Savage Dawn (11 page)

Dreading having to leave this haven that had been offered her by these gentle Mormon people, Nicole paced the floor of the cute home that she had been given as her very own.

But she knew that her occupation of that house was to be only for a short time if Jeremiah Schrock had anything to say about it. He expected her to be so grateful for his kindness that she would actually marry him, and make him that third wife the children spoke of so eagerly.

“A brother,” she whispered, shuddering at the thought.

Even though I must go, I dread leaving
, she thought, tears filling her eyes at the thought of being all alone again out where she knew there were dangers everywhere.

If she was not attacked by men like Sam Partain and his gang, then there were the animals that roamed, both day and night, in search of food.

She recalled seeing one particular wolf more than once, as it skulked nearby, almost hidden behind thick brush.

She knew it was the same animal because there was an identifying mark where bare skin was exposed on its side.

She still couldn’t understand why that wolf hadn’t pounced on her when it was so close. And it was strange how the wolf would suddenly appear, then in one blink of Nicole’s eyes, disappear again.

It seemed as though the wolf was looking for someone in particular, or something. She was glad that apparently she was of no interest to the creature.

It was such a mystical being, Nicole even now felt a shiver race her spine to think about it.

Anyhow, no matter whether there were evil men out there searching for her, or a mystical wolf, Nicole had no choice but to leave the Mormon community.

And she would.

Tonight.

After the lamps were blown out in each house and everything but the moon’s glow was dark, she would leave.

“Yes, I must escape,” she whispered as she went to a mirror on the wall and gazed at her reflection.

Her hair was brushed until it shone. Her face was shining and fresh from a washing only moments ago.

The rims of her eyes were slightly red. More than once this evening she had not been able to
keep from crying at the thought of the danger that lay ahead.

But now she had one other thing to do.

She knew that she must be the only one who had not visited the large dining hall for the evening meal.

She had watched the families entering the building in groups. Her front windows faced so that she could see the dining hall, and now the lamplight streamed from the building, and she could hear the sound of voices.

She was afraid to join the others for the meal, for fear that they would somehow read her mind and know what she had planned. Nicole hesitated to take her shawl from its peg on the wall, thinking that perhaps she could get away with not going there tonight.

But she knew better.

If she didn’t show up, Jeremiah would most certainly come to check on her. Already, he was strangely possessive of her.

As she grabbed her shawl and placed it around her shoulders, she realized how much her fingers were trembling. She would have to get hold of herself if she was to get through these next moments without anyone being the wiser as to what caused her nervousness.

Escape!

Yes, she had to make certain no one realized what she was planning.

If there was even an inkling of suspicion, Jeremiah would lock her in the cabin tonight.

Sighing heavily, Nicole stepped out into the dusk of early evening.

She shivered when the air brushed against her face. The evenings were cool now that autumn was soon to fade away and turn into the coldness of winter.

That, alone, should be a deterrent to what she had planned. But she had to believe that before winter set in, she would find a place where she could live safely and put all the ugliness of these past days from her mind.

She stopped and inhaled a nervous breath as she came to the steps that led up to the dining hall. She didn’t have time to take many breaths, for Jeremiah suddenly emerged from the building. Smiling, he held a hand outstretched before him.

“I thought you would never come,” Jeremiah said, taking Nicole by the hand even though she tried to pull it away. “I imagine you were resting after your first day of teaching. I expect it was quite tiring. Was it, Nicole?”

“Yes, very,” Nicole said softly.

She hated that his hand still held her own, as though she belonged to him. He led her into the large building, as though she was his trophy for everyone to see.

She was very aware of how everyone turned
and gazed at her as Jeremiah took her to the table, where she was made to sit between him and one of his children, Kathryn. Nicole found that quite peculiar, for she knew the children usually ate away from their parents at another table.

Yet as she looked quickly around her, she noticed that all of the children were at their parents’ tables tonight.

She suddenly realized that there was something else unusual about the meal. A cake with burning candles sat in the center of the main table.

She wondered whose birthday it was.

“Surprise!” the children suddenly boomed out as they jumped to their feet so that they could see Nicole better.

“What?” Nicole gasped, her shawl falling away from her shoulders and onto her chair. “It’s not…my…birthday.”

“Well, no, it’s not,” Jeremiah said, drawing Nicole’s eyes quickly to him. “This was the first day of your teaching our children. We are all so happy to have you, especially the children, we felt that we needed to have a celebration of sorts, with you the person of honor.”

“Truly?” Nicole said, stunned by the sweetness of what these people had done for her.

She looked around her at the smiling faces of the children, and guilt spread through her with a strange coldness.

How could she leave these children when she knew just how happy they were to have her there?

“I don’t know what to say,” she gulped out.

She was terribly conflicted now about what she had planned to do. If it meant so much to the children that she was there, how on earth could she disappoint them by leaving after she had taught school for only one day?

Jeremiah fetched the cake, then placed it in front of Nicole on the table. “I know it might be strange for you to have candles on a cake when it is not your birthday,” he said. “But as I said, in a sense, it is your birthday. It is a birthday for all of our children. That is how much having a teacher means to them. We are truly established now in our new settlement, because we have a teacher. And you are a part of our community, too, even though you are not of Mormon faith.”

“But she will be!” the children chimed in, almost in the same breath. “We shall teach her about our faith as she teaches us our reading and mathematical skills.”

That made the color drain from Nicole’s face. She hadn’t even thought about becoming a Mormon, but wouldn’t Jeremiah expect her to be a woman of his faith if she was to be his wife?

Now, no matter that these children had welcomed her so wonderfully with a cake and candles, she knew she must leave.

She must escape tonight!

Jeremiah slid the cake back to the center of the table. “We’ll cut the cake after we have all eaten the main meal,” he said as the children
scrambled to go and sit now at their usual assigned table.

Several men came and took the empty chairs away, and then women began bringing the bowls of food into the room. The smell of fried chicken filled the room.

Nicole scarcely tasted any of the food as she forced herself to eat. She almost gagged on each bite as she thought ahead to what she must do.

Even the corn on the cob, which was dripping with delicious freshly churned butter, had no flavor whatsoever to Nicole. It was as though all of her taste buds had been removed because of her fear and anxiety.

Through the entire meal, Nicole felt Jeremiah’s eyes on her, as well as Nancy’s and Martha’s. It must be plain to all that she was the object of Jeremiah’s affection and the women’s resentment.

Yes, she must leave.

But another problem hit her like a slap in the face when she recognized that the man across the table from her was one of the sentries who guarded the community.

How would she get around him and the others without their seeing her? How would she keep from being caught by Jeremiah?

The smell of roasted meat lay heavy in the air as the campfire shot sparks heavenward from the grease dripping into the flames.

Sam Partain was too restless to sit and idly chat with his friends. He paced back and forth while ignoring the complaints of his men, who said that he was driving them wild by acting so nervous.

But Sam couldn’t stop his brain from thinking about Nicole and the fact that they had found no sign of her on the mountain today.

He and his friends had split up, covering much of the land where she could possibly have gotten on horseback, but they’d had no luck. That only meant to him that someone was giving her sanctuary.

His mind kept wandering back to that Mormon community. There was something suspicious about the way that one Mormon took over and spoke for the rest of the group. The fellow had said that no young woman had come there. But while that man had been talking, Sam had studied the faces of the women who appeared at the
doors of their homes, or in the large garden, in the midst of their autumn harvest.

He had most certainly not seen Nicole among those women. But if she
had
been there, she might have gone quickly into hiding.

Had he been lied to?

He went and sat down on a blanket before the fire, his mind made up. “I’ve got to go back there,” he blurted out, drawing all eyes to him.

“Where?” Ace asked.

“To that damn Mormon community, that’s where,” Sam said, his voice filled with anger that Nicole had eluded him so successfully thus far.

“Why on earth would you go back there and pester those innocent people?” Tom asked, his eyes narrowing angrily. “Sam, I have understood this thing about Nicole, and I’ve been willing to help you find her, but why must you go back to that community? They’ve never done anything to you. Let ’em be, Sam. Let ’em be.”

“I don’t believe they are all so innocent,” Sam growled out. “I remember something in that man’s eyes when he told me he’d not seen Nicole. It was the look of a man who is lying. That’s what I seen. I’ve got to go back there and figure out just what he was lying about. Then we’ll make ’em all pay for what he’s done.”

“I don’t want no part of it,” Ace said, scrambling to his feet. “I don’t want no part of any of this anymore. I’m itchin’ to play poker. Sam, let’s just go on to St. Louis and find us a game. Let Nicole be.
Don’t you know that sooner or later you’ll run across her again? Get your vengeance then. Not now. Let’s go, Sam, tomorrow, to St. Louis.”

“If that’s what you want, no one is stoppin’ you,” Sam said tightly. “Go on. Git. But don’t expect me ever to loan you any more money once you’ve lost all of your own gambling.”

“Oh, Sam, why can’t you listen to reason?” Ace whined. He sat back down, lowering his eyes. “I’m stayin’. Whatever you feel you need to do, I’ll help.”

“That’s more like it,” Sam said, reaching over and patting Ace on the shoulder.

He laughed throatily. “I think that meat is ready to eat,” he said. “Ace, git me a piece and don’t be slow about it.”

He stretched his long, lean legs out before him as he took the chunk of meat from Ace, bit off a huge hunk and started chewing it.

“Yep, tomorrow I’ll pay those Mormon people another visit,” he said, while chewing. He looked around at his men. “None of you have to play a role in this. You’ll stay hidden whilst I do the dirty work.”

“You’re not going to harm any of them if you don’t get the answers you want?” Tom asked, chewing on his own meat.

“We’ll just have to wait and see ’bout that, won’t we?” Sam said, idly shrugging.

He laughed, almost choking on the meat in his mouth.

He then gazed slowly around at his men. “I’ve got to fess up,” he said, his eyes dancing with teasing. “I lied to you moments ago. You see, I ain’t going to that place alone at all. You are going with me. It’ll take more than me to search that place to make certain Nicole ain’t there.”

He laughed again as the men groaned and moaned after learning what was expected of them.

Tom didn’t groan or moan. He just stared angrily at Sam, who ignored him, apparently lost in thought about tomorrow.

“Sam, surely you don’t mean what you just said,” Tom finally blurted out. “Tell us you are just joshin’ us. I don’t want to do it, Sam. I’m sure the rest don’t neither.”

“If’n you ever want to be with me again at a poker table, draggin’ in the coins like we always do, you’d best not say another thing against what I plan to do,” Sam warned. “Do I make myself clear enough?”

Tom didn’t respond. He just yanked off another bite of meat and chewed on it, his eyes now gazing into the flames of the fire, somehow seeing the redheaded wench there, smiling flirtatiously at him.

Suddenly it didn’t seem all that wrong, what Sam had planned for that wench, for Tom would surely have a part of ’er, too, before killin’ her.

He smiled at the thought of touching her soft,
pink flesh, then rolling her beneath him and doing what he had not done for so long.

Yep, he’d go with Sam after all, if it meant having a piece of that young thing as he had himself a piece of this meat he was still chewin’ on.

The moon seemed to be the only light left in the Mormon community as Nicole looked from her window, checking to see if she saw any lamplight in any of the other windows. She sighed when she saw none.

This was the opportunity that she had been waiting for ever since she had returned to her house after finishing the evening meal. She had packed her things in her travel bag, had changed into warmer clothes for her night out in the open, and was now ready to make her escape.

Wearing a warm, lined jacket, she grabbed up her travel bag, in which she had shoved the barrel end of her rifle. Slowly, she opened the door, hoping it would not squeak.

She was in luck. There was not any sound at all.

The only thing she could hear now were the songs of the crickets, which seemed to get weaker as each night passed. She remembered back in St. Louis, how the chilly nights of autumn seemed to
numb the songs right out of the crickets that she had enjoyed hearing all summer long.

She stopped and winced when she heard the yipping of a wolf. Its call of the wild was way too close for comfort.

Was this the same wolf she’d seen before? Or was it possibly another one that might be more aggressive?

She knew that she must get a grip on herself and be on her way. The longer she stayed in the Mormon community, the closer she came to being made Jeremiah’s wife.

She shuddered at the thought of that man touching her.

That thought gave her the courage to hurry onward. The very idea of marrying Jeremiah Schrock brought a sick feeling to the pit of her stomach. He was a deceitful man.

He had deceived her into believing that he was genuinely concerned about her, when all along he just wanted a woman he could coerce into being his third wife.

“Never,” she whispered to herself.

She moved cautiously away from the house, keeping alert for any movement in the night. She knew there were sentries posted in several strategic places in order to keep the community safe from the likes of Sam Partain and his men.

She was glad when she reached the corral where her horse was kept. She tiptoed into the corral
and located the saddles that were stored in a small shed at its edge.

She grabbed a saddle and soon had her horse ready except for the travel bag that sat waiting to be tied to its back. After that was done, she took up the reins and led her mare through the gate, securing it behind her.

She cringed when one of the horses in the corral gave a loud whinny. Nicole stopped quickly.

She looked in all directions, praying to herself that no one had heard the sound. Thank goodness she saw no one, nor any lamp being suddenly lighted.

Everyone seemed to be fast asleep. She prayed they would stay asleep until she made her way into the shadows of the aspen forest that stretched away from the village on one side.

Her heart pounding, her knees weak from fear, Nicole kept walking her horse through the small community. She breathed a deep sigh of relief when she was finally outside its perimeters, standing with her mare in the shadows of the forest, where the moon’s glow was not able to penetrate the yellowing leaves overhead.

“We made it,” she whispered as she stroked her mount’s gray-speckled mane. “Now let’s get going.”

She had just put her foot into the stirrup when she heard a noise behind her. She stiffened and dropped her foot back to the ground when she realized what that noise was.

The snapping of a twig. Someone was close by.

She tried to mount the horse again, but jumped in terror when a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist.

She was turned quickly around and found herself face-to-face with one of the men appointed sentry tonight.

It was Jacob Jones.

“Please unhand me, Jacob,” Nicole begged, struggling and yanking as she tried to get free of his grip. “Please let me leave. I love the children and would love to be their teacher, but I learned today that Jeremiah Schrock plans to take me as his third wife. Jacob, I don’t want to marry Jeremiah. I could never be a third wife to any man, especially a man I could never love.”

Jacob gently dropped his hand from her wrist, allowing Nicole to step away from him.

“Nicole, I am not standing guard to keep you in, but to keep the evil men out,” Jacob said in a gentle voice.

Nicole could barely see his eyes. But she remembered that they were a striking blue color and always showed such kindness in them.

She also recalled his thin face, where reddish whiskers grew into a neatly trimmed beard. And as usual, he wore black, which blended into the darkness of night.

“Nicole, I will not force you to stay, but I fear for your safety if you leave. You know those evil men are looking for you,” Jacob continued in his
soft voice. “You know they have no good intentions toward you.”

“I am very aware of those men and what their intentions are toward me,” Nicole said softly. “Sam Partain killed my parents, and I don’t believe that Sam Partain will stop until he finds and kills me, too.”

“Yet you will risk his finding you rather than stay here where you will be safe and well cared for?” Jacob said, his voice revealing how surprised he was at her choice. “Jeremiah has made Nancy and Martha a good husband. He would also be kind and caring to you. He has prayed often for a son. He believes you would bear him not only one, but many.”

“And that is exactly why I must take my chances against Sam Partain,” Nicole softly argued. “I don’t want to marry any man that I don’t love, and I don’t want a man marrying me only to bear him sons.”

“That marriage would bring much happiness into your life,” Jacob said in a pleading way. “The women of our community are very happy. I have never seen any of them cry. Nicole, you could be happy here, too. If you blessed Jeremiah with a son, he would never stop repaying you. Gifts, Nicole. You would be given gifts you cannot even imagine.”

“I want no gifts, I want no favors, I only want my freedom and the right to fall in love with whom I want to love. I would never be content
with the life that is offered me by Jeremiah,” Nicole responded. “Now, Jacob, I am going to ride away from this community. The only way you can stop me is to shoot me. And I know that you wouldn’t do that. You are a man of God, a man of good heart. I just hope that Jeremiah doesn’t hold it against you too much that you let me go.”

“He is a man of God and he will accept God’s bidding if it is for you to be on your way and find happiness elsewhere,” Jacob said softly. He held the rifle tightly at his side. “Go, Nicole. Do what your heart tells you to do, and God bless.”

Nicole was so stunned that Jacob was actuallly letting her go, she stood there for a moment, staring at him. Then she went to him and flung herself into his arms.

“Thank you,” she softly cried. “Oh, Jacob, thank you for your sweet kindness.”

She felt his arm tighten around her.

She tensed, realizing at that moment he could actually lock his arms around her and force her to walk with him back into the village.

But to her relief, he was truly the kind man that she thought him to be. He released his arms from around her waist and stepped back.

“Jacob, oh, Jacob, will you be punished for allowing me to leave?” she asked, truly afraid for the kindhearted man.

“Jeremiah is a good man,” Jacob said, smiling at Nicole. “He would never mistreat a brother. Go, Nicole. Be safe. And when you find the man
you can love, I hope you will find much happiness as his wife.”

She wanted to tell him that she had already found that man, and that she truly felt he was her destiny. But she knew that neither Jacob nor Jeremiah would ever understand how she could love an Indian. Most whites, even the kindhearted Mormons, saw Indians as savages.

“I truly believe that I shall find that perfect man,” Nicole said, putting a foot into the stirrup, and mounting her steed.

She gazed down at Jacob. “I shall never forget your kindness,” she murmured. “Jacob, thank you. Thank you so much.”

“I will not forget your brave heart,” Jacob replied, then turned and walked away, while Nicole rode in the opposite direction into the darkness of the aspen forest.

Nicole sighed heavily. She knew that if it had been anyone but Jacob who’d found her, she would even now be back at the house that had been assigned her.

“Oh, Jeremiah, what are you going to do when you realize that I am gone?” she whispered into the wind.

She realized that he might come searching for her again.

She would not allow him to find her.