“Saving a person is different from taking a child into your home. You always act without thinking. I’m telling you, we are not taking this baby with us.”
Emma Jane went and sat in the rocking chair. She’d never seen Jasper so angry, with his arms folded across his chest, and his eyes set so firm. She missed the twinkle they usually held. They’d both said they wanted children, and they’d both agreed that they did not have the kind of relationship people had to have children. He was the one who mentioned compromise. Surely taking in a child who needed a home was a sort of compromise.
Besides, he’d made a promise, too. “What about your promise to Mel about taking care of Daisy? Shouldn’t that extend to taking care of her child?”
Jasper let out an exasperated huff. “I don’t have time to argue with you about this. We have to make a run for it while we can. And taking a baby, especially one who won’t stop fussing, is going to slow us down. We’re barely going to make it out as it is. Bringing him will make it impossible.”
Emma Jane didn’t move. “Then I guess you’re going alone. I won’t leave Moses.”
“Stop calling him that name! He’s not your baby.”
The door opened, and Jimmy walked in. “What’s all this fuss about?”
The weight of Jasper’s glare on her stung. What exactly did he think she was going to do? Tell a bandit they were arguing over escape plans?
“My husband doesn’t approve of my plans to raise poor Moses as my own.”
Jimmy snorted. “Don’t blame you there. I wouldn’t raise some other fellow’s git. It ain’t natural. And I got the scars from my stepdaddy’s belt to prove it.”
He grabbed a book off one of the shelves. “They want me to read a few words from the Bible.”
Shrugging, he looked at Emma Jane. “’Course, I don’t really know what to read, so if you’d like to come say a few words, I’m sure it would be welcome. The good Lord may not shine His face upon us, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have a little respect for doing the right thing by our dead.”
For a moment, Jimmy looked sorrowful. “You may not like the kind of woman Daisy was, but she was a good woman. And we all respected her, no matter what Ace might say.”
Emma Jane nodded slowly. “I’m sure she was. I’d be happy to suggest some passages to read, and if you’d like me to say a few words, I can do that, too.”
Jasper’s glare on her was so hard she didn’t need to look at him. They were clearly at an impasse on the escape plan, so what harm did it do for her to say a few words at Moses’s mother’s funeral?
“I’d be obliged.” Jimmy started for the door, then stopped. “Let me check with Ace first. He may not like me bringing you out of the cabin.”
As soon as Jimmy shut the door behind him, Jasper stormed over toward her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” His whisper was harsh, biting, unlike the man she’d thought she’d gotten to know.
“Cooperating.”
“How are we supposed to escape if you’re presiding over a funeral?”
Emma Jane took a deep breath. “We are not escaping unless Moses comes with us.”
She emphasized the we as she gave him her most obstinate look. She’d promised to raise Moses as her own, and as far as she was concerned, she’d die to save her own child. So if staying here to take care of Moses while Jasper escaped meant sacrificing her own life, then so be it.
“He’s just an innocent baby,” Emma Jane said, using her most pleading voice. “A child of God...just like all of us. You were the one who stayed in a burning brothel to make sure everyone got out safely. If you were thinking clearly, you’d be doing anything to save him, too.” Looking at him desperately, she asked, “Why aren’t you?”
Jasper’s face crumpled. “Because I’m not even sure I can save us.”
He turned and walked toward the fire. “Bringing along a colicky baby only makes it that much more impossible.”
Then he spun around, eyes blazing. “Fine. Bring the baby. But you’re not keeping him.”
Jasper’s face was unreadable, and though she was resolute about keeping Moses, now was not the time to challenge him. He was right about the difficulty in surviving an escape. Which was why part of her brain screamed that it was suicide to even try.
However, the practical side knew that they’d never survive if they stayed. She wasn’t so naive as to believe anymore that the bandits intended to let them live. She’d seen too much of their bloodthirsty side. “I’ll gather his things.” Emma Jane filled Jasper’s saddlebag with the makeshift bottles and scraps of cloth used to change the baby. It wasn’t much, but hopefully they wouldn’t need them long. As she recalled, it wasn’t a very long trip back to town.
“Someone’s coming.”
Jasper moved back to the fire as Emma Jane set the saddlebag on the ground by the door. Near enough to grab easily, but not so near as to look suspicious.
Jimmy opened the door. “Sorry, miss. I appreciate your kind offer, but Ace isn’t willing to take a chance on letting you out of the cabin. What do you suggest I read?”
He held out the Bible, and she turned it to the Twenty-third Psalm. “Try this one.”
“Thank you.” He tipped his hat at her and left.
Jasper immediately returned to his post by the window. “It looks like they’re all gathered on the north side of the barn. I’m going out first. Look for me to the left, and when I signal, hurry out to meet me.”
Emma Jane watched as Jasper fiddled with the door handle, then quietly slipped out, closing
