Doc could see his friend’s thoughts whirling as he tried to grab hold of that elusive clue that would help him remember where he had seen this woman before.
Perhaps he should make the introductions and not prolong Mary’s agony any longer.
“Liam, maybe I should introduce—”
“Wait, you said we’ve met before and those marks weren’t there? Your name is Mary. Hum, I just can’t seem to place you. How long has it been since we met? Perhaps that will help me remember.”
“Eighteen years ago,” Mary answered quietly. “Liam, it’s me. Mary.”
Liam’s expression changed from puzzled curiosity to confusion. “Mary?”
When she didn’t say anything, Liam moved closer to study her features up close. It took about a minute before Doc saw the disbelief and then his shock chase each other across his friend’s face. Liam stood stock-still, his eyes glued to the woman standing in front of him.
Doc and Aggie left Mary’s side and went to stand by Hiram where the three of them watched in silence as the siblings, who had been torn apart by terror and unspeakable grief, were reunited.
“Mary?” Liam’s voice was barely a whisper as he tried to come to grips with his sister’s return from the dead. He reached and gently touched her red braid hanging off her shoulder. “Mary?” He repeated. His fingers reached up and traced the curve of her jaw and up to the marks on her face. “Mary. My little sister. Mary.”
Mary raised a hand to capture Liam’s hand against her cheek. She held it in place capturing the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “Liam, I thought you were dead.”
He stood still for another second longer and then roughly pulled Mary into a hard embrace. His voice broke with overwhelming emotions. “I thought you were dead,” he whispered. “The last thing I saw was them taking you, Mary. And when I finally woke up, you were gone. There was no sign of them or you. Oh, Mary. I should have come after you. I should have come looking for you. Had I known there was the slightest possibility you were alive, I would have come looking for you, Mary,” Liam sobbed, his shoulders shaking with uncontrollable grief and regret.
“Liam, there’s no reason for guilt. I thought you were dead too. I saw them hit you on your head so hard, and you were so still on the ground and blood was everywhere. I screamed when I thought—”
Doc watched brother and sister, lost to each other for eighteen years, reunite. It was heartbreaking to think of all they had lost. He knew what that kind of heartbreak felt like and he was so happy to know this tragic story had a happy ending—at least he hoped so.
Chapter 6
Mary clung to Liam for fear he would disappear, and this was all a dream. She didn’t know when Hiram and Aggie excused themselves or when Doc left. All she knew was she was once again with her brother. There was so much to talk about and so much to share, but she couldn’t make herself leave the comfort of Liam’s arms.
Finally, he pulled away and stared at her all over again as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. She knew the feeling.
“Why don’t we sit down?” he offered. “We have a lot of catching up to do.” She let him lead her to the settee and they sat down and settled in. She stared at her brother and finally found her voice. “Liam, you look the same and yet different.” Her eyes roamed over his dark auburn hair, broad shoulders, and lean physique. “I know what it is. The last time I saw you, you were a boy of fifteen. Now, you are a grown man. And a husband. And a father. I’ve missed so much.” Emotions bubbled and Liam pulled her into his warm embrace again. She heard his words in her ear as his breath feathered her hair.
“I just can’t believe it,” he whispered.
“That I’m alive?” She chuckled. “Sometimes, I can’t believe it either.”
“No, I can’t believe I didn’t come after you. I’ll never forgive myself for leaving you at their mercy . . . all this time.”
Mary leaned back and cupped her brother’s face between her hands. “Liam, you were fifteen years old. You had just seen your mother and father brutally murdered and your little sister was hauled off on the back of a horse. And I saw them hit you in the head with a club. There was blood everywhere. How were you supposed to come after me? And how were you to know where they had taken me or that they would keep me alive? Don’t be ridiculous, Liam. You . . . nor . . . I are to blame for what happened that day. Please don’t look back.”
Liam’s blue eyes filled with unshed tears. “All of what you say may be true, Mary, but I will always wonder if I had gone after you, I might have been able to track you down somehow . . .” His words trailed off and silence filled the room again.
Mary needed to convey to her brother there was no changing their destiny that day. There was nothing he could have done for he was every bit the victim of that awful day as she was.
“Liam, I was taken far away from that dreadful place. We rode for at least a week—maybe even longer. I can’t say for certain. Day melted into night and back into day again and we kept riding. I was so exhausted, I mercifully slept through the last few days, only waking when they dunked me into a stream or river for water and to wash the stench from myself.”
Liam’s eyes closed in agony as if he couldn’t bear to hear the details of what had happened to her during her time as a slave, but she needed him to hear it. Not to make him feel guilty or pity for her. Those days were behind them. She needed him to know who she was now for she was certain there would be times when he would not understand her wishes in the coming days.
It was so odd to see the boy she remembered now a man. It was as if her mind had separated the two and she had gained another sibling—an older one while she hung on to the younger one she’d thought she’d lost. It was such an odd feeling, but she wanted to hang on to them both just the same.
She and Liam sat in the quiet of the Hanover parlor trying to fill in the gaps of the last eighteen years. Soon, they could see the sun dip just behind the mountain peaks giving everything a gray, shadowy haze. She knew Liam would need to get home to his family soon, and she wanted to put the past under scrutiny once and for all. Tomorrow, she wanted to start fresh and never look back again.
“Mary . . .” Liam started but it was obvious he didn’t know where to begin. She decided it best to tell him what she knew of his life after that day and then roll right into hers.
“Let me start, won’t you?”
“Of course. Anything you want.” Liam’s quick consent and acquiesce made her realize he was going to continue to feel guilty no matter what she said.
“You can’t change the past, Liam. And you couldn’t change that day. I know it won’t change how you feel, but just know that I know you were not to blame.”
Liam didn’t bother to deny she was right, so she continued. “After your friend, Doctor Howard, convinced me that he knew who I was because you had told him about me many times, it took a bit longer for me to dare to hope that you were alive. It was hard to believe such a miracle could occur, but he convinced me to come and see for myself.”
Her brother shook his head. “I still can’t believe we are sitting here—you and me—after all this time. It’s unbelievable.”
“And yet, we are here.” She reached out and took his hand. “We are here because there is a purpose in it and we must be open to where our paths lead us next.”
“I don’t know if I can believe what happened to our family has a purpose. I think it’s more of bad luck being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I know where our paths lead now. You’re home and you’ll live with me and Faith. I can’t wait for you to meet her—and my little girl. I named her Mary, you know.”
“Yes, Doc told me. He said she is a beauty, just like her mother. I can’t wait to meet your family, Liam. It seems so strange just to say those words.”
“We can go right now, if you like?” he offered.
“Not just yet. There are things we have to talk about. We need to try and resolve the past before we can move on to the
future.”
Liam stood and paced in front of her. “Haven’t we lost enough to the past? Can’t we just move on? How can talking about everything help us now? As you said, we can’t change what happened as much as we both want to. I just don’t see how talking about it—”
“Please sit down,” she begged. “I need you to know why things are the way they are—why I’m the way I am. And I need to know why you are who you have become. Otherwise, we will never be empathetic to each other’s point of view and that will cause great strife between us. Please. Sit.” She patted the stuffed cushion beside her. Liam stopped and glanced to the place where her hand rested on the settee.
Quietly, he nodded and took his seat beside her. “Very well. It seems to mean a lot to you for me to know these things. I will listen.”
“Thank you, Liam.” She sat up straight, took a deep breath for courage, and began. “Doc has told me about you and how you came to be here in Creede. How you became a lawyer. And how you came to find your wife, fall in love, and build your life here. At ten, I never really thought about a life other than living with our parents and following them around on their next adventure. I certainly never saw my pesky older brother as a man of law or a family man. The thought never crossed my mind.” She smiled at the images of Liam as a boy until those last images of that day returned. She shook her head to clear the mist. “But here you are and I’m so very proud of you.”
“Thank you, Mary. I feel so bad for getting to live this life while you—” he stopped short refusing to look at her, instead he checked his fingernails for dirt.
“Liam, this is why you must learn of my past too for it is not all sadness and sorrow. There was great joy and much happiness in it as well.”
Her brother turned to her in shock. “How can you say that, Mary? You’ve been held captive for eighteen years. That’s a lifetime for some people. You should be married by now. Have a husband, a home, and children of your own. How can you say you have joy when you were kept as a slave?”
“I know it sounds impossible, but let me tell you about my journey.” She settled back against the thick cushions and clasped her hands in her lap. “The last time I saw you, I was a terrified ten-year-old child who had just watched her parents brutally murdered and was convinced her brother was dead too. I will admit those first four years I was gone were horrible. The braves who took me that day returned to their village many days away from the attack. They turned me over to their wives who were very unkind. The women were jealous and threatened their husbands with violence to their manhood if they touched me in that way. Apparently, the braves were more afraid of their wives than they were interested in me. I didn’t understand how lucky I was until I was older.”
Liam frowned. “So, they didn’t—”
“No, not until I was older.”
Liam stood and began pacing again. “We don’t have to talk about—”
“Liam, I need you to know what happened. All of it.”
He refused to make eye contact with her, but he sat down again and remained quiet.
“The women are the ones who placed these tattoos on my face. They wanted everyone to know what I was. For four years, I was their slave and they were not kind. So many times, I hid, frightened and alone, but one day, one of the women beat me with a willow switch she cut from the river. I wasn’t sure why she was so mad, but she beat me with that green willow switch until my back and arms and legs were on fire, covered with whelps. Finally, I could stand no more and I lunged at her and jerked that willow switch out of her hand and began hitting her with it. Her screams brought the other women to see what caused the commotion. Two of them thought they would stop me, but I turned the switch on them, hitting them across the face, legs, arms, anywhere I could find exposed skin.” She grinned at the memory. “They called me nan-to-ung-ge eh-um-bah. “
“What does that mean?” Liam wanted to know.
“It means born bad. They called me that because I held them at bay with my switch until their husbands returned from hunting. After much chatter on their part, little of which I understood, the men tied my hands together and one of them threw me across the back of their horse. I screamed at the top of my lungs and tried to fight. They grew tired of that and put a cloth over my mouth to shut me up. I was taken out of their village and after three days travel, we arrived at another village in the mountains.”
“Mary, I can’t stand hearing how much you suffered. It’s killing me to know that you were alive and I couldn’t—didn’t—go after you.”
“As I said, there was nothing you could have done.”
She watched Liam shake his head “Do I want to hear the rest of this story?”
“Yes, for this is where much happiness began.”
He cut a look of doubt in her direction and sighed. “Go on.”
“The men brought me to the Mountain Utes to trade. It seems their wives had insisted I go away and the men dared not disobey.”
“So you were kidnapped, made a slave, abused, and when they were tired of you, they just traded you off to another bunch of—”
“People.”
“Like an animal? That’s despicable.”
“Yes. To them I was merely property to be traded for something of value. So, they traded me to the Mountain Utes who are very kind, gentle people. These people gave them two very valued horses and a mule for me. That’s a high price to pay for a slave, especially one that looked like me,” she mused.
“That looked like you?” She could see Liam was confused.
“Yes, my red hair made me stand out from everyone else and they were fearful my presence would cause them trouble. But the people who took me in knew that I was but a fourteen-year-old child who had been stolen away from my family and everything I had known and I needed their help. They didn’t know the details then, but they were generous, and they traded for me.”
“And then they used you as a slave. I’m not sure how that’s any better, Mary.”
“Oh, it was. Much, much better. You see, they took me in and cared for me as if I were born to them. They were kind and the woman who offered to be my Ute mother was loving. It took some time, but I finally began to trust them. I lived with them, so I was under their protection. They provided for me until I could contribute to the community goods and then I helped provide for myself. They named me Moonfire and they claimed me as their own.” Tears misted her eyes. Memories of her adopted parents pulled at her emotions. She missed them so very much.
“You sound as if you were fond of them.”
“I loved them with all my heart, Liam. I was only fourteen and I had endured four years of hell. They saved me and they loved me. That was the beginning of my new life as a Mountain Ute.”
“Alright, I understand that you felt safe and you depended on them for your continued safety, food, and shelter, but that’s all behind you now, Mary. I’m your family. I’ll take care of you. I will provide all that for you for the rest of your life. Please don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried, Liam. I know you want to take care of me. I do understand that. You are the man of your family now and you want to protect those you love, but I love those people too. I miss them and I want you to know that after we have reconnected, whether that is a few weeks, a few months, or even a year, I want to return to my people.”
Liam’s eyes rounded in shock. “Your people? They aren’t your people, Mary. I’m your people. I’m your family. I’m your only family” She watched him shake his head in denial. “No, you’re confused. You can’t return to the Mountain Utes. That’s not possible.”
“Liam, please understand—”
Her brother stood and paced in front of her. She could see he was angry. How could she make him understand this was something she needed to do?
“I won’t hear of it, Mary. You have been missing for eighteen years. A lifetime. And you’ve been back just a few hours and you’re already talking of leaving me to go back and live with them . . . those—”
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“They are my family too, Liam. And I lived with them longer than I lived with you and Momma and Papa. I have to go back to them someday because I miss them too.”
“No, you’re just confused. It’s only been less than a week since you left them. You need to give it time . . . me time . . . to make you feel at home here. This is your home now, Mary. Not . . . not with them.”
Mary stood and blocked her brother’s path to stop his pacing and get him to listen to her. “Liam. I need you to understand—”
He shook his head. “I forbid it.”
“Liam, I’m a grown woman. You can’t forbid it.”
Doc sat at his writing desk in his quarters behind his office in the alley off Main Street. It was located just across from Liam’s home with his wife Faith, and their baby daughter, Mary.
He remembered the shock and surprise when he’d told Mary of her namesake on the trail to Creede. She had been delighted and he wondered if she had met Liam’s family yet.
After he had left Mary at the Hanovers with Liam, he had spent the rest of his day cataloging the herbs and roots he’d gathered on his trip to The Springs and along the trail back home. Finished with the painstaking chore of drawing each item in detail and writing down each detail, he closed his journal and put it away inside his desk drawer.
He peeked out his bedroom window to see the sun setting behind the mountain peaks. The streets would be dark soon and he wanted to speak with Hope about one of their patients who was expecting her first child any day now. Hope saw her expecting mothers in her home at the edge of town where she lived with her husband, Billy, and their children. He could probably wait until she came to work tomorrow. He was dog tired and his bed was calling to him.
Just as he was undressing for bed, he heard a commotion at his office front door. Some one was in need of medical attention, he predicted. But when he opened the door, Liam pushed past him. He could tell his friend was very upset. Had something happened with Mary? “Liam? Is something wrong? Is Mary alright?” He was reaching for his medical bag when his friend’s words stopped him in his tracks.
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