The Mountain Man Started Buying Baby Clothes — But Everyone Knew He Lived Alone
Chapter 9
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He had heard it before, once, a long way back: a boy of ten at a graveside, and nobody coming. He had stopped crying then; he had stopped a good many things. He had set out to repay a debt; he had mended a roof, and built a bed, and carved a cradle—and somewhere between the first board and the last, he had stopped doing it for Daniel Whitmore.He did not want them to go: he wanted it so badly it frightened him. He lay awake until morning and did not say a word.Hannah's labor began on the 17th of January, a Thursday, in the worst storm of the winter.The storm had appeared at noon as a low gray wall in the north. By dark, the wind had a voice, and the cabin shook with it, and the snow came sideways past the window like thrown salt.At 7:00, Hannah put her hand on the table and said very low, "Thad."He knew at once: he had never delivered a child, but he had pulled a calf and a colt. "How long?""Not long. It is early."Granny was not to come until the 25th. The road was blocked, and the snow was already up to the porch rail. Granny Pruitt was nine miles away; the doctor was in Leadville."I will go," said Thad."You cannot. You will never get through." She caught his sleeve, and for the first time he saw she was afraid."The Dowds are two miles. I will stop there first. Ruth will come, and Amos will bring her on the sled."He took the green scarf from the nail by the door and wound it twice about his throat."Lucy."She was at his side before he finished. "Yes, Mr. Thad?""Keep the stove high. Boil water. I will send Ruth and Amos straight here. Stay inside with her until they come.""Will you come back?""I intend to." He knew what a storm could take from a man; this time, he had more to lose.He saddled Congress in the dark, and the mule, who had opinions about snow, looked at him once and went.Amos Dowd opened the door in his nightshirt, took in the snowman on his step, and was hitching the sled before Thad had finished speaking. Ruth Dowd took her bag and a quilt and said, "Go."It took him five hours to reach the foot of the trail. He lost the way twice. At the ford, the mule went in to its belly, and he got down and led it through by the bridle, with ice forming on his coat. Somewhere around midnight, he stopped feeling his hands and went on.Granny Pruitt opened her door in a flannel nightgown and looked at the snowman on her step."It is Hannah Whitmore," said Thad. "She could not wait."She was 70, no taller than his shoulder. She asked no questions: she took her bag and a coat and climbed up behind him on the mule."If you let me fall," she said, "I will haunt you."They reached the cabin at 4:00 in the morning. Ruth Dowd opened the door with her sleeves rolled to the elbow."She is doing well, Granny," she said, "and the girl has not left her side."