Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry (33 page)

Moses jumped and Shenanigan slid under the bed. He laughed, "Please, don't learn here!"

Giggling, Darcy hugged Moses and pulled her cloak closely around herself. She said goodbye and stepped outside. It was dark, but a full moon lit her way home.

The winter moonlight cast long shadows across her path. When the wind picked up, it sent the trees into an eerie dance. Tales of the Banshee crept into her mind, and Darcy quickened her pace. The Irish told of a wailing woman who warned of death, and if it were true, the Banshee was indeed walking among those at
Fort
Lawrence
tonight. When she arrived at the gate, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The month of February brought disease in earnest. Dysentery raged, and Darcy spent most of her time in the surgery, nursing the sick. On two occasions she was called in to act as midwife, and in both cases the babies were stillborn. Although the children at the fort were not yet starving, they were extremely thin, and their heads looked too big for their frail, little bodies.

Nathan developed a nagging cough, and many nights Darcy was kept awake listening to it wrack his body. She had been too busy and ill herself to be concerned about him, but one morning, when she was headed out to the surgery, she noticed that the door to his room was still shut from the night before.

She knocked, and when there was no response, she peeked inside. What she saw frightened her. Nathan was lying on his back with his eyes closed, not moving. Fearing that he was dead, she moved closer and listened for breathing. It was shallow, but he was breathing. Darcy touched his forehead and found it burning with fever.

Quickly she ran to find the surgeon. When they returned, he examined Nathan and told Darcy that it was a severe congestion of the lungs.

"Will he be all right?"

The surgeon sighed and said, "It is unlikely, my girl. Given his age and the poor nourishment, he may live only one or two days."

Darcy was stunned. This had all happened so quickly, and she couldn't believe that this was the end for Nathan. Tirelessly she worked to keep him alive. Although she had never loved Nathan, she was fond of him, and she never forgot certain freedoms he allowed her during her servitude.

She abandoned her work in the surgery and moved a bed into his room. Darcy fed him broth and sponged him with cool towels endlessly. His sleep was fitful, and he tossed restlessly in bed, coughing and straining for air. He lingered into the month of March, and one night Darcy heard him call her name. She sat up quickly, lighting a candle.

His eyes were open, and giving her a weak smile, he whispered, "My little colleen."

It took several more weeks, but Darcy pulled Nathan through the most dangerous time of his illness. When she finally had time to leave his quarters, she realized that the air had warmed, and the snow was melting. Spring had come to
Fort
Lawrence
.

Chapter 25

The steady drip, drip of maple sap into buckets was music to Darcy's ears. As she struggled through the mud, she realized that this would probably be the last time she would need to empty the containers. The sap had slowed now to almost a stop, and it had gradually become thin and tasteless, signaling the end of the sap flow.

She learned that the settlers would boil the sap down until it was reduced to thick syrup and use it as a delectable substitute for refined sugar. There was technique involved here. Many gallons could be lost if it was taken off the fire too soon, producing a thin syrup, or even worse, let the substance over-boil and caramelize. This whole process would be accompanied by a celebration called a sugaring off. There would be dancing, food and plenty of libations served throughout the day.

Much to everyone's relief and joy, the rations arrived and the residents of the fort were thriving again. It seemed the unit carrying the food had made it as far as
Fort
Pepperell
on the
Piscataqua
River
and been stopped by the November snowstorm. They wintered over at the fort, and the instant the roads became passable, resumed their journey.

Nathan had made a full recovery and returned to his post as commanding officer. He immediately prepared the fort for another attack. The French and Abenaki would return from their winter camps and possibly resume their attack soon. There had been great loss of life at the fort, and morale was extremely low, so Nathan allowed the Sugaring Off to be held for one day inside the walls.

Things returned to a more normal schedule and most of the patients were cared for and discharged. Looking back on her first winter at
Fort
Lawrence
, Darcy could see that the hunger in no way approached the magnitude of suffering endured in
Ireland
. Most of the deaths at the fort had been from disease and no resident actually died of starvation.

Longing to wash the hardships and memories of the winter away and start anew, she soaked all evening in a tub of warm water. For the first time in months, she washed her hair and filed her nails into smooth ovals. To Nathan, she never looked lovelier. Although she was thin, her eyes seemed brighter, and he found a respect in her fortitude which he had never appreciated before. He would never forget that she had saved his life, and for this he would be forever grateful.

The night before the sugaring off, everyone bustled about the parade ground making preparations. The women were busy cooking, and the regulars were erecting a platform for fiddlers. Firewood had been assembled under three large cast-iron pots, and the maple sap awaited its transition in several huge barrels.

Darcy had been baking pies all day in the kitchen when one of the women said there were some officers who requested pints of ale. She added that one of the men said he would take his drink only from the daughter of Brian Boru. Darcy was bending down by the hearth, and she stood up suddenly hitting her head on the bricks of the fireplace. Rubbing her head, she asked, "What does he look like?"

"He's very good-looking, but he has a cheeky attitude. See for yourself. He's the only one not in uniform."

As Darcy had suspected, there at the table was Jean Michel Lupe'. When he looked up, she stepped back out of sight into the kitchen.

How dare he come into her life again and shatter her piece of mind. He was a face from the past, and any feelings she might have had for him were over.
Yet her heart was pounding furiously, and her palms were soaked.

It was apparent to everyone in the kitchen that Darcy was agitated, and the women questioned her, but she ignored them. She was too busy looking for a way to escape. There was only one door, and crawling out a window was ludicrous, so she decided to face him head on.
I am no longer affected by this man, and I will prove it.

Drawing a pint, she straightened her back, took a deep breath and walked out the door. She felt his eyes on her as she approached the table. Suddenly Moses' words echoed in her ears. "
He's been with some woman down there for years, she lives somewhere on the Piscataqua too
." The jealousy she had buried all through the winter bubbled to the surface, and when Darcy reached the table she slammed the pint of ale down so hard that the contents drenched Jean Michel’s face and shirt.

He jumped to his feet, spewing forth profanities in French and English, as his comrades burst into laughter. "What the hell!" he exclaimed.

Darcy made no reply, turned on her heel and left. After Jean Michel recovered from his anger and the ribbing from the two officers, he started to think about what Darcy had done. She was furious with him about something, and he was determined to know what it was. If he could elicit that kind of passion from her, undoubtedly she still cared for him.

Lupe’ was headed to do a survey in the north and had been called to
Fort
Lawrence
for a final consultation with
Lawrence
. He was overwhelmed with relief when he saw Darcy.
 
He knew of the starvation at the fort from the beginning.

The unit trying to deliver the rations spent the winter at
Fort
Pepperell
, near his home, and all winter long he was anxious about her. Jean Michel had been less successful than Darcy dismissing the events of last summer. He believed that distance and Elizabeth Campbell's bed would quell his desire for the fiery Irishwoman, but he had been mistaken.

He reminded himself again and again that Darcy loved Nathan Lawrence. He told himself that he was here only to make final preparations for his field work, but seeing Darcy again he felt the desire build once more. He memorized every detail of her appearance and every mannerism. These memories he would take to the interior to banish his loneliness on dark nights.

The long-awaited sugaring off festivities began the following afternoon. The morning was spent in final preparations, and by noon the fires had been set and the large pots filled with sap. All day long the liquid would be watched as it bubbled and boiled, and more sap would be added until the crucial cook-down began. The end result of a successful sugaring off was a year-long supply of thick, rich maple syrup used on everything from johnnycakes to sweet potatoes.

While growing up, Jean Michel had attended many of these festivities, and it surprised him that Darcy was not in attendance. He thought she would be interested in this
New World
tradition, and after a brief meeting with Colonel Lawrence, he went out onto the parade ground to look for her.

Jean Michel was happy to be out of the stuffy office and in the fresh air. He did not like Nathan Lawrence, and after their less than cordial parting last summer, there was a strain between them. He found the entire fort brimming with excitement.

The tables were crammed with pumpkin and corn puddings, sweet potatoes, venison, rabbit and veal. The sweets were just as diverse including, Indian pudding, apple pies and gingerbread. He helped himself to a hearty plateful of food and joined several of the officers at a table.

The sky was gray, and the air was crisp as Jean Michel and the others shared drinks and played draughts. Over the course of the afternoon and well into the evening, he had been watching the crowds, but still had not seen Darcy. As he was having a good-natured discussion with Captain Trevor regarding who was a keener shot, she came through the gate accompanied by an old man.

Jean Michel instantly took in every detail of her appearance. She wore a dark, green skirt with a green-and-white striped bodice, laced tightly over her white chemise, and although her hair was pinned up, the wind had freed several strands, which softly framed her face. She was flushed from the cool wind, and her eyes sparkled.

As they wound their way through the crowd, Jean Michel noticed something familiar about the old man. He jumped to his feet, and with his hand extended, he exclaimed, "Why, Moses Tinker! It's been years!"

They shook hands warmly, and Jean Michel invited him to join them at their table for a drink. Darcy walked on, not caring to encounter Jean Michel. She planned to avoid him until he set off for the interior in a few days. Moses and Jean Michel reminisced about old times and family until the sun went down and torches were lit for the music and dancing.

Jean Michel watched Darcy, as she stood outside the door of the commanding officers' quarters. Finally he asked Moses, "What do you know of this McBride woman?"

"Ha! She asked the same thing about you," said Moses, taking a pull on his beer.

"Really? What did she want to know?" asked Jean Michel, leaning forward.

"Oh, nothing much," he said, scratching his gray head. "Where you lived, who your family was--that sort of thing, but the conversation ended on the spot when I told her you had a woman. She stood up and left the cabin and never mentioned your name again."

  
Moses looked at Jean Michel out of his good eye and said, "I find that odd, don't you?"

Jean Michel did not answer.
 
He was looking at Darcy. It was clear now why she had been so angry with him. She was jealous and that pleased him immensely. He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and said with a smirk, "Damn!"