“She’s right.” He smiled in spite of himself, in spite of all the things old Sturdy Oak would know from that smile.
True to form, Sturdy Oak nodded as if he had come to understand most of the secrets of the universe with just a few words.
“She is a good woman. Lost, but good.”
“Lost?” Christian frowned.
“She is like the fawn who wades into the river after its mother, but whose mother is washed away. She does not know how to cross the river or how to get back, so she panics.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” Christian murmured, rubbing his chin.
“If you go into the river to help her, she may kick you.”
“She already has.” He arched an eyebrow.
Sturdy Oak laughed. “You are like the otter, who deserves to be kicked.”
Christian laughed with him. “Any advice on how to win her?”
“Yes,” Sturdy Oak said. “Let her win.”
Christian blinked, smile faltering at the old man’s advice. Sturdy Oak took one look at his expression and chuckled. He then thumped Christian’s back and steered him into the main room where Lily was still reading.
“The mouse said to the lion, ‘Your Majesty, if you let me go, I promise I will be your friend forever. I may even save your life one day!’”
“How could a mouse save a lion’s life?” Sees The Clouds asked.
“You will just have to be patient and find out,” Lily answered. She winked at the beaming boy.
Christian watched her, transfixed. He wished she would wink at him. Wink and ruffle his hair and a list of other things. Sturdy Oak handed him a steaming mug, which he sipped without tasting. Let Lily win, eh? What a novel concept. A mouse who could save a lion’s life.
Christian’s thoughts and Lily’s reading were interrupted as the door flew open. Two Feathers marched in, scowling even deeper.
“There’s a woman here,” Two Feathers announced. He strode across the room to Sturdy Oak, avoiding Lily and the curious children who instantly forgot their book.
“What woman is this?” Sturdy Oak asked, unflappably calm in the face of Two Feathers’ tangible hostility.
“She says she’s come with a donation, but I do not trust the look of her.”
“Is this the house?” a woman’s voice sounded from just outside the door.
A moment later Alicia Kuhn—dressed in an elaborate coat and hat full of ostrich feathers—was shown into the house by one of Sturdy Oak’s granddaughters. Isabella trailed behind her, arms full of something wrapped in a sack. Alicia’s color was as high as if she’d run all the way from Cold Springs. Her eyes were wide and frantic as she glanced around the bare wood of the house’s walls and ceiling. She twisted her neck, taking in every detail of Sturdy Oak’s house as though searching for something.
Her furtive glance settled on Lily. She swallowed a yelp of triumph. A moment later she smoothed her skirts and put on the phoniest smile Christian had ever seen.
“Oh, Miss Singer,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” The lie was plain in her voice.
Lily rose from her stool. The children rose with her.
“Mrs. Kuhn,” she greeted the woman. All of the softness of her manner and expression drained away, leaving the tough schoolmarm. “What a pleasure to see you.”
Christian knew a formality when he heard one. He set the mug Sturdy Oak had given him on the fireplace mantle and stepped forward.
“Mrs. Kuhn.” He nodded.
“Mr. Avery, what a pleasant surprise. And it’s Alicia, please.” Alicia tittered. She had the same civilized smile that Samuel had, a smile that hid knives. “I didn’t expect to find you all the way out here, what with the town in such an uproar. Why, I would have expected you to be hot on the trail of the second thief!”
She shot a look straight at Two Feathers, then, as if she realized her transparency, laughed and sidestepped toward a bookshelf. Her fake joviality slipped as she scrutinized the contents of the shelves.
It was a struggle for Christian to keep the polite smile on his face. “I make it a habit to visit Sturdy Oak and his family on the weekend, seeing as they’re friends of mine,” he said. “What brings you all the way out here?”
“I’ve brought blankets made by the women in my knitting circle,” Alicia announced with a broad smile. She crossed the room to where a carved trunk sat under a window. “Why don’t we put them in here. Isabella!”
The steel in Alicia’s voice as she called her daughter made Christian cringe. Red Sun Boy stood from the chair where he’d been reading and shifted closer to Isabella.
Isabella stepped forward, hesitating between Lily and Snow In Her Hair. “Who should I give these to?” she asked in a small voice.
“Isabella, where are your manners?” Alicia snapped. “Do not speak until you are spoken to! And I told you to put them in here!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Isabella mumbled.
Without asking, Alicia lifted the lid of the chest. The fierceness in her eyes faded when the chest proved to be filled with nothing but old boots. She wrinkled her nose and let the lid drop.
“On second thought….” She surveyed the room once more. Her enthusiasm returned when she spotted the cupboard next to the kitchen counter. “I bet it’s in…I mean, let’s put those in here!”
She rushed across the room and threw open the cupboard. It was filled with cans and sacks of food.
Christian grimaced, rubbing his chin. It was downright embarrassing. He peeked at Lily, who stood with her head bowed, staring at the book in her hands, jaw clenched. Snow In Her Hair watched Alicia glance through the cupboard with tight lips and narrowed eyes. Two Feathers crossed his arms, daring the foolish woman to quit her games and admit her purpose. Sturdy Oak was the only one who moved, and that to shake his head.
“Mama, is that woman crazy?” Meadow asked in a whisper.
Alicia whipped to face her, eyes wide. It was the first she looked at any of the Flathead directly.
“Red Sun Boy will take those,” Snow In Her Hair said before anything else could be.
She gestured to Red Sun Boy, who set his book on the table and crossed to take the bundle. He and Isabella exchanged smiles—his bold and hers shy—like the conspirators they were.
“Well, it looks as though everything is right as rain here,” Alicia said, breezing across the room. If she was aware of the interaction between her daughter and Red Sun Boy, she didn’t let on. “I…I suppose that’s a blessing.” She didn’t look at all convinced.
“Won’t you sit down, Mrs. Kuhn?” Snow In Her Hair asked. “Join us for tea.” She extended a hand and crossed around the wide-eyed children to offer Alicia one of the room’s two old stuffed chairs.
Alicia went as pale as if Snow In Her Hair had invited her to climb the gallows. “No!” She pulled herself back together with an intake of breath. “No, I didn’t come to pay a social call, I came on a mission. That is, a mission of mercy.”
Snow In Her Hair only missed a beat before saying, “Your blankets will be greatly appreciated.”
“I do hope so.” She attempted one final survey of the room.
“You will not find anything here that should not be here, Mrs. Kuhn,” Lily finally snapped.
All eyes in the room turned to her.
“What? I don’t understand what you mean.” Alicia blinked, red staining her pale cheeks.
Lily glared at Alicia, her expression unmoving. One of the smaller children clung to Lily’s skirts, sucking his dirty thumb. Lily smoothed a protective hand over his head, like a mother lion defending her cub.
“These people are not thieves, Mrs. Kuhn,” she said. “They are not stupid either. They know as well as I that you need a warrant to search someone’s house.”
“And I won’t be issuing any,” Christian added. “Charges against trespassing, however….”
“Well!” Alicia fluttered into a nervous laugh, wringing her hands and backing toward the door. “I woul
dn’t know anything about that. I just wanted to drop by with the blankets. That’s all. I’ll just be leaving now. Isabella!”
Isabella jumped away from where she had had her head together with Red Sun Boy. She snapped her hands behind her back and rushed to her mother’s side. Christian caught a flash of blue ribbon in Red Sun Boy’s hands before he hid it in the bundle of blankets he carried.
“Have a safe journey home,” Sturdy Oak spoke to his guests at last. “The winter is cold and we would not want for you to be caught out in it.”
Alicia wrinkled her forehead, scooting sideways towards the door as though Sturdy Oak had hurled some sort of curse at her. “No, no we wouldn’t,” she said. “Goodbye.”
She opened the door, shooed Isabella outside, and shut the door so swiftly behind her that Christian started. Sturdy Oak gestured to Two Feathers, who hopped across the room and outside to follow them. As soon as he was gone, Snow In Her Hair shook her head.
“Is she the first ‘guest’ who will come to visit us?” she asked.
“I’ll make sure people back in town know not to disturb you,” Christian said, no happier than she was.
“Will they listen?” Lily met and held his eyes.
No. No they wouldn’t. Everyone in the room knew that, even some of the children.
“The blankets will be used,” Snow In Her Hair said, crossing to take the bundle from Red Sun Boy, “but we have not had a good history of accepting blankets from your people.”
It was hard for Christian to tell if she was talking to Lily or him. Lily hugged the boy clinging to her skirts, so rigid he swore he could see veins in her forehead.
“That woman is insufferable!” she hissed.
Snow In Her Hair put the blankets down on top of the chest of boots with a sigh. “She is typical. Some miners came by just last week. They said they were just stopping by and asked for water, but they spit on the rug. As long as we are here, we will have to endure their kind.”
She shot a pointed look to Sturdy Oak as she returned to her work in the kitchen. Christian watched, impotent with fury. He strolled back to the fireplace to pick up his mug.
“I’ll talk to Kent, see if I can get him to step up his search for the real thieves so we can put this to bed,” he grumbled.
“There is no need,” Sturdy Oak said. He moved with the slowness of a man with a burden on his shoulders. “I must think on this.”
In the kitchen, Snow In Her Hair let out a breath and lowered her shoulders. Lily watched her, then sought out Christian. He met her anxious glance with as much of a smile as he could manage. It wasn’t much. He had a bad feeling Alicia’s quiet invasion was only a warning shot.
The morning wore on into afternoon, and though Lily tried to keep her thoughts focused on the children, peace eluded her. Alicia Kuhn was unforgivable, but worse was the suspicion that Snow In Her Hair believed Lily was cut from the same cloth. She gave no indication of it, but Lily was certain that Snow In Her Hair’s repeated stares and considering nods were a silent condemnation. They were a sign that she didn’t belong.
Snow In Her Hair’s scrutiny paled in comparison to the way Christian continued to watch her. Whatever his intent in visiting Sturdy Oak had been, it seemed his true purpose in being there was to watch her. No matter what he proceeded to do—whether it was talking to Sturdy Oak or his son as the noon meal was being prepared or helping set up tables for the communal meal—his eyes followed her. His constant, subtle attention spun her hopes down roads they had no business traveling when the rest of her was caught between the rock of Cold Springs suspicion and the hard place of Flathead pity.
Christian made a point to sit by her side as all of Sturdy Oak’s people came to the house to eat. He even pressed his leg against hers on the bench when the table got crowded and tapped his foot against hers several times throughout the meal. It took all of her effort not to be provoked into a fit by his childish antics.
The problem was, she liked them.
“I apologize for Mr. Avery’s behavior today,” she said to Snow In Her Hair and River Woman as they cleaned up from dinner.
“He is a handsome man.” Snow In Her Hair smiled.
Lily arched an eyebrow as she rinsed plates under the pump in the sink. “He is far too casual at such a sensitive time.”
“High spirits are a relief when other tensions mount.” River Woman said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And I agree. He is handsome.”
“He is like a buck in spring, showing off,” Snow In Her Hair added.
Lily sighed loudly. “He is a menace.”
Another look passed between River Woman and Snow In Her Hair. Lily’s frustration blossomed.
“Why is everyone suddenly so full of coy smiles and implications that Christian Avery and I should be together?” she complained in a low voice. “He is arrogant, demanding, full of himself, and behaves completely inappropriately toward me.” The memory of them tangled on the chaise in the hotel storeroom sprang to her mind, tangled shame and desire with it.
There was a heavy pause before River Woman said. “So you return his interest?”
“I….”
Hot color flooded Lily’s face and neck. River Woman and Snow In Her Hair shook with swallowed laughter. Her gut clenched. Any minute now they would be laughing and wedging her out.
“He has a nice body,” River Woman said. “Fit and strong.”
Lily’s eyes popped wide. They should not be talking like this.
Yet, at the same time it was an opening. This was how friends spoke to each other.
“I can’t sleep at night,” she confessed, heart hammering more with the idea what these woman might not laugh at her than with the prospect of Christian’s body. “I think about him even though I don’t want to.”
She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable.
“Men are like strong drink that way,” Snow In Her Hair said, leaning closer.
“They make you forget necessary things and remember silly things,” River Woman agreed.
Lily blinked, letting out her breath. They hadn’t laughed. They included her in their knowing smiles. Hope flowered in her chest.
“I see you with him and I am reminded of how I felt about the first boy I loved,” River Woman told Lily with a sage nod and a sigh.
“Did you feel distracted and irritated and stupid?” Lily ventured.
“All the time.” River Woman laughed. Snow In Her Hair laughed with her.
“What did you do about it?” Lily asked, holding on to the improbable hope that River Woman would tell her.
“I mooned about, bringing him cakes with sugar,” River Woman answered without hesitation.
Snow In Her Hair nodded, her grin broad as if she remembered the story.
“It was when he kissed me that I knew I was in trouble,” River Woman went on.
“He kissed you?” Lily felt herself caught in Christian’s arms in her classroom, helpless under the pressure of his mouth against hers. She caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, debating with Sturdy Oak and his son, still watching her. Prickles of heat spread across her skin.
“He kissed me very well,” River Woman went on. “He was ardent and powerful. It was a good kiss.”
“What did you do then?” Lily asked, almost desperate to know what she could do to control the fire of Christian’s kiss that still burned in her.
“I snuck out of my tent that night,” River Woman said, “and crept across the village. I remember it was a cold night and I had to run across new snow, but it did not lessen the heat I felt at all.”
Lily nodded, imagining herself in River Woman’s role far too easily, burning cheeks, cold feet.
“I found this boy’s tent and slipped in under the side.”
Snow In Her Hair chuckled, eyes dancing.
“Then I found this boy’s bed, took off my clothes, and crawled in with him.” River Woman’s eyes were alight.
Lily gasped. “What happened? Were
you discovered?”
“I was discovered,” she nodded, smile wide. “By the boy. He took off his clothes as well and we made love several times.”
Lily’s mouth hung open. She had long since forgotten the dishes in her hand and the pump had run dry.
“But…but….” She closed her mouth and swallowed. Her gaze slipped past River Woman to Christian across the room. He was watching her with undisguised interest. She turned so that only Snow In Her Hair and River Woman could see her face. “But weren’t there consequences? Weren’t you disgraced when you were caught?”
“Oh, there were consequences,” River Woman laughed. “There were consequences because I kept sneaking back into his bed.”
“What happened?”
“Two Feathers, for one,” River Woman answered, sending her son a fond smile. “And some of the happiest years of my life, for another.” She finished her story with a wistful sigh.
Snow In Her Hair reached out and squeezed River Woman’s arm. “He was a good man.”
River Woman nodded. “He went off the reservation one day to hunt,” she explained to Lily. “He did not come back. The soldiers told me he abandoned us, but that is not what happened.” The steel in River Woman’s eyes suggested all to clearly what she thought had happened. Yet, there was no anger—not at the soldiers, who Lily assumed had harmed him, nor for River Woman’s lost love—only a deep, hopeless grief.
River Woman drew in a breath and resumed her work cleaning up. “I am glad that I crawled into his bed that night, all those nights.”
That was it. The end of the story. Lily dared another glance over her shoulder to Christian. He watched her with intense curiosity. She could feel it like the pressure of his arms around her.
She worked the pump in the sink, grateful for cool water rushing over her hands.
River Woman leaned closer to her and whispered, “I do not think Christian would mind if you slipped into his tent tonight.”
Lily’s straightened to blink incredulously at her. “I couldn’t! I wouldn’t dare!”
Snow In Her Hair took the clean plate from Lily’s hands. “I think you could.”
“It wouldn’t be right.” Lily shook her head. “I could lose my position at the school if I was found out.”
In Your Arms (Montana Romance) Page 14