Free The Bastard by Jane Toombs Page A

trapped. She and the baby with her.
     
    No! Her baby must live! Concepcion dragged herself to her feet. Pounding her fists against the wood of the gate, she screamed for help until another pain knifed through her. The pains came so close together all she could do was huddle on the ground next to the gate and moan. She found the Bible next to her and clutched at it.
     
    Caught in a web of agony, she was only dimly aware of something pushing against her. She thought she heard her name, then someone grasped her wrists and began dragging her across the ground. With her eyes stinging and burning from the smoke, she couldn't see who it was. Afraid Diarmid had returned and meant to thrust her back inside the burning casa, she screamed.
     
    "Hush, child," Rosa ordered. "I'm here to help you."
     
    Concepcion couldn't believe her ears. " Rosa ?" she gasped, half-convinced she was dreaming again.
     
    "I'm here," Rosa repeated. She released Concepcion 's wrists. "I've pulled you outside the courtyard but now you must help."
     
    With the old woman's assistance, Concepcion got to her feet, groaning with pain. "It hurts," she whimpered.
     
    “I know. For the child's sake, be brave. What is that you carry?"
     
    Concepcion hugged the leather volume to her. "Bible. For the baby's name." The words came in gasps. Leaning on Rosa , she stumbled away from the burning casa. Dazed by the grinding, constant pain, she didn't care where Rosa led her.
     
    "The wind blows away from the barn," Rosa said. "May God will that it doesn't catch fire. "
     
    Thoughts jumbled together in Concepcion 's mind. The barn. The Christ Child. Christmas candles. Fire....
     
    "Diarmid tried to kill me!" she cried.
     
    "Hush," Rosa cautioned. "We must be quiet and careful."
     
    "He sent you away."
     
    "I didn't go far. I waited and I watched. I knew you'd need me."
     
      Something hot and wet began running down Concepcion 's legs. Her knees sagged. "I can't--" she whimpered.
     
    "You can and you must. Only a few steps farther."
     
    Rosa half-dragged her inside the barn, easing her down onto an old horse blanket. She could hear the horses outside in the corral snorting as they trotted nervously back and forth, spooked by the fire.
     
    "Don't let them burn," she managed to say before the worst pain of all took hold of her body and mind and the darkness turned red.
     
    "Push!" a voice urged. Rosa ? "Push down hard. Now."
     
    Concepcion tried.
     
    "Harder ."
     
    After a nightmare of agony, there came a respite. Concepcion took a deep breath, afraid any movement would bring back the pain. A baby wailed, the sound thin and lonely.
     
    "A boy," Rosa said. "He's small but he cries. That's a good sign."
     
    For a long moment Concepcion couldn't associate the words with herself. When she finally realized Rosa was telling her she'd borne a baby boy, she burst into tears.
     
    "It's so dark I can't even see him ," she sobbed.
     
    "You will. Later ."
     
    Stifling her sobs, Concepcion tried to sit up but she was too weak. She felt fluid flowing from her. Blood? "I want to write his name in the Bible," she whispered.
     
    "Later ."
     
    "No. It must be now."
     
    "You have no pen. Lie still, the afterbirth is still to come."
     
    Concepcion struggled onto her side, driven by something she didn't understand. "Give me the Bible. And some straw."
     
    "Without ink--"
     
    "I'll use blood."
     
    She couldn't see, she could only feel the Bible. Propped on one elbow, supported by Rosa , she opened it. With Rosa guiding the hand that held the straw she dipped into the blood, Concepcion scrawled, "Francisco Gabaldon Burwash ," inside the front cover of the Bible. "Put his hand in the blood ," she told Rosa , "and press it on the opposite page."
     
    When Rosa was finished, Concepcion lay back, exhausted. Between her thighs, the child whimpered. Pain cramped her stomach and she knew more blood ran from her. As though a voice spoke inside her head, she suddenly realized