Taming Texanna (28 page)

Colton got up from his carving in front of the fireplace. It was evening and Mark was once again gone. Most men would not hunt at night if they didn’t need to but that often happened with Mark. Not that he was even sure that is what the man was doing but he did bring home game enough and pulled more than his share of the chores overall.

Colton shrugged for he had not had to do much more than work in town when the part-time sheriff was gone and do some gathering up of men the judge was to preside over and watch over the court proceedings for safety reasons. He just had this odd feeling he did not have control over his own house. But that was all it was, a feeling and he gave it its due but with no other information, he could not do more. Mentally dropping the thought for now, he got up to go in search of his woman. Because if anything was off in his world, it was just as often his Texanna as anything else.

Finding her, he leaned down, kissing her on the cheek and chuckled at her pout when he lifted up. “Now you’re greedy. Let me see what I can do for you.” She smiled again. “After I finish the last chores,” he added. He walked out the door with a laugh. Texanna stomped her foot as she watched her husband leave. Turning quickly, her face changed to alarm when she almost ran into Nada standing at the door clutching her stomach.

Texanna reached out to her. “Oh, Nada, go back to bed. Please go back to bed.”

Texanna carefully led her back to the bedroom the family was staying in and saw that the children were all sleeping. She helped her lie down before she created a pallet in the final, unused bedroom for the children. She returned to check on Nada again and then lifted the first two children, one at a time, placing them on the pallet. Walker was too heavy for her to lift. She was never so glad that they had a big house than now. She went back to check on Nada again before she went into Pia, who was still awake and Kaku, who was asleep.

Texanna’s heart was pounding in her ears and she needed to concentrate so she could think and hear. “Pia, I think that Nada is in labor but I don’t know how to help. I have not ever seen it before.”

Texanna was proud of her mother-in-law. She gracefully got up and put a woolen shawl around her tired shoulders and asked, “Where are Colton and her husband?”

“Colton is outside. Mark is gone. I don’t know where he went.”

Pia nodded. “Go and get your husband. He will move the boy.”

Texanna nodded waited another minute waiting for Pia to speak again. For some reason, she felt the woman was not done talking.

“Tell Colton he does not need to find Nada’s husband. He will be no help.”

It was not a secret that Pia did not like Mark but no one knew exactly why. At least, Texanna never heard an explanation. Why would Colton need to go for him anyway? She snapped back to the needs now. As soon as Colton moved Walker, they would add some light to the room and set things up for the baby.

Her mother-in-law checked on Nada as Texanna ran outside to find Colton. Anna checked the barn, and spying Colton, she ran over and started to tell him about Nada. Her speech was pressured and rushed. She was feeling very chilled, wishing she had grabbed at least a wrap before coming outside. She could see the small flakes falling. Snow was here.

She had looked quickly around as she’d headed towards the barn hoping to see Mark.

“Colt, I don’t know where Nada’s husband is and I need you to help me move Walker. I carried the other two children but he’s too big for me.”

“Why are we moving Walker and why did you pick up those children?”

“Nada is going to have her baby. I don’t know where her husband is, and we need light, and—”

“Shh, sweetheart, calm down.” Colton hugged her closely for a moment but that was as long as she would allow him. “Let’s go and I’ll find him later. Let’s get things taken care of here first.” Texanna shivered in the circle of his arm. “Texanna Rae McFadden, I’m going to take a strap to you if you do not start wearing your coat.” He chastised her as he took his coat off and put it around her. It was really too heavy for her to wear but it wasn’t far to the house so she endured his scolding and the weight because it did feel warmer.

“I couldn’t wait to grab a coat. I needed to get to you.”

“I might not have been as close to the house as I was. Then what would you have done?”

“We don’t have to worry about that because you were,” she answered as they went into the house and she began to take the coat off her shoulders. She lifted up to put it on the empty wall peg and felt a sizzle on her bottom. “Ouch!”

“Best you not forget again, little girl.”

She rolled her eyes, thankful her husband could not see her do it. “I promise. Now will you come and move this little boy out of the way?”

“Your gonna hurt my pride if that is all the attention you give my words, wife. But it does speak to how relaxed you are with me. I do like that.” Colt grinned as he followed his focused wife.

When they entered the guest bedroom, Walker was not there.

“What happened to Walker, Pia?” Texanna asked as Nada moaned, igniting, even more, Texanna’s anxiety. Her poor houseguest was in pain, she could tell. Nada was stoic but not pain-free by any means. Texanna had never attended a birth and she was worried about the unknown elements of birthing.

“I woke him up. He took himself.”

Anna looked at her reproachingly. “His little sister or brother was not going to wait long,” Pia answered in her typical matter-of-fact way. “And the journey will be hard.”

Colt walked over to Nada and spoke to her in Comanche. Texanna was appalled how commanding his voice was and how hard it sounded. She reached for her husband and was surprised when Pia wrapped her arms around her daughter-in-law and pulled her back.

“He’s not scolding her. He’s telling her that he does not know where her husband is. He’s trying to see if she knows where he goes.”

“Does she know?”

“No. His wife will struggle to survive this.”

It was one of the few times that Pia had any type of real emotion in her voice. Except when she laughed, which was more frequently as of late. She and Kaku laughed more often, especially when Pia continued to talk of children. Now, Pia shook her head in irritation.

Anna suddenly needed her husband’s comfort around her. Pia lit more sage and sweetgrass mixed with some pungent plant which had a scent that seemed to give Nada comfort. Anna leaned into Colton as she reached into the bowl of cool water and wrung out the cloth. He said a few more words to Nada, and then he brushed Nada’s damp hair away from her face. He took the cool cloth from Texanna’s hand, holding her close as he ran the cloth over Nada’s flushed face before leaving the laboring woman to deliver her child.

***

Texanna was led to the corner of the room by her determined husband. “I’ll go and find him. I don’t know what is going on but I need to know. Pia does not trust him either. I have tried to allow him to keep his secrets but no man would leave his wife for this long at a time like this unless he had to or was drawn in a stronger way to something else. I need to know which it is. And you need to listen to Pia and Kaku. They have done this many times before. Kaku said yesterday it will be a hard delivery.”

“Colt, don’t go tonight. You have no idea what you will come upon and it is dark and beginning to snow.” She hesitated a moment. “And I don’t want something horrible to happen while you are gone here or in the elements.”

“Sweetheart, I track, I don’t deliver babies. I know how to sneak up on others and how to not get caught. I’m the one who catches them, remember?”

“If anything happens to you I’ll never forgive you,” she murmured with her face smothered in his thick flannel shirt. Colton enjoyed his sweetheart when she was like this. When she was tired or needed comforting or as in this case, uncertain about things, she put her face in his shirt. Or sometimes, like now, tucked herself into the crook of his neck. Then she inhaled deeply. She was like a pup that had to find its mama. She sniffed her way to the comfort. He knew she was worried for her husband and Nada. She needed him to make her feel that it was going to come out all right.

“I’ll remember that, honey. Anna,”  Colt said lovingly, “I’ll be okay, I promise. Now let me get my things together. It might get colder out there.” He kissed her then pushed her toward the room where a new life was soon to present itself.

He hesitated at the door but knew he needed to find Mark Trenton once and for all. As he walked out of the door, he felt a wave of love wash over him. It was so strong, he didn’t know if it was from his woman or just his love for her. He would have stayed to comfort her but something in his spirit medicine told him he had to go and find this derelict husband, this Mark Trenton.

That man was a mystery. However, since his womenfolk were close to this family and his gut was not settled on the issues, it was sufficient to make him worry and stay on alert. The problem was, other than that, Mark Trenton was a helpful, useful man who genuinely appeared to be interested in the wellbeing of his family.

***

It was a long night but finally, just before dawn, a precious new baby was born. Unfortunately, there was no new father to greet his son. Nor had the man of the house returned. Texanna was given the baby to hold after the wise women had given him to Mama to suckle for a few moments only.

“We will have him nurse for just a moment. Long enough to allow the eternal bond between the child and it’s mother. It might also stop some of her bleeding.” After some moments, Kaku said something and Pia took the baby and passed him to Anna.

“It is time to fight for Nada’s life.” Pia had gotten Kaku, who had been chanting quietly near the fire before the delivery and together the women tried to stop Nada’s heavy bleeding.

“Grab the blankets from under her. We need to put oil skin,” instructed Kaku to Pia. They did not allow Texanna to touch the blood after the newborn was swaddled.

Pia turned to Texanna when she returned to help. “You need to leave the room now.Take the baby by the fire in the front room. Keep him warm.”

“But why?”

“You have seen what you need to learn but the uncleanliness is not something you should stay near.”

“Ridiculous.”

Pia pressed her lips together tightly and Kaku pushed Texanna out of the room, closing the door behind her. Texanna was angry but she stayed out of the room.

Nada bled all through the night sometimes more sometimes less but thankfully, the profuse, scary bleeding had stopped. Nada seemed to go from unconsciousness into a more restful sleep as dawn approached.

“Why is she bleeding so much, Pia?” asked the still worried Texanna when Pia came out of the room at dawn. She knew that she would also face giving birth to Colton’s children and this did not seem a very safe thing to do. Maybe not a wise decision on her part.

Pia looked at Texanna for a moment and wrapped a weary arm around her. “She was tired, the baby came quickly once he decided he would come. Sometimes fast makes more bleeding. First babies are slow.”

It was the worst night of her life, Texanna later told her husband. During the darkest part of the night before Nada slipped into a fitful sleep, the new mama was insistent that she tell the women things.

“You may come in to hear Nada.” Said Pia.

Texanna was happy she was allowed to hear the story as she had been quite angry to be shut out of a room in her own home.

Nada began slowly. “My husband nor I have any close relatives.” She stopped to breathe. “My family is gone into hiding and still at war. My husband’s family is destroyed by the white man wars.” She paused again. Texanna cooled Nada’s feverish brow “Only this baby is Mark’s. My other children were from my first husband.” She dosed off for a few moments before continuing. “My husband, my husband was killed when the white soldiers came. They wanted me but my husband was cunning and would not allow them to have me.” Her voice wavered and Texanna wiped her own tears as she listened and imagined the horror. “He was protecting our family and he did it well. He led the group of men away from the children and from me. He was killed but the soldiers never returned to take me or harm any of us.”

Kaku said something and Nada nodded in response. Texanna looked at Pia, who said quietly, “He died well.”

Texanna was having difficulty keeping her emotions in check as the other women appeared to be doing.

Nada continued. “I met and married Mark the white man way, almost a year ago. I had no emotion with him for you see, I was still my first husband’s wife in my heart. But I had our children and I thought I could sense his kindness for he offered me shelter and a protector.” Nada paused and looked to Anna as though she was going to say something else but stopped and rested for a moment.

She began again. “He would provide for my children and all he wanted in return was to have a child to carry on a part of him. He seems hard at times, not a man able to love or be loved, even now. He likes others to see him as that hard man. But I see some softening toward the children as a father. He is soft with me.” Her voice changed to a briskness that sounded odd in her weakened state. “He had been running from the destruction of the Civil War,” Nada said. Texanna had heard that horror had been left all around the south. She was thankful there was no real effect on this area.

“Mark Trenton makes money by bringing in evil men sometimes. I tried to get him to live more as the Comanche. He tried.” Nada rested again. She was given healing tea and cleaned up again while Texanna attended to the infant.

Later Nada continued. “I married him because he allowed me to bring the children for there were no relatives to keep them. And he had proven himself to be a good provider, the decision to go with him was easy. The land that the Army put my people on was too hard to survive on. There is so many in such a small area. We were used to being free. He had to leave us while he looked for bounties but he always came back.”

She sipped more tea and continued. “He had made no promises but after he saw the meager state we lived in he said it would be no different if we followed him. So we would go to a place near where he was going and we would set up camp. We did well until I became heavy with child. He said he would try to find some land for the children and myself to live on and raise food.” She looked at the other women in the room. “I did not tell him how hard it was to continue to travel. I think he knew. We cannot go to town and stay anywhere.” Texanna now understood that it was because she was Indian. “He has done as he said but we do not have a home to call our own. I believe he is trying.” Nada was tired and fell into an exhausted sleep. Her breathing sounded so shallow the last time she fell asleep and several times Texanna thought she’d died.