Finding Home (3 page)

Blood gushed from her father’s face and
neck, his jugular severed and the realization struck Nat a crushing
blow that there was nothing she could do to prevent her father’s
death. Nat sat beside her father on the blood soaked ground and
held his hand while she watched his life slip away from his body.
“I love you Father,” Nat said then Nathan closed his pain filled
eyes and passed into the next world.

Nat sat for hours with her father’s
head in her lap in the death filled meadow, until Hardy’s soft lips
brushed her neck bringing her out of her stupor. She managed to
find her father’s horse and struggled until she managed to drape
his lifeless body across his saddle and then mounted Hardy for the
ride back to the cabin.

She carried Nathan’s body onto the
cabin porch and bathed the drying blood from his body. She searched
through their packs until she found a shovel and began preparing a
grave for her beloved father. Shock overcame her body and she moved
mechanically as she carried Nathan and placed him in the ground,
slowly covering his body with the freshly dug earth.

Nat made several trips down to the
river’s edge to collect rocks to prepare a mound over her father’s
grave and as the sun slowly sank into the horizon she placed the
last rock upon her father’s grave. She sat beside the grave and Gyp
who had traced her every step crawled up into her lap to provide
whatever comfort she could to her mourning master. The chill of the
oncoming night forced Nat into the cabin and she sat before the
fireplace totally alone for the first time in her life.

Sometime during the night Nat curled up
in a ball in front of the hearth and she awoke the next morning
with Gyp cuddled up in her arms. She walked outside to where she
had buried her father to confirm that she was indeed awake and not
living some horrible dream. Reality struck her like a brick as she
looked down on the mound of stones that covered the last of her
family. Tears slid down her cheek as she wondered what would become
of her now. Nathan had prepared her well for trapping and trading,
but she never dreamed she would be all alone at such a young
age.

Nat saddled Hardy and with Gyp trotting
beside her rode to the clearing where the bear lay motionless.
Hardy shied away from the smell of fresh blood and remained a
distance from the prostate bear refusing to approach
further.

She dismounted and began the tedious
work of skinning the large bear, removing the large claws and
tucking them away in a leather pouch. Grizzly claws were prized
trading items as well as the bears pelt, but Nat was certain she
would never part with the hide of the animal that killed her
father. Nat hated to waste any animal but she would be damned if
she would taste the flesh of this beast and once she finished her
work she set the carcass ablaze, purifying the ground where her
father had died.

Hardy shied away from the bears pelt
when Nat approached so she rode back to the cabin to retrieve
Quincy and safely harnessed the pelt to his back. Once they
returned to the cabin, Nat removed the deer hide that had finished
drying and replaced it with the bear’s hide. Nat cut a long strip
of the hide and used it to bind the two pieces of wood together
that she had fashioned as a cross to mark her father’s grave. She
had carved her father’s name into the crosspiece with the year of
his death and used a large stone to drive it into the ground at the
head of his grave.

Nat spent the next two days packing her
supplies and preparing for the journey to Seattle, carefully
storing the dried meat and other food supplies for the weeks of
travel waiting ahead. She made one more trip to the honey tree to
salvage one final jar of honey for her trip and that evening used
the last of her flour to make a final batch of biscuits.

Sitting in front of the fire, Nat chose
one of the bear claws and using a tiny awl bored a hole through the
claw. Using a thin strip of the deer hide, she fashioned a necklace
with the bear claw and slipped it over her head to rest just above
her heart. In the days and years to come, Nat would caress the bear
claw when thinking of her father and take comfort in this token of
his life.

The next morning, Nat packed the
animals and stood before her father’s grave and with a final
goodbye she turned to take the first step to her future.

She rode for three days until she found
the large cave she planned to rest in before the final leg into
Seattle. They had made the journey through the final mountain pass
just as the first snow began to fall and Nat was relieved to once
again reach flat ground. After a week’s rest, Nat would ride the
final two days into Seattle where she would have to make decisions
on what path her life would lead. Nat knew she was close to her
destination when she encountered the dreary rains that plagued the
area, sometimes for days on end.

The final week passed quickly and soon
Nat was facing the final night in the protection of the cave. Nat
slept curled around Gyp that night and the following morning she
began arranging her packs for the final leg of her journey. Unsure
of what she would do once she traded out her pelts, Nat was sure of
only one thing. She would stick to the plan that she and her father
had made to rent a small cabin to spend the winter months
restocking and planning for their next journey.

Nat and her companions spent one last
cold and damp night in the woods and by noon the next day she
crested one final hill which opened up to the bustling town of
Seattle. Nat sat for a moment and watched the bustling of the
crowded streets and with a final look over her shoulder back into
the forest, she urged Hardy to move forward.

PART TWO

Her first stop was made to the furriers
to begin negotiations on her pelts. Smithy, the owner had always
dealt fairly with Nat and her father, knowing they would only bring
him the highest quality pelts and he rewarded them handsomely for
their loyalty. Smithy smiled warmly at Nat, a smile that faded
quickly when he realized she was alone.

“
Where is Nathan,” he calmly
asked, placing an arm around Nat?

“
He’s gone Smithy,” Nat
said, the threat of tears choking her voice. “He was checking traps
and was mauled by a grizzly a few weeks back.”

“
I am so sorry to hear
that,” Smithy said. “Nathan was a great man,” he added.

“
Yes he was,” Nat replied in
agreement.

“
What will you do now?”
Smithy asked.

“
I don’t know for sure yet
Smithy. After trading I plan on getting a hot meal and bath and
then hopefully rent out the old Johnson cabin for the winter before
deciding what to do,” Nat said in a weary voice.

“
Well why don’t we get you
unloaded and you can go get some food while I survey your pelts,”
Smithy suggested as he walked outside with Nat.

Smithy noticed the bear pelt on the
back of her father’s horse and ran his hand through the course fur.
“Is this the one that killed your dad?” he asked.

“
Yes it is,” Nat answered.
“A big son of a bitch he was too.”

“
Are you planning on trading
the pelt?” Smithy asked

“
No Smithy, that one’s a
keeper,” she said.

“
Well let me know if you
ever change your mind, a pelt that size would carry a large price
on the market.”

“
You can see what you can
get for these,” Nat said as she took the leather pouch which held
the bear claws and tossed them to Smithy.

Smithy opened the pouch and looked
inside. “A small fortune I would expect,” Smithy said. “Some of
these new greenhorns pay dearly for grizzly items and I am sure
these will be a prize. Give me a day or two to get the best price
for you,” he added with a grin.

“
I’ll check into the
Stillwater and drop in to see you in the morning,” Nat said as she
led the two horses and mule over to the livery.

“
See you in the morning
then,” Smithy called out to her.

Nat gave instructions for her animals
to be cared for and then with Gyp on her heels she headed to the
Stillwater to get a room. The clerks smile turned to a scowl as he
eyed Gyp, but the look on Nat’s face told him she was a force to be
reckoned with and he handed her the room key without
comment.

Nat carried her packs up the stairs to
her room and then left the room with Gyp to find a nice hot meal.
She stopped at the desk to tell the clerk to order up a hot bath
for her in her room and then walked into the dining room. She sat
at a small table and Gyp sat at her feet.

A young woman approached her table to
take her order. Nat took off her hat and her dark hair fell to her
shoulders bringing a smile to the woman’s face.

“
What can I get for you?”
she asked.

“
The biggest steak you can
find well done with the works,” Nat answered. “A smaller steak well
done for my companion too please,” she requested. “You can hold her
beans,” Nat teased, “they give her gas,” she added with a
chuckle.

The waitress rewarded her with a
brilliant smile before heading to the kitchen to place Nat’s order.
Nat looked around the dining room at the town folk that had come in
for an early dinner and a few stray fellow trappers who like her
were still rugged from the trail. A hot bath would do wonders for
Nat and she looked forward to it as much as she did a hot
meal.

The waitress returned with a steaming
plate of fresh rolls and butter. “You look hungry, so I brought
these out for you,” she said as she sat the plate on the
table.

“
Thanks, we’re starving,”
Nat said as she buttered a hot roll pinching a bite off for Gyp.
“We are both sick of my cooking too,” she added.

“
How long have you been
out?” the young woman asked.

“
What month is this?” Nat
asked.

“
November,” the woman
replied.

“
Nine months then,” Nat
replied.

“
That’s a long time to be in
the woods alone,” the young woman commented.

“
I was with my father until
a few weeks ago,” Nat replied. “He was killed by a grizzly she
added numbly.”

“
I am so sorry to hear
that,” the woman said and blushing turned to go.

“
Thanks,” Nat
said.

Nat ate a few more of the delicious
rolls while she waited on their dinner. When the woman returned
carrying two large plates of food Nat’s mouth watered with one look
of the steak. She reached for Gyp’s smaller steak to cut it into
smaller pieces and the woman said, “You start on your steak and I
will cut this one up for your friend.”

“
Thanks,” Nat said as the
woman sat down at the table to cut Gyp’s steak.

Nat took a bite of the steak and her
taste buds exploded with ecstasy, the warm juices and seasoning
assaulting her senses. She moaned loudly and the young woman at her
side blushed. “This is heavenly,” Nat said. “My compliments to the
cook she added.”

“
Why thank you ma’am,” the
young lady said, “just be sure to save some room for desert, I have
fresh pies baked today,” she added as she stood to
leave.

Nat sat the plate down in front of Gyp
and watched with delight as the young pup devoured the tasty meal,
gnawing the bone while Nat returned to her own feast. The young
woman brought out another basket of fresh rolls and then left Nat
to finish her meal.

Nat cleaned the meat from the T Bone
and then placed the bone on Gyp’s plate as she drank from a mug of
cool water. Nat looked up to see the young woman approaching again
with a tray holding several slices of pie. Nat chose a thick slice
of apple which incredibly was still warm.

Nat finished off the fantastic meal and
asked the young woman to send her bill to the front desk. Nat left
several silver pieces on the table for the young lady and then
walked over to the general store to purchase a pair of dungarees
and a soft cotton shirt.

When Nat and Gyp returned to the room
steam was coming off the tub, and Nat was anxious to strip down and
soak in its luxury. Nat had just pulled off her top when the door
opened up and the same young woman from the dining room was
standing in her doorway with a pot of hot water.

The woman blushed again and quickly
stepped inside and closed the door. “I am sorry, I didn’t realize
you were in here,” the woman said as she turned away from Nat who
was totally naked, except for the bear claw around her
neck.

“
That’s alright,” Nat said
as she walked toward the tub. “I couldn’t wait to get a bath,” she
added as she watched the woman pour the steamy water into the
tub.