An hour later, Aunt Polly and Josie stood in the corner while Dr. Gordon examined Jonas. He was barely conscious. When his eyes fluttered open, they appeared glassy and distant. Each new symptom Josie saw made it worse for her to bear—high fever, shivering body, pale face, and a rash. Every moment that passed, her thoughts returned to Travis.
He should be here. He should know.Aunt Polly was in such a rush for the doctor that she didn’t have time to stop at the mercantile. Josie dreaded the moment he’d hear the news. He already knew how Josie’s sister and mother died. It wouldn’t give him any hope to know there was a high chance a boy as young and delicate as Jonas wouldn’t survive.
“Can you open your mouth for me?” Dr. Gordon asked.
Jonas opened his mouth halfway. Doctor Gordon looked down his throat and asked him to close. From the look on the doctor’s face, Josie knew there wouldn’t be any good news. If Jonas’s throat was red and swollen, he was indeed suffering from the deadly disease. The doctor patted Jonas’s thigh and stood.
“Get some rest, Jonas. It will help you get better faster.”
Josie wrapped her arms around herself, her heart racing in her chest. When Doctor Gordon locked eyes with her, a sinking feeling settled in her stomach.
“Jonas has scarlet fever,” he explained. “And he’s not the only one in these parts. I just came back from a homestead across Walnut Creek dealing with the illness. I’m afraid it’s spreading faster by the minute.”
“Oh, Lord, hear our prayers!” Aunt Polly cried, her hand over her mouth.
Dr. Gordon turned to Josie. “Take the children and get them to safety, especially the babies. This disease is deadly and could kill them in hours.”
Aunt Polly pressed her lips together and swallowed. Clinging to her collar, her gaze met Josie’s. “You take the children to my place. I’ll look after Jonas. I can have a medicine brewed in minutes.”
The thought of leaving Jonas sickened Josie. She couldn’t leave him, not now. Especially with Travis still in town. Despite her failure in the past, she was the best person to stay with her immunity and experience. Aunt Polly may be the healer, but she didn’t make a vow to be Jonas’s mother and care for him as her own. Josie wouldn’t break that promise, not now, not ever.
“No, I’ll take care of him. I had scarlet fever seven years ago. I know what to do, and I won’t leave Jonas.”
Aunt Polly touched Josie’s shoulder, her eyes puffy. “Josie, you can’t. You have a baby to care for. Nathan needs his mother.”
Josie shook her head. “I can’t leave Jonas. He may not be my flesh and blood, but I’m not going to leave him . . . He needs his mother, too.”
“Mrs. Blythe,” Dr. Gordon said calmly. “Please understand, once you expose yourself again, you must not nurse for a long while. Close contact will put your baby at risk.”
“I understand,” Josie answered swiftly, swallowing a lump in her throat. “I know what I must do.”
“I can send him to Rose. They have a dairy cow. Nathan will be well looked after until you can nurse again,” Aunt Polly said. “And I have some willow bark at home that I can brew into a tea.”
“Good idea, Aunt Polly,” Dr. Gordon said. He turned to Josie, seriousness in his eyes. “Keep Jonas warm and burn everything he has touched. I can’t have you risk your entire household.”
Josie nodded.
Before the doctor could say another word, the sound of the front door creaking open interrupted him. Josie’s heart raced, pounding in her ears; Travis was finally home. The thought of him returning after a long day at work to face such tragic news made her stomach churn. As he entered the home, Ivy and Lillian rushed to greet him, but this time, their voices were filled with cries of sorrow.
Josie watched from the corner as the girls cried against his legs. Travis’s face was stunned and confused. He blinked twice, trying to understand what they were saying. It wasn’t until he met Dr. Gordon’s gaze that his mind seemed to comprehend. His face grew pale, and his eyes widened with terror.
“Dr. Gordon? What are you doing here? Is everything all right?”
Josie stood frozen in place. She longed to rush to him and explain, but she couldn’t bear to leave the room with Jonas suffering inside. She watched as Aunt Polly placed a gentlehand on Travis’s arm, whispering the devastating news. Travis’s expression twisted in horror.
“No!” he screamed. “It can’t be!” Travis tried to run to the bedroom, but the doctor and Aunt Polly pushed him back and protested against it.
“Let me see my son! I need my son!” he bellowed, his voice filled with desperation. Travis eventually broke free, darting to the room. Josie blocked him at the doorway, her hands pressing against his chest.
“You shouldn’t be back here. You can get infected,” Josie warned. She hoped she could stop him at a distance, but she couldn’t. Her selfish desires were to stop another person she cared for from being infected by the deadly disease, but what right did she have to separate a father from his son? At last, he broke through.
Josie turned, her heart aching as she watched Travis drop to his knees beside Jonas’s bed. He leaned over, clutching Jonas’s hand as he wept openly. It was the first time Josie had ever seen him cry, and she couldn’t blame him; she had cried just as fiercely when she knelt beside her own infected sister and mother. After giving him a moment to grieve, she quietly sat next to him, her fingers gently brushing across his back.
“I’ve been exposed to the disease, so I’m going to help him. I’m going to have Aunt Polly take them to the Levingstons tonight,” Josie explained gently. “You should go, too. I can’t have you get sick.”
Travis cocked his head and met her gaze. “I can’t leave him. Your family died from this disease, so there’s a chance this could be the end for him. If it is, I must be here by his side. I could never forgive myself for letting him die alone.”
Josie pulled him into a tight embrace. He buried his face into her shoulder as he continued to cry.
