Chapter 1 – The Unexpected
Lily Elizabeth was a total and complete surprise. The Maverick family already consisted of four children, twin girls Maude and Isabelle and sons Beauregard and Breton. To be honest, the last thing on anyone's mind was another baby. There were too many unexpected things happening in our lives all at the same time.
If that sounds confusing to you, don't feel like you're the only one bewildered. I'm their father, and I'm not sure I know what's goin' on half the time. Jess Kincaid and his outlaw gang had ridden into our town, Little Bend, Texas, and decided the man that "owned" Maude's saloon was wealthy and wouldn't mind parting with some of that wealth. There's two problems with those assumptions: I don't own Maude's, I just manage it, and everything that me and my wife possess had been gotten through long hours of hard work. And I particularly objected to having my five-year-old son kidnapped.
Near as her momma and me can figure it, Doralice must have been about three months pregnant with Little Bit before either one of us suspected anything. Normally Doralice can't stand the smell or taste of coffee when she's with child, but that never seemed to bother her this time. She told me she sensed something off, but with the stress of our son's kidnapping and three other small children to take care of, not to mention a business to run and a ranch under construction, another baby just didn't cross our minds.
One morning we were tryin' to get the kids dressed and everyone fed when Doralice looked at me and turned about three shades of green. She ran for the chamber pot and I followed her; our housekeeper and friend Lily Mae took over the baby wrangling duties. I rubbed my wife's back while she left little doubt in our minds as to the cause of the illness. "Oh, my," was all Doralice could say when she was finished.
"How did we miss this one?" I asked her, as if she had an answer.
She shook her head in dismay. "I don't know. I've been drinkin' coffee this whole time and it hasn't bothered me a bit." She paused to catch her breath and stood up straight. "That sure does explain a lot."
"I'll go fetch Simon." Simon Petry was the town doctor and an old friend.
I'd started for the door when she caught my arm and stopped me. "No reason to do that. There'll be plenty of time to see the doctor once we get Beauregard back."
Of course, she was right. We did get Beauregard home safe and sound, and my brother Bret and Sheriff Dave Parker rounded up what was left of the Kincaid gang and hauled them off to jail. I had been wounded during the rescue attempt, and Simon figured it was easier for him to come to the house than the other way around. Once he'd cleaned up the damage done by Kincaid's bullet he turned his medical attention to my wife.
I had the strangest feeling while Simon examined Doralice, and I couldn't shake it for the life of me. When an hour passed and they were still ensconced in the bedroom, I started to worry. When the door finally opened, I saw the look on Simon's face and was sure there was something besides good news coming.
Doralice joined me on the settee and Simon took the chair across from us. I wouldn't say he was worried, exactly, just concerned more than anything. "Alright, Simon, let's hear it," I urged him.
"It appears, and you'll notice I say appears, that Baby Maverick is breech – what they call upside down. He or she wants to come out a different way. That's not unusual, and most babies get turned around in plenty of time to be born."
Doralice looked over at me and smiled. Somehow that didn't make me feel any better. "What else, Simon? I know there's a 'what else.'"
Simon kind of fidgeted, which was rather unusual for him. "I can't be sure when the baby's due. Best guess is sometime in March, but that's just a guess. If it's earlier than that, we could have a small baby."
Small babies don't run in the Maverick family, so I wondered just what it was that Simon wasn't saying. He didn't stay much longer and I waited to see if there was any further warning or something to watch out for. Simon left without another word, so I wondered if he'd imparted any wisdom to Doralice. He hadn't, and I had no idea just what it was that was bothering me.
I had to say, we'd been awful lucky in the baby department. The twins were an unexpected surprise, and were born with no trouble to speak of. Beauregard caused some problems in the gettin' ready to get born department, but once he decided to make his entrance, everything went smoothly. Breton didn't cause any trouble, and I was worried about the way Simon had acted that number five was going to make up for it.
Things slowly settled down, and Doralice didn't seem to have any more trouble. Simon was mildly concerned because the baby hadn't turned, but everything else appeared to be progressing as expected. We went on with our lives, and I did my best to forget about problems that hadn't yet happened. There was too much else going on that needed my immediate attention.