Chapter 23
Jonathan couldn’t believe his eyes.
One minute he was watching Jean finish Lee, and the next minute, Lee had pulled a gun. Instead of aiming at Jean, Lee aimed and fired at Elizabeth.
“No!” Jonathan shouted. He jumped forward, trying to get between Elizabeth and the gun. But it was too late.
Elizabeth was covered with red, sticky blood.
He knelt down, cradled her in his arms, and glanced at the wound. It was in her shoulder and, hopefully, high enough to have missed her heart. He caressed her cheek. “Say something,” he whispered, his heart in his throat.
“Mon Dieu, ” Jean muttered as he knelt down beside Jonathan.
“I thought Lee was aiming at me,” Jean said, an edge to his voice.
Then Jean withdrew his knife and cut open Elizabeth’s dress over the wound.
“It’s nasty, but not fatal. The bullet needs to come out, though.
” Jean let out a long, audible breath. “My ship’s doctor could look at her wound. ”
Jonathan remembered Henry, the ship’s doctor, all too well. His intentions were good, though his methods were not. “How long will it take to get her to Four Oaks?”
“A day and a half at most.”
“Then let’s take her home, where she can get proper care. I don’t want to take any chances,” Jonathan said. He rose with Elizabeth in his arms. “Dominic and Dawson?”
Jean got up, too, and wiped the blood from his knife with a rag he found on the deck. “Dominic will have taken everyone to the Ciel Bleu to await us there, my friend.”
Jonathan found himself inexplicably dissatisfied. He glanced over at Lee. “It’s a shame that Lee can only die once.”
“Aye,” Jean agreed, his tongue heavy with sarcasm. “But rest assured, this time he is dead.” Jean turned to a few of his men. “Dump the bodies and take a skeleton crew to sail this ship home to Barataria Bay. I’ll send Dominic over.”
Once on board the Ciel Bleu, Jonathan took Elizabeth to her room and placed her gently on the bed. He heard a soft moan, the first sound she’d made since she’d been wounded.
“Elizabeth?” Jonathan said softly as he made her comfortable.
Her eyes fluttered open. After a moment or two she finally focused on Jonathan and said, “He shot me.” She sounded as though she could not believe it.
“I know.” Jonathan clenched his jaw. He sat beside her, taking her hand. “But you don’t have to worry about Lee. He’s dead. He can’t hurt you anymore. We’re taking you home to Four Oaks so we can have the bullet removed.”
She hesitated, blinking with bafflement. “Dawson?” she asked, her voice dry and cracked.
“I’m getting ready to check on him as soon as I get you settled in.”
“I’ll be all right,” Elizabeth assured him. “But I want to see Dawson and Tiffany.”
“Your slightest wish is my command.” Jonathan bowed and Elizabeth gave him a weak smile.
“You haven’t always been so agreeable,” she reminded him.
“I’ve just hidden my agreeable side from you,” he said, reaching for the door. “Rest. We’ll be home soon.”
Elizabeth’s eyelids drifted downward, but she forced them up. “Go,” she whispered. “See to Tiffany and Dawson. I’ll be fine.”
Jonathan found Jean giving Dominic orders. “After you have taken Tiffany to Derek’s ship, sail Lee’s ship back home,” Jean commanded. “I’ve already given the orders. The men are preparing the ship as we speak.”
“Jonathan,” a feminine voice called from behind him.
Jonathan spun around. He had walked past Tiffany and Dawson without even noticing them. His mind had been on Jean, and he hadn’t seen them standing to the side.
“How are you, Tiffany?” Jonathan asked, more pleased to see them than he could have imagined. They looked at each other and smiled in earnest. “Did Lee hurt you?”
“I’m doing well under the circumstances, and much better since you’ve gotten us away from Lee,” she told him. “I’ll be going home soon, but I want to tell Elizabeth goodbye. Where is she? I haven’t seen her.”
Jonathan started to say something, but was stopped when Dawson tugged on his hand.
“What’s your name?” Dawson asked as he looked up at Jonathan. His head tilted to the side in a familiar gesture.
For the first time, Jonathan really had a chance to look at the boy.
He stooped down so he’d be at eye level with him.
Dawson had long black hair that curled under his ears.
His eyes were dark like Elizabeth’s and Adam’s.
The child favored Elizabeth, he could see that plainly.
But Lord help him if he had his mother’s stubborn streak! Lord help them all.
Elizabeth hadn’t introduced him to Dawson when they were onboard Lee’s ship, so Jonathan introduced himself, “My name is Jonathan,” he said and straightened back up. “You look very much like your mother.”
“My name is Dawson, and I’m two years old,” he said in his childish voice, holding up two fingers. Then he gave Jonathan a brilliant smile. He noticed the child’s dimples. Where had he seen them before? Dawson held up his arms, so Jonathan picked him up.
“You’re tall,” Dawson said.
“And you are very small,” Jonathan replied for lack of anything else to say. He wasn’t used to talking to children, but he was finding Dawson hard to resist.
“One day you’ll be just as big as Jonathan,” Tiffany told the child. She looked at Jonathan. “Do you know where Elizabeth is? Why isn’t she up here looking for Dawson?”
“Elizabeth is down below in her cabin,” Jonathan said, not wanting to frighten Tiffany with the news that her friend had been wounded. “Follow me.”
Once they were in the cabin, Tiffany hurried over to Elizabeth’s bed. “You’re hurt!” Tiffany looked at Jonathan for an explanation.
Elizabeth reached and took Tiffany’s hand, demanding her attention. “I’m so sorry I got you into this situation. Can you ever forgive me?”
Tiffany gave her an incredulous look. “Forget about me, Elizabeth. You’re bleeding.”
“Mummy.” Dawson squirmed to get down out of Jonathan’s firm grasp. He placed Dawson on the floor, and the boy ran to his mother, climbing up on the bed and lying down beside Elizabeth on the side that wasn’t hurt. He hugged her with gentle, chubby hands.
She smiled at her son, then looked back at her friend. “I’ll be fine, Tiffany. We are going to Four Oaks, and a doctor will care for my shoulder. Are you returning home?” she asked weakly.
Tiffany nodded.
Elizabeth had to fight the pain in her shoulder, but she knew if she let Tiffany know of her pain, her friend would stay and never get home.
“I want to thank you for all you’ve done for Dawson.
” Elizabeth swallowed hard and bit back the tears.
She would miss her friend when Tiffany left.
“And when I return to London, I will visit you and your baby, I promise.”
Tiffany’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“Go. You have your own child to think about.”
Tiffany brushed away her tears. “What about Dawson?”
“I’ll take care of Dawson,” Jonathan said. “He will be well cared for.”
Elizabeth looked at him and smiled. She was too startled by his suggestion to offer any objections. She’d never seen Jonathan around children before, and she’d wondered how he would manage.
Jonathan realized how much Elizabeth looked like a mother with Dawson curled up next to her. It seemed so natural. Dawson didn’t even realize that his mother was hurt, and that was probably for the best. It would be quite a long time before she’d be able to take care of her son.
“All right,” Tiffany finally agreed. “I can see that you’re in capable hands.” She squeezed Elizabeth’s hand and then gave Dawson a hug. “You be a good boy for your mother.”
Once Tiffany had gone, Jonathan moved closer to the bed.
“I’ll have the ship’s doctor cleanse your wound, and I will take Dawson up top with me.
You must rest. Don’t let the doctor do anything more.
He isn’t the best physician, but he’s all we have.
I think he was the cook before he was a doctor. ” Jonathan smiled.
“I’m very tired,” Elizabeth said with heavy eyelids. “I appreciate your taking care of Dawson for me.”
Jonathan hated leaving Elizabeth, but he knew it would be better for her, knowing that Dawson was being taken care of. He kept Dawson with him the rest of the day, and no matter what he was doing, Dawson seemed content to play at his feet.
“We’ve had a fair wind and made good time. If the breeze holds, we’ll be in the harbor of New Orleans tomorrow morning,” Jean said and glanced down at Dawson. “I believe the boy likes you.”
Jonathan smiled. “He’s been a good lad,” he admitted, then looked down at him. “Dawson,” Jonathan said.
The child looked up at with his big brown eyes so much like his mother’s that Jonathan could see the trust in Dawson’s gaze.
Jonathan leaned over and asked, “Would you like to steer the ship?”
Dawson nodded, his eyes wide with wonder. Jonathan took the child’s hand and led him behind the big wooden wheel. He upended a bucket so Dawson could stand on his own. The boy giggled.
Together they steered the ship, and something deep inside Jonathan stirred as he placed his big hands over Dawson’s small ones.
Dawson tilted his head back to see Jonathan and grinned. “This is fun.”
Jonathan’s heart melted.
“Looks like father and son to me,” Jean commented as he walked by them.
Jonathan started to say something, but stopped. He liked the notion of having a son like Dawson. If circumstances had been different, Dawson might have been his.
When the sun finally set, they went below to check on Elizabeth. Henry, the so-called doctor, sat beside the bed. When they came in, he got up. “Ya sure ya don’t want me to take this ’ere bullet out?”
“No. We’ll be in New Orleans tomorrow, and then she can be in a proper hospital.” Jonathan frowned at the man. “You may go.”
“I think she’s developed a fever,” Henry said as he started for the door. “I’d keep an eye on her if I were you.”