Matthew’s eyes were glued to Molly’s. Ah, thought Texanna, she’s decided to focus on his eyes.
“Matthew, don’t forget to massage her abdomen.” Texanna pulled Molly’s gown up to expose her bulging belly. Matthew’s big hands moved with care over the mound housing their child. When she relaxed, he leaned over and kissed the exposed flesh then returned his gaze to Molly.
It was another hour before Doc arrived. He examined Molly then drew Matthew and the women aside. “The baby’s trying to enter the world foot first. I’ll have to either free the other leg or turn him before she can deliver. It’s gonna hurt some, Matthew. If she starts thrashing, hold her still.”
Matthew looked physically ill, but Doc gripped his arm. “You’ve got to be strong. The nitrous oxide will help tremendously, but she may still have some pain.” Matthew nodded.
Doc turned to her. “You Texanna?” She nodded. “Go get Royce. We’ll need him on the other side.”
Doc removed a canister from his bag and attached a mask to it. “Molly, this gas will ease your pain but you’ll be awake enough to push.” He patted her hand. “Try to relax. Your baby will be fine.” He put the mask in Molly’s hand. “Hold this over your nose and mouth.”
Doc washed and disinfected his hands and arms, and then went to work. Matthew watched with concern. Royce’s lips were pinched as he helped Matthew hold Molly’s upper body still. Texanna held one bent knee while Liz held the other.
With his hand in the birth canal, Doc’s brow furrowed with concentration. Molly whimpered and cried out as Doc worked to turn the baby. When another contraction tightened Molly’s belly, Doc stilled and waited for it to pass.
After what seemed an hour, Doc removed his arm and smiled. “We’ve got the little bugger in better position. Labor will move along faster now.”
Doc walked to the washstand and cleaned his hands.
Molly was completely relaxed and had dropped the mask.
Doc pulled a chair close to the bed and motioned for Matthew to get in it. The big man slumped into the chair, leaned forward, and propped his elbows on the bed, his eyes on his wife. He took Molly’s hand and kissed the palm, then dropped his head to the bed.
Doc cleared his throat. “Let’s give them some time alone.”
Texanna headed downstairs with the doc and Royce, while Betty and Liz waited outside the door.
Jim, the man who’d ridden into town to find Doc came out of the kitchen. “Come on in to the table folks, I’ve got fresh coffee made and some sandwiches.”
Texanna hadn’t realized she was hungry until she smelled the coffee. But it was six o’clock, and she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Royce held her chair and sat beside her. His arm circled her shoulders as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. The expression on his face squeezed her heart, causing her throat to tighten. He was such a good man, a man who loved deeply. Seeing Molly and his brother in pain and being unable to help was wearing on him. The lines across his forehead and around his mouth had deepened. His beautiful blue eyes were dull. She wanted to see the sparkle return.
Texanna cupped his cheek and lightly kissed his lips. “She’s going to be all right—Molly and the baby. We need to have faith.”
They’d just finished eating when Liz called from the landing upstairs.
Doc examined Molly, and with a smile, pronounced her ready to push. Matthew and Royce took their positions at her shoulders and Texanna and Liz at her knees. They moved her down in the bed so she could use the foot rail to push.
On television, the births didn’t take near this long or look as hard. Molly drew strength from Matthew, and when the pain got bad, she’d breathe more of the gas. An hour of pushing went by before Doc announced.
“Okay, Molly. I’ve got his head and shoulders. One more push and you’ll be a mother.”
Molly clenched her teeth, drew in a deep breath, and pushed. Doc caught the baby’s head and butt easing it from her body. The infant immediately announced displeasure at being forced from his mother’s warm body. The wail bounced off the walls and mixed with laughs of relief and joy.
“Congratulations, folks. You’ve got a beautiful baby girl. A little on the small side, but I think she’ll be fine.” Doc held her up for inspection. He cut and tied the cord, then handed her to Betty to clean. In five minutes the baby was in Molly’s arms.
Matthew laughed and sniffed to cover his tears as he cradled his wife and child. Texanna tried hard to keep hers at bay, but when she noticed Royce watched her with longing, her chin quivered and tears clouded her vision.
Molly gasped and clutched her abdomen. “Ohooo, Doc… something’s wrong. The pain is…” She cried out.
Doc bent over the bed to examine her. “Molly, it appears your second child is about to push its way into the world.”
Matthew looked like he’d been pole axed. Molly’s face was radiant with joy. Texanna caught Royce’s expression of pain and moved to his side. Ten minutes later a baby boy entered the world. The room resounded with laughter then grew silent.
The baby wasn’t crying. Doc suctioned the infant’s throat and nostrils. When that didn’t work, he held the baby by its heels and slapped his little buttocks. The room was quiet as death. Doc continued to work with the baby by blowing air into his lungs.
His face was grave and he shook his head. “I’m sorry folks, he’s dead.”
Molly’s screams of, “No! No! Nooo,” would haunt Texanna forever. As would Matthew’s grief stricken face, as he gathered his wife and daughter to his heart. Royce’s jaw clenched, his eyes lined with pain as he turned toward her.
Shaking, crying, Texanna’s sobs turned to a scream of rage. She shouted, “Give me that baby. He’s not dead. I can save him.” She tried to take the baby from Doc. Royce pulled her away and wrapped her in his arms.
“He’s gone, sweetheart. Let it go.”
Texanna shoved him away. “No he’s not. Give me that baby. Right now, dammit!” Stunned, Doc handed the baby over.
Royce watched in bewildered silence as Texanna laid the infant on the bed and knelt. She tilted the little head back, covered his mouth and nose with her lips, and blew a puff of air into his lungs, making his chest rise. Then she put two fingers on his breastbone and pushed five times in rapid succession. Again and again she repeated the cycle until Royce thought she’d drop from sheer exhaustion. Tears rolled down her face, and he stepped forward to lift her away from the infant.
Royce squeezed her shoulders in compassion, “Come on, Texanna. He’s gone,” but she shrugged him away. When he gripped her firmly and lifted her away, she screamed in rage and pain. She tried to struggle but lacked the energy. Her shrieks turned to sobs.
Royce turned her in his arms and held her close. “You did all you could. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
A thin wail broke through Texanna’s muffled sobs. Royce froze and looked at the bed, as did everyone in the room but Texanna. The cry increased in volume. Doc was the first to react and hurried to pick up the mewling infant. His cries became stronger. Betty handed Doc a blanket, and he wrapped it around the child and put him in Matthew’s arms.
Grin stretching his face, he kissed the infant and placed him in Molly’s arms. “I can’t believe it. Twins.” He wrapped his arms around his family and held them. Molly dropped her head to Matthew’s and cried in relief and gratitude.
Texanna continued to sob. Royce forced her to turn around. “Listen, love. Hear that loud wail? That’s our nephew making his presence known.”
She stopped sobbing, but her body continued to shake. She moved closer to the bed to peer at the infant.
Matthew stood and held out his arms. Texanna walked into them, and her cries of joy were muffled by his shoulder.
When she turned toward Royce, her smile warmed his heart. She took two steps, stopped, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
Royce placed Texanna on the bed in his old room and lay down beside her. His heart hammered against his chest. She’d saved the infant’s life. He w
as still astounded and looked at Texanna with awe and tenderness. She’d been terrified, but her strength stepped in and let her tend to the babe.
Doc waved smelling salts under her nose and she jerked away from the noxious smell. “Make her rest, Royce. When she’s asleep, come downstairs. We need to talk.”
Royce nodded. Doc left the room and shut the door behind him. Texanna turned toward him, her face against his chest. He stroked her back, and his hand moved under her hair to caress the nape of her neck. “Sleep, sweetheart, sleep.”
When she slept soundly, Royce forced himself to pull away from her. He longed to stay on the bed and hold her, listen to her breathing, and feel her chest expand and fall. A feeling of unease filled him. He couldn’t ignore the facts any longer. He didn’t want to believe she was from the future, that she wasn’t his wife. Texanna’s actions today left little room for doubt in his mind. Maybe she’d learned the technique she’d used today wherever it was she’d been the last four years, but he didn’t think so. He brushed a kiss on the side of her mouth.
How many times can a heart be broken before it shatters?
He went downstairs.
Doc and Jason sat at the kitchen table, each staring into a glass of whiskey. Jason jumped up when he entered the room. Royce grabbed his arm.
“Where’re you going in such a hurry?”
“Matthew said to come get him when you came down.”
Doc looked at Royce, his eyes searching. “What the hell happened in that room upstairs, son?”
Chapter Thirteen
Royce propped his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands. “Wait ‘til Matthew and Jason get here.” He didn’t want to have to repeat himself. Once would be hard enough.
Doc poured whiskey into a glass and shoved it toward Royce. “Drink it. You look like death.”
Hell, he felt like he was dying. Texanna was telling the truth, and she would be leaving him. He lifted the glass, tossed the liquid down, and pushed the glass toward Doc for a refill. Doc raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him.
The sound of Matthew and Jason’s boots on the stairs echoed through the house. They came through the kitchen door like a gust of fresh air—Matthew so happy and Jason laughing at the grin on his big brother’s face.
Royce stood and clasped his brother in a bear hug. “Congratulations, Papa.”
Matthew’s grin turned sober. “If it hadn’t been for Texanna, we’d be planning a funeral.” He and Jason sat down, and all three men turned to look at Royce.
Doc was the first to speak. “What happened in that room, Royce?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Well, I might know, but it doesn’t make a lick of sense.” He searched Doc’s and his brothers’ eyes. “You remember what Texanna said that first day when she got off the train?”
Jason spoke, “Sure do. She said, ‘My name’s not Pearl. It’s Texanna, and I’m sure as hell not your wife.’”
“That’s right. Later she told me, ‘The only reason I know you is because you were married to my elderly neighbor in 2008.’”
Jason sputtered, “That’s impossible.”
Royce nodded. “That’s what I thought, but I’m beginning to think she’s telling the truth.” He took a deep breath and continued. “She has a history book that was printed in 1962 and swears she’s from the year 2008.”
Jason and Matthew laughed then sobered when they saw the expression on Doc’s face. Doc poured Royce another drink. “Go on. What else has she said?”
Royce’s chest hurt, and he rubbed it trying to soothe the ache. “That my wife Pearl boarded the train in 1876, but when she got off the train in San Antonio, it was 1936.” Royce ran his fingers through his hair. “She rode the train to Waco as often as she could, trying to get back to me and Garrett. In 1940, she gave up and married, but never had any other children.
“The woman upstairs is Texanna Keith—Pearl’s next door neighbor. As a child, Texanna formed an attachment for Pearl and spent many hours in her home learning to paint. It’s uncanny that she also closely resembles Pearl.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Everything she’s told me echoes what was written in the two letters. Supposedly Pearl wrote one in 1940 and the other in 2008.”
No one spoke as they mulled over what he’d said. “Do you believe her?” asked Jason.
“I didn’t at first, but she has a picture of an older woman, and I’d almost swear the blue eyes of the woman are Pearl’s.” He scratched his head. “Doc, Matthew, you saw what happened upstairs. It was a miracle.” He studied their expressions, trying to determine if they believed him.
“Doc, she said doctors can tell the sex of a baby before it’s born and take pictures.” Doc’s eyes hadn’t left Royce’s face. He felt like a bug under a magnifying glass. “Guns in her time can shoot ten bullets in rapid succession after cocking it once. She called it a nine milli something.”
Jason’s face lit. “That’d be something to see.”
“She told me Molly was having twins before we left home today and that one would die.” He grasped Jason’s arms. “Said your great-grandson had your journal that told about it, among other things.”
All three men looked at him as if he’d sprouted horns. Should he tell them about the French underwear? Might as well make his lunacy complete. He cleared his throat. “Do you remember how she was dressed when she got off the train?”
Grinning, Jason nodded and started to whistle. Royce slapped him on the head.
“Ouch! I’m just trying to lighten the mood around here.” Royce cocked an eyebrow, and Jason muttered. “Okay, I’ll shut up.”
“The clothes were bad enough, but you won’t believe what she had on underneath.” Three men leaned forward in anticipation. Royce debated whether to tell them or not. Ah, hell, he’d come this far, he might as well finish. He glared at them. “I better never hear what I’m about to tell you repeated.”
Both of his brothers reached out and squeezed his arm. “You know better, Royce. We’re family, and what goes on in this family stays with us,” said Matthew.
Jason, face sober, nodded in agreement.
Royce turned to Doc.
“You have my word. I took an oath, and I’ve never broken it.”
Royce felt the heat rise to his face, and he groaned. “French underwear. Bloomers no more than a scrap of cloth and couldn’t cover…” He looked up and cleared his throat. “I can’t even describe what she had for a chemise. I was afraid she’d been working in a bordello.
“When I asked her if she had worked in a brothel, she got all puffed up and said, ‘That would be interesting—a virgin working in a whorehouse.”‘
Doc scratched his chin and then studied his hands. Matthew and Jason watched Doc, waiting for him to ask. “Well, was she a virgin?”
“How the hell do I know? She won’t let me touch her.” He finished off his whiskey. “And since I had doubts all along that she was Pearl…”
Matthew cleared his throat and nodded. “Sounds reasonable. She’s had decent upbringing.” Royce was tempted to tell them about the lack of prostitution in the twenty-first century, and what men did when they needed a woman.
Matthew swirled the whiskey around in his glass. “Royce, this doesn’t make sense. If time-travel were possible, why would she want to come back here, knowing she’s not your wife?”
“Her reason for being here is a promise she made to the older woman, her beloved Pearl as she called her though they’re not related. Texanna came to tell me why my wife didn’t return and to protect me and Garrett.”
“Protect you and Garrett from what?” Jason asked.
“To keep me from dying in a bank robbery on August eighth. She has a history book with my picture stating when and how I died.” Pain clutched his heart. “And one of Garrett. The book said he died in 1890 while robbing a train.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Matthew’s face reddened. “Garrett wouldn’t do something like that.”
Royce shrugged. “Supposedly after losing his mother and then his father, he turned bad. Became wild.” His hands clenched around his glass. “After the robbery, when she knows I’m safe, she’ll get on that train and travel to San Antonio and her time.”
“And how does she bring about this time-travel?” asked Doc. “Seems to me if such could happen, folks would be traipsing back and forth all the time.”
Royce looked at his brothers. “You remember back when Pa gave me that piece of turquoise. I was sixteen at the time, and both of you resented the fact that he’d given it to me.”
Matthew spoke up. “Did for the longest. I was the oldest. It should have come to me.” He clapped Royce on the shoulder. “But, I don’t any longer.”
Jason just shrugged. “Didn’t seem like such a big deal to me. Just a piece of pretty stone.”
Royce cleared his throat. “Do you remember how he told me to always protect the turquoise, that it was part of our heritage—the Indian side?”
“Yeah, I remember,” said Matthew as he finished off his whiskey.
“Later he took me aside and told me the stone had magical qualities. He didn’t know what they were, but his father impressed upon him the importance of protecting the stone. It had been passed down from son to son for almost a hundred years.”
“But why you and not one of us? Asked Jason.
“I don’t know, he just said I was the chosen one.”
The room was silent, each man alone with his thoughts. Jason was the first to break the silence. “So, you still haven’t told us how she supposedly time-travels.”
“The turquoise is the key.” He raised a hand to halt their questions. “Don’t ask me how it works, because I don’t understand it. When Pearl tried to come back from 1936, she couldn’t because the turquoise was missing. She’d had to hock the locket.”
Doc’s eyes bored into his. “And you really believe she’s not Pearl, that she’s telling the truth?”
“At first I thought she’d just lost her memory, but things started adding up, and now this—this thing she did to bring that baby back to life. Hell, I’m so confused I don’t know what to believe, but I do know she’s not Pearl.”
My Heart Will Find Yours Page 14