Wanted Across Time by Eugenia Riley

Author:Eugenia Riley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wild west, western romance, time travel romance, colorado romance, eugenia riley
Publisher: Eugenia Riley

Chapter Twenty-five

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Not long after the evening meal ended, excited whispers spread through the camp as a young woman raced up to Medicine Woman and began gesturing and speaking in rapid Cheyenne. A moment later the old healer joined Annie and Sam, who stood talking near one of the lodges.

"White Owl has informed me that Sits on a Cloud's time has come," the woman told Annie. "She has requested that both of us attend her in the birthing lodge."

"Me?" asked Annie in pleasant surprise. Having been raised on a ranch, Annie was not unfamiliar with the cycle of life, though she wasn't sure how much practical advice she might offer on the delivery of a child. Still, she felt honored to be asked. "Well, if she wants me there, I'll be happy to come."

With Annie following her, Medicine Woman stopped by her lodge to gather various medicines and pick up the cradle she had made. Then the two women hastened toward the isolated birthing lodge higher on the hillside. Following the healer through the tepee opening, Annie first saw the birthing chair, a low, bottomless rawhide-and-wood contraption, placed a few feet away from the fire. She spotted Sits on a Cloud lying beneath the far eaves on a bed of pelts. The girl was curled up on her side, her face covered with sweat and convulsed with pain.

"Oh, bless you!" cried Annie, rushing over to kneel by her side and take her hand.

Sits on a Cloud did not reply, but Annie took heart when she smiled faintly and squeezed Annie's fingers.

Medicine Woman was untying the bag from her waist. "I will make up the bark medicine to ease her pain."

While Medicine Woman stirred the drink, Annie helped the laboring woman sit up. After Sits on a Cloud sipped the concoction, her discomfort seemed to lessen for a time. Medicine Woman took out her rattle, danced, sang, and made various gestures to the spirits. She threw crushed sage on the coals, creating both thick smoke and an acrid, unpleasant odor. Annie almost protested, certain the fumes were not good for a laboring mother. But she bit her tongue, realizing that for these people, the ritual of burning sage was sacred as a ceremonial blessing.

Annie was deeply moved to note that as Sits on a Cloud's labored deepened, she did not cry out, though she never let go of Annie's hand and her features contorted with intense pain. Medicine Woman brewed additional pain potions, rubbed the laboring mother's belly with pungent salves, and finally placed a stout piece of rawhide between her teeth, so she could clamp down when the worst of the contractions gripped her. Soon Sits on a Cloud's fingernails dug into Annie's flesh, but Annie did not pull away, convinced that no matter what discomfort she might feel, her friend's agony was a hundredfold greater.

When Sits on a Cloud's contractions became constant, Medicine Woman knelt by her and said, "Come now. It is time to go to the birthing chair.

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