Heartbreak Trail by Shirley Kennedy

Author:Shirley Kennedy [Kennedy, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781603818315
Google: pNsSZm8C1SoC
Amazon: 1603818316
Publisher: Camel Press
Published: 2010-11-30T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Bessie’s dead.

Lucy stumbled from the tent. Looking around in a daze, she thought she’d entered another world. The morning sun streamed down through puffy white clouds. The nearby brook gurgled softly. Birds chirped their early morning songs, as if nothing were wrong. She blinked her eyes in numb disbelief. How could this be the start of a beautiful day when her dear friend had just died?

Clint stood outside. Had he been there all night? “She’s gone?”

“She’s gone, and the baby, too.” She took a step forward and stumbled.

Clint caught her arm. “Are you all right?”

“No.” She tried to keep her raging emotions to herself. “It’s so unfair! Why did Bessie have to suffer like that? She never wanted to go on this journey in the first place. She was such a good person. Oh, Clint, you can’t believe what she went through. All that pain, Inez’s horrible concoctions, the enema, red pepper up her nose, while all the time ...” a sob welled up inside her “... nothing helped. She went through all that misery for nothing and died anyway. I want to scream, tear my hair out. I want—”

“Hush!” Clint pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t think of it now. You’ve been up all night. You need to sleep awhile.”

They were standing behind the Potts’ wagon so no one could see. Right now she didn’t care if they did. She rested her weary head on his broad shoulder. She didn’t know how long they stood that way. All she knew was that his sheltering arms, the warmth and comfort of his voice, soon made her pulse slow, brought her back from the edge of hysteria. She could stay forever in his embrace, if only the world wouldn’t intrude. It would. This precious, private moment couldn’t last. She forced herself to break from his arms and step back. “It was very kind of you, staying with us all night.”

“She was a good woman.” She heard the genuine grief in his voice. “One of the rare ones. Kind, unselfish, not a mean bone in her body. I’m going to miss her.”

“It hasn’t sunk in yet that she’s gone.” She gazed at him in despair. “When it does, how can I face not seeing her again? How can I ever not be haunted by the horrible way she died? How can—?”

“You can’t.” Clint caught her hand in his. “You’ll carry on because you must. I do.” He was staring off into nothingness. “I knew a man once, name of Jeremiah Todd. He was a trapper like me, crude as they come, barely civil, couldn’t even read, but we were good friends. One day we were out hunting when a grizzly came at me from out of nowhere. Had me on the ground, about to rip me apart, when Jeremiah started whooping and hollering. Then he shot off his gun. The grizzly got off me and went for Jeremiah instead. I watched helpless while that bear ripped my friend apart.

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