The old doctor wiped his face with a towel and glanced in Nichole’s direction. “As soon as this one is out, you do what Adam is doing with the first. I’ve got to help May. You and Adam will have to see these babies get to breathing clear. That’s most important, lest all this suffering be for nothing.”
Nichole tried to force herself to breathe. She’d seen battlefields covered in blue and gray and blood, but she’d never seen anything like this.
Wilson lifted the baby in the air as it wiggled and screamed in protest. He cut the cord and tied it, then handed the tiny bundle to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the afterbirth begin to emerge and moved quickly away, not sure she could breathe if she witnessed more.
When Nichole reached Adam’s side, he took the newborn from her arms and handed her a baby already wrapped in a towel.
“Keep this little lady warm.” He smiled at Nichole, as if he thought the messy creature was pretty. “I’ll clean up my other niece.”
Nichole cradled the wiggling bundle close to her heart as she watched Adam work. He held the tiny baby in one hand and cleaned its mouth and let the lungs drain of fluid. Then he wiped the wrinkled flesh with a warm cloth and checked each limb.
“They’re both perfect.” He glanced over his shoulder with a smile toward the new parents. “Daniel, you and May have yourselves two fine daughters.”
Nichole watched the smile vanish from Adam. His face become a mass of sorrow when there was no answer from anyone near the bed.
“No,” he cried.
She followed the direction of his gaze.
“No!”
Dr. Wilson wept openly as he knelt on one knee and slowly raised the sheet over May’s face. “I saw her come into this world. Now it’s time for her to pass on to the next.”
“No!” Daniel’s order shook the room. “Don’t leave me, May!”
He buried his head in the pillow next to the covered outline of his wife and sobbed. Deep low sobs of a pain too great to bear.
But the sheet separated their tears as death separated them.
SIX
IT WAS LATE afternoon as nichole watched the three brothers walk back from the small graveyard. They looked so much alike yet were so different. Wes with his hard exterior, Daniel with his silence, and Adam in his private war within himself. They walked almost shoulder to shoulder, yet each walked alone.
“These babies got to be fed,” Wolf mumbled from the kitchen table where he sat staring at the twins nestled in two shoe boxes. “I wish everybody would get back and take over watching these two. I got to ride to town and check on any answer from the men.” He talked about those who served under him during the war as if they were still organized. In truth, only Tyler and Rafe stayed with Wolf, more because they had nowhere else to go than out of loyalty to any cause.
“Doc Wilson drove to a farm just north of here to find a wet nurse,” Nichole answered her brother. “He should be back soon.”
She almost laughed at Wolf. For a man who cared for little in this world, he’d done his share of fretting over the babies. Though the day had been warm, he’d insisted on the stove burning low just to keep any chill from creeping into the room. And he watched them even though he probably had no idea what to do if one cried out.
“Wes offered me his room upstairs for the night. I think we should leave come morning,” Nichole mumbled. “It would feel good to have a night’s sleep in a bed before we board the train.”
There was no reason to stay. She’d done what she planned to, she’d returned the bag and finished the kiss. Anything more had been daydreams on her part, for Adam had his life here. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, or hoped. But finding Adam engaged to be married and with a sister-in-law delivering babies hadn’t crossed her mind. His thoughts were so full of worries, he’d hardly noticed her being in the house.
Wolf spoke to the babies as he answered her. “We’ve got our own problems at home to worry over, and sorrow don’t want company around. Besides, that woman Bergette showed up for the funeral so I reckon she’ll stay here with the babies and take over the womanly duties.” He took a deep breath. “But we both could use a night’s sleep before starting home.”
“Don’t bank on Bergette’s help,” Nichole whispered to Wolf as she heard Wes and Adam stomp onto the porch. The McLains entered, both looking exhausted. Nichole didn’t know what to say. She knew Adam blamed himself for May’s death, and Wes blamed the world, but she wasn’t sure how either would react if she tried to comfort them. Wes only needed time and a few more bottles of whiskey to recover. But Adam was a thinker who thought he needed no one. She’d never been around such a man.
Bergette followed the brothers in when Adam held the door for her. She seemed far more concerned with removing her hat and veil without damaging her hair than with anyone’s grief or with taking over the care of the infants. She paid no notice to Nichole or anyone else as she walked to the washstand and faced the mirror.
The sharp sound of an ax splintering wood pulsed through the air with a pop.
Everyone paused listening as the sound came again, and again.
“It’s Daniel,” Wes answered a question no one had voiced as he poured himself a mug of coffee, then laced it with whiskey. “He’s chopping down the barn door. Might level the entire barn before he’s finished.”
No one said a word to hint that the action wasn’t totally normal. Nichole listened to the chopping, thinking that in some strange way it sounded like a heart beating. Dan hadn’t spoken since May’s death. At least the noise proved he was alive.
Nichole watched as Bergette glared first at Adam, then Wes, with the pouty lip of a child. When neither looked in her direction, she stormed, “Aren’t you going to make him stop?”
Wes didn’t bother to answer her and Adam only mumbled “No” as he looked at the now-sleeping babies.
Bergette seemed to long-sufferingly endure two more blows, then she moved to the doorway in a sudden fit of displeasure. “I must be going,” she announced as though her exit were of some great importance. “I’ll send a cook over to help you tomorrow. And a housekeeper. Lord knows this place could use a good scrubbing.” Her gaze darted around the room from the handmade table and chairs to the clothes hanging on pegs along one wall.
“Don’t bother,” Wes answered. “We can manage.”
Bergette looked to Adam for a kinder reply, but he only held the door open for her.
“I will see you tomorrow, won’t I?” she asked as she moved to the porch in a rustle of silk.
“I don’t know,” Adam answered. “Tell your butler to drive you home slowly. The roads can be tricky this time of night.” He didn’t offer a touch or a kiss and neither did she.
When Adam returned, Nichole didn’t miss the hurt in his stare-a kind of pain that made his brown eyes seem stormy. A suffering like that of an animal who might turn on anyone who tried to help. She thought he looked as though something inside him was dying. Or maybe he’d protected and cherished a memory for years only to find it decayed and molded when he finally drew it out. Bergette’s lavender perfume suddenly smelled stifling like the smell of too many flowers at a wake.
Wolf stood as soon as Bergette was gone and nodded toward Nichole as he reached for his hat. He’d be to town and back in the time it would take Bergette’s buggy to reach home and she wouldn’t see him pass her either way.
Nichole closed her eyes, hoping the news he found would be good. Wolf had sensed trouble. The man who’d taken their land during the war would stop at nothing to keep it. She only hoped Tyler and a few of the others could make peace before Wolf and she returned. But the soft rain against the window seemed to wash away her hopes.
Wes poured himself another cup of coffee and took Wolf’s place across the table from Adam. No one felt any need for conversation. Nichole curled into the chair by the window and listened to the rhythm of Dan’s chopping. Somehow, it was almost a song. A song too sad to have a melody.
