Thanks so so so so much to williz. You are amazing and are a great inspiration! To everyone else, my faithful readers - dont forget to review!
-Innersmile )
Elizabeth was in the kitchen, setting the saucers and teacups on the silver platter. She looked over them once…then twice, moved the cup to face the left and adjusted the tiny spoon to the other side of the plate. She had never really served tea to anyone before, so she tried to remember what the Maids had done. Eventually satisfied she went into the living room and sat the tray on the coffee table in front of the talking men.
"Thank you dear." Mr. Yates smiled
"My pleasure Bob, really Will and I can't thank you enough. You've been so kind to us."
"I'm Glad to help." Then he turned his attention to Will. "So, what's the next step in your master plan?" he asked half joking.
"Will smiled and took a sip of his warm tea." I believe we should try and start working on the stable. We cant buy any horses without a place for them to stay, besides, winter is coming soon, yesterday I saw one of the first bare trees of the year."
Then Nate chimed in: " If we start now we might get most of it done before it gets cold."
"Oh we can do it before then." Replied Bob. "I'll get my sons to help. They're good strong lads."
So in the next few weeks Will, Nathan, Bob and his two sons Robert and Edward worked diligently. Robert, the elder of the brothers was no doubt his father's son. He was tall and thin, with deep-set eyes and a pleasing countenance. Edward on the other hand was slightly more rounded but with the same height. They were friendly enough to Will and Nate but never as cordial as Bob. One could only expect that their father dragged them into all sorts of odd jobs, even though they were full-grown men with families of their own. In the next two months the barn began to take shape, Will and Robert would go into town every few days to restock supplies. Elizabeth would come out and attempt to help. Eventually Will would ask her to go in. She, of course was reluctant to abide and usually started a quarrel with him, but she knew he was meaning it all in the best sense. In the weeks that that followed the weather changed from mild to cold, then some days it with a bitter chill in the air. The men would sometimes come inside the house and warm up by the fire. On one of the days that Will had gone into town Elizabeth came outside to see how things were going.
"Bob, Edward! Do you need anything to drink?" she asked the two men perched on the roof.
"No thank you dear. We're fine. Oh! And if you're wondering, Will left a few minutes ago for town." Bob strained to say as he kept his balance.
"Right. Thank you." She said as she rubbed her arms to take the chill off.
"Dearest you must be freezing. Here – take this, it'll do you more good." Liz turned around to see a short plump woman coming up behind her. She draped a shawl around the young woman's shoulders as she took a place beside her.
"Oh thank you, how kind." Elizabeth beamed
"I don't think I've met you. I'm Martha Yates, Bob's wife. I've heard such lovely things about you." Her kind blue eyes radiated warmth, even in the winters gray day.
"Very nice to make your acquaintance. I'm Elizabeth Turner. You're family has been such a blessing to us. Your husband and your son's have been so nice as to help."
"Yes, my husband never grows tired of such things." The older woman touched Elizabeth's arm and leaned in a little closer, although with the height difference she had to slightly stand on her toes to reach Elizabeth's shoulder. "I do believe I may be of some assistance to you in the near future too, my dear." She spoke with an audible twinkle in her eye.
"Oh?" Elizabeth questioned, a perplexed look on her delicate features.
"I'm the Midwife! And by the looks of it…" she scanned Liz from top to bottom. " You only have about six months left eh?"
Elizabeth laughed. "That is a talent. How could you tell? With these confounded dresses on its hard to notice any change what so ever."
"Call it a my trained eye." She smirked. "I've been in this business longer than you've been alive… though I've never had any medical training, I've never had one new born be in danger in my care." She slightly boasted.
Elizabeth sat and talked to the woman about almost everything in the town, people, who owns what and who's related to whom. Even the town square, when it was built, how long the Yates' had lived there and why they had come to America. Of course she inquired as to Elizabeth's and Will's past, Liz discretely shrugged it off and gave her a simple answer and said, "Just as you would imagine… we wanted our own life here." Which she consoled herself in thinking that it wasn't all a lie – it just wasn't the whole truth.
Later that night when Will had returned it was almost dark. He said he would come inside as soon as he stacked the wood…
Branches tapping at the window awaked Elizabeth – she had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room waiting for him to come in. She looked around and noticed Will wasn't inside. Liz got up and looked curiously around the kitchen and in the study, she could see out the window that the rain had started to fall, and by the sound of the banging of the leaves and branches, the wind had picked up too. Elizabeth opened the back door; the wind slightly pushed it back, forcing her to brace herself against the frame. She could see Will through the darkness and rain, on the roof with a hammer in hand.
"Will what on earth are you doing?" she yelled loud enough for him to hear.
"The wind – it blew off a few of the boards! I've got to replace them." He replied, still trying to keep his balance on the slippery tiles.
"You're being absurd! Come inside, its raining harder."
He continued hammering away, using the limited light that the fogged covered lantern put off. "I'm almost done."
Just as he had finished putting in the last nail, lightning struck the sky and broke off into a thousand strands across the sky. Thunder soon followed and Will made his way to the ladder on the side of the building. He struggled to hold the lantern in one hand, the hammer in the other and retain his footing on the wet ladder. The rain began to pour even more fiercely than before. Another lightning strike, and the one of the ladders legs sunk into the drenched ground below. It started to wobble and Will let the lantern fall with a crash to the ground. The ladder tipped backwards as Will attempted to keep balanced and try to reach for the Stable's roof.
"Will!" Elizabeth bolted from the doorway.
Just before she could reach him the ladder tilted completely backwards and Will lost his footing, taking the young man and throwing him to the ground with his head hitting the pile of boards he had stacked earlier.
"No! Will are you all right? Can you hear me?" Elizabeth knelt in the rain as she turned him over to face her. She couldn't see his face in the dim light and struggled to take his arm and put it around her shoulders. She lifted him from the ground and dragged him inside the best she could. When they finally reached the door she slammed it shut and again knelt down to check on him.
"Will…Will love can you hear me?"
He moaned, almost inaudible. His head was bleeding from the temple, she observed from brushing away the damp and plastered hair. She looked at him from head to toe and came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to get him out of his wet clothes and tend to the gash…