Would-Be Mistletoe Wife

by Christine Johnson

  Though Sawyer Evans lit the trail immediately in front of Jesse, and Roland and Garrett’s light was still visible, Jesse lost focus and tripped several times.

  “You all right?” Evans asked.

  “Fine,” Jesse said.

  Focus. He had to get Louise safely to the school or boardinghouse or wherever there was a doctor. Evans would take him there. Jesse wasn’t one to easily trust another’s leading, not after obeying his commander in Vicksburg, but Evans knew the way better than he did.

  They’d reached yet another hill. Jesse struggled to the top, his feet sliding backward with each step. That would have happened anyway in the loose sand, but Louise’s weight made it worse. Once he dropped to his knees.

  Evans rushed toward him. “You all right? I can carry her for a while.”

  “No!” Jesse struggled to his feet. “I’m fine, but we have to get her to a doctor. She fainted a while ago.”

  At least he hoped she had only fainted.

  Evans stayed close. Ahead, Garrett Decker raced forward with his son, who was now coughing and crying. Why wouldn’t Louise wake?

  “There’s no doctor in town,” Evans informed him, “but Mrs. Calloway knows a lot about medicines.”

  That didn’t make Jesse feel any more secure. The town might trust a boardinghouse proprietress’s medical judgment, but he would rather have a physician on hand. Mrs. Calloway’s preferred remedy might help—or it might cause great harm. Louise had to wake.

  “Come back to me,” he pleaded again. “Come on, Louise, open your eyes. Cough. Do something.” He had to know that she was alive.

  At the bottom of the dune, the road turned to the right. After another small rise, they descended into town. The glow of lights had never looked so good. Not one building was ablaze. In fact, he couldn’t spot a single fire. If the winds stayed from the current direction or died down, Singapore was safe.

  Now if only Louise was.

  He gripped her close and stepped onto the boardwalk. The boardinghouse was close now. He could make out its tall roof in the light of the moon.

  “Louise.” He whispered in her ear, so delicately curved, and his lips brushed the soft skin of her neck.

  She was still warm.

  The sensation jolted him, but the knowledge was even better. Louise was alive.

  He erased the remaining distance in seconds. Even before he knocked, Mrs. Calloway opened the door and led him into the parlor, where he placed Louise on the sofa.

  “Dearie,” the woman clucked softly, “what were you thinking, headin’ off on your own? My Ernie would’ve gone with you. Half the town would’ve gone with you.” She placed a damp cloth on Louise’s head. “Now you’ve gone and given us all a fright.”

  Though Jesse felt a crowd press around him, he focused only on Louise. “Will she be all right?”

  “Let’s see.” Mrs. Calloway reached into her medicine box and pulled out a small vial. After unstopping it, she waved the glass vial under Louise’s nose.

  Louise started and then coughed. A good sign. When she opened her eyes, she searched until her gaze landed on him. Then, between the hacking coughs, she smiled.

  Jesse felt the relief course through him. She would live.

  * * *

  “I need to be useful,” Louise told Mrs. Calloway two mornings later. “Give me something to do.”

  The boardinghouse proprietress had just told Louise that she’d slept through yesterday and last night. That was shocking enough, but the fact that Louise had fallen asleep on the sofa and Mrs. Calloway didn’t have the heart to move her made her shake her head in disbelief. Apparently the woman had closed the doors and forbade anyone from entering. The poor guests had to make do with the writing room for conversation and handiwork as well as reading and writing. The piano had lain dormant.

  “Now, you just rest up until you’re yourself,” Mrs. Calloway said as she set a breakfast tray on the small table often used for playing cards but now serving as a bedside table.

  Louise swung her feet to the floor. “I am myself, except for a raw throat from all that coughing and a touch of grogginess from whatever you gave me for sleep.”

  “Now, dear, there was no need to give you a thing for sleeping. Once Mr. Jesse told you Isaac was all right, you closed your eyes and dropped right off.”

  Jesse. She remembered looking for him the moment she awoke. “Did he...that is, was he the one who brought me here?”

  Mrs. Calloway stopped arranging the napkin on the breakfast tray. “That he did. I’ve never seen a man so smitten. Excepting Mr. Roland and Mr. Garrett and Mr. Sawyer, of course. Now, eat up.”

  Louise surveyed the hearty breakfast of eggs, ham and thick slabs of fresh bread. None of it appealed. “No doubt Mr. Calloway was just like them back in the day.”

  The woman chuckled, diverted from matchmaking to pleasant memories. “That he was, but I didn’t see it at the time. A woman can be blind, you see. I had my eyes on someone I thought was a better catch, but the Lord had other ideas. He knew exactly where He wanted me.” She sighed and pulled away from the memory. “And He knows where He wants you too.”

  “Trouble is, I don’t know,” Louise muttered softly enough that the partially deaf woman couldn’t hear. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and stood. For a second, spots formed before her eyes, but it passed quickly. “Please tell me where I can find my clothing and where I might get dressed.”

  Mrs. Calloway clucked her tongue. “Breakfast first.”

  “I am not hungry.”

  “You need to eat if you expect to regain your strength.”

  Louise was about to protest that her strength was just fine when her legs wobbled. “All right.” She sat and managed a few bites under Mrs. Calloway’s supervision. “I don’t generally eat a large breakfast. Not this early. Perhaps later, after I’ve accomplished something.”

  “Accomplished, humph. The Good Book says we are saved by grace not by works alone.”

  “It also says that faith is dead without works, but I don’t want to argue. I simply must be useful, and, from what Linore told me earlier, there’s a lot that needs doing.”

  “Nothing that we’re not already handling.”

  “I need to return to school.”

  “Miss Fiona canceled classes for the rest of the week. That’s why the girls are helping here.”

  “Then I will help also. I understand there are several families housed here and many more are at the hotel. Surely there is something I can do. If you won’t let me do anything strenuous, I might read to someone who is injured or ill.”

  “Well, there is Mr. Linden. His hands got burnt when he pulled his little one from the fire.”

  A lump formed in Louise’s throat. How blessed she was to have only a raw throat and a nagging cough. “I will read to him. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “Do you know much about bandaging burns? I seem to recall you helping out with Pearl after her legs got burnt.”

  Pearl Lawson Decker suffered burnt legs while rescuing little Sadie Decker from the fire that claimed the schoolhouse. That fire was the one that had haunted Sadie’s older brother, Isaac, and nearly cost him his life.

  “I did.” Louise took a sip of tea. Burns were terribly painful, but the bandages must be changed. “I will help with that.”

  “Thank you, dearie. Now you eat up that breakfast.”

  It truly was a great deal more than Louise was accustomed to eating, but Mrs. Calloway hovered over her, apparently unwilling to leave until she was assured Louise would eat.

  After a few more bites, Louise asked, “Are all the fires out?”

  “Aye. Even Holland, though it’s suffered a terrible loss, from what we’ve heard. The VanderLeuvens have returned. They lost everything.”

&
nbsp; Louise gasped. The VanderLeuvens had sold the hotel to Sawyer and Fiona just last spring and moved to Holland to be with their children. “What will they do?”

  “You know Miss Fiona and Mr. Sawyer. They took them right in and put them in the owner’s apartment again.” Mrs. Calloway dabbed at her eyes. “Why, from what I heard, Mr. Sawyer even gave them a job. Now, that’s good Christian folk.”

  Louise had to agree. Through all of Louise’s ups and downs, Fiona had made sure she had employment and a place to live. “We’re fortunate to have them in our town. Once I dress, I will change Mr. Linden’s bandages. Just show me where you keep the ointment and clean bandages.”

  “Thank you, dear. Your things are in my room. You can dress there. Do you need any help?”

  Louise shook her head, glad that her underpinnings and gowns allowed her to dress herself. She had left behind the fancy gowns requiring the assistance of a maid, knowing that she would never see the ballroom floor again. She’d intended to become a frontier wife. Instead, she’d become a frontier teacher. After changing Mr. Linden’s bandage, she would go to the school and tell Fiona they could resume classes.

  * * *

  Jesse slept fitfully after the midnight watch at the lighthouse. The previous morning, he’d gotten only a few hours of rest after a night of hard work dousing the buildings against fire. And finding Louise. The thought of losing her had shaken him worse than he could have imagined, but he’d pushed aside the thought all day yesterday. Duty awaited, and that duty did not include pondering his growing attachment to Louise.

  She was a good woman and stronger than he’d first supposed, but she had made a critical error. Running off without telling a soul was never a good idea. It could have cost her dearly.

  When Mrs. Blackthorn had informed him yesterday afternoon that Louise was up and about, the concern that had knotted his shoulders melted away. Louise would recover. He had saved her. Though he’d failed in Vicksburg, he hadn’t failed the night of the fires. The town escaped unscathed, and not one person from Singapore suffered lasting ill effects. Isaac had been running around as usual the next day. Louise took longer, but that was to be expected. No one else from town was harmed. Unfortunately, many families arrived from the countryside, their farms and homes burned. But he’d heard of no deaths.

  Then why had he tossed and turned? Why the same nightmares? Why had he awoken drenched in sweat yet again?

  The dreams should have stopped. This time he’d acted. He’d done all he could. No one was harmed. This right should have reversed the wrong. The guilt should be erased. Instead, it had risen up again.

  He donned his clothes and stared at the stacks of letters. Any day now another pile would arrive. According to his plan, he should narrow these down to a few prospects and write, but something was holding him back.

  Maybe it was someone.

  Louise. His pulse quickened.

  He hurriedly buttoned his shirt and combed his hair.

  What had she said the last time they talked? That they could only do their best and the rest was up to God. He hadn’t believed it then, but when faced with losing Louise he had turned to God. No, he’d pleaded with God, and the Lord had answered. If he’d ever needed a sign of what he was supposed to do, he’d received it then.

  The thought of losing Louise had panicked him. When he and Sawyer met up with Roland and Garrett, the Decker brothers had reported that they couldn’t find any of the missing three. The smoke was too dense and the night too dark. Jesse and Sawyer had pressed on with the Deckers on their heels. Roland had found Jimmy and Isaac first, but the lad’s mutterings couldn’t point them to Louise.

  So what had? God’s hand? Sawyer had rushed ahead while Jesse looked carefully. When he thought about how he’d nearly missed seeing her, it shook him. She lay in the shadow of a juniper bush. Yet a sudden snap, like a twig breaking or a fire crackling, had drawn his attention. Then the moonlight caught the metal eyelets on her shoes. That small glint drew him closer, where he found her murmuring incoherently.

  He thought he’d lost her when she passed out, but again he was wrong. She lived. Not only that, she hadn’t suffered any harm. No burns. No lasting difficulties. Mrs. Blackthorn said Louise intended to return to the school later today.

  Jesse would catch her before she resumed teaching. He hurried downstairs and bypassed the kitchen, where Mrs. Blackthorn would have a meal for him in the warming oven. He plunged out the door and half slid down the dune toward town.

  This couldn’t wait.

  Louise needed to know. All the letters in the world couldn’t compete with the compassion and valor that she possessed. She was the strongest woman he’d ever met, determined, intelligent and persistent. She would not wilt under duress. She could stand up under the hard life of a lighthouse keeper’s wife.

  Was he ready to offer marriage? The thought made his empty stomach churn. What would she think of his nightmares? Could he tell her about the Sultana and what had happened at Vicksburg? Would she understand? Somehow he believed she would. Moreover, his actions during this fire must have redeemed him. She would see that.

  He stepped onto the boardwalk and headed for the boardinghouse. Men either nodded or shouted a greeting.

  Roland called out, “Stop by the store when you have a moment.”

  “Later,” he called back.

  He couldn’t be diverted from his purpose. No, he had to do this before he thought too much, before he recalled all the reasons he’d had for not pursuing a relationship with Louise Smythe.

  This midday, he would tell her how he felt and pray for a good response.

  He bounded up the steps of the boardinghouse.

  The draperies in the parlor were pulled open, and through the window he saw the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. True, her physical beauty couldn’t compare with some women, but Louise exuded something else that completely overshadowed the physical. Why, even now she took his breath away.

  He watched, transfixed, as she moved toward the sofa, leaned over, and then straightened up.

  A man rose from that sofa, his attention riveted to her. The man glowed with gratitude, and Louise smiled back at him.

  Jesse felt a twinge of jealousy until a handful of children surrounded the man. Judging from their delighted cries, this was their pa. Soon a woman joined them, and the man kissed her. The love between husband and wife touched Jesse. This was what he wanted, but Louise’s look of longing reminded him of the hurdle that stood between them.

  If he married Louise, Jesse would never have the large family he desired.

  He turned and left.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Louise finished wrapping the bandage around Mr. Linden’s forearms and hands. She tried to be as gentle as possible, but she saw him wince and grit his teeth several times.

  “There, now. We’re done. Pearl Decker—she suffered burns in last fall’s fire—told me the pain eases over time.”

  He sucked in his breath. “Didn’t hurt a bit.”

  Louise had been touched by his story of running back into the burning house to rescue his three-year-old. “At least your entire family is safe, thanks to your valor.”

  Tears gleamed in his eyes. Mr. Linden wasn’t a handsome man by any definition, but his love for his family overcame any deficiencies in appearance.

  “By the grace of God,” he murmured.

  “That it is. And your little one is running around as if nothing happened. She’s a dear child.”

  He nodded, clearly overcome. Then his wife and six children rushed into the parlor to embrace him. Louise stepped back, mesmerized by their joy. This was what she wanted and would never have. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

  To keep her thoughts away from the sorrow, she announced, “Mrs. Calloway said dinner will be served shortly in the
dining room.”

  “Thank you,” Mrs. Linden said.

  He was still shaky after his ordeal, but his wife steadied him. He had saved his youngest from the fire that consumed his house, but it had nearly cost his life. When he’d stumbled coming out of the house, his wife and sons pulled him to safety. Louise wasn’t sure she could be so brave. She had found Isaac before the blaze reached him. Could she have dashed through flames for his sake?

  Her thoughts drifted to Pearl, who had done just that last fall to save little Sadie. Like Mr. Linden, Pearl had suffered deep burns that scarred her legs. Mr. Linden’s burns might make it difficult for him to continue farming. With the eldest son barely in his teens and their farm leveled by fire, the future looked grim for the family.

  Tears gathered again in her eyes. There was much to rejoice about, yes. People survived the fires, but lives would be changed forever. Her worries over Jesse’s affection and her job seemed so insignificant in comparison. Friends here would help her. She’d seen the community band together. No one would be left to suffer.

  The Linden family headed for the dining room first. As Louise left the parlor, a movement outside caught the corner of her eye. She looked just in time to see Jesse leaving the boardinghouse porch.

  Odd.

  She hadn’t heard a knock or his voice, and he hadn’t stuck his head in the parlor to greet her. She wondered what he’d wanted, but that thought disappeared the moment she reached the crowded dining room.

  All those staying at the boardinghouse waited in line. Mrs. Calloway had set the food on the sideboard so people could serve themselves. Since the dining room couldn’t possibly seat everyone housed at the boardinghouse, this was the most practical way to run the meals.

  Louise was disappointed to see Priscilla and her friends at the head of the line.

  “Potatoes and onions?” the girl questioned. “Is that what you expect us to eat?”

  Louise felt her temper rise. She hurried to Priscilla’s side. “You will eat whatever is placed in front of you or do without.”

  Priscilla stared at her as if she had made the most foolish statement ever pronounced. That girl needed the discipline of a structured schedule, not the freedom to run about doing whatever she pleased. No doubt Mrs. Calloway had been too busy to keep an eye on Priscilla and her cohorts.