"She's at the farm," William Henry blurted out. "Her house got busted up, and Uncle Madison gave her a new one."

"She went out to check on things," Rose explained hastily, angry enough at William Henry to tie a knot in his tongue. "She felt uneasy about leaving everything unattended. If you want to talk with her, you could come by Mrs. Abbott's some evening after supper." When George and Madison would be there to make certain Fern was safe.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll do that."

Rose was relieved when the buggy pulled up in front of the land office. She wasted no time in hustling William Henry and herself into it. She didn't want to have to answer any more questions for Sam Belton.

"You take care of yourself," Belton said to Rose. "I would hate for anything to happen to you while Mr. Randolph is away. And when Miss Sproull comes back, you tell her I'd like to take a look at her farm sometime."

"I will," Rose said as the buggy pulled away.

Once they got home, Rose gave William Henry a stern lecture on talking unbidden to strangers, then put him down for his nap. She went to her own room and lay down, but she couldn't close her eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about Sam Belton. If he really had murdered Troy and tried to rape Fern, he was an extremely dangerous man. Rose ought to do something. But what?

She told herself she might be jumping to conclusions. She had no more proof than Fern. Besides, his business was selling land. It was natural for him to want to see Fern about her farm.

George and Madison were due back tonight. She would tell them and let them decide what to do.

But the more Rose thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Belton had said he was in a hurry to get back to Topeka, so he might come to the house tonight. But wouldn't he want to see the land before he talked to Fern about buying it? That meant he might go to the farm this afternoon. Of course Fern could be wrong, it was all speculation, but Rose wasn't worried about Fern's being wrong. It was the possibility that she might be right that frightened her.

Fern wouldn't be expecting him and might betray herself. Rose couldn't wait for George to get home. Even now Belton might be riding toward the Sproull farm.

Rose's first impulse was to ask Mrs. Abbott to help her, but she decided against that almost at once. Mrs. Abbott would never let her leave the house unless she knew exactly what she intended to do. She couldn't be trusted to keep a confidence. Within an hour, half the town of Abilene would know Rose suspected Sam Belton of killing Troy and trying to rape Fern and that he must be headed out to the Sproull farm right now.

Rose went in search of William Henry. She found him playing rancher with Ed. William Henry was the owner and Ed the ranch hand. Just like his father, Rose thought as she brought the boy back to her room. "Now listen very carefully to what I'm going to say," she told him after she had made certain Mrs. Abbott was occupied in the kitchen. "Mommy has a very important task for you to do. Do you remember where the livery stable is?"

The boy nodded.

"Do you think you can go there by yourself?"

He nodded again.

"Okay, but you can't take Ed with you. You must go by yourself, and you must not tell Ed or Mrs. Abbott where you're going or what you're doing. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Now, I want you to ask for Tom Everett. You're not to talk to anybody except Tom. Tell him to hitch up a buggy and bring it to the corner of Second and Buckeye. Can you remember that?"

He nodded again.

"Tell me what you're going to do."

"Tell Mr. Tom to bring you a buggy."

"Where?"

"Down the corner so Mrs. Abbott can't see."

Rose hugged her son. "Now hurry. It's very important. And when your father comes home, you tell him exactly what I've done."

"I want to go with you."

"Fern may be in danger. I may have to stay with her. You have to stay here so you can tell your father where to find us. Tell him we know who killed Troy Sproull. Can you do that?"

He nodded.

"One more thing. Tell Mr. Tom it's a secret. He's not to tell anyone."

Rose tried to relax on the front porch while she waited, but she was too nervous to remain seated. Maybe she shouldn't have sent William Henry. He was so young he might not remember what he was supposed to do. But she couldn't have gone herself. After this morning, she knew she would never have made it across town to the livery stable.

"There you are," Mrs. Abbott said, coming out on the porch. "Ed says he can't find William Henry. I thought he was with you."

Rose wasn't one to curse, even silently, but she felt like it now. Mrs. Abbott was a goodhearted soul, a conscientious woman. At any other time Rose would have been grateful she had noticed William Henry's absence so quickly. Today she wasn't glad.

"I sent him to the hotel with a message for his uncle."

"You should have sent Ed with him. A little boy like him shouldn't be wandering about town by himself."

"He's not wandering about," Rose said, "and if he doesn't come back in a few minutes, I'll send Ed after him."

"I'll send Ed to sit with you," Mrs. Abbott offered. "Then he'll be handy in case you need him."

"I'd rather be alone," Rose said. "My nerves are a little thin today."

"It's because your time is so close," Mrs. Abbott said sympathetically. "I'd come sit with you myself, but I've got a cake in the oven and some bread rising."

"I'm fine. I don't mind being alone. The day is so peaceful."

"Well, holler if you need me. I can have Ed here in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

"I will," said Rose, hoping Mrs. Abbott wouldn't linger. She had caught sight of the buggy down the street. She didn't want Mrs. Abbott to see it as well.

She waited until Mrs. Abbott had been inside for a couple of minutes, then she hurried down the steps, across the yard, and down the street.

"You shouldn't be out driving in your condition," Tom Everett said when she reached the buggy.

I know, but I don't have any choice. Now you make sure you don't tell anybody about this except my husband or his brothers."

"Is there some trouble, Mrs. Randolph? 'Cause if there is, I'll be happy to be of use."

"No trouble, I just don't want everybody in town knowing my business. And the same goes for you, William Henry. When Mrs. Abbott asks where I've gone, you tell her you don't know."

Rose hadn't been more than five minutes on the road when she felt the first pain. She was going into labor.

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

''And you make sure they don't go anywhere near Claxton's place," Fern told Pike. "I don't want that man on my back just now."

"Something bothering you, ma'am?" Pike asked. "You been nervous as a hen at a coyote reunion."

"I'm just not settled yet," Fern said. "Too much has happened to me lately."

"I hear tell you'll be getting married and moving to Boston."

"Now who told you that?"

"Everybody knows Madison Randolph has asked you. Ain't n.o.body thinks you're likely to refuse."

"And just who is everybody?" Fern asked.

"Mostly Betty Lewis. Folks are saying she says that wasn't you that went to the party. That you hired someone to pretend to be you so he would ask you. She says he's sure going to be disappointed when he finds out who he's marrying." "And what does everybody else think about that?"

Pike laughed. "They think Betty is so mad she's acting crazy. Seems she figured if there was anybody in Abilene that could catch a fancy man like Mr. Madison, it was herself."

"And what do you think?"

"It ain't none of my business what you do, but I sure would hate to see you go to Boston. There's no way they would appreciate you like we do."

"I don't remember being appreciated very much before."

"You didn't give n.o.body a chance. We figure that since you broke down enough to wear a dress one time, you might do it again. Folks said you was so pretty they didn't believe it."

"Well, I might and I might not, but I do know you'd better be getting out to the herd before Reed decides to come looking for you. Then there'll be n.o.body keeping those cows from old man Claxton's fields."

Fifteen minutes later Fern stepped out of the house to see Rose coming down the lane driving a buggy. Before Rose reached the house, Fern could tell something was wrong. Rose was bent over in the seat, barely holding on to the reins. Fern ran forward as fast as she could go.

"What's wrong?" she demanded the moment she reached the horse's head. "What are you doing here?"

"Help me inside," Rose said.

"I'm taking you back to town immediately."

"I'll never make it. My labor has already started."

"p.i.s.s and vinegar!" Fern cursed, forgetting to curb her tongue in front of Rose. "You can't have that baby here. What about a doctor?"

"You'll have to help me."

No curse in Fern's vocabulary was strong enough to express how she felt about that.

"George will kill us both," Fern said as soon as she had Rose inside and lying down on the bed. "I'm going for a doctor."

"No, wait. I met Sam Belton in town this morning," Rose said, in a respite from pain.

Fern froze. "What did he want?"

"He wants to buy your farm. I think he may come to look it over this afternoon. I had to warn you. I didn't want you to be surprised and give yourself away."

"It wouldn't have done any harm. He wouldn't have found me here."

"I couldn't know that."

"I don't mean to sound angry with you. I'm just worried. I'm going for a doctor."

"There isn't time," Rose said. "My pains are too close together."

"I know all about calves, but I don't know a thing about delivering human babies."

"It's not very different. Just do what I tell you."

Another pain gripped Rose's body, and Fern blanched.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Rose a.s.sured her as soon as the contraction pa.s.sed and she was able to talk again. "Help me undress. And you're going to need all the towels and hot water you can get ready. Some scissors and thread as well. I'm going to make an awful mess."

Fern didn't know how Rose could be so calm. Even though the contractions came faster and harder, Rose never once cried out. And Fern knew she was in pain. She could see the contractions grip Rose's body, encasing her in a merciless vise which turned her white from pain and weak from exhaustion. It made Fern ashamed she had accepted Rose's sympathy over her own pain. Her ribs could never have hurt like this.

After a particularly rough contraction, Fern could remain silent no longer. "How can you bear it?" she asked, unable to understand why Rose would put herself through such agony.

"Can you look at William Henry . . . and not want one just like him?" Rose gasped. "That's worth any amount of pain."

But Fern wasn't sure she agreed. Remembering her own mother, she asked, "Aren't you afraid you might die?"

"No, but people . . . die from many things out here. I figure having a . . . baby is one of the best."

Fern hadn't thought about it that way, but even after she did, she wasn't convinced.

"You're going to . . . have to . . . hold its head," Rose gasped. "Let me . . . know . . . when you . . . see it." Rose's voice was growing weaker. Her words were hard to understand.

Now that the actual birth was about to begin, Fern felt more confident. She had helped with too many births on the farm not to understand the procedure, but it was strange to be helping to deliver a child. Somehow it wasn't the same as delivering a calf or a colt.

"I see its head," Fern said, her excitement beginning to mount. "It's bald."

Rose's laugh turned into a gasp. She managed to say, "Cradle its head," before another contraction momentarily robbed her of speech. "Be ready . . . to catch . . . it . . . as soon . . . as the . . . shoulders emerge."

Fern felt terrified. No sooner did the head appear than it disappeared again. But another contraction, another push, and the head reemerged. Gingerly Fern supported the baby's head. It didn't move. It didn't squirm or cry. It just lay there waiting to be born.

It seemed incredible to her that she was holding a new life. This child was related to Madison. It would be related to her when she became his wife.

This baby was part of her family.

The thought shocked her so much she was almost unprepared when the baby's shoulders emerged one after the other and the infant slid into her waiting hands.