The Widows Choice Read Online Free PDF

an eye on her," Mary Ellen replied.
    Rafe murmured a reply and Charlie attempted to tell Mary Ellen not to leave her alone with him.  What was she thinking?  Rafe Preston was a stranger and a single man.
    Charlie forced herself to wake fully and pried her eyes open.  Sunlight shined through the window, the light burned her sensitive eyes and she squeezed them shut again.  Her temples were not throbbing as hard now and for that she was thankful. 
    Knowing better this time, she turned her head away from the window and opened her eyes.  In the doorway stood Rafe Preston.  He leaned against the doorframe and watched her.  His gaze although soft, was still as penetrating.  "Mary Ellen is downstairs.  She went to see about the doc."
    "Why is the doctor coming?" her throat was dry and she wanted water, but didn't dare ask him.  He unsettled her too much, and it wouldn't do for him to step into her bedroom.  It felt too personal, not to mention, it was not proper.
    She almost laughed at the direction of her thoughts.  Who gave two fiddlesticks about propriety at a moment like this? Certainly not the people of Colter Valley, with its two saloons and rowdy population, it was a good town, but mostly a place where people from all walks of life had settled.  Everyone was too busy concentrating on making it through life and although the gossips tried their best, even they had a hard time keeping up with the entire goings on of the bustling town.
    "You fainted, did not come around all night.  Miss Mary Ellen is worried.  She sent Joe to fetch the doctor." Rafe straightened.  "How do you feel?"
    Charlie closed her eyes again, not daring to keep his gaze.  The man was too attractive and it made her feel vulnerable to lay upon the bed in his presence.  She pulled the blankets up higher.  "Better, thank you. You may go.  I'll be fine until Mary Ellen returns with the doctor."
    "Glad to hear it."  He didn't move, instead studied her with curiosity.  "My mother had such headaches.  She got better during the winter, but when spring came she was forced to bed many days."
    She considered what he said.  "I thought I was going to die."  Unsure why she'd blurted the words to the man, Charlie wished them back.  If only to pull them from being uttered and erased from his memory.  She groaned.  "I mean it was so painful and all."
    "Seemed Ma felt the same way many times."
    "Did they ever go away?" She needed to know.  If it was the same illness perhaps he had the answer to her troubles. "Anything that worked?"
    He looked pensive, his brow furrowed in thought.  "Some herbage seemed to bring her relief.  I'll think about it and see if I can remember."
    "I would appreciate it."
    Without another word he turned away and left.
    Before she could call him back to beg him to do his best to remember, Mary Ellen and the doctor bustled in.  Her friend placed a drink in her hands and a bowl of water on a side table.  She dipped a cloth into it and brushed it over her heated face.  The cool water was refreshing and much welcome.
    Doctor Mitchell was an older man who rarely smiled.  Of course, with a full mustache and beard, if he did, Charlie figured it would not be visible.  He placed his black satchel on the end of the bed and pulled a chair to sit next to it.  "Did you take the tonic I prescribed for you upon feeling the headache coming?"
    "No," Charlie admitted.  "It wasn't so bad.  My head did not hurt as much as before, so I thought I could withstand it.  I don't think it was the headache that made me pass out.  I did not eat all day.  My stomach was upset all day yesterday."
    He nodded and took his stethoscope out.  Listening to her heart and breathing, he then looked down her throat and studied her eyes and ears.  "What other symptoms do you notice of late?"
    Mary Ellen interrupted.  "She's always tired, is clumsy and barely sleeps.  When she does anything that requires too much exertion, she gets the