Rock Island Prison, January 1864
Jimmy Hickok, now an officer in the U.S. Army, left the office of the prison Commandant, Colonel Andrew J. Johnston, relieved to rid himself of the responsibility for the two dozen Confederate prisoners of war he'd come to deliver. He was shocked to see an old friend from the Pony Express days, seated in the waiting room in front of the Colonel's office - - Army Scout William Cody.
"Cody!" he exclaimed. "What in blazes are you doing here?"
Cody grinned, as irrepressibly as ever. "Thanking my lucky stars I'm just visiting, for one thing. You see this place? It's crawlin' with smallpox and the prisoners look about half starved."
Jimmy scowled. "From what I've seen, it's a lot better than how our boys are being treated at Andersonville and other places. But never mind that. I've dropped off my prisoners and I've got a month's furlough coming. Your business here going to take long?"
"Just delivering a message to the colonel. Hold on a few minutes till I'm out … then let's talk again. I've got a long furlough coming myself… was thinking about heading back to Rock Creek for a visit. You up for the ride?"
Jimmy grinned. "You and I done worse rides in our day, ain't we? Of course I'm in. I haven't looked around yet… think I'll go on up to the observation tower and have a look. Wait for you there."
When Cody reached the top of the observation tower, he found Jimmy peering out with a spyglass over the yard. "See what you mean, Cody, though I still say this place is paradise compared to what I've heard about Andersonville. There's about two feet of snow on the ground and it must be thirty below … most of those fellas are half dressed. Looks like they're keeping the sick ones in with the healthy ones… Johnston told me that they give each company ten days' rations at a time and they have to dole it out among themselves to last that whole time. A lot of those fellas look pretty bad." Suddenly, he gasped and leaned forward with the glass.
"What is it, Jimmy?"
Jimmy motioned Cody toward him, holding the spyglass steady against the railing of the tower. "Take a look and tell me if I'm seeing things."
Cody took a look, then slowly turned to Jimmy. "No, you're not, Jimmy. He's got about two months' beard on him and he's lost about thirty pounds… but that's him… that's Kid."
Cody, who'd ingratiated himself with Colonel Johnston over the last few months he'd been delivering communiqués for the Army, asked for and been granted the special favor of a private visit with one of the prisoners, explaining that he'd ridden for the Pony Express with him a few years back. Cody and Jimmy waited in a room in the Colonel's quarters to see the Kid.
A knock came at the door and Kid, shackled and bedraggled, appeared in the doorway. Up close, the change in him was more remarkable. Though Kid was no more than twenty-one, his hair was now streaked with gray; his face was hollow and he held his arm stiffly at his side. He was painfully thin; and his eyes were locked on the ground.
"Kid?" Cody ventured. "It's… it's me, Cody… and Jimmy."
Kid looked up, suddenly … recognition breaking out on his face, he grinned and stepped toward them eagerly, only to be given a sharp cuff with the butt of the guard's rifle and a jerk on his chains. "That's close enough, McCloud," the guard barked. "Have to watch this one, fellows. He's tried to break out more times than we can count. If he could swim any faster he'd have made it, too."
Kid glowered darkly; Cody hastily produced the order permitting Kid to be unshackled under their responsibility for a half hour. "Colonel Johnston is a personal friend of mine, and he's authorized us to take responsibility for him."
"All right then, but watch him."
The guard released Kid's chains and stepped outside the door.
"How long you been in here, Kid?" Jimmy asked, once the three of them sat down.
"Since it opened two months ago. Been pretty tough… most of my company died of smallpox already.".
Cody, direct as always, asked, "Well, you know you could get out easy enough."
"You mean the loyalty oath?" Kid asked, contemptuously. "Why would I sign that? Would either of you sign something like that if you were captured?"
Cody looked sternly at Kid. "Well, I wouldn't be fighting for something I didn't believe in, like slavery, either. I guess that doesn't bother you, though, does it?"
Kid wearily replied, "Cody, you know I don't believe in slavery… and I hope it gets abolished, the sooner the better. I've come a long way since I left Virginia. This war ain't about slavery for me. It's about protecting my home."
Cody looked disgusted. "And what about your home in Rock Creek, and your wife? If my wife were in the kind of trouble yours is in, I wouldn't be particular about signing any damn oath, you can be sure of - - "
Kid looked up sharply. "What kind of trouble? What are you talking about, Cody?"
Jimmy looked alarmed as well. "Yeah, out with it, Cody. What's going on with Lou?"
Cody looked surprised. "Neither of you heard from her or the folks at Rock Creek lately?"
Kid shook his head. "The mail was about a month behind when I got captured, and it wasn't getting through regular anyway. I haven't gotten anything since I got here."
Jimmy looked at Cody, curiously.
"Well, I feel a little funny being the one to tell you, Kid, but … you're going to be a daddy. You were back there on a furlough about eight months ago, and seems you left a little present for Lou while you were home."
Kid looked shocked. "But - but - that ain't - - - it ain't possible - -" he spluttered.
"I'd like to know why not, Kid. You were home around eight months ago, right?" Cody reasoned.
"Yes, but -"
"And I'm sure you spent most of your furlough doing what married folks do, right?"
Kid reddened. "Yes, of course. But … before Lou and I even got engaged, she told me that … that she couldn't have any children. The doctor told her - -"
"I guess the doctor was wrong about that. Here," Cody said. "I almost forgot. I got a letter from her just yesterday. I ain't even read it yet." He pulled a letter out of his blue uniform's pocket, opened it, and read aloud.
Dear Cody,
Thank you for another interesting letter. It sounds like you're doing us all proud in the Army. Rachel, Teaspoon and Buck all send their good wishes.
I'm doing well, going into my last month now. I'm about as big as house, as you can see from the picture. Teaspoon has been experimenting with his new camera. I thought you would get a laugh seeing your old fellow Pony Express rider in this condition. Can you picture me jumping on the back of a running horse now?
I miss Kid as much as ever. I haven't written this to you before, but I'm getting worried. It's been so long since I had any word from him. I don't know if my letters are getting through or not. I am so afraid he's passed on, and will never see his child. It hurts so much to think that my baby might never know his daddy. But I keep hanging on to hope, and am so thankful I have the baby to look forward to and to have a piece of Kid with me always.
Sometimes I can't believe that you and Jimmy are on one side of this fight, and Jesse and Kid on the other. You all were like brothers to each other, and now, at war. And that Kid would fight on a side, for a cause that I can't believe in, makes it even harder for me. The other wives and mothers, at least believe in what their men are fighting for. I don't even have that much, though I respect Kid's need to protect his home, and don't blame him for it. I just wish things could be different, is all.
Well, enough self-pity! I am glad you are doing so well. I haven't heard from Jesse or Jimmy in a long time either. I look forward to the time this terrible war is over, and we can all be a family again. Be careful out there, Billy.
Your friend,
Louise McCloud
Kid looked up slowly when Cody finished the letter. "She said there's a picture?" he asked, almost hungrily. Cody checked the envelope. "It's in here," he said, glancing at it before handing it to the Kid, who took it eagerly.
"I never would have left her if I'd known she was expecting. Would have stayed by her side no matter what happened back home." Kid studied the picture intently. The picture showed Lou, her belly almost grotesquely distended; but the rest of her remained as tiny as ever. "She looks so beautiful," he said, softly.
Cody craned his neck for another look at the picture. That's love for ya. Cody thought, skeptically. Her face is still pretty, and I like how she's fixing her hair now, but the rest of her looks like a potato with four toothpicks stuck in it. He shuddered a little. "There's something else you should know, Kid, that ain't in the letter she wrote. Rachel wrote and told me."
Kid looked up, worried.
"Seems the doctor is worried about Lou being able to get through delivery. She was always so little - maybe five feet in her shoes and 90 pounds soaking wet - and I guess," Cody cleared his throat delicately. "I guess she's small everywhere. The doc thinks if the baby is very big, Lou will have a hard time of it. And from the looks of that picture, one thing that baby isn't, is small."
Kid nodded, looking frightened now. "Cody?"
"Yeah, Kid?"
Kid spoke with difficulty. "I … I wonder if you could talk to Col. Johnston about…" he swallowed, hard, then looked at the picture again before going on. "About arranging for me to sign the Oath of Allegiance."
Jimmy asked, though he knew the answer well enough. "You sure of that Kid? You believed in your Cause enough to go fight for it. Now you're going to sign an Oath of loyalty to the Union? Cause you know if you do you can't ever set foot in Virginia again, no matter how this war turns out."
Kid sighed. "It makes me a traitor," he said, simply. "But she needs me now. She comes first, before anything else, even Virginia."
Cody nodded. "With any luck, we'll get you sprung from here tomorrow and take you back to Rock Creek with us."
A week later, the three rode up through a mild snowstorm, toward the old way station house at Rock Creek. Lou was staying there with Teaspoon, and Rachel, as Kid had insisted before he left. All the way home, Kid had fought back qualms about his betrayal of the Cause. He knew he'd had no choice - - Lou's safety and well-being always would come before anything else in his priorities, but at the same time, he felt that he was a traitor to his home, and to his comrades in arms still fighting for it. For all his excitement at seeing Lou again, and in seeing his child born, the pleasure was soured just a bit by the guilt and shame of his desertion.
They swung down from their horses on reaching the station house, and went up the steps. At the door, Kid paused a moment. He looked over at Cody and Jimmy, still dressed in Union uniforms of the enemy he had so recently fought so ferociously in battle. Kid looked down at his new civilian clothes; to look at him, it would seem he'd returned to his old self from before the war. A lot had happened since he'd seen her last… the battles had gotten more and more brutal… he'd done things in battle and seen even worse things done, hellish things that haunted his dreams. Then Rock Island… the freezing cold, the disease, the hunger, the degradation. He'd known that war was hell, before signing up. But you can't really know what hell is until you've lived through it, he reflected. He couldn't help feeling that, though it had been less than nine months since he'd seen her, that it felt like a hundred years.
Jimmy snapped, "Are you going to stand there all night, Kid, or knock on the damn door? It's freezing out here."
Kid grinned and reached out to tap on the door. Before he could do so, it opened, and Lou stood there, staring at him. For a moment, she almost seemed not to recognize him. Then her eyes filled and her arms stretched out to him. He rushed forward, sweeping her off her feet and pulling her to him. They ended up huddled, kneeling on the floor, her head buried in his shoulder as she sobbed. He rocked her back and forth, soothing her.
"Louise McCloud, don't you tell me you were up walking again-" Rachel stopped. "Kid - Cody - Jimmy -" she exclaimed, rushing up to them and throwing her arms around them.
"This is a mighty fine welcome, Rachel," Cody said, hanging on to Rachel just a little too enthusiastically. Rachel, laughing, disengaged herself. "Look at you boys! Kid, I can't believe it… how long are you back for?"
Kid looked into Lou's beaming face. "For good," he said, enjoying the look of happiness on his wife's face. The next moment, her smile turned to a grimace of pain, frightening him. "Lou?" he cried out.
Lou was bent over, a fine film of sweat on her face, clutching her abdomen, unable to answer. Rachel answered for her, quietly. "You got here just in time, Kid. The baby's coming a couple of weeks early, looks like. She's been having regular pains all day, and they started getting close together and very sharp a couple of hours ago." She went to Lou's side and wiped her face with a damp rag. "Just keep breathing, deep, sweetheart, you know Teaspoon went for the doctor and should be back soon." She turned to the riders. "Teaspoon went out looking for the doctor, but there isn't one to be had in Rock Creek. He probably had to ride quite a ways to find someone to help. We weren't expecting this quite so soon. Kid, see if you can get her to rest…she won't stop walking and walking between the pains."
Lou had recovered from her last contraction. "It helps me, Rachel. It's too hard to sit still," she said, breathlessly, attempting to stagger to her feet. Kid helped her up. True to Rachel's words, she started walking, holding on to a concerned Kid.
"Honey, maybe Rachel's right, you should sit down and rest," Kid suggested. She shook her head, her face again slightly damp with sweat, and kept walking, pulling him along with her.
Kid, helplessly, let her hang on to his arm and walk, until the contractions began to come too rapidly for her to continue. Lou finally allowed herself to be laid into a bed. Rachel ushered Kid out, over his protests. "Rachel, I haven't been here for her all this time, I want to be here for her now."
Rachel was firm. "This is no place for a man, even her husband. Stay out here and let me have a look."
Kid paced outside the door, and resisted any attempts by Jimmy or Cody to relax and wait it out. He remained outside the door for long minutes stretching into nearly an hour. Rachel finally emerged.
"Any sign of the doctor?" Rachel asked, worriedly. "She's close."
Up until now, Lou hadn't cried out in her pain. But now, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. Rachel rushed back in, slamming and locking the door behind her before a startled Kid could enter. Kid, terrified for his wife, pounded on the door, demanding that she let him in. The other men tried to calm him down, when Rachel came out, her face drawn and white as a sheet. The unearthly screams continued behind her.
"Kid, she's… the baby's a footling breech." Seeing Kid's uncomprehending stare, she explained. "The baby is supposed to come out head first. This baby is coming out bottom first - - and a foot is sticking out right now. I … I don't know what to do, Kid."
Kid looked at her, stricken. "Let me go in, Rachel. She needs me now." Rachel nodded, and Kid passed her into the room, steeling himself at the sight of his wife writhing in pain and continuing to scream uncontrollably. He knelt by her bedside.
He whispered, softly, into her hair. "I'm here, Lou. I'm right here, I won't ever leave you again. You're going to be all right; so is our baby. I love you." Oddly, Kid's presence seemed to calm Lou. Her screams stopped, and she held on to his hand tightly, staring at him intently with eyes widened in pain. She looked like an animal caught in a trap, Kid thought apprehensively. He continued to whisper to her, calming her, and she continued to watch him intently. When the contraction stopped, and she relaxed against the bed, she looked weakly at him.
"Sorry, Kid. I'll … I'll try to be a brave soldier … like you …" she said hoarsely. Kid reflected that he'd seen a lot of soldiers, and none of them, including himself, could have borne this kind of pain quietly. His eyes flickered downward, to the sight of the baby's foot emerging from her body. He winced at the agony she must be feeling right now, with their baby stuck halfway in and halfway out of her. "Kid?" she said, softly. He turned to face her hollowed eyes again. "I … I love you … I'm so glad you're here with me," she gasped. "Oh Kid… it's starting again…" she held on to him again tightly, and again managed to keep from screaming. Kid was having his own troubles keeping calm, to avoid frightening or upsetting his wife further. Where the hell is the doctor? he thought, desperately.
Kid thanked heaven when at that moment, the door flew open. Rachel came in with a woman Kid had never seen before. "Teaspoon couldn't find a doctor, but Mrs. Flynn is a midwife, Kid. She can help Lou."
"First of all, out with you, young man," Mrs. Flynn ordered. Lou, even in the grip of another contraction, managed to protest. "Please, please, don't make him leave. I … I need him here with me," she begged.
Mrs. Flynn ignored the comment, and bent to examine her patient. Kid simply couldn't bear to watch after he saw Mrs. Flynn reach to touch Lou's already tormented body. He looked down at Lou's eyes instead, silently giving her strength. Miraculously, within a few agonizing minutes, Mrs. Flynn remarked, satisfied, "Well, things should go a bit easier now, darlin." He turned and saw, astonished, that somehow, Mrs. Flynn had turned the baby - - the top of a head, covered with fuzzy blonde hair, was now visible. Mrs. Flynn began barking further orders.
An hour later, Cody, Jimmy, and Teaspoon trudged in to see the new little family. They were startled to find a drowsy Lou, nursing one blonde-headed baby … with a shell-shocked Kid holding a second, squalling furiously for his own turn to be fed, in his arms next to the bed. Rachel and Mrs. Flynn were smiling broadly.
"Two boys," said Kid, amazed, as Lou gestured for the other baby to be brought to her side. Mrs. Flynn helped the baby to latch on to Lou's other breast, as Kid took the first baby and laid him in a cradle Rachel had lined with warmed blankets. Lou looked up from the noisily slurping, contented baby, proudly. "They look just like Kid," she said, smiling in satisfaction.
"I guess that was why you were so huge, huh, Lou?" Cody asked, innocently. "Did you have a really bad time? I know the doctors were worried about you being able to have a baby."
"She did a fine job, she did," said Mrs. Flynn. "Each of them is more than six pounds. There's no reason she can't have as many babies as she wants, and these doctors need to stop worrying people for no reason."
"Have you named them yet?" asked Teaspoon, admiring the sleeping baby in the cradle. "Good lord, they do look exactly like their daddy," he observed.
Kid looked at Lou. "You did all the work, Lou. You pick their names."
She smiled. "You did some important work at the beginning yourself. Though that was the fun part," she teased. Sobering, she added, "and you were wonderful just now. You helped me a lot."
Jimmy impatiently interrupted. "So are you going to tell us their names or not?"
Kid looked expectantly at Lou. Shifting a little in the bed, she looked up at Cody and Jimmy radiantly. "Their names are William Hunter McCloud and James Hunter McCloud. For the two men who brought their daddy home to me. And for you, Teaspoon - the father I always wished I'd had." The three men grinned at each other, pleased. Lou looked at Kid, who nodded his approval. She grinned mischievously. "You can't expect a 'junior' when you've never told me your real name," she pointedly observed. He tousled her hair affectionately in response. The baby in her arms released her nipple, and yawned widely. Lou, buttoning her nightgown, placed him on her shoulder and patted him gently, resulting in a resounding belch that sounded like a grown man's. She looked at him, surprised. "That was a good one," she said, handing him to Kid.
Kid, laying him in the cradle next to his brother, laughed, "that one must be William."
Before Kid could swaddle little William, a tiny fist flew out and punched sleeping James, who wailed and began to flail his own little hands and feet at his brother. "Hey, you two! Be good brothers … no fighting," Kid instructed, quickly wrapping William's little arms in the swaddling clothes while Rachel attended to baby James. Lou whispered, getting tired, "Let me hold them… I can settle them down." Sure enough, when each was nestled in the crook of one of Lou's arms, they dozed back off. Lou, smiling, fell abruptly into an exhausted sleep, sitting up in the bed between them.
Watching them, Kid recalled the battles… the death and carnage between brothers, that he'd recently left behind. He gazed wonderingly at the two little brothers his wife had just given life. He turned finally to the two men he considered brothers, who had been considered his enemy mere weeks ago. "Thank you," he told them. He knew now he'd never regret choosing brotherhood, and life, over war and death.