“Damned cat!” Brad laughed. “We’ve done a great job with her, huh, Eric?”
“Yeah,” Eric muttered, hopping onto the airboat along with Brad. He sat behind Ashley. She felt his presence there with all her heart. It was as if just his being near made fire blaze down her back.
“You’ll like Willie and Mary!” Wendy shouted to her above the roar of the motor.
“I’m sure I will!” she called back.
“And the kids!” Brad added. He laughed. “Just be prepared to be tied to the stake. They like to play cowboys and Indians.”
“Do I get to be a cowboy or an Indian?”
“Maybe a cowgirl,” Wendy said. “Or a prisoner. Or if you’re real lucky, they’ll let you be a healer.”
Ashley smiled. Then she noticed that Eric was staring into the distance and that his countenance was as hard as rock. He wasn’t into games, not that day.
Ashley let her hand rest on the panther’s head. She closed her eyes and opened them. Wendy nudged her, pointing out a half dozen blue herons standing at the edge of the water among the grasses. The birds were elegant and beautiful and stared at them for their impertinence in coming through. The sound of the motor didn’t frighten them. They glared with regal disdain.
“They’re not afraid of the motor,” Ashley said.
“They’re accustomed to the sound,” Wendy shouted back.
“They’re brave!”
“Not when it comes to the natural enemy!” Brad shouted back. He grinned. “Watch a gator move in there, and you’ll see all the flapping and flying you could imagine.”
Grim, Ashley thought with a shiver. The swamp was beautiful and deadly in so many ways.
She looked at Eric. He had not moved and was still staring into the distance. To the future, she thought. And she was not part of that picture.
Brad cut the motor at last and the airboat came to rest against the embankment. There was a path leading to the circle of chickees where the Hawk family lived. Baby went racing off first, then Eric stepped off. He started to walk on, but stopped and turned back. He offered Ashley a polite smile. “Here, give me your hand. Careful,” he said stiffly. “The muck gets deep here.”
He helped her down and then he started up the path again. Ashley caught his hand, pulling him back. “Why don’t you want me here?” she asked him.
He looked her up and down, as if he’d just met her for the first time. His gaze carried disdain. “Because you don’t belong here; it’s that simple.”
“Why not? Why does Brad belong here? Why does Wendy belong here? Why don’t I?”
“Well, for one, Wendy doesn’t drip with emeralds.”
It was a low blow. She wasn’t wearing the emeralds anymore, not even the ring that belonged to her. Tara had packed them all up to take into the city.
“Unfair. I wasn’t born wearing emeralds.”
“This isn’t your world, Ashley,” he said softly. “It just isn’t.”
“Why—?”
“Because we don’t like pretty little white girls who like to play games. This is real life. If you want to drop in to study tribal ways, go to the open villages and the tourist traps. You can walk around and gawk to your heart’s content. You can see the way that it was, and drive away in an air-conditioned car. This isn’t a place to just drop in and make judgments and act condescendingly and then turn around and fly back to your penthouse.”
“I don’t live in a penthouse,” Ashley said, and suddenly she was mad. She stepped forward, heedless of Brad and Wendy who had discreetly gone around them. She poked a finger hard at his chest. “You’re acting like a martyr. As if you have some special hold on the evils of life. So all right, one of my best friends is married to one of the richest men in the world. So what? If you tried for a million years, you couldn’t begin to imagine the world where she came from. Awful, awful, white American poverty, Mr. Hawk. It does exist. She grew up with no electricity and no plumbing and not because she wanted to live in the wilderness. There was no beautiful clean wilderness to run to. So quit judging people right now!”
“You couldn’t make a single night out here!” Eric told her.
She straightened. “Bet me.”
“What?”
“Bet me. I can make it.”
“You hate the swamp. You’ve said so yourself.”
“Bet me,” she challenged. It was true. She hated the swamp. But she’d see him eat his own words if it killed her. She was staying.
He threw up his arms. “You’re on. But you’re on your own. No help from me on anything.”
“Then I should definitely manage,” she said sweetly.
He smiled pleasantly, then went past her. Ashley turned to follow him. Almost instantly she stepped into a hole filled with muck that reached nearly as high as the boots she was wearing. Elizabeth’s boots. She swore softly, then pulled her leg out. While she was trying to clean the boot on the grass, someone spoke softly to her. “It’s kind of a mess right now with the storm and all, but at least there’s no quicksand around.”
“Quicksand!” Ashley said, startled. She turned around to stare at a handsome young man with onyx eyes and black hair in a contemporary cut. He had on worn jeans and a T-shirt advertising a rock group. He offered her his hand. “Anthony Panther. Tony. I’m Eric’s brother-in-law.”
“How do you do?” Ashley murmured, taking his hand.
“Come on. Meet the rest of the family. They’re all dying to meet you.”
“Oh?” Ashley said curiously.
“Eric mentioned you last night.”
“Did he say a lot?”
Tony chuckled softly. “It’s what he didn’t say that has us all interested. Let me take your arm.”
They passed by the first of the chickees, and Ashley was startled to see just how high it was above the ground and just how low the thatched roof sat over the dwelling. “Height to keep creatures out, the slant of the roof to protect against the elements,” Tony said, watching her gaze.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“There they are!” someone cried, and they were surrounded by a group of children who had raced down the ladder of a large chickee.
“Whoa, kids. Wait!” Tony commanded.
Suddenly they went still, all six of them, in jeans and T-shirts, except for the oldest girl, who was wearing a denim skirt and a wild print blouse, and was adorned with all the jewelry customary of any teenage girl. She had her long black hair tied up in a French braid, and she was very petty, her smile showing a set of deep dimples.
She had green eyes, like Eric.
She smiled shyly at Ashley, fascinated.
“This is Elizabeth,” Tony said, indicating the oldest girl. “And here we have Michael, David and Dorinda—mine and Marna’s brood—and these two are Charlie and Jemina. They belong to Eric’s cousin, Tom, and his wife, Sharon.”
“How do you do?” Ashley said, and shook all of their hands, one by one. By then Tony’s wife was approaching. She was a tall woman with her eldest daughter’s dimples and Eric’s magnificent green eyes. She offered Ashley a beautiful smile. “Welcome, Miss Dane. We’re delighted to have you here, and we’re so sorry to hear about all the trouble. Wendy was telling me that you knew the dead man.” Her voice was soft and musical.
“Yes.”
Marna caught Ashley’s hand and drew her along. “We won’t let you think about it while you’re here. Come on over and meet my grandparents. Mary is cooking. I hope you’ll enjoy dinner.”
“I’m sure that I will,” Ashley told her. She was delightful, just like Tony.
And not a thing like Eric.
Marna led her to the chickee’s ladder, and Ashley quickly climbed the distance to the floor. Brad was there and helped her crawl inside. Wendy was there, too, with Josh in her arms. She smiled at Ashley. “We’re in luck. Mary’s catfish, koonti bread and wild turnips. I wasn’t in the mood to cook and neither was Brad, and this far out, it’s hard to call for pizza!”
&n
bsp; “Ashley, this is Willie Hawk and Mary Hawk. Willie, Mary, Ashley Dane,” Marna said.
The man took her hand first. Ashley was instantly fascinated. His face was wrinkled, yet somehow it was still beautiful. She imagined that as a young man, he must have been completely compelling and striking. And she imagined, too, that in the days of the war, such a face would have ignited terror within the heart of the enemy.
She murmured the right things as he looked her up and down with unabashed interest. Then he told her that she was welcome anytime as his guest. He drew his wife forward. Mary was small, and despite her age, she still had nearly ink-black hair. She smiled shyly and only said hello.
“She doesn’t speak English very well,” Wendy explained.
“Oh,” Ashley said. She took the small woman’s hand and squeezed it while smiling warmly. Mary smiled back, and she was instantly beautiful. She turned and said something to Willie.
A sudden noise came from the area of the far support pole. Ashley saw that Eric had been leaning there. He straightened and said something with anger.
His grandfather spoke back sharply. After a moment, Eric stepped over to his grandmother, kissed her cheek, then turned around to face everyone. “Excuse me for a bit, will you? I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
They were all silent as he crawled down the ladder. The children below called to him, laughing and clinging, as he walked away. He spoke softly to them, and they let him go. He strode toward the trees that grew high on the hummock.
Mary said something to her husband, then shrugged. After eyeing Ashley calculatingly, she smiled like the Cheshire cat.
Tony cleared his throat and asked Brad a question. Ashley turned to Wendy. “What was that all about? What did Mary say that got Eric all upset?”
Wendy grinned. “Hoke-tee. She called you Eric’s woman.”
“Oh,” Ashley murmured, a dark flush creeping to her face. She lowered her eyes. Wendy, however, wasn’t about to allow her any discomfort.
“You’re safe here, you know. Whoever followed you to Eric’s house couldn’t possibly find this place. I myself have trouble at times. Are you worried still?”
Ashley looked around. “No, I’m not worried out here,” she said softly. “Not at all. Honestly.”
“Good. Because no one can find you here.” Wendy tossed back her hair, changing the subject. “Have you tried koonti bread yet? It’s from a root that grows in the swamp, and without it, the Seminoles—”
“And the Miccosukees,” Tony interjected.
Wendy grinned. “Tony is a Miccosukee,” she explained. “Anyway, none of the Indians would have survived without the koonti root.”
Marna flashed her a beautiful smile. “And pumpkins. Years and years ago, we grew pumpkins. You won’t find many in the swamp these days, though.”
“Times change,” Willie said. He sat down by Ashley, watching her curiously as he spoke. “That was one of the ways that the soldiers finally defeated many of the Seminoles. They found the villages and destroyed the food supplies. Many families moved west. There are many, many more Seminoles in Oklahoma today than there are in Florida.”
“Out of the swampland,” Ashley murmured.
“They were given a barren desert,” Willie said dismissively. He shrugged. “I like my swamp. Do you like my swamp?”
She laughed. “Well, I guess I’m coming to like your swamp.” She hesitated and glanced at the others. “I like the people in your swamp, Mr. Hawk. Very much.”
He patted her hand. “That’s good. People matter more than a place.” He stood and walked over to his wife.
Marna caught her watching Willie, and smiled. “He’s the greatest old man in the whole world. Beyond a doubt.”
“He would have never surrendered,” Brad said, laughing.
“Hey!” Tony protested. “The Miccosukees were the ones who never signed a treaty.”
“Hmmf!” Marna retorted. “Those of us who stayed here didn’t sign any treaties.”
“Children, children,” Willie said. He turned around, his eyes sparkling. “None of us were alive back then, so we didn’t sign or not sign treaties!” He looked at Ashley. “And don’t let them fool you. None of them live here full-time. Tony and Marna are here as often as they’re not, but they have a nice house with a white picket fence. And Brad and Wendy—”
“Wait, wait, now,” Brad dared to interrupt. “I surrendered the first time I came out here, bear that in mind.”
They laughed and the conversation eased. Marna explained to Ashley that Miccosukees and Seminoles had been grouped together for years and years, though they weren’t even from the same language-speaking groups. “Now, of course, we’ve melded a lot. We’ve been intermarrying for years and years. History is always fun.”
Ashley smiled. “I know something about what went on. I read Eric’s book. And—” she stopped.
“What?” Marna said.
“Don’t tell Eric!”
They all looked at one another and shook their hands in conspiracy. Ashley grinned. “My brother is married to a Nez Perc;aae. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with them out in Arizona, and Liz has a wonderful library, so I’ve done lots of reading.”
Wendy burst into laughter and hugged her. “No, I’ll never tell Eric!” she promised. “Never.”
Ashley glanced at Marna. “I made a bet with him. He said that I wouldn’t make it here one night. I said that I’d stay.”
Marna’s brows shot up. “Well, it isn’t quite like camping in the Yosemite,” she said. “I’ll show you his chickee.”
“No, I’m on my own.”
“Ashley,” Wendy warned, “maybe you don’t want—”
“Wendy,” Brad interrupted her. “Maybe it’s the best place in the world for Ashley. You said it—nobody could possibly find her here.”
“And we’ll all be here,” Marna said. “If she needs help, she can call on us.” She stood. “Eric will be here, too. You know that. He may be rude at times, but he’s never careless.” She shook her head at Wendy. “That brother of mine! Ashley, come on, and I’ll show you where you can sleep. Your place,” she told Brad and Wendy.
“Fine,” Wendy said.
Brad nodded. “Of course. Just don’t let the kids tuck you in. They like to tie people up!”
“Thanks for the warning,” Ashley said. She and Marna went down the ladder.
“You really will be all right,” Marna assured her. “The storm has hurt us some, but…” She shrugged. “There’s a clear pool through here. The water is good. Eric has a man out to check it once a month. We’re in the wilds here, which has its advantages. Clean water is one. Even with the flooding, it’s a beautiful area. I’ll show you.”
Marna pushed through the brush, and they came to a small pool surrounded by pine trees and wild orchids. It was one of the prettiest places Ashley had ever seen. “It’s delightful,” she told Marna.
“I’m glad that you think so. Come on, I’ll show you the chickee.”
She led Ashley to one of two chickees that were far away from the others. “Wendy and Brad’s.” She hesitated. “It was Leif’s, you see.” She pointed to the second chickee. “Eric’s. If anything does go wrong, just scream like hell. I promise you that he’ll be there in an instant. Go on, climb up.”
Ashley did so. She had expected the chickee to be empty, but it was not. There were mats rolled up in a corner and a large hardy trunk by the far pole. “Anything here is Wendy’s, and you’re more than welcome to it. Wendy would insist. There’s a pitcher and bowl in the trunk if you want to bring back some water from the pool. She has dishes in there, too, and clothing. Wendy is short, so I guess you’ll need to keep Liz’s jeans, but I’m sure there’s a nice gown to sleep in. Want to take a bath down by the pool later?”
“Sure,” Ashley agreed. Then she hesitated. Did she? Weren’t there all kinds of slimy creatures in the pool?
Marna winked at her. “Come on. Let’s get back for dinner.”
Eric was there already eating when they returned. The Seminoles had a matriarchal society, but by custom, the men ate first and were served by the women. Wendy had helped Mary serve. When Ashley arrived, Mary served her next, then urged her into a seat beside Eric.
She didn’t look at him, but she felt his eyes on her. He had stripped off his shirt and boots, and she was acutely aware of his chest. She was ashamed by the depth of her desire just to touch him. He didn’t want her; he didn’t even want her there accepting his grandparents’ hospitality. But she couldn’t forget the days that had come before yesterday, the days in which they had done nothing but touch. She suddenly gave her bowl a very fierce attention. She needed to get out and away as fast as she could. She was falling in love with him, and he was the one playing games.
“I showed your guest to her quarters,” Marna told Eric sweetly.
His head shot up and he glanced at his sister. “What?”
“I showed her to her chickee,” Marna repeated. “You did invite Ashley to stay, didn’t you?”
He stared at Ashley. She felt the power of his eyes and she almost shivered. Then she longed to demand to know why he was casting something so wonderful to the wind.
“Yes,” he said softly, studying her. “I did invite her to stay.” He smiled. “So you think that you’ll enjoy yourself?”
“Yes, I think that I will.”
“Well, good.” His eyes widened in mock menace. “Lots of creepy crawlies around here,” he said pleasantly. “The mosquitoes will be out soon, too.” He lowered his voice. “Remember, you’re on your own.”
“I remember,” she whispered. “Do you mind if I’m sociable with your sister?”
“Not at all. But you curl up for the night alone.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “But Baby is really beginning to prefer me, you know. She might come up, and I have to admit that I’m not at all sure about pushing a panther out of my bed.”
“Funny,” he assured her. He stood and kissed his grandmother’s cheek, then excused himself to the others. “I’m going to wash up and turn in,” he said apologetically. Brad and Wendy said good-night; the children kissed him. He started down the ladder.
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