Darkness

Samuel Duncan

The sun isn’t up yet, but I want to get Under-the-Hill to check on the men from the crew before other patients start arriving at my office. So I slip out from under Ben’s arm as gently as I can, trying not to awaken him. It doesn’t work though. He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. I don’t manage to get out of the bed before he has pulled me back down and enfolded me in his strong arms again, holding me to his chest.

Mmmmm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he murmurs into my ear, squeezing me tight.

I rub my hand up and down the forearm that is pressed against my chest. “Under-the-Hill, to check on Caleb and Albert.”

He sighs. “I can’t very well stop you from doing something so noble, I suppose.” He kisses the back of my neck and releases me. “You’re on your own with all your buttons, though. I’m staying right here.”

I snigger as I get dressed, without his help. “I do know how to do this, you realize,” I say, fastening all my clothes together. “I used to manage just fine before I met you.”

He smiles at me, his bare arms behind him on the pillow, his head resting on his laced fingers. “But you know I do it so much better.”

“Oh, I know, and stop looking so sexy or I’ll never manage to get out of here.”

He slyly shifts so that the covers slip further down to reveal more of his powerful chest. “I’m not looking!” I say, and make a show of turning away from him, putting temptation behind me. He is laughing at me as I walk out the door to the stairs, still picturing him lying warm and wonderful in our bed.

When I get to the boarding house, I am surprised to hear laughter coming down the hall from the patients’ room. Who would be so inconsiderate to be in there at this hour disturbing the sick men? I’ll have to put a stop to this.

When I round the corner and see that it is the sick men themselves, laughing with Gregor, I stop in my tracks. How disorienting. This is not at all what I expected.

“What is this?” I ask, trying to change my features from shock to affability. “Shouldn’t you fellows be resting?”

Gregor smirks over at them. He is sitting on Albert’s bed, one hand lightly resting on his shoulder. He stands with a guilty expression. “Sorry, Doctor, I suppose I should be encouraging more quiet.” He sheepishly backs away to give me room to examine my patients. I have to laugh.

I sit where Gregor had been on the edge of Albert’s bed and lay my hand on his forehead. I am very surprised to feel that his temperature appears normal. “Well, this is good news,” I say, “it looks like the fever has broken. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better,” he says, “kind of hungry actually.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Is that so?” I finish my examination, listening to his breathing, checking his pulse, looking in his throat, trying to see whether his skin still looks jaundiced in the early morning light coming in through the window. Everything seems unexpectedly normal.

I look up and meet Gregor’s eyes, as he stands leaning against the wall next to the door, hands in pockets, quietly observing. He nods his head encouragingly. Apparently he knew that Albert was much better, which explains why he was in here laughing with them.

I turn my attention to Caleb, and my findings are the same.

“Well, fellows, I really do think this must be a very mild strain of yellow fever. It normally takes another couple of days for the symptoms to alleviate, but you both seem well on the road to recovery already.”

They grin at each other. “Um, can we go back to the ship, get some breakfast?” Caleb asks.

I glance at Gregor as I say, “No, I’d prefer you to stay here for at least one more day and night, just in case the symptoms return. Sometimes with yellow fever there can be a relapse, and I want to continue keeping an eye on you.”

Gregor nods, and offers, “I’ll have the boarding house kitchen send over breakfast. Any dietary restrictions, Doctor?” he asks respectfully, being careful to defer to my judgment in the matter. I think he wants me to know that he respects my medical expertise, even if he does have some peculiar healing abilities of his own.

“Something mild,” I suggest. “Porridge, maybe eggs and toast, some fruit if there is any. No sausage or bacon, that might be too harsh.”

“Awww,” Albert says, pretending to be bitterly disappointed.

Caleb sighs dramatically and lifts his eyes to the ceiling. “Now I want sausage more than anything else I can dream of.”

It makes us all laugh again. Clearly they are both feeling much better.

What a relief. Maybe this little yellow fever outbreak will be nipped in the bud.

Gregor

Striding back to the main boarding house, Wolk walking along in his wolf form, I think to him, “So, did it really work?”

“It appears so, right now neither Caleb nor Albert are showing any signs of the yellow fever infection. Congratulations, Gregor, your abilities have truly succeeded in healing some serious problems. First Tiger’s bullet wound, and now yellow fever. It is quite impressive.”

I can’t help but sigh a little, reminded of the dog. When I left the house before dawn, I made Tiger stay back in my study at home, not wanting him underfoot while I tried to help with Albert. I miss having him walking along my other side. I think I’ll fetch him in a little while. That will also give me a chance to say good morning to Rosalind.

“Well,” I think, back to my first topic, “I’m glad it’s working. And honestly, Wolk, I think the only reason it is becoming so effective is because you are sending me energy while I do it. Just me alone was never enough. I think that it is only while we are working together that it succeeds so well.”

Wolk gives me a wolfish grin as we enter the boarding house.

I move into the kitchen, where the staff is working on preparing food, but only a couple of the men have trickled in, starting to drink their morning coffee. I’m glad to see that one of them is my foreman, Geoffrey. I need to talk to him about my new project.

First, I ask Polly to put together breakfast trays for Caleb and Albert. She is very pleased to hear that they are feeling well enough to want to eat. “Oh, also,” I tell her, “David just got back here an hour or two ago after the night shift, so he might be sleeping in.”

A cute blush comes to her round apple cheeks. “I know,” she says, looking sideways with a little smirk. I grin at her. I am perfectly aware of what has been going on between the two of them. After Ben vacated his bed to move in with Samuel, I have never suggested that anyone else move into the room with David. I know they appreciate the privacy. I wonder what will happen with David and Polly, whether they will come to some more permanent arrangement.

I move over to Geoffrey’s table and join him while he sips his coffee, waiting for breakfast to be ready.

“Good morning, Gregor,” he says, and I am grateful that although Wolk has told me that he was utterly traumatized by watching me get whipped two months ago, he has stolidly refused to allow it to transform our interactions. He has never treated me any differently, and I love him for it.

“Hey Geoffrey. I’m about to go over to the steamboat to tell Captain Baker that his crew members are feeling a lot better this morning.”

He nods. “Glad to hear it.”

“When I get back, I have a new project that I want to discuss with you,” I tell him.

“Oh?”

“Yes,” I say, grinning, “I want the crew to build a cabin as a wedding gift for newlyweds.”

“Who’s that?”

“My former houseman Moses and Dalila, a maid out at Homochitto plantation,” I smile as I tell him. I don’t think he’s ever met Dalila, but he knows Moses.

He smiles. “That’s very fine for Moses.” His brow furrows as he considers. “If she’s a maid on the plantation, does that mean….” he leaves the question unasked, but I answer it anyway.

“Dalila is a slave, but Stephen Duncan has agreed to their marriage. I want to build them a nice little cabin to live in on the grounds there, the sooner the better so that the wedding can take place and they can move straight into it.”

His eyebrows have lifted, clearly surprised by the unusual arrangement, but he focuses only on the project. “All right, then,” he says, “we’re nearly done with the boarding house, the crew should be ready to start a new project in just a few days.”

“I’m thinking that after the steamboat leaves, we can use the two weeks before it returns to get all the supplies delivered out to Homochitto, then hopefully the crew can all go out there together and build the cabin. I expect it would only take two or three days to put up.”

He nods. “Yes, if it isn’t too complicated. We did that whole barn in just a few days once we got the materials all in place.”

“I’ll be drafting up the plans today or tomorrow, and will place an order with the sawmill. We’ll talk more later about it,” I tell him. “You can go ahead and let the crew know that’s the next project. They all like Moses, I’ll bet they’ll be happy to hear about it.”

I figure I don’t need to tell the crew myself, as I am continuing to distance myself somewhat, trying to avoid making some of them uncomfortable. I hope that some separation will help their unease diminish, if I just give them a little more time.

I stand. “All right, I’m going to talk to Captain Baker, then I’ll go home for a little while. I’ll be back in a couple of hours, in my office if you need anything.”

He nods and lifts his hand in a small wave as I go.