Rain beat down hard on Noah as he rode his horse, trudging through the mud. He was running behind getting home and the only thing he had to be thankful for right then was that he wasn't bringing anything but himself home. No one was waiting on him for a mochilla.
Another coughing attack wracked his body and he struggled to stay in the rain slicked saddle through it. He had started coughing before he left the station yesterday, but had thought nothing of it. It was a dry, dusty and windy day, and he had figured that was why. But now, as he retched and unceremoniously spat the thick matter that his coughing brought out of his chest, he knew there was far more where it came from. He could feel it rattling around inside. He shivered so hard his vision blurred and his teeth chattered so loudly, the steady, repetitive noise stabbed painfully through his already aching head.
Noah hadn't felt the best when he left and Jimmy and Kid both said he should stay home and rest, they even offered to take his ride. He'd been adamant though. There wasn't anyone, especially no white man, even if they were like family, that was gonna see him NOT get his job done.
"Yeah, Sally, I know," he said, glancing at the sky. He wearily shook his head and laughed internally. He didn't have the energy to do anything more than hold on to the saddle. He knew he must be losing it if he was engaging in conversation with an angel, for surely that's what she was. "You told me my damn fool pride was going to get me killed someday. Today looks to maybe be that day. Ain't gonna be no gun or noose either from the looks of it."
His chest spasmed in the cold, and his lungs, once again, gasped desperately for air. A sharp stabbing pain in his side, his lungs seizing as to suffocate, and the coppery taste of blood that he hoped was just from his throat. He was too cold, too tired. He felt damned near delirious and his chest hurt with each breath. A thought occurred to him that he might have coughed hard enough to actually cause himself injury. Was it possible to crack a rib coughing? He had to find shelter. He had to get warm and dry. He had to rest.
Through the torrential downpour, he spotted a glow, small and faint…like a star. Squinting through a coughing fit, he thought he could almost make out the form of a structure, being beaten down on by the rain. His weary body aside, his heart leapt with hope, seeing what looked like a small homestead up ahead. He had no delusions that he would find anyone of color to welcome him in, but perhaps they would allow him shelter in the barn. At least he could get dry there. He set a course for the small log home with the cozy light glowing from the windows.
He kicked at the animal beneath him to speed his progress. The horse was moving—he could feel it—but it seemed the house never got closer. He tried to call for help to alert someone inside but his voice was too weak. He was too weak. His body slid sideways with the next bout of coughing and his hands lost their grip on the reins. He didn't even feel it as he landed on his side in the mud next to his now halted mount. Darkness closed in around him with one last thought that he had looked for shelter too late. It was oppressive, this darkness. And cold—so very cold. He thought for sure he was dead but then there shouldn't have been feeling or sense…or if there was, there should be clouds and angels…or maybe fire and brimstone. He hadn't been a saint. But there was nothing. Just darkness. He was sorry he wouldn't see his friends one last time before he died.
Eve sat curled in a chair, tucked away from the rain beating steadily on the cabin's roof. A careworn copy of Gulliver's Travels was perched in one hand while the other fidgeted with the pages. In her head she could hear her father haranguing her about her favorite pastime. He thought reading was "a waste of daylight and an excuse to sit and daydream instead of being useful." Her mother had seen the power of knowledge. No one else in the whole wide world could have gotten Eve's father to change his mind but he loved his wife like few men ever love anything or anyone. He allowed her to teach Eve and her brother Levi to read. He allowed it for her.
A wistful smile twitched at the corners of Eve's mouth as she admitted to herself that reading did, in fact, lead to daydreaming—at least in her case. Levi learned because their mother wanted him to and their father said that they would in order to please her. But Eve loved the way books could take her on a journey. She'd lost many an hour gazing out the window into the nothing outside and thinking of the places she might someday go. All the things there were to see in the world. To be like Gulliver and travel to strange lands filled with even stranger people…it was such a lovely thought. In her heart of hearts, Eve believed that someday an adventure would be hers. Perhaps it would come to her door or perhaps she would have to venture to seek it out but she would not spend the rest of her days in this tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere.
The whinny of a horse cut through the rhythmic falling of rain and startled her from her thoughts as well as the book she'd read enough times to nearly commit to memory. Carefully she marked her place with a length of yarn and set the book down.
The young woman tentatively peeked out the front window. An unfamiliar horse stood over a heap of something she could only guess was a person. That could be anybody out there. It could even be someone pretending to be in need and just waiting to attack her. More likely it was some poor, weary traveler caught in the storm and in need of a little Christian kindness. Mama always said, "Our truest selves show themselves by what we do when no one's looking."
No one but God and Mama in heaven was looking right now and that only left Eve's heart to decide what to do. Her heart answered quickly and surely.
She spared a momentary glance at her coat and decided with the way the rain was coming down it wasn't going to be any help anyway. Then she headed out the door and down the porch steps to the yard where the poor soul was getting more and more soaked by the moment. Scurrying across the yard she was met by the horse who now stood between her and the man on the ground. She could see now that this was a man with a light chocolaty caramel skin that looked to be coated in the mud he was laying in.
"Easy boy," she said reaching to the animal that looked like he was standing sentinel over the man in the mud. The golden beast was well fed with no bones sticking out under his black mane. She ran her hands along the powerful muscles rippling beneath the horse's hair that spoke of the care this man took for this creature. "He must be good to you. I'll make sure he knows how you looked after him. I just want to help."
Maybe it was a crazy thought that the horse might understand her but he moved and seemed to almost nod to her as he did.
"That's a good boy," she said softly. "I'll be back out to see to you real soon. Pretty boy like you shouldn't be out in this."
Then she turned her attention to the man at her feet. He was a big man, from the looks of him and she wasn't sure how she was going to get him into the house. But she knew she'd just have to figure out a way. He wasn't going to jump up and run inside himself and laying in the rain, he'd likely not last the night.
Taking a deep breath, she grasped under his shoulders and pulled as hard as she could. The mud was actually a help to her and he slid a ways before she lost her own footing and ended up on her backside.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?" she asked the unconscious man before getting to her feet and grasping under his arms once more to pull him a few feet more. It took a few tries but she finally succeeded in dragging him to the steps of the porch.
Eve was just working in her head how she would get him up the three steps to the porch where she would at least have him out of the downpour when he began to cough. Quickly she rolled him on his side and saw his eyes open. She wasn't sure if he saw her or not or even if he knew where he was. She chanced speaking anyway.
"I need to get you inside," she said urgently. He gave a nod or something that almost looked like a nod and rolled onto his belly and pushed onto his hands and knees. Eve was able to get under his shoulder then and maneuver him to his feet. He leaned heavily on her and she thought more than once that she wouldn't be able to bear his weight.
Finally she had him inside the cabin and next to her bed. She dragged a chair to the bedside with her foot and set him down on the chair. He wasn't conscious anymore. That wasn't going to make things easier but it didn't change what needed to be done.
"I guess introductions will have to wait until you're feeling better," she said as if he could hear her. "I'm Eve, though. I guess that's silly. I'll just have to tell you again when you wake up. Unless you can hear me. I don't know if you can. Oh, just listen to me prattle on. First we need to get you out of those clothes. You'll never get dry or warm or better with them stuck to you."
As she spoke, she removed his coat and shirt and unbuttoned his long johns. Then she knelt and pulled off his boots and socks. Finally she reached and undid his trousers before pulling him off the chair enough to shove his pants and long johns down. It was only then that she more shoved than laid him onto the bed.
Before covering him up, she paused. She'd never seen a naked man before aside from Levi. He was her brother and didn't count at all. This man was beautiful. The shifting light of the flickering lamp played over his skin. His muscles were taut beneath his rich brown skin that seemed to glow from within. His face held pride and sorrow and a full life that he was far too young to leave behind. It was wrong to think of him like this. He was sick and needed her tending, not her admiration or even her fascination.
Suddenly he started shaking. He shook so hard she worried he would fall out of bed. Eve quickly pulled the blankets over him and tucked them tight around him. Then she leaned over his face and pressed her lips to his forehead—just to check his temperature, she told herself—and whispered softly in his ear.
"It's going to be alright now. I'll be back soon."
She stood to leave but then bent once more over him and pressed another kiss to the side of his face. What compelled her to do such a thing, she wasn't sure. It struck her as curious that his shaking seemed to lessen with her words and second kiss. He was cool to the touch. She grabbed another quilt and placed it over him and tucked it tightly around his body. He would be alright on his own for a little while.
Eve again decided against her coat before heading out into the rain once more to see to the man's horse. She was already wet and it didn't actually feel that cold out to her exertion-heated skin.
"It's alright," she cooed to the horse as she approached though she believed her words were more to comfort herself than the beast. "He's going to sleep for a while. Let's get you settled now."
Eve led the horse into the barn and saw to his needs. He was a fine animal and it was clear that man and horse had a bond of some sort. It wouldn't do to save the man and then have to tell him that she had ignored his companion.
As she saw to the comfort of the animal, she tried to busy her mind with wondering why this man was travelling all alone. She looked through his saddlebags for any indication of his identity but found none. Instead her mind drifted to other things.
She worried she might never know who he was. When Mama had taken ill, Levi too for that matter, they never really came back from the fever. She tried. She tried so hard to bring them back. She did everything she knew—she cared for them, made sure they got whatever medicines the doctor could give them, made them special teas with herbs to help, did everything exactly as she was told, followed every instruction to the letter—and they were gone anyway. She wasn't sure she could bear to lose another person that she tried to help.
Eve had heard the wheezing rattle in his breathing and it terrified her like little else could. She knew all there was to be done for it but also knew that all those things didn't always help. She knew that all too well. This poor man...whatever brought him to her door, she just hoped it had been in time. Eve thought to her mother and what she might say.
"Trust in the good Lord, Evie. He led that man to your door for a reason."
Of course she could also hear Levi's voice loud and clear in her mind as well.
"You're too trusting...it's a good thing you have a big brother like me to look after you."
Levi had been right and Eve's trusting nature had bitten her on the backside more than once and Levi had come to her rescue every time. It didn't matter much which voice won in her head as the man in her bed wasn't likely to find anyone to care for him anywhere else so at the very least she could make sure he didn't die alone.
No. She couldn't think like that. She had to try. She had to keep some kind of hope that she could help this man, that she could see him back to health.
She pushed her mind back to the mystery of him. A man with his skin, travelling alone…it seemed strange and perhaps even dangerous. And then she wondered on his saddle. It was beautiful and not the type of thing that a darker skinned man would usually be in possession of. He might have stolen it and be on the run. He might be dangerous.
She shook her head and took a breath before heading back into the rain. That possibility didn't change a thing. He wasn't dangerous right now at all, if he ever was. He was unconscious and could die. God led him to her door knowing she couldn't turn him away. She'd rescued mice from the jaws of cats before. She surely wouldn't turn her back on another human being. And besides, he might not be dangerous at all. This was a free place where any man could find work. What he had, he might actually own. She couldn't judge a man whose name she didn't even know.
When Eve returned to the house, she sensed that something had changed and hurried to check on her guest. She made her way to him expecting to still find the man shivering under the heavy blankets but he was now stone still. His skin was dull, almost grey and were it not for his shallow and labored breathing, Eve would have believed him dead. Cautiously she reached and touched his face. He was frozen. If she couldn't get his temperature back up, nothing else was going to matter. Of course even then, there was how his lungs sounded to be dealt with...and the chance of his body going too far the other way and developing a fever.
Once she was rid of every stitch of her own wet clothes—it wouldn't do to get sick herself while trying to help him—she grabbed another heavy quilt and laid it over him. Then she climbed into bed next to him hoping that her warm body pressed to his would help to warm him where the many blankets had failed. At first she just cuddled up tight to him as she had her mother and Levi when they had needed more warmth or comfort. There was no warming response from him. Nothing at all. She could just feel him slipping further away from her. If she didn't find a way to help him, she'd be cuddled up to a dead man very soon.
Lifting the blankets slightly, she moved herself atop him, trying to get as much contact between herself and this man as possible. She held her breath, not knowing what to expect to change or when.
She tried to relax. That was easier said than done—relaxing. She had not lain atop her brother. Father would not have allowed it. And, yet, here she was, nude and lying on some man who was still, for all purposes, a stranger. Seeing him unclothed and feeling her body pressed to his were two very different things.
She was afraid. Afraid of him waking and the strength he might have when he did. She knew nothing of him…the kind of man he was. Somehow she felt certain he would not hurt her. Eve didn't know how she could be but she just was. Still that left a fear for his condition. He was in the same condition Mama and Levi had each been in before they died. Mama was sick for a while and it broke her down but Levi had been strong. If he couldn't survive then perhaps no one could. She feared too that her father might return. It wasn't likely as he had only left a few days before and was usually gone for two weeks or more but it could happen. If he came in and saw her naked with a man—especially a man with skin like this man's—it made her blood run nearly as cold as her patient to think on it.
Eve was shocked, though, to realize that more than her fears and worries, what she was feeling was excitement. It was such an improper thought. Eve was not calmed by some innate belief in this man's goodness. She had no actual assurances of the kind of man he was. To her horror, she found that was exactly the root of her feelings. Should this man turn out to be the sort to take liberties, she believed she would not even voice a protest. Eve actually almost hoped that he was.
Sudden violent shaking from the man beneath her brought her from her musings. His teeth clacked together loudly as his whole body shivered and shook. Eve thought she might slide right off of him, but he needed her warmth so she held tightly to him. She didn't know what else to do but she had to cling to him.
Between the warmth of her body and its weight, he stilled. Eve laid her head on his chest and exhaled the breath she'd been holding. Her plan had been to stay awake and monitor his condition through the night but there had been so much activity and worry. Her exhaustion suddenly hit her and her eyes fell closed. She did not simply fall asleep. Sleep came and carted her right away.
Eve's dreams were warm and then stifling hot. They were summer when there wasn't enough shade and even the shade didn't cool. There was a man…this man whose name she still did not know. She didn't even care, for in her dreams she knew all she needed. She knew his smile, his tenderness and that he would hold her and care for her and call her Evie as he softly kissed her head.
She knew his touch and the heat it stirred in her and, even in this oppressive heat in her dreams, she craved that heat. She craved his touch. In her dream he slowly undressed her. She should feel shame at it but she didn't. She felt revered, worshipped even. His fingers traced her golden skin, caressing her breasts and committing to memory the curves of her hips and the insides of her thighs.
There was a need in the core of her being she only scarcely understood and her eyes begged him to teach her, to help her understand it fully, completely. He was a powerful, magnificent man and she wanted him to make her a woman—to make her his woman. She moved against him, breasts pressed tight to his chest, legs spread around his hips, rubbing against him with a part of her she'd never given a thought before and now felt was all that was important.
Eve opened her eyes when she felt the vibration under her. This was not a dream. He was under her and groaning…in pleasure. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his shoulders and her legs were flush against his. She felt something firm and fleshy between her closed legs, tight against her ever-warming womanhood. Strong hands pressed her buttocks tighter around the hardness that extended to where she knew it was sticking out now from her backside. The very image made her feel weak.
She started to realize what a precarious position she was in. She'd had a hand in breeding their horses, goats and sheep for years. But her mother's logical words of warning about preserving her own maidenhood couldn't compare to the actual feeling of a man's—this man's…he…his…himself pressed along the juncture of her thighs, spreading her wet warmth all along his hardness. She shuddered in a breath and arched her back, rubbing herself against him. She needed something. She didn't know what. The aching between her thighs was right where he was rubbing. Her legs tightened in greedy desire. She wanted him closer, tighter to her. She needed this fire burning inside of her to be…addressed, to be…she didn't know what, but she knew he could help. He could extinguish the flames that were consuming her mind with one thought. She needed him. There. She needed his touch, his strength…him. She arched her back again, rubbing her self along his shaft, as she felt his hips gyrate and thrust against the bed beneath him. She whimpered, running her nails along his shoulders, fascinated by the extraordinary sensations exploding throughout her center. His movements became erratic and his body tensed. She became instantly afraid that she was killing him but his hands held even tighter and through his ragged breathing were moans of pleasure.
She heard him groan as he bit out a coarse, "Yes!" as he stiffened and his hands tightened on her hips.
She felt his appendage jerk and watched his eyes roll back in his head as his body jerked in time with his…manhood. She idly wondered why she hadn't started screaming even though he was falling apart, when she suddenly felt a hot, sticky wetness along the crack of her behind that seemed to get hotter and wetter with each bodily jerk she felt come from him. He was, she realized, releasing his essence along her backside and thighs. She released a heavy breath as her head fell forward onto his chest in relief .
Her relief was short lived as she felt herself being watched. She raised her head again in concern, only to be met with a pair of bright, dark brown eyes. She couldn't close her mouth that was gaped in awe at the depths of life she saw in his eyes. She felt his passion, his anger, his fears, his goodness as their eyes connected. His eyebrows furrowed and his hands tightened on her hips as she watched a gamut of emotions pass over his face. His dry lips parted with a smacking sound as he looked like he was trying to find his tongue.
He rasped faintly, "What the—Oh sh-"
She watched his throat work as he swallowed, blinking. He stared at her through narrowed, pain-filled eyes, still breathing heavily from his exertion, and groaned, "Sorry."
She could feel him shrink away as fear, regret and frustration danced over his features. His hands fell from her and landed dully at his sides. She put a hand on his cheek and bit her lip with a little smile. Her stomach flipped at the confused look he gave her as she touched him. She wanted to tell him it was alright. That his horse was taken care of, and that she would take care of him. A faint smile penetrated his concerned look. One of his hands moved as he seemed to try to touch her face but only made it far enough to tangle in her long hair.
She smiled bigger, but before the words of reassurance could fall from her lips, his beautiful brown eyes looked up over her shoulder, then further up to the ceiling, then rolled back into his head before his eyelids closed and he mouthed the word 'sorry' once more before his head fell back against the pillow.
It was then she realized the oppressive and searing heat of her dreams had really been his skin. It felt like it was burning off of his body and it wasn't from passion either. He was no longer in danger of freezing to death…but now he had the fever and, laying her head on his chest, she could hear the rattling within his lungs. It was happening again. Just like with Mama and Levi…he was dying.
So yeah...this bunny hit a little bit ago...I thought at first it was a one shot. But as I delved into this much of it (with so much help from my dearest Gert) we realized it was for sure more than one chapter. This is merely the beginning. I kind of like Eve though.-J