Her husband rooted at dinner like starving boar-hog. He had two helpings of everything and three of the beans before topping it off with an enormous slice of pie. He grunted his approval and moved slowly into the living room where he flopped into his favorite chair and fell asleep. Leona carefully wrapped up all the remaining food and put it away in the icebox. She washed the dishes, scrubbed the table, and swept the floor.

Nervous energy consumed her, and she found herself unable to sit still. Next, she folded the laundry, hanging sweet and dry on the line. Then moved on and gathered every, last apple from the tree near the side porch. Soaked in sweat, she worked like a field hand until dark, jumping at every sound from inside the cabin, praying to God and to the Devil for help. She did not much care who came to her aid.

Leona entered the house just as Titus woke up in his chair. He hauled himself up.

"Goin to bed. So damn tired my eyes are crossin'."

He stomped past her and she heard stuffing in the mattress rustle as he laid down. Her heart sank. He seemed the same old Titus to her.

********

"Jesus wept!"

Leona awoke to the sound of Titus lurching from the bed and stumbling out in the dark, feeling his way to the outhouse. She rose and pulled on her robe then leaned against the window frame, looking out at the privy. He was gone a good long while and the slow passing of time was unbearable. She straightened as she saw the door open and make his way towards the cabin, hand clutching his gut. Leona was suddenly hopeful, for the first time in five dreadful years.

She approached him slowly as he entered the kitchen. She had enough experience to know that an injured copperhead made a much more dangerous snake.

"You OK, Titus? Kin I get ya anythin'?" She asked

"Water. Dry as dust."

Leona returned with a cool glass of spring water. He drank it down in six enormous gulps. He thrust it out and she filled it full once more.

"How ya feelin?"

"Like dogshit. Stomach hurtin'. My throat's dry. I'm still having trouble with my eyes. Kind of blurry. Dinner just came up."

"I'll make something up fer ya. Kill some of them cramps. Keep it from comin' up."

"Fine." she made him a strong key from ginger root when she helped him into bed. By the time it worked the cramps had eased and he drifted off to sleep, passing a noxious smelling gas.

By the next evening Titus' vision had gotten worse; his eyes were drooping and he complained of seeing double. He was weak and Leona had to support him to the outhouse several times. His bowels seemed packed solid. He used a bedpan to pass water. The tea and other herbs kept the vomiting to a minimum. Leona checked him every half hour or so, doing chores close by in case he called out for anything. At first, she started to weaken and thought about getting Doc Hamblin sooner than she planned. But each time, she would feel a small tickle in her womb, as if the new one was begging her for the chance that the last babies never had. Her conscience lost against her heart and Leona continued her vigil.

******

The third day began like the others. Sometime before dawn she made Titus some barley and carrot gruel then she helped him from bed to his chair in the living room so she could change the bed- linens. She emptied the bedpan and open the windows, allowing fresh air into the claustrophobic sickroom. She scrubbed the surface is in the room with a mixture of Borax and vinegar. The little jobs were soothing. Familiar routine help calm her and the homemade lemon Polish that she applied to the dresser and bed said help cover the Six Mile of the room, elevating her mood a bit she found herself smiling, and without realizing it, began to hum. Then abruptly, with a queasy twist to her gut, she knew she was being watched.

Titus stood unsteadily, leaning against the doorjamb, his bulk filling the opening.

"Whatcha grinnin' fer?'  

Leona quailed under his glare.

"Why ya' singin'?"

She backed away slowly. He moved a step toward her, anger Giving him a surge of energy.

Ya never do thet shit. Why ya doin' it now?"

"No reason, Titus I jist fergot myself fer a minute!"

Titus' eyes followed each of her movements, like a panther pursuing a stray calf.

"Ya got no reason to be this happy, Whatcha up to?"

A sudden look of guilt and panic flashed across Leona's face and his eyes narrowed in response.

What the fuck have ya done to me, woman?" He pressed closer. "I ain't never bin this sick in my life!"

"Nothin", Titus! I ain't done nothin'!" She felt her chin quiver and bit her lips as tears filled her eyes. She could not think as that natural, mindless fear of him took charge of her.

it came quickly, that moment when his pupils slammed down into tiny black pinpoints of madness. Leona saw it happen and as he made a sudden grab for her, she eluded him, fainting to the left then running swiftly under his outstretched right arm, making for the door senses hound from living years as his prey, she felt him right behind her, then a surge of hope as she heard him stumble and start to fall. Titus threw out his arms in a final burst of strength, caught her ankles, and brought her to the floor with a crashing thud that knocked the breath from her body.

He slowly drew her towards him Leona dug her fingers into the floor, grabbed at the hooked rug, flailed at the legs of the horsehair sofa. He was relentless; Her tiny frame was no match for his rage. A few agonizing moments and she ended up face up pinned beneath his weight as he reared above her, knees holding her arms down. Looking into her eyes, he laughed unsteadily.

"Ya think I'd let ya live after doin' this to me?"

"I ain't done nothin', I swear it!"

"Shoulda done this years ago. Never trust a goddamned woman."

He wrapped his beefy fingers at the base of her throat and squeezed. Leona writhed underneath him, squirming in desperation. Trapped and unable to strike back, she struggled for air, just one more lungful of life. Keziah's sweet face floated in front of her and she was filled with sorrow that she would never hold her daughter again. Titus would be able to do anything he wanted to Keziah, without Leona there to take the blows. Her lungs burned and her sight grew dim. Leona could no longer struggle as she felt something warm flood her thighs. Her final feeling was the despair of knowing she had failed the new baby as well. She let herself slip Into darkness.

                                                              ******

A sharp pain ripped through Leona as long-denied air filled her chest. Dazed, she opened her eyes, finding it hard to focus. She struggled for more breath before realizing that Titus' enormous weight lay across her. It took several minutes for her to wiggle free from the inert mass that pinned her down. Paralysis had taken him over and there was no need to fear him now. She stood weakly, then steeled herself to look down at her legs. Her eyes filled with tears.

She had simply wet herself as her bladder had released toward the end of the struggle. There was no sign of blood. The new child was safe. Leona began to weep as relief and joy filled her heart. No longer in a hurry, she cried as long and hard as she needed.

                                                              *******

When Leona had exhausted her weeping she crept closer to her husband and rolled him over. His eyes were half-closed and his breathing was ragged. He uttered a desperate groan as she leaned closer. looking deep as she tried to find something human within him.

"I'm pregnant agin, Titus."

She saw a slow dawning of realization in his eyes. "Tjis un'll never know a day of pain at your hands, you sorry son of a bitch!"

Fear and panic filled his face but his muscles were long past obeying his will. Not even his desire to kill her could provide the needed motivation, and he knew it.

"Ya need to lie thar a bit longer, then I'll fetch the doctor. Won't be a damned thing he kin do by then. Ya cain't speak, yer muscles cain't move. Even if yer still alive when we git back, ya won't be able to tell him a thing."

A smile twisted her lips.

"Hell, ya always was a fool fer a mess of green beans!"

Leona stood, back straight, shoulders square. She felt herself grow stronger before Titus' eyes and saw terror for another human being fill his face for the first time in his wasted life. Stripping the damp dress off, she walked to the basin and wiped the traces of urine from her thighs she caught Titus watching as she ran a hand over her gently curving belly.

"I think this un's a boy." She smiled serenely. "I'm namin' him after my Daddy."

Leona slipped a fresh cotton dress over her head. She left the room without another glance and took her Bible down from the mantle before settling in the rocker on the porch. A mourning dove called through the clearing as smoky columns of fog wound through the trees. A bright red dawn painted the Tennessee sky. This morning, the first morning of her liberty, seemed to call out for the Old Testament. Leona opened the book at random and she read the first passage to leap from the page

LEV. 26.6-

"and I will give peace in the land. And ye shall lay down and none shall make you afraid."

A free and tremulous laugh pealed from her throat, clear as a brass church bell, and echoed across the mountain.