Soul Catcher (64 page)

^{W
hen Cain awoke, Rosetta was squatting before the fire, fixing breakfast. Silently, he watched her for a moment. He followed the outline of her back against the blue calico of her dress, how it dipped in at the waist before swelling to the luxuriant fullness of her haunches. He reached out and touched her, feeling desire rumbling to life in him again. She turned and smiled at him.}

^{"Hungry, Cain?" she asked.}

^{"Yes," he replied, smiling. "But not for food."}

^{This time they enjoyed themselves in the leisure that was beyond hunger and need. They stood facing each other in the bright sunlight and he unbuttoned her dress slowly now, taking his time with each button, as if he had all the time in the world and each button was a thing of purest gold. When he had unfastened the last, Rosetta shrugged the dress off her thin, broad shoulders and let it pool at her feet. Something in his chest tightened as he gazed upon her brown nakedness, with its inviting secrets, its subtle nuances of swelling and recess, what in the darkness of the previous night he'd only been able to delight in by touch. When she started toward him, he told her, "No, wait." He wanted to savor the ripeness of her breasts, swelling with the life growing inside her, the strong, lean legs and firm haunches, the darker shadow below her belly. Even the bulge of her stomach was a thing amazing to him. Its smoothness fascinated him, and he reached out and slid his fingertips gently over its surface. She offered him a smile then, one filled with both a girlish innocence and a certain knowing wistfulness.}

^{"You just gonna look?" she asked.}

^{"You're beautiful," he said.}

^{"By the time you get to it, Cain, I'll be a wrinkled old lady," she said, laughing.}

^{Only then did he draw her toward him. They lay on the floor of the cabin and made love to the sound of the horses snuffling and the scraping of their hooves. When Cain looked over, he saw Hermes staring at him, as if conspiratorially. This time they moved slowly, not in the heat of need nor in the anguish of frustration, not trying to rid themselves of some terrible pent-up thing, but each trying to give the other something, a gift, a thing to share tenderly. When they were finished, they lay quietly in each other's arms, not exhausted or drunk with fatigue as they had been the previous night, but awake, more fully conscious of everything. Cain was aware of the beating both of his own heart and of hers beneath her ribs, of the smooth indentation of her lower back, the silky feel of the fine down along her cheek. It was, he knew, an altogether different thing than he'd ever experienced before, one both extraordinary and a bit unsettling.}

^{Raising herself up so she could gaze down into his eyes, Rosetta placed a finger to his lips and said, "I love you, Cain."}

^{* * *}

^{A
fter breakfast, Cain saddled the horses and they started off.}

^{The rain had let up, though the day was gray and overcast, with raggedy clouds strewn about the valleys and hollows like cotton batting. As they rode along now, he felt a transformation in the world around him, a deepening of all of its colors and sounds and smells. And he sensed a change in Rosetta, as well. She would glance over at him from time to time and smile that sad, knowing smile of hers. She carried herself with a new lightness, as if a weight had suddenly been taken off her shoulders. He, too, felt different somehow, more fully alive than he'd ever felt. And yet, in a strange way, he also felt a certain tension, a wariness of his changed state. It was as if he now carried within himself something infinitely fragile, a delicate thing that might shatter if he so much as stumbled, something both palpable and discreet, which he could sense as a pressure under his ribs on the left side, not far from where his wound had been. It made him cautious, in a way he was not used to. Not so much regarding himself--he'd always known how to fend for himself--but because of Rosetta. He wasn't altogether sure he liked this strange new feeling.}

^{Late that afternoon, they reached the outskirts of Parkersburg. Cain saw the B&O railroad bridge that crossed the Ohio into the free town of Belpre and, down below it at the wharf, a steam ferry with side paddle wheels. With his spyglass, he noted, too, the men standing about armed with rifles and pistols. Some of them wore local militia uniforms, with the distinctive gray kepi headgear.}

^{"Damn," he cursed.}

^{"Now what?" Rosetta asked.}

^{He led her a ways into the woods, then climbed a small hill. From here there was a good view of the town below, the ferry, the road they'd come in on.}

^{"I'll go into town and ask around. You wait here." Before he left, he gave her back the Tranter, reminding her again to shoot low and to hold it with two hands.}

^{"When you comin' back?"}

^{"I'll be back before dark."}

^{Cain rode into town. He stopped in front of a barbershop a stone's throw from the river. He went in and ordered a shave.}

^{"What're all those men doing near the bridge?" Cain asked the barber, an older man with a head of white hair down to his collar.}

^{"They're checking papers," the barber replied as he worked on Cain's beard.}

^"Why?"

^{"Heard tell they're looking for some runaway trying to cross over. Got the militia out and everything."}

^{"All this for just one nigger?" Cain asked.}

^{The man shrugged disinterestedly. "You'll be wanting a haircut, too?"}

^{"Just the shave."}

^{When the barber had finished, Cain glanced in the mirror in front of his chair. He hadn't seen himself for months and was a little surprised by the man staring back at him. He'd lost weight, his face thinner, the eyes more wearied, the lines around his mouth more deeply etched. He looked like someone who'd just awoken from a night of bad dreams. He paid the man and headed out into the street.}

^{He left Hermes tied to a hitching post and walked down to the river. Several of the armed men standing on the wharf were talking among themselves. They paused to eye him suspiciously, then they fell to talking again. Cain made his way over to the ferry which was loading up for its next crossing. He went up to a young boy working on it and asked what the fare was.}

^{"Hit just yourself?"}

^"Yes."

^{"Four bits."}

^{Cain looked down at the muddy water. The Ohio here was deep and swift from the spring rains, with another river spilling into it just to the south. A half mile below the railroad bridge, a large island split the river in half. Maybe they could try to cross there. But with Rosetta in her condition he didn't like taking the chance. Besides, they'd probably be watching the banks for people crossing. Perhaps they might just continue south looking for a better place to ford.}

^{As he was heading back up to his horse, he saw a one-armed Negro driving a team of oxen twitching a large pine log down toward the river. He was squat and powerfully built, with the empty sleeve of his right arm pinned to the shoulder. Cain approached the man.}

^{"Afternoon," he said.}

^{The Negro nodded but didn't turn his gaze downward the way most would on meeting a strange white man.}

^{"You taking that log over to Belpre?" Cain asked.}

^{"I is."}

^{"I'm looking to get someone across to the Ohio side."}

^{"They's the ferry ri'chere," the man said with a flick of his head.}

^{Cain paused for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to know of those who might be able to help get someone to the North."}

^{The Negro looked at him suspiciously, shook his head. "Doan know nothin' 'bout that, mister."}

^{Cain took out a silver dollar and flicked it toward the man. With his one hand, the Negro snatched it out of the air but didn't deign to look at it.}

^{"You sure?"}

^{"Like I said, doan know nothin' 'bout that," he repeated, disdainfully flicking the coin back to Cain.}

^{Cain stared at the man, then figured he'd take a chance.}

^{"I know of a woman with child who needs to get to safety. She's got some soul catchers after her. Just asking for some help is all."}

^{The man stared at him warily. He looked over his shoulders at the militia, then leaned in and said in a whisper, "Over yonder they's a man name a Stone. You ax for him. Mebbe he can hep you. Tell him you got some sheep you want delivered."}

^{"Sheep?" Cain said.}

^{"Yessum. Didn't hear nothin' from me," the man said nervously. Then he turned and headed off.}

^{Cain headed back for his horse before walking down to the ferry. One of the guards asked what his business was over in Ohio. Cain replied that he was looking to purchase some sheep and the man let him pass onto the ferry. On the ride over he exchanged looks with the one-armed Negro, and when they disembarked, the man nodded to him.}

^{Over in Belpre, he headed to the nearest saloon, figuring someone there would know the man. He sat at the bar and bought a whiskey, the first one he'd had in a week's time. He figured to have just the one.}

^{"Where could I find a man named Stone," he asked the barkeep.}

^{"South part of town," replied the other, a small man with hairy forearms. "Right across the river from the Little Kanawha. Can't miss it. A big white house with a red roof."}

^{"Crazy fool's got himself a makeshift cannon aimed across at Virginia," said another man who sat a few seats down from Cain. He was pale skinned and wore a loose boatman's shirt he had not changed in some time. The barkeep laughed.}

^{"You got business with that abolitionist son of a bitch?" the man asked Cain.}

^{Cain ignored the comment and started to leave.}

^{"Hey, I'm talkin' to you."}

^{Rather than chance a scene, Cain kept walking out the door.}

^{He found the place down near the river and turned into the drive. It was a grand house, something on the order of a southern plantation, two stories high with a long, tree-lined drive leading up to an elegant portico. Cain dismounted and went up to the door and knocked. A frail-looking, gray-haired man answered the door. At first Cain thought he might have been a servant.}

^{"May I help you?"}

^{"I'm looking for a man named Stone."}

^{"What would you want with him?"}

^{"I have some sheep to deliver."}

^{The man, who had a long gray beard, looked him up and down, noting the gun on his hip. Then he glanced over Cain's shoulder out to the road.}

^{"Come in," he said, ushering Cain quickly into the house. He led him into a parlor where he had him sit.}

^{"May I offer you some refreshment?"}

^"Whiskey."

^{"I'm afraid I don't keep any in the house."}

^{"I'm fine, then," Cain replied.}

^{"So you have sheep to be delivered?" the man asked, sitting down opposite him. Though frail, the old man sat rigidly upright like a man in church, hands on knees.}

^"Yes."