Jodi Thomas - Texan's Touch

The storm had worn itself out, leaving the morning gray and humid. All the wounded he’d ever treated came rushing back to him. May’s suffering seemed to pile atop all the others, until Adam felt his shoulders snap from the load. He dropped on the first step and put his elbows on his knees, wishing he were a boy again and could go back to a time when Mama’s words could make everything all right. He wanted the world to make sense. He wanted the suffering to end.

Adam wasn’t aware of Nichole until she stood just behind him.

“Wolf left for town to send a telegram home,” she said matter-of-factly, handing him a mug of steaming coffee.

“Trouble?”

“The war may not be over so easy for us. We may have to fight for the land we left behind. Wolf and I will have no peaceful farm to go home to or profession like doctoring to fall back on. What becomes of a Shadow when the war ends? It’s not exactly a skill that we can continue in peacetime.”

Adam felt sorry for her. She’d become an expert in something no longer in demand. “Thank you for helping out tonight. The McLains are in your debt. Name the time and we’ll pay you back.”

“I don’t expect any payment.” Her words were sharp. “And I’m not sure I was much help. I could never have the kind of talent you have. You’re very gifted.”

“No great skill. I don’t know if I want to be a doctor anymore,” he mumbled more to himself than her. “Maybe I should give the gift back.”

“Picked a hell of a time to leave the profession,” she answered without sympathy.

Leaning back against the porch railing, he felt her leg pressing lightly against his back. Neither retreated. The warmth of her nearby was reassuring.

“Some doctor. I can’t do anything else for May.” He straightened slightly, still allowing his back to touch her leg, but letting her know that he wasn’t asking for compassion, only understanding.

Nichole let out a long breath. Sympathy wasn’t a talent she’d had time to develop. “I guess that takes you out of the running for God, doesn’t it?”

Anger sparked in him. She wasn’t giving an inch. He’d seen her comfort May again and again. She’d patted Daniel on the shoulder. She’d even brought old Doc Wilson a chair and bullied him until he’d sat for a while. But no kind words for him.

Adam stood, tossing the coffee into the mud. “I’d better get back.”

He wanted to yell that he knew he’d let her down. He wasn’t the grand doctor she thought him to be. She’d traveled all this way to see a hero, and he was only a man. A man who spoke of his doubt. Something he’d never do in front of her or any woman again.

When he looked at her, she was staring out at the sunrise. She was a hard woman, he’d give her that. Her world had fallen apart, and she hadn’t blinked at what might lie ahead. She’d seen things tonight that would have had most women fainting. That was the difference between her and Bergette. Not the dress, or the manners, or even the background-Bergette had no heart, while Nichole’s heart had turned to stone over the years of war.

Wilson called Adam. Without a word, he left Nichole’s side, thinking that even if he declared himself in her debt, she’d probably die before she asked for help from him.

“It’s time!” Wilson shouted again.

Adam crossed the kitchen in three strides as May’s scream lacerated the silence and woke Wes. He jumped, toppling the chair backward and almost colliding with Nichole as she raced to the bedroom.

She shoved Wes out of the way. He took a step to follow, but another scream from the bedroom seemed to bar him from entering.

“I’ll check the horses!” he yelled to the open doorway, but no one answered.

An hour later, Nichole stood in the shadows watching a second baby crown. May had grown too weak to push, and Daniel looked like he might pass out at any moment. Dr. Wilson put a bloody hand on May’s knee as he waited for the next contraction. Sweat dripped off his forehead and into his eyes where it blended with his tears.

The old doctor wiped his face with a towel and glanced in Nichole’s direction. “As soon as this one is out, you do what Adam is doing with the first. I’ve got to help May. You and Adam will have to see these babies get to breathing clear. That’s most important, lest all this suffering be for nothing.”

Nichole tried to force herself to breathe. She’d seen battlefields covered in blue and gray and blood, but she’d never seen anything like this.

Wilson lifted the baby in the air as it wiggled and screamed in protest. He cut the cord and tied it, then handed the tiny bundle to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the afterbirth begin to emerge and moved quickly away, not sure she could breathe if she witnessed more.

When Nichole reached Adam’s side, he took the newborn from her arms and handed her a baby already wrapped in a towel.

“Keep this little lady warm.” He smiled at Nichole, as if he thought the messy creature was pretty. “I’ll clean up my other niece.”

Nichole cradled the wiggling bundle close to her heart as she watched Adam work. He held the tiny baby in one hand and cleaned its mouth and let the lungs drain of fluid. Then he wiped the wrinkled flesh with a warm cloth and checked each limb.

“They’re both perfect.” He glanced over his shoulder with a smile toward the new parents. “Daniel, you and May have yourselves two fine daughters.”

Nichole watched the smile vanish from Adam. His face become a mass of sorrow when there was no answer from anyone near the bed.

“No,” he cried.

She followed the direction of his gaze.

“No!”

Dr. Wilson wept openly as he knelt on one knee and slowly raised the sheet over May’s face. “I saw her come into this world. Now it’s time for her to pass on to the next.”

“No!” Daniel’s order shook the room. “Don’t leave me, May!”

He buried his head in the pillow next to the covered outline of his wife and sobbed. Deep low sobs of a pain too great to bear.

But the sheet separated their tears as death separated them.

IT WAS LATE afternoon as nichole watched the three brothers walk back from the small graveyard. They looked so much alike yet were so different. Wes with his hard exterior, Daniel with his silence, and Adam in his private war within himself. They walked almost shoulder to shoulder, yet each walked alone.

“These babies got to be fed,” Wolf mumbled from the kitchen table where he sat staring at the twins nestled in two shoe boxes. “I wish everybody would get back and take over watching these two. I got to ride to town and check on any answer from the men.” He talked about those who served under him during the war as if they were still organized. In truth, only Tyler and Rafe stayed with Wolf, more because they had nowhere else to go than out of loyalty to any cause.

“Doc Wilson drove to a farm just north of here to find a wet nurse,” Nichole answered her brother. “He should be back soon.”

She almost laughed at Wolf. For a man who cared for little in this world, he’d done his share of fretting over the babies. Though the day had been warm, he’d insisted on the stove burning low just to keep any chill from creeping into the room. And he watched them even though he probably had no idea what to do if one cried out.

“Wes offered me his room upstairs for the night. I think we should leave come morning,” Nichole mumbled. “It would feel good to have a night’s sleep in a bed before we board the train.”

There was no reason to stay. She’d done what she planned to, she’d returned the bag and finished the kiss. Anything more had been daydreams on her part, for Adam had his life here. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, or hoped. But finding Adam engaged to be married and with a sister-in-law delivering babies hadn’t crossed her mind. His thoughts were so full of worries, he’d hardly noticed her being in the house.