The Enchanted Land (38 page)

“I feel so helpless, Seth, I just don’t know what to do. Adam has always been such a sweet child. Everyone has always loved him. The only time he’s ever selfish is when someone threatens his food. Now—” She wiped a tear from her eye. “—now he can’t eat.”

“Morgan!” Seth’s voice held a warning. “I don’t know what to do. If only there were something … someone…”

He dropped his head onto his hands, his elbows on his knees. “I never know what to do. I nearly died once, when Montoya shot me. Lupita said I had a fever for two weeks. She said…” He stopped and looked up at Morgan. “Lupita,” he whispered. He stood up. “Lupita!” He shouted her name. “I’ll go get her. Lupita will save my boy. I know she will. I’ll get her.”

Morgan ran to her husband. Here, at last, was hope. “Can you do it, Seth? Can you get her here soon? It took us two days to get from your ranch to here.”

“I’ll do it. Hell won’t stop me. Lupita will save him, I know she can.” He stared down at his wife. He kissed her mouth hard, quickly. “Take care of him. Get Roselle to hold him and you feed him. I’ll be back as soon as possible—with Lupita.” He pulled her to him and held her for a few seconds. “God knows Adam, and
He’ll take care of him. He won’t let anything happen to our little boy.” He released her and was gone. Within seconds, she heard the horse’s hooves.

“Mrs. Colter, you really should eat. You must keep up your strength.”

“Could you get me some milk for Adam? Maybe that will coat his throat and hurt less.”

Adam took very little of the milk, whimpering in pain when his mother tried to make him drink it. She gave in to his helpless pleas and set the glass aside. She moistened his lips with a few droplets of water. She bathed his body.

All night she sat by his bed, watching for any signs of change. There were none. In the morning, he began to moan and toss about on the bed. He began to sweat and the dreaded diarrhea started.

“Roselle, you’ll have to help me. We need to get fluids into him, or he’ll lose everything.”

Together, they tried to force him to drink the liquids, but they did not succeed. Most of it spilled down his front.

Roselle watched her mistress as she changed Adam’s gown. Her hair was a tangle of snarls, her dress was covered with stains from trying to feed Adam. There were bluish circles under her eyes.

They heard a horse outside the house and Morgan ran to see who it was. Her shoulders drooped when she saw Martin. Of course it couldn’t be Seth. He hadn’t had time to get back yet.

“Martin’s been to the bunkhouse to tell the men about Adam, and that Seth will be gone for a few days.”

Bunkhouse? Oh, yes, there was a ranch … but she cared nothing for it right now.

“Mama. Mama.” Adam’s head turned on the pillow. He was asleep, or seemed to be.

“I’m here, baby. Mama’s here.” His little palm was wet though she had just washed him.

Hours later, Roselle brought tea for Morgan. Adam’s body was hot again and he made feeble attempts to kick off the light quilt, but he had no strength. She tried again and again to feed him.

Roselle handed Morgan the cup and saucer and, automatically, she took it. The porcelain dishes rattled against one another as she held them in her shaking hands. She sipped the tea, finding it an effort to do so. Her whole body seemed to be trembling.

“You have to get some rest, now. Stretch out here and I’ll stay with him while you sleep.”

“Yes.” She was weary, but when she lay on the cot, her body remained tense.

“Mama.” She was at his side instantly. He was cold now, and even his teeth were chattering. Roselle ran for more blankets, and Morgan held her little son tightly in her arms. His body seemed to become more frail with each passing moment. She tried to get him to drink some hot milk, but his little throat was too sore.

In the late afternoon, Roselle got Morgan to drink some hot broth, and again tried to persuade her to sleep on the cot. She had Martin carry a loveseat from downstairs into the room. Morgan sank onto it and leaned back into the corner. Adam was still, sleeping peacefully again.

Morgan didn’t know when she fell asleep, but when she woke, there was a quilt over her and Roselle smiled at her from across Adam’s bed. She was grateful to the woman and said so. The sleep gave her new energy. She renewed her vigilance, this time trying to coax apple juice into the little body.

Seth rode hard all the way to Albuquerque. At the livery stable, he gasped out his reason for hurry and soon there was a fresh horse saddled and ready to go. In the middle of the night, he galloped to a stop at a homestead between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The owner of the adobe house understood about the hurry.
He loaned Seth a horse and refused his offer of money.

“Your horse will be here when you return with the woman who will help your little boy. I will have another ready for her also. No, keep your money. Juan Ramón may need a friend someday. Then you can repay him.”

Seth rode the horse harder than he had ever driven an animal before. He reached his ranch in the late afternoon.

Lupita was standing in the middle of the chickens when she saw the lone rider coming toward them. Her first thought was for the horse. No one had a right to work a horse like that. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew it was her Seth. Something had to be very wrong for him to treat an animal so cruelly.

She dropped the basket of chicken feed, picked up her skirts, and began running. Jake, in the barn, dropped a bale of hay at the sight of the overweight woman running. He shouted for Paul and ran after Lupita. He knew that only Seth could cause her to lose her usual calm.

Seth pulled the horse to a stop and dropped to his feet beside Lupita. He looked awful—sunken, dirty—and his eyes were crazy, burning. “Adam. A fever. Some kind of tick,” he gasped out at her.

She needed no more explanation. “I’ll get my medicines.” She started running back to her little house, behind the main house. She passed Jake and started to give orders, but closed her mouth. The old man would be useless until he’d seen Seth.

Seth was running beside her, Jake following. “What’s he like?”

“There’s a high fever and a knot on his leg, swollen and red. The doctor said it was an insect bite, maybe a tick.”

“Adam! This is Adam you’re talkin’ about? I knew the little girl shouldn’ta taken him away. Now he’s sick.” He watched Seth. He had known the big man
since he was a little boy and he knew Adam must be very sick to cause the terror he saw now in Seth’s face.

“Seth! It’s good to see you!”

Seth absently shook Paul’s hand. He watched impatiently for Lupita to come out of her house.

“Adam’s sick,” Jake whispered. “Seth’s come to get Lupita.”

Paul understood what was needed. “Jake, you get some food.” At Jake’s look of bewilderment, he added, “Dump some beans on Lupita’s tortillas and get them ready to go. I’ll get two horses saddled.”

“Come with me.” Jake motioned to Seth. “You and the little gal make up?”

“Yes. I guess so. I don’t know. My head’s groggy. I can’t think. What’s keeping Lupita?” He seemed to remember Jake and put his hand on his shoulder. “I’m just worried now. I’ll come back when … when Adam’s well and I’ll visit with you then. I have missed you.”

“I understand. Here’s your
burritos
. They’re not like Lupita’s, but they’ll fill you up.” He wrapped them in a cloth and Seth stuffed them in the pocket of his vest.

Lupita was just leaving her house. She carried a large cloth bag. “I am ready.”

Paul handed over the reins of the horses, and Seth helped Lupita mount. It had been a long time since she’d ridden a horse and already the muscles and tendons on the inside of her thighs hurt from the unaccustomed stretching.

“You take care of our boys, you hear, Lupita? And then you bring
all
of ’em back with you,” Jake called after them. He turned to Paul. “It’s goin’ be a long time waitin’ here and not knowin’ what’s happenin’.” They turned back to their work, silent.

Lupita used all her strength to stay on the horse, but even so, they had to travel much more slowly than Seth had alone. Once Seth apologized for making her ride so hard. She dismissed his statement. “For Adam it is worth
it.” She tried to wipe some of the haggard, drawn look from his face. “I have seen this tick before—it is not so bad as you think. There are many medicines I can use.” Seth’s trust in her made her swallow hard. She prayed that her words were true.

They changed horses at the homestead. Seth promised to return the extra horse, and he swore to himself that the poor farmer would have some new livestock as soon as he returned to his own ranch.

The moon of the second night was high when they reached the Three Crowns. Seth lifted Lupita from her horse, throwing the reins to Donaciano. The tired woman followed, stumbling, as he led her into the big house.

“They’re here!” Morgan’s voice was incredulous. She ran to meet them, throwing herself into Lupita’s arms with such exuberance that she nearly knocked the plump woman down. “I knew you’d come. Please save my baby, Lupita, please. He’s so little…”

Lupita pushed her firmly away and walked to Adam’s bed. The child was dry and hot and his little cheeks, once so healthy, were sunken, as were his eyes.

“How long has he been like this?”

“I don’t know. Nearly four days, I think. The time is all mixed up in my mind. What do we do first?”

Lupita was studying Morgan intently. “Heat water. I am going to make some tea.”

“Tea! We don’t need tea when my son is so sick.” She was screeching.

“Seth!” Lupita turned to the weary man, slumped by his son’s bedside. “I can care for Adam, but I cannot care for both of them at once.” She nodded her head toward Morgan, who watched Lupita with an unnatural light in her eyes. “Is there someone else who can help me?”

“Me. I’ll help.” Morgan stepped forward. “I’ll do whatever you say, Lupita.”

“You! Look at you. Another few minutes and I will have two patients.”

“May I help?” Roselle stood at the door in her dressing gown.

Lupita appraised her. “Yes. I will need someone.”

“I can’t leave my baby. He needs me.”

“He does not even know you are here. Seth, take your wife to the kitchen and feed her good. And you eat, too. Then wash her, put her in a clean nightgown, and then into bed. And you do the same for yourself.”

“No, I can’t…”

Lupita’s eyes were as hard as diamonds. “You do everything I say or I will leave.”

Morgan allowed Seth to lead her from the room.

Roselle watched them leave. “You wouldn’t really leave?”

“Of course not.” The answer was snapped back.

“I’ve tried to get her to eat, to sleep, but she wouldn’t.”

“I have been caring for sick people and bringing babies into the world since I was just a girl, and I have learned that you do not ask tired mothers anything, you give orders. If they do not obey, you give them a reason why they must. Now, let us go to work. I need water to brew a tea.”

“He won’t drink anything.”

Lupita arched an eyebrow at her. She didn’t tolerate disobedience from her helpers, either.

Roselle left the room to get water.

Seth led Morgan to the big work table in the middle of the kitchen. He put bread and cheese, cold chicken, and milk in front of her.

“I can’t eat, Seth, really I can’t.”

“Lupita’s right. Neither of us is any use to Adam. We’d be in the way.”

Roselle entered to get the hot water. Morgan stood
up to follow her out. Seth unceremoniously pushed her back into her chair. “Eat!”

Morgan began to eat, at first lightly and then with gusto. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. “I guess I was hungry,” she mumbled through a mouthful of bread and cheese. “He is going to be all right, isn’t he?”

Seth held her hand, squeezing the fingers. “Now that Lupita’s here, I think he will be. Finished?”

“Yes.” Her body felt so heavy, worse than when she’d carried Adam. She must rouse herself, because she had to go back to Adam. She’d been away too long. She started wearily toward the door, her eyes blurring.

Seth grabbed her skirt to stop her.

“Adam might call for me.” Her goal was the kitchen door—such an ordinary thing really, but now it seemed impossible.

Seth lifted her in his arms.

“I’m too heavy. You…”

“Heavy! You nit! You hardly weigh more than Adam. Now that I’m here, you are going to be taken care of. Right now I am going to put you to bed.”

She leaned her head against Seth’s shoulder. It felt good to depend on someone else for a change, and there was no one she’d rather trust than her Seth. She sighed. “Her Seth” once again.

He set her on her feet again in the bedroom. “Get out of that dress and tell me where you keep your nightgowns.”

“Third drawer.” Her hands were shaking as she fumbled with the buttons. Seth was in front of her and pushed her hands away as he unfastened the row of little buttons. She watched his face and knew that he, too, was very tired. She touched his hair. It seemed that the more tired he was, the more gray there was in his hair. Right now he looked like an old man.

She stepped out of her dress and Seth began to unlace
her corset. She let out a sigh as it fell to the floor. She thought she’d probably never get used to that tight, stiff thing binding her waist and rib cage. Seth removed her chemise and she stood nude under his gaze.

“Why do you wear that thing? You have red marks all down your body where it cut into you.” His big hands rubbed at her sides, briskly.

She felt slightly uneasy under his touch. “My gown.”

“First, a wash.” He pulled her to the basin on the table and began washing her face and hands. She stood still, enjoying the way he scrubbed at her skin. He dried her and then slipped the clean, soft nightgown over her head. “I should be hanged for covering all this up.” His hand lightly caressed her breast. “If I tried to take advantage of you now, it’d be like making love to a wet dishcloth.” He smiled into Morgan’s drooping eyes. “I think I’ll wait. Let’s go, little one.”

Again he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She was practically asleep before he had tucked the covers about her. Seth started toward the door.