The Diary of Jerrod Bently - J.W. Osborn (mobi ebook reader TXT) 📗

out back. She replenished Sam’s breakfast plate. “There is one small thing you could do for me , Sam,” she said.
Sam looked up at her. She was so young, just barely a woman grown and in her heart, Victoria said a silent prayer, that maybe J.W. had been right, and she might be carrying a baby, maybe a little girl, a daughter for her and Doc. “You might call me Aunt Victoria,” she said “Miss Victoria is a bit formal for family, don’t you think?” Sam smiled back at her “I have only Doc and my Grandfather as family,” she said “I do have a brother and an aunt back East, but when I think of family, it is always been Doc and Grandfather. I’m glad that you are here too.”
“Thank you, Sam,” Victoria said. “I will be back in a little while.”
“Thanks for everything, Aunt Victoria,” she said “The biscuits are so good..”
“Rest, Sam,” Victoria said as she crossed to the door of her room, “I am glad you like them.”
A moment later she was gone, the door closed again. Sam lay back on her pillows, thinking that Victoria Stevens was one of the most beautiful white women she had ever seen and she wondered what Jerrod might think if he saw her dressed up like her new Aunt had been, and her long hair fixed in that same flattering style as Victoria wore. Then she realized, she knew nothing of these things.

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Several weeks had come and gone since Sam arrived in Portersville and she was not a young woman who could be confined for long. Despite the advice of her aunt, her uncle and Dr. O’Brien, she wanted to be outside in the fresh air and sunlight. She could not live her life the way she normally would, because of the dizzy spells and headaches she had been experiencing since the accident. It had been such a spell that over came her one day, when she walked out to the paddock to see her horses. It had been a very good thing that Doc was in the barn when she collapsed beside the fence. Doc Stevens threw down his pitchfork and ran to Sam. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the house.
Grimly he sat at the kitchen table with his wife, waiting for the doctor to come out of Sam’s room. “I tell you, Vic,” he said “She is not ready to be out of this house alone. It scared me to death when I saw her fall out there by the paddock. What if she’d tried to get on that stud? Ah, hell, I don’t even want to think about what might have happened. “
“Doc,” Victoria defended “She wants to be out side and with the horses. It is what she is used to.”
“And what if she takes one of those dizzy spells she’s been having and falls again, maybe striking her head,. “ he argued “It might kill her.”
“Give the girl some credit,” Victoria replied “She knows that she is not well yet. She can even tell me now when she thinks one of those spells might be starting up. Doc O’Brien says that it will go away in time. You have to stop fussing over her and worrying like you have been.”
“Alright.” he said “I will build a bunk out there in the barn, where she can go lay down if she has to, but we both have to watch her or she will be on that stud way before she is ready.”
“Oh Doc,” his wife said “Sam knows she can’t do that. You can’t think for her, Love. She is not a baby.”
“She will always be a baby to me,” he said “Sarah and Joe’s baby.”
Victoria thought of the secret she was keeping, but the time to tell Doc that he was going to be a father was not right yet. “I think that having a place where she can go to be alone and with her horses is a good idea,” Victoria said “Will you build that bunk today if you can?” Doc nodded his answer and rose to his feet as Dr. O’Brien walked into the kitchen.
“She’s had a minor set back,” he said “Taking on too much too quickly.”
“I knew it.,” Doc replied worriedly “ that girl is stubborn and .....” His wife cut him off. “Doc,” she said, “We both have been very worried about her. Let’s hear what the doctor has to say.” Doc bit back his worries and silent fears. “All right,” he agreed as he motioned the doctor to sit down at the table.
“Sam has had a serious head injury.,” Dr. O’Brien said “It is like a bruise on her brain and it is going to take time for it to heal. She must rest and not be trying to resume the life she led before the accident. She will have to take it easy for a few more weeks, and I am confident that the dizzy spells will go away. But don’t try to keep her confined. She is the kind who will fight to get away and then she will hurt herself.”
“Always was like that,” Doc said quietly “but you say she’s healing well?”
“Yes,” the doctor answered “I have seen a lot of improvement since she got here. Just watch her and make sure she does not over do.”
”All right , Jim,” Victoria said “We will look after her. “
”She is in good hands,” O’Brien replied “She knows that and is very grateful. Now, she is pretty worried about you two. So go on in and talk to her. I will let myself out.”
“Thank you,” Victoria said as they rose to leave the table “I hope we didn’t upset your day too badly.”
“You didn’t,” the doctor replied with a grin. “I was on my way out to the Cranston place to see Mrs. Cranston. She’s going to have that baby any day now.”
Victoria smiled “Please give Nancy and her husband our best wishes.”
“I will,” O’Brien said and at that he left. May be the next baby to be born in
Portersville just might be Doc and Victoria’s.


Sam was in her room, gazing thoughtfully into the mirror on her dresser. She pulled her long hair back and tried fixing it the way Victoria had her’s done. She just didn’t know where to begin and not having the use of both hands, didn’t help. It had been a pretty good day, she had not had any dizzy spells at all, and she had been out in the barn for a while, even brushed Trouble and Rose. Victoria tapped on her door. “Sam? May I come in?”
She abandoned her attempts to style her hair. “Please do.,” she replied.
Victoria walked in and noticed her standing in front of the mirror. Sam turned and carefully studied her aunt’s gracefully styled golden hair. “How do you do that?”, she asked.
“Do what?”, Victoria asked .
“Put your hair up on your head like you do.”, Sam replied “I like the way it looks but I do not know how to do it.” Victoria smiled at her. “Well, Honey,” she said “I think I can help you.” She took the brush from Sam and motioned for her to sit down in the chair next to her bed. “It just takes practice, “ Victoria added as she began to brush out Sam’s long shining locks. “You have beautiful hair,” she said.
“No one ever taught me what to do,” Sam said “The women in our village showed me how to braid my hair like they did.
“I will show you a different way to fix your hair, Sam,” Victoria replied “And may be you can show me how the Blackfoot women braid their hair with all those lovely beads and feathers.”
“I can show you,” Sam answered as Victoria continued to brush.
They were quiet for a few moments before she spoke again. “I try very hard sometimes to remember what my mother looked like,” she said “All I can recall is that she had long gold hair like yours. Grandfather and Doc told me about her, what she was like and what she looked like, but it’s not like being able to see her face in my memories. I was very young when she died.”
“I am sorry,” Victoria replied as she began to pull Sam’s long dark hair into an elegant looking French twist. “I am sure that she must have loved you very much.”
“Somehow I know that,” Sam replied “But I don’t know how that can be, when I can not even recall her face.”
“You were just a baby when she died, Sam,” Victoria replied as she reached for the hair pins Sam had left on her dresser. “What you remember are feelings of having your mother. Even though you can not remember her face.
“Uncle Elliot said she was very pretty,” Sam said quietly.
Victoria smiled as she finished pinning Sam’s new hair style in place. “From the