Rebel Rose by Debra Glass

Author:Debra Glass
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter Six

Rose wiped her hands on her apron as she stood.

Ford’s Roadhouse, which had been turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers,

was full to bursting. She hadn’t thought there was room for one more injured or dying

man. In fact, they’d been turning the lesser wounded away and sending them to homes

accepting injured soldiers.

But when Euphrates had brought his wounded master, James Martin, all the way

back home from Georgia, no one had the heart to turn him away. It wasn’t so much

Captain Martin as it was Euphrates. Well over six feet tall, he towered over most men.

His shoulders were so broad, and arms so big, the seams of his shirts strained when his

Herculean muscles flexed. But when he cried, the whole world cried with him.

Euphrates was incapable of concealing his feelings.

Rose glanced through the crack in the curtains into the room the medics were using

for an operating room. She swallowed. They were getting the instruments ready. One of

them complained about how little morphine they had left. Her gaze drifted out the

window above the pallet where Captain Martin lay in fevered delirium.

Euphrates stood, twisting his hat in his hands, blubbering with tears pouring down

his weathered black cheeks. Not only was Captain Martin about to lose his leg. After the

operation, the Yankees had orders to transfer him to Johnson’s Island prison.

Euphrates’ tears were more unbearable than the misery of the wounded soldiers.

He’d moaned that it was all his fault. He’d wanted to bring Mister James home to be

with his family in case the worst happened—not to deliver him into the hands of his

enemies.

Boots echoed on the wide floor planks. “Give this to Doctor McVay,” a familiar

voice said.

72

Rebel Rose

The back of Rose’s neck flamed at the sound. Swiping a loose strand of her hair

behind her ear, she turned to discover Eric. She swallowed thickly as his gaze found

hers across the room.

“We’re ready for him,” one of the medics said behind her.

Reluctantly, Rose turned away from Eric and watched as two orderlies shifted

Martin onto a stretcher. The stench of his rotted leg wafted up and she held her breath

against the scent. She’d worked as a nurse since the first wounded had been brought

here after a skirmish at the livery stable but she still wasn’t accustomed to the horrid

smells and the anguish in the men’s faces.

Through the window, Martin’s wife had just arrived. Rose watched her try to

comfort Euphrates. He clung to the tiny woman, looking as if he might crush her with

grief at any moment.

“A good many men have lost limbs in this war,” Eric said softly behind her.

Rose whirled.

“Is that his wife?” he asked, inclining his head toward the window.

“Yes,” Rose said. “His servant brought him all the way back here from Georgia and

now you Yankees are going to send him off to a prison camp. What more good can he

do for the Confederacy?”

She hadn’t realized just how angry she was about Martin’s fate until now.

“Do you think you can convince him to take the oath of allegiance?” Eric asked.

Rose snorted. “No. Before the fever took over, he said he’d die in a Yankee prison

before he’d betray his country.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.