Newton (Prairie Grooms Book 9) (3 page)

A
rya stared
at the metal tub as the last bucket of water was poured in. Mrs. Upton set the bucket down and wiped her brow. “There, that’s the last one.”

“Thank Heaven for that,” said Eloise. “Now comes the hard part.”

“So far, so good,” Grandma said. “She’s just been watching. Now let’s see if we can get her out of those buckskins.”

Mrs. Upton stepped around the tub and pointed at the water. “Okay, honey, time for your bath.”

Arya walked over to it and studied the steaming water a moment before dipping a finger in it. She drew her hand back and smiled.

“This might be easier than we thought,” said Grandma. She tapped Arya on the arm and pointed at the water with a huge smile.

Arya put her hand in the water again and made a swirling motion. She smiled again, this time in delight.

“By Jove, I think she understands,” Eloise said in surprise.

“Do you think she’ll want her privacy?” Mrs. Upton asked.

“What woman doesn’t? The question is what is she going to do with all that water when we leave?” Eloise took a bar of soap she’d brought, held it up before Arya, pointed at the tub, then pretended to scrub herself. Arya smiled and nodded. “Well, I can’t be any clearer than that,” Eloise said, setting the soap on a table near the tub.

“Why don’t we leave and let her do the rest?” Mrs. Upton suggested. “With any luck, she won’t make a mess.”

“Oh, give the woman some credit,” Grandma scolded. “For Heaven’s sake, she’s not an idiot. If she was, Newton would never have married her.”

“Maybe he didn’t have a choice,” Eloise ventured.

Grandma’s eyes went wide as platters. “Are you suggesting he
had
to marry her?”

“Not necessarily, but … well, who knows what went on while he was with the Indians? For all we know, he drank from the wrong cup at dinner and that was considered a proposal.”

Grandma thought a moment. “You could be right. It is kind of strange him coming back to town with a wife in tow. But let’s not stand here flapping our gums about it – let the poor girl bathe.” She motioned Arya toward the tub, then headed for the door. Eloise and Mrs. Upton followed and the three of them left the room.

S
o
, they wanted her to bathe? Reasonable enough. Arya let her fingers skim over the warm surface of the metal tub with one hand. She then picked up the light colored object Elo-eez had left on the table with the other. She sniffed at it. It had a pleasant smell.

She had no idea when they would be back so she’d best hurry. She stripped off her buckskins and cautiously got into the tub. Ohhhh, it felt wonderful – so much nicer than bathing in a cold stream or pond! She gasped in delight as she sat, submerging herself.
What a fine gift!
she thought.

She remembered the object she held - now that it was wet, it was slippery and almost escaped her hand. It had a flowery scent and left a slight coating on her skin. She rubbed it between her hands to see what it would do and smiled at the bubbles it made. She also noticed its scent had transferred to her skin.
So that’s what this is for
, she thought.
It makes you smell nice.
Nu-tan would like that.

With a smile she began to rub it all over, enjoying the silky feel, and soon had a tub full of bubbles. She poked at them and laughed when they burst. There had to be a word in Nu-tan’s language for what she was doing, and she was anxious to learn it. This certainly was better than using a clump of dry moss or a rock to scrub herself with.

Speaking of scrubbing, she wondered what the flowery smelling bubbles would do to her hair. There was only one way to find out. She held her breath and dunked her head under the water for a second, then started to scrub her hair with the funny little object. That done, she submerged again, hoping to rinse the bubbles out. It took a few good dunks, but she was pleased with the way her hair felt afterward.

She was wondering what to do next when someone knocked on the door. The oldest of the three women opened it, talking as she entered with a small blanket in her hand. She shook it out, then rubbed it over her arms and body as if drying herself. Arya got the hint and smiled. What luxuries! She could get used to this.

The woman went to the chair where Arya had left the dress they’d given her. She pointed to the small blanket, made the rubbing motions again, then pointed to the dress.

She smiled in understanding and gave her a single nod.
Wipe off, put on the dress. All clear.
The woman looked relieved and left the room.

Arya sighed in resignation – apparently it was time to get out. She didn’t want to and wondered if they’d think it rude if she stayed. But she was curious about the new clothes and what she’d look like in them. It wouldn’t hurt to try them on. And there was plenty of food in this place, so she wouldn’t have to hunt any time soon …

She stared at the pretty dress and smiled. Nu-tan obviously wanted her to wear it. If she did, maybe he’d kiss her. She liked it a lot when he kissed her. She liked it when he did other things too. She blushed at the thought and stood up, bracing herself on the side of the tub.

She carefully stepped out and reached for the small blanket. She used it to dry herself as the older woman had demonstrated, rubbing her hair as well. She glanced around, wondering if there was something she could use to comb out the tangles, but saw nothing. Best to put the clothes on first before someone else came in.

She studied the dress a moment, then pulled it over her head. It really wasn’t much different from a buckskin dress, except for the funny little things in front to fasten it up. She managed to figure out how the round flat things on one side lined up with, and fit through, the little slits on the other. How clever!

She’d no sooner gotten the last one through when another knock sounded. This time it was Elo-eez. Arya greeted her with a smile. The other woman looked her up and down in amazement and, judging by the tone of her voice, began to praise her. She pointed at the front of the dress, talking all the while, obviously happy she was able to complete the task herself. Arya found herself getting a little annoyed – it was a simple enough task, and she wasn’t stupid – but kept smiling to avoid giving offense.

The other women entered the room, including a new one. Arya studied her. She had light hair like Elo-eez and was just as pretty.

Elo-eez pointed to the newcomer. “Susara.” She then swung a hand in Arya’s directions. “Arya.”

Soo-sara – Arya assumed that was her name – smiled and looked her over, then pointed at her hair.

Arya reached up, touched the wet and tangled mess, and got an idea. She held up her hand, fingers extended, and pantomimed combing her hair. It seemed to work – Elo-eez took note of the action and left the room, hopefully to get something she could use to brush it out.

The others closed in around her, all of them talking at once. The only words she could recognize were
clothes
,
Nu-tan
,
love
and
hungry
. She wished she could understand the rest – she had so many questions, so many things she wanted to see, learn and understand. But how could she when they couldn’t understand her?

She and Nu-tan had been trying to teach each other their languages over the last few weeks, but progress was slow. Either he was going to have to learn hers first, or she was going to have to learn his. But if she was only here for a few days, she’d just as soon he was the one doing the learning.

Elo-eez returned to the room – and yes, clearly with something for grooming hair, far nicer than what Arya was used to. Elo-eez went behind her and started to comb the tangles out for her, and Arya smiled at the kind gesture. Brushing each other’s hair was something the women of her people did all the time. It meant friendship. She beamed at all the attention they were giving her, which made her want to communicate with them all the more.

The one called Soo-sara came to stand in front of her, her eyes bright. “Hello,” she said.

Another word Arya was familiar with. “Hel-lo,” she said in return. Her response sent the women into a fit of giggles, which she found confusing.
What was so funny about that?

Soo-sara motioned for them to be quiet. She pointed at herself. ‘Soo-sar-ah,” she said slowly, sounding out her name so that Arya could hear it.

“Soo-sara,” she repeated with a shrug.

The older woman approached. She was tall and thin, with bright blue eyes. “Grandma,” she said and pointed to herself.

Arya cocked her head to one side. “Gren-maw?” That didn’t sound right.

The woman muttered something and repeated herself, more slowly this time.

Ah. “Grand-mah.”

The women laughed, made comments to each other and burst into giggles again. Arya wished she knew what was so funny. Maybe it was her accent – but then, they all seemed to have different accents too. Time to show them what she could do. She pointed at each in turn. “Soo-sara. Grand-mah. Elo-eez …” Arya stopped and looked at the last woman. She was larger than the others with a bright and happy countenance.

The woman jumped when she realized everyone was looking at her, made a few comments to the others, then faced Arya. “Sal-lee.”

That was easy enough. “Sal-lee,” Arya repeated.

Everyone clapped, which startled her. They certainly were easy to please – it wasn’t that hard to learn names. She pointed to herself. “Arya.” And they clapped again. She almost laughed, but worried it might be rude.

Elo-eez finished untangling her hair and even braided it for her. Arya turned to the girl and held out her hand, prepared to do the same for her. But Elo-eez didn’t give her the comb. Oh, no wonder – someone had taken care of Elo-eez’s hair for her, and piled it on top of her head in elaborate fashion. How did she get it to stay like that? She closed the distance to get a closer look.

The women watched her and chatted amongst themselves, but no one indicated she should stop what she was doing. She reached up and touched Elo-eez’s hair, wondering how she could make her own hair stay on top of her head that way.

“Well, I see someone’s had their bath.”

Arya spun with joy toward the familiar voice. “Nu-tan!”

“Hello, darling,” he said as he entered the room. “My, but you look lovely.”

Arya froze. Had she just understood him? But how? Then again, she did understand him best of all. She set the thought aside and gave him her full attention. She wanted to see the look on his face when he saw her hair and smelled her scent.

He didn’t disappoint, looking her up and down as he grinned widely. “Beautiful,” he said, then opened his arms wide. Arya jumped into them and flung her arms around his neck, almost knocking them both over. He was pleased with how she looked!

He laughed as he righted himself, said something to the women, then kissed her on the cheek. She closed her eyes as he drew her against him. He spoke again, but she could tell by the tone of his voice he was not speaking to her. When she opened her eyes, most of the women were leaving. Nu-tan spoke with Soo-sara briefly, then she too exited.

As soon as they were gone Nu-tan released her, crossed the room to the door and did something with it. She heard a distinct
click
and wondered what it was. He returned to her and drew her into his arms once more. “You’re beautiful.”

She understood once more, and blushed head-to-toe as a tingle ran up her spine. She embraced him again. He did the same and kissed her besides. Within moments, Arya found it difficult to stand. But it didn’t matter – in one swift move he swept her into his arms and carried her into the other room.

Arya tried not to giggle. What was the point of her putting on clothes when he was just going to take them off again?

“
T
his meeting
of the ladies’ sewing circle is now called to order!” Grandma shouted over the other women’s voices. Irene Dunnigan banged her ladle on the counter a couple of times for good measure.

Their attention gotten, the ladies stared at Grandma as she stood before them. “What was all that about?” Mary Mulligan asked. “Are ye holding court?”

“No, but there’s something we need to discuss,” Grandma said, “and it has nothing to do with sewing. Not yet anyway.”

“What is it Grandma?” asked Apple O’Hare as she set down her quilt squares.

“It’s about that woman Newton Whitman brought to town,” Irene barked.

Grandma rolled her eyes. “That would be his
bride,
Irene. Arya Whitman is her name, but the poor thing can’t speak a word of English. It’s up to us to teach her.”

“Oh the poor dear,” said Fanny Fig, gasping and slapping a hand to her cheek for emphasis.

Irene rolled her eyes this time, but she ignored Fanny otherwise. “Grandma and I talked about it and decided that if all of us pitch in, we could teach her all about our ways and help her be a good wife to Newton. Why a civilized man like him married a savage I’ll never know, but I’m willing to help –”

“She’s
not
a savage,” Eloise said. “Let’s just say that was made very clear to me. She may dress differently and not speak our language, but she’s very much a lady, at least by the lights of her own culture.”

“That’s right,” Sally Upton put in. “She took a bath this morning with no trouble at all. She even put on one of Eloise’s dresses.”

Eloise nodded. “If Susara can teach her English, then everything else will be easy.”

“Yes,” Belle Cooke agreed. “But learning another language can take time.”

“She seems intelligent enough,” Grandma said. “I think she can learn all sorts of things. She doesn’t have to know our whole language to learn how to sew. We just have to show her.”

“Who wants to be in charge of teaching her sewing?” Irene asked.

“I’ll help the lass,” Mary said, raising her hand.

“Thanks, Mary,” said Grandma. “You being one of the best seamstresses in town, she couldn’t ask for a better teacher.”

Mary blushed at the compliment. “What about cooking?”

“You leave that to me, honey!” Mrs. Upton said. “I’ll have her cooking for that handsome husband of hers in no time!”