RR05 - Tender Mercies by Lauraine Snelling

observant?
    Deborah lifted her tear-stained face. “You ain’t gonna die, are ya?”
    Katy smoothed the sandy wisps of hair back from her daughter’s face. “Why, whatever made you think that?”
    “ ’Cause you look like my real ma did.” Deborah dashed the tears away with the backs of her hands. “She was sick something awful.”
    “Well, I’m not ‘sick something awful.’ I just didn’t feel well and thought I better lie down so I would feel good when you got home from school. Why don’t you go get me a drink of water? Ask Manda to fetch a fresh bucket from the well. Cold well water would taste so good right now.”
    “I will.” Deborah pushed away and darted from the room.
    “What really happened?”
    “I . . . I found blood. Mary Martha, I don’t want to lose this baby.” She clutched her sister-in-law’s hand.
    “Now, lots of women have bleeding before the baby comes. You just take it easy for a couple of days, and it’ll be gone. You’ll see. My ma takes care of lots of women. She’s the midwife for our parish, and I’ve heard of all kinds of different things. You can always send for Ingeborg or Metiz, too, you know.” Please, God, let this be all there is. Oh, I wish my mother were here .
    Katy shook her head. “No, no need to bother them. You already made me feel better.” She started to roll to her side to get up, but Mary Martha laid a hand on her shoulder.
    “You are to take it easy for a couple of days, remember?”
    “Surely that don’t mean lying around like this. I got supper to make. Zeb will be home soon, and . . .”
    “It won’t be the first time my brother has eaten my cooking, and it surely won’t be the last. How about you go over Deborah’s letters and numbers with her while I see about the supper? And if I can get Manda in here, she needs review on her times tables.”
    “She’ll be down working with the horses.”
    “I know. That girl would live at the barn if ’n we let her.” Katy lay back with a sigh. “I hate feeling like this. There’s so much to get done before the winter comes. I thought to begin banking the house today.”
    “Ah ’spect my brother can do some of those things, you know? And if he brings up a wagonload of straw and manure, Manda and I can pitch it up against the house.”
    “You ever made soap before?”
    “Many times. And dipped candles too. During the war we didn’t have kerosene or oil, so we melted down some old beeswax and had the purtiest candles you ever saw. I was just a little girl, but I could dip candles just fine. We had a mold one time, but when some scalawag Yankee soldiers raided our place, they stole anything they could. We had to make do or die after that.”
    “Where was your pa?”
    “Off to war. He come home without an arm, leaving both it and his will to live on some battlefield.” Mary Martha shook her head. “He never was the same loving papa again. Near to broke my mother’s heart, but she’s a strong one. Kept right on caring for the farm and anyone who needed help until Papa finally got some better again. Zeb’s been doing the work of a full-grown man ever since he was eight or ten.”
    Katy propped herself on one elbow when Deborah returned carrying a cup full of water. She tried to drink, but instead the water dribbled down her chin, making the little girl giggle.
    “This is silly.” Katy handed the cup back and pulled herself upright, crossing her legs under the covers. After drinking, she cocked her head, listening to the thunk of wood dropping into the box and the clattering of stove lids.
    “That’s Manda.” Deborah snuggled herself against Katy’s side. “She said for you to stay in bed, and she would make supper.”
    “What about her chores?”
    “She done them.”
    “Did them.” Mary Martha couldn’t resist correcting the little one’s grammar.
    “That’s what I said.” Deborah used both hands to brush from her eyes the wisps of hair that had come loose from her braids.
    The