A Nurse for Clark by Melissa L. Blue

Author:Melissa L. Blue [Blue, Melissa L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-30T05:00:00+00:00

Five

Still rattled by the encounter with the snake, Zoe lay in bed, staring at the darkened ceiling. Between her spinning mind and Mrs. Carter’s loud snoring it seemed she was destined to pass a sleepless night. She sighed and rolled onto her left side, facing the wall. Perhaps she should try reading. There must be a monotonous book about anatomy downstairs.

On impulse, she tossed aside the heavy quilt and lit the candle beside her bed. Her bare feet touched the chilly wooden floor and she grabbed a woolen shawl from the wall hook, wrapping it around her shoulders as she stole from the room with the candle. She padded silently down the hall, past Mrs. Carter’s impressive snoring, toward the wooden staircase.

“No! Joey! Joey, wake up!”

She startled and stopped outside of Clark’s door.

“Please, wake up!”

The agonizing cries wrenched her heart. He must be dreaming, his sleep haunted by past horrors. Zoe knew what those dreams were like. She’d suffered them for a solid year after her home burned. Sometimes those nightmares still invaded her sleep. She rested a palm against the smooth wooden door. After a moment she gently knocked.

“Charge, men! Charge!”

She opened the door, and her heart twisted with the sight of him thrashing in the bed. Even in the shadows, his face writhed with agony. She quickly crossed to the bed and set the candle on his bed stand. “Clark,” she said his name softly at first. When that did not wake him she laid a hand on his shirtless chest. A thin sheen of sweat slicked his chest. “Clark.” She shook him gently.

He grabbed her arm in an iron vice, and shot upward in the bed, breathing heavily, his eyes wide and wild.

“Clark! Clark, it’s Zoe. It’s all right, you’re at home. I’m here.”

He blinked, staring at her for a long moment.

“It’s only a dream.” She laid a soothing hand on his arm.

The candle flickered and cast golden light across his face. Slowly recognition seeped into his eyes and his breathing slowed. “Zoe.” He released his grip on her arm, and raked both hands through his hair.

“You were calling out in your sleep,” she explained. She perched on the edge of the mattress and took his hand. He squeezed her fingers, holding to her as an anchor… a lifeline. Shivers of awareness ran up her arm.

His dark eyes fixed on hers, completely vulnerable, and, despite her every reason to hate this man, her heart melted. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice raspy from sleep. “Did I wake you?”

She shook her head. “No, after the snake situation this afternoon I couldn’t sleep. I was headed downstairs to find a book when I heard.”

He cringed.

“How often do you have those dreams?” she asked.

His head sagged on his broad shoulders. “The nightmares come and go. They’ve been bad again the last few nights.”

“About the war?”

He held her hand and nodded. “I try to forget. Every day I force myself not to think of it. To be productive. To help people.”

“But at night the memories haunt you.

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