Ginger blinked a couple of times, then let out a whoosh of air and started to fall forward. He tossed the knife on the ground and caught her. If she hadn’t been pregnant, he might have thrown her over his shoulder like a bag of feed, but he scooped her up like a bride and carried her up the sidewalk to the porch. He managed to ring the doorbell, and time stood still. Ginger was still breathing, but fainting like that couldn’t be good for the baby. In reality, Kate opened the door within a minute, but it seemed like hours to Sloan.
“What happened?” She motioned him inside.
“She fainted.” Sloan’s voice sounded to him like it was coming from a tunnel as he crossed the foyer and headed toward the living room.
“Put her on the sofa in the parlor.” Kate barked orders to the others. “Connie, get a cold rag. Betsy, bring the smelling salts.”
By the time he’d crossed the room and gently laid her down, Connie was hurrying back across the floor. Betsy came from a different room carrying a small bottle in her hand. Both of them rattled off questions so fast that it made his head swim.
Connie sat on the edge of the coffee table and began to wash Ginger’s face. Her eyelids fluttered yet didn’t open wide, but when Betsy waved the contents of the bottle under her nose, she sat straight up and started coughing.
“Good girl!” Betsy quickly capped the smelling salts and set them on the mantel above the fireplace. “Now, tell us what happened.”
“Do we need to call the doctor or take you to the emergency room?” Betsy asked.
“She stepped on a snake.” Sloan hovered close by the end of the sofa.
“Sweet Jesus!” Kate groaned. “I’ll get the snakebite kit.”
Sloan shook his head. “No need for that.”
“How did I get in here?” Ginger finally asked.
“Sloan carried you.” Kate picked up the receiver of the old rotary phone from the end table. She tapped her foot as she waited for someone to answer and then said, “Hello, Dr. Emerson,” and then she went on to explain what had happened.
“I’m fine,” Ginger said over Kate’s conversation. “I’m terrified of snakes, and that thing wrapped its body around my leg, and . . .” She shuddered as the sentence trailed off.
Kate laid the receiver back on the base. “Okay, then. Dr. Emerson is out of town. Thank goodness he gave me his cell phone number for emergencies. He will see you on Thursday when he gets back, but for now you are to make sure the baby is moving at least every hour and drink lots of fluids and be careful where you walk.”
“I’ll take the first watch,” Connie said.
“What?” Ginger frowned.
“We have to be sure the baby is moving, so I’ll take the first watch through the night,” she explained.
“You ladies need to be fresh for Easter tomorrow. I’ll sit with her all night. I did lots of all-night guard duty in the service,” Sloan said.
Ginger slung her legs off the sofa and shook her head. “No one is sitting up with me. The baby is kicking right now, so it’s all right. I was scared out of my mind, and my leg began to cramp, and I thought Sloan would never cut through that ugly thing’s head, but it’s over now.”
Lord, have mercy! She had never had to hold her foot on a snake or fainted before, but she’d lived through equally harrowing situations. “I’m going to the kitchen to get a glass of sweet tea. Can I pour one for anyone else?” She stood up, and the room swayed a little before she got her footing.
“I’ll get the tea,” Connie said.
“You sit down and tell us all the details,” Kate demanded.
“Why don’t I tell y’all and we can give Ginger a break? I was hopin’ she couldn’t see anything from right above the snake.” Sloan stood in the middle of the living room, back straight and shoulders squared off like he was about to talk to his commander.
Connie headed to the kitchen with Betsy right behind her.
“Don’t you say a word before we get back,” Connie demanded. “Do you hear that?”
“Sounds like someone out on the porch,” Ginger said, hearing a scuffling sound.
Kate cocked her head to one side, then got up and went to the front door. She eased it open and said, “Tinker, you can come inside, but you leave that thing on the porch.”
As if he understood her, he raced into the house, went straight to the sofa, and jumped up onto Sloan’s lap. Ginger sat down on the other end of the sofa, and the dog moved over between them.
“He thinks he killed that snake, doesn’t he?” Ginger smiled.
Sloan scratched his ears. “He probably does, and we’ll let him think he’s a ferocious dog.”
Connie returned carrying a tray with five glasses of tea on it. “Y’all didn’t start without us, did you?”
Betsy came in behind her with a full pitcher. “I was afraid Connie would stumble and fall with a heavy tray. She’s not too steady on her feet.”
“Speak for yourself, Elizabeth Carson.” Connie shot a dirty look toward her sister.
“Elizabeth?” Ginger asked.
“Betsy is Elizabeth,” Kate said. “The name on my birth certificate is Katherine, and Connie’s is Constance. Mama thought we needed a dignified name in case we ever wanted to become doctors or lawyers, but she liked shortened names for what she called everyday livin’. Now that we’re all here, tell us this snake story.”
Just hearing the word made Ginger remember how that creature felt wrapped around her bare leg. With a shudder, she nodded toward Sloan. “You tell them. You were the hero.”
Sloan’s face went blank for a split second. Ginger had learned at a young age to read people’s expressions, and it had benefited her very well in her formative years. She’d learned to tell if a new foster mother or father was angry and how to sidestep the issue in whatever way she could. Sloan was remembering something bad, and it took him a minute to shake it off.
“Well.” He rubbed his chin and went on to tell the story, ending with, “I was just glad that Ginger stepped on it where she did and not halfway down the body, where it could have flipped over and bitten her.”
“Me too.” Ginger picked up a glass of tea and sipped it, then laid her free hand on her stomach. “The baby just kicked very hard. Matter of fact, I can tell that it was a knee or an elbow just by the way it feels. So he or she is fine, too.”
“She’s probably tellin’ you that she wants to meet all of us before you take her away to some other place,” Connie said.
Ginger moved her hand to the other side. “And there’s another one. I do believe that she likes sweet tea.”
“A true Southern lady.” Kate smiled.
“Now that I see you’re all right, I should be going.” Sloan picked up the last glass of tea and downed it with one long drink. “Thanks for the tea, and I’m right sorry about that scare.”
“Don’t be,” Ginger told him. “Like I said before, you’re the hero. You saved my life and my baby’s life and even kept me from falling. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. But one more thing—will you please throw what’s left of that snake across the road as you leave?” She stared at him and wondered if there was a Superman cape and outfit under his camouflage.