Indentured

by Jeanie P Johnson

  “It’s all going to come out eventually,” he told her. “But you’ll have to push it out, just like you would a baby, and that is what is painful, the contractions that cause you to push it out. No telling how long it will take either. It could be over in a few hours, or a few days. Just depends on how long it wants to take.”

  “Isn’t there any way to stop it?” she asked in fright, as a pain gripped her stomach.

  “Frade not sweetheart. Just hold in there.”

  Theodore knocked on the door, and then put his head in. “Can I get the matches to start a fire in the houseboat?” he asked, and Gus, looking distracted, handed him some matches.

  “Take your stew with you to finish,” he offered, and Theodore picked up the bowl of stew and headed back to the other houseboat.

  The day drifted into the night, as Leatrisha panted and cried out in pain, with Gus right at her side, holding her hand.

  “How could your husband turn you out when you were carrying his child?” Gus asked, in between her pain.

  “It wasn’t his child,” she told him. “The father of the child got killed, and Rand offered to marry me. He didn’t love me, he did it out of responsibility because I was under his roof at the time.”

  “Sorry to hear that, sweetheart,” Gus mumbled.

  By morning, it was all over, and Leatrishia lay spent in Gus’ bed. He hadn’t slept the night, and she got very little rest herself.

  “I’m going to wash your britches out in the river. I’ll give you a pair of my long johns to wear, until they are dry. I need to wash you up, though, sweetheart. Don’t get upset, now. It has to be done.”

  Leatrishia felt the warm cloth wash over her, as he gently pulled her legs apart so he could clean her.

  “I should take your shirt and wash it too,” he told her, and she timidly removed her shirt and handed it to him. Then he removed the blood soaked towles, and handed her the long johns. Slowly she pulled them on, as Gus left the houseboat.

  “You better stay here for a bit,” he told her, when he returned. “Just to make sure you are all right. But if you don’t mind scooting over, I am really beat, and need some sleep. You should rest too. I don’t think you got any sleep either,” he told her.

  Leatrisha, moved over against the wall and let the trapper lay down beside her, after taking off his fringed buckskin shirt and buckskin britches, revealing long johns beneath them.

  Now she had no part of James left, she thought mournfully. And Rand had demanded she leave, so she didn’t have him either. She could not stop the onslaught of tears that suddenly spilled over her lids.

  “There, there,” Gus whispered, as he awkwardly put his arm around her. “You can have more babies. It don’t mean you can’t have more.”

  “I don’t want to have more babies,” she sniffed. “I never want a man to touch me again!”

  “Hope you don’t mean I can’t comfort you like this,” he mumbled.

  “You have been very kind,” she whispered. “I am sorry to cause you so much trouble.”

  “No trouble, sweetheart. I enjoy the company. I’ll look out for you, don’t worry.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Leatrisha blinked her eyes open, as the sun streamed through the windows of the houseboat. She was in the bed by herself, and there was a stranger peering down at her. Where had Gus gone, and who was the young man, with golden brown hair trimed neatly around his face, which was clean shaven, and smiling at her?

  “Where is Gus?” she asked, as she looked into his handsome face, with those concerned grey eyes looking down at her.

  “I figured since there was a lady in my home, I should get cleaned up a bit,” the man said, in that familiar sounding voice.

  “Gus?” Leatrisha asked, unbelieving that the long haired bearded man had transformed into the man who was standing before her now.

  “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “I will probably survive,” she told him. “You…you look so different from the man I met yesterday,” she said quietly.

  “I hope it is an improvement,” he laughed. “I usually keep the beard over the winter, but under the circumstances. Well I’ve been sort of a hermit for so long, that I have forgotten how frightening I must have looked to you.”

  “You didn’t frighten me,” she said honestly.

  “You need to rest for at least three days, sweetheart. So no getting out of that bed, except to releave yourself, and you call me, when the need arrises, cause I don’t want you fainting on me, you hear? There’s nothing I haven’t seen of you, so there’s no use feeling embarrassed. I’m here to help you. Just remember that.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you. I was expecting to be all alone, except for Theodore, and now you are here.”

  “Thought Nat told you I would be here,” he remembered.

  “Yes, he did say if I needed help that…”

  “Well then you aren’t all alone, and you won’t be, as long as I am here. I will have to go out and do some trapping, when the snow flies, but you can come out and help me, if you want.”

  “Nat should be here by then,” Leatrishia stated.

  “Are you and Nat together?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “I was married up until yesterday. Well I still am married. Only Rand said he was drawing up the divorce papers, and then in a year, it would be final. Nat is merely a friend who offered me a place to go.”

  “I see. And what are your future plans?”

  “I…I was helping Nat with the Freedom Train. But since I was going to have the baby, he said I probably couldn’t be of any help any longer. But apparently that, can’t stop me now.”

  “Is that why your husband threw you out? You were helping the slaves escape, and yet you own a slave of your own.”

  “You can understand why he couldn’t allow me to continue. But now it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t want me as his wife any longer, and I am no longer going to have a baby. Perhaps this is all for the best,” she said quietly.

  “No use risking your neck, though,” he insisted.

  “I can’t do anything until spring anyway,” she shrugged.

  “Well both you and Nat can help me trap,” he chuckled. “Nat has helped me before when he didn’t have anything else to do. It’s something to do in the winter when there is not much else to keep a body occupied.”

  Gus, went to his stove, and started rummaging around.

  “I’ll go over and check on your slave, and take him something to eat,” Gus told her. “There is some food here if you are hungry. It won’t hurt you to sit up to eat, but I want you in bed most the time otherwise.”

  Gus left the houseboat, and Leatrishia sat up, looking around. Gus’ place looked much like Nat’s houseboat. Leatrisha slowly stood up, and walked over to the table, dishing up some potatoes and bacon onto the plate he had set out for her. As she was eating, Gus came back in. He sat down in the chair across from her and smiled.

  “How long have you been traping?” Leatrishia asked.

  “Most of my life. My father was a trapper. Married an Indian after my own mother died. We went into Montana and lived with her tribe for a bit, but when I grew up, I came back here. My father is probably still with that tribe. Shoshoni, were friends to the white man. Still are. Not like the Sioux or the Blackfoot. Learned a lot from them Indians though.”

  “How long have you been here on the river?” she wanted to know.

  “Since I was sixteen. Going on seven years now.”

  “And you have been trapping all that time?”

  “Pretty much. Sometimes I pick up odd jobs, taking people down the river, or haling small amount of supplies for people when I take my furs in. But I stay in this spot most of the time, when I am not roaming on the river.”

  “So you like being a hermit,” Leatrisha smiled, eyeing him.

  “It’s lonely sometimes, but I meet a lot of people on the river. It’s just when I’m trapping that I am mostly by myself.
This year will be different though,” he smiled. “I think I am going to like the company.”

  “How are you ever going to meet a wife, living all alone the way you do?” she asked.

  “I’m not the marrying kind. I like my solitude. Don’t need a woman messing that up for me.”

  “I hope I am not in your way,” she said suddenly.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean it the way you think. Besides you don’t look much like a woman, now do you?” he chuckled. “It’s just that women are all picky, and wouldn’t suit this kind of life. They want to be pampered, and I’m not the pampering sort.”

  “You seemed to be pampering me, last night,” she pointed out.

  “That was different. You needed the pampering. Living with the Indians, I witnessed a lot of things. They are a tough breed, but they still had their weaknesses. My father’s Indian wife lost a child like you. That’s why I knew what to expect. It is lucky I was the one you ran into at your time of need,” he smiled.

  “I don’t know how to thank you for all you’ve done so far,” Leatrisha murmured.

  “Now don’t you think a thing of it. I’m happy to do anything I can do to help. I’ll help you outside to the outhouse, and then You need to get back in bed,” he said.

  He came over to her side, and to her surprise, he effortlessly lifted her up in his arms and carried her all the way out to the outhouse, where he put her down, and waited outside the door until she emerged. Then he swept her up in his arms once more, to carry her back.

  Leatrishia noticed he smelled of shaving soap and rawhide, and it seemed to be a pleasant smell to her. He seemed strong and capable, and he didn’t expect her to live up to any standard he had set for her, like Rand seemed to do. She didn’t have to pretend she was in love or engaged to him, and it felt relaxing not to have to do anything but just be herself.

  Gus, brought her in and placed her on the bed, tucking the covers around her neck.

  “By the way, you look very fetching in my long johns,” he chuckled. “Now what would you like me to do to entertain you? I could read to you, or play my banjo, or we could play cards, or…”

  “Do you play chess?” she asked.

  “Havn’t played in years. Sort of rusty at it, and by the look in your eye, I would say you must be pretty good at it, right? You thinking me to be a sucker, you can trick into losing to you?” he teased.

  “Do you even have a chess game?” she asked.

  “Somewhere, probably. My father and I used to play to pass the time, but hell, I havn’t looked at a chess board in…well I don’t know how long.”

  “Then I will go easy on you,” Letrishia laughed.

  “Hmmm, you’re aiming to take away my manly pride, I can tell,” he chuckled.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” she giggled. “I will play you with one hand tied behind my back,” she offered.

  “How about blind? Then it might be fair,” he suggested. “Maybe we should play cards instead.”

  “No. The last time I played cards was with Nat, and we played for kisses, I lost a shocking amount of kisses to him.”

  “While you were married, you played cards for kisses?” Gus exclaimed.

  “It was before I was married,” she explained. “Nat and I met, right after the man who was father to my child, whom I had planned to marry in the first place, was killed. Then when I discovered I was carrying James’ child, Rand the man I was indentured to, offered to marry me. It is all long and complicated.”

  “Seems to be. But we don’t have to play for kisses. We could play for something else,” he smiled. “For fleshing out pelts.”

  “How does that work?” she wanted to know.

  “Well, when I skin the animals I trap, their pelts have to be fleshed out, meaning all the fat has to be scraped off of them. It is time consuming, so for every hand you lose, you have to flesh out a pelt for me. And for every hand I lose, I have to cook you a meal. How will that work?”

  “Sounds fair enough,” Leatrisha smiled. “Only I don’t know how to flesh out a pelt.”

  “Don’t worry,” he grinned I’ll be happy to show you how.

  Gus started dealing the cards, and they began to play. By dinner time, it looked like Leatrisha would be fleshing out a lot of pelts.

  “I knew this was a bad idea,” Leatrisha laughed.

  “Well since you are being such a good sport about it, I will play you some chess after dinner. “I’ll go over and get your slave. He is probably feeling rather lonely by now. He seems to be very attached to you. He was rather worried about you when I took him lunch.”

  “I kept Rand from selling him and separating him from his family, but now it looks like he has been separated from them after all.”

  “He claimes he wants to be here with you,” Gus mentioned.

  “I could probably give him his freedom, and he wouldn’t leave me,” Leatrisha informed him. “He is like my shadow. Ever since Rand gave him to me, he hasn’t left my side.”

  “Shows you bring out loyalty in people, sweetheart,” he smiled. “I don’t know how that husband of yours, could have ever let you go, if that is the kind of person you happen to be.”

  “I would have ruined him, if I had stayed, and continued to help run away slaves,” she told him.

  “Why didn’t you want to go home to England?” he questioned.

  “My father would have tried to marry me to a blue blood after Rand divorced me. Only me being a divorced woman, he wouldn’t have had much luck. Besides, I wanted to stay and help the slaves. I risked my security with Rand to help them. I couldn’t go home and face a boring life in England. What I was doing, made me feel alive and worth something. I was doing something worthwhile that helped others out of their misery. I still want to do it.

  “Besides, the only reason Rand was keeping me, was first I was indentured to him, and then he married me because I was with child, and fit in his plantation so well. All the slaves were dedicated to me, and he knew it. Ask Theodore. I loved being with the slaves, listening to them singing, and helping them out when I could. It was the least I could do to help other slaves that were in worse conditions than our own slaves, find a better lot in life.”

  “You got a lot of spunk, girl,” he said, as he left to get Theodore.

  Theodore came in, and looked at Leatrisha with frightened eyes.

  “You doin’ well, Miss Lettie?” he asked almost afraid to approach her.

  “I am fine, Theodore. I lost my baby, though. I have to rest for a few days, but then I will be as good as ever. If you get bored staying in the houseboat by yourself, come over and visit while I’m here.”

  “And you come over here to eat,” Gus added.

  “I’ll take cares of your horse fer ya,” Theodore offered. “Gives me sumthing ta do,” he explained.

  “That would be mighty kind of you,” Gus told him.

  “I’z used ta servin’ people,” he mumbled.

  Gus made them all sandwiches with slices of ham on bread, and Theodore took his to the other houseboat, feeling shy and out of place.

  “He’s a great young man,” Gus said. “I can see how much he idolizes you.”

  “He’s more of a friend than a slave,” Leatrisha informed him. “Rand has his papers, but I will free him as soon as I can get his papers back.”

  “Maybe I should show him how to fish, and he can keep himself busy doing that as well,” Gus suggested.

  “I think he would like doing that,” Leatrisha smiled. She was beginning to like Gus more and more.

  Gus dug out the chess board, but after losing three games in a row to Leatrisha, he threw up his hands. “Since I owe you fleshing out pelts for losing at cards, I suppose you can owe three meals for losing at chess,” she laughed.

  “Seeing as how I have been doing the cooking anyway, that is not too much to ask,” he joked, as he began putting the game away. “You are probably due for another visit to the outhouse, before we go to bed, I’ll bet,” he said, throwi
ng the covers back, and picking her up again.

  Leatrisha liked the feel of his capable arms, carrying her, and even though she was sure she could probably walk, she allowed him to carry her without complaining. He seemed set on doing it, she decided, so why argue?

  When they returned to the houseboat, Gus put Leatrisha back in bed, and then began removing his buckskin clothes, down to his long johns, and climbed in beside her, blowing out the lamp before he did.

  “One thing I wouldn’t mind about having a woman around,” he whispered, “is laying next to her warm body like this.”

  “I promise not to be a bother to you,” Leatrisha, murmured.

  “You’re not a bother, sweetheart. Once you start fleshing out pelts for me, you won’t be a bother at all,” he laughed.

  Then he put his arm around her and pulled her next to him.

  “Rest well,” he whispered next to her ear.

  Leatrisha lay, watching Gus sleep. The morning sun filtered into the houseboat through the thin curtains on the windows, and rested softly on his face. He had strong features, but now they looked relaxed, as he drew in deep breaths.

  She could not believe how different he had looked when she first met him, compared to now. He had seemed like a wild mountain man, with his beard and long hair. But now he had a kind appealing look to his features. Already though, his beard had started growing again, and it made a shadow against his strong jaw line. Timidly she reached out to touch the stubble, and Gus’ eyes flew open.

  Leatrisha drew her hand away, as though she had done something wrong, but he smiled at her, and drew her hand back, placing it on his cheek.

  “Don’t know why you felt like touching, me,” he mumbled, “but what ever the reason, I won’t stop you.”

  She didn’t even know herself why she had wanted to touch him. Perhaps because of his kindness to her, and the way he was caring for her.

  “Your beard seems to grow fairly fast,” she smiled, shyly. “I just wanted to see what it felt like.”

  “No problem, sweetheart. Didn’t your husband have morning whiskers?”

  “Yes,” she admitted. “But his whiskers were light, and not so noticeable.”