Sunflower

by Jill Marie Landis

  “Analisa!”

  He called out his wife’s name in hope that the spirit would lead her to him, but he knew it was too late. He felt himself drifting back into the darkness. It was cooler now, but just as deeply black.

  “I am here, Caleb.”

  He heard a voice at the edge of the darkness and his fears vanished. It was Anja. She’d found him at last. He smiled then, and allowed himself to drift into a peaceful sleep.

  “Mama?”

  Kase kept his voice down to a whisper as he tiptoed into the room, Galileo dangling from his arms. The cat was wild eyed, sensing sure strangulation if he wasn’t freed soon.

  “Do you think Papa will feel better if I let him see the cat?” he asked.

  “He’s still asleep, Kase.” Analisa reached out to rescue the black and white animal, and Kase released it into her arms. She scratched the haughty creature on the top of his head, and he settled down on her lap, purring loudly. The boy scrambled up beside her, squeezing himself into the small space she made for him on the wide seat of the rocker.

  The past few days had been as hard on Kase as they had been on Analisa and the rest of the household. He had haunted the bedroom doorway, a small, silent shadow, sometimes waking late at night to crawl from his makeshift bed on the settee and stand beside Analisa as she sat awake in the rocker. Often he would startle her as she dozed, forcing her to catch her breath, startled at the sight of a small figure draped in a long white nightshirt who’d appeared without warning beside her. The experience of losing his opa was still fresh in his mind, and he would often voice his fears, asking if Caleb was going to die like his great-grandfather and leave him. She had reassured him over and over that Caleb would live, only to find herself praying fervently that it would come to pass.

  She pushed her feet against the floor to set the rocker in motion and welcomed the calm she experienced as she watched Caleb sleep peacefully for the first time in nearly a week. Sometime during the night the fever had left him, and now she waited impatiently for him to awaken.

  “Mama?”

  “Hmm?”

  They spoke in silent whispers as they sat side by side staring at the figure stretched out under the tulip-patterned quilt.

  “When will he wake up?”

  “Soon, I think.”

  “Ja? What if I put the cat on his stomach? You think then he’ll wake up?”

  “You put that cat on my stomach and I’ll tan your hide.”

  For a moment they were both too stunned to move, and then Analisa jumped to her feet. Galileo hissed as he tumbled unceremoniously to the floor. She reached out to touch Caleb’s forehead and then took his hand between her own. His face was stubbled with a light growth of beard, his hair matted and much in need of a wash, and his eyes were rimmed with deep purple shadows. But he was alive, lucid, and smiling at her beguilingly.

  “Miss me?” His voice sounded hoarse, a dry, rasping whisper, but the light in his eyes shone for her alone.

  She nodded and smiled, blinking away tears as she reached for a glass of water and gave him a drink.

  “Ja, I missed you.”

  “Want to show me how much?” He tugged on her hand and drew Analisa down toward him. She perched gingerly on the side of the bed, afraid that the least motion would cause him pain.

  Kase immediately scrambled up beside Caleb and leaned close enough to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I’m glad you’re awake, Caleb,” Kase said.

  “You don’t want to call me Papa anymore?” Caleb raised an eyebrow as he teased the boy.

  “Ja. I forgot.”

  “I’m glad I’m better, too, because I missed you ... and your mama.”

  Caleb laced his fingers between Analisa’s as he continued to stare into her eyes, telling her without words the things he longed to say but could not because of the boy.

  “Kase, go over to Ruth’s and tell her that Caleb is awake. Tell her to come over later to see him.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Ja. You are the only one who can go right now.”

  Kase clung to Caleb’s neck a moment longer, burrowing against him until Analisa was forced to remind him of the wound.

  “It’s all right,” Caleb reassured her, his voice husky with emotion as he soothingly stroked the little boy’s shoulders and then gave him a firm hug before he set him away from him.

  “Do as your mama said, Kase. You can come right back, you know.”

  After a quick kiss to Caleb’s cheek, Kase crawled off the bed and flashed a winning smile at them before he ran out of the room.

  “Your turn.” Caleb tugged on her hand. “Or am I too much of a mess?”

  “You look wonderful.” She leaned forward and pressed a light, quick kiss on his lips, a kiss that Caleb sought to deepen before she pulled away.

  “I feel as if I’d been dragged behind a horse. How long have I been out?”

  “Six days. It is not noon yet, the twenty-sixth of May.”

  He studied her face, his expression intent, searching.

  Analisa felt her heart begin to gallop.

  He patted the empty space beside him. “Sit with me.”

  She complied. Easing into the space beside him, she leaned against the headboard and nervously smoothed her apron over the skirt of her gray batiste gown. Analisa could not fathom why she felt so awkward with Caleb, as nervous and unsure as if they’d just met. Perhaps, she thought, because the circumstances were so similar to those of their first meeting. Then, too, he’d been in her care. She’d blushed and shied away from his every look, every word. Now that he was well, she felt awkward, and so she lay beside him and stared at the toes of her stocking feet.

  “Are you all right, Anja? Everything okay here?” he asked as if he sensed her skittishness.

  “Ja. Everything is okay now.”

  “You look bad.”

  Just as he knew it would, his comment drew an immediate reaction and she turned to question him. “Bad?”

  “Tired,” he amended.

  “You kept me from sleeping for five nights. Last night you were talking and tossing. Something about a princess.” She waited for an explanation while Caleb silently mused over her comment.

  “Well,” she prodded. “Do you know some ... some princess?”

  He did not hesitate to carry her hand, fingers still entwined with his, to his lips to kiss the back of it.

  “Yes. I know a princess. I married her.”

  Although Caleb seemed content to talk, Analisa was all too aware of the strain in his voice. He needed sleep, sleep unburdened by fever, and he needed sustenance.

  “Let go, Caleb, and I’ll have Abbie fix something for you.”

  “Where’s Ruth?” He continued to toy with her fingers and gave her arm a slight tug that caused her to slide down the headboard in his direction.

  Analisa knew it would do no good to protest and so shifted her weight and made herself comfortable as she leaned against his good shoulder. Just feeling the familiar warmth that emanated from him helped, her relax.

  “Ruth moved over to the major’s house.”

  “What?”

  “Ja. He moved to the bachelor officer’s house and offered his home to Ruth because he knew it was so crowded here. Ruth plans to stay until you are well again.”

  “And that old pipe-smoking tyrant, Abbie? Is she still here?”

  Analisa giggled at his description, for Abbie had indeed become a tyrant while Caleb lay ill. “She’s been more than good to me, Caleb. To you, too.”

  “I know. I’m only teasing.”

  His eyes closed and Analisa rested contentedly beside him, waiting for him to drift off to sleep. It surprised her when the sound of his voice broke the peaceful lull.

  “I’m sorry, Anja.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Yes. For putting you through all of this. You and Kase. I’ll make it up to you both. I promise.” He opened his eyes and tried to roll onto his side but found he lacked the strength to accompli
sh even this small task. “I’m quitting as soon as the BIA sends out another agent. No more of this intrigue for me. You and Kase deserve a decent, normal life, and I intend to see that you get one.”

  For some reason Analisa felt suddenly saddened by the words she’d so longed to hear. She wondered if her feelings stemmed from the tone of resignation in his voice or from her own uncertainty about how she would react to what Caleb called a decent, normal life.

  “Wait until you are well before you decide, Caleb. Right now you are too exhausted to worry about it.”

  “I won’t change my mind.” He thought for a moment longer before he spoke again. “What happened to Hardy?”

  “Red Dog did not try to take him from the major after ... after what happened. He is in the guardhouse until you can give them instructions. Messengers have come each day from Red Dog. He said he will talk peace with you and only you.”

  “Sounds as if I don’t have time to waste lying in bed.”

  “If you try to get up, General Abigail and I will hit you over the head with cooking pots.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “I wouldn’t doubt that you’d do just that.”

  “Caleb.” She laid her palm alongside his cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. The kiss was chaste and brief, yet held a promise of more. “Please. I must get up now. You need to eat, at least some good, rich broth. The doctor said you must not get dedryhated.”

  “De-what?”

  “Are you teasing me?” She tried hard to appear stern and forbidding.

  He shook his head, but she did not miss the twinkle in his eye.

  “De-dry-hated.” She pronounced each incorrect syllable distinctly.

  “That’s exactly what I thought you said.” He dared not smile, but let go of her hand and quickly closed his eyes again.

  Analisa slipped from the bed to go in search of Abbie. She paused in the doorway long enough to reassure herself that Caleb was resting comfortably, then let herself out. As she closed the bedroom door, Analisa heard him chuckle contentedly and then smiled to herself and whispered, “Dehydrated,” in perfect, unaccented English.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The Deer Lodge, a Missouri paddle wheeler, steamed against the current as it fought its way upriver, looking like a two-story cabin plopped on a raft. The upper deck consisted of a large, airy salon whose walls were composed of a long row of glass doors. Relief from the summer heat was carried through the open doors on a gentle breeze, cooled by the waters of the Missouri.

  Analisa sat just inside the salon of the riverboat, with Caleb and Kase beside her. She dabbed at her brow with a handkerchief, then folded the dainty square of cloth and tucked it into her beaded reticule. She thought of Sophie and the day her friend had given her the little purse. It all seemed so long ago.

  “Káse,” she admonished as she watched her son sneaking toward one of the open doorways, “please try to stay clean.” She shifted nervously in her chair and tried to concentrate on her needlework.

  Caleb watched her intently from where he sat across the passengers’ dining table. He sipped at a tall glass of iced tea, a pleasant afternoon refreshment.

  “Anja?”

  At the sound of her name she immediately looked up at him, concern etched around her deep blue eyes.

  “Are you all right, Caleb?”

  He shook his head, resigned to the fact that she would never cease to inquire about his health.

  “I’m fine,” he answered gently, then leaned forward and whispered for her ears alone. “I thought last night was proof enough?”

  It pleased him to watch her cheeks deepen to a ripe peach shade as she hid the easily rekindled fire in her eyes with a sweep of her lashes. He relished the fact that she glowed with love and life, and he was sincerely grateful to have played a part in helping her blossom into full-blown womanhood.

  The picture she presented was one of elegance and refinement as she sat trying, he knew, to ignore his teasing. Her gown was a new one, periwinkle blue the trader called it, and store-bought for the occasion. She’d even agreed to wear her best kid shoes, the gray ones, after Caleb promised to buy her another pair should they be ruined. She did him great honor, this headstrong wife of his, and he was more than proud to have her travel at his side on his final journey in the employ of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

  Besides, it would have been impossible to leave her behind, he thought, and smiled to himself as he finished his tea. Both Analisa and Kase accompanied him, dressed in their finest. For this trip to the renegade camp, even he wore his finest suit. The utmost honor and sincerity would be shown to Red Dog and his band of Sioux. Caleb was determined to do his best for the people he had persuaded to come in peace to the agency.

  The decision to take the steamboat proved to be a wise one. The miles between the fort and the renegade camp were long, arduous if attempted on horseback. Caleb knew them well, for he’d made the trip many times in the previous months. Now, on this final journey upriver, he was able to relax as well as spare Analisa and Kase the hard ride. The boat ride also saved further aggravation of the bullet wound, which still pained him on occasion.

  He pushed his chair away from the table and offered his arm to Analisa. “Would you care to stroll around the deck, Mrs. Storm?”

  She folded her embroidery into a small square, pinned on the needle and thread, and deposited them inside her reticule. With the purse once again dangling from her wrist, she stood and tucked her hand into the bend at his elbow.

  They stood by the rail and watched the sandy, willow-lined banks of the Missouri sweep past. Caleb stared down at the swirling, mud-yellowed water and was thankful that they had not been delayed by hidden sandbars or engine fires, so often impediments to river travel.

  “Mr. Storm?” A young deckhand interrupted Caleb’s thoughts with a hesitant inquiry. “You said to tell you when we’d made eighty miles, sir. Captain says we’re about there.”

  “Thank you. Tell the captain he can put in anywhere he sees fit and we’ll take a skiff to shore.”

  They watched the boy walk away with a jaunty bounce in his step, his hands swinging freely at his sides.

  “Will anyone pick us up here in the middle of nowhere when we are ready to return?” Analisa wanted to know.

  “Williamson is going to alert the next boat to watch for us when they leave Sully.”

  She looked above the tree-lined riverbank to the sandy bluffs beyond. Endless miles of rolling grasslands stretched toward the horizon. Although her stomach fluttered as nervously as if it were filled with tiny flitting moths, she realized that she loved this land in all its austerity. Each and every day was different from the one before, and yet the open prairie was the same, ever constant. The colors changed with the seasons and with the passing hours of the day. The land itself, as well as the river that shaped the land it carved, was as aliye as the wildlife and humankind that took nourishment from it. She leaned against the rail and filled her lungs with the warm summer breeze.

  Caleb stood beside her at the rail, his mind registering little of the natural scene that held Analisa spellbound. His own thoughts lingered over the coming exchange with Red Dog, for what he felt in his heart and what he was to tell the young Sioux warrior were worlds apart. He leaned forward, his elbows propped up on the rail, and stared out at the passing scenery, seeing nothing. If he followed his heart, he would tell Red Dog to take his people and flee to the wooded wilds of Canada to buy themselves a few years before they were forced onto a reservation.

  He knew far too well, though, that that solution would last only a short time. Sooner or later all of the Indian nations would be forced to surrender themselves to the care of the overlord government of the United States. The alternative was extinction. The sad but inevitable fact was that the two civilizations could never live together in the same land and retain their own ways of life. One must indeed give way to the other, and Caleb knew only too well that it was the people of his mother’s blood who mu
st lose.

  The sooner men like Red Dog brought their people to safety, the greater chance there remained to save the lives of the children and help them and future generations to coexist. Still, the task was a mighty one, bitter and poignant, and Caleb dreaded the eventual outcome. He hoped with all his heart that the peace he made with Red Dog would prove to be lasting.

  “Your thoughts are miles away.” Analisa touched his shoulder and drew him back to the present.

  “It looks as if the captain has found a safe landing.” The roar of the boilers ceased as the riverboat neared the shore. Caleb whistled for Kase, using the secret signal they had devised during Caleb’s recuperation, and Analisa laughed as the boy’s dark head and then his shoulders appeared hanging over the rail directly above them.

  The topmost deck of the steamboat was surrounded by an observation rail, but most passengers were discouraged from using it, because of the fierce sunlight that beat down on it and the flying sparks of wood and ash that spewed from the tall chimneys and fell upon the unwary, singeing hair and clothes alike.

  “Komop, wij gaa nu,” Analisa called to her son as she leaned back and shaded her eyes with her hand. “We go now.

  “Will there be anyone here to meet us?” she asked as she followed Caleb through the salon to a stairway leading to the deck below. She lifted her skirt and held it out of the way in order not to trip as they made their way downstairs.

  “I’m sure one of Red Dog’s messengers will be there as soon as the boat has pulled away. We won’t see anyone before then. You can be sure they are watching, though.”

  They reached the lower landing, and Kase soon clattered down the steps behind them. While Analisa brushed off his clothing and straightened his jacket and collar, Caleb watched several crewmen load their suitcases into the skiff. Analisa and Kase were soon handed aboard the rowboat, which bumped continually against the side of the steamboat, and sat waiting for Caleb, who shook the captain’s hand as the man said farewell.

  “I don’t feel right letting civilized folks off in the middle of Indian country,” the captain called down while a nervous deckhand waited to row them the short distance to shore. “Are you sure someone’s gonna be here to meet you?”