Chapter 5:

Rae managed to keep herself busy, despite the protests Chris, Molly and Julie put up. It was the only way she could keep her mind off of her growing list of worries- mostly about Spot. Right now, she was attempting to cook dinner; chopping out her frustrations on innocent vegetables.

"What did the carrots ever do to you?" Julie asked with a smile, entering the kitchen with a handful of hand towels.

"Nothing, I guess."

She set the towels aside and took the knife from Rae. "Why don't you do something a little less violent, like cut the dough into biscuits?" she suggested, pointing to the rolled out dough that just sat there.

Rae sighed. "I tried that.   That's what got me angry in the first place."

She laughed. "Then sit and breathe slowly."

Rae made a face. "I have too much energy to sit. Besides I can't get comfortable."

"Then go for a very nice, leisurely walk around the house?"

"I'm trying to hide from Chris and Molly, Julie."

"Trust me, you won't be able to hide from them forever... Chris can be very clever when he WANTS to be." She grinned.

Rae laughed, but it was cut off by a gasp and a moan, as Rae placed her hand on her stomach.

Immediately, Julie looked concerned. "What? What is it?"

Rae shook her head, "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Maybe you should go lie down..."

"I'm fin..." she trailed off as she leaned against the counter, her face twisted in pain.

"Somehow, I think differently. Chris!" Julie grabbed Rae's arm and led her from the kitchen. "Chris!"

"What?" he asked, running down the stairs.

"It's Rae... something's going on. Help me get her up the stairs. Molly!" Julie called.

After a moment Molly rushed in from where she had been hanging clothes on the line outside.  She slipped Rae's arm around her neck, "I'll help her, Chris, go get Doc."

Chris nodded. "Right. Be back soon." And he darted out of the house.

* * *

Doc slipped from the room and quietly closed the door.  He turned around and was startled to find Chris, Molly, Julie, and the twins standing in the hallway waiting on him.

"What's the matter?"

"Is she gonna be alright?"

"I want Momma!"

"What's goin' on?"

Doc held up his hand, silencing them. "She's sleeping.  She's going to be fine as long as she stays in that bed."

"What happened?" Chris asked, a bit impatiently. "What was wrong?"

"She overworked herself and sent herself into premature labor."

Chris and Julie looked at one another. "Um... what's that mean?" Julie finally asked.

"It means that she almost had her baby a month before that baby was ready to be born."

"Oh...." The three older children frowned at the thought.

Andy and Ann on the other hand, tugged on the doctor's coat. "You promise Momma's gonna be okay?" Andy asked anxiously.

"She's going to be fine as long as you and Miss Ann make her get lots of sleep."

Glancing at one another, they nodded and looked at the doctor again. "Yessir."

Doc reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two small pieces of candy. "Take these down to the kitchen and eat them."

They looked at the candies like most people might look at a bag full of money and took them cautiously. "Thank you!" they exclaimed simultaneously, running off down the hall.

"Is it really bad Doc?" Molly asked.

"It will be if she doesn't stay off her feet until the baby is born."

Chris, Julie and Molly exchanged glances. That would be difficult, if she kept being as stubborn as she had been.

Doc sighed. "It would also help her a lot to have her husband here."

Chris nodded. "We'll try to get him back here as soon as we can..."

Doc nodded.  "Come get me if you need me."

"Yes sir, we will."

After he left Julie sank wearily against the wall. "I think we should write to Brooklyn and see if Spot is there."

Molly frowned. "But what if the townspeople come back for him? I mean... they can hold a grudge for a really long time, you know..."

"We can at least let him know what is going on."

"But what would stop him from rushing back?"

Julie thought about this for a moment and sighed. "I guess you're right."

 "I really don't care what either of you say. If I were Spot, I'd want to know... He'd be angry if we didn't tell him... I'm writing him." Chris interrupted.

"Wait, Chris.  Write him, but don't tell him everything.  Just that Doc told Rae to stay in bed."

"He'll want to know why the Doc was here in the first place."

"Then tell him about Andy's broken arm!"

He gave her a long hard look before sighing and nodding. "Fine."

"Would you like me to write the letter?"

Chris sighed again. "Sure, sure..." Turning, he walked off down the hall, looking none too happy that he had been talked out of writing the letter the way HE thought it should have been written.

"Your brother doesn't like to lose to you, does he?" Molly commented with a slight grin.

"He just doesn't like to be wrong," Julie said.

"Typical men," Molly teased.

Julie sighed and pushed herself away from the wall. "I better get that letter written."

* * *

"Spot!" Hades yelled loudly, walking into the lodging house's parlor, brandishing a dingy envelope. "Letter for you!"

Spot, who had fallen asleep on the couch, despite the noise in the room, sat up suddenly. "What?"

"Letter. For you." She dropped the letter in his lap.

"Thanks," he said around a yawn.

"Mm, no problem." She hovered over his shoulder. "Well.... open it..."

He cracked the seal and glared up at him, "Privacy?"

"Conlon, I thought you knew that nothing was private in Brooklyn," Hades said, but she backed off when he gave her 'The Look'.

He pulled the letter out of the envelope and leaned back on the couch again, propping his feet up. After a few moments, Spot set down the letter with a frown.

"So?" Hades began, approaching him again. "What's it say?"

"Andy broke his arm and the doctor has ordered Rae to bed until the baby comes."

"Wonder why a doctor would do that? And it sounds like that Andy kid is becoming a spittin' image of you!" She clapped Spot's shoulder.

"Julie didn't say."

After a moment, she shrugged. "Well, I guess they would have told you if it was anything serious right?"

"Yeah. I can't help but worry though."

"Eh, then go back and visit! You've been here too long!" she teased.

"Those townspeople are probably waiting for me at the train station with their guns and ropes."

"It's been months... do you REALLY think they'd wait for you THAT long?"

Spot sighed. "I don't know."

"Well... I don't know what to tell you, Conlon..." Hades shrugged.

"They would have told me if it was really bad, right?"

"Yeah... I guess so." Hades shrugged again.

"Then I guess I'll wait and see if things get worse."

"Isn't Rae due to have her baby sometime... soon?"

"Around Christmas, but that's not for another month."

"Mm, wow, a Christmas baby... not like you two have enough kids as it is..." She grinned when Spot gave her a slightly agitated look.

"Unless you have something to say to make me feel better, shut it and leave."

"You know we love you Conlon." She patted his shoulder and walked out. "Oh," she called back, "and I'm thinking of raising your lodging! Sweet dreams!"

"If you do that I'll go home and never come back, Hades!"

"Good! My plans exactly!" She poked her head back into the room and grinned. "Besides, I'M not your wife."

With a growl he shoved himself off the couch and stormed her direction.

"I'm just saying maybe you should go home and see your family again. I know if Mush left me like that, I'd be worried sick."

"I told you, I can't go home without putting them in danger."

"I think worrying is just as dangerous as muttonheads with guns... but maybe that's just me..."

He threw his hands in the air. "I'm not going to argue with you anymore.  I'm doing this for them."

"Are you sure?" she asked before walking away again.

"Why do you think I haven't been sleeping nights! I'm worried sick about them, but I can't do anything for them except stay away!"

"You don't know that. You haven't been back to even find out!"

"I know what is best for my family!"

"No, Spot. I think you only THINK you do."

With that he turned and stormed up the stairs and slamming the door to his room shut.

"You know I'm right!" Hades hollered up the stairs before heading out the door, shaking her head. "Sometimes he's so thick headed."

* * *

Rae sat up in the bed and put her socked feet on the floor, while reaching for her robe.  She had been stuck in this bed for over a week and she felt fine.   She stood to her feet and took two steps before the door opened and Molly entered with Kendra in her arms.

Right away, Molly set Kendra down to let her crawl around a bit, grabbed Rae's shoulders, and guided her back to the bed. "No. Back to bed you go. Doc said you could lose your baby if you don't stay in bed."

"I'm sick and tired of sitting in that bed all day," Rae protested.

"Do you want to lose this baby?" Molly snapped in a very stern manner.

"No!"

"Then back in bed, missy!"

Rae sighed and crawled back into the bed. "I'm bored, Molly. If I stay in this bed any longer I'm going to loose my mind."

"Read, do a word puzzle, write Spot, sew some baby clothes," she rattled off, pulling the blankets over Rae as if she were the adult instead of a young girl.

"Put Kendra up here. Maybe she can keep me company for a while."

Crouching down, she picked up the little girl and set her on Rae's bed, where she proceeded to crawl around again.

"I came up to find out if you were hungry," Molly said.

"Starving" was her reply as she watched with a little smile as Kendra crawled up to her and used Rae's shoulder to help her stand.

"Then I'll be right back with some food. And no getting out of bed."

She gave a sigh and nodded. "I won't, I won't."

"Good!" Molly said, jumping to her feet and running from the room.

Rae rested her head on Kendra's as the girl grasped her ears and looked back at her seriously. "Sometimes they are worse than Spot. No, I take that back- MOST of the time they are." She smiled a little as Kendra gave her input in little utterances that were supposed to resemble words in baby jargon.

Rae sighed. "He is even more stubborn and ornery when he's sick.  If he were here, he might just side with me."

Cough, cough.

Rae turned to see Spot staggering down the streets of Brooklyn, looking a bit green, and trying to sell his newspapers. "Spot Conlon! I thought I told you to stay in bed! You're going to get even sicker!"

He gave her a smirk. "Hey, it gets more papes sold." He held up his load of newspapers, showing off that he had already sold more than half.

She took the papers from him. "Go. Back. To. Bed."

He grabbed the papers back from her. "I can't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of this little cold!"

"When you drop dead, I will laugh and tell everyone that I told you to go back to bed."

"And then I'll come back to haunt you and say 'look, I made enough to feed someone for a week' and -I- will laugh. Besides, it's not THAT bad." He coughed again.

"That cough is horrible."

"It's just a cough, I've had them before. Will you stop worrying?"

She pulled her hole-filled glove off her hand and placed it on his forehead. "You've got a fever."

He sighed and shifted his weight. "You can't tell just by a touch... For all you know, it could be from me going up and down the streets selling my papes."

"Your face is pale. That cough is getting worse. I bet it hurts for you to talk, right?"

"No," he muttered. To tell the truth, it hurt more to keep his head up and his eyes open. And his papers were heavier than they should have been.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that lie again."

"It's not a lie... don't you have your OWN papers to sell?" he asked grouchily.

"Yes, I do, but I'm not the one KILLING MYSELF to sell them."

"I'm not killing myself!"

She sighed. "Good. Since you aren't killing yourself, how about selling my papers so that I can take a nap, since you kept me up half the night with that cough?"

"Fine. I will!" he retorted, grouchier than ever, which was unnatural, even for Spot Conlon. She handed him her papers and walked around the corner, but instead of going to the lodging house, she stood and watched. With extreme exertion, Spot hefted the newspapers over his shoulder and staggered down the street. Rae followed him for a couple of blocks before he bent over coughing, dropping the papers in the muddy street. He muttered in an agitated, incoherent way, plopping to his knees to try and dig the papers out of the muck, but he suddenly started seeing double and couldn't grasp the papers very well.

Rae walked over to him and held out her hand. "Forget the papers. Let's get you back to the lodging house and back in bed."

"I'm... I'm fine!" he argued, shooing her hand away, clawing at the street just to the left of his papers. "Why won't these stupid things stay still?!"

She plopped to her knees next to him and picked up the papers and placing one of them in his hands.  "You aren't fine Spot."

"Yes I am," he almost whimpered.

She reached out and jerked his head up roughly. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked holding up two fingers.

"Four! See I told you I'm fine."

"No you're not. Unless I don't know my numbers, one and one make TWO. Now come ON!" Grabbing his arm, she hauled him to his feet. "I'll drag you if I have to," she threatened, when he moved to protest.

"Fine! But I can walk on my own. I have an image to protect after all."

"Fine. But if you fall, what will that say about your image? Either way, it's going to get a bruising."

"If you let me fall, I'll soak ya!"

"Not like this, you won't. You'll end up hitting a tree or something."

He grabbed her arm. "Just get me back to the lodging house, without making me look like a total idiot," he muttered in her ear.

"I think you've already done a fine job of that yourself, Mr. Conlon," she retorted.

"What was that Rae?" Molly asked as she entered the room, a tray of food in her hands.

Rae blinked, coming out of her daze. "What was what?"

"You were murmuring something when I walked in."

"Oh... I was just reminiscing."

"Well you reminisced Kendra right to sleep," Molly said, motioning to the sleeping baby.

Rae glanced down and laughed a little. "I guess I did."

"If you'll take the tray I'll move her back to her bed."

"Leave her, she's fine."

"You sure? She kicks."

"It can't be any worse than this baby kicking," Rae said, wincing as the baby kicked her.

Molly smiled. "I know how that is." She frowned a bit and then set the tray across Rae's lap. "Chris made the biscuits so... they're a little... hard..." She took a biscuit and banged it against the tray. The little lump of bread didn't break. "I suggest dipping it in the stew to soften it up a bit."

Rae laughed slightly.  "At least they look better than my first batch of biscuits."

Molly grinned.

Rae smiled at Molly. "Go eat. You can come back for the tray later."

"Alright. I'll be back for it when I'm done."

Rae stirred the stew as Molly left the room and allowed herself to be pulled on another trip down memory lane.

Rae kicked open the door to the spare room and entered the room with a tray of soup in her hands. As she expected, Spot wasn't in bed, but sitting outside on the fire escape. "Conlon!" she yelled, " get back in here!"

"If you won't let me sell my papes, the least you could do is let me sit outside. I'm about to go crazy in there."

"Get back in here before I am forced to drag you in and tie you down so you can't move!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming, but know that I will get you back for this torture."

"It's called getting better. You're sick as a dog- no pun intended."When he didn't retort, but instead dropped onto the bed, she knew that something was wrong. And so, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sick," he shot at her. "I'm dizzy, seeing double, my head hurts, I can barely talk, this blasted cough is driving me and everyone else crazy and you ask what's wrong."

She glared at him. "Well, I had to ask when you didn't argue with my dog remark."

"I'm keeping count Kelly. I will get you for every insult."

"Now THAT sounds more like you."

He caught sight of the tray of food. "Take it back, I'm not hungry."

"Eat, it will help you get better." She set the tray on his lap.

"My throat hurts to bad."

She picked up the spoon and dipped it in the broth, carefully lifting it to his lips. "Eat!"

He pursed his lips.

"I know where you're ticklish... I will not hold back if you don't open your mouth."

"Spot Conlon is not..." he trailed off when she slipped the spoon into his mouth.

"And you really should stop talking about yourself in third person."

"You tricked me! I'll get you for that."

"So I've heard."

"I will, I-"

She shut him up by spooning some more broth into his mouth. "Keep talking, Conlon. I may actually get you to eat this whole bowl."

With his lip twitching a bit, he took the spoon from her. "I can feed myself," he grumbled a bit, beginning to eat.

She sat back and watched him, "I was beginning to wonder."

"That's another on your running tally, Kelly."

She shook her head, "You don't scare me Conlon."

"I know- I have to work on that."

"Good luck. Now shut up and finish."

"Yes SIR!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and then sat in silence until he finished. "Now sleep!" she ordered taking the tray with the empty bowl from him.

"I swear, I don't know whether to feel sorry for or jealous of the guy who'll end up marrying you."

"I just hope he's nothing like you!"

Rae laughed a little. What an odd way for things to turn out. Spot was the last person in the world she had planned on marrying....yet she did. And she was quite happy in their marriage, another thing she hadn't expected. Life had taken another unexpected twist when she found out that she was pregnant, after they had been told that they wouldn't have children.

Picking up a biscuit she took a bit and winced when her teeth didn't even go through it. She stuck it end down in the stew to let it, hopefully, soak up some of the juice. She bit off a corner. It wasn't half bad this way. She would have to congratulate Chris on his attempts. This biscuit had the taste a biscuit was supposed to have- sort of, at least. Oh well...if Spot got home before the baby was born, he could give Chris a hand with the cooking.

'He'd better be home,' she thought with a frown. Kendra rolled over and snuggled up closer to Rae.  Rae reached down and stroked the girl's hair. "He WILL be home."