Summary:  A winter storm, a broken-down shack and a couple of strangers in need makes for a different kind of Christmas celebration.
Rating:  G  Words 2,700
Written for the 2022 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar

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Bonanza
~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
* Day 18 *

       A Surprise Delivery   

 

December rolled around once again, although Joe was sure it had come even quicker this year than the year before. The tree had been filled with decorations and the stockings all hung over the mantle. He’d scooted the children to bed but not before they took one last peek to see if there was anything in them. He knew that Cassie had made one final check to make sure they were soundly asleep before bringing out any of the little gifts to fill them.

 

As he stood facing the fire to warm his hands, Joe glanced up again at the solid mantle and smiled. Nestled in among the candles and the greenery were a few ornaments – reminders of those who had gifted them. His mother’s dainty glass angel sat next to a delicate porcelain nativity set that Adam had sent many years ago from Boston.

 

Jesus was laid in his tiny manger and Mary and Joseph looked down adoringly. Joe felt a sense of melancholy creep over him as he reached up to check the pieces. So many years had passed since Pa first set the scene for them and so many would never sit around the hearth again to hear the story as Pa read from the Bible.

 

Joe tried to brush off the feeling before it could settle and ruin the night’s mood. He laughed as he reached out and picked up a small wooden carving of a cradle that sat off to the side. There was no baby in this one but a tiny scrap of fur filled the hollow.

 

“I didn’t have another porcelain baby to put in there, but it seemed a bit disrespectful to take Jesus out of his manger.”

 

Joe turned back to see Candy grinning at him. He laughed at the comment as he ran a finger over the tiny cradle. “This is a whole lot better than the one I banged together last year.”

 

“Well, I had a bit more time to make it than you did. It’s not like anyone was in a hurry to use it! I found that scrap of wood a while back and while I was whittling, it just sort of told me it was a cradle.”

 

Joe laughed softly as he remembered Hoss saying the same thing. The critters inside the wood just came out all by themselves as he started working. He just needed to listen to the wood to find out what it was saying.

 

“I figured it seemed appropriate for this time of year.”

 

Joe nodded as he recalled the day so clearly. Had it really been a year already?

 

Ben had been watching the exchange and was very glad his son was home this year, safe and sound. Before he could add anything to the conversation, there was a loud and insistent knock at the front door.

 

Joe was already on his feet, so he started to move towards the door before turning back and waving the cradle at them.

 

“At least this year, I’m all prepared!”

……………

 

Joe rubbed his fist against the icy windowpane and frowned at the flurry of snowflakes that blew past. For the most part, the unexpected storm had passed but the tail end seemed intent on sticking around to add just a bit more to the piles of snow heaped up against the old shack.

 

He was acutely aware of what day it was, and he knew that his family would be wondering where he was. He hoped they had enough trust in his common sense to know that he would have holed up somewhere safe until the storm passed but he chuckled to himself at his own thoughts. Pa may say he trusted his youngest son, but Joe had given him more than enough grey hairs over the years, and he would say that it was a father’s prerogative to worry. Still, he hoped that Cassie had faith in him and had not sent anyone out after him. He shivered again and hoped that they were all safely at home in the warmth of the great room. There was no point all of them being stuck and missing out on Hop Sing’s mince pies.

 

Joe sighed as he was about to move away from the window when something caught his eye. It could have been a wolf in the snow, or some other creature looking for its next meal, but as he watched, it became clear that it wasn’t a beast at all. It was a man. It looked like someone else was stupid enough to get caught out in the snowstorm that had sprung up out of nowhere two days before.

 

He hurried for the door and snagged his coat before stepping out onto the porch. He moved carefully across the rotten wooden planks, watching where he placed his boots. As he finally looked up again, the figure trudging through the snow soon revealed another smaller one behind him. Even bundled in fur, Joe could see it was a small woman or perhaps even a child. The man seemed to be clearing a path for her, but she still moved oddly as if injured.

 

Joe stepped down into the fresh snow and moved towards them as quickly as he could. With the barest of greetings, he reached for the bundle the man was carrying which allowed him to turn back towards the woman. He missed the words between them, but he knew enough to know it was Paiute. Before he could ask anything, the woman groaned in pain and the man scooped her up into his arms and turned back expectantly towards Joe.

 

“Come on. Let’s get you both inside and warmed up. I’ve got hot coffee on the fire.”

 

The man simply nodded as Joe headed back towards the door through the same path he had already created.

 

“Watch the planks there. Wood’s rotted through.” He pointed at the planks as he carefully made his way to the door and yanked it open. The old frame had warped and swollen, and the door no longer fit as well as it once had.

 

The man carried the woman through the door and looked around for somewhere to lay her down.

 

“Over there, on the bunk.” It wasn’t much as the mattress had been eaten through by vermin but Joe’s bedroll lay across it and it was the best option he had. He’d been very thankful that the family always made sure to take a bedroll when riding out in winter; even when the anticipated trip was a short one. It had saved them more than once.

 

The woman moaned and clutched at her stomach as the man laid her down. He gently began to unwrap layers of fur from her as he spoke softly in words that Joe could not hear. He picked up a few here and there and realised his Paiute had grown rusty from misuse. There wasn’t a whole lot of call for it anymore as they had mostly moved on from the area as the loggers and miners had claimed more and more and Virginia City had prospered in so many ways.

 

As the woman’s face contorted again and she moaned even louder, it suddenly hit him what was going on. The woman was in labour and she’d been walking for who knew how long in the snow! The first time he’d seen Cassie in that kind of pain had scared the pants off him and he’d fumbled for something to do to make it stop. As the woman clutched at her husband’s hand, he stroked the side of her face and kept up a running stream of words until she relaxed once more.

 

For want of something better to do, Joe moved over to stoke up the fire and he grabbed the pot of coffee on the side of the hearth to nudge it back from the flames. He only had one usable cup and he filled it almost to the brim before carrying it across to the makeshift bed.

 

“Thought this might help warm you up. Sorry I don’t have another one, but this place has been abandoned a long time. Most of it’s been carried off … or the mice got to it.”

 

He wasn’t sure how much they understood of what he was saying but the man nodded and reached out a hand for the cup. He held it up for his wife to take a few sips before she laid back again.

 

“Ahh, my name’s Joe.” He pointed at his chest, hoping they had some understanding of what he was saying.

 

“Grey Wolf.” The man squeezed his wife’s hand and nodded towards her. “Little Feather”.

 

“Pleased to meet ya. Of course, I wish it was under better circumstances!” Joe smiled at the couple before he looked around the ramshackle cabin. “I guess we’re gonna need a few things for you.”

 

Before anybody could speak again, Little Feather groaned and once again clutched at her belly. She tried to roll onto her side as if trying to escape the torment. Joe left Grey Wolf to sooth her while he looked around the cabin for anything that could be of use. He might not have been allowed in the room while Cassie had birthed either of their babies, but he’d been around livestock his whole life and he’d sort of helped when he and Hoss had found that squaw out in the wilds all those years ago. He felt a lump forming in his throat as the thought brought up so many images.

 

“I wish you were here to help now, ya big galoot.” Joe brushed a hand over his face and blew out a sharp breath. Why did grief jump out at such odd moments?

 

Joe reached up to where he’d hung his slicker to dry on the wall and was pleased to note that it had dried completely after a couple of days in front of the fire. It would make a good cover to protect the furs that Little Feather was lying on. Of course, he wasn’t sure how she’d feel about being made to move off them, but Grey Wolf could deal with that.

 

“Here. Can we roll this out? You know … over the furs?” Joe gestured as he spoke, hoping they would understand what he wanted them to do. Grey Wolf nodded and waited for the last contraction to subside before scooping his wife up once again, giving Joe room to spread the slicker out.

 

The next couple of hours settled into a rhythm as Little Feather’s contractions grew closer and stronger. Joe had put water on to boil and searched through everything he had with him to try to prepare. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. As he searched for something to use as a cradle, an idea jumped out at him. He figured he still had some time, so he tapped Grey Wolf on the shoulder as he pointed to the door.

 

“I’m just going out to the barn. I’ll be back in a bit.”

 

The horses nickered as he pushed open the barn door. It was in as bad a state as the cabin and he hated that both animals were stuck in such a drafty place. Still, it was better than where they had been when the storm hit. He shook his head at his own stupidity for deciding he needed to do one last run to town before Christmas, but he’d made a promise to Widow Thompson and he hadn’t been able to get there any earlier. He hoped his family would have assumed he’d stayed put at the widow’s home instead of trying to race for his own home. He smiled as he recalled Cassie stretching up to kiss him as he left and telling him to hurry back. He could only imagine what she was saying now!

 

Joe rummaged around in the pile of junk that littered the end of the barn until he found what he was looking for. It wasn’t pretty but it would do the job. He tucked it under his arm and kept searching until he found a rusted hammer. He knew exactly where to find some nails in the rotten boards of the porch.

 

Grey Wolf looked up as Joe pushed through the door and turned to shove it closed again.

 

“How’s she doing over there?”

 

A deep groan of pain answered his question as Joe dropped something on the hearth and hurried over.

 

“You reckon she’s getting close?”

 

Grey Wolf nodded and looked nervously towards his wife.

 

“You … do this?” He gestured towards Little Feather as she groaned again.

 

“Well, not me exactly, but my wife has had two babies. Said it’s a real natural thing for women to do.” Joe tried to keep the smile on his face as he recalled pacing the floor below while he heard the sounds coming from upstairs. It hadn’t seemed at all natural to hear his wife scream! But then came that first cry and nobody could have stopped him from running up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

 

When Joe got to retelling the story to his wife, he couldn’t recall all the details and she assured him that was all part of God’s design, otherwise nobody would ever have more than one child! Time seemed to go out the window as Little Feather went from moaning to screaming to softly crying as they placed a small bundle on her stomach and wrapped a fur around the little one.

 

It was late afternoon when Joe heard the sound of horses outside and he moved over to the frosty window and rubbed the pane clear. He grinned as he looked out to see two riders dismounting in the snow. He yanked the door open and would have called out a warning about the rotten porch, but the extra holes in it meant he didn’t need to.

 

“Your wife is sure gonna be happy to see you haven’t gotten yourself dead!”

 

Joe laughed as Candy clapped him on the shoulder.

 

“Come on in and warm up, but be quiet. Don’t want to wake the baby.”

 

“What baby?” Griff looked confused as he followed Candy in through the door and was just as shocked to see a Paiute couple across the room. The woman was sound asleep on the bunk and the man looked like he wasn’t far off as he leaned up against the side of the bunk with his arm draped protectively over her.

 

“That baby.” Joe pointed to the floor where a makeshift cradle sat next to the father. An old drawer had been nailed to a couple of pieces of broken wagon wheel rims and a fur had been used to fill it up. Wrapped in another fur was a tiny dark-haired doll whose features already favoured her father.

 

Candy pulled off his hat and scratched at his head. “Now where did they come from?”

 

“Don’t know. Didn’t have a whole lot of time for gettin’ acquainted before … well, before things got busy.”

 

“Joe, I’m sure lookin’ forward to hearing that story!” Candy reached into his coat and pulled out a flask as he looked around for something to pour it into. “This was brought along for medicinal purposes because, well, we know you! But I guess we can use it for something better now.”

 

Joe chuckled as he looked across the room. “There’s only one unbroken cup in this whole darn shack and Little Feather has it over there.”

 

“Well, in that case, Merry Christmas!” Candy took a swig before handing the flask to Joe who grinned at him before raising it to his lips.

 

“Merry Christmas!”

 

Joe passed the flask to Griff who laughed as he raised it in salute.

 

“Merry Christmas.”

 

……………

 

My chosen character: Joe

No optional secondary character.

My designated item: a cradle

 

 

Merry Christmas to everyone. May you have a wonderful and blessed New Year in 2023.

 

Link to the 2022 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar – Day 19 – A Lesson in Gratitude by Sierra Girl