Chapter 8 Waiting

Candy woke with a start. She could not remember where she was for a moment, then it suddenly dawned on her. She and Katie were staying at Lottie's until Jeremy and Joshua and Jason were found. The 'dream' had become a nightmare, and she was very scared. The baby was kicking furiously inside. She knew she had to calm down or the baby would not be very happy.

"Katie, Katie" Candy whispered. Katie was sleeping next to Candy. They decided to share the bed because that way if something happened, Katie would be close by to help Candy.

"What is it, Candy?" Katie turned over to look at Candy.

"I just had a very scary night mare and Now, the baby is really kicking!" Candy said. Katie got up and put her robe on.

"I will get you some tea or do you want milk?" As soon as Katie said 'milk' the baby let out a very strong kick. Candy had an extreme bought of nausea and doubled over.

"I think it will be a boy, he is a strong kicker!" Katie said as she helped Candy to sit up on the edge of the bed.

"Maybe if you get up and sit on the chair, he may stop kicking!" Katie said as she guided Candy to the chair next to the bed. Candy did not sit, she said:
"I need to walk a bit, this baby will not settle down if I keep sitting!" Katie walked with her. No talk of food or drink happened. But the baby slowly stopped kicking so hard. In fact, as Candy calmed down, the baby did also. Finally after walking out to the hall and then to the stairs, they decided to go down to the kitchen and this time a cup of tea sounded excellent!

Lottie heard movement in the kitchen and went to check out the sound.

"Oh, it is just you!" she said: "May I be of some help?" Lottie asked. Candy and Katie both said yes. Candy told them what her nightmare was, and Lottie had a better remedy than just tea. She placed a little whiskey in the tea and gave it to Candy.

"Lottie, the baby is too young for this!" Candy protested. Lottie smiled and said, there is not enough to do anything more than help you and the baby sleep. Only a teaspoon!" Lottie said comforting her. She sent both Katie and Candy back upstairs. She went to her room to go back to sleep. She wondered where her boys were and hoped that they were all right.

Aaron and Swede came into the Saloon with Jeremy and Joshua. They had some food and drink. Lottie again was awakened and when she went to look she was so happy that Jeremy and Joshua were home, but then she looked around for Jason and they told her they had not been able to find him. Candy came downstairs as well as Katie and they both ran to their men.

"Oh, Candy, I am so glad to see you!" Jeremy said as he held her close to him. Joshua was grateful to see Katie as well.

"Joshua, I am so happy that you are safe!" said Katie and then both Katie and Candy also looked around and asked together:
"Where is Jason?" Lottie stood next to them, and Aaron said that they had not found him yet, but they would be looking as soon as it was daylight. Meanwhile. Jeremy took Candy back to their home to be with her for a while. Joshua did the same with Katie.

"Candy, I am glad you stayed with Lottie!" Jeremy said as they sat next to each other, he was holding her close with his hand on her belly.

"Oh, Jeremy, it is hard waiting to have this baby, I had a nightmare last night and I woke up and the baby was kicking me so hard, Katie and I had to walk a bit so that he would settle down." Candy said. Jeremy smiled, he said to Candy:

"I guess I will be the one to walk him in the middle of the night?" Jeremy said laughing a little. Then he said:
"What is this nightmare you are talking about?"

"It was horrible, you and Joshua were killed, Jason was still caught in some dark room, I was kidnapped by someone named Clementine and Marcia and Lisabeth were in there as well!" Candy snuggled closer to Jeremy. Tears were in her eyes. She did not tell him the rest of the nightmare. He held her close and comforted her. But he could tell she was holding something back.

"Candy, what is it? Is there more?" Jeremy looked at her eyes, she was crying again and she said:
"There is more, it seems as if they stole our baby! The baby was born, and they stole the baby but they had to keep me alive so they could feed the baby. Oh, Jeremy it was a horrible nightmare!" she started to cry again. He held onto her and stroked her hair and kissed her gently. He was thinking,

"I don't want to upset her more, but there is a Clementine and she and Marcia are trying to get our mountain. But what can I do?" He thought to himself.

Daylight finally came. Both women had been able to get clean clothes for their men as well as be with them for some time. They ended up going back to the Saloon and sitting with Lottie and Aaron and Swede. Clancy came in and said that his men had found out where Jason was and that they were watching the dock.

"So, Aaron, do you have any plans?" Joshua asked. Jeremy had just come in and asked Candy to go upstairs. She looked at him and asked why?

"I cant tell you right now, but the least people who know what we are doing, the better it will be! I love you1" he kissed her and she went upstairs, Katie was already there and was upstairs as well.

"Aaron, I think we need to get more information from Lisabeth. You did put her in the jail didn't you?" Jeremy asked.

"Not yet, I haven't seen her around, but do we have a legitimate reason?" Aaron asked. Both Jeremy and Joshua looked at Aaron, Swede and Clancy looked at him with major question. Joshua said:
"She is working with Clementine and her sister. She may not be like those two openly aggressive, but she is working with them!" the rest agreed with Joshua. Aaron and Swede left to fetch Lisabeth