Come Home to Me by Henderson Peggy L

Author:Henderson, Peggy L [Henderson, Peggy L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-10-15T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The morning bell clanged like a distant echo in Rachel’s mind. She slowly lifted her head from the hard surface her cheek rested against. Groaning, she rubbed at the stiffness in her neck. She sighed and forced her eyelids open. Was it morning already? Hadn’t she just closed her eyes? The soft glow of daylight seeped in through the canvas covering the wagon. Memories of the night before crept into her mind, and Rachel bolted upright. Billy!

Her eyes darted around the crammed interior of the wagon and came to rest on the outline of a small body lying on the makeshift bed of flour sacks in the far corner. Rachel pushed away from the wooden trunk she leaned against, and scrambled over burlap sacks and wooden crates. She leaned over Billy’s body, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. His chest moved rhythmically up and down. She touched the back of her hand to his forehead. He was cool to the touch.

Rachel rubbed at her sleepy eyes, and swept strands of hair from her face. Her coiled braid had come loose of its pins. She would have to re-braid it sometime this morning. Her head turned. Where were Tommy and David? Then she remembered that Mary had offered to take the two boys to her wagon for the night so Rachel could tend to Billy.

“Aunt Rachel?” Billy’s soft voice croaked. Rachel’s head snapped back to her nephew. His eyelids fluttered open, and he stirred to sit up.

“How are you feeling, Billy?” she asked softly. Running her hand over his forehead to smooth his hair back, she offered a warm smile.

“I don’t feel sick anymore. Jake took care of me.”

Jake! Rachel’s heart sped up like a bullet fired from a shotgun. Memories of the night came flooding back. He’d been convinced that Billy suffered from cholera. After she boiled a pot of water, Jake mixed several cups of it together with salt and sugar, and sat with the boy, coaxing him to drink the concoction along with plain water all night long. Each time Billy’s nausea forced the liquid back up, Jake made him drink more. Rachel had no idea what the purpose was in asking the boy to swallow all that liquid when his stomach obviously tried to reject it. She’d argued with Jake to let Billy’s stomach rest, but he’d simply told her to trust him.

Heat inched up her neck and into her cheeks. She did trust him. She trusted him, and so much more. You love him. She smiled softly at the memories of her forward behavior from the day before. After her talk with Mary Holland, Rachel realized fully that Jake Owens had worked his way into her heart from the moment she first met him.

A man doesn’t look at a woman the way he looks at you with the intention of walking away. Mary’s words echoed in her mind. Even Peter, during their six-month courtship, had never held her in such an intimate way or kissed her with such passion.

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