Chapter 11
The Consequences of a Storm
Sorry to have taken so long to get this little chapter out, but the flu bug got me again this year. I'm feeling better and ready to rock and roll. I hope that this will hold you for at least a couple of days.
KR
As the early morning sun crept into the small cabin, Kitty slowly sat up from her bed on the floor. Kathleen was sound asleep, and would continue to do so for at least an hour. Getting to her feet, she gently lifted the child into her arms. She noticed that Nekuma was nowhere to be found. He must have slipped out for the morning chores. Walking over to Rachel, she saw that she was awake, and paler than she had been the day before. "Why don't you hold onto your daughter while I make us some tea." She told her.
"Tea sounds very good. Thank you." She said taking the child in her arms. "Nahche waheyna, jious." Rachel said as she cradled her baby against her breast. She looked up to see Kitty watching her. "It means, Keeper of my heart." She said smiling at Kitty.
Kitty turned back to the stove and took the teapot from it. She then went over to the covered bucket on the counter by the sink and used the ladle to fill the pot with water.
Returning to the stove, she carefully lifted the cover on the fire and added some kindling to increase the heat. Once she had the kettle on, she went back over to the sink and took a cup and dipped some cold water out for Rachel. Looking up, she saw Nekuma feeding the horses and tending to his chores.
Turning around, she headed over to Rachel. "Rachel, I want to know what Nekuma plans on doing with me?" She said leaning over and helping Rachel sit up to take a sip of water.
"What do you mean, Kitty?" She said as she sipped the water than laid back into her pillows.
"Is he planning on taking me out of the territory, or maybe killing me to keep me from putting him in jail?" She said looking down at Rachel.
"Nekuma only wanted your help to get the baby strong and ready for travel. He will not harm you, nor will he take you away from your family. He promised me." She said as she tried to soothe the waking baby back to sleep.
"What if he changes his mind, Rachel?" Kitty said feeling a bit of panic rising in her chest.
"He's a man of honor, Kitty, he would never harm you. He may have been a bit too rough, but he was desperate to save his daughter, that's all." Rachel said as she handed the crying baby to Kitty so that she could nurse her. Kitty gently sat the cup down and took Kathleen into her arms. She held her steady as she began to unbutton her blouse. She smiled as the baby immediately latched onto the nipple, suckling harder than before. Kitty knew that she was getting stronger as her mother got weaker.
"I'm sorry, Rachel, I just…I want my own babies, I don't want to die." She said trying to ease Rachel's fears.
"You'll make a wonderful mother one day, Kitty." Smiling she thought about the babies. "I bet they'll have red hair like their mama, and if their lucky, your blue eyes. I've never seen such blue eyes in my life." She said easing back into the gentle banter.
"Matt has the clearest blue eyes. And when he's angry, they turn a dark blue." Kitty said looking up from Kathleen.
"What's he like, Kitty?" Rachel asked as she watched her.
"Well, physically, he's about 6'7" tall. His shoulders are broad and he's strong. He's a man of honor too. He believes in that badge that he wears. He comes from a long line of Lawmen, even though he was orphaned at age 5, he was a lawman before he was born." She smiled at the thought. "He isn't a man of many words, but I know what he's feeling and thinking, just by looking into his eyes. They tell me so much. He's over protective when it comes to the people he cares about and he's even more so, with me. He's a big bear of a man, but he's the gentlest man I have ever met." She said as she watched the baby nurse. She smiled sadly, as the memory of her own child came to her mind. She wanted very much to give Matt children. She could only pray that the loss of the child had not done any damage to her. Hearing Naomi gurgling from the cradle brought her out of the daydream. Smiling, she looked down at Kathleen to see dark brown eyes gazing up at her. She smiled around the nipple and then went back to her breakfast.
Naomi would happily play in the cradle until it was her turn to nurse.
Matt's head lulled forward as he dozed off. He looked over at the huge boulders, spotting someone hiding behind them. Looking around, he noticed that the men were all asleep. Doc had resided over the young boy's burial and said a quiet prayer for him. Right now, he sat tied up against the tree, sound asleep. When the person moved further into his line of sight, he saw that it was a little girl no more than 7 years old. She had dark hair which was braided, and she wore a pale blue dress. She looked right into his eyes and smiled at him. He noticed her dark eyes, they were a deep brown and her smile was, as it should be, innocent. He watched as she quietly slipped back behind the rocks and slowly made her way around to his right.
Ebb Garret was in that point where sleep and wakefulness collided. His mind had long since stopped shutting down at night and even though his eyes were closed, his breathing even, it wouldn't take much at all to wake him. In fact, the slight rustling of the leaves brought him into a sitting position and his gun pulled from the holster. He looked in the direction of where the little girl had crawled to and fired several shots. Matt gasped as he thought the child had been killed. Doc and the other woke up to the sound of the pistol.
Matt wanted to scream, the thought of that child being killed by a ruthless animal made him physically ill.
Twig jumped up and headed over to the bushes where Ebb had fired the shots.
"What are ya' shootin' at, Ebb?" Nick asked as he stood there sleepily scratching his head.
"Thought I saw someone in the bushes." He said standing up and holstering his pistol.
"Maybe a ghost!" Twig said as he came out. "Ain't nothin' or no one here. No blood so if they was here, you sure didn't nick em." Twig said as he came back out of the bushes.
Matt breathed a sigh of relief. He hoped and prayed that the little girl returned to her family. He would not have been able to survive being the cause of a child's life.
"What are you breathin' so heavy for, Mister?" Ebb said kneeling in front of Matt. "I asked you a question Noonan." He said waiting. "What did you see?"
"It was just a puppy. A little mangy puppy is all. I didn't wanna see it get hurt." Matt said as he quickly tried to cover his worries.
"You like dogs, huh, mister. Well I don't!" Ebb said as he stood up. "And if I see that mangy little pup, I'm gonna put a bullet in it's brain, you just watch and see." He said as he stood up and walked back over to his blankets and climbed back in. "Everyone get back to sleep. We head for Dodge in the morning. I hear tell of a pretty little redhead at the Long Branch, knows how to treat a man real good." He said laying down. "But first, I'll have to kill that Lawman, heard he's her man." He laughs at his own remark.
"I heard about the lawman." Twig started. "He ain't gonna be that easy to kill. Heard he's real fast with a gun." Twig said climbing into his bed. Ebb smiled wickedly as he pulled his pistol out and fired a shot that was too close to Twig for his own comfort.
"Ya' think he's faster than that?" He laughed as he covered himself up with the blankets and laid back down to sleep. Twig was still trying to put his heart back into his chest instead of his throat, when he climbed into the bed, looking as though he were about to pass out.
TBC