Page 80 of A Rugged Beauty
Despair swamped him. He had to clear his throat to get the words out. "The garrison refused to help. Too afraid of getting infected."
Alice's gaze cut to the fort, determination in the set of her jaw. "I don't care. I'll go in there andmakethem help us."
She might be slight of stature, but in that moment, she seemed fierce as a warrior.
"They won't let you in," Hollis said. Determination wasn't a match for firepower, and those soldiers had plenty of it.
"I don't care," she repeated. This time, Hollis caught the glint of tears in her eyes before she blinked them away. She went back to her horse and boosted herself into the saddle.
“They’ll send you away,” Hollis said to Braddock. Maybe the man would see reason.
Although he had never seen the two interact in camp. There was some tension there in the way Alice carefully avoided Braddock's eyes, the too-long glance at her from the city-slicker. Why were they working together now?
"I'm going where she goes," Braddock said.
And then they were gone. Hollis watched them ride away, out of sight before they reached the buildings of the fort.
It was useless. If Hollis thought he'd get any compassion from the commander, he'd have approached again and again.
Aimlessly, he wandered through the quiet camp. Many travelers still slept. A few made breakfast. Some mothers checked on their children. He stopped outside the wagon where Abigail had been put. He strained his ears but couldn't hear her breathing. Only the solid beating of his own heart in his ears.
If anything, he felt more lost than he had when Dinah had passed. How could that be? He'd loved Dinah with all of his heart.
He wasn't the same man any longer. That much was certain. He'd grown up. Lost some of the naivety of a man in his younger years. But not all of it. Wasn’t there some part of him that had believed he could have Abigail in his life and not lose her?
He should check on her. Cool her head and neck with damp cloths.
But he couldn't bear seeing her fade away, especially knowing that this was his fault.
It couldn't have been that long that he stood there, staring into nothing, questioning everything. Surely not longer than a half an hour. But when he blinked, there were Alice and Braddock riding back on their horses.
And behind them, a line of soldiers from the fort.
He froze until Alice drew up yards away. "We're going back to the company," she said, a fierce victory in her expression. But Braddock looked shifty, somehow.
"All of you?"
She shook her head. "Some of the men will stay and help here."
Relief flooded him. "Thank you."
"Come back with us," she said. "My brothers should never have split the company. Come back and help, and set them straight."
He heard a rustling from the wagon behind him. Was Abigail rolling over? Making herself more comfortable?
"Owen needs you," Alice urged.
"I'll go," he decided. It was better than staying here, losing Abigail little by little.
"I'm going with you." Abigail, shaky but upright, peeking out from the wagon's canvas covering. Her eyes were on Alice. It was Alice who she spoke to, not Hollis.
"I can ride."
Sixteen
"Situp and I'll remake that pallet for you." Hollis squatted next to Owen who reclined on a pallet in the open air, not far from the campfire the Mason family had shared for the past days.
Owen sent him a look that might've quelled another person, but Hollis remained where he was and waited Owen out.
