River of Dreams by Lykins Jenny

Author:Lykins, Jenny [Lykins, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Jenny Lykins
Published: 2013-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Brianne knelt on the floor of the makeshift hospital, her mind as numb as her body as she sponged down one more of the countless victims of the flu epidemic that had started right after Griffin’s departure. She had lost count of how many had fallen ill, but each one she lost was burned in her mind. Seventeen deaths so far to the flu. The flu, for God’s sake.

She dipped the rag in the bowl of tepid water, no longer thinking about what to do, merely moving like a robot from person to person. At least no one fought her any more about her method of treatment. She had gone behind Dr. Myers and taken blankets off those with high fevers, opened the windows that had been closed against the “bad” air, washed the fevered victims down in cool water. He had argued with her and left in a huff. He’d been found several days later in a closed room, under a mountain of blankets, one of the first victims to die of the virus.

Brianne sighed and struggled to keep her burning eyes open. When was the last time she’d slept?

She raked a forearm across her brow to catch a trickle of sweat. The weather hadn’t helped with the epidemic. One day the heat would be stifling, the next so cold they had to build fires in the fireplaces.

Ruth, one of the few servants who had weathered the flu and regained her strength, brought a fresh bowl of water and started in on the patient.

“Mr. Bradley Randolph is at the big house, Miz Amily. He say Mr. Masters done ask him to fetch you. Miz Rebecca and her momma gots the influenza and he need yo help. He say we gots more survivors than anyone else, and he don’t know what to do.”

Brianne could have cried. The last thing she needed was to climb into a carriage with a man smitten with Amily and trot off to care for a whining Rebecca Masters. She had at least a hundred workers sick with various stages of the virus. She could hardly leave them to nurse two people. But she’d met Mr. and Mrs. Masters, and liked them, regardless of what she thought of their daughter.

“I’ll be back in a minute. See if you can get some broth in this one. He hasn’t eaten in days.”

The world spun for a minute when she rose to her feet. She grabbed the back of a chair until the dizziness passed, then scrubbed her hands with lye soap before heading for the house.

Bradley Randolph paced the length of the parlor, then rushed to Brianne as soon as she stepped through the door. The part of her that was Amily recognized the tall, good-looking blond.

“Miss Amily, I know this is a monstrous burden, but I must beg for your help. Virginia and Rebecca Masters are terribly ill. I just returned from Europe, and Joshua flagged me down as I passed his house. He begs you come and show him how to care for them.

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