Page 46 of Pride of Duty
“He’s alive and awake for now, but his lungs are in bad shape. We’ll see how he fares the next few days.” He leaned down, squeezed her hand, and mouthed “Thank you” while the others moved ahead to take the patient to the warmest corner of the sick bay.
Cullen leaned low over his revived patient and listened to the man’s raspy breathing. His face was flushed and he’d been awake in sick bay for several hours. However, the sounds coming from his chest did not bode well for his chances of survival.
Cullen turned to Mr. Parker at his side. “Maybe we should try a bit of bleeding and get him to drink some cinchona bark tea for the fever.” If he’s hungry later, have young Charles bring him some light broth from the galley. I’m going to join the officer’s mess for supper. Send someone for me if he takes a turn for the worse.”
“Yes, Dr. MacCloud
On his way back through the surgery, he noticed Willa was not at her usual post on the stool where she compounded medicines. She’d probably gone to the galley to help young Charles prepare a meal from Cullen’s rations and their own stock stored with Poppy. He shook his head at his wife’s incessant watching over the boy who’d asked to be assigned as their servant. Anyone else would have let him figure out the mysteries of the galley on his own. But not Willa. Just thinking about her made him harden, in his own surgery. He shook his head. Tonight, maybe he’d throw away the damned cane, shelve his pride and crawl into their bunk any way he could.
He was nearly out the door when he noticed a book on the surgery shelves that he hadn’t noticed before. The lighter cover stood out from the other, solid dark medical books and journals. On impulse, he pulled it out and read the title: “Gulliver’s Travels.” He turned to the page where the story began and read a few lines. He stopped mid-sentence -but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth…
Something in his memory clicked and fell into place.He remembered the sound of Willa’s voice and trying to reach her from somewhere deep inside, as if he were at the bottom of a dark body of water swimming up toward the light. There was a momentary glimmer of what had been writhing in the darkness of the deep. But then the glimmer sputtered and died as soon as he thought he’d grasped the memory.
Willa bent over Kathleen Baker’s bed and looked up into the worried eyes of young Mary.
“Is she going to be all right?” The girl seemed on the verge of panic, while the newest small Baker was bellowing in the other room.
Kathleen stared up at Willa with red-rimmed eyes. “I’ve never been so tired in my life. Thank you for coming.” She gave a deep sigh and rolled over, closing her eyes.
Willa’s best guess was that the woman was exhausted. Apparently, their servant, Polly, had been ill and unable to help out the previous few days.
Willa felt Mrs. Baker’s forehead and fortunately, there was no sign of fever. “Your mother is going to be fine. She just needs a little time to rest.”
Mary seemed close to tears herself, and the girls had explained their father, Mr. Baker, the ship’s purser, was dining with Captain Still that evening, discussing ship finances.
“How are we going to feed the baby? He needs Mama.”
Willa patted Mrs. Baker on the hand before leaving the couple’s sleeping cabin and went to the other room where Mary’s younger sister was bouncing the baby on her knee and trying to get him to suck on her finger. He was having none of it.
“Is he going to die?” Young Anna stared down into her brother’s reddened face and sniffled at his next enraged bellow.
Willa leaned down and scooped the angry infant from his sister’s arms. He hiccupped, as if surprised he had a new keeper, and then launched into another screeching bellow. “I’m going to tell you girls a secret about babies.”
They both gave her a wide-eyed look. “What?” they both demanded in unison.
“A noisy baby is a healthy baby.” She smiled at the surprise on their faces. “If he gets really quiet and won’t take his milk, then he’s sick.”
“You’re sure he’ll be all right?” Little Anna seemed dubious.
“Yes, I am, but there’s somebody on the ship he needs to meet.”
“Who?” Mary’s mouth dropped open.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Can we come along?”
“Of course, but, Mary, go tell your mother we’re taking your brother for a walk, and we’ll be back soon, so she doesn’t worry.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Cullen madehis way to their cabin and stored his cane by the door. He still couldn’t shake the vague uneasiness about Willa that had been triggered by reading the words she’d been reading to him when he’d struggled to come back to consciousness.
He wanted to hold her, make love to her, let her know that she was all that mattered to him. He knew with a verity that something horrible stalked her, but he could not for the life of him dredge up what the hell it was. He hadn’t imagined the danger. That much he knew. But somehow, he couldn’t rid himself of the feeling something evil still lurked out there, somewhere. He could feel the dark terror pulsing from the top of his battered head to the ends of his fingers. Whatever it was, it was waiting for him to make a misstep, to ignore his wife in an unguarded minute, or leave her on her own.
Even his cock seemed on high alert. He wanted her with an urgency he couldn’t quite explain. Speaking of his unpredictable wife, where the hell was she?
The first bellowing of an enraged baby on the lower deck he tried to ignore. There were no babies on the lower deck. Was he imagining things now? Had his broken mind finally spun out of control?