Heart of Gold by Robin Lee Hatcher Read Free Book Online Page B

again.”

6
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Dubois. There is no easy way to say this: your sister is dying.”
    Matthew stared at the doctor as if he were speaking another language. “Dying?” He looked toward the bedroom door. “But I thought all she needed was to rest and regain her strength.” He raked the fingers of his right hand through his hair. “Are you sure?”
    “I’m sure.” Hiram Featherhill, a man not much older than Matthew, removed his spectacles and cleaned them with a handkerchief from his breast pocket. “Her heart is weak. Most likely the result of a prior infection such as scarlet fever. But I daresay it’s a cancer in her abdomen that will rob her of life first.”
    “Did she know she was dying when she came here?”
    “I should think so. Her physician in Wisconsin must have told her the seriousness of her condition.”
    Matthew nodded. “How long does she have?”
    “A few months at most.”
    Alice was going to die and leave her son an orphan. Matthew would be Todd’s only living relative.
    God help him.
    Matthew walked to the end of the upstairs hallway and looked out the window. A haze lay over Grand Coeur that morning, as it did most mornings when there wasn’t a breeze. From the vantage point of this house on the hillside, he could see the three long streets that ran east-west and several shorter streets that ran north-south. Someone had carefully platted what would be the main thoroughfares of the town, making the streets wide and straight. But as he looked farther out from the center of town, the streets became less defined, narrower and more crooked. The buildings were of all shapes and sizes, a large boardinghouse next to a small shoe shop, a restaurant a stone’s throw from a livery stable. And plenty of saloons. All those lonely men with gold dust in their pockets needed a place to go at night because their wives and sweethearts—if they had them—lived far away.
    He faced the doctor again. “What is it I need to do for her?”
    “I think it best that she not be left alone. She shouldn’t exert herself. Perhaps you could send to Boise City or Idaho City for a nurse.”
    His brows lifted. “I know. Check with the new reverend. He might be able to direct you to a woman in his congregation who could stay with your sister while you’re working.”
    “I’ll do that.” He glanced toward the door. “May I go in to her now?”
    “Of course. Just don’t stay too long. You don’t want to overtire her.”
    “No. I won’t.”
    “Send for me if you need me.” Dr. Featherhill put on his hat.
    “I will.”
    Matthew waited until the doctor started down the staircase before he walked to Alice’s room and opened the door. She lay with her back toward him, and he wondered if she was asleep.
    She wasn’t. “I’m sorry, Matt.” She rolled onto her back and looked toward him.
    “What for? You can’t help that you’re sick.” He walked to the bedside and took her hand in his.
    “I . . . I should have told you what was wrong with me before I came. I guess I hoped for a miracle, that I wouldn’t ever have to tell you, that I would be able to live and watch my son grow to manhood. That’s what I’ve prayed for.”
    “Maybe the doctor’s wrong.”
    Her smile was a pale shadow of the kind he remembered when they were kids. “He’s not wrong.”
    “Alice, I should have been there for you. All these years without seeing you . . . I should have sent for you after Edward died. You shouldn’t have been alone all this time.”
    “It isn’t your fault we haven’t been closer. I married and moved away. That was my choice, Matt. Your place was in the West. I always understood that.”
    Their brief conversation had taxed Alice’s limited energy. Her breathing seemed more labored, the circles beneath her eyes darker. Better to leave so she could rest, he decided. They could talk more later.
    But for how much longer? How many opportunities would he have to get to know his sister