“Nothing more than a weak stomach and exhaustion.” Grant smiled to himself as he announced the diagnosis to Ginger the next morning after she’d gotten a full night of sleep. Slept like the dead, as a matter of fact, on a thick pallet in Miss Sadie’s tent. He would have taken her to his own tent, but the outcry of propriety would have forced him to bring her back anyway. He’d posted Buddy at her side and had checked on her himself every hour.
She gave him a sheepish grin. “I feel plumb stupid, Grant.”
“Well, don’t. Feel blessed. A lot of people in this wagon train would gladly trade cholera for a little embarrassment.”
Her face reddened. “I didn’t mean that.” She flipped her long braid from her shoulder so that it rested in the gentle curve at the small of her back. “How’s Kip?”
“Showing improvement, praise the Lord.”
She nodded solemnly without her usual snort. “Is Sam having a service today, this being the Lord’s Day and all?”
“Yes. We almost cancelled, but Sam felt the folks might need a service more than ever.”
“I’d like to attend myself, but I don’t suppose I should leave Miss Sadie any longer. It snowed again last night.”
“Don’t worry. Toni told us what you were needing. Mr. Harrison volunteered to haul all the supplies. Your pa went with him to show him the way. All you’ll need to take back is your tent, here.”
Ginger gasped and turned on him fiercely, groaning. “Oh, Grant. Don’t you have a brain in your head?”
Stung, Grant frowned. “It might interest you to know that I see it as a good sign that Web volunteered to go with him. He seems to have taken a genuine liking to Mr. Harrison. Maybe a real friend will help him want to be a better man.”
A bitter laugh flew from her as she slipped past him, ducking through the flap carrying all the blankets, which were the only items still left inside the tent.
Grant followed. “What are you laughing at?”
“You don’t know very many outlaws, do you?”
“A lot more lately than I ever planned to know on a first-name basis.”
She had the good grace to blush but set about taking down the tent. Grant helped, yanking up stakes and finally helping her roll the tent and load it into the wagon. He slipped the yoke around the oxen’s neck.
“Don’t bother just yet.”
“I thought you were all fired up to go back?”
“I might as well take the time to ask for help from the Almighty. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
“Don’t worry, Ginger. This’ll all be over soon. I didn’t have any new cases this morning.”
“That’s a mercy.”
“Toni says you should come have breakfast with her and Yellow Bird.” Grant still wondered what had upset Ginger so about Mr. Harrison and Web taking supplies to Miss Sadie. In his mind’s eye, he recalled Web’s warning that Ginger had an ulterior motive for being part of the wagon train. Most likely, Web was just trying to divert suspicion from his own slimy carcass to his daughter. As much as he hated to bury his head in the sand, he couldn’t believe Ginger would be so deceptive. She was too open—spoke every thought in her head, more often than not. And sometimes too much so. In light of that, Grant had a hard time believing she was hiding anything.
“You coming?”
Ginger’s question caught him off guard and pulled him away from his thoughts. He shook his head. “I have some rounds to make before the service. I’ll see you a little later.”
He hesitated as she walked away. Then a burst of energy lifted his spirit and caught his voice. “Ginger!” he called.
Her eyebrows lifted. “Forget something?”
“Not really.” He swallowed hard. Was he really ready to do this? Maybe there were too many questions in his head for him to hear his heart clearly.
“Grant?” Her voice was just soft enough to show him the gentle, womanly Ginger that he’d caught a glimpse of on occasion. The woman he had trouble banishing from his mind.
“I’d like to sit with you at the gathering, if you don’t mind.”
“Why would I?” She gave him a frown that clearly said she thought he might be daft.
Grant’s ears heated up despite the snow flurries flying about the air. “Well, I mean…” What exactly did he mean? Suddenly he wasn’t sure.
“Last I heard, this is a free country. Sit wherever you want.” At this return of the gruffer Ginger, he was almost glad she’d misunderstood his intent.
“Okay. I will,” he said. He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”
“Is there anything else, Grant? I’m pretty hungry. Besides, I don’t want to keep Toni waiting.”
“That’s it.” Deflated, Grant turned and headed back to Miss Sadie’s wagon where he’d left his bag while he helped Ginger with the tent. That definitely hadn’t gone as he’d hoped. Probably just as well. A cholera epidemic probably wasn’t the most appropriate time to start courting a girl. But mercy, did she have to act like she didn’t know that he was asking for more than a seat next to her at a church meeting?
“What’s so funny?” Ginger demanded around a bite of cornbread from last night’s dinner. Toni was giggling outright, and Yellow Bird smiled quietly as she sat cross legged in the tent nursing Little Sam.
Toni handed her a cup of coffee. “Grant asked you to sit with him at the meeting?”
“Well, I don’t see what’s so funny about that.”
“Are you truly that backward, my friend?”
Incensed, Ginger set her cup on the ground. “I don’t think I care to sit here and be insulted.” She shoved up from the ground.
“Oh, sit back down, you silly girl.” Toni filled her own cup and sat close to the fire. “Don’t you know why Grant asked you?”
“I couldn’t figure at first,” Ginger said. She lowered herself to the ground once again and retrieved her cup. “But the more I thought on it, the more I realized he most likely didn’t want to have to stand through the whole service. He’s doing rounds, you know. I reckon he might be late.”
Toni shook her head. “Ginger, when a man asks a woman if he can accompany her to a church meeting, it means he’d like to court her.”
A thick chunk of cornbread made a detour down her throat and lodged in a bad place, choking Ginger. She started to cough, robbed of air as her mind raged against the information
“Grant!” she sputtered. “You’re crazy. That’s not what he meant.”
“Want me to ask him?” Toni’s smug look held no doubt whatsoever.
“No!”
“Admit it, then. You know that’s what Grant meant. He wants to court you.”
Yellow Bird switched the baby to the other side. “The doctor is a good man.”
Ginger gulped down another swig of coffee. “That’s your opinion,” she muttered. But she knew it wasn’t fair to leave the comment hanging in the air like that. Especially when he’d helped save Buddy’s life and had worked himself exhausted to doctor the wagon train. “Well, he is a good man, but that’s not the point.”
Toni set the pot back on the fire and faced ginger. “I don’t know why you continue to pretend there’s nothing between you and Grant. Anyone with eyes can see how he looks at you.”
Ginger’s stomach jumped, and she took another gulp. It just couldn’t be. How could she have been foolish enough to let Grant think he had a right to want to court her? It was one thing for her to give up her desire for revenge. But the thought of Grant as more than…well, it’s not that she’d never thought of it. And it wasn’t as repulsive to consider as Lane, for instance, but still…
She set her empty cup on the ground and jumped up.
Maybe she had somehow given Grant the wrong idea about the nature of their relationship, but she could certainly do something to discourage him from taking it any farther.
Without a word to Toni or Yellow Bird, she ducked out of the tent into the frigid October air and started walking. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, but one thing was for sure, she wouldn’t return until she’d found Grant and told him a thing or two!
An explosion of pain hit Web as he bent over to pour coffee into Miss Sadie’s cup. He couldn’t hold back a groan as the liquid nearly spilled out onto her lap.
“Land sakes, Web Freeman. Give me that before you burn the hide off your hand.” Miss Sadie took the pot from him and stood up. “Sit down.”
Dadburn, that woman was one for giving orders. He’d never taken orders from anyone, let alone a female, but just now, sitting seemed like the best thing for him to do. She sashayed to the fire and set the coffee pot next to the pot of soup. When she returned, she stood over him, hands on her wide hips and gave him that no-nonsense look he usually hated on a woman’s face. “I know you don’t have cholera. It don’t act this way. What ails you, Web?”
Wincing, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Don’t talk so loud. Do you want to tell the whole camp I’m sick?”
She dropped to the bench that Yuley had fashioned for her out of some old, abandoned wagon parts. “All right.” She kept her voice low as though she understood his position. “Now, tell me what you have.”
He’d kept his pain to himself for so long, now that it was impossible to hide, he felt naked. “I don’t rightly know what it is. I been hurtin’ worse and worse for a while now. And it’s where I can’t do…” Well, if she were the type of woman he usually associated with, he wouldn’t much care whether he offended her or not. But something about her way made him want to mind his manners.
“Can’t do what?”
He blew out a breath as the pain began to subside. “Go.”
She peered closer. “You want me to go away?”
Rolling his eyes, he leaned in closer. “I can’t go…to the outhouse. If you catch my meanin’.” And he sure hoped she would.
Her eyes grew wide, but that was the only indication that she might be a little shocked by his admission. Decent folks just didn’t talk about such things. Even he knew that. But she shouldn’t have asked if she didn’t want to know. “Did you talk to Doctor Kelley?”
The thought of the man left a bitter taste in Web’s mouth. “No, ma’am, and I don’t intend to.” Not after the way he implied Web wasn’t being a proper pa by letting Ginger go off alone to nurse the men. When had that girl ever listened to him in the first place? As a matter of fact, after she helped him with this last job, he was going to cut her loose to go west or do whatever she wanted to do.
Miss Sadie scrutinized him, then sipped her coffee. She shrugged. “I reckon that’s your call.”
“Hold on a minute. What do you think ails me?”
She shrugged. “I’m not a doctor. But I’ve seen similar symptoms before. The good parson back home got a wasting sickness. Held onto his side just like you do. Sometimes he’d get to hurting so bad, he’d faint dead away.”
Luckily for Web, that had only happened once, and no one had paid him any mind. Thought he’d taken a nap.
“A wasting sickness, ya say?”
Web’s heart sank. If he had what Miss Sadie suggested, there wasn’t much point in stealing Harrison’s money. He wouldn’t be around to spend it, anyway.