Dishonoring Jack

Chapter Thirty

"No, no!" Jack cried, stumbling forward as tears blinded her eyes. Blood gurgled from the hole in Donovan's chest, dark and flowing. Another gunshot sounded, but it sounded miles away as Jack fell on her knees before Titus. The blood was flowing too fast, too much. Jack tore her apron from her chest and balled it up on his chest, pressing down with both hands. The blood had to stop, or he would...no. She couldn't think about it. This was her fault.

"Jack," Titus sputtered, but she couldn't look at him. She couldn't look into his eyes or accept his fate. "Look at me."

When Jack finally raised her eyes from the apron, quickly growing dark with blood, to his eyes, her heart dropped. His eyes were glassy and blood dripped from his mouth.

"This isn't your fault," he said. "Tell...tell Hannah."

"No, you're fine," Jack said, returning pressure to the wound. "You're going to be fine. We'll get you help. I'll--I'll go get the doctor."

Jack rose to her feet, her limbs both leaden and limp at the same time. "Jack, wait!" He grabbed her arm, his grip surprisingly strong. "Tell Hannah I love her. Tell her I wanted a life with her. Tell her I'm sorry."

"You can tell her yourself," Jack said, sagging beside him again. She brushed at her cheeks and found wet tears.

"Reach into the pocket of my shirt," he whispered. The words made him cough and Jack watched as the cough brought blood from his mouth. He was running out of time, but Jack couldn't leave him. Not if he was dying.

She reached into the front pocket of his plaid shirt, her hands shaking as she unfastened the button and reached inside. Her fingers touched on something cold and metal, and she pulled it out.

A ring.

"You were..." Jack stuttered between sobs.

He was going to propose to Hannah.

Squeezing the diamond ring in her palm, Jack stumbled to her feet. "I'm getting the doctor. He'll save you."

Julius appeared beside her and knelt at Titus's side. "Go, Jack!" he hollered. "Donovan and I are fine. Take the automobile and go get the doctor."
Jack squeezed the ring so tightly that it seemed seared into her palm and she stood frozen. Titus was dying, and it was her fault. It's not too late.

Jack backed away from Titus's body, the life fading from his paling features. She stumbled towards the automobile, guided by her memory rather than her blurried sight. She needed to get control of herself, but it was too late. The worst had happened. A man was dead.

She found the automobile and with shaking hands, she started it and got behind the wheel. She slipped the engagement ring into a pocket on her dress and gripped the wheel with both hands, squeezing her eyes shut. Titus needs you. She needed to get the doctor, and there was no time to waste. Jack blinked away the tears, her hands so tight on the wheel that her knuckles had turned white.

The car careened forward and Jack pressed the gas pedal to the floor. She had to get to Irvington. The car leapt over the ground, the engine roaring in her ears. Slowly, Jack's faculties returned and she tried to think through the situation. Donovan was alive, though in what condition, Jack hadn't even thought to check. She and Julius were unharmed, and Titus had taken a bullet to the chest. Could a man even recover from such a wound? Was there any hope?

Jack's hands started to shake and the car nearly careened into the sign that said "Welcome to Irvington." She forced her foot to ease off the gas pedal as she entered the town, a man and his donkey veering off the road at her arrival and cursing her with a raised fist. The doctor's practice appeared before her eyes and she jerked the automobile to a stop in the middle of the street, leaping off and falling to her knees. The cobblestone scraped them raw, but she rose again anyways. The pain was a sharp relief from the hazy terror that spread like a drug through her veins.