Jimmy returned to the ranch in the early afternoon, his horse lathered in sweat. He had been riding hard during his search for the doctor, but he was still unable to locate him. The town was ripe with fear of a typhoid epidemic. Businesses were closed, the streets almost empty. Rumors of the number of dead or dying were varied, but all he could find out was there were a lot of scared people in Sweetwater.

Melanie met him at the door, and he could immediately tell there had been no change. The Kid had not returned yet either and Teaspoon was starting to get worried, morbidly so. Melanie prepared some food for him as they questioned him on his search.

"The man's gotta be somewhere, he can't just have disappeared," growled Teaspoon. The old man was growing bitter from worry for Adam, the closest thing he would ever have to a grandson.

"Maybe the Kid had better luck," Jimmy replied as he ate quickly. He had not realized how hungry he was until Melanie thought to ask him if he had eaten. She sat down quietly beside him and watched him carefully as he finished his plate.

"I'm sure he'll find him," she said as confidently as she could. Jimmy met her eyes and was ashamed at the surge of desire that filled him. Of all the inappropriate times to be thinking about how beautiful she was…

"You didn't see Howard in your travels did you?" she asked him.

The name was like a cold bucket of water, shocking Jimmy back to reality. Howard Brooks, Melanie's husband.

"He's in town all right, holed up in the bank. I asked him if he'd seen the doctor but he seemed more concerned with his own well-bein'." Jimmy knew his voice sounded hard, but his loathing of the man could not be hidden. "I don't think he was particularly impressed to hear that you were here with a sick child in the house. He said he'll be stayin' in town until this blows over."

Melanie's anger flared briefly as she could just imagine her cowardly husband ensuring his own safety without a thought for hers. She expected no less of him however, and could at least be assured that she wouldn't see him for a couple of days. Perhaps his fear of typhoid would even keep him locked away in the bank for weeks. The thought brought her the only twinge of pleasure she had felt all day.

Lost in her own thoughts, she had not noticed that Jimmy was watching her. When she glanced up and saw him, her blushed slightly – it was if he was reading her mind and the disloyal thoughts about her husband it contained. His stare was deep and caring, and she was surprised to find his hand around her own. She tightened her fingers around his with new determination that everything would be all right. The alternative was unthinkable.

Dusk had settled over the ranch when the Kid finally appeared, the harried-looking doctor in tow. He was a middle aged man dressed in black longcoat, dusty from his extensive travels. Kid did not pause to speak to anyone as they entered the house, he immediately ushered the doctor upstairs to Adam's room. Teaspoon, Melanie and Jimmy were left alone in the parlor, and silence pervaded the room again. They had spoken little to each other during the long afternoon, none of them knew what to say or do. Melanie checked on Jamie and Charlie in the old bunkhouse occasionally, but their small, worried stares were too painful to watch. Tom and Mary tried to amuse them the best they could, but both Charlie and Jamie understood that something was terribly wrong with their brother and they would not allow themselves to be cheered up.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" Jamie had asked her from the bunkhouse porch earlier as she was about to make her way back to the house.

Melanie stopped, and paused a moment to compose herself before she turned around to face the boy. She forced a smile onto her face, but the effort was not very convincing. She placed her arm around Jamie's shoulders and sat him next to her on the step.

"Your brother is very sick, but the doctor is coming soon and he will make Adam all better." She tried again to smile and squeezed his shoulder. Jamie eyed her carefully with stern seven-year-old conviction and she could tell he did not believe her. Melanie's throat was tight with emotion as she hugged him to her.

After a few moments Jamie stood up and walked to the door. Turning briefly, he spoke to her with a mature calm that was reminiscent of his father. "I have to look after Charlie."

Melanie had blinked back tears when he had said that, and as she remembered his words in the parlor now, her eyes misted over once again. Jimmy resumed his methodical pacing of the small room, and Teaspoon sat miserably in a chair, in his hands Adam's favorite book they read together almost every day. The waiting was interminable, the room stifling. The silence was all the more oppressive in the twilight, and Melanie set about lighting the lamps in the room just to give herself something to do.

Just as she set the last lamp on the mantelpiece, they heard a sound which they had been dreading. There was a dull thud, followed by a heart-wrenching moan which chilled Melanie to the bone. It was Louise. The moaning turned into a scream of "No!" which reverberated through the house. Muffled voices were heard from the room along with a mournful sobbing. Melanie almost fled from the terrible noise, but stopped herself when they heard heavy footsteps on the stairs.

Dr. Browne entered the room slowly, his haggard face gray in the lamplight. He saw the worried faces of Kid and Louise's closest friends waiting to hear the news he had delivered far too often that day. Addressing himself to Melanie and Teaspoon, as he did not recognize the dark figure in the corner of the room, he cleared his dry throat.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing to be done."

Melanie frowned at the words and took a step forward. "What do you mean?" Her voice sounded strange to her ears after so long a silence.

"There's nothing I can do to help that boy now," the doctor said dully. "I've told Kid and Louise, I don't believe he'll live through the night."

"He can't die!" Melly said incredulously after overcoming her shock. "There must be something you can do! Maybe if you hadn't taken so long to get here you have been able to…" Her words were suddenly lost when she saw the hard stare of the doctor.

"Adam is not the only sick child in this town, Mrs. Brooks," he replied gravely, barely keeping his anger in check after her accusation. "Nine people have lost their lives and there was nothing I could do. I can't perform miracles, much as I'd like to on a day like today."

Dr. Browne's eyes and voice were weary again as looked at them now. He did not like to strip them of hope, but he was beyond lying and comforting now. He had seen death's ugly face all too often that day, and he would see it again tonight and tomorrow. With grim determination he stomped out of the house to fetch his buggy.

The doctor's departure had left a void in the parlor. Teaspoon had not moved from his chair and now his eyes were dark and empty. He slumped back, staring unseeing at the book in his hands. Melanie felt as if despair would swallow her up as she listened to Louise's cries from above. She looked at Teaspoon but he could not be reached. When her eyes fell on Jimmy and she saw her own pain reflected in his face, she almost broke down completely. In a vain effort to stop herself from doing so she turned quickly and ran from the house.

Melanie could barely see through her tears as she stumbled towards the barn. She had to get away from the house, away from the heartbreaking cries of her best friend who was about to lose her son. But Melanie's own grief was all she could contend with, she could not even imagine what the Kid and Louise were going through. She could not believe that God would be so cruel as to take Adam away from them, not such a gentle, innocent soul.

She stood at one of the stable rails, her chest heaving with soundless sobs. She did not hear Jimmy approach her from behind, and she jumped slightly when she felt him touch her shoulders. Turning quickly to face him, she did not pause to think as he enveloped her in his arms. He held her tightly and the strength and surety of his embrace was too much for her. Melanie burst into tears and allowed herself to give into her grief completely, knowing that Jimmy was there to protect her. Her legs were weak and she thought she might fall, but Jimmy held on. His strong hands cupped her head and back as her body was racked with sobs.

He held her patiently, letting her expel all the pent-up emotions she had been trying so hard to contain. Jimmy suspected she had repressed her feelings for so long that, now the dam had burst, she could not control the tears that flowed so freely. He never once loosened his grip, and she clung to him as if her life depended on it. He was overcome with the depth of his feeling for her, and his indescribable need to take away all her hurt and misery. Her grief and pain was his also.

As Melanie grew quiet in his arms, Jimmy finally admitted to himself that he loved her. He loved Melanie Brooks more than anyone he had ever known, more than he ever thought possible. He had loved her from the first moment he laid eyes on her, stranded in the muddy creek bed. Her face was the most beautiful thing in the world to him, and her smile filled him with happiness he had never imagined. Jimmy had tried to deny it, but as he held her gently now, he knew for certain he would love her forever.

Jimmy stroked Melanie's hair with a soft caress after she had no more tears to shed. Her face was resting under his chin as she felt the reassuring thud of his heartbeat against her own. Melanie had never felt such security before, and a wave of serenity passed through her as she felt his warm body next to hers. He kissed her brow gently as his soothing voice murmured her name. Melanie felt his lips on her swollen eyelids taking away the pain. She moaned softly under his touch which was achingly soft. She felt his hot breath on her forehead and eyes as his lips brushed over her skin. The sensation lulled her into an unfamiliar calm which she had never experienced with Howard. Howard could never make her feel like this. Howard could never…

Melanie's thoughts were far from Howard when Jimmy's lips found her own then. Everything was banished from her mind but the feeling of his kiss. Gentle and tentative at first, the embrace grew more passionate when their desire for each other rose to the surface. Neither had wanted to admit it was there, but now it was unavoidable. Melanie's mind swam with emotion and a sense of lust so profound it jolted her physically. Her lips broke free of his, the moment broken. Melanie took a step away from him, breathless. Jimmy's eyes met hers and she could feel her cheeks redden under his unreadable gaze.

It was at that moment she remembered where she was. She remembered what had happened in the house, what was happening. She was ashamed of herself, and she could tell that Jimmy was too. This was hardly the time or the place to be… Melanie couldn't even finish the thought lest she forget about Adam again. An awkward silence had fallen between them, broken only by the occasional whinny of a horse and the chorus of crickets on the early evening breeze.

"I should get back to the house," Melanie managed to say, though it was almost a whisper.

She took a step forward to move past Jimmy but lingered a moment, her face close to his. A meaningful look charged with emotion passed between them before he reluctantly took a step back, clearing her path. With a concerted effort, Melanie moved slowly away to the barn door. After a few seconds, Jimmy followed her back inside to wait out the long night to follow – the night which would decide Adam's fate, just as it had his own.