Never Alone
Due to having to post at the library, I can't promise when chapters will post and, like today, more than one might be posted at a time.
"He's Gone Away"
(Traditional Folksong)
Q/What_is_the_origin_of_the_folksong_%27He%27s_Gone_Away%27
This poignant dialogue between a young man and woman in love - just before he has to depart for an indefinite separation - is an early American Appalachian mountain folk song. It probably originated in some form from England, and eventually resonated with the slave spiritual tradition, reminding us of the cruel forced separations imposed on many during that time.
( I couldn't find a year that was supposed to be the origin date…so, for the sake of the story, it's been written before the Kathleen sings it.)
Chapter Two
Kathleen set the picture she'd had in her hands back up on the mantle and walked back over to the window; she just couldn't sit still. Her daughter followed as her mother continued telling what took Nick out of town the first time after they were married and why he missed her birth.
Continue Flashback
I'm goin' away for to stay a little while,
But I'm comin' back if I go ten thousand miles.
Oh, who will tie your shoes?
And who will glove you hands?
And who will kiss your ruby lips when I am gone?
Oh, it's papy'll tie my shoes,
And mamy'll glove my hands,
And you will kiss my ruby red lips when you come back!
Oh, he's gone, he's gone away,
For to stay a little while;
But he's comin' back if he goes ten thousand miles.
Look away, look away, look away over Yandro,
On Yandro's high hill, where them white doves are flyin'
From bough to bough and a-matin' with their mates,
So why not me with mine?
For he's gone, oh, he's gone away
For to stay a little while,
But he's comin' back if he goes ten thousand miles.
I'll go build me a desrick on Yandro's high hill,
Where the wild beasts won't bother me nor hear me cry;
For he's gone, he's gone away for to stay a little while,
But he's comin' back if he goes ten thousand miles.
Kathleen sang as she worked in the kitchen. She probably should have chosen a different song, only she had come to the conclusion that her husband and mother-in-law were right. She was terrified of anything happening to Nick. She could have handled it if he had never got rid of the leg braces and canes; she could've lived with him in a wheelchair, but she had no desire whatsoever to live her life without him. When she heard someone enter the kitchen, Kathleen was surprised to see her future sister-in-law standing in the doorway. "Hey Marie, good to see you! I thought you weren't coming out until Friday?"
Marie smiled as she walked up to the counter and started helping Kathleen cut up the vegetables. "I saw Jarrod in town and mentioned the fact I'd changed my mind and asked if I could catch a ride out here, to visit you and Victoria, told him it would help as I'm already missing Heath. McCall is putting the buggy away now. Jarrod said he didn't have much time though. He's saddling his horse and grabbing a few supplies." Marie smiled and then, having chatted a bit with Jarrod on the way to the ranch, she was a little curious as to what was going on. "May I ask why Jarrod is going to join his brothers in Lodi? All he would say was he needed to get down there as soon as possible."
Kathleen's eyes widened. She hadn't realized Jarrod was leaving nor that Nick and Heath needed his help. She fought the panic that she felt in her heart and hurried to find her brother-in-law. Kathleen and Marie cornered Jarrod in the parlor as he gathered up his gun and bullets. "Jarrod, what is going on?" Kathleen asked.
Jarrod checked his barrel, before putting his gun back into its holster. "Someone raided the McKinley farm, took a portion of the horses and killed Mr. McKinley while Nick and Heath were picking up the horses we bought. Whoever it was also struck the Barnes ranch next to McKinley's. The sheriff is short of help and asked Heath to help him investigate. Mrs. McKinley is almost sixty-five years old and very vulnerable. Nick agreed to stay with her until I can get down there." Jarrod took Kathleen's hands in his, "The sooner I get down there to help Mrs. McKinley, the sooner Nick can get home to be here when that baby is born."
"But you and Heath? Those men? If they go back to the farm…" Kathleen's voice had filled with worry and her eyes showed the panic she felt. She didn't like the sound of all this. After all, she might not be able to live without Nick, but that didn't mean she wanted to watch the women in her brother in laws' lives try live theirs without their men either.
Jarrod didn't like seeing his sister-in-law's emotions rising in any way. She could put herself into labor if she wasn't careful. "Calm down; we know how to take care of ourselves. McCall, Jim and the others will be here to help Mother and yourself, along with Marie, Charlotte and her children. I've asked both to stay here. Don't worry, no matter what you're never alone." Charlotte was the twenty-seven year old widow that Jarrod was seeing and, somewhat, getting serious with. The fact that all three of her children, two sons and a daughter, adored him was helping in that department.
Marie suppressed her own fears and went and stood by Kathleen. She embraced the woman gently by the shoulders and spoke calmly and with conviction. "He'll be back; they all will." She said, doing her best to sound positive and sure of herself. She, like Jarrod, didn't want Kathleen to stress out more than necessary. The two women watched as Jarrod rode through the front arch of the ranch and stayed there until he was sell ouf of sight, both silent and deep in their anxious thoughts.
Unfortunely, Kathleen was already feeling stressed and, while she had not realized it, the back pain she'd been feeling all day was not just the side effects of being with child. No, the back pains she'd been dealing with was the beginning of labor. Sure enough, Jarrod hadn't been gone thirty minutes when Nick and Kathleen's first child decided the due date the doctor had given the couple was not to its liking.