Anya kept quieter than usual over the next few days, hoping against hope Joe wouldn’t notice her pregnancy till she came up with a plan.  She wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer.  She’d been here since the last of February and it was nearly June.  She might be as much as four months now.  She’d never invited Joe into her bed and he’d spent his nights in the barn.

Joe called her out to talk to him.  “We got trouble.  Come walk with me over this ridge. ”

Her heart nearly stopped, thinking he’d noticed her condition.

They walked a long way toward the field without speaking.  “Remember I told you I was letting the cow go dry ‘cause she’s gonna to calve in June.  Look out there.”  He pointed to some white lacy-topped weeds that had sprung up in a hollow near the creek.  “See that.  Somehow, I missed them weeds and the cow got in ‘em.   Now she’s done lost her calf.  We needed that calf and the milk and now we ain’t got neither.  I don’t know what we gonna do for milk.  Them young’uns has got to have milk.  I hate to let ‘em down.”

“Them weeds made her throw her calf?  I never heard of such a thing.  I hate we lost the calf, but is the cow gonna be okay?”  For the first time, Anya had a flicker of hope.

“The cow is fine.  We just ain’t gonna have no milk for nearly a year.  After a few days, I’ll have to git her over to Fred Mason’s bull.  I ain’t got no money for another cow, but  I’m gonna see if I can help Fred git his crops in in trade for a goat or two.  He’s got all them young’uns and they keep a few milk goats to keep’em in milk when his cow dries up for a while.  I might have to work off the place for a few days, but I don’t see no way around it.  Do you reckon I could git you to keep the place goin’ while I’m gone?  I know it a in’t a woman’s place to do all this heavy work.  I hate so bad to ask you, but I don’t see no other way?”

Anya took his hand.  “I’d be proud to.  Workin’ ain’t no problem to me.  I need to earn my keep and help you out.  You been good to me.”

Joe, looked into her eyes.  “You’re a fine woman.  It’s easy being good to you.  I thank you.”

For the first time, Anya felt hope.

Anya kept quieter than usual over the next few days, hoping against hope Joe wouldn’t notice her pregnancy till she came up with a plan.  She wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer.  She’d been here since the last of February and it was nearly June.  She might be as much as four months now.  She’d never invited Joe into her bed and he’d spent his nights in the barn.

Joe called her out to talk to him.  “We got trouble.  Come walk with me over this ridge. ”

Her heart nearly stopped, thinking he’d noticed her condition.

They walked a long way toward the field without speaking.  “Remember I told you I was letting the cow go dry ‘cause she’s gonna to calve in June.  Look out there.”  He pointed to some white lacy-topped weeds that had sprung up in a hollow near the creek.  “See that.  Somehow, I missed them weeds and the cow got in ‘em.   Now she’s done lost her calf.  We needed that calf and the milk and now we ain’t got neither.  I don’t know what we gonna do for milk.  Them young’uns has got to have milk.  I hate to let ‘em down.”

“Them weeds made her throw her calf?  I never heard of such a thing.  I hate we lost the calf, but is the cow gonna be okay?” 

Trigger warning

 

Anya was shaking as she sat gripping the water glass, looking as though she might faint.  Joe took Sally from the sling, putting her on the floor.

“I ain’t no whore!  My stepmother handed me off to that devil to get me out of her man’s way.  I had no say than a cow or hog off to slaughter.  He tied me up and hauled me off in that damned peddler’s wagon.  He beat me and passed me around when he needed a bottle. That last night, he got drunk enough I was able to get to his pistol and fire a shot off at him.  I think I missed and finished him off with a shovel.  He would have killed me if I hadn’t gotten away, but I’m not a whore.”  She was furious now, clinching and unclenching her fists.  “I’d kill him again, if I could after all he done to me!”

Joe didn’t speak for a long time.  “So that’s how you come to be here.”  Pausing, he went on.  “Thank God the creek was high and we couldn’t get to Meadow Creek for the revival.  If you had showed up there, wanting to make a new start, folks would’a had questions after that peddler turned up with a hole in his head.  We got to come up with a plan.”

“I didn’t run off from one man just to get stuck out here bein’ your whore.  Just because I got nowhere to go don’t mean I gotta take anything off you.”  She was furious to be so near tears.

“I don’t want nuthin’ from you except you earn your keep and help out with Sally while you’re here.  You’re gonna have to lay low awhile to keep the sheriff off your tail.  The preacher is the only one who saw my wife.  If we just keep to the place, you ain’t gonna bump into him.  I never was one for goin’ to church an’ it ain’t likely he’ll have business way out here.  He might not know the difference anyhow.  It was dark an’ the woman was wrapped up when we woke him to marry us.

She stared ahead morosely, feeling a prisoner again.