by Jodi Thomas
JoEmma’s gaze swept to the birdcage and she was assured she had latched the door to the cage. Gabby couldn’t escape. She doubted Amigo would even try to unlatch it, if he could. Gabby’s sweetheart rarely moved inches away from her, he was so enamored of his mate. “They’re both locked in. The room needs to air out a bit anyway.”
“Good. Noah asked if you had a moment to talk before you go. There are no more patients for now and he wants to discuss something about tonight.”
The sound of Noah’s footsteps coming down the hall sped up JoEmma’s pulse to a much faster beat than before. She looked toward the door in anticipation, listening as Hannah raised the window. His handsome face brought with it a smile that flashed white against his angular features. She had dreamed of those lips since the day he’d kissed her, and the sight of him smiling at her made her heart feel as if it might leapfrog out of her chest.
“Good, you’re still here.” Noah’s gaze swept over her, softening as it blazed a trail from the top of her head to the hem of her overalls. “You’re sure looking pretty today.”
“Thank you.” If her face was flushed from the exercise, it surely burned bright from the pleasure of his compliment. He wasn’t just being polite. His attention had returned to her lips and lingered there.
JoEmma no longer cared that everyone might think she was competing with Angelina for Noah’s favor tonight or any other night, for that matter. Since she told her sister the truth about the way she cared for him, JoEmma had decided their kiss was worth whatever it took to make herself no burden to Noah.
Finally putting away her stubbornness had made her see herself as others might, and frankly, she hadn’t liked what she saw. She had been insecure, afraid that if she did get better, then she still wouldn’t be enough for Noah. Out of fear, she, not the scarlet fever, had kept herself infirmed. She realized she had to chance losing so that she might win. She had to bet on herself.
Come hell or high water tonight, she would show Noah and everyone else that this was a new JoEmma Brown. A woman who would let nothing, particularly herself, stop her from getting what she wanted. No ... what she deserved. To love and to be loved.
“I’d like to know what you’re thinking right now.”
The huskiness of Noah’s voice made JoEmma aware that she’d drifted off into her thoughts and he was still watching her face intently. “Oh, just that I’m very happy that we got Gabby and Amigo together.”
“You mean I did,” Hannah reminded them from across the room.
“Ahhh, so you finally confess.” Noah chuckled.
“It all worked out for the best.” Hannah dusted her hands together. “You really need to take a cloth to those windows. It’s getting dusty in here.”
“Hannah ...”
“Oh, quit complaining. You wouldn’t know what to do if I ever let up on you anyway, Noah Powell. Besides, I’m gone now. Out the door, if you will see JoEmma home after your talk.”
“Just a minute, Hannah,” JoEmma called.
The housekeeper stopped in her tracks. “I bought you a dress for tonight.” JoEmma hoped that wasn’t irritation creasing Hannah’s brow. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought it looked just like you, and I think Dr. Powell will think you’re the prettiest girl there.”
One of Hannah’s brows arched high. “Kitten, I haven’t been a girl in a whole lot of years, but thank you just the same.” Curiosity got the better of her and she suddenly sounded more girlish than she was willing to admit. “How pretty is the dress?”
“Not as pretty as you, but it will do you justice.”
“As long as Thurgood thinks so.” With that, the woman spun around and left the room to the younger folks.
She had never been alone in a man’s bedroom with him before, and the fact that it was the man she loved made JoEmma all the more aware of how his presence filled the room. He looked handsome in his white shirt, string tie, and vest that he wore to see patients. His scent was pure Noah—a mixture of medical remedies, soap, and something infinitely masculine. Try as she should to leave his private quarters, something kept her here immovable in her chair and waiting for Heaven knew what.
“W-what did you want to talk about?” she began, hoping that her voice would quiet the rush of sensations heating her every pore.
“May I sit?” Noah asked, motioning to the bed.
He must have been tired from the morning’s activities. “It’s your bed, after all,” she whispered.
He sat across from her and reached for her hand. JoEmma didn’t pull away from him as she might have even a few days ago. She meant to show him she’d had a change of heart. No, she had a strengthening of heart and purpose.
“I want you to know that I’m taking you and Angelina to the Valentine’s dance, JoEmma, but it’s you I wish were on my arm alone tonight. I’ve wanted to tell you that when we were alone, but the time hasn’t presented itself till now.”
“Maybe we can go somewhere together, just the two of us, sometime in the future. I’d like that, Noah.”
His eyes searched hers. “You mean it? You’ll stop trying to match me with Angelina?”
“I promise.”
“You’ll quit thinking you’re too much trouble for me to have any interest in you?”
“I can be a handful at times.”
“It’s a heart-full I’m wanting, JoEmma.” His lips moved toward hers, then halted barely an inch away. “And I promise not to kiss you until you’re sure you want the same thing I want.”
She wanted him to kiss her now. Would have asked him to. But she had that moment saved for a very special time when she could show how much she wanted another of his kisses and so much more. “Give me a little more time, Noah. That’s all I need.”
“No-ah-Pow. No-ah-Pow. Smch-smch-smch,” Amigo chirped.
“Stand up. Puhleease,” Gabby chimed in.
Noah’s attention shot from JoEmma’s lips to focus on the birds in the cage behind her. Puzzlement creased his brow. “Where did she hear that from?” he asked.
JoEmma rolled her chair forward and headed for the door, not wanting him to see evasion in her face. “Angelina, probably. You know how she’s always complaining.”
It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Angie had been helping her practice standing all week. Her sister had said it was so that JoEmma might walk down the aisle someday and that had been plenty of motivation to keep practicing.
“Got to go now. Don’t forget to shut that window so they won’t get out if Amigo decides to open the latch again. Little Lockpicker.”
“Says-a-me. Says-a-me. Open up,” Gabby chattered.
“You stay out of this, Funny Feathers. Don’t encourage him.”
Noah laughed, got up, shut the window, and hollered for JoEmma to wait. “I told Hannah I’d see you home.”
“Last one there has to sit next to Angelina in the buggy and she’s wearing at least a dozen petticoats.”
“No fair. I’m pushing.” Noah grabbed the bars of her wheelchair. “You’re ahead of me already.”
“More than you know, Noah,” JoEmma teased, nearly squealing with pleasure from the secret she was holding from him until tonight. Then she remembered ... she still hadn’t told him about the bet. He’d done all the talking.
“Hannah, the Powells are here,” JoEmma informed her from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you and Angie about ready? We don’t want to be late.”
“Coming,” Hannah yelled back. “I’m not used to all this fluff and puffy stuff.”
She appeared at the head of the stairs looking like a cherub in white lace and silk, the long dress flounced and flowing, the mutton sleeves puffed so perfectly the top of their edges nearly touched Hanna’s earlobes. Ruby earrings and a brooch added just the right touch to bring out the brown of her eyes and give her a dash of Valentine color.
Thurgood stepped forward, his cane leading him across the wooden floor to the foot of the stairs. “My dear, you look simply ravishing.”
“I do, don
’t I?” Hannah patted one side of her hair. “And so does your dapper self.” Her cheeks were flushed from the elder doctor’s compliment, and she looked regal as she made her way down the stairs to accept the arm he extended her.
“We look good enough to get hitched,” Hannah announced, linking her arm through his. “Now let’s get that buggy moving. I’ve got on my dancing shoes.”
“Hannah, you don’t,” JoEmma said, then saw that the housekeeper wasn’t joking.
Hannah lifted the bottom of her hem and showed them she was wearing her favorite worn kid boots beneath the fancy dress. “They’re worn in good and nobody will notice them anyway. Better than those fancy toe-tighteners you bought for me. Take ’um back for all the good they’ll do me.”
The men laughed, knowing to argue with her would do little good.
“Angie, you coming?” JoEmma called, focusing her attention on getting their last dallier downstairs. How much longer would it take her sister to finish dressing? She’d not come out all afternoon from her room, but she hadn’t let either her or Hannah help even though they’d both offered.
JoEmma had been given too much time to get ready. Looking her best for a party was definitely more work than anything she’d done in a long time regarding her appearance, but she was no primper. She’d slapped on her emerald paisley, combed the tangles out of her hair, tied a matching ribbon to hold back the top of her hair so it wouldn’t get in her eyes, and pinched her cheeks to make them look not quite so pale. That was the sum total of her preparations. But then she was not on anybody’s most sought after list.
A door opened upstairs.
Everyone’s gazes swung around to view what they knew would be one of the loveliest beauties at the party and the prettiest dress.
Suddenly Angie appeared ... dressed in overalls! Overalls that had lace sewn on the straps, around the edges of each pocket, at the waist, and the leg hems. Angelina had prettied them up until they looked almost fashionable.
“Close your mouths, everybody, and quit staring. I made a bet and I mean to keep it. I just intend to keep it in my own way.”
“But you didn’t lose,” JoEmma reminded. “You don’t have to wear them.”
“Oh, but I do.”
“Lose what?” Noah asked. “The fact that she bet I would escort her to Belle’s?”
“You know already?” Relief washed through JoEmma. She had practiced a dozen ways to tell him and none of them seemed right.
“I had a feeling about it that day all the women showed up in my office pretending to be sick. Then others dropped by, none of them any less healthy than the first ones. I knew for sure that you were involved with some sort of bet, Angelina, when you were so eager to accept my wish to escort you both. I heard about some bet between the women. I just didn’t know which women until that day. And I didn’t know what the consequences would be if I didn’t take you to the party.”
He directed his last statement to Angelina. “Like JoEmma said, if you want to change out of those, she and I will wait for you. Dad and Mrs. Lassiter can go on ahead of us.”
“I’m going just like this,” Angie announced. “Let’s grab the cookies and be on our way.”
Noah and JoEmma grabbed the desserts that had been assigned for the Browns to bring to the festivities and all made their way to the buggies. When they reached the one Noah would be driving, he placed the cookies in the back and turned to help JoEmma out of her chair.
“Just a moment.” She held up one hand to ward him away. JoEmma handed him her box of cookies, and when his back was turned, she stood from out of her chair and waited.
Noah turned and astonishment filled his face. “You’re standing.”
She nodded, smiling at him. “I’ve been practicing. I wanted to surprise you.”
“You have. May I lift you up or do you want to try on your own?” He didn’t quite know what to do with his hands.
She laughed. “I’m not that strong yet. You can lift me, if you like.”
He swung her up into his arms and gently set her in place on the front seat, whispering in her ear, “I like it very much, Jo.”
She thought it might be difficult for him to deal with her chair but Noah had no trouble arranging it in the back. Angie sat behind her and Noah, munching on a cookie all the way to the party.
Lanterns lined the roadway on both sides, blazing a trail for visiting wagons and buggies to find their way to the Whitaker Barn. The dance would last into the wee morning hours, and the lanterns would light everyone’s way back to town. Or at least give better light to those who imbibed too much of Jug Mason’s moonshine and needed a point in the right direction to start their way home.
The local moonshiner had offered to put some “shine” to the punch, provided some of the local cowboy bachelors agreed to dance with his three daughters, Half-pint, Gal, and Keg. Most men around Longhorn City didn’t find them particularly homely, but each of the Masons had a certain “fragrance” that came with them from minding their papa’s still every day.
Music and laughter filled the air as the doctors and their ladies entered the throng of people dancing in the barn. Dresses twirled in time to the rousing reel being shouted by the fiddler. Male hands clapped like thunder to the rhythmic beat, and an occasional “Yee-haw” rent the air.
Moving through the crowd in the wheelchair would have proved daunting for JoEmma if she’d been forced to move on her own. Noah wished that the Whitakers had laid down some boards and sawdust to dance on, but they’d elected to simply muck out a huge dancing arena in the middle of the barn instead. The raw floor made it hard for JoEmma to maneuver.
A glance at her hands made him smile. She’d worn gloves to protect her palms, as he’d advised. “Where do you want to go?” he leaned down and asked her. “Do you think you’ll be more comfortable near the punch and cookie table or over by the bales of hay where everyone’s resting.”
“Help me reach Belle, wherever she’s at. I can’t see through this throng.”
Noah found their hostess near a table decorated with a red cloth and that had a bowl of paper hearts at its center. “Hold on,” he announced, steering JoEmma in that direction. “Excuse me. Pardon me. Man on a mission. Wheelchair coming through.”
Bodies dodged and parted, allowing them to reach Belle.
“There you are!” Belle smiled at JoEmma. “I had hoped you would come, after all. And my, don’t you look beautiful.”
“Yes, she does,” Noah agreed.
Belle glanced up at him, her brow lifting quizzically. “And Angelina, where’s she? We’ve been waiting for her to—”
“I’m right behind them.” Angelina joined her sister at the table.
“You’re wearing overalls.” Belle’s gloved hand shot up to press against her lips as if she was dismayed.
“I lost. Plain and simple. Noah and JoEmma are here together. I just hitched a ride with them.”
“We are?” Noah looked at JoEmma, searching her face for any sign of reluctance. “Here together as a couple?”
He found none there.
She nodded and smiled. “If you want to be.”
“I definitely want to be. Now and for many Valentine’s Days to come.”
“Then that settles that.” Angelina grabbed the bowl of hearts. “Let’s get this matchmaking on the road. The night’s not getting any younger.”
“But first, Angie, we have one couple in particular who needs pairing.” JoEmma wiggled her finger, making Angelina bend down to listen to her whisper.
What were the two up to?
“Really?” Angelina gasped. “Oh, that’s wonderful.” She cupped her hands to her lips and shouted, “May I have your attention, folks? Stop the music!”
When it stopped, she continued, “It seems our former doctor, Thurgood Powell, has a special announcement he would like to make. Dr. Powell, the floor is all yours.”
The people around Thurgood and Hannah Lassiter suddenly moved backward as Thurgood sank to one
knee in front of his housekeeper, though it was difficult for him to do so. “Hannah Lassiter, would you do me the honor of marrying me? Of becoming my bride? Of making this the happiest Valentine’s Day of my life?”
Hannah looked down at him. “Stand up, puhleease, you big hunk of Hippocratic Oath. Of course I’ll marry you.”
A round of applause sounded throughout the barn. Congratulations echoed over the crowd. Noah rolled JoEmma over to the newly engaged couple, knowing she would want to add her best wishes as well.
“Do you have it?” Thurgood asked as JoEmma approached.
“Right here in my pocket.” JoEmma brought out a box tied with a tiny ribbon of red that ended in a heart shape and handed it to Noah’s dad.
They all watched as Thurgood offered the box to Hannah. “A symbol of my deep affection, my dear.”
Hannah unlaced the ribbon and looked inside. She took out the gold ring and smiled. “Put it on my finger, Good Honey.”
Thurgood did as he always did, exactly what Hannah Lassiter wanted him to do.
“Now kiss me like you mean it.”
And he did that, too.
“You knew about this?” It was JoEmma’s lips that held Noah’s attention now, not his parent’s. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“One of my surprises for tonight,” she said, her eyes shining with something more than tears of happiness for Hannah.
“One of? Are there more? I thought you had told me everything back at your—”
“Noah. Just shut up and kiss me. Like you want me forever.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice.
Epilogue
Angelina Brown had her way with the hearts that night, making certain that JoEmma’s and Noah’s paper hearts were drawn out together and that Thurgood Powell’s and Hannah Lassiter’s were matched as well. She even made sure that Gallon Mason was paired with the man of her papa’s dreams, the local barrel maker.