Wish You Well(67)

He looked at her, surprised. "I done it to you first."

"That still doesn't make it right."

"Pa kill a man if he done that to him."

Lou could see the terror in the boy's eyes, and her heart went out to Billy Davis.

"You're not your pa. And you don't have to be."

Billy looked nervous. "I ain't tell him I was fetching Miss Louisa. Don't know what he

say when he sees y'all."

"We're just here to help your mother. He can't have a problem with that."

"That right?"

They looked up into the face of George Davis, who stood before them, equine blood and

slime coating his shirt and dripping down both arms. Dust swirled around his legs like

visible heat, as though mountain had been shucked to desert.

Billy stood in front of Lou. "Pa. How's the foal?"

"Dead." The way he said it made every part of Lou shake. He pointed at her. "What the

hell is this?"

"I got them to come help with the baby. Miss Louisa's in with Ma."

George looked over at the door and then back at Billy. The look in his eye was so terrible

that Lou was sure the man was going to kill her right there.

"That woman in my house, boy?"

"It's time." They all looked toward the door where Louisa now stood. "Baby's coming,"

she said.

Davis shoved his son aside, and Lou jumped out of the way as he stalked up to the door.

"Gawd damnit, you got no business here, woman. Get the hell off my land afore you get

the butt of my shotgun agin your head, and that damn girl too."

Louisa took not one step back. "You can help with the baby coming, or not. Up to you.

Come on, Lou, and you too, Billy. Gonna need both y'all."

It was clear though that George wasn't going to let them go. Louisa was very strong for

her age, and taller than Davis, but still, it would not be much of a fight.

And then from the woods they heard the scream. It was the same sound Lou had heard

the first night at the well, but even more horrifying somehow, as though whatever it was,

was very close and bearing down on them. Even Louisa stared out apprehensively into

the darkness.

George Davis took a step back, his hand clenched, as though hoping for a gun to be there.

Louisa clutched the children and pulled them in with her. Davis made no move to stop

them, but he did call out, "You just make sure it's a damn boy this time. If'n it's a girl, you

just let it die. You hear me? Don't need me no more gawd damn girls!"

As Sally pushed hard, Louisa's pulse quickened when she first saw the buttocks of the

baby, followed by one of its feet. She knew she didn't have long to get the child out

before the cord was crushed between the baby's head and Sally's bone. As she watched,

the pains pushed the other foot out.

"Lou," she said, "over here, quick, child." Louisa caught the baby's feet in her right hand

and lifted the body up so that the contractions would not have to carry the weight of the

baby, and so as to better the angle of the head coming through. She knew they were

fortunate that after so many births, Sally Davis's bones would be spread wide. "Push,

Sally, push, honey," Louisa called out.

Louisa took Lou's hands and directed them to a spot on Sally's lower abdomen. "Got to

get the head out fast," she told Lou, "push right there, hard as you can. Don't worry, ain't

hurt the baby none, belly wall hard."

Lou bore down with all her weight while Sally pushed and screamed and Louisa lifted the

baby's body higher.

Louisa called out like she was marking water depth on a riverboat. Neck showing, she

said, and then she could see hair. And then the entire head showed, and then she was

holding the child, and telling Sally to rest, that it was over.

Louisa said a prayer of thanks when she saw it was a boy. It was awfully small, though,

and its color poor. She had Lou and Billy heat up cans of water while she tied off the cord

in two spots with the bobbin string and then cut the cord in between these points with a

pair of boiled scissors. She wrapped me cord in one of the clean, dry cloths that Lou had

baked in the oven and tied another of the baked cloths snugly against the baby's left side.

She used sweet oil to clean the baby off, washed him with soap and warm water, and then

wrapped him in a blanket and gave the boy to his mother.

Louisa placed a hand on Sally's belly and felt to see if the womb was hard and small,

which is what she wanted. If it was large and soft, that might mean bleeding inside, she

told Lou in a small voice. However, the belly was small and tight. "We fine," she told a

relieved Lou.

Next, Louisa took the newborn and laid it on the bed. She took a small wax ampule from

her lard bucket and from it took out a small glass vial. She had Lou hold the baby's eyes