For once William didn't protest. He just nodded crouching to scratch the tan hound behind his ear. "Be careful, Mama."
Leah took a deep breath, pushed her cloak hood off her shoulders, and stepped out onto the road. "I think that will be quite enough, gentlemen."
A man in a beaverskin hat, the one who appeared to be the leader, was just getting ready to slip the noose over Harrison's neck.
"Leah, get back!" Harrison shouted, hearing her voice. "Take the boy and get the hell out of here!"
Leah raised the Brown Bess, pointing it dead on the man with the noose in his hand. "Drop it," she said, "and not over his neck."
"Leah!"
The man in the beaver hat stood stock still, the noose still in his hand. "This man has to punished for the crimes he committed," he said bitterly. "He murdered my brother and his wife in cold blood."
"Leah!"
"You've got the wrong man." Leah was amazed by how calm she sounded. She ignored Harrison calling to her. "He's been with me in the mountains. We've witnesses."
"He says his name is Harrison DeNay. My brother said the man who attacked them was a Shawnee who called himself DeNay."
Kolheek immediately came to her mind. How could he have done such a thing? She stared at the man in the beaver cap. "Just because he said he was DeNay doesn't make him so, does it? Did you see this man?"
"No. I didn't have to. My brother said—"
I'm sorry for your loss, but hanging an innocent man won't bring them back, will it?" Leah took a deep breath. He seemed to be thinking. He seemed to at least be considering her words.
Then his grip tightened on the noose. "For all I know you could have been in with the Indian."
"Oh, certainly. Perhaps my son, too. Maybe the dog. How do you know the dog didn't commit murder too?"
"Leah, there's no reasoning with men like these. Just get the hell out of here. I'm begging you," Harrison hollered desperately.
Leah lifted her Brown Bess just a notch. It felt comfortable in her hands. She was confident that if she had to kill the leader of the bunch to back the others down, she could do it. But she didn't want to hurt anyone if she didn't have to.
"Just let him go," Leah said. "You want to take him to trial, you come to the Tidewater. You come to a plantation on the Delaware side called Tanner's Gift. We'll settle this in a court of law."
"I say we hang him," one of the other men on horseback said. "You know it's him. She's just trying to cover for the red bastard. Must be his woman."
The man in a beaverskin cap looked at her, fingering the noose. "You've only got one shot there, missy. You can't kill us all."
She nodded. "True enough. I've got one shot, but what difference will that make to you? You're going to be dead."
He slackened his hold on the rope noose.
Leah saw Harrison's broad back tense. She wished he was facing her so she could see his face.
"Besides," Leah went on, wanting to keep a tight grip on her advantage. "What makes you think I'm alone? The others are there in the pines. You see them?"
"Damned if I see anyone," one of the men on horseback said.
Leah glanced over her shoulder. "Throw off a shot, Edmund. Show these rude gentlemen where you are."
There was a pause that seemed to Leah went on for a century. Where was William? Didn't he understand that was the signal?
Then suddenly a shot went off out of the pines where Leah had left William and the dog. The sound of the flintlock ball ricocheting in the trees above his head made the leader drop the noose with a start.
Leah smiled. "Smart move. We don't want to kill anyone. We're just not fond of lynching." She motioned with the Brown Bess. "Now you men toss your guns on the ground there. Nice and easy."
The first flintlock hit the snow, the others followed.
"There you go." She pointed with the Brown Bess. "Now you three get off your horses slowly and walk over to the tree stump. "You too," she told the leader.
She walked slowly toward them, trying to keep her eyes on each man, afraid one would make a fast move, afraid she'd have to kill him. "Can you back the horse up, Harrison, or you need help?"
He squeezed the horse flanks and the horse slowly began to back up.
"You men down on your bellies in the snow. I don't want to have to shoot you, I swear I don't, but I will if I have to. Ask that Mohawk I left rotting in the woods last week."
She heard one of the men swear at he flattened out on his belly in the snow.
Harrison reached Leah. "Dear heaven," she whispered. His face was so covered in blood that she couldn't tell where it was coming from. But he was grinning . . .
Still keeping the Brown Bess rifle aimed on the four men now laying on the ground, she reached up and pulled at the knot in the rope that bound Harrison. As soon as it loosened, he was able to slip his arms out and take the rifle from her.
"Where's the army?" he murmured so that the men couldn't hear him. There was a hint of amusement in his voice.
Leah smiled. "He's in the pines there directly behind us."
"All right, you get astride and give the other two horses a good whack. I'll pick the boy up and we'll ride out of here nice and easy. I don't want to kill anyone if I don't have to. Someone's out there murdering. When you lose a loved one even a sensible man can try to do something that doesn't make sense." Harrison motioned. "Go, get William."
"No, you hold the rifle on them. I'll pull him up behind me."
Leah ran across the snowy road and mounted the bay gelding closest to her. Taking up the reins, she rode by the other two horses swatting them on the rump. Both spooked and ran.
Leah rode over to the pines. "Wills, hurry!" she whispered loudly.
William came out of the snow-laden pine tress, the dog behind him. He still held the pistol in his hand but Leah blocked the men's view with her horse so they couldn't see him.
"I did good, didn't I?" I wanted to shoot the cap right off his head, but I was afraid I'd aim low and blow his head off, so I just hit the tree above his head."
If it hadn't been for the fear that still lumped in her throat she would have laughed. She pulled one moccasined foot out of the stirrup. "Jump up and hold on for dear life."
As he mounted, she grabbed the pistol from his hand, wishing she had time to reload it.
William grabbed the pack on her back and settled behind her. "Come on, Sam!" he shouted.
The dog came trotting out of the pines.
"You got to keep up," William whispered leaning over the horse to speak to the dog on the ground. "You got to keep up old boy, three legs or not."
"Ready?" Leah whispered.
She knew her son was grinning. This was all an adventure to him. "Ready!"
Leah wheeled the bay around and sank her heels into the bay's flanks. The horse broke into a canter and they sailed by the four men still lying motionless in the snow. "We'll leave your horses at the river," she told them. "We're no thieves."
Harrison turned his horse around in a circle and galloped after Leah down the road. They were not out of sight of the clearing when they heard the sound of musket fire and the shouts of the four men.
"Go! Go!" Harrison shouted.
Leah urged her mount faster and they flew down the path, she and Harrison side by side, the ricocheting of musket balls sounding in the treetops.
Sam ran behind them, keeping up on his three good legs.
The following day Leah, Harrison and William rode hard to reach the Hudson River by late afternoon. By a stroke of good luck, they came upon a man on the road who directed them toward his cousin's inn on the river. The inn was crude, nothing more than a large, two-story cabin, but it looked like a palace to Leah. Merely the thought of a bath and a real bed to sleep in was heavenly.
The three rode into the clearing around the inn, approaching cautiously. After the scare they'd had the previous day, both Leah and Harrison knew they had to be careful. Leah dismounted leaving William astride while Harr
ison remained on his horse, the Brown Bess resting across his thighs.
Sam the dog raced in circles around the horse's feet.
Leah walked beneath a rough, hand-hewn sign boasting Harris' Inn, Food, Drink, Bedding, Goods Skins Traded Here. Glancing over her shoulder at Harrison, Leah walked to the door and rapped with her knuckles. She paused and then knocked again, this time a little louder.
The door swung open and a small, buxom woman with large black eyes appeared in the doorway, a crockery mixing bowl and a wooden spoon in her hands. She looked Leah up and down, and then out the door at William and Harrison.
"Help ye?"
"We're interested in a room for the night, that and supper. We plan to head south down the river in the morning. Someone, your husband's cousin said this was a decent inn."
"Only got one room." She scraped batter from the bowl and licked at the wet, brown dough. "The man would have to sleep in the barn."
Through the doorway Leah smelled the sweet, pungent aroma of gingerbread baking. She looked back at Harrison and then at the woman. She guessed he wanted to sleep with her, but of course that wouldn't be appropriate anyway. Not with William. "That would be suitable. What's your charge?"
She named a price and Leah nodded. "Fair enough. We've had a long journey and we're exhausted. My son was kidnapped," she broke into a grin, "but we found him. We're taking him home to Delaware."
The woman looked at Leah, a sad smile shadowing her pretty round face. "Lost a boy myself a few years back to Ojibwa. Never saw his sweet face again." She wiped her finger on her wide blue tick apron and offered her hand. "Name's Bolene, Bolene Harris. My husband, God love 'im, is called Jeff. He ain't here now. Gone upriver on his boat to check traps before the snow really flies." She waved. "Have the man stable the horses. Got a muskrat stew bubblin' and corncakes fresh off the spider. I hope the three of yous is hungry because I got enough stew to feed the Seven Nations."
Leah walked back to the horses where Harrison and William were dismounting. The sun was setting and a light snow was beginning to fall.
"I'll see to the horses while you and the boy go inside." His voice was terse.
Leah knew why without having to ask. "William, go in with Mistress Harris. See what she can do about finding you hot water and a cake of soap." William went inside and Leah turned back to Harrison. She was tired to the bone, too tired to fight with him. "Harrison—"
"I just want to hold you, Leah. Sleep, that's all I want. I want to sleep with you in my arms."
"Not with William in the same room. It wouldn't be right."
"It wouldn't be right for him to see his mother and father in bed together?"
Leah rubbed her temples. Her head was pounding and she was slightly nauseous. Her flux hadn't come since she'd left Tanner's Gift. She'd assumed she was late because of the hard travel, but now she was beginning to wonder.
"I don't want to fight with you. Not over this."
"You're giving into him."
Leah clenched her fists. "I'm not. I'm just trying to do right by him."
"We're drifting apart, Leah. I can feel it in my bones." Holding onto the horses' reins with one hand, he reached out and brushed back a stray lock of her hair. "Don't let this happen."
"He just needs time."
"Certainly." Harrison turned away, the sarcasm plain in his voice. "You just keep telling yourself that."
"You're being unfair," she shouted as he walked away, leading the horses. "You don't understand."
"Oh, I understand. I understand perfectly." He spun around to face her. "What I understand is that now that we're this close," he brought his finger to his thumb, "you're getting scared. You're scared this just might work. You're so scared you're going to throw it away. You're not going to fight. You're going to give up on me again."
"Harrison. . . ."
He turned away from her and headed toward the barn.
"Harrison!"
When he didn't answer, she swung her fist at him. "Oh to hell with you," she shouted and went into the inn.
Chapter Twenty-seven
"Lookin' to go home to Delaware, are ye?" Bolene asked, passing William a plate of hot corncakes and a crock of honey. "Could be tricky gettin' down the river, 'specially dependin' on which side ye take in this fightin' " She lifted an eyebrow. "Ye didn't say which side you was on, did you?"
Leah glanced across the oak hewn trestle table at Harrison, but his attention was on the bowl of stew in front of him. "No, I didn't," Leah answered cautiously. "Does it matter?"
"Not to me. Me and Jeff we stay clear of the whole mess. I can see both sides. I guess we're just waitin' to see what happens. Me and my Jeff, we got to be practical. We got to take the winnin' side."
"You said getting down the river could be tricky. What do you mean?"
"King's soldiers. We've heard tales down river of them shootin' anything that floats by."
Leah looked at William beside her. Honey was trickling from the corner of his mouth as he devoured his third corncake. She wiped the drip with her thumb and then licked it off. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone willing to take us down the river, would you, Bolene?"
"Ah!" She threw up a hand. "Call me Bo, my friends all do."
"We'd be willing to pay, Bo. Something now, the balance when we reach our destination."
"To tell you the truth, I just might know someone. My Jeff, he's been known to take that rickety boat of his'n up and down this river. He gets bored once winter sets in and him with no one to chat with 'cept me and a few muskrat skins. He ought to be home come tomorrow. You could talk him into it, if the price is right, I'd wager."
"Oh, that would be wonderful. Wouldn't it Harrison?" It was the first time she'd spoken directly to him since their argument outside.
"Perfect," he answered, still playing cool with her.
Bo looked at Harrison who had finished his stew and had risen to stand near the stone fireplace that dominated the kitchen. "I don't mean to be nosy or nothin' but is he goin' with you?" She hooked her thumb in Harrison's direction. "I can't quite get my thumb on who he is in relation to you and the boy."
Leah took a sip of the herbal tea Bo had made her. She said she laced it with a touch of brandy but Leah was beginning to wonder if there wasn't more than a touch to it. The tea was sharp, but good tasting, and burned a path of warmth down her throat.
"He . . . Harrison is a friend. He grew up on the plantation next to mine."
"Half-breed?" She looked to Harrison. "Pardon my manners, I don't mean to talk about you as if you was invisible. I was just tryin' to find out if—"
"If I was hired help or other," he finished for her. "Other."
Leah felt her cheeks grow hot. She knew she was blushing.
Bo smiled. "I know it matters to some, you bein' a red man, even half, but not to this one." She tapped her bosom. "I got some red in me," she winked, "case you couldn't tell. Ojibwa. My grand-mammmy was a French trapper's wife and full blooded. Proud I am of my heritage. No, me and Jeff, we don't call a man on the color of his skin, rather the color of his heart."
Leah looked to Bo, feeling like she needed to make some sort of explanation as to her relationship with Harrison, only she didn't know quite what to say. "Harrison and I," she said lamely. "We . . . we've been friends a long time. My husband, he . . . he died. Harrison—"
Bo rose to take Harrison's empty plate. "Save your breath, sweetheart. Life's too short to feel like you need to explain yourself to others. Ain't my business what a woman like yourself does, ain't no body's business. What matters is if you're happy with your choosin'." She dropped the dirty plates into a bucket of soapy water. "Got apple pie for boys who finish their meal," she called to William.
William beamed.
"No pie for me, but I'll have another cup of that tea of yours if you don't mind." Leah wiggled her toes in her moccasins. The brandy-laced tea was making her light-headed, but she didn't care. After what she'd been through these last weeks, she figured
she deserved a little relaxation.
"I think I'll check on the horses and bed down early for the night," Harrison said, starting for the door. "It's been weeks since I got a full night's sleep."
"There a tick out there. Light the little stove and you'll be warm enough. You'll find soap and a wash basin. That's where my Jeff like to do his shavin'."
"You need help?" Leah asked him. She hated to say good night with him angry at her. "I could help."
He shook his head. "Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning. Take your pistol to bed."
Before Leah could answer, he was gone, the door closing soundly behind him.
For the next hour Leah and Bo sipped tea and talked. William found a small box of wooden soldiers and miniature cannons near the fireplace and helped himself. Old Sam slept comfortably near the hearth, his belly filled with leftovers.
After her third cup of tea, Leah yawned. She was sleepy from the good food and the tea, but she still wanted a bath. "I hate to pester you when you've been such a wonderful hostess, but you wouldn't happen to have a tub suitable for bathing, would you? William needs a bath and I fear I could use one, too."
"What, you don't think we're civilized up here on the Hudson? Got a barrel made just for bathin'!" She clapped her hands. "I can heat up some water and have it set in no time."
"Mama, I don't need a bath."
Leah pointed to him. "Look at your hands. They're a shade lighter since you washed them."
"Mama . . ."
Bo laughed. "Won't take me but a few minutes. Promise you."
Half an hour later Leah had William in a tub of warm water, rinsing the soap out of his hair. Once Leah was certain he'd scrubbed every inch of skin until it was pink, she handed him a cotton towel and turned her back.
William insisted he was too old to be seen naked by women, even if one of them was his mother.
Bo chuckled. "I got the coals stoked and the feather tick pulled back in the chamber upstairs. You'll be snug as two bugs, I'll warrant you."
Whispered Promise Page 27