Ellie remembered to open Caleb’s umbrella and protect Nate from the glaring sun. He got fussy and cried, refusing to fall asleep. Flynn took him and held him until they reached the Douglas ranch. J.J. had staked his horse and sat on a stump in the yard.
Tyrone stepped off the wide porch of the low, rough-wood house and shaded his eyes. “She’s in the bedroom.”
“Benjamin,” Caleb said, grabbing his bag. “Stay off your feet as much as you can.”
Ben nodded.
“Flynn, will you keep an eye on Nate here on the porch? Maybe he’ll fall asleep in his basket.”
“I kin watch ’im,” Flynn said. “He likes me.”
Caleb turned to Ellie. “Clella might not be much help if she’s worked herself into a state. I might need you.”
Ellie swallowed her distress at the thought of going in there. Caleb was trusting her to help him.
She nodded and accompanied him into the house. The interior was dim, but roomy and clean. They followed the sound of women’s voices to the bedroom.
Ellie didn’t want to go in. The sound of the woman’s distress was familiar and frightening, but Ellie bolstered her courage and stayed with her husband.
A young woman lay on the bed, her red-gold hair plastered to her forehead and neck, a thin white sheet covering her swollen body.
“Oh, Caleb,” Clella Douglas gasped, seeing him and turning to draw him forward. “She’s getting so tired, and the baby’s not coming!”
“It takes a while to have a baby,” Caleb said in his usual calm tone. “Let’s have a look at her.” He glanced around. “Do you have soap and water ready?”
She shook her head.
“Bring me soap and water and towels. Some more clean sheets, too.”
She hurried to do as he’d requested.
“When did the pains start?” he asked the woman on the bed.
“Last night they came and went, but this morning they got worse. I don’t think I can bear it.” Tears streamed from her eyes.
“Rachel, this is my wife, Ellie.”
“Hi,” she said. She had blue eyes and a thin face, prettier, Ellie was sure, when she hadn’t been crying and laboring.
“I’ve known Rachel since school,” Caleb said, turning back to his patient. “This probably seems a little awkward, does it?”
She shook her head. “I’ve seen you with animals,” Rachel said with a quavering smile. “And you’ve delivered babies before. Haven’t you?”
“I have.”
A pain gripped her then, and she straightened her body, grasping the sheets in her fists. Tendons on her neck stood out and sweat beaded on her forehead.
Ellie found herself holding her breath right along with her. The pain passed and Rachel panted.
Rachel’s mother returned with a basin and soap, and Caleb washed and dried his hands and instructed Ellie and Clella to do the same. Then he sent Clella for more clean water.
“I’m going to check the baby now,” Caleb said gently. “See where he’s at. I want you to relax. Ellie, wet a cloth and wash her face and arms. Make her comfortable.”
Ellie did as instructed, her fingers trembling. Rachel met her eyes and they shared an unspoken message. Ellie gave her an encouraging smile.
Caleb pulled the sheet down and Rachel’s nightgown up and worked his hands over her belly. When a pain came on, he tested the contracting muscles and spoke soothingly.
Ellie held her hand and rubbed her forehead with the damp cloth.
“Now I’m going to check for his head,” Caleb said, pulling the sheet back up over her belly and raising it from the bottom half of her body. He instructed her to raise her knees and look at Ellie.
Ellie gazed into her blue eyes, sharing her uncertainty and confusion. She wondered where this girl’s husband had gone and how she would raise a child without him. Her parents seemed like good people—concerned and loving.
“I think he might need a little more help getting into the right position,” Caleb said at last. “This will go a lot easier if we can get his face to your spine instead of the other way around. Before the next pain, Rachel, I want you to turn over and get on your hands and knees.”
“What?” Clella cried from the doorway.
“That will give him more room to turn,” Caleb went on as though she hadn’t spoken. “Help her, Ellie.”
Ellie did, and they got Rachel on her hands and knees before the next pain. Her arms trembled and Caleb spoke soothingly. Ellie wet the cloth and bathed her face.
“Just a few more pains should do it,” Caleb encouraged.
“I can’t,” the girl cried. “I’m too tired.”
“I know you’re tired,” he replied. “And you can rest all you want after you get this baby out. You’re the only one who can do this.”
“Oh, that John Allen!” she shouted. “If he was here I’d scratch his eyes out!” Another pain came and went, and she bawled. “He let me think he loved me and that we were going to have a wonderful life together. Now look at me! I’m dying and he’s off somewhere doing God knows what!”
“You’re not dying,” Caleb corrected with assurance. “But you have permission to cuss him good if it makes you feel any better.”
“John Allen’s a dirty rotten weasel,” she panted.
“Weasel’s strong,” Caleb said, feeling the shape of her belly. “But I don’t think it’ll hurt his feelings.”
“He’s a low-down good-for-nothing pus bag!” she screamed.
“That’s more like it. Help her out, Ellie.”
Ellie whispered a few curses in Rachel’s ear and Rachel half sobbed, half laughed them out. Clella gasped and clutched her hands to her chest.
Rachel’s next string of curses ended with a deep groan.
“Okay, Rachel, turn back over. Help her, Ellie.”
Ellie helped her maneuver her girth until she was once again on her back.
“Next one you’re gonna hold your breath and push,” he instructed.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t do this.”
“You can do it,” Ellie chimed in. Glad to be there for this frightened girl, she climbed onto the bed and supported Rachel’s upper body with hers. Having a doctor and another woman present had to make this less frightening. “I’m gonna hold you up and you’re going to push.”
Rachel sobbed.
A pain gripped her and Ellie propped Rachel’s head and shoulders. “Push!”
Rachel pushed until her body quivered.
“Easy now,” Caleb said, his attention directed on the emerging baby. “Wait for the next one.”
Rachel and Ellie’s combined sweat stuck their cheeks together.
“Okay,” Caleb said authoritatively. “Push!”
After two more contractions, Caleb held a slick, pink infant in his strong hands. “It’s a boy.”
Chapter Eleven
After checking him over, clearing his mouth and nose and cutting the cord, he handed the squalling infant to Clella. Tears streaking her face, she washed him while Caleb finished with Rachel. “Rachel, honey, he’s beautiful,” she said to her daughter. “He looks like you did when you were born.”
Finally, Rachel got to cradle her newborn son. “Oh, he’s just perfect,” she said in awe.
“That he is.” Caleb dried his hands on a towel, a tender expression on his face. Perhaps he was thinking of his own son’s birth. Ellie couldn’t even imagine how horrible it must have been for him to lose his young, beautiful wife.
This experience had dredged up memories for her, too. She stared at the baby, grief knotting her chest. Rachel could forget the difficulty of giving birth now that she had a precious son to hold and love. The milk that came to her breasts wouldn’t have to pain her and dry up without a child to ever suckle. Her body would heal and she would watch her baby grow. Even without a man, she still had this baby. And the Douglases would help her care for it.
This
was what it was like when a baby was loved and accepted, when a baby had a family.
Ellie didn’t resent Rachel or her baby. She was sorry that John Allen was a low-down, good-for-nothing pus bag, but this family would welcome and raise this new life with love.
The sense of emptiness she’d endured her entire life had been reawakened with Winston’s appearance, then, by comparing Caleb’s family to her needy brothers, by meeting Lucy, and now by this emotionally draining experience. The horror of giving birth alone and in fear of what would happen if her mother got her hands on her baby had never been far from the surface.
What had become of her own child? It became clear to her, as Caleb packed his things and Tyrone came in to meet his grandson, that she would never know if the little girl she’d given away was loved and provided for. And because of that she would never have any peace.
Heart aching, she slipped from the room. J.J. and Benjamin were seated at the end of the porch and Flynn had found a long-haired collie who retrieved sticks. Flynn laughed and tugged one away, throwing it as far as he could. Ears flopping, the dog loped after it.
“Is she okay?” J.J. asked.
“She’s fine. And so’s the baby.”
“Good.” He stood. “I’d better go on home. My ma was sick with a fever this mornin’.”
“Maybe Caleb should come check on her,” Ellie suggested.
He looked at her as if the idea had never occurred to him. “Would he?”
“Of course he will. I’ll let him know.”
J.J. mounted the gray horse, waved to Benjamin and rode off.
Ben glanced up at her. “J.J. says there’s lots of older boys in school on account of all the time they miss during plantin’ and hayin’ and roundup.”
“Are you thinking it won’t be so bad, then?” She sat in a weathered rocker.
“Maybe.”
A few minutes later he added, “J.J. said he’d even help me if I needed some extra studyin’ to catch up.”
“I think that’s a fine idea,” she replied, not wanting to show too much excitement and scare him off the idea. He already knew how she felt about it and how badly she wanted him to go.
“Watch, Ellie!” Flynn got her attention and ran in a circle with the collie nipping at his trouser legs. He laughed and stopped to pat the dog’s head.
Ellie smiled and talked with Benjamin, but her thoughts turned back and tallied the events that had occurred over the past weeks. Those reminders renewed the uncertainty she couldn’t shake. She’d always been sure she’d done the right thing regarding the child she’d brought into this world. Always.
But now her heart needed some proof of that. And that was impossible. Proving it would mean losing everything she’d gained for herself and her brothers. They were finally experiencing the first stability they’d ever known and she couldn’t risk that. She wouldn’t. Not now. Not ever.
Ellie told Caleb about J.J.’s mother, Kate, and after dropping off Ellie and the boys at the house, he left to pay the Jenkinses a call.
Examining the feverish woman, he found blotches on her abdomen. She coughed roughly and covered her lips with a handkerchief.
He didn’t like her symptoms. They could point to any number of things, and none of them was good. But he hadn’t seen enough actual cases himself to be certain. “Have you vomited?” he asked.
She nodded.
Dread wound up his spine, and he looked inside her mouth, finding her tongue rough and red. “Have you been around anyone else with these symptoms?”
“My sister’s children have been sick,” she replied. “Is it bad?”
He didn’t want to scare her—or anyone—but he needed to make a swift diagnosis and do what he could do prevent further spread. “Who else have you been in contact with?”
“My family.”
“Where have you gone?”
“The mercantile. My sister’s. That’s about it.”
“Which mercantile?”
She told him. “What do you think it is?”
“I’m going to have Doc Thornton come see you because he has a lot more experience than I do. Meanwhile, I don’t want anyone else to come into this house. I’m going to examine your son and husband and order them to stay in the barn for the time being.”
She looked at him curiously, but didn’t question his judgment. “All right.”
“You just rest and don’t worry. We will decide on a treatment and get you well just as soon as we can.”
Caleb washed thoroughly before going outside. “J.J., come here.” He examined the boy, finding no signs of illness. “Have you been coughing?”
“No.”
“I want you to go find Doc Thornton and bring him out here. Don’t get close to anyone. Stay as far away from people as you can. You might be contagious.”
“I feel fine, Doc.”
“I know you do. Just do as I say. It’s very important.”
“Okay.”
“Then I want you to go to your mom’s sister’s. Tell her to bring her sick children over here so we can keep them all together.”
“Okay, Doc.” J.J. rode off.
Caleb sponged Kate’s feverish brow while he waited for J.J. to locate the older doctor. He prayed the man hadn’t passed out down at the Side Track and been hauled home the night before. Experience was still the best teacher, and Doc had seen and treated more people in his lifetime than Caleb had ever met. Getting his opinion might make the difference in saving lives.
Doc Thornton smelled of cigars, but he wasn’t staggering or reeking of stale whiskey when he entered the Jenkins house.
He looked Kate over, checking her neck and underarms, then urged Caleb out of the bedroom. Caleb didn’t like the look of dread in his bleary eyes. “Scarlet fever,” he said.
A mixture of dread and relief swept through Caleb. Though many times fatal in adults, scarlet fever caused far fewer casualties than smallpox. And he knew if the complications could be prevented, they stood a much better chance of saving these patients’ lives.
“We have to quarantine everyone who’s been exposed,” Caleb said with certainty, thinking ahead.
“This ain’t diphtheria or typhoid,” the old Doc said with a harrumph.
“It’s contagious, all the same. And you have to wash your hands before and after every patient you touch.”
“Horse dung,” the huge-bellied man replied. “I’ve been doctoring since before you were born, and no wet-behind-the-ears college boy is going to tell me how to treat patients.”
“I know you have, sir,” Caleb replied. “And I have great respect for your experience. That’s why I asked you to come. But with all due respect, medical discoveries over the past decade have enlightened our profession to the spread of disease through germs. When quarantine and cleanliness are incorporated with the antitoxin, the results are far more promising.”
Doc picked his front teeth with his thumbnail and Caleb waited for him to vocalize his thoughts.
When he didn’t speak, Caleb went on. “What do we have to lose? If I’m wrong, all we can say is I was wrong. I’ll concede. But if I’m right, we’ll stop this from spreading and save lives.”
“There ain’t no stopping this once it sweeps a town,” Doc said fatalistically. “I seen whole families die back in the forties.”
“We can prevent that.”
Doc waddled to the screen door.
“If I’m wrong, some of them will die anyway,” Caleb said, hating the words and the fact. “But if I’m right we’ll save some lives. That doesn’t leave me much choice.”
The man stared out across the dusty expanse of yard.
Caleb walked up behind him. “People trust you. They don’t trust me. If you tell them to do it this way, they’ll listen. I’m asking for your help. Please.”
Doc turned and their eyes met. His bleary expression was tired, but quiescent. “I passed my prime a long time ago. My relationship with the bottle ain’t no secret. But you’re right, some o
f the people still trust me. I might not trust you, and I might not like it, but you’re the future of this town….” He turned to glance across the landscape once again, then turned back. “Unless you give up.”
“I won’t give up,” Caleb said, more certain than he’d ever been.
“Didn’t figure you would. Okay.” He walked over to the basin of water on the kitchen table. “We’ll do it your way.”
His cooperation eased Caleb’s mind and gave him new confidence and hope. With Doc’s support, they’d be able to prevent a rampant spread of sickness. “Okay. First we figure out everyone Kate has been around and we quarantine them. We should quarantine anyone J.J. was in contact with, too, since he’s been exposed. Lord, that’s going to be a list.” He thought of the Douglas family he’d just left and that new baby, and a sinking feeling dipped in his chest.
His own family, he realized with a start. J.J. had been with the boys all afternoon. Suddenly all he wanted to do was go to his family and assure himself they were safe. The threat of the disease was real. “The sooner we get this going, the better. I’ll go out to the Douglas ranch myself—then to my family. Stay here and treat Kate’s sister and her kids when they arrive. I’ll be back.”
Caleb hit the door at a run.
Ellie knew the situation was more serious than Caleb let on. He didn’t want to frighten them, but Ellie felt his urgency all the same. They were to stay in the house. Groceries and ice would be delivered and left on the porch.
“Promise me you’ll stay right here,” he said, placing his hand on her arm as they stood on the front porch away from the eyes and ears of the children.
“I promise,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about them. I’ll take care of them.”
“And you won’t let anyone in the house. The threat works two ways. They could make you sick, or you could make them sick.”
“I won’t let anyone in the house.”
He took his hand away.
“I wouldn’t leave you if I didn’t have to.” His warm brown eyes held so much regret and concern.
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