by Sara Jolene
JT could feel the heat coming off of Nora’s body. Her lips were close, and he wanted nothing more than to know how they’d feel against his. He took the moment and leaned in, his warm lips pressing against hers. She stayed frozen for a moment, but her tension eased as the sparks flew between them. JT found himself overwhelmed as Nora softened and allowed him to deepen the kiss.
“I know I have no right, but I’m thinking it might be best you keep your hands to yourself until she’s your wife.” The stranger spoke directly in JT’s ear. It startled him so much that he pulled away from Nora’s mouth fast and hard, leaving her and himself gasping. After shaking off the shock of the interruption, JT looked at Nora capturing her eyes.
“That is where you’re wrong, Mrs. Meeks. We’re meant to be, and I’m going to prove it.”
JT set his resolve. Starting that moment, he would be wooing the widow until she agreed to be his wife.
Nathaniel hadn’t fully prepared himself for what Nora moving on would actually mean. He was proud of himself for his restraint, even though he hadn’t been able to hold back completely. Watching the doctor kiss his wife made places in him ache that he had long forgotten about. Not since he was young had envy and jealousy welled up within in him so thickly. It made his thoughts murky and hard to work through. He knew his task was to be sure that Nora and the children all moved on and had a good life, but in that moment, he’d have given just about anything to go back. He wanted to go back—not to the night of the accident, or even the night before it, when he’d been at The Nugget spending his dimes on shots of dark brown whiskey that seared his throat and protected him from how when he’d gone upstairs with Lady Tiffany his body responded to her but his mind hadn’t. No, if he could go back he’d go back to that night under the tree and their first kiss. He’d stop himself from pulling her close and taking advantage of the darkness that surrounded them. He’d have kissed her gently on the hand and returned her home untouched and whole. Because he realized now, that moment was when he’d broken Nora Jones.
Chapter Seven
Nora didn’t sleep much, and what little she did was fitful. Tommy’s little body was like a furnace next to hers. Between the worry that his illness was worsening and the scene from the evening before repeating in her mind over and over, she had barely closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe that the good doctor had actually asked her to marry him.
She lay as still as possible on the cot in the main room, trying to convince JT she was asleep as he moved around the room to check on the little ones. Her heart melted a little when she saw how attentive he was to her children. She watched him carefully and started to allow herself to admit all the things she’d been noticing about him, like the way he held his tongue between his teeth when he was concentrating really hard on something. Or how the dimple on his right cheek appeared when he laughed, but not when he smiled. It was like he had to really mean it thoroughly in order for the dimple to appear.
She’d also noticed how gentle his touch was with little ones, and how he greeted every person they came across when they were in town. He knew everyone, even if they hadn’t officially met. He was the doctor in the town, and he took his work seriously. He knew he was the people’s sole caregiver, and the thought of someone caring so much about other people was a hard trait not to notice.
Nora had been denying herself the ability to imagine what it would have been like to have said yes to the wonderful man the night before, but she couldn’t fight it anymore. She thought about how he’d surely touch her as gently as he did his patients. She thought about their kiss and how even though it was soft and unassuming, it also lit her body. Flames were licking at her skin just thinking about it. She thought about how she could work in town and help him with his practice. She also thought about how her children could be children. They could go to that school Julianne had opened and how Tommy could learn to walk in a place with wooden floors.
She thought about how since she’d been spending time with him, the darkness had been kept at bay.
She hadn’t felt overwhelmed by things she couldn’t control—or even the things she could—since they’d been staying at the cabin. She’d been doing better and had learned to fight and breathe through the storms. But she was realizing the relief that came with not having to fight. Fighting was exhausting. It consumed her. She didn’t want it to, though. She wanted to live.
Dr. Thomas made his way to her bedside. Tommy was curled up beside her. He wasn’t as hot as he’d been in the night, but tiny beads of sweat covered his brow. JT put the back of his hand against the little boy’s forehead and then each cheek before he slowly and purposefully slid his hands beneath the baby and lifted him silently from Nora’s side. Tommy didn’t even stir, which had Nora’s heart racing. Was he all right? Was he too sick to move? Could he not wake? But then she saw his tiny hand lift and his chubby fingers move.
“Good morning, little one,” JT whispered. “Are you feeling better today? I think a cool bath this morning will do a lot of good.”
Nora lay there, her thoughts swirling and gnarling, wondering what the right thing was. She’d not been good at making decisions in the past. The children were the only things she could think of that she’d done right, but even that sent a pain straight through her heart because she hadn’t been there for them. The darkness had stolen her from her babies … but no longer. She would continue to fight to breathe the fresh clean air that wasn’t laced with sadness and despair. She sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the feel of it and thinking about how freeing it had been to have the weight lifted. As she let the air seep slowly from between her lips, she thought about how, if she married Dr. Thomas, she wouldn’t have to fight for breath. His mere presence made inhaling carefree.
JT set Tommy on the floor by the door and went outside with a bucket. He filled it with snow and brought it to melt on the stove. After stoking the fire and setting the bucket on top, he went back to the door for the baby. He enjoyed caring for the little ones. The innocence they held carried over and rubbed off on other people. He was berating himself for proposing marriage to Nora the way he had. He should have thought it through more thoroughly. He’d been acting on impulse, which wasn’t usual for him, but nothing had been usual since that angel had appeared and sent him to Tent City.
It was like the stranger knew JT was thinking of him, because he popped into existence just as he was handing Tommy a piece of toast.
“Don’t give up.”
JT turned toward the voice, happy with himself for not being surprised by the man’s sudden appearance. “You know, I’m getting used to you being around.” He moved to set the baby on a chair to eat at the table.
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Doc.”
JT paused as he started to crack eggs into a bowl. “Why’s that?”
“Because if you do what you’re supposed to, I won’t be around much longer. See, I’ve been given a task, and once it’s complete I won’t be needed anymore. So you’ll have no one startling you at inopportune times.”
JT laughed a little. “If you’re speaking about last night …” He cracked an egg against the side of the bowl.
“I am. You’re on the right path. Nora, though … she’s a hard nut. It’ll take some doing to convince her that you want her for her.”
The doctor cracked three more eggs and dropped them into the bowl before he started to stir them around and turned back to the angel. “What’s your task?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, not at liberty to say. But I’m thinkin’ if you think hard enough about that, you’ll be able to answer it for yourself.”
“What’s your name?”
He shook his head again. “You know what, Doc? You ask a lot of questions you already know the answers to. You might wanna’ think about that.”
JT had another question lined up, but he realized that the angel was right. He already knew the answer. He knew all of them … well, sort of. He wasn’t sure, but did he need to be? Did it
matter?
He poured the mixed eggs into the skillet he’d placed on the stove where the bucket of snow had once been. Tommy was still sitting in the chair, happily chewing away on his toast. It made JT smile to watch him. He noticed that the angel stared at Tommy a lot, too. That had been his first clue of who he was.
“So are you just visiting, or did you come for a reason?”
His question seemed to pull the stranger—though JT supposed he should stop thinking of him that way now that he was mostly sure of who he was—from his thoughts.
“I always come in the mornings, but I came today for more than the usual. See, I know things. I also know other people that know things, and you need to make sure you get Nora to that tent today. You also need to be sure that you’re ready for a few folks to need you later this evening. Might even want to send for that nurse of yours. Her and her loony chicken will be of use.”
JT was shocked enough that he stopped stirring the egg mixture in the pan and by the time he returned to it, it took some scraping to move it around the iron skillet. He swallowed hard.
“I’ll send for Hannah.”
The angel nodded. “You do that. Now go wake that lovely lady so you all can get a move on.”
JT turned the pan over and dumped the eggs onto a plate. He set it on the table, and after picking Tommy up from his chair, went into the main room where he’d started to hear the children moving around. He was happy to see that Nora was sitting with the little girls brushing their hair, all three of them having dressed already.
“Morning,” he said as he attempted to capture her eye.
Nora didn’t lift her head from the mane of hair she was plaiting but nodded. “Morning.”
JT handed Tommy off to his big sister Bekka and went to the cot where Nora was sitting. “I think we should head to the tent to gather your things this morning. I have to stop in town and have Arthur send a telegram to Hannah. Then I’ll need to be back here after lunch.”
The little girl’s hair was tied with a bright red ribbon and Nora patted her shoulder as she let the long braid fall down the girl’s back.
“There are eggs in the kitchen. Take your sisters and brothers in there and eat while I talk to your mama,” JT told the girl as she skipped off.
Nora looked up at him and immediately opened her mouth when Joy had left the room. JT took his chance. He leaned down swiftly and covered her lips with his own before she could say whatever she felt needed saying. He didn’t want to hear all the reasons she had thought of through the night as to why they couldn’t or shouldn’t marry. He had decided to show her all the reasons they should and the way his body responded to her, the way he could tell hers was responding to him, was just a small piece of that. He kissed her until they both were breathless. She had started to stand to meet him and he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to his height, allowing him to deepen their kiss and hold her tightly.
When he was dizzy and worried about his behavior, he let her go. He set her softly back on the floor, her toes just touching the wood as their lips parted.
“Let’s not talk about it. Can you agree to that? Will you allow me to show you, with actions, that you should take a chance with me.”
Nora’s cheeks were flushed and her chest was rising and falling swiftly with the quick breaths she was taking. Her eyes were wide and bright.
“You’re so beautiful.” He moved a hand to her face where he swept a small piece of hair behind her ear. “Please?” he whispered as he placed a soft kiss on her mouth before pulling away completely.
Little voices and bodies came hurling into the room, preventing her from answering. JT smiled. She couldn’t tell him that it wouldn’t work. That she was too old, or had too many young ones, or that he was a doctor with a reputation to protect. Right now all she could do was tend to her children and feel all the things that were happening between them. He knew he’d be thinking about them all day.
JT spent more time in the barn than was really necessary, but he needed the moments alone to calm his mind. He had thoughts of Nora mingling with what the angel had told him that morning, plus he was starting to wonder how well he could trust the angel. He knew he needed to get the buggy back to Tent City. They’d already had it longer than he’d told Jenkins he’d need it for. It wasn’t proper for him not to return it. He’d make sure the man knew he could call on JT anytime.
After hitching Jenkins’s buggy and his own, he called for Nora. She came out with the children, and after a moment of confusion and the usual chaos that comes with children, they were on their way. It was tight in the little buggy—not that it was even really a buggy, more of a wagon. But it got them all where they needed to go.
Willie was leading the other horse. He was a good lad that knew how to handle himself and take care of his family. JT found himself wondering if his father would be proud to see how his boy had turned out. He knew he was a colossal disappointment to his own father. He’d ruined everyone’s plans by having a mind of his own. He had written his family when he arrived in Creede to let them know he’d found a place to settle. He hadn’t heard a response from any of them. Not that he’d expected one.
“Will, we have to head into town proper first. I’ll need to send a telegram to Mrs. Wheeler. While I’m talking with Mr. Jameson, you can check in at the mercantile and make sure that you can be spared for the day. You handle that rig very well, and it would be a great help to me and your Ma if you could come with us today.”
The young boy, sitting like a man with the reins held loosely but expertly in his hands, nodded. The small shift in his posture when JT had called him Will hadn’t escaped the doctor’s notice. Willie was becoming a man and was ready to be treated as such, so JT would do just that.
“Yes, sir, I will. I’d like to check on a friend before we leave Tent City, if that’s alright.”
JT was curious but didn’t pry. He just nodded, letting the boy have his space and make decisions. If he had any chance of wooing Nora, he knew that winning over her children would be crucial. Not that it was difficult to want to spend time with them. They were great; happy and well-behaved. The fact that caring for them came so easily to him was a shock, but it also told him he was doing the right thing. He was on the path his life should be on, and he should be walking it with Nora.
They arrived at the telegraph office just as Benita Crowther came swishing out the door. She had on a much fancier dress than she had the last time Nora had seen her. She’d been wearing a gray day dress then, but the one she had on now was deep red and cut lower than Nora thought was proper. She was afraid bits of her flesh might start falling out if she moved too fast. She stopped short when she saw the doctor climbing down from the wagon. After staring at Nora with hatred in her eyes, she approached JT with a flick of her hair and a jaunt to her walk.
Nora started to shake her head but stopped herself. She had no reason to judge the girl. It actually sounded as if the young thing had had a rough go of things. She was obviously looking for a husband, but the fact that Creede was crawling with single men didn’t mean much because most of them weren’t husband material. They were just passing through. They came to town to work for the Bonanza mine, and as soon as the mineshafts started to close, they’d saddle up and ride out. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Those vagrant miners were the bread and butter of the town, though. They bought goods in the stores; they hired the ladies to sew, swilled their malts and whiskeys at the saloons, and paid the doves proper each night. Their lifestyles weren’t the thing that parents wished for their children, and no good self-respecting man would allow his daughter to marry one. But they made money and they spent it. They were what kept Creede alive, no matter how much others were trying to change it.
Nora turned away from watching JT try to escape Benita’s clutches. She found she was turning a little green from their interaction, and it made her uncomfortable. He wasn’t hers. He might like Benita. She was certainly a better match for him than
Nora was. She was pretty, without any children, and had far fewer years behind her than Nora had. She’d not told him she’d be his wife, so he was free to talk to whomever he liked. Though just as she was turning her attention, she couldn’t help the smile on her face as she saw him hold his hands up to her and say, “Miss Crowther, I made myself clear yesterday. Let’s not a make a scene.”
Nora was looking directly at the sheriff’s office, a building she figured would be out of use now that the man had run off and gone into hiding somewhere. Served him right, getting mixed up in things on the wrong side of the law. So she was surprised to see what looked like the heads of three men in the window. It looked like they were sitting. It also looked as if they were comfortable. She couldn’t see any faces, just silhouettes with big brimmed hats. Forgetting why she’d looked in that direction in the first place, she made to ask JT if he’d heard anything about the marshal replacing the local lawman with someone new … only to find herself face to face with Benita.
“You’ll not keep me from him. You wait and see. I’m going to make the doctor my husband.” Her eyes were dark but clear. Nora could tell that the girl believed every word she was saying. “I’m younger and would make a better wife than you.”
Nora couldn’t argue. She happened to agree with her, generally speaking. Benita was forgetting one thing, though—JT wasn’t interested in her. He hadn’t been. He’d had plenty of opportunity to attempt a courtship, but he hadn’t. And every advance she’d made that Nora had seen hadn’t gone successfully.