Against All Odds

by Marian L. Jasper

  Zelma nodded. “I will look after him well, along with Matthew and Si. I will treat him no differently to the way that I treat the other two. I am surprised that he is six, I would have thought he was much younger.”

  “He may look younger, but he has seen things and done things that have really made him older than his years. He does need a great deal of love as that is something that he has always lacked up to now,” said Liza.

  “I will love him the same as Matthew and Si; no more or no less, but he will now know love from all of us,” said Zelma.

  “Zelma, we met up with Running Bear and the medicine man. Matthew, John and Patrick were welcomed into the Cherokee tribe; they now have Cherokee names. Brave Eagle has been banished as he killed one of their own and he and his family and followers are now somewhere in Mexico. Running Bear has another new wife and she is with child and they are hoping for a boy who will eventually take over from Running Bear,” said Liza quickly imparting some of the happenings and at the same time hoping to put Zelma’s mind at rest regarding Brave Eagle.

  In Cherokee, Zelma said, “If he does not have another son, then Matthew will be in line for chief. I have seen the scout.”

  Liza and Zelma apologised to Patrick. “I’m sorry; we slipped back into the past for a minute. Zelma tells me that she has seen the half-Cherokee scout. He’s been here then, Zelma?”

  “He came soon after your friends from the ship came through here. I saw your efforts at our talisman on the side of their wagons, and he recognised it as your work,” said Zelma.

  Patrick and Liza were delighted that the Perez’s and the Dumas’ had been to Benson and Zelma told them that quite a meeting had taken place at the store when they were there with very many people coming and asking questions.

  “So everyone already knows about our adventures on the high seas then,” said Patrick.

  Zelma nodded and Patrick continued that now they had nothing to tell anyone about, it had all been said and he was pleased because they could get on with life as it is now. Patrick and Liza were laughing.

  “It is not funny,” said Zelma seriously and she turned to Liza. “Somebody tried to kill you Liza, and you also were hurt, Patrick, and I’m not laughing.”

  “You’re right Zelma, it wasn’t funny, especially when I thought I had lost my Liza, but we’re both safe now and we’re happy to be home. I think it would be a good idea to have our supper now, then sort out the boys and have an early night. It’s been a very long journey for us and I’ve got to go early to see the colonel tomorrow.”

  With their supper eaten, Si dispatched to his home and the boys settled for the night, Patrick and Liza made their way to their bedroom. It didn’t take long for Liza to get into bed and Patrick sorted out his uniform for the next day and then sat in the chair and watched Liza pretending to be asleep. She was in a playful mood and Patrick decided not to disappoint her. “Welcome home, Liza,” he said as he started to make sure that he made her very happy.

  At dawn, she felt his usual nudge and responded contentedly and a short while later he was getting ready to go to the fort. Zelma was already getting breakfast ready for them and Liza and Patrick just sat quietly enjoying time to themselves before the bustle of the day started.

  Zelma had already saddled his horse and Liza waved him off to work. This is what normal people do, thought Liza.

  The boys could now be heard and Liza went up to supervise them getting ready for the day. They wanted to spend the day with Si but as Liza pointed out, Si would be at school, which is where they would be going next week. Realising that Si was already at school persuaded them that school was a good idea. Liza didn’t enlighten them that they had no choice in the matter.

  Liza was going to take them visiting various places that day, but first she had a private call to make and she went into the garden to pick some flowers and then made her way to the cemetery to see Danny and Angus. She laid some flowers on Angus’ grave and then went to Danny’s and put flowers on his and she stayed for a while and told him of her adventures. George Prior saw her and waited at a respectful distance until she had finished and then told her how delighted he was to see her back home and reiterated how much the whole town had missed her. She asked whether he would be attending the party on Saturday and he said that he and Angela would be there. Liza raised her eyebrows and George said that he and Angela always attended functions together.

  She took the boys to the general store to see ‘grandma’ Kathy and granddad ‘Joe’. They really had not met John the day before as the boys had been so busy playing with Si. John was shy but fascinated by all the goods and young Greg made him feel welcome. Kathy and Joe came rushing from the back of the shop to greet them all.

  “So,” said Kathy, “we have another grandchild to love. Welcome, John, or shall we call you JJ as Si calls you?”

  “I liked being called JJ, it sounds friendly,” said John.

  “JJ it is then,” said Joe, “and we would be pleased if you would call us grandma and granddad as we feel that we are grandparents to Matthew and would like to be your grandparents too.”

  John beamed from ear to ear. “I’ve never had any grandparents before,” and he just kept smiling and peeping up at them from time to time as if he wanted to make sure that they were still there and it had not all been a dream.

  Joe and Kathy asked if Liza would let the boys stay with them for a while and both boys were nodding that they would like to be there. “If you are happy to look after these two rascals then I’ll go and call in at the bank and one or two others before I collect them and take them to the fort to see Ben and others.” Liza purposely did not say the colonel as she still had to make her peace with him.

  “You know Ben and Brigeta were married last year,” said Kathy.

  “Oh, I’m pleased about that. I’m sorry I missed it. I’m very fond of them both. I suppose Brigeta lives in the married quarters now, I’ll call in on her when I’m there,” said Liza.

  Liza made her way towards the bank, stopping at Charlie Penn’s and Caroline Browne’s on the way. She also looked in at the blacksmiths to see that all was in order there before she finally handed all documentation over to Patrick. At the bank she was ushered into the manager’s office. The word had gone around that she was back in town. Leonard Pembroke was the manager and she had worked with him for just a short while prior to her leaving eighteen months before.

  They went through all her accounts and they seemed to be increasing nicely. All rents were being paid in regularly as they should be. She had to arrange for Patrick to call in so that he could finalise his signatures on his accounts, but as she had set them all up and still had power of signature on them all she was informed of how they were running, which again were accruing well.

  She thanked Mr Pembroke and arranged to see him the next day with Patrick and she then called in on Gabriel and checked on all deeds, leases and discussed any future projects which could be interesting. She told him about the farming co-operative that she had set up in Ireland and wondered whether there could be an opening for such an enterprise around Benson. “It’s just food for thought at the moment, Gabriel. Of course we haven’t been hit by a potato famine here, so it’s not so essential. It could be too ambitious.”

  “Does your mind ever rest, Liza?” asked Gabriel.

  “Sometimes it has to as it gets too many thoughts for me to sort them correctly, so I step back and just concentrate on my family for a while, but I don’t like to miss out on an opportunity,” said Liza.

  “I’m really pleased you’re back; Benson has not been very exciting whilst you have been gone,” said Gabriel who was not known for wanting any form of excitement. “So, we’re having a party in your honour on Saturday. See the excitement now that you’re back has already started.”

  “What are you going to do with Si on the night? I think that the boys should be included early on, because I know that Zelma will want to be there. As the party is in honour of Patrick and me th
en we will have to be there until the bitter end. I suppose I could ask Zelma to leave early with the boys which could include Si.”

  “Of course, I hadn’t thought about Zelma also wanting to be there. I suppose they could sleep at the fort and we could keep an eye on them until we leave. We’ll have to think about it. I could, of course, leave and take the boys home with me,” said Gabriel not too enthusiastically.

  “We’ll sort something out, I’m sure,” said Liza and she took her leave to return to the general store to make sure the boys had lunched and if not, they would probably have eaten enough from the store to keep them happy.

  Matthew shouted goodbye to Kathy, Joe and Greg and John said, “Goodbye Grandma and Granddad,” and smiled happily. Life was good for him; he had a mummy and daddy, a brother and a grandma and granddad. There were also lots of people around who seemed to like him and treat him kindly. He liked this place called Benson. He was looking forward to seeing Si again when school was finished.

  Liza went home and told the boys to wash their hands and faces as they were going to visit at the fort. “Good,” said Matthew, “we’ll see Uncle Ben and he always has sweets in his pockets.”

  “He doesn’t know you are going to visit him so he may not have his normal supply of sweets,” said Liza, and she went to the stable and harnessed the pony to the buggy to take them to the fort.

  The first person they saw when they arrived at the fort was Ben and he must have known that they would be coming as there were sweets in his pockets which he let the boys delve into. “I told you he’d have sweets,” said Matthew.

  Ben kissed Liza and told her how pleased he was to see her back in Benson. “I heard you and Brigeta are married, I’m so sorry I missed your wedding. I presume you are both living here at the fort; I’d like to visit her if she is free,” said Liza.

  “She’d love to see you, Liza. We are going to have our first child in a couple of months’ time and she’s a little restricted at the moment, so she is in need of some company. Ada and Bea do keep her company as much as they can, but I know she would like to hear about all you have been doing. We’re looking forward to the party on Saturday, although we won’t be staying late of course. Are you going to see the colonel? I know he wants to see you but he’s not going to push himself where he thinks he may not be wanted,” said Ben.

  “I think the time has come for me to make my peace with him. I presume you’ve seen Patrick today,” said Liza.

  “Yes, he’s out on a short patrol with Sean, to get him back into the swing of things,” said Ben.

  “It’s amazing how everything gets back to normal so quickly. So I’ll see him sometime later on today; it’s strange being without him as we have been constant companions for so long now,” said Liza.

  Ben nodded and said that he would take her into the colonel and Matthew said that he wanted to see Uncle Colonel and Uncle Captain and take JJ with him.

  “That’s what they call John now; Si started that yesterday and he’s telling everyone that he is JJ now. I suppose it will stick and as long as he’s happy, it doesn’t really matter what he’s called,” said Liza.

  Captain Graves was in with the colonel and Ben knocked on the door and opened it and ushered Liza, Matthew and John into the office. “I hope I’m not disturbing you but the boys really wanted to see you both and so did I,” smiled Liza to both of them and the colonel realised that he had been forgiven. Whether Liza ever believed that he had been right to banish Patrick when he did, he would never know, but she was back and smiling at him and she went and kissed him on the cheek and then turned and kissed Captain Graves and introduced John to them. They marvelled over how Matthew had grown and told John how pleased they were to meet him.

  Ben realised that both the colonel and captain wanted to speak privately to Liza so he took both boys to look around the fort. Matthew remembered most of it, but of course it was all new and exciting for John.

  “Patrick told us about your meeting with Running Bear and some of his tribe. Is there anything that we should know that we haven’t been told, Liza?” said the colonel. “I find it strange that they would make the journey that far north and seek you out just to give names to Patrick, Matthew and young John. We have surmised something Liza and not said anything to Patrick, but having heard that Brave Eagle and his family have been banished from the tribe, who is destined to be the next Cherokee chief? Is it Matthew?”

  “Running Bear has a new young wife and she’s pregnant; if she has a boy then he will be the next chief. If it’s a girl then they will try again for a boy, and he will keep getting new young wives until hopefully he gets another boy. If he doesn’t achieve that, then yes, you are right, they believe that Matthew is next in line. They are pleased that he is being taught white ways as they know that they are eventually going to have to live in unison with white people but they will come for him if the chief dies without another son,” said Liza.

  “I take it that Patrick doesn’t know. He thinks that they just wanted to honour you and Matthew, acknowledging that he was White Wolf’s son,” said Captain Graves.

  “I have found it very difficult not to tell Patrick, but it could have created a dangerous situation if he had known and it still could. I pray that the chief achieves another son, but I do think that he is being naive if he thinks that Brave Eagle won’t return on his death and claim the tribe as his and I will make sure that Matthew is not around if and when that happens. In the meantime, we are all well protected from any aggression from the Cherokee nation,” said Liza.

  “Really, I suppose there is nothing that can be done but keep our ears to the ground and act when the chief passes on,” said the colonel.

  “I’ll know if a boy is born to the chief, and I’m sure there will be. At this moment I’m not too worried, I will worry more as time goes on and no boys are born to Running Bear. I understand that some wagons came to town with the Perez’s and the Dumas’ on them. That’s probably how the Indians knew that I was nearby,” said Liza.

  “I heard that you’d given them something that would keep them safe from the Cherokees whilst they travelled through their lands,” said the colonel.

  “Yes, well it seems to have worked. Please don’t worry about me, Colonel, or Matthew. I have everything in hand and I’m well aware of the dangers that we could be in, but thank you for your concern,” said Liza.

  “How was that girl of mine when you last saw her?” asked the colonel.

  “She seemed quite well. Her baby should be due any day now,” said Liza.

  The colonel frowned, “She had her at least two months ago, Liza. What made you think it was due now?”

  Not one to create trouble where none may be, Liza said, “I must have got the date wrong. So, she had a little girl then, Edward must be pleased.”

  “Hmmm,” was all the colonel would say and Captain Graves looked decidedly embarrassed, so Liza thought it prudent to say nothing more and she took her leave of them and joined the boys who were on their way with Ben to see Brigeta. They were living in the married quarters that Liza had when she first came to Benson.

  Ben still had sweets in his pockets and the boys were rather boisterous in finding them and Ben was in danger of losing his pockets. Liza and Brigeta just raised their eyes realising that the biggest child was really Ben.

  “You must be really looking forward to having your baby, it’s very exciting. I don’t suppose you mind whether it’s a boy or girl,” said Liza.

  “No, we don’t mind either way,” said Brigeta.

  “How are your parents?” said Liza.

  “Well, you’ll be able to see for yourself on Saturday, they are looking forward to your party. They’ll be there with my uncles and aunts and the Tolany’s. It’s going to be a very big gathering; everybody is so pleased that you and Patrick are back with us. There was quite a big meeting when your friends from the ship came into town. They went to the general store and everybody gathered there. We heard about the storm and yo
u being trapped and about the man who tried to cut your rope,” said Brigeta.

  “Yes, I was very lucky,” said Liza and if Ben and Brigeta wanted to know more, they were not going to hear it from Liza. “I was so sorry to miss your wedding but I’m so pleased that you are married. You are made for one another.”

  “So are you and Patrick,” said Ben surprisingly. “I remember him asking who you were a while before you were together. When I said that you were Mrs Mercher, he was so disappointed and then I apologised and called you the Widow Mercher and his face brightened up, unfortunately, you disappeared into the store before I could introduce you, and he had to go away for a while. But it all finally worked out for you, I’m pleased to say.”

  “Yes, we’ve had our ups and downs, but it’s all ups now. I’d better take these marauding youngsters home now, I think you’ve had enough of their high spirits for a while and besides, I remember that Matthew was always sick after seeing Ben and his sweets and you wouldn’t want to cope with that at the moment. Time enough for you to have to mop up after children,” said Liza.

  School was over for the day, but Liza guessed that Angela would still be there organising lessons for the next day, so she took Matthew and John to see her and enrol them starting the following week. Angela was another person delighted to see Liza, and she marvelled at how Matthew had grown and was pleased to be introduced to John. Liza told Angela that John had only recently learned to read and write, but he was coming along well and was very keen to learn. Also that it now appeared that there was a gang of three, namely Si, Mat and JJ.

  Angela smiled and said, “It sounds as if there is going to be a lifelong friendship now, good, they’ll help one another through any difficulties.”

  “John is a year older than Matthew, although he doesn’t look it. He has had a difficult life until now, but I don’t want to go into any details as it’s all best forgotten,” said Liza.

  “Don’t worry, Liza, I’ll keep my eye on him and make sure he’s treated well,” said Angela. “I’m looking forward to the party on Saturday.”