Lily in Bloom (30 page)

The next day passed in a blur. Lily and Eric had to tell their story to General Wilson who had been leading an investigation against Colonel Kingsley for the past few years, trying to have him removed from service and jailed. By the end of the day, Lily finally collapsed into bed with Eric on one side of her and Toby on the other.

The next morning she awoke famished. She got out of bed quietly, not wanting to disturb Eric. A brief look in the mirror told her it had been all been real. Her face was bruised and battered and there were several more bruises on her body. Eric winced as he came up behind her.

“I am so sorry you had to go through all of this.” He winced again as he touched a particularly bad bruise under her eye. She turned to him. He, too, had several bruises and scrapes covering his body.

She smiled and touched his cheek. “I'm just glad we're both still alive.”

He returned her smile. “Me, too.” He grimaced again looking at a few more bruises. “How is the baby?”

She smiled. “Everything seems fine. The doctor seemed to think that everything was still going well. But I can tell you one thing. Baby is hungry and so am I.”

Eric laughed. “Then let’s get you down to breakfast!”

Lily had expected an air of jubilation when she entered the dining room but instead everyone was very hushed. She got several hugs but very few words. She was initially worried that everyone was put off by her bruised and battered face but finally she couldn't take the silence. “What is wrong?” She finally asked the general assembly.

No one spoke for a second, then Elise finally took her hand. “Kurt's not doing so well. The doctor isn't sure he's going to make it.”

Lily felt herself pale and she took an unsteady breath. She turned to Eric who looked equally shaken up. He nodded to her and she stood from the table and left the room heading for Kurt's quarters.

She knocked briefly then was told to come in by the doctor. Eric followed behind her and squeezed her hand.

“What is wrong?” She addressed the young doctor, a different man than had treated her wounds.

“He lost a great deal of blood. He has spiked a high fever that I am trying to control but it seems to continue rising. If I can't get it down, he will perish.”

Lily bit her lip then reached over and held Kurt's hand. It was extremely warm and Lily felt her brow crease. “Kurt, this can't be the end. You haven't told me any of your best sea stories.   Or about your precious sister Annabelle. Besides, neither Eric nor I have a father so who is going to give Toby and our baby piggyback rides? We need you!” She knew she sounded like a fool but her words came from her heart and she realized that Kurt had become like family, much like a father figure to her. She didn't want to lose another man like that in her life.

She sat by his bed all that day, holding his hand, telling him stories, talking about plans for the baby. She took all her meals there and Toby came and sat for a while with her. When night fell, his fever seemed to worsen and Lily had a cot brought into the room. She was bone tired but she couldn't leave him now. If it was his time, she wanted to be there with him. Finally, she drifted off to sleep but her dreams were restless and fretful. At four in the morning she woke to the distinct croak of Kurt's voice.

“Water,” he mumbled through dry lips.

Lily quickly got up sprinted over to the bed. Shakily, she poured water into a glass then held it to his lips. He took a long drink then fell back to sleep. Lily felt his head. He was much cooler. She sighed in relief, and returned to her cot. If he needed anything, she would be here.

She woke a few hours later when the doctor arrived to check on his patient. After speaking with the doctor, Lily decided to return to her room. The worst was over for Kurt. With his fever down, the doctor was extremely hopeful Kurt would recover.

As she was walking back, she stopped to check on Tracker. She knocked softly on the door and poked her head in. Ann was sitting next to him, holding his hand and brushing the hair back from his face. Lily smiled and closed the door. She was so glad that two people who had seemed so alone had found each other.

Lily softly opened the door to her room to find Eric asleep in bed. She crawled in next to him and curled up against his side. He wrapped her in his arms. “How's Kurt?”

“Better,” she sighed, glad to be in her husband's arms.

“I could sleep for a week.” She snuggled in closer.

“Right now?” He nuzzled her ear as his hand ran up her side.

She laughed softly. “I suppose sleep can wait. I seem to have plenty of time for it now!”

“That is one of the things I love about you.” He started to kiss her but Lily pulled away.

“Do you really?” She looked into his eyes and he touched the bruise under her eye.

“How can you not know that I am madly in love with you? I think I have been since the first time I met you all those years ago. I wasn't ready to love again and, honestly, you were too young. You wouldn't have been able to handle my feelings for you.” He kissed her again and this time she returned his kiss.

“But even when I returned to Boston this spring, you pushed me away!” There was a small pout to her lips that showed her hurt.

“I'm sorry, love. I just knew I could never remain detached from you. After Caitlin it was so difficult to allow myself to love again. I was afraid of getting hurt. But now I know it is totally worth it. You are worth it.” He kissed a third time and this time she did not protest or ask questions but let her husband fill her with love.

LILY SAT IN THE CARRIAGE
with the nurse and her baby daughter. She smiled at the sleeping child, her heart full of love. Eric opened the door and helped Toby in. The boy was carrying two large bouquets of flowers. One he handed to her with a kiss.

“Those are for you, Mommy.” He smiled and hugged her again. Toby had gradually started calling her mommy as the baby grew bigger in her belly. Now it seemed completely natural to them all.

Eric winked and kissed her cheek as he snuggled her into his side. She smiled at her husband so glad to be with him and her family.

“Who are the other flowers for?” Lily asked, chuckling to herself. She knew the answer, of course.

“Kurt. He might like them for his room in Maine.” Toby nodded to emphasize his point and Lily had to laugh. Kurt had spent the summer at sea and was returning to Maine with them to spend the fall.

“I'm sure he will love them.” Lily hugged her son and snuggled in for the ride.

They reached the harbor quickly and all of their trunks were loaded onto the boat for the journey. They were making the trip to attend Tracker and Ann's wedding but would stay to visit family for a few months. Because of the birth of her daughter she had missed Mark and Amelia's wedding and was glad they had an extended stay to celebrate with her family and friends. Tracker had just finished his final tour with the military and was going to work for her brother. James was in desperate need of more help with so many contracts to fill.

Kurt swaggered onto the deck and hailed Toby who went running up the plank to greet his friend. Toby gave Kurt his flowers. He grimaced slightly but accepted them all the same.

Lily held her daughter as Eric helped them both up the plank.

“Well, I'll be. Last time I saw you, you could barely move and here you are lookin' as fit as a filly in her first season!” Kurt must have been extremely happy to see them. He never talked that much.

“I have someone to introduce you to.” She uncovered the baby’s face. “Meet Annabelle Marie Sampson.” She gently placed the baby in Kurt's arms.

“You named her after my sister?” She could hear the slight choke in his voice as Eric wrapped his arm around her waist.

“It seemed like the perfect choice.” She smiled and Kurt nodded his head.

“The sea ain't what it used to be.” Somehow Lily doubted the sea had changed but she waited to hear what Kurt would say. “I been thinkin' about spendin' more time on dry land.”

Lily and Eric both laughed and Lily knew that Annabelle was going to be spoiled rotten.

Preview of

Midnight Magic

By

Tammy Andresen

JESSIE WALSH CARTWRIGHT
sat on a bench with the warm May sun beating down on her. Sweat trickled down her neck and into her overly stuffed shirt. She desperately wanted to remove her large, floppy bonnet for a little relief but she dared not. Her back itched terribly as it often did in the heat but she ignored it. In fact she barely moved, not wanting to attract any attention to herself whatsoever.

Liz stirred slightly. “How long do we have to sit here, Mama?

“Hush sweetheart, not too much longer,” Jessie murmured automatically, patting her daughter’s arm. Then her breath caught in her throat. A group of rough-looking men passed by and one eyed her with what she was sure was suspicion. She looked down at her feet and shrunk into her disguise.

The men passed without incident and she felt herself breathe again. Another more familiar figure approached. He was a stout, bald man in his mid-to-late forties, impeccably dressed and already sweating in the St. Louis heat.

“I have procured your tickets, Mrs. Walsh.” Wurther smiled, clearly pleased with himself. He was the lawyer Jessie had hired in an attempt to help cover her tracks. It had cost her precious dollars but it was worth it if it threw the men tracking her off of her trail.

“Thank you,” she muttered not making eye contact. Jesse put the papers in her leather bag, smoothed her jacket and adjusted the hem of her dress in, what she hoped, was a dismissal. She was desperate to get out of the heat and out of sight.

Wurther ignored her fidgeting and leaned closer, studying her face.  She automatically looked down, attempting to hide her features. “If there is anything else I can do…” His hand brushed her skirt and she stood abruptly. The sudden move made the scars on her back twinge but she ignored the sensation.

“When does our stage coach leave?” Jessie asked her voice icy cold as she squared her shoulders.

He straightened and his tone was more business-like. “Three days. It was the soonest I could get.”

She nodded. It was easy to hide in St. Louis. A sea of people were constantly coming in and out of the city by wagon, foot, or boat. Still, she was eager to put as much distance between her and New York as possible.

“Thank you,” she said with as much finality as she could muster.

Wurther looked as though he wanted to say more but Jessie turned to end the conversation and the relationship. She briefly worried that her dismissal would annoy him and provoke the man to rat her out but she brushed these fears aside. Hopefully her disguise was enough to throw anyone chasing her off her trail. Wurther’s attentions proved that her floppy bonnet did not hide her features even though her clothes hid her figure. She was going to have to figure out a way to better deal with this flaw in her plan.

The other major flaw still nagged at her but it was too late to change it now. She had come to St. Louis because it was the gateway to the western world. From here boats came up and down the Mississippi, wagon trains left weekly and stage coaches took passengers all the way to San Francisco. So many people came in and out it would be difficult to remember one woman and one girl. In addition, from here she could travel almost anywhere, making her final destination hard to guess by anyone trying to pursue.

The question then was, where should she go? She’d found her answer in an ad. A Texas rancher had advertised that he was looking for a cook and nanny. Jake Tate had left an address for any would-be applicants to mail a letter of interest. Jessie mailed her letter and then set about booking her passage. She knew she was supposed to wait for an answer but she didn’t have that kind of time so she sent him a message saying that she would be arriving shortly.

Her stomach fluttered with nerves again. If Mr. Tate turned her away she would have no money and no job. 

Jessie and Liz made their way down the busy street. As she glanced into a store window a smile spread across her face. Front and center was the ugliest pair of spectacles she had ever seen. Square and thick, they would obscure her features perfectly.  She scraped a few coins form her purse and she and Liz headed into the store.

***

Jessie knew it was a luxury to be able to ride the stagecoach into Texas. A wagon train could have taken months. The stagecoach ride was a mere fifteen days from St. Louis to Fort Chadbourne. But the ride felt endless. They barely stopped to eat and change horses. Everyone was on edge and continually worried about bandits, thieves, and Indians.

She was hot, the route was bumpy, and the wagon was loud. The cost had also been extravagant. At $200 for her and Liz, it had drained almost every penny she had.

She would have thought that all of these problems could occupy her time but, as they bumped down the trail, her thoughts kept drifting back to the past.

“Jessica, hurry up. All of the eligible men will be taken!” Her mother’s harassed tone filled Jessie’s room and she rolled her eyes at her mother’s use of the name Jessica. Her mother seemed to think it was more sophisticated.

Jessie stood and scanned her appearance in the mirror. Her greenish eyes glistened in the candlelight and the jade-colored evening dress set them off perfectly. It also showed her perfect hourglass figure. Her thick black hair was piled on top of her head accentuating the line of her jaw and her full lips. She smiled at herself.

Her father was less enthused. “Did you really have to get Jessie another new dress? We are going to go in the poor house, Jane.” Martin Harris did well for his family as a banker but his wife had great aspirations for their daughter.

“If she is going to marry well, she has to look the part.” Jane Harris sniffed at her husband.

Jessie enjoyed all of the beautiful dresses and was perfectly content to let her mother fight this battle. She was sure that her father was exaggerating and her mother was right. Jessie Harris had her share of suitors, many of them rich and influential.