and chest. He broke out in a cold sweat. “Shirt…cut…off me.” He closed his eyes, silently cursed the weakness, the bullet that had put him in this bed.
“You mustn’t move, Mr. Stone. I will do it.”
The blankets lifted, cool air washed over his right shoulder and arm. He opened his eyes, looked up at her. Her face was taut. She turned to the washbowl, wrung out the rag and soaped it. He held his breath, fought the sickening throbbing in his shoulder.
“You are quite covered in bandages, Mr. Stone. I’m so sorry for your pain.” She lifted his hand. The warm, soapy rag slid over his skin. Her hands were trembling. He saw her catch her lower lip with her upper teeth, turn to the washbowl and rinse out the rag, and swallowed hard against the churning in his stomach.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to properly thank you for saving Goldie.” She wiped the soap from his hand, took a little shuddering breath, put down the cloth and dried his hand with the towel. “I’m so very grateful.” She smiled, but there was something in her eyes…. He tried to block out the pain and nausea and concentrate.
“Your left arm is bound to your chest. To keep it still, I suppose. I shall not wash that hand.” There was relief in her voice. She pulled the covers back over him and picked up the washbowl. “You rest now, Mr. Stone. I shall take care of these things and be back in a moment with some broth for you.”
Thomas closed his eyes, yielded to the weakness. She had tried to cover it, but Viola Goddard had been upset by his bandages. There had been a fear, a vulnerability deep in the depths of her beautiful eyes that belied her cool demeanor as she washed him. A vulnerability that made him want to take care of her. He clenched his hands into fists, caught his breath at the pain that knifed through his chest and prayed for a quick recovery before falling asleep.
Chapter Four
Viola stared down at Thomas Stone’s pale, sleeping face, placed the spoon in the bowl, lifted the napkin off the quilt and carried them to the kitchen.
Hattie glanced at the bowl and frowned. “He didn’t eat but half. How’s he doin’?”
She shrugged and placed the bowl of broth on the warming shelf. “All right, I suppose. At least that’s what Doctor Calloway said. But he looks frightful to me.” She stepped to the end of the stove, out of Hattie’s way, and stood absorbing the warmth. Her growing weariness was causing an inward chill. “If only he had some color in his face. And that horrible weakness. Oh, Hattie, he hasn’t strength enough to even talk without stopping and gasping for air. And it’s my fault.”
Hattie stopped stirring and looked at her. “Your fault? How’d you figure that?”
“I should not have napped. If I hadn’t—”
“I told you to get some sleep whilst I watched over Goldie.” Hattie spooned soup from the pot into a bowl. “Guess the way you figure it, I’m the one to blame. I’m the one shouldn’t have gone to sleep.”
“Oh, Hattie, no! That’s not true.” Viola hurried to the elderly woman and put her arm around her shoulders. “I don’t blame you, Hattie. Please don’t think that. Goldie’s father left her on my doorstep. His note asked me to care for her until he returned. She is my responsibility, not yours. I meant only that. Do not blame yourself.”
“I don’t.” Hattie scooted out from under her arm and plunked the bowl onto the table. “Sit down and eat whilst Goldie and Mr. Stone are sleepin’. You’re lookin’ a mite peaked your own self.”
Viola shook her head, brushed back a curl that fell onto her forehead. “You go ahead and eat, Hattie. I’m not hungry. My guilt over Mr. Stone, and Goldie, and, well, this whole situation, has stolen my appetite.”
“Fiddlesticks! You ain’t to blame for what happened any more than I am. That kidnapper is. And I don’t need two sick grownups and a baby to look after. Sit down and eat.”
She sat. “All the same, I should have been with Goldie instead of napping.”
“Why? So you could have been hurt or worse when that man snuck in here to take the baby, so’s he could get his hands on them gold nuggets the father left for you to use to pay for Goldie’s care?” Hattie turned and walked back to the stove. “It’s likely there was two of them, you know. ’Cause that man wasn’t expectin’ to find us sleepin’ that time of day. I figure God worked things out for the good.”
Two of them. Viola stared at Hattie’s back, her nerves tingling. With all that had happened, she had forgotten about that stone thrown from the woods. It had been a warning. The kidnapper had a partner. What if he decided to sneak into the cabin and… She shivered, gripped her hands and waited for the nervous chill to pass, took a breath to remove any tremor from her voice. “I don’t see how you can say that, Hattie. Mr. Stone is lying in that bedroom too weak to even lift his head off the pillow. How is that God working things out for good?”
“He could be dead.”
“Oh. Yes. He could…” Viola placed her hand on her roiling stomach and drew another deep breath. She couldn’t understand faith like Hattie’s. She had experienced too much of evil. Bitterness rose like bile, formed a metallic taste on her tongue. “If God was involved, why would He have let all of this happen?”
“I don’t figure He did.” Hattie carried her bowl of soup to the table and bowed her head. “Bless this food, Almighty God. Use it to keep us healthy and strong and to help heal Thomas Stone. Amen.” She lifted her head, scooped up a piece of beef with her spoon. “The Good Book says there’s good and evil in this world, and because of that, bad things are gonna happen. But it also says God’ll take the bad and turn it to good for His children.”
By allowing a helpless young girl to be forced into choosing to make her living by prostitution? And then, after she escaped that life, by forcing her to bring a man into her home? By placing Thomas Stone here, in his helpless condition, where he could be killed if someone broke in again? Viola laid down her spoon, swallowed to hold back the bite of onion and peas that did not want to stay down. “Forgive me for disagreeing, Hattie. But I do not see the good in this situation.”
Hattie scooped up a piece of potato and broth, looked up and smiled. “It ain’t over yet.”
That is what I’m afraid of.
Viola looked up from her sewing as Hattie carried Goldie into the bedroom and sat her down on the rag rug. “This one’s all fed and dry and ready to play.” She straightened, glanced at Thomas Stone, then looked her way. “I’m gonna take me a walk down to Tanner’s store. I’m all out of licorice drops. You need anything?”
“Yes.” Viola handed Goldie the wooden spool she’d just emptied. “I need another spool of blue thread, and another packet of horn buttons.” She smiled at the baby and looked up. “And ask them to please order me another five yards of tent canvas. I’ve used the last of mine. Oh! And shaving supplies for Mr. Stone. He will probably want them when he is sufficiently healed to move his arms.”
Hattie nodded and started out the door.
“Hattie…”
The elderly woman turned.
Now what was she smiling about? Viola stared at her friend, then gave a mental shrug, kept a casual tone in her voice. “Please leave word
