Once Tiffany had gone, Jonathan moved closer to the bed.“I’ll have the ship’s doctor cleanse your wound, and I will take Dawson up top with me.You must rest.Don’t let the doctor do anything more.He isn’t the best physician, but he’s all we have.I think he was the cook before he was a doctor.”Jonathan smiled.
“I’m very tired,” Elizabeth said with heavy eyelids.“I appreciate your taking care of Dawson for me.”
Jonathan hated leaving Elizabeth, but he knew it would be better for her, knowing that Dawson was being taken care of.He kept Dawson with him the rest of the day, and no matter what he was doing, Dawson seemed content to play at his feet.
“We’ve had a fair wind and made good time.If the breeze holds, we’ll be in the harbor of New Orleans tomorrow morning,” Jean said and glanced down at Dawson.“I believe the boy likes you.”
Jonathan smiled.“He’s been a good lad,” he admitted, then looked down at him.“Dawson,” Jonathan said.
The child looked up at with his big brown eyes so much like his mother’s that Jonathan could see the trust in Dawson’s gaze.
Jonathan leaned over and asked, “Would you like to steer the ship?”
Dawson nodded, his eyes wide with wonder.Jonathan took the child’s hand and led him behind the big wooden wheel.He upended a bucket so Dawson could stand on his own.The boy giggled.
Together they steered the ship, and something deep inside Jonathan stirred as he placed his big hands over Dawson’s small ones.
Dawson tilted his head back to see Jonathan and grinned.“This is fun.”
Jonathan’s heart melted.
“Looks like father and son to me,” Jean commented as he walked by them.
Jonathan started to say something, but stopped.He liked the notion of having a son like Dawson.If circumstances had been different, Dawson might have been his.
When the sun finally set, they went below to check on Elizabeth.Henry, the so-called doctor, sat beside the bed.When they came in, he got up.“Ya sure ya don’t want me to take this ’ere bullet out?”
“No.We’ll be in New Orleans tomorrow, and then she can be in a proper hospital.”Jonathan frowned at the man.“You may go.”
“I think she’s developed a fever,” Henry said as he started for the door.“I’d keep an eye on her if I were you.”
Jonathan put Dawson down, and, placing his hand on Elizabeth’s forehead, looked down at her.Sure enough, she was burning with fever.He pulled back the covers and examined her wound.It was angry and red, and he’d never felt more helpless in his life.He muttered a curse.
Dawson tugged on his hand.“Shh,” he whispered.“Mummy is sleeping.”
Momentarily distracted from his problem, Jonathan smiled.“Speaking of sleep, I think it’s time for you to go to bed, lad.”He pulled open a drawer and retrieved a hammock, which he strung across the room.He eyed Dawson.“Have you ever slept in one of these?”
Dawson shook his head, his eyes huge with wonder.
Jonathan placed a pillow and blanket in the hammock.“You’re going to like this,” he said as he scooped the child up and placed him in the hammock.“See, it’s like a swinging bed.”
Dawson giggled.“Will you tell me a story?”
Jonathan pulled a chair over beside Elizabeth, and then turned back to Dawson.He didn’t want to alarm the child, but he needed to see her, to know she was breathing.“Shut your eyes,” Jonathan told Dawson softly.Then he dug way back to his childhood to find an entertaining story for Dawson.
In less than ten minutes, Dawson was fast asleep, and Jonathan could once again focus his attention on Elizabeth.He called for the cook to bring him water, made cool compresses, and bathed her down.To be on the safe side, he poured some whiskey into Elizabeth’s wound to prevent infection.
She jerked and cried out when the alcohol hit the raw wound.Jonathan swallowed past the lump in his throat, and whispered soothing words to her until she settled down, then slipped back into her fever-induced sleep.
“Don’t leave me, Elizabeth.”Jonathan heard his ragged voice as if it came from far away.“I won’t let you leave me again.”
All night, Jonathan bathed Elizabeth with cool compresses until sometime early in the morning when he fell into an exhausted sleep.
Dawson woke up screaming.“Mummy, Mummy, I don’t like this man.”
Jonathan came to his feet in one swift motion.He shook Dawson awake.“You’re having a bad dream,” he said, trying to soothe him.
Dawson opened his eyes and huge tears rolled down his cheeks.When he saw Jonathan, he held his arms up to him, and Jonathan took the boy and sat back down beside Elizabeth with Dawson in his arms.He withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped Dawson’s face off.
