He took a long sip of his coffee and turned back to his desk. Now to see what else was on his morning docket.
Two more letters from Cain. So far, Judas hadn’t come up with a decent plan to stop the man from coming. But he had other more pressing matters at the moment.
He opened his financial ledger and double-checked the numbers.
A knock at his door brought his nose up out of his ledger.
The door opened and Whitney walked through.
He stood. “What a nice surprise!” Walking around his desk, he held out his arms.
But she didn’t come any closer. Instead, she held up her hand. Just like she had last night. “Judas ... I need to speak with you.” She pushed the door closed. Her shoulders lifted with a deep breath.
“Of course. I am always at your disposal.” Perhaps she needed his advice on something out at the farm. Exactly what he wanted. To get involved enough to find out the true wealth of their enterprise.
“I’ve come to give you a final answer. I can’t marry you.”
For a moment, he thought he hadn’t heard her correctly. “Pardon me?”
“I can’t marry you.” She looked down at her hands and then back up at him. “It’s not that I don’t care for you—I do. As a friend. It was very nice that you asked to court me, and our time together was lovely. Thank you for that. But I won’t marry you.”
He stepped forward.
“Please. Don’t try to convince me otherwise. My mind is made up.” And with that, she slipped out the door.
As it clicked behind her, Judas narrowed his eyes.
This wasn’t the end of the discussion. He still had plenty of cards to play. A winning hand.
No one turned Judas Reynolds down.
Pounding from somewhere made Peter sit up straight in bed. He wiped his hands down his face and listened. There it was again. He hadn’t dreamed it.
Jumping to his feet, he grabbed his robe from the end of the bed and then raced to the door.
When he opened it, Daniel was standing there. “We need you to come quick, Peter. It’s Bethany. She’s spiked a high fever, and we can’t bring it down.”
He nodded and went to pack a bag. This wasn’t good news. Five more cases had erupted in Nome, and even though he’d tried to quarantine the men from the rest of the town, he’d known it had likely been too late.
Dressing as fast as he could, he prayed that no one else in the family would get it.
“I brought a horse for you.” Daniel took his bag and tied it to his saddle.
Peter mounted and gave him a nod. “Let’s go.”
They pushed the horses as fast as they dared through the deep snow and made it to the farm in less than fifteen minutes.
“You go in. I’ll take care of the horses.”
“Thanks.” Peter took his bag and went in.
Whitney stood there, tears in her eyes. “She hasn’t had the measles. I asked. She’s terribly hot.”
He stared deep into her eyes. “I’m here. In a day or two, she’ll be right as rain.” He prayed his words were true. “Take me to her.”
Havyn and John stood out in the hall.
Peter stopped and looked at John. “You need to keep yourwife away from this sickness. It could be very dangerous for the baby.”
