No smut in this chapter, sorry everyone. But chapter 7 will make up for it.
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I awoke with chills later that night, I wound the blanket around me as I had the night before, but it brought me very little comfort. My head ached and I closed my eyes, returning to an uneasy sleep. I wasn't sure how much later it was when I awoke again, this time drenched in sweat. I tossed the blanket aside and immediately started shivering. I moaned wishing I was at home. My mother always took care of me when I was sick. She brought me Tylenol, and homemade chicken noodle soup. I fell in and out of sleep, tossing and turning. I had caught something, a bug or virus I could feel it. I felt lethargic, hair plastered to my face in sweat, my skin was hot to the touch and yet I felt so cold, fingers and toes feeling almost numb.
When morning finally came I was sure I was going to die. Clyde was smiling when he walked into the stall but it quickly fell when he looked down at me.
"Skye??" he asked softly. My teeth chattered as I hugged the horse blanket tighter. He set the plate and cup aside and kneeled beside the dog bed. His face turned serious as he reached out to touch me. He swore the second his hand touched my forehead. Fishing his keys from his pocket he unlocked the chain and picked me up, blanket and all. We were greeted by surprised faces when he carried me into the house.
"Get that mongrel out of my house young man," Mama demanded cruelly.
"She will not be going anywhere Mama!" he replied, and without further explanation he took me down the hall and straight to the bathroom. Sitting me down on the toilet he turned and started a bath.
"What...what are you doing?"
"We need to bring down your fever Skye. This is the fastest way to do that." He nodded at the filling tub and I had a feeling the water was nowhere near the right temperature.
"What the heck is wrong with you talking to Mama like that?" demanded Georgie from the doorway. Clyde glared up at his older brother.
"She is sick; I need to bring down her fever. Could you fetch Emily?" he asked. Georgie glared over at me but nodded and walked back to the dining room. One minute they were threatening to kill me, and next they were trying to save me. Clyde turned to me and pulled the blanket down, ordering me about as he pulled the dress up and made me stand. He kneeled down, becoming face level with the brand they'd burned into my skin.
The scabs had blackened, the area around the brand was dark red and slightly swollen. Emily appeared in the doorway, un-phased by my nakedness.
"Just as I thought, Emily, will you please fetch me my bag? And please grab me a jar of Honey?" he requested. She nodded promptly and took off.
"Honey? What do you need honey for?" Clyde lightly touched the wound and I hissed.
"It will help to treat the area and prevent further infection. Let's get your fever down for the moment." With his help I stood in the tub and yelped, using his arms to hold myself up, I felt weak and a little disoriented. The water felt freezing, as though it were filled with ice instead of cold water. Clyde held onto me tightly, trying to soothe me as he lowered me into the tub until I was almost all the way submersed.
"Please, it's too cold!" I pleaded.
"You're fever is too high, I know it is cold, and it hurts but you don't have to be in there forever," he promised. Emily returned with his large black bag, I recalled him having that bag back in the hotel room when he had bandaged my ankle. That seemed like years ago now, how long had I been on the farm? Two maybe three days? How long had I been in a drugged stupor before we arrived here? He gave me a couple Tylenol which I took gratefully. When he pulled out the needle and small glass bottle I sat up.
"What...what's that?" I demanded.
"It's an antibiotic, Rocephin, it will help. Relax, I told you; my Daddy taught me everything he knew." I grasped the side of the tub as he jabbed the needle into my arm and injected it into me.
"Why can't you just let me die? I am never going to be the wife you want me to be Clyde." He scowled and grabbed my chin.
"Don't say that, you just need to try harder Skye. If you would just stop doing things to make me mad, I wouldn't have to punish you and we could live happier. I am not going to give up on you." Emily stood in the doorway, face impassive.
"But it is not what I want." He ran his hand through my hair.
"We both know you don't know what you want. Only I know what you want, that is my job. You're sick Skye, let's not argue right now." He placed his hand on my forehead and breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Well it is going down. Emily, sit with her and make sure she stays in the tub, I am going to find her some clothes and apologize to Mama." Emily nodded and sat down beside the tub on the seat of the toilet.
"How old are you?" I ask softly, hugging myself under the cold water. The longer I stayed submerged the warmer the water seemed to get.
"I am not supposed to talk with you Skye...Mama says you'll fill my head with nonsense and disobedience." Emily replied softly. I let out a short laugh. Of course Mama would think that, she didn't want Emily to know the truth. Of the way the world was outside her home; didn't want me to give her daughter hope.
"What happens when you reach proper marriage age?"
"It will be Georgie's responsibility as the oldest male to find me a good husband." I closed my eyes and shook my head. Her fate was sealed the moment she was born a girl. Georgie's idea of a good husband would not be anyone good.
"You don't have to live this way Emily...do you really want to marry some older guy your
brother chose for you?"
"It is my job to take care of my husband and provide him with children. Whoever Georgie choses will be a good match. My brothers know what is best for me." But her sentence sounded recited.
"Out there women get to live on their own, go to school, college, get jobs, raise children on their own. There is so much more than this out there, you can make your own choices, marry for love; own property..."
"Emily, you are dismissed," Clyde announced from the doorway. Emily cheeks turned red and she hurried from the room.
"Don't fill her head with nonsense Skye. She's at a young impressionable age, she's going to make a good wife someday and you don't need to ruin that by putting silly notions in her head." I gave no reply, instead I waited for him to drain the tub and cover me in a towel. I still felt weak so he carried me into his bedroom where he helped to dry me off and handed me long john pajamas. They were warm and I gratefully dressed in the two pieces. He had me lay down while he applied the honey to the wound and taped several layers of gauze over it. Covering me with a comforter he tucked me in.
"Rest now Skye, I will have one of the women bring you tea and some food soon." I felt slightly better and soon fell back to sleep.
When I was awoken I was given more Tylenol, oatmeal, garlic juice and orange juice. When I asked what the garlic was for Sarah simply replied it was Doctors orders and that I better drink every drop of it. I slept most the day, and into the night, Clyde changed my bandage twice and when he crawled into bed I felt nervous but he simply held me and fell asleep beside me. With morning came another injection of antibiotic, Tylenol and a new bandage. I was still feeling weak, so instead of house chores I was moved to the living room where Maggie was taking care of the children.
I pleaded with Clyde to let me sleep; I wasn't feeling up to spending time with the kids, but he shook his head and sat me down at one of their tables.
"You got to get used to little ones eventually Skye, you'll need the practice for when we have our own." Becky sat with a large textbook in her lap, copying down the math problems before attempting to solve them. She glanced at me nervously a few times but remained on task. The smaller kids were in chaos; some were coloring, others playing with blocks or play-dough. The babies sat in swings and a walker. Emily was sprawled on the sofa with an even larger text book.
"Mama has given me permission to give the girls at least a middle school education, as long as I also teach them other important skills like cooking, sewing, chores and taking care of the little ones." I frowned.
"That's not fair!" I argued.
"Women don't need any higher level of education. It is the man's job to run the house and women follow their directions. What level of education have you completed?" Maggie asked.
"I was supposed to graduate high school this year, I even gotten accepted into the local university."
"What about your domestic skills?"
"I am nothing even close to domestic," I confessed.
"Well if you're going to be a good wife, you're going to have to learn Skye. We can start with sewing." Before I could protest she brought a tub out from the closet and sat it between us. Reaching inside she brought out several scraps of fabric, needle, thread and a couple buttons.
"We'll start with something simple, sewing on buttons. As you can imagine, the men's shirts lose buttons quite frequently."
"Why not get shirts without buttons than?"
"It is not up to us to question what they do Skye, now watch me closely." I stared as she threaded the needle and began sewing the stray button onto the cloth. She crisscrossed the thread for better support but she didn't make it too thick, the button had to be a little flexible. When she handed me the materials, I tried to mimic what I'd seen her do. Just as I threaded the needle there was a scream and Maggie jumped over to the toddlers to break up a fight over the blocks.
I started to thread through the holes in the button, taking my time, mind focused with the task at hand. When the thread knotted I started to get frustrated and that only tangled it more. I growled in frustration and Becky appeared beside me so quietly I jumped when she first spoke to me.
"Here, let me show you a neat trick Auntie Skye." Reaching over, the little girl took ahold of my materials and with a couple quick movements she had the thread good as new.
"I take it you already passed this part?" I asked with a laugh. She smiled and nodded.
"I want to be able to make my own clothes so that my Mama has time to do things she loves like her embroidery. Sometimes she lets me help make the clothes for my brothers and sisters." She confessed with a smile.
"Do you have any of your own designs?" Becky blushed
