Tracie Peterson - [Land of Shining Water 02] (12 page)

She dipped the sheet in the pail of water and began to ring it out to place over her brother. When Tavin pulled the
linen from her hands, she didn’t protest. He was stronger and quicker. Once the excess water was squeezed away, he held the crumpled sheet out to her.

Emmalyne took it and snapped it open. “This will help bring your fever down, Angus. You need to keep it on.” He didn’t even stir as she placed the cloth over his body.

Knowing there was little more she could do just then for her brother, Emmalyne drew back and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Tavin stood not four feet away, but it seemed only inches. “You rest, Angus. I’m going to go make you some tea.” He didn’t even acknowledge her, and Emmalyne couldn’t help but frown. He was very sick. Worries crowded into her already churning thoughts about Tavin MacLachlan.

Tavin left the room, and Emmalyne followed him out toward the front door. She paused at the end of the hall, watched him for a moment, and tried to think of what to say. He was as handsome as he’d always been, but now he was a man full grown and hardened by life.

Tavin seemed to sense her gaze. His eyes met hers, and he scowled. Hand on the doorknob, he appeared in no mood for conversation.

“Wait, Tavin.”

For a moment she wasn’t sure he had heard her, but then he turned and looked at her, saying nothing.

“Thank you for bringing Angus home. He’s very sick.” Her voice sounded shaky in her ears.

“I guessed that much,” he replied evenly.

Nervous, Emmalyne licked her lips. “I think it’s the measles.”

“Most likely. Lots of that going around.”

For a moment neither one said anything, and Emmalyne couldn’t help the warm rush of joy she felt just seeing him.
She smiled. “I didn’t know you’d come back. I’m . . . I’m so glad to see you again.”

His eyes narrowed. Emmalyne thought he looked displeased, but there was no point in retracting her statement. “Would you like some shortbread and tea? I was going to make Angus some tea, and I’d be happy to make you some, as well.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want anything . . . from you.” He turned again for the door and yanked it open.

Emmalyne was shocked by his rudeness. “Wait just a minute,” she demanded and followed him onto the porch. “What in the world is wrong with you?”

He turned to her with a look of such anger and bitterness that Emmalyne stopped short, as if struck. She trembled. “Why are you . . . why are you being so hateful?”

For a moment she didn’t think he’d answer, but then he drew a deep breath. “Because hating you is the only way I’ve been able to live without you, Emmalyne Knox.”

Emmalyne followed Tavin outside, hoping she could stop him. “Tavin, please don’t go. Not like this.”

He didn’t even acknowledge her, but stepped into the wagon and released the brake before even sitting down. Taking up the reins, he bellowed an order for the horses to move out. Emmalyne watched in disbelief. He said he hated her. Said that hating her was the only way he’d lived without her. Her eyes welled with tears.

“But I love you,” she whispered to his retreating form. She watched and waited until the wagon turned at the bend in the road and was out of sight before going back inside. She dabbed her apron hem to her eyes. She might still love him, but it was obvious that he wanted nothing to do with her.

She headed back into the house, defeated. “He hates me.”

“Emmalyne! Where are you?” came faintly from the back bedroom.

She drew a heavy breath. “I’m here, Mother.” Emmalyne went to her mother’s bedroom door and opened it.

“What’s going on? I heard voices.”

“Angus is sick. I’ve been tending him.”

Her mother sat up in bed. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I think it’s the measles. Dr. Williams says there are many families in the area who are sick with it. Angus is running a high fever and has red spots on his chest. I couldn’t recall if he’d ever had measles.”

Mother surprised her by pushing up off the bed. “No. He hasn’t. I must go to him.” She pulled on her dressing gown and sat down at her vanity. “Is your father here, too?”

“No. Tavin brought him.”

Mother looked up, shock filling her face. “Tavin is here? I thought he was far away. Your father assured me he was gone.”

“I thought so, too. Apparently he’s come home.” Emmalyne wondered what else she should tell her mother.

Her mother didn’t give her time to ponder for long. “Help me with my hair and tell me what you’ve done for Angus.”

Emmalyne did as her mother instructed and ran a comb through her mother’s graying brown hair. “I covered him in a wet sheet, and I’m planning to make him some willow tea.” She quickly braided the bulky mane and reached for hairpins.

“Don’t bother. Just tie off the braid.” Emmalyne nodded and did just that. Mother quickly got to her feet and hurried to Angus’s room. Emmalyne followed and waited in silence while Mother assessed Angus’s condition. “We should send for the doctor.”

“Yes, I was planning on that.” Emmalyne watched her mother take up the cloth in the basin of water. “Mother, I can go to town for Dr. Williams if you can watch over Angus and make the tea.”

“Of course I can. Go.” Her mother frowned and shook her head. “I wish we had an extra horse. You’ll be hard-pressed to walk all the way.”

“Don’t be worried about that, Mother. I can go quite fast.”
Emmalyne began to doubt her mother’s ability to tend the situation. “Are you certain you want me to go? You’ve not been well yourself.”

“I’m fine. Your brother needs me.” She wiped the cloth over Angus’s face. “Just hurry.”

With little thought to her appearance, Emmalyne threw off her apron on the way out the front door and hiked up her skirts to run. She made it to the first turn before having to slow to a walk. Breathless, she couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take her to make the journey to town.

She prayed that she would remember the way, then added another request, as well. “Lord, I could sure use a little help here. A ride would be wonderful, or maybe you could just have Dr. Williams come along about now.” She looked down the long road, but saw no one. A light breeze touched her damp skin but did little to cool her. The sun overhead heated the humid air, making it heavy and difficult to breathe.

Her hair loosened from the run, Emmalyne wished she’d thought to don a bonnet. She tended to the mass falling around her shoulders as she walked, her fingers working with quick, nimble grace to secure the pins. “Lord, you could at least put the sun behind a cloud,” she suggested, looking skyward.

With her hair in better order, Emmalyne put her mind back on the reason for her trip. She knew measles could be deadly, particularly for an adult, and the thought of losing her brother was unbearable. “Lord, I was kind of selfish in my earlier prayers. Please heal my brother. Lord, the measles are a terrible thing, as you well know. Please help him—don’t let him die.”

She was murmuring the latter part of her prayer over
and over when a distant sound caused her to look over her shoulder. An older man sat atop a buckboard with milk cans lined up behind him. Emmalyne waved him down, and he drew the single roan to a stop.

“Could you please give me a ride into town?” she asked.

“Oh sure,” he said with a smile. “You betcha.”

Emmalyne climbed up quickly lest the man change his mind. “I need to find Dr. Williams’s office. Do you know him?”

“Ja,” the man said, nodding. “He’s that young fella what works with old Dr. Schultz. He saw my wife a few weeks back. He’s a good man.”

Emmalyne breathed a sigh of relief. “My brother is sick, and I need to get the doctor as quickly as possible.”

“Ja, I know just the place.” The man flicked the reins. “Old Nellie will getcha there in a quick minute. My Nellie is old but sturdy. She’s been pulling the milk to town for nigh twenty-two years.” The man rattled on about his horse, but Emmalyne couldn’t focus on the words.

Nearly twenty “quick” but awfully long minutes later, Emmalyne found herself ushered into the doctor’s waiting room by a stern-looking older woman dressed head to toe in black. “The doctors are with a patient, but should be out soon.”

“But I can’t wait. Please, my brother is very ill, and I need Dr. Williams to come back to the house with me . . . immediately. Please.”

The woman frowned. “And what is your name?”

“Emmalyne Knox. Please tell him that Angus Knox has collapsed, and I think he has the measles.”

The woman continued to look at her for a moment, then nodded and disappeared into another room. Emmalyne paced
the small entry and wondered how her mother was faring. Had it been foolish to leave her with such a grave task?

“Miss Knox, how nice to see you again,” Dr. Williams said as he entered the room several minutes later. He wore no coat and was rolling his shirt sleeves back down. “I apologize for my attire. We were doing a bit of surgery.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but my brother is quite ill. Mother is with him, but if you could come to the house as soon as possible . . .”

“Of course. Let me get my bag.”

Emmalyne waited while he gathered his things. He motioned her to a door at the end of a narrow hallway. “The buggy is waiting out back. I was just getting ready to make my rounds when our young patient arrived.” He sent her a smile. “Five years old and five stitches to the head after falling out of a tree.”

“Oh dear. I hope he will be all right,” Emmalyne answered, following him to the door.

“He’ll be fine. Not to worry.”

“I’m so glad. I feared you’d be too busy to come. I know you said there were many cases of measles. I think Angus has joined their ranks. He came back to the house and collapsed. He’s running a high fever—his skin is very hot to the touch.”

Dr. Williams helped her into the buggy, then pressed in beside her. His nearness was rather unnerving, but not for the reasons she just recently might have thought. With him so near, all she could think about was that she had once sat like this with Tavin. The doctor’s shaving cologne reminded her that Tavin had once worn a similar scent when courting her. She tried to keep her focus on the matter at hand, but
it was no use. Her thoughts kept going back to Tavin. She finally pressed her hands to her head.

“Are you all right?” the doctor asked. He had already set the horse into motion and turned the buggy abruptly at the end of the alleyway.

She let go of her head to take hold of the side of the buggy, but the sharp turn sent her leaning into Dr. Williams all the same. “I’m worried about Angus,” she finally answered.

“Is that the whole of it?”

“Yes,” she said. Then, “No.”

He chuckled. “Why don’t you tell me what’s got you so flustered?”

“Flustered? I didn’t think of myself as being flustered.” Emmalyne shook her head and gazed out on the passing buildings. “I suppose I’m also worried about Mother. She took it upon herself to tend to Angus since I needed to find you.”

“That’s very good. She needs to have something to occupy her other than her own misery.”

Emmalyne nodded and fell silent. She hoped that Dr. Williams would let matters drop, but of course he didn’t.

“And what else is on your mind?”

“Nothing that talking about will help.”

“It might.” He turned to smile at her. “I can be a very good listener, and sometimes I even offer sound advice.”

She thought of the past, of all she’d endured for the sake of her family. “I . . . well . . . I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Why not at the beginning?” he offered casually, his gaze fixed on the road.

“I just saw someone . . . a man. He was . . . I was . . . we were supposed to marry a long time ago.” She bit her lower
lip and tried to think of what else to say. “It wasn’t a pleasant meeting.”

“Did he hurt you?” Jason asked, looking her over from head to toe.

“No . . . well . . . just my feelings.” She was surprised at her candor. “He brought Angus home from the quarry. His father owns the quarry.”

“So he’s a MacLachlan. I’m guessing he must be the son who has just returned. His mother was quite happy about it. She told me he’d been gone for years.”

“Yes,” she said, feeling somewhat relieved to have it out in the open. “Tavin is his name. We were engaged eleven years ago. Then . . . well . . . it’s a long story, but our engagement ended abruptly.”

“But not your love for him?” Dr. Williams’s voice was barely audible.

“No,” Emmalyne whispered back.

———

Jason tried not to let his dismay show at Emmalyne Knox’s reply. He hadn’t expected her to be in love with someone else, particularly a man who’d left her life eleven years ago.

“Were you engaged for a long time?” He needed to know more about this rival, unknown until now.

“We were. We’d known each other for a good many years. We grew up together. His sister, Fenella, and I were best friends. I think I told you that.”

“Yes, I seem to remember something along those lines.”

“She and I were as close as sisters. It seemed only natural that I should fall for her brother. She and I used to laugh and say that one day we would truly be sisters.” She frowned.

“So what happened?” He held his breath, hoping she would continue.

Emmalyne said nothing for several minutes. Jason could see that she was deep in thought; perhaps the question was too painful to answer. “I’m sorry,” he offered. “That was rude of me. The matter is certainly none of my business.”

Emmalyne looked at him for a moment. “It’s difficult to explain. There isn’t an easy way to tell the story without speaking ill of one person or another.”

He said nothing further, hoping that she would eventually feel at ease enough to offer a brief explanation. They were over half the distance to the Knox house, however, and still she hadn’t continued. Jason had all but given up when Emmalyne finally began to speak.

“Neither one of us wanted to end the engagement. It wasn’t planned. We were just a few short weeks from our wedding, in fact. Then the tornado came, and my sisters were killed. It was a horrible time for all of us, but especially for Mother and Father. They lost everything—the house, the girls. Their grief was more than they could bear.”

“And you canceled the wedding so they wouldn’t lose yet another daughter?”

She looked at him oddly and shook her head. “Not exactly. Like I said, it’s difficult to explain.”

He made the final turn and headed toward the small house. “I’d very much like to understand.”

She laughed rather bitterly. “So would I.”

Her comment only served to confuse him more. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Emmalyne shook her head. “Some things can’t be helped, Dr. Williams.”

“Jason. Call me Jason, please. I’d like very much for us to be friends.”

She put her hand up to cover her eyes. She rubbed her temples for a moment before answering. “I don’t have any friends—my responsibilities have been too great for such a luxury.”

“Everyone needs a friend,” he countered. “Responsibilities or no. You shouldn’t consider friendship a luxury, but rather a necessity.”

Emmalyne stopped rubbing her head and rested her hands once again in her lap with a sigh. “There already have been a great many necessities denied me, Dr. Williams.”

“Jason,” he insisted. The buggy came up even with the porch, and he reined the horse to a stop.

Emmalyne jumped down almost before the buggy completely halted. She looked up with an apologetic expression that vexed him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

She hurried into the house, leaving Jason to stare after her. Whatever it was that was troubling her went even deeper than a broken engagement. He took up his bag and followed after Emmalyne, his mind whirling with questions and suspicions on what was truly at the root of her despair. Hopefully they would have a little time alone after he saw to her brother. Maybe then he could get some answers.