  “Go to the next claim,” she hollered. “Get help. There’s a man buried here.”

  “I’m going!” came the reply.

  Lily dug with her bare hands, scratching and clawing.

  The digging caused more gravel from the top of the pile to slide into the place of what Lily had removed. Gradually she gained ground. She had part of Jack’s back exposed when she heard the voices. Nala left her and a moment later two lights bobbed down the tunnel.

  “What in the name of heaven?” said one, pausing at Jack’s machine.

  “Help me!” cried Lily.

  They set to work with shovels and cleared the gravel from on top then hauled Jack roughly from his self-made tomb.

  “Careful. He might have broken bones,” said Lily, but they already had him up.

  Jack’s clothing and body were caked with mud and grime, but he was free. His eyes fluttered shut as he went limp between the two rescuers, who each held one arm about their own shoulders. Lily shrieked and wrapped her arms about his middle. He didn’t rouse and his body was cold as ice, but the steady beat of his heart caused a wave of such relief she thought her own knees might give way.

  “We need to get him out, ma’am.”

  Lily released Jack and followed the men up the tunnel. Jack’s legs dragged along the ground. Lily broke out in a cold sweat, fearful he’d broken his spine. By the time they’d reached the mouth of the tunnel, his legs were working, but he still sagged heavily on his human crutches.

  Lily now preceded the men, directing them into the cabin, where they lay Jack out on his bed. Lily took charge. “Bill, get a doctor. Don’t come back without one.” She pointed at the men. “Clean water, you.” She pointed at the final man. “You, lift him up a bit, so I can strip him out of his clothing.”

  Jack groaned as she carefully peeled off the filthy attire. His skin was pale beneath his clothing and thankfully completely devoid of any blood, though his back and thighs showed large purple bruises. The first miner returned with a full pail, just as she finished wrapping Jack in her fur-lined cloak and his wool blanket.

  “I need a good fire to heat the water and warm him. Does he have a pot?”

  “He’s got a gold pan,” said the second. “That’s what I use for washing and vittles.”

  Jack opened his eyes and smiled up at her, then winced. “Knew you’d come.”

  “Oh, Jack.” The tears she’d contained spilled out.

  “Saturday night then?”

  She nodded. “Lie still, Jack. The doctor’s coming.”

  Lily could barely breathe past the panic. What if his ribs were broken or he’d crushed something inside? What if he were bleeding inside right at this very moment? She swallowed hard as her vision blurred and tears splashed onto Jack’s face.

  His eyes opened. “Don’t cry.”

  “I’m not.” She dashed away the evidence and pressed her palm to his forehead. He was so dreadfully cold.

  She glanced behind her to see the men both working over the stove, trying to get a fire started. Lily lay over Jack, pressing herself to him as she vigorously rubbed his arms.

  After a few minutes his shivering began. The tremors were terrifying, spastic contractions that wracked him until he shook like a dead squirrel in the mouth of a hound. Throughout, Lily clung to him, waiting for the fire or for her skin to warm him. When the fire was good and hot, the men carried Jack to his only chair, setting him close to the heat.

  Lily sat on an overturned bucket beside Jack to be sure he wasn’t burned.

  She heated water in a metal basin and when it steamed she added sugar and held it to his lips, tipping the cup as he drank thirstily.

  His hands stopped shaking and he managed to hold the second cup himself.

  “How long, Jack?”

  “Ceiling came down Wednesday morning.”

  “Should have froze, I expect,” said the first miner.

  Jack looked up. “Hello, Nate. Likely would have, if Nala hadn’t lain on top of me. Never left me.” Lily recalled Nala coming to meet their canoe and wondered over it. Jack nodded at the other miner. “Daniel. Thanks for coming.”

  “What’s that thing in your mine?” asked Nate.

  “Something I’m working on,” he said.

  Lily’s eyes narrowed on the man, her protective instinct engaging as she rose.

  “He needs rest now. Thank you both.” She hustled them back toward their claims.

  “Call if you need us,” said Daniel, doffing hi
s hat. “You’re even prettier close up, Miss Lily.”

  She gave him a smile and shooed him off, returning to Jack as quickly as possible. When they were gone, she hurried back to his side. He offered his hand and she clasped it, pressing his palm to her cheek. Her eyes drifted closed. He was here. He was safe and that was all that really mattered.

  Lily stayed by his side, pouring hot coffee into him and keeping the fire going, until the doctor arrived. He checked Jack over and announced that his ribs were bruised, not broken and his body battered, but intact. The doc said the worst of his troubles came from lack of food and four days without water.

  When he said that Jack should have died from dehydration, Lily cried again.

  Before the man was even out the door, Lily was cooking. She made biscuits with gravy and Jack ate nearly a pan full. She helped him to bed and watched over him while he slept. When evening found him still sleeping, she crawled under the blanket and lay beside him. He roused enough to draw her into his arms, press his nose to her hair, inhale deeply, sigh and begin to snore for the first time. Lily felt herself relax. He would be all right. But what about the next time?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jack woke to the aroma of frying bacon. For a moment he feared it was another hallucination, but when he opened his eyes he saw Lily by the stove in his little cabin.

  It all came back to him in a rush: the collapse, realizing he was trapped and then Lily. Once again she was there when he needed her and she’d stayed through the night. He remembered waking long enough to weave a lovely thick strand of her hair through his fingers before dozing again.

  “That smells like heaven,” he said, trying to sit up and being momentarily arrested by the pain that shot through his ribs and down his back.

  Lily was at his side in an instant.

  “Are you aching? The doctor left some laudanum.”

  “That will just make me sleep again.” Jack pushed himself to a sitting position, wincing despite his efforts not to do so.

  “Coffee?” she asked.

  He nodded, his head spinning with the pain of sitting up. Her arm was around him now, gently supporting him as she held the bitter and sweet coffee to his lips.

  The heat filled his stomach and bolstered his spirits. Lily had not forsaken him. If she had treated him as he had her, would he have come? Her actions proved to him again how dauntless she was.

  “Jack, what happened?”

  “Stupid. I didn’t consider the steam would not dissipate. It collected on the ceiling and then a section thawed. It all came down at once. The gravel hit me from behind, pinned my legs first and then my arms. When I came to, it had all frozen solid again, like a crypt. Just dumb luck it didn’t suffocate me.”

  “It’s too dangerous, the steam.”

  “No. It’s not, but I learned something. The ceiling has to be braced until it has a chance to freeze up again.”

  “I don’t want you going down there anymore. You can come live with me in town.”

  He frowned. Did she have so little faith in him? He’d learned a valuable lesson and knew the machine could be viable with just the addition of braces.

  He shook his head. “I need to stay here and finish my testing.”

  “Testing? You were nearly killed, Jack. It’s not worth your life, is it?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “I promised to help you, Jack. You can stay with me until you’re feeling better. No need to go back down in that tunnel.”

  “But I will go back.”

  Her eyes went wide and her expression fell. She started crying again and he wiped away the tears. It hurt like a son of a bitch to lift his arms, but he gritted his teeth and caressed her damp face.

  “I was so frightened, Jack,” she admitted. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

  He rocked her gently back and forth, gritting his teeth against the ache in his ribs.

  “Nothing happened. I’m all right now. When I got pinned down there, all I could think was that if I died your last memory would be of me hurting you again. Now, at least, I have a chance to ask your forgiveness.”

  She recalled him asking her if she was with child without coming right out and saying so. Lily could not bear to revisit that topic, so she gathered up his empty coffee cup and threw the dregs out in the open front door. Nala rose to investigate this new addition to her yard and Lily returned to Jack, perching on the edge of his bed.

  “We made a mistake, Jack. Both of us. You don’t have to worry about me. I understand the way things work and I’ll land on my feet. Besides, I’m here for an adventure. I just got more than I expected, is all. Plus, if I were with child and needed a man to help raise it, I wouldn’t have far to look, now would I? Dawson is crawling with candidates.”

  Jack made an involuntary growling sound. Did the idea of her foisting his child off on some stranger fill him with fury or just catch him off guard? She’d never seen such a black expression on the man.

  His breathing increased and he went pale again. He fell back to the pillow, his eyes still fixed on her.

  Lily studied Jack from beneath her lowered lashes. His frown and glowering expression pleased her far more than it should have. If any of her pretty speech were true she’d be past caring what he thought or felt for her. So why did she keep coming back to the well, knowing it was dry?

  Jack forced himself up on one elbow, exhaling sharply as the pain took the color from his cheeks. “I don’t want that.”

  She nodded her acknowledgment.

  “And I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  She gave a mirthless laugh. “That’s usually the way of it.”

  “I’d take responsibility for a child, Lily.”

  She pressed her lips together to keep from shouting that she didn’t want to be a responsibility to him. She didn’t want to be another obligation like his mother or his sister.

  Instead she said, “I know, Jack.”

  He wasn’t the sort to turn his back on her for he could have done that a hundred times along the journey.

  His eyelids drooped.

  She sighed. “Rest a bit.”

  She pressed a hand against his shoulder and he eased back into the narrow bed.

  He closed his eyes, taking shallow breaths. Lily could not resist brushing the soft locks of hair from his forehead. He lifted his hand and captured hers, lacing their fingers, before rubbing her knuckle over his soft, dry lips. He kissed her there and then lowered their hands to the bedding as if the intimacy was nothing more than a brief thank-you.

  But the soft caress and brush of his mouth made her stiffen as the rippling excitement gripped her insides and set off a shiver of hopeless longing. She stared down at him in hungry anticipation to find his eyes closed and his expression at peace.

  Damn the man!

  She tried to tug her hand free, but he resisted, holding her fast.

  “Stay a little.” He raised his lids as if bone-weary, looking up at her with his soulful whiskey-colored eyes, warm and welcoming as the autumn sun.

  His eyes closed again. “Steamers are running. That means there’ll be goods. I can buy what I need to build more engines, just as soon as I scratch up the venture capital.”

  Lily wondered who would be fool enough to invest in a machine that caused cave-ins, but kept her doubts to herself.

  “The steamers brought something else,” said Lily. “A letter from my sister, Bridget. She gave me a rundown of all I’ve missed. They’re struggling, of course, but all hale and healthy, thank the Lord.”

  “Younger sister?”

  “They’re all younger, remember, Jack? I hope they’ve received my letters. Won’t they be surprised to hear what I’ve been up to?”

  Jack grimaced as if ashamed of what they’d been up to.

  “You needn’t worry, Jack. I mentioned you only by your first name. Far as they know you’re just another one of the men, out of work an
d desperate enough to come and try your luck.”

  He flushed and she knew she’d hit the nail on the head. Was it so humiliating to be associated with her?

  “I didn’t tell you not to mention me.”

  She pressed her lips together to keep from telling him that he didn’t have to. His expression said it all.

  Jack reached for her hand, there beside his on the bedding, but she lifted it and clasped hers together in her lap.