Home by Nightfall (28 page)

“You spent the night with Tanner, didn’t you?”

Susannah drew a deep breath. “Riley, I’m sorry you found out that way. He’s my husband and I love him. We had a wonderful life together, you and I. But it’s part of the past.” She smoothed her skirt over her knees. “I loved you with all the passion and tenderness a young woman had to give. And you were my first love—that’s an important and cherished memory. Things changed, though. I guess no one knows that better than you do.” She turned so that he had to look her in the face. “Riley, I’ll always love you. Always. But Tanner is my husband now. He has my heart and soul, and my loyalty.”

He nodded. “I guess I figured that out a while back. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I want you to be happy, to find whatever it takes to fill that emptiness I sense in you.”

His shoulders rose with his deep sigh, the gesture giving him a defeated look that roused her pity, but did not cause her to question her own decisions.

She patted him on the arm and grabbed the bannister to stand. “There’s food upstairs if you’re hungry. The kids are asleep up there, but you know children. They can sleep through just about anything.”

“Lucky them. I wonder what that would be like.”

• • •

With great care, Jessica held Emmaline’s hand in her own and bathed it in cool water with carbolic soap. Her wrists were raw and red from where she’d been tied to a chair, so Jess washed them as well.

“I’m sorry, I know this is tender. I just want to avoid infection.”

Em was stoic. “It’s all right. I’ve known worse. Anyway, throwing boiling water in that stupid Lambert’s face was worth this burn.”

“Was that how this happened? Good for you—I like women who can stand up for themselves. God knows I’ve had to, with this job. I had a few dealings with Bert Bauer myself during the influenza epidemic. I despised him from the moment I met him.”

Em nodded. “He had that effect on people. If they weren’t already mad at him when they first laid eyes on him, he could turn that around pretty quick.”

Jessica finished dressing her burned hand and then looked at her bruised face. “Did Bauer do this too?”

“No, it was the skunk he fell in with to kill Tanner. Lambert broke that cheekbone once, though, years back.”

Carefully, Jess palpated the bruise, feeling for any bones that might be broken again. “I think this is all right. Like any break, I suppose it aches sometimes, even without a new injury.”

Em nodded. “Yeah, well…we learn to survive.”

“They didn’t hurt you any other way, did they?” Jess inquired, trying to be tactful.

“You mean rape me? No.” She met Jessica’s eyes then, and Jess saw kindness and a determined hope that surprised her. It pained her that circumstances had pushed Em into a hard life. “But thank you for asking. Some people don’t think a woman with my—job
can
be raped. But that’s not true for me any more than it is for another woman.”

Jess nodded and patted her on the shoulder. “Your hand should heal well. Try to keep it dry. Most of us are stuck here tonight because of the weather, and I’ve got Tanner to look after. But we have the room if you’d like to stay. I don’t how you’d get back home tonight, anyway.”

Just then, there was a knock on the examination room door. Jess opened it and saw Whit standing there.

“I thought I’d check and see how things are.”

Jess caught Em’s tucked-down chin and bashful smile, and suddenly she realized that Whit Gannon was Em’s hero in more ways than one. “She’ll be fine. I’ve invited Emmaline to stay here tonight if she’d like.”

The tall, rawboned lawman took a couple of steps into the room, torturing his hat in his hands as he did. “I think that would be a good idea, Em. I want to round up a couple of men to take care of, well, your front yard before you go back home. You don’t want to see that when you look out your windows.”

“I’ll let you two sort that out. I need to see to Tanner.” She left them alone and walked to the back where her other patient was resting behind the hospital screen.

Fatigue dragged at Jessica’s limbs. This was almost as bad as one of her days during the epidemic, except she hadn’t been pregnant
then. Now her body demanded naps at the most inconvenient times. Unless Tanner was in an urgent state, she’d check on him and then sneak away to rest.

Peeking around the screen, she saw both Susannah and Granny Mae attending him. His bandage was off again and now Mae was smearing some other disgusting-looking thing on Tanner. “How’s he doing?” she asked.

“We’re still putting snow on his head—the weather has been obliging,” Mae said. “I brought a moldy bread poultice. This infection might call for a more powerful remedy.”

Jessica nodded. This was a reasonable treatment, and an old one. “Temperature?”

“About the same,” Susannah replied. She looked as tired as Jess felt.

“We’ve got a full house here tonight, lots of people staying. Emmaline, the boys, Cole and me, Susannah, Riley, I assume…”

“If you want to wake up the boys, I can take them over to my place with me. It would free up a bed, and they know me well enough so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Plus I can feed them.”

“That’s an idea. Susannah?”

“I’d appreciate it, Mae.”

“Well, girls, you both look stove in. Jess, that baby is going to wear you out faster than you’re used to. Speaking of which, who’s going to deliver your new addition?” she asked, nodding at Jessica’s growing bulge.

Jess couldn’t help but laugh. “You, I imagine.”

“Hmph! Damn right, I am.”

• • •

“Emmaline, I think you know how I feel about you.” Whit held her uninjured hand. He’d closed the door to the examination room.

She sat on the bed, her feet dangling, and he’d pulled up a chair. “Yes, I have an idea, but I’d like to hear it from you. I wouldn’t want to assume something and find out I’m wrong.”

She watched as he summoned his courage. Setting aside his hat before he destroyed it completely, he took a deep breath. “Girl, I’ve been in love with you for years. You must know that by now. I tried to tell you a few months ago, but you wouldn’t have any of it.”

“And I’ve regretted that lots of times since, but especially today. If I had listened to you, I wouldn’t have been there for those two bastards to bother. I’m sorry, Whit.”

His white brows rose. “Sorry! For what?”

“I’m sorry that when you came to see me that day, I hurt you enough to make you leave and not come back. I’m grateful that you figured out I was in trouble and came to save me.” She gave him that shy smile. “I’ve been in love with you too, for a long time. But I was scared. Lambert left a big dent on my life.”

“Honey, he can’t do that anymore. Life is for living, and we haven’t been doing much of that. What do you say…will you be my wife? Will you become Mrs. Emmaline Gannon?”

Em never thought that any decent man would ever want her. The closest she came was when Tanner had offered her and the kids his protection so long ago.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, I will!”

He leaned forward and kissed her, the first time ever, and his mustache tickled. Then he kissed her again, and it was as if she were just a girl again with her first beau. All the years of disappointment and the brittle shell around her heart dropped away with the feel of his lips on hers. She looped her arms around his
neck and inhaled the arousing scent of him, things she’d not done in years with any customer. None of them had ever touched her heart and soul the way that Whit did. She would not have permitted it.

He drew back. “Do you have anything in that place up there that you want?”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” she gestured at her ratty outfit.

He waved that off. “We can fix that.”

“And I have some money put by under the loose floorboard next to the sink.”

“I’ll get it.”

“Then really, I guess there’s nothing else. Everything I own is old and worn. It was secondhand to begin with.”

“You don’t have to go back. We’ll get you outfitted here in town, and if you want a place to stay until the wedding, you’ll have a room at the hotel where you can enjoy some peace for a change. I’ll board up the windows when I go up there. That will pretty much spread the message that you’re out of business.”

“Oh, Whit,” she said, her voice trembling. “That would be wonderful.”

“This is what I’ve wanted for you. And for me.”

“Can we wait until the bruise on my face heals up?” She touched it with cautious fingertips. “I—I’d like to look nice for the wedding, even if it’s just at the mayor’s office or some such.”

Whit bit his upper lip, taking part of his mustache with it. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at the floor for a moment. He looked up again. “Of course, honey. We’ll do exactly what you want.”

“What about my boys?”

“You should know I expect you to bring them with us, if you want to.”

“I hope Tanner and Susannah don’t take it too hard, but I thought I’d never get them back. This is a dream come true for me. Are you sure you’re ready for a full-time family after all these years of being a bachelor?” Her heart was nearly bursting with joy—a significant change from earlier in the day when she wasn’t sure if she’d see the sun come up again.

“Hell, yes! At least I got to skip that dirty diaper stuff.”

Em actually laughed, her smile as broad as her injured face would let her stretch it.

• • •

At around six o’clock the next morning, Susannah woke up in the chair beside Tanner’s bed, the one she’d occupied for so many hours. She’d been leaning against the wall with a blanket wrapped around her. Now she opened dry, sleep-starved eyes and sat forward to look at her husband. He still slept, but he looked better somehow. She put a hand to his forehead and she swore he was cooler. At her touch, his eyes opened.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” he mumbled, a bit groggy. “I’m still alive?”

She grinned. “Yes, sweetheart. You wouldn’t expect to die and find yourself in a place like this, would you?”

He turned his head slightly and looked around. “You never know.”

“How are you feeling? Your shoulder?”

“It still hurts like hell, but I don’t feel as sick.”

“Granny Mae came in last night and tried another poultice. Moldy bread.”

“Damn, doesn’t she have remedies that aren’t so disgusting?”

Now she knew he was better, groggy or not. His voice was rough from fever and disuse, but he had his sense of humor back.

She heated more broth and spooned it into him. This time he ate more before he fell asleep again.

By then, Jessica had come downstairs, dressed but looking as tired as the rest of them. At least she’d had a chance to tidy her hair and change her apron. Susannah had been sleeping in her clothes for hours. “How’s he doing?”

“I really think he’s better.”

“Temperature?”

“Ninety-nine.”

“That sounds a lot better. He’ll be sore for a while. I guess Granny Mae wins another one.”

“Now Jess, you don’t mind, do you?”

“Heavens no, I’m grateful! But don’t tell her I said so.” She gave Susannah a mischievous smile.

• • •

Since Tanner was doing better, Susannah had gone to Jessica’s office to take a nap for an hour, actually lying down. Now she roused her stiff body from the sofa and went to check on him. He slept as well. His color was better and when she felt his forehead, it was still cool.

Grabbing the coffee pot from the worktable, she was about to go to the sink when she saw Wade and Joshua lurking in the hallway. “Hi, you two. Did Granny Mae give you breakfast?”

“Yes, and she said to tell you she’ll be over pretty soon. Do we have to go to school today?” Josh said.

Susannah had to do a quick check in her head to remember what day it was. Friday. “This is family business and I think we’d like to keep you close by. Besides, maybe the weather canceled school.”

“Aunt Susannah, did Uncle Tanner die?” Wade asked.

“Goodness, no! Is that what you thought? Didn’t Granny tell you he’s much better?”

“But we saw Mr. Hustad take away someone covered with a sheet last night. We thought maybe it was him.”

Oh, dear. No one must have told the boys what was happening. It was hard to blame anyone. So
much
had happened. “That wasn’t Uncle Tanner. Come and see. He’s probably sleeping, so let’s be quiet. But he’s going to be just fine.”

The kids tiptoed in and peeked around the screen. Tanner was awake. He turned his head and smiled when he saw them. His voice was a little weak but he knew where he was. “Hey, cowboys, how have you been doing?” Wade took one look at him and burst into tears, and buried his face against Tanner’s sheet-covered thigh.

He glanced up at Susannah and put his free hand on Wade’s head. “Damn, do I look that bad?”

“No, no. I think they’ve been really worried, that’s all. With everything that happened last night, no one had a chance to tell them much.”

He stroked Wade’s auburn hair and said, “Hell, I’m too tough to get carried off that easy.”

The boy lifted his face from the blanket. “Promise?”

Tanner tweaked his chin. “Sure, I promise.”

“We didn’t like what happened yesterday,” Josh said.

Tanner huffed out a chuckle. “Trust me, I didn’t like it either. But it’s over with and the bad guys won’t bother us anymore.”

Susannah produced a handkerchief for Wade and said, “Let’s let him rest for a while, all right? You’ll be around so you can visit with him later. Shall we check the fire in the waiting room and see if it needs tending?”

“Aww, okay.”

She turned them both around, and with an arm on each one’s shoulders, walked them toward the front. At that moment, they heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up. Emmaline Bauer was coming down. Jess was behind her. The woman stopped and stared down at the boys, her face suddenly ashen. She turned slightly, as if poised on the brink of flight back to the second floor. But Jess, pregnant enough to be an obstacle, stopped her. Susannah looked at her, puzzled, and then down at Wade and Josh with their red hair. At that instant, she felt as if she’d been kicked in the chest.