From This Day Forward (19 page)

Mr. Baker nodded then left the room. Kneeling next to the bed, Rachel probed Nathan’s scalp to see if there were any other lumps. “What happened to you?” she whispered. When her fingertips grazed his wound, he jerked, his eyes flying open then sliding closed.

At least there was only one bump. Did he get it falling and hitting his head? Or did someone do this to him? The thief plaguing them?

Maddy rushed into the room with a bowl of water and some pieces of cloth. “I washed them this morning, so they are clean. What else can I do?”

“Make willow bark tea. When I had a head injury it helped me some.” Inadequacy drenched her in a cold sweat. This was Nathan’s expertise, not hers. All she could think of was to clean the wound and make him comfortable.
And pray
.

As gently as she could she cleansed the injury and the scalp around it, praying the whole time that he would wake soon and continue his argument with her. Then she would know he was going to be all right. Her plea to the Lord calmed some of her fears, but a little voice kept whispering in her mind, “What will you do if he dies?”

Mr. Baker came back into the bedchamber with Nathan’s garments as she finished doing what little she could. She dropped the bloody cloth into the bloody water, her gaze riveted on them. Her body quaked. Nathan was hurt because he was helping her.

She pushed herself to her feet and turned toward Mr. Baker. “We need to get him out of those dirty, wet clothes and into some dry ones.”

“Not we, ma’am. Me. I will take care of him.”

“The bed linen needs to be changed too. All I have until it is washed is a blanket for him to lie on.”

“Git me the blanket. I will do it. Not a job for you.”

The expression on Mr. Baker’s face shouted that he would not be persuaded to do anything but what he said. Since he was twice her size, she decided not to argue with him. “Very well.” She strode to the trunk along the wall and withdrew a blanket then put it at the bottom of the bed and left the room, closing the door.

“What happened to Dr. Stuart?” Maddy held Faith and paced in front of the fireplace, worry tingeing every feature.

“I don’t know, but we need to find out. It cannot happen again.”

“Send for the constable?”

“I will need to go into Charleston in a few days to deliver my work to Mrs. Bridges. I can report this to the constable then.”

“Alone?”

“If I have to. Because if Nathan is not better by then, a doctor needs to see him.”

Loud voices sounded from her bedchamber. One angry. One appeasing. The door flew open and Mr. Baker came out into the main room. “I’m thinkin’ he will be all right. He ordered me out. Told me he was capable of dressin’ hisself.”

Through the entrance into the bedchamber Rachel glimpsed Nathan, bare-chested as he shrugged on a muslin shirt then tried to stand. He collapsed back on the bed, wincing, a moan escaping his lips.

Rachel scurried into the room and planted herself in front of him with her hand on her hip. “What do you think you are doing?”

His gaze remained downcast. “Going back to work. There is still a lot to do.”

“Not for you.”

His attention fastened onto her face, intense, heated, and pain filled. “If the seeds are not planted, then there is no crop. Which means no money.”

“Maddy and I will finish the field.”

He snorted and tried to rise again. He swayed and nearly toppled into her.

She caught him and helped him back onto the bed. “You are staying right here if I have to get Mr. Baker to tie you down. I doubt you are in any condition to fight him.”

His eyes slid closed, and he sighed. “Fine. I will rest for a little bit then go out and complete the field. Will that satisfy you?”

“Yes. What happened to you?”

“Someone hit me over the head.”

“Who? The thieves?”

“I don’t know.” He moved his head and winced.

“I will get you a cup of willow bark tea. That should help you.”

He didn’t say anything. Rachel walked from the room and went to the kettle in the fireplace, poured hot water into a cup, retrieved some willow bark to steep in the liquid, and took it to him.

When she returned to the main room, Maddy frowned. “You are going to let him go back and work? He can barely stand.”

“No.” Rachel lowered her voice so only her servant and Mr. Baker heard. “I’m going to shut the door to let him rest. Then, Maddy, you and I shall go out in the field and plant the rest of the seed. Mr. Baker, will you stay and keep him from getting up?”

“How do I do that?”

“Any way you can. It is for his own good.”

“All right. I can do that. Thank goodness he is not known to be a violent man.” Mr. Baker marched toward the door. “I saw somethin’ in the barn I can use. Be back.”

Maddy peered at Rachel. “What?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care so long as it keeps him from doing too much.” Rachel picked up the strips of cloth she had used earlier to strap her daughter to her chest. “I cannot ask a bachelor like Mr. Baker to watch over Faith while we are in the field.”

After Maddy secured Faith to Rachel again, Mr. Baker returned to the house with a fist full of rope. Rachel chuckled. “I don’t think I want to know what you are going to do with that.”

“Only what is necessary. I hope that Dr. Stuart is a forgivin’ man.” He eased the bedchamber door open and peeked inside the room and then back at Rachel. “He is asleep. I think I will take the opportunity to tie him up. Then I can go nose around that area where I found him. I will feel a lot better knowin’ what’s goin’ on out there.”

“So will I. Thank you for your help, Mr. Baker. I hope you will come to dinner next Sunday.”

He beamed. “I ain’t goin’ t’ turn down a home-cooked meal I don’t have to cook, ma’am.”

“ ’Tis getting dark, Mrs. Gordon.”

Rachel put a couple of seeds in the last hole of the last row. “There. Finished. Only one more field to be planted, then everything is in the Lord’s hands.” Rising, she stretched and arched her back to ease her tight muscles. “Let’s go check on Dr. Stuart. Perhaps we can get the ropes off him before he wakes up.” So far Nathan had not awakened when Maddy or she had gone back to check on him through the rest of the afternoon. She would just as soon not have to deal with an angry, trapped Nathan.

Maddy helped take the strips of cloth off Rachel then took Faith. “She’s such a sweet baby.”

Rachel started for the house, allowing Maddy to hold her daughter. The young woman was becoming more attached to Faith each day.
She
was becoming more attached to Faith. Having her changed everything in Rachel’s life. She pictured what her child would look like when she was four. Or eighteen, when the beaus would come around.

Ferocious barking coming from the barn blasted the air. Rachel dropped the sack and hoe and without thinking raced across the short distance, swinging open the double doors at the same moment a four-foot-tall girl plowed right into her with a small basket in her hand, knocking Rachel to the ground with the child on top of her. Before the young girl could hop up, Rachel locked her arms about her and pinned the little thief against her.

“Let me go!” The child rocked back and forth.

But Rachel gripped her hands together to reinforce her hold. “You are not going anywhere. What were you doing in there? Stealing my eggs?”

The wild-looking girl, her brown hair tangled, her face dirty, drilled her stare into Rachel as though it could harm her. The child pressed her mouth together so tightly her lips disappeared into a hard, thin line. With her arms plastered to her sides, she tried one more time to wrestle herself free by kicking her legs.

“Ouch! You want to make the situation even worse. I wonder what the constable will say about stealing and hurting people.”

“I ain’t hurtin’ ya. Let me go and I git.”

“So you can steal from me again. No.” Rachel suddenly flipped the girl onto her back. Rachel was now on top and she asked, “Where are your parents?”

The girl averted her head and glared at Maddy standing a few feet from them, while Jasper stood alert, growling.

“I shall go put Faith in her cradle and come back and help you, ma’am.”

“Please do. This wildcat needs to be tamed.”

The child returned her attention to Rachel. “Ya can beat me. I ain’t sayin’ a thing.”

“Beat you? Who beats you?”

Again the girl’s lips locked together, her green eyes becoming slits.

Maddy rushed across the yard toward Rachel with some rope in her hand. “Mr. Baker didn’t use it all. We can tie her up until the constable comes.”

“I don’t think we have to do that. We are two women, and she is only a child. You take one arm, and I will the other.” When Maddy neared them, Rachel rolled to the side, letting go partially so her servant could grab their little thief.

Rachel rose and she and Maddy tried to pull the child up. As they tugged harder, the girl leaped to her feet, sending both of the women sprawling backwards into the dirt. The thief whirled and made a dash toward the swamp. Jasper gave chase, barking. The child increased her speed.

“Jasper, stop.”

As the Irish wolfhound obeyed, Rachel jumped up, and from some well of energy deep inside her, she ran after the girl and tackled her to the ground. Maddy snatched one arm while Rachel took the other, and they yanked the child to her feet. She continued to twist and kick at both of them.

“Let me go!” the girl yelled.

Jasper began barking again.

“Jasper, go inside.” Rachel pointed at the barn. The dog walked to the doors, glancing back every few paces.

Rachel started for her house, dodging the flailing limbs as much as possible. But the child got in a couple of well-placed hits. Rachel ground her teeth and increased her pace. When they reached the house, the little thief let out a bellow of rage followed by a screech like the owl that nested in a live oak by the barn. The moment she was inside, as Rachel angled around to lock the door, the girl jerked free and frantically looked around for a way to escape.

“There is only one way in and out of here.” Rachel motioned to Maddy to stand by the cradle where Faith was while Rachel leaned back against the door with her arms crossed.

The wildcat ran toward Rachel’s bedchamber and pushed the door open, its crashing sound bringing Nathan fully awake. He tried to bolt upright and discovered the ropes that bound him.

“Rachel!” He swung his head toward Rachel, who could see him clearly on her bed through the open doorway. “What have you done?” Then his gaze latched onto the young girl standing a few feet inside the room, frozen in place. “Who are you?”

The child swept around and raced back into the main room, scanning for another place to go. She saw the second bedchamber and frowned, a glimpse of fear in her eyes, before pivoting away from the closed door. She spied the stairs that led up to the loft and clambered up them. After she poked her head through the opening and glanced back, she sank down on the top step.

“Rachel, what is going on? Untie me.”

“Ya ain’t goin’ t’ tie me up. I will kick and hit and scream and…” The fury in the child petered out.

Rachel considered the girl perched on the stairs and Nathan struggling to free himself on her bed. At the moment she would rather face the child than Nathan. His howl of rage prompted her to move fast.

“Maddy, don’t let her leave. Call me if you need me.”

“Yes ma’am.” Her servant took Rachel’s post at the door and glared at the wildcat, her look daring her to move.

Rachel trod toward her bedchamber, feeling as if all her energy had been siphoned from her. Perhaps she should not have let Mr. Baker tie up Nathan, since he hadn’t awakened the whole afternoon. Then she wouldn’t be in the situation where she had to explain why he was bound to her bed.

“If the thief hadn’t struck again, you would have never known you were tied up.” Rachel paused a few feet from him in case he somehow had loosened the ropes and could escape his confines.

He opened his mouth to say something but instead snapped it closed. The steely expression in his eyes said it all.

She was sure if he could get his hands on her right now, it would not bode well for her. Anger slashed his face. When Tom had been upset with her, he usually hit her at least once. It seemed to make him feel better to hurt her. In those cases she had rarely done anything to Tom, but when he started drinking, he imagined all kinds of offenses.

Now, though, she was partially responsible for Nathan’s latest predicament.

“I was afraid you would try to work when you should rest. You were being unreasonable earlier, and I didn’t want anything else to happen to you. Your wound was quite nasty. I know how much a head injury can hurt.” When his expression remained cold and furious, she continued. “You are stubborn, and I know if Mr. Baker hadn’t tied you up, you would be out trying to plant the rest of the corn.” She drew herself up tall. “Maddy and I finished the job. You don’t have to.” Her rambling came to a breathless halt, no other words materializing in her mind.

“Undo these ropes.” Each word was distinctly pronounced with a fierce undertone.

“Promise me you will not hurt me.”