The same cold terror turned her feet to blocks of stone. She could barely stand. A man dead in her charge. How could she bear it? When Bronx reached for her shoulder to calm her, she slapped him away. “The poor dear man did nothing but come to me for help.”
“You helped him righteously,” Bronx called out after her. She was both disappointed he didn’t follow, and victorious he’d obeyed her. “Your remedy likely blessed him with healthful sleep.”
But Malina was already there, next to the sick man and holding his hand. “Shhhhh. He’s still sleeping. And so peaceful.”
Suddenly, Lila was struck again. Bronx himself had proven Clemmons to be a young man. And Malina...searching for redemption.
“You needed your sleep, Miss Lila. And I...” Malina’s face flushed. “I am a creature of the night. I got up to sit with Clemmons. I...knew him before. In my past life. We are two of a kind.” She lowered embarrassed eyes to the simple frock Lila had given her. “I will find it my joy to tend him.”
“He needs a hospital.” Bronx had come up behind them with footsteps so quiet Lila hadn’t heard.
“Although the nuns at St. Vincent’s are kind, hospitals are costly.” Lila checked for fever.
“Don’t think they turn a sick soul away.” Bronx’s words chimed like the chapel at Hanover. “I have a stash. I’ll pay.”
“That’s very kind. And most generous.”
Bronx looked away. “Don’t mind helping. Had some trouble myself over the years. My life might have gone different had I had...someone.”
Malina’s fingers tightened over Clemmons’s. “And I have a little money stored. I sweep the floors at Manny Hyman’s. Honest labor.”
Lila knew that. Malina always laid generous coins in the mitebox.
“Some might wonder why I stay, but...” Malina’s lids shuttered the too-old eyes, and Lila gently touched her arm. “Mountains are big enough for folks with no place to go. Not knowing what to find or where to look.” She stumbled over the words. “Or how to look for something, anyway. I got no place but Leadville, at least alone. Else, I would have left. If I can...see to Clemmons getting well, things might be different for us both.” She stared at Bronx. “Clemmons does have someone. Me. And I don’t think he’ll mind.”
Clemmons grinned. “Been listening for a while. Never imagined such fine folks might care so much.”
“Well, this is a happy turn of events.” Lila choked over excited words.
“But Mr. Dykstra, I thought you were in love with Miz Lila?” Bronx’s shocked words landed on the air like a kid throwing rocks.
Lila protested at once. “Oh, no...” But Clemmons sat up with amazing strength, and looked Bronx straight on.
“Oh, in truth, I love her. But it ain’t a human love. She’s an angel.” He took Malina’s hand again. “A man dies in the arms of an angel, but he don’t get to go to sleep in such arms at night.”
Malina’s gaze touched everybody in the old cabin before alighting on Clemmons’s face like an invisible butterfly. “I been called a harlot. Whore, Soiled dove. Painted cat. Some things I could never repeat. But I’ve liked ‘fallen angel’ best of all. It means I started out right fine, Clemmons. And I’m here if you’ll have me.”
Lila gulped, and Bronx’s hand flitted close to hers.
“Pshaw.” Clemmons turned a healthy pink. “So what, you’ve fallen? We all trip plenty. And I’d not change a thing, else we never might have met. I’ll help raise you up. Once I get on my feet again, that is.” Mr. Dykstra chuckled almost like his old self, but the words, not the laughter, warmed Lila’s spirit. “I’m happiest I’ll ever be with the woman you are, Malina.”
“Seems like you got a great reason to recover quick,” Bronx mentioned.
“Now, I’ll tend him, Miss Lila,” Malina said, softly. “I’ll not leave his side. I can do the eucalyptus treatment. I watched you well last night. And soon as the day warms up, I’ll get him to hospital. I can hire a cart. I’ll not leave his side,” she repeated even more tenderly than before.
“And I’ll assist, should you need.” Bronx leaned down to settle Clemmons against the pillows, and Malina tucked the quilt around his feet.
“I’ll get more wood for the stove.” Unable to hold down tears, Lila ran out, but made it only as far as the pew where she and Bronx had spent the night.
Together. Heat rose at the possibilities, for she remembered little else than waking up in his arms. Her knees gave way, and her tears drained hot and fast down her cheeks. Emmett.
“What is it, Miz Lila?”
Oh, he was there, the warmth and scent she didn’t want to live without. Emmett...she cried harder, and Bronx sat beside her.
“That’s the way love should be.” A man not changing a thing about his woman. But back then, she’d been too young to stand for herself. Maybe Papa had been right, all along.