Her voice revealed her hurt when she called his name in the darkness, but if Jeff opened his mouth right now, he knew he would be sick to his stomach. He had thought about kissing Sylvia, after all she was beautiful, but something inside him had frozen when he felt her lips on his own.
“Jeff.” Sylvia’s voice was no longer hurt. She was angry—furious, to be exact. She knew very well that Jeff had been waiting years to kiss her, and now she had practically thrown herself at him and instead of the passionate embrace she had imagined, he had stepped away.
“I’m sorry, Sylvia.” Jeff’s voice was hoarse. “This is moving a little too fast here.”
“Is that right?” Sylvia’s voice betrayed her anger, and Jeff’s own temper came to the fore.
“Yes, it is,” Jeff snapped right back at her, the inner turmoil of emotions emerging in one livid burst; he felt like he could drive his fist into the tree behind him.
Jeff watched as Sylvia stomped her way back to the buggy and then began to follow slowly. But he was about five steps too late. Sylvia slapped the reins and the buggy began to move away.
“Hey!” Jeff shouted. “Sylvia, get back here!” But the angry blonde kept right on going. Jeff stood for just a moment before he set off for home. He took the shortest route, across open lots and behind buildings, some deserted. It wasn’t the safest, but he was wearing his good shoes, and if he went the long way around he knew they would be killing him by the time he walked into his own yard.
That, along with the fact that he found he had a raging headache. The only place he wanted to be right now was in bed, and as quickly as possible.
Troy bent his head and tenderly kissed Carla. His hand came up and touched the softness of her cheek and he felt as he always did—that leaving her was torture.
“I’ll come by tomorrow night.”
“Can you come for supper?”
“I came for supper last night. Your folks are going to get suspicious. They might suspect that I want to marry you.”
The words always made Carla smile, and that smile got her kissed again. With reluctance Troy pushed away from the porch and walked into the night.
The wind had picked up some, so Troy took a shortcut home. He was a couple of blocks away from his house, in a quiet area of town, when he heard a scuffle in the dark. The shadows were deceiving but it appeared to be three on one.
“Hey!” Troy shouted as he ran without fear toward the fighting men. His presence frightened away the attackers and Troy knelt carefully beside the man who had been left on the ground.
His face was turned away from the moonlight, but Troy could see that he was well-dressed and that the side of his head was a bloody mess. He had the shock of his life when he rolled him over and found himself looking into Jeff Taylor’s face.
It was by sheer determination that Troy lifted the older man. Troy was huskier but Jeff was taller, and not a featherweight by any means.
“Come on, Jeff,” Troy panted, “wake up and help me.”
“I don’t have anything,” Jeff mumbled as Troy got him onto his feet. But the next instant he started to collapse, so Troy drove his shoulder into Jeff’s middle and hefted him up onto his right shoulder. The dead weight nearly staggered him, but he pressed on. Troy laid Jeff on the Bradford front porch and threw open the door with a shout to his family.
twenty-two
The next hour at the Bradford house was like a nightmare. Troy was sent to tell the Taylors that Jeff was hurt and at their house. Jake went for the doctor.
The men had carried a semiconscious Jeff up to the first bedroom, which happened to be Bobbie’s. Bobbie was by nature a pretty cool customer, but the sight of Jeff covered with blood was almost her undoing. The women stripped him down to his pants before the doctor arrived and then had only a few minutes’ wait before the Taylor wagon thundered into the yard.
“The doctor is in with him now,” Jake told the anxious family. While they waited Troy filled them in on what he had seen. When he was finished speaking Bill Taylor thanked him.
“We’re just so glad you found him, Troy, and can’t thank you enough for bringing him home. Nate, go to the Riggs’ and let them know what happened.”
“I’ll go,” Troy offered. “You need to be here, Nate.”
The family thanked him again and then Bill went up the stairs to check on his son. Troy was back with Rigg just minutes before the doctor came down.
“He’s got a hard head, May,” Dr. Grade said from the stairway, “but someone tried to put a dent in it tonight. I stitched him up. His ribs are pretty bruised too, so I’ve got him wrapped. He was awake long enough to tell me that his attackers wanted money. He tried to tell them he had almost nothing on him and that’s when they got rough. You can all go up but just stay a few minutes.”
“Can we take him home?”
“No, don’t move him. I’ll come by tomorrow and check him again. He’s got a concussion, so someone needs to sit with him through the night.”
He gave a few more instructions and then Jeff’s family mounted the stairs. He awoke when his mother took his hand. May couldn’t keep the tears from her eyes when he tried to smile.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, honey.” May’s voice broke and Bill put his arm around her.
“My head hurts.”
“I’m sure it does.” Bill spoke quietly and just barely held his own tears. There were a million questions running through his mind, but he knew they were going to have to wait.
May was staying the night, so the men in the room told Jeff they would see him later. He was asleep by the time the door closed and wasn’t even aware of the way his mother pulled the chair close and sat without taking her eyes from him, thanking God that he was still alive.
May sat almost without moving for nearly an hour before the door opened. It was Bobbie, and she whispered her apology.
“I’ll just be a minute, Mrs. Taylor. I need my nightgown and robe.”
“Oh, this is your room,” May replied, startled. Now that she took a moment to look around she saw that everything was decidedly feminine.
“Bobbie, where will you sleep?”
“Troy has two beds in his room. We were caught off-guard or we’d have put Jeff in there.” Bobbie stopped and looked at the man lying in her bed.
He looked strangely out of place under the white lacy coverlet, but Bobbie didn’t feel like laughing. Her eyes flooded with tears as she looked at his bandaged head and wished she could stay and hold his hand for awhile. But his mother was here and that was best. She knew if it that had been her son in that bed, nothing could take her away.
The night was a long one for May. Jeff rested comfortably but May only dozed in the chair. Maryanne checked on her twice and even made coffee about 3:00 A.M.
Bill was at the house before 7:00 to check on his wife and son. He insisted that May let Gilbert take her home to sleep.
“But I want to be here when Dr. Grade comes.”
“I’ll stay. You’re about to collapse.”
Rigg knocked on the door just then and Bill was relieved. Rigg would be able to get May home better than Gilbert. But it was not to be. May was adamant and Bill knew he was going to have to see to the job himself. After a long discussion, it was decided that Gil would open the shipping office. Rigg needed to get to the mercantile and Bill would take his wife home.
Bobbie was very compassionate with Mrs. Taylor’s plight but she did look utterly drained. Offering to stay with Jeff until someone came to relieve her, Bobbie found herself at Jeff’s bedside a few minutes later. She carefully opened the curtains over the two windows in her room, since it was a cloudy day, and sat in the chair with her Bible.
Certain that someone was beating him in the head with a sledgehammer, Jeff’s hand came up to push the pain away, but all he encountered was a cloth of some sort and more pain.
A small, warm hand grasped the hand he had put on his head and held it on the edge of the mattress. Jeff told himself
to look at the owner of the hand, but his body wouldn’t obey.
“Mom?”
“No, it’s me, Bobbie.”
Jeff didn’t speak again but maneuvered his hand until his fingers were linked with those of Bobbie’s. The act brought fresh tears to Bobbie’s eyes and a prayer to her heart.
‘This is my friend, Lord, and he’s hurt. It’s been so nice to have Jeff for a friend. Please take away his hurt. Please ease the pain in his head and side. Help him to know that You’re right here in the room with him, and to know Your comfort. Help him to remember who did this, Lord, so they can be brought to the law.
‘Please comfort his family, especially May. Help her to get some rest today. Thank You for the special family that they are, and thank You too for sending Troy home the short way so he could find Jeff.’
Bobbie felt much better after giving Jeff over to God. She was a doer, and it was hard not to be able to do something for Jeff’s pain. And then the Lord reminded her that she could do something—in fact she already had done something: She had prayed.
Jeff wanted a drink about 20 minutes later and Bobbie found out what an inexperienced nurse she was. He did get some in his mouth but he also got some in his ear and down the side of his neck.
“I’m sorry, Jeff.” Bobbie was not very happy with herself, but Jeff peeked at her from one slitted eye and managed a small smile.
“Are you trying to drown me?”
“I think so,” Bobbie said as she carefully mopped his neck, ear, and then the pillow.
“Is this your room?”
Bobbie glanced up in surprise to see that Jeff’s eyes were both open.
“Yes, it’s mine. Is the bed all right?”
“The bed is wonderful, maybe a little short, but what can I expect when it belongs to a little person like yourself?” The words were said with a tired sort of tenderness that Bobbie found oddly touching. He had made the words “little person” sound like an endearment.
Jeff was drifting off again and wasn’t aware of Rigg arriving to spell Bobbie. Bobbie took herself off to the shipping office with plans to check back at lunch. Business was quite heavy that morning so Bobbie didn’t return home until almost 1:00. Her mother was sitting at Jeff’s side with some mending when Bobbie appeared in the door. Maryanne set her work aside and joined her daughter in the hall.
“How are things going?”
“Good. Are you home for the day or do you need to go back to the office?”
“Bill was going to come in at 2:00 so I can stay here if I’m needed. What did Dr. Grade say?”
“He wants Jeff to keep still until he gives word otherwise. It could be a week.”
“So he’s pretty bad?” Bobbie’s eyes showed her concern and Maryanne reached out to hug her.
“He’s not in any kind of danger, but then he’s not going to do any strenuous work for a few weeks either.”
Maryanne went to the kitchen to prepare some soup for Jeff and Bobbie took the chair by the bed. Jeff didn’t move for over an hour, so by the time he awoke Maryanne was back upstairs with a tray.
She helped him with the soup bowl and spoon and Bobbie went to answer a knock at the door. It was May, and she looked like a new woman.
“Hi, Bobbie,” she said as she slipped out of her coat. “How’s Jeff?”
“Mom is helping him with some soup.”
“Okay, I’ll head up and see if I can be of some help.”
Bobbie followed May up the stairs, but only to tell her mother that she was going to go back to the office for the rest of the afternoon. Jeff was awake and grinned at her.
“You need to take some lessons from your mother, Bobbie; she hasn’t spilled a drop!”
Bobbie laughed. “Actually I didn’t spill anything. You looked a little hot and I was trying to cool you off.”
Jeff chuckled and then winced.
“You better go, Bobbie,” her mother told her. “You’re going to hurt this poor boy if you get him to laughing.”
When Bill found out from Bobbie that Jeff was awake and having something to eat, he immediately left for the Bradford home. Gil, who had been holding down the fort but was just as concerned as everyone else, questioned Bobbie about Jeff’s health.
“He was pretty pale last night. How did he seem today?”
“He’s still pale but he’s talking and even making jokes.”
“Did he say anything about how it happened?”
“No. And I have a feeling that’s why your dad went to my house. It does make you wonder what Santa Rosa is coming to, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, I thought of that, but I also can’t help wondering what Jeff was doing in that area of town when he was supposed to be having supper with Sylvia.”
The two stared at each other, their thoughts running in speculative veins. It was almost a relief to have someone come in with a box he wanted shipped. Bobbie found her mind wandering in between customers, so she was thankful for a busy afternoon.
The lone shipping clerks walked to the Bradfords’ after closing up for the night. There was quite a crowd there to greet them, but they were all family. Word had gotten out that Jeff was hurt and staying at the Bradfords, so someone from the church had brought over supper. Nate, May, Bill, Jake, and Maryanne were all sitting down to eat. Kate and Rigg bid their hellos and goodbyes, as they were just headed home. Marcail was upstairs with Jeff. Bobbie decided to eat but Gil climbed the stairs to see his brother.
“Are you thirsty, Jeff?”
“No, I’m fine, Marc.”
“Will the doctor be back tonight?” the petite child asked from the edge of her seat.
“No, Marc, he won’t come again until tomorrow.”
Marcail was nodding with relief as Gil came in the room. Gilbert scooped the little girl up and took her chair. He resettled Marcail on his knee and then smiled at his brother, who was regarding them with half-closed lids.
“Your color is better; how do you feel?”
“Sore.”
“Has Dad reported this yet?”
“Yeah. Just a little while ago.”
Gil wanted to ask details but was very mindful of the little girl in his lap.
“Would you like me to read to you, Jeff?”
“Thanks, Marc, but I don’t think I can stay awake.”
“Did you have supper, Marcail?” Gilbert wanted to know.
“No. I told Kate I’d eat later.”
“Why don’t you run down now? I can stay with Jeff.”
Marcail complied and Gilbert settled back in the chair. He reached for a book he spied on Bobbie’s nightstand but replaced it as soon as he saw it was her journal.
Jeff had fallen back to sleep and Gil was left alone with his thoughts. He wasn’t usually a nosy person, but what had happened to Jeff was really bothering him. He prayed about how to handle the idea forming in his mind.
He made his decision before his father came to give him a break. After he’d had a bite to eat he walked Marcail home and headed to see Sylvia Weber.
twenty-three
“Someone is here to see you.”
“Is it Jeff?” Sylvia stood up quickly from her place on the bed.
“No, it’s his brother Gilbert.”
Sylvia looked at her sister to see if she was teasing, but Sandra’s face was completely serious.
“Tell him I’ll be right down.”
Gilbert had not taken a seat and he knew that Carl Boggs was eyeing him strangely. Gil spoke the moment Sylvia came into the room.
“Is there some place I can talk to you, Sylvia?”
“Sure,” she answered uncertainly. “We can go in the kitchen.”
Gilbert followed her to the kitchen and spoke as they sat at the table. His voice was kind and Sylvia responded to that kindness.
“Did you and Jeff have a date last night?”
She nodded. “We went to supper at the hotel. Why, Gil, why do you ask?”
Gil explained briefly. Sylvia looked almost fain
t when he was done. He opened his mouth to comfort her when she burst into tears and told Gil the whole story. He knew his face showed his surprise over the way Sylvia tried to manipulate Jeff, but Sylvia was too wrapped up in her tears to notice.
“Maybe I’m out of line to say this, Sylvia, but I don’t care how angry you were. You had no business leaving Jeff out there by himself.”
“I know that now, but I was incensed.” The tears went on and so did more confessions. Gil wondered how he had ever envied his brother the fact that Sylvia had fallen for him. The thought of being such an obsession for this woman was a little frightening.
“I must go to him right away.”
“Not tonight,” Gilbert spoke firmly. “He’ll be sleeping now. You could go by the house tomorrow. By the way, he’s at the Bradfords’.”
“The Bradfords’? What’s he doing there?” Sylvia looked uncertain and Gilbert rushed to assure her.
“Don’t hesitate to go there, Sylvia. They’ve been just wonderful.”
“But why is he there?”
“Because it was Troy who found him and took him home.” Gilbert’s explanation seemed to put her at ease and he took his leave a short while later.
Gil was seen out the door by Sandra, who upon his exit went immediately to the kitchen. Both Sandra and Carl had heard Sylvia’s crying.
“What’s happened, Sylvia?” Her sister asked with genuine concern.
The younger woman was quiet for a moment before bursting into tears once again. “Oh Sandra,” she sobbed. “I’ve done something awful.”
Jeff had a fairly decent night, with his mother again at his side. Gilbert was there first thing in the morning with his father. Bill again took May home and Gil stayed this time to sit with his brother. Bobbie, along with Nate, who had taken the day off from school, opened the shipping office.