Into the Wilderness (52 page)

"Good
name?" laughed Richard. "She has no good name left to protect."

Nathaniel
had been holding Elizabeth back, but suddenly he was gone from her, moving forward
in two powerful leaps, so quickly that she barely understood what was happening
before his fist met Richard's jaw with a dull cracking sound. Richard staggered
and then caught himself. Elizabeth's stomach turned over neatly and rose into
her throat.

Mr.
Schuyler stepped forward and pushed against Nathaniel's shoulder, hard.
"You forget yourself." he shouted. "Think where you are, man! By
God, I will put you both out if you do not control your tempers!"

Nathaniel
was breathing hard. He looked away, and then back at Mr. Schuyler, dropping his
head in a brief nod of acknowledgment.

Richard's
eyes flashed with a narrow satisfaction. His jaw was turning color quickly, and
a trickle of blood stained his lip, but he grinned.

"Nathaniel
Bonner, called Wolf—Running—Fast," he said, his voice tight with menace.
"Listen to me. I am going to Albany to file a breach of contract against
this"—he swallowed hard—"
lady
of yours. And to that end, I insist that she accompany me there to face that
charge, and to be questioned in this matter."

"Never,"
Nathaniel said. His voice, so low and reasonable, made Elizabeth's hair stand
on end. He glanced out the window, his fists clenching and unclenching at his
sides. When he looked back, his face was impassive. "You have no power over
us," he said. "And I will warn you once, and only once. You will stay
away from me and mine, and we will stay away from you. But if you can't do
that, if you ever lay a hand on my wife again or on any member of my family, I
will kill you."

Richard
did not blink. "She will come and face the charges against her," he
said. "Or I'll see that a bench warrant is issued."

"Dr.
Todd, you go too far," Mr. Schuyler said, disgusted. He turned to
Nathaniel. "Let me deal with the man," he said. "Please take
your wife upstairs."

"Mr.
Schuyler, I am not going to Albany with him," said Elizabeth.

"Of
course you are not. Of course not. Please, go up to your room now and I will
sort this out."

Elizabeth
hesitated. Nathaniel took her arm, and she glanced up at him.

"Go
on, now," he said, opening the door for her. "I'll be up
directly."

Mrs.
Schuyler and her sons were in the hall with Runs-from-Bears, who stood with his
rifle cradled in his arms. He exchanged a glance with Nathaniel and then
followed Elizabeth upstairs, where he stood outside her door with his back to
the wall.

* * *

She
paced. She paced the room, alternately reading aunt Merriweather's letter and
then stopping to make calculations on a scrap of paper. In addition to the gift
of seven thousand, they needed another three and a half thousand dollars, and
they needed it today. She herself had about half that much in the Albany bank,
her entire annual income from her mother's small bequest. She thought that
Nathaniel probably had the rest, given the offer to purchase he had made to her
father. But she worked the numbers again and again and came out always at the
same place: not enough money to pay off Richard, and pay the outstanding taxes
on her own property, and her father's. They were at least five hundred dollars
short.

It
was an hour before he came to her, closing the door quietly behind him. She
walked up to Nathaniel and put her arms around him, her head on his shoulder,
trembling in anger and frustration.

"I
had no idea," she said. "That it was so very bad. Ten thousand five
hundred dollars."

He
stroked her hair and said nothing.

"Tell
me I don't have to go to Albany."

"You
don't have to go to Albany," said Nathaniel. "But I do."

She
pulled away. "Then I'm coming, too."

"No."
He smiled grimly. "No, you ain't. I'm going with Schuyler and Todd because
things would look bad if I weren't there to represent your interests. As it is
I don't know what's going to happen."

"Can
he get Hidden Wolf?" she asked, barely able to control the tremble in her
voice.

"I
don't think so. Neither does Schuyler. But we don't know what tricks he's got
left yet, and I can't ask Philip to handle this on his own."

"Yes
you can," Elizabeth said, knowing that he could not, but unable to bear
the idea of this.

He
smiled, and stroked her hair.

"I
don't want you to go," she said, feeling her chin tremble and wishing that
she could stop it.

"I
know that," he said. "I don't want to go, either. But this is bad
business, Boots, and we've got to get it settled. Now, listen."

He
leaned forward and kissed her, quickly.

"Schuyler
got him to agree to let you stay behind. Which is the right thing, because we
don't know who's waiting down there in Albany to speak against you. Could be
your brother—" He put a finger on her mouth to quiet her. "We ain't
talking about the truth here, we're talking about how he can make things
look."

Nathaniel
took her by the hand and led her over to the chair by the hearth, and he pushed
her into it, gently, leaning down over her.

"Listen
to me now. This is what he wants. He wants you to stay here, under house
arrest, while we're in Albany."

"House
arrest?" she asked, incredulous.

"He
says he don't trust you to stay put. Says that when it comes time for you to
testify, he wants to be sure you'll come forward."

She
was watching Nathaniel's face, the play of his features, the way his eyes
moved.

"I
think that the minute we're downriver, somebody'll show up here at the door—the
judge, most likely—and force you to come back to Paradise. Take you by force,
if need be."
 

Elizabeth
lifted her chin. "I know how to fire a musket," she said.

He
did her the favor of not grinning. "Aye, well. That's a good thing to
know, under the circumstances." He picked up both her hands and held them
tight.

"You're
strong, and you're brave enough for ten. All right. When we're gone, Bears is
going to stay behind, and at the first opportunity, he'll give you a signal.
You remember the birdcall up above the waterfall? When you hear that, you go on
out for a walk. He'll meet you behind the field where the men are sowing flax,
near the mill. You can see it, there. Bears will take you into the bush, Boots,
and you'll have to walk hard and fast to keep up with him. But he'll keep you
safe, as long as you listen to him and do what he says."

Nathaniel's
hands were warm and full of energy in her own. Elizabeth held on to him
tightly.

"Where
are we going?" she asked.

"To
Robbie," he said. "Up near the lake the Kahnyen’keháka call Little
Lost."

"Robbie?"

"Robbie
MacLachlan," Nathaniel said.

"Listen,
Boots. I ain't got much time here. They're waiting on me. There's nobody in
this world more disposed to look after you and keep you safe for me than Bears
and Robbie MacLachlan."

Elizabeth
leaned forward and kissed him, hard, catching his face between her hands,
feeling the bristle on his cheeks against her palms.

"Are
you scairt he asked, his hands on her upper arms, holding tight.

"Yes."

"Good,"
said Nathaniel. "You need that, hold on to it."

He
started to pull away, but she grabbed his shirt and held him.

"When
will you come?" she asked.

"I
hope it won't be more than a week," he said. "But I can't promise it
won't be more."

Nathaniel
pulled her up with him from the chair and kissed her soundly."You know
I'll be there as soon as I can. We got that demonstration left unfinished,
after all."

She
nodded, her mouth pressed into a hard line, her eyes glittering.

He
brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her ring; then he smiled and was gone.

From
the window, Elizabeth watched him walking down the lawn toward the river where
the canoes waited. She could see the party gathered there, Mr. and Mrs.
Schuyler, Anton Meerschaum, and Richard Todd. There was no sign of Bears, but
she knew he would be outside her door.

Unable
to watch anymore, she turned away and caught sight of the scrap of paper with
her calculations. She grabbed it, along with aunt Merriweather's letter, and
flew down the stairs with Runs-from-Bears right behind her. Her skirt fluttered
as she ran across the lawns, her heart beating in her throat so that she feared
she would not be able to speak even if she could catch them.

But
they were still there, standing in front of the canoes. Nathaniel looked up to
her and his face first cleared of anger and then closed in worry.

Richard
Todd turned to Mrs. Schuyler. "She's to stay in the house."

Even
in her distraction, Elizabeth took note of Mrs. Schuyler's expression, the
combination of condescension and righteous indignation.

"Mrs.
Bonner is our guest," she said. "Not a prisoner. And she has the
freedom of Saratoga while she is with us."

Richard
cleared his throat and looked away.

"As
long as she's here when the court calls on her."

"If
such a thing should be necessary," Mrs. Schuyler said tightly. "Which
I doubt."

"Mr.
Schuyler, you are an officer of the bank in Albany?" asked Elizabeth,
ignoring Richard. When he nodded, she continued. "I have funds there, and
I release them to my husband for withdrawal as he sees fit. This will be in
order?"

"It
will." His dark eyes were hooded again, but he smiled at her.

"Thank
you." She turned to Nathaniel and tugged on his arm, to pull him off to
where they could not be heard. Then she put the papers in his hand, aunt
Merriweather's letter and her calculations. She pointed to one set of figures
and then another, and looked up at him.

"There's
not enough!" she whispered.

"I'll
manage," he said. "Don't worry yourself Boots." He pulled her
further aside. "There's the furs, don't forget."

"Then
there'll be no money for supplies," she countered.

Nathaniel
looked over her shoulder to where Richard waited. Runs-from-Bears stood to one
side, alert.

"There's
money enough," he said. "Leave this to me, can you?"

She
nodded then, and because he was so close and because she could not do
otherwise, in spite of their audience, in spite of the danger, she kissed him.

Put
her hands on his shoulders and went up on her toes to kiss Nathaniel, to show
him what she couldn't say, didn't know how to say: how much the idea of his
going hurt, how proud she was of him, how much she loved him, that she would
miss him. She was crying, because she didn't know how not to. Her tears wet his
cheeks.

She
let him go and wiped his face with her fingers. Then Elizabeth looked up over
his shoulder and saw how close Richard was, how his mouth twisted with disgust.
And at his elbow, Runs-from-Bears with a hand on the shaft of his tomahawk.

"You'll
have enough of him sooner than you think," Richard said when she met his
gaze. "Sarah did, and so will you."

Everything
in Nathaniel stilled. Elizabeth felt this, the way all his focus came down,
small and tight, on the sound of Richard's voice behind him.

"Think,
man," he said without turning. "Think what you're doing."

"I
know what I'm doing," Richard said, not taking his eyes from Elizabeth.

"I'm
telling your wife what she needs to know. Being so fond of children as she
is."

"What
is he talking about?" Elizabeth asked, frightened.

"I'm
talking about the fact that he can't give you children. Has he told you
that?"

Elizabeth
glanced up at Nathaniel and saw that he had gone away inside himself, his face
a mask.

"Nathaniel?"

"You
see on his face that it's true.

"Hannah,"
she said. "There's Hannah."

"Hannah's
mine," said Richard.

"Nathaniel?"
She touched his face, and he seemed to come back to life. He took her hand, and
pulled her farther away from Richard, "Go now," he whispered.

"Remember
to wait for the sign from Bears."

"I
don't understand—" she began.

"Elizabeth,"
he said. "It would take too long now. Do you trust me?"

She
nodded.

"Then
believe me. Hannah is my daughter. I will answer your questions when I come to
you, anything you care to ask me. Will you wait for that? Can you?"

Once
again, Elizabeth nodded, but slowly.

"I
love you," he said against her mouth. And he walked away from her down to
the river.