Deborah Camp (29 page)

A black film covered Blade’s eyes and it was all he could do not to flip the table over and charge at the boy. Suddenly Elise strode into the cabin, the heels of her shoes ringing sharply as she marched
over to her brother, her eyes spitting venom.

“How dare you sit at my table, eat my food and insult my husband!” Her voice rapped like a hammer against a nailhead. “You apologize to him this minute, Adam St. John.” When Adam started to argue, Elise stopped him with a voice that shook with fury. “
This minute!
”

Adam stared hard at her, rebellion in the set of his jaw and the bunching of his fists, but then his eyes softened and he lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

Elise released her breath in a long hiss. “That’s better.” She looked at Blade and smiled. “Forgive him, Blade. Please, forgive him.”

Blade would have forgiven the boy anything. Not for the boy, but for Elise. Running a hand over Adam’s fiery hair, Elise pulled him against her. He pressed his face against her stomach.

“You’re becoming a man, Adam.”

“I know.” His voice was muffled against her apron.

“But you still need guidance, and I hope you still need my love. Penny and I want you in our lives.” She twisted to find Penny hovering in the doorway. “Come here and give your brother a kiss, Pen.”

Penny came forward and bussed Adam’s cheek. “You still leaving?”

Adam ran both hands through his wet hair. “I don’t know.” He glanced around. “I need to get dressed.”

Elise looked sheepish. “I threw your clothes into the rag pile, Adam.”

Adam looked at Blade and grinned.

“Told you,” Blade said, then jerked a thumb to indicate the bedrooms. “You can dress in there. Either one.”

“Thanks.” Adam started to ease himself from the
chair, but Elise placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Are these bruises?” she asked in shock. “What has the brute been doing to you?”

“Nothing.” Red stained Adam’s face, almost obliterating his freckles.

“Nothing?” She tipped his head sideways while Adam squirmed. “What are these on your neck? He didn’t—”

“He only cuffs me,” Adam said, trying to duck away. “I never cry.”

“Elise,” Blade said, standing up and gently pulling her away from Adam, “let the boy get dressed.”

“But he—”

“Let go of him.” Blade pushed aside her hands, allowing Adam to escape into Penny’s room, his bedroll under one arm. “You’re embarrassing him. He doesn’t want you worrying about him.”

“But I
am
worried about him, Blade. If he leaves …”

“He won’t. He’s already having second thoughts about that. His belly is full, he’s clean as a hound’s tooth and he’s feeling better about the world.” Blade looked at Penny. “Go whistle up Bob for me, pretty Penny.”

“You going somewhere?”

“I’m going to give Adam a ride home.”

“Okay.” Penny ran outside and began whistling and calling for the temperamental pinto.

Elise gripped Blade’s shirtsleeve. Her eyes were dull, full of worry. “What if he—”

She didn’t finish. Adam opened the door and joined them again. Blade could have sworn he’d grown three or four inches since he’d first seen him at the train station.

“Did your mare foal?” Adam asked.

Elise beamed. “She did. A filly that your little sister named Gwenie.”

“Gwenie?” Adam’s brow jumped. “After Mama?” He laughed when Elise nodded. “She would love it.”

Elise sobered. “Adam, you aren’t leaving, are you?”

He jutted his jaw, but shook his head. “Not tonight. Later.”

Elise gathered him into her embrace. Blade cleared the table, giving them a minute of privacy.

“Adam, if you insist on wearing the same clothes over and over, it wouldn’t hurt if you rinsed them out each night.”

“I guess I could do that.”

“See? You still need me to look after you.”

“You know, Sis, I used to wish I had a big brother instead of a big sister, but I guess I got what I needed.”

“Oh, Adam …”

Hearing the emotion clogging Elise’s throat, Blade turned back to them. “Ready to ride, Adam?”

“Yes.” Adam looked from Elise to Blade. “The old judge doesn’t much like either of you. He says that you’re hen-pecked and that Elise doesn’t know her rightful place.”

“My rightful place!” Elise set her fists at her waist in a defiant stance. “I’ve never been confused about that. My rightful place is with my family.”

Adam kissed her cheek. “See you, Sis.”

“Take care, Adam.”

Blade felt Elise’s worried gaze on them as he and Adam went outside. Penny had managed to summon Bob and had fetched his bridle, which she handed to Blade.

“Can you ride bareback, Adam?” Blade asked as he slipped the bit into Bob’s mouth and fit the bridle over his ears.

“I guess.”

Blade grinned. “Just hold onto me, little brother.” He grabbed handfuls of mane and sprang up onto Bob’s wide back. “Steady, son,” he murmured to the horse, then reached out a hand to help Adam up to sit behind him.

“ ’Bye, Adam!” Penny called before running up the porch steps to stand beside Elise, who was silhouetted in the doorway.

“ ’Bye now.” Adam gave a short wave, then grabbed Blade’s shoulders to keep from sliding off Bob’s back.

Blade reined the horse to a slow walk until Adam’s grip lessened some on his shoulders.

“The judge is a harsh man, Adam. Running away from him will solve nothing. It will worry your sisters and you’ll have the authorities after you.” He glanced over his shoulder. Adam’s face was in shadow, but he felt the boy’s resistance. “If you run, run to me.”

“Huh?” Adam whipped his gaze around to Blade’s. “To you? But you’re trying not to rile the judge so he’ll let you keep your land.”

“Some things are more important than land, my young friend. Promise me that you’ll come to me if you find you can’t stay at the judge’s a day longer.”

Adam didn’t answer immediately. “If I stay at your place, he’ll make big trouble for you. He’ll take your land for sure.”

“If I don’t pay him back, he’ll take it anyway.” Blade hated to admit that, even to himself, but there it was. He hadn’t enough money to repay his
debt, and the judge was anything but charitable. Nothing was worth Elise being overcome with worry. “Promise me, Adam.”

Adam’s hands tightened on Blade’s shoulders for an instant. “I promise … big brother.”

A
iry Peppers lived in a one-room cabin in the middle of nowhere. Wild brush grew right up to her front door and the interior held only the necessities—a stove, a bed, a chair, a table and a chest of drawers.

Out back, a footpath ran through the brush and trees to a privy, then on through more brush and trees to a small clearing where Airy, Dixie and Blade had rebuilt the whiskey still. Afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees, flashing off the jugs and bottles Airy and Dixie filled with practiced efficiency.

“Almost done,” Airy said, looking up at Blade and Elise, who stood off to one side with Penny. “I’ll send a bottle of it home with you, Blade, if your better half don’t mind.”

“I don’t like that smell,” Penny complained. “When are we going home? I’m tired.”

“In just a minute,” Elise told her. “I wanted to see the still Blade helped build. Do you want a bottle of it?” she asked him, and was relieved when he shook his head.

“I’ve got a jug stashed somewhere for medicinal purposes.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Lordy, I’ve heard
that
a few times,” Airy said with a laugh. “Medicinal purposes and for cooking; that’s why folks buy this stuff. They never buy it to just drink.”

“I’m all out of it,” Dixie explained. “If I don’t keep it stocked, my boarders get restless. We should have made a new batch last week, Airy.”

“I know, but I didn’t figure them cakes for the church bake sale would use up so much. Shoot, they soaked up the whiskey like sponges.” Airy cackled and slapped the flat of her hand across her thigh. “Them cakes sold like ice in summer, just like I told you they would. All we had to do was stand back and watch the stampede.”

Dixie laughed with her. “We are wicked. Truly wicked. Once we put that sign on them—” Dixie held a hand out in front of her as if she were reading a banner. “HIGH SPIRITS CAKE. Well, that’s all we had to do. The men caught on real quick what was in them.”

Elise joined in for a laugh, recalling how the men had smacked their lips and sniffed the cakes while their wives had stood back with pursed lips and censuring glares.

“It was for a good cause.” Airy corked the last bottle and handed it to her cousin to add to the ones lying in a straw filled box. “The pastor didn’t turn up his nose when we offered him the money we got for them.”

“We made more money than anybody else there,” Dixie noted with pride. “Our twenty whiskey cakes went in a flash.”

“If we had brought regular fare, we wouldn’t have sold a one,” Airy surmised. “Them old buzzards, like Gladys Keizer and Sally Carpenter, had made up their minds they weren’t going to buy
nothing from the likes of us. But we showed ’em! Why, Samuel Keizer bought not one but two!”

“Personally, I think the idea was inspired,” Elise said with a jaunty smile. “Crossroads is full of hypocrites, and it’s our duty to point it out whenever possible.”

Blade reached down and picked up Penny. He swung her high to sit on his shoulders, her legs dangling down his chest. “The people around here are getting better. They had trouble after the War Between the States. Slaves were used everywhere in and around Crossroads, and the landowners were slow to give up their old ways. They didn’t want to pay the workers they had never paid before. Years and years went by before their pride finally crumbled and they hired workers or made deals with sharecroppers.”

“Some still treat their workers like slaves,” Elise grumbled. “And I don’t like the way they treat you. You’ve done nothing to those people.”

“They aren’t all unfriendly,” Blade pointed out. “Only a few won’t speak to me, and that doesn’t keep me awake at night.”

Airy squatted by the wood box and hammered nails into the lid. “I know somebody who sure ain’t happy that we’re back to bottling whiskey.”

“Judge Mott,” Elise said with a nod.

“How’s your brother doing over at his place?”

Elise shrugged. “Who could get along with that man? I think he spooked a mule one day so that it dragged Adam behind it just to teach him a lesson in paying attention.”

“I had that same thing done to me once,” Blade said. “It worked. I learned to keep my mind on my plowing and not to let the mules do all the thinking for me.”

Elise tried hard to hold onto her temper, but it never failed to irritate her when Blade agreed with anything the judge did. “And did you enjoy the experience, Blade? Would you wish it on other boys?”

His eyes grew stormy. “I don’t wish harm on anyone, but your brother does have a foolish tongue and often uses it when he shouldn’t.”

Elise bit on her lower lip and tried to remain calm in front of the others. “How can you take the judge’s side when you know he’s nothing but a bully? Sometimes, Blade Lonewolf, I’d like nothing better than to give you a good, swift kick!”

Dixie cleared her throat and voiced gaiety into the atmosphere, which had become tense. “All done here! Blade, will you carry this heavy old box to the buggy for me?”

“Be glad to.” He swung Penny to the ground and lifted the box full of bottles and jugs without so much as a grunt. “Then we’ll be getting on home.”

Elise held Penny’s hand and walked behind him—ten paces. She glared at his back, but common sense told her he wasn’t too far from being right. Adam could sass with the best of them, but he didn’t deserve to be struck for it! Of course, men tended to look at things differently. Brute force was something they lived with, even fostered and found pride in. To be fair, Blade wasn’t a brute. What they needed was a good, long talk, Elise decided. A husband and wife shouldn’t bottle up their problems like spirits and cork them with pride. Problems did not age well.

Rocking steadily, Elise practiced the crochet loops and half loops Dixie had taught her. Coming
inside after his evening chores, Blade stood by the door and watched her.

He’d been proud of her at the bake sale. She’d charmed many of the doubters with her bright smile and friendly patter. The table she, Airy and Dixie manned had been the most popular, and Blade had noticed the many admiring glances his wife had received from the townsmen. Her beauty, her easy laughter and her good manners had won them over.

A couple of men had even winked slyly at him in jocular congratulations. Yes, he was a lucky man.

She didn’t look up, but concentrated on the yarn and needlework. A few dark red strands of her hair had slipped from their anchors on top of her head and curled along her neck. He thought of plucking the pins from her hair and burying his face in the silky mass.

Staving off his desire for her, which never seemed to diminish, he crossed the room to the washbasin and began scrubbing his hands, arms, face and neck. Something was bothering her, he thought, noting her silence and the worry lines between her eyes. Probably Adam.

“You acted like you enjoyed the day in town.”

She nodded. “I think it’s good to get to know the townspeople better, and let them get to know us.”

“Elise, if you want to speak to me about something, now is the time. If you’re not pleased with something I’ve done, then you should talk to me about it. I suppose it’s something to do with Adam.”

She abandoned her crochet needle as her hands fell motionless in her lap. “He was in school only twice this week. I’m afraid he might run away, Blade.”

“He might, but he promised me he’d come here first. I believe him.”

She leaned her head against the back of the rocker. “I hope he honors that vow. I don’t even recognize him sometimes, Blade. He’s changed so much.” She chewed fretfully on her lower lip. “I feel guility.”

“Guilty about what?”

“It was wrong to ask him to remain somewhere that he hates.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “I brought him food every day to school because he doesn’t like what they feed him. He doesn’t like anything about that place.”