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Thursday, December 18, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
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Thursday, September 04, 2014
WE ALL LOVE QUIZZES...RIGHT?
Take the quiz at the Bethany House Fiction blog today.
Which Character Are You Most Like?
Sunday, August 03, 2014
The Great Adventure with the Daniel family: Reviewer's Bookshelf: Tried and True by Mary Conne...
The Great Adventure with the Daniel family: Reviewer's Bookshelf: Tried and True by Mary Conne...: Book Summary: Kylie Wilde is the youngest sister--and the most civilized. Her older sisters might be happy dressing in trousers and pos...
Monday, July 07, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Dawn's Dreams: Stuck Together - A Review
Dawn's Dreams: Stuck Together - A Review: Published - June 2014, Bethany House Publishers Series - Trouble in Texas book 3 Author - Mary Connealy Title - Stuck Together Tina...
Friday, June 20, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Closer Than Brothers - Chapter Thirteen
It's NOT romantic comedy with cowboys.
It's Closer Than Brothers--Part #12 of 13 episodes of how my heroes from Trouble in Texas met
and how they became so loyal to each other.
and how they became so loyal to each other.
Book #3 Stuck Together --Vince's story--releases in THREE DAYS! June 3.
Closer Than Brothers
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Callie and Seth
 |
| Click to Buy |
Seth's
lips left hers and she missed them terribly. Lantern light shone in her eyes.
The room had been nearly pitch dark with only moonlight coming through the
uncurtained windows in this large upstairs room.
"Y-yes?"
She couldn't see beyond that glaring lantern, but she recognized the voice. Dr.
Coolidge. The Fort Worth doctor who was supposed to take her home.
"Get
up immediately."
That
actually took some doing, tucked beneath Seth as she was. Her skirts twisted up
with him and his nightshirt and his blanket and his legs and oh, mercy.
Finally
she stood. She had an irrational desire to salute.
"Wh-what
are you doing here, Doctor?" The doctor wasn't alone. He had five men with
him. Callie didn't know much about the army honestly, but there were stars on
one man's shirt, and other decorations on these men.
"We
have a very important reason to be here that is not your concern. I told your
father I would see to your well-being, but I had no idea I was dealing with a
young lady who was no better than she ought to be."
Callie
had never even been kissed before.
Well,
before Seth. He'd kissed her any number of times. "I'm sorry. I was
just…Seth is…that is…it's not like it seems."
"Oh,
it seems as if you were in bed with a man, not your husband. How am I
misunderstanding that?"
"I
w-was…he was having a nightmare. I was waking him up."
"By
kissing him?"
As a
matter of fact yes, but Callie didn't think it was wise to say that.
Seth,
newly relieved of his fever, very, very newly, stood beside Callie. In his
nightshirt. Not proper at all. He slid one of his strong hand to the small of
Callie's back, supporting her.
"You
will leave this hospital immediately, Miss Stone."
"B-but
I am working here. You said you needed my help."
"I
don't need the kind of work you are
doing, I assure you."
"Doctor,”
Seth said, running his hand up and down her back, “Sally has been nothing
but…"
"It's
Callie," the doctor snarled.
"What?"
Seth, the dunce, asked.
"The
woman who was sharing that bed with you, her name, is Callie. Perhaps you
should familiarize yourself with it."
Seth
looked at Callie with wide, confused eyes. Maybe he wasn't fully awake yet.
"Callie,
I mean. Callie has been nothing but generous and…"
"We
saw ample proof of her generosity, soldier and we don't fault you for accepting
her generous offer, but women of the street aren't welcome in here."
"Women
of the street?" Callie's fist clenched.
"Now
there's no call to say such things. Callie taking care of me like she did tonight is
the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."
"Seth,
stop trying to save me. Right now."
"What
kind of women do you employ in this hospital, Coolidge?" The man with the
stars on his uniform gave Callie a very sharp-eyed look. "I would think
you'd know to keep an eye out for her sort."
"I'm
not letting you talk to Callie that way, General." Seth leaned toward the
older man. Callie heard the threatening tone in Seth's voice and looked at him.
He had a wild look in his blue eyes. A dangerous look. A mad look.
She
wondered what happened to a man who attacked a general. Surely it went badly
for the attacker.
The
general didn't even react to Seth, instead he turned on the doctor. "If
you can't manage this hospital, I'll relieve you of the job and give it to
someone who can."
The
doctor stiffened and turned furious eyes on Callie. "Get out, Miss Stone.
Immediately." Then he glared at Seth. "And if you're well enough to
issue threats to one of the Union Army's generals, then you're well enough to
leave this hospital, too. Get out."
Seth's
fever had only broken today. Callie wasn't sure how he'd walk out. He didn't
have any clothes. Callie wasn't sure how he was managing to stay on his feet.
Seth
even seemed to calm down a bit. He subsided from his threatening stance and
said, "I'm sorry to have been so rude. But…but…well, you interrupted us.
I'd just persuaded Miss Stone to marry me. That kiss was to celebrate her
accepting my proposal."
Callie
gasped and turned to look at Seth. He was staring right at her with eyes so
blue they glowed in the lantern light. She knew it was a terrible mistake but
she wanted him so badly. Yes, Seth was sick. And all right, yes, he'd just said
her name wrong. And yes he wasn't probably even thinking clearly. But the kiss
they shared and the way she alone could get him to come out of his nightmares,
there was something between them, something real. She knew it was love that
would grow into a lifetime of happiness.
It was
meant to be and if they were marrying in haste she would not repent at leisure. She'd enjoy herself thoroughly at leisure.
One of
the men was a chaplain. They were married immediately.
To
Callie's surprise, the doctor wasn't placated. He still kicked them out of the
hospital. He did relent enough to let Seth find a pair of pants in a stack near
the wall. Callie quickly helped him dress, packed up all the meager possessions
Seth had around his hard little cot, and took him to the room she was staying
in. She didn't have to wake him from his nightmares because they didn’t sleep
all night.
By
morning she was a thoroughly married lady.
By the
end of the week she was so madly in love she was walking on air.
Seth
wasn’t really fit to travel and, unlike Luke, he didn’t seem determined to head
out. So they stayed mostly in that tiny room, leaving only to find food. Callie
considered this stretch of time their honeymoon.
They spent the first two weeks
of their married life mostly in bed. The passion between them
was something
Callie could never have imagined. There were no nightmares and very little
talking, there just wasn't time to fit much in between lovemaking and working
up the energy to make love again.
Callie had cured Seth.
They dozed but rarely did they sleep
deeply before waking to make love again.
After two weeks of such pleasure
their bliss finally wore them out. Seth slept deeply enough to have his first
nightmare, which Callie cured him of in her usual efficient way.
It was glorious and they both
agreed marriage was a wonder. She did notice he had a mild fever and worried
about it, but he fell back into a peaceful sleep and she hoped it wasn't
serious.
She
awoke the next morning alone.
She
searched frantically. She went to every hospital. So many homes were being used
as temporary hospitals that it took her weeks to make sure she’d been to every
one of them. She remembered how those men had grabbed Dare and Vince, so she
badgered every soldier, trying to find someone who remembered dragging Seth
onto a train. She tearfully visited morgues and walked through alleys looking
for men sleeping on the streets. She searched until all hope was gone.
He had to be dead, he'd have
never abandoned her.
No man could make love to a
woman like that and then just leave.
Through tears of grief, she
remembered Vince’s money. She used it to get herself back to Texas.
When she got there, she found Pa
had fought with Luke, and Luke had run off.
By
October she'd realized she was pregnant. Which was when she produced her
marriage license and admitted her folly with Seth. Pa was furious, but then Pa
was furious most every day.
By
February she had a son named Connor who was the image of Seth Kincaid right
down to his wild blue eyes.
By
summer her pa was dead and she was running for her life from Flint Greer who
claimed Pa had sold him the S Bar S.
She considered the promise of
help from Luke’s Regulator friends. She knew they would help her, though they
didn’t know her at all. She even wondered if she’d find Luke with them.
But she couldn’t remember who
they were. Vince Yates. He’d given her the money. Chicago. But such a huge
city. She had no idea how to go about finding one man in a town that size.
Dare. She couldn’t even remember
his last name, let alone where he’d hailed from.
Jonas Cahill, but he’d been on
his way west to work as a missionary on the frontier. He’d ridden with Pa and
Luke as far as St. Louis. Callie had no idea where Jonas had gone. And anyway
those men, despite their promises, had no responsibility for her.
However her son had uncles.
She remembered, 'Rafe! Ethan!
Help! I’m burning!’
Rafe and
Ethan Kincaid. Callie and Seth hadn't talked much but he had said his brothers
lived in a little mining town called Rawhide, Colorado.
Callie
was a western girl. Unlike Chicago which terrified her, she wasn’t afraid to
tackle a small town named Rawhide. It sounded like her kind of place.
Seth had brothers. Uncles bore
some responsibilities for their families, and Callie had nowhere else to turn--she couldn't count Chicago. She wrote to those uncles and threw in a
letter to her husband, just in case he had the nerve to not be dead. Then set
out, still living on what was left of Vince Yate's money.
She wished Vince knew he’d saved
her, he deserved that, but she had no idea how to tell him.
Heading west, Connor in one arm,
her rifle in the other, Callie thought of the trip ahead of her.
Her brother was gone, her
husband and father were dead, and her ranch stolen— she didn’t believe for a
second Pa had sold it.
And if
Seth wasn’t dead, that’s where he’d go.
Home.
But of
course Seth was dead.
And if he wasn’t, he would be by
the time she was through with him.
~~~~~
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Closer Than Brothers - Chapter Twelve
It's NOT romantic comedy with cowboys.
and how they became so loyal to each other.
Book #3 Stuck Together --Vince's story--releases in June 3.
Closer Than Brothers
Chapter Twelve
Callie and Seth
 |
| Seth calls out for Rafe Out of Control-free on Kindle |
“Rafe! Ethan! Help! I’m burning!”
Callie
was right there. Ready from the first cry. Seth's arms swung. He was trying to
put the fire out on his back. She'd figured that out at some point. It made her
want to cry.
She
waited. He swatted at his shoulders hard. Thrashed, then drew back to take
another swipe and she dived under his flailing arms, grabbed his face, held him
steady and kissed him.
He
didn't scream a second time.
He
froze. Utter stillness.
Silence.
The
seconds ticked. Then his arms came around her hard.
She'd
seen the awful scars. She could only imagine what he'd gone through. The pain.
Of course he had nightmares. And the doctor said the burns were old. They had
happened years ago. They must have happened near the beginning of the war,
though the doctor was amazed a soldier could be hurt this badly and not just be
sent home.
And yet
here he was.
Oh, yes,
here he was kissing her.
Seth was
still asleep, but there was no more crying out for Rafe and Ethan. She'd asked
when
 |
| Seth's brother Ethan Has his own story |
Luke had
been so near death that Callie had been sick with worry. But Seth had been
worse. Callie hadn't known Seth at first of course, she'd only known there was
one patient with nightmares worse than anyone else.
And
she'd volunteered one long, awful night when everyone was so busy no one could
help the poor man, to wake him up.
And
she'd shaken him and coaxed. A nurse who'd rushed by said she'd have to slap
him, scream in his face and be careful because he'd punched more than one
person.
Callie
couldn't bear it.
She'd
sat beside the tormented man and thought of a fairy tale.
Waking
someone with a kiss.
Of
course there'd been one about turning a frog into a prince with a kiss, too,
but that wasn't going to happen.
She'd ducked
under his swinging arms and tried it. The screaming had stopped. The kiss had
gone on far too long.
Seth had
been kissing her from the first moment, but he wasn't really
awake…and he'd been a while getting there. Callie
had been talking with him ever since. He was the sweetest man she'd ever met.
Poor sweet, wounded, tormented soldier. Delirious a good part of the time. In pain
from his wounds. Feverish. He wasn't skin and bones like Luke. Seth didn't
think he'd been in Andersonville long but that story was garbled, too.
Callie
didn't tell anyone how she woke him and no one asked. In fact, no one seemed
to notice. Things were mostly quiet at night now that Seth wasn't screaming and
more and more patients were heading home. Even before Luke left the hospital, she
was spending every night sleeping in a chair at Seth's bedside, ready to kiss
him awake.
Her
sleeping prince.
Pa would
kill her if he knew. Or no, he'd kill Seth.
Seth stopped kissing her in his sleep. The kiss changed. He stopped
 |
| It's all leading up to Trouble in Texas Stuck Together Book #3 Releasing June 3rd |
"I'm
so glad you're here."
She was
so glad she was here, too. But she couldn't say that because her mouth was
extremely busy.
Every
night it was more passionate. Callie couldn't believe how deeply she'd fallen
in love with poor, wounded, confused Seth. She was so upset that his family
hadn't come for him. She thought of her own family, gone.
The
loneliness made her cling all the more to Seth. They were alone. Two people
against the world. When he pulled her out of her chair, she let him.
He'd
done that before, but that was when she'd ended their embrace on other nights.
Tonight she couldn’t do it.
Instead,
she sat beside him on the bed. Then he pulled her forward until she lay on top
of him. His strength amazed her. His body was strong and muscled, not wasted
away like Luke’s, like nearly everyone else's in here.
He
rolled until she was tucked under him and then she really didn't know exactly
where she was, she only knew it was someplace wonderful and she wasn't ever
leaving.
~~~~~
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Closer Than Brothers - Chapter Eleven
It's NOT a romance. It's not very funny.
No ropin' and ridin' anywhere
Part #11 of 13 episodes of how my heroes from Trouble in Texas met
and how they became so loyal to each other.
Book #3 Stuck Together --Vince's story--releases in June 3.
Closer Than Brothers
 |
| Click to See how Callie handles Seth Kincaid when she's mad |
Chapter Eleven
Callie and Seth
"They're letting you go, Luke."
Callie
wasn't going to tell him her big news until she absolutely had to. She'd told
Pa and it'd taken some fast talking, but she'd gotten her way.
She
didn't think Luke would like this, but Luke didn't get to decide what Callie
did or did not do.
She
handed him a shirt and a pair of pants. They'd brought Luke a couple of changes
of clothes from home. She'd spent every spare minute, and they had been very few,
working with her needle to make them fit. Callie could never have imagined how
much weight he'd lost.
Luke
took them and gave them a wry look. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
He was in some kind of nightshirt. He couldn't possibly ride home to Texas
wearing that and it appeared to be all he owned.
They'd
had him out of bed a few times so he was steady, mostly. But Callie stayed
nearby.
Luke
stood and pulled the britches up under his nightshirt and buttoned them.
Callie
pulled a rope out of her apron pocket. "Use this to belt your pants or
they'll fall right off."
Then she
eased his nightshirt off and had to fight back tears as she looked at his rib
bones. His brutally skinny body made her want to pick up a gun and start
shooting any Reb she saw. How could one human being do this to another?
She dressed
him like a helpless child. Only the sickest were left and there were still
plenty. A month after Andersonville had been opened by the Union Army, the
ailing were still too many to count.
Like
Seth.
Keeping
her eyes focused firmly downward, because she was afraid she might be blushing,
she helped Luke get his foot firmly seated in his boots, then, when she had her
unruly thoughts under control, she stood just as a bald man came over, walking
straight for her and Luke.
Luke
smiled. "Did you get them in?"
"Nope.
But they're waiting outside. We found your pa. He looks just like you and we
figured it had to be him. He's out there with a wagon and he said you were
coming out, so they're going to see you're alive and well, and say good-bye all
at once." The man shifted his eyes to Callie."
Luke
said, "Callie, this is Jonas. He's a preacher and one of my best friends.
We all helped each other get through Andersonville. Jonas Cahill, Callie Stone,
my baby sister."
Jonas
smiled and gave her a nod.
Callie
couldn't believe Jonas was up and acting so steady. He was as skinny as Luke.
"You survived that place, too?"
"Yep,
and I handled it a sight better than this weakling kid, did."
Callie
gasped. She remembered well that her brother didn't like being goaded.
Luke
rolled his eyes. "Don't call me kid."
Jonas
slid his arm around Luke's waist.
"I
can walk." Luke tried to step away.
"If
I don't look like I'm helping, the guard at the front door is going to catch me
and throw me on a train going who knows where. Your pa said I can ride in the
wagon with you a long way toward Missouri. So let me act like I'm
helping."
"You're
going along?" Luke smiled and let Jonas help. Whether he admitted it or
not, Luke could use someone to lean on.
Callie
still hadn't told Luke her news. She hoped having Jonas along, with his serene
smile and steady way of handling Luke, made Callie abandoning him better. She
felt like she barely knew her brother anymore, maybe he wouldn't even mind that
she wasn't heading back to Texas.
The
three of them left the hospital. Pa arranging that wagon was the only way
they'd have been able to leave and, as it was, they shouldn't travel yet. But
Pa was wild to get Luke out of here. Luke was wild to go.
Callie
thought they were both headlong fools.
It was
too soon and she'd told them both that a dozen time. Of course she didn't want
to go at all for reasons she wasn't about to admit to either of them.
Two
strangers rushed up to Luke and looked him over, smiling with such pure
pleasure it made her throat ache. Callie wasn't much of a crier but Luke, to
see what had been done to him, and to see these friends so happy that he'd
survived.
Well, it
about did her in.
She was
introduced.
Vince
Yates. He looked and his eyes fastened on hers, she knew they were brimming
with
|
| Vince--who can handle anything can't handle crying women Click to Buy |
Dare
Riker. He seemed nervous about something. He never quit twitching.
And
Parson Jonas. They said hello and were ready to help lift Luke into the well
padded back of the wagon.
Callie was
out of time. She had to finally speak. "Luke, I'm saying good-bye,
too."
Luke
whipped his head around so fast he staggered. Vince caught him or he might have
fallen. "What does that mean?"
"I
told you there's a doctor here from Fort Worth. He needs help. Pa knows his
family and trusts him. I'll be safe with him. I'm going to stay and work until
he heads for home, then he'll bring me. There are some women traveling in his
party so it'll be proper. Pa and I've talked it over. I think I'll be another
couple of months, then I'll follow you to Texas."
Luke's
black eyes flashed with worry and regret and some anger. Luke was always quick
to substitute anger for anything else he was feeling.
Jonas
lay a hand on Luke's shoulder. "I'll stay here with her, see to her…if you
want, Luke."
"I
will, too," Vince said. A cool character. Callie thought he might be a
handsome man but he was gaunt—awful to look at. They all were. Vince watched
her with cool blue eyes. Dare moved, nervous. Both were thin as cadavers.
Dare
said, "I can try again to help in the hospital. Maybe now that so many
have left, and I've
 |
| Dare's doctoring has just begun |
Luke
looked at Callie a long time, as if this was his decision. It wasn't, but she'd
only tell him that if he made the wrong one.
Finally,
Luke looked at Jonas. "I'd like it if you rode along with Pa and me. I'm
not ready to say good-bye to all of you."
Jonas
nodded.
Luke
pulled Callie into his arms. "It's kind of you to want to help, little
sister. There's such terrible need. I wanted you to come home with me, but you
won't be far behind."
They
held each other for a long, quiet moment. Callie's eyes filled with tears. She
didn't let them fall. She pulled away and ran a hand over Luke's fuzzy head and
smiled at him.
"I
hope you're good and fat by the time I get to Texas."
"I'll
do my best." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I
love you, big brother."
Luke
didn't say it back, but he nodded.
Pa said
good-bye, his usual gruff self, but she saw the affection beneath it.
Luke's
friends loaded him up, careful to see his bony body was well padded in the
wagon bed. Jonas climbed up on the high seat and started talking with Pa as the
wagon rolled away.
Callie
watched them until they rolled out of sight. A tear streaked down her face as
she turned to speak to Luke's friends.
Vince,
for all his cool, let his eyes lock on that single tear and he stepped back as
if recoiling from the sight.
Before
he could recover, four military men rushed up behind Dare and Vince and grabbed
them.
"All
able-bodied soldiers were supposed to leave the area long ago." A man on
each side held Dare and Vince's arms locked.
"No,
wait." Dare gave Callie a frantic look.
"We
can't leave her," Vince struggled against the grip of two men to one.
"I'll
be fine." Callie really didn't want them to be watching over her. She
could take care of herself.
"A
train north leaves in ten minutes."
Vince broke
the hold they had on him and surged toward her, grabbed her hands. She felt him
press something into her fingers and his eyes burned into hers. He whispered, “Hang
onto this. Don’t let anyone see it.”
He was grabbed and they hauled
both of Luke's friends away. Callie clutched whatever Vince had given her
tight, but she didn't intervene in their departure. In fact, she waved good-bye
and smiled. It was kind of them to want to stay, but they needn't worry.
When they were out of sight, she
looked at what she held and saw money. Blinking, in case it vanished, she saw a
large roll of bills wrapped around something hard. Holding it sideways she was
quite sure the center was made of a stack of gold coins.
She tucked it all deep in her
pocket to count later as she walked back into the hospital and got to work. She
remembered that vow, they’d be there for each other. They’d come if there was a
need. A bond that was closer than a brother. Vince had just given her a great
deal of money in a very bold demonstration of how seriously he took that vow.
Pa had left her with money for
food. The room she was renting was paid in full for two months, but she felt
safer knowing she had some money in case of trouble.
She'd be
working all day.
All
night she'd sit at Seth Kincaid's bedside and be ready when his nightmares
came. She'd found a talent for waking him that no one else possessed.
A talent
that made her heart race.
~~~~~
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Closer Than Brothers - Chapter Ten
It's NOT a romance. It's not a comedy.
It's not a western. No ropin' and ridin' anywhere.
Part #10 of 13 episodes of how my heroes from Trouble in Texas met
and how they became so loyal to each other.
Book #3 Stuck Together --Vince's story--releases in June 3.Closer Than Brothers
Chapter Ten
Luke—The Kid |
| Click to Buy |
Callie kept feeding him and Luke was gaining strength and
staying awake longer each day. He still hadn't seen Pa, but Callie said he came
in everyday and Luke was just sleeping through the visits. They'd manage to see
each other real soon.
Then he
woke up to his shoulder being gently shaken and saw a skin-draped skeleton.
Ghastly. He yelped.
The skeleton smiled. “You’re
alive, Kid.”
Jonas.
“Why are you bald?” Luke
couldn’t believe that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Probably
better than asking why Jonas was a skeleton. He’d thought he’d never see any of
his Regulator friends again.
“You’re next thing to bald.
Haven’t you noticed?”
Luke raised a hand, saw how it
trembled and dropped it to the blanket shocked and embarrassed to show such
weakness.
He looked up to see if Jonas had
noticed. Jonas was busy getting Luke a glass of water.
His friend showed no concern for
Luke’s tender belly like Callie had, he let Luke drink deep. The water went down
and seemed to soak into a desert. His mouth and throat almost absorbed it
before it got to his belly.
“More.”
Jonas was up and gone and back
with more water before Luke could tell him not to leave.
It was probably good that Luke
had been given a few moments break because his stomach heaved a bit from the
big gulp of water, even though it didn’t seem to hardly get there. This time
Luke was less desperate and he drank more slowly, the way Callie always made
him. He finished the whole glass a sip at a time. When it was empty, Luke’s gut
felt stretched full.
Then Luke noticed Jonas’s
baldness again and reached for his own face and head. “I've got bristles on my
head. Who cut it? Who shaved me?”
“All of us in the hospital got
sheered like sheep. We were crawling with lice and fleas. Part of bringing us
into this hospital was throwing all our clothes away and shaving us and bathing
us in harsh soap. They did it so we wouldn’t start re-infecting each other with
whatever vermin we were carrying.”
“A bath.” Luke sighed. “I’d have
liked to have been awake for that.”
“You’ll be awake for your next
one.” Jonas ran his hand over his freckled face and his bald head.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“I asked around and they told me
you’ve been more asleep than awake for nearly a month,
 |
| Click to Buy |
“The war ended a month ago?”
“Yep. We were liberated from the
camp in May and it’s June now. Your fever broke about four days ago. I’ve been
talking with a chaplain in here who brings me word and he said you’d woken up.
It took me until now to sneak in and see you. Dare tried to get in here as a
medic right when we were liberated but they told him he wasn’t a real doctor
and he was too weak to be of much help and they tried to drag him on a train.
He barely got away. He and Vince and I have been hiding out ever since trying
to figure out how to see you.”
“You’re all still here?” Luke
felt a shocking, almost uncontrollable urge to cry. He knew just how sick he
was because tears were unthinkable.
“They caught Big John and
shipped him off to Texas. He's just no good at hiding." Jonas smiled.
"But the rest of us are still here. We couldn’t just go. Not with you at
death’s door. They're trying to get rid of everyone they can, though. They
don’t have food nor shelter to spare.”
“You’re not still going hungry
are you?” Horror crept up Luke’s spine to think of how long they’d all been
hungry and now, when his friends could finally eat, to think they’d go without
in order to see him.
“No, we’re doing all right.
Vince figured out a way to get money. Not easy in the chaos around here. But
he’s a wily one. He got us set up with a decent place to live and we're well
fed."
"Invincible Vince. It
figures he could find money and food and clothes in a place with none of those
things."
"He didn't even work too
hard at it," Jonas said with a fond smile. "But we have to stay clear
of the Army. They want everyone to go home. Even the soldiers in the hospital
are starting to be released now, so things have started to ease up. We had to
cook up a plan to get one of us admitted to this hospital.”
Luke looked at Jonas. “You’re so
skinny you look like a corpse that’s been dead and buried for six months. How
hard could it be to get yourself thrown in a hospital?”
Jonas shrugged. “I’m good
compared to you and a lot of others. Vince came up with the way to get in. Dare
and Vince cut their hair and shaved but I didn’t. There are ways to get the vermin out without
having to sheer yourself, but the army isn't exactly interested in making you
pretty. So we were doing fine. Anyway, you know I've had fever and ague and
it's come and gone a few times, but never been serious. So we saved my old clothes
and waited. Last night here comes my fever. I put my old clothes back on, and
with my wild hair and ragged clothes, I staggered in here and was sick enough
and looked bad enough to satisfy them. They shaved me, burned the clothes and
slapped me in bed. The fever didn’t last, but no one’s noticed yet. I waited
until everyone left and snuck over to see you.
“I’m sorry to wake you up. I
reckon that’s the wrong thing to do to a man as sick as you, but I had to talk
to you, see with my own eyes that you’re mending. How anyone as thin as you can
be called better.” Jonas shook his head. “Only men who’ve spent time in
Andersonville would believe how much the human body can endure.”
“I look as bad as you do, then,
huh?” Luke asked.
Jonas nodded. "Worse."
Luke flinched. “I’d like to see
Vince and Dare.”
“I’ll see if maybe I can slip
them in." Jonas clapped Luke on the shoulder, but gently. "They’ll
get caught and swept away, sent home, but maybe they can say goodbye before they get
dragged off. We decided if at least one of us could see you, and report back,
we’d be satisfied with it. But they want to come and look at you with their own
eyes. You had us real scared, Kid.”
Luke was almost used to the
ridiculous nickname, but out of habit he said, “Stop calling me Kid.”
Jonas smiled. “I’ll get Dare and
Vince in if I can. If not, you can write to them at home. I stuck a piece of paper with their addresses
in your stack of clothes on your bedside. That’s where they’re both heading.”
“So Vince is really going to
Chicago? He swore he’d never do that.”
Jonas frowned. “He doesn’t want
to. Bad blood between him and his father. But he has to go somewhere he can
rest and fatten up for a while. He may not be well enough to get a bed in this
hospital, but he’d a mighty weak man. He needs good care for a while. He has to
regain his strength and put on about a hundred pounds.”
Luke wanted to go home so badly.
How could Vince dread it so much? “My pa is here to get me. I’ve seen Callie,
and she said Pa had been in, too. I must’ve slept through his visits so far.
But he came all this way. I fought with him all the time before the war, but
I’m so lonely for him and for the ranch. I’m a changed man. I’m going to be the
best, happiest son you’ve ever seen.”
“Glad to hear it, Luke. If I
don’t see you again and if Dare and Vince can’t get past the door, you’ll hear
from us somehow. We know you’ll be in Broken Wheel, Texas. We’ll be writing to
you. Right now, before another minute passes, in case I get thrown out of here
or we get separated somehow, I'm making you a promise Kid. If you ever need
help, you only need to let me know. The way we stuck together in prison has created a bond between us that is closer
than brothers. I said this to Vince and Dare and they feel the same."
Jonas closed his hand on Luke's arm.
Luke felt that connection. He
could never love a brother more. "I would be honored to help any of you,
if you had need. I owe you my life and it's a debt I will gladly repay. You
tell Dare and Vince that goes for them, too."
Jonas nodded. "I will. If
you don't hear from me right away, don't give up. I'll be a while finding a
place to settle. Unlike all of you, I don’t have a home.”
“Come to Texas with me,” Luke
offered.
Jonas’s brow furrowed. “I’m
feeling lead to the west as my mission field.”
“Texas is west.”
“It is that, Kid. But I’ve got
an offer with a Missionary Society out of St. Louis. It’s the door that’s been
opened for me. I’m heading to Missouri and letting God lead me onward from
there. If I get close to Broken Wheel, Texas, I’ll stop in and see this ranch
you’re so fired up about.”
"Aren't you going home first, to see your little sister? After all those letter she wrote."
"I don't dare. I'm a wanted man back in Ohio. I might be arrested."
"After all these years? And after serving in the Army so honorably?"
Jonas shrugged, I just don't know and I don't know how to find out without going there and the first hint I might get is having shackles clapped on. I'd love to see Tina but she'll understand. I'm heading west."
"I hope you end up in Texas." Luke smiled.
Jonas said, “And now, I know
where they keep a pot of soup simmering. How about I get you something to eat?”
Luke’s stomach growled and he
nodded and wished it was beefsteak instead of the watery soup Callie kept
giving him.
“Have you seen my sister?”
Jonas looked around. “Nope. But
I don’t even know what she looks like.”
“I think she’s helping, doing
some nursing. The things they say Dare’s too sick to do.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open for her.
That’s mighty fine of your family to come all this way to care for you, Luke.
You’ve got good folks.” Jonas went to find the soup.
Luke nodded, his heart warm at
the thought. As he lay there waiting for the food he dreamed of how it’d be
when he went back to the S Bar S Ranch. Things would be better now. He was
grown up. No more of the struggles between him and Pa. Pa was a stubborn one but
now he’d know Luke was a grown man. They’d be partners not father and son. It’d
be a new beginning.
He could hardly wait.
What had become of Callie? She’d
been here at his side faithfully every time he’d awakened. But he didn’t see
her today.
Of course Jonas had probably
deliberately picked a moment when Luke had been alone.
It flickered through his mind
that he hadn’t been awakened by Seth the Burning Man for a while. Of course
Luke wasn’t real sure about time passing so maybe it hadn’t been long since
he’d last gone to sleep.
But Callie had thought she could
make the man be quiet and maybe she did have a knack.
Luke forgot all about
it when Jonas came back with a steaming bowl of soup. It was hardier than what
he'd eaten before. With more beef and vegetables in it. Luke ate it, determined
to start gaining weight and get out of here.
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