Breathe Again

Chapter 13

Sterling swallowed hard and smoothed a hand against the quilt covering him to his waist. Why did it seem his one and only friend had just deserted him?

His borrowed white homespun shirt hung open halfway down his chest, offering a glimpse at the thick bandaging covering the skin beneath; but he felt so self-conscious, he may as well be sitting there in nothing except his underwear. Clearing his throat, he said, "How have you ladies been?"

Louisa motioned Dottie to the only chair in the room next to the bed. "Quite well, considering."

Dottie's gaze darted between the chair and her mother. If she sat in that chair, she would be sitting too close to Sterling.

It was one thing to sit next to him when he was delirious with fever, and quite another when he was wide-awake and able to get her heart racing with a simple glance. She shook her head, "You sit, Mama."

Louisa scowled and motioned to the chair with her head once again. When Dottie held firm in her resolve to stay at the foot of the bed, Louisa shot a strained smile to Sterling and perched on the chair's edge.

Sterling watched the two women with some amusement, not at all surprised when Dottie refused to sit near him. "Do I smell bad?" he leaned his nose to his shoulder and took a covert sniff.

Louisa placed a maternal hand to Sterling's shoulder, and said with a gentle pat, "No, not at all; you smell lovely dear."

Dottie grinned when Sterling blushed. Lovely was not how she would describe the strange smell filling the room, and which seemed to emanate from him.

There was a tang of mint as though to try to make the otherwise noxious smell more pleasant, but whatever the herbs were, Ashfield had not chosen them for their aromatic qualities. She sniffed the air and grimaced. It smelled like minty, dirty feet.

Sterling watched Dottie and bit back a smile before he turned to Louisa, "Thank you; I can honestly say no one has ever said that to me before."

"You're welcome," Louisa beamed. "What have you been up to lately? It's been ages since we've visited with you. Now that you're conscious that is."

"Mama..." Dottie hissed.

She'd hoped for a little more time to pass before Sterling found out the two of them had been coming to see him the past three days. What if he didn't want her here? Would he be happy to find out she had visited him without his knowledge or permission?

"Well," Sterling paused. They'd been coming to see him? Why hadn't Ashfield told him? He shrugged. It didn't matter because, in the end, it meant Dottie had been worried enough about him to come and see him. The knowledge made him unaccountably happy. Perhaps it meant there was still hope for him to gain her forgiveness after all.

He grinned, "The last few days I've been delirious with fever and trying to get my body to produce more blood to compensate for what I lost when I tried wrestling a mountain lion."

Louisa returned his smile, "That sounds very industrious of you. Although I believe I should also caution you against wrestling the wildlife in the future."

"Sound advice."

Dottie rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop from smiling.

Louisa's gaze wandered over the splotchy bruises and other wounds visible along his jaw and neck, then to the bandages on his chest before meeting his gaze once more in concern. "Do you need anything?"

Sterling shook his head and glanced at Dottie out of the corner of his eye, "I just want my strength back so I can return to work. I hate being idle." He struggled to think of something else to say that might garner a response from Dottie. "How's the house coming along?" Sterling bit back a groan. His conversation skills were pathetic.

Louisa fidgeted with her skirts, smoothing them around her while she said, "The foundation looks to be nearly finished, and I believe we'll be ready for the house-raising by Saturday just as planned."

"I'm glad to hear it." Sterling adjusted his position on the too-short mattress and gasped against a surge of pain when his side protested the action.

Dottie's heart constricted. It was miserable watching him suffer. Against her better judgment, she stepped forward, "Is there anything we might get you for the pain?"

When Sterling raised his eyes to meet hers, she swallowed. It was unfair that even in his battered condition, she still found him to be ridiculously good-looking.

Tearing her eyes away, she glanced at Elliot to make sure he remained asleep. How was he not awake when her heart knocked against her ribs in a frenzied pace beneath his cheek?

A peaceful sigh escaped Elliot's perfect little mouth and brought a smile to her lips. She looked up to find both her mother and Sterling watching her. Rubbing a nervous hand against Elliot's back, she tried to soothe her anxiety with the motion.

Remembering the question Dottie had asked him before he lost his train of thought by staring at her, Sterling blurted out, "Ashfield gave me something for the pain before he left."

Several more minutes passed in silence and a relaxing sense of calm stole over him, making his joints feel soft, and his brain fuzzy. The effects of the medicine were starting to take hold. "Do either of you have any suggestions of how I should occupy my convalescing? Ashfield suggested I learn knitting." He glanced from Dottie to Louisa with a lopsided grin.

"That would be a very...admirable endeavor. I could supply you with the yarn and needles," Louisa replied.

"I was hoping for a new scarf this year," Dottie teased. "It would be perfect timing for you to learn a new skill."

Sterling smiled and relaxed against the pillows."It's settled then. What color would you like, Dot?"

Tears blurred Dottie's vision at the use of her nickname. It had been too long since she had heard it from his lips. Swallowing past the emotion clogging her throat, she replied, "Surprise me."

The women watched Sterling struggle to keep his eyes open for several minutes before admitting defeat with a sigh. "I believe Ashfield drugged me to get me to stay put."

Louisa stood and gazed down at Sterling with a kind smile, "We'll come to see you again tomorrow if you'd like."

He gave a slow nod against the pillow, "How'd you feel about navy blue, Dot?"

"I've never really thought about it before...it's a pretty enough color, I guess," she said in confusion, taking a step closer to the bed.

He opened an eye and looked at her in disapproval, "For your scarf, you ninny." Closing his eyes once more, he murmured, "You've always looked pretty in blue," before drifting off to sleep.

Grinning, Louisa bent and pressed a kiss to his brow. "Rest well."

Dottie smiled and watched him sleep, even though she knew her mother was watching her. It was probably the medication Ashfield had given him that had made him say such things, but it brought a pleasant warmth to her heart to think he found her pretty in blue.

Her eyes greedily took in their fill of him, and her fingers itched to touch him, but she clung to Elliot instead. He looked thinner than usual, and yet his brawny muscles seemed more defined against the material of his shirt. Lashes thick enough to make any woman jealous rested on high cheekbones.

The deep cleft in the middle of his chin had always been one of her favorite features of his face because it perfectly accentuated his square jaw and strong nose. His slightly full lips were relaxed in sleep, bracketed by deep laugh lines attesting to his affable demeanor and affinity for sarcasm.

Tears stung her eyes when she found the scar on the edge of his bottom lip she'd given him when he taught her fisticuffs at the age of fourteen. Wiping at her cheeks, she glanced at her mother and whispered, "Thank you for pushing me to come to see him these last few days, Mama."

Louisa's eye's softened, "You're welcome, darling." She watched her daughter for a moment before adding, "The first steps are always hardest when it comes to repairing relationships. Now that they're out of the way, I know you two will find your way back to each other." She wrapped an arm around Dottie's waist as they walked out of the room and shut the door behind them. "We really ought to teach him to knit, though."