After that, he concentrated on keeping Mary as comfortable as possible. She had several hard twinges during the rest of the ride, and each time Dwight did what he could—mainly holding her as he murmured reassuring words or tried to make her laugh with silly comments when the pains eased up.
Because of the blizzard conditions, it took three times longer to get home than it had to get to the Lone Tree just an hour earlier, but they finally made it. Nearly frozen and relieved to be home, they managed to get Mary inside the house. However, she looked up the steps and shook her head. “I…I’m sorry, but…I don’t think I can climb the stairs…”
“Don’t worry, darlin’,” Dwight answered and before she could protest, he bent down and scooped her up in his arms and carried her straight up the steps to her room. His mother and sister, who had run up ahead of them, had just pulled the covers back.
Dwight set his wife on the edge of the mattress and stood back while Pearl and Pauline steadily helped Mary out of her cloak and dress. They then shooed him out the door so that they could get her into a clean gown.
Outside the closed bedroom door, he felt bereft. I should be in there… I promised her I wouldn’t leave her…she needs me…I can keep her calm, hold her hand… His mind skidded to a halt because despite being the oldest with four younger siblings, he had never been allowed in the room when their mother was in labor. In actuality, he only had vague imaginings of what went on. Mainly he remembered a lot of yelling and moaning as he fretted over his mother.
“Ooooh,” he heard the pain in Mary’s voice and he closed his eyes to say a quick prayer that everything would be all right. Just a week before, she had confessed to him that she was terribly frightened of giving birth, as her own mother had died in the process of having her. From previous conversations he’d had with Hank, he’d learned quite a bit about Mary’s mother. For instance, that there had been no doctor or midwife present, only a neighbor who hadn’t known much. What Mary’s mother had needed was a physician.
“Well, that’s not the case here,” he had assured her firmly. “Doc’s one of the best, and he’s not going to let anything happen to you.” He’d been relieved to see that his words had done their job and she had seemed more relaxed. He just hoped what he’d said was the truth…
“She all right?” a voice brought him out of his ruminations.
Dwight opened his eyes to see that Hank—hair sprinkled with melting snow, face red from the wind—was back from putting away the wagon and horse. He had climbed the stairs to perch at the top step, and was now watching him warily.
Opening his mouth to say she was, he was stopped by a loud groan from inside the room, and the hushed voices of his mother and sister, soothing his pregnant wife.
His wife…
Soon, he would be the father of a baby boy or girl. In some ways, he couldn’t wait to hold it, and in others, he felt scared half out of his wits.
Once Mary quieted again, Dwight looked back at his brother-in-law and gave him a half smile. The action hurt and he raised a hand to rub at the pain.
“You pack quite a wallop, Robinson.”
Hank had the grace to look ashamed, and then he raised a hand to massage his own face. “I could say the same for you…brother-in-law. Listen…I’m sorry about all that. Lost my head. Seems I’ve always had a hot temper and a hair trigger. They’ve gotten me in trouble more times than I can count,” he added, shaking his head in shame. “It’s just…Pa always had me watchin’ out for Mary, so…it’s kind of a habit,” he offered with a sheepish little half shrug.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dwight dismissed the earlier quarrel with a lifted hand.
Then a memory surfaced and he shot the other man a rueful half grin. “You should have seen me light into Tobias about Pauline nearly getting killed after they married. He’d been the hero several times with her as his damsel in distress.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “I gave him so much grief, it even broke them up for a while. Thank goodness they saw the light and ignored the ravings of this overprotective big brother,” he added pointedly.
Hank opened his mouth to fire back some kind of retort, but suddenly Doc appeared on the landing, his arms loaded down with linens and what Dwight could only suppose were some of the contents of his doctor’s bag. When he got to the top, he glanced down at Hank and then met Dwight’s eyes.
“It’s liable to be a while, fellows. Hours. Might as well go downstairs and keep yourselves calm. First babies usually take their time.”
Dwight answered with a nod and pushed off of the wall. Then, he looked Doc in the eye as he put his hand on the doorknob to Mary’s bedroom. “Everything’s…”
“Everything is fine, son. If things change, I’ll let you know.”
Dwight opened the door and Doc hustled inside, pushing it closed with one foot.
From the hall, they could hear Doc cheerily greeting Mary and her worried questions.
The two men outside looked at one another, lifted their shoulders in resignation, and reluctantly headed down the steps.
They wandered into the parlor and stopped just inside the door, hands in their trouser pockets—a matched set of young men with time on their hands and no idea how to fill it.
Dwight let his eyes roam over
