Fated Memories

by Judith Ann McDowell

  Moving now, Charlotte made her way towards him. “Is that what’s tearin’ you apart? Because you couldn’t see what was happenin’, it’s all your fault? My God, Eathen,” she drew him into her arms. “Nobody had an idea she would do something like this!”

  “I shoulda! The fact I didn’t’s drivin’ me crazy.” He drew away from her and, walking back to his chair, slumped down, reaching for the bottle setting on the desk.

  “Oh, Eathen,” she cried, falling to her knees beside him. “Eathen, look at me.” She turned his face towards her, wiped his tears with her hand. “We’re not to blame for this. Jessie fell in love. I admit, he ain’t the one I would have chosen for her, but can’t you see, darlin? That’s just it. We can’t always choose the person we give our heart to. When love comes, all we can do is hope we’ve made the right choice.”

  “Because you’re a woman, you make everything sound so easy, Charlotte. A man knows better.”

  Remaining beside him, she stared over at him. Then bracing one hand against the desk, she pulled herself to her feet. “I didn’t mean to make it sound easy for you, Eathen. I just told you how I feel.”

  “No, Charlotte,” he refilled his empty glass, “this ain’t got nothin’ to do with female fantasies. This is man’s business. And as the man of this house, I’ll see it gets taken care of.”

  “I only hope, for once in your life, Eathen, you put our daughter’s safety before your pride.”

  With the glass almost to his mouth, he declared, “Would you mind tellin’ me just what the hell you mean by that remark?”

  Trembling with emotion, she said, “Jessie’s in a vulnerable state right now, Eathen. It ain’t just her heart at risk here. You could push her over the edge.”

  “Oh bullshit! Jessie’s a Thornton. She’ll come through this without any problems. All she needs is a strong hand to guide her.”

  “I hope for all our sakes, you’re right. If you ain’t, this time your pride could cost us our daughter.” With that said, she walked out of the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Carrying the heavy water pouches back from the lake, Jessie stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Lowering her cumbersome burden to the ground, she caught sight of a group of women observing her from across the way.

  She smiled, nodded a greeting, but the women turned away, chatting in their own language.

  “You’re not gonna make it easy for me, are you?” She bent to pick up the pouches once more when she felt herself being moved out of the way.

  “Let me help you, Jessie,” Two Spirits told her, hefting the heavy containers as though they weighted no more than a cupful.

  The laughter surrounding them made Jessie whirl, to face the ones standing just out of their reach. “What’s the matter, you’ve never seen a man help his woman with the work before?” she screeched at them.

  “Jessie, be quiet!” he hissed at her. “Don’t you see?” With a rough hand, he grabbed her arm, pulling her in the direction of their lodge. “You are making everything worse.”

  “What did I do?” She yanked away from him. “They are the ones laughing for no reason.”

  “Among the Blackfeet,” he tried to explain, “the carrying of water is woman’s work. I know you are not used to heavy labor, so I thought I would help you. The women made fun of me not you.”

  Knowing that, once again, she had shamed him before his people, she hung her head, walking the rest of the way to the lodge in silence.

  “From now on, Jessie,” Two Spirits placed the heavy pouches just inside the door, “bring what you can carry. I’ll try to help you all I can within our lodge, but outside I can do very little to lift your burdens.”

  “I’m sorry I’m so much trouble.” Jessie moved into his arms.

  “It will take time to learn everything there is to know about your new life. If I try to help you in front of the people, they will make your life harder.”

  “Then I’ll do what’s expected of me, alone. I don’t want you to have any reason to be ashamed of me.”

  “Jessie,” he tipped her face up to him, “I want you to come to me if you need help. All I ask is if you think you can do something on your own, then do it. You are never to put the life of our child at risk. My people are not without mercy, Jessie. They feel uncomfortable with what they do not understand.”

  “Will they ever accept me? Or is this what I have to look forward to in the rest of our life together?”

  “I think in time they will come to accept you as my woman. You are the first white girl they have known. If you show them your heart is good, that you want to be a part of my life, they will accept you.”

  “I hope you’re right. If they refuse to accept me, what will happen to our daughter? I won’t tolerate anyone makin’ fun of her just because she’s part white.”

  “That will not happen, Jessie. Our daughter will always be protected from scorn. From your race and mine. If need be, we will live our lives alone away from both races.”

  The barking of the camp dogs drew their attention. Going outside, Two Spirits saw the reason for the dogs’ unrest and retraced his steps back inside the lodge.

  At the stricken look covering his face, Jessie felt her heart constrict with fear. “Two Spirits, what is it?”

  “Wolfer just rode into camp. There is but reason he would come here.” He drew the lodge flap open just enough to peer outside.

  “What are we gonna do?”

  “Wait and see what he does!”

  “How did he know where to find us?” She wrung her hands as she paced the lodge.

  “Pehta is the one person who knew we planned to come to Yellow Owl’s camp. I don’t know why he would betray us, but he did.” He kept his eyes on the opening.

  “Do you think Yellow Owl will tell him we’re here?” She tried not to panic.

  “He will not have to. Our horses are with the rest of the herd. He would have seen them when he rode into camp. We cannot hide, Jessie,” he told her as he watched a man point out their lodge.

  “Oh, God! I’m so scared!” she whispered.

  “He is walking this way! Do not allow him to see your fear, Jessie.”

  Within moments, Wolfer stood outside their dwelling.

  “Two Spirits. It’s Wolfer,” he called out. “Are you gonna allow me to come in so we can discuss this in private?”

  Two Spirits lifted the flap and Wolfer bent to enter. His cold gray eyes fell on Jessie as she stood watching him. Her own eyes filled with fear.

  “Before either of you harbor any ill-feelings against Pehta, you need to know he had no choice but to tell me where you’d gone.”

  “How much did Thornton pay him?” Two Spirits asked, his voice filled with anger.

  The open-handed slap Wolfer delivered across his face sent the younger man reeling across the lodge.

  “If you’re smart, you’ll stay where you are and hear me out. If not, then let’s go outside where we have more room to settle this.”

  When Two Spirits remained lying on the floor, Wolfer walked over to him and, holding out his hand, helped him to his feet.

  “Now let’s start over. As I said, Pehta had no choice but to tell me where you’d gone. Your father,” he nodded to Jessie, “came to the reservation to find you.”

  At this news, Jessie’s hand went to her throat. “Does he know about the baby?” she whispered.

  “He does. He planned on comin’ after you himself, but I told him I’d bring you back.”

  “Why?” she murmured.

  “Why? Because I thought by my comin’ after you, Two Spirits’d have a chance to get away.”

  “I will not leave my woman,” Two Spirits spoke up.

  “Yes, Two Spirits,” Wolfer said, his voice taking on a steely edge, “you will leave her. You don’t have a choice.

  “This does not concern you, Wolfer,” Two Spirits told him, facing, unafraid, the man who had come to destroy their lives. “Jessie and I are going to make a new
life for ourselves and our child. Reservation laws do not govern me here. No one can force us to do anything any more.”

  “Now you listen to me, boy,” Wolfer growled, coming forward. “And you listen good. Thornton’s out for your blood. I’m gonna take his daughter back with or without your permission. If you’re smart, you won’t try’n stop me. Instead you’ll get your ass far away from here until things cool down.”

  “What kind of man would I be to leave my woman when she is expecting my child?” he demanded, all the while trying to think of a way for them to get away.

  “You would be a live one for starters. You ain’t gonna be worth a damn to either one of them if Thornton gets his hands on you. Now ain’t the time to be a hero, Two Spirits.”

  “Pehta said she would be sent far away. I cannot allow that to happen.”

  “I doubt Eathen would let her be away from him for long. Yes, maybe until she has the baby, but then she’d come back.”

  “And our child? Would she come back?” Two Spirits asked, his anger mounting with each moment that passed. “I do not think he could face having a half-breed grandchild. He cares too much about what people will say.”

  Unable to watch the pleading in the young man’s eyes any longer, Wolfer told him, “That’s the chance you’re gonna have to take. Right now, I’m takin’ her back to her father.”

  Two Spirits pulled Jessie behind him. “I cannot let you do that, Wolfer. Jessie is my woman. She will stay with me.”

  “Then I guess we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.” His fist swung, catching the younger man on the side of his jaw to knock him face down on the floor of the lodge.

  “Don’t even think about it, little girl.” Wolfer held his hands up in front of him, as Jessie grabbed Two Spirits’ gun from its holster.

  “Don’t force me to use this, Wolfer.” Her small hand trembled from the weight of the gun she held tight in her grip.

  “You better make the first shot count, ‘cause if you don’t,” he growled, walking a steady path towards her, “I’m gonna whip you within an inch of your life!”

  Backing away, Jessie refused to give in. “My father don’t care about me. All he’s concerned about’s the shame I’m bringin’ on his name!”

  Wolfer remained silent as he continued moving forward, his cold eyes never leaving hers.

  When she felt the lodge skins press into her back, she stopped and, leveling the gun at his head, whispered, “I’ll kill you, Wolfer. I swear I will.”

  “Then squeeze that goddamn trigger ‘cause I ain’t backin’!”

  The deafening sound echoed throughout the quiet lodge as Jessie felt the heavy weapon recoil in her hand.

  “Jesus Christ!” Wolfer dropped to the floor.

  “Now get to your feet and get outta here! I won’t miss next time.”

  “All right, don’t do anything stupid,” he said, taking her advice.

  “My father musta offered you a pretty good sum for you to come all this way after us.” She relaxed some. “It’s a lot different collectin’ blood money on humans than it is on poor helpless animals, ain’t it? Humans can fight back.”

  He slapped his hat against the leg of his jeans. “Eathen don’t have to buy my help. I knew if I didn’t come, he would. And if that happened, Two Spirits wouldn’t have a chance in hell of gettin’ away.”

  “Now I’m suppose to believe you’re doin’ this outta the goodness of your heart.” She gave a bitter laugh.

  “You believe what you want.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m tellin’ you how it is.”

  “I already know what kinda man you are. Remember?” She grasped the wrist of the hand holding the gun. “I learned the hard way.”

  “Eathen don’t need to pay anyone to do a favor for him. There ain’t a man who knows him that he ain’t helped at one time or another.” Wolfer watched the way her hands began to tremble.

  “Or,” she smirked, “one who’s beholdin’ to him for all the liquor he buys from outta Canada.”

  “You got all the answers, don’t you, little girl?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but right now I’d venture to say I hold the upper hand.” She dared a fearful glance towards the man still unmoving on the lodge floor.

  Without warning, she felt the gun knocked from her hand as Wolfer gripped her tight around the waist.

  “Let go of me, you worthless bastard!” she screamed, twisting and turning in his arms.

  “Settle down, goddamnit, while I check on Two Spirits. I didn’t think I hit him hard enough for him to be out this long!”

  At the mention of Two Spirits, she stopped fighting.

  When he saw she would behave, he left her to walk across the floor to retrieve the gun he had knocked from her hand. Stuffing it into his belt, he went to kneel down beside the unconscious man lying before him.

  Turning him on his back, he lifted one eyelid. “He’s all right. I guess I did hit him a little harder’n I thought. Well,” he got to his feet, “this could be a blessin’ in disguise. Get your belongin’s together. We’re movin’ out.”

  “You can’t expect me to leave him like this!” Jessie tried to fight her way over to check on Two Spirits.

  “He’ll be all right.” Wolfer pushed her back across the lodge. “When he comes to, I wanna be a good two or three hours ride from here.”

  “No!” She jerked away from him. “I won’t leave him!”

  Without a word he grabbed both her hands in one of his and, withdrawing a strip of rawhide from his belt, tied them.

  “Let me go!” She tried to hit him with her bound hands.

  Without a word he gagged her, then throwing her over his broad shoulder, strolled from the lodge. At the sight of Maggie tied right outside, Jessie could feel her anger rising even more.

  Yellow Owl walked towards them. “I know the power of Eathen Thornton. I do not want the bloodshed he can bring to my people. Take the girl and go. I will see to the securing of Two Spirits. When I think the time is right, I will release him.”

  After putting Jessie on her horse, Wolfer stepped into the saddle. “Now might be a good time to take care of that. I had to knock him out. You might have your medicine man take a look at him.”

  Yellow Owl turned at once toward Two Spirits’ lodge.

  As they rode out of camp, Wolfer stared straight ahead, leading an angry Jessie beside him.

  All that day and part of the night they continued to ride. Although he had removed her gag and unbound her hands, he refused to talk to her. Each time Jessie asked to stop, he ignored her. Finally she had no choice.

  “You can yell all you want, but I have to stop,” she told him, reining in her horse and dismounting before he could stop her.

  “You better make it quick. And don’t do anything stupid, ‘cause I’d hate like hell to have to come after you.”

  Walking a short distance from where he sat his horse, she kept watching to make sure he couldn’t see her. Stepping behind some trees, she allowed her body the release it needed.

  When he spied her walking towards him, he pointed to a small clearing a short distance ahead of them. “We’ll pitch camp there for the rest of the night. I hope for your sake you can fall asleep fast. I figure we gotta few hours before daylight.”

  “Wolfer, I can’t continue like this.” She remounted. “I need more than a few hours of rest.”

  “Then you better get all you can, while you can.” He slapped his horse with the reins. “We move out at first light.”

  Later, inside the small tent Wolfer had erected for them, she tried her best to fall asleep, but the cold winter winds blowing down from the mountains reached inside the thin walls to chill her with their icy touch. Edging closer towards the firepit, she moaned with discomfort.

  “I wouldn’t get too close to that fire.” He rolled over facing her. “That Tamarack pops a lot. A spark catches that blanket, you’re gonna think you’re in hell.”

  “I have to get warm. It’s so c
old, I can’t sleep.”

  “Oh hell,” he lifted his blanket, his voice slurred with sleep, “roll over here and we’ll share our body heat.”

  Jessie threw off her blanket to scramble to her feet. “Don’t you even think of puttin’ your hands on me.”

  “What the hell you talkin’ ‘bout, girl?” Wolfer sat up in his bedroll to stare at her.

  “You heard me!” She inched her way towards the door of the tent. “You try anything, I’ll tell my father!”

  “I got news for you, little girl,” he snarled, kicking his blankets out straight, “all I offered is warmth. Truth is, I wouldn’t straddle you if you owned the last piece of ass in Montana! Now lay down beside that fire and go to sleep, goddamnit! ‘Fore I tie you up, and throw your ass outside!”

  For a long while, she remained standing by the door, and then she walked back to take her place beside the fire, making sure to stay far enough back to be safe. Curling her body into a tight ball, she stared over at him, waiting for him to make a move. When at last she heard his even breathing telling her he slept, she finally allowed herself to relax.

  It seemed like moments before he shook her awake.

  “Come on.” He nudged her with the toe of his boot. “Time to get movin’.”

  “I just got to sleep.” Jessie rolled herself tighter in her blankets.

  He reached down, grabbed one side of her blanket, and with a quick yank, unrolled her across the small tent.

  The cold air hit her, making her shiver. Wrapping the blanket around her shaking body, she glared at the man watching her as she began pulling on her boots.

  Before walking out of the tent, he dropped some jerky into her lap then, without a backward glance, continued on his way outside.

  “I guess I better hurry if I don’t want the tent falling down around me.” She quickened her movements.

  As they rode, she peered over at him. “I apologize for misunderstandin ’ your motives last night.”

  He gave her a brief glance for her answer.