Bittersweet Endeavors (16 page)

His patience all but left him
. 
With determined strides, he ascended the snow-covered hill and marched to
ward
her
bark-covered
door.  Before his hand reached the latch, Lucia scurried out the door
.  T
he hard expanse of his chest
denied her exit
.

Fear gripped him when
he saw the pain and tears
in her eyes.
He grabbed her by the arms and firmly shook her. 
“What has happened, Lucia?”

“
Tis
Myra
,” she cried out. 

“What is it?
” he pressed.  “
She’s not—”   He couldn’t say it aloud. 

“
Please, w
e
must
retrieve
a
physician
.
She’s not faring well and I fear she
’ll not
survive
another
day
.”  Lucia sniffed
back tears, but the effort
moot, for
the tears
flo
oded
down
her cheeks.

“What of the
powders
the physician gave
in aiding
the wheezing in her chest?”

“
Physician
?” she asked surprised. “
There hasn’t
been a physician,” she
said angrily
.  “He’ll not send for one.”

Lucia tried
walking
around him but Seth wouldn’t let her leave.

“What do you mean
the
physician
hadn’t
come
?  My father said he’d bid a worker to
fetch
him
from town
.
Tis what he said
after I left
Myra
that first day
.
” 
Certainly
h
is father wasn’t so
cruel
that he’d allow her
to
suffer until death
consume
d
her
,
all
for the sake of separating
them.
 
Seth looked toward the lane that led into
Jamestown
, but because of the
snow storms
and
accumulation of
flurries
, travel into town
nearly became
impossible
.  A horse
could
n’t
make the trip
.

“Stay with her,” Seth ordered
,
and
he began walking away
.

“Wh
ere
are you going?” 

“I’m going for
the
physician
.” 

A
horse couldn’t plod through the thick mass of snow that
blanketed the ground, and mayhap
not
even
a man.  Yet a man in love
, he
w
ould
find a way to
accomplish the task.

“Is she better today?”
Lucia asked, peep
ing a
round the door
. 

“Her fever broke late last night and she’s resting much better,” he whispered.  “The powders the physician provided
are finally
taking effect
,” he
added
with relief. 

Lucia kept h
er head lowered and avoided
eye contact, and
Seth was
grateful
for that
.  Although
Lucia’s care
contributed
greatly towards
M
yra
survival
, he couldn’t find it within himse
lf
to show his gratitude
.  He turned
away
from Lucia
and swiped
at the
beads of moisture
that formed on
Myra
’s forehead
.  He sat
vigil at her side
for
many
days but only
then
did he feel
that
she
was
likely
to survive
.

“You can go about your duties, Lucia, I’ll remain with her.”

As if a silent thank you,
Myra
’s fingers
softly
squeezed his hand
.  S
e
th leaned closer
towards
her.  He waited for th
at
moment
—the
time
when
she
’d
open her eyes
and all
doubt
s
diminished if she’d recover
. 
Yet
her eyes remained closed
and
e
ach
intake of
her
breath
came
slow and even.

“I shall return later
with some
broth
,
”
Lucia said, and she closed the door behind her.

“
Aye
, broth,” he
considered
.  “You
need your
strength
,
Myra
, and today I’m going to
see to
it
that
you
get your fill of nutriment.”

No response.

He
’d known
many
people who ha
d
taken
ill
,
but
Seth
couldn’t recall
a
nyone who
had been
sick for such a long period without awakening.  Two weeks
passed
without a word from her soft, silken lips.  It scared him.  More
so than anything he’d
ever feared.

F
eelings
for her grew strong, but he didn’t know what he would
do about the emotions that welled up within him
. 
The confusion brought forth
his
anger.  Anger for the array
of
feelings that c
hewed
at
his gut when he thought of her, looked at
her, or felt her sweet breath
on his cheek when he
leaned
his head down
on her bed for a moment
s
rest. 

He bowed his head
over the
bed and kissed the palm of her hand
.  H
is
lips lingered.  Her skin
felt
soft and
creamy
upon his
lips
.  A groan of frustration let loose.
 
H
e
wanted to respect his father
’s wishes
but
he didn’t know how
he’d
accomplish
that
when everything in his heart told him that being
with her
wa
s
right.

He
startled when t
he touch of her hand swept over his hair
.  S
eth raised his hea
d
and looked
at her.
Her
a
mber
eyes
relayed confusion
—
hazy and
clouded
over
—
most likely from the
tonic
s
he
ha
d
been
giv
ing
her. 

“How do you feel,
Myra
?”
  Yet, again
,
she didn’t respond.

“
Myra
,” he called out. 
She began
closing
her eyes and Seth made a more powerful plea for
a
response.  Whether frightened
,
or
her
pity
from
his tone of
desperation, her eyes opened wide. 
Myra
squinted and adjusted
her
vision
to the
sun
light
that came through the small window
. 
She
focus
ed
on Seth’s
face.

“
Myra
, can you hear me?”  Dear Lord, let her mind be intact, he fervently prayed.  The
physician
warned that
in her state of disease, she may be
forever
addled if she came out of
her
long sleep
.

Myra’s
head slowly nodded
,
but
when she
spoke
, she winced. 
Her d
ry, blistered lips cracked opened, and Seth knew
she was in pain
.  He frequently dampened her lips
with hope
to
prevent the blisters that
arose
from the fever, but
it was difficult to control
.
 

“It’s all right,
Myra
.  You’re going to be
fine
now.”  While one hand tightly held hers, his free hand reached for the cup of water beside the hay-filled bed.  “Here,” he said as he placed it
near
her lips.  “You
must drink
.”

She drank with urgency.  Although he was careful that she received regular fluids, she drank as if she was denied water for a month. 

“Slow.  Slow down,” he murmured.  “Too much so quickly
shan’t
be good.  The
physician
said
drips
only,” he gently ordered. 

Her delicate fingers held tight
on
to the rim of the cup, but
he pulled it away from her
. 
She
cough
ed
and sputter
ed
as he
pulled
the cup from her
hands
. 

“
Tis
my point,” he softly scorned.

“
I’m not surprised that you’d keep
water from one who’s dying of thirst
,
”
she dryly forced out.
 
“Tis your way.”

She tried
sounding
angry, but
the attempt was poorly made
when her voice
didn’t produce
much above a raspy whisper.  Her head must also be sore, he deduced, when she
grimaced
from the sound of her own voice.

He
let out a loud sigh of relief. 
She was fine and would
recover
.  An ornery gleam
sparked within
her
golden
eyes
,
and her
wit
revived anew
. 
Albeit she aimed
her jest
at him, he didn’t care.  She
stayed
alive, and from the
way she looked
, she
’
d
be
back to normal
in no time.

“Why are you smiling?”
 
She looked at him with distrust and he
nearly
laugh
ed
.  But more than let out his
joy
at
her surviving
, he wanted to kiss her.  A proper reception for one brought back from the brink of death.  He considered it a moment but refrained.
  How could he be sure of how she would
react?