The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,216

sure she got out alive.

Letty stayed so busy, and there was so much to learn, that she put the smallpox scare into the back of her mind. She’d laughed more since coming to this valley than she ever had in her life, and she slept sounder lying beside Eulis than she’d ever slept before. They’d earned their right to happiness. Surely God wouldn’t let any more tragedies befall them.

On the eighth day, morning dawned on a clear sky. The sun was so bright on the snow that looking upon the valley was painful to the eyes. By mid-morning, Letty had an elk roast cooking over the fireplace, and was out by the lean-to, scraping the same elk’s skin that Eulis had stretched for her. She’d never made anything from the skin of an animal, but figured there was a first time for everything.

Despite the sun, the air was cold, leaving a bite to the skin. Blackie was grazing nearby, while Eulis had taken Rosy with him to fell trees. Already, they’d dragged two large dead pines to the cabin to be cut up later for firewood.

Letty glanced toward the trees periodically as she worked, taking note of the time that Eulis and Rosy had been gone. She was just beginning to be concerned when she saw them coming out of the trees again. Only this time Eulis wasn’t leading Rosy as he’d done both times before. He was riding her bareback. She watched for a moment and then gasped when Eulis swayed. She laid down her knife and grabbed a handful of snow to clean her hands without looking away.

Rosy kept walking.

Eulis was still astraddle the black mule.

Everything was fine. She told herself that he was just tired. After all, it was their third trip. Taking a ride didn’t have to mean anything was wrong.

She walked a few steps away from the house, kicking snow as she went. Her shoes were wet. Her feet were numb. She ignored both.

Blackie stopped grazing and looked up, braying when he saw Rosy coming.

Letty waved.

Eulis slumped forward, then as if in slow motion, slid off the mule into the snow.

“No,” Letty moaned, and started running.

Blackie shied and then brayed, kicking as Letty dashed past. The snow was wet and halfway to her knees. For Letty, who was scared half out of her mind, it felt as if she was trying to run through a lake of mud. The weight of the snow sucked at her shoes, more than once threatening to pull them off her feet, and yet she kept moving, afraid that if she stopped, then so would her heart.

Finally, she reached him and began pulling at Eulis’s coat in a desperate attempt to get his face out of the snow, afraid that she was too late and that he’d suffocated. She rolled him over and began digging snow from his mouth and nose, then slapping at his cheek in an effort to wake him. The first thing she felt was the heat of his skin beneath her palms, and when she did, she rocked back on her heels and screamed.

Once at fate for dealing them one more blow.

Once at God for letting it happen.

And once for herself, knowing full well what still lay ahead.

Then she dragged herself up, slid her hands beneath Eulis’s arms, and started yelling at him as she pulled.

“Get up!” she shouted. “Open your eyes and get up!”

Eulis could hear Letty’s voice, and although he couldn’t quite focus on the words, recognized the panic in her voice.

“I’m sick,” he mumbled.

Letty moaned, tugging even harder.

“I know you’re sick, but you’ve got to help me or you’re damn sure gonna die. Stand up, Eulis. Stand up long enough for me to get you back on Rosy.”

He tried to get up, but his legs wouldn’t work, and there was something wrong with the sky. It was spinning around his head like a top.

“Letty?”

“I’m here,” Letty said. “I need you to get up.”

“Can’t,” Eulis said. “Gonna die.”

“Not if I can help it,” she muttered, then saw the rope dragging behind the mule and grabbed it.

When she tried to put it around Eulis’s chest, he began struggling against her intent.

“Don’t,” Letty begged, pushing at his hands as he pulled at the rope. “Quit it, Eulis. You can’t get up and I’ve got to get you to the cabin.”

But he kept batting at her hands, undoing everything she tried to do.

“Don’t wanna hang. They hang deserters. Don’t wanna hang.”

Letty shuddered. He was already out of