CHOICESCHOICES
Buck reined Racing Moon to a stop beside the swiftly flowing stream that Lou had rested by earlier that day and dropped lightly to the grassy bank. He crouched down and searched the ground for more of Lightning's tracks. He had followed Lighting's almost up to the stream, but had suddenly lost them ten feet from the bank. The suddenness of their disappearance had alarmed them, but he had brushed aside the panic he had felt until he could do a thorough search of the surrounding area.
Ike, Kid and Jimmy dismounted and led their horses down the embankment to the water's edge, Ike taking Racing Moon's reins from Buck and leading him along with Thunder. Carefully Buck scrutinized the grass-covered ground for hoof prints and was relieved when he found another set a short distance away heading toward Ft. Kearney. Almost instantly his relief faded away when he realized that two of the hoof prints were located near what appeared to be a body sized indentation in the grass, a petite indentation to be exact. That indentation alone told him what he had already feared, that Lou was injured and seeking help in Ft. Kearney. As much as he hated to be the one to tell Kid and Jimmy what he suspected, he knew that he had to. They needed to be prepared in case it was serious.
With some reluctance, Buck stood up and made his way down the embankment to
the water's edge. His fellow riders turned toward him with questioning looks
on
their faces. He ignored the looks they gave him, dropped to a crouch beside
the stream, cupped his hands and drank thirstily of the refreshing water.
Ike pounded on his chest to get Buck's attention and asked him the question they all wanted to know the answer to. (Is Lou still heading for Ft. Kearney?)
"Yes," Buck answered. He paused a moment before he continued, "I also found a body sized indentation in the ground at the top of the embankment. It looks like it could have been made by someone as small as Lou."
"What are you trying to say, Buck? Do you think something's happened to Lou?" Kid demanded.
"No, I'm just telling you what I found. Besides, she must not be hurt too bad because she's still heading into Ft. Kearney," Buck replied.
"We're not going to find out what's wrong with Lou standing around here," Jimmy said, starting up the embankment with Sundancer.
Kid, Buck and Ike followed behind him and once up top, all four riders quickly mounted their horses and kicked them into motion, each filled with even more determination to find the missing female rider.
Lou awoke once again in a strange room to the sound of someone knocking lightly
on the door to her room at Treva's boarding house. She listened groggily to
the steady tapping, but felt in no hurry to crawl out of the warm bed to answer
the door. The knocking ceased after a few minutes and Lou snuggled further under
the quilts and started to fall back asleep. She was almost asleep when her stomach
made a gurgling sound and Lou sat up quickly in bed, certain that she was about
to
be sick. The gurgling sound faded away and in its wake left Lou feeling incredibly
hungry.
She scooted to the edge of the bed and slid cautiously out onto the hardwood floor, half-expecting to feel the mind-reeling dizziness and stomach clenching nausea that had plagued her for the past two weeks. Lou couldn't help hoping that she had experienced the last of the morning sickness that the doc in Seneca had told her about was gone for good, but knew that her luck couldn't be that good. Nothing in her relationship with Kid had happened easily and she expected the same to be true with having his child. She decided to take what relief from morning sickness she could get as a blessing forever how long it lasted and thanked the child she carried for its cooperation.
As if in response to thanking it, the child inside of her moved and Lou felt a fluttery sensation sweep across her abdomen. The suddenness of the movement caught her off-guard and made her cry out in surprise. While the movement wasn't exactly painful, it was slightly uncomfortable and unnerving as hell. Lou sat slowly back down on the bed and placed a hand over her still-flat stomach.
"I reckon I haven't spent much time thinking about you little one, other
than to wondering why you chose this time to get born. As much as I love your
pa, he infuriates the hell out of me and things couldn't get any worse between
us. I don't doubt that your pa loves me, but we're too different and want different
things
out of our relationship right now. When I found out about you, I knew that I
had to leave Rock Creek. I couldn't tell your pa about you right now cause he'd
of had wanted to get married so's you could be raised proper-like and I just
couldn't handle that. Marrying someone should be because you want to, not cause
you feel obliged to. Don't you worry none, darling. Mama's going to take real
good care of you and eventually I'll tell your pa about you. I wouldn't want
you to miss out on having a real pa like I did and I know Kid would be the best
pa. He'll treasure you about as much as I do, little one. But for now, it's
just going to be the two of us.
Okay?" Lou whispered softly.
Again the fluttery sensation swept through her abdomen and this time Lou knew for certain that the baby was responding to her talking to it. Lou's eyes filled with tears as a kaleidoscope of emotions swept over her. In the space of a few heartbeats, Lou fell head-over-heels in love with the baby she carried inside of her.
