“I can tell you what you ended up with, Charlotte. You ended up with a man who has more money than anyone else in the whole goddamn state of Montana! Look around you woman!” He waved the bottle he held through the air. “Do you think I wanta leave all this to some goddamn half-breed? You better pull your head outta your ass and think, woman! I didn’t get where I am today by sittin’ on my brains and lettin’ the world pass me by. You and Jessie’ve always had the best of everything money could buy. Now this is the thanks I get!”
“No one said you haven’t worked hard for this family, Eathen. All I’m tryin’ to say is can’t you try to look at the situation from Jessie’s point of view? I feel terrible she’s pregnant with an Indian baby too.” She reached out her hand to him then dropped it back to her side. “She’s our daughter. I feel we should try ‘n understand why she did what she did!”
“Maybe she didn’t do anything!” he breathed, banging the now half-empty bottle down hard on the arm of the chair and splashing bourbon over his hand. “Maybe the son-of-a-bitch forced himself on her!”
“I doubt that’s what happened, Eathen. I don’t think Two Spirits is the type of young man who would take advantage of an innocent girl.”
“You don’t, huh? Then please tell me what the hell he did do. Jessie’s sixteen-years-old! He’s got to be at least,” he tried to calculate through his drunken haze, “twenty-one…twenty-two? Now,” he bobbed his dark head, “you tell me who took advantage of who?”
“Yes, at his age he shoulda known better ‘n to set his sights on a girl Jessie’s age. But you gotta remember, we’re talkin’ ‘bout our daughter, Eathen. Jessie’s never heard the word ‘no’ in her life. That’s the way we raised her. Anything and everything laid at her feet. I don’t feel the blame can be placed on just one of our heads. I think we both have to share in it for the way we spoiled her.”
“A daughter’s place is with her mother when it comes to learnin’ the facts of life. It was your place to teach her right from wrong, Charlotte. I can see now I shoulda never trusted you with such an important task. When she comes home,” he shook a limp hand in her direction, “I’ll see to it she knows the importance of high morals.”
Pushing herself from the hearth, Charlotte stood for a moment, staring down at him. As his chin fell to his chest and he began to snore, she lifted the bottle from his hand. “Talk about the blind leadin’ the blind.”
***
“Miz Charlotte, wuz you able ter talks Mist’ Eathen into eatin’ sumpin’?” Hattie asked, as Charlotte walked into the kitchen.
“No,” she pulled a chair out from the table, “not yet. He’s content to sit in front of the fire and drown his sorrows.”
“All dat drinkin’s gwing ter kills him one of des days effen he ain’ keerful.” She lifted down two cups from the cupboard. Taking the pot of coffee from the stove, she moved over to the table. “Ah sho hopes he ain’ still lak dis w’en dat long ha’rd man brings Miss Jessie home.” Hattie poured the cups full of coffee and set the pot down on a hot-pad. “Dat happens, she jes mout teks off agin.”
“I don’t think she’ll get the chance to leave again, Hattie. Eathen plans to send her away until after the baby’s born.”
“Well, whar’s he fixin’ ter sen’s her?” She plopped down in the chair across from Charlotte. “Y’all ain’ got no fambly, ceptin’ Miss Martha an’ Mist’ John an’ dey bes all de way back east.”
“Hattie,” Charlotte jumped up from her chair, “I think you’ve just found the solution to our problem.” She threw her arms around the woman’s shoulders.
“Ah doan know whut Ah did,” she continued to blow on the steaming coffee, “but effen you’s happy, den Ah guess Ah’s happy.”
“Eathen,” Charlotte walked towards him to shake him awake, “I may have found the answer to our problem of where to send Jessie to have her baby.”
Bleary eyed, he stared up at her. “I’m listenin’.”
“We can send her to Martha and John. I’m sure they’d let her come live with them.”
“Maybe,” he said, his eyelids beginning to droop, and then grow wide as he sat forward in his chair. “And just maybe they might wanta keep the baby. Charlotte, you’re right. You could just have the answer.”
At the angry scowl covering her face he drew back. “What?”
“I don’t think we have the right to say who’s gonna keep Jessie’s baby. She should have the last say in something that important.”
“I don’t know why,” he declared, the sullenness back in his voice, “she sure as hell can’t bring it back here!”
“For now, Eathen, I think we should worry ‘bout gettin’ her back home,” she told him, her patience with him at last exhausted. “We can talk about the rest later.”
“You…can talk all you want, Charlotte. The fact remains, she ain’t bringin’ that kid back to this house. If she tries, I’ll see to it she’ll never step foot inside these doors herself!” He turned on his side in the chair to fall back to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Six
For three days the heavy snows continued to fall, making it impossible to travel. Two Spirits and Jessie remained inside the small dwelling, safe and dry.
“Two Spirits,” Jessie sat cross-legged beside the fire, “does it bother you that the child I’m carryin’ ain’t a boy?”
“No. In the years to come, I am sure you will bear me a son.” Two Spirits pushed all thoughts of Pehta’s dire warnings from his mind. “Right now, it is our daughter’s turn to live.”
“My father wanted a son. I know he loves me, but if he could’ve had a choice, he would have chosen to have a boy. A strong, strappin’ son who looks like him, to take over the Thornton Empire when he’s ready to step down.”
“Some men judge their manhood by how many sons they can sire. It gives them a feeling of immortality. They feel that only sons can pass on their seed. As long as their seed lives on, so do they.”
“Are you tellin’ me you don’t want a lot of sons to keep your seed alive? I thought Indians always wanted sons more than daughters.” She looked at him with doubt.
“In the old days, a man needed to have many sons so they could grow up to be warriors and protect our people. Now my people live on reservations and the warriors sit idly by watching themselves growing old and useless.”
“That’s so sad, Two Spirits. I always had the feelin’ Daddy gave me everything I wanted because he felt guilty about wantin’ a son so much.”
“If your father felt that strong about a son, why didn’t your mother give him one?”
“Hattie said my mother never wanted any more children after me. I used to hear them fightin’ about it sometimes when they thought I’d gone to bed.”
“I think you are wrong about the importance your father placed on having a son, Jessie. I have seen the way he looks at you.” Two Spirits drew her into his arms. “No man could look at a daughter with that much love in his eyes and be sorry he had fathered her.”
“I know he loves me.” Jessie ran a light hand up his arm. “What I mean is he wanted a son to prove how much of a man he is. Daddy’s a powerful man in Montana, Two Spirits. I’m the only child he has. That’s got to be very humiliatin’ for him.”
“I think you worry too much, little one.”
“Now I’ve brought even more shame on him by gettin’ myself pregnant. How he must hate me, if he’s learned why I left like I did.”
“Jessie, why do you torture yourself with thoughts you don’t even know are real? If your father knows about us, he won’t be intent on harming you. I will be the one he will come for.”
“Oh, Two Spirits,” she laughed a bitter laugh, pulling away from him, “let me tell you about my father. When he learns about us, he’ll be so angry he’ll come for both of us! I learned a long time ago, the most important thing in the life of Eathen Thornton’s not Mama or me, but how much respect he can get from his peers. The shame I’ve caused him,” she shivered, “will make
him livid with anger.”
“I’ll protect you, Jessie. You’re my woman now. I will protect you with my life if I have to.”
“How much longer do we have to stay here?” Jessie cast a wary look around the small dwelling. “We should be far away by now.”
“We must wait until the snow has stopped. If we try to leave before, it will be too dangerous. The mountain trail is very hard to see if one does not know where to look and with the snow blinding us, it would be easy for us to miss the pass.”
“I feel like an animal caught in a trap.” She laid her head against his chest. “Just waitin’ for someone to come.”
“Jessie, if we cannot see the trails then no one else can either. The blizzard has kept us safe. You must force yourself to stop worrying.” He gave her flat stomach a gentle pat. “It is not good for the little one.”
“It won’t be easy, but I’ll try, Two Spirits.”
“Get some rest while I go for more firewood. Our supply is dwindling fast.” He drew back her long hair to kiss the side of her neck. “I will not be long.”
Taking his advice, she went to their bed, trying to rid herself of the terrible fears refusing to loosen their hold on her. As she lay in the soft robes, she thought back over all that had happened in the days since she had met Two Spirits. That she loved him from almost the first second she had seen him, there was not a doubt in her mind. But had she known all the trouble that love would cause, would she have still tried to win him for her own? Yes! She knew there could never be anyone else for her. Like her father, she met life head on.
Had it not been for the color of his skin, her father would have accepted Two Spirits into their life. She had seen the open respect showing on his face when Two Spirits had bested Jake that day in the holding pen. And later when they walked to the house, he admitted how much he admired him.
The problem lay in the fact they lived in Montana, where the cattlemen and other ranchers could not forget the losses they suffered at the hands of the Blackfeet. She had to admit another stunning fact, too. Before Two Spirits entered her life, she thought the Blackfeet to be dirty scavengers who didn’t believe in God until the missionaries came to teach them about His holy word.
But they didn’t know the Two Spirits she knew; the man devout in his beliefs. When Two Spirits spoke of The Holy Spirit, he talked about God. It’s just that his people worshipped God in a different way than the white man. Had the missionaries, who had come to teach a heathen race about the holy word, listened, they would have seen this unarguable fact for themselves. They thought their way had to be the right way and in so doing, missed the fact the Blackfeet stood closer to God then they ever did. She knew this, but no one else of her family had any insight into the goodness of the Blackfeet People.
“How sad for them.”
The retribution her father would exact from her filled her heart once more. He would come for her; of this she had no doubt. If not him then he would send someone. When that happened, she and Two Spirits had to be far away where no one could find them. If not, she would be forced to leave. To never again see the man she loved.
“I have good news, little one,” Two Spirits interrupted her thoughts, “the snow is beginning to slow. We should be able to leave by sunup tomorrow.”
She sat up. “How long will it take us to get to Canada?”
“The deep snow will make our trip take much longer, but I would say we can be in Canada within the week.”
“Two Spirits, then everything’s gonna work out just like we planned!” she squealed, covering his cold face with kisses.
“I told you not to worry, Jessie.” He dropped the wood he had been holding to the floor to pull her into his arms. “We will have a good and long life together. We will raise our daughter in a safe land away from the anger and biased feelings of the ones here.”
“I love you so much!”
Pulling her slim body close, he murmured into her soft dark hair. “And I love you, my woman. No one will tear us apart. I will always be here to protect you and our child.”
“I know you will, Two Spirits. I know you will.” She hugged him tight. “I’ll learn to live the life of an Indian woman, makin’ you proud of me.”
“And when the time comes for you to give birth to our child,” he ventured, “you will allow me to be near?”
“If that’s what you want, then I’ll make myself accept the wishes of my husband. For that’s what you’ll be in my eyes.”
“In my eyes too, Jessie. I am sure after we get to the motherland, we will be able to find someone among my people to marry us. The Blackfeet have many relatives among the Canadian people. We will be all right. Trust in me, Jessie, and I will make your life one of complete joy.” His heart sang with the happiness he felt right at that moment.
“As long as we’re together, Two Spirits, I’ll never ask for anything more.”
“We will be happy in our new life, my woman. You will fill our lodge with the laughter of many children. Before long, we will forget these unhappy days when we had to flee for our lives in the midst of a raging blizzard.” Two Spirits swung her into his arms, eliciting squeals of laughter from her.
Then the words of Pehta came to him, freezing the happy feelings into those of abject terror. ‘The daughter of Eathen Thornton can not stay where everyone will know she carries the child of an Indian. She will be sent far away.’
You are a very wise man, Pehta, but this time you are wrong.
From somewhere nearby a wolf howled, his lonely cry echoing throughout the dark night. His cry sounding almost like a warning.
***
The trip had been long and hard, but at last they reached Canada. No longer under the watchful eye of the United States Government, they felt some of the burden of being pursued lift from their young shoulders.
“We did it, Jessie! Now we are free.” Two Spirits laughed, throwing a long leg over his saddle to drop to the ground.
“I can’t believe we’re here!” Jessie squealed, her voice filled with happiness. “I thought sure someone would come after us.”
“I told you everything would be all right. We still have a ways to go before we find Yellow Owl’s camp, but with the directions Pehta gave me, it won’t be hard to find.” He breathed the cool winds into his lungs.
“Are you sure he’ll allow us to stay there? If he finds out we’re runnin’ from my father, he may not want us.”
“Your father can not touch us here, Jessie. Yellow Owl and his people do not live on reservations. They are a free people. We will be safe here.”
With a teasing grin, she gazed down at him. “Then let’s go! The sooner we get there, the sooner I’ll believe it!”
“We will make camp just before sundown.” He grabbed hold of the saddle horn to pull himself onto his horse’s back. “Tomorrow we should be in Yellow Owl’s camp.”
“This will be a whole new way of life for me, Two Spirits.” She gazed over at him. “But it’s the only life I want.”
“We’re together, Jessie. Now our daughter will grow up free and happy in a land where she will be safe.”
“We have it all. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
For a brief moment, sadness covered his face, before he looked away.
“Two Spirits, what is it?”
“My thoughts traveled to my mother and little sister. I wish they could find freedom, also.”
“Why can’t they? After we’re here for a while, we’ll find some way to send for them.”
“You would not mind having my mother and sister nearby?”
Laughing at the seriousness in his face, she replied. “Two Spirits, I need all the help I can get! Who better to teach me than your mother?”
“I love you, Jessie!” Two Spirits pulled her close.
“I love you too, but if you pull me off this horse, we’ll never reach our destination.”
“Then let’s go!” he laughed, kneeing his horse into an all out run with the sounds of J
essie’s laughter echoing beside him.
When they rode into Yellow Owl’s camp the next day, Jessie noted the astonished looks on the people’s faces. All around her she heard the whispering voices of those who watched her riding beside one of their own.
In front of a lodge, Two Spirits reined in his horse. “Wait here, Jessie,” he dismounted. “I won’t be long.”
As she sat her horse, Two Spirits called out in his own language. Within moments, a tall middle-aged man walked out of his lodge to meet them. She could feel his black eyes watching her as Two Spirits explained the reason for their being there. Nodding, Yellow Owl walked over to stand beside Jessie’s horse. Then holding out his hand, he helped her to dismount. When she stood beside him, he smiled.
“My name is Yellow Owl. Two Spirits tells me you are running away from your father.”
“I am Jessie Thornton.” She held out her hand to him. And yes, what Two Spirits says is true.” Her stomach did flip-flops as she looked at him. She guessed his age to be in his early to middle fifties. He wore his hair braided with leather strips to keep the braids from coming undone. No headband adorned his forehead. He stood about six-feet tall and had a large build. His face wore sun-lines with smaller lines edging the corners of his deep-set, black eyes. Jessie guessed they were laugh lines. He could not be considered a handsome man, but neither could he be considered ugly, and when he smiled, his face lit up, giving him a trusting appearance. For some reason, the fact that he dressed in a shirt of large blue plaid and faded jeans, instead of buckskin, made her feel more at ease in his presence.
“What will you do if he comes here to take you back?”
“He don’t know where we are. I can understand your reluctance to have us here, Yellow Owl.” She wanted to be honest with him. “My father’s Eathen Thornton, a very powerful man in Montana. He can cause you and your people a lotta trouble.”
“I have heard of Eathen Thornton. And yes, you are right. He can cause us a lot of trouble. But I am glad to see you do not try to hide the danger for us in your eagerness to escape his anger.”
Fated Memories Page 30