LeClerc 01 - Autumn Ecstasy (17 page)

Wolf and Bear walked outside while Linsey lingered for a moment with Morning Moon. “Thank you for the dress and coat,” she said quietly. “I will return them as soon as I can make something else to wear.”

“Among my people, when a gift is freely given, it is an insult if it is returned,” Morning Moon replied.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to insult you!” Linsey was horrified at the thought.

“I know you did not, woman of Bear. Perhaps you will come to learn our ways and not think them so strange.”

“My name is Linsey; I would be happy if you would call me that.”

“Lin Zee,” Morning Moon tried the unfamiliar word on her tongue, giggling at its strangeness. “It has a meaning for your people?”

Linsey had never given her name much thought and was startled when she realized exactly what her name had meant to her father. “Linsey woolsey is a type of cloth commonly used by my people. It is sturdy and long lasting. My father came from a land far across the ocean where many men were ruled by one man. I think he named me Linsey so that I would remember always that I lived in a land where every man is the same and no man is ruled by a king.”

“You have many names,” her dark eyes sparkled, looking remarkably like the mischievous ones of her son. “Lin Zee must be better than witch!”

“Will the children ever trust me?” Linsey was truly horrified at the thought of frightening all the children. She was to be the thing of their nightmares as Indians had been of hers.

Morning Moon’s eyes showed the gentleness of her nature. She understood Linsey’s horror. “When they forget you are different and see you only as a person, they will come to love you as my son already does.”

“I hope you’re right.”

They left the house and found the two men standing just outside, patiently waiting. They said good-bye and headed back to the cabin. Linsey had little to say on the trip home. As she walked behind Bear, her thoughts were centered on the Indian village. The people she had met had been like people everywhere. They were not the frightening savages she had feared all her life. But there had to be a basis of foundation for the horror stories she had been told.

Her confused thoughts tumbled over themselves. Which was true? The savage bent on torture or the loving parents proudly showing off their children? How could the same people leave two such totally opposing impressions?

She quickened her steps until she walked beside Bear. “I tried to thank Morning Moon for the dress and found I had insulted her when I offered to return it.”

Bear caught her hand and held it tightly. “It would be appropriate if you gave her something instead,” he offered.

“Like what? I have nothing to give!”

“You could make a dress for her or Spring Flower. I have some hides at the cabin you could use. Or you could make something for the new baby.”

“New baby? Morning Moon is going to have another baby?”

“In the spring,” he replied with a smile.

“But I won’t be here in the spring.” A stab of disappointment ran through her at the thought. She would never know if Morning Moon’s baby was a boy or a girl.

Linsey walked quietly, hand in hand with Bear, still deep in thought when the cabin came into view. She sighed deeply, deciding to wait until another day before she examined her confused feelings.

Darkness fell quickly once they were inside the warm haven of safety.

“How did you become Wolf’s brother?” Linsey’s abrupt question broke the comfortable silence of the room. Bear looked up from the trap he was repairing, his thoughts drifting back nearly twelve years. He told her briefly about the deaths of his mother and sisters and how he and his father had started trapping.

“The first snow of the winter had fallen, and we were working our lines back toward our winter camp,” Bear said, his voice deep with memory. “I almost stumbled on Wolf in the darkness. He had carelessly stepped in one of our steel traps.”

Bear grinned. “To this day, he swears he wasn’t careless, just intent on following a deer.

“It’s amazing that the trap didn’t cut off his foot. As it was, if we hadn’t found him when we did, he would have bled to death. We built a fire and kept him warm, doing our best to stop the bleeding. In the morning I carried him to the village.

“He was delirious by the time we arrived, and there were a few rather uncomfortable days while we waited to see if he’d live or die.

“When he recovered, we were invited to spend the winter in the village. My father decided it would be a good experience for both of us and accepted.”

He became quiet, and Linsey waited for him to continue. “Is that it?” she asked when it became obvious he was finished with his story.

Bear smiled at her curiosity. “Not really,” he said. “I was the first white man Wolf had ever seen while he was the first Indian I had ever had the chance to know. We had to prove our strengths to each other; after all, I couldn’t let him think he was stronger than I was. We spent that first winter doing more fighting than anything else.

“I won most of the fights simply because I was almost twice his size, but when it came to tracking —” Bear shook his head, chuckling “— he’d lose me in the woods every time we went out. Even with the snow thick on the ground, he’d get away from me. More than once I spent the night out in the cold because he had managed to get me lost and then drifted away like a shadow. I’d spend the night sitting with my arms wrapped around me, shivering and cursing while he’d be in the village, warm and toasty.”

Linsey had to wait for Bear to finish chuckling before he continued. “That first winter we were more enemies than friends. While he felt great respect for my father, considering it was his aid that had saved him, Wolf thought I was rather like a stupid bear. He was the first one to call me Bear, and believe me it was not a compliment!

“We wintered with the tribe every year for the next five. Each new winter Wolf and I felt we had to prove ourselves to each other. Finally, one winter I could not out fight him; he couldn’t lose me in the woods. We tracked game equally as well; I was only slightly more accurate with a gun, he with a bow and arrow. We became friends.”

Bear set the finished trap on the floor and leaned back in the chair. “That spring before we left, we became blood brothers.” He held up his left arm, and almost lost among the other scars was a thin straight one just above his wrist.

His face clouded, and Linsey knew the new memory was bringing pain to him. “The next winter my father was dying by the time we reached the village. I had carried him for miles while he fought to breathe. Even the old Grandmother couldn’t save him.

“I wintered alone with the tribe that year. When spring came, Wolf invited me to stay.” He looked up at her and shrugged lightly. “I did.”

The fire crackled, filling the silence with its familiar sound. Linsey watched Bear as he stared into the fire, and the question that had haunted her since his illness sprang unwittingly to her lips.

“Who was Snow?” she asked softly.

Bear was startled by her quiet question and wondered where Linsey had heard about Snow. “Snow On The Trees was Wolf’s younger sister,” he answered quietly. “She became my wife two winters after my father’s death. I had to prove to her father that I was worthy of his only daughter.”

Bear stood and walked to the fire. He knelt in front of it and added several logs. When he said nothing more, Linsey knew he was not ready yet to tell her about his beloved wife.

“In the morning, if you’ll show me how to work with hides, I’d like to try making something for either Morning Moon or her baby,” Linsey said, abruptly changing the subject. “I can embroider fairly well on cloth, but I’ve never had the opportunity to work with hides.”

Bear sighed quietly and shook the melancholy thoughts from his mind. He was relieved that she had changed the subject but knew he would someday tell her of Snow. He would have to.

“It will give you something to do while I’m gone.” At her startled expression he grinned. “I am a trapper. It has been too many days since I’ve checked my traps. If I expect to have any to sell come spring, I have to get busy.”

Linsey closed her eyes, hiding their expression. She had spent several days alone in the cabin before he arrived, so why did she suddenly worry about being alone again. “Fine,” she said firmly. “I’ll be just fine.”

“Of course you will,
mon ange.
I will be gone only during the day. I will not leave you here alone at night.”

“I’ll be fine.” She tried to hide the shudder from his too observant eyes … and failed.

Kaleb stared at the ceiling above his head and wished he had not decided to spend the night in the abandoned cabin. He hated sleeping inside, even on cold winter nights. He preferred to look up and see the stars, watch them twinkle so far away until he drifted to sleep.

He was getting closer. Jeb and Zeke were making no attempt to hide their trail. Kaleb’s job had become easier with their arrogance. He knew Jeb had decided Kaleb had given up the search. He had begun to find dead campfires, and they had used this cabin. Kaleb had felt the dead ashes in the fireplace and detected a slight warmth. He doubted if he was farther than a day behind them now.

Kaleb closed his eyes, but the memories wouldn’t let him sleep. Somehow Mary’s battered face combined with Linsey’s terrified one. He was glad he had taken the time to save the girl from the clutches of Jeb and Zeke. He had lost only a few days by taking her to Bear’s cabin.

In the silence Kaleb chuckled, wondering at Bear’s reaction when he returned to his cabin and found the girl. Maybe after he finished with Jeb and Zeke he’d go back, just to check on her.

She’d be quite a woman someday, Kaleb decided. She had grit and backbone. Couldn’t have made it as far as she had if she’d been a prissy city girl. She’d be the kind of woman a man could plan a future with, just like Mary.

A pain lanced through Kaleb, so deep he had no choice but to wait it out. The pain didn’t come as often any more. Almost as if time was healing a wound little by little, he could remember Mary more often without feeling like he was going to die from the loneliness that engulfed him.

“Soon, my sweet Mary,” Kaleb whispered through the darkness. “I promise ya, hit will be soon.”

He closed his eyes and tried to find sleep.

CHAPTER EIGHT

It had seemed strange being in the cabin without Bear. Constant reminders of his presence were reassuring; his shirt, a spare hat, the pipe that she’d seen him smoke only once. Knowing that he had promised to return each night had helped, but it wasn’t the same as having him there all day. The first day had been the hardest. Every noise had made Linsey jump, and with little to occupy her time, the hours had dragged by.

The next morning, before he left, Bear showed her where he kept needles and thread, and she spent the long afternoon repairing the damage to her dress. One evening he carved several buttons for her to replace the ones that were missing, and after a good washing the dress “was serviceable if not attractive.

Now, after almost a week of him leaving each morning and returning just before dark, Linsey was becoming accustomed to his absences. She found that she enjoyed the solitude and realized she had never truly been alone before. There had always been someone just within calling distance, and even when she sought the quiet of her room, someone else was in the house.

The last few days, she had worked on a gown for Morning Moon’s new baby. After carefully cutting the white deerhide into the desired shapes using a razor sharp knife, Linsey punched small holes along the edges. Bear had shown her how to use an awl to make the holes and then sew the pieces together using narrow strips of sinew.

Linsey had been pleased with the finished product until she realized Bear had nothing she could use to embroider the tiny gown. She could not give it to Morning Moon without some sort of decoration. During her visit in the village, she had noticed that each piece of clothing was heavily decorated. Some of the clothing had intricate geometrical patterns while others had flowers, animals or birds. Colorful beads made of various materials were skillfully worked into the pattern.

Linsey put the gown on the table and looked around the room, searching for something to use. She did not want to sew beads on the gown, fearing that the baby would pick at them until they came loose, put one in his mouth and choke.

Sighing with exasperation, she ran her fingers through her hair, testing it to see if it had dried yet from being washed earlier that morning. Shortly after Bear left, Linsey heated several pots of water. Her hair had not been given a good wash since leaving Philadelphia, so she indulged herself, using the flowery scented soap. It was a time-consuming project, nearly impossible for one person. Her almost hip-length hair was thick and full of hidden tangles, and by the time she finished, she felt slightly dizzy from hanging nearly upside down. She had gotten as much water on herself and the floor as she had on her hair, but for the first time in weeks, it was truly clean and, after hours of patient combing, tangle free. As her fingers wove through the slightly damp strands, an idea came to mind.

Sitting down, Linsey pulled several pieces of hair free. Working slowly she twisted them together making a long thread of red. She tested the thread on a spare piece of hide, using the needle Bear had given her. After several attempts, Linsey found that five pieces of hair twisted together made the right thickness for the embroidery. Delighted with her discovery, she spent the remainder of the afternoon happily occupied.