Teton Splendor (23 page)

****

“I think this should be enough, don’t you?” Evelyn Walker straightened, holding her hand against her back.

Sophia glanced toward the woman, then at the woven basket she held in the crook of her arm. Filled nearly halfway with huckleberries, she nodded wordlessly. She wasn’t in the mood for pie or anything else Evelyn suggested they fix for their supper.

Three days had passed since Joseph and his father left the village. She’d already spent two sleepless nights worrying about her husband. To occupy her days, she visited with her grandfather, who told her stories of her mother when she was a child, and some of the customs of the people. She helped Evelyn prepare meals, putting the skills that she’d learned from Summer Rain to good use. She even tried her hand at scraping and cleaning an elk hide. No matter what she did to occupy her time, Joseph was never far from her mind.

Either Lucas or Evelyn was always nearby. Although she appreciated their company, their constant hovering left her longing for some time to herself during the day. Thankfully, they didn’t offer to sleep in the same lodge as where she’d spent her wedding night. At least she had that to herself. Memories of Joseph occupied her every thought during the long and lonely nights. What would happen if he found the man responsible for killing her parents? What if he didn’t? Was he really still after revenge for something that her father had done to him twenty years ago? It seemed highly unlikely.

“I’d like to head back to my lodge and freshen up, and then I’ll help with supper preparations,” Sophia said.

“All right.” Her mother-in-law shot her a concerned look. She reached out her hand and patted Sophia on the wrist. “They’ll be back soon,” she said, as if she’d read her mind.

Sophia swallowed back the lump in her throat. “I know they will.” She forced a smile on her face.

“Oliver Sabin was, and probably still is, a vile man,” Evelyn continued as they headed back toward the village. They had followed the course of the wide stream until they entered the forest and found the huckleberry bushes, but Evelyn evidently made sure that the village was in constant view.

“Alex saved me from a horrible fate when that loathsome man tried to buy me at a trapper gathering.”

Sophia stared over at the older woman as they entered the village. “Buy you? That’s how you met your husband?” she asked, unable to imagine the humiliation Evelyn must have endured.

 She chuckled.
“I’ve been in love with Alex since I was about ten years old. He was too stubborn to even acknowledge me when we were children. It was Laurent, your father, who brought me here to the mountains and offered me up to the trappers.”

Sophia’s eyes widened in shock. Her father was the sort of man who would barter a woman to a fate worse than death? Evelyn laughed softly.

“It was his clever way of getting Alex and me together, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Laurent was very good at hiding his true intentions from me and from Oliver Sabin.” She paused and looked Sophia in the eye. “Your father was a good man, Sophie. Things back then were done differently than now, and especially differently from the life you’ve known. A trapper’s life was harsh and unforgiving.”

Sophia nodded, not quite understanding. Her life now was harsher than anything she could have ever imagined, but she wouldn’t trade it back for all the ball gowns in Boston. Evelyn must have felt the same way all those years ago. That she loved her husband, and that he loved her, was obvious.

They stopped in front of Sophia’s lodge. She paused before she pulled the buffalo hide back to expose the teepee’s opening.

“I’ll only be a few minutes,” she said, turning to Evelyn. Joseph’s mother nodded with a smile, and headed for the lodge she shared with Lucas.

Sophia ducked into the interior of her current home, and let out a long sigh. Her eyes fell to the pile of furs where she had slept. Where Joseph made love to her. A tingling feeling passed through her, and goose bumps erupted on the skin of her arms at the memories. She wrapped her hands around her waist, her fingers feeling the leather sheath of the knife that was strapped to the belt at her waist. Lucas had insisted she wear it during the day.

“Just in case,” he’d said with a serious look on his face that was so unlike him. “Joseph would want you to wear this.”

Would she even know what to do if she needed to defend herself against someone? Sophia laughed softly. If someone threatened her, she’d be dead before she could even think to pull the weapon. She made a mental note to ask Joseph to teach her how to use a weapon. Perhaps she should even learn how to fire a rifle.

Sophia eyed the blue dress that still lay on the ground where she’d removed it on the day of her wedding. She hadn’t worn it since. She preferred to stay in the doeskin dress she’d worn when she became Joseph’s wife. It seemed more appropriate, at least while she lived in the Indian village. Loneliness swept over her, and she fought to control the tears that pooled in her eyes. A sudden urge to leave the lodge engulfed her.

She stepped back outside. The sun had disappeared behind a covering of grey clouds. The sudden breeze that blew her hair in her face sent an icy chill down her spine. Her gaze roamed through the village, glad that her teepee sat along the periphery rather than in the middle. She spotted Lucas, talking and laughing with a group of young women who gathered around him. Sophia’s lips raised in the corners. Lucas was a handsome man with a rakish smile. She was sure he had no trouble at all making all the young women swoon over him. Had Joseph been as wild and impulsive as his younger brother?

Instead of heading toward the center of the village, Sophia moved around her teepee to the outskirts. Although the air was cool, it felt good against her skin, and the wind that whipped through her hair brought on an almost exhilarating feeling. Before she knew it, she’d gone as far as the tree line of the forest. A sudden feeling of foreboding swept over her. She glanced hastily back toward where she’d come from. The nearest teepee was several hundred yards from where she stood. When she turned again, her hand flew to her mouth to suppress her startled scream. In front of her stood a woman about her own age, staring back at Sophia with a look of pure hatred on her pretty face. Although she had never seen this woman before, Sophia knew instantly who she was.

Chapter Twenty Three

Sophia stared at the woman. She stood rooted to the spot, even though part of her wanted to run back to the safety of her lodge. Her heart still pounded in her throat from the initial shock of Feather in the Wind’s sudden appearance. The Indian woman glared at her, a sneer distorting her pretty face. Hatred radiated from her eyes. Sophia had known some spiteful peers back in Boston before, but no one could match the contempt this girl obviously had for her.

Sophia squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “Feather in the Wind?” she asked tentatively. Did she even know how to speak English? The few Bannock words Sophia knew would hardly be enough to communicate with her, and she definitely couldn’t speak Blackfoot.

The woman laughed. Like a graceful dancer, she stepped sideways, circling around Sophia, glaring through narrowed eyes. Never had Sophia felt more like a prey animal about to get pounced on by a predator. The weight of the knife hanging from her belt gave her a small sense of assurance, no matter that she didn’t have any practice using it as a weapon.

“What is a white woman doing among the Bannock people?” Feather in the Wind spat. Her English was perfect. Had Joseph taught her?

“I’ve come home to my grandfather,” Sophia answered confidently. She’d had many years of practice dealing with arrogant women who snubbed their noses at her and made her feel as if she didn’t belong. She wasn’t going to let this girl intimidate her. She was home among her family, and nothing Feather in the Wind could say to her would change that.

“You do not belong here,” the woman sneered. “You are not a Bannock, white woman.”

Sophia straightened her back and looked the girl in the eyes. “My name is
Kaakki
, granddaughter of Chief Two Bears, and I am more Bannock than you. What do you want, Feather in the Wind?” She hoped her voice hid her apprehension. Her eyes darted to the large knife dangling from the woman’s belt.

The Blackfoot woman’s eyes glared with renewed hatred. She raised her fisted hand, and her contemptuous smile widened. Slowly, she opened her hand.  Sophia stiffened, and stared. A tangled mess of dark hair lay on top of a small leather pouch. She recognized it as the pouch from her wedding ceremony that contained her and Joseph’s hair that signified their union. The neat braid had been severely severed.

Anger shot through Sophia, and she took a bold step closer to the woman. This bundle belonged to her and Joseph, how dare this arrogant girl destroy it?

“How did you get that?”

Feather resumed her laughter. “I followed the woman who buried it. You can no longer claim
Nu umi Kin numpu
as your husband. I have broken the bond.”

Sophia expelled the breath she was holding. Did Feather in the Wind really think she would fall for such a ploy? She recalled what Joseph told her about the hair, and clearly this woman was trying to intimidate her.

“You’re lying, Feather,” Sophia said confidently. For a second, Feather in the Wind looked stunned and unsure of herself. Sophia didn’t waste any time to use the woman’s reaction to her advantage.

“Only Joseph or I can sever the bond between us. You don’t have a say in the matter.”

Feather’s head snapped up to glare at her, the loathing back in her eyes. “He chose me as his first wife.”

“And you let him go.” Sophia dared a quick glance toward the village. Would Evelyn notice that she had left her lodge? Could anyone even see her this far away? With all the trees around, she and Feather most likely blended in among the trunks and branches.

“It was my brother’s doing,” Feather spat angrily.

Sophia studied her. There was only anger in the woman’s eyes. She detected no remorse or longing for something she had lost or given up reluctantly. Feather couldn’t truly love Joseph and regret that she’d left him. Did she really believe that she didn’t have a choice but to let Joseph go? It sounded like a noble thing to do, but surely if she loved him, she wouldn’t have let him go so easily.

“There is always a way if you love someone,” Sophia offered.

“A man will always favor his first wife. You are nothing but a second wife, a servant to the woman who comes before you. A first wife, a true wife, is always valued over any other.”

Sophia almost felt sorry for her. Feather in the Wind appeared desperate. She didn’t understand all the social customs the woman spoke of, but apparently it was quite common for a man to have more than one wife.

“Did you love him? Do you love him now?” Sophia challenged. Perhaps if she kept talking long enough, Evelyn or Lucas would notice that she wasn’t in her lodge.

Feather looked at a loss for words for a moment. Her forehead wrinkled, and her mouth opened and closed. Her eyes narrowed.

“I require a husband,” she said dryly. “
Nu umi Kin numpu
is a man held in high regard by the Bannock. I am his first wife.” She paused, a malicious smile forming on her face. “He has always enjoyed my sleeping palette. He will do so again.”

The woman wasn’t truly in love with Joseph. She simply saw him as a prize, an acquisition. Feather’s words stung, and for a brief moment Sophia wondered if Joseph had shared the same passion with this woman as he had done with her. She swallowed back her sudden insecurity, and held her ground. Joseph had said they’d both been young and foolish. If Feather thought Sophia would simply hand over the man she loved, she was sorely mistaken.

“You may have been his first wife, but I’m the one he chose for his wife now.” She took a bold step closer to Feather, and stared her in the eye. She may as well throw her words back at her. “It is my sleeping palette he prefers now,” she added. Joseph loved her, and only her. She was willing to stake her life on it. 

“If you hadn’t come, he would have taken me back,” Feather screeched. In one swift move, she pulled her knife and lunged at Sophia. Sophia stumbled backward. The heel of her foot caught on a protruding tree root, and she swayed to keep her balance. A sharp pain sliced through her skin where Feather’s knife found its mark, and warm liquid ran down her arm. Without thinking, Sophia pulled her own knife, and held it out in front of her. Her hands trembled, and she backed up. Could she really use the knife to hurt someone, even this woman?

Feather in the Wind leered coldly at her, a deadly gleam in her eyes.

“You are weak. You are afraid. You do not deserve him.”

Feather lunged forward. Sophia stepped to the side to avoid her thrust with the knife. Her foot hit a rock and she stumbled. Before falling completely to the ground, the sound of a gunshot reverberated through the air. Feather in the Wind cried out, and the Blackfoot woman’s body landed heavily on top of her. Sophia’s head collided against a hard object, and a dull pain ripped through her skull. She blinked to remain conscious. Blackness threatened to envelop her.

From somewhere in the distance – or was it close by? – a horse’s hooves pounded the earth. Sophia struggled for breath. She tried to push Feather’s body off of her. Why wasn’t the woman moving? Her head throbbed as if it had split in two, and dark shadows drifted in and out of her view.

Suddenly, the weight was lifted off of her. Sophia inhaled deeply. She blinked and squinted, trying to see. A dark form hovered over her.

“Lucas?” she mumbled. Her voice sounded far away.

Someone grabbed her arm, and hauled her up off the ground. Sophia cried out in pain. As hard as she tried, her limbs wouldn’t move.

Saddle leather creaked, and the man pushed her up and over a sandy-colored horse’s neck. Her heart responded with a jolt. A dun horse! The knife. Where was her knife? She fisted her empty hand. She must have dropped it during her fall.

Sophia struggled in his grasp, her arms and legs heavier than lead anchors. No sounds came from her mouth when she tried to scream. She fought to focus her vision, but the pain in her head was blinding. A steely arm wrapped around her waist, and pulled her against a hard chest. The rider kicked his horse into a gallop, and she cried out. Her head was ready to split open.

Off in the distance, several gunshots echoed, or had she imagined it?

“Joseph,” she mouthed silently, and her head slumped to the side as her world went dark.

****

Joseph guided his mount along the banks of the wide creek. Just around the bend, the tips of teepees came into view. What a welcome sight. He’d been gone for four long days. Too long not to see and hold his wife.

His search for Oliver Sabin had come up empty. After he and his father found the Crow warriors’ camp and asked them about the man they had seen, they decided to split up. Based on the warrior’s description, it could very well have been Oliver Sabin. A man about his father’s age, with dark hair and wearing an eye patch over his left eye.

His father had ridden south to scout out the trails along the Snake River, while Joseph had followed a more easterly course through the marshlands. They had agreed to meet back at the Bannock Village within a week if neither had found anything. From there, they would resume their search and head north toward the great Jackson Lake, and into the higher mountains.

If Sabin was in the area, where would he hide out? The high country was an obvious choice if someone didn’t want to be found, but Sabin’s presence here after all this time could only mean one thing; he was after Sophie.

Damn! Yancey had been right. The greenhorn had feared that Sabin would try and get to Sophie, and Joseph had dismissed the idea as ridiculous. He still couldn’t figure out how the man would have even found out about her presence here in the first place. 

The obvious answer was the man on the dun horse. Joseph gritted his teeth and cursed his own stupidity for the thousandth time. He should have dealt with the man when he had the chance in St. Louis.  He wouldn’t rest again until he found him, and Sabin, and made sure they would never get the chance to harm Sophie again.

Sophie. The thought of her sent ripples of warmth flowing through him. Her smiling face, the love that shone in her eyes for him, her touch. He urged his horse into a lope, eager to reach the village and his wife’s arms. Soon, they could begin their lives together, after the danger was dealt with once and for all.

He’d build her a cabin anywhere she chose.  Perhaps she’d want to remain in the valley that his parents called home, or maybe he’d show her some of the lakes along the base of the mountains. The old cabin his father had built over twenty-five years ago for his mother still stood along the shores of a pristine mountain lake. He hadn’t visited the area in years. Maybe next spring, he would take Sophie there. Maybe he’d even take her to climb the peaks of the Teewinots like she’d said she wanted to do.

Joseph slowed his mount as he rode past the herd of horses grazing the periphery of the village. His eyes fell on the lodge he and Sophie spend their wedding night in, then his gaze roamed the village, trying to spot her. What had she done during the last four days to occupy her time?

Several children ran toward him, but their usual exuberant greeting was absent. Caleb was among the group.

“Joseph, Joseph,” the boy called and ran past all the other children. It wasn’t a greeting of joy. An inexplicable shiver of dread washed over him. Something didn’t seem right. Men and women gathered in groups, watching him approach. Where was Sophie?

Joseph reined his horse to a stop and dismounted. Caleb flew at him and wrapped his arms around his thigh.

“What’s wrong, Caleb?” Joseph kneeled to be at the boy’s eyelevel. Tears streaked down the child’s face.

“It’s Miss Sophie, Joseph,” Caleb sobbed. “She’s gone missing. A man took her.”

A jolt so fierce, he thought it might pierce his heart, shot through Joseph. He sprang to his feet. His mother came running from the direction of Two Bears’ lodge. Joseph rushed up to meet her. He held her upper arms, the look of anguish on her face confirming what Caleb had said.

“Oh, dear God, Joseph,” his mother sobbed. “I’m so glad you’re back.”