Savage Splendor (Savage Lagonda 2) (17 page)

"Your brother Zeke does not share your distrust of me," Du Lac said.

"That's the only reason you are allowed to come around. You step one foot out of line and you will be lying under the dirt before you can count three."

"I will be moving on, Jake, but I will be back. Say good-bye to the princess for me, will you?"

Jake watched the Frenchman, not trusting his intentions. He was not sure whom he mistrusted most, the Indian who had brazenly gone into the lean-to, or Du Lac, whom he suspected would sneak behind a man's back to do his skullduggery.

"You will stay to supper, and then stay the night. I do not want the princess to think you left on her account. Just think on what I said to you, and you can be gone first thing in the morning."

Dinner that night was an uncomfortable affair as far as Mara was concerned. The conversation was stiff and polite. She would often feel the Frenchman's eyes on her, but when she looked, at him, he would glance at Jake.

She was glad when the meal was over and she could clean the table, while Jake and Du Lac talked in mumbled tones.

Du Lac could not keep his eyes from straying to the lovely golden-haired woman. He found himself wondering what it would feel like to touch her soft skin. She had a grace and elegance about her that was out of place in the crude cabin. He could easily imagine her dressed in silks and satins. Her speech was cultured, refined, and he found he wanted to know more about her. He noticed her firmly rounded breasts, and the way her hips swayed gracefully as she walked. He could tell she felt uncomfortable in his presence. He thought that when he returned he would try to gain her trust and approval. He already knew how that could be accomplished. He would reach her through the child.

Mara had finished washing the dishes, and little Andrew had been tucked snugly in his cradle in the loft. She would have liked nothing better than to excuse herself and retreat to the loft, but she did not want to appear rude, so she sat down in the rocking chair.

"Did you say this Indian broke into your lean-to?" Du Lac asked.

Mara could feel her heartbeat stop. "What Indian? Jake, what are the two of you talking about?" she cried, knowing her voice sounded hysterical.

Jake had tried to stop Du Lac before he spoke, but it was too late now, there was nothing to do but tell the princess the truth, he thought grimly. "There ain't nothing to be upset about, just some Injun broke into the lean-to and took some furs and food."

"But Jake, you said he was bigger than the Indians around here," Du Lac said.

Jake cursed the Frenchman silently when he saw Mara's face whiten.

"Jake, I can tell you are trying to keep something from me. I think it would be best for you to be honest with me," Mara told him.

"All right," Jake said, sighing heavily. "This Injun was big, and me and Zeke think he might be from the tribe that took you. There don't seem to be more than the one and he ain't been around lately. Chances are, he went back to wherever he came from."

"But suppose you are wrong and he is watching the cabin, waiting for a chance to ... oh, Jake I am frightened."

"No reason to be, me and Zeke ain't going to let nothing harm you and little Andrew."

Mara tried to push her fear aside, but she was not entirely successful.

As she lay in her bed that night she jumped at each noise. She wished Zeke would return. Was this nightmare ever to be over? Would she spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, wondering if some Indian would be hiding somewhere, ready to pounce on her?

The next morning at breakfast, Mara felt tired and tense. She had not slept well at all, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

Du Lac prepared to leave after he had eaten. He was stiff and polite as he told Mara goodbye under the watchful eye of Jake.

Mara felt relief after he had gone, there was something about him that made her feel uneasy. It was nothing she could put her finger on. It was something in the way he watched her. He would stare at her with something in his eyes that she could not put a name to.

The next few days Jake never left her side for any length of time. She knew he was more concerned about the Indian who had raided the lean-to than he would admit.

Mara tried never to think about the medallion. She stayed busy in the daytime. But at night she would often think about the tall, dark Indian who invaded her dreams. Sometimes he was very real to her, and at other times she would be frightened of her feelings for him. She was beginning to love him. It was foolish; he could not be real, and yet, to her, he was very real indeed.

Finally, the day came when Jake thought Mara was recovered enough to make the trip to the trading post to see the doctor. Zeke had returned a few days before, and they loaded their animal pelts onto the packhorses.

Jake lifted Mara onto the back of a horse, and she was surprised to see the lady's sidesaddle. Zeke told her it had been their mother's, and they had kept it all these years, never knowing it would come in handy. He had replaced the cinch and stirrups, and Mara could find no fault with it. She smiled to herself, thinking how the brothers had kept remnants and mementos from their childhood. A lady's sidesaddle was certainly not what one would expect two tough, grizzly trappers to cherish.

As they started out, Mara thought how strange they would appear to anyone who saw them. Two trappers, Jake with Andrew strapped to his back, and her, dressed in a homemade green print gown and bundled up in furs for warmth.

The weather was cold and crisp, and Mara was enjoying being out in the open after being cooped up for so long.

At night they all slept in a small tent, and Mara was aware of the extra precaution that Jake was taking. The two men slept with loaded guns beside them and were alert to every noise. The first night Mara had been a bit apprehensive, thinking the Indian might be following them, but Zeke had doubled back many times and assured her they were not being trailed.

Matio lay on his stomach peering through the thick growth of a bush. He could see the cabin clearly from his vantage point. He noticed that no smoke came from the chimney, and there did not seem to be anyone around. He was still weak from his sickness, and today was the first day he had been up to crawling out of the log in many suns.

The day passed slowly, and still he waited. It was almost sundown when he decided the cabin was empty. He stood up and walked silently toward the cabin. When he reached the door, he listened for a moment, but no sound came from inside.

He unsheathed his knife and fumbled with the door, trying to see how to open it. He was relieved when he slipped a wooden bar sideways and the door swung open. He knew he would find no one inside since the door had been bolted from the outside.

The interior of the cabin was dark, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust as he entered quietly. His senses were trained to pick up any sound that might spell danger. His hand tightened on the hilt of his knife as his eyes made a quick sweep around the room. He looked for something, anything that would show him that the queen still abided in the cabin.

Bending down he examined the ashes of the fireplace. They were cold. The fire had not been lit for at least two days. He stood up and dusted the ashes from his hands. The cabin was clean, and his sweeping gaze took in the two beds, the table and chairs, and the cupboard with its crude wooden dishes. He picked up a pot that was made of some heavy metal, and knew it was used for cooking. Seeing a loaf of some kind of white bread, he picked it up and tasted it. He found it not bad, but it could not compare with the sweet breads his mother made. However, he was hungry, and he ate without stopping, until the bread was all gone. He circled the room, looking for anything that would belong to the queen, but could see nothing. He felt fear and disappointment. Suppose while he had been sick they had taken her away. Spying the ladder that led up to the loft, he climbed it cautiously. When he reached the small room, the ceiling was so low he had to duck his head to stand up.

He looked at the bed covered with warm furs, and then his eyes moved to the baby cradle. He had not been aware that there was a baby in the cabin.

He searched the room frantically. Opening a small chest he found the doeskin dress that belonged to the queen, and, wrapped inside of it, the golden medallion.

Wherever the two men had taken the queen, she would be back. It did not appear that the queen had been mistreated. But the men must be forcing her to stay with them, otherwise she would have gotten away and tried to return to the Seven Cities.

He did not understand many things, least of all the baby cradle.

He must devise a plan to rescue her, with as little danger to her as possible. If only he had not become ill, they would now be on their way home.

He needed to leave her a sign that he had been here. She had the medallion, so she would have guessed he had put it on the door, but he needed to leave something else to give her hope. Reaching up to his arm, he unclasped his silver and turquoise armband and placed it on her bed. When she returned she would see the armband and know she was safe.

13

The past is lost and still I yearn.

That which is lost will not return.

Mara looked about the trading post with interest. The pungent smell of the many fur pelts that were stacked against the wall was the dominant odor. There were bolts of material, tins of coffee, sugar, flour, and many other staples needed by trappers who frequented the trading post. Mara had been dreading meeting the doctor's wife, since she knew many questions would come up about the birth of Andrew, but she found, to her relief, that Mrs. White had gone to visit her daughter.

Zeke was tending the horses and unloading the furs, while Jake was with the doctor in the back room. She knew he would be telling the doctor all about her condition. She sighed and looked down at Andrew, who was beginning to wake up. He saw his mother and gave her a sweet smile that tugged at her heart. How she loved her little dark-skinned baby. He was so sweet and always seemed to be smiling.

Jake entered through the door that led to the back room. "I spoke to the doctor and he wants to see you and Andrew now," he told her.

Mara entered the back room hesitantly. To her surprise, the room really looked like a doctor's office. There were medical books stacked neatly on a shelf, along with jars and bottles of pills and liquids. There were several sharp-looking instruments lying on a white cloth.

The man who smiled down at her from behind bushy white eyebrows looked more like a trapper than a doctor. He was dressed in buckskin shirt and trousers/His hair was laced with gray, and his hazel eyes twinkled as he offered her a chair.

"So, you are Jake and Zeke Cawfield's lost princess!" he said, as he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her.

Mara nodded. She watched silently as the doctor checked Andrew over from head to toe. When he had completed his examination of the baby, he smiled and told her the baby was in excellent health. The doctor made no reference to Andrew's dark skin, and Mara knew Jake had cautioned him against it.

She began to feel more at ease as the doctor chucked Andrew on the chin and was rewarded with a winsome smile from the baby, which brought an answering smile from the doctor.

"Now, princess," the doctor said, turning his attention to her. "Tell me what is the first thing you can remember?"

"I can remember nothing past the day I awoke to meet Jake and Zeke. Everything before that is a blank."

"I see," he said.

"I assume Jake told you that I was captured by Indians."

"Yes, he told me." He studied her closely. He had been watching her manner since she had entered the room. She was well educated, and came from a well-to-do family. Her manner of speaking was cultured. Some things could not be faked, the way she walked, the way she spoke, as if she had been taught from birth to speak every word correctly. Dr. White had seen many beautiful women in his lifetime. His own wife was considered to be nice-looking, but this girl was lovely.

"Jake told me he and Zeke found you in June."

"Yes, that is correct."

"That is a very long time to live without a memory," he said in a sympathetic voice.

She reached out and took his hand. "You are a doctor, can you not help me? It is very upsetting not knowing who I am, or where I come from."

"I will do all I can to help you, but in your case, it may not be enough." He patted her hand. "Why did you not come to me sooner, then we could have begun a search for your family?"

"Jake did not think I should make the trip until ..." She withdrew her hand and raised her head proudly, meeting his eyes squarely. The doctor drew in his breath at how lovely she looked at that moment.

"You waited until your baby was born," he finished for her.

"Yes."

"I see," he said. Reaching for his instrument bag, he made a thorough examination of her ears, eyes, and throat, just as he had with Andrew moments before.

"Nice teeth," he joked lightly, trying to put her at ease.

She gave him a half-smile, and he looked away quickly. My God, he thought, she is too lovely to be real. When he looked back at her she was watching him, waiting for him to say he would help her.

"I find nothing physically wrong with you. When you first woke up after Jake had found you, did you have a bump or a knot on your head?"

"No, there was nothing like that."

"If your loss of memory was not caused by a blow to the head, then it must be mental."

A smile lit her face. "Yes, perhaps I am a mental case."

He laughed. "That was not what I was implying. What I was saying is that your loss of memory must be from witnessing something so horrible you did not want to remember, so your mind simply shut it out."

"I do not understand."

"This has often happened to soldiers in war. They witness so much death and dying that their minds retreat behind a protective wall."

Mara's hand trembled as she covered her face. "Perhaps I saw my family murdered by the Indians," she whispered.

"Maybe not. It could have happened when you were attacked by the Indians."

"Sometimes I want to remember so badly, and at other times I am terrified at what I will remember."

He leaned back in his chair. "Do not try to rush it. The mind is a strange thing. We doctors know less about it than any other part of the human body. Perhaps, given time, you will remember everything."

"Is it possible that I will never remember who I am?"

"Possible, but highly unlikely. What name do you go by?"

Mara favored him with a smile. "I have no name, so as you know, Jake and Zeke call me princess.
That's
highly unlikely, do you not think?"

He studied her lovely face. It did not seem so wrong to call her princess. She would rival any fairytale princess in grace and beauty. "Perhaps you
are
a lost princess," he said lightly. "Who can say."

Mara looked at him in astonishment. "I saw my reflection in the water, and I thought I might be pretty, but not beautiful."

"Ah, I have found a lovely girl who does not know she is beautiful. A rare and wonderful combination."

"Doctor, I believe you are teasing me."

He laughed deeply. "Has it ever occurred to you that you have something most women would give anything for?"

"What is that?"

"You do not know how old you are, so therefore you do not have to lie about your age. You can just pull an age out of the air, and use it as your own."

She knitted her brow in thoughtfulness. "I tried to judge my age, by my reflection in the stream, but it was difficult. I think I must be around twenty-five, or even thirty, perhaps."

For the moment the doctor was speechless, he could not believe she had so badly misjudged her own age. He took her by the hand and led her through the door to his own private living quarters. He stood her in front of a mirror that hung on the wall, and Mara stared at the stranger that was her own image. She was taken completely by surprise. The golden-haired girl who stared back at her was nowhere near as old as she felt. She swallowed a lump in her throat. She was pretty. The doctor stood just behind her, and she looked up at his reflection.

"How old would you say I am?"

"I would place you on the sunny side of twenty, perhaps seventeen, or eighteen."

He watched as she smiled and turned to face him. "I find it a pleasant surprise, to know I am younger than I thought."

His smile creased the tiny laugh lines about his hazel eyes. "Not many women are handed the gift of youth."

Mara realized that she was taking up too much of the doctor's time. She shifted Andrew up to her shoulder and extended her hand to the doctor. "I want to thank you for seeing me."

"I am sorry I could not be more help to you. Try not to worry. Perhaps, one day when you least expect it, you will remember."

She crossed the room and his voice stopped her at the door.

"Send Jake and Zeke to me. I would like to speak to them about something."

When Mara reached the main room of the trading post, she saw Du Lac leaning against one of the counters. He stared at her, and she tried to smile, wondering why he made her feel so uncomfortable.

"Where are Jake and Zeke?" she asked, seeing they were not in the room.

"I do not care where they are, princess. At last, I have you to myself."

Mara looked past him and was grateful when she saw the two brothers entering the trading post. She rushed forward to relay the doctor's message to them, then watched as they disappeared into the office.

Du Lac walked casually over to her. She was a bit unsettled by the look in his eyes. Remembering her image in the mirror, she thought he might think her pretty. She wanted to draw away when his hand moved to her cheek, but she stood her ground.

"Oh, lovely princess, I have thought of little else since I last saw you. Are you an enchantress that you get inside a man's head and cause him to think all other women are plain compared to you?"

Andrew chose that time to awaken, and she was grateful she could turn her attention to him and try to block out the disturbing Frenchman.

Du Lac was not to be put off, however. He pushed a golden strand of hair from her face and stared at her long and hard. "Does it not matter to you that I have lost my heart to you?"

Looking up, she frowned. "I suspect a man such as yourself, has lost his heart many times."

"Not so, princess. I have never lost my heart . . . until now."

Mara walked away from him without answering. She did not want him to think she was rude, but she wanted some privacy to feed Andrew, and she was not at all sure she liked the Frenchman very much.

*                                          *                                          *

The doctor waited for the two brothers to be seated before he spoke. "I want to talk to you about the princess."

"She ain't sick, is she?" Zeke asked.

"No, her health is good, but I want to warn you about a few things. There is no way of knowing for sure if she will ever recover her memory. I could tell by talking to her that she comes from a very prominent social background. Chances are, her family is at this very moment searching for her. I want to caution you in case some member of her family should find her. She should not be told everything about her past at once. It could be too great a shock to her. Should anyone come to your cabin claiming to be her family, send them to me so I can warn them about her condition."

"Why?" Jake wanted to know.

"I once knew of a case like hers, where this woman was taken by the Indians. Years later she was found and returned to her husband. She could not adjust and finally took her own life. You do not want that to happen to the princess, do you?"

"No!" Zeke said, in a booming voice.

Dr. White nodded. "When spring comes, I am going to make the trek to St. Louis to pick up supplies. Now here's what I think I should do. I will put an ad in the papers, and post a notice asking if anyone has a wife, daughter, or sister missing that fits her description. I will leave word that they can get in touch with me here at the trading post. Does that meet with your approval?"

Zeke was undecided. He wished they could keep the princess and little Andrew with them. But his good sense prevailed and he nodded his agreement, as did his brother. The princess did not belong with him and Jake, not if she had a family somewhere.

The two brothers stood up and shook the doctor's hand, and both of them left with heavy hearts.

It snowed on the travelers all the way home. Du Lac had accompanied them to the cabin. Mara noticed that Jake and Zeke never left her alone with the Frenchman, and she was glad.

Andrew had proved to be no trouble at all. He was either strapped to Jake or Zeke's back, with nothing showing but his little face. He seemed very alert for one so young, but Mara thought that might just be a proud mother's observation.

When they reached the cabin, Zeke laid a fire in the fireplace, while Jake climbed the ladder to the loft, so he could bring Andrew's cradle down and place it beside the warmth of the now roaring fire.

He lifted the cradle up and was about to leave the loft when he saw something shiny lying on the princess's bed. Setting Andrew's bed down, he picked up the object to examine it closely. Frowning, he turned it over in his hand. He had never seen it before, and he was almost certain it did not belong to the princess. It resembled an Indian armband, yet they were usually made of brightly colored beads, while this one was silver and turquoise. Jake was troubled by his discovery. He hated showing it to the princess. If it was hers, there was nothing to be concerned about, but if she had never seen it before, it could only mean that her presence had been discovered by the Indians, and this was their way of letting her know.

Pushing it into his pocket, he picked up the cradle and climbed down the ladder. Once below, he took Andrew from the princess and laid him in the cradle. He then took the armband from his pocket and held it out to her.