Nathan had been asleep, but awakened long enough to tell Julian he would appreciate being left alone. “Daddy, please,” Eden scolded gently. “Dr. Ryan only wants to help you get well.”
Unable to believe that was even a possibility, Nathan had to force himself to lie still as Julian examined his leg. Unlike most of the other wounded, he had been spared the agony of having a bullet dug out of his flesh, but he was certain that was the only misery he had escaped. Noting Julian’s sullen frown, he issued a stern warning.
“Don’t even consider taking a saw to my leg or I’ll take one first to your neck!”
Insulted, Julian fixed Nathan with a hostile stare. “If you follow the instructions here that you disregarded on board your ship and remain in bed, there will be no need for anyone to use a saw. You’re just not drinking enough fluids, that’s why you’re feverish.” He turned to his sister then. “Pour all the tea you can into him, and tie him to the bed to keep him in it if you must. Now let’s look at the others.”
Eden took her father’s hand and squeezed it gently as Julian and Rebecca crossed to the door that led to the adjoining room. “I wish Mother were here, but since she isn’t, will you at least try to treat us as kindly as you would her?”
The mention of his wife made Nathan feel thoroughly ashamed but he could make no promises. “If I live through this—”
“What do you mean ‘if’? You know Mother could not bear to live without you and I do so want you to be able to see your first grandchild.” Eden spoke in a light teasing tone, but she was badly frightened all the same. “I’ll bring you some herb tea with plenty of lemon and you’re going to drink the whole pot before you go back to sleep.”
“You shouldn’t be waiting on me, sweetheart.”
“Nonsense. Fetching a pot of tea won’t hurt me.” And yet by the end of the morning, Eden had lost count of how many times she had traversed the stairs. Arabella and Yadira had gotten into a lengthy debate on which herbs made the best tea to quell a fever and had never run out of advice on how it was to be dispensed, but there always seemed to be something she had forgotten downstairs that she had to search for herself. When she could no longer stay awake, she told Rebecca to call her should any man’s condition worsen and went to her room for a well-deserved rest.
While she had managed to put on a brave front for the others, once alone, Eden was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task she had undertaken. She had wanted to care for her father and his men, truly she had, but the responsibility was proving to be a far greater strain than she had ever imagined. She had planned to rely on her experience in tending wounded, but she had not once stopped to consider she had not been seven months pregnant when she had last done it.
Adding to her worries about her ability to provide adequate care was her disappointment over the brief kiss with which she and Raven had parted. He had been the one to supervise the transfer of the wounded to the house and he had also taken it upon himself to make certain the Southern Knight had plenty of provisions as well as coal. While he had not seemed to be deliberately avoiding her during the night, it certainly seemed that way now.
In the last few months she had thought they were getting along well, but in retrospect perhaps their accord had been an illusion they had created by studiously avoiding conflict. While she feared the obvious state of her pregnancy made her far from desirable, Raven had been no less affectionate, but he had yet to put his feelings into words. Not even the danger involved in the voyage he was about to undertake had prompted him to reveal the depth of his emotions before he had bid her a hurried farewell.
Then again, Eden agonized, perhaps Raven didn’t love her at all. Maybe it was vanity that made her see love in his glance when it might have been no more than desire, or need. He had certainly leapt at the chance to leave her and she knew Raven was not an impulsive man, but a c
oldly calculating one. She had had no opportunity to thank him for taking her father’s place, regardless of his motive, and that bothered her too for she did not want him to think her ungrateful. That he would be gone for a month at least, perhaps even longer, left her with a curious sense of emptiness she had not expected and feared would linger indefinitely.
“There was so much I should have told him,” she whispered as she wiped away a tear. Although Alex had died suddenly, there had been nothing left unsaid between them. She had buried him with a deep sense of loss, but she had not been burdened with the regret she now felt over the way she and Raven had parted. When he returned home, she was going to do a much better job of letting him know how much she appreciated all he had done for her. All she could do now, unfortunately, was pray that he returned safely so that she would have that opportunity
Too weary to dwell on their problems any longer, Eden fell into a troubled sleep, in which she dreamed Raven felt as lost and confused as she did.
During the first week Julian treated the injured Southerners, he cautioned Eden repeatedly about becoming overtired, but as the men slowly began to improve, she grew increasing pale and drawn. Finally he took her by the arm and escorted her to her room.
“I can’t allow you to endanger your health another minute, my lady. You are to get into your bed and stay there until I say you can get up.”
“But there’s too much to do,” Eden protested unconvincingly.
“Do you remember the night we met? I’ll never forget how desperate Raven looked when he came rushing into my room to ask me to do something to bring you out of hysterics. Perhaps the threat of giving birth prematurely doesn’t scare you as greatly as it does me, but I don’t want to have to face Raven with the news Alex’s child was born early and didn’t live.
“That there is a very good possibility that you’re already too weak to survive the ordeal of childbirth terrifies me even more. I think Raven would probably kill me if I lost the both of you. So, my lady, if you’ve no concern for yourself, the very least you can do is spare me and your precious infant early deaths.”
Considering Julian’s melodramatic appeal absurd, Eden nevertheless chose to humor the man and obediently climbed up on her bed. She placed a pillow at her back, and crossed her ankles to get comfortable. “There, I’m in bed.”
Julian read the defiant gleam in her golden eyes correctly. “You’ll not get up when I leave either because I’m going to tell your father, as well as Yadira and Rebecca, that you’re not to tend the men. Providing their care is simply too strenuous and you’re not to do so much as read to them let alone change bandages or lift them to help them eat and drink. Is that understood?”
Eden continued to regard the surly physician with a level stare. “I’ll not be treated as though I’m an invalid too.”
“Has your back been bothering you?”
Eden shrugged. “Isn’t that to be expected?”
“No it isn’t. If the ache becomes a steady throb, and then cramplike pains, it means you’re in labor. I should probably leave some chloroform here for you now just in case you deliver the child while I’m away. Yadira tells me she’s served as a midwife, and Rebecca has assisted me.”
Without realizing it, Julian had finally frightened Eden sufficiently to cause her to remain in bed because the prospect of having Yadira deliver her child was an extremely repugnant one. “I’m sure there will be time to call you.”
“And if I’m away on an emergency? No, it’s not too soon to begin preparing for the birth. I hope to be here, but if I’m not, Yadira and my sister will take good care of you.”
“Maybe Raven will be back by then,” Eden mused aloud.