Kentucky Bride

by Norah Hess

  With Hound at her heels, D'lise walked toward a clump of maple trees, where she felt she could find the tasty morel mushrooms. The tears that had scorched her cheeks since leaving the cabin had eased her pain, but it was still there in a raw niche of her heart.

  She guessed it would always be there, for it appeared Raven would always be a part of Kane's life. She wondered bleakly if Raven was the woman he really wished that he had married but hadn't because his friends wouldn't accept her.

  A question she had asked herself so many times since entering into this marriage nagged her brain again. What could she do about the unhappy situation? Besides having no money, no place to go, she suspected that she was with child. Four mornings in a row she had lost her breakfast, and her breasts were sore lately.

  No solution had come to her when she spotted the first growth of the little tree-shaped mushrooms. Ordering Hound to lie down beneath a tree, afraid his big feet would trample the tender fungi, she knelt down and began gathering the delicacies.

  The morels were plentiful, and she soon had enough for supper, as well as plenty to dry in the loft for winter use. They would be delicious dropped into gravy.

  She stood up, brushed off the knees of her skirt, and called to the hound. As she headed home, she didn't know whether she wanted Kane to be there or not. A part of her feared that he had moved back into the old cabin where Raven could visit him at will, while another part of her wondered if she could bear continuing to live with him. It would test her fortitude to endure his presence as if nothing had happened.

  D'lise's unhappy musings were interrupted when she heard a rapid clip-clop behind her. A searing anger took hold of her when an Indian pony was pulled up beside her and Raven looked down at her, a smug smile on her lips.

  "You're out early, Mrs. Devlin," she drawled. "Did you and your husband have a lover's spat?"

  Keep walking, don't answer her, D'lise ordered herself. She's trying to rile you, make you say something so that she can get in more digs.

  She almost broke her angry silence when, keeping pace with her, Raven said, "Perhaps you've noticed I've been gone for the last two months. I went to my village to visit my people." When D'lise made no response, only hurried along with her chin in the air, Raven sent her a sly look. "But I'm back now and ready to take up my life in the white man's world again."

  Yes, D'lise thought, one white man's world. Kane Devlin's.

  There was such a drumming in her ears that D'lise didn't know when the Indian grew tired of baiting her and ceased following her. The tears she wouldn't let fall burned her throat. Raven had more or less confirmed that she was picking up where she had left off with Kane. It was clear now why he had been so attentive to his wife for a while. His lover had been gone.

  Her dark blue eyes turned almost black. God, but she would love to cut Kane's lying tongue out of his mouth! All this time he had pretended a jealousy of Samuel to cover up his feelings for Raven, and now he would use that pretended jealousy as an excuse to remove himself from his wife.

  When D'lise arrived back at the cabin, she glanced up the hill at the old one. The glass that Kane had installed looked like an eye gazing at her in amusement, as if saying, "You never belonged here. You weren't really wanted."

  She pulled her gaze away from the building, afraid she'd climb the hill and set fire to it. Kane would have to take his squaw somewhere else then. At least she wouldn't have to see them coming and going, see their light at night, see it go out, then lie in her lonely bed imagining Kane making love to Raven the way he had once done to her.

  D'lise was about to enter the cabin, when from the corner of the building, she caught sight of a horse's tail swishing at flies. Which of their neighbors did it belong to? She walked alongside the cabin to look, and her mouth flew open as she saw two mounts and recognized them both. She had walked behind them, holding on to a plow, for hundreds of miles. What were Rufus Enger's horse and mule doing here?

  She picked up the heavy stick she used for stirring her washing as it boiled over a fire. She was sure her uncle wasn't paying her and Kane a friendly visit. If he made one move toward her, she'd crack his skull.

  D'lise hopped up on the porch, stood in the kitchen doorway, and stared. Sitting at the table, looking at her, half scared, half hopeful, sat David and Johnny, the two bound-boys. Kane sat with them, all three drinking coffee.

  Chapter Twenty

  "Hey, D'lise," the boys said in unison, their thin faces expressing uncertainty as to how she would welcome them. "I guess you're surprised to see us," David added, his grubby fingers gripped tightly around his coffee mug, as she continued to gape at them.

  "My goodness, boys, you're the last two people I ever expected to see again." Ignoring Kane, D'lise sat down in the empty chair at the table. "You fellows aren't in trouble of any kind, are you?" She looked from one to the other, a frown worrying her forehead. "You didn't do anything to Rufus before you ran away, did you?"

  Young Johnny shook his head vehemently, and David's denial was just as impassioned as he declared, "We didn't lay a hand on him, D'lise, I swear it."

  "Then how in the world did you get away from that old devil? Did you steal the horse and mule while he was asleep?"

  "Rufus Enger is dead, D'lise," Kane said quietly.

  D'lise looked at Kane, noting that he had shaved and taken a bath. She looked back at David. "What happened, did he choke to death on his own venom?"

  "Something like that." David grinned. "He got mad at the old mule for some reason and was lashing him somethin' terrible with a whip. Finally, ole Gray had had enough and he kicked Rufus in the head, almost took it off his shoulders."

  "You didn't just go off and leave him, did you?" D'lise asked, afraid for them, afraid they might be accused of the brutal man's death.

  "Oh no," David answered, while Johnny shook his head. "When I couldn't find any pulse and knew that he was dead, I sent Johnny to get our nearest neighbor, Mr. Sparrow—you remember him. When he got there, he could see that we didn't do it. Old Gray was still tied to the post, all bloody, and his hoofprint was on the side of Rufus's face and head.

  "After the old varmint was buried, nobody wanted to take responsibility for us, so Mr. Sparrow told us to take Gray and Roany and just ride away." He ducked his head. "We been lookin' for you for over two weeks."

  But after a second, David's head came up proudly. "We don't mean to sponge off you, D'lise." He looked at Kane. "We thought maybe you might need some help around your place. We're good workers."

  The boys held their breath as they waited for Kane's answer, and so did D'lise. She couldn't believe what she was hearing when Kane said, "We can always find something for you boys to do. You can live up the hill in that old cabin." He added after a slight pause, "Of course you'll eat your meals with D'lise and me."

  While David and Johnny were thanking Kane profusely, D'lise was mulling over his words. His last remarks told her that he would be staying here with her, and that if the boys occupied the old cabin, Raven wouldn't be moving in. Confusion muddled her brain. What was going on in Kane's conniving mind?

  She'd have to wait and see, she guessed, standing up and pushing the chair back under the table. "I guess you boys are hungry. Kane can take you up the hill and settle you in while I make us some lunch."

  "Thank you, D'lise," David said, looking ready to cry. And Johnny, trying to speak over the tears that choked his throat, finally gave up and threw his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly, his head buried on her chest. She put her arms around his thin shoulders and stroked his blond head. Johnny had been denied affection for a long time, and she knew he needed it desperately.

  After a moment she raised his head and said softly, "Before you come back down, would you please milk my cow and feed my hens? And if you find any eggs, we'll have them with bacon tomorrow morning."

  "With fried potatoes?" Johnny looked at her hopefully.

  "With fried potatoes." D'lise smiled down at him. She look
ed up in time to see Kane watching her, and thought that she must be mistaken about the softness, the longing, in his eyes.

  She gave Johnny a push toward the door. "Off with you, fellows. Lunch will be ready in about an hour."

  Kane paused at the door before following the boys outside. When D'lise saw that he was going to speak, she turned and walked out of the kitchen. She didn't want to hear any more of his lies. When she heard him talking to David outside, she returned to the kitchen and started preparing the meal. If her randy husband thought all was forgotten and forgiven, that everything would remain the same as before with them, he'd better think again. He had played her for a fool twice, but he wouldn't do it for the third time.

  D'lise fried three times the amount of beef-steaks she usually prepared for her and Kane. David and Johnny were growing boys, and there had never been enough food on the Enger table. Besides, the poor kids had probably been existing on berries and roots on their journey to find her.

  When an hour later, on the dot, Johnny and David dug into the meat and potatoes and backed squash, D'lise wished that she had cooked even more. They ate like young, hungry animals that hadn't seen food in several days. At one point she had to caution Johnny to eat more slowly. If he didn't take the time to chew his food, he was going to choke on it.

  She wasn't surprised to see Kane watching the boys, sympathy in his eyes. Although he treated her shabbily, going to bed with whores and his squaw, there was a softness in her husband for the young and the mistreated.

  When the meat platter and the bowls were empty, D'lise brought out a plate of cookies. She hid her smile when young Johnny sat on his hands in order not to snatch up a handful. Would that bottomless pit of his ever be filled? she wondered.

  Finally, when nothing but crumbs was left on the plate, David and Johnny started talking as eagerly as they had eaten. "We looked over your garden, D'lise," Johnny said, "and we're gonna take real good care of it. You won't find one weed in your vegetables."

  "And this winter, I'm gonna help Kane run his trapline," David broke in. "He's gonna learn me all about trappin'."

  "Teach you about trapping," D'lise corrected him.

  "Yeah, that's what I said," David agreed with a nod of his head. "He's gonna learn me everything about it."

  D'lise chose to ignore the amused grin that twitched the corners of Kane's lips.

  "I won't be goin' with them, D'lise," Johnny piped up, a look of importance in his soft brown eyes. "Kane said it would be my job to stay with you. Me and Hound will scare the Indians and wolves away from the cabin."

  "Hound and I," the schoolteacher came out in D'lise again.

  "No, not you and Hound, D'lise," Johnny explained carefully. "Me and Hound will do it."

  This time Kane's mirth found release. He threw back his head and roared with laughter. D'lise wanted to laugh with him, but bit her tongue.

  The boys gave Kane a curious look, wondering what he was so tickled about. Then David said solemnly, "I guess everyone will look down on me and Johnny just like they did back there with old Enger. Some people acted like we wasn't human, that we didn't have any feelin's because we're bound-boys."

  "I gave that some thought while you were up at the old cabin," D'lise said. "I've decided I'm going to introduce you fellows as my cousins—David and Johnny Alexander, who lost their parents to typhoid fever. Can you remember that?"

  "Oh, yes," the pair answered together. "We won't ever forget that, D'lise," Johnny said. "Thank you for sharin' your name with us."

  "And we won't ever do anything that will bring shame to it," David promised.

  "I know you won't, David." D'lise smiled at him. "Now, how about filling the woodbox and bringing me a couple of pails of water from the spring."

  When they almost knocked over the table in their eagerness to fill D'lise's request, D'lise said, "While you're doing that, I'll scare up a couple of Kane's shirts to put on after you've bathed in the stream back of the old cabin. Bring your soiled clothing to me, and I'll have them washed and dried for you to put back on in a little while."

  It was Kane who brought the boys' threadbare clothing to D'lise half an hour later. "David is too embarrassed for you to see him. My shirt doesn't quite hide his you-know-what." He grinned at D'lise, trying to coax her into laughing with him, to ease the tension between them.

  D'lise merely nodded and remarked, "David is tall for his age." Kane looked undecided what to do with himself, and finally dropped the clothes on the floor and walked outside. When, a short time later, she carried a kettle of hot water out onto the porch she was surprised to see him sitting on the top step, smoking his pipe. When she reached up to lift the wooden washtub off its peg in the wall, he jumped to his feet.

  "Let me get that," he said. "It's too heavy for you."

  D'lise stepped well away from him. She did not want any part of his body touching her. His touch was a danger she must avoid. His slim fingers were magical and had the power to render her mindless. And never again would she surrender herself in such reckless passion.

  The old closeness D'lise and Kane had once shared seemed to be gone forever. When D'lise had to talk to Kane, she was polite and to the point. After a week of her cool treatment, a resentment grew in Kane and he stopped trying to cajole her into resuming their old relationship. He was as careful as she that their bodies did not touch in the big bed at night.

  But he stuck around the cabin, giving her no cause to think that he was meeting Raven somewhere. He still hoped that her coolness toward him would wear itself out and that some night she would turn to him.

  What David and Johnny thought about the strained atmosphere between D'lise and Kane, they never let on. Chances were they never noticed. Having seen the abuse Rufus had visited on his wife, that Kane didn't beat D'lise was good enough for them. Had Kane used his fists on his wife, the two boys would have been hard to put to choose sides. They practically worshiped the big trapper who had become like a father to them, and they adored the gentle, beautiful D'lise. The two adults had completely changed their world around.

  Both boys were beginning to put on weight from the hearty meals D'lise prepared, and there was now life in the eyes that once had been so dull. Every day saw them in the garden looking for any weed that dared raise its head, and every evening at sunset, when the hills had cooled off, they lugged buckets of water from the spring to give every plant a good drink. Every night at the supper table they gave D'lise a glowing report of how well her garden was growing.

  A week later, the first day of July, when the boys showed up for breakfast, D'lise and Kane stared at them in alarm. David's face was white with anger, and tears ran down Johnny's cheeks.

  "What in the world is wrong?" D'lise put her arms around the boy's shaking shoulders. "What has happened?" She looked at David when Johnny buried his face in her side.

  "A damn Indian has ridden his mount over the garden—destroying every bit of it," David answered in red-hot fury.

  "What makes you think that it was an Indian, son?"

  Kane asked. "Did you see him?"

  "No, but the horse didn't wear shoes, so it must have been an Indian."

  "It was an Indian, but no man," D'lise said with conviction. "It was Raven. It's just what she would do."

  "Aren't you jumpin' to conclusions, D'lise?" Kane frowned. "I can't see her doin' that. She can be ornery sometimes, I know, but she knows how important the raising of food is."

  "And that is exactly why she would ruin my garden. She would like nothing better than to see me starve to death." D'lise voice rose as her anger did.

  "What did you do to her, D'lise, to make her hate you that much?" David asked.

  "She has the mistaken idea that I stole her lover's affection from her," D'lise snapped.

  "Who is her lover?" Johnny knuckled the tears from his eyes.

  "A confounded trapper," D'lise muttered through her teeth.

  "Dammit, D'lise, that just isn't so," Kane began, but D'lise had left t
he kitchen and was running up the hill to the garden patch. With a sigh, he followed her, David and Johnny at his heels.

  D'lise's tears fell as freely as Johnny's had when she looked down on the ruined garden. Not one plant had survived trampling. Big green tomatoes were squashed into the ground, as well as succulent cucumbers. The tall corn plants with their silky tassels were broken, already beginning to wilt. A row of lacy-topped carrots was sheared off, and the pumpkin and squash vines would never bear fruit. All the hard work that had been put into the garden had been demolished in one night.

  D'lise knew as well as she stood under the hot rays of the morning sun that only a jealous, vengeful woman would have caused such destruction. When Kane came and stood beside her, starting to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, she gave him such a look of scorn, he felt it to his very core.

  "Look, D'lise, I'll find out who did this dastardly crime, and whoever it was, man or woman, they'll pay for it." Again he was talking to empty air. D'lise had turned and was walking back to the new cabin.

  Kane stared after her, then turned around at the sound of approaching hooves. "What in the hell has happened to your garden, Devlin?" Tom Spears reined in his mount, surveying the ruined garden. "I thought the Indians in the area liked you."

  "Evidently not." Kane kicked at a clod of soil. "Whoever he is, when I find him he's gonna pay dearly for this night's work."

  After a pause, Tom said, "I saw that squaw ride past my place last night around ten o'clock. My old hound set up a barkin', and I went outside to see what had riled him. He was barkin' at Raven. She was along the edge of the forest like she didn't want to be seen."

  Could D'lise be right? Kane asked himself. Was Raven capable of such wanton destruction? He had to find out. If this had been her work, what would she do to D'lise next? A cold chill went down his spine. The bitch might do her real harm.

  But dammit, how was he to find out for sure? If he went hunting for Raven, it would only make D'lise more suspicious.