Seth stared down into Hallie’s sorrow-twisted face; her agony mirrored his own. “I-it happened so fast. One minute he was thrashing about with fever, and the next he was lying still. His skin felt clammy … cold. I couldn’t find a pulse.”
With a sob Hallie flung herself out of Seth’s arms and rushed to the bed. The contest was over, and death had been victorious.
Jake looked so pale, so beautiful. Peaceful. Hallie felt as if her heart were being wrenched from her chest. Memories. They were all she had left of the man who was her life.
Whispering Jake’s name as softly as a prayer, Hallie sank to her knees. With trembling hands, she picked up her stethoscope and fitted it to her ear. As she pressed the chest piece against his breast, his crisp hair tickled her fingertips, just the way it had when she’d caressed him early on Christmas morning.
Then her hand froze. Was she imagining things?
“Seth!” she shrieked, shifting the stethoscope slightly and listening again. Yes. She could make out a faint but steady heartbeat, and he was breathing softly. “Seth! Jake’s not dead, his fever’s broken!”
So exhausted was Jake from his illness that he didn’t rouse until the following evening. Not even when Seth and Hallie removed the sweat-soaked sheets from the bed and wrapped him in blankets warmed by the fire.
“Darling?” Hallie whispered when Jake finally stirred. He was tugging weakly against his bindings, and she slipped her hand into his to still his struggles. “Can you hear me?”
He nodded once and tightened his fingers around her hand.
“I know you’re uncomfortable, but I had to open your throat and insert a tube to help you breathe. We’ve kept you tied for your own protection. The tube is why you can’t talk.”
He yanked against the bindings again and jerked his head.
“I’ll untie you, but only if you promise to hold still while I take care of your throat. Now that you’re conscious, the tube will need to be removed, and if you’re able to breathe normally, the wound will have to be stitched.”
She paused to smile at the face he made at the word “stitch.” Her Jake was definitely back to his right mind. “Do you promise?”
He hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
Quickly Seth and Hallie untied Jake. As Hallie pulled the coverings back over him, Jake clumsily reached up as if to touch the tube in his throat. She caught his hand, frightened that he might inadvertently hurt himself, and gently guided his fingers, letting him explore the area. In soothing tones, she explained what she needed to do.
“Would you like an injection of morphine? It’s going to hurt when I remove the tube.”
Jake shook his head fiercely. Then he patted the bandage covering his eyes.
“I put ointment in your eyes a couple of hours ago and they need to remain covered until tomorrow morning. They’re still a bit red, but they’ll be just fine.” She hoped.
As Jake lay waiting for Hallie to tend to his throat, Seth entertained him with the current news. Above the sound of his friend’s voice, Jake could hear the clank of metal against metal and the splash of water being poured into a bowl as Hallie washed her instruments.
What he wouldn’t give to be able to see his Mission Lady at that moment. He wouldn’t even mind watching her thread her needle, knowing that it was about to be used on himself.
When Hallie finally began working on him, Jake almost regretted his decision not to take the morphine. The procedure was terrible. Painfully he clutched at Seth’s hand, choking wretchedly as the tube was pulled out of the raw wound. And when Hallie plugged the incision to make sure he could breathe by himself, he was positive he would suffocate.
Just when he was sure he would never be able to breathe again, Jake somehow managed to suck in a large gulp of air through his nose and mouth, quickly followed by another. And another.
Seth and Hallie exchanged relieved looks as Jake’s breathing normalized. He was going to be all right.
Hallie leaned against the door frame with a blissful sigh as she let her senses drift on the sea of melodic tranquility. The voice was exquisite. Heavenly. Like the voice of an angel raised in celestial exultation, every note was pure and sweet.
Dressed in a traveling suit of dusty rose, with her dark hair softly haloed in the late-afternoon sunlight, Penelope Parrish looked every bit as enchanting as an angel. Especially, Hallie noted, with her face transfixed with love like that. It was true, for Penelope’s adoration for her older brother was glowingly apparent as she sang him a soothing lullaby.
Hallie let her gaze stray to the man in the bed. He was breathtakingly handsome. His neatly brushed hair gleamed from being freshly washed, and Hop Yung had shaved the thick stubble from his cheeks. And though Jake’s eyes were closed, Hallie knew that he had only to open them to see her standing there.
As the last notes of the song faded away, Hallie clapped her hands softly, exclaiming, “You’ve got an amazing voice, Penelope. I had no idea you were so talented.”
The girl’s head jerked around. When she saw Hallie standing at the door, she nodded stiffly.
“Sweetheart?” Jake’s voice was still as rough as coarse sandpaper, though it had gotten better over the last couple of days. His lips curved with pleasure as he drank in the sight of his Mission Lady. She was the most glorious woman he’d ever seen, despite the fact that she still wore the ugly gown she’d been wearing the day he had rescued her.
Selfishly, Jake thanked God for destroying Hallie’s dowdy clothes and made a mental note to order her a new wardrobe. A flattering one that showed off her superb figure. One of beautiful fabrics … and whisper-thin undergarments. Jake’s loins tightened at the thought of Hallie’s full breasts veiled in a gossamer-sheer chemise and her long, slender legs encased in silk stockings with lacy garters.
As he felt a slash of heat knife through his belly, Jake chuckled. He was definitely on the mend to have his mind on such lustful matters. Warmly caressing Hallie with his gaze, he held out his hands.
“And how is my patient doing this afternoon?” she murmured, taking his hands in hers and sitting at the edge of the bed.
In a quicksilver motion, Jake pulled her on top of him, crushing her in his embrace. “Much better now, Doctor.” With that, he soundly and thoroughly kissed her.
“Jake!” Hallie squealed, squirming out of his arms. “What your sister must think of me!” She cast Penelope an apologetic look.
The girl was staring at her through narrowed eyes, her expression perfectly imparting her less-than-flattering opinion. With a contemptuous snort, she looked away.
Hallie sighed. Penelope’s visit to New York had certainly done nothing to sweeten her disposition.
Ignoring his sister’s obvious disapproval, and her presence, Jake pulled Hallie back into his embrace and pressed a sucking kiss to her collarbone.
“Jake!” Hallie admonished, flushing beet-red at the impropriety of his action. “Behave yourself! You’re much too ill for such exertions.”
“Want to make an intimate examination and find out if I’m too ill?” he asked with a leer, raising one brow suggestively.
Penelope paled at her brother’s suggestion. “You can’t be serious, Jake!” she snapped, her scornful green gaze sweeping Hallie from the top of her simply coiffed head to the toes of her scuffed boots. “Obviously your fever has addled your brain. That being the case, I’ll send Hop to fetch Dr. Barnes immediately. After all, Dr. Barnes is a real doctor, not some sort of … glorified midwife.”
Hallie stiffened like a cat with its back up, outraged by Penelope’s insulting assessment of her medical skills. As she opened her mouth to retort, determined to put the spoiled chit in her place, Jake said firmly:
“Without the courage and excellent medical skills of this so-called glorified midwife, I would have suffocated days ago. It is only because of her superb care that
you’re here carrying on like an ungrateful brat instead of at the cemetery watching the undertakers shovel dirt over my coffin.”
Tightening his arms around Hallie’s waist and staring into her face with unbridled admiration, he declared, “That being the case, I can think of no one more deserving of the title ‘doctor’ than Hallie Gardiner, nor is there any other doctor in the world to whom I would willingly entrust my life. I owe her far more than I can ever repay, and I’m proud to be in her debt.”
Joy, fierce and sweet, expanded Hallie’s heart. Jake’s understandably poor opinion of the medical profession made his words of praise all the more meaningful. As for the way he was looking at her … never had anyone looked at her with such an expression of tender pride.
Penelope had the good grace to flush at Jake’s words, though she still looked unconvinced of Hallie’s competence. Fidgeting with the tasseled braid that trimmed the hem of her jacket, she muttered, “Be that as it may, it’s still highly improper for a woman who isn’t your wife or mother to be seeing you in a state of undress.”
Jake grinned at his sister’s prim response. “It may not be proper, but it’s sure a hell of a lot more fun to disrobe in front of a beautiful woman than for the puffed-up Dr. Barnes. Besides,” he paused to give Hallie a roguish wink, “seeing a nude man is hardly anything new to Dr. Gardiner. By her own admission, she has intimately examined hundreds of men.”
Hallie groaned inwardly. Sick or not, the man deserved a swift kick in the backside for baiting her with her own rash lie.
“Hundreds?” Penelope gaped at Hallie with horrified fascination. Her mouth opened sharply, as if to question the statistic, but then snapped shut again.
“Hundreds,” Jake confirmed with a nod. “And unless you wish to witness such an examination yourself, I’d suggest you leave us now.”
That threat was enough to make Penelope turn on her heel and stalk out of the room, but not before she cast one final look of disapproval toward Hallie.
As the door slammed shut, Hallie slipped out of Jake’s arms and opened her bag with a sharp snap. “You, Mr. Parrish,” she scolded, “are a wicked man.”
When she came back to the bed carrying her thermometer, Jake seized her free hand and slipped it beneath the blankets. Crushing her palm against his arousal, he chuckled, “Want to see just how wicked I can be?”
Oh! How he tempted her! She wanted nothing more than to share in his wickedness and demonstrate just how much she loved him. But, of course, she couldn’t. She had promised God that if he saved Jake, she would never indulge in such pleasurable activities again. Except with a husband. And since they weren’t married …
Snatching her hand away from Jake’s tantalizing hardness, she murmured, “I promised God that I wouldn’t indulge in fleshly pleasures ever again.”
As Jake’s jaw dropped in amazement, Hallie seized the opportunity and slipped the thermometer between his lips. With a menacing frown, she snapped his jaw shut, effectively silencing his protests.
At that moment there was a quick rap at the door and Seth breezed into the room. He stopped in his tracks, staring at the thermometer between his friend’s lips. With mock innocence he asked, “Say, Hallie. Does that thing work in that end of his body, too?”
Jake choked, and the thermometer would have fallen to the floor had Hallie’s reflexes not been so good. “Seth! Stop teasing Jake this instant,” she chided. “You know he’s been terribly ill and is still too weak to defend himself.” With that, she gave Jake’s cheek a pat of encouragement and stuck the thermometer back in his mouth.
“Oh, I see. It works the same way.” Seth’s eyes brightened with interest. “Yes. You pat his cheek and slip it in.”
“Seth!” Hallie shrieked, and when Jake made to spit out the thermometer again, she held it firmly in place. “It’s all right, darling,” she reassured him. “This is a different thermometer.”
“Yes. A much smaller one,” Seth supplied helpfully.
“Seth!” Hallie groaned, as Jake spit out the thermometer and glowered at her. “The other one wasn’t any bigger.”
“Oh? And what else did you do to me while I was helpless and at your mercy?”
“Saved your life, you ungrateful man!” she snapped back, trying to reinsert the thermometer. Stubbornly, Jake refused to open his mouth.
“Would you like me to hold him down while you get the other one?” Seth offered mischievously.
“If he doesn’t cooperate, we just might have to do that.”
“Oh, no,” Jake purred, seizing her arm and pulling her close. “You’re not prodding my backside or any other part of my anatomy until you tell me about this promise you made to God.”
Hallie flushed scarlet and glanced over to where Seth was tactfully studying the papers in his hands. “Later. In private.”
“Now. You can whisper the details into my ear.” Her mouth was only inches from his, and it took all of Jake’s self-control not to claim it with his. “Surely whispering isn’t forbidden?”
Pressing her lips close to Jake’s ear, she haltingly told him about her promise. He smelled good, like spicy shaving soap, and it was all she could do to keep her train of thought.
When Hallie had finished with her explanation, Jake threw back his head, laughing hoarsely. “Seth,” he said, his voice raspy. “Fetch Judge Dorner and Reverend DeYoung now. Drag them here, if necessary. I want them here within the hour.”
Seth stared at Jake as if he’d lost his mind.
“Go! I intend to marry my Mission Lady.”
“Jake,” Hallie whispered, as Seth scampered out the door with a delighted whoop. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“I know. But if you’ll have me, I’d very much like to marry you.” He lightly traced the shape of her ear with his tongue, pleased with her trembling response. “Don’t you know that you’re everything to me, Miss Hallie Gardiner? That I don’t want to be without you, even for a moment? Say you’ll marry me, sweetheart.”
Hallie wrinkled her forehead as if considering his proposal. “Only if you tell me what the ‘V’ stands for.” She traced the monogram on his pillow case with her fingertip.
“Valentine,” he mumbled, with a pained expression. “My mother was a sentimental woman.”
“But your birthday is in November?”
“Nine months later—on the sixteenth,” he replied with a meaningful smile.
“I don’t understand … Oh!” She flushed a dull red as she grasped his meaning.
“Exactly. My parents knew how to celebrate Saint Valentine’s day right. Care to spend it in the same manner, Dr. Gardiner? This year and every year?”
She threw her arms around him, drawing him close until his head rested against her breasts. “I want you so badly it makes me ache! Yes!”
“Not nearly as badly as you’re making me ache.” With a sigh, Jake burrowed his cheek against Hallie’s pillowing softness, contentedly molding his body against hers. They fit together as perfectly as if they’d been made for each other.
“I certainly hope Seth hurries back,” he muttered, his body throbbing at her closeness. “I’d hate for you to break your promise to God.”
And on the first day of the year 1866, wearing her tattered old gown, Dr. Hallie Gardiner became Mrs. Jake Parrish. Though she hadn’t walked down a rose-strewn aisle to the strains of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” or worn a gown of fine Brussels lace, Hallie couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful wedding. She was marrying the man of her heart, and that made it perfect.
Chapter 23
Hallie stood in the cool entry hall, stripping off her cocoa-colored kidskin gloves. She had just spent the afternoon inspecting the framing of the new Mission House and Mission Infirmary and was now preoccupied with making a mental list of the furnishings and supplies that would be needed once the buildings were complete.
Hallie felt her heart swell with joy, as it always did when she thought of her wonderful husband. She was the luckiest woman in the world to be married to Jake Parrish. Unlike most men she knew, who would have keeled over of apoplexy at the mere idea of their wives practicing medicine, Jake was proud of her accomplishments and never failed to introduce her as his wife, Dr. Parrish. And though she was often called away from home on emergencies, sometimes at the expense of their evenings together, she had yet to hear him complain.
Feeling truly blessed, she laid her gloves on the foyer table and began to remove her fashionable pillbox hat. As she looked into the gilt-framed mirror before her, she grinned at the frivolous creation on her head.
The hat was as different from her burned-up bonnets as a butterfly was from a moth. Made of copper-colored crushed velvet and liberally trimmed with ribbons in shades of cocoa and gold, it was the most beautiful hat she had ever owned. She paused to caress the soft fabric before laying it on top of her gloves. The hat was a perfect example of Jake’s exquisite taste, as was every item in her extensive new wardrobe.
When she had first seen the dazzling selection of gowns and feminine frippery he’d ordered, she had accused him of taking leave of his senses. It was positively sinful the way the man spoiled her. Speaking of sinful …
She had been speechless with equal parts shock and pleasure when he had unwrapped a daring array of gossamer undergarments; she had been overwhelmed with desire when he had then whispered temptingly into her ear, begging her to don her new unmentionables and treat him to an intimate examination.
Yesterday's Roses Page 33