There was a light knock at the bedroom door.

"Mrs? You doing ok?" Cody asked. "I brought you some more water."

Emily moved gingerly to sit up. "Thank you Cody." She said drinking it all down again.

"You feeling ok?" He asked again.

Emily nodded. "I'm just feeling so tired." She said and went back in a lying position.

"Anything I can do for you?"

"No, just leave me be. I think I'd like a nap. Go take one yourself. Sorry we don't have a hammock."

Cody smiled. "It ain't no problem. You've got plenty of breezy trees around. Just holler if you need me."

Emily nodded. "Cody?" She called.

"Yeah?" He said standing at the door.

"Thanks for everything."

Cody smiled. "Sure thing, Mrs."

She rolled on her side, trying any position to ease the pain in her back. The day would soon be over and she never changed out of her night gown into one of Ike's shirts. She really liked wearing Ike's shirts. She fell asleep dreaming of being in his arms in that barn.

—

Buck arrived home with food from Rachel. It was still daylight out. He was happy to have two days off, he was looking forward to some rest. As he rode up to the house he saw Cody on the porch dozing, his book in his hand.

"Hey there." Buck said nudging him.

"Hey Buck. How was the ride?"

"Fine. Quick and uneventful, which I like. How's Emily?"

"She was inside all day, writin' for a bit then, I'd check on her and bring her water. She hasn't eaten much. She said she was tried and has been in bed. No baby so it was pretty uneventful here too." Cody said grinning.

"Thanks for being here, Cody."

"Now that you're here, I'm gonna head home. I'm starving."

"Sure. Be safe." Buck said.

"See ya in two days. I don't know who's coming out then. Take care, Buck."

Buck went inside and put the food on the stove. "Emily, I'm home." He announced as he walked through the door. He walked into her room found her sleeping. He moved some of her hair out of her face and kissed her on the forehead. She felt warm but the day was pretty hot.

Buck waited another hour and went to check on her again. This time nudging her to wake her up. She groggily woke up and mumbled but didn't sit up. "You feeling ok?" Buck asked her.

"My back aches" she moaned.

"I'll rub it for you." He said sitting by the side of the bed. He rubbed her back and she still felt warm. "I'll make you a broth to drink if you feel up to it."

"Mmmmmm" was all the moan he got as a response.

Once he was done, he went back to her. "Take some broth." She leaned into him and she drank some. "Do you think it's the baby coming?"

"I don't know. It's just this constant dull ache in my back. I just feel so exhausted. So tired." She just half layed there and half against Buck. He just sat with her, rubbing her back as she dozed.

By night fall there was no difference in how Emily was feeling. She slept and moaned. Buck sat next to her in the bed and continually rubbed her back. Buck got ready for bed and came back and sat next to Emily. He scooted in next to her and held her. He slept next to her all night and by morning he began to worry because she was burning up with fever.

This was not a symptom that Mrs. Granger had. She knew immediately when her baby was coming. Maybe Emily was simply ill. If anytime one of the riders were ill, Emma or Rachel would order plenty of rest and broth. She hadn't been ill since the time he met her. He got a cool cloth and wiped off her head. He remembered doing the same thing for Ike as he laid in bed after getting shot. He tried not to think of Ike's deathbed right now.

Emily would wake up and she was clear minded enough to say a few things but it was still stressing for Buck. He hardly left her side all day.

By mid day, Emily woke up with a cry reaching toward her back, but then nothing for two hours. Again, this was nothing like Mrs. Granger. By late afternoon, Emily again shouted in pain but this time the pains did come back after several minutes, so Buck figured it was time for the baby to come. He was nervous as well as exited but concerned because her fever never broke. Also, there was no consistency to the birth pains she was feeling. This went on the entire night. The pair were exhausted but no progress as far as any further sign the baby was coming. It began to be grueling as well as terrifying.

Emily would sometimes say a sentence or two but she was so miserable and sporadicly in pain. Then at other times, Emily was clearly delirious. Buck tried to get her to take water or broth, which she did but at very little amounts. This went on well over 24 hours. The only thing increasing was the amount of pain. Buck knew he needed to go get help but he didn't want to leave Emily alone. Nothing was going as he had ever experienced before. Any births even with animals had not gone on this long with no results. He prayed to anyone who would listen for help. He'd hold Emily's hand through the pains, try and alleviate any small amount of pain that he could but he felt helpless. He had made the decision to go get Doc Howard. He lived outside of town, if he hurried Emily wouldn't be alone too long.

"I'm going to go get you some help, ok Emily." He told her frantically. She nodded.

As he ran outside he heard hoof beats approaching. It was Jimmy. Never had he ever been so thankful to see him, anyone would do, but he was sure happy to see that it was Jimmy. He quickly told Jimmy that Emily was having a difficult labor. Jimmy immediately dismounted and offered his horse to ride out to get the doctor. Jimmy headed straight into the house.

Buck never rode so fast to the doctor's home. He called out for him even before he got to the house. There was no one in the house but at the barn there was a horse loaded up with supplies. It was a much younger man with curly hair and glasses as Dr. Howard was older, taller and leaner.

"I need A doctor. Is Doctor Howard here?" Buck asked frantically.

"I'm a doctor. Dr. Howard isn't here." He said hurriedly. He was tightening the straps on his supplies. "I'm here collecting supplies. There was a collapse at one of the large mines in Lancaster. I need to get back as fast as I can."

"My wife is having a baby. She's having a real difficult time. She's feverish and has not progressed any in over a day. Please come help her."

"Didn't you just hear me boy?" The doctor replied sternly, "There could be two dozen men that need saving. I do not have time to go see one Breed Squaw and her bastard baby."

Buck was shocked but he was also desperate and not above begging. "Please, sir, come help her. She doesn't have anyone to help her. Please, I beg you. I have money. Anything you want."

The man got on his horse. "I needed to have left already. With a fever, and no progression there's probably nothing that can be done at this point. I'm a doctor for men with wounds, not birthing babies. Go find your tribe." And with that the unknown doctor rode off.

Buck fell to his knees and would have sat there and cried but that would not help Emily. He needed to get back to her soon. He didn't waste a minute more and raced back to the Family M. He didn't want to lose his new small family.

Buck got back to the house and jumped off the horse. He didn't even tie the animal up. Jimmy was sitting in a chair by Emily's side, holding her hand and stroking her hair. He jumped up when he saw Buck come in.

"Where's the doctor?" Jimmy asked.

"He's not coming. Doc Howard wasn't even there." Buck wondered if he should have insisted Emily see the Doctor before hand, maybe give them some idea what to expect to do, but he foolishly thought he had experience. Buck told Jimmy of the awful exchange.

"She's delirious. She thought I was her daddy. I didn't see no harm in pretending I was. I told her she had to get better to deliver the baby and we could dance around the room all she wanted."

Buck wanted to shout, to cry. He didn't know what to do. Emily called out of Ike. "It's ok Emily." Buck said, going to her side. "It'll be ok." She let out a scream as a pain struck her.

"I'm going to go get the others. Maybe somebody knows something to help." And with that Jimmy ran out of the room.

The pains seemed to at least be coming closer together but still nothing that he knew of before. He sat with her and wiped her head. He didn't know how long it was but he heard hoof beats. Many of them. Soon the small house was filled with the family. Everyone had come, including Rachel and Teaspoon. Everyone except Cody.

Rachel tried to do something to get Emily's fever down. She did what she could to make her comfortable. Finally a very minimal progress came along but Emily was exhausted. She wasn't coherent, she seemed to be mostly delirious.

Buck had no idea of the time passing but soon Cody burst through the door, followed by a woman with a bag. "This is Mille Logan's sister Penny. At the dance, Millie told me she had a sister visitin' who was studying midwifering. I took a chance to go see if she was still there and I brought her here."

Buck could hug Cody, hug the girl, hug everyone, the relief was great. "I am by no means an expert, but have attended several births." Miss Logan said. She asked questions on symptoms and Buck noticed at a few times her face was concerned, but she said nothing. She's nod and ask further questions, touching Emily and examine her, letting her know what she was doing.

Lou sat by Emily's side. She told her of her Mama's saying in pain, "there is a beginning a middle and an end and at the end, Emily you are going to have a beautiful baby to hold."

Miss Logan said, "The fever and deliriousness Is very concerning but even more is the lack of progress in delivering the baby. It has to be in distress. We need to concentrate on getting the baby out or we can lose them both. I'm going to do the best I can."

Then she said to Emily, "I know you're tired, I know your in pain and feverish but I need you to work very hard to get this baby out. I'm going to help you. Do you understand me?"

Emily said, "Yes." And with that Penny Logan gave orders and everyone went to work.