Taklen Chapter 9

Jimmy cradled Louise in his arms the entire carriage ride. His eyes never once left her face, as if she might disappear again if he looked away for even a second. He pushed some stray hairs away from her eyes. He'd always been able to read those brown eyes of hers. Would he still be able to know what she was feeling just by looking at her? He held her tight, wanting to bolster her from every bump they hit along the road. She felt fragile to him and he couldn't stop thinking about the tiny life she held within. He wanted to tell her that it didn't matter to him who the child's father was. He would love them, he would raise them. For her.

It had been too fresh, their relationship, to have thought about babies and the like. But Jimmy knew it was what he wanted. To marry her, give her children and keep them all close and safe in a home together until they were old and gray with grandchildren to spoil. He pictured a petite little baby with thick brown hair and big brown eyes. But then, he could always take after this father.

"We're here," Father Bohannon announced. "Get her inside quickly. The storm is blocking out the sun."

It was early in the afternoon but the thick clouds and snowfall made everything look dark and bleak. The building they stood in front of was equally dim, two stories of gray fieldstone against a gray sky with snow rapidly piling up outside.

"It's a clergy house. It's meant for private contemplation. That's why they built it far outside the city. Don't worry, it's simple but very comfortable. We just need to get the fires going."

The Father wasn't lying. The lower floor consisted of a spacious kitchen stocked with canned goods and pantry staples, a dining area, and an adjoining sitting room with several plush seats and large stone fireplace. Upstairs there were four modest bedrooms, each with a fireplace, and a shared washroom.

Jimmy carried Louise to one of the bedrooms and made sure she was covered with plenty of thick blankets while he made a fire and waited for the room to warm up. Each room contained a large stack of wood and there were piles more in the stable outside. Buck and Colter saw to the horses while others made themselves busy getting the fires going inside and whipping up something for them to eat.

A short time later the group sat around the large kitchen table, picking at the roasted potatoes, dried meat, and coffee that Rachel and Cara had prepared. No one had much appetite and all thoughts were on the young woman resting upstairs.

"When will she wake up?" Jimmy wanted to know.

Lou stood on the stairs, just a few steps from the bottom, listening. After waking up in such strange surroundings, she had been disoriented. She had opened the bedroom door expecting to find Alex somewhere in this strange house with an explanation for why he had decided to move them here. Instead she smelt the coffee and food and her stomach growled. Had she eaten today? Was it even still today? She sometimes lost track. But looking down, she saw she wore the same green dress, mussed and wrinkled from sleep.

These strange people in the house must be servants. Of course Alex would want them to have more help with a baby coming. But why here? Why not in their normal house where there was so much more space? She didn't have any answers and she was hungry so she descended the final three stairs and turned the corner into the small kitchen.

"Hello."

Eight sets of eyes stared up at her with shocked expressions. This was overkill. They couldn't possibly need this many people to care for one pregnant woman. Of course that wouldn't surprise her but then… Her chest grew tight as she thought of another, much more gruesome reason, Alex may have summoned these bodies here. She gulped back the tiny cry in the back of her throat and with practiced resolve, pushed the thought away.

"This smells delicious. Cara, would you bring some to me in my room?" She smiled, forcedly, nodded at the silent, open-mouthed faces gathered at the table and turned around and walked back up the stairs without another word.

Alone in her room, her empty stomach growled with hunger and churned with agitation. Please, she pleaded silently. I do not want to see these people dead. No more pale corpses. Images of the morning in the brothel invaded her mind. "No!"

"No, what now?" In her doorway it was not Cara but a man, standing with a tray of steaming broth with potatoes and onions. She felt suddenly defensive. "No to so many strangers in my house. I don't know what my husband asked of you but you should leave. Now. I will make sure he compensates you for the trouble."

Jimmy reeled from her use of the word husband but steadied himself. He'd convinced the others to let him do this. He had to keep control. "Your house? Have you been here before?"

Her mouth opened, closed again. "I don't think so, but…"

"And you think we're your servants?"

"Well, aren't you?"

"No, Louise. I'll tell you exactly who we are. If you sit down and eat, I'll tell you everything."

For the first time, she really looked at the man before her. "Did you bring me here?"

"Yes," he answered.

"For my husband?"

"No." Jimmy hoped the wave of nausea he felt wasn't apparent.

"You don't like him." She saw it. She pulled out the chair and sat at the small desk next to her room's one small window. She gestured for him to put the tray in front of her. "Tell me, everything."