Chapter Seven

In the weeks following Rob's death, Lou took responsibility for her extended family. Isobel, a woman who had never been afraid to set her husband in his place, now mourned him with such desperation that Lou wondered how she would survive.

Isobel had been married at sixteen and had never spent a single night apart from Rob until he left for the war. Now that he was gone she was uncertain in her thoughts and actions. She sat in her room for days on end, barely speaking to anyone, even her own children. Lou looked after them the best she could but she was soon exhausted from fulfilling the needs of three bereft children and the running of a farm.

The work fell entirely on her shoulders. Isobel still wept bitterly and didn't want to see anyone, and to make matters worse, Corinne Owens had decided it was her time to go as well. The old woman had now lost her husband and her only child who had survived past infancy. She convinced herself it was now time to join them, and she took to her bed and refused to budge. She was waiting for the Lord to take her home, she said. Louise doubted there was any medical basis for her sudden 'illness', but Corinne steadfastly maintained she was dying.

As the sole provider for the household, Lou was kept busy from morning until night — milking cows, feeding chickens, tending to the stock, cooking for the family, caring for Isobel, indulging Corinne in her hypochondria, and trying to console the young children who had lost their father.

During this time she waited for some word from Kid. There had been nothing since his last message on the eve of the battle at Manassas and Lou was growing increasingly anxious. The Confederacy had lost nearly 2000 troops in the fight but she never found his name on any of the casualty lists. They insisted only eight soldiers had been taken captive by the Union forces, and Kid was not among them. Though Lou persisted in writing to her husband during weeks following the Manassas fight, there had been no reply.

Lou reminded herself that during war time the mail wouldn't be reliable, but the idea that she should have heard something from him nagged at her constantly. Despite the long tiring days, she was glad to be kept so busy so she didn't have much time to contemplate the unthinkable. She comforted herself with the notion that his cavalry troop had been reassigned elsewhere as the Union army continued to amass in Washington. Virginia was steeling herself for another invasion, and Kid was probably being kept too busy to write. Lou had no choice but to believe it.

One particularly trying day was after she made a special trip to Williamsburg to check the most recent casualty lists. She returned to the farm relieved not to have found Kid listed among the dead, only to find the house in an uproar. Amelia had been left in charge of her younger brothers but both Robbie and Samuel refused to obey her. They had upset their grieving mother by yelling in the house and Isobel had started weeping anew after she spanked them soundly. She had locked herself in her room and Amelia felt she was to blame. Lou found the girl crying in the barn while her brothers played unconcernedly in the yard.

After straightening out the boys and comforting their innocent sister, Lou unpacked the supplies she had bought in town and turned her attention to Isobel. She was distraught and inconsolable, riddled with guilt over the children but unable to share their grief when it was all she could do to survive her own. Lou listened patiently and soothed her friend's fevered brow, all the while thinking of all the jobs she had to do before nightfall.

Just as Lou had settled Isobel down for a nap, Corinne managed to drag herself from her bed and screamed at Lou for neglecting her for so long. The children had not been in to check on her once in Lou's absence and the old woman's eyes were burning with fury.

"I can't even expect some comfort in my own home!" she cried vehemently. "Even though I am dying."

Louise sighed and apologized, but she was too exhausted to pander to Corinne's every wish. Her back ached from the unfamiliar farm work and she had barely eaten for weeks. Her days were filled with the care of others, and her nights filled with worry for her husband's safety. Corinne's bitter goading did nothing to lighten her dark mood.

"I would have thought you'd be more grateful, missy," she continued with a strength of voice that belied her supposedly feeble state. "After all, I took you into my home, a complete stranger."

Lou did not reply as she warmed some chicken broth for the woman. She did not have the strength to argue.

"A complete stranger, but I did not turn you away. Even though I had no idea of your background or family. Who your people are is anyone's guess." Corinne's voice was growing more spiteful and contemptuous with every breath. "When I think of my poor sister… Why, if she saw the kind of girl her daughter-in-law turned out to be, she'd turn in her grave! I've seen you ride a horse like a man! The shame of it!"

Lou pressed her fingers into her throbbing temples. Corinne was growing more and more erratic as the weeks passed and she had no qualms about insulting Lou right to her face. Isobel was no longer there to come to her defense and it was getting harder for Lou to hold her tongue. It was worse when Corinne started on about Kid. It was then that Lou found it difficult to hold her temper in check and to just ignore the old woman.

"Met you out west, did he?" Corinne was muttering. "Hmph, I can only guess where he came across you. Working in a saloon, were you? I know what loose women like you do for a living out there, away from decent society. He never should have left Virginia… You know, he's probably gone back to Nebraska. That's it, ran away west again just like he did when my poor sister passed. A coward probably, just like his brother. No wonder you haven't had a letter from him. He's gone and left you here, a burden to his family—"

Corinne's words were cut off sharply when Lou slapped her soundly across the face. She had crossed the space between them in the blink of an eye and now stood before Corinne, shaking with fury.

"My husband is no coward," Lou said menacingly through gritted teeth. She pointed a thin finger at Corinne's face. "Don't you ever let me hear you say that about him, understand? I don't care who you are."

Corinne was shocked into silence. Lou withdrew her finger and went back to the chicken broth bubbling over the fire. She heard the old woman pad quietly across the room to the sanctuary of her bedroom, then Lou allowed herself to collapse on a chair down at the kitchen table. Bitter tears escaped her eyes as she regretted her outburst. Usually she would just ignore Corinne and her cruel ways, but calling Kid a coward had been too much. They didn't know if he was dead or alive — she had no right to call him that.

Lou slumped forward, her head resting on her arms as she cried. Her entire body ached and she felt as if she hadn't slept in a year. And she still had to fix dinner and check on Isobel and the children, as well as try and make peace with Corinne. After a few minutes Lou's tears stopped and she pulled herself up wearily from the table. There was no use putting off the inevitable. Retrieving a bowl of the soup, she knocked quietly at Corinne's door.

Pushing open the door, she saw the woman curled up under her covers, the room streaked with the dim light creeping through thick shutters which were firmly latched shut. Lou stepped inside and immediately opened them and the windows too, letting in some much needed light and fresh air.

Corinne was murmuring to herself as she often did, lost in her own dream world. Sometimes Lou would listen to her ramblings and realize Corinne was talking to people from her childhood, replaying conversations with long dead friends and family. She felt immediately guilty for slapping the old woman. Though she did not believe she was actually dying, Lou could not deny that Corinne was old and muddled. Her face was creased with age and misery, her body worn from a lifetime of laboring. Lou felt pity for the woman who had not had an easy life by any means.

Lou sat the broth on Corinne's bedside table and sat down beside her. She was muttering under her breath, probably dreaming of her childhood when life was still a time of innocence and relative ease. Lou did not want to disturb her — Corinne was often happiest after such recollections of better times. But she stayed by her side, and after a while she picked up a hairbrush lying beside the bed and started running it through Corinne's wispy white hair. The rhythmical motion soon lulled Corinne into a peaceful state. Her words stopped and a faint, contented smile appeared on her lips. Lou began to hum a tune as she brushed, drifting off in her own mind.

Her thoughts of Kid were soon interrupted when she felt Corinne's eyes on her. The woman was staring at her, though not unkindly. Lou smiled faintly and continued to brush her hair. Eventually a weathered hand appeared from under the blanket and Corinne patted Lou's knee.

"You're not so bad," she admitted softly. "Annie would have been proud of you."

Lou felt her eyes fill with tears again at the mention of the mother-in-law she had never met. She couldn't stop herself from crying these days. Her fingers brushed over the dark circles under her eyes and she sighed tiredly. It was the first time Lou had reached any sort of reconciliation with the ornery old woman.

"You look tired. You should take better care of yourself," Corinne stated. Lou laughed despite herself.

"I don't have time to take care of myself," she replied.

"Well, you don't have much choice now. Not with the baby."

Lou's smile faded from her lips. "What?"

"The baby. It's obvious you're expecting, child," Corinne said patiently.

"How can you tell?" Lou managed to splutter.

"Five pregnancies, that's how. And three grandchildren… Don't you worry, the mother's often the last one to know with the first baby. But I'd bet my last dollar on it."

Lou was stunned beyond belief. The last thing she had ever considered was a baby. She thought she and Kid would have a family after they settled down somewhere in the west. The idea that she was pregnant now was almost inconceivable. She was at a loss for words.

"My only regret is I won't be around to see the little one born," Corinne continued, lapsing into a familiar moan. "I'm dying, you know."