Southern Discomfort (15 page)

“No, Edward is
just fine. He only got him in the shoulder.”

Katie jumped to
her feet and ran off to her husband.

“The bullet
went right through. You are going to be fine, Bessie. It didn't hurt
the baby either.” Charles was overjoyed that nothing important had
been hit. He would just have to clean the wound and see to it that
she got lots of rest.

“The baby?”

“Yes, don't you
know? Your monthly time is late, by over a week. You are expecting a
baby, too. I have been waiting for you to tell me. Darling, didn't
you know?”

She shook her
head and her hands moved to her tummy to cover it up, protectively.
“Our babies will grow up together,” she said, looking at
Nathaniel. Bessie was so pleased that she didn't even worry about the
gunshot.

Nathaniel eyes
searched the room for his wife. He didn't see her. “Is Emily
alright? Where is she?”

Charles fixed up
all of his patients and gave Katie something to calm her nerves. She
had gotten the shakes and they just wouldn't stop. She refused to
leave her husband's side. Katie held his hand and just cried. The
shock had been too much for her.

It was already
getting dark out and no one had seen Emily. Several men from town had
showed up to help. They were combing the area to find her but
everyone was assuming that she was dead.

Nathaniel
continued to look for her, while the helpers slept in the barn. He
repeated that he had told her to stay inside over and over again. He
was devastated. She couldn't survive all alone on the range. Had
Victor come alone or was some strange man hurting his wife.

The sun was
coming up. Nathaniel felt hope again. If she had just survived the
night than he would find her now. He called out to her again and
again.

By late
afternoon, the sky turned from blue to gray. He could see a black
storm front coming right at them. Charles tried to convince him to go
inside, because of the lightning, but Nathaniel refused. He wouldn't
rest until he found her.

At nightfall he
had to call it quits for the day. The pastor was at his house. The
helpers had dragged Victor's body back to town for burying. Edward
was up and around. He was thanking everyone and Katie was beaming
with her love for her husband. Nathaniel had never seen her happier.

Charles was
waiting on his wife, who kept trying to get up and help with the
housework. They looked so happy too.

No one had seen
Emily.

Nathaniel went to
his bed, trying to sleep, so he would be fresh when he went looking
for her tomorrow. Everyone thought that she was dead, but he knew she
wasn't. She was so good and so dear to him. She couldn't be gone.

Emily waited and
no one came. Hour after hour and no more sounds. Just nothing. She
had heard six shots in all. She listed the people at the house over
and over in her head. Six shots and six people. Maybe, no one was
left to come and get her. They would all be dead.

She shivered and
tried to get out of her prison. She patted the floor and found
little, nothing that could help her. Emily found the door and knocked
on it, pounding when she had a burst of strength to do so. She
screamed for help but she heard no reply, just her own screams being
carried away by the wind.

When she was
exhausted she laid down in front of the door and slept.

Emily was still
surrounded by darkness when she woke. She had a terrible headache
from all of crying and screaming. She moved away from the door and to
a corner.

There she
relieved herself and threw up. This time the sick feeling didn't
pass. She cried and had to throw up two more times.

A sickening
feeling went through her that no one would ever come. She patted her
way back to the door.

She scratched at
the earth with her nails, trying to dig her way out. A board was
buried in the ground. Probably, someone had thought that it would
keep animals from digging their way in.

Emily worked in
the complete darkness for hours on end.

Emily heard
another shot. She jumped away from the door and listened. A moment
later she heard another shot. Now she recognized it for what it
really was. It was thunder. She left her hand on the wall and went
back to the door. She had work to do. It was up to her now to save
her baby.

Emily knelt down
and went back to digging.

She felt a
wetness under her hands. Feverishly she tried to move the heavy wet
earth to the side so she could slip out under the door. The hole she
had dug filled with water. She had to wait for the storm to blow over
before she could continue working.

Was it day or
night? Emily longed to see something clearly, anything. The hours
stretched out so long. The storm wasn't letting up. She leaned
against the wall and waited. She hoped that the water pushing in
would dig the hole for her.

Should she sleep?

Emily woke up
hungry and thirsty. She patted the floor again and worked her way
back to the door. She felt so terrible and dizzy. Emily was seeing
flashes of light before her eyes. She wanted to lay back down and
sleep, but she pushed herself to find the door and the puddle of
water there. She knew she had to drink something to survive.

Would this room
be her tomb?

Her hand pushed
into the hole. She had found it. Emily felt around for water, but the
water was gone. Only mud was left. She should have drank something
when it started to fill up with fresh water.

Emily had tears
in her eyes as she tried to push water out of the mud so she could
drink. She ended up shoving a handful of mud into her mouth. She
tried to suck the water out of the dirt but the idea of what she was
doing made her sick.

Emily laid down,
too weak to dig anymore.

How long had she
been in here?

Nathaniel woke up
early. He had woken with a start and reached over to Emily's side.
She wasn't there, but he knew that she needed him. He had to go to
her. He had to find her.

Katie handed him
a package of food and water to take along. She knew that he wouldn't
come home soon, unless he found her. She hoped that he would. They
all missed Emily something terrible. This house didn't feel right
without her in it.

Nathaniel
whispered his thanks and took off. Today he would find her. His heart
felt like hers was calling out to him. The others joined him, but
they didn't think that she was alive.

The rain that
fell last night was being sucked up into the sky. Today was going to
be a hot day. If Emily was out on the range all alone, then she
needed help as quickly as possible. She would be hungry. Had she lost
the baby? Was she still all wet from the rain last night.

He rode all over
the range looking for her. That feeling, about her needing him, was
getting worse. He had a panicking feeling that if he didn't find her
soon that he would never see her again.

He was the last
to ride in at nightfall. Edward was waiting for him in the barn.
Nathaniel tried to avoid his eye. He didn't want to hear what his
brother had to say.

“Nathaniel,
it's time. She's gone.”

“I can't stop.
We aren't even sure that that was Victor Wellington.”

“Yes, we are.
The telegrapher’s office confirmed it. He took off looking for
Emily as soon as her aunt and uncle came home. Besides your horse
needs a rest.”

Was he right? Was
it time to give up on the person that he loved the most? Nathaniel's
thoughts were pure agony. He looked up at the stars as he left the
barn. He prayed that God would watch over his Emily and keep her
safe. And if she had passed on he prayed that God would accept her
into his arms and keep her safe until he could join her.

Emily was getting
too weak to dig. She sometimes thought that she heard voices. Was
that her mother calling out to her? She reached out to take her
mother's hand but then the vision was gone. She longed for salt.

Emily sang songs
to the baby and talked to it. Mostly, apologizing that they were
going to die in here. She told her baby how much she loved it, and
that she had been looking forward to meeting him or her.

Nathaniel put a
rope around the horse's neck. He was taking Victor's horse and giving
his horse a break. He was going to ride into town and send a
telegraph to Emily's aunt and uncle. His last hope was that she was
with them.

He got on the
horse, but he left his eyes open, not keen on having to tell her
people that he hadn't been able to take care of her. He was starting
to lose hope that he would find her. It had just been too long.

Nathaniel was
having problems with the horse. He kept wanting to trot off to the
right. He pulled the horse back on track and it stayed there for a
while but then he pulled back the way they came and too the right.

After the fifth
time, Nathaniel gave up. “Take me where you want. I need a moment
to myself anyway. I have to put something into words that should
never be said.” He spoke to the horse as it took him towards the
property line to the neighboring ranch.

Nathaniel decided
that since he was this close that he would stop by and ask if they
had seen Emily, or if they had seen someone strange around here, but
the horse was proving once again that it had a mind of its own.

Nathaniel wasn't
sure but he thought he heard a melody in the wind. He was sitting up
straighter and looking around. He had been all over this area, but he
hadn't heard anything.

Nathaniel let the
horse lead him. It was slowly going down a path. He could see a door,
that was nailed shut.

“Emily!” he
called out. “I'm here, darling. I'll get you out.”

There were tools
next to the door. He picked up what he needed to pry the door open.
He kicked the lower boards away and tried to open the door. It was
nailed shut.

“Emily? Can you
hear me, darling?”

He received no
answer and figured that she needed him quickly. He kicked at the door
with all of his strength.

Emily looked up
and saw a ray of light coming in through the door. Were her parents
coming to get her and the baby, so they could go to heaven?

The light was so
bright that she had to cover her eyes.

“Emily?”

She sat up when
she recognized her husband's voice. “Nathaniel, you're alive.”
Tears filled her eyes. She asked herself, how she could cry when she
hadn't had water in so long? “Nathaniel,” she sobbed. “Please,
help me.”

Nathaniel heard
his wife's voice and kicked with all of his might. He pushed himself
in through the hole in the door. There was his Emily. She was on the
ground, covering her eyes. Had she been in here the whole time?

He picked her up
and held her to his chest. He hugged her and kissed her. “I thought
I would never see you again.” He gave her a smack on her backside.
“I told you to stay in the house.” He gave her another smack and
then kissed her again.

“Emily, I can't
live without you.” He gave her three more smacks as she clung to
him. “Please, obey me from now on.”

“I'm so
thirsty, Nathaniel.”

“Of course,
darling.” He pulled her over to the opening.

Emily shrieked
and covered her eyes. Nathaniel set her down and removed his shirt.
He ripped it so he could make a blindfold for her. He tied it around
her head, so the light couldn't hurt her anymore. Then he carefully
helped her out.

“I have some
water, right here, darling.” He sat her down on the ground.
Quickly, he untied the canister and opened it. He held it to her dry
and chapped lips. “Here's the water, darling. Drink, nice and slow.
Once you have drunk it all up, I'll take you home.”

Emily took a sip.
The water felt like it was burning her mouth. “Nathaniel, I'm so
parched.”

“Just keep
taking tiny sips, darling.” He sat down on the ground next to her
and gave her more to drink. “I have been looking for you for days.
I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner.”

“I thought you
were dead.” She reached out for him and patted his arm like she had
been patting the ground and walls of her cage the last couple of
days. He was really here, next to her. I thought I was going to die,
the baby and me,” she admitted.

“Drink, I want
to take you home.”

She drank the
canister until it was empty. Nathaniel gently lifted her up and sat
her on the horse. Her body fell forward. Nathaniel jumped up behind
her. He held the reins in a manner that would keep her on the horse.

Nathaniel slowly
brought her home. He needed to get her out of the heat but he
couldn't risk letting her fall. She was just too weak to sit.

When Nathaniel
rode into the yard several men reached up to help Emily down. He
jumped down and picked her up in his arms. “Charles,” he called
out loudly. “She needs help.”

The door to the
house opened for him as he walked in with his wife in his arms. He
carried her up to their room and started to undress her.

Katie appeared in
the door. “What does she need?”

“Water, lots of
water.”

Katie was the
kind that didn't have to be told anything twice. She hurried off and
Charles came in. “Where was she?”

“Really close
by. That bastard nailed her into the Kelly's old ice house. Her eyes
aren't used to the light anymore.”

“Good, we will
darken up the windows.”

Katie arrived
with the water. “Is she going to be alright again?”

A silence
followed.

Emily had wanted
to hear the answer. Had he nodded, thus reassuring everyone, or was
she a lost cause brought home to die? “Nathaniel.” Her hand felt
the bed next to her.

“Here I am,
darling.” He took hold of her hand and held it as tightly as he
dared. She was just so fragile.