Free Two Brides Too Many by Mona Hodgson

the makeshift pallet set out for her in the corner. She settled Rosita on the mat, and the child groaned and rolled to her side, curling into a ball. A twinge of guilt niggled at Nell. Only four years old, this little girl was motherless and homeless, and here Nell was feeling sorry for herself.
    Nell pulled the quilt over the little one and tucked her in, just like she would her own someday, and kissed her soft cheek.
    Bless this poor child, Father .
    That’s what she needed to be doing, praying for all the hurting people she’d seen and heard tonight. Especially those in the room with her. Her own sister had suffered much in the past two days.
    “I’m at twenty strokes.” Kat sat on the bed, holding her tortoise-shell hairbrush in her right hand. “I’m not going to make it to one hundred tonight.”
    Nell crossed over to the bed. Taking the brush from Kat, she knelt behind her on the bed and started brushing her sister’s pretty auburn curls. When she lifted the layer of hair, Nell could see the bulky bandage through her sister’s dressing gown. “Does your shoulder hurt much?”
    “Not too bad unless I try to lift a stack of plates, or a child.” Kat twisted and grinned, her brown eyes shining like polished tiger’s-eye gems.
    “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the hospital with you.” Nell gently combed the bristles through Kat’s hair. “You must have been frightened.”
    “I especially missed you in the birthing room.” Kat laughed.
    “The doctor really thought you were a midwife?”
    “That’s what he said. ‘You have no mind for being a midwife.’”
    “Didn’t you tell him you were a patient?” Nell laid the brush down on the dressing table.
    “In a hundred varied and witty ways. Once I left the hospital.”
    They both giggled, then fell silent.
    “What a strange day.” Nell glanced over at the pallet.
    “Not at all what we expected to find in Cripple Creek, is it?”
    Nell bit her lip. No, it was not at all what they expected to find here. “I’m so proud of you for saving Rosita,” she said, fighting back the tears that welled up. “What will you do about her?”
    “I plan to find her family tomorrow.”
    “But her mother is gone, and you told us the doctor didn’t know anything about her father.”
    “She and her mother didn’t live alone, Nell.” Kat worried a thread at a seam in her nightgown. “It may not be a family like we knew growing up, but—”
    “You said you found her calling for her mama on Myers Avenue.” Nell stood up. She moved to the glass window, pulled back the lace curtain, and peered into the darkness. “You can’t mean to give her to those other women.”
    “That’s precisely what I mean. She knows them. She’s comfortable with them.”
    “You mean they’re comfortable with her.”
    “I can’t just—”
    “Mama!” Rosita’s mournful cry silenced them both. The little girl sat up, crying and blinking. Nell thought to turn out the light, but the darkness would probably only frighten her more. Rosita shuddered, her sobs wrenching Nell’s heart. “I want Mama!”
    “We’re here, little one. We can’t bring your mama back.” Sitting on the pallet, Kat cupped the child’s wet face in her hands. “You’re not alone, Rosita, and…I know someone very special that I think you’ll like.” Kat tiptoed theatrically to her trunk and knelt down in front of it.
    Nell walked over to Rosita and sat down beside her. They watched Kat open the lid of her trunk and slide her hand inside. The little girl’s whimpers began to subside, and she tipped her face up to Nell, her eyes wide.
    Nell shrugged and returned her attention to Kat. They both watched as an embroidered face with whiskers and button eyes peered out over the edge of the trunk. Two long cloth ears flopped over the hand that held it. In a falsetto voice, Kat said, “Greetings, Rosita. I’m HopHop, and I want to be your friend.”
    Rosita giggled, and Nell couldn’t help but join her.
    Her