Bound by Blood and Brimstone (15 page)

world would’ve kept us from drowning.

Since outside activity was out of the question, it was sure to be a long day. After

breakfast dishes were done, I dug out my journal and settled in front of the fire to write some

poetry. Lorrie Beth went to the kitchen to heat some water for a bath, and Wonnie sat beside me

with her knitting. Momma surprised me with a first.

“Wonnie, I think I’ll lie back down for a bit if you don’t mind,” she said. I’m just so

tired, I don’t feel like I can put one foot in front of the other.”

I popped up out of my chair. “Are you all right, Momma?” She was trying hard not to

show it, but I could see lines of pain in her face. Her expression was dazed as she stood there,

rubbing her belly.

She reached out and laid a hand on my cheek. “I’m fine, Honey. Just tired is all. I haven’t

been sleeping much lately, and I guess it’s catching up with me. I don’t think Junior is sleeping

much either.” She chuckled. “I guess the little guy is getting cramped in here.”

Wonnie gave Momma a studied look. “You call if you need me, Mona. There is no need

to be too brave. If you have pain, I want to know.”

Momma smiled. “I know, Wonnie, and I will. I promise. I just need rest now,” she said

and trudged back to her room
.

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Momma go back to bed in the daytime, no matter how

tired she gets. She looks so pale. She’s hurting, too, but didn’t want to admit it. I could tell by her

face. I stole a furtive glance at Wonnie Dean, but she seemed placid enough, unconcerned as her

knitting needles clicked together.

I was still trying to convince myself that all was well, when a rapid series of heavy blows

rattled the door in its frame and nearly jolted me into the fire. When I went to open it, Lonnie

Watts stood on the porch with his mailbag, out of breath and streaming rivers of water off his

clothes. An inane thought skittered across my brain
. Neither rain nor snow, nor
dead of night...

“Whew! Have you ever seen the likes of this before?” he demanded, sloshing over the

threshold and laying down the heavy mailbag. “Folks up here in the hollows don’t have it too

bad, but down at the mouth of Sapphire, the road is covered up.”

He rummaged in the sack and brought out a couple of soggy envelopes to thrust at me.

“Sorry about that. Guess the bag is leaking a little.” He shuffled over to the fire, uninvited, and

stretching out his hands to warm them over the flames, gave me a gap-toothed grin. “Guess you

girls have a vacation from school today; that can’t be all bad.”

I was struggling to be polite, but little pinpricks of ice were dancing a jig on the nerve

endings of the back of my neck. The notion of being cut off by water wasn’t appealing, to say the

least. “Do you really think we’re going to get flooded?” I asked, forcing myself to make my tone

light.

“Oh, no doubt about it,” he responded happily, rubbing his hands together. “Town is

already closing up shop, and folks with vehicles are moving to higher ground. Sheriff Bates is

working overtime to help storekeepers save what they can. Water’s already up to the first floor of

the courthouse.” He said this all with the joy of someone waiting to eat a luscious dessert. I

wanted to smack him.

“What about the people who have no way to get out?”

His smile drooped a little at that. “Well, I guess they better know how to swim.”

“Dear Lord!” Momma’s voice could barely be heard over the rain as she stood weakly

against the door jamb, her face chalk-white, hands fluttering nervously over her abdomen.

Wonnie and I rushed over, each taking an elbow to lead her to a chair where she plopped heavily.

“Easy, Mona,” Wonnie said in a soothing tone. “Breathe deeply.” Beads of sweat had

broken out on her brow, but she made the effort to calm herself, inhaling a great lungful of air

and letting it out. Finally her hands stilled, and a smudge of color crept back in her cheeks.

She raised her head and looked imploringly at our mailman. “I need a favor from you,

Lonnie.”

“Yes, Ma’am, Mrs. Roberts, I’ll do my best,” he replied, trailing water across the floor as

he came to kneel at her chair. “What do you need from me?”

Her gaze was direct when she looked into his weathered face.

“I need you to ask Sheriff Bates to be on the watch for William. He won’t be able to get

the jeep through if the water is high enough to flood the courthouse. Ask the sheriff if he’ll see to

it that William gets somewhere warm and dry tonight if he can’t make it through town. I can’t

bear to think of him sleeping...” She gulped, and when she spoke again her voice quavered. “I

can’t bear to think of him sleeping in that jeep somewhere on the side of the road.”

Lonnie looked up at her solemnly and reached for her hand. He was the knight in shining

armor now. “You can rest assured, Mrs. Roberts. I’ll see to it that Sheriff Bates gets the message,

if I have to wade up to my waist to do it. No sir, we can’t have Will sleeping out on the side of

the road.” He stood and, reaching for his mailbag, tipped his sodden hat at the three of us. “Stay

dry, ladies.”

The relentless barrage beyond the door had us hemmed in, suffocating like a butterfly

trapped in a Mason jar. No one spoke of it, but we all longed to be free of that wet cage. I was

thinking I’d die happy if I never saw another drop of rain. Obviously, Lorrie Beth felt the same.

She’d never been any good at concealing her emotions. She came out of her bath damp

and grumpy, sighing dramatically and looking out the window every five seconds until I wanted

to snatch the curtain out of her hand and strangle her with it.

“Oh, I wish it would stop,” she said with yet another sigh.

“Yeah? I bet you’re the only one who does. The rest of us wish it would rain forever!”

That got a disapproving glare from Momma, but not even so much as an eyelash flutter from

Wonnie. Her feathers weren’t about to be ruffled by a sister’s spat.

“That’s enough, Ember Mae,” Momma admonished. “We’re all anxious and irritated

now, so the last thing we need is squabbling.” Feeling immediate and intense shame for my

selfishness, I went over to her chair.

“Do you feel all right, Momma? Do you want to lie back down?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said absently. “I believe I’ll go out to the kitchen and fix some

cocoa. Anyone else want any?” We all said we did, but we really didn’t. We were just pretending

to be normal, playing out our roles on a small lightless stage with no audience.

“I’ll go with you Momma,” I offered. “I think I’m getting too warm in here by the fire

anyway.” I heaved her up out of her chair and grasped her elbow so she could waddle her way

into the kitchen.

I got mugs down from the cabinet while she heated milk with sugar and cocoa in a small

pot. She kept stopping every few minutes to catch her breath and paced in front of the stove as

we waited for the milk to boil.
It must be awfully uncomfortable to have to carry around that big

belly all the time, and here I am acting like a baby, making things even harder.

I filled the mugs as she watched, her dazed expression letting me know the last thing on

her mind was cocoa. I pulled out a chair beside her.

“What is it, Momma? What are you thinking about?” She blinked, pulling her mind back

to this world, then smiled and took my hand.

“I was just thinking about how grown up you’ve become and how proud I am of you.”

Hearing Momma say something so out of character was suddenly frightening, and my stomach

knotted up. “I want to ask you for an important favor, Ember Mae.”

“Anything, Momma, you know that.”

She gazed at me intently and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I know you

remember the night your sister, Angel, was born.”

My mouth turned to cotton at the thought of that bloody room, a death chamber. I licked

my lips. “Yes, I remember.”

“Well, now that you’ve been working with Wonnie and know about childbirth, I guess

you understand a little of what happened that night with me.”

“Well, she told me the baby was turned the wrong way, face- up, and the cord had gotten

wrapped around her neck--and strangled her.” This last was little more than a stuttering whisper.

I’d never spoken to Momma about that night, and now the words clenched my throat like a fist.

“I’m so sorry that happened, Momma.”

To my surprise, a sweet smile parted her lips. “I know, Honey, but the Lord hasn’t

forgotten us, has He? He’s sent us a little boy, and with your and Wonnie’s help, he’ll get here

just fine.” Her confidence in a ten-year-old kid was daunting.

“I’ll do my best when the time comes, Momma.”

Her blue eyes softened. “I know you will, Ember, but I want to ask you to do something

even more important. Something your daddy and I have talked about already.”

Having no idea what was coming, I attempted to brace myself for the worst. “What is it,

Momma? Just ask me.”

She squeezed my hand gently, and pausing just for a second, said, “When the baby

comes, if something happens, and it looks like we’re both in danger, I want you to save the baby

and let me go.”

Midway through her words, I started to shake my head back and forth, wordlessly

mouthing
no
over and over, but she squeezed my hand harder and nodded.

“Yes, Ember, yes,” she said sternly. “Now listen to me, Honey. I’ve had my shot at life,

and it’s been a good one with your Daddy. No woman could ask for better. This little baby hasn’t

had a chance yet, and he deserves it. If saving him means you have to let me go, I want you to

promise me you’ll do it.”

Hot tears were spilling over now, and all I could do was keep shaking my head. Still, her

words continued to assault me. “I want you to promise me, Ember. Your daddy agrees with me.

There’s more, too. In case something does happen to me, I want you to do all you can to raise my

son. I can’t depend on Lorrie Beth, and Wonnie’s too old.”

“Momma,” I blurted finally, my voice thick and wet, “don’t talk like that. Nothing is

going to happen to you. You’ll be fine. Wonnie won’t let anything happen to you!”

She dropped my hand and studied my face. She seemed to be searching for something,

and I guess she found it, because she gave me a radiant smile. “I’m not worried one bit about not

making it. I’m just taking out a little insurance, that’s all. I don’t want you worrying about me;

just promise me I can depend on you, no matter what.”

I gave my promise and searched for a handkerchief to blow my nose before we took the

mugs of cocoa to the front room. Wonnie was still knitting, and Lorrie Beth was stationed at the

window, thinking she could magically make the rain stop by wishing it so. We drank our sweet

brew and continued our pretense of being normal. Momma had just said, “Well, at least the

electricity is still on,” when a dazzling flash lit up the grayness beyond the window, and the

lights inside flickered once and died.

After gathering and lighting all the oil lamps, Momma’s biggest concern was the chest

freezer, full of the summer’s good harvest. “I don’t want all those bags of beans and corn to

spoil,” she fretted. Wonnie speculated that as long as the freezer lid wasn’t opened, maybe there

was no danger of thawing in the cold of January.

I knew if Momma didn’t have something else to occupy her mind, she would only brood

about the probability of Daddy not being able to make it home, so I suggested she go through her

stash of baby clothes to see if any darning was needed. To my relief, she pounced on the idea and

headed for her bedroom and her sewing basket. Wonnie urged Lorrie Beth to go with Momma

and offer her help. I guess even the imperturbable Wonnie had her limits, and they’d been

breached by my sister’s obsessive rain watching.

As soon as they were gone, I got up from my chair and, with my journal in hand, started

for my bedroom. “I think I’ll go finish my new book. See how Nancy Drew handles this one.”

I’d no sooner flopped on my bed, eager to lose myself in its pages, when Wonnie crept in and

settled her slight weight on the edge of the bed.

“We must talk,” she said, leaning over to make sure I’d heard. I raised myself up on my

elbow and searched her face for signs of alarm. Finding nothing, I said, “Okay. Do you need me

to do something, Wonnie?”

“It has begun. Your mother has not spoken of it, but she labors now.” Not wanting to

diminish her confidence in me, I chose not to reveal my surprise at her words, nor the fact that I

felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dashed in my face. I swallowed tightly.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so. You don’t think she’s going to have the baby today, do you? In this

storm?” It had taken me less than a second to realize I wasn’t ready for this.

She held my gaze firmly. “The baby does not care if it storms. He comes when he is

ready.” I sat up slowly and put my feet on the floor to sit beside her. I felt the blood drain from

my face, but refused to look away from her eyes.