He jerked awake, eyes snapping open, wild with whatever visions haunted his sleep. “It’s all right,” she murmured, tenderly stroking her palm across his chest. “It’s only a dream.”
He released a shuddering breath, his gaze focusing on her as he slowly regained awareness. “Rose,” he whispered gruffly. “I—I…”
“I’m here,” she soothed. “Everything is fine. We’re under the blanket of beautiful stars. You only had a dream.”
“A dream,” he rasped, closing his eyes. “It was a dream.” He swallowed, and reached up to grasp her hand. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“Do you often have nightmares about the war?”
“Sometimes. This is the first since I left the hospital. I had hoped they’d left me for good.”
Rose didn’t respond, simply sat quietly beside him, sensing he wouldn’t talk if she pressed him.
“I was dreaming about Jonah’s brother,” he confided after a long silence. “The day I was forced to amputate his leg.”
“It must have been difficult to make such a decision for a friend.”
Jack sat up beside her, still holding fast to her hand. Rose rather liked the closeness, the intimacy even though she knew she shouldn’t. “It was awful,” Jack admitted. “Two men dragged him out of the back of the wagon and dumped him at my feet. He was screaming and his lower leg was mangled and half off as it was. He looked up at me and said, Jack, thank God. You gotta fix my leg.” He fell silent for a long moment. “There was nothing I could do. A mini-ball must have gone straight through his shin. The leg never would have healed. He kept screaming, Not the bone saw. Not the bone saw. I… I had to have three men hold him down just to anesthetize him. I tried to explain the next day, but… he never spoke to me again.”
“It’s not your fault, Jack.”
He shrugged.
“Wartime is horrible and it creates circumstances beyond your control. In those times your best will never seem to be enough, but you cannot dwell on it. You can’t let it consume you.” She leaned forward and pressed her free hand against his cheek, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Now tell me something happy. Tell me about someone you helped during the war. Someone who was grateful.”
He almost smiled. “I can’t think of any.”
“Don’t be contrary.” She stroked the bristle of whiskers lining his unshaven jaw. “Surely there is at least one man that went home to his wife and children because you helped him.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I’d wager there is more than one.”
Jack gazed down into her eyes for a long moment, the darkness made it difficult to discern the emotion in the depths, but they were so close that Rose could almost believe his gaze was tender... appreciative… He reached up and tipped her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “You should go back to bed,” he murmured, warm breath grazing her mouth, causing her lips to tingle with errant expectation. “We have a long day ahead tomorrow.”
“Come with me,” she whispered, giving in to impulse. “I can’t bear the thought of you sleeping out here alone, knowing you might be haunted by these memories.” She stood and tugged his arm. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
To her immense surprise, Jack didn’t argue. Still holding her hand, he climbed to his feet and trailed a step behind her to the wagon. Wordlessly he slid his hands around her waist and lifted her onto the back as if she weighed no more than a feather. Her heart flopped, and the sensation of his large hands lingered as he climbed in behind her. Rose’s pulse quickened as she reclined on the pallet on the wagon floor, and Jack stretched out directly beside her. He rolled onto his side, and his warm chest nestled against her back. “Thank you,” he murmured, draping a well muscled arm over her waist, and lacing the roughened fingers of his left hand through hers.
Shivers of awareness coursed over Rose’s skin as a combination of excitement and dread rushed through her.
What am I doing?
She was a fool to encourage this closeness. They’d be parting ways soon enough, but while they were together she couldn’t leave him alone in the night with those miserable dreams. Coerced or otherwise Jack had been there for her in her moment of need, and now she would be there for him.
She closed her eyes, relishing the closeness for however long it lasted. When all this was over and they made it to Texas, a broken heart was more than she deserved. Offering him a little solace tonight was the least she could do after all he’d done for her.
Nine
“How would the two of you feel about stopping at that inn for the night?”
On the opposite side of the bench Rose sat up a little straighter. “An inn? With hot water and a real bath? Oh, Jack, that sounds like heaven.”
“A bath!” Will crossed his arms sourly. “I don’t wanna a bath.”
“Well, you’re getting one,” Jack and Rose said in perfect unison. Their eyes met over Will’s head and they laughed together.
After two full weeks on the road Jack was ready for a hot meal and a decent bed. Though, if truth be told, he didn’t particularly mind nestling in the narrow confines of the wagon each night, lying arm in arm with Rose. With her in his arms… he slept. Dreamlessly. Peacefully. It had been years since he’d known such solace.
And they meshed more than in sleep.
Rose was without doubt the most intuitive, calm, least demanding woman he’d ever met. Her company made the trip much more bearable than it would have been alone, and she was just so easy to be around. Jack had been pleasantly surprised as they’d slipped into a companionable rhythm the last few days. Together they negotiated the countryside, chatted, sometimes Rose read books aloud, and in the evenings after Will had nodded off the two of them played cards. He loved laughing with her. More over, he quite adored Will.
Jack found himself resisting the idea of giving them up once they arrived in Texas, but he wasn’t certain how to broach the subject to Rose. The two of them had never discussed their turbulent past. Despite how well they’d been getting on, she’d given no hint that she wanted anything more than his friendship and a fresh start in life. She’d been Paul’s girl after all, he didn’t know how she’d respond to the notion of actually being Jack’s wife.
* * * *
Clean and refreshed for the first time since leaving South Carolina, Rose sat in the tavern visiting with the innkeeper and his wife and watching Will and two of their children play with a puppy beside the fireplace.
“What brings you and your husband this way,” Sarah, the innkeepers wife asked, resting a hand on her very pregnant belly.
“We’re moving to Texas,” Rose replied with a smile. She suspected the other woman was beginning to have labor pains, she’d helped with enough deliveries in her father’s absence over the years to recognize the signs, but didn’t comment.
“Do you have family there?”
“No. We’re just ready for a fresh start.”
Sarah nodded. “The war’s been hard on a good many people. Did your husband serve?”
“He did. As a medical officer.”
“He’s a doctor then,” Tom, the innkeeper, stated with an appreciative nod. “There is a great need for physicians in the western states. In these parts as well.”
Rose nodded. “My father was a physician, and Jack trained with him for a while.”
“Is that how the two of you met?”
Rose smiled reminiscently. “As a matter of fact, it is.” It was funny to think, but Rose had initially been drawn to Jack. At the time he’d shown no interest in courting her, never gave her a second look, and then Paul had come along. Paul had blinded her with pretty poems and compliments. He’d made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. All too late she’d realized Paul made a great many girls feel that way.
Before Sarah and Tom could press further, Jack reappeared, clean shaven with sandy hair slicked back and damp from washing. Rose’s heart clenched at the sight of him. They’d grown close in th
e last couple weeks, and though she hated to admit the fact, she was falling in love with him. The truth was, they fit, and not just physically. She and Jack understood one another as if they’d been cut from the same cloth. They had a great deal in common and could talk for hours about medicine or the passing scenery or any variety of nonsensical topics.
Jack’s warm brown eyes melded with hers across the room and her breath caught. In moments like this she could almost believe he was coming to care for her as she did him.
“Mama.” Will ran across the room and tugged at her arm, forcing her to break the bond with Jack. “The puppy fell asleep.”
“He did, oh my, you must have worn him out.” She pulled him onto her lap. Will rubbed his eyes. “You look tired, too.”
He nodded and yawned.
“I’ll take you to bed now, sweetheart.”
Sarah smiled at she and Will. “He certainly looks like his father.”
Rose glanced uncomfortably back up to Jack.
“That he does,” Jack agreed congenially. “That he does.” He strode over to the table and ruffled Will’s hair. “I’ll take him up,” he offered.
Rose shifted Will in her arms and stood. “That’s all right. You stay and visit with Tom and Sarah for a bit.”
“I’ll come up now,” Jack insisted, reaching for Will. “Come here, little man, I’ll carry you upstairs.”
Will curled his little arms around Jack’s neck and laid his head on his shoulder. The sight nearly undid, Rose. Jack was so wonderful with her son. “Will you tell me a story?”
“Of course,” Jack replied, mounting the stairs ahead of Rose. “Which story would you like to hear tonight? The one about the little Indian boy? Or maybe the story about the brave pony?”
“I want to hear a puppy story.”
“A puppy story. I think your mama and I can come up with something.”
* * * *
It took a solid two hours to get Will to sleep. Normally Jack didn’t mind, He enjoyed every minute spent with his nephew… or stepson… or whatever the boy was supposed to be to him, but tonight… tonight he intended to speak with Rose about the future. Their future.
He shifted his attention from Will to where Rose stood beside the window, staring out into the night. Her brow furrowed, marring her pretty face with worry. “What is it?” Jack crossed to the window, and laid his palm on her shoulder, loosely draping his arm across her back. “You look uneasy.”
Rose glanced up at him, surprise evident in her eyes, but she did not shrug his arm off. “There is a man out by the barn. He’s just… lurking there.”
“Lurking?” Jack chuckled. “That’s a sinister word.”
“I’m serious, Jack. He’s been milling around out there for a good hour. Something doesn’t feel right about it.”
“I’m sure it’s just some cowboy or another traveler that can’t afford a room.” Jack assured her.
“Maybe,” she murmured uncertainly.
“I brought our valuables and my medical bag up so there’s nothing much for anyone to steal from the wagon, but I can go down and mention it to the innkeeper if you’d like.”
“I think that might be best.”
Jack nodded, and gave her shoulder a squeeze before dropping his hand. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated that his talk with Rose had been momentarily thwarted.
A hefty knock at the door startled them both. “Doc Winters! Are you in there? It’s an emergency.”
Ten
Jack and Rose shared a quick glance before Jack strode to the door and yanked it open.
The innkeeper stood before him, obviously shaken. “It’s my wife, Doc. She needs your help.”
A vision of Sarah rounded with child flashed through Jack’s head, and dread instantly swamped him. “What’s happened?”
“She’s been having labor pains all day, Doc.” He shook his head. “You’d never know it to look at her, it’s our fourth babe, and she likes to stay busy to keep her mind off it all. Right after ya’ll went upstairs, her water broke. Usually her labors are quick, but something’s wrong. The baby won’t come, and she’s in an awful lot of pain. I’ve never seen her like this before.”
Jack broke into a cold sweat. Hell… he hadn’t delivered a baby in five years, and he’d never participated in a complicated delivery. Why couldn’t Tom have someone had been shot or stabbed? Jack would have known exactly what to do in that situation.
Rose appeared at his left side. “The doctor will be right there,” she said with calm efficiency. “Which room are you in?”
“We’re on the first floor at the opposite end of the tavern from the staircase. Thank you,” he said, rushing away. “Thank you so much.”
Jack closed the door and leaned heavily against it. Awful memories of battlefield emergencies flooded his mind. His gaze followed Rose as she rushed to the corner and located his medical bag. “Lord help me, Rose. I haven’t dealt with anything but war wounds and dysentery for five years.” His hands began to shake. “And so many boys died. I-I couldn’t help them. I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t know enough. After the war, I don’t even want to be a doctor anymore.”
She shoved the medical bag into his arms. “You can do this, Jack. You’ve read about complications and you know what happens in a normal delivery. From what he’s describing, the baby is either in a transverse breech or the shoulder is caught. If the baby is transverse, you’ll have to turn it. If the shoulder is caught, reach in and break the clavicle.”
Jack raked both hands through his hair. “I’ve never done either of those things before.”
Rose stepped close, taking his face in her palms. “But I have.” She made solid eye contact, anchoring him. “You are a good man, Jack, and a perfectly competent doctor. Now, is not the time to contemplate giving up medicine. We’ll discuss that after the delivery.”
Jack mentally collected himself and nodded, pictures and script from his medical journals coming filtering through his mind. He prayed the baby was not transverse, turning a baby in active labor wouldn’t be easy. “Will you assist me?” He didn’t fully understand it, but he needed Rose at his side. She grounded him. Had faith in him. And she possessed skills that complimented his own.
Rose glanced at Will sleeping soundly on the bed. Finally, she nodded. “As long as one of their older daughters can come sit with him, I won’t leave your side.”
Latching onto her confidence in him, Jack squared his shoulders and nodded curtly. “Let’s go.” He marched down the hall, clutching the medical bag, and using his free hand to roll up his sleeves.
Half way through the dining hall a blood curdling scream rent the air.
Without hesitation Jack broke into a run, and shoved away the plaguing doubts. He had to try. If he didn’t that woman and her baby would die.
* * * *
Joy swelled in Rose’s chest as she swaddled the new baby boy in a soft knitted blanket and settled him in Sarah’s hands. “He’s perfect,” Rose murmured. “Congratulations.”
Exhausted, but otherwise in sound health, Sarah beamed down at the newborn, a single tear dropping onto her cheek. “He’s a little miracle. You and your husband saved him.”
With a gentle smile, Rose lifted her gaze to Jack. He’d performed brilliantly. He’d entered the room with calm assurance, briefly explained that Rose had experience as a midwife and would be assisting him, and together they’d quickly evaluated the situation and settled on a course of action.
On the opposite side of the bed, Tom grabbed Jack up in an impulsive bear hug. “You were wonderful, Doc. I can’t thank you enough. If you and your wife hadn’t been passing through tonight, I don’t know what we’d have done. We are in your debt.”
Obviously embarrassed by the praise, Jack shifted his attention to packing away his medical supplies. “Nothing of the kind. Rose and I are just glad we were here to help.” He lifted his gaze to hers. “If anything else comes up, you know where to find us.”
; Rose smiled warmly. “We’ll leave you three alone to get to know one another now.” She followed Jack from the room and quietly closed the door.
Jack tilted his head toward the outer door. “Let’s step outside for a moment.”
Rose glanced at the staircase leading toward the guest rooms. “I should get back to Will. I don’t want to impose on Tom and Sarah’s daughter any longer than necessary.”
Jack grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the door in an unusually boyish fashion. “Just for a minute. I need to talk to you.”
Weak with her mounting affection for him, she relented and followed. A little fresh air would probably do her some good anyway. “You did very well tonight,” she complimented as he tugged her into the cooler night air. “I—”
Rather abruptly Jack yanked her to the side of the door, spun her into his arms, and crushed his lips against hers in one masterfully fluid motion.
Shocked, Rose didn’t immediately respond to the sensation of his warm mouth melding against hers, but as his head tilted and his firm lips slid against hers creating a delicious friction she relaxed. Looping her arms around his broad shoulders she surrendered fully to the embrace, sagging against the toned camber of his chest. Excitement and warmth fluttered through her veins along with an emotion she wasn’t quite ready to accept. Not even in the deepest, most shadowed regions of her soul. Even so, she couldn’t resist relishing the kiss for however long it lasted. Slowly… mutually… the kiss ended.
Shaken clear to her toes, she kept her eyes closed, and twined her fingers behind his neck. “I thought you wanted to talk,” she whispered.
“I don’t know what to say.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “You are my rock, Rose. You remind me of who I was before the war. The man I want to be in life.” He pulled back slightly.
Rose snapped her eyes open, heart pounding. Could this be real? She searched his eyes. “Jack, what are you saying?” A flash of movement to the right caught her eye, and panic swamped her. “No. Jack, look out! It’s Jonah.”
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