by Norah Hess
Raven carried a plate of meat and bread to the fireplace and sat down in the other rocker. It seemed to D'lise that she made more noise than usual as she stuffed her mouth and chomped away. She suspected that it was done on purpose.
She managed to knit on, to keep her dark thoughts off her face.
Finally the Indian woman's hunger was sated, and after giving her usual loud belch, she looked at D'lise and asked, "You ever feel an ache for a man? Do you sometimes wish the trapper sleep with you instead of with Raven?"
"Certainly not!" D'lise's face flamed crimson. "Such a thought never entered my mind."
"I think you lie. I think you lie in bed every night wishing that he was between your legs."
"You're crazy!" D'lise gripped the knitting needles so hard her knuckles turned white. "All women aren't like you. They don't think about men all the time."
"Then they are crazy. A man's pleasure stick is the most important thing a woman can think about." Raven looked at D'lise with sly, calculating eyes. "Is it possible that you can think of other things because you have not had a man yet? It is hard for me to believe that while on the trial the very randy trapper did not crawl between your white legs."
"Believe what you want." D'lise jumped to her feet, her knitting falling to the floor, the ball of yarn rolling across the skins with Scrag scampering after it. "I think it's time you went to bed. I'm sure Kane won't like the way you've been talking to me."
Raven's face paled beneath its bronze. Maybe she had gone too far in her tormenting of the white woman. Kane would be very angry if he found out. He might even send her away. She rose and left the cabin.
D'lise hurried to bar the door, but opened it a crack first to see if Raven was indeed retiring. Her brow knitted in a frown when Raven walked past the barn and took a path that led down into the next hollow. Where was she going?
"I hope she never comes back," she muttered, then looked down at Hound when he came and nudged her hand. She patted his head and opened the door wider. "Go on and do your business, then hurry back," she said. "There's a bear out there somewhere." Scrag shot past her just as she was closing the door. He, too, had the desire to find a bush.
Ten minutes later, both pets were back in the cabin and D'lise had folded away her knitting for the night. She shoveled ashes onto the fire, banking it, then changed into the flannel gown she had finished making two days ago. As she lay in the darkness, she heard the rising sigh of the wind in the cedars in back of the cabin and wondered if it was going to rain again.
When she drifted off to sleep, she found herself hoping that it would rain, pour down in buckets. Kane would come home then.
Chapter Ten
It didn't rain during the night, nor did Kane come home. Raven, too, was still gone, D'lise discovered when she went to the barn to milk Spider. Had the woman gone back to her village for good? She prayed this was true. She didn't know how much longer she could put up with her.
Back in the cabin again, she strained the milk, then fried some bacon and one of the eggs she had collected yesterday. When she finished breakfast, she divided what cold roast Raven hadn't eaten between the dog and the cat. After she made up her bed, she washed up the plate, flatware, and skillet she'd used cooking her morning meal.
Now she was at a loss how to spend her time. If Kane were here, she'd be planning what to make for lunch and supper, carrying him out a cup of coffee as he chopped wood and corded it between the trees that stood around the cabin.
She picked up her knitting, but soon laid it down again. She was too restless to sit still.
It was just past ten o'clock when she heard the sound of trotting horse hooves and the whirring of buggy wheels. She hurried to the window and peered out from the side of the curtain. Her lips spread in a wide smile. Samuel Majors was helping Ellen Travis to the ground. Her first company! She smoothed a hand over her hair, then down the front of her bodice, and hurried to open the door.
"Good morning, D'lise," Ellen called, walking toward her with a smile. "I hope you don't mind a little company."
"Not at all. I'm very pleased to see you." D'lise smiled back. "How are you, Samuel?" she asked the handsome storekeeper.
"I'm just fine, D'lise. When Ellen suggested we come visit you, I brought these along." He handed her two books. "I hope you haven't read them."
D'lise eagerly took the volumes from him and looked at the titles. She lifted glowing eyes to him. "I've read Shakespeare, but not these two plays. Thank you so much, Samuel. They'll give me many hours of pleasure, and rest assured that I will take good care of them."
She wheeled on the barking Hound, commanding him to be quiet. The hound gave a few more yips, then trotted off behind the cabin.
Samuel laughed. "I see he likes to get in the last word."
"Yes," D'lise agreed, "but he's a very good watchdog. I feel quite safe when I'm alone in the cabin. Come on in and we'll have some refreshments."
"Are you alone today?" Samuel asked, following Ellen inside.
"Yes, I am. Also last night. Kane is off hunting with his friend, Big Beaver. He should be back sometime tomorrow."
"You mean you spent the night alone here?" Ellen looked at her in concern as she took off her hat and laid it on the bench beside her. "Weren't you afraid?"
"I was," D'lise admitted, placing cookies on the table, along with three cups missing their saucers. "Just at dusk I saw a big bear at the edge of the forest, and Raven had me believing that he might come through the window while I was asleep. I'm afraid I slept with one eye open all night. I know I had nightmares of the animal breaking through the glass and coming after me."
"That was a cruel thing for that woman to do," Ellen said angrily. "I hope you tell Kane about it."
D'lise didn't know what to answer, for she hadn't made up her mind yet what to do about Raven. Samuel saved her, saying, "The bear won't come through your window, D'lise. They do occasionally break into a home, but only when they're hungry and they smell food. Right now they're finding plenty of berries, wild grapes, and persimmons. In another few weeks, they will go into hibernation and you won't lay eyes on one until spring.
"And that, by the way, is when you have to keep your cabin tightly locked up, with no food lying around to tempt them. They come out of their long sleep skinny and starving. In the early spring there's not much for them to eat."
"I'm glad to hear that," D'lise said. "It rests my mind a lot." She gave Samuel a teasing smile. "How does a city man know so much about wild animals?"
A sadness came into the storekeeper's eyes. "I wasn't always a city fellow. I was raised on a farm back in the Boston area. My wife's father owned the farm next to ours. Jeannie and I grew up together. Neither one of us cared much for farming, and when we got married we moved to Boston and opened a store."
There was silence in the small room for a moment; then D'lise said softly, "May I ask how you lost your wife, Samuel?"
Samuel nodded, swallowed, then said quietly, "She was crossing the street one day and was run over by a team and wagon that was going much too fast on such a busy thoroughfare."
"I am so sorry, Samuel." Ellen reached across the table and laid her hand on his.
"Thank you, Ellen." Samuel turned his hand over and clasped her fingers with his. When D'lise filled their cups with steaming coffee, the pair were still holding hands. D'lise smiled to herself. Was there a romance building between them? She hoped so. They were perfect for each other. Both were educated, Samuel a gentleman, Ellen a lady. She would make the perfect mother for Samuel's two young daughters.
The conversation became light then, with much teasing and laughter between them. It was after one burst of hilarity that Ellen wiped her eyes and asked, "Are you coming to the box supper tomorrow night, D'lise?"
"I'd love to, but I don't know if Kane will get home in time to take me, or for that matter if he'd want to go."
"That's no problem," Samuel said. "I'll come get you, then pick Ellen up on the way back to the
village."
"Yes, D'lise, please come," Ellen urged. "You'll have lots of fun. There'll be dancing, and the men will bid their pockets empty to get the chance to eat with you."
"Oh, I don't know about that." D'lise blushed. "What should I bring?" She remembered that one of the Pattons had mentioned bringing fried chicken, and she hurried to say, "I can't bring fried chicken. I only have six and they're all laying."
Ellen and Samuel laughed at her solemn little face. "No," Ellen said, patting her arm, "you mustn't kill one of your laying hens. When I make up my box, I'll make up one for you."
"I couldn't let you do that, Ellen," D'lise objected. "It's too much trouble."
"It's no trouble at all. You just be ready when Samuel comes to pick you up."
"Well, if you're sure. It's awfully kind of you. I'll do something for you someday."
"Now you've got the right idea," Ellen said with a wide smile. "That's how we do things here in Piney Ridge. We help each other."
D'lise hugged her arms as she watched the buggy roll out of sight half an hour later. She'd had her first visitors and everything had gone fine. They had laughed and talked, and Samuel had claimed that her cookies were the best he'd ever tasted. She had promised to bring him a batch the next time she came to the store, and he had answered that his daughters would be grateful, since his culinary arts didn't extend to cookies and such.
And tomorrow night she was going to her second social. A sadness slipped into D'lise's eyes. If only Auntie could have been here today. D'lise had always known that the gentle woman missed the feminine company she had once enjoyed.
Her steps were light as she turned back into the cabin, going over in her mind the two new dresses she had made. Which one would she wear to the affair? The blue one, she concluded, the one that matched her eyes.
D'lise wandered about the small room, not knowing what to do with herself. She missed Kane, his coming in and out of the cabin, the ring of his axe as he cut a stockpile of wood against the cold winter months.
Her face brightened. She would go cord the wood he had tossed into a huge pile. That would keep her busy until sundown.
The last rays of the sun were disappearing behind the western treeline when D'lise dusted off her hands and arms and looked at the rows of firewood stacked between the standing trees. Her eyes moved to the pile of backlogs, their trunks as big around as Kane's body. Each one would burn for a full day and part of a night. The big dog looked up and thumped his tail when she said, "It's time I milk the cow, then make us some supper, Hound."
She walked into the cabin and placed a small log on the fire that was about to go out, then picked up the milk pail. Spider freely let down her milk and D'lise was shortly back in the cabin.
Hound watched eagerly, and Scrag wound his body around her legs as she lifted the lid from the hanging pot of beans and ham that had been simmering all afternoon. She ladled a liberal amount into each of two pans, explaining to the pets, "I'm sorry, but this is all I have for you until Kane gets home with some fresh meat." She filled herself a plate then, placing it on the table and lighting a candle. She next closed the shutters and barred them, wondering if Raven would show up for the evening meal. The woman hadn't been around since Kane left.
"I hope she stays away," she thought, attacking the beans and ham with a ravenous appetite.
After the kitchen area was set to rights, D'lise picked up the ball of blue yarn and worked on her afghan until the clock struck eight. She would wait up for Raven no longer. If she showed up now, she could just go to bed hungry.
It took her a while to fall asleep. She was gripped with excitement. Tomorrow night was the box supper affair, and sometime tomorrow Kane should be home. When she did fall asleep, the image of his handsome face was in the back of her eyes.
White mists curled ghost-like along the Ohio, and a blue haze of smoke lifted from Kane and Big Beaver's campfire. High in a maple tree, well out of reach of marauding animals, were two deer carcasses lashed to a sturdy limb. The Indian had shot one the day before, and Kane had brought down the other today.
Big Beaver tossed the stripped bone of a roasted rabbit into the fire, then looked out at the gathering twilight. "I always miss my people at this hour," he said quietly. "Our evening meal has been eaten by now and the men will be sitting around a huge campfire discussing the day's events." He grinned in amusement. "After a while the old braves will take over, telling about the battles of their youth, bragging loudly of their bravery, arguing among themselves who had taken the most scalps, stolen the most horses."
Kane laughed softly, then turned serious. "I guess when you grow old, memories are all that you have. Toward the end, my uncle reminisced a lot—especially when he was drunk."
"I still miss my wife too." Big Beaver stared into the flames.
"Do you think you'll ever marry again?" Kane asked. "After all, you're still a young man and must want sons."
Big Beaver grinned and poked at the fire. "I took a new wife two years ago, and I have a son who is one year old."
"Why in the hell didn't you tell me?" Kane demanded, half angry. "Did you think I wouldn't be interested?"
Big Beaver shrugged his shoulders. "An Indian man's second marriage is seldom of importance. The second wife is taken because of the need in his loins. Green Leaf pleasures me amply in bed. She was but fifteen when the words were spoken over us, and I have trained her in the ways that give me most pleasure. She is very biddable, and I am content."
Kane thought of D'lise's innocence and said without thinking, "I've heard that it hurts a virgin the first time she is entered by a man. Have you found that to be true?"
"Yes, that is true. She bleeds some when that thin barrier is broken. Green Leaf, being so young, yelped with her pain."
"So you had to stop? How long did it take before you could enter her again?"
Big Beaver looked at Kane as though he were dimwitted. "I didn't stop. She was my wife and knew it was her duty to bring me pleasure. I took her three times that night."
Kane gazed into the firelogs. He could never use D'lise that callously. If she cried out in pain, he would stop immediately.
As though he read Kane's mind, Big Beaver said with amusement, "I am not an animal, friend. It only hurts the woman that one time. After the initial opening, most women receive the same pleasure a man does. Remember that when you get up the nerve to bed the pretty little one."
"You're crazy." Kane glowered at the grinning Indian. "I have no intention of bedding D'lise."
Big Beaver's grin widened when Kane abruptly changed the subject. Just talking about the young woman who lived with him had made a bulge grow in his friend's buckskins. He said no more, however, and shortly they were both rolled up in their blankets beside the fire.
Big Beaver was soon snoring, but Kane lay awake, listening to a pack of wolves running prey and wishing that he could start for home at daybreak tomorrow. But to prove to his sly friend that he wasn't anxious to get home to D'lise, he would hunt all day and give no hint how much he missed her.
D'lise awakened and stretched just as the clock was striking eight. It popped into her mind immediately that Kane would be home sometime today, and excitement rippled through her. She would make him an apple pie and bake a ham. They were his two favorite foods. Besides, by now he would be tired of eating wild game.
She lay a moment longer, wondering if he'd get home in time to take her to the social at the church. She had received the distinct impression the day they met that Kane hadn't liked the storekeeper, and she was a little nervous about accepting a ride from Samuel. It might anger Kane.
D'lise decided that she would choose her own friends and dismissed her worries from her mind.
She had slept later than usual, as if subconsciously she knew that with Kane gone there was no reason to start the day early. She grimaced wryly as she swung her feet to the floor. She could hear the hens fussing for their breakfast and Spider lowing to be milked. They cared not a whi
t if Kane never came home.
When she had put on a pot of coffee to brew, D'lise headed for the barn, Hound and Scrag trotting along behind her. The air was cold and she shivered in Kane's shirt, which she had shrugged on as she hurried across the yard, the frosted grass crunching under her feet.
Inside the barn, she hurried to where the chickens were confined, glancing at the pile of hay where Kane and Raven slept. There was no sign of the Indian and her hopes were raised higher that her enemy was gone for good.
The day passed swiftly for D'lise as she made the pie and tended to the ham baking slowly in the small oven. Around four o'clock, she tugged the wooden tub off the wall and poured a kettle of hot water into it, then tempered its heat with cold water from the water pail. Dropping a piece of flannel, and the treasured, scented soap Kane had bought her into the tub, she disrobed and started her bath.
She began with her hair, giving it great attention, making sure all the soap was rinsed out before piling it on top of her head and fastening it there with two long, shiny thorns she had broken off a honey locust for just such an occasion. She and her aunt had often been forced to use shorter ones in place of buttons.
It was close to five, and the sun was going down when D'lise finished bathing. She seated herself in front of the fire and began drying her curls. The pie sat cooling on the table, and she had allowed the oven to cool off. The room was filled with delicious odors when she began to get dressed.
As she buttoned up her bodice she looked out the window, hoping to see Kane approaching the cabin in his easy, lithe walk. She sighed when she saw only a mother racoon and her two young ones moving along the edge of the yard. Samuel would be here soon, and she had so wanted to at least see Kane before she left.
D'lise had just finished brushing her hair and tying a small ribbon over each ear when she heard Samuel arriving. She opened the door and stepped out on the porch and Samuel ran an appreciative eye over her. "My, but don't you look pretty!" he said. "I wonder how many fights you will start tonight."