Chapter Thirteen
Unable to sleep, Leigh had been resting on top of her bed, listening to the sounds in the house. She’d heard a door open nearby and peeped out into the hallway to see Jeremiah half carrying Harry down to the bathroom. She’d been worrying about Harry’s need to relieve himself, but hadn’t had the heart to awaken him.
Keyed up, she kept listening. Sometime later when footsteps stopped outside her bedroom, she jumped up and hurried to the door.
Jeremiah stood there, his hand raised as if he was on the verge of knocking. He looked tired, with a crease between his dark brows, lines on his forehead.
“What is it?” she asked in a tense voice. “Is it Harry?”
Jeremiah’s mouth opened and closed. Leigh leaned forward and looked down the hall. The bathroom door was open.
“I saw you take Harry to the bathroom. Is he all right, Jeremiah?”
Jeremiah opened his mouth again and took a breath. Leigh hopped from one foot to the other.
“What is it?”
“I...I...” he stammered. “Harry is fine. I was just on my way to the kitchen to fetch him some warm tea. I thought you would be sleeping.”
“Then why were you going to knock on my door? Oh! Do you want me to go watch him while you get the tea?” Leigh stepped forward, and Jeremiah jumped back...rather dramatically, she thought, as if he didn’t want to be touched.
“I wasn’t going to touch you,” she protested in embarrassment.
“What? No, of course not. I apologize. I was just trying to step out of your way.”
“So you want me to go down and sit with Harry?” she asked.
“No, not at all. I thought you would be resting.”
“I was. I just wasn’t sleeping. I’m a little keyed up tonight. What did you need? Do you want me to help you with the tea? I don’t know what time it is, but I’m sure Mrs. Jackson must be in bed by now.”
“Yes, I think she must be. No, I can make tea. Since you are awake, would you like some?”
Leigh nodded. “Yes, I would. I’ll come down with you.”
“Very well,” Jeremiah said, stepping back even farther.
Leigh decided to confront what she saw as an issue. “Jeremiah, you keep jumping back. I’m not going to touch you. You’ve handled my poor great-grandfather, so I know you’re not too worried about germs. I’m not going to make a pass at you.”
Jeremiah gasped, and Leigh was happy. His cheeks turned bright red, and he looked down at the red Oriental runner in the hallway, then over her head into the bedroom, then down the hall toward the stairs—anywhere but at her.
“Well, of course not. I thought nothing of the kind!”
Leigh smirked, then passed him and proceeded down the hallway, hoping she didn’t trip on her dress or some other ungraceful thing. She heard him following her and hoped that she looked poised, cool, confident, and not at all slightly infatuated with the handsome doctor.
They reached the kitchen to find Mrs. Jackson still awake and drying pots and pans.
“Oh, hello!” she said. “I’m just finishing up. Do you want anything?”
“I was just going to make some tea for Harry and take it up to him,” Jeremiah said. “We thought we would have a cup ourselves as well.”
“I have a kettle boiling,” she said. “I was going to take a cup up to my room.”
She bustled around setting up a silver tray with a ceramic teapot and cups. She handed the tray to Jeremiah and took off her apron before picking up a cup and saucer.
“Good night,” she said, sipping on her tea.
“Good night,” Jeremiah and Leigh echoed. Leigh followed Jeremiah from the kitchen and back up the stairs to Harry’s bedroom door. Before entering, Jeremiah paused.
“Would you rather take your tea to your room? You are supposed to be resting.”
“No, I’ll drink it in here. I can take over again if you need to sleep.”
Jeremiah shook his head, and Leigh tapped on the door and opened it. Harry, still awake, looked over at them.
“I see you took my advice, Doc,” he said with a smile.
“What advice was that, Harry?” Leigh asked, responding to his smile as she seated herself in one of the chairs by the bed.
“Nothing,” Jeremiah said quickly, setting the cups down on the nightstand. He set the tray down against the wall.
“Wasn’t nothing,” Harry said. “I told him to marry you.”
“What?” Leigh, in the act of handing Harry his tea, almost dropped the cup.
“Harry was teasing, Leigh,” Jeremiah said, still standing. He eyed Harry severely and shook his head.
“Nope, I wasn’t. But I can see that I’ve embarrassed the girl.”
“Harry,” Leigh said reprovingly. She avoided looking at Jeremiah.
Harry smirked and managed to drink by himself, though he seemed weak still, and his hands shook. He gulped some, and Leigh grabbed the cup and saucer to prevent the liquid from spilling. He looked at her.
“You’re new in town, gal. You seem familiar to me though. Where did you come from?”
“Orting,” Leigh replied, her heart skipping a beat. “Who knows? Maybe we’re related in some way.”
Jeremiah cleared his throat beside her.
“Are we?” he asked. “That’s where my wife was from, where my daughter and granddaughter live. No, wait! That would make you related to her side of the family, not mine. My folks were from Kaskade.”
He was so short of air that he gasped out his last words. Leigh looked up at Jeremiah with concern, and he met her eyes and shook his head.
“That’s enough chatting for tonight, Harry. Get some sleep now. I’m going to watch over you, and Mrs. Peters is going to get some sleep.”
Leigh picked up her tea and rose. “Good night again, Harry. Sleep well.”
He nodded but said nothing. She walked toward the door, and Jeremiah sprang to open it.
“Night,” she said, without looking up. Harry’s “teasing” still resonated.
“Good night again,” Jeremiah said.
The door closed behind her, and she returned to her room, set the tea down and went back out into the hallway to use the bathroom. Upon returning to her room, she extricated herself from the voluminous clothing, slipped into Mrs. Jackson’s nightgown and climbed into bed. She turned down the lamp and settled back against the pillows, feeling not a little guilty that Jeremiah had taken the night duty of watching Harry.
The next thing Leigh knew, a tap on the door awakened her. A sliver of gray light filtered into the room, and she realized she had slept all night. She climbed out of bed and crossed the room to reach the door. Pulling it open, she saw Jeremiah, one hand leaning against the doorsill, as if he was exhausted. His collar and tie were gone, and he had rolled up his sleeves.
“Were you awake all night?” she asked in wonder.
“No, I fell asleep as soon as I settled down into the chair. I thought I should awaken you though, as Katherine will come soon, and we should leave. Orting is not far, but it is far enough. Tanya once told me that it was only twenty minutes by one of your cars and that Tacoma was less than an hour away. Of course, the trains are quite fast, but they do not run at all hours.”
Leigh keyed in on the reference to Tanya. Apparently, the twenty-first-century nurse and twentieth-century doctor had talked a great deal. Good for them. That saved Leigh the time to explain how things operated in the future. She pressed her lips together.
“So we’re going up by wagon? That should be fun.”
“By buggy, actually. I hope that will be fine for you. It only has two seats, so if we are able to convince Mrs. Johnson and her daughter to come visit Harry, we shall not be able to given them a ride.”
“I’m sure they can find their own way down. I look forward to seeing how things have changed on the way up to Orting.”
Jeremiah tilted his head in a way that reminded Leigh of a puppy dog.
“If one thinks about it, they will change.”
“That’s true. How about I look forward to seeing how things were historically on the way up to Orting?”
Jeremiah smiled. “I am going to make myself presentable. I hear Mrs. Jackson up and about, rattling in the kitchen, and I assume she is making breakfast. She will let Katherine in. Do you need to access the bathroom before I wash up?”
Leigh thought about the clothing she would have to pour herself into again.
“Yes, please! I’ll be quick.”
She ran past Jeremiah in her nightgown and down the hall. She did her business, washed up and ran back up the hall, where Jeremiah had changed his leaning position by pressing his back against the wall.
“All yours!” she sang out. She shut the door behind her and began the process of dressing all over again. Mrs. Jackson hadn’t said anything about loaning her another dress or undergarments, so Leigh assumed that clothing was worn more than once between washings. She had no problem with that, having worn a favorite pair of pajamas around the house for two or three days at a time before they begged to be laundered. Working at home had given her the leisure to dress—or not dress—as she wished.
She drank the rest of her cold tea while she dressed as quickly as she could. After tying her hair up into a bun, she checked herself in the mirror and thought she made a presentable turn-of-the-century woman. At least she hoped so. For all that she had busied herself with dressing, she had temporarily forgotten that she was on her way to meet her great-grandmothers and coax them to come down to see Harry.
Cold sweat broke out on her upper lip, and she wiped at it with the back of her hand. Discovering that Harry was her fourth great-grandfather was one thing. It had happened by accident, and before she knew it. But intentionally presenting herself to her great-grandmothers was another thing, even though they would never know she was their descendant. What would they think of her? Did she measure up? Had their combined DNA found its way into an attractive, intelligent woman to be proud of?
Leigh flung herself away from the window and left her bedroom. She turned for Harry’s room to check on him. The bathroom door was closed, and she assumed Jeremiah was in there. With a soft tap, she opened Harry’s door and noted that he was sleeping. She eased the door shut and retreated down the stairs to the kitchen.
The seemingly indefatigable Mrs. Jackson was indeed already up, with pots and pans covering the stove.
“Good morning,” she said in a cheery tone. “How is your great-grandfather today?” She bustled around pouring out a cup of coffee and handing it to Leigh before returning to ladling out pancake batter onto a griddle.
“He was sleeping when I checked on him. I feel awful because Jeremiah watched over him all night. I thought he might wake me a few hours ago to take a shift, but he didn’t.”
“Oh, I’m sure he slept in a chair. The doctor has known many sleepless nights when there are babies to be delivered or accidents.”
“That’s right! I forgot that would be a problem for him, as the only doctor in town.”
“The only doctor in a twenty-mile radius. I don’t think Dr. Cook sees it as a problem though. He loves what he does.”
Leigh nodded and sat down at the table to drink her coffee. “Yes, I can see that he does. He’s very good at it. He has a wonderful bedside manner with Harry.”
“That poor man,” Mrs. Jackson murmured. She flipped pancakes as she talked.
“I know.” Leigh sighed. “He seems stubborn. It’s no wonder he got so ill. From the looks of his shack, it doesn’t appear as if he’s living very well at all. He’s very thin.”
“You’ve heard me say it. He is stubborn. Always has been,” Mrs. Jackson said. “Stubbornness can be a good trait, and it can be harmful.”
“I know,” Leigh said with another sigh. “I’ve been called stubborn in my time too, and it’s usually not meant as a compliment.”
“No! You? Stubborn?” Mrs. Jackson laughed and scooped some pancakes out of the pan before ladling more batter. “I’m teasing. I saw how stubborn you were the first night you came. You take after your great-grandfather!”
Leigh smiled. “I’m nervous about meeting my great-grandmothers,” she said tentatively. “Probably more than I am about meeting Harry. Well, I didn’t know he was my ancestor when I met him, but I will know about Nancy and Rosanna.”
Mrs. Jackson looked over her shoulder toward Leigh. “I can’t imagine how you must feel. What is making you nervous? That they will discover who you are? I shouldn’t think that is likely if you don’t tell them.”
“No, I don’t think they’d imagine in a million years that their great-granddaughter is standing in front of them, but I want them to think well of me, how one of their descendants turned out, how I turned out.”
Leigh blushed and put her hands to her cheeks.
Mrs. Jackson scooped the rest of the pancakes onto a plate, wiped her hands on her apron and came to sit beside Leigh. She took one of Leigh’s hands in hers.
“You are a lovely young woman. They would be very proud of you if they knew how clever and smart you are.”
“Mrs. Jackson!” Leigh exclaimed. “How sweet of you to say.”
“Nothing but the truth, my dear. Now, take your coffee into the dining room, and I’ll follow with breakfast.”
“Can I help with anything?”
“No, I can manage. I think I hear the doctor in the hall.”
Mrs. Jackson picked up a tray of food, and Leigh followed her. Jeremiah was in the hallway, looking clean and fresh, as if he’d slept the night through. His conservative Prussian-blue suit complemented his eyes. He sported a rather festive harvest-gold tie that matched his vest.
“Good morning,” he said to both women, allowing them to precede him into the dining room.
Leigh noted that Mrs. Jackson had already set out a coffee service on the table. She unloaded her tray of pancakes and other goodies.
She checked the watch pinned to her blouse. “Katherine will be here soon. I was thinking I would make Harry some soft food. Do you think he could eat something more substantial than broth? He must be so tired of soup.”
“You could try,” Jeremiah said. “Keep it thin and light though. And press more tea or lemonade or water on him. He must stay hydrated.”
Mrs. Jackson nodded and left the room. Almost immediately, they heard a knock on the front door. Jeremiah rose to go get it, but Mrs. Jackson hurried past the dining room door on her way to the front of the house. Jeremiah waited.
Within a minute, Katherine appeared in the doorway, elegant in a simple white waist blouse and chocolate-brown merino skirt. Her hat, a lovely confection of matching brown straw, sported a spray of white daisies.
“Good morning!” she said enthusiastically as she glided into the room. Despite—or perhaps because of—Katherine’s former work, she had a lovely grace about her tall bearing.
“Good morning, Katherine,” Jeremiah said, still standing. “Would you like some breakfast?”
“Good morning, Katherine,” Leigh said with a wide smile.
“No, thank you. I ate with John and the children. I will take a cup of coffee, though, on my way up to see Harry.”
“I truly appreciate your help today,” Jeremiah said. “I left Harry sleeping, and I believe Mrs. Jackson is making some breakfast for him. Nothing too heavy. He’s to have as much to drink as he wants of tea, lemonade or water. Actually, do push the liquid on him. The fluid will soften the phlegm in his lungs.”
“Got it,” Katherine said. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the urn on the table. “So you’re off to Orting!”
“We are,” Jeremiah said, “just as soon as we’ve breakfasted.”
“How are you going up there? Taking your buggy?”
“I am. I have not had the buggy on the road in some time. I look forward to it.”
“Good luck,” she said. “I know this is stressful for you, Leigh. I have faith that this will all work out.”
“I hope so,” Leigh said with a smile. “Thank you.”
“Well, let me go upstairs. How do I find Harry’s room?”
“I will take you up to his room,” Jeremiah said.
He escorted Katherine from the room, and Leigh helped herself to some of Mrs. Jackson’s pancakes, which were delicious. She was just pouring herself another cup of coffee when Jeremiah returned.
“You are almost done!” he said when he sat down.
Leigh waggled her eyebrows. “They were delicious!”
“Mrs. Jackson is an excellent cook.”
He settled food on his plate and ate fairly quickly.
“Don’t hurry because I’m finished,” Leigh said. “I can wait.”
“I never meant to dally at breakfast this morning, so I am glad that you are finished. I did hope to get going fairly early. The trip to Orting will take about an hour and a half. Of course, we need to find Mrs. Reid and her daughter and then speak to them. I would like to buy you lunch while we are there. Additionally, I think we might stop in a shop to see what they might have ready to wear for you. I was not able to send you shopping with Mrs. Jackson yesterday as I wished.”
Leigh looked down at her blue gingham dress. “So I shouldn’t have worn this a second day? I thought maybe you all did. Actually, now that I think about it, Mrs. Jackson was wearing something different today. Whoops!”
Jeremiah’s face transformed into a grin. “We change our underclothing and shirts every day. I might sport the same suit two days in a row. I suspect ladies usually change their undergarments and blouses every day, perhaps dresses too.”
Leigh pursed her lips. “Corsets? Do you think we change those every day?”
As she had hoped, Jeremiah’s cheeks turned red.
“I truly cannot say.”
“I imagine not,” Leigh said. “Since we wear a chemise and then a corset cover, it seems likely that we can wear them more than once, maybe even more than that!”
“I simply could not say,” he repeated, chewing furiously.
“I appreciate your offer to stop in a store, but I really wouldn’t know exactly how to buy clothes or what to buy. Maybe I should wait and go shopping with Mrs. Jackson or even Katherine.”
“Very sensible,” he said. “Very sensible indeed. I do not know what I was thinking.”
“You were being very thoughtful and generous,” Leigh said. “You know I was only teasing you about the corsets, but I really wouldn’t know how to shop for clothes in this era, and I can’t imagine what the clerks might say about you buying me clothes since we’re not—” Leigh smiled.
“Married,” Jeremiah finished. He looked down into his cup of coffee.
“Mmmhmmm,” Leigh murmured. She sipped her coffee and tried to act as if she wasn’t embarrassed. Jeremiah was still in love with Tanya, and that was fine with her. She was still in love with Sam. She had no room in her heart for another man. Love meant loss. Loss meant pain. She had lost enough in her time.
“Are you ready?” Jeremiah asked.
“I am,” she said.