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~ Chapter 1: The Baby ~

“Ruth, can I speak with you fer a moment?” Ezra’s voice was soft and shaky. Reddened eyes with dark bags and a worried expression on the sweet girl’s face threw Ruth off guard at first.

Ruth had woken up rather early that morning, considering the basic horse riding course her grandfather had been giving ended last Friday. It was the start of a new week and she had planned to sleep late but there she was, out in the barn at 8:30. She frowned at Ezra in concern. “Of course you can talk to me, Ezra. What’s up?”

Ezra touched the edge of Ruth’s elbow gently and pulled her into the nearby tack room, shutting the door behind them. Strange. Ezra turned toward Ruth and wrung her hands, swallowing hard.

After several minutes of silence Ruth decided to push Ezra forward. “What’s wrong, Ez?”

“I’m not sure how tah say this,” she started hesitantly. “You have to promise not tah tell anyone, you’re the first per-

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son I’ve talked to.”

“Of course,” Ruth said softly. “I promise.”

“I-I’m pregnant,” the words came out quiet and unsure.

“What?” Ruth asked, her brain not processing though she fully understood the words. Ezra pregnant? The sweet, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, shy girl who was standing in front of her? The homeschooled Christian girl that was so quiet? It didn’t make sense.

“I’m pregnant,” Ezra repeated so softly it was barely audible.

“I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, his name is Tim. I’ve been datin’ him in secret because when my father met him he didn’t like him. I know it seems crazy that I would date someone behind my family’s back, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to be in love so bad and Tim is sweet.”

Okay, wow, Ruth definitely hadn’t expected that. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I need tah talk to someone! I need help. I don’t know what tah do or where to go.”

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“What do you mean, ‘where to go?’ It’s not like you’re going to be kicked out of your home or something, are you?”

Ezra shrugged and diverted her eyes. “Maybe, I don’t know. It certainly won’t go over well.”

“How far along are you?”

“About two months.”

“And you haven’t told Tim?”

Ezra shook her head. “I’m afraid he’d tell some of my family and I’m not willin’ tah take that risk until I know what I’m goin’ to do.”

“Okay.”

“So… help?”

Ruth was completely unprepared for such a request. And why was Ezra asking her? Ezra was sixteen, two years Ruth’s senior. Ruth had never been pregnant, she didn’t know what to do. Honestly, her and Ezra didn’t even know each other that well, they’d just met that summer. Ruth tried to reel her thoughts in. “I will do whatever I can to help.”

Ezra gave Ruth a tight hug. “Thank you.”

A thought occurred to Ruth. “You aren’t going to have an abortion, are you?”

Ezra pulled away slightly. “No, of course not!”

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“Okay, good. So, you are going to have the baby?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to keep it?”

“I don’t know.” Ezra hugged Ruth tightly again. “I don’t know,” she said again, her voice quivering.

Ruth felt almost shaky with empathy. ‘Poor Ezra.’ Ruth held Ezra tighter as she felt wetness on her cheek. ‘Poor Ezra,’ she thought again. What could be done to help her?

Ruth decided the best course of action was to collect her thoughts before deciding what to do. She excused herself, asking for a moment to think, and then made her way to the hayloft. She snuggled against a haybale and closed her eyes, focusing on the situation.

What could be done? What could she do? Ezra had asked for help, maybe she already had an idea what she wanted for help, but what if it was something Ruth couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to give? She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax.

What would she do if she got pregnant and had to tell her father? ‘Run away,’ was the immediate response that came to mind, but she knew that wasn’t a plausible answer and dismissed it. How do you deal with a situation of that magnitude?

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Telling your parents about an unwed, teenage pregnancy when you grew up in a Christian home?

Ruth decided sitting in the musty hayloft, that was bound to get more humid as the Missouri sun continued rising, would only contribute to her panic. She decided instead to go for a ride, maybe a little bit of distance, combined with the calming sound of hoofbeats, would clear her head.

She headed to the tack room to retrieve a halter and lead rope, then went to the pasture.

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~ Chapter 2: Snake ~

Ruth was too nervous to take Jet or Embera on the open trail, especially without someone to help or without following a more experienced horse. That left Roy and Mirage as options, and since the sheer monstrous size of the Clydesdale, Roy, left her quivering, Mirage was her choice by default.

The blue roan, part Quarter Horse mare came at Ruth’s whistle with the rest of the horses following behind. Their ears perked toward Ruth, faces and whinnies expressing their hopefulness for grain.

“Sorry guys,” Ruth said as they slowed upon reaching her, “I have no grain for you right now.”

They didn’t seem to understand but as Ruth haltered Mirage, they quickly lost interest and wandered off.

The sweet mare willingly followed Ruth to the barn. Ruth tied her lead to a wall loop and tacked her up.

As she led Mirage out of the barn, she noticed the ranch hand, Devin, mucking out a stall. She sighed in relief, she didn’t want to face Ezra without sorting out her thoughts. The

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whole thing must be tearing the poor girl apart and Ruth was afraid her quick mouth might make things worse.

She made it to the trail and exhaled her pent-up tension as Mirage walked lazily through the trees. How was she supposed to help Ezra? The echo of Mirage’s hoofbeats helped relax Ruth as she contemplated the matter.

Though she could tell the heat was only going to increase throughout the day to turn into what would likely be intolerable in the afternoon, the light breeze and shade offered by the trees made the temperature comfortable for the horseback ride. Ezra was sweet, caring, kind, determined, strong, she would find a way through this, yet it had to be terrifying for her.

The woods were beautiful and as Ruth looked at the shadow spackled ground, Ruth realized there wasn’t much she could do for Ezra other than be there as a friend. She couldn’t give good advice on how to handle things, she’d never been in the same situation. She didn’t really know anyone else in the area so it wasn’t as if she could help with reputations or had any advice on hospitals or doctors; Ezra knew those things so she must not be expecting them anyway. She must simply want a friend, someone to be there.

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Ruth could do that, just be around for… Her thoughts stopped short as she noticed something wriggling on the path in front of her. A snort sounded from Mirage, her ears flicking forward, head raised in alarm. “Yeah, that’s how I feel, girl,” Ruth said quietly, pulling Mirage to a halt.

The nasty wriggling creature that made its way across the trail had a triangular head, a dark yellowish underbelly, and triangular-shaped, dark brown patterns across his back and sides. Ruth breathed in deep, turned Mirage around, and high-tailed it out of there at a canter.

‘Ewww,’ she thought with a shudder as they put distance between themselves and the serpent.

Was the creature poisonous? Dangerous? Ruth had no idea but she didn’t intend to stick around and find out. She never cared for snakes. Or spiders for that matter. Or insects. Guess not everything about the country was pleasant.

As Ruth saw the clearing ahead of them, she slowed Mirage to a trot, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of the barn. She knew the snake was far behind them but her heart hadn’t slowed until she felt safe in sight of home.

Home. Was it home? She still felt Wisconsin was home, Missouri felt foreign. But it was safe enough away from the