Dances Naked Read Online Free PDF Page B

replied, ending his comment with sinister laugh that made both Sarah and Wallace shudder.
    “How did you wind up with him?” Wallace asked Sar ah as they headed to the spring house.
    “Lord only knows,” she replied sharply. She looked over at the practically catatonic mother who would have to deliver a dead baby later. “Yes, the Lord does know,” she said, this time with determination. “And I’ll do my best to save the mother. The baby’s already dead.” Wallace’s eyes widened with shock. “Oh, I’m sorry, you didn’t know. The baby has been dead for a few days. We have to get it out before she dies, too. Her other child is in rough shape but can bounce back with good care. Wallace, the baby is Atholl MacLeod, Jr. The woman is Rachael and she said that, that ‘Grant’ is her brother. Do you think…?”
    “Hey, where’s the ale?” hollered Grant. He had pulled a quilt off the clothesline and was wadding it up to use as a pillow.
    Wallace gritted his teeth. He swallowed his rising anger and counted to ten in Latin before he spoke. “I’ll be right there,” he called back. He put his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “I’ll get back to you on that,” he said s oftly, then headed to the spring house for the ale.
    I had heard the shouting about ale and realized that the brother would probably want something to eat, too. Hopefully, he was the type who would eat and drink then fall asleep. Well, we didn’t have that much ale so that wasn’t likely. I looked over at the covert stash of painkillers that I had brought back with me from the 21 st century. Nope, I’d better not. It would be too easy to slip a ground up Percocet into a sandwich with hopes that the creep would fall and stay asleep until the birthing was over.
    “Wallace, I’ll make our guest something to eat,” I called out. He waved his hand in acknowledgment.
    “Sorry ‘bout this, Lord” I said softly as I looked skyward. “I’m just conserving our provisions and helping the man get a good nap.”
    Hey, what can I say? Sometimes we decide to take the easy way out. I had four babies and a pregnant woman I was going to have to contend with this evening. I’d rather have Wallace helping Sarah and me than kowtowing to a belligerent sot.
    I scraped off as much ham as I could from the bone that I had held back for the pot of beans. I combined the meat and two pulverized pills into some grated cheese, fought back the impulse to spit into the mix , and then smashed the works into a heel of bread, making a little ham and cheese pasty for the greedy man. This would have to do him until supper, if he was even awake by then.
    I looked over and saw Jenny was with the babies and Rachel was seated on the porch bench again. She really was pathetic but I could only help her body right now. The mind healing would take longer and would probably involve Divine intervention. “I’ll be right back, Jenny.”
    “Can I have some, Mommy?” she asked when she saw the sandwich.
    “Not this one; I’ll make you one when I get back. Why don’t you get our lady guest a drink of milk?”
    “Okay,” she answered , then quickly jumped up and ran to the barn, eager to help. Rachel sighed as she watched my little girl, happy and healthy, bound across the yard in front of her.
    “Your son will be healthy soon, too,” I remarked. “And you can eat solid food after we get the, after the delivery.” I gulped at the awkwardness of the remark then returned to the task of serving the grump his snack.
    “Well, what took you so long?” he asked with an insincere smile and a stare that took me ab ack. Oh, God—it wasn’t a smile—i t was a leer!
    “Here, enjoy it,” I said as I dropped the plate in his lap and left in a hurry, almost running. I didn’t care if I had made a mess or not. If he was hungry, he’d eat it. I wasn’t going back to within three yards of him again without an escort, an armed escort. He may be just the brother-in-law of that asshole