by Mari Collier
“Thank y'all, Mother MacDonald, but ah'm sure ah have much more to learn.”
Chapter 5: Marriage
The hotel room was dark except for the half-hearted glow of a turned down lamp, and Antoinette was fussing about the bed, her hair, fiddling with her buttons, flitting towards the window, and then jerking away from it. Finally she spoke, her voice slightly exasperated. “Aren't y'all supposed to leave and let me undress?”
Lorenz smiled, his grey eyes sparkling. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling off his boots. “I reckon that depends on the couple.” His voice dropped to an almost gravely rasp as he stood.
“I'd rather stay and help y'all.”
Antoinette's eyes opened wider as did her mouth. She couldn't say someone will hear us as Lorenz had rented the whole floor and the elder MacDonald's and Mina were at the other end.
Lorenz walked over to her and put his arms around her and pulled her close. “It's all right, honey. I'll help y'all.” He could feel the heat rising and his right thigh tingling. It would, he hoped, be a very long night.
His father had been very explicit about techniques and pressure points. What most men assumed was straightforward was evidently an art to Thalians. In his rush, he forgot the first time, but by the second he blessed his father. Antoinette was moaning and straining against him.
As her last shudder subsided, Antoinette closed her eyes, her thoughts jumbled, and fear stalked her mind. What was Lorenz going to say? Would he leave her? Her body had betrayed her. She must have behaved exactly like one of those women people talked about. Surely Lorenz would think he had married a loose woman and never treat her like a queen again, and now she could feel something escaping from her inmost being. Oh fiddlesticks, it couldn't be. It wasn't time.
Lorenz was slumped over her whispering, “Antoinette, Toni, my sweetheart, my love,” and she knew she had to move or the sheet and mattress would be forever ruined.
Antoinette took a deep breath and said stiffly, “Y'all will have to move now. I need to take care of something.” Her heart was racing. What would he say?
“Huh, oh, yeah, sorry,” he mumbled and rolled over to watch her. “I reckon you're right. We both need to clean up.” He remembered Papa's admonition. He had brought in an extra basin when he rented the whole floor. He also made sure the ewer and basins were clean and the ewer full of clean water before retiring. “I forgot I must be pretty heavy. I didn't hurt y'all, did I?” His voice was full of anxiety and concern.
Antoinette stood and wrapped her robe around her and moved towards the washstand. She stared with surprise at the stain on the washcloth and the water turning a different shade in the half light. How did she tell Lorenz about this?
She heard his steps behind her and his arms slipped around her and held her tight. “What's wrong, honey? Y'all haven't said anything. Did I hurt y'all? I didn't mean to. I've just been waiting so long; ever since I saw you in Saint Louis three years ago when we were sixteen.”
Antoinette closed her eyes. She had to say something, anything, but women didn't talk to men about these things, did they? Anna's words came back to her. “Men and vomen in a good marriage talk about everything. Sometimes it takes years, but in the end, they know there is no one else.” Her throat felt constricted and she found herself whispering, “No, no, ah'm fine. Ah think ah just need some rest.”
He picked her up and carried her to the bed. “That's all right, Toni. We've got the rest of our lives.”
He crawled in beside her and drew her close, smelling the faint perfume of her sweat and it was good. There's the morning, he thought to himself.
Morning did not go as he planned. He awoke after the first light of dawn. Muted sunlight slipped through the windows lighting the dark corners, and he reached for her. At first she slipped willing into his arms, and then something changed.
“Ah think ah need to rest a bit more, if y'all don't mind.” The whisper was almost choked, urgent, and he could feel her drawing away from him.
Lorenz was baffled, but did not argue. “All right, I'll go have breakfast and then come back.” He didn't use the porcelain chamber pot, but went down the stairs and out the back. Lorenz felt Antoinette would shudder in disgust if she saw his leavings.
When he returned to the front of the hotel, he headed to the restaurant with the word EATS painted across the front. As he walked in, he saw his parents and Mina already seated at one of the tables eating. He drew up a chair and greeted them. “Good morning.”
MacDonald raised his eyebrows and Anna's smile was still fixed. This wasn't like he planned, but he was young and he was hungry. He motioned to the waiter.
“I'll have an order of hash browns and gravy with a slab of ham, if y'all have it, and coffee.”
The waiter nodded and dashed to the kitchen in a show of unnecessary importance. There weren't that many townsmen in the place and business was slow after the cattle drives. Most of the townspeople of Arles might hold the MacDonald family in contempt as damn Yankees, but he knew MacDonald always left a sizeable tip.
Mina stopped eating long enough to ask. “Where's Miss Antoinette?” She was thrilled at the idea of another sister. Maybe there would be babies before long. After all, Uncle Martin and Aunt Brigetta had one baby, and they'd only been married for two years. “Should I go up and help her?”
“Nein, Mina,” admonished Anna.
“Uh, she's still sleeping.” Lorenz figured it wasn't exactly a lie. He'd have to get Papa alone. If he used mindspeak here, Mama would know and raise a fuss. Right now it was another thing he didn't care to explain to Antoinette. What the hell went wrong?
The waiter hurried in with Lorenz's coffee. “I'll be right back with your vittles.” He rushed back to the kitchen. Two of the drummers at the other table rose and left.
Lorenz sat glumly staring at the wall, and MacDonald looked at Anna and inclined his head toward Lorenz. She shrugged and continued eating. The waiter returned with his food in less than ten minutes and he fell to, scooping up the hot food and gulping the scalding coffee.
Finally Mama and Mina rose. “Should I check in on Miss,” she hesitated, “on Antoinette?”
Light came back into Lorenz's eyes. “Would you, Mama?”
She nodded. “Vhen do ve leave?”
“We plan on going to the lumber yard and see about house plans,” replied Lorenz. “If Clifford will do business with us, that is. We could be ready to leave before noon.”
Anna nodded, and held firmly onto Mina's hand as she led the way upstairs.
'Tis something amiss?' Papa's mind entered his and Lorenz continued to eat as he answered with mindspeak.
'Yeah, and I don't know what it is. Everything was fine last night, and now this morning she, well, she's acting like everything is wrong.'
MacDonald finished his coffee and spoke aloud, “Mayhap we should check the horses ere we go back up. Twill give yere mither some time to freshen up.”
Lorenz nodded and sopped up the last of the gravy. “Let's go.”
Anna marched up the stairs and deposited Mina in their room. “Du are eight and du vill vait here vhile I go talk with Antoinette.”
Mina could think of all sorts of reasons why she shouldn't, but knew Mama would be angry if she argued. She decided to be very quiet and maybe she would hear something.
Antoinette's voice quavered when she answered Anna's knock. “Who is it?”
“Antoinette, it is your mother-in-law. May I come in?” She heard the key turn the lock and the door swung open to reveal a very distressed Antoinette.
“Oh, Mother MacDonald, thank goodness. I don't know what to do and you are the only other gentlewoman around. Please, come in. Hurry, please, I want to shut this door.”
Anna stepped into the room and heard the door click behind her. It was difficult to believe that Lorenz would have hurt this woman. She took a deep breath and turned to face her new daughter-in-law. She never got her question out.
“Oh, Mother MacDonald
, what am I to do? I've started the curse. Is it a punishment? It shouldn't have. I counted. I don't even have anything with me and ah can't, can't do that with Lorenz now, can I? The sheet is ruined.” Her words rushed out in a torrent.
Anna blinked her eyes and shook her head. “Ach, is that all? I have some scissors in my bag. Ve'll cut up the good part of the sheet and use some safety pins.” She smiled at Antoinette. “It's not a punishment. It's a common thing to happen to a new bride. Du should be all finished by the time ve reach home. Vait here. I'll the scissors and pins go get.”
Anna hurried to their room. Why, she wondered, was she helping this woman who stole her son? Other people, however, Anna had to admit, would say Lorenz had stolen Antoinette. She realized that Antoinette had closed the door to her previous life and now depended upon them. Anna could not forget how abandoned she felt when the Comanche had taken her away from all that she knew.
Anna entered the room to find Mina hastily backing away from the wall. “Ve are too far avay to have been heard,” she said firmly and opened her bag to extract the scissors and safety pins.
“May I go see Miss Antoinette now?”
“Nein.” Anna turned to leave, but saw the crestfallen look on her daughter's face. “Du are not old enough. This is about vomen things. Soon enough du vill be a voman. Then I vill tell du, I promise.”
Back in the other room Anna handed the scissors and pins to Antoinette and began to reassure her. “Ve'll leave for the ranch by this afternoon. It vill take almost five days to get there. Du vill be done, or almost so. Things vill be fine between du and Lorenz. Du vill have to tell him though, or he von't know.”
Antoinette didn't stop plying the scissors as she asked, “How can I do that? My goodness, I couldn't even talk to my own mother. It was Consuela who showed me how to do things when, ah, well y'all know what ah mean.” Antoinette's cheeks had turned a light pink. She finished the last snip and looked up.
“This sheet is ruined. Ah am so sorry.”
Anna shook her head. “Du vill learn to talk with each other. As for the sheet, ve vill buy material for more. I go now, and if du like, Mina and I vill join du at your breakfast.”
“Yes, thank y'all. It'll just take me a minute.
“Mother MacDonald, can't y'all tell Lorenz? It would be ever so much easier.”
“How could I ever talk about that to mein sohn? I vould Mr. MacDonald have to tell.” Anna was horrified.
“Oh, no, please don't tell Father MacDonald.” Antoinette swallowed. “I'll find someway.” She began to dress rapidly hoping to hide her now flaming face.
They were at breakfast when MacDonald and Lorenz returned. Antoinette looked up and saw Lorenz looking at her. His grey eyes were puzzled and filled with misery. He carried himself so straight and so tense. Antoinette smiled at him, her eyes trying to convey how much she loved him.
Suddenly the smile was back on his face and he was beside her, reclaiming his territory and seated in the empty chair. Antoinette could not believe how rapidly he could change when he smiled. His face was transformed as a light seemed to come over him, making people wanting to draw closer, forgetting that he was known as a dangerous man.
“Do y'all want to do some shopping before we leave? We just met Clifford from the lumberyard and he refuses to do business with Yankees. We'll have to send a telegram to Fredrick Reichmann in Houston. He's the Master Journeyman who built our church in Schmidt's Corner. He'll be able to draw blueprints from the drawings we send him, and buy the lumber we need there. He'll bring everything with him and any carpenters he might need when he's ready to build.”
“Well, for heaven's sake, such nonsense. Money is money. Couldn't I as a Southern lady appeal to Mr. Clifford? I could cry real tears for y'all”
“No! The man can rot.”
Antoinette set her cup down. That she was not pleased with the outcome showed on her face. “How long will it be until we have our own home?”
Lorenz thought about what he could do with his mind controlling Clifford, but the look on his parents face forestalled that notion. “Well, I reckon it would be like four to six months. I don't know. I'm a rancher.” He was becoming as exasperated as his wife.
Antoinette noticed the waiter and two men dressed in suits and ties were looking at them. She reached over and patted Lorenz's hand. “Well, in that case, ah think ah'm going to need some really nice material for a new dress, don't y'all?”
Chapter 6: Anna's Last Stand
Anna's sour mood worsened as the morning progressed. All her instincts, kenning ways as Mr. MacDonald called her premonitions, kept screaming that Antoinette and the babies should have stayed home. Toni, as they called Antoinette, had ignored her three months' pregnancy and brought their two boys and Mina with her in the buckboard to the Rolfe ranch. They were there to help Anna and Brigetta with the wash and to visit. Mina was put to work watching Lorenz's sons and Martin's two boys.
“It does become so boring with no one to talk with, Mother MacDonald.” Antoinette did not count Armeda as someone to talk “with.” Armeda was hired help. “The men should be back this afternoon.”
Zeb and Lorenz were with Herman and Martin Rolfe and the hands branding cattle. Anna had arrived one week ago to keep an eye on a very pregnant Brigetta as the birth should be soon. She was directing the washing of the Rolfe's laundry. She had already shooed eleven-year-old Mina and the boys up to the porch. “It's too varm for out in the sun to be. Keep Brigetta company.”
Mina was spending her time chasing three of the boys back up on the porch to play with the blocks Uncle Kasper had made. Randall, Lorenz's two-year-old, contentedly stacked the blocks and then would start all over when Kendall or one of the Rolfe boys would knock them down.
Anna tried not to think of how much Randall looked like her first husband: the copper eyes with the golden circle around the pupils, the red, coppery hair, and the two hearts hidden inside his slim body. She always felt uneasy when she looked at him. He was far too solemn for a two-year-old and he spoke English and German as well as a four or six-year-old. Lorenz had at least been boisterous, a trait she was sure the Justine children did not possess.
Anna's stomach contracted and she felt the urgings that occurred when her premonitions began to come true. She stopped pounding the last of the clothes and looked around. The road that ran more-or-less north to Schmidt's Corner and then on to the German farm communities farther north was empty; its rutted lanes waiting to jolt the bones and rattle the teeth of any passerby riding in a wagon. The small river by the side of the ranch house ran low and languid, severely low for the middle of September. It was still summer hot and no rain, just passing clouds that whispered of moisture and then fled.
She wiped the perspiration from her forehead and temples, glancing to the east at the gentle hillocks beyond the river rising to meet the foothills. Leaves on the oak trees were drooping, wilting, waiting like the brown prairie grass for rain, their whispering leaves sounding like a soulful prayer. Anna looked towards the house where Mina played with the boys and Brigetta sat in the rocker listless and drooping like the leaves. Brigetta was swollen of face and body and in complete misery. Why hadn't Martin taken her and the boys into Schmidt's Corner or brought her to our ranch? Anna looked at the barn and corrals laying to her left beyond where Toni was hanging clothes. It was then she noticed the horses had their heads up, one sniffing the air.
She dropped the wooden pole with the metal flange and cone inside that they used for pounding the clothes and screamed for Toni and anyone outside to go into the house, meanwhile screaming within her mind at Lorenz. He had to hear her.
Toni was hanging the colored clothes on the line and stopped long enough to look at her mother-in-law as though she had become a woman possessed.
“Didn't du hear me? For the love of Gott, get into the house!” Anna ran for the porch and disappeared through the door. She reemerged carrying her shotgun, and then shooed Brigetta and the children into the house.
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Puzzled, Toni left the clothes and went towards Anna. Perhaps Mother MacDonald was in that “phase” of her life, she reasoned to herself. After all, she must be nearing fifty. Toni had heard the whispers of some women going mad. If so, she was certain she could soothe the woman. She moved rapidly to placate Anna, her pregnancy not yet a hindrance. Toni hugged the thought that, maybe, just maybe, this time she would have a daughter.
The sounds of hoofs interrupted her thoughts. Were the men returning early?
“Run,” came Anna's sharp command.
Toni looked briefly over her shoulder and ran. Indians, she thought, dear God, where did they come from?
She pounded past her mother-in-law who looked as though she were going to stand outside and fight them. Folly! Toni had seen the flash of an arrow. Some of them probably had guns, but they were notoriously bad shots. Inside the doorway, she turned. “Mother MacDonald, come inside. Hurry!”
Anna let loose with a blast from her shotgun and ran under the porch roof and into the house. Toni slammed the door. Both of them lifted the bar and lowered it into the metal prongs set into the wood on either side, and then Anna began to issue orders.
“Mina, take all the children into one of the bedrooms. Now!” She didn't wait to see if Mina obeyed. “Brigetta, do du know vhere there is any ammunition in this house?”
Brigetta stared at them, her eyelids almost devoid of lashes blinking over her pale blue eyes, her breath coming in short pants, and her right hand supporting her protruding belly. “I think my water broke,” she said in German while water ran down around her feet.
“Down,” screamed Toni. “Get into the bedrooms. An arrow flew through the window and thudded into the opposite wall.
Anna thanked God the Rolfe house was dug into the river bluffs. The only wooden room was the long one used for the kitchen, eating, and sitting areas. The furnishings were minimal: a black stove, a table and chairs for eating, a daybed, and a desk. The only windows were on either side of the door and they were small. The porch roof sloped upward over the porch and the long room. The roof was secured into the bluff with beams driven into the soil and calked every year with mud, stones, and willow boughs.