December 1872,
Plum Creek, Colorado
The moon hung low in the winter sky, a strange yellowish
orange color. Micah stared at it through the window of
Eppieโs bedroom, wishing the nightmare would end.
The last five months had been hell on earth and heโd endured
it, as he endured everything else in his life. There wasnโt
another choice to be made.
โYou need to come down to supper.โ Orion stood in the
doorway, his stooped figure casting a shadow across the
silent room.
Micah turned to him, thankful to have the older man in the
house to help out. In fact, there was an overabundance of
help around the house. No one wanted to leave him alone again.
โBe there shortly.โ
Orion appeared not to believe him. He stepped into the room
shaking his head, the tight white curls nearly glowing in
the moonlight. โSitting up here brooding isnโt going to help
Miss Eppie. Sheโs surviving and so is the babe.โ
Micah wanted to snarl, scream and shout at the old man to
shut up. He knew exactly what Eppie and their unborn child
were doing, every second of every day. He didnโt need a
reminder.
โSurviving isnโt living.โ He pushed away from the window.
โBut since you wonโt leave me be, Iโll come downstairs and
eat.โ
โThatโd be a good thing.โ Orion nodded. โMiss Candice
brought by some right tasty vittles.โ
Micah wondered how heโd ever stumbled across people who
would give without expecting something in return. Candice
had been friends with Madeline Brewster, the woman who had
gifted the house to him and helped with Eppieโs medical
care. Although Madeline now lived in Denver with her
husband, others had taken on what she started. Candice now
helped with the cooking while Orion helped with the house.
Any man would be grateful for such assistance.
Micah, however, wasnโt just any man.
He leaned down and kissed Eppieโs forehead, the skin cool
from winterโs chill. Then he pressed his ear to her
burgeoning stomach, and was rewarded with a kick to his ear.
The baby was strong, like its mother.
โIโll be back soon, darlinโ.โ He squeezed Eppieโs hand and
forced himself to walk away from the bed.
As Micah followed Orion out of the room and down the stairs,
he barely saw anything but the other manโs back. Life was
colorless, meaningless without Eppie there beside him. God
had seen fit to make her sleep like that princess in the
book heโd seen once in Denver. She was sleeping away her
life while he endured his.
The smell of beef filled the kitchen and Micah dutifully sat
down to eat. Orion frowned at him across the table.
โYou know, for a man who has a nice house, a beautiful
woman, and everything he could want, you are pitiful.โ
Micah had to smile at the old manโs honesty. Once upon a
time, when heโd first come to live there, Orion had acted
like the former slave he was. Quiet, reserved, and quick to
obey. Now however, free from the yoke the Websters had
forced on his neck, Orion had discovered how to use his
voice and wield his opinions.
โI know. Iโm the most pitiful man in Colorado. Now eat.โ
Micah shoveled the meat and potatoes into his mouth, never
tasting a bite. He should have been grateful, as Orion said,
but he wasnโt. Instead, he felt cheated, resentful, and
angry, a perfect combination for misery.
โYou plan on drinking your way to the grave?โ Orion frowned,
a potato halfway to his mouth.
โNone of your business, old man.โ Micah pushed away from the
table, unable to eat another bite.
Orion stopped him with a hand on his arm. โShe wouldnโt want
you to do this.โ
Micah knew a lot of things about Eppie, more than most folks
could even imagine he knew. However, Orion was right. She
would blister his ears if she saw him wallowing, but he
couldnโt seem to do anything else.
โBut sheโs not here to stop me, is she?โ he snapped. โIโm
done eating.โ
Micah stalked away from the kitchen, heading for the parlor.
He had an appointment with a bottle and intended to keep it.
Keeping watch over his woman was a hard business and a man
had to do what he needed to do to survive.
Much later, he made his way up the stairs, mostly on his
hands and knees. The house was eerily silent, Orion long
since retired to his room at the end of the hall. Micah
crept into Eppieโs room, her scent immediately calming him.
He wiped his sweaty face and runny nose with a sleeve. This
time when he pressed his ear to her stomach, he didnโt get a
playful kick from the baby. Her belly was hard, harder than
a block of wood.
In his inebriated state, Micah didnโt know what it meant,
but he figured it couldnโt be good. When he put his hand on
her belly, it came away wet. He stared at his hand and
wondered if heโd forgotten to put the pisspot beneath her.
However, his hand didnโt smell like piss at all. It had a
unique odor, one mixed with blood and something else. In his
limited experience as a man, he hadnโt had much occasion to
be around women who were expecting a child.
It might have been the whiskey, or it might have been the
lack of sleep over the last six months that made him slow to
catch on. In either case, he stared at his hand in
befuddlement for several minutes. The truth finally slammed
into him like a brick wall.
Eppie was going to have the baby. Right then.
Micah almost blacked out for a moment as panic raced through
him. When he finally was able to get hold of his senses, he
poked his head out of the room and started shouting for
help. He couldnโt lose Eppie this time; she had survived for
so long, had nurtured the baby and stayed as healthy as any
woman would be in her situation. Birthing a child was as old
as mankind. There was no reason to think she couldnโt do it.
Of course, most women werenโt in a coma when they gave
birth. Micahโs heart beat so hard, he could barely catch his
breath. Orion poked his head in the room.
โWhatโs all the racket?โ
โThe babyโs coming. Go wake Doctor Carmichael.โ Micah sat
beside Eppie and decided to pray for the first time in a
long time. Heโd ignored God for years, never trusting Him to
help when needed. However, he was willing to try anything.
He fell to his knees beside the bed and pressed his closed
hands to his forehead, a penitent pose.
Save her, save the baby.
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