Light filled Jasper’s eyes, but then it dimmed. “She didn’t have a baby.” Then he stopped and exhaled sharply. “But she was with child.”
Jasper sat quietly for a moment, and Emma Jane thought it wise to just let him be. It was a lot to take in. Besides, the baby had started fussing again.
“I’m just going to give him some milk. You rest.”
* * *
Who was this woman, bossing him around? Emma Jane had always been so meek and mild mannered. Maybe he’d been hit on the head harder than he’d thought.
His wife had only been partially right about him not knowing where the gang’s hideout was. When the men were arguing about what to do with him, he pretended to be injured worse than he was. The kicks to his side they’d given him were well worth the pain, given he now knew exactly how to get here. And how to get back to town. Sure, he’d blacked out a few times, but he knew enough.
It now made sense why they kept losing the gang’s trail. With the various creek crossings and doubling back the men did to hide their trail, it was no wonder the posse couldn’t find them. Especially with the way the cabin was hidden among some rock outcroppings.
He watched as Emma Jane cooed at the baby and fed him from some weird contraption.
“Where’d you come up with that?” Jasper pointed to the bottle.
“Oh. One of the men helped me fix it up. They have bottles for babies in the mercantile, and when I explained to him what I wanted, he helped me put a few odds and ends together to do it.”
Emma Jane acted like this was simply one of her mission projects rather than the cold-blooded killers they’d been pursuing.
“One of the men?”
“His name is Mack,” Emma Jane said with a smile as she lifted the baby to her shoulder to burp. “He’s quite nice, considering his profession. Calls me ‘ma’am,’ and is always offering to help me.”
The name didn’t sound familiar, but that didn’t mean anything to Jasper. They’d still been trying to figure out the exact makeup of the gang. With the brothel fire, many of the men they’d thought were the leaders had been arrested and put in jail. But the remnant seemed to be just as strong and powerful without their leaders.
“He’s not your friend,” Jasper bit out, struggling to sit up straighter to get a better look around the place. His head pounded harder now, and spots danced in front of his eyes. Maybe he’d been hit harder than he’d thought.
“Maybe not,” Emma Jane said, returning to her spot in the rocking chair. “But I’ve learned that when dealing with your enemies, you have to give them as little ammunition as possible. It seems to me, that in the case of men who are equally torn between killing you and keeping you alive, the best thing a person can do is be as useful as possible.”
She smiled down at the baby and made a little cooing noise at him. “And that’s what we’re doing, isn’t it, my sweet?”
He’d always known that Emma Jane was smart, but as he watched her bond with the baby as though her life wasn’t in danger, he realized that she was a lot smarter than he’d given her credit for. Even without the infant and the sick woman who may or may not be Daisy, the odds of the two of them surviving an escape with a dozen men on guard were slim at best.
His stomach rumbled, and he remembered the broth Emma Jane had promised. “Could I have some of that soup you made?”
She smiled. “Of course. But broth only until we know your stomach can tolerate it.”
Then she stood and tried to hand him the baby. “Take him so I can make the soup.”
Jasper stared at the baby. “You want me to do what?”
“Hold him. Don’t tell me you’ve never held a baby before.”
He continued staring awkwardly at the child. “Actually, I haven’t.”
“Then let me show you. Babies are such a delight, and when you have your own...” Her face clouded. “Oh. I suppose... Well, that is... We never really talked about...”
Emma Jane turned away, clutching the baby to her chest before setting him in an old crate.
She didn’t have to finish any of those sentences. After all, when a man promises a woman a marriage in name only, children aren’t a likely outcome of the union.
As he watched her prepare the soup, taking longer than a simple task should have, he wondered how much she regretted their current circumstances, as well. Clearly, she loved babies, and with the marriage they agreed to, there would be none.
In this, they had both lost.
Jasper cleared his throat. “I would have liked children of my own. But I don’t suppose that’s possible now.”
Her eyes glistened as she handed him the soup, but she didn’t say anything. And he didn’t ask.
They still had too many bridges to cross before they were in a place where such a conversation would be possible. Too many hurts stood in the way.
He supposed he shouldn’t have said anything about his own desire for children when it seemed so out of reach right now. But the ache inside him, seeing Emma Jane with the baby and her seeming innocence on the subject, prevented him from keeping silent.
His silence often seemed like a willingness to be complicit in everyone else’s plans for him. Maybe he should have spoken up sooner. Perhaps, if everyone had known that he wanted to fall in love, find a wife of his own choosing and have a home full of laughter and children, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
Sipping his soup, Jasper watched Emma Jane go to the sleeping woman and bathe her face with a cloth. He couldn’t hear the
