Amethyst (22 page)

If I don’t get outside pretty soon, I am going to go stir crazy,
Opal thought.

“Opa.” Per raised his arms to be picked up again. No matter how sick he felt, he wanted Opal to carry him.

Just go to sleep, and maybe you’ll feel better
. But Opal picked him up and held him on her hip as she stared out the small space where she’d scraped the ice off the inside of the window. The sun glinted off the snow so brightly that even the window frost looked to have rainbows frozen in it.

“Look, Per, see how pretty.” She pointed to the colors in the frost.

“No.” He scrubbed his face across her shoulder, smearing snot and tears on her shirt. But when she tried to wipe his nose, he reared back, nearly pitching himself from her arms. “N-o-o! No mo. Ma?” His cries set him to coughing again, a deep cough that sounded like he was coughing up his lungs. He coughed until he gagged and threw up.

If Opal had thought the snot on her shirt bad, this even smelled sick. “Per. Ugh.” She set him down in the rocking chair and patted his back. “Let me get cleaned up.”

“What happened?” Ruby returned from changing the baby.

“This.” Opal pointed to the mess on her shirt.

“Well, wash it off.”

“I will, and then I’m going to the soddy to see how Little Squirrel is feeling.” And to check on Bay and the other horses and to slide down a drift or two. Anything to get out of this house and away from a sick and screaming child.

“Good. Although Linc said she is much better.”

“With all these socks I can hardly get my boots on.” She slammed her heel against the wood floor. “I can’t wait until spring.”

“Opa! Go, pease.” Per raised his arms and flipped himself over to dismount from the chair.

“No. You’re sick. You have to stay inside.” She knew she sounded snappy, and the look on his face made her feel like she’d kicked a puppy.

“Opal, you could be kinder than that.”

I’ve been about as kind as I can be
. “You know he’s too sick to go outside in this cold.”

“Of course, but…” Ruby picked up her son and kissed his cheek. “You stay here with Ma and Mary.” The look she sent Opal conveyed her disgust.

“N-o-o. Go with Opa!” He scrunched up his face and cried the most pitiful cry, which led to more coughing and made Opal feel one inch high.

“I’ll be back soon, Per.” She pulled a knitted hat down over her ears and wrapped a muffler around her neck. “Takes so long to get ready that it’ll be time for dinner before I get out the door.” She pulled on knit mittens and then a pair of sheepskin ones with the wool inside. “I feel like a walking clothespress.”

“Take this to Little Squirrel.” Ruby handed her a basket with a loaf of bread, a jar of jam, butter, and cheese. She screwed down the lid on a jar of soup and tucked that in the middle. “Tell her I hope she can make it here for breakfast tomorrow but only if the weather holds.”

“Linc isn’t going out to stay at the line shack, is he?”

“Not until she is all better. The others will just have to make do. And Rand didn’t want Mrs. Robertson left without a man around, so Mr. Chandler won’t be going out either.”

“Leave it to Rand.” While Opal had volunteered to go man or, in her case, woman one of the line shacks, Rand had let her know in no uncertain terms that it was man’s work and no woman would be out there on his behalf. If Ruby hadn’t had a new baby, he most likely would have taken a turn by now too.

Opal stepped out the door and slitted her eyes against the piercing bright white. Her nose immediately began to run, and when she took in a breath of air, it felt like knives slicing inside her chest.

As she approached the soddy, Opal called, “Little Squirrel, I’ve come to visit.”

The door creaked opened, and Little Squirrel beckoned her inside. “Come now.”

“You sure look better than the last time I saw you.” Opal handed her the basket and shut the door behind herself. After the brightness of the outside, the only thing she could see was the red fire in the fireplace. She blinked and let her eyes adjust. Even so, the soddy was so dim she could hardly see. “Don’t you have a kerosene lamp?”

Little Squirrel nodded. “Save for night.”

“Oh.” Opal studied the Indian woman. She looked to be all belly hung on a post. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. How Ruby and baby?”

“Good. Per is sick, but he must be getting better. He hollered, which made him cough, when I was leaving. He wanted to come along.”

“Per always want to go.”

“I know. Ruby told me to ask if you have enough food in case another blizzard hits. The way they’ve been coming, we can expect more.”

“Enough. Meat and beans good.”

“Wish I could go hunting.”

“None left.”

“What do you mean?” Opal let her long scarf hang free.

“Snow hard on cattle, deer. Rabbit die too.”

“How do you know?”

“One time, when girl, in winter like this many die.”

Opal shivered.
Please, Lord, keep everyone safe
. Here she’d been grumbling about being stuck in the house, while people might be dying. What if they had run out of wood, or food?

“Listen, bells.” Little Squirrel went to the window and pulled back the skin that they’d draped there to help keep out the cold. “Charlie.”

“I better go see what’s been going on. Do you think you’ll be to the house for supper tonight?”

Little Squirrel shook her head. “Better here.” She rubbed the shelf that her rounded belly made. “Baby come soon.”

“Tonight?”

“No, but soon.”

“You’ll send Linc for Ruby?”

Little Squirrel shrugged. “We see.” She patted Opal’s shoulder. “We good. No worry.”

“Yeah, well, you said that before, and then you got really sick. I was so afraid you were going to die.”

“Not my time. Great Spirit give strength.”

Opal never knew if Little Squirrel was referring to the Great Spirit of her people or to the Holy Ghost part of the God she knew. God was God, was He not? She gave Little Squirrel a hug and headed back outside, covering her face with the muffler as she stepped into the sun. For a moment she closed her eyes and raised her face to the golden light. Even though there was no warmth to speak of, the light kissing her face reminded her of one of the promises she’d read in the family Bible the night before.
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
And they had called, and He had kept them all safe.

She waved at Charlie as he knotted his team’s tie rope over the hitching rail that was nearly buried under the snow. “Hey, Charlie, you checking on everyone?”

“Sure enough. And so far so good.”

She paused as another tree cracked from the cold. Between lightning in the summer and the cold this winter, there would be plenty of dead trees for firewood.

“Rand around?”

“No. He and Linc went out with supplies to the line shacks.”

Ruby let Ghost out, and she ran up to Charlie, yipping her delight at a visitor. “Good morning,” Ruby called. “Come on in. The coffee will be hot in a few minutes.”

“Be right there.”

Sound carried in the stillness, unlike anything Opal had experienced before. If she could pucker up enough to whistle without freezing her lips, she figured the Robertsons would know it was her. And their house was over a mile away with two hills in between.

She filled the woodbox before brushing the woodchips off her coat. They’d sure made a dent in the wood stacked on the porch. Perhaps she should dig out the toboggan and haul a few loads from the stacks lining the springhouse.
After Charlie leaves, I’ll do that
.

“Hey there, you can come do the same at our house if you like.” Charlie nodded toward the woodbox. “Good thing I listened to Rand and split that extra cord. Can’t believe how much wood we’ve gone through.”

“We closed off the back of the house and lived here in the kitchen for a couple of days.” Ruby set a plate of gingerbread on the table. “Would you like applesauce on that?”

“Of course.”

“Our cream is frozen, so I can’t offer you that.”

“But you didn’t lose any livestock?”

“Not here on the homeplace. Rand hasn’t said anything about the range cattle, but I can tell he’s worried.” Ruby looked to Opal. “Would you please check on Per? He finally fell asleep after I gave him more cough medicine and rocked him.”

Opal pulled her boots off at the jack by the door and padded down the hall. She could hear Per’s breathing. It sounded like the leaky bellows the blacksmith used to have. Poor little guy.
Lord, please clear his throat and chest
. His cough made her own chest hurt.

She slid her feet into the fur-lined moccasins Little Squirrel had made for her in the fall. They were far warmer than her boots. She’d rubbed enough bear grease into her boots that they were waterproof, but the smell if they warmed up was a bit hard to take.

When Per whimpered and opened his eyes, she picked him and his quilt up and carried him in to his mother, who smiled her thanks.

Least I did something right,
she thought as she rubbed her hands over the heat of the kitchen stove and joined Charlie and Ruby at the table.

“If the weather holds through Sunday, we can have a service at the schoolhouse. Maybe Jacob Chandler will lead it and give the sermon.”

“He’s agreed to be our pastor?”

“Not sure of that, but he seems to be leaning that way. Can’t say I feel bad giving up my Scripture reading.”

“You’ve done well, and we all appreciate it.”

“Who’d have thought that an old barkeep like me would be reading the Holy Word on Sunday mornings? My mother must be dancing on the heavenly clouds.” He looked over to Opal and shook his head. “I remember the first time I laid eyes on the two of you there in the storeroom of Dove House. Ruby had you tucked behind her, ready to take on the world. Old Per died a happy man, knowing his two daughters were there to see him off.”

“I wish I had known him for longer than a couple of hours.” Opal reached for a piece of gingerbread and bit into it. “And Captain McHenry brought me a horse to ride. I thought that was the greatest thing anyone could do.”

“When I think on it, Ruby, you brought the greatest change when you came and took on Dove House. Look how blessed we all are. Married now, with families and a growing town.”

“Makes me wonder how Belle is. She’s the only one who missed out.” Opal licked her finger and picked up gingerbread crumbs with the tip, then set them on her tongue.

“Opal.”

“Oh.” She flinched. “Sorry.” Ruby fully expected good manners at all times. Even when no one else was around.

Charlie pushed back his chair. “Well, thanks for the warm-up and the coffee. I better be gettin’ on back. Left McHenry off at the Robertsons’, so I’ll pick him up on the way home. He said to tell you he’d be out to visit one day soon. He was planning on coming out here, but they got to talking. He’s thinking about settling south of here where that good bottom borders the river.”

“Another neighbor. What is this land coming to?” Ruby widened her eyes as though she didn’t really believe it. Per lay against her chest, his head tucked under her chin, eyes trying to close but for the valiant effort he made to keep them open. He seemed to be breathing more easily. At least Opal couldn’t hear him wheezing from across the room.

“Greet everyone from us, and we’ll sure be looking forward to church. Tell Captain McHenry…” She paused when Charlie cleared his throat. “Oh, that’s right.
Mr
. McHenry.”

“I wish I could go with you,” Opal whispered as she saw him out. “I’d love to see someone else. Being cooped up in the house and listening to that wind howl is enough to drive anyone right around the bend.”

“Heard tell of an old woman up north wandering out in the middle of the blizzard. Her husband said it drove her right crazy, and they haven’t found any sign of her yet.” Charlie shook his head. “These blizzards ain’t something to joke about, that’s for sure.”

Opal shuddered. “I think I can understand that now.” Add in a sick little boy and a new baby, and the situation worsened. She’d rather be out herding cattle any day—even in the rain.

You should be grateful you got outside and saw some new faces
. That little voice inside could sure be obnoxious some times.

That night the blizzard returned with banshee winds and cold that drove through the walls.

“We better move the beds back in here,” Rand said, watching the deerskin he’d hung over the window sway in the draft. With that accomplished, they crawled in bed—Per next to Opal and Mary with her mother and father.

Opal shuddered when the house did. Surely this was worse than before. Even with Per coughing in his sleep, she finally fell asleep, thankful for the coyote pelts that warmed them. It felt as if she’d just closed her eyes when Ghost, who slept on a blanket behind the stove, barked and scrabbled her way to the door. At the dog’s insistent barking, Rand rose and opened the door but heard nothing other than the wind. “Must be wolves,” he muttered as he shut the door and crawled back in bed.

Opal lay straining to hear the wolves howl, but the wind drowned out everything. Ghost returned to her blanket, and Opal could hear her turn around trying to get her bed just right. The dog had just settled down again when she flew from her bed, her barking shrill and deafening. When Rand didn’t get up immediately, she ran and tugged on his covers.