Candace McCarthy (18 page)

When the meeting was over, Daniel and the warriors stood. Daniel nodded to each warrior as they filed past him while they left. When everyone was gone, except for Daniel and Black Hawk, Daniel held out his hand to his friend. Black Hawk clasped it. “You have been a great friend to me, Black-Hawk-Who-Hunts-at-Dawn.”

The brave smiled as he shook the man’s hand, then released it. “You will have a chance to do much for this man,” Black Hawk said. “You will make me a new knife?”

Daniel grinned. “Of course. And a new iron kettle for your cook fire.”

“Miigwech,”
the Indian said. “Dan-yel has been a good friend to this brave.” He paused. “You will be ready to go when my people have taken to their sleeping mats?”

“I’ll be ready.” Daniel started for the door.

“Good.” Black Hawk followed the white man outside. “You will have much to say to Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend.”

The blacksmith eyed his friend solemnly. “I may have much to say. I can only hope that she will listen.”

“You must make her listen to you, my friend. I say this for her protection as well as ours.”

“I will make her listen,” Daniel said.

* * *

Amelia stood at the edge of the lake and watched the pattern of ripples made by the stone she’d recently tossed into the water. It was a warm day for this area in September. The water looked inviting, but she knew it was cold to the touch. The autumn evenings had been chilly, giving little opportunity for the lake to stay heated from the day’s sun.

It was not the first time that she’d come to the lake. On that initial occasion, Amelia had come with Spring Blossom and several other Indian women. That was two days past, when they’d come to bathe off their ceremonial face and greasepaint. The Ojibwa matrons had had no qualms about diving into the cold water. Amelia, thinking the water warm, had jumped in as well only to find the temperature too uncomfortable for her to stay long.

The lake was a good size, but it wasn’t Lake Superior, the gargantuan body of water located near the end of the river they’d utilized near the mission.

Amelia marveled that this vast wilderness had so many lakes, rivers, and streams. There was an ample water supply for everyone … and a food supply as well. On the marshlands about the lakes, wild rice grew on long blades of swamp grass. Yesterday, Amelia had gone out with Spring Blossom to harvest the rice. She got her first ride in a birch-bark canoe, a light boat that was ingeniously made. She’d been scared initially, for the craft didn’t seem strong enough to transport them safely across the water. Once seated with the Indian maiden and her brother, Thunder Oak, Amelia realized that the canoe was indeed safe, safe and easy to maneuver in the marshes where the rice grasses grew.

Usually there would be only one woman and one man in a rice-gathering boat, for the rice kernels were knocked off the grass into the hull of the craft, and a third person
would take up room necessary for the harvest. Spring Blossom had suggested that Amelia come, to see how it was done, and to enjoy some time away from her worries.

It was a fascinating thing to watch—the harvest of the wild rice. While Amelia and Thunder Oak sat in the canoe, Spring Blossom stood with a
bawa’iganaak
—a stick that she used to knock the rice kernels from the grass into the hull of the boat. When the canoe was as full as having three people in it would allow, Thunder Oak brought the craft in, where Spring Blossom along with some of the other village women emptied the canoe and began the process of drying the kernels for use and storage. Once dried, the wild rice was packed in containers made of birch bark and either buried in the ground, kept in the individual’s wigwam, or stored in a small hut built especially for that use.

Amelia had been fascinated with the whole process. As she learned more and more about the Ojibwa way of life, many of her fears concerning the Indians had died. She realized that the whites—be they American, British, or French—didn’t fully understand the People, or they’d never have labeled them savages to be feared or killed.

As Amelia studied the water of the lake, she thought of how she’d felt when she first came here. The women she’d encountered had been bare-breasted. The children up to the age of seven or so ran about naked and without shame, unless it was chilly, in which case they wore moccasins on their feet and clothes made from the white man’s fabric or fur wraps tanned by their mothers’ own hands.

She glanced down at her pile of belongings and pulled out her green dress for laundering. With no soap as she knew it, she simply dragged the garment through the water, dunking and rinsing, until she thought it clean.
When she was done, she squeezed out the excess water and draped the gown over a tree branch to dry in the sun.

This day she wore the doeskin tunic. She found it more comfortable than she’d thought she would. She enjoyed the freedom of movement beneath the garment, where she wasn’t hampered by chemise or petticoats.

She sat down on a rock baked warm by the bright sunshine, and thought about her father … and Daniel and Susie and even the missing Jane.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the heat of the day on her face, listening to the sounds made by the forest … a bird squawking from a distant tree … the leaves in the treetops rustling as a gentle breeze swept through them.

Amelia relished the quiet moment alone to think. Her mind filled with Daniel’s image. Her skin tingled as she recalled how it felt to know his touch. Her blood warmed as she remembered how well they’d fit together as woman and man.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “In my heart, I know it was wrong to have done what I’ve done with him, but it didn’t feel wrong.” It felt wonderful and right … even though she was sure she had no future with him.

Remember your father,
an inner voice taunted.

“How can I not? I came here to be with him, to take care of him. In this I’ve failed, because I don’t even know where he is!”

“Amelia.”

She gasped and spun around. Daniel had come up behind her so silently, she didn’t know he was there until he’d spoken. She rose from the rock as she noted something in his expression. “What? What is it?” She bit her lip. “My father—he’s not dead, is he?”

He came to her quickly and caught her by the shoulders. “No, love, no.”

She frowned with concern as she studied him. “Then, what?”

He hesitated before answering. “We’re leaving tonight. Black Hawk and the others believe they’ve found the village where the missionaries and your father were taken.”

Her brown eyes brightened. “Do I sense a but?”

He nodded. “Amelia, I’m sorry, but you can’t come with us. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but we’ll be traveling hard, and Black Hawk—and I—think it would be better, and safer for us all, if you stay here until we get back.”

“All right.”

“Please don’t be angry—”

She shook her head.

“I know you have been going half crazy with worry about your father, but I’ll be there for you. If he’s there, I’ll bring him home.” He stopped and frowned, as if just realizing what she’d said. “Did you say—”

“All right,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be happy to wait here with Susie until you come back.” She was happy and excited. Finally, someone would be looking for her father. She’d never expected to go with them; she just wanted someone, anyone, to go.

Daniel looked at her a moment as if he couldn’t quite believe that she would agree so easily. “You’re not planning on following us after we leave?”

Her shock must have shown on her face, for he instantly looked contrite. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect you to be so reasonable about this.”

“What? You were expecting an argument from Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend?” she teased him.

He chuckled, but it was a weak sound. He still looked unsure of her.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked. She wasn’t angry that he doubted her. He knew how much she wanted to see her father again, but what he hadn’t realized, perhaps until now, was that she trusted him completely. She wouldn’t risk the life of the man she loved, or his child, just because she was impatient.

“It’s a good two days’ journey to the Sioux village. Add two days back and the time we’ll have to spend rescuing your father—” He frowned as he thought. “A week, I’d say. Maybe sooner, maybe a few days more.”

Amelia nearly groaned aloud. “A whole week?”

Daniel touched her face. “I’m afraid so.” He studied her as if he was reading below the surface. “You’ll stay here, won’t you? You’ll watch over Susie for me?”

She nodded. She would stay and care for Daniel’s child.

“Miigwech,”
he said, before he kissed her.

She didn’t answer him. She slipped her arms about his neck, and arched up against him, responding to the kiss. Desire flared; her love for him burned inside her, longing to break free in an admission of her feelings. She held it in check, allowing herself the luxury of touching him, kissing him. Until she had her father back and until she was sure of Daniel’s true feelings for her … and for his dead or missing wife, she would hold on to the secret truth of her heart’s desire.

Daniel left her that night with a kiss and a promise to return soon and, if possible, with her father. Amelia clung to him as they kissed. She watched as he hugged his daughter, then slipped away into the night with Black Hawk’s band of Ojibwa warriors.

Susie forgot her animosity toward Amelia in her concern for her father. “He’ll be all right, won’t he, Miss Amelia?” she asked.

Amelia gave her a reassuring smile. “He’s with Black Hawk,” she said. “He’ll be fine.” She hoped she was right as she placed her arm around the little girl’s shoulders and led her back to the wigwam. “I spoke earlier with your pa. Will you mind too terribly if we go back to the cabin in a couple of days?”

The child met her gaze. “I won’t mind.”

Her answer surprised Amelia, who had been certain that Susie would want to stay and play with her Ojibwa friends. “I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the house and your pa’s shop.”

Susie nodded, and united by their concern for Daniel, they continued toward the lodge. Amelia felt hopeful that her relationship with Daniel’s daughter would improve.

She hadn’t lied when she told Susie she’d spoken to Daniel about returning to the house and shop. Because of her, Daniel had been absent from his home and his business
for too long. She wanted to do something in return for him. Although Jack Keller and Rebb Colfax were nearby, Amelia felt it would be better if the house didn’t remain vacant. Remembering that there were characters out in the wilderness like Thomas Kertell made her worry about the safety of Daniel’s property. Who was to stop even the most innocent visitor from helping himself to some of Daniel’s things?

When she’d approached Daniel with the idea of going home, he’d been hesitant at first. Then, to her amazement, he appeared relieved.

“Just stay for two days more until Thunder Oak returns from another village. I’ll talk with Black Hawk. I’ll feel better if I know that you and Susie will have Black Hawk’s brother for an escort.”

“All right,” she said. “I’ll wait.” She didn’t want to worry him.

“And you’ll not leave the trading post until after my return? Not for anything? It’s important that you promise me this, Amelia.”

“I promise I won’t leave. Not for anything.”

She was glad she’d made the promise when she saw his relief.

As she’d stared into his blue eyes, she’d been over-whelmed with the magnitude of her love for him. “I’ll take good care of Susie,” she whispered.

“I know you will.” He held her gaze captive. The sun made his blond hair glisten like a halo. His gaze was the most beautiful color of a clear autumn sky. His mouth tilted in a crooked smile.

“Come back safely, Daniel.” She loved the way he looked. He was so handsome, he stole her breath. She couldn’t think of him without remembering how perfectly
their bodies had fit together, how wonderfully he’d made love to her.

His gaze glowed as if he’d shared her thoughts. “I’ll be back soon—and with your father.”

He didn’t say it, but she heard the end of his thought.
If he is there, I’ll return him to you.

“We’ll be waiting for you.”

And then Daniel was gone. She wanted to go after him and beg him to stay. The realization that he was putting himself in grave danger to help save someone she loved upset her greatly. She felt torn between wanting her father’s safe return and wanting Daniel Trahern to remain.

Thunder Oak returned to the village the next afternoon, and it was the day after that he, Two Teeth, and Little Squirrel led Amelia and Susie on the trail that would take them home.

When they arrived at the trading post, they stopped to see Jack Keller first. Jack was surprised, but pleased to see them. “Why good noon to you, little ladies,” he greeted Amelia and Susie. He fixed his gaze on the Indians who’d accompanied them.

“Aaniin,”
Jack said with a nod for each of the braves. He asked after Daniel, and Amelia explained his absence.

“They’ve found a Sioux village where there were white captives,” Amelia said. “He’s gone with Black Hawk and a party of Black Hawk’s men.”

Thunder Oak stood silently behind Amelia as she spoke with Jack and waited for Daniel’s key. He said something to Jack in Ojibwa. Jack answered, and the Indian seemed satisfied with his reply.

Amelia looked to Jack, then to Susie, for an explanation of what had been said, but neither offered a comment. Jack turned behind the counter to look for something.

“I don’t know how long he’ll be gone, Jack.”

Jack smiled as he spun back with Daniel’s key. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Amelia accepted the key, then with Thunder Oak and his men trailing behind her and Susie, she went to the cabin.

Thunder Oak stopped her from entering the house. He murmured some words in Ojibwa.

“He said he will check the house for unwelcome visitors,” Susie said.

“Miigwech.”
Amelia gazed at the brave. He was a fierce-looking warrior with his head plucked of all hair but for a small tuft on his crown. He was Black Hawk’s brother, but he didn’t look like Black Hawk or even the other brother, Rain-from-Sky. As savage as he might appear, he’d treated her with nothing but respect. Nervous during the first leg of their journey, she’d quickly lost her fear as Thunder Oak and his friends proved themselves to be helpful and considerate escorts. They stopped whenever she needed a rest, ate whenever she decided she was hungry, and allowed her the privacy she desired when she needed to relieve herself.

Thunder Oak said something to his friends before he disappeared inside the house. One of the other braves apparently went to search out the smithy. The third warrior stayed on the front porch to guard the woman and the little girl. Soon, they all returned and through a series of hand signals and Ojibwa proclaimed both places safe for entry.

Amelia entered, holding Susie’s hand, releasing the child’s hand only when she herself felt safe. Amelia turned to the warriors with the intention of thanking them, only to note with surprise that they seemed to have settled in for a visit. She looked to Susie for help. Susie, understanding the silent message, spoke to the braves. Thunder
Oak replied, and Susie translated. “He said he will stay until Pa’s return.”

“Stay?” Amelia echoed. “Where?”

Susie knew the answer without asking. “They will make camp outside the cabin. It is his duty to protect us, and he is an honorable warrior.”

Amelia was startled by the Ojibwa’s intention to remain. “They’re going to set up a wigwam outside?”

The little girl smiled. Thunder Oak said something to Susie, and Susie responded.

“Thunder Oak said that he and his friends would sleep under the stars.”

“No,” Amelia said. “Tell them they can stay in your pa’s shop.”

Susie nodded and translated. Thunder Oak stared at Amelia for a long moment, and Amelia gazed back, wondering what he was thinking. Finally, the brave gave an affirmative jerk of his head. He said something to Susie. Susie answered.

“He said that he will stay in Pa’s smithy.”

Amelia smiled. “Good.” It would feel strange to have the warriors around for a time, but she understood and appreciated their concern for her and Susie’s welfare. Amelia wondered if Daniel didn’t have a hand in arranging this protection.

“Ask them if they are hungry. Tell them I will make them something to eat.”

“Giwii-wiisin ina?”

One of the braves answered.

“He said that their bellies are still full from their last meal. If Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend will make food when the sun disappears from the evening sky, they would be grateful to eat then.”

“All right,” Amelia said, and everyone exchanged smiles.

They followed the river on which they’d learned the Sioux had escaped until they came to some abandoned canoes. There, Daniel, Black Hawk, and his men found tracks leading from the canoes into the wilderness—tracks made by men and horses. The Sioux were the people of open spaces; they used horses overland like the Ojibwa and other woodland tribes used their canoes over the waterways. Bringing their horses into this territory couldn’t have been easy. Daniel wondered where they’d kept them during the attack, for he’d seen no sign of the animals. And they’d couldn’t have taken them in a canoe.

The party followed the trail for a day and the morning of another until they came to wide-open land, the home of the Sioux Indians. Here the territory seemed drier, dustier, but Daniel decided it was perhaps an illusion produced by the lack of shade. Here keeping their presence hidden would be harder, as the woodland dwellers had mostly rocks and hills to hide behind.

They kept to the forest until dark, before venturing on Sioux land. The encampment was not far, located near a stream. They would check out the village at night, where their presence wouldn’t be easy to detect. This wasn’t the first Sioux village that Black Hawk had laid siege to, but their plan this day was not to attack, but to learn about the white captives. Later, they would execute a plan to rescue them. They would have to be careful, for the Sioux attacked their enemies at night; they would have guards to protect their own.

The time until darkness dragged slowly for Daniel. His desire to find and rescue Amelia’s father and her friend
was great. He had failed to find his sister; he would not fail this time. At dusk they moved into the rocky hills, where they drank from their waterskins, ate the pemmican they’d brought with them, and waited without speaking.

The night brought them a glimpse of the cook fire within the Sioux village, a beacon that would lure them directly to the encampment, and allow them a certain amount of light in which to observe the villagers and their captives.

Dressed in dark buckskin jackets, leggings, and loincloths, Daniel and his Indian friends smeared their faces with dark greasepaint, then headed out into the night to spy on the Sioux.

Daniel was gone an awfully long time, and Amelia was worried. She’d stayed close to the cabin and the trading post, tending a small garden she’d found that Daniel had planted, taking orders for Daniel’s shop.

She missed him. She felt his presence in everything around her, but it wasn’t the same thing. After a week had passed, and he still hadn’t returned, she wished he’d come with or without her father. She had a missing father; the thought of Daniel never coming back frightened her as much as if they’d been husband and wife.

Husband and wife.
Daniel had had a wife, a wife that he’d lost through tragic circumstances. A wife he couldn’t forget until he’d learned the truth of her disappearance.

Amelia felt guilty. She wondered if Daniel’s frustration in not finding Jane had made him anxious to rescue her father … so he wouldn’t feel like he’d failed again.

Just come back to me. You may not want me in any way but the physical, but I don’t care. I just want you
back here and alive. Susie needs you, and I need to know you’re safe … even if you can never be mine.

The situation with their Ojibwa guards had worked well after the first day of her feeling awkward with them around. They stayed mostly to themselves, entertaining Susie when she went in to see them. They took their meals in the shop, slept in the shop, but spent most of their time outside, walking about the house, yard, and trading-post area.

They had stayed for three days when a messenger came from Thunder Oak’s village requesting that the warriors return. The brave was hesitant about leaving.

“Tell him it will be all right,” Amelia said to Susie. “Tell him we’ve Jack and guns to protect us, that his first duty is to his people, who need him at this hour.”

Susie translated what she could, and the brave finally agreed.

“Miigwech,
Thunder Oak,” Amelia said, as the men came to say their farewells. She handed him some cakes she’d made. She’d seen how the Ojibwa had developed a love of her sweet baked goods.

The fierce-looking warrior grinned, making him look a bit like a little boy.

“Giminikwe na?”
Susie said. She translated for Amelia. “I asked if he is thirsty.”

The brave gazed at Susie with an expression softened by affection and shook his head.

Amelia thought how wrong the people back East were when it came to the Indians. They were not savages; they were people just like the whites. Their skin color was different, and so were their beliefs, but they rarely mistreated their wives or children. Amelia scowled. Something that couldn’t be said about the “civilized” white men.

As she watched them leave, Amelia realized that she
would miss them. She understood Daniel’s concern for the Ojibwa and all Indians who wished nothing more than to live their lives as they have for centuries. She’d learned a great deal from the People. It had been an experience she’d never forget.

Her thought went briefly to her sister Rachel back in Baltimore. Rachel would have been horrified to know that her sister had spent time in an Indian village. Her beautiful younger sibling enjoyed the finer things in life: the creature comforts of living in the city, the attention lavished on her by a series of handsome, sophisticated young men.

Amelia glanced down at herself and smiled. She wore the doeskin dress. Spring Blossom had insisted she take it when she left. Amelia had agreed, because despite her initial feelings about the dress, she’d found the garment more comfortable than her own wardrobe.

The two females were now alone, but for Jack Keller in his trading post across the way. Amelia glanced at Susie and smiled.

“I’m going to miss them,” she said.

Susie looked surprised. “You will?”

Amelia nodded. “They’ve been wonderful to us.”

The little girl agreed. “When will Pa be back, Miss Amelia?”

“Soon, Susie, soon.”

Tears filled the child’s blue eyes, eyes so like Daniel’s that at times Amelia found herself looking at Susie because it made her feel closer to the man.

“I miss him,” Susie said.

Amelia hugged the little girl to her side. “I miss him, too,” she said softly. If he didn’t return soon, she’d go out of her mind with worry. She wanted desperately for Daniel to return—with or without her father. She couldn’t bear
if anything happened to the man who’d become important to her.