Still fuming, Isabel went inside and sat in one of the chairs, rocking Timmy back and forth.
“It’s okay, baby. No one’s mad at you. You’re such a good baby. Mama loves you. Daddy loves you, too.”
Gradually, his cries slowed until he was sniffling. He closed his eyes and fell asleep in her arms.
She kissed him on the forehead and looked down at his adorable face, her heart melting all over again. The love she felt for him overwhelmed her.
“I don’t care what he says. I’m going to sew these dresses and make what money I can,” she whispered fiercely.
After putting him in his playpen to sleep, Isabel took the basket of clothes into her bedroom and put them in the corner. She would work on them when she had the chance and Theodore wasn’t around.
She made dinner, but Theodore wasn’t back when she finished.
“Let his pigheaded self starve,” she muttered while she ate alone.
Timmy woke up just as she finished, so she fed him. Theodore still hadn’t returned, so she wrapped up the food and put it in the larder.
She took Timmy outside for some fresh air. As she walked around the prairie, she was very mindful of where she stepped. Isabel didn’t want to come across a rattlesnake again, especially while carrying the baby.
Timmy babbled and pointed to the cows, the deer, and everything else he saw. He giggled when several deer spotted them and pranced away, jumping one of the fences.
“Do you like that, Timmy?” she asked, kissing his cheek.
Twenty pounds of baby got heavy after a while, so she decided to go back inside the house. Theodore was sitting at the table but didn’t speak to her as she walked in. She was not in the mood to deal with his sullenness or rudeness, so she didn’t try to break the silence.
She put Timmy in the playpen and cleaned the kitchen around him. Part of her understood that he had always been alone, even when his family was alive. He wasn’t used to kindness or anyone trying to help him. After the way Ellis treated him, she couldn’t blame him for not trusting any helping hand. On the other hand, however, they were married. She had a vested interest in helping the ranch succeed if she could. They were partners.
Theodore finished his meal, took his plate and glass to the sink, and walked back outside without a word.
Stubborn, pigheaded man, she thought as she attacked the stove, cabinets, dishes, and table with her washcloth. He needs to come to his senses.
Timmy started to get fussy, so she picked him up, changed him, and took him into their bedroom. She gently rocked him and sang “Amazing Grace” to him. He fell asleep pretty quickly.
Isabel took one of the dresses out of the basket and worked on it until her eyelids drooped.
Breakfast was another silent meal. Isabel was afraid that all of the progress they had made was gone, and they would be back to Theodore not speaking to her.
Regardless of how frustrated he might be with her, Theodore was very attentive to Timmy. When he finished eating, Theodore picked the baby out of his high chair and bounced him on his knee.
Isabel wasn’t positive, but she thought she saw a smile cross Theodore’s face when Timmy jerked Theodore’s sandy blond beard and said, “Da-da-da.”
“Alright, little man. I’ve got work to do. You be a good boy.”
“Da-da,” Timmy replied.
Theodore put Timmy in his playpen and glanced at Isabel. He gave her a brief nod as he walked out.
She sighed and rubbed her face. “I just don’t know about that man.”
“Da-da.”
“Yes, that is the man I’m talking about.”
After cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the floors, and then mopping, she pulled out the dress she had started on, concentrating on making small, even stitches until it was time to get lunch started. She didn’t feel the least bit guilty even though she knew that it would infuriate Theodore.
I will save the money until we need it. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
Theodore came in for lunch, ate in silence, and left again. Once again, she shook her head at his stubbornness and wondered how long he was going to keep this up.
Isabel was pleased by the progress she had made on the dress by the time she needed to stop to make dinner. Theodore had invited Jacob to eat with them. She listened to the men talk about the ranch and repairs they would make to the barn the next day.
Timmy was quieter than usual and was a little fussy. He took his bottle but refused to eat anything. She held him while the men ate.
“Thank you for the meal. It was good,” Jacob said.
Isabel smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”
After Jacob left, Theodore stood up and walked over beside her. “Give him to me so you can eat.”
She held him up and nodded her thanks. As soon as she finished cleaning the kitchen, she went outside. Isabel smiled when she heard Theodore telling Timmy a story about his childhood. When he saw Isabel, he stopped abruptly.
“Here’s your mama. I have some horses to tend to.”
‘Horses to tend to’ is the code phrase for ‘I need an excuse to leave.’
She noticed that Timmy’s face looked flushed. Isabel pressed her lips to his forehead and frowned. He had a slight temperature. He coughed.
“Stay here for a second. I’ll be back,” Isabel said.
She went outside, where she saw some yarrow growing in the field close to the house. Isabel found the plant, which had feathery leaves and small pink flowers that grew in clusters. After picking several leaves and flowers, she rushed back into the house.
Isabel ground the flowers and leaves and then combined them with dried peppermint leaves she kept handy for tea, headaches, and upset tummies. She mixed these ingredients with a little bit of water to make a paste and put it on a clean piece of linen.
Timmy was fussing in his playpen when she picked him up and carried him to her bedroom. She sat in the rocking chair and put the poultice on his forehead to try to cool the fever.
As the night wore on, his cough worsened, and his temperature continued to rise no matter what Isabel tried.
“Baby, you’re burning up,” she said.
Her hands trembled as she wrung out the cloth, dabbing Timmy’s flushed face. She could feel the heat radiating off his small body, his skin hot and damp. In spite of the poultice and the cool washcloth, his temperature continued to rise.
His breaths came in shallow, rapid puffs, and he whimpered in his sleep, his fists clenching and unclenching.
Her heart pounded in her chest.
She didn’t know what else to do to help the poor baby.
Panic exploded inside of her, twisting her stomach and causing her heart to thunder.
She rushed out of her room and flung open the door to Theodore’s without knocking. It never occurred to her that she should knock first. She had to get help for Timmy.
Theodore was sprawled across the bed, half covered by a blanket, bare-chested. At the sound of the door slamming against the wall, he sat upright in bed, his eyes wide and his hair tousled. He grabbed the quilt and pulled it up to his neck.
“Good lord, woman,” he sputtered. “What are you doing in here?”
Isabel barely recognized his shock at seeing her burst into his room. “Timmy is burning up. I’ve been trying all night to get his fever down, but the poultice and cool cloth aren’t working. I don’t know what else to do. He needs a doctor, now.”
Theodore blinked, processing her words. “Timmy is sick? How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad,” Isabel said, her heart thudding in her chest and her stomach sick with worry. “Please, Theodore, he needs a doctor.”
“Alright, get out of here so I can get dressed,” Theodore said, clearly unwilling to give her another glimpse of his chest.
Isabel turned to leave. She heard his feet hitting the floor with a thud. Two minutes later, he was in her room. He touched Timmy’s forehead, cheeks, and tummy with the back of his hand. His face tightened, and he nodded.
“I’ll be back as quick as I can. It’ll take a few minutes to saddle Remington, plus another forty minutes at least to get the doc. I can’t run him in the night because I can’t see any holes that might be in the ground.”
“Be careful, but hurry as fast as you can,” she whispered, her eyes wide.
Isabel held Timmy, trying to cool him the best she could while waiting. The minutes ticked by slowly, and it seemed like an eternity before she heard the hooves getting closer to the house.
She jumped up and ran to the door as Theodore and Doctor Miller came into the house, the latter clutching a black bag.
“I understand you have a sick wee one,” Doctor Miller said.
“Yes, please come in here,” Isabel said.
The doctor listened to his heart and breathing with a stethoscope. “I can hear him wheezing in his lungs. I can tell that he does have a pretty high temperature.”
Doctor Miller checked Timmy’s pulse and breaths per minute and then used a candle to check his throat.
Timmy coughed and whimpered.
“I know, you just don’t feel well, do you? Poor baby. We’ll get you fixed right up.”
Doctor Miller looked at Isabel and Theodore, who were watching him anxiously.
“I’m glad you called. Right now, I think he simply has a chest cold, which should improve in the next few days with proper care. It could develop into pneumonia, so make sure you reach out to me if he doesn’t get better in the next couple of days or gets worse. This means if his fever gets worse, his cough worsens, he becomes lethargic and refuses to eat, and, most especially, if his skin gets a bluish tinge, especially around the lips and fingernails.”
Isabel nodded. “Of course. What do we do now?”
The doctor handed her a small brown bottle. “Give him half a teaspoon of this every six hours. Put a mustard plaster poultice on his chest. It would be helpful if you could give him steam treatments every four hours or so. The steam itself will be good, but you can add peppermint to it if you want. Make sure he stays hydrated and gets a lot of rest.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Isabel said, her voice trembling a little.
He patted her arm. “You’re welcome.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Theodore said.
Half an hour later, he came back in. “I had to unsaddle Remington and brush him.”
She smiled at him and nodded.
She sat by Timmy’s crib, her hands clasped tightly in her lap as if she was barely holding herself together. The room was dim; the only source of light was a small lantern. The baby had finally settled down. He wasn’t whimpering anymore, and his breathing was steadier. Isabel felt a lot better after the doctor’s visit but was still terrified at the possibility of this illness becoming pneumonia.
Isabel stood when Theodore came in the room, standing next to her, close enough that she could feel the heat coming off of his body. He stared down into the crib at their son. His expression was that of relief and something else she couldn’t quite read.
For a moment, they stared at the sleeping baby. The only sound in the room was Timmy’s breathing and the faint rustling of trees from outside.
Finally, Theodore broke the silence. “I’m sorry about the fight,” he murmured, his voice low and rough, as though he was having a hard time saying the words. “I didn’t mean to be so harsh with you. I was angry. Tonight, with Timmy being sick, it made me realize that the only thing that matters is our family.”
Isabel turned her head slightly, surprised. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. She shook her head as though she couldn’t believe what she heard. “It’s okay. I forgive you. I know you’re proud, and I never wanted to make you feel less than. But I do want to help.”
“I can’t take money from you. I just can’t,” he said.
She nodded, understanding his pride.
Isabel put her hands on the rail, watching the rise and fall of Timmy’s chest. “I’ll stay with Timmy. You need to get what little bit of sleep that you can.”
He covered her hand with his. Isabel’s heart nearly stopped, and her breath got caught in her throat at the touch. The warmth of his touch flowed through her. She could feel the calluses on his palm as they stood there for just a second.
Theodore jumped when one of the dogs outside started barking furiously. “Stay here with Timmy while I go see what’s got Blue riled up.”
Isabel nodded and let out a breath. She reached down and smoothed Timmy’s black curls off of his forehead, noting that he felt cooler than before.
Relief washed over her, but her thoughts were still on Theodore and how it felt when his hand covered hers. Wishing that the dog hadn’t barked, she sat down in the chair next to the crib and gently rocked back and forth, thinking about Theodore’s words.