Chapter 12
When morning came, Ellie was still laying on the bed, her eyes closed. She was enjoying the relative silence of the early morning after the disturbance of the night before. The guests had gone to bed now, and so the whole building was quiet. The rain had stopped, and there was a soft fall of snow landing in the street below. She could see from her bed that it had started to settle, but everything seemed much calmer, and even the drainpipe seemed to be quieter. She struggled to rise from the bed, her hair matted and tangled from the sweat, and her limbs aching. Her head was echoing the beating of the rain last night, but somehow felt as light as the snow. She was slightly giddy, and the room span whenever she tried to get up.
She was clearly sick, there was no denying it now. She would have to get a message to Mr. Green and tell him that she could not come in to work. She would also have to find a way to treat herself, without assistance from anyone. She didn’t even know if Grass Valley had a doctor, she had heard that some of the smaller towns out here did not. Perhaps she would lie in the room until someone came to fetch her to work, or until Mrs. Van Buer wanted her rent.
Maybe she fell asleep again, or maybe it was later than she had thought, but the hammering of her headache became the ringing of church bells, and Ellie suddenly realized that it was a Sunday. She should be down in the street, making her way to church. Dr Lewis would see that she wasn’t there, and might think that she was avoiding coming to church due to their conversation. She couldn’t let him think that she wasn’t serious in her prayers.
She made another effort to get out of the bed, but her whole body was so heavy, and her heart as well as her head began pounding whenever she lifted her head from the pillow. Each time she moved, the sweat sprung up on her forehead, and she was becoming a damp, miserable mess. She couldn’t stand laying in the bed any longer, she had to get up and get dressed ready for church. Each movement was a struggle, but with her willpower she made the effort to turn over in her bed, and then put her feet onto the rug. She finally dropped onto the floor, crawling towards the wash basin on her hands and knees, and then using the dressing table to pull herself onto her feet so that she could reach the basin. She just wanted to clear away the worst of the sweat before it soaked into her clothes.
Standing in the chill of the room, she was very cold indeed. The snow had chilled the air, and although she had been sweating heavily before, now her limbs froze and her fingers and toes ached with the cold. She couldn’t let herself become cold if she had a chill, she thought, and so she wrapped her dressing gown around herself, and sat down at the basin as she had seen her mother do in the distant past. She must have sat like that for a long while, staring into space, because before she had managed to touch her face to the water, there was a loud knocking at the door.
The outside was silent, the ringing of bells had ended, and it was only the throbbing of her own head that she could hear now. That, and the incessant knocking of the door. Had someone come to get her for church? She hoped that it wouldn’t be Mrs. Stamp, she wasn’t in the mood for another conversation about Daniel right now.
She stood up, forgetting that she only had on her dressing gown and nightshirt, and opened the door. The heat from the hall struck her, turning her cold body into a flame of fever and sweat, and she trembled as she looked at Daniel, his eyes widening in alarm as he saw her.
“What has happened to you?” he said, his voice raised. She tried to stop the ground moving, but it wouldn’t listen to her and writhed like a snake.
“Nothing.” She said, swaying slightly and pressing her hand on the wall to keep herself upright. She mustn’t let Daniel know that she wasn’t feeling very well.
“Are you unwell?” He was looking closely at her now, and she knew that he could see the beads of sweat rolling down her face.
“No, no, I’m well.” She wouldn’t confess to him that she was sick, she wouldn’t let him see a weakness.
“You didn’t come to church this morning, that is all. We didn’t know what had happened to you.” He paused, “you don’t look so well, Ellie.”
She waved her hand at him, and staggered, falling against the wall. She didn’t change her position, but instead put her head on the wall, which was cool and soothing. She closed her eyes, but the room carried on spinning, and now it seemed like her own head was turning and moving of its own accord.
“Wait there.” He turned and ran down the steps, and she could hear him below, talking to the hotel keeper. She didn’t know why he would tell her to wait, she wasn’t going anywhere, she just wanted to press her head to the wall and take in the cold. Then she looked across at her bed, and wanted to be there, to lay down and relax in that space. Her head was getting too cold to keep lying against the wall, anyway.
There was a few moment’s silence, and Ellie started to wobble her way back to bed, pressing both hands against the wall to keep her standing upright while she moved slowly along the floor. Her joints were aching, and the heat and the cold now seemed to have no relation to the atmosphere, but were instead fighting for possession of her flesh.
From somewhere, she could hear someone coming into the house, and conversations on the floor below, but she was concentrating too hard on getting back into bed to worry about the new voices that she could hear. They seemed too far away to make a difference, anyway.
“Miss Carter?”
She spun around, and missed her hold on the wall, falling backwards against the dressing table and knocking water from the basin onto the floor.
Daniel was standing at the door with a strange man, grasping a bag in his hand. Daniel stepped forward, and grasped her, helping her to her feet.
“Miss Carter, I’m Doctor Joseph. I think you should probably sit down.”
“I was trying,” she said, but allowed Daniel to help her back to the bed, and then she just slid to the side, she didn’t know how, and was laying with her head on the pillow staring up at these two men.
The doctor walked forward, and took hold of her wrist. He was looking into her eyes as he felt her pulse, and when he dropped her wrist he took out a cold stethoscope and pressed it to her chest.
“I’m certain this is influenza,” he said at last. “There are a few cases in the mines, and I think I have seen you working at the General Store. Is that right?”
“Yes, it is.” Daniel said.
“Well then. I can’t offer you much, miss, but you should probably stay in bed for a few days, at least for next week, and I will see you then. Keep warm, drink plenty, and don’t get out of bed unless the hotel is on fire.” He turned to Daniel and started to say more about what she could and couldn’t do.
She nodded slowly as he gave his instructions, but she was already falling asleep, and did not hear the doctor or Daniel leave.
Chapter 13
Daniel was constantly in and out of her room that first day, and Ellie was too weak to resist. He brought her another pillow from his home, and kept her supplied with warm drinks of honey and lemon. Dr Joseph returned in the afternoon, with Daniel insisting that he do something more for Ellie. Dimly, through the fever, she realized that he was paying for her medical treatment. If she had been better, she might have been more annoyed with this, but as it was she lay on the bed, passive and unresisting as he bathed her brow and swept damp hair from her face.
Even now, in the middle of her sickness, she was reluctant that he could not see her at her best, but must stand over her with a damp cloth while her hair became increasingly matted and dirty.
He persuaded her not to bolt the door each time he left, but allow him to come in and out of her room as he found most convenient. She knew that he was right, and that she should not be getting out of bed against doctor’s orders, and at the end of the evening, tired beyond words, she agreed that she would not bolt the door when he left.
After he had gone, she lay awake in the dark for a while, frustrated at how ill she felt and what little she could do about it. This was not what she had
wanted at all, to be so helpless and dependent on the man she was rejecting. Finally, she drifted off to a blank, dreamless sleep that did nothing to cure her tiredness.
Ellie slept for most of the next day, but each time she awoke, it seemed like Daniel was there, sitting on a chair by her bed. When she woke, he would put down his book, or turn to face her from the window, and talk to her until she fell asleep again. She didn’t remember what he said, but she felt herself relax and drift into sleep as he spoke.
He came each day, sitting on the little chair which he had moved from beside her dresser. Often he would bring a book to read, but occasionally he would pick up her family Bible from the table, and read portions of it to himself. He seemed mesmerized by the notes written on the flyleaf by her father, and his father before him, but didn’t say anything to Ellie. If she was awake for too long, he would read to her, but it was always novels or adventure stories, not passages from her Bible.
As the week wore on, she was awake more often when he arrived, and he started to bring her hot food, including soup, from the hotel below, replacing the drinks that he had previously given her. He helped her to sit up so she could drink it, and he also moved her dressing table closer to the bed so that he could put the food down while she slept. Food tasted good, but she could only really handle a little at a time, and it would have to sit on the side while she rested, to be heated up in the fire when she woke. Gradually she was able to do more to help him when he brought the soup, and she realized that she was getting stronger.
She also started to join in with his conversation, mostly about the land and the fields, including his work in the logging business. He was proud to tell her about how he had come to the town with very little, and had set up the first logging machine close to the river. He told her about his family, bringing his mother and sister here, both since left for the excitement of San Francisco, but he also spoke about the surrounding town and forest. He told her about his life growing up close to the town, and about how he would regularly visit the woods and watch the animals play. He told her that his mother had been anxious, in case he decided to become a mountain man, and how she had been so happy when he started working the log mill. Ellie enjoyed these conversations, which opened up Grass Valley to her in a way that she had not imagined, and she started to feel that she knew him closely, better than anyone else here.
He was also kind to her, tender when she started to sweat or shiver, and firm when she tried to get up and go out into the street. He would still forbid her, but she knew that he was only doing what he thought would help her, and she found it hard to be angry with a man who was spending so much time taking care of her. If he stopped her getting out of bed, or getting dressed, then she discovered that she could accept it would good grace, laugh, and then start talking about other important things.
Ellie lay on the bed, wondering how she had managed to live this week with her rejected fiancé so close to her. It had not always been easy, and if she had been well it might not have worked. She might have thought, at first, that he was trying to get her to see him as a husband, but she had been too ill even to think about what he wanted, or why he was being so kind to her when she had embarrassed him in front of his family. However, as she grew stronger she realized that he was not trying to get her to do anything that she didn’t want. Instead, he was taking care of her like he was her brother, or even like a professional medical attendant. She had seen them when her father died, and she had only known them as professional, close-mouthed people who would not let their patient be bothered. She could only really feel gratitude for his care and concern, and a happiness that he did not dislike her, even after everything that she had done to him. She was also realizing that she did not dislike him, in fact she liked him a good deal more than anyone else in Grass Valley.
He certainly kept the town away from her when they tried to come in. Even Mrs. Stamp was pushed aside, and Ellie started to feel grateful to him, for the care and gentleness which he was demonstrating, and also for the silence which he provided when she required.
Each day passed, with her feeling much the same. Too tired to move or do much, but at the same time her mind was almost well and nagged restlessly at her confinement.
The more he spoke to her, the better she liked him. It was clear that he had passion, and was not just the soulless frontier man that she had believed him to be. She regretted not taking the time to speak to him before the wedding. They could be happily married by now, she thought, and she would not have got sick by serving men in the General Store.
“Are you finished staring at me yet?” Daniel’s amused voice made her blush.
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about how I caught this illness.”
He frowned. “It is a pity that you are not more resistant to illness. My uncle hasn’t had a day’s sickness since he opened the store.”
She sighed, and relaxed into the cushion. He was at her side quickly, apologizing and insisting that she get better quickly.
She pushed his hand away, shaking her head. "I am not annoyed. I am just frustrated that you still see me as a silly girl. Would you want a child as a wife, as a housekeeper and cook?"
"I don't really imagine a wife as just a housekeeper with a marriage certificate. I want a companion, someone who can be a partner in my life. You mustn't think that I was criticizing you at all for being unwell. When I was young I was very ill indeed, and I remember that it wasn't a pleasant feeling. I was just saying that I wish it hadn't happened, and that you had never caught any sickness." He sighed. "I supposed I blame myself since you would not have been ill if I hadn't got that job for you at Uncle Jim's."
She patted his hand, shaking her head at his guilt. "It could have happened at any time. I should take more care of myself." She smiled. "Or perhaps I should rather find someone who cares for me, so that I don't have to be stubborn and independent all the time. " She paused. "I don't think that I would have been a very good wife to you, if we had been married last Fall."
He took her hand, but didn't smile. "I still think that I would have preferred to be married on the agreed date. But maybe the time was not right for us." He stood up. "Maybe the time never will be right for us now."
Chapter 14
The day after their longest conversation was another Sunday, and Ellie felt Daniel’s absence as he went to church. He had come to see her before he went to the chapel, but insisted on her staying in bed, exactly as the doctor had instructed. She would be forgiven, he was sure, as Dr Lewis and the town knew how sick she had been. He had opened one of the windows early that morning and raised the shutters, so she could look out on the town, and hear the clear bells ringing out. It was chilly, and so he wrapped her up tightly in her shawl, and pulled the covers around her, telling her to keep warm. She watched him head out across the street, smiling to herself and nestling into her shawl. He had put her Bible within easy reach, and she held it in her hands now, tucking her fingers into the worn pages and remembering her father reading aloud from it, and writing the dates of his children’s births and deaths, and making notes by each name. She read some of those descriptions now, but that seemed a long time ago now, and far away.
She had drifted off to sleep by the time the door opened again. Ellie saw with surprise that there were two persons in the doorway. Daniel brought Dr Lewis to see her, and the priest bowed his head towards her as he stepped through the doorway.
“Miss Carter.” He said, and nodded towards the book in her hands. “I see you haven’t completely given up your faith, then.”
“Ellie has been ill, Simon, as well you know.” Daniel came in and closed the door, but Ellie thought that he was more annoyed than when he had left.
Dr Lewis came up to Ellie and took her hand in his. “I am only making light of a serious situation, Daniel. I know that the whole town has been worried for your health.” He looked at the other man. “Aside from you in church every day praying for the girl, we’ve had the ladies in there and Jim Gree
n, all pleading for the good Lord’s intercession with this one small girl barely out of childhood.” He turned back to Ellie. “It has been quite a festival for the church, I rarely get so many significant people coming to see me during the week.”
She smiled. “Well, I am glad my illness was of some profit to the church.”
“I would like it to have been some profit to yourself, young woman. If your illness is not the Lord’s work in action then I do not know what is. I told you before that the Lord had a higher purpose for you. Did you think it was a coincidence that he kept you here in your room after we had our conversation? God wanted you to think hard about the message I had given you, and you needed the space to consider what I had said. Do you not agree?” He added the last words when she did not respond to his pleading.
“I had not thought about it.” But she turned her head to look out of the window, and Dr Lewis nudged her arm, forcing her to turn around to look at him.
“You see the truth of it, Ellie. I know that I was right to talk to you, and we’re all glad that Daniel’s care has helped you to get better. He has been telling us how happy he was to be able to care for you, and we are also happy that you felt the benefit of a husband in your hour of need.”
“Daniel is not my husband.”
“Not yet, child. But hasn’t he deserved you now? There are not a dozen men in the world who would have rushed to your aid when you needed him, and you are lucky to have found one who will not only help you, but take you for his wife, too.”
She felt suddenly very angry with both men, and turned around to snap at him. However, he held his hand up, and she fell silent.
“You can’t count your blessings too often, child. Even an illness like this, that pushes us closer to Heaven, must be a blessing if we are good Christians. This is clearly a sign that you were meant to come here and find your husband among us.”
The Reluctant Bride (Grass Valley Mail Order Brides Book 3) Page 5