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  Philip pointed to the pile of brush in the distance. “He’s there.”

  “You go back in the house. Wait, can you hitch the horse and wagon?”

  “I think so. Papa showed me, but I’ve never done it by myself.”

  “Get your sister and try it. Don’t come back where we are unless you get the wagon. Bring Becky if you do.”

  “Yes ma’am. Mama, hurry; I don’t want him to die.”

  She ran toward the brush pile, stumbling and falling in her haste. “Ben, where are you?” she yelled at the top of her voice.

  “Over here,” in a voice of pain.

  “She found him in a cleared area. He had split the leg of the jeans and was squeezing the bleeding leg. “Did you get cut too,” she asked, concerned with the amount of blood.

  “No, I did that, thinking maybe it might bleed some of the poison out. Take my knife and open the ends of the shells, pour the shot out. There’s a wad in there, use the tip of the knife to get it out. Then pour the powder on my leg where it’s bleeding. Hurry honey.”

  She struggled with it. “Here, let me do that,” he said. “Tear the cloth into strips and when I get the poultice on it, bandage it.”

  “It’s getting red.”

  “I know,” he said. “It does that. I’ve seen it before.”

  He opened all of the shells she had brought. Grimacing, he opened the wound more and packed it with the gunpowder. “I saw them do this one time, and set the powder afire to burn the poison. I don’t have any matches, so we’ll have to go with this.”

  She wrapped the cloth strips around the swelling leg. She looked up. “Philip has the horse hitched. We’re taking you to Roseburg.”

  She helped him into the bed of the wagon. “Becky, sit in back with your Papa, and hold on.” She moved one sack of grain to be used as a pillow, and put another for him to put his leg on.

  “Hang on kids.” She flicked the reins, pointed the wagon out of the field and hightailed it toward Roseburg, eight miles away.

  She stopped in front of the doctor’s office. “My husband’s been bitten by a rattlesnake. Help me get him in the office please.”

  “I’ll do that, ma’am,” a burly farmer said. “You see to your kids.” He picked Ben up and slung him over his shoulder and carried him into the doctor’s office.”

  Doctor Coombs told the man to put Ben on the table. “Was he bitten any place else?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so,” she said.

  “What’s on the leg?”

  “He cut it and packed it with gunpowder. He was going to put a match to it, but didn’t have any.”

  “It’s just as well,” the doctor said. The burn might be worse than the bite.”

  “Honey, you go in with your children,” the doctor’s wife told Caroline. They’re probably scared. We’ll take care of Ben.”

  “You know him?”

  “Ever since they moved here,” Mrs. Coombs said, “now shoo.”

  Later…

  “He’s resting now. He’s in a lot of pain, but Jim gave him some laudanum to ease it as much as possible. Do you want us to let Ike and Alice know?”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it.”

  Chapter twenty-four

  How is He?

  The first thing Alice said when she and Isaac walked in was, “How is he?”

  “When I brought him in, he was hurting pretty bad and his leg was swollen. He cut it himself and packed it with gunpowder and then I bandaged it,” Caroline told them.

  “How did it happen?” Isaac asked.

  “They were clearing brush and Philip picked up a limb. Ben knocked him out of the way and was bitten on the calf. He must not have hesitated. He sent Philip after me for some clean cloth and shotgun shells.

  “He was going to light the powder, but didn’t have matches, so he let it bleed.”

  “Did you try to suck out the poison?” Ike asked.

  “Since it had bled so much, I thought it was more important to get him here.”

  Doctor Coombs came out. “How is he, Jim?’

  “His leg’s swole up a lot, but so far, it isn’t turning black. I cleaned it out as much as I could. He’s pretty strong, and he didn’t get real excited, so I speck he’ll be all right. Most grown people get over being snake bit, it’s the young’uns that die from them.”

  Caroline blanched. “Oh my God, it would have bitten Philip if Ben hadn’t knocked him out of the way. He probably saved his life.”

  “He likely did,” the doctor agreed.

  “Mama, can you watch Becky and Philip? I want to stay with Ben until I know he’s all right.”

  “Of course we will.” Alice said. “Don’t worry about them; just take care of yourself and the baby.”

  Ben’s leg had swollen to the size of a tree trunk by the end of the day. “I just hope gangrene doesn’t set in. If that happens, I’ll have to take the leg,” Doctor Coombs said.

  Ben opened his eyes to find Caroline holding his hand, and his parents sitting on the other side of the bed. “Is Philip all right?”

  “Yes, thanks to you. Doctor Coombs said you probably saved his life.”

  “Don’t let them take my leg,” he said, tightening his grip on her hand.

  “If it comes to your life or your leg, the leg goes, but so far the doctor doesn’t seem worried,” she said.

  “We’re going to take the children to the café and get them fed,” Alice told her. “We’ll bring something back for you.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “We’ll bring something for both of you.”

  “You took a big risk for Philip.”

  He belittled the risk saying, “I thought I could roll and get both of us out of the way, but the rattler was faster than I was.”

  She took him home four days later. The swelling had gone down somewhat. The doctor had cut away the dead tissue around the bite and sprinkled it with carbolic acid.

  It was two weeks before Ben felt normal again. He was sitting with Philip at the table. “There are always snakes around a farm. Most of the ones you see around the barn are rat snakes and keep the barn clear of rats and mice. You’ll see chicken snakes in the chicken pen. They like to eat eggs. Neither of them are poisonous, but we don’t want them eating the eggs so we get rid of them. The rat snakes we don’t bother. Sometimes you’ll see green snakes in the garden. They’re harmless , too.

  “It’s mostly the rattlers you worry about. If you step on one, you’re going to get bitten, so watch where you put your feet. If you hear the rattles like we did, step back away from it, and keep moving away. He was warning you and when you moved toward him, he got scared and struck.”

  “I’m sorry Papa, I heard what you said, but it didn’t make sense, and I was going to move the limb.”

  “It’s all right son. You learned something. You’ll know better next time.”

  “While we were there, I had Doctor Coombs check me over. He said I’m perfectly healthy,” Caroline told him.

  “I’m glad you had it done,” Ben said.

  “By the way, Philip, you did a good job hitching the wagon. I knew you could do it.”

  Philip beamed with the praise.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  A New Addition

  The house was pitch black when she felt the first pain. I guess I over did it scrubbing the floor yesterday. I’m going to stop doing things like that. Ben would have had a hissy-fit if he had seen me on the chair. She was trying unsuccessfully to find a comfortable position when the second one hit.

  She got up to use the chamber pot and felt a gush of wetness run down her legs. She went back to the bed and shook the snoring Ben by the shoulder. He turned over but did not awaken. She shook him again. “Ben, it’s time. I think you had better get Mrs. Jernigan.”

  He was half awake when she shook him again. A firm shake. “Ben, honey, the baby is coming. You need to get Mrs. Jernigan.”

  He was fully awake now. “Tell her my wa
ter has broken and the pains are fifteen or twenty minutes apart.”

  He pulled his pants on, hopping on one foot and then the other. He sat on the side of the bed to pull his boots on. “Is there anything I can do before I leave?”

  “No, I’ll be all right, just go.”

  He only had one arm in the sleeves when he went out the back door. He hitched the horse to the wagon in what was record time and hurried out of the yard toward the Jernigan farm. It was too early for sunrise and the thin sliver of the moon provided little light.

  His knocking on the door was answered by Anna Jernigan, clad in a gray gown and nightcap. “Miss Anna, Caroline’s labor has started. She said her water has broken and the pains are twenty minutes apart.”

  “I’ll get dressed and be there in a few minutes. You go on back and be with your wife. She’s healthy and we have plenty of time.”

  “Yes ma’am, but all the same, please hurry.”

  “I’ll be right there, now you get moving.”

  Back home…

  “She’s on the way; how are you doing?”

  “I’m fine until a pain hits, and then it gets pretty intense.”

  “I don’t like seeing you hurt like this,” he said, when she grimaced at the onset of another.

  “You’re welcome to have them for me. I didn’t like seeing you in pain after the snakebite either. At least mine is going to end up with our baby coming.”

  A sound outside. “There’s Mrs. Jernigan. I’ll go take care of her horse so she can help you.”

  “Mrs. Jernigan, you go on inside. I’ll take care of your horse and buggy.”

  “When you come back in, put some water on to boil, please.”

  Consider it done.” He led the horse around to the barn and stopped at the water trough. After the horse drank its fill, he hung a bag of oats over its head, and then went inside to fire up the stove.

  “The water is heating, Mrs. Jernigan.”

  “Ben,” Caroline began, then broke it off as a pain hit. “It’s going to be a while, why don’t you go tell your mother?”

  “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “Hon, you got time to go to Roseburg and back if you’re of a mind to,” Mrs. Jernigan said.

  “I’d really like to have her here,” Caroline said.

  “Okay. On my way. Do you want me to wake the kids before I go?”

  “It might frighten them,” Caroline answered.

  * * *

  When he drove into the yard of the home place, the eastern sky had begun to lighten around the edges, and smoke was rising from the chimney, light against the dark sky. There was a light in the kitchen.

  “Mama, Caroline’s in labor and wanted me to let you know. Mrs. Jernigan is there.”

  “We’ll be over as soon as your papa finishes his chores. There’s no one’s there for the children is there?”

  “No ma’am. I asked, but she told me she really wanted you to come. I’ll go on back though; Becky won’t be up, but Philip usually wakes around sunup, “

  Back home…

  “Honey, Mama and Papa will be over directly. I’m going to start breakfast.”

  He had breakfast ready when Philip came in. “Where’s Mom?”

  “The baby’s coming. Mrs. Jernigan is with her. My mother is going to here in a little bit.”

  An hour after Alice arrived; Ben heard a scream from the bedroom. He rushed to the door just in time to hear the wail of his angry newborn son. He opened the door without entering. “Is she all right?” The tone of his voice showed his concern.

  “She’s just fine, and you have a son, who is all right too,” his mother said. “He has all of his fingers and toes. We’ll get them cleaned up and you can come in.”

  Philip was standing behind him. “You have a little brother.”

  * * *

  “I wanted a sister,” Becky complained.

  “I know, honey, but Jesus sent us a baby boy. You’re the big sister now.”

  “Oh. What’s his name?”

  “We haven’t decided yet. What do you think we should name him.”

  “Brother.”

  “He is a brother, but he will have a real name too.

  The next day, Ben went into Roseburg and sent a telegram to Caroline’s parents announcing the birth of their son. Samuel Isaac Palmer born yesterday stop. mother and son well end

  The End

  Epilogue

  Ben and Caroline enjoyed a long, happy marriage. Eighteen months after the birth of Sammy, Becky got her little sister, whom she called Cissy even though her name was Charity Alice.

  Caroline did not return to teaching, instead she spent her time with her growing family. She satisfied her need to teach by teaching Philip and Becky.

  Charity and Jeb Andrews sold their Ohio farm and moved to Oregon, settling on a farm near Roseburg.

  Ben added land to his farm and hired the help he needed.

  Seth proposed to his mail order bride and was accepted.

  Leroy and Glory Palmer were childless for the first five years of their marriage.

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  Cowboys Don’t Lie

  By Susan Leigh Carlton

  Sally Lewis lost her husband, Cal, on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg. Evicted by the bank, she and her son have to move in with her in-laws. She advertises for a husband

  Luke Cranston lost his beloved Ruby to diphtheria and is mired in grief and loneliness and tries to find a mail order bride. Does Sally dare take the risk of becoming a mail order bride and travel to far off Montana with her son? Can Luke finally shake off his grief and marry this woman he only knows through the mail? Can they overcome the ghost of Ruby?

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  EXCERPT

  Sally Lewis and Luke Cranston…

  Widowed since 1863, Sally Lewis looked in the mirror with a critical eye. The image in the mirror reflected a pretty, young looking woman, with long raven hair and blue eyes. With no husband and a dearth of eligible prospects, she was excluded from the social events of those with whom she and her late husband had been friends. She was older than most of the ones who had never married. Thirty-six years old, she was still an attractive woman, and lonely for male companionship. It was a matter of fact there were few unattached males her age.

  She doted on Caleb, but it wasn’t the same. In near desperation, she took a drastic step; one fraught with risks. She advertised for a husband and received four answers to her advertisement. She disregarded two of them after they asked about her financial situation. She corresponded with the other two, and after several letters, she had narrowed the two to one, Luke Cranston, and he lived in Broken Jaw, Montana.

  She told Luke about her son in her first letter and he assured her it was no barrier to a relationship. His wife, Ruby, had died of diphtheria. Loneliness set in, but when he looked around, there were no eligible females in Broken Jaw.

  His sister, Ellie told him about mail order brides and the newspaper full of ads for spouses.

  “Ellie, I’m going to give it a try. This living alone has gotten old. I need someone to share the Circle C and what I’ve worked for all these years, otherwise it’s just a house, not a home.”

  “There’s nothing for you to lose, so you might as well give it a try,” she said. “If you want my help, just ask.”

  Luke received several responses to his ad and asked Ellie for help and advice. She read all the letters before she said anything. Then she asked, “What about children? There aren’t many here if you rule children out. Most of the ladies your age are widows or spinsters, and I don’t think you want a spinster.”

  “I don’t mind children, but I don’t want a houseful, I’m too set in my ways to change that much,” he said.

  She handed him three letters. “These ladies all have children; read their letters again and see if you favor them. I won’t tell you which one I like for now because I don’t want to influence you. It should be your choice.”

 
The next day, he saddled his horse and rode to Ellie and Hank’s place. He handed her one of the letters. “I read them all several times, and this is the one I would like to write.”

  She looked at the letter. “We must think alike because this is the one I picked out. With the one sixteen year-old son, she matches what you described.”

  “Thanks, Sis. I appreciate it. I’ll write tonight, and let you know if I hear anything.

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  Laurie

  By

  Susan Leigh Carlton

  Laurie Winston, the sweet daughter of a lawyer, wants to follow her father's footsteps. She plans to someday join his practice after finishing law school. She's single-mindedly focused on her career pursuits and has no interest in the young men her age.

  When Caleb Lewis, a university student, is introduced to Laurie, he falls fast and hard, and their engagement comes quickly. After learning of a childhood friend's unexpected death, he worries he brings bad luck to those with whom he becomes close. He worries about her future if he stays with her.

  Can the love and caring of Laurie overcome his despair? Or should she move on?

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  Excerpt

  Burlington, North Carolina, 1875…

  There were nine students in Miss Haynes’ tenth grade class. The previous year’s class had thirteen pupils, but three boys and one girl had dropped out. Seven of the nine remaining were girls.

  Few boys lasted long enough to graduate. The war had decimated the male population, and the boys had to work on the family farms. Miss Haynes regretted the situation, but she understood. After all, hadn’t she lost the man to whom she was pledged to marry? There were none to take his place, so she resigned herself to her fate as a spinster schoolteacher.

  “We have a new student with us today. His name is Caleb Lewis, and he moved here from Maryland. Say hello to Caleb and make him welcome.”

  Three of the girls said hello, but the other four remained silent. Why be friendly to someone that would quit in a few weeks anyway?