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“You’ve done your part,” Bass said.

Jesse gave him a flat look. “Wasn’t aware I’d finished.”

“You can’t ride with us.”

“Wasn’t planning to.” Jesse paused. “Doesn’t mean I won’t be watching for you to come back.”

Bass approached the bed and laid a hand briefly against his brother’s shoulder. “I will.”

Then he went to Emily, and they left together.

The clinic grew quieter. Nate returned to his other patients. Through the window Eden could see the last of the afternoon light falling over the wet street.

She moved her chair beside Jesse’s bed.

“Are you frightened?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Me too.”

She reached for his left hand. He turned it beneath hers, taking her fingers in a grip stronger than it had been a few days earlier.

“I don’t know yet what happened to Josiah,” she said.

“We’ll find out.”

“I don’t know whether Mama needs me back in Willow Bend.”

“You wired Laurel. Wait for her answer.”

It pleased her he remembered. He had not said what she ought to do. He had listened when she chose what to do first.

“You could ask for another kiss,” she said.

Jesse blinked. Then the corner of his mouth rose. “With all this company around?”

“There is no one in the room but us.”

“Nate’s got the ears of a fox.”

“Then he can practice minding his own affairs.”

Jesse laughed, then caught himself when his ribs objected. Eden leaned in and kissed him, brief and careful. He kept her hand in his when she drew back.

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you stay away from the church.”

“Tomorrow I’ll do what Whit asks. Tonight, I intend to finish reading you that dreadful novel.”

“You think it’s dreadful?”

“The hero has made three promises and kept none.”

“Then he ought to be ashamed.”

“He ought.”

She found the book and opened to their place. Outside, someone was already preparing the church bell for morning. She could hear a distant hammer and the call of men across the street.