Free True Sisters by Sandra Dallas Page B

years. Then there had been the trip by train across the land, a journey that filled Maud with awe at the vastness of the country she would call home.
    And finally came their arrival at Iowa City, the disappointment that they would have to wait weeks to embark, although they were cheerful and put the time to good use. Robert was skilled with his hands and helped manufacture the carts. Maud knew that if he had been by himself, he would not have been so selfish as to put extra work into his own cart, but he feared she would not have the strength to push, so he selected for himself one of the better-made vehicles, constructed with wood that was a little aged, and he made sure that the wheels and hubs were well made. “I would have bought iron hubs if I could have, but none are available, so I made them out of the hardest wood I could find,” he told his wife. Still, he added, he did not know if they would last the trip.
    While Robert worked on the carts, Maud made the rounds of the camp, tending children, sharing herbs for cooking and medicinal use, herbs she had grown at home, dried and bundled for the trip. She’d brought along seeds to plant in the valley, had stitched bags from scraps of fabric to store them. And since Maud was known to be a midwife, she’d been sought out to help deliver a baby in camp. Looking at the young women among the converts, she knew she’d be called upon again and again before the journey was over. The idea made her glow. She loved babies. It was a heavy burden for her that she had failed Robert in that way. But he had never complained. “We have each other. I couldn’t wish for more,” he told her often enough.
    Now she glanced at her husband of so many years as he trudged off into the darkness to find wood for the cooking fire. Sometimes, they picked up a few sticks on the way, but the extra wood made the cart more difficult to push, and so they waited until they reached camp to look for fallen branches. By then, however, the area had been scoured by others, since the old people were among the last to arrive.
    On that day, they were even later than usual, because they had stopped to pick gooseberries that Maud had spotted just off the trail. The gooseberries, along with wild plums, varied their diet. Maud took out the kettle and frying pan and foodstuffs and mixed up a pancake, folding in the tiny sour berries. They would have the scone with bacon. She ought to prepare more. Robert deserved better. But she was too tired, and besides, by the time they set up their campsite, both of them were almost too exhausted to eat. She hoped that when they reached the mountains, they could ride in a wagon. Or maybe a party from the valley would meet them this side of the mountains and carry them to Zion. Maud would like that.
    While she waited for Robert, Maud made a fire with the sticks from the cart and set the kettle on top of it. The cake wouldn’t bake through without more wood, but she could get it started. She sat down next to the fire, but before she could settle in, a woman touched her arm. “Sister Maud, my baby’s sick. It would be a blessing if you’d take a look at her.”
    Maud smiled and rose stiffly. A baby, now that was reason enough to shake off the day’s tiredness. She looked down at the dinner. The fire would die out before the pancake burned. If Robert returned before she did, he’d tend the fire, knowing she’d left for a reason. Maud followed the young woman across the camp, hearing the baby squalling before she saw him.
    “I asked Sister Sharon for advice,” the young woman said. “She told me it is nothing, but he’s my first, and I’m afraid…” The woman’s voice trailed off.
    “Of course, you’re scared. Who wouldn’t be, out here with no doctor, no chemist. I would be myself.” They reached the campsite, and Maud took the baby from the father, cooed and swayed a little with the child in her arms. She touched his forehead and examined the little body, then