The One Who Waits for Me (28 page)

Joanie couldn't keep quiet. “What about humans? Wasn't it too hot for them?”

“Ah…before making humans, the Indians say that Someone Powerful created plants and animals and commanded them to stay awake and watch for seven days and seven nights. Our young men still do this today when they fast and prepare for a ceremony, but legend says that most of the plants and animals couldn't do this. Some fell asleep after one day, some after two days.

“Only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake on the eighth morning, and Someone Powerful said to them, ‘Because you were vigilant and stayed awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter.' So these plants stay green all year.

“Once Someone Powerful created plants and animals, He made man and his sister. The man poked her with a fish and told her to give birth. After seven days she had a baby. And after seven more days she had another and every seven days the family grew to be many. The humans increased so rapidly that Someone Powerful began to wonder if soon there would not be enough room on this earth for everyone, so He changed plans. From that moment on, a woman could have only one child every year. And that's how it was.”

Settling into his arms, Joanie considered the legend. “It's a lovely story.”

“It is said there is another world beneath us.”

“And how would one reach this other world?”

“You can only get there by going down a spring or a water hole, but you need underwater people to guide you.”

“And what is this world like?”

“Exactly like ours, except that it's winter down there when it's summer up here.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder as a glint filled his eyes. “Would you like to visit this world?” He pushed gently, as if to dunk her.

Squealing, she held tightly to him. “No!”

“Ah. Another day perhaps.” He sobered and drew her back into his embrace. “I have told your story, Joanie Jornigan.” He gently tilted her face to meet his. “And now I claim my reward.” Slowly he lowered his mouth to touch hers. He tasted salty and sweet, like summer air and water. His touch sent waves of warmth rippling up Joanie's back.

The white man had his belief about this exhilarated glow that now coiled around her in a soft blanket of bliss. It was called love.

B
eth paced beside her pallet. Joanie was off again with Gray Eagle, and the camp was quiet. Secretly, Pierce's plan to force Uncle Walt's hand scared the wits out of her, but she'd do anything to get this “war” over. She paused, noting her own reflection in the wavy-glassed mirror tacked to the lodge wall. Bending closer, she traced small lines around her eyes. She'd never been one to primp or even consider her looks, but lately she had a nagging desire for a pot of rouge or a touch of rose water to dab on her skin behind her ears.

At least a good scrubbing with scented soap and clean towels.

Irrational, Beth
, her image whispered.
You've been filled with nothing but fanciful thoughts since the captain rescued you. No matter how kind he is, he would never want a work-worn girl like you. All you can offer him is trouble
.

Standing on tiptoes now, she smoothed tired lines with her fingertips. Would he notice her in her clean dress and the new yellow hair ribbon? The latter was a gift from Sister Mary Margaret for all her help in the garden. Preach had mentioned Pierce might have a girl waiting for him at home—how serious were they? Was this someone expecting to marry him, live on his land, and have his babies?

Is that what I want?
The thing Beth once found insufferable didn't seem so bad at the moment, not when Pierce was the man she envisioned. He was gentle yet strong. Caring yet solid. Handsome but not pretty. He was rugged. He was tough as nails and soft as warm spring air when he wanted to be.

If a woman was looking for a husband, the captain would certainly exceed most expectations. After wearing trousers for several days, her dress was giving her funny feelings. She felt more feminine in it than she did in boy's clothing. She wasn't sure she was comfortable with that.

Beth stared at her image in the glass. Had Ma once looked at Pa the way she looked at Pierce? Sniffing the air, she half turned when she caught the brief scent of smoke. Eyes scanning the area she decided the smell must have drifted from a neighboring fire. Turning back to the mirror, she evaluated her features, examining her profile. Nothing unusual, yet nothing outstanding, either.

Switching positions, she lifted her nose and studied the opposite side of her face. It was a good thing she wasn't in the market for a husband.

Striding through the camp, Pierce spotted Beth staring in the mirror just inside the open door to her lodge. His footfalls paused, and he grinned when he caught her assessing her looks. He didn't figure her as the fussy kind, but then didn't every woman want to look her best? Leaning against a tree, he crossed his arms and watched her as she turned one way and then the other. She was mighty fetching in that yellow dress, with her golden hair hanging to her waist. It was loose again today. He tried to imagine her in a satin ball gown and slippers, waltzing beneath a crystal chandelier.

He shifted stances.

Most men would find her feisty nature aggravating. He found it likeable.

Shaking the thought clear, Pierce realized he'd been without a woman's company for too long. Beth came with a lot of complications—namely Uncle Walt and Bear. If Pierce was around either man any length of time he'd have to shoot him, and there would go his dream of a peaceful life. Shifting, his gaze caught a tiny wisp of smoke lightly drifting from the hem of her dress.

Immediately his arms dropped to his sides and his boots started to move.

Humming under her breath, Beth stepped away from the mirror, the words of the song she'd heard Joanie singing so often escaping her. “In the sweet by and by—”

Ooofff! The air left her lungs as someone pounced on her, knocking her to the ground. With a yelp, Beth grabbed hold of the beast's hair and yanked. “Let me go!” she shrieked.

“Hold still!”

“Pierce? Get…off…me…you…big…oaf!” What on earth had come over him? Some evil spirit?

“Your dress is on fire!”

“My—
what
?”

“Your dress is on
fire
!”

Stilling, Beth tried to catch her breath. The stench of scorched cotton filled her nose. “Oh no!” She gazed down at the smoke rising from her feet, and then her gaze switched to the fire pit burning low. No wonder she'd felt so hot.

Pierce shook free of her grasp and took the rug he'd grabbed from a line and finished beating out the flames.

Glancing at her blackened clothes, she held back a scream. Her one dress, ruined.

Her eyes turned to Pierce, who was making sure the flames were extinguished. What was it with her and fire? The man must think she was a lunatic!

Grabbing her hand, he hauled her to her feet and made for the entrance. As they burst out of the smoky lodge, she realized the whole camp had gathered around them.

The children had dropped sticks in the dirt and run to watch the ruckus of the captain and Beth rolling on the ground. Preach stood to the side with his arms crossed over his thick chest and a grin planted on his dark face.

“Are you both all right?” he asked cheerfully.

Now that Beth was safe, Pierce went back inside to make sure no smoldering embers were outside the fire pit. He called over his shoulder, “Preach, check her to see if she's burnt.”

Beth waved Preach's attention aside. Other than her pride, she wasn't hurt. Curious eyes peered at her. Clearly, the captain wasn't the only one who thought she had a fire fetish.

Gray Eagle and Joanie were walking into camp. When Joanie spotted the spectacle, she ran to help. Bending beside Beth's still-smoking skirt, she cradled her sister's heaving chest. “Goodness' sake. What's happened?”

The cough was gone this morning. After every one of Gray Eagle and Joanie's walks, Beth noticed, Joanie was visibly better. And wet.

Where did they go on these mysterious strolls? What occurred when they were there that would cause her life-long ailment to simply evaporate? Even more puzzling, why did Joanie refuse to tell her where they went?

“I'm not hurt.” Beth pushed away Joanie's soothing hands. Smoothing her hair, she said quietly, “I'll get your dinner.”

Pierce came back to stand beside her, grinning, and then he motioned for the crowd to disperse.

She could feel his laughing eyes on her back when she walked inside. She'd been so preoccupied with her appearance that she'd stepped too close to the fire and caught the hem of her dress aflame. Heat filled her cheeks. The man would think she was completely daft. Totally daft.

Turning, she tossed over her shoulder, “I wasn't minding what I was doing.”

“I figured as much.” His grin widened. A bit of black ash fell from her hem.

She would do better to keep quiet and allow the humiliating moment to pass. Yes, that was the only sensible course.

“Want me to hide the matches?” Pierce called.

“That won't be necessary.”
Want me to hide the matches
, she mouthed, mimicking.

She should have known he'd show his man side.

S
ister Mary Margaret?”

The nun paused in her work, glancing up. Beside her a pile of weeds lay upended. “Yes, Beth?” From her kneeling position on the ground she gave her young friend a quick smile.

When Beth lifted her face, she realized the nun was studying her. She cleared her throat.

“What did you want to know, my dear?”

Beth sat down alongside her. Though the nun's hands were covered in dirt, a wedding band was still visible on her left hand.

“Have you ever been in love?”

The sister gave her a puzzled look. “With Christ…but I suspect that's not what you mean.”

“No, I mean the earthly kind.”

The sister smiled to herself and pulled up another weed as she weighed her answer. “Once, when I was young, there was this boy in our church.” Mary Margaret sat back on her heels, lost in thought. “His name was Fred. He brought me a peppermint stick every Sunday morning. We planned to marry someday.”

“Really?” Beth glanced over. “What happened?”

“He fell from his barn loft. He was helping his father put up hay for winter.” The sister's usually cheery voice grew tender. “His mother found him when she came in from milking. The good Lord took him quickly.” With a sigh the sister went back to work. “I decided then that God would be the love of my life. I joined the convent when I was sixteen and took my final vows two years later.”

Beth tried to imagine the stout, rotund woman with laughing eyes as a wife and a mother. She would have been a good one, so caring and kind.

“Why do you ask?”

Beth started, returning to the present. She paused before answering. “I never thought I would marry or have children.”

“Have you changed your mind?”