Alisha’s most demanding times came during those seemingly endless days when a sudden blizzard would rage across the land and trap them inside for days at a span. She would glance up from her sewing, reading, or cleaning to find his intense, piercing blue eyes upon her. Being caught at this curious habit did not seem to bother him at all. After the first few times of polite inquiry into his pensive moodiness, she did not ask again; for he would simply glare at her as if she had just committed some terrible offense against him, then sullenly pass off his strange behavior with a meaningless shrug. If she had read passion or desire in his gaze, she would have been less troubled. She could even comprehend his bitterness or resentment toward her for her past rejection, or she could accept his look of triumph. Knowing his expression did not fit any of those emotions, she feared its true meaning.
The only alleged role which she did not fulfill was the one of confidant, for he remained distant and evasive in all matters which did not directly concern her. As for the role of friend, that had always been an impossible joke. Being a cautious person, Alisha did not question him concerning his business ventures. She had been told he dealt with Henri and Hiram, but he refused to enlighten her any further. When Henri did come to their home for dinner, it was always a social affair.
Those times when he came to see Jeffery strictly on business, she would be dismissed after polite banter and a single glass of imported wine, compliments of Henri. The men would either retire to Jeffery’s study or to a room on the back side of the first floor, one which was always locked. As Jeffery possessed the only key, she had never gone into or seen inside that impenetrable room. It had been surprising to learn that Mrs. Webster had also never been allowed in that room.
When Jeffery did finally make one of his business trips, Alisha was delighted with her first privacy and total peace. Just to keep her busy or to keep her under a watchful eye, Jeffery ordered some new additions to her growing wardrobe.
Sadly, Mrs. King was not the kind of woman who sought out friends. In fact, Alisha found her to be austere, almost to the point of open hostility. When Alisha bravely made this observation to Jeffery with the hope of not having to work with her again, he calmly chuckled and commented, “Since when does a lady share a friendship with a lowly dressmaker? Ignore her, Mrs. Gordon; she is beneath your concern or attention.”
She had softly argued, “But, Jeffery, she makes her company nearly unbearable. Surely I have enough clothes to get me to Virginia. Must she come here again?”
He had appeared to ponder her plea before deciding, “If it is necessary for her to come here again, I will make sure she treats you with the proper respect and friendliness. After all, to insult my wife is to also insult me. Besides, when does any female have enough clothes and jewels?” With that remark, their conversation had ended.
Alisha had been quick to observe the guards posted around the house, day and night, when Jeffery was away. At first she had resented his groundless suspicions and mistrust. Later, she had attributed his precaution to her protection and privacy. He had pointed out the danger of his being a wealthy man in a perilous territory. No matter his motives, she did feel safer with the guards outside. Strange, when he was home, she had never felt unsafe or threatened from outside forces…
Once when Jeffery was downriver for a few days, Mary O’Hara unexpectedly came by to visit with her. Alisha had the oddest feeling that the silent girl was trying to warn her. Yet, Mary seemed guarded and uncertain. Naturally, Alisha did all the talking and entertaining. They had a light lunch together, then sat before a comforting fire and sipped a glass of sherry.
Unsettled by the girl’s silent and vigilant gaze, Alisha began to play the piano to relieve her own rising inquietude. Mary smiled brightly as she watched Alisha’s graceful, skilled fingers skip across the ivory keys and bring forth soul-stirring music. Her chocolate eyes became soft and warm as she listened to the enchanting, relaxing music. Seeing her interest and enjoyment, Alisha inquired, “Would you like to play, Mary?”
The girl sadly shook her auburn head, then shrugged her small shoulders in ignorance. Her eyes and faded smile spoke of her disappointment. An idea came to Alisha. “I could teach you! It’s very difficult at first, but you could learn with my help.”
That sunny smile filled Mary’s eyes once again. She could hardly trust her ears. “Here, sit beside me.” As Mary timidly obeyed her soft order, she continued, “Place your hands thus.”
Mary studied the placement of Alisha’s fingers and copied it. “Excellent, Mary. Now, I shall teach you the keys and the notes. If you don’t understand something or if I go too fast, tap my arm.” With those instructions, they began to work.
Hours passed as they sat there. Both immensely enjoyed this recreation together. Without thinking, Alisha absently remarked, “I wish we could communicate easier. If only you could talk…”
Instantly realizing her breach of etiquette, Alisha flushed a deep red. “I’m terribly sorry, Mary,” she hastily apologized. “I didn’t mean for it to sound that way. I know it must be painful to live in a world of silence.”
Mary smiled warmly at her genuine concern. She excitedly began to make motions which Alisha instantly recognized as Indian sign-language. In astonishment she exclaimed, “You know signing! I know a little. Perhaps you could teach me more signing, and I can teach you the piano,” she offered her exchange in rising anticipation. At last there was some bridge of communication between them, some female companionship in this lonely land.
Mary nodded her head in eagerness and joy. If anyone could be a trustworthy friend to her, this English girl could. On a much lighter note, they returned their concentration to the piano. “Run the keys once more, beginning with A and go through G…”
When Mary did not comply, she glanced over at her. Mary’s face was stark white, her eyes large and terrorfilled. Her body was rigid. Alisha fearfully whirled to trace her line of petrified vision. Her gaze locked with her husband’s visage of livid rage.
Surprised to see him home a day early and looking so ominous, she stood up and moved toward him. “Jeffery, is something wrong? Was there trouble along the way?” she solicitously asked.
Without warning, she found herself stumbling backwards from a jolting slap across her cheek. She helplessly toppled against a table and knocked it over with a loud crash. Dazed and appalled, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. She shoved her loosened curls from her face. She stared at him as blood began to ease down her chin from a small split in her lip. Unaware of her injury, it dripped upon the light blue bodice of her favorite daydress. Stunned, Alisha could not get up.
Jeffery vented his unleashed fury on the mute girl. “You dunderhead! How dare you come into my home and try to contaminate my wife with your dim-witted filth! She doesn’t know about your sluttish ways; but I do! Does she know you were sleeping with her brother every day and night? Did you tell her how you seduced him while he was drunk? Did you tell her about all the little tricks you tempted and ensnared him with? Did you tell her you were the one occupying his time, not that cheap Celeste? Did you bother to tell her about all those other men you’ve had?” he snarled at her. He was infuriated by her daring to show up in his home after her defiance and disloyalty.
“Jeffery!” Alisha shrieked in alarm and disgust. Finding some courage and her tongue, she shouted, “She’s only a child! You’re being unkind and vulgar! If you are angry with me, then punish me. Mary does not deserve this monstrous treatment. The war is between us; do not involve a helpless child. You forget your breeding and manners!” she added in a softer tone.
Alisha had made a terrible mistake in her reasoning; she had unwittingly informed Mary of the trouble and mistrust between them. And, she was openly defying him before another person. Worst of all, she was challenging his word and position!
Jeffery whirled to oppose her, venom seeming to ooze from his pores. His blue eyes were as hard as an iceberg, and his face was contorted with such volatile emotio
n that she fearfully retreated a few steps. His ragged respiration warned her of his impending explosion. Too horrified to move, Mary helplessly witnessed this confrontation between them. Too stricken with disbelief, Alisha awaited his attack.
“Only a child!” he said scathingly. “You think I’m lying, my precious wife? You think I’m making this up to punish you with? You of all females know the power a woman can have over a man, over many men! Desire for you destroyed an entire fort, not to mention things other men have done to possess you! You believe little Mary is just a sweet, innocent child? How sadly mistaken you are, or perhaps just plain naïve. She’d been fornicating with your dear, departed brother since your arrival here; that is, until his untimely accident with that other harlot. Why do you think he was too busy to defy my claim on you? Knowing how he felt about me, why do you suppose he allowed you to go with me? I’ll tell you why: he was too occupied with keeping two harlots satisfied to have time to worry about what we might be doing in private!”
“I won’t listen to such crude, hateful words!” she shouted at him, believing his claims to be malicious lies. “Let me go to my room, and permit Mary to go home before you go too far, my dear husband,” she warned. Angry, embarrassed lights filled her distressed eyes. A veiled threat was another mistake.
“You will hear the truth, my dear Alisha. Are you afraid I might tarnish that silver image of his? Would you like to know what he was really like? Are you afraid of the truth?” he taunted without mercy, determined to force her to view his jaundiced opinion of her dead friend.
“Your truth! That’s what you mean! You hated him; why should I believe anything you have to say about him? If I didn’t know any better, I would swear you killed him!” she voiced her innermost suspicions aloud, confirmed by this violent side of him.
Jeffery sneered, “Would you now! I wasn’t the one who drained his life; Celeste was. Of course, Mary wanted that position of sole mistress, but Powchutu had a lusty appetite. One woman just wasn’t enough for him. Always heard those Injuns were insatiable creatures. Are they, my enlightened wife?” he challenged.
Alisha’s face drained of all color. Shock was rapidly replaced with bitter anger. “How dare you, you despicable animal! I’ve never met anyone as cruel and spiteful as you are! You’re the reason I was returned to him! If I had agreed to become your mistress, you would never have turned me over to him and you know it! You’ll never know how many times I’ve regretted that decision! No matter how hard I try to earn your forgiveness and friendship, you make it impossible! I hate you! How dare you call me names and insinuate such…” She was so upset that she could not continue her tirade. Alisha gasped, “I will not be a party to such… such vindictive
trash!”
With that declaration, she headed for the drawing room door. Jeffery instantly pursued her and seized her by the shoulders. He pinned her against the wall. “You will hear the truth if I have to tie you to a chair and gag you,” he ominously threatened.
“I will not listen to any more lies about Powchutu and Mary! If you don’t release me this instant, I’ll leave here this very night!”
He laughed. “To go where, my virginal wife?” he taunted.
“To Hiram’s!” she shouted, giving the only name who might assist her in this impossible situation.
He threw back his blond head and filled the room with satanic, chilling laughter. “There isn’t a soul in this settlement who would dare to befriend you if you left me. Not even good old Hiram. He knows who permits him to survive in this town. The minute he took you in, his business and home would be burned to the ground by those awful river pirates.”
Her face whitened once more; her eyes grew large and lucid. “You’re connected with those… that’s how you earn your living out here! My God, Jeffery, they’re murderers and robbers, and God only knows what else! You cannot possibly be serious! Surely there are limits to your cruelty!”
“You grossly underestimate my power and my appetite, Alisha. You always have. Had it not been for Powchutu, you would have been mine long ago. But in the end, I always get my way. Frenchy and I control the river and… several other lucrative ventures. If you are foolish enough to leave me or to divulge such facts, I need not express your punishment.” Jeffery felt the time for gentle persuasion was over; brute force now suited his needs.
His threat went unnoticed. “Frenchy?” she repeated the name in a quavering tone.
“I see you’ve already heard of him,” he remarked casually, not the least disturbed by her reaction. “Good! Behave yourself as you have been doing until tonight, and I won’t be tempted to sell you to him for one of his infamous houses.”
“You wouldn’t dare! I’m your wife,” she argued in dismay.
“Yes, I would dare, Alisha. You will remain my wife only as long as you continue to please me. I have given you your duties, and I demand you carry them out to the very best of your talents.”
Finding some courage at last, Mary tried to sneak past him while he was focusing on Alisha. Fearful consternation flooded her at the full revelation of Jeffery’s character and of Alisha’s precarious position. She desperately wanted to get out of this evil house. All in one smooth motion, Jeffery flung Alisha into a nearby chair and captured Mary’s arm in a firm grip.
“Sit still and quiet, little wife, if you know what’s good for you. As for you, Miss Mary O’Hara, it’s time for Alisha to learn the truth about you and her brother.”
“Jeffery, please,” Alisha protested his rough handling of the mute, frightened girl. “I’ll do whatever you say,” she vowed, hoping to put a halt to this horror-filled night.
“The truth, Mary! If not, I’ll ask Frenchy to teach you how to tell it. Alisha has to learn certain things. Did he tell you they weren’t really brother and sister?” he stormed at her.
To Alisha’s confusion and torment, Mary’s guilty look answered before she could nod her head in the affirmative. Afraid not to tell the truth, she did as Jeffery commanded. How could she lie when he seemed to know everything? She was forced to tell the entire truth while Alisha helplessly listened.
“Were you two… for the modesty of my dear wife’s delicate ears, sleeping together, shall we say?” Mary lowered her eyes and nodded yes.
“Look at her when you answer, Mary. I want her to see if you’re telling the truth, not speaking out of fear. Look her in the eye! Did he call you by her name when he was ramming you?” he crudely shouted.
Alisha flamed red as Mary nodded yes. Yet, she dared not interfere again. Jeffery was beyond reason or control. All she could do was sit there and be torn apart with his revelations.
“Were you content to merely make love?” His insinuation was clear to both females. Mary nodded no; Alisha winced.
“Did he confess they weren’t kin to halt your ideas of incest when he accidentally called her name in the throes of passion?” Mary thankfully nodded yes. “Did he tell you all about his beloved Alisha, about her countless nights and days in the tepee of a Sioux warrior?” Alisha grimaced in anguish as Mary reluctantly nodded yes to Powchutu’s betrayal of her secret.
Alisha struggled to shut out the tormenting disclosures. As Jeffery persisted with his cross-examination, tears began to trickle down Alisha’s cheeks. She listened to the confession of Powchutu’s traitorous betrayal, the betrayal by the same man who had befriended her and saved her life and led her to freedom. Freedom! Some freedom, her mind screamed in agony.
“Did he tell you about those times when he sold himself for favors and revenge to the wives and daughters of certain officers, women who couldn’t keep their hands and minds off of him?”
For the second time, she nodded no. Her brown eyes registered shock and disbelief of this claim. “You know how he really died, don’t you? He died while copulating with a whore just like you!”
Mary began to argue with his last statements by rapidly shaking her head no. “You’re saying you’ve never slept with any other man? Come now, Mary. We both k
now better.”
She lowered her head in shame, unable to speak of her defilement by several other guests at the Horne House. She began to weep.
Annoyed, Jeffery made a mistake. “I suppose you want us to believe that weeping means you loved the red woods-colt!”
Her head jerked up. She hastily bobbed her head up and down in full agreement with his error. Seeing his mistake, he quickly attempted to correct it. “Then why sleep with other men?” he snarled.
She shook her head, telling Alisha she was not sleeping with other men, telling Alisha she was truly in love with Powchutu. Alisha promptly realized she had permitted Jeffery’s crude language and the shock of this discovery to color her initial thoughts and feelings. The look in Mary’s eyes told her another truth, one more important than her past mistakes.
“You’re wrong, Jeffery,” she stated softly. “She did love him, still does. I can read it in her eyes. Isn’t that right, Mary?” Mary looked at Alisha and nodded the truth to her conclusion.
Jeffery laughed sardonically. He would teach both of them a vivid lesson which they would never forget! “Stay here, wife, while I show Mary out. You and I have some more talking to do.”
He closed the double doors as he went out. He led Mary to the kitchen where Slim and Tommy were eating a light snack and having a hot toddy after their long journey. Jeffery roughly shoved Mary into the room and ordered Tommy to hold her while he fetched his “magic potions.” Tommy and Slim exchanged knowing looks, leering at their luscious target. Unable to call out for help and unable to struggle with the brute strength of this man, Mary looked on in fearful anxiety. The men did not question their reward for their hard work. Their fatigue vanished instantly.
Jeffery returned from his private storeroom. He mixed the first potion in a glass of sherry. While Slim and Tommy held her still, Jeffery forced her mouth open by holding her nose. Slim held her face still while Jeffery poured the liquid into her mouth, then clamped his hand over her nose and mouth. Unable to prevent her automatic reaction, she swallowed the fiery juice.
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