“Please, dear,” Sister Adele said, “we’ll discuss it later. Let’s not be rude. Sister Marie asked me to get some cloves and sugar for her, as well as a supply of dry beans. We must ask the trader to get those for us.”
While the trader filled the order, they walked slowly about the store, past shelves, barrels, and bins of merchandise. Taabe stared, unable to take in the abundant array of goods. Enough food lay in this one room to feed her band for a year.
A tiny sound startled her, and she whipped around.
Quinta said, “Ohh!” and stooped, extending her hand before her.
Taabe looked beyond Quinta to a shadowy crevice between a barrel and a stack of crates. A small, furry animal peered out at them. It rubbed against the bottom crate, watching Quinta’s approach, and made its noise again—meow!
Taabe’s heart leaped. This wasn’t a wild creature. She knew this orange animal, and the knowing sent a warm, happy feeling surging through her. This animal belonged to her past, before the Numinu.
She whirled and grabbed Sister Adele’s sleeve.
“Fluffy!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ned stared at Taabe. “Fluffy?”
She nodded, laughing, with tears spilling down her cheeks. “Fluffy. Kitty.”
Ned looked to Sister Adele, who seemed as astounded as he. “Have you talked about cats?”
“No, I don’t think so. It hasn’t come up.” Quinta reached for the cat, and it flitted between the crates and a rack of shoes. A muffled mewing came from within.
“She’s got kittens in there,” Quinta cried. A moment later, she stood with a small ball of orange fur in one hand and a calico kitten in the other. “Look, Ned! Aren’t they precioso?”
Ned laughed. “Si!” He reached for the orange kitten and held it in his palm. The little creature wriggled, and he patted it gently. He smiled at Taabe. “Would you like to hold it?”
“Me?” Taabe wiped away a tear.
He nodded. “Hold out your hands.”
Taabe cupped her trembling hands, and he deposited the kitten in them. A look of wonder came over her face. Slowly she raised the kitten and touched her nose to its furry back. The kitten reached up a paw and swiped at her cheek. Taabe laughed and lowered her hands slightly. She adjusted her hold and patted it. The kitten purred and licked her finger. Taabe laughed again and looked up at him with such joy, Ned’s heart tumbled.
“You like cats?” he asked.
She nodded, her eyes glowing.
“Did you have a cat when you were young? Fluffy?”
She caught her breath. For a moment, her blue eyes darkened. “Fluffy.” She nodded, then smiled. “I … my … kitty.”
Ned looked over at Sister Adele, who was also teary-eyed. “Those kittens look as though they might be big enough to leave the mother.”
Sister Adele nodded. “I agree. And I’m sure Sister Natalie would not object. Sister Marie has found mice in her pantry of late. Oh, Mr. Bright, this is the first thing she’s remembered, or at least that she’s told us she remembered. Except one song—I thought she was trying to tell me once that she knew a song I sang to her, back when she was ill.”
Ned bent down and peered at Taabe until he caught her gaze. “Would you like to have a kitty? At the mission? I can ask the trader.”
Taabe’s mouth opened in incredulous delight.
Ned chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Are we really getting a kitten?” Quinta bounced. “Can I have one too?”
Sister Adele held out her hands. “Let me hold that one.”
The mother cat meowed plaintively.
“She’s got two more.” Quinta passed the calico kitten to Sister Adele and dove for the dark recess. A moment later, she stood up holding another orange fluff ball.
Ned shook his head at the sight of the three cooing over the kittens. He’d have to tell Patrillo’s sons he’d discovered the way to a woman’s heart.
“Excuse me, ladies. I’ll go have a chat with Mr. Lassen.” He walked to the counter and waited while the trader finished a transaction with a trooper from the fort.
“Help you, Bright?”
“You selling those kittens?” He nodded toward the back of the store.
Lassen smiled. “A lot of people want ’em.”
“I’ll give you a dollar for one.”
“You’ll have to pay more than that.”
Ned leaned on the counter. “How much? It’s for the nuns at the mission.”
“Oh, well, for the sisters …” Lassen scratched his chin. “Of course, I’ll lose a good sale if I let them have one cheap. Five dollars?”
Ned straightened, eyeing him critically. “Are you serious?”
“I am. I’ve only got four, and I could sell every one of them five or six times.”
Ned reached in his pocket and pulled out all the cash he had on him. He didn’t have much to spend money on—if you didn’t count things like hiring Isaac Trainer. Tree paid Ned whenever they got money from a freight contract or from the federal government for the mail contract, but his living costs were part of the business expenses and came out of the ranch funds.
He counted out ten dollars. “I want two.”
“Two? Aw, come on.”
“Yup. The orange one with a white chin and the calico.”
Lassen sighed and picked up the money. “They ought to stay with their mother another week.”
“You know those nuns will hand feed them if they have to. They couldn’t ask for better care.”
“All right, all right. But have they got a cow?”
“No. Guess we’d better have a jug of milk too.”
They rode back to the mission in the Steins’ wagon, with the two kittens in a sack, but they hadn’t gone a mile before Quinta and Taabe, sitting in the wagon bed, had them out to play with.
Sister Adele had cheerfully paid for a large can of milk, along with some other supplies for the mission. She’d also picked up the sisters’ mail, which included several letters addressed to “the School at the Ursuline Mission” or “Headmistress, Ursuline School.”
“I’m sure we’ll have a full complement of students soon,” she told Ned. “We have room for eight, and their fees would make us self-sufficient.”
“It will be good for Quinta to be with other girls her age,” Ned said.
“Yes, though she’s doing very well. It’s taken her some adjustment to living in a houseful of women, instead of having nothing but men around her.” Sister Adele glanced at the two in the back and smiled. “She’s grown very close to Taabe, and I believe it’s doing them both a world of good.”
When they arrived at the mission, Sister Marie and Sister Riva fawned over the kittens. Sister Natalie smiled and murmured something about the rodent problem. She invited Ned to stay and eat supper with them. He accepted and got only a nod in return. More and more, the sober nun reminded him of his dour aunt Alla.
Sister Adele handed her the mail, and Sister Natalie retired with it while the others carried in the supplies. Taabe disappeared for a few minutes and returned wearing her lavender dress instead of the habit. Ned spent a half hour watching her and Quinta introduce the kittens to their new home. He couldn’t remember laughing so hard.
“We need to take them out to the garden, where the ground is soft, so they can do their business,” Quinta said after a while.
Taabe looked puzzled, and Ned hid his laughter. Quinta picked up her kitten and gestured for Taabe to do the same. Ned followed them outside and around to the garden gate. Dusk was falling, and Taabe looked around carefully before going outside the wall by the house.
Quinta turned to Ned, still holding her kitten close to her chest. “You keep watch.” She pointed toward the pine woods at end of the field. “There, especially. We don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.”
“Do you think that’s likely?” Ned asked.
“Taabe saw something once. We want to be ready.”
“Whoa!
Taabe saw someone out here?”
Quinta nodded soberly. “She wasn’t sure it was a person. It could have been an animal.” She crouched and set her kitten on the ground, her hands poised to seize it if it tried to bound away.
Ned looked at Taabe. “You think you saw someone lurking around near the mission?”
Taabe nodded slowly. “I think … man. Maybe man.”
“When?”
She shook her head and looked up at the sky. “Maybe ten suns. Days.”
“Before I brought the buffalo hunter.” She nodded.
“That’s why you had the hiding place ready. I should have realized.”
She seemed to have lost the meaning of his words.
“I’m sorry,” Ned said. “We shouldn’t stay out here. Maybe I could fill a box with dirt for the kittens and they could use it inside.”
“Sister Natalie wouldn’t like that,” Quinta said. “But Sister Marie would probably let us. We could put it in the kitchen.”
“Yes. Let’s go in and ask her,” Ned said. “If she thinks it’s all right, I’ll fix the box for you.”
“Do we have to tell Sister Natalie?” Quinta asked.
Ned considered that question. He wanted to say no, but he didn’t want to weaken his alliance with Sister Natalie by doing anything concerning her household without her approval.
“I’d better speak to her.”
“She’ll say no.” Quinta screwed up her face, and Ned feared tears were imminent.
“Don’t worry. She’s not going to send the kittens back, and she wants you to be safe.”
Deep creases formed at the corners of Sister Natalie’s mouth and eyes when Ned explained the need.
“I know it’s inconvenient,” he said, “but the girls mustn’t be going outside all the time to meet the kittens’ needs—especially after dark.”
Sister Natalie sighed. “I suppose you’re right. And we do need to do something about the mouse situation.”
Ned considered the victory complete when they were going in to supper and he saw Sister Natalie pause and bend to stroke the calico kitten surreptitiously as the others left the room. He didn’t let on that he’d seen her.
After they’d eaten Sister Marie’s roasted chicken, potatoes, squash, and rye bread—a meal that rivaled Mrs. Stein’s but without the gravy and dessert the German lady would have added—Ned prepared the “necessary” for the kittens. Quinta took it upon herself to make sure the two little creatures understood its purpose. Ned left her with a quick hug and a promise to see her again soon.
Taabe walked with him to the door. Ned was surprised none of the sisters followed. He took the bar down and turned to say good-bye. Taabe gazed up at him. What was going on behind those blue eyes? Ned didn’t want to leave, but staying was out of the question. He put his hand to her cheek and held it there for a moment.
“Taabe, I will do everything I can to find your family. Do you understand?”
She nodded and lowered her eyelashes. She reached up and touched his face, letting her warm fingers graze his cheek, then more confidently rest against it.
“Thank you, Ned Bright.”
The overwhelming longing to protect her rolled over him. He stood looking down at her for several seconds. At last he touched her hair lightly. Its softness rivaled the kittens’ fur.
“I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes.”
He went out to the wagon and drove to the fort, seeing her sweet face in his mind and holding her touch in his heart. She had to be safe at the mission compound. He’d seen nothing to alarm him, yet their defenses were so flimsy. Was Sister Natalie right, that God would protect them? He hoped so, but it wouldn’t hurt to add his prayers to the sisters’.
After two days of rain, Taabe chafed to get outside. Quinta and the kittens, as well as an unexpected visit from Señor Garza, provided welcome distractions, and she plunged into the work of preparing the mission for additional pupils. Her ankle had healed to the point where she felt only an occasional twinge of pain. She insisted on helping with the heaviest work—laundry, mopping floors, and moving furniture into place for the students the sisters expected.
At times of prayer, Taabe went to the chapel and sat behind the nuns. She thought much about God and His Son, Jesus. The idea of the cross no longer seemed strange, and she wondered if facts and impressions she’d long forgotten were gradually making their way back, sifting into her heart. At the same time, painful memories of hurts and sorrows during her time as a Comanche began to heal. She would not forget, but she would move beyond that life.
Of one thing she was certain—she’d made the right decision when she left the Numinu. The longing in her heart would never have let her be content with them. She might not belong here at the mission, but somewhere in this world she would find her place.
The weather broke on Friday, and Sister Natalie consented to let her walk outside—if she would wear the black habit.
“My dear, I hope it is not distasteful to you, but I fear for your safety. If you wear these garments and have another sister with you, and perhaps if we put Quinta on watch to warn us if anyone comes, then perhaps you could walk about the yard for a few minutes in safety.”
The compromise did not take away Taabe’s restlessness. She ambled about in front of the mission house with Sister Riva, longing to be free of her new constraints. In this she felt a kinship with Quinta, who bemoaned the loss of her mustang. Give them a pair of spirited horses, and the two of them could have a good gallop across the plains. Both would probably be more content afterward with the quiet life of the mission.
Instead they had to content themselves with exploring the barn and chasing Sister Riva’s chickens back into their pen.
“One of the hens is missing,” Sister Riva said.
Taabe counted and looked carefully at each one. The sister was right—the chicken that often followed her about the garden was nowhere to be found.
“I suppose a coyote got it,” Sister Riva said.
“Or an Indian.” Quinta’s dark eyes gazed at them, defying them to say that was nonsense.
They searched for the hen halfheartedly and even walked out to the road, but never toward the woods, and never out of the sister’s sight.
That evening Sister Natalie came to her room and sat down on the stool. Taabe sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for her to speak.
“Taabe, are you frightened? We could take you to Fort Chadbourne, and you might be safer there.”
“I stay here.” Unless … she searched Sister Natalie’s face. Did the nuns want her to go? Her presence could bring trouble on them. Perhaps they felt it was time for her to take responsibility for her safety. “I go if …”
“If?” Sister Natalie asked.
“You want Taabe to go?”
The nun shook her head. “No, dear. We have come to love you. All of us are trusting God to keep us safe and to help us keep you safe. But if you are afraid that isn’t enough, we will see that you get to the fort, at least for a while.”
The lines around her eyes seemed deeper, and her face a little grayer than when they first met. Taabe reached out and touched Sister Natalie’s bony hand.
“I stay. We pray.”
Sister Natalie smiled. “We all pray every day that the Lord will watch over us, and that He will send your family here to find you.”
Taabe nodded. “I pray too.”
“That brings me great joy, child. I am sure God brought you here, and you’ve been a great blessing to us.” Sister Natalie’s rare smile melted Taabe’s heart.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure yet what she believed about the Numinu’s spirits or the white man’s God, but she was here, and she was still safe. Did the sisters’ constant prayers really protect them? They believed Peca and other men could harm them, or they wouldn’t take precautions against it.
“What if they come?” she asked.
Sister Natalie frowned. “Do you mean the Comanche?” Taa
be nodded. “Peca mad.”
“He is angry. When Quinta says he is ‘mad,’ she means he is angry.”
Taabe wasn’t sure about the distinction between those words.
Sister Natalie patted her hand. “If they do come, we will not give you up to them.”
“Men hurt … hurt sisters. Hurt Quinta and Taabe.”
The nun sighed heavily. “That could happen. I don’t think God will allow it, but you’re right, it’s possible. But even in such a terrible time, God would be here with us. He would watch over us. And if the worst should happen and any of us were killed, He would take us up to Himself, in heaven.”
Taabe puzzled over that. Sometimes when Sister Adele read from the Bible, they talked about weighty matters such as this. Heaven was the place the Bible said God’s people went when they died. That much she understood.
“I fear we’ve been slow in your religious instruction,” Sister Natalie said. “We wanted to be sure you healed well and that you understood enough English to benefit from it. Sister Adele tells me you have questions when she reads to you.”
“Yes. She is very kind.”
Sister Natalie smiled again. “I’m glad. And you may come to any of us with your questions. Perhaps it is time for more formal training. You may sit in Quinta’s classes if you wish. We’ll not force you to, but …”
“I learn,” Taabe said. She thought much about the older nun’s words, and she began sitting in the room during Quinta’s lessons—especially her Bible lessons—whenever she wasn’t helping in the kitchen.
The week after their trip to Fort Chadbourne, all the residents of the mission anticipated the stagecoach’s arrival. Taabe sat in the parlor sewing while Quinta had her arithmetic lessons. The girl could not concentrate on her studies, and she fidgeted continually.
“Sit still,” Sister Adele said for the third time.
“It’s almost time for Ned and Brownie,” Quinta protested.
Sister Adele sighed. “All right, we will go outside for a short while. Will you join us, Taabe?”
They went for their wraps. A few minutes later, all three stepped out into the blustery front yard.
“May I go to the road?” Quinta asked.
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