Twin Willows: A Novel (21 page)

“This Willow is as much my daughter as Anna is. I only want what’s best for the lass. When I return with her sister, perhaps she’ll want to bide here with us.”

“What if she still wants to leave?”

Ian shrugged. “Then I maun take the lass back. But I owe it to the memory of her mother to do what I can to help her first.”

With as much grace as she could muster, Rebecca accepted Ian’s promise not to hold Willow indefinitely against her will. Reluctantly she agreed that he should go back north the next day, this time by himself.

“Traveling alone is really safer. I’ll stay off the main trails. My old friends among the Delaware will help me find Anna Willow.”

“I hope that you’re right.”

Ian had already kissed Rebecca good-bye and turned to leave when she called him back, her expression serious. “One thing more—”

“Aye? What is it?”

“Promise you won’t come back here with any more young’uns you claim not to know you had.”

Chuckling, Ian kissed her again. He still smiled as he rode from the Station.

O
HIO
R
IVER
, K
ENTUCKY

“I reckon y’ must a-thought we’d never git here, Mr. Martin,” the flatboat captain said cheerfully. With the end of their long voyage in sight, he shared the jovial mood of his passengers.

Stuart nodded in agreement. “Yes, sir, I will confess there were times that I wondered about it. But it has been a most interesting journey.”

The captain cupped his hands to his mouth to call out an order. “Look sharp, men—a few more feet of polin’ and y’ll reach the bank.”

Stuart leaned on his pole and pushed it in rhythm with the other men. It hadn’t rained in some time, and the river was so shallow that the poles soon found mud even though they were still far from the shore.

The master kept up his running instructions until the flatboat stopped with a jolt that knocked the feet from under several of the standing passengers.

Stuart moved his books and other possessions ashore, and surveyed the small store that occupied the landing. He would need to buy a few provisions for the journey ahead of him. As he contemplated how far he had to go on foot, he groaned.

Lexington lay some thirty-nine miles to the south. There he planned to buy a horse and ride to Bryan’s Station, where he would once more be with Anna Willow. And this time, he wouldn’t ever let her go.

It was a long, tiring walk in the August weather, but Stuart didn’t mind his physical discomfort. He would gladly walk twice the distance for the opportunity to see Anna Willow McKnight. It had been too long since she had been in his arms. He would hold her again and tell her that he wanted to marry her. As he walked, Stuart pictured the scene over and over in his imagination, the details changing only slightly as he saw more of Kentucky. He realized that this Bryan’s Station where Anna now lived was bound to be both beautiful and wild. And from rumors he’d heard, it might also be dangerous.

Aunt Matilda wouldn’t like this place a bit
, Stuart thought. He imagined her look of horror if she could hear the stories of Indian atrocities. The flatboat passengers had delighted in recounting, in vivid detail, every scalping story they had ever heard. His aunt would have even more reason to tell Stuart that he should have stayed with her in civilized Philadelphia.

But his love was here, in Kentucky, and soon he and Anna would be together.

As she talked with the man who claimed to be her father, Willow discovered that Bear’s Daughter spoke the truth when she said he was good, for a
Shemanese
. Haltingly Ian told her about her sister, who was called Anna Willow.

“You were twin-born. You both look the same,” he said.

Willow knew that such a thing was possible. Tecumseh, the Shawnee warrior who sometimes rode with White Eagle, had three brothers who were born at the same time. It was a great gift for a woman to give her man more than one man-child at a time. She did not understand why Ee-an did not know about her, until he explained that Bear’s Daughter had midwifed the birth.

“She was like a mother to Silverwillow. She wanted you to take her place.”

Willow nodded her understanding, but not her acceptance. I do not care what anyone says of her. Bear’s Daughter was my mother. I will always think of her as such
.

As if satisfied that her parentage had been explained, Ian changed the subject. “I saw you with a warrior. Is he your man?”

Willow lowered her head, fearful that her eyes would give her away. She was reluctant to tell him that White Eagle was her husband, lest it put him in danger. “We were bound for Waccachalla. There I would tell my chief that my mother Bear’s Daughter was dead. He still does not know this thing.”

“He will,” Ian said.

Willow raised her head and looked into her father’s eyes. “I want to go home.”

“I know,” he said.

But he would not tell Willow when or how she would be returned to her village.

The next day, when Willow realized that Ee-an had gone north without her, she lost all hope. She knew, even more than R’becca, what a dangerous thing he did. Even if he found his Anna-daughter—which would not be easy—he could well die if he tried to free her.

He can never take me to White Eagle then
, she thought. Willow’s heart was heavy, and for several days she fasted. R’becca continued to put the strange
Shemanese
food before her, only to remove it later, untouched.

On the fourth day, Willow knew even more sadness. White Eagle’s seed-planting had not put a babe in her belly, after all. The evidence so badly stained her doeskin shift that R’becca gave her a printed calico dress of Anna’s to wear in its place. She brought water in a large wooden bucket and motioned for Willow to bathe, and Willow realized that the
Shemanese
must not have a women’s lodge where she could stay until the end of her bleeding.

It is just as well
, Willow thought. The curious eyes of the
Shemanese
women would only make her more uneasy.

“I’ll help you comb your hair,” R’becca said, matching gestures to her words. She always spoke English to Willow, who was gradually beginning to understand a few words.

When that was done, Willow sat at the table and took the full trencher of cornmeal mush R’becca offered.

I will be with you yet, White Eagle. But for this time, I will do what I must
.

Rebecca watched Willow struggle to eat with a spoon, as Rebecca had shown her. In Anna’s dress, with her hair loose as Anna wore it, Willow looked so much like Anna that Rebecca sorrowed for the missing girl.

She and her father will both come home to us. They have to
. Rebecca told herself that often, but she also knew times of doubt.

Rebecca knew that Willow was the center of gossip in Bryan’s Station, and for all she knew, maybe even in Lexington and the other settlements as well. She didn’t particularly like it, but at least talking about the strange turn of events with Ian McKnight’s daughters served to distract people from their own troubles in the aftermath of the Station’s siege.

As she went about her daily chores, Rebecca tried not to count the days her husband had been gone or to think about the horrible things that could be happening to him. She had enough to do around the Station to occupy her, not the least of which was keeping an eye on Willow, who she feared might try to run away. She knew Ian would never forgive her if she allowed that.

To keep an eye on her, Rebecca took Willow along when she went out to hackle flax. By now everyone in Bryan’s Station knew that the girl Ian McKnight had brought back had turned out to be not only his long-lost daughter, but Anna’s identical twin. In Anna’s dress, Willow’s resemblance to her sister was even more pronounced.

Hannah Drake, Anna’s favorite companion, and her mother were among the women gathered for the task of combing the long flax fibers. Hannah tried to be friendly with Willow, but Willow, not understanding, only stared at Hannah blankly.

Hannah turned to her mother. “Wouldn’t you just give a pretty penny to know where that girl’s been all her life?” she said.

“We already know that she lived in a Shawnee village,” Rebecca said tartly. For her husband’s sake, she wanted to protect Willow. Those who hadn’t fully accepted Anna’s Indian blood would feel even less charitable toward her sister, since Indians had so recently laid siege to their Station.

“I wonder what she must think of us,” Hannah said.

“I’m sure bein’ here can’t be easy for her,” Rebecca had responded.

Even the women who might have misgivings about Willow didn’t object to letting her work alongside them, particularly at a hard task like preparing flax to be made into linen yarn.

After working for a time, Rebecca left Willow with the other women and went back to the cabin to check on the bread dough she had set out to rise. When she emerged from the cabin, Rebecca could scarcely believe the scene before her.

Willow stood wrapped in the arms of a strange white man who appeared to be kissing her rather thoroughly. Apparently, the man had just ridden into the Station, gotten down from his horse, and immediately embraced Willow.

Several of the women gaped at them, unable to speak. However, when Betsy Craig saw Rebecca, she called out, “Come quick, Miz McKnight. Some man has got ahold of Willow!”

Even as Betsy spoke, the words were no longer true. Willow had managed to pull away from him and now shouted incoherently while she flailed at his chest with both fists.

Willow’s face showed anger and outrage, while the man’s was a study in bewilderment. He backed away from Willow’s blows, only to have his arms pinned behind him by several of the men who had heard the commotion.

James Craig turned to Rebecca as she approached. “Ma’am, do you know this man? He claims to be a friend of the colonel’s.”

Rebecca studied the intruder for a long moment. He was younger than Ian McKnight, with comely features and unusual, almost violet, eyes. Even though garbed in a common linen hunting shirt and buckskin trousers, the man didn’t look to be a hunter or a homesteader.

“No, Mr. Craig. He is a stranger to me.”

Although his face was flushed in agitation, the man’s deep blue eyes regarded Rebecca without guile. “Ma’am, my name is Stuart Martin. Ian McKnight and I served together in the war. Is the colonel here?”

“No, he’s not.” Rebecca turned to James Craig. “I’ve heard my husband praise Lieutenant Martin many times. You can let him go.”

Mrs. Drake finally found her voice. “You’d best watch him, though. You didn’t see how he attacked that girl!”

Stuart’s face reddened even more. “Begging your pardon, ma’am, I never meant any harm. Miss McKnight and I—” He paused and looked over to where Willow stood glaring at him, her fists still clenched. “She was a student at my aunt’s school in Philadelphia. We were—uh—friends.”

James Craig and Edward Clements exchanged glances and made no attempt to suppress their laughter. The ladies seemed less amused, although Hannah Drake smiled.

“I’m sure you were,” Rebecca said dryly. “However, that girl you were just kissin’ isn’t Anna.”

Stuart looked in confusion from Rebecca to Willow and then back again. “Then who is she? Where is Anna?”

Rebecca held out her hand. “I’m Rebecca McKnight, the colonel’s wife. Come to the cabin and I’ll try to explain.”

James Craig pointed to Willow. “What about her?”

“She’ll come with us, of course.” With a reassuring smile, Rebecca beckoned to Willow.

“I’m terribly sorry if I offended you, miss,” Stuart said when Willow joined them, but Mrs. Drake cut short his apology.

“Yer wastin’ yer breath—the girl’s a savage. She don’t speak English.”

Rebecca’s eyes flashed as she turned to Mrs. Drake. “Willow may not speak English, but she’s no savage. And even without knowin’ the meanin’ of your words, the girl understands the feelin’ behind them.”

Mrs. Drake opened and closed her mouth a few times, then apparently decided against answering Rebecca. “Come, Hannah,” she called to her daughter. “I don’t know what this world’s comin’ to, when decent people get yelled at for tryin’ to be helpful.”

James Craig spoke quickly. “I’ll unsaddle your horse and pen him with the others, Mr. Martin.”

Stuart looked questioningly at Rebecca. “Will I be here that long?”

“Of course,” Rebecca assured him. “My husband would never forgive me if I let his friend leave now.”

“All right, then,” Stuart said uncertainly.

James Craig removed the saddlebags from Stuart’s horse. “What about these, Miz McKnight?”

She considered for a moment, then pointed to the blockhouse. “That’s where some of the bachelors stay,” she told Stuart. “From the way you were kissin’ Willow, I do presume that you’re not married.”

For the first time since his arrival at Bryan’s Station, Stuart smiled.

“Not yet, ma’am. But I came here to ask Anna Willow to be my wife.”

Rebecca’s momentary lightness vanished. “I’m not sure when you’ll have the chance.”

Stuart looked alarmed. “Has something happened to Anna?”

“I’ll tell you about it when we get to the cabin.”

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Rebecca released Willow’s hand. With a last puzzled glance at Stuart, the girl disappeared into the lean-to and closed the door behind her.

Rebecca gestured for Stuart to sit at the table.

“I must say that I am quite at a loss to understand all of this,” he said.

Rebecca sat across the table from Stuart and drew a deep breath. “No more than we were, I can assure you. But I’ll try to tell you all that’s happened since Anna Willow came to Bryan’s Station.”

W
ACCACHALLA

Anna tried to note the passing days by making a crude calendar from sticks, but when Blossom accidentally disturbed it, she lost count of the time she had been at Waccachalla. Here, people didn’t seem to mark time by the day, nor did they count weeks, except by the phases of the moon. Anna figured that the warriors had been back in Waccachalla for about a week when the medicine man, Sits-in-Shadow, appeared at the chief’s
wegiwa
one afternoon and beckoned to her.

As he had done at the feast to welcome the warriors, the medicine man wore his ceremonial regalia, complete with a somewhat soiled buffalo robe around his shoulders, a towering headdress, and ankle bracelets made of brass, bones, and feathers. With his face painted in the lines of a fierce scowl, he looked altogether menacing. Anna glanced uneasily at the chief’s wife.

“
Wepetheh
. ” Standing Crane gestured to let Anna know that she should go with him.

Anna turned to Blossom, expecting that the girl who had been her constant companion would accompany her. But when Blossom took a step forward, Sits-in-Shadow immediately stopped her. “
Mat-tah! Squithetha wepetheh
. ”

No! The girl alone must go with me
. Her interpretation might not have been a word-for-word translation, but Anna understood his meaning well enough. For the first time since she had been brought to the chief’s
wegiwa
, Anna knew a faint prickle of fear for her safety. However, she was determined not to show it.

Anna thrust out her chin and nodded. “
Oui-sah
, ” she said, even though “it is good” was quite the opposite of the way she felt about going anywhere with this wild-looking medicine man. When he turned and walked away, Anna followed.

Sits-in-Shadow stayed a few paces ahead of her until he reached the medicine lodge, a
wegiwa
that Blossom had pointed out and let Anna know that she must never enter without permission. He lifted the skins covering the entrance and motioned for Anna to go inside.

Her first impression was of darkness and an oppressive mixture of heat, and strange, pungent odors. Outside, the weather was still pleasantly warm, but the heat radiating from the small fire that glowed in the center of the medicine man’s
wegiwa
made Anna feel momentarily faint. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness, Anna saw a variety of strange objects. Bundles of dried herbs and sticks hung from the sides of the
wegiwa
, alongside a jumble of masks and antlers and what appeared to be bears’ paws, deer hooves, and other animal parts. She regarded the strange collection with interest and curiosity, but when she raised her eyes to the ceiling and saw what appeared to be strips of hair, her stomach lurched in revulsion. Most were matted with dried blood, and they looked unmistakably like human scalps. From the light color of much of the hair, Anna guessed that most, if not all, of the scalps had been lifted from the heads of whites.

Imagining how it might feel to be scalped, Anna shuddered.

While Anna surveyed the medicine lodge, Sits-in-Shadow removed a buffalo-hide pouch from a white oak basket near the door. With a great deal of ceremony he took out a few dried leaves and sprinkled them into the coals of the fire. They flamed briefly and released a billow of acrid smoke that stung Anna’s eyes and made her gasp for breath.

Sits-in-Shadow didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. He stood before the fire with his eyes closed and his arms outstretched, unmoving as a statue. After a moment he began a low chant, which gradually grew louder and faster. With his eyes still closed, he withdrew two gourd rattles from beneath the folds of his robe. Holding one in each hand, he shook them while raising and lowering his arms in a series of jerky movements. Then he opened his eyes and moved slowly toward Anna.

It took all of Anna’s willpower to force herself to stand still when Sits-in-Shadow touched the top of her head with both the gourds, then slowly moved them across her shoulders and down her arms and legs as if tracing the outline of her body. Then the medicine man tossed another handful of the dried leaves on the fire and began to chant and sway back and forth. Shaking the gourd rattles in time with his deliberate steps, Sits-in-Shadow moved around Anna in a slow ritual dance that was unlike the dances she had seen in honor of the returning warriors.

After circling Anna for what seemed a very long time, Sits-in-Shadow stood before her and shouted a chant, emphasized by shaking the gourd rattles. Then he turned slightly to his right, then turned again, repeating the chanting and gourd-rattling until he had faced all four directions of the compass. Without looking at her again, Sits-in-Shadow sat cross-legged before the fire and stared in silence into its scarlet coals.

What happens now?
Anna wondered. She had been standing long enough for her legs to be tired, but she dared not sit. When Sits-in-Shadow closed his eyes and seemed to be asleep, Anna shifted her weight uneasily and thought about trying to slip out of the medicine lodge. Before she could do so, however, the medicine man’s eyes flew open, and he directed a piercing gaze at Anna and began to speak.

Anna had no idea what he said, but from time to time he paused and looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her answer to a question. The third time, Anna spoke.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.”

Sits-in-Shadow rose and stood so close to her, their eyes were only inches apart.
I am taller than he is
, Anna thought with a fine irrelevance. He stared at her for a moment longer, then shook his head violently and gestured toward the entrance.

“
Wepetheh
, ” he ordered. Anna hesitated, uncertain that she was really being dismissed, until the medicine man grunted and pushed her toward the entrance. Resisting the impulse to run, Anna made herself walk sedately, her head held high, all the way back to the chief’s
wegiwa
.

When Otter saw Sits-in-Shadow and Anna enter the medicine lodge, he dropped the arrowhead he was knapping and squatted outside his
wegiwa
, waiting to see what would happen. From the first moment he’d realized that this girl really didn’t understand what he said to her, Otter had known no peace. His desire to have the girl in his lodge had made him beg, not ask with pride as a warrior should, for the chief to give her to him.

“I brought her back from the
Shemanese
. By our custom, she is mine.”

Black Snake shook his head. “It is possible that the
Shemanese
used some evil magic on Willow when they captured her.”

If somehow the
Shemanese
had caused a
matche-menetoo
to steal away the girl’s wits, then Sits-in-Shadow must confront that evil spirit and try to drive it away. Only then would Black Snake decide what was to be done with her.

Otter had spoken openly of these things to his sister. “It is with the girl as I told you,” he said to Gray Fawn.

“No man will risk taking a woman bewitched with an evil spirit. The chief himself will be in danger if she remains here.”

Otter said nothing, but the words had secretly pleased him.
If no one else will have the girl, the chief must either give her to me or dispose of her elsewhere. He will not keep such a girl in his own wegiwa
.

“Look, the strange
squithetha
leaves the medicine lodge,” Otter heard someone say. It was true; Otter watched the one he called Willow walk to the chief’s
wegiwa
with her head held high. Her proud and disdainful expression was so much like Willow’s that at first Otter thought the medicine man had restored her wits. Yet Sits-in-Shadow was nowhere to be seen. If he had, indeed, brought the girl Willow back into her right mind, would he not take her to Black Snake with a great deal of ceremony?

What would happen next, Otter did not know.

But as she walked out of his sight, he smiled with satisfaction at the thought of the fine sons this proud girl could bear him.
This matter is not over. She will yet be my woman
.

As soon as Anna left the medicine lodge, Sits-in-Shadow removed his ceremonial trappings and went to the
msi-kah-mi-qui
.

Black Snake frowned. “Why is the girl not with you?”

“My chief, I sent her back to your lodge.”

“You could not rid her of the
matchemenetoo
?”

Sits-in-Shadow shrugged. “I cannot take away what is not there. This girl has no evil spirit.”

“Then what is wrong with her?”

“This girl the warrior Otter brought back from the
Shemanese
is not the same Littlewillow that lived in this place with Bear’s Daughter.”

“How do you know this?”

“Hear me, Chief. The
kinnickkinnick
smoke gave me this vision. In it I saw two babies, born of the same father to the same mother at the same time. One lives here, one does not.”

Black Snake looked skeptical. “Can such a thing be true?”

Sits-in-Shadow nodded solemnly. “Yes, my chief. After the vision, my eyes were opened. This girl is not the same. She stands taller than Willow.”

Black Snake considered his words. “Even when Bear’s Daughter first brought Littlewillow here, she kept some truth from me. I thought it must be from shame that she had borne a child to a
Shemanese
.”

Sits-in-Shadow nodded. “There is this other thing. I do not think that Bear’s Daughter still lives.”

“Is this also in your vision?”

“No, my chief.” Sits-in-Shadow touched his forehead. “It is here. Bear’s Daughter will not be back.”

Black Snake made a gesture of dismissal. “Go now. I would think about these things.”

Sits-in-Shadow turned to leave, then stopped and spoke again. “Whatever you decide, I tell you this: You cannot break this girl’s spirit.”

“I know,” Black Snake replied, so softly that the medicine man barely heard the words.

When Anna returned to the chief’s
wegiwa
, neither Standing Crane nor Blossom acted as if her summons had been out of the ordinary. Anna tried to dismiss the entire episode from her own mind. Yet from time to time that day, she caught them looking at her strangely, and Anna knew that her visit to the medicine lodge had in some way been important to her fate. But what that might be, Anna had no idea.