Sunset Embrace Read Free Page A

raked his face with her nails, he laughed and tried to kiss her . "I can take it rough if you can," he jeered.
    She fought him. "No, no," she sobbed. "Take it out. No, no, no . . ."
    "What is it, Lydia? Wake up. Its only a bad dream."
    The soothing voice readied into the pit of hell where her nightmare had flung her and lifted her out. She was returned to the soft comfort of the Langstons' wagon.
    It wasn't Clancey's rape that was hurting her, but the pain that had resulted from the birth of his baby. Oh God, how could she go on living with the memory of Clancey's sexual abuse? She had had a baby by his foul seed and wasn't fit to live in the world any longer.
    Ma Langston didn't think that way. As the girl gripped the sleeves of Ma's worn dress in fear of her nightmare, the older woman cradled Lydia's head against her deep bosom, murmuring soothing words. "It was only a dream. You have a touch of fever and that's given you nightmares, but nothin's gonna hurt you as long as you're here with me."
    Lydia's terror subsided. Clancey was dead. She had seen him lying dead, blood pumping from his head to cover his ugly face. He couldn't touch her anymore.
    Gratefully she let her head drop heavily on Ma's breast. When she was almost asleep, Ma laid her back on the lumpy pillow that felt like featherdown to Lydia. She had made her bed out of pine needles or hay during the past couple of months. Some nights she hadn't been that lucky, but had slept as well as she could propped against a tree trunk.
    A sweet, black oblivion seduced her into its depths again as Ma continued to hold her hand.
    * * *
    Lydia awakened the next morning to the swaying of the prairie schooner. Cooking pots rattled with each rhythmic rotation of the wheels. Leather harnesses squeaked, their metal fasteners jingling merrily. Ma was calling instructions to the team of horses. She punctuated each direction with a crack of a whip. In nearly the same tone she kept up a lively dialogue with one of her offspring. Her chatter was both advisory and admonishing.
    Lydia shifted uncomfortably on her bed and turned her head slightly. A white-haired girl with wide, curious blue eyes was sitting within touching distance, staring down at her.
    "Ma, she's awake," she shouted. Lydia jumped at the sudden noise.
    "Do as I told you," Ma called back into the wagon. "We can't stop now."
    The girl looked back at the startled Lydia. "I'm Anabeth."
    "I'm Lydia," she said scratchily. The back of her throat felt like a whetstone.
    "I know. Ma told us that at breakfast and said not to call you 'the girl' anymore or she'd pop our jaws. Are you hungry?"
    Lydia weighed her answer. "No. Thirsty."
    "Ma said you'd be thirsty on account of the fever. I got a canteen of water and one of tea."
    "Water first." Lydia drank deeply. She was amazed at how much energy it cost her and lay back weakly. "Maybe some tea later."
    life and all its functions were taken for granted by the Langstons. She was embarrassed when Anabeth slid a washbasin under her hips so she could relieve herself, but the girl was kind and matter-of-fact and seemed not the least bit bothered by having to empty it out the back of the wagon.
    During the noon break, when the train halted for both man and beast to rest, Ma climbed into the wagon to change the pad of cloth she had secured between Lydia's thighs.
    "The bleedings not so bad. Your woman parts look like they're healin' fine, though you'll be sore for a few more days."
    There was nothing crude about Ma's frankness, but it still embarrassed Lydia to have herself peered at that way. She was glad some sensibilities had remained intact considering where she had been living for the past ten years. Her mother must have ingrained some refinement in her before they had moved to the Russell farm. She knew most folks looked upon her as white trash by association. Nasty taunts had been flung in their direction whenever they went in to town, which mercifully wasn't often. Lydia hadn't