Fated Memories (45 page)

“
Come on, Eathen. I’m more your size. Take me on!”

Wiping the blood from his split nose, Eathen lunged, his fists balled and ready. “Yeah! I’ll take you on! Right now you’re just what I need!” he grunted, swinging once more, but this time his fists missed their target as Wolfer swung, catching Eathen in the mid-section to send him sprawling face first onto the hard ground.

“
Mama!” Jessie wailed, at the sight of her mother running towards her.

Wrapping her daughter safe in her arms, Charlotte cried, “Jessie! Thank God you’re home!”

“
Miss Charlotte,” Wolfer sniffed, wiping a sleeved arm beneath his bloodied nose, “I think you should take Jessie and go to the house. Eathen’ll be along soon as we’re through beatin’ the hell out of each other.”

“
All right, take your time,” Charlotte said over her shoulder as she led a frightened Jessie to the house.

As they walked through the door, Hattie shuffled towards them.

“
My baby chile!” Hattie pulled the slender girl into her big arms. “Ah’s so happy you’s home!”

“
Oh, Hattie! I’m so sorry I lied to you,” Jessie gulped, trying to get the words out.

“
Ah know you din’ mean ter lies ter ole Hattie, chile. Ah knows.” She rocked Jessie back and forth.

While Hattie and Jessie consoled one another, Charlotte glanced out the window to see how Eathen fared with the big man who had been kind enough to return their daughter.

“
Eathen, now, goddamnit, this’s gone far enough!” Wolfer held up his hands as Eathen came at him again.

“
You’re the one who wanted to mix it up,” Eathen snarled, his big fist already swinging to catch Wolfer in the mouth. “Now let’s see what you got!”

“
Why…you…son-of-a-bitch!” Wolfer shook his head, spit blood.

“
Come on, big man! Swing!”

Like a raging bull Wolfer lunged, driving into the other man so hard they both lost their footing. Panting and grunting, they continued to throw blows back and forth until neither of them could stand. At last they rolled away from each other, trying to catch their breath.

Dropping the curtain back into place, Charlotte turned away. “Maybe now he’ll be more reasonable.”

“
Is Daddy comin’ in?” Jessie’s eyes widened with fear.

“
Yes, sweetheart, he is. Don’t worry though. The discussion he had with Wolfer’s taken all the fight outta him for the time bein’.”

As Eathen walked through the door, Jessie took a step towards him. “Daddy, ain’t you glad to see me?”

“
Right now, I don’t care to see anybody. Hattie, I need you to heat me some water so I can get cleaned up.”

“
Yes suh, Mist’ Eathen.” Hattie already moved towards the kitchen. “Ah’ll go does it right now.”

Trailing Hattie through the door, he stripped off his torn shirt. “It don’t need to be hot. Just get the chill off.”

“
You’s gwing ter needs sumpin’ on dem cuts,” she told him, pumping water into a large teakettle. “Soon as ah gets dis on de stove, ah’ll go gits whut wes gwing ter needs.”

Glancing up, he saw Charlotte standing in the doorway. “I thought you’d be in the other room consolin’ Jessie.”

“
I’m not the one she wants right now, Eathen.”

“
I’ll talk to her soon as I get cleaned up.” He lifted the teakettle off the burner. After pouring the tepid water into a washpan, he set the empty kettle on the sideboard to begin scrubbing his face and hands, wincing as the soap stung the opened cuts.

“
Ah gots it, Mist’ Eathen.” Hattie set the small medicine chest down on the kitchen table.

“
All right, just leave it, Hattie. When I’m through here Charlotte can help me.”

Shrugging her shoulders, she turned toward the door. “Awright den, effen y’all doan needs me no mo’, ah’ll gwan back in der wid Miss Jessie. Dat po’ chile needs all de love she can gits right now.”

Eathen glared at the woman’s reflection in the small mirror hanging over the washpan. “What she needs is a swift kick ‘n the ass! But I guess in her condition that’s outta the question.”

“
Yes it is. She’s got enough problems without you addin’ that.” Charlotte handed him the fresh towel she had waiting nearby.

Eathen straddled a chair, waiting for Charlotte to tend his wounds.

“
I hope you’re proud of the way you acted out there with Wolfer. The man spent over a week out in the cold to do you a favor and this is how you repay him.” She dabbed at an ugly cut over his eye with a piece of gauze soaked in iodine.

“
Ouch! Goddamnit!” He pulled back. “If you’re doin’ this just so you can cause me more pain, forget it. I’ll get Hattie’s ass back in here.”

“
Shut up and hold still.” She grabbed his chin, turning his face back around. “If you’d been actin’ like a man ‘stead of a hot-headed kid, you wouldn’t be needin’ any body’s help!”

“
The way I handle situations in this house’s my business not yours, Charlotte.”

When she started to reach for him again, he blocked her hand. “That’s good enough. If I need anything else done, I’ll have Hattie do it.”

“
Suit yourself.” She gathered up the soiled gauze. “Since I’m no longer needed, I’ll go back in with Jessie. As Hattie said, she needs all the love she can get right now.”

“
Call Hattie off to the side and tell her we need to be alone with Jessie for awhile. I know she’s part of this family, but right now I think Jessie’d cooperate better if it’s just the three of us.”

“
I’m sure Hattie’ll understand. Eathen,” she halted him as he lifted the wash pan from the stand, “I want your promise you won’t lose your temper. Jessie’s in a bad way right now, and I don’t want you upsettin’ her anymore’n she already is.”

“
I can’t promise anything I’m not sure of myself.” He dumped the soiled water into the sink. “Every time I think of that son-of-a-bitch putin’ his hands on her, I lose all reason!” He banged the empty pan down on the stand. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”

The loud ticking of the clock sitting on the small table next to Jessie’s chair echoed throughout the quiet room, its monotonous drone seeming to grow louder with each second that passed.

“
Jessie, your father and I’d like to know what you’re plannin’ to do about your situation.”

With real fear, she chanced a quick glance at the man seated across from her. The unreadable gaze meeting her own increased her fear.

“
I tried to do what I thought best.” Her eyes darted from one to the other. “But you sent Wolfer to bring me back. I want both of you to know, right now, I don’t wanna stay here.” Jessie laid a hand over her flat stomach, gathering the strength she needed. “I wanna be with the man I love and who loves me.”

Before either of them could move, Eathen lunged from his chair to pull an unsuspecting Jessie to her feet. “Now, you listen to me, little girl! And you listen to me good! I love you with all my heart, but you’ve shamed this family for the last time! Do you hear me?” He shook her, his fingers digging into her shoulders. “The last time! That red-son-of-a-bitch you think you’re in love with’s gonna die! You get that straight in your mind now! So when it happens, you won’t be surprised!” He shoved her away from him.

“
How can you say you love me?” she challenged him, holding his angry gaze in a show of force. The strength she had been reaching for filling her with its power. “How do you get the guts to talk about love, and then in the same breath, threaten to do somethin’ that’ll destroy me?”

“
Destroy you? What the hell do you think you’ve done to me? Do you think I want it known my own daughter laid up with a goddamn Indian?”

“
See?” She spread her hands, staring at him in amazement. “You admitted it! What will everyone think? Eathen Thornton’s daughter went and got herself pregnant by an Indian. My God!” She whirled gazing at Charlotte. “The shame of it all!”

“
You’re goddamn right, the shame of it all! This is Montana, girl!” He ignored Charlotte’s silent plea for him to calm down. “You knew better’n to pull your dress up for trash like that! Your mother and Hattie taught you about the facts of life! Why the hell didn’t you listen?”

“
Yes, they told me what I needed to know about bein’ a good girl! And I am a good girl!” she cried, feeling her strength in the heat of his anger begin to dissolve. “I fell in love. Can you really fault me for that?”

“
Love!” he snorted, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “You don’t know the first damn thing about bein’ in love! If you did, you’d realize bein’ in love means you don’t go outta your way to get him killed!”

“
I’m not the one threatenin’ him!” she screamed out her frustration. “You are!”

“
I’m gonna do more’n threaten! I’m gonna kill him!”

“
I don’t think you’ll get the chance,” Jessie challenged him. “Two Spirits’ll never come back here now. He knows what you got planned.”

“
Oh he’ll come.” Eathen cocked his head to the side. “It might take him awhile. But sooner or later, he’ll make his move. When he does, I’ll be waitin’.”

“
You’ve never loved me, have you?” She watched him, trying to glean the truth. “I mean not really. I’ve heard the arguments between you and Mama when you thought I’d already gone to sleep, about your wantin’ a son. All these years you just pretended to love me, and all the while wishin’ I’d never been born.”

“
It won’t work, little girl.” Eathen snatched the conversation back into perspective. “This has nothin’ to do with my wantin’ a son. Its got to do with the one child I did have shamin’ me so goddamn bad I can’t hold up my head!”

“
Will you answer me somethin’?” Jessie refused to be bullied.

“
If I know the answer.”

“
Would you have accepted Two Spirits into this family if he wasn’t Indian?”

Charlotte felt her breath catch as she waited for his answer. When he remained silent, she spoke up, “Eathen, I think she deserves an answer. If Two Spirits was white and she carried his baby, would you accept him into this family?”

“
All right, I’ll tell you. If you carried a white kid, the boy who fathered that kid’d find himself standin’ before a preacher. But there’s no way in hell you’re gonna stand in front of a preacher with a damn Indian! Not as long as I have anything to say about it, you won’t!”

“
That’s not my question. I asked if you would accept Two Spirits into this family, had he not been Indian.”

“
How the hell can I answer you? He is Indian!”

“
I saw respect in your eyes the day he bested Jake. You can’t deny that.”

“
Yeah. I had respect for a man who stood up to a loud mouth and took care of the situation without backin’ down. But we ain’t talkin’ ‘bout his kickin’ somebody’s ass! We’re talkin’ “bout his putin’ his hands on a white girl!”

“
You’re not gonna answer me. Are you?”

“
I have answered you!” Eathen swiped a tired hand over his face. “I don’t know how I could say it any plainer. He ain’t white! He’s Indian! I can’t say what I’d do if this isn’t so or that isn’t so. The facts speak for themselves!”

Knowing she would get no further on this subject, she switched to another.

“
What’s gonna happen to my child? I know you won’t let me keep her here.”

“
Jessie,” Charlotte glanced to where Eathen had settled himself in his chair, “your father and I’ve talked it over and we think the best thing for all of us, is for you to go and live with your Aunt Martha and Uncle John until this is all over.”

“
And afterwards?” Jessie closed her eyes, breathing deep breaths against her fear. “Are you gonna allow me to come back home?”

“
You can come back,” Eathen told her.

“
But not my child.” She reached out to a nearby chair before her legs gave out and buckled beneath her.

“
Not to my house,” Eathen informed her. “If you wanna stay and raise your kid ‘n Boston, that’ll be up to John and Martha.”

“
So what it comes down to is this is a way to get rid of both of us.” The hand squeezing her heart strengthened its grip. “The daughter you never wanted in the first place can now be disposed of too.”

“
Get off that goddamn shit!” Eathen threw her a disgusted look. “No one here’s gonna feel sorry for you. You know I’ve always loved you more’n my own life.”

“
No, Daddy, I don’t.” She pushed herself with an unsteady hand to her feet. “I’m goin’ to my room,” she told them. “Right now, Daddy, I can’t stomach the sight of you.”

As Jessie walked out of the room, Charlotte turned her attention on Eathen. “Are you gettin’ any insight into how she feels?”

“
Yeah, I think I am.” He made his way across the room to the portable bar. Lifting the top from one of the decanters, he placed two glasses upright before him, shoved one back when Charlotte shook her head.

Charlotte could feel her nerves growing tighter as she watched him drink from the glass. “What conclusion have you come to?”

“
She’s tryin’ to put all the blame on me.” He refilled his empty glass. “Oh, don’t give me that look, Charlotte,” Eathen told her as she stared at him in amazement. “It’s been a ploy of women for years. But it won’t work this time. I won’t play her game.”