Chapter 2

Elizabeth could hardly breathe, her heart pounding, her body shivering against her wet clothing. She knew she must hurry home to get dry clothes for herself as well as the baby.

She turned and grabbed up the torn and tattered willow bark basket, taking it with her as she hurried up the trail toward home.

God had answered her prayers in such a wonderful, miraculous manner. The glory and magnitude of what had just taken place before her own eyes was still hard to believe. But she held her naked son tight to her bosom as she made her way back up the short narrow trail toward home.

Elizabeth stood naked in her own warm bedroom, looking down at the baby boy she had prayed so long and so hard for.

As she looked down at him, she saw a mark on his small chest for the first time. The mark spread across his upper chest from one arm pit all the way to the other in a perfect pattern.

She leaned down and looked closer. Tracing her fingers over the mark, she jumped back, wide eyed, tears flowing once more from her eyes as she recognized the birthmark.

She grabbed him up and held him to her naked skin as she laughed and cried tears of joy at the sight of him kicking and grabbing with his outstretched hands.

She was a tall slender young woman with long black hair that hung down to her new sons face. Her breasts were not large, but were the perfect place for her son to rest his small head. He turned his face to her naked breast and took a nipple into his mouth in an effort to nourish from his mothers body. There was nothing there, as he suckled and pulled on her small barren nipple.

“Oh baby son of mine, I have to hurry and somehow get food into your small body so you can grow up to be a strong handsome man,” She cooed as she walked naked to the kitchen and took a tin cup from the cupboard, pouring goats milk from an earthen jug.

Elizabeth dipped her finger tip into the milk, touching it to her son’s lips. Instantly he locked onto her finger, wanting more.

She took a piece of cheesecloth and dipped the corner into the milk and touched to her son’s lips.

She watched with a smile as he suckled the milk, kicking and reaching his small hands up to grab for more.

She kept feeding him from the milk soaked cheesecloth until the cup was empty then poured more to make sure he had his fill. She knew she would have to find a better way to feed him.

Elizabeth returned with her son to the bedroom and took from her wardrobe another dress. Laying her new son on the bed, she pulled the dress over her head and buttoned the tight fitting bodice to her neck. She took a woolen shawl and wrapped around her and hooked the bone fastener in front to keep it from slipping from her shoulders. Dressed once more, she looked at her son with a look of love only a mother will know.

Elizabeth took two pieces of soft cloth from a small chest near her wardrobe and picked two large spring pins from her dresser. She lifted his small behind and slid the diaper under him, then penned the sides.

Elizabeth looked closely once more at the mark on her son’s chest, then she traced the edges of the mark with her finger as if to see if it was painted on his skin. The mark was covered by his skin, this birthmark would be with him all his days.

She wrapped him in two small woolen blankets she had brought from the trading post many months before, still hoping against hope that she would one day deliver a son for her husband.

With her son wrapped in warm blankets and her long dark hair now mostly dry, she hurried out to the barn. Quickly she hitched her horse to the buggy, and she and the baby were on their way to the trading post.

Raiford would be so shocked to hear they now had a son and even more shocked to hear the story of how God had blessed them with this miracle from the sky.

In no time it seemed, she had traveled the two miles from their home to Eagle Creek Trading Post. Jumping to the ground as soon as her buggy stopped rolling, she placed the heavy cast weight at her horses’ front feet and attached the leather strap to the ring of his bridle. Giggling uncontrollably, she burst into laughter as she reached into the buggy and took her son into her arms, running into the store.

There were three old plainsmen there, sitting in a circle around the cold stove in the center of the big store, as if there was heat coming from it. They smoked their pipes, scratching their scraggly beards and laughed as they told tall tales. There were two Sioux squaws over to one side talking to her husband and making gestures about the deer skins, buffalo hides and horns they had brought to trade.

They all knew Elizabeth and as she ran into the store, they looked up to speak to Mr. Raiford’s beautiful young wife. When the men saw that she held what looked to be a baby, they all caught their pipes before they dropped them to the floor.

Even the Sioux squaws knew the pretty young white woman that belonged to the Trading Man. Everyone in these parts for hundreds of miles in all directions knew of Eagle Creek Trading Post and the white man and his woman who owned it.

Elizabeth ran to Raif and began hurriedly telling him the story of how God had given them a son. The longer she talked, the faster and louder her voice became. Raif had to make her stop and start over, she was talking so fast and sobbing so hard her body was heaving as she tried to breathe and talk.

He first thought she said the baby had fallen from the sky.

The three men walked closer to hear her story, the Sioux squaws were looking at the baby boy and at each other with wonder and questions of their own, speaking in Sioux tongue.

Raif was able to piece some of the story together and the three men joined in, with what they had heard her say. Sure enough she had told a story about a baby boy being fought over in the sky by three eagles. About the giant eagle that had caught the baby just before it hit the cold icy waters and then pushed her into the creek to rescue the baby.

She told about the huge eagle as it had flown right up in front of her face and screeched at her, then flapped its giant wings and flew up to circle her and the baby twice before racing off into the clear blue sky, disappearing into the Heavens.

Elizabeth was in tears as she related the story over and over until they all understood what she was telling them. One of the old men translated the story to the two Sioux squaws as they looked at the baby and the white woman in reverence. They shouted into the heavens as they waved their arms and sang songs of praise to the Great Spirit above, in their native tongue.

Raif took the small boy in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the gurgling, smiling miracle son before him.

Elizabeth reached out and pulled the blankets down from his small chest, to expose the mark she had found. She pointed it out to Raif. He looked wide eyed, with his mouth open in shock as he recognized the mark on the boy’s chest.

There was the mark a flying eagle on his chest. Raif felt his knees weaken and sat down to keep from falling.

The three men and the two Sioux squaws leaned in closer. Seeing the mark on the baby boy, they all fell backwards as if they had been slapped. One of the men stumbled backwards until he lost his balance, then sat right down hard on the floor. Another grabbed his chest and fell against the trading table for support. The third man rubbed his face with open hands and leaned over for a closer look, as if he didn’t trust his eyes the first time.

The Sioux squaws ran in circles through the store, then out the door leaving their skins and horns on the trading tables, as they ran into the hills, screaming some unknown song of praise, waving to the heavens and falling to the ground as they chanted and sang.

When the men and the Sioux squaws cleared the store, Elizabeth and Raif were smiling and looking down upon their new son. They were so busy they didn’t see the young girl enter the store and stand just inside the door with her head down, waiting to be seen.