Rose's Hope by Belle Williams

Author:Belle Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Sweet Romance, World War I, Clean Romance
Publisher: Mountain Dreams Publishing
Published: 2020-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The wheezy-crackling sound of the girl’s breathing was frightening to listen to. The struggle to pull air into her oxygen-starved lungs sounded painful.

“No,” Rose cried as Mabel took one last shuddering breath, the noise abruptly ending. Rose’s stomach clenched painfully, and tears burned her eyes and throat. She fought against the tears, looking up toward the ceiling. It is not fair! Why did you have to take Mabel?

Taking in a gulp of air, Rose washed the young girl down with tender ministrations. “I am so sorry, Mabel,” she said as she wrapped Mabel’s frail body in a sheet to be picked up by the undertaker.

The fine hair on the back of her neck tickled, alerting Rose to Joshua’s presence behind her before feeling his hands on her shoulders. His gentle touch was her undoing, and she could no longer hold back the tears. She turned into his arms with a sob. “She was all alone. We didn’t even learn her n...name.”

Joshua wrapped his arms around Rose and let her cry against his chest. It was hard to lose patients, especially ones you had grown to care about. He wished he could spare her the pain, but it was something she needed to learn to deal with if she truly wished to become a nurse.

Holding her there, it dawned on him that he cared for Rose more than he had meant to. He had not wanted to have feelings for her. That would only complicate things. How am I going to stand by and watch her go off to Johnsville Crossing once this epidemic is over? Rose lessened his guilt over his brother’s death and his inability to serve in the war. He enjoyed spending time with her, too. She was intelligent, as well as beautiful. Her goal of becoming a nurse had him wanting to help her obtain it.

The feel of her softness pressed against made him want to do it more often and stirred something inside of him. He wanted to protect her and spend time with her when they were not working so they could know each other outside the realm of their doctor/nurse relationship. Although having that relationship long distance would be hard to accomplish, even with the two towns being so close to each other.

That is what worried him more than any of it. He had never been interested in marriage before. He had always been content with being a healer. He had plenty of people to care for—he did not need a wife. Since he met Rose, he was thinking about what it would be like to have someone to come home to every night, someone to take care of him for a change. Joshua was unsure what to make of it all. These were all new feelings for him. He had always been able to draw a line, but there was something about Rose that blurred that line.

She had stilled in his arms and he noticed that her tears had stopped. She sniffled a few more times before pulling away to look up into his eyes.

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