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Blanket Woman moved away from Sleeping Wolf and watched as Two Stars ministered to the few bloody scratches on her son’s face and hands.
She could not help being afraid for this son. She was not certain if he could live with the humiliation of what had happened today.
She knew now that she must keep a much closer eye on him.
She would move him into her lodge after she saw to her husband’s burial.
She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed as she felt the world slipping away from her. She had always been so strong, so courageous.
Today she felt neither!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Joylynn sat in High Hawk’s tepee alone. After he had heard about his brother’s fall, he had gone to sit with Sleeping Wolf along with his mother.
Joylynn was feeling lonely and worried. Since early morning she had experienced slight cramping in her lower abdomen.
But then each time the ache would go away again, and she would put it out of her mind.
But now she was suddenly cramping again, and this time it was much worse.
She winced when a sharper pain shot through her belly, and then she felt a damp heat between her legs.
Her heart pounding, she reached her hand up inside her dress and found wetness there. She drew her hand out and gazed at it, panic filling her when she found it covered with blood.
She tried to get up, to go seek help, for she was afraid she might be losing the baby, but her knees buckled. The pains came now at short intervals.
She held on to her stomach, sobbing, screaming when she saw the blood beginning to seep through her clothes.
“Help me!” she screamed, sweat pearling her brow as she felt an intense pressure at the bottom of her abdomen.
When two women came running into the tepee, they didn’t have to be told what was happening.
They saw the blood.
They saw how Joylynn was holding her belly.
“I will go for Two Stars,” one of the women said, leaving the tepee in a rush.
“I am Pure Blossom,” said the other one as she knelt down beside her. “You will be all right. Two Stars will make it so.”
“The child . . .” Joylynn panted. “I am . . . losing . . . the child.”
“Ho, I believe you are, but you will be all right,” Pure Blossom said, trying to reassure her. “Two Stars will make you as comfortable as he can until the child slides from your body.”
Joylynn gripped Pure Blossom’s hand. “I’m afraid,” she said, her voice breaking. “There is so much blood. . . .”
“You will be all right,” Pure Blossom repeated gently.
Two Stars hurried into the tepee, carrying his bag of medicines.
Pure Blossom stood away from Joylynn to make room for the shaman as he knelt down beside her.
He pressed gently on Joylynn’s abdomen, then gave her a look of concern. “The blood and the position of the child tell me it will soon be released from inside you,” he said, taking her hand. “I will keep you safe, but there is nothing I can do for the child. It is being born too soon to live.
“Pure Blossom, go and get water and soft doeskin cloths,” Two Stars said. “Go and tell High Hawk what is happening.”
Pure Blossom nodded and left.
