Wild Innocence (7 page)

Weren't Indians supposed to be wild and unpredictable?

Rachel waited a long while for the Ojibwa, and still Black Hawk hadn't returned. She wondered if she had misread the Indian's intention.
Perhaps he'd taken the bucket because he had his own need for it,
she thought.

She stewed silently as she debated what to do. She couldn't stay in the kitchen area forever. In fact, she was hurt that no one had come looking for her. It justified her feelings of being inconsequential, of not belonging in this settlement ... in this family.

“Rachel?” Amelia had slipped silently into the room while Rachel had fumed alone. “Are you all right?”

Rachel was glad that her tears had dried sometime ago. She turned with a smile. “I'm fine. I wanted to do these dishes for you, but I'm afraid I can't lift that pot!”

Amelia looked surprised. “I can't lift it by myself either.” She grinned when she saw her sister's face. “Did you think I could?”

Rachel nodded.

“Well, I can't,” Amelia admitted, “and if I even tried, Daniel would have apoplexy.”

“He would?” She must have stared at her sister with an odd expression, because Amelia gazed at her with concern.

Her sister frowned. “Rachel, what on earth is the matter? You should know better than to try to pick up that kettle.”

“I—” Rachel turned away. She was feeling weepy again. “I don't want to be a burden,” she mumbled.

“You're not a burden,” Amelia exclaimed, spinning her around. “You would never be a burden. You're my sister, and I love you. Don't you realize how happy I am that you've come?”

She's telling the truth. She really wants me here,
Rachel thought. Her expression softened. “I love you,” she said as she reached for her sister. “I know you may not believe this, but I've missed you so much.”

“Of course I believe you,” her sister insisted. “Why wouldn't I?”

Rachel touched Amelia's cheek. “You're looking lovely, you know. Daniel must really agree with you.”

Amelia sighed. “He does. I love him more than life. I never realized there would be someone like him out there for me.” She paused, and a look of horror flickered across her features. “I'm so sorry, Rach. The last thing you want to hear is how happy I am ... not with your disappointment over your betrothed. What was his name? Jordan?”

Rachel nodded. “It was better that I found out in time,” she said.

Amelia agreed. “There are other men out there, Rachel. Jordan wasn't the right man for you. Somewhere, someday, you'll find the one man whom you'd be willing to sacrifice your world for ...” Her voice trailed off, and her face took on a strange expression. She blinked, then smiled at her sister. “You'll know when you've found the right one. You won't be able to think of anything but him. He'll dominate your thoughts, your every waking moment, and your dreams.”

“How will I know whether or not he loves me?” she asked, getting to the crux of her fears. Amelia, of course, didn't know the truth, that Jordan had left her, hadn't loved her enough to stay.

“That's a bit more difficult,” Amelia said. “You won't know right away. He'll have to prove himself to you. If he loves you, he will.”

“And Daniel?” she inquired out of curiosity. “Did he prove himself to you?”

Amelia suddenly had a strange look on her face, as she undoubtedly relived some special memory. “Yes,” she said, “he proved himself to me.” She began to lead Rachel toward the doorway. “And someday a wonderful man will do the same for you.”

“My prospects of meeting men aren't the same out here,” Rachel said.

“I found my man here,” Amelia replied with a smile. “It doesn't take a lot of men to make a woman happy ... just one ... the right one.” She tugged her sister into the next room. “Now come, there is someone here I'd like you to see.”

“Another Indian friend?” Rachel said softly.

Amelia chuckled. “Not exactly, although some people around here think he's on the wild side.”

“Rachel?” a familiar voice said.

“Father?” she cried. With joy, Rachel ran into her parent's open arms.

“But Father!” Rachel pleaded. “I can assist at the infirmary. I know I can.”

John Dempsey frowned as he gazed at his youngest daughter. They were in his living quarters at the mission. It was the day after he'd first learned that Rachel had come for a visit. He wasn't pleased when he'd learned that she'd come to stay. “You know nothing about medicines.”

“I can learn,” she said with assurance. “Amelia didn't always know what to do. She learned; you taught her.”

Her father didn't look convinced. “Rachel, you belong in Baltimore, with your Aunt Bess and all those young men who always came courting you.”

“I can't go back, Father. Didn't Amelia tell you?”

John narrowed his gaze. “She said something about some young persistent beau.” He stood. “Frankly, I'm surprised that you left. It's not like you to run away from anyone or anything. You were always one who could handle any of your young men.”

“I couldn't stay. I know you don't understand why, but believe me, my being here is for the best.”

“Your sister is happy that you've come,” John said. “You'd be better off staying with her and Daniel.”

“Father, I'm not comfortable there. Daniel and Amelia are married. They need their privacy.” She rose from the sofa in the parlor to follow him into the kitchen. “I can be useful here. I can cook for you and help with your patients.”

She lifted a pitcher of water and filled a pot, which she placed on the fire. “I'm not useless, you know. Aunt Bess taught me a great deal in the past few years.”

John placed two teacups on the worktable along the opposite wall. “Your aunt is a wonderful woman, but even she didn't have the stomach for assisting with my patients.”

Rachel spun from the fire and approached where her father stood. “I'm not Aunt Bess.”

“I realize that,” he said.

“Won't you at least give me a chance? If I fail, then I'll leave here. I promise I'll not bother you again.”

John's expression softened as he touched his daughter's cheek. “You're not a bother,” he said quietly, “and it is good to see you.” He sighed as he dropped his hand. “I could use some help here ...”

“A month,” Rachel said. “Won't you give me a month to prove myself?” She was pleased to note that her father was weakening. “Just one month,” she murmured, “and if it doesn't work out, I'll find somewhere else to go.”

Her father looked at her. “You'll go home to Baltimore.”

Rachel knew she couldn't make that promise. “No. But I'll find somewhere to go.”

“Baltimore,” her father insisted. “If things don't work out here, you'll go home to your aunt.”

Since she was determined that she wouldn't fail, Rachel finally agreed. “Fine, if I can't handle being your assistant, I'll go home to Baltimore.”
You don't know what you're asking of me, Father.
But what else could she do but agree?

“Your sister will be disappointed if you don't at least stay a few days with her,” her father pointed out.

Amelia might be disappointed, but Daniel won't be.
“I'll stay a couple of days with her before I move my things here.” Rachel viewed her surroundings with more interest. Now that she knew this was to be her home—at least for the next month or so—she was curious what the place had to offer.

She noted that it had been some time since Amelia had lived here. It was easy to tell, because the infirmary lacked a woman's touch ... the touch of her sister that Rachel was sure had been evident before she'd married Daniel and moved out.

Rachel decided to add linens, wildflowers, and knickknacks. “Will you show me around?” she asked softly.

John looked surprised by his youngest daughter's request. “You want to see the sickroom?”

Rachel nodded. “How many beds do you have?” she asked. “Do you get many patients at one time?”

“We have two beds in the sickroom,” he told her, pleased by her interest. “We made sleeping pallets for as many as ten patients during a flu epidemic last winter.”

A flu epidemic.
“Did anyone die?” Her voice was soft as she pictured her father struggling to help a roomful of ill patients. “Where did everyone stay?”

“In every available room. And we had patients in several residences. And yes, some people died.” He looked solemn. “A woman and a little girl fell victim the first week.”

It was clear that the memory of that time upset him. “The rest of the family survived,” he continued. “It was rough for a while, but eventually everyone else's fever broke and they all recovered. Your sister about wore herself out playing nurse. Daniel was a godsend. He fetched and carried whatever we needed. He even went to the Ojibwa people for medicines for the fever.”

She thought of how tragic that time must have been. “You used Indian medicine?” she said, startled. For a moment, she had an image of the Ojibwa brave Black Hawk. She tried to picture a whole village of Ojibwa people.

John nodded. “I have tremendous respect for their knowledge of herbs and plant life. My own medicine supply had dwindled. We relied on the Ojibwa for something to help break the patients' fevers.”

Rachel's lips twisted as she looked away. It was hard to imagine Daniel as anything other than the man who insulted and mocked her. He'd been ready to accept Miranda as Amelia's sister. Why did he look at her as being unworthy of being a Dempsey? She was unused to being treated so poorly by a male. Until Daniel, men had always fawned over her.

Except for Jordan, but he had still courted her ... before he'd broken her heart by leaving.

“I promise you won't be sorry I came,” she vowed to her father. “I can take care of sick patients. Why, only last year, I nursed Aunt Bess through a horrible case of the ague.”

“You'll be dealing with worse cases than someone with the ague. Out here, there are injuries to doctor. Animal bites. Wounds from battle. Sickness. Death.”

She couldn't help herself. Rachel felt a chill at the mention of death. Battle? she thought. Between the Indians and the whites? Between the different Indian tribes? “I can handle it,” she insisted.

“I sincerely hope so, Rachel,” her father said. “For I'll not put up with a spoiled little girl's tantrums. If you can't make it here as my assistant, you'll go home to Baltimore as soon as it can be arranged.”

“But I'll have a month?” she asked. There would be things to learn; he couldn't expect her to know everything right away. She told him so.

“Yes, daughter,” John said. “You'll have your month. I'll teach you what I can. There are some here at the mission who can teach you more.”

“Thank you, Father.” She gave him a hug.

“Don't thank me, daughter. By the end of the month, you may be looking forward to going home.”

 

 

Black Hawk's people were at their summer location, within a few hours' distance of the mission settlement near the great lake. They had moved their village closer to the white mission settlement during the last hot season. This land was more fertile for their corn, pumpkin, and squash crops. Here, they wouldn't have to travel a long distance to the place where they gathered wild rice in the fall. They were closer to the blacksmith and Jack Keller's trading post. The Ojibwa women liked to trade for goods at Jack's store.

“He-Who-Kills-with-Big-Stick was seen in this last Sioux attack on Red Dog's people,” Black Hawk told Daniel. The two men were at the Ojibwa village in Black Hawk's wigwam.

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You didn't tell me that before.” He was surprised that his friend had remained silent until this time. Black Hawk had been searching for He-Who-Kills-with-Big-Stick for many years, since Black Hawk had become a man. The Ojibwa warrior had witnessed He-Who-Kills-with-Big-Stick torture and murder his father when he was eight years old. His quest for revenge had begun that terrible day when a child had learned the cruelties of evil combined with the waste of war. The child had become a man bent on vengeance, but not at all costs.

Black Hawk was a wise war chief for the Ojibwa. He did not strike his enemy unless the battle was well planned. He did not attack unless the need warranted such action. He was a good thinker, but there was a dark, painful side to him. Daniel could only hope that someday Black Hawk could find the peace, the healing, he so desperately needed. It was what the man—and the child he'd been—deserved.

Daniel trusted the man with his life. In fact, he had done so many times, and Black Hawk had always come through for him.

“I did not know of the man's presence there. It was told to me last night by White Fox.” Black Hawk studied his friend closely.

Daniel looked thoughtful. “Do you know where he might have gone?”

Black Hawk inclined his head. “It is said that he has gone to the west. To the village of Runs-with-the-Wind.”

He noted how Daniel tensed. This particular Sioux chief had acted honorably in the past, releasing his prisoner John Dempsey two years before after the doctor had saved his son, then later a young girl from his village. Because of the chief's actions regarding Dempsey, there was a measure of uneasy peace between this particular Sioux village and the Ojibwa.

Daniel had his own reasons for disliking the Sioux Indians, but they both agreed that it was a peace that none of them wanted broken.

“You cannot take the man in the village of Runs-with-the-Wind,” Daniel said.

“I know this. I do not think he will remain in the village for long. He is an evil man. Runs-with-the-Wind will see this.”

“I hope you are right.”

Black Hawk hoped so, too. He would find He-Who-Kills-with-Big-Stick. He must be made to suffer as his father had suffered at the warrior's hands. The day of his father's murder was a day he would never forget. It was the driving force of his life. He would not rest unless his family was avenged and the Sioux warrior was dead.

There was a swish as Spring Blossom raised the door flap. “You are hungry?” she asked both men with a smile. She paused, as if taken aback by their grave expressions, but she didn't ask what was wrong. It wasn't her place.

Daniel made an effort to smile at Black Hawk's sister. “You have made some of that delicious porridge?”

She beamed at Daniel as, nodding, she stepped fully into the wigwam. She glanced toward Black Hawk and gave her brother a smile.

“Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend is well?” she asked Daniel softly.

Daniel's expression softened at the mention of his wife. “She is well. She grows larger with the babe every day.”

“And her sister?” Spring Blossom asked, for she had been told of Rachel Dempsey.

Daniel's good humor vanished. “She is fine. She will be helping her father at the infirmary.” His tone suggested he was relieved.

When Spring Blossom had left after serving both men, Black Hawk looked at his friend. “Why do you not like your wife's sister?”

“You wish the truth?”

Black Hawk nodded.

“She is like Pamela, my late wife.”

The Ojibwa narrowed his gaze. “How so?”

“She is beautiful and untrustworthy.”

“You know her that well?” Black Hawk raised his eyebrows.

“I have learned much since I was married to Pamela. I have learned to recognize others like her.”

“Beautiful and untrustworthy,” the Indian murmured with a frown. Rachel Dempsey was certainly beautiful, he thought. If Daniel was right, then he, Black Hawk, had made the right decision to stay away from the sister to Tree-That-Will-Not-Bend. He'd thought of little else since they'd met, which bothered him, as he had work to do and no time for a female.

He-Who-Kills-with-Big-Stick had been sighted. It was the first news of the Sioux warrior for several years now. Black Hawk should be happy that the day of vengeance was within sight. He should be planning; he could not afford to make a mistake. Yet the only image in his mind lately had been of the lovely white woman with hair the color of shiny brown and copper.

“You should know a woman before you judge her, my friend,” he said.

Daniel's gaze held surprise. “You think I should trust her?” he said. “Do you know that she left Baltimore so she didn't have to deal with some suitor?”

Black Hawk scowled. “Suitor?”

“Man friend.”

“She has run away from a man.”

“Apparently so,” his friend said with a sneer.

Black Hawk shook his head. Perhaps the two sisters were not so alike after all. He must not let his mind dwell on an untrustworthy woman.