Stay with Me by Kathryn Kaleigh

Author:Kathryn Kaleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathryn Kaleigh

16

JACKSON

I woke to the chirping of birds. Morning song.

The birds were welcoming the break of day.

I’d slept on the ground more nights than not these past two years, but this time felt different. Something was different. Maybe just about everything.

I replayed the events of the last few hours. The most salient was that Matthew and I had been ambushed and then I had been shot in the gut.

Savannah said the bullet went through the muscles. Clean through and through.

She had wrapped a bandage around my chest.

And she was still here. Our hands clasped together in sleep.

She had not left my side all night. And now she was pressed up against me.

Except for three things, this could be dangerous territory.

First of all, she was a lady. And I was I a gentleman. Last, but not least, I could barely move a muscle without severe pain shooting through me.

I opened my eyes, blinking away the grit that practically glued them closed. I could see nothing except the faint shadows of branches canopied over me.

A squirrel skittered overhead sending a spray of leaves drifting over us. And a moment later, a second squirrel followed doing the same.

I could be content to lie like this. In the quiet. With Savannah snuggled next to me, but I had to get up. She could not turn me over, much less help me stand up.

I had to muster up the strength required to get myself off the ground, no matter how much it hurt.

Girding myself for the task, I braced for the pain that I knew I was about to experience. Not wanting to startle her, I woke her in the calmest way I knew how. I brought her hand to my lips and lightly kissed her palm.

Stirring, she blinked and stretched before she opened her eyes. I watched the emotions that crossed her features as she remembered where she was and realized that she was lying against me. This would have been very improper in the old world before the war. Now it was just survival. Another one of the things that the war had changed.

Now survival trumped propriety.

“Good morning, ma cherie,” I said.

“Good morning,” she echoed and, shifting away, sat up.

With her awake and the sun up, it was time for me to get myself up.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as I got to my knees.

“Can’t stay here forever,” I said. “Would you grab me one of those sticks over there?”

Using the sturdy stick she handed me, I managed to get to my feet.

With one arm loosely over her shoulders and the bulk of my weight on the stick, we started down the path that led to the cave.

We moved slowly, stopping several times along the way for me to rest, but we made progress, finally reaching the cave.

“Are we in the right place?” Savannah asked.

I was certain we were, but the wagon and two horses were gone and John was not standing out in front of the cave where we had left him.

“Mostly,” I said, sitting down carefully on the log I had brought over just yesterday for her to sit on.

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