Calico Christmas at Dry Creek. Janet Tronstad

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      “Ohhh. Can I see it?”

      The man started to turn the bundle toward her.

      “I’ll keep back so you won’t have to worry about it getting sick.”

      The man stopped his turning and looked up at the soldier. “I thought you said she didn’t have the fever.”

      “That’s right,” Sergeant Rawlings said and then looked at Elizabeth. “The doctor said you’d be dead by now if you were going to get it. I was just coming over to tell you that when I ran into Jake here.”

      “We can’t always time our deaths perfectly,” Elizabeth said. It wasn’t up to the doctor when she died. “I’m sure I’ll die soon enough.”

      “But you don’t have the fever now?” the buckskin man asked.

      “No, not yet, Mr…. ah…Mr….”

      “It’s just Jake,” the man said.

      Elizabeth frowned. After he had touched her chin, she should have known he had no manners. If she could be courteous when she was dying, the man could at least be polite when he stood there in vigorous health. He might dress like a heathen, but he didn’t need to act like one. A full name was not too much of an introduction to ask.

      “How long do you plan to wait for this fever?” Jake asked.

      Elizabeth lifted her chin. If he wasn’t going to show her the baby, he could just say so. And he could keep his hands to himself. “I’m sure I don’t know Mr….”

      She didn’t know why she bothered with the man’s manners. She just wanted him to relent and show her the baby. She’d love to see a baby.

      Jake was looking at her impatiently. “If you need the full name to feel better, it’s Jake Hargrove.”

      “Well, Mr. Hargrove.” Elizabeth nodded her head in acknowledgment. There. That had made her feel better. “I’m Elizabeth O’Brian and I plan to be here as long as it takes to die. Did you need this land for something?”

      It wasn’t only the preserves that might interest the men, Elizabeth had realized. They could also want the very ground under her feet. God might not even leave her with that.

      Except for the lone cottonwood tree, the piece of ground where she had her tent didn’t have anything on it, not after she’d pulled up the few scraggly thistles that had managed to survive the scorching heat of this past summer. There were more cottonwood trees farther up the ravine, but she doubted even a jackrabbit wanted the barren piece of land that was now her camp. Although she did know there were men who would lay claim to something just because someone else had their tent pitched on it already. Maybe this buckskin man was one of them.

      “No, no, it’s not that,” Jake said and then he hesitated. “It’s you. Women are scarce out here and it’s hard for a man to find one when he needs her.”

      Elizabeth blinked. “I beg your pardon.”

      Sergeant Rawlings spoke up. “It’s not what you think, ma’am. It’s on account of the baby being hungry is all.”

      “Oh.” Elizabeth breathed out in wonder. She knew in that moment she was going to see the baby.

      Jake hesitated and then finished unwinding the furs from his shoulders.

      The baby was so tiny and its eyes were shut. Elizabeth thought it must be sleeping until the baby opened its mouth and yawned. Her Rose used to yawn like that.

      “There’s no one to feed her,” Jake said. “I asked all around Miles City before I came out to the fort.”

      “Miller thought he might be able to milk one of your oxen,” Sergeant Rawlings said. “But it didn’t seem like it would work.”

      “I should think not,” Elizabeth said as she stepped closer to the baby. She left enough room so that she wouldn’t pass on any sickness just in case. “It’s a little girl then, is it? If I could, I would feed her.”

      The baby started to give a weak wail.

      Elizabeth felt her breasts grow heavy with milk. “Where’s her mother?”

      “Dead,” Jake said flatly and then repeated what the soldier had said, “The doctor says you’re not going to get the fever.” He looked square at her. “You’re her last hope. She’ll die without something to eat.”

      “But still…” Elizabeth knew she would not have let anyone who might come down with the fever touch her Rose. This baby here was frail and reminded her of how Rose had been when she was dying. If Elizabeth closed her eyes, she could still see the image of Rose lying so still after she took her last breath.

      Suddenly, the baby stopped its wail.

      “I can’t…” Elizabeth started to say, but her arms were already reaching out.

      God would have to forgive her if that doctor was wrong, because she couldn’t let this baby die without trying to help it.

      Jake held out the baby. Elizabeth wrapped a corner of her blanket around it and bent down to go back inside her tent. She supposed the two men would just stand outside and wait, but she didn’t care. She had a baby to hold again.

      Once they got started, Elizabeth was surprised at how easily the baby fell into the rhythm of nursing. Even when the baby had finished eating, Elizabeth just sat there for a while with the baby at her breast. The little one’s hair was black and soft. She was an Indian baby, of course, but she looked like Rose all the same.

      The baby didn’t seem as heathen as a warrior would, though.

      She had heard that some of the white men who came to the territories took Indian wives. She wondered briefly if Jake Hargrove had married the baby’s mother in a church ceremony.

      For a moment, Elizabeth was glad Matthew wasn’t here to see her nursing the infant. From the day he had proposed to her, Elizabeth had tried to be the wife Matthew had wanted. He had married beneath himself; there was no question of that. A lady would never nurse another’s baby and Elizabeth felt sure Matthew would refuse to let her do so if he were here, especially because the baby was not white. And probably irregular in its birth, as well.

      The sun was almost setting when Elizabeth opened the tent flap again. Sergeant Rawlings had gone, but the other man was still there sitting on the ground near her wagon. The Indian girl had come closer to the wagon, as well, even though she still sat on top of her pony.

      When she opened the tent flap, Jake stood up and walked over to her.

      “What’s the baby’s name?” Elizabeth asked as she knelt at the door of her tent and lifted the baby up to the man.

      “She doesn’t have a name yet.” Jake took the baby and began to wrap it back into the furs he wore over his shoulder.

      “Oh, surely she has a name,” Elizabeth said as she stood up and hugged her blanket around her. Hoping for a girl, she and Matthew had picked out the name Rose before their baby was even born. СКАЧАТЬ