“That’s your choice. Now leave me to mine.”
Crispin turned to go, but Leah held fast to his arm. “You can’t just ignore God or your need for Him. My mama always said that without God we’ll never be happy. You do want to be happy again, don’t you, Crispin?”
He looked down at her, his dark gaze penetrating. “I will never be happy again. Not with God. Not without Him.”
He jerked away from her hold and left without even waiting to hear of Grace’s condition. Leah felt a strange desire to run after Crispin. She had admired the man from their first meeting, and when she’d learned that he didn’t believe in God, she felt that perhaps it was her duty to set him straight. But that chance never came, at least not until tonight. As hard as it was to see him leave, Leah thanked God for the opportunity to finally talk to him—no matter how fruitless her words seemed.
“Mrs. Colton is to have complete bed rest for two weeks,” the doctor said as he came from behind the blanket. “She’s clearly not a well woman. This pregnancy has weakened her considerably.”
Leah nodded. “I’ll see to it that she rests.”
“She needs to eat plenty of meat,” he stated as he pulled on his gloves. “Have you meat?”
Leah nodded again. “Adrik shot an elk. We have plenty of food. I’ll see to it that she eats.”
“Good. The baby is small, but time will tell.”
“What do you mean?” Leah questioned.
“I mean,” the doctor said, “he will need much care in order to thrive. It’s nearly thirty below outside. You’re going to have to keep him warm and well fed. If the mother doesn’t make enough milk, you’ll have to supplement his diet with canned or fresh milk—whatever you can lay your hand to. If that can’t be found, fix him a little sugar water and find a bottle with which to feed him in between nursings.”
Leah nodded, fearful that the baby might die. She wanted to ask the doctor of the possibility, but her mouth wouldn’t form the words.
“Lastly, I would make a place for the child between you both. He’ll need the warmth of your bodies to survive. This tent is no place for a newborn, but if you take precautions, he might well live.”
He left in the same quick manner as Crispin had, leaving Leah to stare after him in stunned silence. She had figured now that the baby had been born, and had even cried and nursed, that he would be just fine. She hadn’t even considered that he could die.
She pushed back the curtain and looked to Grace. “I suppose,” she said, seeing the understanding in Grace’s expression, “you heard what the doctor said?”
“I heard him,” Grace replied.
Leah reached out and took hold of Grace’s hand. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you. We’ll see to it that Andy makes good progress. You, too. You’ll rest and take care of Andy, and I’ll bring you meals and take care of everything else.”
Grace bit her lower lip and tears came to her eyes once again. “He must live,” she finally whispered.
“He will,” Leah said, promising in her heart that if she could make it so, it would be.
That night, even though she worried because Karen had never returned to the tent, Leah crawled into bed beside Grace and helped her to nestle Andrew between them. The baby slept without concern for his surroundings, and Leah thought it rather a blessing that he should know so little. The dangers were something she’d just as soon not know about— for knowing only made surviving the night all that much harder.
Leah thought of Crispin and worried about him drinking the night away in one of the many saloons. She wondered, as Grace’s even breathing indicated sleep, if he would get drunk and pass out in the snow as he had when she’d come upon him only that morning.
“God, please take care of Crispin,” she prayed in a hushed whisper. “Let him know how much you love him. Let him come to understand that you really do exist—that you really do care.”
—[CHAPTER EIGHT]—
KAREN DIDN’T KNOW when she’d been so tired. Even climbing the Chilkoot Pass hadn’t been as exhausting as working for nearly eighteen hours without a break. First she’d gone to help unload supplies from storage, and then she’d found herself out in the blizzard bringing in wood from the stacked pile behind the café.
After that she waited tables, washed dishes, and was eventually allowed to cook—the job she’d been hired to do in the first place. They’d been so shorthanded that everyone had been forced to pitch in and do a little bit of everything.
Yawning, Karen pushed back the outside tent flap and unfastened the ties of the inner flap. A lantern burned on the stove, but other than that the room was dark and quiet. Grace and Leah had no doubt gone to bed. Yawning again, Karen blew out the lantern and found her way to her own bed. Adrik had built a frame of ropes, and together they’d sewn canvas from their makeshift sail into mattress coverings. These they stuffed with pine boughs and anything else they could find to make a soft resting place.
Sinking into the bed, Karen managed only to kick her boots off before pulling the covers high. Within a moment she was fast asleep.
Strange thoughts and sounds drifted in and out of her dreams. Karen thought at one point that a baby was crying. But her eyes were much too heavy to open and investigate, and her mind was cloudy with thick fog of sleep.
It wasn’t until morning, when she heard Leah moving about the tent, that Karen forced herself to wake up. She didn’t have to report to work until noon and had thought to spend a few extra hours asleep, but the cry of a baby pierced the silence and caused her to bolt upright in bed.
“What’s that?” she asked, throwing back the covers. “Grace, are you all right?”
Leah laughed. “Grace had her baby.”
Karen looked to the wide-eyed child and shook her head. “You’re just kidding me, aren’t you?”
Leah took hold of her hand and pulled her to the blanket partition. “See for yourself.”
Karen looked behind the covers to find Grace smiling at her from a propped up position. The nursing baby seemed completely oblivious to her intrusion.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Neither did we,” Grace replied. “At least not at first.”
“Why didn’t you come get me?” Karen asked, looking to Leah for an answer.
“I did. I went first to get the midwife, but she was on her deathbed. So then I went to find you, but the man at the café said you were off helping get supplies. He promised he’d tell you to come home when you got back, but he wasn’t happy about it.”
“Apparently his displeasure kept him from telling me the truth,” Karen stated, angry that she had been deceived.
“I found Crispin on my way back,” Leah said, then frowned. “He was drunk, but I sobered him up, and he helped me deliver the baby.”
“They did a perfect job and it saved me one hundred dollars,” Grace said, shifting the baby.
Karen was still in a state of disbelief. “So is it a boy or a girl?”
“A boy,” Grace answered. The expression on her face caused Karen’s heart to ache for her friend. No doubt Grace was thinking of Peter and his long absence.
“What have you named him?”
“Andrew. But we call him Andy. Seems like a better fit,” Grace replied.
“Crispin paid for a doctor to come and check on Grace and the baby,” Leah said authoritatively. “The doctor said they both need rest and lots of good food.”
“And no doubt a warm cabin,” Karen threw in. Why couldn’t they have found a home first thing? She couldn’t help but wonder what plan God had for them and why it included Grace giving birth to her son in a chilly tent.
“We were worried about you,” Grace stated, looking rather worried. “Are you all right?”
Karen saw the look of loving concern in her friend’s eyes. “I’m fine. The blizzard seemed to drive folks in to the café rather than keep them away. We had a bevy of folks from the hotels, and those that didn’t come to take a meal at the café sent someone
to bring a meal back to them. We were working all day and night.”
“I’ll fix you some breakfast,” Leah said, pushing back the blanket partition. “You just sit down and rest.”
Karen smiled appreciatively and took a chair beside Grace’s bed. “She’s been such a help.”
“That she has. She never balked at the work of helping me with Andrew’s delivery. She and Crispin worked as a remarkable team.”
Karen looked around the tent. “Where is Crispin?”
“He left,” Grace admitted. “He left even before the doctor finished his examination. He looked awful.”
Karen nodded. Adrik had told her on more than one occasion that he had seen Crispin drunk. The news positively broke Karen’s heart. Crispin had cared so very much for Miranda Colton, and he just couldn’t seem to let go of feeling responsible for her loss.
“I hope he’s all right. Adrik should try to talk to him again.”
“Leah did her best to reason with him. I figured if anyone had a chance of getting through to him, it would be her. But Crispin just bolted.”
Karen watched as Grace gently lifted her son to her shoulder. Patting him firmly, she burped him, then looked questioningly at Karen. “Would you care to hold him?”
The longing in Karen’s heart for a child surfaced all at once. “I would love to.” She reached out and took the baby in her arms. He was so small, yet so perfect.
Andrew Colton looked up to Karen with wide blue eyes. His dark brown hair reminded Karen of Grace. “He favors you.”
“He looks like Peter, too,” Grace assured. “I see it in his nose and mouth.” She lowered her face. “I’d give anything to have him here.”
Karen cuddled the baby close and nodded. “I know you would. We’ll get word to him, one way or another. We’ll tell him about his son and we’ll pray that he comes.”
Grace lifted her face. “But I want him to come for more than the baby’s sake. I want him to come because he’s come to love God and he knows what’s right. And I want him to come because he loves me.”
Karen looked at Grace and saw the sadness in her expression. “I know he loves you.”
Andrew closed his eyes while Karen gently rocked him in her arms. How wonderful he felt in her embrace. She couldn’t help but feel a touch of envy. Here Grace was years her junior and she was already a mother. Karen gently handed the sleeping boy back to his mother. She smiled with an assurance she didn’t feel. “I know we’ll find Peter, and I know he loves you.”
“I just about have the flapjacks ready,” Leah called out.
A rustling at the door flap and the stomping of boots brought the attention of all three women to the front of the tent.
“You’d better throw some more of those on the stove,” Adrik Ivankov’s booming voice rang out.
“Adrik!” Karen exclaimed and jumped to her feet. She threw herself into her husband’s ice-encrusted arms.
Adrik hugged her tight and kissed her soundly. Karen thrilled to his touch, feeling a wave of longing rush over her. They’d had so little privacy since they got married. There was rarely any opportunity for intimacy between them.
Jacob stumbled in behind Adrik. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” Leah called out.
Karen pulled away from her husband and laughed. “Oh, it’s so good to have you both back. I have wonderful news for you.”
“We have some pretty good news ourselves,” Adrik said, pulling off his heavy coat.
“Well, I can’t imagine it can top this,” Karen said, motioning to Grace. “Grace has a new son.”
Adrik beamed a smile. “Congratulations, little mother.”
Grace nodded. “Thank you. This is Andrew Michael Colton.” She held the sleeping baby up ever so slightly.
“He’s a beaut,” Adrik declared.
“Leah helped deliver him,” Karen told her husband. “Along with Crispin.”
Adrik frowned. “Crispin?”
“I found Crispin nearly passed out in the snow,” Leah said matter-of-factly. “I made him come back here with me.”
“I would have paid good money to see that,” Adrik said, laughing.
Jacob patted his sister on the shoulder. “She can be real pushy when she wants something.”
“Well, in this case, I’m glad she was,” Grace added. “She sobered him up and he helped with delivering the baby.”
“Where is he now?” Adrik asked, looking around the room.
“He wouldn’t stay,” Leah replied. She turned her attention back to the stove. “I tried to talk to him, but he was just too sad.”
“Sad?” Adrik questioned.
She nodded. “Yes. Sad about Miranda. He seems to have lost all hope and purpose.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you aren’t right on that matter,” Adrik said, looking to Karen. “I can well imagine how I’d feel if I lost Karen.”
Karen reached out to hold his hand. “I don’t even want to think of how things would be if you weren’t here. I worried about you the whole time you were gone. I’d pray and pray and then worry that I needed to pray some more.”
“Well, we do have good news,” Jacob said, seeming to suddenly remember. “Tell ’em, Adrik.”
Adrik looked at Karen. “Gump said he’d like to hire us on to work his claim. Even though there isn’t as much to do this time of the year, he’d like us to come just the same. Said he’d split whatever we found fifty-fifty. We aren’t going to get a better offer than that. His cabin is small, but it should be sufficient. We can add onto it when the weather warms up.” Adrik puffed out his chest as though quite pleased with himself. “I told him I’d come back here and pack everybody up and be there within the week.”
Karen’s mouth dropped open. “What? Just like that?”
“Just like what?” Adrik seemed genuinely surprised.
“We can’t just up and leave. Grace just had the baby. She can’t possibly travel.”
“We can arrange for her. She could stay here in town for a spell, and then we could come back and get her. Look, I borrowed Gump’s dogs and sled. I can’t keep him waiting longer than the week. It takes two days just to get to where his claim is on Hunker Creek.”
“But I thought you went to check out another claim. Didn’t Gump suggest some friend of his might need help?”
“Gump’s friend didn’t need the hands, but Gump did. We started talking on the trip out there, and Gump talked about how hard it is to work a claim by himself. He wants to give it one big go in the spring and then pack out by fall of next year. He figures if we help him with it, we might all come out on top. After all, most of the claims on Hunker Creek are netting good finds.”
“But Adrik, we can’t … I mean …” Karen’s voice trailed off. She tried to think of how to tell him about her job. She looked to the others in the room. Leah and Grace seemed to understand, but Jacob just looked on, as if confused by the entire encounter.
Grace nodded to Karen as if to bolster her courage. Karen looked to her husband and decided it was better to just get things out in the open. “I have a job. It pays good money. One hundred and fifty dollars a month, to be exact.”
“That is a lot of money!” Jacob exclaimed. “What do you have to do for it?”
Adrik took a step back and looked down at his wife. “Yes, what do you have to do?”
Karen felt her cheeks grow hot, but whether from embarrassment at the suggestive tone of her husband or her own anger, she couldn’t tell. “Nothing that would shame either one of us. I have a job cooking. It’s a good job. I figured we could use the money what with the baby and all. Grace and the baby need four walls and a roof, not a tent.”
“And that’s exactly what I propose to offer them,” Adrik replied.
Karen looked around the room, frustrated to have an audience. That was the biggest problem with their living in a tent. There was never any place for real privacy, and outside was far too cold to take a stroll for something so
menial as an argument.
“Adrik, I took the job because I thought it might ease the burden for you and Jacob. The job isn’t hard, and I don’t mind doing it.”
“Well, I do. I don’t want my wife supporting me,” Adrik said sternly. “I’m the one who took it on to see to your welfare and that of everyone else in this room. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think myself capable.”
“And you are,” Karen replied, hoping to soothe his irritated spirit. “I just thought this would free you up to find what you were really searching for.”
“I’ve already found what I’m looking for,” Adrik answered. “Gump has been a good friend for a long time. He needs the help and we need what he can offer. It’s a good trade, and since there’s still plenty of winter left, I don’t intend to see you living it out here in a tent.”
“But—”
“No, Karen. We’re doing this my way. I’m the man of the family.” He looked to Grace and nodded. “In Peter Colton’s absence, I’m Grace’s protector, as well. I know what’s best. Grace, do you trust me to provide a place for you and your son?”
Grace looked to Karen and then back to Adrik. “I know you’ll do right by us.”
Adrik turned to Karen. “Will you trust me?”
Karen knew there was no reason to continue the argument. Adrik’s mind was made up, and she wasn’t going to change it. “All right,” she said reluctantly.
Adrik took hold of her shoulders. “Karen, I’ve prayed this through. I know God has provided for us and at the same time, He’s provided for Gump. This is all going to work out. You’ll see. Gump gave me some money for extra supplies and a bit to tide us over. I’ll use the money to secure Grace and the boy, then we’ll get whatever else we need and head out. When the weather improves, I’ll come back and get Grace and the baby.”
And so it was settled. Leah stirred more flapjack batter while Jacob and Adrik went to care for Gump’s dog team. Karen went to sit beside Grace, still not entirely certain this solution was for the best.
“I don’t want to leave you behind,” Karen said in a hushed tone.
Rivers of Gold Page 7
