OUT OF THE DARKNESS (THE PRESCOTT SERIES) (21 page)

Placing a large hand behind her shoulders,
he helped her sit up. “Take a sip of water.” He held a glass of cool water to Jade’s lips. “Not too much at first,” he cautioned. “I’ll tell Cookie you need some broth. I’m sure you’re starving.”

Jason left the room as if a great weight
had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn’t realized what a strain he had been under until it was removed. His chest felt as if would burst open at any moment with relief. His eyes still watered at the thought of her recovery.

“Cookie, Jade’s awake. The fever broke
, and she’s hungry,” Jason couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

“I’m
happy for you, boy. Real happy. It’s a good day, yes sirree, it’s a good day,” Cookie slapped his thigh with his palm.

Two days later, Jason was grateful Cookie still helped him. But that expression ‘baby’ was starting to fray on his nerves. Here Emma, see the ‘baby’. Let me hold the ‘baby’. The ‘baby’s’ hungry. ‘Baby’ this, ‘baby’ that. Jason was so disgusted with everyone calling her ‘baby’. It was worse than when they had referred to Jade as ‘the girl.’

A child should have a name. She couldn’t
live the rest of her life with the name ‘baby’ attached to her. He would make sure Jade gave her a name today.

He gazed down at the little mite cradled in his arms. She resembled her mother. Jade gained
strength each day with difficulty. The labor, then the fever had weakened her tremendously. Nursing the ‘baby’ also added to her weakened condition. She struggled to sit up when he came through the door. She had gotten use to him staying in the room as she fed her child under a light blanket.

He
pulled the chair closer to sit down and watched Jade adjust the child to her breast.

“Jade.” He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. “Have you given her a name yet? We
can’t keep calling her ‘baby’.”

Perhaps she might want to name the baby after its father. They hadn’t discussed
her past, or what had become of the baby’s father. Jason loathed mentioning the subject, not knowing if he would still have Jade and her child afterwards.

“I would like to name her Nicole, after her father, if that’
s alright with you,” Jade said.

Jason’s heart sank. Now
she would tell him they really weren’t married. Tell him she had a husband or a lover waiting to find her. How was he going to live without her? His heart hammered at the loss he knew would tear him apart.

“We
could call her Nicky for short.” At his silence, she asked. “What do you think?”

“We?”
Jason repeated. Was she trying to tell him she had no other commitment? That she was free to stay with him and Emma.

“You don’t like the name?”

“Yes, Nicky will be fine.”

The relief Jason felt must have shown in his face. Jade smiled and reached for his hand. When she moved, the blanket slipped from her shoulder exposing Nicky’s
fuzzy head against Jade’s enlarged breast. The baby, relaxed in sleep still held Jade’s nipple in her mouth.

For one breathless moment, his
heated gaze lingered on her breast then slowly rose to stare into her eyes. Did he see the same longing in her eyes that she could surely see in his? With an iron will, he subdued the lust raging through him. It would take time for her body to heal. He could wait. Then he would resume his campaign to win her love.

“What
about your name?” Jason asked.

The question had haunted him ever since the night he thought she was going to die. He wo
uld always think of her as Jade. It would be his special name for her, but he would like to know her real name.

“Jason, you know my name.
” Emerald lights sparkled in her eyes when she gave him an indulgently smile.

“You
mean Jade is your actual name?”

Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
“Why would you call me Jade if you didn’t know it was my name?” Jade asked. “Since everyone called me Jade, I wondered if I had somehow told you.”

“I called you Jade because of the color of your eyes,”
he explained. “I got tired of referring to you as ‘the girl,” just like I was tired of Nicky being called ‘baby’. So,” he lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug, “I gave you a name.”

“I’m glad you knew me, without knowing me.”

He chuckled at her absurd statement. His gaze locked with hers, and a spark of indefinable emotion passed between them.

Cupping her cheek in his
palm, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. The movement dislodged Nicky from her mother’s breast. He and Jade looked down at the same time to see a drop of milk on her dusky nipple drip onto the covers.

Jason took a deep breath and fused his lips to
hers. His mouth slanted across hers as she opened to him. Her tongue met his in a duel of passion. They explored each other’s mouth until their breath became as one. Their kiss left him trembling and aching with desire. Heart pounding, she slowly drew back.

“I’ll take Nicky back to her bed. You g
et some rest,” Jason whispered.

He wrapped Nicky in her blanket and strode toward the door.
Their kiss had ignited a fire in him that he knew couldn’t be quenched any time soon. It would be weeks before Jade’s body healed. Until then, he was going to play with fire and hope like hell the flame would consume them both.

Jade reached up to
touch her lips with her fingertips as Jason closed the door behind him. She never realized the effect a kiss could have on a person’s entire body. Her milk-swollen breasts seemed heavier. A tingling sensation crawled up and down her spine. Her lower belly felt empty, aching to be filled. This kiss was nothing like the ones they had shared before Nicky was born. This kiss was filled with passion and desire. Jade hoped passion and desire was not all Jason was experiencing. She needed him to want more than a “marriage of convenience.” She needed him to want a “marriage of love.”

Jason tromped through the slush on his way to the house from the barn. A noise drew his attention to the road leading to the ranch. As he knew it would, the melting snow led to the arrival of Margaret and her family. In the back of the sled, he could see John had brought a load of fresh supplies. Tyler stood between his father’s legs, holding the lines. He drove the team under John’s guidance.

“Uncle Jason. Hey, Uncle Jason, look at me. I’m driving the horses, all
by myself,” Tyler hollered.

Cookie
stepped out the house onto the porch behind him.

“
With Ms. Margaret here to take care of Miss Jade and the babies, I’ll go back to the cook shack to see what the boys have been up to. They probably got my kitchen in a mess. I left stew cooking on the stove to serve for supper.”

“That’s fine, Cookie.”

“See ya later.”

The
sled and the jangle of harness muffled Cookie’s retreating footsteps back into the house. When the John halted the team, Tyler jumped to the ground. With a childish giggle, Janey leaped into Jason’s arms. John helped Margaret from the seat, and they went into the house.

Hanging their coats on the rack by the door, the children warmed themselves by the fireplace. Ever
yone began talking at once. Jason laughed. There’s nothing like family making an unexpected visit.

Margaret
zeroed in on the baby in her bed, picked her up, and sat in the rocker while John looked over her shoulder. Jason claimed the chair across from her.

“Did you have much trouble delivering Jade’s baby. I know you couldn’t get into town to fetch the doctor.”

“The birth wasn’t hard, but she took a fever and was very sick for several days.”

“Oh, Jason.
I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well everything’s fine now.” He knew his sister
’s thoughts centered on the time his first wife suffered from childbed fever. Sue Ellen hadn’t survived.

“
Jade’s memory returned.”

John and Margaret’s heads snapped in his direction.
The baby completely forgotten.

“Oh my word, what have you found out about her.”

“Nothing. Only that her name is really, Jade. Margaret, I don’t want you to press her for details about her past. She’ll tell us when she’s ready,” he warned.

Was he ready to hear about her past, Jason asked himself? One look at Nicky is all it took to realize she was not part Indian, as he
had feared. However, that didn’t mean the Indians hadn’t mistreated Jade. The only question he feared the answer to, was–who was Nicholas?

Jason peeked into Jade’s room to see if she had awakened from her nap. She still slept soundly. After supper, w
hen she woke, Margaret insisted Jason carry Jade into the living area so she could visit with her.

Sitting b
eside him, Jade listened to Margaret rave about how beautiful the baby was and to all the advice new mothers received from the more experienced ones.

“It’s not good for you to stay in bed too long. You need to be up moving about. Believe it
or not your strength will return faster,” Margaret advised.

Jason smiled. Jade may be able to speak now, but Margaret had barely given her enough time to say a few words.

Fascinated with Nicky, Tyler crawled up beside his mother. He begged to hold her, so he could play with her small fingers and watch her sleep. Earlier, he had set by her crib for hours until she woke. Then he demanded to hold Nicky after Margaret fed and changed her.

“I think he was looking forward to having a new brother
or sister,” Margaret explained to Jade. “I fell on the ice two months ago and lost the child I carried.”

“I’m sorry, Margaret,” Jade sympathized
and squeeze her hand.

“Thank you.
It was one of those things that wasn’t meant to be. Well, it’s getting late and it’s past these youngsters bedtime.”

Mar
garet laid a well-fed Nicky in her bed and hustled Tyler and Janey off to their room. John followed on her heels.

Jason carried Jade back to bed and said good night. He
’d be glad when they could share a bed again. He missed her warmth beside him at night.

~~~

Jade lay in the dark and let the ramifications of Margaret’s statement wash over her. If Margaret could now take care of Emma, Jason may not need her any longer. Where would she and Nicky go if Jason asked her to leave? The answer kept her awake long into the night.

The next morning the scent of frying bacon roused Jade from her sleep. Washed, dressed, and ready to take Margaret’s advise
about getting up and around, she heard a light tap on the door just before it opened.

Jason’s azure eyes peeked around the edge of the door
, a wide smile of approval on his handsome face. “Good. You’re dressed. Margaret sent me to bring you to breakfast,” he said and stepped inside.

“Thank you. If you’ll lend me your arm, I’m ready.”

Margaret had already fed the children and they played while the adults ate breakfast. Toward the end of the meal, John told Margaret to get everything ready for their trip home.

“Oh, John,
why can’t we stay longer?”

“F
resh snow fell last night and the temperature has dropped. We better head home before we’re stranded here for the rest of the winter.”

“We wouldn’t mind, would we Jason?” Jade vowed as she smiled at Jason.
She realized it had been good for Margaret to hold a newborn again. She had confided in her that the Doctor said after the miscarriage there would be no more children for her and John.

“Uh…. W
e’ll see you in the spring, Sis, unless we get another break in the weather.” Jason said. A pink tint rode high on his cheekbones.

John laughed. “We’ll
see you after the spring thaw. I think I brought enough supplies to last until then.”

Jade rubbed a clear spot on the foggy window and
watched Margaret and her family leave. After Jason had helped with Tyler and Janey, his long-legged stride carried him to the barn where he said he had work to do and would see her at lunch.

He
hadn’t sent her away with Margaret, so perhaps he wanted her to stay. Or, perhaps he thought it too soon for her to travel and would wait until spring to set her aside. Her fingers massaged her temples where the beginning of a headache had formed.

Nicky gave a tiny whine
, and then let out a full-scale scream. The baby had already learned that she wanted her needs attended to immediately and if not…. Jade scooped her up, lowered her dress neckline, and offered a milk-laden nipple to her searching rosebud mouth. The baby latched on to her meal and gave a contended sigh.

The next morning, Jason resumed his
assault on her senses. He kissed her when she came to have breakfast. Drawing her body back to rest against his, he trailed hot kisses down her neck to her shoulder. Shivers of delight raced up her spine.