The Prospect: The Malloy Family, Book 10 Read Online Free Page A

Callahan.” Jo was grateful if no one else was.
    “That presents a problem.” Mr. Drummond glanced between them. “This young man has been exposed. We’ll need to set up a quarantine.”
    Everyone spoke at once, yelling over each other until Jo could hardly distinguish between the voices. She tried to stop them, but she couldn’t summon the energy to make herself heard. Declan was the one who saved her. Again.
    “Ladies and gents, ye all need to stop your caterwauling!” His booming voice cut through the cacophony.
    Her parents stared while Charlie’s mouth fell open. Buck scowled at his employee.
    “Now see here—”
    “No, you see here. I’ll take Miss Chastain to the quarantine and you can take your wagon train forward tomorrow.” He looked at her parents. “I promise to take care of her until the quarantine passes, then bring her safely to you in Oregon.”
    Jo was about to tell him not to take charge of her life, but it was a reasonable, logical course of action. She couldn’t think of a better one herself.
    “Monsieur Drummond, the quarantine period is three to four weeks, oui ?” Maman always looked for all the information before making a decision.
    “About that, yep. Have to wait for the fever to break, and that can take some time.” Mr. Drummond spoke as though he wasn’t sentencing her to a month of pain and discomfort. She knew typhoid could kill and Declan was signing up for his own hell watching over her.
    Why would he do that?
    “I cannot leave my daughter in the care of strangers.” Maman didn’t mention the family history with Declan, but Jo knew that was on her mind.
    “If you stay with her, we won’t wait for you.” Mr. Avery folded his arms across his chest. “We have to beat the snow, and that means we leave tomorrow.”
    Maman’s gaze fell on Jo, and she saw the terror and turmoil in her green eyes. Jo couldn’t let her parents give up their dream in Oregon for her. She had to make the decision.
    “I will stay here. You will go.” Jo had made up her mind and she wasn’t about to change it.
    “We can’t possibly do that, cherie .” Papa shook his head.
    “Yes, you can. I can send word to Frankie and John after the quarantine is over.” Jo knew her sister and new husband wouldn’t want a boarder when they didn’t have a house yet, but they would take her in.
    “Ah, you ask too much.” Maman’s voice was thick with unshed tears. “Do not force me to choose between Oregon and my child.”
    “I am a woman grown, not a child. I have made the choice, not you.” Jo’s own throat closed with emotion. When her parents left, it could be a year before she saw them again. She’d never been separated from them before. It would be difficult, but she would survive. They had turned her into a smart woman and she would do them proud.
    “Please.” Maman pressed her forehead into her hands.
    Jo swallowed hard and forced herself to speak. “I will recover and I will see you again.”
    “Do you have room for them at the fort? I don’t know what you need for quarantine, but I expect we need to take care of it right quick.” The normally nice Mr. Avery was pushing her out of his wagon train with both his boots planted on her behind.
    “There is a small shack in the corner of the fort, used by one of the Indian women when she comes to sell buffalo robes. I can’t speak for the cleanliness of it, but nothing that soap won’t cure. It’s small, but it’ll do temporarily.” Mr. Drummond glanced at Declan. “Carry her and we’ll get it fixed up real quick.”
    Everyone hopped to work, grabbing bucket, soap and supplies. Jo’s eyes stung with unshed tears as the unfairness of her situation hit her. She had caught typhoid and could possibly die. To save her family, and the wagon train, she was about to live in a quarantined shack for the next month with the man who had kidnapped her sister. Not to mention the man she fantasized about every night when she slept.
    God could