LAND OF STARS: The Texas Wyllie Brothers (Wilderness Dawning Series Book 2) Read online

  “Well, I am five years.” He held up five fingers.

  “Practically a man,” Samuel said with a grin.

  “Am I goin’ south, Mister Samuel?”

  “You are. What’s your name?”

  “Amos.”

  “That’s a fine name,” Samuel said. “Would you like to travel along with us?”

  Again, the child seemed to be appraising them.

  “It might be a good idea,” Father said. “Sometimes wolves and other critters like to hunt at night. Wouldn’t want you to have to fight them off.”

  The child’s eyes widened again and he nodded vigorously.

  “Let me mount up again and then I’ll pull you up,” Samuel told him.

  Amos waited next to Samson while Samuel mounted. “That’s a fine horse.”

  “He sure is,” Samuel said, smiling at his father.

  He reached down and hauled the child up in front of him. He could tell the shivering boy needed the warmth of his body. He wrapped his coat around Amos’ front and snuggled him up close. “You’ll warm up in no time.”

  “Thank you, Mister Samuel.”

  Samuel’s heart tugged. He couldn’t wait to hold his own son in front of him on a horse. He cleared his throat and said, “Let’s go then. I want to get to Louisa.”

  “Who’s Louisa?” Amos asked.

  “The most wonderful woman in all of Texas,” Samuel said. “And the mother of my child.”

  “A boy?”

  Samuel grinned. “I don’t know yet. The babe will be born soon.”

  “My Ma was wonderful too.”

  “Where is your mother?” Samuel asked, fearing she’d died.

  “Master Watson sold her,” the boy said with a quaking voice and a sniffle.

  Samuel frowned at that as they set off again, riding through the dark, dripping forest. He yearned to make haste, but the road was far too mud-covered to safely do anything but walk their horses.

  The horse’s rocking motion soon lulled the boy to sleep. Samuel glanced down at the child’s innocent face. The irony of the situation struck him. He’d half expected that they might encounter bandits, Indians, or wild beasts on this road. Instead, they’d found a helpless, cold, small child.

  “Samuel, this may be a problem,” Father said.

  “I know. Watson may cause trouble. But it can’t be helped.” The child would likely never see his mother again. But Samuel held out hope that the boy might see his father again.

  “I agree. He needs our help. We can’t leave him and we can’t take him back,” Father said.

  “I don’t want to turn around because I promised Louisa I would catch up to her shortly. But since it stopped raining, do you think there’s any point in your going back to see if our homeplace is actually underwater? If it’s any worse?”

  “No. Our homes were already standing in nearly a foot of water when we left. By now the water will likely be up to the roofs. Even if it isn’t, as much rain as we’ve had floodwaters will spread far inland.”

  Samuel nodded and sighed heavily. “I know. I guess I just needed to hear you say it. It’s just so hard to accept that that part of our lives is over.”

  “Agreed. But that also means a new story in our lives is waiting to be written.”

  “And a new story for this little one too.”

  Chapter 10

  Louisa winced and gritted her teeth trying to hide her pain. She still hadn’t told Melly or Baldy that she was hurting. Even to herself, she tried to deny what was happening because she didn’t want the baby to come until Samuel was there. He had to be with her. She was afraid of what might happen. And she didn’t want to face it without him.

  When she’d lost the other babies only Samuel’s love seemed to comfort her. He’d held her for hours, gently caressing her head and arms, soothing her with his deep, kind voice. She knew Melly and Baldy loved her like a daughter, but it just wasn’t the same. She needed Samuel.

  He’d promised he would be here soon. Where was he? What was keeping him?

  As Steve passed by, she stopped him. “Steve, what’s keeping Samuel? He should have been here by now.”

  “Knowing him and his fondness for his cows, he’s probably helping Hollis. Or he could have been delayed helping some of the fleeing settlers.”

  “Steve, I want you to go look for him,” she said. “He could be in trouble. Perhaps the floodwaters…”

  “Don’t let your imagination create troubles you don’t have. Let’s wait another hour. If Samuel and Father are not here by then, I’ll go look for them, I promise.”

  Over the next half-hour, she peered into the darkness again and again. But each time, disappointment filled her and worry gripped her.

  Once again, she peered into the dark forest to the north, hoping to see him coming. This time she did! She pushed herself up and then sank down again at once when a pain grabbed her.

  Melly strode toward her with brows furrowed. “Did standing cause you discomfort? I just saw you grimace.”

  She smiled broadly as Samuel approached with Father Wyllie. She could tell Melly now. “Yes, I’m having pains.”

  “For how long?” Melly nearly demanded. “And how often?”

  “Ever since we set up camp,” Melly answered sheepishly. “More often now than they were earlier.”

  “Baldy!” Melly yelled. “The baby is coming!”

  Everyone in the camp leaped up startling some of the horses and Steve knocked over his coffee.

  “I knew it!” Abigail said, joining them.

  “If you knew it, you should have said so!” Melly snapped. She exhaled her impatience. “I’m sorry. Just help us get everything ready. Put some water on to warm. Steve and Thomas, empty out her wagon enough to make a bed for her inside. Adam, you know what medical supplies we’ll need. Get everything from our wagon. And be sure they stay clean.”

  “Of course,” Adam said.

  “If you’re through issuing orders, General Melly,” Baldy said with a grin, “let me speak with our patient.”

  As a midwife, Melly often delivered babies entirely by herself. But it was a comfort to Louisa to know that a doctor was also present.

  “Louisa, I asked you to let me know if you started having pains,” Melly told her in a gentler voice.

  “I was waiting for Samuel,” she said and pointed to the road. Louisa was so relieved to see Samuel her hands were trembling. She clasped her hands together in her lap. As Samuel rode closer, she was surprised to see that a little boy rode in front of him, wrapped in Samuel’s coat.

  Melly turned in the direction of the galloping horses. “Well, here he comes. And not a moment too soon.”

  “Show me where the pains have been,” Baldy told Louisa.

  She did and Baldy leaned over and placed a gentle hand on her belly and felt around. She became increasingly uneasy under his scrutiny. “Is everything as it should be?”

  “Do you feel the head?” Melly asked.

  “No,” Baldy said.

  Louisa gasped. “No head! What does that mean?” A shiver of panic raced down her back. Did she have a headless baby? God, forbid! She shook away the ridiculous worry. Of course, her baby had a head. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Her mind was just overwhelmed with all that had happened today.

  Baldy smiled. “Not feeling the head is a good thing. If I could feel the head up here,” he said, pointing to her ribs, “the babe would be trying to come into the world ass-backward, with feet first. That would not be a good thing. Believe me, I know. I faced that problem with Catherine, Captain Sam’s wife. Captain Sam is your husband’s uncle.”

  “Yes, I know who he is. Samuel was named after Captain Sam and often speaks fondly of his uncle. And his Aunt Catherine.”

  Louisa was relieved to learn her baby wasn’t breach. She’d seen cows struggling to deliver calves that were. Invariably, the calf would have to be pulled from its mother and often died in the process. Sometimes the cow was lost too.

  Samue
l and Father Wyllie rode into camp. The two swiftly dismounted and Steve took the reins of their weary and filthy horses. Then Samuel reached up for the child and set him on the ground. “Amos, these people are our family.” Samuel gestured to all the others who stood nearby.

  The boy said nothing and stayed close to Samuel’s leg.

  “And that beautiful woman in the rocker is my wife, Louisa,” Samuel said with a glance and a smile her way.

  Baldy leaned over and resumed gently prodding her belly.

  Samuel hurried to her. “Louisa! Are you all right?”

  “No need for alarm,” Baldy said in a calming voice. “You are soon to become a father.”

  “A father?” Samuel asked, as though the concept had never occurred to him. Normally, her handsome husband was calm and astute. However, as the time for the birth drew closer, he’d often acted like a bewildered dunderhead.

  “And I’m about to have a grandson,” Father Wyllie said with pride in his voice as he stepped closer.

  Melly chuckled. “I say it will be a girl.”

  Louisa glanced up at Melly. “If it is, I’m naming her after you.”

  Samuel glanced over at his father. “If it’s a boy, I’m naming him after you.”

  Louisa had to smile at the joy that sparkled in Father Wyllie’s eyes. Honestly, she didn’t care what she had as long as it lived. “Who is this young man?” she asked as the child moved closer to Samuel again.

  “That’s Amos. We found him on the road headed south. He was bravely escaping the floodwaters all on his own.”

  “He’s going to stay with us for a while,” Father Wyllie said.

  “I’m sure Amos and you two could use a good meal,” Abigail said. “I’ll get some food ready.”

  “And I’ll get Amos one of my shirts,” Adam said, “so he can get out of those wet clothes.”

  In truth, the clothing was more like wet rags. Louisa pitied the poor little fellow. Thank God Samuel found him.

  “Isn’t the baby a month early?” Samuel asked Baldy and Melly.

  “Predicting the date of a birth is an educated guess,” Baldy said. “We were either off a bit or the wagon ride brought on Louisa’s labor. She’ll be fine. Many pioneer women have delivered babies on the trail with only a canvas tent for shelter.”

  Louisa bit her lip as another contraction grabbed her. As casually as she could manage because she didn’t want to alarm Samuel, she asked Melly, “Is that bed ready for me? I think I would like to lie down now.”

  Several hours later, Louisa cried out when a labor pain spread across her abdomen and beyond hitting her like a death blow. The sheer intensity of it rocked her and she couldn’t help but scream.

  This agony, coupled with the pain in her heart, was almost too much to bear. She’d lost her home. Her happy place in this world. She felt hot tears slip out of her eyes as she remembered all that she’d left behind. And now she felt as if her body were being ripped apart from the inside out, never to be put back together again. More tears fell when she wondered if she would die tonight. So many women died in childbirth. Would she be one of them?

  God, please let me live. For my baby. For Samuel.

  She took a deep breath feeling stranded, desperate, and alone, even though Samuel held her hand and sat next to her. He couldn’t possibly understand how much leaving her home hurt and how much this hurt. No one could.

  As if he did understand, he reached out and tenderly massaged her belly. His gentle touch mesmerized her and her skin tingled under his fingertips. Even the babe seemed to calm under his touch.

  Her thoughts filtered back to the day she met him. The day he saved her. How she loved this strong, courageous man.

  God, please let me live. For my baby. For Samuel, she repeated.

  A sudden peace seemed to engulf her. She just wanted to sleep. She was so tired. Her eyes burned with weariness and her muscles screamed from strain and fatigue. A kind of numbness weighed her down.

  Although she wore only her chemise, the steamy, heavy air inside the wagon enclosure made the cloth stick to her and made it hard to breathe. Salty sweat ran into her eyes and she squeezed them against another pain so intense it made her gasp for air.

  She reached for Samuel’s hand and found it clammy. “Ask God to please make it stop. I can bear no more.”

  “I will but it’s past time I left and we let Baldy and Melly tend to you,” Samuel practically begged. “I’ll be right outside. I promise.”

  Louisa hadn’t let him leave the several times before when he asked. And Melly kept assuring them that long labor was normal for a first birth. But now, the anxious look on his face and the fear in his eyes fed her own apprehension. Perhaps he should go. She needed Melly. And she wanted Baldy close too in case something went wrong.

  Perhaps something was wrong? This couldn’t possibly be normal. If this was normal, she was astonished that women ever agreed to the encounters of the kind that made babies. Sure, those encounters with Samuel were beyond pleasurable, flooding her with shuddering ecstasy and awe-inspiring joy as he took her to the peak of passion. But this…this was…words failed her. But the more she thought about their lovemaking, the more she knew she would do it all again for just one night with him.

  When Samuel stood, she felt momentary panic at the thought of him leaving the wagon. But he was such a tall, large man, there simply wasn’t room for all of them in the crowded wagon interior. Beside her were a washbowl full of water, soap, and a stack of clean linens and cloths. And a small blanket to wrap the baby in when he came. She’d decided her babe had to be a boy. Only a boy would be this challenging. A sweet girl would have been far less vexing.

  “Don’t go far,” she whispered.

  “I will be right next to you, just outside this canvas covering.” Bent over at the waist, he tapped the canvas near the right side of her head. “Don’t worry. All will be well soon. I love you.”

  “I…love…you…too,” she said as she panted against the pain and stifled a sob.

  Baldy and Melly climbed into the wagon. Unlike Samuel, their faces were calm and reassuring. Melly held a wet cloth and at once she wiped Louisa’s face and neck with it. The coolness felt good against her heated skin. “Thank you.”

  Melly smiled and said, “Let’s have a look.” She said it so calmly she might have been referring to a cake baking.

  Melly raised Louisa’s chemise. Normally she would have been mortified by the invasion of her private area, but now all she cared about was getting help. Someone had to make this end. She couldn’t take much more. Her entire body ached with the effort.

  “She’s nearly ready,” Melly told Baldy, who sat against Louisa’s side. “I can see the babe’s head. She has black hair.”

  “You mean he has black hair,” Baldy corrected, his voice playful.

  “I don’t care what color it is!” Louisa nearly screamed. “Is my babe alive?”

  Terror gripped her when they didn’t answer at once.

  “Louisa, your babe is fine. Try to relax,” Melly said and wiped Louisa’s brow. “Breathe deeply and calmly. Loosen up your shoulders.”

  “Just let this babe come into the world,” Baldy said.

  She glared at him. “I’m trying!”

  Baldy grinned. “All you have to do now is push when I tell you to.”

  “Oh, is that all!” she barked.

  She wanted to call the good doctor a toad or something worse, but she just nodded and took a deep breath. She tried to calm down but there wasn’t one thing about this experience that was calming. Tormented by the now unrelenting pain, she clenched Baldy’s hand until her nails must have entered his palm.

  Louisa glanced up at Melly and she nodded at Baldy.

  What did that mean? Was the baby coming or not? Right now, it felt like not. “Do something!” Louisa commanded. Her emotions seemed out of control. Her mind and senses spun. Her body was tired of the struggle.

  Baldy just patted her hand and smiled reassuringl
y. “You’re almost done. Push now. Push hard.”

  Louisa bore down and released a primal scream as her babe finally burst forth into the world.

  “Louisa!” Samuel shouted from behind the wagon’s canvas covering. She heard dread and worry in his shaky voice.

  Her troubled spirit quieted at the sound of her babe’s first cry. The sound was so beautiful she let her overflowing emotions out on a small cry herself.

  “Samuel, you are the father of a healthy baby!” Baldy called to him as he cut the cord.

  “Louisa?” Samuel asked from the back opening of the wagon.

  “She’ll be fine,” Melly told him. “Just give her a few minutes.”

  “Is the babe…?” Samuel’s voice broke.

  Baldy tied off the cord. “He’s a big, stout, lad and the first Wyllie born in Texas!”

  She heard Samuel’s cry of relief and joy.

  Every worry, every doubt, every pain fled on the wonder and love that surged into Louisa’s heart as Melly held up her son for her to view.

  Then Melly turned the babe toward Samuel.

  Outside the wagon, she heard cheers as Samuel shouted, “I have a son!”

  Father Wyllie cried, “And I have a grandson!”

  God, thank you for letting me live. For my baby. For Samuel.

  Her mind reeled. To experience such sorrow and such joy on the same day defied understanding. But as she gazed upon her healthy, beautiful baby when Melly laid him on her chest, she knew the pain of losing her home would be one that would soon heal.

  Chapter 11

  Outskirts of Nacogdoches,

  Coahuila and Texas, Mexico

  Three weeks later, May 1824

  Samuel and the others sat clustered together around their campfire beneath some massive Red Oaks on the outskirts of Nacogdoches. Towering Longleaf Pines also stood nearby scenting the night air around them. Their seven mounts and six wagon horses were hobbled or staked close by and munched on the spring grass popping up everywhere. It hadn’t rained quite as much here, but the ground was still soggy and the night air damp.