Dinner at the St. James

by Sandra Robbins

  “Not too much just yet. I don’t want you getting sick.”

  He fell back against the pillow and groaned. It surprised him how the little amount of energy he’d exerted had completely tired him. He swallowed and glanced up at the beautiful woman who leaned over him. Her long hair swung close to his face, and he reached toward it.

  She didn’t flinch as his fingers touched the tip of her hair and caressed a soft curl between his fingers. “Your hair is beautiful.”

  She chuckled, wrapped her fingers around his hand, and guided it back to the bed. “And you’re still delirious.”

  Daniel glanced around. Was he imagining this beautiful creature? He frowned. “Where am I?”

  “You’re at my father’s office. He’s the doctor in Willow Bend.”

  He tried to turn on his side, and pain surged through his body. “Wh–what happened to me?”

  “You were shot on board the Montgomery Belle. Do you remember anything?”

  He thought for a moment, and he recalled going into a cabin with Captain Hawkins. What happened next seemed fuzzy in his memory. He shook his head. “No.”

  She tucked the covers around him. “That’s all right. It will all come back to you.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Three days.”

  Daniel raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed. “Have you been with me all that time?”

  She smiled again. “Either my father or I have been. But you don’t need to worry about anything right now. You need to rest.”

  “Wait,” he called out as she turned to go back to her chair. “What’s your name?”

  She smiled down at him. “Tave Spencer.”

  Daniel closed his eyes. “Tave Spencer.” The name slid like velvet across his tongue and spilled from his mouth. It reminded him of the words of the ballads his mother used to sing. Tave Spencer—a poetic name with the soothing effect of a lullaby. He’d never heard anything lovelier in his life.

  He closed his eyes and slept.

  ❧

  Daniel awoke to the sound of birds chirping. He remembered seeing a window when he’d awakened once before, and he turned his head in that direction. Sunlight streamed through the panes and cast dancing rays across the patchwork quilt that covered his body. He lay still and listened to the noisy twittering outside.

  A memory of touching silky curls returned, and he smiled at the name he’d dreamed about. Tave Spencer, that’s what she’d said. He glanced at the chair where she’d sat, but it was empty.

  He had no idea if it was morning or afternoon. From the busy sounds outside the window, he suspected it was morning. If it was, he wondered where the woman he’d spoken with had gone. Or maybe she’d been a dream. He couldn’t be sure.

  The door to the room opened, and a man walked in. His brown eyes lit up, and he smiled as he walked toward Daniel’s bed. He stopped beside him and peered over the top of the wire-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose. “Well, you’re finally awake. I thought you might rejoin us this morning.”

  Through narrowed eyes, Daniel studied the man, but he couldn’t recall having ever seen him before. “Do I know you?”

  “I’m Dr. Spencer. I’ve been taking care of you for the past few days.”

  Daniel thought of the woman he’d seen and looked past the doctor, but she was nowhere in sight. “There was a woman here.”

  Dr. Spencer nodded. “My daughter, Tave. She’s been helping me look after you.” He pressed his fingers to Daniel’s wrist and pulled out a pocket watch. He stared at the watch for what seemed an eternity before he smiled and released his hold. “Your pulse is much better. I think you’re on the road to recovery.”

  Daniel tried to lift his head, but the room rotated as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He sank back against the pillow and gasped. “What day is it?”

  “Today is Monday. We brought you here last Friday from the Montgomery Belle. Do you remember anything?”

  Daniel closed his eyes and concentrated. “I remember going with Captain Hawkins into a cabin. There was a card game.” He opened his eyes. “There’s nothing else until I woke up and saw your daughter.”

  Dr. Spencer pointed to Daniel’s side. “One of the gamblers threatened Captain Hawkins with a gun, and you tried to wrestle it from him. You ended up being shot, but you probably saved the captain’s life. He’s very thankful, but he was concerned for you. The boat went on to Montgomery, but he said he’d check on you when they returned.”

  “Captain Hawkins is a good man.”

  “That he is.” Dr. Spencer pointed to Daniel’s side. “I need to check on your wound.”

  Daniel gritted his teeth and tried not to moan as the doctor pulled the quilt back and probed at his side. After a few minutes, Dr. Spencer covered him up and stepped away.

  “How am I doing?” Daniel asked.

  Dr. Spencer pulled the chair up to the bedside and sat down. “I think you’re a mighty lucky young man that the bullet didn’t do a lot of internal damage. There was some damage to an artery. That’s what caused you to lose so much blood, but I was able to repair that. You should be up and around in a few days.”

  Daniel heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Dr. Spencer, for all you’ve done for me.” He bit down on his lip. “I don’t have any money right now, but I’ll pay you as soon as I recover enough to get on up to Montgomery. I’d planned to leave the Montgomery Belle and take a job on the docks there.”

  Dr. Spencer waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry about what you owe me, son. Captain Hawkins said he’d take care of everything. Like I said, he’s mighty thankful to be alive.”

  “And so am I.” Daniel glanced around the room. “How long do you think I’ll be here?”

  “Well, that depends on how soon you get your strength back. I’d say—”

  A rustling at the door caught their attention, and Daniel and Dr. Spencer glanced in that direction. Daniel’s heart pounded in his chest at the sight of the woman with the auburn hair. “Oh, you’re awake again.” She glided into the room and stopped beside her father’s chair. “He looks much better, doesn’t he, Poppa?”

  Her father chuckled and pushed up from where he sat. “He only had one way to go.” He glanced back at Daniel. “I don’t mind telling you, son, when you were brought in here, I didn’t think you had a chance of living. Glad to see I was wrong.”

  Tave looped her arm through her father’s and smiled at him. “That’s because he had a wonderful doctor to take care of him.”

  Pride showed in her father’s eyes as he stared at her. “And a great nurse to coax him back to the land of the living.”

  Tave stretched on her tiptoes and kissed her father on the cheek. The love between the two was obvious. It reminded Daniel of his mother and how close they had been. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think of her and how much he missed her.

  He cleared his throat. “I want to thank both of you for what you’ve done for me.” He glanced at Tave. “It meant a lot to me when I woke up and saw you in the room. I knew I wasn’t alone.”

  Dr. Spencer smiled. “I keep telling her she’d make a fine nurse, but she’s bound and determined to teach school.”

  Daniel frowned. “So you’re a teacher. Why aren’t you there today?”

  A soft peal of laughter from her lips stirred his blood, and he stared at this woman he’d first seen in the darkness of his room. What was it about her that excited him? Perhaps it was gratitude for what she had done for him, but something told him it was more.

  “School is out for the summer.”

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah, it is that time of year again.”

  A bell tinkled in another room, and Dr. Spencer sighed. “I suppose that’s a patient. I’ll be back to check on you, Daniel.”

  Tave watched her father leave the room before she faced Daniel again. “So, are you hungry? I made some broth this morning. You need to eat something.”

  “Have I eaten since I’ve been
here?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid at times I had to force you, but I did get liquids down you.”

  The memory of someone forcing a spoon into his mouth returned, and he grinned. “So you’re the one who tortured me when all I wanted to do was sleep.”

  Her eyes held a mischievous glint, and she crossed her arms. “Guilty as charged, but at least you didn’t die from hunger.”

  The realization of how close he’d come to death hit him, and he swallowed the sudden flash of fear that filled his throat. “No, I didn’t die. And for that I owe your father and you a great debt of gratitude. Thank you, Tave, for taking care of me.”

  A crimson flush spread across her face. “You remembered my name. I didn’t think you were conscious enough to know what I said to you.”

  His gaze strayed to the bun on top of her head and recalled how her hair had cascaded around her shoulders. He wished he could pull the pins from her head and let the curls tumble free again. He swallowed and tried to smile. “I remember.”

  She stared at him for a moment before she reached down and smoothed the apron that covered her dress. For a fleeting moment he believed he saw her hands tremble, but he dismissed the thought. She backed toward the door. “I’ll be right back with something for you to eat.”

  He smiled. “Take your time. I guess I’ll be in this same spot when you get back. I’m not going anywhere today.”

  After she hurried from the room, he settled back on his pillow and smiled. The lines from a ballad his mother used to sing drifted into his mind, and he tried to recall the words. He hummed the melody, but the exact words wouldn’t come. They were about a beautiful woman who was peerless in beauty and even a prince could find no sweeter creature.

  From what he’d seen of Tave Spencer so far, she could very well have been the inspiration for those words.

  ❧

  An hour later Tave removed the napkin she’d draped around Daniel’s neck and laid it on the tray with the remains of his meal. She propped her hands on her hips and stared down at Daniel, whose head she’d elevated with two pillows. “Do you want to lie flat, or do you want to keep the pillows?”

  “I think I’ll stay like this for a while.”

  “Okay.” She bent to pick up the tray but turned when his hand touched her arm. “Do you want something else?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to take these back to the other room. Then I thought I’d let you rest.”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t done anything but sleep for days. Would you mind coming back and talking with me?”

  “I’d be glad to keep you company. With school out, I’m helping my father here anyway.” Her eyes twinkled. “And right now, you’re my favorite patient. Of course that may change if we get someone else in here.”

  He laughed. “Maybe I can endear myself to you.”

  She picked up the tray and carried it into the small room in the back of the building that they used for a kitchen from time to time when her father had to keep a close watch on a patient. A woodstove stood against one wall, and a table and two chairs sat in the middle of the room. A pie safe containing the remains of an apple cobbler Martha Thompson had brought the day before rested against the other wall.

  Tave smiled at how well she and her father had eaten since Daniel’s mishap with the gambler on board the Montgomery Belle. Martha had arrived every day with some new dish in an effort to help with their meals. Although Tave appreciated the thoughtfulness, she knew Martha’s main motive had been to glean news about their mysterious patient.

  Tave set the tray on the table and dropped into one of the chairs. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. For the last three nights, she’d sat beside Daniel Luckett’s bed. Although she’d dozed some, she could feel the results of not sleeping in her own bed. Maybe tonight she could leave Daniel and go home. In his office, her father had a sofa he slept on when he had a patient, so he would be here in case Daniel needed something.

  Still, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Daniel without someone close by. Her father could be a sound sleeper sometimes, and Daniel might be unable to wake him. Maybe she’d stay another night.

  Her eyes grew wide at a sudden realization that flashed into her mind. She had developed a protective feeling toward Daniel that she’d never felt with anyone else before. Perhaps it stemmed from how she had cared for him after surgery, or it could be the memory of his calling for his mother. The fear she’d heard in his voice had pricked her heart. It reminded her of the children she taught and how they wanted their mothers when they fell and hurt themselves.

  Her father had once told her that he felt like a protector of the people he cared for. Maybe that’s all it was with her. Soon Daniel would be recovered, and he would leave with Captain Hawkins on the Montgomery Belle. He would be just another patient to her father, but she knew he would always be special to her. After all, Daniel was her miracle. From the moment her father had first seen Daniel, he had thought the man would die. When she’d seen his pale face, she’d thought so, too. Until a small voice had whispered in her heart that God wasn’t finished with this young man.

  Some might say she was imagining she heard the voice of God, but Tave knew differently. Daniel needed more than the skill of a surgeon’s knife to heal his body. He needed the touch of the Father to repair something much deadlier. She didn’t know what Daniel Luckett had experienced in his life. All she knew was that God had told her to pray, and that’s what she’d done.

  For the last three nights, she’d knelt by his bed and prayed that God would spare him and heal whatever damage life had inflicted. Daniel had lived. Now maybe God would show her what else she needed to do.

  Four

  A week later, Tave held on to Daniel’s arm as she helped him through the front door and onto the small porch of her father’s office. She guided him to a rocking chair that sat in the corner of the porch and helped him ease down into it, then took a step back and smiled at the excitement on his face.

  “How does it feel to be outside again?”

  “It makes me think I’m really going to recover.” He closed his eyes and inhaled. “Ah, is that honeysuckle I smell?”

  Tave nodded and dropped down into a chair beside Daniel. “Yes. We have honeysuckle climbing up a trellis on the other side of the building.” She inhaled. “I love the smell of it at this time of year before it gets so hot it’s hard to breathe.”

  He settled back in his chair and glanced up and down the street. “So this is what Willow Bend looks like at street level. The Montgomery Belle stopped here a lot when I was working on her, but I never got off and came ashore. This is my first chance to get a close look.”

  Tave smiled ruefully. “I’m sorry you almost had to die to see how we live.”

  His gaze drifted over her, and his blue eyes twinkled. “If I’d known there was such a pretty nurse living just over the bluff, I imagine I would have been to see you before now.”

  Her face warmed, and she averted her gaze. “I’m afraid you wouldn’t have found me here. I would have been at school or at home.”

  He sighed. “Just my luck. By the way, where is home? I suppose for the first few days I thought you and your father lived in back of his office. Now that you’ve deserted me at night to go home, I realize you have a house somewhere else.”

  “My father and I live in a house at the edge of town. We moved into it when we first settled here. It’s small, but it meets our needs.”

  He swiveled in his chair and stared at her. “Then you haven’t lived here all your life?”

  “No. My father has a friend who is a doctor over in Selma, and he told us about Willow Bend needing a doctor. So Poppa decided it would be a good place to live. We came when I was twelve.”

  “And what about your mother?”

  “She died when I was a child. We lived in Knoxville. Then when the war came, Poppa served with the Union Army as a doctor. I stayed with my grandmother. After the war, we cam
e to Alabama. We’ve never been sorry, except Poppa clashes a lot with the residents around here when the war is mentioned.”

  Daniel chuckled. “I’ll bet he does.”

  She tilted her head and stared at him. “And what about you? Where did you grow up?”

  He stared toward the bluff and didn’t answer for a moment. When he did, Tave could detect a tremor in his voice. “I guess you could say I’m from Ohio. At least that’s where I was born and lived for sixteen years. But I’ve traveled around so much in the last seven years I could call a lot of places home.”

  Tave thought of how he called out for his mother when he was so ill. “Are your parents still in Ohio?”

  He shook his head. “I was six years old when my pa joined an Ohio regiment and went off to fight in the war. He died less than a year later at Shiloh. We moved in with my mother’s brother for a while, but his wife and children didn’t want us there. When the man on the next farm asked my mother to marry him, she did. She figured we’d have a home, and we wouldn’t be a burden on her brother anymore.”

  The wistful tone of his voice told Tave that Daniel’s memories were very difficult for him to discuss. She placed her hand on his arm. “You love your mother very much, don’t you?”

  He stared down at her hand for a moment. When he looked up, a moist sheen covered his eyes. “I did. She died when I was sixteen.”

  “Is that why you left home?”

  “Yes.” Daniel’s mouth thinned into a straight line, and he tried to push up from his chair. “I’m getting tired. Maybe I’ve had enough fresh air for now.”

  Tave jumped to her feet and grasped his arm. “Let me help you.”

  As Daniel straightened to his full height, his face grew pale, and his knees started to buckle. He swayed toward her. “I. . .I f–feel d–dizzy.”

  She threw her arms around him and eased him back into the chair. When he was seated again, she dropped to her knees and stared at him. “Are you all right? Do you want me to get you some water?”