Gather The Children (Chronicles of the Maca Book 2)

by Mari Collier

  Ruth, like the men at the hospital, gawked at the sight, but she quickly closed her mouth. “I've kept the stew and biscuits warm, ma'am. Do you want them served in their room or in the dining room?”

  “Bring the food and brew into the MacDonald's rooms,” commanded LouElla as they trooped through. “We are all in need of some sustenance.”

  Ruth rolled her eyes. Milly was upstairs already, but the bell would bring her down. She and Charley would have a lot to talk about tonight. She pulled at the rope and began piling bowls and silverware onto a tray.

  LouElla strode through the house and down the short hallway, turning sideways through every door. Someone must have heard them coming as the door to the separate suite opened. This was the best set of rooms in the house, kept for the well-paying guests who required private arrangements.

  Mina met them at the doorway, her brown eyes wide, her mouth open, “Papa, mama?”

  “Ye twill need to move back, wee one. I twill hug ye in a moment.” MacDonald's voice was full of love and concern.

  LouElla swept in and marched for the open door of the bedroom. The bed, made up with the finest linens and plushest blankets, was set against the far wall, and the only window on the side was heavily draped with blue velvet. A fireplace with a nicely laid fire was in the front, left corner. The bed covers were already drawn back, and LouElla set him on the bed. Anna had forced herself awake and followed behind, one groggy footstep after the other as Lorenz supported her.

  “Mama, we can take care of him now. Y'all go lay down on the sofa.”

  “Nien, it's my duty.” Her words were German and she moved over to MacDonald and bent down to unbutton his coat.

  MacDonald put his hands on her face. “Anna, my love, ye have done yere part. Ye have cared for me for four days with little rest. Ye warned us that Toma twas drawing near. Let yere lassie care for ye now.”

  Anna was white faced, her eyelids drooping, and she slumped forward. Lorenz reached down and helped her up. Mina was watching wide-eyed, and Margareatha entered the room. Her movement caught LouElla's attention and she sucked in her breath as she saw the tall, red-haired, copper-eyed woman. “Justine,” she hissed.

  Margareatha lifted her head. “I am an American.” Her eyes were defiant.

  LouElla started for her when MacDonald spoke. “Mither, attend. She speaks true. The man kenned here as Thomas Lawrence tried to kill all of them while they were children. My Anna fought him the only way she kenned and almost won.”

  LouElla stared at him with disbelief, then at the retreating backs of Lorenz and Anna, and finally back at Margareatha, trying to take her measure. She saw the arrogance of a Justine in the eyes and the tight, scornful lips, but Margareatha's lips were full and her body lush and curved; a form that only Earth women seemed to possess. How, she wondered, could any of this strange trio fight an adult Justine?

  Mina took advantage of the adult's lack of attention and was beside her father. “Papa, are you well now? When can we go home? If she's my grandma, why does she hate Mama, Lorenz, and Rity?”

  MacDonald put his arm around her and drew her close. “My wee one, ye should nay fret. I am nay yet completely well, but Mama and yere Grandmither twill nurse me. Yere Grandmither does hate the rest of the family. She has nay had a chance to ken them.” He kissed her head. “All these clothes twill over heat me, and I have grown weary and need sustenance. Ye give me and Grandmither a kiss and go help Rita with yere mither.”

  Mina gave him a tight hug and looked up at LouElla, her brown eyes filled with worry. “Y'all like my family, don't you Grandma?”

  LouElla knelt and pulled the child to her. “We twill be one House. Now ye go with yere mither and close the door for I must take the clothes off yere fither.”

  She watched Mina scamper from the room and then began the task of removing the clothes. “She tis Justine. Have ye gone mad?” LouElla kept her voice low to prevent the others from hearing.

  MacDonald smiled. “Mither, my Anna twas wed to Toma ere I met her, and the story tis too long for telling this eve. Ye must trust that all three of them will nay betray us.”

  “Ye have given me nay reason to trust them.”

  He raised his eyes to hers, grasped her by her arms, and his firm voice was filled with authority. “I am Maca. I need nay reason.”

  LouElla drew her breath in sharply. She had named him Maca in her crystals to her brither and to the Council of the Realm. His hands holding her contained the heat and the demands of a Maca. “Aye,” she whispered. “So I named ye, and so ye are.”

  Chapter 30: When to Leave

  Morning brought leaden sunshine spewing over a graying coat of white left by a cloud darkened night. The temperature remained below freezing, and the cold fought to enter any home with opened door. LouElla emerged from the sickroom to find Margareatha seated at the table playing solitaire and Anna fast asleep on the couch with the stuffed chair shoved against it to keep her from rolling off. Mina sprawled in the stuffed chair with her doll and a blanket wrapped around her. From somewhere in the house boots and a jangling noise could be heard stomping up the stairs.

  “What tis that clattering?”

  “I imagine it's Lorenz going back up to his room to complete his morning toilette.” Rita looked up with a bland face. “He has to go into the police station to file charges.”

  “Ye've been up all night.”

  “Of course, someone had to make certain Toma wasn't out there searching for us. I'll stay on duty until Lorenz gets back or Mac wakes up.” She looked at her mother and smiled. “Mama hasn't slept more than two hours a night for a week. I doubt if she'll be awake anytime soon.”

  LouElla nodded her head and went through the house to the outside facilities. She hated the chamber pots as inadequate in size and hated the outhouse as smelly and diseased. In the winter the outhouse was freezing cold, and in the summer one could suffocate from the heat and gasses emanating from below. Right now it was freezing cold, and she rushed back to the house and the warmth only to be assailed by Ruth and another problem.

  “Miz Gordon, I need to go to the market today and buy meat, potatoes, and Lord knows what else. I didn't think all these people would be here for another week, and I'll need money for the tradesmen.”

  LouElla's face went blank. Miss Walls always attended to financial matters. Before she could speak, Ruth went on.

  “And that young man says he's taking the horse and wagon 'cause he needs to go to the police station. Miz Gordon, is everything all right?”

  It was, thought LouElla, a fair question. “It twill be,” she muttered and almost ran into Lorenz. He was grinning at both of them.

  “Everything is fine,” his lop-sided smile appeared and disappeared. “We've sufficient funds with us to feed an army. It shouldn't take me long to file the charges against the man that attacked us, and I'll be back in time for y'all to take the wagon. I may even go along to hire a horse from a stable. Your barn is big enough.”

  Ruth looked doubtful. “Then we'd need more hay.”

  Lorenz's smile appeared again. “I'll buy more. Right now Papa's awake and hungry, and so am I, but I'll just grab one of your biscuit and eat something when I get back. Mama will wake sooner or later and when she does, she'll probably find something to do out here.”

  Lorenz grabbed two biscuits and ran out the door. In his hurry, he missed the horrified look on Ruth's face. “Miz Gordon, this is my kitchen.”

  “Aye, and nay twill take it from ye. Have Milly bring our food to the back rooms. The wee one tis there too.”

  LouElla hurried back to her laddie. Obviously, Lorenz was bossy and there was a good possibility his mither would be the same. She set her chin.

  Cold was not all that morning brought. The entire Gordon household was thrown into an uproar. The last word from Mrs. Gordon to Milly last night had been baths for all. Even Miss Walls, with her humped back and hunched shoulder, was called to help with the linen. Ruth was presiding over the pre
parations and making breakfast, runnels of sweat pouring down her face and chest from the heat rising from the stove. Earlier, she had directed Lorenz to Mrs. Gordon's bath as carrying all that water upstairs this morning was out of the question. Fortunately, Mrs. MacDonald remained asleep. Ruth decided that Lorenz was entitled to the extra roll for carrying in an armload of wood after returning from the outhouse and washed his hands in the common kitchen basin. Not like other rich men's son she decided.

  All but Lorenz would have been horrified at the scene in the invalid's room. The two huge Thalians undressed each other and gloried in the magnificent body in front of them. Llewellyn had lost weight, but the muscular structure was intact. They caressed each other, marveling at their strength, laid their heads on each other's shoulders, and washed every part of each other's body until every muscle gleamed pink.

  “Why has the laddie nay joined us?”

  “His customs are the customs here. I have promised him that. Nay he, nay my true love, twill ere join us in the bathing, and Mina kens nay of our ways. Lorenz twill be in to re-bandage me and apply the salve, but we twill nay infringe on his privacy. Ye must wait till we are in Thalia.”

  “Then they are all to go with us?”

  “Nay, Mither, for my wee one tis Earth, and first she must grow and become a woman. There tis nay on Thalia that would wed her, and it twill take ye at least fifty or more years to train all of us. By then my Anna twill have passed into the Darkness.”

  LouElla considered as she redressed him for the bed. She had been resigned to living out her years here, forever an exile with nay the comfort of another Thalian next to her, nay ever kenning whether her laddie lived, or her revenge complete. Now her magnificent laddie twas here and telling her that still the Justines and Kreppies overran her world. Her desire for vengeance was stroked with each tale of the Sisterhood rule and the raped earth of Thalian. She could nay remain here. Llewellyn had the means, and they could accomplish what she started. The wee ones (for such she classified Lorenz) would go with them.

  They heard tapping at the door and LouElla answered, impatient at the interruption. Mina wandered sleepily into the room, lifted her arms, and said, “Good morning, grandmother.” It was too much. She picked the child up and sat down in the rocker. Discussions could wait, and wait they did until Lorenz came running back in an hour later.

  “Sorry, Papa, but it took longer than I thought. Did y'all get too tired?”

  Llewellyn smiled. He hadn't felt so vital in weeks. “Nay, laddie, and I have been telling Mither about our ranch and our way of life. Yere mither tis still sound asleep, and we have all had our baths but her. He paused. “Ye had best dig out some of those greenbacks for the one in the kitchen. Mither tells me sustenance needs to be purchased.”

  Lorenz nodded and dug into the steamer trunk. LouElla watched with interest. Obviously the laddie obeyed without question and twas trusted with the funds. She filed the information away Lorenz was ready to step out of the bedroom door when Anna appeared, her hair more disheveled than he had ever seen it. She had a befuddled look on her face, and sleep still sagged at the lines of her jowls. Her eyes met Llewellyn's and relief flooded over her face and she spoke in German. “I could not remember where I was. How silly of me. Are you all right, Mr. MacDonald?”

  He smiled broadly. “Aye, my love, I am fine. Tis a lovely morning and so are ye. Come and I twill introduce ye properly to my mither.”

  Anna advanced into the room, her head held high. LouElla stood and put Mina down. In her mind, her height would intimidate the interloper, but no fear showed in Anna's grey eyes when she turned to face her.

  “Mother MacDonald, I'm so happy to know you are alive. Now our children vill know their grandmother.”

  It was enough to stop LouElla, and the two women stared at each other. Neither of the women moved towards the other to greet in the formal Thalian manner, and vexation clouded MacDonald's eyes.

  Lorenz moved towards them. “Come on, Mina, let's go see if Auntie Ruth has any cookies while I tell them to get the bathwater ready for Mama.”

  Mina's brown eyes lit up at the prospect of eating cookies. Such a thing would not happen at home in the morning. It had not occurred to her that the two most important women in her life would not like each other. “Shall I bring some back for everybody?” She smiled at her mother.

  “Nein, Mina, and it's time for your lessons.” She kept her eyes on LouElla while the two left the room.

  Llewellyn swung his legs over the bed, making a slight grimace, and reached out and took Anna's hand. “Mither,” he said, “Anna tis my true love, and she and I are one.”

  LouElla took a step backward and looked at him. She had no intention of backing down. “Ye have nay Walked the Circle.”

  “There tis nay Council of Guardians to approve a Walk the Circle here.” His voice rose. “I twill nay go back to Thalia till I can win all that tis mine.”

  LouElla looked at him and then Anna. They were as one, and she kenned she had lost.

  Anna turned to MacDonald, her head held high. She might have withdrawn her hand, but his grasp was too strong. “Vhen do du plan to leave us?” Her grey eyes were hard.

  His deep voice gentled. “I canna leave ye, Anna, nay our wee one. We are wed till death do us part. When I leave, Mina twill be a woman grown, mayhap even a grandmither.”

  Anna took a deep breath and turned back to LouElla. “Mr. MacDonald has taught me how Thalians greet one another. I vould lay my head on your shoulder.”

  LouElla nodded yes. The word twas 'shoulders,' but it did nay matter. She opened her arms. A warrior always waited for the right opportunity to change the battlefield and outcome.

  Llewellyn watched with satisfaction. “Now attend, both of ye so there tis nay miskenning. Lorenz tis our laddie, and he twill be a great help when we return to Thalia, so twill Margareatha. Mither, ye twill teach us all to fly the Golden One and the math for navigating. The third person ye twill teach tis Jeremiah 'Red' O'Neal. He tis also Toma's laddie, but except for his eyes and his mind, he tis more Earth than Justine.”

  LouElla shook her head in disbelief. She regretted remaining secluded from her guests and never meeting them. “Ye have met him?”

  LouElla listened in disbelief as Anna said, “He is a bad man.”

  “He tis an adventurer and a pirate at heart, but he has agreed to go with us. He twill also provide the band of Earth adventurers that twill go with us.”

  “Why would we take these people?” Scorn was added to her disbelief.

  “There are many of them that the minds of the Justines canna enter. My Anna has such a mind, and so does my friend, Herman Rolfe. When we meet the Justines on their own ground, the Justines canna control them. These beings can fight the Justines physically and twill make a difference in the outcome. The important thing is that we now have the nucleus of our group, and the means to regain Thalia. The training means we twill succeed.” A tight smile crossed his face and his dark eyes gleamed at thought of reclaiming his inheritance and destroying the power of the Sisterhood.

  LouElla was more practical and thought of logistics. “And how far have ye progressed in yere math and flight control. How far has the laddie? What shape tis the Golden One in?”

  Before MacDonald could answer, Milly's slight knock was heard. “Beg pardon, Miz Gordon, but Mrs. MacDonald bath is set up in the bathroom, and we almost have lunch ready.”

  Anna leaned down and kissed MacDonald's cheek. “One moment, I must my clothes get.” She rummaged in the trunk and pulled out her skirt which she carefully laid to the side of the trunk. Then she placed her undergarments, hosiery, and blouse on the skirt, and carefully folded the skirt over the items the public should not view them. “I vill be back as soon as possible.”

  Llewellyn swung his legs back over the bed and leaned back against the pillows as LouElla drew the blanket back over him. “Where do I start? The Golden One tis in fine shape.” He launched into a description of the Golden O
ne and his efforts to maintain it while hidden from the beings of this planet. From there they began to explain their lives during their separation, and finally Llewellyn could explain the math that he and Lorenz had learned.

  “Ye twill need to come to the ranch with us.”

  “I am nay sure that twill please yere counselor.”

  “Anna twill be honored.”

  LouElla did not believe him. She decided to let events unfold to prove her point rather than argue. “There tis, however, a major problem with attending ye. What do I do with this property and the paying guests that have already requested accommodations this spring and summer? I am in some measure responsible for Miss Walls and the staff here.”

  Llewellyn smiled at his mother. “Ye can sell this place, or if ye believe yere Miss Walls to be a responsible person, she can run it in yere absence. This solution twill provide for them and possibly bring ye an income.”

  LouElla considered. Miss Walls had been her friend since their days in the mills of the northeast. She had nay said a word to others about LouElla remaining young while she had aged. It would be best to let her manage the place. She handled all the funds anyway. Why change things and embitter someone into causing trouble?

  “I shall speak to Miss Walls. There tis another problem.”

  “And that tis?”

  “Yere laddie has nay enough math for me to begin teaching him the ways of space navigation. It would be better if he attended a school here. Do they nay have the basis for all math?”

  “Aye, there are some outstanding schools in this land and in Europe.” They both looked at the door that opened to admit a refreshed Anna and a happy Mina.

  Her white hair gleamed, her skin glowed pink, and her step was firm. She looked, thought LouElla sourly, the very picture of the Mistress of Don clothed in the alien garments of this world.

  “Did I hear du talking about schools?”

  “Aye, what do ye think of sending our laddie to a university to acquire the education he needs?”