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Nurtured In Purple, Book Two, The Chronicles of Chanute Crossing

By Jude Urbanski

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Chapter One
Chill, Willard, chill. I have to act cool if I want to bump Seth Orbin out of this big sale and I do. Oh, yes I do.

He transferred the phone receiver to his other ear. This conversation was heating up. “Well, you see, Hansford, in my opinion, the wood from Orbin Sawmills is inferior and will not meet your expectations, by any means. I don’t sell wood, but in my career as a paper salesman, I’ve seen a lot of wood, if I do say so. I know you’re used to the best wood available.”

He paused and paced around his desk.

“Now, there is this mill in Burkesville I think you’d like and I know a man who can get you the very best deal there is. Want me to talk to him?”

Willard waited, wiped sweat from his brow, and ran his fingers around the neck of his collar.

“You do?” He hesitated just slightly. “Great.” A silent sigh of relief shuddered through him, but a smile crawled up his face. “I’ll get right on it and call you back.”

Maybe a few more sweet deals like this will make ole’ Seth hurt.

He laughed and began dialing.

Willard Wittenberg had a vendetta to settle with Seth Orbin. His fiancée Elizabeth Koger had a vendetta to settle with Kate, Seth’s pregnant wife.

*****

Kate tucked a stray, red curl behind her ear and placed her hand under her bulging abdomen, giving it a little hoist upward as the baby gave a hard kick. She touched what had to be a foot sticking out making a firm lump.

Seth walked into the sunny kitchen. “Katalina, hate it, but I’ll be late for dinner tonight. Remember I’m meeting again with Ninville about that big order? I’m sorry, dear.” He placed arms around her swelling body in time to receive the next kick.

“Oh,gymnastics this morning, huh?” He nibbled at her ear and placed a soft kiss on her neck. “Are you all right?”

“Seth, I’m fine, honey. Just tired. Your baby is sure strong willed. Oh, remember, I see Doctor Bertram for a checkup today? Right after I take Benji to preschool.”

“Be sure to call me after your appointment and let me know how it went. Goodbye, love.” He brushed her lips softly, but then took her in his arms and lowered his mouth to hers for a long kiss.

“Hey, there, husband, I will see you later. Remember?” Kate laughed. She touched fingers to his lips and locked with his pewter colored eyes. Eyes she had always loved.

“That’s just to help me remember better. See you.” He laughed and walked to the door.

Benji ran into the room. “Bye, Daddy, bye! I know I already said goodbye, but wanted to say it again.” A big grin hitched up his mouth from side to side.

Seth turned, bent on one knee, looked his little stepson in the eyes and tousled his hair. “Bye again, Benji. Have a good day, will you?”

“I will.”

Benji watched out the door until Seth’s truck pulled away and then he went to the cabinet, pulled out the box of his favorite frosted, shredded wheat cereal. His next stop was the refrigerator for milk.

Kate looked at her son’s Dale Hollow tee shirt and his worn jeans. His signature outfit. All the kids loved those Dale Hollow shirts their dad had gotten them a few years ago.

“Ready for your trip to Sargent York’s home and museum today? I have your lunch packed.”

“Wow, it’s gonna be fun today, Mama. We get to see the grist mill, too.”

“Well, eat up. It’s almost time to go. Paddy and Maggie just got on the bus.”

*****

Dr. Bertram listened carefully with his stethoscope pressed against Kate’s abdomen. The same way he had listened when doing her blood pressure a few minutes ago. He tightened his thin lips closer, making his mouth turn downward. A furrow wrinkled his brow and his bifocals slid a little lower on his nose.

Kate watched her doctor and her breath hitched. Was something wrong? She was eight months pregnant and didn’t want surprises. She desired nothing more than to give Seth a healthy baby. He had already lost one child. One wife.

“Doctor Bertram, is anything wrong?”

“Well, Kate, your blood pressure is higher than I’d like and your pressure is usually just fine. The baby’s heart rate is regular and strong though.”

“Then, what is it?”

“I know you and Seth have reason to want nothing more than to get a healthy baby from this pregnancy,but I’d like you to get some blood work. No problems with your other pregnancies?” He took out his prescription pad and began to write.

“None.”

He handed her the slip of paper. “I’m a little concerned that all these things together may mean some sort of blood problem and I just want to check. Take this to the Byrdstown Lab and have your blood drawn if you would. I’ll let you know the results. You said you had some discomfort on your upper right side this morning
when the baby was so active?”

“A little, yes, but I didn’t think much of it. Feeling tired is my biggest complaint, but I thought that’s normal with being so close to term and looking after my family.”

“Let’s see what the blood work shows. Maybe nothing, Kate. Try not to worry. See you in a week. I want to keep an eye on your pressure, but I’ll call when the blood results come back.”

“The only other thing different, is that I bled for several minutes yesterday when I nicked myself with a paring knife. I don’t bleed much, as a rule.”

Dr. Bertram lifted his eyebrows. “Oh? That may be important. Well, let’s see what the blood tests show. Need to make sure there’s no problem with your blood clotting.”

“All right.”

Kate walked slowly across the clinic’s parking lot. She pulled herself into the car and sat for a moment.What could this mean? I’ve never had a problem with blood clotting. Or any problem with my pregnancies.

Dear Lord, please take care of this little baby for us.

*****
“Hi, Margie, this is Kate. Is Seth in?” She held the black phone in her lap and its receiver to her ear.

“Why, hello, Kate. Yes, he is. I’ll get him. How did your appointment go?”

“Pretty well, Margie.”

“Let me get him.”

“Katalina. Hello, dear. Everything okay?”

“Well, Seth, it probably is, but my blood pressure is up and Doctor Bertram wants me to get blood work. I think he is worried about something.”

“You do? What are your thoughts?”

“I don’t know, but he mentioned something about a blood problem. I’m trying not to fret until we know more. I’m off to meet with the women of the Vietnam Support Group. I’ll hold dinner for us and we can eat when you get home from your meeting. I’ll feed the kids early.”

“Sounds good. See you tonight and Katalina, try not to worry.”

“I’ll try, Seth. Love you.”

“Love you.”

Kate hung up the phone. She would take Seth’s advice and try not to worry. She glanced in the hallway mirror, realized she needed lipstick. She applied a deep coral to her lips and fluffed her hair. Then she grabbed her bag and headed for her car in the drive. She didn’t want to be late.

Kate followed the two lane road from Chanute Crossing to Static and then on to Byrdstown. There wasn’t much traffic in the middle of the day.The meeting was important to her. She’d begun the support group last year for women who’d lost a
loved one in Vietnam. The group had helped her get over the loss of Clayton, too.

Her Clayton, who came home, but who never, got over the war.

Ten women faithfully attended each month. The group included wives, mothers, sisters and girlfriends of men who died in the war. Seth had been wise in encouraging her to start the group. She had healed in her own soul through this group. The women had shared amazing things.One Puerto Rican woman, new to the
area, had been married to an American soldier serving in the war. She told how happy she was to be a part of the group, since she felt so alone after her husband didn’t make it home. This lady wanted the group to work on more services for the widows of the fallen men.

Kate parked and entered the Byrdstown Library meeting room. Her eyes swept the space. Ruby Moody was the only woman present so far. She sat near the back.
Ruby’s usual place to sit.

“Hi there, Ruby.”

Kate slid her heavy body into the seat beside Ruby. A smell of alcohol wafted the air. She noticed Ruby’s rumpled, green skirt, her limp hair.

Ruby swung her head upward, took Kate in and then let her head droop just as quickly. Her eyes fluttered and darted without real contact. She nodded, gave a muted, “Howdy.”

“Something wrong, Ruby?”

“Might say that. If you count nowhere to live as wrong. Got evicted. Again.” Her hands were clasped so tightly her knuckles blanched. Tears glistened in her eyes but never fell.

Kate laid a hand on Ruby’s shoulder and looked into her lackluster brown eyes. Others began coming through the door. “Ruby, let’s talk after the meeting. Okay?”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

Kate rose to greet the other women. “Hi, Blanche, Rita. Will you help get the chairs in our circle?”

“Sure, Kate.” Blanche cast an eye Ruby’s direction.

Rita had already begun arranging the chairs. Kate put a finger to her lips in a quieting motion and looked at Blanche. Blanche nodded, seeing more women arrive.

“Good afternoon.” Kate smiled at the ladies assembled in the usual circle. “Good to see you. We need to catch up with everyone, and we need to finalize plans for our trip to Cookeville, in three weeks, to hear State Senator Hassler talk about the aftermath of the Vietnam War. He’s to specifically address the widows’ situation.”

“That’s sure to be a fine speech, since our husbands’ soldier contributions have been ignored by our country.” Ruby’s sarcastic voice rang out in the back of the room. Her chair scraped on the floor.

“Ruby, President Carter and some of our other officials are trying to right the wrong and we need to support them however we can,” Rita said. “I, for one, plan to go hear Senator Hassler. Count me in, Kate.”

Others chimed in. “Yeah, I’m going.” “Wouldn’t miss.”

“Good,” Kate said. “Now why don’t we jump into our sharing time?”

JoAnn Claiborn cleared her throat. “I’d like to be the first to speak today. I want everyone to know I talked to my daughter’s middle school class this morning. It was hard but, I talked about how Vietnam, with all its sadness, has made me a stronger woman than I ever was before.”

She dropped her head and sucked in a few deep breaths before continuing. She looked up and around at all the women, meeting their eyes. “A few of you know how dependent and weak I was as a young married, how I always relied on Hiram.
Always. I couldn’t do a lick by myself. After I was widowed, I had to learn everything about being responsible for a family. You know what I mean, don’t you? Well, I told the class all of this and I was able to give a positive side to their bleak history lesson.”

“JoAnn, how wonderful. We do understand,” Blanche said, clapping.

“I think they liked my story.”

Others picked up the lead. One woman talked about improvement in her depression. Another related happiness at finally erecting a gravestone for her brother. Ruby offered nothing.

After details of the Cookeville trip were settled, Kate closed the meeting, with some relief, because discomfort had caused her to squirm in her seat the whole hour. More than once, her hand went to her abdomen when a contraction happened. She saw many of the women smile.

No one lingered after the meeting. They needed to get home for school kids or to fix supper.

Kate walked over to Ruby, who still sat in her chair. “Ruby, thanks for waiting. May we talk a few minutes?”

“Yeah, what do you want to talk about?”

“Well, Ruby, I just want to make sure you and Joe are all right. Where will you two live?”

“Oh, that. Bobo and me, we’ll sleep in the car until I can find us a place. We’ve done it before. Nothing new. Have to find another job, too. Said I missed too much work.”

“It might be a little hard getting Bobo, I mean Joe, ready for school every morning living like that.”

“Bobo, he’s good about it all, Kate. Don’t worry.” She started to walk away.

“I have an idea.”

Ruby stopped and turned to Kate. “Probably won’t help, but tell me anyway.”

“I can ask Seth’s parents about the two of you living at their orphanage. I know they were looking for a housemother.”

A flicker of interest toyed in Ruby’s brown eyes. “Uh, I’m not sure.” She stared at something over Kate’s shoulder for a few seconds and then sighed deeply. “I mean, yeah, why not? Why not ask? Guess it can’t hurt. I’ve heard about the Orbins and all they do.”

“I’ll ask tonight. Can you call me later this evening?”

“Guess I can. I’d better go.”

“Okay, but first, why don’t we drop by the Dixie Café for a sandwich or something? Seems I’m always hungry.”

“All right. Guess I’m not in any hurry.”

Kate wasn’t that hungry, but knew the food would help Ruby.

*****

Later that evening, Seth and Kate lingered at the kitchen table. Seth sipped coffee and Kate nursed tea with cream. The children were already in bed.

“I dropped by the lab in Byrdstown and had my blood drawn this afternoon after the support group meeting. Should know the results in a couple of days.”

“I’m praying for good results.” He placed his hand over hers. “We’ll both be happy when we hold a healthy baby in our arms, won’t we?”

“We will and, Seth, you’ve been so great during this pregnancy. I know you can’t help but think of Lucinda and the pregnancy losses you had with her. One more month is all we have to wait.”

Kate walked over to the coffee pot and refilled Seth’s cup. “Oh, let me tell you about Ruby Moody and an idea I have. Want to see what you think.”

After she had related Ruby’s whole story, Seth said, “Sounds like a good plan. Why don’t you go call Mother and Dad? They’d probably be happy to find someone.”

“I’ll have to tell them about Ruby’s drinking problem, too. Can’t hide that from them.”

“Knowing Mother and Dad, they will probably be willing to take the risk. Under close supervision, of course. But I bet they will be willing to give her a chance.”

“Bet they will, too. I’ll call.” Kate rose and went to the phone in the other room.
A few minutes later, she returned to the kitchen. Beaming.

Seth smiled, rose, and gathered her into his arms. “Good. I know the answer. Now, let’s go to bed.”

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