The Last Bloom

by Roberta C. M. DeCaprio

  “Then, in truth, we can lay claim only to this very moment,” she’d respond.

  “Aye, so use your time wisely, baby girl, as the hours belong to God, not us. And be grateful for each new day you live to see.”

  After the service, folks gathered in the parish hall. Amanda Holmes whipped up an amazing feast in only the few short days she had, spreading a meal of fried chicken, baked beans, homemade biscuits in gravy, and a spinach salad upon the table.

  The next day dawned quiet. It was a beautiful Friday morning, and Cassia had no house calls other than to visit Alma Lee. Today was a milestone in her patient’s recovery, as she, Trudy, Ruth Ann, and Alma Lee planned to do a bit of shopping at the General Store for material. Ruth Ann offered to make them all sundresses to wear at the upcoming annual Strawberry Festival held in town. Summer had arrived with a blazing sun and sweltering days, perfect for new sundresses and straw hats. Besides, a shopping spree always lifted her spirits, and so she planned one for Alma Lee.

  While she waited for P.J. to escort her to the Boyd’s home, she wondered if she was indeed using her time wisely, as her father so many times preached. With the threat of Attwater lurking about, it seemed she wasted a lot of precious time waiting to be accompanied to and from a place, instead of just going about the day as she should. Lately, she’d become disgusted with the whole inconvenience, especially since P.J. tended to be late to his duties. She had the strong feeling he no longer took pride in his job, as the lure of swimming in the creek or hunting down frogs with his friends was so much stronger.

  By the time she made it to the Boyds’ residence it was close to noon.

  “So sorry,” P.J. apologized. “But I couldn’t find my swimming trunks.”

  “Never mind.” She tried to stay calm. “Let’s just get on our way now.”

  Alma Lee, now able to wash and dress herself, paced frantically in the parlor when Cassia entered the home.

  “She didn’t think ya was comin’,” Trudy said.

  Nearing Alma Lee, she took her trembling hands in hers. “I’m sorry to be late, but I’m here now and ready to have a fun day, if you’re still up to it.”

  Alma Lee sucked in a breath. “I’m ready.”

  On the way to the General Store, Cassia kept the conversation light, telling her three companions about the apartment.

  “I reckon it’ll serve a good purpose, bein’ it’s so close to the doc’s office and all,” Trudy figured. “I’d say ya can’t beat a better place than that for ya two to live in, that’s for sure.”

  “No, the location is perfect; let’s just hope the rest of the place suits our needs as well,” she admitted.

  Maggie graciously welcomed them, showing them the new sundress material she had in stock, making suggestions on different patterns that worked best with each fabric, and then serving fresh-baked biscuits and lemonade to replenish their energy. All in all, it was a grand time, and Cassia was so pleased Alma Lee was enjoying her time out, laughing and feeling at ease with so many people milling about.

  But just as they were ready to leave, Murial Dodd and Nora stopped into the store, utilizing the buddy system while Attwater was at large, with Nora wheeling little Cameron Jr. in a baby buggy. Alma Lee’s happy face suddenly became crestfallen when her glance settled on the baby. Slowly she made her way to the side of the baby buggy and gently reached down to caress the child’s small hand.

  “He’s beautiful,” Alma Lee said softly.

  “I thank you kindly, Alma Lee,” Nora answered.

  Then raising her gaze to Nora, Alma Lee added, “Yer truly blessed.”

  Nora swallowed hard, casting a quick glance in Cassia’s direction. As far as anyone in town knew, Alma Lee had lost her baby, and Nora struggled for the appropriate response at a time such as this?

  It was Maggie who came to the rescue. “Saints be praised, ’tis a busy day here, for sure. So, me darlin’ daughter,” she went on, politely escorting Nora and the baby buggy to the back room, “as long as ya thought to stop by, I’ll be thankin’ ya kindly for a helpin’ hand with the paperwork.” Turning to Murial Maggie added, “And I’ve got new material to show you.”

  Trudy picked up on Maggie’s motive and took Alma Lee by the arm, ushering her to the door. “I reckon we’ve takin’ enough of yer time as it is, Maggie, so we’ll be off now as well.”

  On the ride home, Alma Lee remained eerily still, taking to staring ahead with vacant eyes once again. Cassia feared all the hard work everyone, including Alma Lee herself, put in these last few weeks to get her back on track was now for naught. Seeing Nora with her baby immediately crushed Alma Lee’s spirit, brought her loss back to her in volumes. It all had to be so painful to endure.

  Once back at the Boyd homestead, she helped Trudy with dinner. Alma Lee refused to eat, adding to everyone’s concern.

  “She can’t go through this. None of us can go through this again,” Trudy whispered.

  “It was the first time she’s been out and seen a baby since her illness. It all had to be quite a shock and immensely exhausting,” Cassia reasoned. “Let’s not jump to the worst conclusions.”

  “I pray yer right, Nurse.” Trudy gathered the dirty dishes to wash from the table.

  Cassia took Alma Lee up to her room, helped her to undress and bathe, all the while talking as cheerfully as she could muster about the pretty patterns and material purchased earlier. But Alma Lee stayed silent.

  Ruth Ann brought up a cup of tea. “Mama added a pinch of the sleepin’ powder,” she whispered. “Should I get the towel wrapping’?”

  “No, let’s give her a chance to come back to herself,” she said. “But we should at least cover the mattress with the rubber sheet.”

  After only a few sips, Alma Lee refused the tea. Placing the cup aside, she assisted Alma Lee into bed. Then Cassia made her way downstairs to join Trudy and Ruth Ann. The three of them sat on the front porch, waiting for P.J. to arrive and escort her home.

  “That bad man runnin’ around these parts is makin’ everyone’s life all mixed up,” Ruth Ann commented.

  “My mother, who lived thirty years in a tent with no more than a canvas flap for security, is afraid to open a window,” she offered.

  Trudy grunted. “I can’t blame her.”

  “It’s sure gonna be a mighty hot summer for sleepin’, with no air,” Ruth Ann added.

  P.J.’s arrival time came and went, and it appeared to everyone Cassia had been forgotten.

  “I can’t be leavin’ Alma Lee alone, not in the state she’s presently in. And I wouldn’t allow Ruth Ann to be riding ya home, ’cause then she’d be returnin’ by herself. But if ya can wait for John Tyler, whose out on a watch and should be home in an hour or two, he can take ya home. Yer welcome to rest here ’til then,” Trudy offered.

  She sighed, gazing up at the dusky sky. “I think I’m going to head out on my own, before it gets too dark.”

  “No, ya can’t be doin’ that, Nurse,” Trudy protested. “Not with danger lurkin’ about as it is.”

  She sighed again. “On such a nice night as this, there’s probably many people out and about, going to the store for a cool bottle of pop or a stroll. I think if I ride my bicycle out in the open, away from any trees and keep along the busy streets, all will be fine.”

  It was with great reluctance Trudy and Ruth Ann allowed her to leave, the two strongly reminding her of the traveling with a companion rule. But she was fed up with wasting any more time. Attwater hadn’t been seen or heard from in weeks. Perhaps he moved on from the area or was attacked by a wild animal and lay dead somewhere. Either way she was going to take herself home.

  To her relief she did see a few wagons driving by, as well as a couple or two taking an evening stroll. One couple she followed a small distance behind until she neared Amelia Lane and Ethan Drive. Once she spotted her home on the corner, her confidence grew, and she rode faster, away from the others to cross the street, toward her destination. But before she made i
t to the other side, a wagon cut her off. The bicycle swerved to the left, and she lost control. She landed hard, injuring her left ankle. A large man, wearing a red bandana and one gold, hoop earring, pulled the bicycle off her and tossed it aside like it was made of paper. Carefully he helped her to stand. Her ankle throbbed with pain, and she faltered.

  The man caught her and scooped her up into his arms. Then he carried her over to a small, shabby rig. He placed her on the seat, beside a child—a girl about six or seven—with long, fiery red hair. Cassia knew who they were—gypsies. She had been warned as a child to stay away from their camps, whenever a band of them settled for a time at the edge of town. Whether it was a myth or the truth, she obeyed, least she be kidnapped and taken far away from home.

  “Please, ma’am, tell me you are not harmed,” the man said.

  “Just my ankle’s a bit sore, but I am otherwise fine. And I just live across the way.” She gestured to the house on the corner. She started to climb down from the seat, wanting to put as much distance between him as possible. “So, I am sure I can make it home.”

  “Please, I cannot let you go. My wife needs your help,” the man pled. “I know you to be the one who always travels with the doctor and works at the clinic.”

  She felt even more uneasy now, hearing he’d been watching her. “I can show you where to find the doctor, sir?”

  “There’s no time. My wife…she’s havin’ trouble birthin’ our baby.”

  She gestured again to the house a few doors down the street. “As I said, I live there. Let me go inside a moment to fetch my medical bag,” she stalled. If she could get into the house, she would phone Brodie and have him take this call.

  But the gypsy man was too desperate. “You will stay put and come with me now.” He pulled a knife from a leather sheath that hung from his belt.

  “I cannot help your wife without my bag,” she tried again.

  In one fluid motion, he pressed the tip of the knife’s blade against her side. “I said you will come with me now.”

  “Please, ma’am, my mamma needs help. She needs you,” the little girl cried. “Or she will die. I know she will.”

  She glanced at the little girl sitting beside her. Large tears ran down her face. And in her eyes was a mixture of fear and sorrow. Immediately Cassia’s heart went out to the child. How would she feel if her mother needed help, and there was no one she could trust or turn to?

  “Very well,” she agreed. “But your father must put away his knife, now.”

  “Please, Papa, do as she asks,” the little girl begged. “For Mama’s sake.”

  “You will give me no trouble, then?” the man said.

  She turned to look deep into his large, chocolate eyes. They mirrored his young daughter’s fear and worry. “No. No trouble. I will come willingly to help your wife, as it is my duty to help others.”

  He hesitated, arching a bushy brow.

  “You have my word.” She reached down to grip his arm. She felt him trembling. Her gaze locked defiantly with his as she slowly pushed his hand and the blade away from her side. “Now, put away the knife.”

  Chapter Thirty

  It had been one of the longest days yet for Brodie. He helped his father with office calls all morning and then ran the clinic all afternoon. Just as he was about to go home, he was called to go on two emergency house calls. Now, as it neared ten o’clock, he was finally able to sit down and eat the fried chicken and applesauce his mother left for him in the ice box.

  With his parents already tucked in bed, the house was quiet, except for the ticking of the mantel clock. He closed his eyes, relishing the silence. After a long, hard day like this one had been, all a man needed was food, a little piece and quiet, and his lady love warming his bed. Soon, he’d have the latter to enjoy as well. Visions of Cassia naked beneath the quilt, waiting for him, brought a satisfying thrill to his loins. Lately, it was getting harder and harder to keep such scenes from his thoughts. How he would ever make it to October, he didn’t know.

  It was the knock on the back door that brought him from his delicious musings. “Saints preserve us. Don’t tell me my day still isn’t through,” he grumbled to himself. He opened the door to find Gabriel Eagle, Ethan Eagle, and Patrick McCrea standing on the porch. The look in their eyes made his heart race. “What is it?”

  The three men entered the kitchen without invitation. Patrick pulled out a kitchen chair for Brodie to sit upon.

  He shook his head in refusal, terror coursing through every vein in his body. “Tell me what’s happened?”

  “It is my sister,” Gabriel choked out hoarsely. “Cassia is missing.”

  Missing! How could one word strike such horror in a man?

  He did sit…had to sit…the room spun. He swallowed hard, the thundering of his heart echoing in his ears, throughout his body. “What do you mean Cassia’s missing?” he finally managed to say.

  Patrick ran his fingers through his hair. “P.J. was supposed to fetch her from the Boyd’s home, and he forgot.” He fisted his hands by his side, his eyes welling. “He forgot…he forgot,” Patrick repeated, his voice raising. “I just switched that boy’s bottom so hard he won’t be able to sit for a week.”

  “Did anyone go to the Boyd’s residence to see if Cassia was still there?” he probed. “She knows enough not to travel alone, so she could still be…”

  “She’s not there, Brodie,” Gabriel interrupted. “It seems she tired of waiting for P.J., realized he’d forgotten her, and decided to make it home herself. Trudy was concerned for her safety, so when John Tyler got off patrol duty, he was sent to my parents’ house. It was then Cassia was discovered missing.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “That’s when my mother became hysterical, and John Tyler came looking for me. After I sent John Tyler home, since he’d put in a full day on watch duty, I quieted down my mother somewhat. Ethan and I followed the trail we believed Cassia might have taken and came upon her bicycle. It was tossed on the side of the road, just down the street from my parents’ house.” Gabriel paused, clearing his throat from emotion. “So it looks like she almost made it home…almost.”

  “But she didn’t…she didn’t. So why are we sitting around talking about it and not out there looking for her?” Brodie shouted.

  “I’ve got every man I could locate combing the town, and Michael’s been called. He’s bringing the hounds,” Patrick informed him.

  By now Sean and Sadie were awake and entered the kitchen with confused, groggy expressions.

  When Patrick explained the situation, Sadie gasped, her hand going to her throat. “Mother of God,” she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’ll get meself dressed immediately and go to Amanda. The two o’ them shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.”

  “I’m right behind ye, my love,” Sean chimed in.

  “I thank you both,” Gabriel said.

  He made his way to the door. “Let’s go, then. We’ve got to find her. I’ve got to find her before…”

  Patrick interrupted sharply. “Brodie, it would be best if you stayed here.”

  The blood rushed to his head with a roar. “Like hell I will, Patrick!” His eyes blurred with tears, and he quickly wiped them away with the back of a hand. “I know these woods, this area, better than any of you.” His voice broke. “I’ll find her if I have to tear the town apart.”

  “Then you will come with me and Ethan,” Gabriel said, his own face filled with torment. “And the three of us will tear this town apart together.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The ride to the gypsy’s camp seemed like an eternity to Cassia. Her ankle throbbed, as it had begun to swell, and the night air chilled her flesh to the bone. She shivered, wishing she at least had a sweater. But this morning, when she dressed for only a shopping spree, a sweater wasn’t necessary. All she donned was a three-quartered sleeved blue blouse, a blue and white checked skirt, and sandals. She didn’t even carry a satchel, sticking her change purse and
the keys to her house and the clinic, tied together on a leather cord, in a pocket of her skirt. She had no idea she’d be out after dark, having to deal with the wilderness. Besides being fearful for whatever came next, she was in pain and extremely uncomfortable.

  The man drove the wagon in silence out of Eagle’s Landing, over the covered bridge, and into South Eagle’s Landing. They passed the clinic, closed for the weekend, the small hotel, and many resident homes before coming upon a patch of backwoods and turning down a secluded road. The darkness enveloped her heart as did her fear, and she shifted uneasily in her seat.

  About a mile down the dank piece of wasteland, the little girl placed her small hand on Cassia’s arm. “We are almost there,” she whispered. “I am Roxanne, and my father is Niko.”

  The child’s small gesture to comfort her meant a great deal and she forced a smile. “My name is Cassia,” she responded softly.

  “Thank you for coming to help my mama,” the little girl whispered again.

  If Niko heard them talking, he made no sign of it or attempted to stop the conversation, and this encouraged her to a small degree. There might be a good chance he wasn’t a bad man or out to hurt anyone. He was just desperate to get help for his wife.

  It was then she silently prayed. Lord, guide my hands tonight. Let all be well for this woman I go to help, the baby, and for me.

  It wasn’t much longer that Niko halted the wagon in front of three covered wagons parked in a semicircle. A campfire was burning at the center of the arc and a few people, two elderly men and women, a middle-aged man, and two small boys appearing to be about six and four in age sat around the flames.

  When Niko helped her out of the wagon, the pressure she put upon her ankle to stand sent shocking pain shooting through her leg. Her balance faltered, and once again Niko gently and courteously helped her to remain upright.

  He pointed to a wagon situated to her far right. “That is my wagon, where my Ramona is in labor.”