Kristina just kept on hollering, and Lars just kept on striding all the way back and into the house with her father following. Inside, Lars unceremoniously set her down on the settee in the parlor. Honestly, Lars was a bit worried that her father was going to be furious with him, but he seemed not be as he simply glowered down at his capricious daughter and asked, “Don’t you feel just a bit silly, Kristina?”
At that, she glowered right back at her father and asked, “Are you not even going to shoot him or something, Father? The man picked me up and threw me violently over his shoulder! This is America! It’s the Wild West! Shoot him! He’s disrespected me!”
Lars raised his eyebrows as he watched them, not sure if he was translating this conversation correctly. To her father, he asked, “Did she just ask you to shoot me?”
August nodded. “Yes, I believe she did. Apparently she’s heard too many tales of the ‘Wild West’. I’m so sorry. Please forgive her naiveté.”
Lars turned to Kristina in disgust. “Naiveté? Naiveté? Around here, we wouldn’t call that naiveté, we’d call it spoiled and petulant. It ought to be grounds for a spanking like a child!”
Kristina launched herself off the settee and stood directly in front of Lars where she was nearly as tall as him and all but shouted, “A spanking! Why you . . . You . . . You . . . You heavy handed country buffoon! Don’t you dare speak to me like that!” Turning to her father she said, “Now you have to shoot him, Father!”
Calmly, her father said, “No one’s shooting anyone, Kristina. Even in America, respectable people don’t shoot each other. Now, please stop with the theatrics. We have more important things to be fussing about, like your sister. Go unpack or something constructive and let Mr. Lauritzen and me speak.”
Surprisingly, she glared at Lars for a long pointed moment and then went down the hall; her fancy boots tap tap tapping as she went. Shaking his head, Lars looked at her father, who said, “She’s not like this usually. I think she’s just tired and upset about Brekka. Try to ignore her.”
Still dumbfounded, Lars walked out the front door, saying, “Unbelievable.”
When Lars Lauritzen went out the front door, August Toft couldn’t help but smile, in spite of being concerned about Brekka. He hoped Lije was just like his brother. He liked this Lauritzen boy. For once in her life, he believed Kristina had found someone strong enough to handle her. Maybe he’d stay here in America for a while.
As Brekka came to, at first the only thing she was aware of was the excruciating pain in her belly and back. She quietly gasped against it and became conscious enough to realize she was also freezing and that several other parts of her body hurt desperately as well. With the pain, the reality of her situation came back to her and she froze in the darkness, wondering what had become of White Stone.
She remembered she’d shot him but not killed him, and that he’d been furious and had hit her. She was lying facing the rock wall right now and couldn’t see the fire she heard, just the dancing shadows on the rock wall. She wondered if he’d just left her there, or what had happened to him. Another contraction came and it was all she could do not to cry out. The pain was literally breathtaking. As it subsided, she listened for any sound from behind her. There was only the fire and she wished desperately that she could turn and move into its warmth. She was so cold. Another contraction hit her. And miserable.
She lay there and felt herself silently cry. This was not at all how she’d imagined delivering her child would be. She thought about Lije at home and prayed he was somehow All right, but feared he was dead. Something terrible must have happened for him not to have come back to her. The thought of him dead made the pains so very much worse.
Suddenly, behind her, she heard a quick sound and then White Stone let out a snarl and she heard more seemingly violent movement. Unable to stop herself, she rolled over so she could see what was happening and was both thrilled and horrified to see Lije there with a knife in his hand, White Stone crouched low in front of him, wielding a knife of his own.
Off to the side, she glimpsed Heidi, quietly beckoning to her. Brekka looked back at the men, locked in a horrific death dance, and she stood to run, but a contraction hit her at the same moment and she collapsed back in pain.
In a few moments, when it broke, she struggled to her feet again and staying close to the wall, moved toward Heidi. At her movement, White Stone glanced her way and snarled a savage sound but had to turn back to where Lije lunged at him with his blade and Brekka ran. Or tried to run. Every part of her hurt. Her hips felt like they were no longer firmly attached to her body and there was incredible pressure between her legs.
Another contraction came before she reached Heidi and she slowed, groaning. Heidi ran forward and put an arm around her and supported her as she pulled Brekka further from the men, saying, “Quickly, get behind that rock so Lije can shoot him. He’s worried you’ll be hit.” They went forward and crouched behind a slab of stone that had fallen from the wall above. The contraction made Brekka gasp and she sank to her knees and then to her side and curled into a ball, the pressure between her legs more painful than anything she’d ever imagined.
On the other side of the slab, there was a gunshot and all the blood rushed from her heart. She lunged awkwardly to her feet to peek around the rock, Lije’s name a cry on her lips as she and Heidi both looked to see who had been shot.
White Stone lay motionless on the ground, Lije standing above him, his gun still smoking. Brekka put a hand to her chest in relief, feeling the blood rush into her chest again. Her hand reached out to him of its own volition, but then another contraction hit. She slowly slid back to the ground and rolled to her side in pain, her legs curled in front of her.
Beside her, Heidi took her hand and asked, “Are you okay, Brekka? Where are you hurt? Where is all this blood from?”
Brekka looked down in confusion. She didn’t remember any blood. Then she noticed it was on the tatters of the skirt of her nightgown. The baby. Doctor Newell had told her there would be blood with the baby. She inhaled a deep breath with the pain and felt the urge to tighten all the muscles in her belly and legs as she whispered through clenched teeth, “The baby.”
Heidi seemed to finally realize she was in labor and knelt beside her to pull the ragged skirt aside. She instantly looked at Brekka’s face in concern and said almost reverently, “Oh, dear heavens.”
Unable to breath from the pain, Brekka could only nod her head and keep clenching her legs. The pressure was too much to be able to stand and then, suddenly, it eased. She felt something warm and slippery between her legs. A cry rent the night air and Brekka could finally take in a real breath. As the baby began to scream and move about, Brekka gave a tired smile and felt such emotion wash over her that she began to sob. She had no idea if her child was okay, but it was most definitely alive, even after all she had been through! It was alive!
Heidi reached for the baby and Brekka closed her eyes for a long moment, perfectly happy to let Heidi help it. Heidi probably knew far better than she what to do in this situation anyway. Hearing footsteps, they both looked up as Lije came around the stone and knelt down beside her. He looked awful and was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.
Heidi was holding the baby, trying to wipe it off with the tatters of her petticoat. Brekka looked at it and decided that maybe just then Lije was the second most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
With chattering teeth, she asked Heidi, “Is it okay? Does it seem to be okay? Can it breathe and everything?”
Heidi smiled as the wiggling baby she held continued to scream at the top of its lungs, filling the stormy night air with sound that reverberated off the stone wall behind them. “He seems to be just fine. Cold. And mad. But definitely breathing!”
“He?” She was shivering so hard her jaws hurt.
“He. You have a strong little boy!”
Lije got up and turned to leave and Brekka reached for him. “Lije?”
Tired
ly, he replied, “I’m just going to straighten up a little. You and he need to come over here by this fire or you’re both going to freeze to death.”
Brekka understood what he was saying. He was going to move the Ute’s body so they wouldn’t have to see it. Even tired and hurt and when he’d obviously rather be holding his new baby, he was bent on serving them.
When he came back, Lije helped her over to the fire and even brought her a rock she could recline against, and then went and brought his and Heidi’s horses and packs over as well. Inside their packs were dry clothing and blankets and within a few minutes Brekka started to get warm. She was mostly pain free and even had a squashed cinnamon roll to eat, but she was more tired than she could ever imagine.
Across the fire Heidi was spreading out bedrolls and Indian blankets and Lije was alive and sitting beside her, holding her healthy, strong son with a look of pure joy on his face. It was more than she could have dreamed of an hour ago. She smiled and closed her eyes.
The sounds of several horses approaching woke her and she found that almost all of their riders, as well as Lije’s father had arrived. Still exhausted, Brekka simply closed her eyes again, wondering how soon she would need to feed the baby.
Heidi was the one who woke her sometime later, saying, “Brekka, I’m sorry, but your boy is hungry.”
Nodding, Brekka tried to drag herself awake. The riders were bedded down far down the overhang with only Lije sleeping nearby and Heidi and the baby near their fire. Grateful for the privacy, Brekka tried to figure out how to help the baby suckle and was grateful Heidi was there to help her.
A few minutes later, when he seemed to have figured it out, Heidi smiled gently at her and went back to her blankets and lay back down.
Tired as Brekka was, for a long time after Heidi went to bed, she sat there watching the fire. The night wind occasionally brought the sweet smell of rain or a whiff of wood smoke. The bittersweet memories came of another campfire on a mountain much like this nearly a year ago when she’d first come to know Lije Lauritzen.
It had been a hard time, but she’d gotten Lije out of it and she’d have done it all over again if she had to. Over the last year, he’d become the center of her existence. And tonight, he’d rescued her again. This time, he’d had also rescued her child. She looked down at her precious baby. He was the most handsome baby she’d ever seen. Like his father.
While she was thinking of how grateful she was for them, Lije sat up and looked over at her, a tender light in his eyes when he saw her there suckling their child. He got up and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, built up the fire, then came to sit beside her. Gently, he touched the baby’s soft head with one calloused finger.
At length, he spoke quietly there in the firelight, “I know we spoke of naming him Lars Toft Lauritzen, but I’m wondering if we should add Enok Lars Toft Lauritzen. He’s at peace here in this storm on the night of his birth. The Danish word for ruler of storms seems fitting.”
After a few more minutes, when the baby quit suckling and went to sleep, she carefully handed him over to Lije. She bent to kiss his little head and then kissed her husband. Nodding, she said softly, “Enok would be perfect.”
Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career as a cartographer with the federal government, and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, Meat Lover’s pizza, the out-of-doors, the youth, and hearing her children laugh. She and her extremely attractive husband, their younger children, and their happy dogs, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.
To learn more about Jaclyn, visit www.jaclynmhawkes.com.
Jaclyn also loves to hear from her readers! Email her at [email protected].
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