NINE
"Quickly, tell me everything again,” Levi
ordered.
Abigail and Levi seemed wretched. Seeing what she had caused in her selfish flight made her want to crawl into a hole. These people had been nothing but good to her and she was nothing but a catastrophe.
Maggie quickly repeated the exchange she’d had with Sullivan, word for word.
Levi raked a hand through his beard. “He may not have seen or heard all. The curtains blocked the window. He said he heard thee singing, but he didn’t mention hearing anyone else.”
Maggie pinched the bridge of her nose. “He doesn’t trust me anymore, if he ever did. Any chance of some attraction seems to have vanished.”
“Tonight, Levi. It has to be tonight,” Abigail pleaded. But Levi didn’t answer her. Instead, he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“What has to be tonight?” Maggie questioned.
No one answered her.
Levi reached for his hat hanging on the peg and put his hand on the doorknob to go out. “Tonight,” he agreed.
When he shut the door, she turned to face Abigail, mortified at what her weakness had caused and waited for retribution.
But Abigail only sighed. “I know this is hard. I know thee has thine own painful experiences that are no doubt coming to mind. But we are all in this together. That is the only way we will make it out alive. Alright?”
Maggie dumbly nodded. Tears welled in her eyes. She would never deserve these people. Hit after hit, they never loved her any less.
Abigail motioned for her to come into the parlor and whispered the plan.
Isham was dying. There was no doubt. He still lay on Levi and Abigail’s bed.
When Maggie fled suddenly outside, there was no time to conceal him without making a massive racket from moving the bed.
They just watched from the window and Levi stood guard inside the room.
Even if they could have logistically moved Isham, they refused to do so.
His breathing continued to slow and his heartbeat became irregular.
They wouldn’t have him die in a dark hole. And they wouldn’t have him die alone.
The three of them, Levi, Abigail, and Maggie, would alternate sitting beside him. One mercy that had come from Maggie’s interaction with Sullivan was that she was told to stay near the house. That would give a reason for her to be indoors most of the day.
Come dark, even if Isham was still earth-side, Abigail was going to go find Elijah. Levi tried to talk her out of going and let him go, but it was futile. His leg would slow him down and what if something happened with the sheep?
“Let me come with you, Abigail. What if you encounter trouble?” Maggie begged.
Abigail wouldn’t hear of it. “No. I know the terrain, and I won’t be alone. I’ll find my son.”
Maggie sincerely hoped that she was right. There was a dual purpose in finding Elijah. The first being that he must be warned of the soldiers living on the farm before he returns. Maggie tried not to dwell on the second.
Isham hadn’t moved. The only indication that he was still alive was the occasional rise and fall of his chest. Maggie sat silently beside him. The house was quiet with everyone else outside. Too quiet. Not even the birds sang outside the curtain-closed window.
How many times would she sit beside someone and watch them die?
Being by her mother’s deathbed had been torture.
This, in some regards, felt worse. She wasn’t Isham’s kin.
She didn’t even know his last name. Much less where he came from, how old he was, if he had anyone he loved.
He would die and there would be no marker.
He’d fled his imprisonment for a chance to live and this is where that dream would end.
She had no notion of what Levi had discussed with him privately. Only that there did seem to be a small sense of peace in his face when she and Abigail were beckoned back into the room.
Mama had had peace in the end. She was ready to leave the fallen world behind and go home with Father, Hugh, and Joel.
That was some comfort. Maggie daydreamed and pictured her family all together, laughing in a meadow.
Hugging one another. The sunshine bright and grass green. It was a nice thought.
But before she could stop herself, she recalled that horrifying nightmare she’d had the eve of Henry’s departure. The happy picture transformed into her family, bloodied and cold. All dead. Which was the reality? Her family reunited and whole in heaven, or their bones turning to dust in the ground?
Suddenly, Isham gasped, his whole body twitching. His mouth dropped open, and he gurgled for air. Maggie leapt from the chair. Her hands hovered in the air over him, unsure of what to do. His eyes slit open with his gaze at the ceiling.
“Isham? Isham?” She whispered frantically.
But he didn’t seem to hear her. His eyes never moved and remained unfocused.
She grasped his hand. It was cold and limp, but yet he still gasped for breath.
This was the end. No one else was in the house.
Maggie couldn’t yell and call out for the Howards.
It seemed it would be her fate to watch as he, too, departed from this world.
Tears ran down her face as she watched him struggle for air. Abigail had said he would pass in his sleep. This shouldn’t be happening.
The gasps came less and less frequently. Without warning, his limp hand flexed and he squeezed hers so tightly that she nearly cried out. He drew in a ragged, deep breath and his pupils dilated. “Are you there?” He horsely choked out.
“Ye-yes, I’m here, Isham. I’m here.” She couldn’t keep the panic from her voice.
“Are you there?” He repeated.
“I’m h—”
He cut her off. “I see the door. Will you open it for me?”
Another hallucination? Reactively, Maggie gazed up at the ceiling but saw only the cedar planks.
Turning back to Isham, she watched his face intently.
He blinked rapidly as if the light in the room was too bright.
Whatever he saw above them transfixed him and a single tear trickled down into his hairline.
Exhaling deeply, he smiled and his entire being relaxed.
Maggie felt the life go out of him. Trembling violently, she withdrew her hand from his. He was gone. She tenderly closed his eyes and brushed the trail of the tear from his face.
She felt numb. Knowing it was going to happen was quite different from being the sole witness.
Abigail found her still sitting there an hour later.
“May God grant thee peace,” She whispered as she folded Isham’s hands over his chest. “Maggie, will thee pour some water into the basin? We must prepare our friend.”
“I-I Can’t. Do. This.” The words sounded like gravel in her mouth.
Abigail froze and looked at her.
“Too much. It’s just all too much,” Maggie whispered more to herself than to Abigail.
Abigail looked at her with pity and helped her up from her post. “Maggie, come.” Guiding her out of the room, Abigail shut the door behind them. She rustled at the stove for a few minutes and then thrust a warm mug into Maggie’s hands.
“Dandelion tea. Drink it,” Abigail gently instructed and sat her at the table.
When Maggie had swallowed the last drop, Abigail said, “It’s not the first time thee has been with someone that has died.”
Maggie shook her head.
“It doesn’t make it any easier. If anything, it can make it feel harder. Memories resurface. We must pray that—”
“Pray?” A flash of anger overtook the numbness.
“Pray? What good will that do? I watched you and Levi pray for a miracle to save Isham. God either didn’t hear you or doesn’t care because Isham is dead.
I’ve told you. I watched my mother pray for the same thing.
Day in and day out. Praying for her boys.
They all ended up dead, too. Why on earth did I bother praying for Henry?
It seems that he might be better off if I hadn’t.
” Maggie threw back her chair and stood.
Before she could flee the room, Abigail came around and grasped her hands. “Maggie, thee is hurting and maybe scared. I understand that thee has been through so much—”
Maggie jerked away, knowing that Abigail was thinking of her scar that she’d seen. “No, Abigail, you don’t. As much as I appreciate all that you’ve done for me, you don’t.”
Maggie flew up the loft ladder, and this time, Abigail didn’t try to stop her.
Anger still consumed Maggie. Lashing out at Abigail hadn’t made any difference. Her family bible caught her eye, sitting on the nightstand, and she wanted to scream. It was like it was taunting her.
If they want to believe in nonsense, they can have it.
She grabbed the bible and threw it down the ladder. It landed with a thud that seemed to echo through the house.