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The Pain of Love

By Keri

Chapter VIII

"I don't know what to tell you Mr. Cain. We're just gonna have ta wait and see."

Cody nodded to the doctor and turned back to Callie.

The trip into town had been terrifying. Cody pulled the buckboard up with a start and sprinted into the saloon. "I need a doctor! Please you have to help us!" His words were barely audible above his gasps for air. The minutes it had taken him to find the town felt like years. Callie had been in and out of consciousness, tossing restlessly, mumbling names mingled with cries of pain. The lump in Cody's throat grew until he could suppress it no longer. A sob escaped as he spied the beginning of a town.

The doctor had been called and hastily began his examination of Callie. At one point her eyes became lucid and she held out her hand.

"Billy."

The one word drained her and at once she shrank back into the sheets of the cot. The doctor turned briefly to Cody.

"You Billy?"

The words slipped out of the corner of his mouth as his hands continued to assess Callie.

"Yeah."

"Your wife's in bad shape Mr...."

"Cain." The name had been spoken with only a moments pause. The doctors assumption was natural. Callie's pregnancy was quite obvious and any man travelling with her would have been assumed to be her husband. The false name was necessary and Cody was surprised that he had the presence of mind to give Sam's last name to ensure Callie's safety.

"Yes, well Mr. Cain. Your wife seems to be in the grips of a fever. How long has she been sick?"

"A few days. She was feeling better today though, and then all of a sudden..."

"Mhhmmm. And how far along is she?"

The doctor still had not turned to face him and he mentally indexed his prior conversations to answer the question that lingered.

"Four months, uh. Maybe five. Listen Doc is she gonna be okay?"

"What's her name?"

"L-Louise."

"Louise? Louise? Can you hear me honey?"

The doctors words went unanswered and Cody grew impatient. She's not gonna answer! That's not her name!

Cody stood up, "Is she gonna be okay? Damn it!"

The doctor whipped around, "Stop." His voice was a whispered command. "This ain't helpin', wait outside, I'll let you know."

"You look. I am not going anywhere." His voice broke and tears streamed from his pain-filled eyes.

"Just tell me. Tell me about my wife and child."

The words were spoken without hesitation and in Cody's heart there was no dishonesty in them.


"How much further?"

"We should meet up with them by tonight."

Buck looked up from the tracks he was studying.

"It's almost like they're slowing down."

"Well that just means we have to speed up."

Tommy spurred on his horse and shot out in front of the rest of them. Kid sidled up to Lou.

"What do you think?"

"Something's not right." Lou response was thoughtful. She was getting that feeling again, but this time it was stronger.

"Lou, what is it?"

Buck had mounted up and was watching Tommy ride off in the distance with Jimmy a ways behind.

"We gotta hurry, Buck."

"That's all I needed to hear."

Dust rose in clouds around the horses as they pursued Tommy. Lightning raced with little encouragement from his rider and Lou knew that he felt that uneasiness too.


Hours passed but the tears didn't slow. His fingers were numb but he did not loosen his grip on Callie's hand. The doctor warned him that he should be strong for his 'wife' especially when she woke up.

"The baby was too young. There'll be others."

That was it. The baby is dead. The baby is dead. The baby is dead.

Even repeating it didn't make it any more real. Cody placed his free hand on Callie's swollen stomach. One minute there was a new life there and now there was just death, emptiness, darkness.

He longed to let himself feel it all, but he couldn't. The doctor said he needed to be strong and he was. He couldn't stop the tears though. Not if his life depended on it. The sadness was unbearable. He brushed the hair away from Callie's forehead and took her in. Drenched in sweat and white as chalk she still was beautiful. Overcome with emotion he laid his head on her chest.

"Callie. I love you. Don't leave me please, Callie. please."

The silence stretched out in front of him and he felt hopelessness creeping in.

"God. If you can hear me, please don't take her from me. I won't be lazy, I won't make fun of Jimmy, I'll even go to church. Just don't take her. I'll do anything."

The front of Callie's dress was damp with tears but Cody didn't move.

"Please God, please." The plea was a whispered chant that gained its own presence in a room that overflowed with despair.


"Well, they're here somewhere."

Dusk was falling on the town of Markham and the boys, covered in dust and dead tired continued their search.

"What now?"

Jimmy was getting impatient. He wanted to find Callie and Cody as much as the rest of them but he was not looking forward to confronting his friend with news that he was sure would break his heart. On top of that concern, Callie's husband was really starting to grate on his nerves. He was cold, detached and all together cruel. He had tried to reconcile Tommy's behavior with the realization that his wife and unborn child were missing, but in the same thought he couldn't picture Callie and Tommy together. She was so alive and vivacious, and he was as close to the opposite as you could find. Jimmy shook himself out of his reverie and forced himself to concentrate on the conversation taking place in front of him.

They were to split up and search the town. Tommy volunteered to take the saloon, Buck and Lou were taking the hotel, Kid was gonna ride to the other end of town and make his way towards Jimmy who was starting at the west end.

So they set off each with their own plan but the same agenda:

To find Callie and break Cody's heart.


Haaahhhh

The rise of her chest woke Cody with a start. He pushed the hair from his face and leaned forward in expectation.

"How's she doin'?"

Cody spun around at the sound of the doctor's voice.

"I think she's doin better."

"Louise? Can you hear me?"

The two men stood, waiting for her to respond. In his head, Cody could almost hear her laugh and say, 'Of course I can, your standing right in front of me! And why are you calling me Louise?' but instead the silence continued.

Cody stood and backed away from Callie to allow the doctor access. Almost at once the blood rushed to his fingers that had been numb for so long. The blood seemed to bring with it a chill that snuck up his spine. Quickly he reached forward to recapture her hand but the doctor had claimed it to check her pulse.

"Well?"

"Why did you say you thought she was doin better?"

"She sighed, I heard her. I fell asleep but it woke me."

"Could you have been dreamin?"

The pity in the doctors voice brought Cody's anger to a boil.

"I was NOT dreamin, she sighed! What are you saying, Isn't she doing any better?"

"Fraid not, son."

"What are you sayin?"

Cody couldn't believe how calm his voice sounded. He knew what the doctor was going to say, he felt his heart drop to his knees, but his voice refused to break.

The doctor's eyes softened as he looked at the young man in front of him. To have to tell a man that his child and wife are dead in one day, sometimes this job is just too much.


"Yeah, that girl looked pretty bad."

"Well did Doc Stithe say she would be okay?"

"He said he wasn't sure, but that boy with the blond hair, Billy? He said that he was in just about the worst shape he'd ever seen a boy."

The last statement stopped Jimmy cold. He turned and pursued the women that had passed him.

"Uh, 'cuse me ladies."

The women stopped and turned with caution.

"I couldn't help overhear your conversation. The couple you are talking about. Well the boy, Billy, he sounds like my brother. I have been lookin' everywhere for him. See our pa's really sick and I've been trying to find him to tell him."

The women looked at each other skeptically.

"He's about so high, long blond hair. He would have been travelin' with a woman with long brown hair and a real pretty smile."

"Well..."

"Please, ma'am. Our ma misses him real bad." The lie slid of Jimmy's tongue easily.

"Last night" one of the girls began "a man, like you described, came rushin' in the saloon looking for the Doc. His wife took real sick and they've been over at the Doc's ever since."

Jimmy tipped his hat.

"Thank you ladies, me and my family are much obliged. Could you point me in the direction of the doctors?"


As he reached the door of the doctor's a man emerged from the doorway.

"Uh, Doc Stithe?"

The man wiped the moisture from his eyes and turned to face the man in front of him.

"I'm looking for my brother and his, uh wife. Couple of women said they were here. Brother's name is Billy."

The old man's eyes teared up again. He placed his hand on Jimmy's shoulder and nodded toward the inside. Jimmy cracked the door open and he heard the most frightening, heart wrenching sound of his life.

Cody was sobbing.

The sound came alive and pushed Jimmy back. He covered his mouth with his hand and turned to walk away when he saw the others approaching. Cody's cries could still be heard through the open door and Jimmy couldn't stop his tears.

"Jimmy?" Lou ran to him as his knees buckled.

"Jimmy what is it?"

"Callie...."

The moan from the doctor's office grabbed hold of the riders. Tommy stepped forward.

"Where is she?" His voice spoke with emotions the riders had not previously witnessed.

Jimmy cocked his head toward the office. Tommy ran through the door and Buck and Kid followed.

The scene that lay in front of them was almost like something from a dream. Cody knelt on the floor by Callie's bedside with his face pressed into her cold palm. The sobs that Jimmy had heard racked Cody's body and had him on the verge of hysteria.

"Callie."

Tommy's whisper was barely audible over Cody. He slowly approached her bedside and looked down at his wife. He traced the jaw of the woman he had vowed to spend the rest of his wife with, the woman he vowed to love and cherish, and nurture through sickness. His gaze fell on her abdomen. The child. It had all started because he wanted to make a better life for them. With an anger that engulfed him he lunged at Cody.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!!!! WHY DID YOU HURT HER!"

Tommy had pulled Cody to his feet but the rider didn't react. Lou and Jimmy, who had just entered the room took a step back at the sight of Cody's swollen face. Tommy shook him and yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO CALLIE!!!"

Buck stepped forward and gently pried Tommy's hands from Cody. The rider sunk to the floor in despair. Lou knelt in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Tommy turned his back on the two and struggled to Callie's body. He leaned over and kissed her lifeless lips, his tears pooling on her ashen cheeks.

"I'm coming, Callie. I'm coming." Tommy whispered his promise to her hair and made his way to the back door.

"Should we go after him?" Kid looked concerned as Tommy waddled forlornly out the door.

"Let him be." Jimmy turned to Kid, "He needs the time. Not everyone grieves in the same way."

Lou tightened her arms around Cody as he moaned Callie's name.

"Yeah. I guess so."

A single shot rang out and cut through Cody's cries.

Buck hurried to the back door and surveyed the field behind the doctors office. Twenty feet from the door, Tommy lay in a heap.

"He went to meet her." Kid whispered.

To be continued...The Conclusion

Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author

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