“You’ll have to guard against infection, Mrs. McCloskey. And you have to avoid overdoing it the next few days. You rest here now, I’ll let you know when you’re ready to go. Once we release you, you won’t be able to have relations of any sort with your husband for at least a month. Now I have to ask, I know he didn’t bring you in. Does he know you’re here?”

“He does not.”

“Would you like us to get in touch with him for you?”

“I would not.”

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to contact him sooner or later, Mrs. McCloskey. He was the father of the child you lost and he is your next of kin.”

“All right. Call him on the farm if you want.”

Doc Baker didn’t have to call Jake. Alf Muzzy had driven over to the McCloskey place as soon as his chores were done. He found Jake still in bed, the cows bawling to be milked. The farm women had tidied up the house before they left the party. They decided that Emaline in her condition must have tired early and gone to bed, so they cleaned up for her and left quietly, but they couldn’t do anything about Jake. He was still asleep at eight o’clock in the morning, and he reeked of liquor. Alf dragged Jake outside, made him peel off his stinking clothes, pumped cold water on him straight from the well. Jake shivered and howled, but Alf kept at it with grim determination. When Jake was thoroughly soaked in icy water, Alf pushed him back inside and set coffee on to perk. Jake was still so drunk he hadn’t thought to ask where Emaline was or why a neighbor he barely knew was bossing him around. Alf waited until he had downed half a cup of black coffee. There was no point beating around the bush.

“Your wife come a-runnin outa your place last night. Tried to flag me down on the county road yonder. Stroke a luck that my old truck won’t get outa second gear loaded or I might a killed her. I didn’t see her at all until I run into her with the front fender. Knocked her right down into the barpit. I pulled her out and cleaned her up some, took her into the hospital in Scottsbluff. Time we got there, she was out cold and bleedin bad. I hung around the hospital until near four o’clock this mornin, when I had to get home to do my chores. Last I knew, it looked like she was goin to live through it all right, but they couldn’t save the baby. They told me she lost that child.”