Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] (11 page)

Mercy bent over Mary Elizabeth’s cradle and wiped the baby’s chin. “She’s slobbering all over, Ma.”

“She’s cutting teeth. It’ll be like that for a while. Give her the sugar-tit to chew on.”

“I’m going to have lots of babies.”

“You’d better grow up first,” Amy said, looking up and smiling fondly at the fair-haired girl.

“Silly! I know that!” Mercy gave Mary Elizabeth the sugar-tit, then sat cross-legged on the floor beside the cradle and rocked it gently. “Why don’t you get one, Amy? I bet Rain would help you.”

“Mercy!” Liberty exclaimed. “For heaven’s sake! What kind of talk is that coming from a little girl?”

“I know about things like that. I know how a cow gets a calf. When I was at Grandma Maude’s, I saw Tally put a cow in with a mean old bull. I saw what he was doing before that bossy old Daniel made me get out of the barn. Grandma said the cow would get a calf and I could name it.”

“Daniel was right to make you leave. That isn’t a sight for a little girl to see.” Liberty turned away before Mercy could see the smile she was trying to suppress.

“Did Papa do that to make you get Zack and Mary Elizabeth?”

“Mercy!” Liberty whirled. She looked first at Mercy’s innocent face and then to Amy’s for help.

Amy stretched her long legs out in front of her and crossed her moccasined feet. She reached behind her and pulled the long, thick braid over her shoulder before she rested her head against the back of the chair and folded her arms over her chest.

“Tell us, Libby.”

“Oh, you! You’re no help at all.” Liberty glared at her sister.

“I know it doesn’t happen when you sit on Pa’s lap.” Mercy tilted her head and smiled knowingly up at Liberty. “Because your dress isn’t up. So there!”

Liberty threw her hands in the air. “Oh, for goodness sake!”

“I think you and Mercy had better have a talk,” Amy said, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice.

“If somebody don’t tell me I’ll ask . . . Mike.” Mercy got up and started for the door.

“Come back here, young lady. Don’t you dare say anything about this to Mike.”

“Why not? I asked Daniel and he said I was too young. Mike won’t think so. He said I was as tall as his sister and she was almost fourteen.”

“Being tall has nothing to do with it.”

“Well! Pearle Jackson wears rags every month and I’m as tall as she is.”

Liberty looked helplessly up at the ceiling. “I guess it is time you and I had a talk. Put on your shawl and we’ll walk down to the spring.”

*   *   *

The next morning a wagon carrying Elija, Maude and Tally came up the lane. The dog barked and Amy went to the window.

“Oh, for crying out loud! It’s Papa and Maude. Why that worthless dog doesn’t get up and bite them is beyond me.”

Liberty laughed. “Old Pike wouldn’t bite anyone if they were carrying off the house.”

“If Papa starts in on me again about marrying Tally—”

“He will and you know it. Just tell him firmly that you’ve made up your mind and then ignore him. Be nice, honey, we’ll be leaving soon.”

“Be nice!” Amy threw up her hands in disgust. “Being
nice
doesn’t get you anywhere with Papa when he’s got his mind set.”

Liberty went to the door. Amy stood by the window and watched the source of her irritation pull to a stop in front of the house, then she went to her room in order to delay as long as possible the meeting with her parent.

“We’ve come to help you get things squared away for the trip,” Maude said brightly in the way of a greeting, and handed down several baskets of food. “Tally, take the horses to the barn and see what you can do to help Farr. Elija dear, carry the baskets into the house.”

Elija obeyed, then began grumbling as soon as he was sure Farr was not in the house to hear him.

“I’ll swear, Libby. I thought ya had more sense ’n what ya got. By jigger! The idea of pullin’ foot ’n agoin’ off to the wilds is pure harebrained.”

“Tell it to Farr, Papa,” Liberty said evenly.

Elija looked at her with a disapproving scowl. “A man aroamin’ here ’n yon is one thin’, but a woman traipsin’ off with a bunch a younguns pure fogs a body’s mind. It’s plum dosey, is what it is.”

Liberty ignored him and turned to peek into Maude’s basket.

“You’ve brought dried apple pie,” she exclaimed. “My it’s been many a day since we’ve had apple pie. Would you like cream on it, Papa?”

“Thin’s just ain’t like they was back in my day,” Elija continued. He had a way of closing his ears when he had something to say. “I tell ya. I got my shortcomin’s jist like other folk, but I ain’t never done nothin’ so downright foolhardy as what yo’re adoin’.” He moved about restlessly, coughing and muttering his complaints in a droning voice.

“I swan to goodness, Mary Elizabeth! Come here to Granny.” Maude lifted the baby from the cradle. “Elija, look how this baby has grown. I declare! She’s goin’ to be a beauty is what she is.”

Elija grunted and glanced at the baby. “If’n she ain’t scalped by the heathens,” he said dismally.

Amy came down from the loft where she had retreated before her father came in. She walked past him and went to the door.

“Sister, ain’t ya got a howdy fer yore papa?”

“Howdy.”

“I got a thin’ to say, Sister—”

“I figured you did.” Amy snapped her teeth together and grimaced.

“As yore pa, I got a right to say my piece—”

“A cyclone couldn’t stop you from saying your piece,” she said crossly. Amy turned to face him, pushed her hands into her pockets, hunched her shoulders and waited.

“Ya ain’t got no business goin’ off into the wilds without a man to look out fer ya. I’d feel a mite easier if’n Tally went along—”

“If that’s all you’ve got to say, I’ve heard enough!”

“I knowed ya’d get yore back up. There ain’t no reasonin’ with a woman like ya are.”

“You’re right about one thing, Papa. I’m a woman, not a child. I choose my own man.”

“Ya think ya know it all, dad-burnit! Ya get yoreself all up in the air if’n I try to give ya some advice.”

“I don’t care a hoot for your advice,” Amy said cruelly. “Besides, Libby says advice is like croton oil. It’s good as long as someone else takes it.”

“Ya ain’t got no call to be saying that,” Elija whined, and his shoulders rose and fell expressively.

“I don’t want to argue with you, Papa,” Amy said in a kinder tone and turned away.

“I got my wind up ’n I’ll have my say!” Elija shouted so loud it frightened the baby and she began to cry.

Amy turned on him with an anger that threatened to make her eyes go out of focus.

“You can have your wind up all you want and you can have your
say,
but it doesn’t amount to a tinker’s damn!”

“There ya go. Ya always got ta belittle—”

Amy swore under her breath, spun on her heel to walk away, but turned back with an angry scowl on her face. She pointed her finger at her father.

“Listen to me for once in your life, Papa! I’m sick and tired of you pushing that jug-head at me. You try sending him along and I’ll fill his butt so full of shot he’ll never sit on it again!”

Elija sucked in his thin cheeks and pursed his lips. His gaunt shoulders sagged in defeat. “It’s a blessin’ yore ma ain’t livin’ to hear ya.”

“You always resort to that! It wasn’t my fault she died having me. She was just twice as old as your seven-year-old daughter when you married her. Men!” Amy snorted. “You couldn’t wait to get her to bed. No wonder you were willing to give me to Stith Lenning when I was only twelve years old.”

The tension that had been building in Amy for days had mounted to produce a splitting headache; all she wanted at that moment was to slip outside the house and disappear into the quiet woods. She pressed her fingertips to her temples and turned to the door. Elija’s words stopped her.

“I aim to send Tally—”

Amy whirled. Her clenched fists rested on her hips and her voice was shrill with anger. “Can’t you get it through your head that I don’t want him? If he comes with us I’ll stop off in Saint Louis and take a boat downriver to New Orleans. You’ll never hear from me again.”

“Yo’re hard, Sister.” Elija shook his head sadly. “By Jupiter yo’re hard.”

“Confound it! Keep your nose out of my business or you’ll find out how hard I am.” Amy picked up her rifle and slammed out of the house.

“Glory be! Women! They never listen to a man, but they can sure shoot off their mouths. I tell ya, ya’ll all go to rack ’n ruin. I jist don’t know what gets into Sister. She gets herself in a plaguey hobble over nothin’.”

“Amy does seem rather irritable today,” Maude said, and cast Elija a sympathetic smile.

Maude had put Amy’s mood mildly. She was furious, and as soon as she was alone, she allowed herself the luxury of several swear words. She took the path to the river, reached it and turned to walk along the rushing white water until she came to the knoll where Juicy was buried. For a moment she gazed down at the headboard Farr had so painstakingly carved. She concentrated on breathing deeply, hoping to calm her nerves. The old man who lay beneath the headboard had been father, grandfather, teacher, and the best friend she had ever had.

Blinking away the tears, she ran her hand caressingly over the top of the board before she moved to stand at the head of the only other grave in the small glade, that of Fawnella Quill.

Juicy had told her the story many times of how Farr, when he was a young boy, had taken the girl from a pair of crazed trappers. She could not speak and was never able to tell them anything about herself. Farr was devastated when she was killed by a Frenchman while he and Juicy were away from the cabin. For that reason, Juicy had been determined to teach Amy how to defend herself.

After a while Amy walked back down the path. At times she looked forward to the day Rain would return, and at other times she dreaded it. It was now near the end of March, and they had received no word from him or from Colby Carroll. She could tell that Farr was beginning to feel uneasy. He had hoped to be on the way by now. The March winds had dried the trails, and the farther south they traveled the warmer it would be.

Amy went down to the sawyer camp where Farr and Mike were working on the wagons. She was too late to turn back when she realized Tally was with them. He seemed to forget what he was doing when she approached and stood gawking at her with his mouth open.

“Hello, Tally.”

“Hel-lo, Miss Amy.” He always stammered when he spoke to her.

Amy could have almost liked Tally if not for Maude and her father. He worked hard and did what he was told. He was a big, strong man and not really unpleasant to look at, if she could forget about the placid, cowlike expression he usually wore on his face. He was not overly bright, but not really dumb, either. It was almost as if he didn’t have enough mind of his own to make a decision.

The thing about him that irritated her was the fact that he was so much under his mother’s thumb that he never spoke without first looking at her to get her approval. She wondered why they were willing to let him leave the farm and trail after her to the Arkansas. Did Maude and her father think she would be so desperate for a man she would marry him, and then he would have control over the money Juicy had left her? She decided to set him straight about that right now.

“I want to talk to you, Tally.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His eyes widened in surprise and he began to smile as he followed her a short distance from the loud rasp of the two-man saw Farr and Mike were using.

“I’m not going to marry you, Tally. Not ever.” Amy said the words bluntly and distinctively to be sure he understood them.

“Oh . . .” The smile faded from his face and a sorrowful look took its place.

“I don’t love you, and you don’t love me. You’ve let your mother and my father push me at you until you’ve not even looked at another girl. You should make your own choice. Not let them choose for you.”

“I chose you, Miss Amy.”

“But I don’t choose you,” Amy said kindly. “I don’t want to hurt you, Tally, but I want you to get all thoughts of marrying me out of your head.”

“There ain’t nobody pretty as you.”

“Pshaw! What about the Luscomb girl, or one of the Cash girls? And there’s Tom Treloar’s daughters. Susie is pretty. So are Betsy and Katy. Court one of them.”

“Ah . . . I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Well, Ma said—”

“There you go! ‘Ma said,’ ” she mimicked. “How old are you, Tally? Twenty-two? You’re a man, for land’s sake. Act like one and tell your mother to go suck eggs, that you’ll marry who and when you want to.” Amy wheeled and walked away from him.

“Miss Amy,” he called. “I sure would like to see the mountains.”

Amy gritted her teeth in frustration and didn’t answer.

Maude and Elija left in the middle of the afternoon, amid promises to return in a week. Amy had stayed away from the house most of the day to avoid another confrontation with her father. Tired and hungry, she returned in time to wave good-bye.

“You shouldn’t let Papa keep you away,” Liberty admonished. “Come have something to eat.”

“He makes me so mad I can hardly see straight.”

“Papa has a way of doing that. When I was younger I thought at times I hated him. Now I can only feel sorry for him.”

“Sorry for him! Lord have mercy, Libby. He’s never cared for anyone in his life but himself.”

“He cares for Maude.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute. He cares for what Maude has—the farm.”

“He works hard. She sees to it.”

“Then why is he wanting to send Tally off with us to the Arkansas? He’s the one who does the work out there. You can bet Papa does as little as he can get away with.”

“I’ve thought about that. They must plan on Tally getting settled out there and then they can come out. Papa really doesn’t want to be separated from us, Amy. We’re some sort of security for him.”

“Well, name of a name! Is it never to end?”

Liberty laughed. “You’ve just got to stop letting him bother you.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Amy retorted dryly.

A squeal outside the house caused both women to look up sharply.