Annie Oakley's Arc

Chapter 24 of 25

The morning wore on. Annie held Misty's hair back over the pail while the little girl heaved again. Nothing came up but water now. Annie rubbed slow circles on her back, the way Lainey did. Her own stomach pulled tight, but she stayed put. Misty needed her more than she needed to lie down. Boots sounded on the deck. The door opened and Lainey came in, hat still on, dust on her jeans. She'd been gone since dawn. Annie looked up from the floor with tired, wet eyes. "She just can't stop throwing up," Annie said. "I'm scared for her." Lainey crouched beside them. She didn't rush to answer. First she pressed the back of her hand to Misty's cheek, then she looked at the pail. Only after that did she speak. "Well, you don't gotta be worried about the calf anymore," Lainey said. "I checked on him. His leg was worse than we thought. I cleaned it and wrapped it tight. He'll be fine." Annie blinked. She'd nearly forgotten the moose calf in the pen at Temperance's, the one they'd carried out of the woods beside its dead mother. She had prayed for him every night, sick as she was. "He'll live?" Annie asked. "He'll live." Lainey pulled off her hat and set it on the bed. "But that leg won't ever be right. He'll always limp. He can't go back to the wild like that. Something would get him the first week." Annie swallowed. She looked at the wall, past the triangle window, toward where she imagined the calf standing in his pen. Lanky legs. Wide, dark eyes. Alone in the woods with no mother to teach him. "Then he stays," Annie said. "We'll take care of him. Me and you and Misty. He's got us now." Lainey studied her a moment. Then she nodded, plain and sure. "We'll take care of him." Misty lifted her head off the pail. Her hat sat crooked. "The moose," she said, small. "He gets to stay?" "He gets to stay," Annie told her. "Same as you." Something eased in Misty's face, just a little. Then she winced and pressed both hands to her belly. It was hot and tight under her fingers. She curled forward on the paisley comforter. Annie's relief drained out fast. One worry closed. The bigger one hadn't. She turned to Lainey. "The calf's safe," Annie said. "But she's worse. Where's Lindy? Did the healer come?" Lainey's jaw set. "Lindy's two days out on another call. I left word. She'll send what she can, but it won't be today." She looked at Misty's swollen belly. "We can't wait for the swelling to get any worse. We have to bring her to the clinic ourselves."