The new pain caught her off guard, but it wasn’t as bad as before. He dumped the placenta in the bucket.
“Shut up her caterwauling. Clean her up, and yourself, too.”
He started up the stairs, took one last look back. “A man needs and deserves a son.”
After he slammed the door, Alice lay in the soiled bed, the baby crying and wriggling against her. She didn’t want to nurse the baby, didn’t know how anyway. She didn’t want to be alone with it. Didn’t want to look at it.
But she did look, looked and saw how helplessly it lay against her, this thing that had grown inside her.
This child. This daughter.
“It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” She shifted, wincing as she sat up, as she cradled the baby and guided its mouth to her breast. It rooted a moment, its long eyes staring blindly, then she felt the tug and pull as the baby suckled.
“See there, yes, see there. It’s going to be all right.”
She stroked the tiny head, crooned, and felt impossible love.
“You’re mine, not his. Just mine. You’re Cora. That’s your grandmother’s name. You’re my Cora now, and I’ll look out for you.”
He left her for three days, and she feared he wouldn’t come back. With her leg shackled she couldn’t get to the door, couldn’t find a way out.
If she’d had something sharp she might have tried cutting off her own foot. Meager supplies began to dwindle, but she had towels for the baby, the washcloth she rinsed and soaped again and again to keep little Cora clean.
She sat in the easy chair, the baby in her arms, singing songs, soothing whenever Cora went fussy. She walked the baby, kissed her downy head, marveled at her pretty fingers and toes.
The door opened again.
Alice held the baby tighter as he came down, carrying a sack of supplies.
“Got what you need.” He turned, looked at the baby in her arms. “Let’s see her.”
Even if she could rip out his throat with her teeth, she couldn’t break the shackle. She needed to calm and charm him, so she smiled.
“Your daughter’s pretty and perfect, Sir. And she’s such a good baby. Hardly cries at all, and only if she’s hungry or messy. We could sure use some diapers, and some—”
“I said, let me see her.”
“She’s just now fallen asleep. I think she has your eyes, and your chin, too.” No, no, she didn’t, but a lie could calm and charm. “I should have thanked you for helping me bring her into the world, for helping me make her.”
When he grunted, crouched down, Alice relaxed just a little. She didn’t see that beating look in his eyes.
But he snatched the baby so fast, Cora woke with a shocked cry, and Alice sprang from the chair.
“She looks healthy enough.”
“She is. She’s perfect. Please, I can stop her crying. Let me just—”
He turned away, strode toward the stairs with Alice flying after him, the chain banging the concrete until it went taunt. “Where are you going? Where are you taking her?”
Half-mad, Alice leaped onto his back; he swatted her off like a fly, strode up the stairs. Stopped to look back as she dragged uselessly at the shackle.
“Got no use for daughters. Somebody else will, and pay a fair amount.”
“No, no, please. I’ll take care of her. She won’t be any trouble. Don’t take her. Don’t hurt her.”
“She’s my blood, so she won’t come to harm from me. But I’ve got no use for daughters. You’d best give me a son, Esther. You’d best do that.”
Alice dragged on the shackle until her ankle dripped blood, screamed until her throat burned like acid.
When she collapsed on the concrete floor, weeping in absolute despair, when she knew she’d never see her child again, that’s the moment she finally broke.
CHAPTER FOUR
— Present Day —
With the addition of the writers conference and the snow sculpture event now on the books, and the various holiday events and specials geared to pump up interest through Valentine’s Day, Bodine walked her way through résumés and recommendations from various managers.
She earmarked her own choices—the new college grad looking for a position in hospitality, the recent empty nester with previous experience in housekeeping, the young horseman looking for full- or part-time work, a couple applications for waitstaff, an experienced massage therapist who’d just relocated out of Boulder.
She culled through a few more, weighed priorities.
They needed another housekeeper, as Abe’s wife, Edda, would leave that slot empty when they headed to Arizona. And the applicant looked solid. They could certainly use another cowboy, and the waitstaff.