Chapter 2 – Emmett – A Good Son

"Emmett…Emmett…"

My eyes closed, I tried to ignore the whispering voice in my ear. It couldn't possibly be morning yet, it was way too early for someone to be waking me up and sweet Mother of mercy, my HEAD…

"EMMETT!"

With a groan I gave in to the inevitable and opened one bleary eye to see my five year old sister Elizabeth frowning down at me. "Hey, trouble," I mumbled.

"I'm not trouble, YOU are," she said with a giggle, plopping down into the hay beside me. "Why did you sleep out here in the barn?"

I groaned piteously as I sat up, my head thumping painfully in time with my heartbeat. "I got back late."

"Did you go out with your friends and play cards? Did you win?" Elizabeth asked eagerly. I had taught her to play poker and she had become far too interested in my games. To say Ma wasn't pleased with me was an understatement.

"I played." The light and empty feeling of my pockets informed me very clearly what the result had been. "I didn't win though."

Hauling myself to my feet I staggered out of the barn and stuck my whole head in the rain barrel. The cold water felt good, and I stayed submerged for as long as I could hold my breath before throwing my head back to fling the water off my curls.

"Where's Pa?" I asked Elizabeth. "Has he gone to work?"

I couldn't stop my sigh of relief when she nodded. Pa and I had a slight difference of opinion about whether hanging out at the hotel with my buddies til late at night was a good use of time. I was sure he'd have plenty to say to me when he got home, but at least I could put it off for a while.

"Hannah wants you to go and check the snares," Elizabeth informed me. "And I'm going to come with you."

"Okay, just let me go change."

I crossed the yard from the barn to the house. Hannah, my sister, was energetically kneading a loaf of bread in the kitchen as I passed through to the bedroom where I kept my clothes. I hung up my one good shirt and folded up my only pair of trousers without holes, pulling on the patched and threadbare clothes I wore at home instead.

"Can you go out and check your traps?" Hannah asked me anxiously as I went back into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. "Ma's sick again so I have to do the cooking and there isn't any meat. If you can get a couple of rabbits I'll do stew for dinner, and then we can have this bread and eggs for supper."

I glanced over at the closed door of our parents' room and nodded. "I'll take Elizabeth and the boys out with me, so it'll be quiet here at home for Ma. Where's Maggie?"

"She went over to the farm with Pa." Hannah shaped her bread as she talked. She was only fifteen, but our mother had been sick so often over the past year that Hannah had become almost as capable at running the house as Ma was. "Mrs Allison said if Maggie would babysit the twins for the morning she'd pay her."

"She'll earn that money!" I said with a laugh. Maggie was eleven, and the three year old Allison twins would be running rings around her.

Hannah giggled. "Better her than me!" Sobering, she eyed me speculatively and said, "You might want to do something to butter Pa up a little, Em. He was really mad about you going out last night and ranted about you wasting money and doing nothing and…"

I rolled my eyes. "I know, I know… Don't worry Hannah, I'll chop some more wood and fix the pasture fence this afternoon and Pa will be sweet."

Hannah giggled. "There's a cold pie in the pantry if you want it."

"Aww, Hannie you're the best!" I grabbed the pie and stuffed half of it in my mouth as I waved to her and headed outside.

The pie was one of Ma's best. Flaky pastry, chock full of meat and vegetables and thick gravy that squirted out and slopped down the front of me as I bit into it.

"You're a mess," Elizabeth said severely, jumping off the porch after me.

"I sure am," I agreed, swallowing the last of my pie and licking my shirt. "Let's find Will and Stephen and go and check the traps."

The combination of the pie and walking through the forest had me feeling quite revived, my throbbing head reduced to a dull ache. Will was nine, but Stephen was only seven and so our pace was leisurely so he could keep up. Elizabeth walked about five minutes and then, like always, complained that she was tired until I relented and lifted her up to carry her on my shoulders.

The first couple of snares were empty, so after I checked them to make sure they were still set properly we continued on. We were luckier on the last two and got two plump rabbits.

"Yuck," Elizabeth said, as I unhooked the wire and dropped the furry little body beside her.

"You'll like them well enough when Hannah cooks them up into a stew," I murmured. "Here, Will…set this. Let's see how well you remember."

Will eagerly took the snare lines and carefully set the trap. He was good too, I couldn't fault it when he was done. I was glad that he was learning so well; I hadn't had any steady work in a year, but it made me feel better to think that if I did get a job then Will could take over the trapping at least. He didn't do quite as good a job skinning and gutting the rabbits, but it wasn't too bad and Hannah was grateful for the meat when we gave it to her.

It was too late in the morning for it to be an ideal fishing time, but I wanted to keep the kids out of the house for as long as I could so we collected rods and buckets and nets and wandered along the river until we found a good place. Will and Stephen set their lines and then disappeared into the forest, leaving me to keep an eye on the river. Elizabeth sat beside me, playing with the river stones.

"This is my stone family," she announced to me. "This big one is the daddy, and this one is the princess and these ones are the brothers and these ones are the sisters. And all these little ones are the princess' kittens. And this shiny one is the momma, and she's resting."

I smiled at her and took the stones she gave me, but my heart was heavy. Ma being sick and needing to rest in bed for days on end was hard on everyone, but Elizabeth probably missed her the most. She'd only been three when Ma had to take to her bed with the last pregnancy, and most of her care had fallen to Hannah and I. Since Hannah had the house and the cooking to deal with I'd ended up with a little shadow in pinafores and pigtails, and all my buddies knew to tone down the language and watch what they said when she was around.

Ma's pregnancy had ended in a stillbirth and left her close to dying. She had improved, but never regained the health and energy she'd had before and regularly needed periods of bedrest. I didn't know exactly what was wrong with her- Pa said it was "woman's troubles", whatever that was – but the doctor had said that only an operation would solve the problem. An operation that we didn't have anywhere near enough money to pay for.

Forgetting about the fish I was probably scaring away, I absent-mindedly skimmed some of the stones across the water, brooding about money again. At twenty years old I should be earning a living and taking care of myself, not still living at home and mooching off my parents, but there simply weren't any jobs. I'd worked on the Allison's farm with Pa when I first left school, but they'd had to let me go when things got tight. Since then I'd only worked odd jobs here and there, and there wasn't anything promising in sight.

I did what I could around home to make up for not bringing in any money. I chopped endless amounts of wood, did all the digging and heavy work in the garden, kept the house and fences and outbuildings on our little bit of land in good repair, did the laundry, and spent hours hunting, trapping and fishing to add to the table. With Ma being sick so often and Pa working longer hours for less money over at the Allison's farm I knew they appreciated the help and didn't mind me hanging around, but I still felt guilty.

Elizabeth played with her stones and I lay back on the bank with my eyes closed, listening to her talk. I heard Will and Stephen in the forest occasionally, but it was only when their shouts turned to shrieks that I thought about going in search of them.

I didn't need to though. A few moments later they came out from the trees, Will with a long scrape along one leg and Stephen howling with a splinter driven into the palm of his hand.

"Give it here," I said with a sigh, taking his little hand. "Aww, that's deep."

"It hurts," Stephen sobbed.

"I know." I slipped my pocketknife out and flipped up the sharpest blade. "Hold still."

Stephen shrieked. "Emmett, no! No! Not with the knife!"

It only took a second to snick the blade across his skin and pop out the long dark splinter of wood. The blood welled up and I squeezed his hand, wanting to make sure any little bits came out with the blood rather than stay in his hand to fester. "It's done." I gave him a hug and he wiped his face on my shirt and sniffled into my chest.

"You didn't catch anything," Will commented.

"Nope. It'll be just rabbit for dinner today. Help me pack up the gear and we'll go back home." I rumpled Stephen's dark curly hair, the same as mine, and he smiled at me trustingly and wiped his eyes.

Back at the house I split wood until my arms were sore and all the wood baskets inside were filled, and then I went out to the pasture to mend the damaged section of fence. Star saw me coming and neighed, trotting after me and bumping me in the back with her soft nose while I tried to work.

"Hey girl," I murmured. "You've been breaking down your fence, have you? Causing trouble like always…"

I was a fool for my horse, and I knew it. Everyone knew it. I'd won Star in a poker game three years earlier, back when my buddies and I all had work and the stakes were higher. She'd been a skinny, mostly wild yearling and most of the guys teased me that she was no prize, that I'd just been duped into taking a problem off someone's hands.

I didn't care. I'd grown up spending summers on my Grandpa's horse farm until he died, and I didn't think there were any worthless horses as long as you trained them right. So I took the skittish filly and named her Star after the pony Grandad had once taught me to ride on. I took my time with her, feeding her up and breaking her in nice and gentle, and she'd grown into just about the best horse I'd ever known. Gentle enough for Elizabeth to ride and yet spirited enough for me to have fun with, she was beautifully kept and superbly fit. Apart from some scrappy clothes, my pocket knife and the hunting knife from Pa, Star was the only thing I owned, and the only thing that was worth any money.

Once the fence was fixed I scratched Star's ears and then vaulted up onto her back. Using my knees I guided her on a slow amble around the field, eventually stopping when I saw my Pa leaning against the rails in the slanting afternoon sunlight, watching me.

"She's looking good Em," Pa said.

"Thanks." I slid off and slapped her rump affectionately. "Off you go, girl." I watched her walk slowly away, sniffing at the grass, while I waited for Pa to say something.

I was braced for him to start in on me about staying out too late drinking again, so it surprised me when he said quietly, "I've come to ask you for something Emmett. A favour."

"Anything," I answered promptly.

Pa smiled at me sadly. "It's a big thing. It's about the operation your momma needs, and finding the money for it."

"What do you want me to do?" I said eagerly. "Is there some work? You know I'll do anything to help."

"Would you sell the horse?"

"Oh, Pa…" That was all I said, and it was as close to begging as I had ever come.

"I'm sorry Em, I really am. If there was any other way…but there isn't." Pa looked truly regretful. "I went to the bank today and asked if we could extend the mortgage, but Miller had to say no. He felt right bad about it, I could tell, but he didn't have any choice. He answers to the higher-ups, just like everyone else. When I was leaving he came out after me and said he was real sorry that he couldn't help me through the bank, but if I needed money then maybe we could do a deal on the horse. He does a lot of travelling around the district and a horse is easier than the auto. I told him that Star is yours and I couldn't make a deal without you, and he asked me to pass on the offer."

"How much did he offer for her?" I felt numb.

Pa named the price and I shook my head almost before he'd finished talking. "She's worth more than that."

"She probably is, if we could take her to the sales or wait for someone to come along who wants her more than Miller does," Pa agreed. "But the doc says we can't wait on your momma's operation much longer."

"I know," I muttered. "And of course I'll…I'll sell her. It's a fair price." Fair, not generous.

Pa's face was dark with shame. "I'm sorry Em, I know what that horse means to you. I wouldn't ask if there was any other way, and I swear I'll pay you back once things pick up. Right now I don't even know how we'd feed her through the winter. And Miller has enough money that she'll be well taken care of, and he's good to his horses."

I nodded my head. "I know. Star will be in good hands, and Ma will get better after her operation. It's going to work out fine."

I didn't say anything else. I didn't think I could without my voice shaking, and I looked away across the pasture, my eyes burning. I cursed myself for being such a big baby about an animal. Of course I would sell her, heck I would shoot her if that could help my Ma, but goddammit it would be hard to do!

I nearly jumped when I felt Pa's arm around my shoulders. "You're a good man Emmett," he said gruffly. "I know you feel badly about not working, but I don't know what we would have done around here without you over the last year or so. You don't need to do anything more than you already do to prove yourself."

A/N – I won't usually be posting two chapters at once, but since anyone who has read my other things has already read the Rosalie chapter, I thought I'd give you Emmett now too. I hope you enjoyed it.