Chapter 22 #2
Red kissed her again just for saying she wanted him to.
Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck, then slid her hands to his face and lifted herself away from him. “If you wanted me to be sassy, you should have told me you’d do this.”
Red laughed again but not for long. He started kissing her again, exploring her face with his lips. He had been tormented by how sweet she smelled when she lay next to him and the tiny sounds she made as she slept. He’d dreamed of tracing the outline of her perfect, silken cheekbones with his lips.
He was so busy satisfying his curiosity that it took him a while to notice Cassie wasn’t being a shy little creature now. She had her arms tight around his neck, and she made little gasps and sighs of pleasure that were driving him crazy even before he was conscious of them.
Then she let out a gasp that was different from the others. She went rigid in his arms, so tense and distressed, he pulled back, ashamed at his lack of restraint. He didn’t get a chance to apologize.
Cassie snatched her arms away from his neck and grabbed at her stomach. “Something’s wrong.”
Red looked from her belly to her face to her belly to her face about fifteen times before he got his eyes under control. “Is it the babe? Do you think the babe’s coming?”
Cassie’s attention had been riveted on her stomach. When Red asked about the baby, she looked up at him frantically. “I can’t have the baby yet!”
“But I thought you said it was due the middle of December. That’s now, Cass. Why can’t you have it yet?” Red tried to think of every possible thing that could be going wrong that made it dangerous for Cassie to have the baby right now.
Tears filled Cassie’s eyes as she looked to him to fix whatever was wrong. She wailed, “Because I’m too young to be a mother!”
Red had seen her cry a few times, silent tears with an occasional genteel sob. Her mouth hadn’t twisted, and her skin had been pure, flawless white. She had cried more beautifully than any woman Red had ever seen. And with a bunch of big sisters, he’d seen a few.
This was nothing like that. Cassie opened her mouth and made a terrible ruckus with her sobs. Her skin got all blotchy, tears turned her eyes red, her nose ran, and her hair started sticking to her face wherever she was soggy.
Red rubbed her back. “There, there.” It was all he knew about birthing babies. Although he’d made Muriel tell him a few things.
Birthing babies? Muriel! The vicious sleet pounded down more fiercely every minute. No one was going to make it out here to help bring this babe.
“Ouch!” Cassie shouted through her tears.
“What? What’s happening?” Red asked desperately.
“You’re crushing me!”
Red had been thinking about what was in store for them, and he’d been strangling her. He relaxed his hold.
“Go for help, Red,” Cassie whispered. Her voice caught. She gasped raggedly for a second, then she choked out, “Go to Jessups’ and send for Muriel.”
Red was struck speechless. He wasn’t going ten feet in this weather. He was going to have to do it alone. Cassie was too young to have a babe, and Red realized with a sickening twist of his gut that he was too.
An urgent desire to do something, anything, made Red stand with Cassie still in his arms. “Let’s get you to bed.” He carried her into the bedroom.
By the time Red had her in the back room, she started pushing at his shoulders.
“Let me down. I’m not going to bed.” Then she glared at him.
“Muriel can’t come out in this weather. Don’t you dare go for her!
” Cassie sounded calm and confident, not like the frightened little girl she’d been two minutes ago and not like the shy, submissive wife she was the rest of the time.
Red was having a little trouble adjusting. “No, I mean, yes, I mean, what do you want me to do?”
“Let me down this instant!” Cassie shoved at his shoulders again.
He lowered her to the floor, never letting go of her in case she sank into a heap on the ground or started moaning again or whatever women in labor did.
“That took me by surprise, but now that I’m ready for it, it won’t be so bad next time.” Cassie looked around the bedroom ceiling as if she were searching for cobwebs and considering knocking them down. She gave a nod and dusted her hands together and left the room.
Red trailed behind her.
Cassie headed for the cooler and ducked inside.
“What are you doing? What do you need in there?” Red joined her in the cramped room. She was slicing the ham.
Red grabbed the knife from her. “We don’t need to eat now.”
Cassie turned to him. “I don’t believe I’ll eat, no. But it’s near your noon mealtime. You’ll be wanting something.”
The mere thought of food made Red want to choke. “Don’t you think you should lie down?” He hacked at the ham just for something to do.
“Muriel says I should stay up for as long as possible. She said I’ll be so sick of lying in bed by the end that I’ll want these first few hours back.”
“Hours?” Red stopped slicing and looked sideways at her. “How many hours?”
“Muriel said her first child made his appearance about twenty-four hours after the first pains.”
“Twenty-four hours!”
Cassie patted him on the arm as if he were the one facing a full day of pains.
“Yes, but Libby said her first was only four hours and Leota said ten, so I guess we can’t know for sure.
” Cassie took the slice of ham and didn’t mention the fact the Red had hacked it into four pieces. She left the cooler.
Red hurried to catch up.
Cassie had turned into a woman Red had never met before. She was utterly calm, totally competent, and almost maniacally busy.
She cooked him a noon meal even though it was only about half past ten. He didn’t mention that fact, and she didn’t seem to care. She peeled potatoes and mixed a batch of biscuits. She started a new rising of bread for tomorrow and wiped every inch of the kitchen.
And she talked. She talked more words in the following half hour than Red had heard her say since they’d gotten married.
“I never gave eggs much thought back East. Then when we got out here and there were no chickens, Griff had some sent from St. Louis. The cost of those chickens! And none of them lived out the first week. We had a pig that died, and a milk cow that never gave us so much as a swallow of milk. Griff told me coyotes got the chickens and…”