Laura's Secrets

by Augusta Wright

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Eagle Talon had not realized the snow was as deep as it was when he left Laura. It was taking him longer to reach his Mother than he had expected. Suddenly, a fast-traveling party of two on snowshoes came into view. Talon recognized his mother’s winter coat and shouted her name. Two Horses raised his spear at Talon then waved.

  “I was coming for you, Mother. Laura is in hard labor and she needs help.” He stepped back. “But why are you here?”

  “My son, I had a vision last night. I knew I needed to be here with you and Laura. She is in trouble. We must hurry.” She headed down the path and the two men fell in behind her.

  Talon heard Laura’s screams before they saw the cabin. He sped up and arrived on the porch ahead of the others. Wolf tracks covered the porch and marred the snow as if one had been pacing around.

  When they tried to enter the cabin, the door was bolted. Talon pounded on the heavy wood and the door swung open to reveal a tall dark, menacing stranger with a knife in his hand.

  Before Talon could react, the stranger said, “Are you Talon? Laura has been calling for you. Please come here.”

  “You're here,” Laura called out. “Hurry, your son is about to be born.”

  Kneeling by her side, Talon wiped her red sweating face with a damp cloth. “I am here, my Spirit Woman, and have brought my mother, Running Fawn.”

  All she could do was nod at his mother. She felt soothing hands as she was touched and repositioned. A wet cloth wiped the sweat from her brow and tears from her eyes. She focused on Talon’s face above her and strained to make sense of his words through the haze of pain.

  “Mother is here to help you,” he said. “She was already on her way.”

  “Laura, I am Running Fawn, Talon and Willow’s mother.”

  “Thank you for coming, Running Fawn. Yes, I need your help. This is Marty, my friend. She will help too,” Laura, breathed hard between each word.

  Running Fawn bent Laura’s knees and spread her legs to be able to see how far she had progressed.

  “Laura, I must wash my hands before I can help you. I will hurry.”

  Running Fawn returned to her side and gave her an encouraging smile. “Now push down with all your might!”

  Laura gripped Talon’s hand, and felt the baby slip from her body. Immediately, she felt great relief.

  Running Fawn pulled the infant from the watery flood, opened the sack to remove the baby, and laid it upon its mother’s belly. Talon saw its sex and said, “Laura, it’s a son!” Laura beamed, but in the next breath, she gripped his hand when another searing, cutting contraction surprised her.

  “Bear down hard again, Laura, we have another baby coming!” Running Fawn exclaimed as she helped a blond-haired baby make its appearance into the world. She laid it next to the other on Laura’s belly as everyone stared at the contrast between the two. The first boy was dark with black hair and the second baby boy had fair skin with light-colored hair. The silence was deafening.

  Fearfully Laura asked, “Are they both all right? I think they are early. Will they live?”

  Running Fawn had been busy tying off each baby’s cord with rawhide. She handed Talon the knife, asking if he wanted to cut the cords on the babies, making them his. He grabbed the knife and cut where she indicated. They wrapped the babies in butter-soft buckskin blankets that Running Fawn had brought with her, and snuggled them next to their mother.

  Running Fawn began to massage Laura’s belly and before long, she expelled the afterbirths of both babies. They were not identical twins because they did not come out of the same sac. She knew they did not belong to her son by their looks, but if he wanted to claim them, she would keep silent.

  The babies began squirming and nudging at their mother’s breasts for food. Running Fawn taught Laura how to feed her new babies. “Your milk will not come in for a few days, but the babies need the beginnings in your breasts to help keep them healthy.” Before long, Laura and the two babies were cleaned and put to bed. In a short time, the three were asleep.

  Two crying hungry babies soon woke up wanting attention. Laura was hungry as well since she had not eaten since the night before. She had many questions and few answers about the turn of events, beginning with Marty.

  Running Fawn had sewed the jagged edges of Marty’s wound together with her tiny stitches. “I think the wound will heal now and not leave an ugly scar.”

  “Thank you, Running Fawn,” Marty said. “When I was injured before, I had no one to care for me and it healed by itself.”

  “Marty, you appear to be a man, but you are a woman,” Laura said. “Why? And how did you know I would need your help again? How did you find my cabin?”

  “You are full of questions,” Marty chuckled. “It’s a long story. Do you want the long or the short of it?”

  “I want to know all about you. You saved my life twice and I don’t know why.”

  “I was born a slave to a black mother and a white father. My father was the master of the plantation and had say over everyone’s destiny. He became angry with my mother one day and sold me to a man in New Orleans who liked little girls. This man raped me many times before I was able to escape. The witchdoctors in New Orleans took me in because I had special talents. They taught me how to use my powers. After I became stronger in my knowledge, no one dared return me to my master. Those witchdoctors dealt in voodoo.”

  “What is voodoo?” Laura asked.

  “It is a powerful assembly who work with spirits. Mostly for good, but some can be evil spirits. I was in training to be a voodoo queen when I grew older, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I grew tired of New Orleans and my place. Because I was mulatto, I had a position in society, which I could not move out of. I wanted to be able to live my life as I chose to...not as someone else determined.

  “When I was almost killed by that evil man who was here tonight, I knew I couldn’t stay there, so when I had healed, I stole men’s clothes and got a job on a riverboat up the Mississippi River. As time went on, I heard about gold strikes in Colorado, and decided to try my luck. It was safer for me to live and travel if I looked like a man. I’m pretty good at it, too. Most of the time people think I am.” Marty struck a match and lit a black cigar puffing on it and creating smoke rings.

  “The day at the trading post when I protected Laura from Tuffy raping her, I discovered who he was. I knew I would kill him but wanted it to be in a special way. I followed Laura when she managed to steal her horses back and come home. That’s how I knew where to find you. Several weeks ago, I began having visions of Laura in need of my help. In the lurking shadows of my dreams, I sensed an evil being, but couldn’t be sure who it was. But my visions urged me to come quickly.”

  “I am going after this evil man who tried to take my world from me,” Talon jerked on his coat.

  Marty shook her head, “It’s not necessary, Talon. It has been taken care of. He will not ever harm Laura again.”

  “How do you know?” He continued to gather his winter gear to leave.

  “The wolf Laura calls Silver, her protector, took care of the evil that harmed both of us. It’s not a good idea to go out tonight, though. There is still danger in the forest.” Her voice held a tone of warning.

  Talon stopped. “Thank you for helping Laura. You are right to stop me.”

  Running Fawn laid a hand on her son’s arm. “The vision that started me here also showed an evil presence overshadowing Laura and her two babies.”

  “So you knew before you got here she would deliver two and didn’t tell me?” Talon asked.

  “Yes, I knew. Your sister delivered two boy babies several suns ago.” She looked at the beaming father, Two Horses. “We have received four babies for me to help care for.”

  After the twins were born, Laura and Talon asked Marty to stay on the ranch to live and work for them. Marty was pleased to stay because, as she told Laura, she had a few surprises of her own. She figured she was about three mon
ths pregnant. So her baby would be born about May or June.

  “But how can you be expecting a baby?” Laura asked.

  “Really, Laura? You of all people should ask me that?”

  “I mean...how...when...who?”

  “I will answer who. When I returned Aponi to her family in the Dakotas, I saw a handsome brave. Of course, I looked like a man and didn’t think he even noticed me. Later, I went for a moonlight swim and he joined me. I was courted and loved as I have never been in my life. I fell for him. And even as big as I am, he fell for me. My life was happy for the first time. Late last fall, the braves were on a hunting trip and encountered a troop of soldiers, who fired on them. He was killed. I thought my life was over. When his tribe started to move to winter grounds, they didn’t want me to go with them because I had no brave to hunt for me. I had visions about you being in danger, but I needed your help as well.”

  “Then you will stay with us,” Laura said as she hugged Marty. “As soon as the winter is over, I’ll have cabins built for you and for another couple who will be coming up from Denver to work for me. For now, we will fix you a bed here in the cabin, and you will be snug as a bug in a rug.”

  “Who is the other couple?” asked Marty, suddenly having a strange sensation.

  “I met them last summer when I visited in Denver. They are John and Sadie Long. He’ll work on the ranch with the horses and she’ll help with cooking and chores. She has twin girls and knows all about taking care of twins.” Noticing an excited look on Marty’s face, Laura asked, “What’s the matter, Marty? Are you not well? Is it the baby?”

  “I had a sister named Sadie, but we were separated when I was sold.”

  “Oh my goodness! I heard your name but I’ve just now realized you are Sadie’s long lost sister!” Laura waited breathlessly for her answer.

  Laura studied her features and skin coloring. “I never noticed before because of your hair and clothes, but you do look like Sadie.”

  “You are an amazing woman, Laura. From the first time I saw you, there has been an aura about you drawing me to you. You have managed to save your ranch for your children. And now you tell me Sadie and I may finally be reunited.”

  “I pray it will all come together for you and your sister. She is a wonderful person and has gifts like you do.”

  The winter was bitter, but Laura had wisely prepared her family and Talon’s tribe for it. His tribe thrived with the buffalo meat and fresh kills of deer and elk. The hunters did not have to go far to find game. When the warm winds began to blow, melting the snow, Laura’s spirits rose. The winter would soon be over. When the passes were opened, she sent for carpenters to begin building the cabins needed for Marty and the Longs.

  Marty was anxious to surprise her sister. The days dragged by. But finally, the cabins were completed and Laura sent for the Longs.

  When their wagon pulled up to Laura’s cabin, John helped Sadie and the twins down. Laura rushed into Sadie’s arms giving her a big hug, “My dear friend, it’s been too long.”

  Sadie wiped tears from her eyes as she returned the hug, “I have missed you and counted the days until we could come here. Your ranch is beautiful.”

  “Thank you, Sadie.”

  Laura then embraced the twins and slipped them each a piece of candy from her pocket. “I have a special surprise for you, Sadie. Please look at the cabin door.”

  Sadie looked up as Marty walks onto the porch. Screaming loudly, Sadie ran up the steps with her arms opened wide grabbing her long lost sister in a tight embrace.

  Amid many tears and much laughter, the sisters didn’t let go of each other. Calling John and the twins over, Sadie introduced her family to Marty.

  “We have much to talk about, big sister,” Sadie said to Marty, as she patted her rounding belly.

  “Yes, we do. But for now, I want to show you to your new cabin, which is next door to mine.”

  Laura stood back, observing the happy reunion. She was happier than she had ever been in her young life. She knew now that in order to receive love, you have to be able to give your love to others.

  Epilogue

  May, 1888 Spotted Horse Ranch

  Laura sat at her dining table in her quiet cabin, lost in memories. How quickly time had passed. She knew from the moment the twins were born, who their fathers were. She had written their names in her Bible as James William McKenna Brown and Samuel Eli Adams Brown. She called them Will and Eli Brown so her sons would never know the label of bastard because of what their mother had done. No one would ever know the truth while she was alive.

  She had finally, agreed to marry Talon in a Ute Indian ceremony because before she had the twins weaned, she was pregnant again. Talon’s mother made Laura a multi-colored beaded, white doeskin fringed wedding dress with lace up sides for an expanding waistline. For Talon, she sewed a white buckskin fringed vest with matching fringed pants in the same beaded designs as Laura’s dress. Five months after the ceremony, Black Hawk was born. Black Hawk looked exactly like his father. Laura added his name in her Bible as well. Calling him, Levi, after her father. His full name was Levi Black Hawk Ralston.

  A year later, their precious daughter, Laura Raven Ralston, was born. She had the European features of Talon’s French father. When Running Fawn held her, she saw the likeness to Talon’s father, a French trapper, and cried. With olive skin and black hair that gleamed in the sunlight like a raven’s wing, she was beautiful. Laura’s world had been made complete.

  After Raven’s birth, Laura made sure she drank a special tea that prevented any more children. Talon could not figure out why she never conceived again, even though he was always ready to warm the furs with her.

  Laura refused to give up the Spotted Horse Ranch to live in an Indian village as a squaw. In early spring, after the twins were born, Laura’s six brood mares foaled with spotted colts from Spotted Horse, Talon’s stud. She remembered the shock of seeing a sea of white spotted foals. God had blessed her with her wonderful family, her loves, and awesome events in her life.

  Talon refused to live on a horse ranch in a cabin and be a rancher, so after a few years of arguing, they compromised. She lived in her cabin on Widow’s Peak, raising spotted horses, and he divided his time between his people and his family. They moved his tepee closer to her cabin so they could have their privacy when Talon came to visit.

  Oh, those were glorious days and nights when they went to warm the furs in his tepee. Sometimes, they visited the forest. Chasing each other naked among the trees and making beautiful love on the ground among the leaves. They were happy as they raised their children in both worlds.

  The children learned the Indian ways as well as the white man’s ways. They learned to read and write and to read signs and hunt for food. When they were older, they could choose their own paths.

  She bought any land adjoining her ranch when it became available. As time passed, the ranch became quite large. She liked the isolation because as white settlers moved into the area and learned of her Indian husband and half-breed children, they did not want anything to do with them.

  The wars with the Indians caused many worries and concerns for her family. Laura wanted to remove her children from any kind of prejudice. The ranch was self-sustaining, so she made sure her family did not need anything from anyone. She had created a market for her spotted horses, selling to people who could afford them and care for them and not to locals who would use them as plow horses.

  After a few years, Laura knew the one-room cabin was too small for her growing family. She had a large ranch house built and added more cabins behind the big house for her expanding employees, a bunkhouse for ranch hands, and a new larger horse barn. Sadie and John already lived in one of the first two cabins she had built, and Marty and her son lived in the other.

  She hired carpenters from Denver who worked for almost a year constructing all the buildings she wanted. She went to Denver a number of times, purchasing furnishings for the ranch house, wanting
to make it as modern as she could.

  While in Denver on one occasion, she hired a famous painter to come to the ranch to paint her and Talon’s portrait. Talon refused to pose for the painting at first. However, after refusing to sleep with him for several nights, he came around and allowed himself to be painted.

  After the painting was finished, he was proud of it because it showed everyone Laura was his. She wore a blue silk ball gown with her bear claw necklace as her only jewelry. His muscular brazened chest was bare except for his eagle claw necklace, his beaded white-fringed buckskin leggings and beaded moccasins. His right arm was around her waist in a possessive manner. Their great love could be seen reflected in the painting. The painting now hung in the family room over the massive fireplace in the lodge.

  Remembering the move into the house always brought tears to her eyes because at the last minute she could not leave her precious cabin with all of its memories. Her children were angry with her because she moved them there and stayed behind. After a while, the tension eased with them and everything returned to normal. She would always be there when the children rose and came downstairs each morning. She cooked their breakfast, and taught them their lessons.

  However, when the night shadows began to fall, she would kiss them good night and walk back to her cabin that contained all her wonderful memories. She and Talon had been able to resume their nights of wild and noisy lovemaking without having to remind each other not to wake the children. Life in her valley continued happy and peaceful.

  Their children grew strong and happy. They knew their parents loved them and shared a great love for each other. They grew up in two worlds, happy with their way of life.

  Laura’s eyes misted when she remembered past years. The older sons were now becoming adults. Most of the elders in their lives had passed away, but one strong force that remained was their Ute grandmother, Running Fawn. She was always there to teach and instruct them. They knew old ones and young ones who became ill and died, or had terrible accidents and died. Death happened to other people, never to them.