Into the Wilderness (66 page)

Trust
a woman to fall in love and get carried away with it. The fact was, virtuous
Lizzie had turned out to be nothing more than a cheat and a thief. She had
stolen lands from their father, and sooner or later she would have to pay the
price. She had stolen the mountain, but worse, she had left them as if she had
the right to just walk away. The thought of it was enough to make his gut
clench. He would remind her where she belonged, as soon as the opportunity
presented itself. She would come back, and bring with her what she had taken
from him.

His
glass was empty. He was just contemplating how to cope with this fact when the
door opened. Julian peered over his boots, half raised up on one elbow. He had
been hoping for some decent company, anybody with more brain in his head than
Moses Southern, but there was a slight figure outlined in the shadows at the
door. A woman, breathing hard. Julian knew that sound, and he stilled, trying
to make himself invisible.

Kitty
Witherspoon stepped into the light, and Moses jumped to his feet.

"Curiosity
sent me," she started, and then pressed her fist against her cheek,
pulling her face into half a mask. "We need help. The child is turned and
she can't shift it."

Moses
just stared.

"I'll
fetch Anna," Axel said, turning for the inner door which led to the living
quarters.

"Wait,"
Kitty said. Then she caught sight of Julian before the hearth, and her color
flared. Julian met her cold look with a nod of his own, and the quick flash of
a single dimple. It didn't move her; he hadn't thought it would, but what else
was there to do but try?

She
turned her face away. "Curiosity said to send for Falling—Day."

"No!"
said Moses, the word exploding from him in a mist of ale. He cleared his
throat. "Anna will do fine."

Kitty's
head snapped around, and she looked him straight in the eye. "But
Curiosity said—”

“I
won't have that red bitch touching my wife!" Moses thundered.

Kitty
stepped back from him as if he had raised a hand to her, just as Axel stepped
forward for the same reason. But it was Julian she was looking at.

"You
watch your language, now," Axel said.

Kitty
cast a sidelong look Julian's way, her mouth curved down. He knew that look,
what she meant to say with it. He looked away.

Kitty
said, "Martha is in a bad way."

"Julian
ain't got nothing better to do," said Axel. "He can go along and
fetch Falling—Day."

The
evening was a loss anyway, and it unnerved him to have Kitty standing there,
her arms crossed over her middle. He nodded, and his boots hit the floor with a
thump. He hadn't had a conversation with her in— How long was it? A week? Not
since Todd had told him to back off. Just as well, really. She was a sweet
enough girl, but she had a way about her that reminded him of old Merriweather:
she would eat him whole, if it suited her, and never blink. That was the
problem with Englishwomen, and with most American ones, as well. If Todd was
willing to step in and take credit for that swelling under her apron, so much
the better.

He
thought of a jaunt up to Lake in the Clouds and found it didn't displease him.
That buck of Many-Doves ' was still out in the bush, after all. And since
Nathaniel and Elizabeth had run off, all the Mohawk had been staying out of the
village.

But
Moses had other ideas. "Ain't no way in this world I'm letting that
redskin into my cabin."

Axel
combed his beard thoughtfully with the fingers of one hand while he looked
Moses over, from head to foot. "Ja, what kind of fool are you, then?
Curiosity knows what she's doin', after all. If she's calling for Falling—Day,
she must need her. It's yer wife and child, man."

"I
have to get back." Kitty looked at Moses, frowning. "Maybe you should
come along with me and see what distress your wife is in. Maybe that would
convince you."

Moses
nodded. "I'll do that," he said, cramming his cap on his head.
"But I ain't coming alone."

* * *

In
the end they all went. Anna, still flushed with sleep and with her plaits
draped over her shoulders, carried a basket of odds and ends. Axel had a bottle
of schnapps tucked under his arm. It had its medicinal uses, he pointed out.
And failing that, it was a dandy rub for sore joints. Moses herded them out of the
door, sullen and wild—eyed. Julian brought up the rear, reluctantly.

"You'll
go off to them Mohawk otherwise," Moses had reasoned. Julian had no
intention of going anywhere, he explained. Voluntarily he would seek no
exertion beyond the lifting of his glass. The man wouldn't listen.

"I
ain't so sure of that," said Southern. "Your sister married in up
there, didn't she? And then there's that young squaw."

"I
hope you aren't holding me responsible for my sister's actions," said
Julian, ignoring the second comment studiously. "For she certainly would
never take any responsibility for mine."

"You
talk too much," was Southern's only reply.

Well then,
Julian thought
to himself.
I needn't point out the
obvious to you.
With all of Moses' concern about Julian running off, he
hadn't even taken note of the fact that Galileo had slipped away into the night
as soon as Kitty had made the purpose of her errand known. He had been gone for
a good half hour, perhaps more.

In
the cool night air Julian found himself surprisingly close to sober; he almost
was to the point of appreciating the ridiculous picture they made tramping
along in a row, when from ahead there was a long, rippling scream that rose and
faded away just as suddenly. It was then that they came into the dooryard of
the Southern cabin.

Anna
had been muttering the whole time to Moses, a line of argument about women's
work and men's folly and Falling—Day that had affected Moses as much as the
pale moonlight that lit the way. At the sound of the scream she had turned to
him with something like triumph on her face. And then she lifted her skirts
above her unlaced boots to reveal her legs, unexpectedly slim and girl like and
ran. She ran like a woman half her age and disappeared into the open maw of the
cabin.

The
men stood there, Moses included, and listened to the next scream spiral and
rise and then break. When it finished, Anna appeared in the door—frame with the
faint light of the cabin behind her, her face as angry and red as Moses was
suddenly set and thoughtful. She opened her mouth and then it snapped shut,
suddenly, to be replaced by a concentrated frown.

"Thank
the Lord!" She disappeared back into the shadows while the rest of them
turned to see what she had seen.

Axel
cleared his throat, and waved the torch he was carrying.

"Evening,
Hawkeye," he said, nodding. "Falling—Day."

If
not for the white flow of his hair, Julian thought, the man could have been
mistaken for his son in the near dark. They were that much alike, from the
shape of the hairline to the set of the shoulders. The Bonner men were strong
breeding stock. He thought of his sister and wondered if she had already found
this out for herself.

Moses,
on the other hand, resembled nothing so much as a great horny toad. He was
inflating his lungs, sticking his chest out in front of him. If it weren't for
the infernal screaming, Julian thought that it might be quite amusing, watching
Moses make a fool of himself.

"You
want to have a word with me while the women look after your wife, I'm here to
talk," Hawkeye said easily to Moses. He sent Falling—Day a sideways look
and she disappeared into the cabin without a word.

"I
don't want your squaw here."

"First
off, she ain't a squaw," said Hawkeye. "That's a damn impolite word,
and I'll thank you not to use it. Second, she ain't mine. Now, you want
Falling—Day out of there, you go in, then, haul her on out, he suggested.
"See how your wife feels about that."

Moses
spat, jerking his head at the last minute so that the spittle flew into the
shadows. Hawkeye didn't flinch, but in the torchlight Julian saw something in
his eyes, a flickering. Moses saw it, too; he stepped back, wary.

Axel
laughed, and stepped between them to thrust his bottle of schnapps at Hawkeye.
"Damn it, Dan'l. I'm too old to get caught up in a pissing contest in the
middle of the night, and so're you. Have a swallow, and let's set."

Hawkeye
kept his gaze on Moses for another three counts. It was damn impressive, the
heat the man could throw with a stare. Julian wondered if he could learn to do
that.

Then
Hawkeye's attention traveled around to him.

"We
got the making of a party, that's true enough," he said to Axel, taking
the bottle. "Though not a particular happy one, by the looks of young
Julian here." As if to agree, Martha's voice rose again and then ebbed.
There was a lot of hurried movement inside the cabin, where the door still
stood wide open. Moses had turned his attention in that direction, and stood
staring.

"She's
in good hands," Axel said to Moses in a kinder tone than he had used before.
"Falling—Day has got a knack for the business."

"I
don't care to be beholden to her," Moses snapped. "And if some harm
comes to my wife or my child, she'll pay in kind."

"
Maria nah
," sighed Axel. "What
a fool you are."

"Let
me just make one thing clear," Hawkeye said, in a congenial tone of voice
which had no obvious connection to the cold expression in his eyes. "I'll
mind my manners for a few more minutes here, out of respect for Martha. She was
done a dirty turn by her daddy when he married her off to you—hold it
now," he said quietly. "Hear me out. I won't have you talking like
that about a woman who's in there trying to save your wife's life. Do it again
and I'll feed you your teeth one by one."

"Are
you threatening me?" Moses thundered.

Hawkeye
blinked at him slowly. "You do catch on, eventual."

"You
heard him, didn't you, Middleton? Heard the whoreson threaten me?" Moses
had turned toward Julian, who leaned against the woodpile with one shoulder.
Then he looked Julian up and down, his mouth curved in disgust. "What am I
asking you for? Your sister is as bad as any of them, selling out to that pack
of savages and thieves." His laugh was a harsh barking sound. "A few
years ago we would have had a way to deal with the likes of her," he said,
grinning. "A lesson or two for the teacher that she wouldn't forget. How
to stick with her own kind."

Moses
seemed to have forgotten about Hawkeye, forgotten about everybody but Julian,
who stood listening to the ranting with one brow cocked. The man didn't even
take note when Hawkeye came up behind him. He let out a surprised whoosh of air
when the rifle butt tapped him on the back of the head, and collapsed in an
awkward bundle at Julian's feet.

Hawkeye
stood looking down at him.

"The
man is a damn nuisance," he said. "I'd rather listen to Martha
holler."

"He'll
be hollering loud enough tomorrow, wait and see," noted Axel.

"I'm
afraid I've had enough of the festivities," Julian said as he stepped over
Moses. "Although it's been highly amusing."

"Tell
me, Middleton," Hawkeye said, leaning on the barrel of his rifle.
"What does it take to rouse you?"

Julian
laughed softly. "Rousing is quite outside my sphere of experience since
I've been here. Something I don't have in common with my sister, if you'll
allow me an observation without taking your rifle to my skull."

"Wouldn't
dream of stopping you," said Hawkeye. "Go on and talk about your
sister, I'd like to hear what you've got to say."

"Oh,
I'm sure you would," Julian agreed. "But you're mistaken if you're
looking to me to defend her good name. It is a lost cause, I fear. And beyond
that, I haven't the energy or the inclination."

"Your
sister don't need your protection anymore."

"For
her sake, I hope you are correct in that," Julian agreed, the usual
mocking lilt gone from his tone.

Hawkeye
said, "Someday, something is going to take you by surprise and wake you
up."

Julian
shrugged. A picture came to him: Many-Doves bent over a book in his sister's
schoolhouse. The sweep of her brows, the color of the skin over her cheekbones.

"I
very much doubt that," he said, turning away.

From
the open cabin door there was the faint mewling cry of a newborn baby.

"Stay
and drink the child's health," called Axel behind him. "His daddy
can't.

But
Julian waved a hand over his head lazily without bothering to turn back. He was
not surprised to see Galileo was waiting in the shadows. They walked on
together in silence to the wagon. Julian climbed up without a comment, resting
his head on the back of the seat to watch the stars revolving over him.

Later,
lying awake in his bed listening to his father's restless turning in the next
room, he was amazed at himself. What had come over him, he wondered, to have
passed up such a rare opportunity as a free drink?