Wild Innocence (15 page)

“No!” Rachel cried. “Don't hurt him!” Why had she trusted the word of savages?

“The white doctor will remain unharmed. We cannot let him run for help. Soon, your friends will find and free him.”

Rachel saw that the Sioux had indeed tied him up and were leaving him.

“Come,” the brave said.

“I will be back, Father,” she told him. “Won't I?”

The warrior's dark eyes gleamed as he pushed her through the doorway. He never gave her an answer.

“I wish for you to come live with me,” the Indian said. “I will be your hus-band. You will be my wife.”

Rachel tried to hide her horror as she stared at Clouds-at-Morning. “I am flattered, but I cannot marry you.”

“Why cannot?” he asked.

She thought quickly for a good excuse. “I must care for my father. He needs my help.”

“Father can come live here.”

She shook her head. “He will not come. He has his work at the mission. He is a good medicine man, and his people need him.”

They were in the Sioux's teepee. Before Clouds-at-Morning could answer her, another warrior entered the structure, speaking directly to Clouds-at-Morning. Clouds, who had been sitting cross-legged on a mat, rose. As the two Indians conversed, Rachel studied Clouds, trying to judge his reaction. If she continued to reject him, would he become angry enough to kill her? Would he force her to marry him ... or her father to come?

She was thankful that he could speak English. He had given no clue that he spoke the language when he'd come to the infirmary to get help for his friend. To make her feelings known would have been much more difficult if their conversations needed a third person to translate. At the mission, she'd had no other choice but to trust the English-speaking brave.

The Indians and Rachel had traveled to the Sioux encampment through the night. They had reached their destination while it was still dark. As day broke, Rachel decided that this was a temporary village of sorts, for there were only a dozen or so teepees with few women and small children. And they hadn't traveled far enough from Ojibwa territory. Her father had once told her that the Sioux lived where the land was flat and open with little trees. Here, they were in the forest ... which gave Rachel the hope that she would be rescued soon, provided that someone found her father fast.

To stifle her nervousness, Rachel turned her attention to cataloguing the appearance of Clouds. He wore a breechclout that fell to mid-thigh in the front and was longer in the back. She had seen him and the other Sioux braves wear fringed leggings, but this morning Clouds wore none, giving her a good view of an indecent amount of bare thigh and leg. He wore no shirt as well, and it embarrassed Rachel as they had talked, because each time she looked at him, his size brought an expansive amount of naked chest to Rachel's eye level. He wore a bear-claw necklace; his dark hair had been braided into two long, below-the-shoulder plaits. Heavy earrings of some indefinable origin dangled from the Indian's earlobes.

To a Sioux woman, Clouds-at-Morning would probably seem like a good husband. He wasn't ugly, and he was muscular, and he would probably make a good provider for the right woman. But that woman wasn't Rachel. She had no desire to become the Indian's wife ... or any other man's, for that matter.

The other brave, having finished whatever business he had, left, and Clouds-at-Morning sat and faced her again.

He regarded her thoughtfully for a long moment. Rachel shifted uncomfortably, wishing he'd let her go. “I will give you time to think of this,” he said, much to her surprise.

“I can go home?” she asked, hardly able to believe her ears. They were keeping their word! Since she had come in the night, she had been treated fairly and kindly.

The brave nodded. “I will give you until the moon rises big in the night sky. Then, I will send for you.”

Rachel was at a momentary loss for words. “Thank you,” she finally said.

“Two Foxes!” he called, and immediately the other Indian entered.

Had he been waiting outside all the while? she wondered.

“Go,” Clouds-at-Morning said. “Two Foxes will take you to your people.” Two Foxes was the one who spoke English.

She scrambled to her feet. “Thank you.” She had almost said
miigwech,
the Ojibwa word for thanks, until she remembered she was speaking to a Sioux. She started for the door, but the Indian grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“Rachel,” he said. He released her arm to caress her cheek. She forced herself not to shrink away from his touch. “I will speak with you again.”

She nodded. The last thing she wanted to do was anger him. When he finally released her, she hurried from the teepee, anxious to get home to be with her father again.

“What are we going to do!” Amelia cried. “Someone has to rescue her! What if they hurt her?” With a harsh sob, she started to cry.

Daniel pulled her into his embrace, then glanced over his wife's head at his father-in-law. “Are you all right?”

Only hours before, John Dempsey had been discovered in the infirmary, bound to a chair. The missionary Miriam Lathom had found him. She had come to the infirmary with a supply of newly harvested herbs for the doctor's medicine cabinet. She had knocked, then entered as usual, calling out Rachel's and the doctor's names as she headed toward the surgery to put away the herbs. When she received no response, she'd gone into the sickroom, then into the rear living quarters, where she'd found John Dempsey bound to a chair and unconscious. She'd thought that he was dead at first. Horrified, she'd gone to untie his hands and feet, and the doctor, who was only asleep, had awakened. Then, Will had taken the doctor to his son-in-law's.

“I'll have a word with Black Hawk. Perhaps he can help us,” Daniel said.

Amelia pulled from her husband's arms. She sniffed back tears. “Yes, Black Hawk will help us.”

Daniel lifted her chin to dry her tears. “We'll find her, sweetheart.” She nodded. “Please try not to worry. You need your strength. Remember our babe.”

“But my sister—”

“He's right, Amelia,” her father said. “With Black Hawk's help, we'll find Rachel. Clouds-at-Morning wants her for his wife. He won't harm her.”

“I hope you're right.”

“He's right,” Rachel said from the doorway.

“Rachel!” her family cried simultaneously. Rachel was suddenly being hugged from all sides.

“I'm fine!” she assured them, but she hugged them back, even Daniel. “Really, I'm fine,” she said when everyone pulled away. “He treated me quite well ... only he still wants to marry me.”

“Out of the question!” Daniel said.

Rachel narrowed her gaze. “You think I'll say yes?” she challenged.

“No,” he said quietly. “But he is a Sioux, and the Sioux are dangerous. Ask your father and sister. Ask Black Hawk.”

Black Hawk, Rachel thought. Her stomach fluttered as she got a clear mental image of the Ojibwa warrior.

“I'm sorry,” she said, knowing that she'd overreacted once again to her sister's husband.

He gazed at her with concern. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “Just a bit shaken. I'm not accustomed to being kidnapped, proposed to, then freed by Indians.”

“He released you?” Amelia said, sounding surprised.

“To give me time to think about being his wife.” Her gaze lovingly examined her father. “You're unhurt?”

“Yes. Miriam found me this morning.” His voice was tight. He was clearly upset with her. “You shouldn't have gone with them.”

“And have them kill you?” she cried. “Father, he held a knife to your throat!”

Amelia started. “You didn't tell us that!” she said to her father.

Daniel frowned.

John Dempsey looked away. “It didn't matter. She shouldn't have gone.”

“Father,” Rachel said, “I'd go again if it meant saving your life.”

He looked at her with tears welling in his eyes. “I didn't know if I'd see you again.”

With a sob, she rushed into her father's arms and embraced him. “I'm all right, Father. Please don't cry. I'm back, and they didn't hurt me.”

“But the man expects to see you again,” Daniel said.

Rachel glanced at her brother-in-law as she released her father. “Yes, he says he'll come for me when there's a full moon.”

“No!” Amelia protested.

Daniel patted his wife's arm. “We'll think of a way to protect Rachel,” he said.

“Is there anything I can do?” Amelia asked her sister.

Rachel nodded. “Yes. Take care of yourself and that babe you're carrying.” Then she smiled ruefully. “And do you have anything to eat? I'm starved.”

Everyone laughed then, and the seriousness of the situation was put aside for the moment.

 

 

“... and apparently the man has promised to return for her.”

Black Hawk listened with a stoic expression as his friend Daniel told him about the kidnapping by the Sioux and the return of Rachel Dempsey. Inside, he experienced a mounting horror.

“She is not safe,” he said. “We must protect her.”

Daniel nodded. “But how?”

“We will bring her here. She will be safe in my village, hidden among my people. Clouds-at-Morning will not come to this village. If he does, we will be ready for him.” He would bring her here if he had to kidnap her himself, Black Hawk thought. It was for her protection. He wouldn't allow anything to happen to her.

“It sounds like a good plan,” his friend said, “but how are we going to convince my sister-in-law?”

“I will talk with her,” Black Hawk said calmly. “She will listen to me.”

 

 

They came for her when she was alone in the infirmary. It was dusk. Her father had gone to visit patients. Miriam had left a short while ago. Rachel had no one to help her when the savages came for her.

She tried to fight them. She had the satisfaction of seeing one brave's surprised reaction before he subdued her, gagged and bound her, and carried her off. Her heart thundered wildly with fear as she saw the band of warriors waiting for her kidnappers. There were a dozen braves at least, none of them familiar to her.
Clouds-at-Morning's men,
she thought.

Rachel whimpered behind her gag. What was going to happen to her? The brave had given her little time to consider his proposal. Had he decided to marry her whether she was willing or not?

The Sioux had taken off her ankle ropes and urged her to walk. When they left her mouth gag in place, she'd glared at them angrily. If thoughts could kill, she mused, these Indians would be dead.
I'll tell
Clouds-at-Morning
about your behavior! He'll punish you for your harsh treatment of me!

As if he would,
an inner voice taunted.
As if he'd listen to you, a mere female. As if he really cares what you think ...
Still, he had released her once, hadn't he? And she certainly hadn't expected that.

It was dark when the Indian band and their captive broke from the woods into a village clearing. Rachel had no idea how long she'd been with them. To her, the nightmare of her capture had seemed an eternity. Rachel tensed and her eyes widened. Her chest constricted with fear.

This was an Indian village of some other tribe. There were no teepees scattered about the clearing. These structures were dome-shaped, with tree-bark covering the roof and sides and animal hides draping the doorways.

A brave halted her and carefully removed her mouth gag and then her wrist ropes. He smiled at her, and she felt the strongest urge to smack his grinning face.

“Welcome. I am Rain-from-Sky,” he said, as if he and his friends hadn't brought her here by force.

“Why am I here? Why have you kidnapped me?”

“You must not be afraid. We will not harm you. We will protect you.”

“Protect me!” she cried, feeling a rising panic. “You should have left me alone. My father must be frantic.”

But the brave simply shook his head. “Come. There is someone who wants to see you.”

“Who?” she demanded, digging in her heels.

Rain-from-Sky nodded to someone behind her. “Come,” he said. And he took one arm, while another Indian took the other. Together the two carried her, struggling and crying out, toward a domed wigwam.

“No!” she cried, jerking away. “No, I won't go in there!”

But her strength was no match for the Indians.

One brave lifted the door flap and thrust her inside. She fell into the wigwam, screaming unladylike words at her captors when she landed on her hands and knees. As she scrambled to her feet, she lifted her gaze.

“You!” she exclaimed.

Black Hawk eyed the woman before him with concern. He moved to help her to her feet, but her expression stopped him. “You are all right?” he asked huskily.