Deborah Camp (5 page)

Elise pivoted to face the room again and search for any other signs of Julia. She found them in a doily and in a bud vase, in an ivory hand mirror tucked behind a shaving stand and in a book of poetry being used as a lid for a jar of honey. She knew she’d find other feminine touches in the bedroom
with the iron bedstead, but she didn’t go looking. She’d be trespassing in there.

“What am I doing?” she muttered, sitting heavily in one of the kitchen chairs again. “I’ve got more important things to think about.”

Her husband, for one. Husband! She smothered a shiver by hugging herself tightly. What a kettle of fish she’d landed herself in!

“Elise?”

Nearly jumping out of her skin, she looked in the direction of the sleepy voice and motioned her sister closer. “So you’re awake. That was a nice nap, hmmm? Come sit with me, Penny.”

Penny held up her arms to let Elise lift her onto her lap; then she looked around curiously. “Who lives he-ow?”

Elise smiled in response to her sister’s speech problem. R’s didn’t roll off her tongue. “We live here now. Know what? We’re going to work on pronouncing your
r
’s. I had trouble with them when I was your age, too, and Mama taught me how to say them.”

“I miss Mama.”

“Me, too.” Elise fought back tears as she had done for the past six weeks since her parents’ death. She’d allowed herself to cry once at the funeral. Since then, she’d been too busy, too frantic, to cry.

“Is this the Injun’s home?”

“Penny, don’t say it like that. It’s
Indian
. Yes, this is the
Indian’s
home, and now it’s our home.”

“Adam’s, too?”

“Adam is staying nearby. We’ll visit each other. That’ll be fun, won’t it?”

“How come he can’t stay with us?”

“Because he went to live with that other family
for a while.” She smoothed Penny’s hair back from her forehead. “This is a nice place, don’t you think? We’ll be happy here.”

“I guess. Where’s my Inju—Indian?”

Elise nodded her approval. “His name is Blade Lonewolf and he’s out doing his chores, I suppose.” She kissed the top of Penny’s head. “He’s part of our family now.”

Penny drew back to look into her sister’s face. “He is? How come?”

“I … he …” Elise shook her head, finding the explanation nearly impossible. “He adopted you, and I married him.”

“Why’d you do that?”

“So that we could be a family.” Elise held her breath, wondering how Penny would take this news. Penny rubbed her eyes vigorously, and Elise thought for a moment that she was on the verge of breaking into sobs, but when she removed her hands, her eyes were dry.

“I’m hungwee.”

Elise released her breath in a sigh. “I bet you are hungry. You haven’t eaten anything since early this morning.”

“Will you tell the cook I’d like some eggs and biscuits?”

“The cook …” Elise chewed on her lower lip. Cooking was now her responsibility. Maybe that would be a way to make Blade want to keep her around. She set Penny on her feet and stood. “Let me have a look around and see what I can stir up.”

“You? You gonna cook?”

“Yes, Penny, I am,” Elise said with confidence ringing in her voice. “It can’t be all that difficult. I
can’t promise eggs and biscuits, but I’ll serve up something edible, I assure you.”

She looked in vain for a cookbook, but only managed to locate a bowl of eggs and half a loaf of bread on the verge of growing mold. Standing back, she stared at the cold cookstove, trying to figure out how to build a fire in it. About a dozen sticks of wood were stacked beside it, plus a few lumps of coal. Which one should she use, and what could she use to strike a flame?

The light changed in the room and Elise glanced around, thinking that Blade had returned. Suddenly a head poked through the curtains covering the kitchen window, and Elise swallowed a cry of alarm. She stared at the woman’s big grin and reddish-blond, flyaway hair.

“Hey, there, missy! You look too old to be adopted.” Her blue eyes spied Penny, hiding behind Elise’s skirts. “Hold up. You’re the one he went into town fer, ain’t ya?” She looked at Elise again. “Was it buy two for the price of one?”

Elise managed a quick smile. “In a manner of speaking, yes. I’m Elise St.—er, St. John.” She shrugged, momentarily confused by her own identity. She was married, but her husband didn’t want her. Should she take the name of a man who wanted to be rid of her? “Oh, and this is my sister, Penny,” she added, remembering her manners.

“Glad to meet up with ya. I’m Airy Peppers. Where’s Blade?”

“Outside somewhere. The barn maybe. Should I call him for you, Mrs. Peppers?”

“Nah, and you can call me Airy.”

“Thank you. I was just … just going to make tea. Would you care for a cup?” The social pleasantries of her former life returned to her as easily as last
season’s dance steps, but she could tell by Airy Peppers’s baffled expression that her invitation was out of place.

“Tea, huh? Why, sure.” She bobbed her head to one side. “Unlatch that door and let me in.”

Elise opened the door to the woman, who strode in as if she was quite familiar with the house and its occupants.

“Are you a neighbor?”

“That’s right. I live ’bout two miles from here as the crow flies. Through them backwoods.” She gestured north, where trees grew closer together behind the cabin, then grinned at Penny. “Hi, thar, purty girl. You sure have brought a ray of sunshine into this gloomy old place.”

Airy’s boots sounded like gunshots as she crossed the plank floor to the stove. She eyed it, then touched a finger to the top. “Tea, huh? How you gonna brew tea on a stove that’s as cold as my great-grandpappy’s pecker?” She glanced over her shoulder with a grimace. “Pardon. I fergot about them young ears. Anyways, don’t you think you ought to fire ’er up?”

“You must be the cook!” Penny rushed to the woman and tugged on her split skirt. “I would like eggs and biscuits, please.”

“Penny, she isn’t the cook,” Elise said, mortified. “She’s our guest. We must cook for
her
.”

Airy planted her hands on her bony hips and stared at Elise as if she were the town oddity. “You cook, do you? Just what were you in mind of cooking, besides tea, missy?”

“Uh … eggs and biscuits. Would you care for some?” Elise prayed she would refuse.

“Sure, why not?” Airy sat in one of the kitchen chairs and waved toward the stove. “Get cracking.
I’ll just watch. Maybe you’ve got a biscuit recipe different from mine. I’m always interested in learning something new.”

“Very well.” Elise tried to smile as she approached the stove. She looked at the fuel stacked beside it and reached for a lump of coal. “I suppose I’ll use this to start the fire.” She handled it carefully, using only her thumb and forefinger. With her other hand, she opened the fire door and tossed the coal inside. “There.”

“You gonna cook in that get-up?”

Elise looked down at her dress and knew she must appear ridiculous to this woman. With a sigh, she surrendered her pitiful show of self-sufficiency. “You know how to start a fire in this stove, don’t you? Would you mind helping me? Penny’s hungry and I’m at a loss … my clothes … I haven’t even unpacked. He just brought us here and left! He told me to leave, too, but I’m not going anywhere without my sister. Besides, we’re married and I’m honor-bound now to stay and make the best of—”

“Whoa up thar!” Airy pushed to her feet and thrust her face near Elise’s. She poked a finger in one ear and jiggled it. “Did I hear you say something about a marriage?”

“Yes.” Elise forced herself to calm down. “I married Blade Lonewolf this morning at the Rugged Cross Church.”

“Holy smokes!” Airy’s blue eyes stretched to their limits. “Why did you go and do that for?”

“To stay close to my sister. They weren’t going to let him adopt Penny unless he had a white wife. If they put Penny back on the train, she’d be taken off somewhere, away from me and Adam—”

“Who’s that?”

“Our brother. He was adopted by a judge.”

“Judge Mott?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Oh.” Airy looked away. “Well, that’s some story. I can’t believe Blade would … and he told you to hit the road, did he?”

“Yes, but I won’t. I’m going to cook and clean for him. I’ll earn my keep.” She glared at the stove, which was quickly becoming her enemy. “If you’d show me how to light that thing, I’d be most grateful.”

“Honey, when was the last time you cooked up a meal?”

Elise smiled, feeling inept. “Never, but I want to try. I
must
try.”

“You got any plain dresses? I’d hate to see you ruin that one.”

“Yes, I have some suitable for working in.”

“You go change and I’ll gather up some fuel for this here stove.” Airy made a face at the sticks of wood beside it. “Shoot, that ain’t enough to get this here stove lukewarm. Go on, and then I’ll show you how to work this contraption. Once we get ’er going, I’ll share my biscuit recipe with you and we’ll fry up some eggs while we’re at it. Go on now. Me and little Penny will go fetch some wood.”

“You’re very kind,” Elise said, hurrying to the smaller bedroom to change. “Have you known Mr. Lonewolf long?”

“Long enough to know that he ain’t called lone wolf for nothin’,” she said, then herded Penny out of the cabin.

Elise stared after them and tears burned the backs of her eyes.

“
I won’t cry
, she thought with firm resolve, but
a single tear defied her to wet a path down her cheek.

Blade stared at the steaming platters of fried eggs and potatoes, golden biscuits, and the big bowl of milk gravy. He lifted his gaze slowly to Elise.

“
You
cooked this,” he said, then tried again. “You cooked
this
.”

Elise hid her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers. “Yes, that’s right. Aren’t you hungry?”

He removed his sweat-stained hat and hung it on a peg. “I thought I saw Airy’s mule outside earlier.”

Elise watched as he ran a hand roughly through his blue-black hair, making it fall across his forehead and the tops of his ears. Even across the room, she could smell him—earthy, tangy, spicy. She sniffed, liking the aroma of a hardworking man.

“Well?” He lifted one of his thick brows.

Elise gave a start and forced her thoughts away from his stirring presence. “Airy … oh, yes. Your neighbor. Yes, she stopped by and I told her I was your new wife. She was quite surprised.”

He smirked. “
I’m
surprised that she believed you. She expected me to return with a child, not a wife.”

Elise shrugged with indifference. “Won’t you wash up? Dinner’s getting cold.”

“Let’s eat,” Penny demanded.

“Wait one more minute,” Elise said, gesturing to her to quit fidgeting in the chair. “Sit up straight and act like a lady, Penelope Joanne.”

Blade ambled over to the washstand. He poured a couple of inches of water from the bucket into the shallow porcelain bowl, then rolled up his shirtsleeves. Elise admired his muscled arms and long-fingered
hands. He worked the ball of lye soap into a lather and applied suds to his hands and arms, clear up to the elbows. Streaks of gray, soapy water ran down his arms to his wrists. After rinsing off, he reached for a towel hanging from a metal ring. Orange-tinted sunlight played over his clean arms.

Elise squinted, not believing her eyes for a few moments. What were those darker streaks? Had he missed a few dirty places? No … no, those were—Elise sucked in her breath, and he spun around. She pointed a shaky finger at him.

“I … I am sorry. I noticed your … those markings on your arms. They’re permanent?”

He examined his forearms and the faint blue lines running up them, interspersed by dots and arrowhead-shaped marks. “Yes, but they’re so faded, I hardly know they’re there anymore. I’ve had them since I reached manhood.” He held his arms out straight for Elise and Penny to inspect. “Marks of a warrior,” he said rather proudly, then swung a leg over the back of the nearest chair and sat in it. “Let’s eat.”

“How’d they do that to you?” Penny asked.

“Penny, I don’t think we need to hear that at the supper table,” Elise said.

Penny shrugged. “Okay.” She made a grab for the gravy.

“Not so fast, young lady,” Elise admonished. “You’ve forgotten something, haven’t you?”

Penny wrinkled her nose. “You do it.”

“Very well.” Elise looked across the table at Blade and tried not to stare at the tattoos on his arms. “Unless you’d like to lead us.”

“Lead you where?” His eyes twinkled, giving her a glimpse of his devilish nature. “I thought we were going to eat.”

Penny smothered a giggle behind her hands, and Elise offered an indulgent smile.

“Lead us in grace,” Elise said patiently. “You’re the head of this household, so I thought you might want the honor.”

He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms against his chest. The markings weren’t so terrible, she thought. He was right. They were hardly noticeable, but they branded him “different”—different from her in nearly every way. Could she and this man ever be comfortable with each other? His expression was too complex for her to read.

“You go ahead.” His voice was deep and rasping.

Elise conceded with a lift of her brows, then bowed her head. “Dear Lord, thank you for this lovely meal after an eventful day. Please bless this family and bless Adam’s new family. We are your faithful servants and your dutiful children. Amen.”

“Amen!” Penny said with more enthusiasm than was necessary; then she grabbed the gravy bowl again. “I want a biscuit.”

“ ‘Please,’ ” Elise instructed. “Remember your manners. Would you care for some eggs, Blade?”

He nodded and took the platter from her. “You didn’t have to put yourself out. I can cook for the girl.”

“The
girl
is called Penny, and I didn’t put myself out.”

That, at least, was the truth, she thought with an inner cringe. Airy had prepared the dinner, showing her how to build a fire in the stove, how to make biscuits, where the utensils were stored, and so many other things that Elise’s head had begun to spin.

While frying the eggs, Airy had cooked up the
scheme of letting Blade think that Elise had prepared the meal, and she’d promised to return tomorrow to teach her how to cook other types of food. Elise felt guilty, but she shared Airy’s belief that she had to make herself useful if she wanted to live on Blade Lonewolf’s homestead.