A Blue Mountain Memory

III

Elwood slumped defeatedly in Cora's chair with his eyes fixed blankly on the floor. Tenderly, she dabbed blood from his lip and cheek, trying her best not to cause further pain. Baxter and Lorna quietly cleaned the table, slinking off into their room so as not to linger. 

Lorna wept each time Elwood arrived at their front door beaten like a dog. She had been close friends with Ada Lew, Elwood's mother. The women met when Lorna and Baxter first settled in Lake Ren. The two young brides, newlywed and without their families to provide support, found solace in each other's company. They both became pregnant with their sons at the same time, sharing the terrors, excitements, and uncertainties of early motherhood. Meanwhile, Baxter and Lawson– Elwood's father– farmed together on Lawson's land. They had briefly fought together before Baxter's injury kept him from the battlefield. For years, the two families supported each other financially and emotionally. Ada and Lorna felt as though they had found a sister in the other, vowing to protect both of their children at all costs.

Yet, hard times fell on the Davis's and the Lews. In 1874, Lawson and Baxter could no longer maintain their land, forcing the men to abandon their financial autonomy. The pair began working at Kelly Brooks' mill a year later, following its hasty establishment. Baxter adapted to the situation well. Having experienced many hardships in his time, the man refused to let his young family down. Lawson, on the other hand, loathed factory work. His propensity to drink did not draw much attention at first. Though it did not conflict with his work or family life, the seed had, nonetheless, been sown. Two years later, Ada became pregnant with their second child.  As the mill continued profiting and the Lews awaited welcoming their new family member, Lawson grew comfortable with the hand he had been dealt. 

Yet, to this day, Lorna could not escape the memory of Ada's second labor. The women had spent the previous day together mending their husbands' work shirts, but Ada felt unwell. As the pair sat beneath a window, basking in the warm rays of sunshine that poured through the panes, Ada gently placed her sewing down. She sighed; her brow scrunched together in contemplation. Lorna looked up from her work and watched as Ada struggled to swing her body towards her friend. Without a word, Ada pulled her skirt's hem up to her shins. She looked from her swollen ankles, up to Lorna, a gleam of worry in her eyes. Before Lorna could reassure her friend, Ada inhaled with a sharp hiss, throwing a hand to her temple. For a moment, the women sat in silence as Ada rested her head in her palm, wincing through the sharp pain that struck the side of her skull. Lorna tried reassuring Ada that swollen ankles were simply a side effect of pregnancy, and one she should have experienced with Elwood.

When Ada went into labor around midnight the following night, Lawson came storming into the Davis cabin, pleading for Lorna and Baxter to help him.  Lorna trailed behind Lawson so that she could care for Ada while Baxter ran into town to fetch the doctor.

Lorna could still see Ada lying in her blood-soaked blankets. The frail woman's face, a sheet of transparent skin, felt cold and clammy with sweat beneath Lorna's trembling touch. Ada tried speaking to Lorna, but her white, cracked lips failed to open. Lorna did not know how to save her dearest friend– her sister. She frantically looked around, her eyes searching for more cloth to shove between Ada's legs. But everything blurred as Lorna's eyes could focus on nothing but the ghostly image that lay dying before her. Ada's arm struggled to lift her shaky hand as a limp finger pointed across the room. 

Lorna followed her friend's eyesight to see a quiet, shivering infant, laid out on the dresser. Wrapped in nothing but a thin blanket, the infant's chest rose and fell slowly as it struggled to breathe. Lorna looked to an inconsolable Lawson who kneeled at his dying wife's feet, weeping as he kissed and attempted to rub the life back into them. He pleaded for her to keep her eyes open, to hold out her hand for his to hold, and to show more effort— to fight for his sake. His pleas turned into commands as his weak, cracking voice transformed into a bellowing cry. Ada smiled softly as she dropped her hand back onto the wet, crimson bedding.