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Vernon walked home with the anger still inside him. He couldn’t believe that Abraham would be so careless. He would never even think of telling Abby what he was doing. She didn’t mind anyway, she was busy enough as it was working at a store on the outskirts of town.

He sighed, how could he get Abraham to change his mind? Now all he got were flashbacks of himself being hung over the balcony a few years ago for being short 5 dollars and of Abraham almost getting shot in the head for 10. This business was dangerous and whenever any shit like that happened, he sometimes regretted doing this. But hes never seen Abby so happy. Even, Abraham and Salomi were content with their lives since Salomi’s death. Abby was so happy that she wanted to have a child, hell she wanted as many children that she could. She felt that they had the money to basically have a whole empire of children. He would love to have a son or a sweet little girl like Salomi. So that’s what they did everytime he came home from work, they tried for a child.

But then he started thinking into the future, his children catching him hiding money. He shook his head, no, he wouldn’t be as stupid as Abraham and tell his child the truth. He stepped out into the road and he heard a shout. He looked up and saw a huge wagon coming at him. Just in time, he hopped out of the way milliseconds before he would have been turned into road kill.

“Watch where you’re walking!”the man shouted at him as the wagon continued past.

“Watch where you’re going!”Vernon shouted back. He then sighed with relief,”Shit”he said to himself. He needed to pay attention. He needed to get his mind off of Abraham. It was easier said than done so he rushed home as if he was running away from his own thoughts. He walked through the door. “Abby?”he said with a smile. No answer. She was probably waiting for him in the bedroom, that’s where she usually was. “Im going to get a drink of water before you devour me alright?”he said with a snicker and he went out to the well and got himself some water from the well. He was about to go inside when he heard a noise from the outhouse. He was about to ignore it because animals sometimes snuck in there. But then another noise came out from the outhouse. It was definitely human. It was the sound of moaning. He walked to the outhouse and slowly opened the door.

And there was Abby lying on the ground, she was pale and the whole place smelled like vomit. He rushed to her side and knelt beside her. “Abby? Baby? What happened?”he asked her

“Im….I don’t feel so good. I cant keep anything down”she said weakly. “I cant move”

“Then don’t, I’ll do it for you”he said as he picked her up and ran inside with her. He laid her down on the bed. “Stay here. Im going to run and try to see if a doctor can come”he said, hopefully it wasn’t too late.

“Can we afford it?”she asked weakly

“Of course we can”he said. Thank goodness. He ran out the door as fast as he could and ran next door.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The neighbors knew of a doctor and he was there within an hour. While they waited, Vernon put cold cloths on her head and gave her water. She stopped vomiting but she was complaining about being dizzy.

When the doctor arrived, Vernon waited on the other side of the curtain and paced. He needed to invest in one of those new telephones. It would be really expensive but he didn’t want to interrupt the neighbors late at night for emergencies like this. What if Abby had a disease? He shook his head. “Don’t think like that. Stop thinking”he said to himself.

“Mr. Greene?”the doctor asked him

“Yes?”he asked him

“May I speak with you?”he asked him. “I have a diagnosis”he said

“Will she be alright?”he asked. The doctor seemed calm. That was a good sign right?

“Yes, she will need a lot of rest. She should stay in bed for the next couple of days. Give her only liquids like water and soup. Bread’s safe as well-“

“Whats wrong?”he asked him

“Nothing. Your wife is pregnant. This is very common”the doctor said with a smile.

“She’s…..she’s pregnant?”Vernon asked excitedly. “Whooo!”he said as he clapped his hands and then hugged the doctor. He shocked the old man and his glasses almost fell off his balding head.

“Ugh….your welcome. Its important that your wife stay healthy and gets plenty of rest. The baby should be here by the end of the year I would say. I also suggest that she get a midwife. Hire someone or find someone who has plenty experience. Mother, grandmother”he said with a smile. “Contact me in the next month or so for a check up. Have a good night”he said to him

“Thank you, thank you, thank you”Vernon said and then ushered him out the door. He then ran to the bedroom and knelt at Abby’s side. “Did he tell you babe?”he asked her. She nodded. “Arent you glad? Excited? Our first child! It should be here by the winter he said. I wonder if it will be a boy? Or a girl?”he said excitedly,”Oh sweetheart. I love you”he said as he kissed her cheek. Then he realized that her cheek was wet. She was crying. “Whats wrong?”he asked her. Or were they tears of joy?

She looked at him and he knew something was wrong. She didn’t look happy at all. She looked pale. Scared, even. “Vern…what if….what if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong. I’m going to take care of you. You aren’t leaving from this bed unless I say so and you are going to have a diet of liquids. Soup and water and maybe some bread if you are a good girl-“

“But something can still go wrong”Abby said,”Salomi was perfectly healthy and then…..what if…..what if I die?”

“You aren’t going to die-“

“How do you know? How will you know?”she asked him as she cried

“No you wont. I wont let you. Im going to get the best midwife to take care of you and the best doctor in California. I don’t care how much it will cost”he said as he held her close. “No Abby, don’t even think about it. We are going to have this child and it will survive”he said. Even if they had to use all their funds to do so, no, she wasn’t going to leave him. Not that way.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“That’s great news!”Abraham said to him when Vernon told him.

“Yeah I need to find a really good doctor and midwife”Vernon said

“Oh I can try to find where Samantha went off to. She was Salomi’s midwife”he said and then sighed, remembering how good and calm she was when the pregnancy happened. “She was very good”he said

“Oh no that’s fine”Vernon said. He didn’t want to take any chances. He wanted a whole new doctor and a whole new midwife, especially someone who took care of Salomi and then failed. Abby would certainly get in a dizzy if she learned that Samantha was in charge of Salomi’s birth.

“No, put your pride aside, Vern”Abraham said to him, quoting him many times. “Samantha is very good and very cheap too. If I could afford her then, you can certainly-“

“Im fine”Vernon said harshly, too harshly. Abraham looked at him in shock. “Im sorry. The past couple of days have been rough. Abby’s been kind of a basketcase”

“Has she been sick?”he asked him.

“Yes but shes much better”Vernon sighed and decided to tell him. “Abby’s very scared. She thinks….see, at first she was so excited about it. I mean we were in bed every night, hours and hours of just going at it, she really wanted this-“

“Spare me please”Abraham interrupted

“But now shes scared. She…she thinks she’ll end up like Salomi….”

Abraham was quiet, and he sighed,”That’s natural to feel that way. They were good friends”

“Im sorry. I just don’t want to take that chance. Ive been asking around and there are really good doctors in Los Angeles. I can afford them. We just don’t want to take any chances”Vernon said. However, now he felt like shit. He felt this whole conversation was a slap in the face for him. “Im sorry”

“You know what? I need to pick up Salomi. Let me know if you two need anything”Abraham said as he left some money on the counter and walked out of the saloon they were in. He hopped on the trolley and looked at the hills and valleys around him. He missed Salomi now more than ever. Its been eleven years. And its been four years since her last “visit”. He remembered when she told him that she was pregnant. He smiled at the memory.

*Flashback
April 1899

He heard galloping in the distance and he heard them getting closer. He smiled as he got up and went to the door. It was her. He opened the door and smiled as Salomi tied her white horse to the post and removed two paper bags that were attached to the saddle, she ran to him and gave him a huge kiss. “Someone’s happy”

“I am happy. Im very happy”she said,”I have some news for you”she said as she let herself in his small house and set the bags on the table. She turned to him and took his hand.

“Wait, this seems serious. Is something upsetting you?”

“No. But Ive been sick”she started

“No….”he said as he stepped away from her. He’s had this conversation to many times. With his mother, father, grandparents. Why couldn’t everyone in his life be happy and healthy and live?

“But baby Im alright”she said as she held his hands tighter. “I went to the doctor. Im pregnant”she said

He stared at her with wide eyes,”With child?”he asked her. She nodded. “How…are you sure?”

“The doctor was very sure. He’s very good you know. He helped my mother when she delivered me”she said. “Now Im going to be delivering a child to you”she said her smile getting wider.

Abraham held her close and then he kissed her long and hard. “God I love you”he said as he held her face in his hands. He looked in her dark brown eyes, caressed her long wavy dark hair which fell all the way down to her bottom, her soft caramel skin. She was going to be a good mother, a beautiful one at that. They were going to have beautiful children. “Wait….your parents”he said and this time she backed away. “Salomi, you know what they are going to think. You know that they disapprove of me”

“Forget them. They have nothing to do with this. I love you, Abraham. I want to have your child”she said,”They wont have to know”

“How will they not know? You still live under their roof!”

“We’ll run away together. Im sick of California anyway”she said with a laugh.

“Salomi. Be serious please. I don’t want you to have this child alone or out of wedlock. Your parents are serious about having you stay away from me. Why else are you here now? In the middle of the night? Im too poor for you. Im not worth it. You bring me food instead of the other way around. I wouldn’t be able to even support you”

“They cant keep me from you. Im not going to have this child alone-“

“They are doing a great job! Im not allowed to see you, cant come even close to your house. They’ve called the sheriff on me twice-“

“Then fight them! Why cant you fight them for me?! Am I not worth it? Our child’s not worth it? I want to be with you Abraham. I don’t care what they say. Im fighting for you”

“I want to be with you too Salomi. You know I do.”

“Then do it”she said simply.

He sighed as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. She said it so simply, like it was easy. But her parents were making their love so complicated. He was scared to death of them, but Salomi wasn’t. She gave him strength. If he could have it his way, he wouldn’t let her leave his house. She would stay with him forever, until the end of time, if he could. Then he got down on one knee. She gasped. “I don’t have a ring. And I bet young little rich girls like you have a huge ball and an announcement in the paper. I cant give you that. I can give you my love and a family. I’ll fight for you Lomi. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!”she said as she knelt down on the floor in front of him and kissed him tenderly. And soon he carried her into his bedroom and made love to her, without a care in the world.

Abraham was brought back to the present when the trolley went over a bump in the road. He looked out and realized it just past the stop near Millie’s place. “Shit”he said and jumped off the moving trolley. He was lost in his thoughts. He walked quickly back toward Millie and James’ place. He smiled to himself, remembering making love to Salomi. How good she made him feel. How she always moaned and screamed with pleasure. How she fell asleep in his arms, she was so small but fit perfectly, laying next to him. Tears fell down his face as he walked. He remembered what happened after. How scared they both were. How Salomi’s mother went absolutely crazy when Salomi said that she was marrying him and pregnant with his child no less.

Those thoughts came to a halt as he walked up to Millie’s door. He smiled when she opened it. “Wheres my little girl”he said

“She’s at home”Millie said. Then she sighed,”Great. I knew she was lying. She said she had something important to do, some chores. She said that you said it was alright-“

“Oh no. That was today? No…don’t worry about it Millie. She was right. I forgot what day it was…”he said as he backed away. “I’ll see you tomorrow”he said and rushed home. Salomi better be at home. And what chores was she talking about? He didn’t want to get upset in front of Millie. She was pregnant and didn’t need to worry about someone else’s child. Everyone was pregnant these days…

He got home and walked inside. “Salomi!? Salomi?”he shouted.

“Whats wrong?”she asked as she walked out of the bedroom.

“Why are you home? You know you are too young to be here alone-“

“I finished counting all the money”Salomi said. “I wanted to get started on it so that we could spend some time together. Maybe go into town?”she asked him

He kissed her on her head. “You are too good to me, you know that? You know what? Yes, lets go into town. You deserve it sweetie”he said to her

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Vernon and Abby visited several doctors in Los Angeles and they finally found one that was to their liking. He even set them up with a midwife. He gave them the green light on all their check ups. Nothing was wrong. That seemed to make Abby relax a little.

Abraham and Salomi would help whenever they could. Salomi would stay with Abby after school to help her out. Vernon didn’t want her to lift a thumb. Abby did anyway, since he requested her not to work, she indulged in her gardening hobby. Salomi would help her and then go home and help her father count as much as she could. She was excited about Abby being pregnant. She was an only child after all and she was looking forward to playing with her future cousins. This excitement made Abby happy as well and her fears subsided.

But then everything changed, it was a cool night in April and Abby woke up screaming at the top of her lungs. Vernon woke up with a start,”Whats wrong?”he shouted with her. Then he gasped, then he saw that they were both lying in her blood.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Abby delivered twins that night but they didn’t survive. She had 2 miscarriages.

“How could this possibly happen?”Vernon yelled at their doctor. The doctor made it to their house as fast as he could, but it was too late. He also requested Abraham’s presence and he unfortunately had to bring Salomi with him. He was upset, mad at the world. He was supposed to be the best!

“We are trying to figure that out sir”the doctor said,”Ive never had a patient lose a child, let alone twins”

“Well Im glad to be your first!”Vernon said sarcastically. Then his rage took over him and he attempted to attack his doctor.

“Vernon! Stop!”Abraham said as held him back. The doctor backed himself against the wall with his hands in the air, with fear. “You have to be strong for Abby”he said. He knew all too well. Nothing will bring them back. “They tried their best”he said to him. “They tried their best”he repeated over and over and then Vernon collapsed and started to cry. The doctor went in to check in on Abby and once Vernon calmed down, he apologized and went in to see her as well.

Abraham saw Salomi sitting outside on the porch. Once he learned that there was trouble, he wanted her to stay outside. But it was no use, she didn’t see what happened, but she heard everything. He sat next to her on the steps and watched as she stroked Abby’s cat, not saying a word. “You alright, Lomi?”he asked her softly

“Why does God keep taking everyone away?”she asked angrily and started to cry.

Abraham held her close to him,”I don’t know….I don’t know…”
*____________________________*









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