“Damn that Hannah,” Tiny whispered as he sat down behind the desk and opened the journal. “If not for her, I’d be home clear. And now another sister will be here to see after Chuck’s welfare. It’s time for me to take what I can, and leave.”
Smiling crookedly, Tiny dipped a pen into the inkwell. Slowly, methodically, and skillfully, he began altering the figures on the pages.
He gazed over at the safe. Thank God he knew how to open it. Today he would remove the money that he had been setting aside beneath a thick bundle of journals.
Tiny had swindled Chuck out of enough money to live the life of luxury for the rest of his life.
By tonight, he would be so far from this ranch, no one would ever be able to find him!
So absorbed in what he was doing, Tiny didn’t hear Chuck entering the office. After hearing the door squeak, Chuck had purposely not used his cane to feel his way from his bedroom to the office.
Chuck stood at the opened door and sniffed. He could smell the mixture of perspiration and horseflesh and knew from that, that Tiny was in the office.
Chuck squinted through his thick eyeglasses, yet was unable to make out anything, or anyone.
But his ears picked up the sound of a pen scratching its way along paper. His keen smell picked up another familiar scent. Ink.
Tiny had come at a strange time to work on the ledgers. The reason could only be that he was doing something underhanded.
“And so you are eager to work today, are you, Tiny?” Chuck said as he felt his way across the room.
Tiny was so startled by Chuck’s sudden appearance, he knocked over the inkwell, spilling ink all over the top of the desk and the journal in which he had been altering the figures.
“Damn,” Tiny said, reaching quickly for an ink blotter. As he looked guardedly up at Chuck, he soaked up the spilled ink. “Chuck, you scared the livin’ hell outta me.”
“And why would my appearance in my own office frighten you?” Chuck said, stopping to stand over the desk.
He glanced over toward the hazy, dull light of morning that he could just barely make out at the window. “I don’t believe I heard the rooster crow yet,” he said. “That has to mean that you are working before breakfast.” He smiled smugly down at Tiny. “Want to tell me why you have such a sudden interest in working over hours?”
“I . . . I . . . just had to take a look at the journals,” Tiny stammered. “I worried about some recent entries. I . . . I think I may have made some mistakes.”
“Yes, I think you have,” Chuck said. He placed his hands, palm side down, on the desk and leaned closer to Tiny. “Now, would you like to explain to me about those . . . eh . . . mistakes. Tiny?”
“I . . . I . . . just rushed through making the entries, that’s all,” Tiny said. He slowly eased himself up from the chair. “But now they’ve been corrected.”
“Give me a look,” Chuck said, moving around the desk to stand beside Tiny.
“What?” Tiny said, moving on out of the chair. He backed away from Chuck. “What do you mean? You can’t see.”
“Now, are you absolutely certain of that, Tiny?” Chuck said, chuckling low.
Suddenly Tiny pretended to fall over the chair, purposely to bump against Chuck and knock his glasses off.
The glasses fell to the floor. Tiny crunched them beneath his boot. “Oh, no,” he said, pretending alarm. “Look what I did. Your glasses, Chuck. I . . . broke . . . them.”
Chuck steadied himself as he held onto the edge of the desk. His jaw tight, he fumbled around until he found a key that he had hidden beneath his desk.
Then he gave it to Tiny. “Unlock the bottom drawer,” he said icily.
Tiny’s hands shook as he opened the drawer, his eyes never leaving Chuck.
“Now, reach inside and get me my other pair of glasses,” he said, smiling devilishly down at Tiny when he heard him gasp. “And not only that, Tiny. Get me that magnifying glass. I’ve found it quite useful these past several days. You’d he surprised to know what I’ve discovered in these ledgers.”
Tiny paled. Knowing that he had been caught, he backed away from Chuck, then bolted and ran from the room.
Chuck sighed and eased into his chair. “Damn, damn, damn,” he said, pounding a fist against the desktop. “He’s been cheating me all along! How could I have been so stupid? Just how much money did he swindle me out of?”
His fingers trembled as he slipped his glasses on.
Then, feeling defeated, he went to his safe and slowly turned the combination. He had made notches in the dial when he had started going blind. These notches led him to the right numbers.
The safe door swung open. Chuck fumbled around inside until he found his stack of journals and boxes of papers that he had stored there long before he had started losing his eyesight.
One by one he removed things from his safe, his fingers recognizing each box, each journal, each keepsake, each bundle of money.
Then his eyes widened when his fingers came upon something foreign after removing everything down to only a few things. It had been a long time since he had made inventory on what was inside his safe.
Now that he was finally doing it, he found a box that was unfamiliar to him.
It had been hidden beneath everything else.
His fingers trembling, Chuck took the box from the safe. He placed it on the floor before him, then slowly raised the lid. The scent of money, which he always associated and identified with dirty hands and mildew, wafted upward into his nose. He ran his fingers over the several bundles.
“Damn,” he whispered, paling. “Tiny hid the money he swindled from me under my very own nose!”
A chill raced up and down his spine. “He was aiming to leave soon,” he said, realizing his intent. “This would pay his way. Had I not caught him, he’d be a rich man!”
Deliberately, his jaw set, his heart beating soundly over his anger at this man who had taken advantage of his illness, Chuck scooted the desk aside.
He then felt his way along the floor beneath his desk.
Smiling, his fingers searched until they found a loose board.
Picking up the board away from the others and laying it aside, he felt down inside it until he found a safe; he had used this one before he had started going blind and before Tiny had come to work for him.
“You damn cheat,” he whispered beneath his breath as he placed all of the money in this safe. “Just try and come back and take what isn’t yours. Won’t you get a surprise!”
He swallowed hard. “I should’ve listened to Hannah,” he whispered, his insides aching to know if Hannah was all right.
He wondered about the welfare of his family and whether Clara had survived. He had not wanted to chance contracting cholera, so had not gone to check. His life was miserable enough being blind.
Then he felt guilty for thinking of himself, when his sisters’ lives lay in balance.
His eyes widened when he heard the sound of a wagon arriving outside. “Could it be?” he whispered.
He lifted the floorboard back in place, scooted the desk back where it belonged, then felt his way out of the room.
Out in the hall he grabbed his cane, then found his way to the front door and opened it. He could hear the wagon drawing closer as he stepped out onto the porch.
“Chuck!” his father shouted. “Son! Everyone is all right, son! Clara is here! We’re bringing her to recover the rest of the way at your house! Oh, son, it’s so good to see you!”
Tears ran from Chuck’s eyes as he felt his way down the steps.
Soon he was enveloped in the strong arms of his father, then the soft, gentle arms of his mother.
“Chuck?”
His sister Clara’s sweet, gentle voice drew Chuck out of his mother’s arms.
Chuck went to Clara. He climbed into the back of the wagon and drew his sister into his arms. “Sis,” he whispered. He slowly rocked her back and forth as he held her.
Then he grew col
d inside when he realized that Hannah wasn’t with them.
He eased Clara from his arms and turned to his father.
“God, where’s Hannah?” he gasped.
“Like I said, son, we’re all fine,” Howard said.
“Then, where is Hannah?” Chuck persisted.
“She’s with Strong Wolf,” Howard said matter-of-factly.
Chuck was taken aback by the knowing.
Chapter 33
To fondle and caress a joy,
Yet hold it tightly;
Lest it become necessity,
And cling too tightly.
—ANONYMOUS
As Hannah slowly awakened, she was aware of being held in muscled arms. Blinking her eyes, she gazed up at Strong Wolf.
“Strong Wolf?” she murmured, reaching a trembling, weak hand to his face. “You came to the boat? Oh, Lord, Strong Wolf, I asked you not to. Now you might get ill with cholera. Your people! You might even take the disease back to them!”
She tried to move from his arms, but he insistently held her there, then placed a gentle kiss to her brow.
“We are not on the boat,” he said, gazing warmly into her eyes. “Look around you. You will see where you are, and where you are going to stay,”
Hannah was stunned to find herself in Strong Wolf’s lodge. The fireplace sent out a golden glow of light and warmth. Everything was so quiet; so peaceful.
She turned anxious eyes up at him then. “Clara!” she cried. “Did she die? Did I contract cholera? Strong Wolf, I don’t remember anything!”
“Your sister is at your brother’s ranch now, recuperating,” Strong Wolf said thickly. “And you? No. You have not been ill. You just fainted from exhaustion.”
“Mother? Father?” she murmured, stunned to know that she was so lapse in memory about everything.
“They are with your sister at your brother’s ranch,” Strong Wolf said, brushing her hair back from her eyes. “The boat has left. The crisis is over. We may now resume our lives. We will be married.”
Hannah sucked in a quivering air of breath. “I remember it all now,” she said. “It was like a nightmare, Strong Wolf.” She flung herself into his arms again. “Hold me. Please just hold me.”
“A beautiful maid of nineteen winters lies on my bed of sweet grass,” he said in almost a whisper as he caressed her back through the thin fabric of her dress. “And I love her more than life itself.”
“And I love you,” Hannah said, clinging. “I missed you so while away from you.” She visibly shivered. “At times, it was almost unbearable. Those who died? It was as though I lost someone of my very own kin. I tried so hard to help keep them alive.”
She leaned somewhat away from him and gazed into his eyes. “Father badgered me constantly about becoming a doctor,” she murmured. “Perhaps in time I would have considered it had I not met you, and had I not been introduced to the ways of doctoring while on that death boat. Now that I have seen suffering and death, firsthand, I wonder how anyone can be a doctor?”
“You are too compassionate to face death and illness each day,” Strong Wolf said, smiling at her. “You see, I am certain it was like a small part of your heart was torn away each time someone died.”
“That is how it felt,” Hannah said, eyes wide.
“Then it is wise that you are leaving the doctoring to your father,” Strong Wolf said, again drawing her into his embrace. “This is where you belong. Only here.”
Hannah paled. She leaned back and looked up at Strong Wolf. “My parents,” she gasped. “Surely they don’t approve of my being here. How did I get here?”
“It seems that while you were with your parents during that ordeal on the riverboat, you managed to persuade them that your future was with me,” he said softly. “When the crisis was over on the boat, and you fainted from exhaustion, your parents had you brought to me.”
“So that when I awakened, I would find myself in your arms?” Hannah said, her eyebrows raising. “I had not known that I was that persuasive when I talked to my father about my feelings.”
Strong Wolf saw no reason to allow her to know that it was only her mother whose mind had been changed toward Strong Wolf, not her father. It would only cause her pain to know that her father still had deep, negative feelings about Hannah’s choice of a husband. For now, Strong Wolf would just give her information that would not cause her added grief.
“Your parents love you,” he said, leaning a soft kiss to her brow. “They want you to be happy.”
“I had no idea that my words were sinking at all into my father’s consciousness,” Hannah said, laughing softly. “He is such a stubborn man. And usually, he gets his way about everything.”
Now completely awake and aware of things, Hannah could smell the unpleasantness of her armpits, and her hair was so dirty it felt as though tiny bugs were crawling around on her scalp.
She eased from Strong Wolf’s arms, her face red with embarrassment. “How can you stand for me to be near you?” she said, inching farther away from him on the bed. “I smell horrible.” She ran her fingers through her hair and cringed. “And my hair. It hasn’t been washed in days. How horrible I must look to you!”
“You could never look anything but beautiful to this man who will soon be your husband,” Strong Wolf said, then rose from the bed. He took her hands and led her up from the bed. “Are you strong enough to stand?”
“Now that I have rested, yes, my strength has somewhat returned,” she murmured, testing her legs as she stood up before Strong Wolf. She laughed softly. “My knees no longer feel like rubber.”
“Then, we shall go to the river and bathe,” Strong Wolf said.
He left her long enough to gather up some fresh, clean clothes from the back of the lodge. He placed two pairs of breeches and two shirts over his arms. He grabbed a piece of soap from the basin.
“Come,” he said, reaching his hand out for her. “We shall bathe together.”
So relieved that she was no longer on the boat, and so glad to be with Strong Wolf, Hannah took Strong Wolf’s hand and left the lodge with him.
When she got outside she stopped with a start, in awe of how many of Strong Wolf’s people were there, their eyes seeming to brighten as they gazed at her.
Hannah sidled over closer to Strong Wolf. “Why are they here?” she asked softly.
“They know of my love for you,” Strong Wolf said, smiling into the crowd. “They came to see if you were going to be all right.”
A small girl came to Hannah. She held out a cornhusk doll toward her.
Hannah turned questioning eyes up at Strong Wolf.
“Talks Softly is offering you a gift,” Strong Wolf said. He placed a gentle hand to the child’s elbow and led her closer. “This is her way to show her happiness over you being all right. The doll? She made it. She has always loved it.”
“If it is so special to her, does she truly wish to part with it?” Hannah asked, hesitating.
“She offers her special doll to you to prove how much she wishes to be your friend,” Strong Wolf said. “If you do not take it, you will humiliate her.”
Hannah’s lips turned into a smile as she reached her hand out for the doll. “I would love to have your pretty doll,” she murmured, taking it. “And when I have a pretty little girl like you, can she also play with it?”
The girl’s eyes lit up. She nodded. Then, her long braids bouncing, she turned and ran back to her parents and stood between them, holding their hands.
More and more people, children and adults alike, came to Hannah and placed gifts at her feet. Her jaws began to ache from smiling so much as she thanked them.
When everyone turned and returned to their evening chores, the sky darkening, changing to the color of dark grape jelly, Hannah bent to her knees and began gathering the gifts into her arms.
“There is so much,” she said, “I am so very touched by the generosity of your people.”
Strong Wolf knelt beside her and hel
ped her,
“Their acceptance of you touches my very soul,” Strong Wolf said, walking into the lodge with Hannah.
“I hope to never disappoint them,” Hannah said, placing the items on the floor against the wall opposite the fireplace.
“And you never shall,” Strong Wolf said, emptying his own arms.
They left the lodge for the river. The moon was now bright and made a path of light through the thick brush as Strong Wolf and Hannah went farther and farther away from his village, to assure their full privacy while bathing.
When they reached a place of overhung rock, and where a sandy shore reached down into the water, Strong Wolf took Hannah’s hand and stopped her.
Her heart pounding, Hannah gazed up at him as he dropped the clothes and soap to the ground and turned to her, his eyes dark with a longing that she recognized.
She felt the same longing deep within her soul. It had been too long since they had been alone in ways that sent her heart into a slow, sensual melting.
And she knew that they would do more than bathe when they got into the water. They would come together as one heartbeat, their bodies locked in passionate embraces.
“Is this truly happening?” she whispered as he drew her dress over her head. “Are those horrible days finally behind us? Are we really together again?”
His pulse racing, the excitement building in his heart, Strong Wolf cupped her breasts within the palms of his hands, his thumbs rubbing sensually over her nipples. “It is real,” he said huskily. “And let us not look back at what was. We have now. We have a future together.”
Hannah suddenly recalled something else. “Clara!” she said, eyes wide. “She is going to teach your children. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“If she is as good at heart as you are, yes, it will be a right decision made on my part to bring her here in the capacity of teacher,” Strong Wolf said, bending to his knees, removing her shoes.
“I remember now that my father said that Clara would care for Chuck after school hours, while hired help would care for him through the day,” Hannah said, closing her eyes in ecstasy as Strong Wolf ran his hands slowly up her legs, across her belly, and then cupped her breasts again. “She will make sure that Tiny doesn’t make wrong entries in the journals anymore. In fact, she might even be able to point out the discrepancies to Chuck. I’m certain they are there.”
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