"Alice!" Gideon yelled, urgency in his voice. "Alice! Go find Millie! There was a girl up in the hills!"
He set the strange woman down on the kitchen table for lack of a better idea. It was warm in here-warmer than anywhere else, except maybe laying her between two cows. He yelled again for his wife as he stripped off his own gloves to chafe her hands.
"What on earth-"
"Alice, she was up there on Lookout Ridge. I thought she was asleep in the saddle, but she won't wake up. She's real feverish. Run, now, and fetch Millie in."
Alice did as bade now-catching her calico skirts up and rushing out into the cold without even a jacket. Millie was in the barn, collecting eggs. She ran past the horses and cattle stomping in the snow without seeing them.
Before she caught sight of her sister-in-law she saw three of her brothers-in-law coming down from where their little road branched. "Oh! Adam! Benjamin! Frank! You've got to come quick! Gideon found somebody 'bout froze to death up in the mountains!"
Millie heard Alice's voice and the panic in it and came running as well. She whipped off her own shawl to wrap around the slender woman. "What is all this now?"
The boys had started in to run for the house and the women joined them.
"Good stock," Frank was saying as he took hold of the lead horse's bridle. The pack horse and three cows followed along behind.
The two others joined their brother in the main house.
Bigger and emptier at once, it now housed Adam & Millie, Gideon & Alice, and Ben-plus their broods. One dorm-style room for girls, one for boys. "Boil water, quick," Millie called. "We need to get her out of those wet things. Where on earth did you find her?" Millie asked Gabe.
"I was checking traps and saw the wagon. It was near to covered up to the wheels, so it's been there a while. It looks like maybe she broke an axel or something and just decided to ride out. I could tell where she'd took off to and tracked her down. I didn't know then, but she was just kind of slumped over in the saddle when I caught up to her. She's wearing good clothes-boots and jacket and gloves and had wrapped up in a quilt and had tied them blankets around her animals and all. I dumped the packs and the load of hay from their backs so that we could move quicker. I guess maybe we should hook up the sled and see what's what-no sense letting her goods rot up there or get eaten up by some critter."
Adam had taken his little brother's coat and hat and brought him a glass of whiskey. He wasn't big on the drink himself, but it sure warmed when you needed it.
"You done fine; you done just right," he told the excitable younger man.
"Lands sake, Adam, I think she's carrying," his wife called to him.
"Carrying what?"
"A baby, fool," Alice told them, bopping Adam on the head.
"How far along is she?" he asked, concerned.
Millie shook her head. "I can't tell that for sure. I just know she's got a good sized bump and I can feel the baby move. I do hope everything's all right."
Ben lifted the back of his hand to the stranger's brow. "She's right near to burning up, Millie. Is that why she don't wake up?"
"I just don't know what to do," Millie confided. "I'm afeared to try to bathe the fever away. What if she takes a chill? And what if taking cold was what brought on the fever anyway?"
The woman tossed her head and moaned.
"Benjamin, you mind bunking in with the boys for a few days?" Adam asked his younger brother. "I say the best thing to do is build up the fire in one of the smaller rooms and keep watch over her. That's the best I can come up with."
Ben nodded and moved to pick up the woman, now clad in just a long-sleeved undergarment, thick woolen stockings, and yards and yards of petticoats. "Millie, you run up and turn down the sheets. Alice, fetch the bed warmer in and a nice, warm nightgown for her. Gideon, you set to brewing some of that noxious root tea that ma used to make when we took colds in the chest. If we can keep some of that near her somebody can spoon a couple drops in her mouth when she comes to. Adam, you reckon we got enough blankets here?"
Frank strode in, curious. "I'll ride over to our place and fetch some. Eli should be bringing the youngest critters home here soon, anyway. I can send 'em home with him."
Adam nodded. "It's getting to be too late now to go much distance. How far is it to where you dropped her packs and the feed?" he asked Gideon. The younger man was peeling the inside of a waxy bark with his knife.
"Not too far, I should think. 'Bout an hour's ride with her in front of me and the stock behind. Less, I guess if we was the ones going."
"Could you find it again?"
"Today, sure. If it snows hard again tonight, maybe not. I think I can definitely find the wagon where it was. It was just off the path."
Ben stomped down the steps from his dormer room. He shook his head when he looked at Adam. "Now, Gideon, you done the right thing in bringing her home," he began. "But I don't want you to get your hopes up or nothing. She looks to be bad off and with a baby on the way things may not go well. I just want you to understand-" he put his hand on the youngest brother's shoulder. "You did what you could and thought fast and no matter what we're proud of you."
"I guess even more we need to see if we can't get her things, see if there's an address or name we can send to," Frank said quietly. "If she's got people somebody'll be worried for her. And if she's married-best we can let somebody know something, is all."
Adam nodded. Gideon did so as well, although reluctantly.