by C. J. Petit
Kate was filled with such an incredible sense of being a complete woman that she finally knew that John was right. She was going to have their baby! Instead of crying or letting her emotions run wild, she decided to pay John back and began tickling his sides, with the result that she immediately slid from his torso onto the bed, and John took advantage of his greater size and strength and tickled her back. Soon, both were rolling around on the bed laughing and grabbing each other. Kate was able to make a break and ran from the room with John right behind. She was laughing like she hadn’t laughed since she was a little girl as her big husband laughed just as joyfully as he raced behind her, occasionally getting a hand on a prime piece of Kate real estate. He chased her around the chairs three times before she let him catch her, and make use of the thick rug that adorned the center of the floor. Neither cared that the curtains were only partial window coverings as they made passionate love with sunlight all around them. Kate only knew that she was pregnant and now, she could fully enjoy their romps without worrying about anything.
That night as a contented Kate lay on John’s chest, John ran his hand over Kate’s long, sandy hair. He felt guilty for telling Kate what he had because he could be wrong. He did believe that she was worrying so much about conceiving that it was the problem, but he had no reason for his belief.
The problem would be in another week if her monthly arrived. He looked down at his totally placid wife and wished she was carrying his child. He wanted this for her more than life itself.
_____
Six days later, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan stepped off the train with the Flynns and the Walshes. Kate was beaming as Eliza approached her with a newly baptized Mary Catherine Ryan. John stood beside Kate watching his buoyant wife.
Since that first tickling episode, he and Kate had enjoyed the subsequent nights in more relaxed, but still passionate lovemaking. John had seen it in her eyes and was hopeful that she wouldn’t be totally crushed if her monthly arrived.
She told him that morning that it should have started today, but hadn’t. Those few hours convinced her that she was pregnant, and she had never been happier. John was feeling like a heel for even thinking of what he had done. He may have undone all the good that he had done for his Kate since the day he had found her in that sod hovel outside of Plum Creek.
Kate gratefully accepted her niece from Eliza and was ecstatic as she and Eliza walked toward the wagon that would take them to the Flynn home. John let her have her private time with Eliza, knowing that she was most likely going to tell Eliza that she was pregnant.
Kate had told Eliza the joyful news before they had stepped down from the platform and Eliza was a bit confused. She knew that Kate’s monthlies started the third week of the month, and she hadn’t missed her last one, but she didn’t say anything as Kate was so obviously thrilled.
John congratulated Ian and Eliza on their marriage and told everyone the Clyde story which had everyone laughing. The all boarded the wagon and John and Kate waved as they rode back to the farm.
John and Kate returned to their home and John helped Kate with dinner preparation. He couldn’t get over the impact that believing she was pregnant had on her. She was simply effervescent all the time. She rarely had anything but a smile on her face, even when she ate. It was going to be a horribly long week for John.
But it wasn’t going to be that way for Kate. If Slow John hadn’t told her that she had conceived that first night, she’d be on tenterhooks worrying about the possibility of her monthly arriving late as it had in April. But John had driven away all the worry. She had their baby growing in her and she had not one doubt about it.
And so, each day passed agonizingly slowly for John, and just joyful routine for Kate, until the fourth morning. Kate and John were in bed having enjoyed another night of wedded bliss when Kate suddenly woke and shouted, “NO!!”, and ripped the blankets from the bed, peering at the wet area between her legs.
John just about died as she yanked her nightdress up over her waist. Then, she began laughing and crying as she turned to a still horrified John and shouted, “I peed on myself, John!! It’s only pee!!”, then launched herself at John kissing him everywhere as he held onto her, as she still laughed and wept.
When August arrived, John finally could breathe easier. Granted, it was only one missed month, but maybe he had been right after all.
It turned out that he had been right. By the middle of the month, John noticed changes that Kate hadn’t, as he complimented her on her enlarged breasts. The compliment was even more appreciated than his daily barrage of praise for his Kate.
In September, Kate noticed that there was the slightest bulge in her tummy and let John feel it, even knowing where it would lead. As they lay in their customary positions in their bed, Kate finally asked the question that John had been dreading.
“John, how did you know so soon that I had conceived? Neither of my sisters or Martha could believe it when I told them.”
John smiled at her upturned face and replied, “Kate, it was just a feeling. I just believed that if I could make you stop worrying, nature would take its course. I’ll be honest, Kate. It was just a belief that I had. I wanted you to be happy and I knew it was the only thing that I could give you that would ensure that happiness.”
Kate sighed, laid her head on John’s chest, and said softly, “All that matters, Slow John, is that you did give me the one gift that no one else could and for the best of all reasons; you love me. No woman could ask for more.”
John just held his Kate close as they drifted off to sleep.
_____
Unlike most women, Kate suffered no morning sickness, and still rode Stitch daily with John out on their property and to visit the families. Maggie, Martha and Eliza were all pregnant as well, so there would be a crop of new Flynns and one Ryan between April and July of 1868.
John barely had any incidents at all in his job. It was turning colder as the days shortened, and Slow John was surprised that not one more gunfighter had arrived in North Platte. Unknown to him, Clyde had spread it around the gun for hire community that not only was Sheriff John Flynn an extraordinarily good shot, but he was a good man and shouldn’t be bothered. Clyde’s warning and the lack of interest in North Platte kept the trouble away.
The local troublemakers had long since decided that they wanted no part of Slow John. John was finding the job almost boring.
In early November, Ian filed on a homestead adjacent to the Mitchell’s and everyone pitched in to build his house and barn before the winter set in.
By the end of the year, Kate was proudly walking around the house with her protruding belly, and not always wearing clothes. John didn’t mind one bit, as he told her, she was still as beautiful as ever.
The new year rolled in accompanied with a horrible blizzard that kept everyone in their homes for almost a week. For Kate and John, it meant more time together, but John still had to make semblances of rounds, and take care of the horses, having squeezed them all into the barn on the second day of the storm.
Kate celebrated John’s 26th birthday at the end of January, by baking him some molasses cookies. In March, he helped her celebrate her 23rd birthday by setting up one of the bedrooms as a nursery. She looked at the cradle, and all the baby things that John bought, and the other women had made and let her tears tell John how pleased she was.
Kate went into labor early in the morning on April 19th. Mrs. Mitchell was a midwife and was assisted by Eliza as Kate’s labor intensified. John had gone in to see his Kate several times as she lay bathed in sweat on the spare bed in the room next to the new nursery. John marveled as Kate, despite her pain, still smiled at him and let him know how happy she was.
At a little past four o’clock in the afternoon of a mild spring day, Catherine Mary Flynn gave birth to a perfect little girl. For just a brief moment, Kate was disappointed that she hadn’t given John a son, but when she saw her daughter, it was quickly forgotten. The proud papa entered the
room and saw his still smiling wife holding their baby girl and just smiled at the scene.
It was exactly one year since he had seen the shadow of a woman standing behind Thomas Murphy shaking her head, begging him not to leave her. It was a year almost to the hour that he had led the broken, troubled soul from that place.
It had taken time, patience and especially love, but looking at the vision that was his wife, holding her precious gift, he knew at long last that his Kate was complete and would be happy for the rest of their lives.
EPILOGUE
Kate was sitting in the main room feeding little Sarah Ann. They had chosen the name to ensure that she would be herself and not show favorites to any of the many women relatives.
John was still in awe of the incredible creation that he and Kate had formed. Kate never seemed to be tired as many new mothers understandably did. John did all he could to help, even learning to change diapers, although he begged Kate not to let word of that new skill get out.
They, like all parents, enjoyed tickling their baby’s tummy to get her to giggle. Unlike other parents, the tickling held special significance.
Over the next few months, the baby factories went into high gear as Maggie had a son, Martha had a daughter and Eliza had a boy.
With so many infants, it was actually easier for the new mothers to get time off as they would bring their babies to the Flynn or Walsh home and put them in a consolidated nursery and let the grandmothers take over for a few hours.
Kate and John would use the short breaks to ride through the fields and around the countryside.
Sarah was three months old and sleeping in her cradle, as Kate and John enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee and tea.
Kate took her last sip of tea and set her cup down and stood up next to John. She took the cup from his hands and set it down on the table, took his hand and pulled him to his feet, leading him to the bedroom.
When they reached the doorway, she stopped, turned and let her sparkling blue eyes blend into his before asking, “Slow John, could you tickle me a son?”