The Inheritance Read Online Free PDF Page B

here was a mistake.”
    McKenna reached for him, but he jerked his arm away. “Robert, come back!”
    He strode around the side of the cabin and into the darkness.
    Embarrassed, and very much aware of Marshal Caradon behind her, she faced the man on the porch again, wondering what Robert had already said or done in her absence. “I’m Miss McKenna Ashford, Janie Talbot’s cousin from Missouri.” She glanced in the direction Robert had gone. “I apologize for my brother’s behavior. The trip here was a long one, and I think he’s a bit overtired right now.”
    “There’s no cause for you to apologize for your brother, ma’am.” The gentleman walked as far as the top stair and paused. “He’s young yet, and the situation here isn’t what he expected. I’m Dr. Foster, Copper Creek’s physician. And I’m sorry, Miss Ashford, but . . . I fear it’s not what you were expecting either.”

FIVE
    T he woman in the bed was a shadow of what Janie had once been and looked as though she were approaching the winter of her life, instead of the summer. McKenna stood near the footboard, unable to move. It didn’t seem real. It couldn’t be. And yet—the gauntness of her cousin’s features told her it was.
    She moved to the bedside and eased onto the mattress. Sweat beaded Janie’s forehead. Her hand was hot to the touch.
    Dr. Foster rinsed a cloth in a bowl of water on a table by the bedside and laid it across Janie’s brow. “The fever set in four days ago.” His voice was hushed. “Shortly after she delivered the baby.”
    Only then did McKenna notice the absence of the expected swell around Janie’s middle. She glanced around the bedroom looking for the cradle.
    “I’m sorry, Miss Ashford, but . . . the baby died shortly following his birth. He had trouble breathing. I cleared his air passage, did everything I could. But his little body just wasn’t strong enough.”
    Aching, confused, McKenna looked back at her cousin and willed her to waken. Tears she’d managed to contain until now slipped past her defenses. “Did she have a chance to hold him?”
    “Oh yes, she was very much aware of her surroundings during that time. She and little Emma hugged and loved on the boy real well . . . before he passed.” He motioned toward the next room. “Emma’s already asleep in her room.”
    It struck McKenna then that he hadn’t mentioned Janie’s husband. “Where is Vince?”
    Regret shadowed the doctor’s expression. “This will be difficult, I realize, but cholera swept through the town about a month ago. We’ve lifted the quarantine, so it’s safe for you and your brother, and the marshal . . .”
    He nodded toward the door, and she turned to see Marshal Caradon leaned forward in a chair at the kitchen table, elbows on his knees, his head bowed. She’d thought he’d already left.
    The doctor’s movements drew her back. “I regret to tell you, Miss Ashford, that . . . Vince was one of the first to succumb to the disease.”
    Still seated on the bed, McKenna couldn’t shake the sensation that she was falling. As if the wooden floor beneath her had opened wide to swallow her whole. It was strange, this downward spiraling inside herself, and something she remembered from a long time ago. Fourteen years to be exact. Except the last time she’d felt this way, the baby boy hadn’t died. But his mother— their mother—had.
    She rested her head in her hands, aware of each of Janie’s ragged breaths, and of the uneven rise and fall of the blanket covering her chest. The weight of this news and the burden of past weeks pressed hard. She held her breath and gave herself until the count of ten. Then exhaled. Long ago she’d learned that facing reality was inevitable. She could skulk about, trying to avoid it or pretending it wasn’t there. But in the end, reality always found her. And its finding her seemed a harsher blow than if she’d faced the situation straight on from the very start.
    A noise came