Chapter 36
May 1872
Dr. Harris shook his head as he straightened up and patted Lou on the knee. "You can get dressed."
"Well, doctor?" Kid asked, anxiously. He helped Lou sit up and put an arm around her waist.
Dr. Harris shrugged. "You're right. You can expect a new addition in about six months." Washing and drying his hands, he chuckled, "Mrs. McCloud, you continue to be my most remarkable patient."
"Is it safe, Dr. Harris?" Kid persisted. Lou looked disdainfully at Kid as her stiff fingers fastened the placket of her skirt.
"Safe," she scoffed. "I can handle it. I can't wait," she said, happily.
"I'll want to see her every two weeks, and to keep up the good work with eating and resting, but I wouldn't bet against Louise McCloud on anything at this point," the elderly doctor said. "Congratulations."
Lou threw her arms around Kid happily and they hugged tightly as they left the office.
"Listen ... this calls for a celebration," Kid said. "I think I'd like to buy you something. A ring or ... oh, I don't know. Something pretty."
"I won't say no to that," Lou said, beaming. "Let's head over to Tompkins. I've had my eye on some new hair-combs. My hair is long enough now for them ..."
"Done," Kid said, guiding her up the stairs to the general store.
Entering the store, Lou saw that Abe Simpson was lingering at the counter, looking at some trays of glittering jewelry that Tompkins was displaying in front of him.
"Hello Abe," Lou said affably, going over to the counter and glancing at the tray. "Buying a present for somebody?"
"Yes, ma'am. Maybe you could give me some advice, at that." He held up two sparkling rings. "Which would you pick … for an engagement ring?"
"You're getting engaged?" Kid asked, curiously. Lou perked up as well; she'd heard no gossip about any woman in town and Abe.
"I hope so … if Natalie will have me," Abe said modestly, blushing through his full beard. "I think she might, when I get up the nerve to ask her." His honest, quiet face lit up as he spoke. "I can't thank you two enough for recommending her to us. She's been like an angel of mercy, that's what. Since … since the boys' ma passed on, it's been a struggle just gettin' one foot in front of t'other, gettin' 'em fed and clothed … keepin' the house. One housekeeper after another, and now …" He smiled, broadly. "We're a family, a real home again."
"That's great," Lou said automatically. The mere mention of that woman's name made her stomach churn, but she was trying very hard to forget. It was surprising in some ways that in a couple of months Abe Simpson had taken so strongly to Natalie that he was considering marriage, but then again a widower with five sons would be likely to want to remarry if possible and Natalie was, Lou had to admit, a good housekeeper and cook. If Abe married her, he would save the salary he had to pay her and get a number of benefits too, though a look at Abe's shining face told her that the man must have true feelings for her rival. Lou wondered if Natalie felt the same and had forgotten about Kid and Jed and she caught herself short. She should just be glad that the woman was nowhere near her family and let that be enough. When Abe held up the two rings again, she pointed to the prettier one and he smiled, turning back to the case.
Returning her own eyes to the jewelry display, Lou gaped in astonishment …
"Tompkins!" she roared.
"What on earth … what are you yellin' at, Lou?" the shopkeeper said, irritably.
"That! That's my husband's watch!" she replied in a loud voice, pointing at the object in question in the tray.
"What in … Lou, what are you talking about?" Kid said. "I have my watch, right here." He showed her the watch he had bought seven years ago.
"Not that one. The one Teaspoon gave you."
Kid looked puzzled. "Lou, that one got lost ages ago … I realized it about six months after you … well, after your accident."
"That's the watch, I'm sure of it. You crook, you hand over our property!" Lou stormed.
"What are you accusin' me of?" Tompkins said, indignantly. "I bought that watch off'n a traveling tin-maker, fair 'n' square."
"Got a real bargain on it too, I'm sure. Didn't it occur to you it might be stolen?" Lou demanded.
"No, it didn't," Tompkins said. "Figured it was an old family heirloom and he was hard up, that's all." He tried to gather up his dignity, but Lou shook her head.
A small, determined force, the young woman said through clenched teeth, "I demand my property or I will get the law on you."
Tompkins flung his rag down on the counter and shouted back, "Do yer worst, McCloud! There ain't no way that watch is yours and -"
The door shut quietly and Sam stepped up to the counter. "What seems to be the trouble, here?" the marshal asked, having heard the loud voices from outside the building.
The shopkeeper turned to the marshal. "I'd like to have these two rabble-rousers thrown outta here, Sam."
"What did I do?" Kid protested. Lou elbowed him in the ribs.
"Kid, I'm telling you that's your watch," she insisted. "I'd know it anywhere."
"How would it have ended here that many years after I lost it," Kid said doubtfully, looking at the watch through the glass case. "I'm not sure …"
"Well I am, and I can prove it. Sam, there were three sets of initials in there … Teaspoon's pa, Teaspoon's, and Kid's. Lift up the lid and you'll see."
Sam turned to Tompkins. "Well, seems as if it'll settle it, Bill. Open up the watch."
As Tompkins searched reluctantly for the key to the case, Lou said softly, "It's all like yesterday for me … that awful peddler woman stole it from me."
"What are you talking about, Lou? No peddler woman stole it … It just disappeared sometime after you got sick, that's all. I'd remember if it had been stolen."
Lou shut her eyes, as the memories of that awful day came flooding back. "It was the day you were away at the auction, the day before the bank robbery," she said, remembering. "She was so strong, she … she beat me up and took the watch."
Kid frowned; he remembered now that Lou had been badly bruised when she slipped into her long sleep, and no one could figure why, since she had been felled by a single gunshot.
"Oh, Kid, she said … she said such awful things would happen," Lou gasped as the memory and the horrible woman's words unfolded in her mind. Turning big, frightened eyes on him, she said, "And they all came true … every one! That's why I was asleep all those years, why everything happened as it did! It was the witch's curse!"
"Lou," Kid remonstrated. "You don't really believe that."
Tompkins harrumphed and held out the watch, displaying the three sets of initials.
"That settles that. Hand it over, Bill, and I won't look into the matter of receivin' stolen property."
Tompkins slammed the display case shut and grumbled, "Well, if you're done here, then head out, I got a payin' customer." He turned toward Abe who had been patiently waiting to pay for Natalie's ring.
Lou fastened the watch by its chain to Kid's vest pocket, and smiled broadly. "Looks just about right there," she murmured, hugging him. But she still looked troubled.
"Still worried about curses?" Kid said, bending to look into her eyes as they walked out together to the buggy.
"Yes … I really think she had some kind of hold over me," Lou said, fingering the watch worriedly. "What if - - what if she still can put me back in that … that trance I was in so long?" She settled down on the buggy seat, cuddled against Kid's shoulder.
Kid laughed and kissed her on the head. "You're pretty superstitious all of a sudden! Listen," he said, seeing she was genuinely spooked. "Obviously, the spell is broken … that woman must've lost interest by now … and we have the watch back. I think that means we can hope for only good luck from here on out," he reassured her with a hug as he slapped the reins on the horse's back.
"So, since the doctor says I'm three months along and all, do you think we ought to tell the children?"
Kid looked uncomfortable as he helped Lou down from the buggy. If it were up to him, he would wait until it was unavoidable to break the news, and prolong it as long as possible. He felt worried by Dr. Harris' lack of enthusiasm and the insistence that Lou be seen so frequently during the pregnancy, and if things didn't turn out well, he couldn't help but feel it would be a shame to raise the children's hopes and then disappoint them. Lou was still not completely well, and the pregnancy would be risky at best, he felt sure.
Reading Kid's face, Lou sighed.
"Kid, I know you're worried about me. But we need to tell them something, or they'll worry when they see me going to the doctor all the time. Besides, there's changes starting already and the children are clever enough to notice." Lou's face fell when she saw Kid's silent face still fixed on the ground. "You don't think I can carry the child to term, so you want to wait to tell them," she guessed.
"It's just early, Lou. Jenny lost a baby at three months," he fumbled.
"And she was healthy, that's what you mean. So what chance do I have, you're figuring. But Kid, I had two healthy children already, one nobody thought was possible in the shape I was in then. I won't push you to tell the children now if you don't want to. It can wait. But I have faith … this baby is coming, I can feel it in all my bones."
He squeezed her hands and nodded, trying to smile, and they went around the back of the house to watch their oldest two children playing. Lou put a finger to her lips mischievously and they crept to the side of the house, playfully peeping around to see what the children were doing.
"They've been gone to the doctor a while now," Jed was saying, and Lou noted a touch of worry in his voice. The little boy was sitting on the bottom step, his fingers in his mouth.
"Pa told you to stop biting your fingernails," Isa remarked. "Maybe they stopped in town for lunch." Lou craned her head slightly to see where her daughter's voice was coming from, and chuckled silently at the sight of two lace-up shoes dangling from a tree-limb above Jed's head.
"He's told you not to climb that tree too, you could break your neck. That's a lot worse than biting nails," Jed snapped back.
"Pa worries too much," Isa said. "Just like you. But if you're so worried about me, big brother, I'll come down."
Lou stifled a gasp as Isa swung down, landing with a thud in the pachysandra beside the porch.
Jed didn't look up as Isa brushed herself off and straightened her skirts. Evidently this type of thing was typical for little Isa. The child walked casually up to the step and sat down next to Jed.
"So what's eating you today?" Isa probed. "You seem mopey even for you."
"I don't like that they're gone so long. Something's wrong, something is gonna happen, I just know it. They just ain't saying it."
"Oh, you worry-wart. There's nothing wrong, it's just a checkup, I'm sure."
"Really?" Jed challenged. "First she runs off like a crazy person to Aunt Tessie's on the train. Next thing, Pa goes racin' after her. They've been whispering and talking about something every time they think we're not listening ever since. And now she's goin' to the doctor and they've been gone way too long. Something's up, I don't know what, but something."
"Maybe you're right . . . Ma has been feeling pretty poorly lately, especially morning-time. She couldn't even make breakfast today."
"She ain't eaten breakfast for a week," Jed said, through the fingers in his mouth.
Lou looked surprised. Jed seemed actually a little worried about her. "Kid, you see we have to tell them; it's good news, not bad."
Kid sighed. "Fine, I guess you're right. Let's have a talk with them. Jed! Isa!" he called. They got up from the porch, and Lou and Kid came around the corner fully.
"Let's go in and have some of those cookies Aunt Jenny left for us this morning," Lou suggested. "And let's have a little chat while we're at it."
When the children were seated at the table with their cookies and milk, their eyes wide and expectant as they looked at their parents, Lou smiled and put a hand over Kid's on the table.
"It's good news, children. You are going to have a baby brother or sister come fall."
Isa shrieked with excitement and delight, standing up and knocking the chair to the ground, and Lou laughed to see the child do an impromptu jig of excitement. "It'll be a girl! I know it! And … and I'll push her in the carriage and . . . and dress her . . ." the little girl was so overcome by the news, that she was gasping.
"Calm down, sweetheart," Kid laughed. "It's a long wait, pace yourself with the celebration."
"What are we going to name her?" Isa demanded, plunking herself down on Kid's lap and hugging her mother. "How about Josephine … that's a beautiful name, don't you think?"
Lou grinned, holding Isa's face. "Just like Jo March in the book we're reading, right?" she guessed. Isa nodded enthusiastically. "Well, that sounds like a distinct possibility, and we should put that on the list. What about you, Jed? Any ideas about what to name a boy, maybe?"
Jed was silently staring at his parents and sister, united in their jubilation as they were so often united in everything. They were a group now, a unit, and he was on the outside, pushed out like Natalie was once her place was taken back by his mother. And now a new change was coming, after so many changes so quickly, and Jed hated change even more than most children. He saw what would happen now. A new baby was coming and he would be even more unneeded and out of place in this family.
"I don't know," he whispered, blinking back tears of fear and confusion.
"Well, aren't you going to congratulate Ma and Pa, Jed?" Isa prompted, tapping him slightly on the leg with her outstretched foot.
"Congratulations," he said, getting up and pushing his chair under the table with trembling fingers. "May I be excused? I have some . . . some reading homework I want to get to," he lied. Isa opened her mouth to contradict him and he shot her a silencing look.
"You are excused," Kid said, sighing and seeing that Lou looked a little as if cold water had been thrown on the news. He squeezed Lou's shoulder and she laid her head against his, as Isa hugged both parents in outstretched small arms. Jed paused at the doorway, looking back at the three … no, four of them now in a way. When he lost Natalie he had lost his way and his place here, and he knew that there was no way to fix things and be part of all this again, not after how he acted. Morose, he headed upstairs, where he pulled out his small journal and started writing the feelings and emotions out on paper that were so hard to say out loud, since nobody wanted to hear his inconvenient feelings and they expected him to either just feel the way they wanted him to or be quiet about how he felt. And now there would be less time for him, less of everything, and he poured out his anguish onto the page in his childish scrawl.
To his surprise, a tapping came on his door. He put the journal back in its hiding place and called, "Come in."
His pa and ma, hand in hand, came in and shut the door. "You okay, Jed?" Pa was saying. He pulled out the desk chair and sat on it, as Lou perched on the side of his bed.
"I'm fine," he said stiffly, trying to hide how he really felt.
"Lots of changes around here, huh?" Lou observed.
Jed nodded.
"You won't believe what happened today in town," Lou said, changing the subject suddenly. "I found something I lost when you were just a baby!"
Jed looked up, interested in spite of himself. "What was it?"
His pa held out a silver watch, glittering and shining in the sun. "It's my watch. Well, Grandpa Teaspoon gave it to me. His pa gave it to him . . ." Pa was looking at him with a soft, gentle expression in his face. "And now I want to give it to my oldest son."
Jed was dumbfounded. "But Pa! It's a grown up man's watch ... are you sure?" He reached out for it and held it in his hands, marveling at it.
"Yes, you're my oldest boy and the watch should go to you. You're old enough now to be careful of it, and I trust you with it."
Ma was smiling proudly as Pa opened the watch and showed Jed how to wind it. "That's a Sunday-go-to-meeting watch if I ever saw one, and you'll look mighty fine with it on this Sunday," she beamed.
Jed shook his head, worried. "No, it might get lost or broken, or something bad happen to it," he protested. "I'll keep it here in my room and wind it every day," he resolved, placing it carefully on his desk and admiring it, standing before the desk. He felt so proud that Pa had given him something so important, like he still mattered.
"That's very responsible of you, Jed. Maybe your Pa will make you a little box to keep it in, what do you think, Kid?"
"Sure. We can work on it together . . . Jed's a good whittler too, Ma. And maybe . . . maybe you can help me work on some things for your baby brother and sister, if you wanted to . . . I could use my right hand man's help around here once the new little one comes. I'm mighty glad to have you to count on, believe me," he said, drawing Jed to his side gently.
Jed looked down at the watch, nodding. He hoped it was true, that there would be room for him with his pa now that he would have to share him with not just Isa and Ma but a brand new, cute little baby too. He clutched the watch in his hand and tried to hope for the best.