Deborah Camp (15 page)

Airy screwed up one eye. “What in tarnation are you talkin’ about, Dixie Lynn? Don’t go feedin’ this gal more slop.” She rested an elbow on the table and swayed closer to Elise. “If you like a fella, then you let him know it by kissing him long and hard.” Sitting back, she gave a nod. “That’s all there is to it. Nothing wrong or naughty, nothing soiled or sinful. What happens between a man and a woman ain’t nobody’s business but theirs anyways.”

“You don’t have to worry about Blade,” Dixie assured Elise. “He’s respectful of ladies.”

“Bah!” Airy batted a hand at her cousin. “He’s a man, and a man takes what he can get and is thankful for it.”

“But Julia always said that Blade was a perfect gentleman and that’s what set him apart from everyone else.”

“That’s what she
said
,” Airy noted with a sly wink. “But I never believed it for one minute. What sets that stud apart from the others is his swagger and that smoldering in his eyes when he spies a woman he’d like to bed.”

“Airy, hush your mouth! You’re talking about this young lady’s husband,” Dixie whispered urgently.
“Julia’s head wasn’t turned by those things.”

“Sure it was,” Airy said. “She just couldn’t admit it. She saw in Blade good breeding stock and she wanted herself a brood. The men courting her were either too old or too stupid or too married for her to take seriously. Blade Lonewolf was prime stock.”

“Oh, Airy, how you go on,” Dixie admonished with a shake of her head that sent her gray-and-white curls in motion. “Don’t listen to her, Elise. She’s always thought of men and women the same as she does her heifers and bulls.”

“And don’t you act as if you ain’t heard the stories told about how Blade Lonewolf is so well packaged that the painted gals at the Rusty Keg offer themselves to him at no charge.”

Elise’s eyes widened. She had to admit that she’d admired Blade’s “package” many times, but to think that saloon girls were doing the same thing unnerved her. And they offered themselves to him! Did he take them up on those offers? She shook her head, not wanting to investigate that question too closely.

“I did hear that,” Dixie confessed. “But I didn’t believe it.”

Airy gave a slow wink. “Believe it. He’s not only got the tool, he knows how to use it. That’s what those saloon girls say anyway.”

“What was Julia like?” Elise asked. “I saw her photograph and she looked … well, older than I.”

“Oh, she was,” Dixie agreed.

“Older than Blade, too,” Airy said. “By about ten years.”

“I thought so,” Elise admitted. “Was she pretty? I couldn’t tell by the photograph. She looked kind.”

“She was a good teacher,” Dixie said. “Pretty? Well, yes, I suppose she had her moments. She had a gentle way about her.”

“I saw that her gravemarker says she loved children,” Elise noted.

“Yes. Blade had that made special for her,” Airy said. “He felt bad about how things happened between them.”

“What do you mean?”

Airy exchanged a speaking glance with her cousin. “Uh, nothing. Is there anything else we can help you with? He’s not still sleeping out in that tepee, is he?”

“Yes, he is.”

Airy rolled her blue eyes. “Bless my britches, the man is hard to figure. He’s been as lonely as a wolf facing a full moon, but he beds down in that tepee when he’s got company right here in this cabin. Don’t make no kinda sense to me.”

“I’ve told him he should sleep in here, but he calls that other room ‘Julia’s room,’ and he seems loath to set foot in it.”

“That so?” Airy stared at the closed bedroom door, her face clothed in contemplation.

Dixie cleared her throat noisily and pushed her chair back from the table. “We need to be trotting home. I want to hit town before dark.”

“If you don’t want to talk about Blade and Julia’s marriage, will you talk about Judge Mott?” Elise asked.

“That old bird,” Airy said with venom. “What about him?”

“You know he has adopted my brother, Adam.”

Airy nodded and Dixie looked vexed.

“Blade says we shouldn’t rile the judge. What do you know about him?”

“I know that he’s as low as a snake,” Airy said. “But Blade knows what he’s talking about. The judge can act on people like a plague.”

“There’s no love lost between us,” Dixie admitted with a smile. “People around here tolerate him, but I don’t know of anybody who really likes him. He thinks he’s better than most everyone else, and that rubs everybody the wrong way.”

“What about his wife?” Elise asked.

“Harriet has had a hard life from what I’ve heard,” Dixie said. “When the judge asked for her hand, her folks pretty much sold her to him. They’re poor hill folk and the judge traded them a few cows, a sack of seeds and a bundle of money for Harriet. Poor gal thought she was going to live like a queen, but she got a rude surprise. Mott treats her no better than a field hand.”

“I always thought the judge was sweet on Julia,” Airy said, rising to help herself to the coffeepot. “Remember how he’d come around and they’d sit and talk for an hour or more? Used to make Blade so mad he saw double.”

“Airy Peppers, what a thing to say! Why, Julia and Lloyd Mott weren’t sweet on each other!”

Airy set the coffeepot back on the stove lid with a
whack
. “I didn’t say that. I said
he
was sweet on
her
.”

“Airy, watch your mouth,” Dixie ordered. “You’re talking about things you can’t possibly know anything about.” She arched a brow. “You could have poured us some coffee while you were at it.”

Elise jumped up before Airy could move. “I’ll pour. You’re my guests.” She refilled Dixie’s cup and then her own. “I’m so glad you two visited. I was hoping to see you today.”

“Did we ease your mind any?” Dixie asked, her face pinched with concern.

“Yes.” Elise sighed as she returned to her chair. “But there is still so much I don’t understand about Blade, and he’s not that easy to talk with. He’s a man of few words.”

“That’s the Apache in him.” Airy blew at the steam rising from her cup. “Them Apache is close-mouthed.”

Dixie frowned. “You sound as if you’ve been around them your whole life, when I know as sure as I’m sitting here that Blade Lonewolf is the first one you ever met!”

“I talked to a trapper who knew whole tribes of them and he told me that they count words like bankers count coins!” Airy set her cup down and glared at her cousin, daring her to contradict her.

Elise sipped her coffee, lost in thought for a few moments. “I noticed at the train station that people talked about Blade as if he were an oddity. No one came to his defense except Dixie.”

“That’s true.” Dixie twisted a curl of her hair around her forefinger. “Most folks don’t know what to think of him because they don’t take the trouble to get to know him.”

Airy drained her coffee cup. “He ain’t never done nobody any harm. He’s a good man.”

Suddenly the door bounced open and Blade stepped inside. “Hate to break up this hen party,” he noted, his brown eyes taking in the scene before him, “but we’ve got more company.”

“We do?” Elise asked. “Is it Adam?”

“No.” Blade glanced outside. “It’s James and Mary.”

“The Walkingbirds?” Dixie smiled broadly.
“It’s been ages since I’ve seen them!”

“Who?” Elise asked.

“My cousins,” Blade told her. “From the reservation.”

S
tanding before her bedroom window, Elise watched Blade and his cousin erect another tepee between Blade’s and the cabin.

“Walkingbird,” she whispered. “James and Mary Walkingbird.”

Elise had been introduced to the guests, neither of whom had shown any surprise about their cousin having taken another white wife. Dixie and Blade expressed their pleasure at seeing the Apache couple again. The Walkingbirds had been trading blankets and furs and were heading home with their leather pouches full of coins. However, they’d stopped off to help Blade get the cotton crop planted.

Mary Walkingbird stood to one side with Penny while the men stretched the skins over the conical framework of the tepee. Short and stocky, Mary had long black hair that hung in twin braids down her back. She had a round face and a pug nose. Dressed in a leather shift, knee-high moccasins and a beaded jacket, she smiled at something Blade said, and dimples appeared in her cheeks.

Her husband, a few inches shorter than Blade, had a barrel-shaped chest, long torso and short
legs. His dark hair hung down his back, but the top had been shorn to only a couple of inches. The short hair stuck up like a rooster’s comb. He wore leather pants, a gray shirt and a black vest. His black moccasins stopped midway between his ankles and knees. He motioned toward the house, and Elise stepped back into the shadows.

Blade frowned and shook his head. He said something that made James extend his hands in an appeal. Blade shrugged, then swung around and started for the cabin.

Elise whirled away from the window and hurried into the main room. She sat in the rocker and grabbed up a book, trying to appear engrossed in it when Blade entered.

“They won’t be any trouble.”

Elise looked up from the book. “How long will they be staying with us?”

He shrugged. “Hard to say.”

“They plan to sleep outside with you?” She tried not to allow her feelings to color her voice. Lord, how she hated that tepee of his!

“Yes. They’re erecting their own lodge.”

She shrugged. “They could have Julia’s room.”

“They’re used to a lodge. You don’t have to be afraid of them.”

Elise closed her book. “And who says I’m afraid of them?”

“Weren’t you afraid of me when you first saw me?”

“No.” She met his gaze levelly. “Were you afraid of me?”

His mouth formed a perfect smile. “Terrified.”

She couldn’t help but grin with him. “Liar.”

The gentle jesting soothed her. She stood up, intent on closing the distance between them as her
blood heated, fired by his smoldering eyes and the memory of his kiss. He took a stride toward her, but then the door opened behind him and Mary stepped inside.

Elise tore her gaze from Blade and smiled stiffly at her guest. “Hello. May I help you with something?”

Mary closed the door behind her. “I thought you might like me to help you get supper on the table.”

“Supper.” Elise gasped. “Good heavens, supper! Where’s my mind today? I haven’t even begun … no matter, I’ll throw something together.”

“Can I help?” Mary asked again.

“Yes, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll be outside with Penny and James,” Blade said, slipping out the door.

Elise glanced around, wondering where to begin. “Would you like an apron, Mary?”

“No. What are you cooking?”

“I don’t know. The day has been so full of surprises that I haven’t had a moment to think …” She examined the shelves and tried to remember what they had in the smokehouse. “We have cured ham out back …”

Mary came to stand near her, perusing the shelves. “Ah, pigs’ feet!” She snatched the jars off the shelf. “We like these.”

Elise tried not to curl her lip in disgust. “You do?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Then you can prepare those. I’m not sure how they’re cooked.”

Mary unscrewed the lid of one jar. “They’re already cooked. You just put them on a plate.”

“Oh.” Elise stepped back as the aroma of pickled pork escaped from the jar. “I think I’ll fry up some
ham steaks, too, and we’ll boil potatoes and onions. I believe we have a jar of Julia’s crowder peas left … yes, here they are. Just one more jar, so we might as well eat them.” As she turned to set them on the table, she noticed that Mary was examining her as if she were a puzzle. “Is something wrong?”

Mary shook her head. “You said her name like you knew her.”

“Did I?” Elise moved toward the back door. “I didn’t.” She opened the door. “I’ll just go to the smokehouse for the ham steaks. I won’t be a minute.”

When Elise returned, Mary was peeling potatoes and had set a pot of water on the stove to boil. The pigs’ feet adorned a plate in the center of the table. Elise kept her eyes away from them, afraid she’d lose her appetite entirely.

“So you’ve been on a trading expedition,” she said, trying to coax conversation from her guest.

Mary nodded. “We went to St. Joe and St. Louis.”

“That’s quite a journey.”

“Not so far.”

“And you were successful?”

“We traded or sold everything we brought. Could have sold more if we’d had them. It’s enough.”

“That’s good.” Elise regarded the woman out of the corner of her eye. “You know, Mary, I couldn’t help but notice that you and James showed no surprise when Blade introduced me as his wife.”

“It’s his business.”

“Well, yes, but you weren’t the least bit taken aback?”

“We figured he’d have a woman around sooner or later. He likes women.”

“So you expected him to remarry quickly.”

“Not marry.”

Elise digested this news while Mary smiled teasingly. “Oh, I see. Did he explain that I’m Penny’s sister?”

“We didn’t ask.”

She decided to abandon this tack. “Have you known Blade since childhood?”

“James has. I met him when I married James.”

“How long have you been married?”

“Ten years.”

“Ten years!” Elise stared at her, thinking she’d heard wrong. “But you can’t be more than twenty years old!”

“Twenty-two.”

“You married when you were twelve? Where were your parents?”

Mary looked curiously at her. “They arranged the marriage. It was a good trade.”

“Trade?” Elise dropped the ham steaks into the hot skillet. “How old was James?”

“Fourteen.”

“I know girls who have married at fourteen or sixteen, but twelve! That seems too young. If Blade had remained with the Apache, I suppose he would have married much younger, too.”

“If his mother allowed it. She was white.”

“Yes, I know.”

Mary placed the potatoes and a peeled onion into the boiling pot.

“Do you have any children?” Elise asked. She dumped the crowder peas into another skillet to heat them on the stove.