The Way of Love

by Tracie Peterson

  Lakewood frowned. “He didn’t tell you? I suppose that’s understandable. What is important is that you know I will stop at nothing to rid myself of trouble and those who delay what I want to accomplish. Including you.” He finished his tea and set the cup and saucer back on the serving cart. “I am giving you a few days to think this over and accustom yourself to the idea. My wife and children are leaving for California the day after tomorrow. It will free me up to spend a great deal of time with you—initiating you, so to speak, in being my mistress and helping me with my affairs.” He grinned. “I have a lovely place where I intend to put you up. I will lavish you with every comfort. I think you’ll be quite pleased.”

  “I won’t be, and I won’t do it.”

  “Now, my dear, you really must think this through.” His eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t making an idle threat in regard to Mrs. Carpenter. Perhaps you would feel more inclined to say yes if I told you that I have a man watching your young brother.”

  She jumped to her feet. “Leave my family alone. You have no right!”

  “I have whatever right I decide to have,” he replied. “I simply take what I want when I want it. And, my dear, I have decided that I want you. In fact, I feel rather daring, what with you being Indian and all. Perhaps you’ll convince me of a reason that Indians should be allowed to live.” He laughed, leaving Faith quite ill.

  What in the world was she supposed to do about this? How could she fight such evil?

  CHAPTER 22

  It was easy for Samuel Lakewood to see that he had the upper hand where Faith Kenner was concerned. Her weakness in the situation made him feel strong, and that power was absolutely intoxicating. He wanted her, that was true enough, but it was so much more. It was the power that came from her knowing that she had no choice but to do whatever he wanted. It was all about supremacy.

  “So you see, my dear, this is how it will be.” He eased back in his chair. “We have a war to plan.”

  “A war?”

  She was clearly clueless. He smiled. “Yes. What your Mr. Carpenter has kept from you all this time is that he’s helping the government interfere in some very important plans of mine. Plans that surprisingly include your aunt and uncle.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your uncle, Adam Browning, knows how important it is to cooperate. We approached him, hoping for his assistance. At first he wasn’t keen on the idea, but we were able to convince him. After all, he has a wife and children to think about.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Lakewood chuckled. “I can be very persuasive, as can my friends. You see, I belong to an association that desires to see the Indian eliminated from Oregon.”

  Faith watched him with those icy blue eyes he found so intriguing. She had a captured-prey expression that made him feel all the more empowered, yet at the same time her gaze held raging hatred. It stimulated his thoughts.

  “As you’ve pointed out, Uncle Adam is part Cherokee,” Faith said. “Why would he help you do anything against the Indians?”

  “Well, at first he refused to help me. Not only that, but he reported my offer to the Indian Affairs Regulator, Mr. Singleton. But, as you might understand, I’m not easily dissuaded, and I know that the nature of most men is to desire power and money for themselves. It wasn’t that difficult to convince him.”

  “I don’t believe you. My aunt and uncle would never do anything to cause the Indian tribes harm.”

  Lakewood seethed, but he remained composed. “Your family has caused me plenty of trouble, and that has given me a powerful grudge against them all. Add to this the trouble Mr. Carpenter has caused and . . . well, let’s say that you owe me, Miss Kenner.”

  “I owe you nothing. You’ve nearly killed Seth, and you’ve seen to it that I cannot graduate. If anyone owes anyone anything—you owe me and my family.”

  He laughed. He had to admire her spirit. After all, it was that spirit that made her so deliciously appealing to him.

  “Faith, the sooner you realize your situation, the better. We can accomplish a great deal together. I believe that with your help, I can get what I need from your aunt and uncle.”

  “You don’t know them at all if you think that. They are both passionate about their work. I was hoping to join them as a fully certified medical doctor. Now, I’ll simply go as an educated healer. I don’t need your piece of paper to help others. It would have been nice, but it’s certainly not necessary. I was acting as a doctor to people long before I attended school, and I’ll go on doing the same.”

  “Hardly. I won’t have my mistress involved in such matters.”

  “And I won’t be your mistress.” She got to her feet, and Lakewood felt her slipping away.

  “Then you will be responsible for a great many deaths. I’ll start with Mr. Carpenter, and just as his wife’s grief makes her life unbearable, I’ll see to her infant’s death . . . and then hers, but not until the pain is so great that she’s ready to end her own life. Perhaps I’ll even allow her to do so. Next I’ll start on your family in Oregon City.”

  “Stop!” Faith pointed her finger at him. “I will kill you myself before I’d allow that to happen. You may think you have me backed into a corner, but I am not easily commanded. And as you would say, I’m part ‘savage.’”

  She seemed strangely at ease, and for a moment a ripple of fear coursed through Lakewood. She stormed for the door.

  “Faith, I wouldn’t underestimate what I can do. I’ve had people watching your loved ones for well over a year.”

  She stopped at the door and turned. Her confidence seemed to wane. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as if she’d thought better of crossing him.

  “Take a day to consider everything,” he said. “Think it through carefully. You have in your hands the power to cause a great deal of heartache.”

  She shook her head. “It won’t be me causing the heartache. You’ve already done plenty of that.”

  “Nevertheless, think carefully. I’ll be in touch soon.”

  She huffed and left the library, soundly slamming the door behind her.

  Lakewood walked to the window. It was raining, and the light appeared muted. Everything had a dream-like quality, like it wasn’t quite real. He was sure Faith was hoping his threats weren’t real—that he was just an old man grasping for things he could never achieve. But if she thought that, she was wrong. He had always acquired what he wanted. He had always been successful. No man, and certainly no woman, was going to stop him.

  After a few minutes, Faith appeared with her umbrella raised. He had known she would walk rather than take his carriage. She was very predictable, and that was why he knew she would yield to his demands rather than see her family suffer greater harm. She would help him accomplish what he needed with the Indians, and she would be his mistress. It was all too simple.

  Faith hadn’t planned to go to the docks to see if the Morning Star was in port. She had intended to visit the hospital to be with her family and see what Seth’s condition might be. However, after what she’d gone through with Lakewood, seeing Andrew was all she could think about.

  She knew she would do whatever was required to keep her family safe, but becoming Lakewood’s mistress and helping him cause an Indian war was asking too much. Instead of pondering how she could bear those things, Faith was given to an entirely different direction of thought. She had to find a way to stop Lakewood—even if it meant killing him herself.

  She’d never before thought about killing someone. Murder was illegal, but it also went against God. How could she take the life of another just because they were threatening to harm her? But Lakewood wasn’t only threatening to harm her. He had already harmed Seth by ordering it to be done. He’d made it clear that he had no problem killing others in her family. Grief, the man had no trouble planning an entire war that would no doubt kill hundreds. He had to be stopped.

  Faith tried to imagine shooting Samuel Lakewood. She remem
bered a story her father had told her of when he first met her mother. Hope Flanagan had gone to the jail where the Cayuse man who’d raped her was being kept. He was on trial as one of the main perpetrators of the Whitman Massacre.

  “Your mother somehow snuck in there with a Colt revolver,” her father had said. “She was there to kill the man who’d hurt her.”

  “My father?” she had asked.

  “I’m your father,” Lance Kenner had insisted. “He was just an inconvenience. Tomahas was his name, and it was already well known that he had been involved in the massacre, but his lawyers were suggesting otherwise. Your mother was afraid he would get off and then kill more people. I convinced her that the law would deal with him.”

  Her father had thought her mother admirable in her bravery, but even more so in her willingness to back away and let the law deal with Tomahas. Her mother said that she was always glad Father had stopped her—that she could never have lived with the knowledge that she’d taken a life. Even the life of a worthless miscreant like Tomahas.

  Faith had asked her if she would have really killed Tomahas, and to her surprise, Mother had answered without reservation—yes. At the time, it had stunned Faith, but not now. Now she finally thought she understood. It wasn’t about revenge; it was about keeping him from harming anyone else. Her mother was afraid the government wouldn’t hang him—that he and his friends would get away with what they’d done. She wanted to stop him before he could hurt another person.

  The situation with Lakewood was even more distressing. No one was ever going to put Lakewood on trial. He was a pillar of the community. Like her mother, Faith thought of the pain and suffering he had caused, the misery he still planned to cause. Stopping him was of the utmost importance.

  As she neared the docks, the rain let up. She saw no sign of the Morning Star and thought she might burst into tears. She needed to talk to Andrew. She needed to explain to him what had happened and what was going to happen. She was only fooling herself. She would become whatever Lakewood demanded she be. She couldn’t allow him to hurt her family.

  “Hey there, Miss Kenner.”

  She looked up and found Remli—his arms wrapped around a crate of goods. “What are you doing here? I was looking for the Morning Star, and it’s not here.”

  “She’s due anytime. Captain left me here to go huntin’ for supplies I needed while he took on cargo upstream. How’ve you been? Ain’t seen you in a while.”

  “My life has been very complicated. I was just coming to speak to Andrew in order to avoid buying a gun so that I can kill a man.”

  If her comment surprised Remli, he said nothing. He gave her a nod and shifted the load in his muscular arms.

  She couldn’t help but smile at his response. “I can see I haven’t shocked you.”

  He gave a deep, throaty chuckle. “Everyone has those times, Miss Kenner.”

  “Faith. Please call me Faith.”

  Several blasts of a riverboat whistle could be heard. “That’d be the Morning Star, Miss Faith. You come along with me, and we’ll make sure you get to see the captain first thing.”

  She followed Remli to the docks. The Morning Star was approaching from the south, and she could see Andrew up in the wheelhouse, shouting orders to the deck crew below. It took nearly half an hour to see the boat properly docked and tied off. The procedure was one Faith had never really paid attention to. Another time, she might have had plenty of questions, but this time all she could think about was confessing to Andrew that she was part Indian and that she wanted Samuel Lakewood dead.

  “Looky what I found wanderin’ the streets,” Remli said as he came up the gangplank. “Miss Faith says she needs to talk to you before she goes and shoots a man.”

  Andrew had been focused on his work until the last comment. His head snapped up from the log he was showing to Denny. “What did you say?”

  “Thought that might get your attention.” Remli laughed and passed on by. “I’ll let you two figure it out.”

  “Denny, go take care of our paperwork and get the loading started,” Andrew ordered. The younger man didn’t say a word but took the log and headed off. Andrew held Faith’s gaze. “I hope I’m not the man you plan to shoot.”

  She smiled. “Not this time. Although I am rather upset that you’ve made yourself so scarce. I must have offended you.”

  He shook his head. “I believe the offense should be yours. Nevertheless, come aboard and tell me what has you so vexed.” He led the way to the saloon. “Have a seat. You look done in.”

  “I walked all the way here, and these shoes are hardly made for it.” She sat on the nearest chair and reached down to rub her ankle.

  Andrew pulled up a chair and waited for her to speak. She wasn’t quite sure where to start. She wanted to discuss their kiss, but Remli had made the comment about her shooting someone, so she supposed it was best to start there.

  She straightened. “I’m in trouble. There’s nothing you can do about it, but I know you’re going to hear about it—hear terrible things about me—and I wanted to explain.”

  “So you really plan to kill someone?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. As much as I think it might resolve my problem, I don’t have it in me to kill. At least I don’t think I do. When I actually try to plan it out in my mind, I get all sick inside.”

  “That’s good. I wouldn’t want you to become a killer.” He was perfectly serious, but there was a hint of humor in his voice.

  “How would you feel about me being someone’s mistress?” She couldn’t believe she’d just said such a thing.

  “I doubt you have it in you to do that anymore than to kill,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “I don’t have much of a choice.” She went on to explain what had happened to Seth and then Lakewood’s threats. She told him everything except the details of what Lakewood had on her personally, but as the conversation continued, Faith knew she had to be honest about that as well. It would explain why even though she’d loved their kiss, nothing could come of it.

  “I know I can trust you, Andrew. And because of that, I need to tell you the whole truth, but I beg you to promise me you’ll tell no one.”

  Andrew nodded. “I promise.”

  “And promise you’ll hear me out—even if the truth offends you.”

  He frowned but nodded again. “I promise.”

  Faith licked her dry lips. She had never in her life told another person what she was about to tell Andrew. “Lakewood had me dismissed from the college because . . . he found out something about me. About my family background. He thinks he knows . . . but while the facts are not quite right, the result is the same.”

  “And what result is that?”

  She felt her face grow hot. “I’m part Indian.”

  Andrew stared at her and said nothing. Faith felt sick to her stomach but knew she had to continue.

  “My mother was forced. It was during the Whitman Mission attack. Only family knows this, and I beg you to say nothing.”

  “I won’t, but I thought you said Lakewood already knew.”

  “He believes me to be part Cherokee because the family I was given to at birth had Cherokee blood. My adoptive father was a quarter Native, and it was well known back east where he grew up, so it was easy enough to find out. Lakewood apparently investigated me, hoping to find information he could use against me and my family, and that’s what he dug up. I don’t really care if he tells everyone that Isaac Browning was a quarter Cherokee. Isaac and his wife are dead. Most important, if people believe that I am Indian because of Isaac, then it saves my mother from being publicly humiliated. I’ve lived with the guilt of passing as white all these years, so perhaps it’s only right that the truth comes out, but I don’t want anything to hurt her. She did nothing wrong.”

  Andrew remained silent. He just stared at Faith, leaving her feeling even more exposed. Would he demand she leave the ship once she finished explaining?

  She hurried o
n. “Lakewood threatened to reveal my bloodline and harm my family if I don’t help him with the Indian war he wants. He intends to see the reservation Indians make war on the surrounding settlers. If Seth weren’t near death, I might have gone to him and asked for counsel, but he can’t help me now.” Her vision blurred as her eyes welled with tears. “Lakewood admitted to having Seth beaten, and he said he’ll kill Nancy’s baby and Nancy and my family if I don’t obey him.”

  Her voice broke, and she stopped trying to speak. She looked at the carpeted floor and shook her head.

  Andrew got to his feet, and Faith braced herself for the command that she leave. Instead, he came to her and pulled her to her feet. Was he going to physically throw her out?

  She raised her head to look at him, and when she did, Andrew lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. He pulled her so close and held her so tightly that when Faith’s knees gave way, he simply held her in place. When he finally pulled back to speak, Faith could hardly breathe.

  “There’s nothing to stop us now,” he murmured against her face. He kissed her cheek and then her temple.

  “Stop us? Stop us from what?”

  “Marrying. I want you to marry me, Faith Kenner. I’ve wanted you to marry me since you sewed up my arm.”

  She shook her head. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m not the person you think I am.”

  He chuckled and kissed her cheek again. “And I’m probably not the man you think I am. Only I didn’t have the courage to explain after our kiss. Instead, I stayed away, trying to convince myself it would never work out—we could never be together. But the truth is that Benjamin Littlefoot is my grandfather. He is my mother’s father.”

  The truth dawned on Faith. “So you’re Nez Perce?”

  “Among other things that add up to about half Indian, half white. Just like you. So now I can marry you and love you freely for the rest of my life, and no one can threaten us or force us apart.”