The Kissing Stars by Geralyn Dawson Read Free Book Online Page A

other emotions rolling through her were weakening the walls. “I’d feel better if I took care…”
    Gabe settled the question by dragging the damp cloth across Andrew’s furry chest in a brisk, efficient manner. Watching him, Tess idly wondered if her friend would miss her gentle touch.
    “The symptoms?” Gabe repeated.
    She shook her head and summoned her thoughts. She could indulge anger later. With crisp, concise sentences, she explained about the fever, chills, and sweats. She told him how Andrew’s periods of lucidity alternated with long stretches of delirium. “He’s had bouts of vomiting, although those seem to have subsided in the past few hours.”
    “Sounds like your diagnosis was right the first time.” Gabe observed. “It’s malaria. We’re not gonna catch anything from him.”
    “No, it’s not malaria,” she said firmly. “Like I said, it’s different this time.”
    He shrugged. “Fine, I won’t argue. What do you want me to do once I get him washed down? Do we need to feed him?”
    “He was awake earlier, and we ate supper then.” She filled a glass from a pitcher and approached the bed. “He needs water most of all. If you’ll hold him up, I’ll try to get some down him. Then I want to change the bedding.”
    Gabe appropriated the glass saying, “I’ll do it. You know, he might not be hungry, but I sure am. Think you could rustle me up some groceries while I water up the patient?”
    Tess rubbed her eyes. Gabe’s manner made it obvious he didn’t intend to allow her to touch Andrew again. Fine. As long as her friend received the care he needed, she could use the help. Besides, she needed to put some distance between herself and the uninvited guest before she lost her composure. “I don’t cook here in Andrew’s house, but I do have makings for a sandwich in the back parlor. You’ll change his sheets?”
    “I’ll take care of him. My word on it, Tess. As long as you feed me, that is. And while I’m eating, I want to hear about how the divorce never happened.”
    The divorce. She would almost consider breaking quarantine to avoid speaking about her father’s lie and its aftermath.
    She’d had plenty of time to think on the train ride through West Texas, and she had spent much of it analyzing her feelings where her husband was concerned. She’d been angry with Gabe for twelve long years, and it would take more than learning that her father had lied to him to erase it. True, in her grief she had pushed her husband away, but the man had displayed his feelings with his feet, had he not? He’d left, hadn’t stayed and fought for her, fought for them.
    He hadn’t loved her enough, and she had paid a terrible price for it. A price she’d be hanged if she would speak of while short of sleep and holding onto her control by a corset string.
    Sighing, she exited Andrew’s bedroom and took the outside path to the back parlor. Like all the homes here in Aurora Springs, the house Andrew normally shared with Colonel Jasper Wilhoit was built in an L-shape. In this case, an entry hall separated the two bedrooms in the front of the house. The parlor and bathroom stretched toward the back and were accessible from both the back porch and Jasper’s bedroom. For the length of the quarantine, Tess and the colonel had traded beds, and as Tess buttered bread for Gabe’s sandwich, she gazed longingly in that direction.
    The oblivion of sleep sounded good right now. Ordinarily, Tess wasn’t one to run away from conflict, but the thought of slogging her way through both lies and truth with Gabe at this particular time made her shudder. Run from conflict? Shoot, she’d fly away if she could.
    She made his sandwich, then placed it and a glass of buttermilk on a table. Then, once again eyeing Colonel Wilhoit’s feather mattress, she wondered if she dared lie down. She probably should return to the sickroom, but Gabe said he’d see to Andrew. She trusted him to keep his word.
    She hadn’t