Trail of Deceptions

Chapter Twenty-one

"Jake you have to get some rest," she heard someone saying.

"I can't leave her. I'm afraid she will die if I'm gone." Sam heard Jake saying as she tried to open her eyes but felt so heavy. "I can't lose her Jim. I am not leaving until I know she will make it"

"Listen to him Jake," she whispered. Her mouth was so dry and she was barely able to talk let alone swallow.

"Sam!" Jake said . She felt him pick up her hand then kiss it then soon  she felt his tears drop on her hand too. "You didn't make me that promise to me sweetheart, you had me worried."

"I'm sorry," she told him before the pain and darkness over took her once again.

"Sam...Sam." She was unconscious again as he held her hand looking at her for a long time before he sat back down in the chair by the bed waiting for her to wake up again. "I'm not leaving her side Jim until I know she isn't going to die."

"All right, I'm going to get Julie in a while. I hope she rested as she promised me she would. You would never know Sam isn't her child she's been that worried about her and she's worried about you too," Jim told him as he patted Jake's shoulder.

"I know Julie loves Sam no matter what their differences may be they both love one another. Julie looked tired when you got her to finally leave and go home. Go spend some time with her away from here," Jake said. Jim patted his shoulder again and left the room. Jake couldn't take his eyes off Sam.

 Jake sat and as he watched his wife he thought about the night she was shot and their search for her. They wouldn't have found that shack if Gray Eagle hadn't spotted Corley returning to it and they followed behind him. When they saw him enter the shack and come out yelling for Sam, he remembered his heart pounding knowing she was still alive and somehow had gotten free.

The race was then on to find her before they did. Hearing the first two muffled shots he remembering feeling almost certain she had used her second derringer on one of them. 'They won't think I have two.' He smiled down at her in the bed thinking about her telling him that.

He remembered how happy he'd been to see her, calling her name until he saw Corley come into view firing his gun. Watching Sam fall to the ground had just about killed him before he had a chance to end Corley's life. He could still see her as he ran to her on the ground hurt and bleeding. Jake got up and walked to the window.

"Please God let her live," he said aloud. "Please let her live!"

                                                *              *             *

 Sam opened her eyes to see Jake asleep in a chair by the bed. She could tell he had been sitting there for sometime at her bedside since the white stubble on his chin shown he hadn't shaved in days and he looked tired she thought as she watched him. She wanted to reach out and touch him. When she moved her arm pain shot through her body and she cried out.

Her cry woke him up and he quickly moved to her bedside knelling down by the bed he took her hand in his. "Sam don't move," he told her.

"You look tired," she whispered to him.

"I'll rest once I know you won't leave me. Make me that promise Sam," he told her gently touching the side of her face with his fingers. "Promise me that you won't die."

"I promise," she told him trying to smile. "I hurt everywhere." 

"I know Gray Eagle will be here in a few minutes to give you something for the pain Sam. You need to rest and not talk too much," he told her kissing her forehead then lightly on her mouth. He wanted to cradle her in his arms but knew it would be too painful for her. He needed to touch her. He would never ever let her out of his sight again.