They sat silently for a minute.
“Pardon me for talking about myself so much, Laura. I’m sure both sides suffer during wars.”
“That’s true, but we had more trouble after the war. Scavengers kept raiding and the authorities couldn’t stop it, but when they did catch the guilty ones, they were cruel. People were hanged for stealing, and many who were in debt had all their property taken away. Some were even thrown in jail.” Laura couldn’t help thinking of Joseph Brant’s anger at the white man’s jail.
“It wasn’t that bad here, except for one year, the hungry year of ’88. We nearly starved. Some people did starve to death. And it could have been prevented. For the first three years after the war, the government provided food for the people. Then, just as a bad drought hit the land, the British claimed they had fulfilled their obligations and stopped sending supplies.”
“What did people eat, then?”
“Pigeons, rabbits, squirrels—anything. People even died from eating poisonous roots. Not that many, but some. Most people found out what was poisonous by asking the Indians or watching the animals. Instinctively, cattle rarely eat poisonous plants.”
“Really! It’s good to know that’s all in the past, though.”
“Well, folks are more prosperous now, but they can’t forget the suffering.”
“So that’s why they haven’t welcomed us?”
“Yes. And there were rumblings again, last fall, of war with the States. Simcoe sent his wife and children to Quebec for the winter. They say he was afraid of an outbreak—I’m thankful the crisis is past—and he’s brought his family back again. I suppose folks won’t trust the Americans for a while, but soon they’ll come to know and accept you.”
“I hope so. We can’t go back now.” Laura looked out over the Niagara River to the distant horizon where the deep blue of the water met the light blue of the sky.
“I hope not,” he replied.
Laura felt the emotion in his voice. She looked up then and realized that he was looking at her with a tenderness she had not seen in a man’s eyes before. Suddenly she felt uneasy. “I think we’d best be heading back. The berries may turn to mush.”
“I hope we can see each other again soon,” he said.
“Yes, I’m sure we can. I’d like that.”
James chucked the water jug into the picnic basket and, pushing it along his arm, he managed to carry the berry pail over the same arm. With his free hand, he reached out to Laura and clasped her hand securely in his. They climbed down the steep hillside in silence.
ELEVEN
Laura hurried to the office of her father’s inn. He would have quite a few questions to ask her today, since he had been at La Tranche River for over a month. It was October now, and Laura had been running Ingersoll’s Inn & Tavern at Queenston since he left. Business was good. James was right about one thing. A great deal of traffic did pass through the village.
The evening before he left, Father had told Laura that James had come to him one day to confide that he was having financial problems in his new store at St. David’s. Laura suspected that he was having trouble because he was giving too much credit.
Laura remembered such cases in Great Barrington. Did some people take advantage of James’s attitude to credit and his easygoing ways? He could lose everything if he’s not careful! The words rang through her head.
Business aside, Laura wished James would come by the inn more often. In fact, she was puzzled that he hadn’t called on her since that wonderful hot afternoon on the Heights. Maybe he felt too poor just now to plan for a future with a wife. Was that the reason he hesitated to ask for Father’s permission to call on her regularly? Or perhaps she had only imagined that he cared for her in a special way. She knew that James was kind to many newcomers to Niagara. But why the intense look in those deep blue eyes, and why had he held her hand so tightly, going down the mountain?
Laura had come to the door of her father’s office and saw him sitting at his desk. He looked up from his account book and smiled. His inn was doing well in spite of his hasty decisions to start the business, and the tavern had flourished. There was a lot of money to be made, selling to thirsty men along the business route. Now he would be able to save money to buy tools and seed for his land in the spring. He thought it would not be long before he would be able to take his family to their site.
“How was your trip?” Laura asked, taking a seat in the captain’s chair opposite the desk.
“Very good, Laura.”
“Did you see Captain Brant?”
Father frowned and hesitated before he answered, “Yes.”
“How is he, Father?”
“In mourning, I’m sorry to say, for his son Isaac. It is a very sad case, for the father and son were estranged in spite of Joseph’s many efforts to help him.”
“Poor Captain Brant.”
“Yes, he is heartbroken.”
“I would like to visit the Brants again.”
“You will,” her father assured her. “We’ll be moving to our cabin next spring. Now, Laura, will you add up this week’s receipts while I attend to the tavern?”
Laura took her father’s place and started adding up the columns of figures. Halfway down the second one, she heard a familiar voice.
“Good morning, Laura.” James looked down over the counter.
“James! How nice to see you again!” She put her quill pen down and smiled up at him.
“How have you been, Laura?”
“Busy. But Father’s back now.”
“I see. Would you be too busy to go for a ride today? I have to go pick up supplies from a boat later this morning, but I’ll be free till then.”
“I’ll check with Father and be right back. I’d really like to go.”
Laura found her father serving a drummer in the far corner of the dining room. He raised his grey eyebrows when he turned around and saw her standing behind him.
“Laura! Is something the matter?”
“Uh…n…no,” she stammered. “I just, well—James is here.”
“Yes, yes, well, show him in. I haven’t had a good chat with him for a long time.”
“No, Father, he wants to take me out for a ride. We won’t be long. Can you let me leave for a few hours?”
“A few hours! That’s…I guess you must have a lot to talk about.” Father noticed Laura’s heightened colour and shining eyes. “Go on, then. I’ll get Elizabeth to look after the counter.”
Laura raced out of the dining room, not slowing down until just before she got to the doorway of her father’s office. She stopped a minute, took off her apron, and smoothed her outer petticoat.
“Father says he can manage without me,” Laura smiled, as she entered the office. “Where are we going?” She dropped her apron on a chair and pulled out her white lace shawl from under the counter. She wrapped it loosely around her neck and fastened it at the front with a pretty yellow ribbon.
“Well, I thought we’d just ride to the bottom of the Heights and then walk up where we did before. Come on, let’s go! We don’t want to waste the day.”
James led her out to the wagon and closed his hand over hers as he lifted her up to the seat on front. Laura felt like an important lady, even though she was still wearing the same brown petticoat and beige jacket that she wore almost every day.
James swung up into the seat beside her. He smelled of fresh soft soap and cedar. Laura knew he must have just taken his fall clothes out of cedar shavings, where they’d been kept all summer. James slapped the reins on the horses’ backs and gave Laura his big, blue-eyed smile. “Well, where to, my girl?” he grinned.
“To the Heights, of course!” she commanded. At that, James made the horses move faster and, before long, they
had come to the tree where James had tethered the team that day in July.
“I have never seen anything so beautiful,” Laura gasped. “It’s like a different country.” Laura and James had come to the top plateau again and looked out over the Niagara River, but now the landscape was a massive expanse of yellow elm and oak, red maples, with a few evergreens standing brilliant in between. The smell of the woodsmoke drifted through the air, and a blue jay screamed overhead from time to time.
“It is a different country, Laura, and it’s our country now. God has brought you and I through a lot, and that has brought us out into a spacious place.”
Laura knew what she wanted James to say, but was she ready yet to hear it?
James slipped his arm around Laura’s waist, and she felt her cheeks reddening as the warmth of his body sheltered her from the brisk October air. He, too, was conscious of her nearness, but as he looked down, he dropped his arm to his side with a sad smile. As his eyes searched her face, Laura saw concern there and wondered what the reason was.
James broke the stillness. “Let’s find a flat stone to sit on and rest awhile.”
While the thick shrubs around them were still damp from early dew, Laura found a comfortable stone that was warm and dry in the morning sun.
“How is your store coming along, James?” Laura said, once they were seated on their perch.
James hesitated and then replied, “Any new business takes time to prosper.” His mouth settled into a firm line, and Laura wished she hadn’t asked the question. She knew full well he was having problems. Why did she have to pick that topic?
James looked up and continued, “Financing is hard at first, and my sister’s husband, Richard Cartwright, has urged me not to extend credit. He says no young business can survive that way, and that it’s better to have produce on the shelves to be claimed by creditors if cash is not available.”
Laura stopped herself from pointing out that that was what she had been talking about—the day James had taken Father’s part against her.
“I will always extend credit to some. They are hard-working folk who are in need, and someday they will pay me.”
“I hope they do pay you back, James, and your store prospers.”
But as Laura sat there quietly beside James, she knew that she loved this man—no matter what the state of his business. And besides, she could get his business in order in no time—if she were in charge. Yes, it would take her no time at all to have James on the road to prosperity. Life ahead was looking very good.
“Laura,” James interrupted her daydream. “I have to go on a trip to Kingston where my sister and her husband live, and then on to Montreal…and perhaps farther.”
“Farther? Montreal is a long distance.”
“New York, maybe. It’s a business trip. I’m leaving in the morning. And right now, I have to pick up my supplies at the Landing and have things in shape so I can leave very early tomorrow. I’ll be riding up to Newark and catching a boat there.”
“Oh, why…I wasn’t…I was hoping I’d see you again soon.”
He looked at her and smiled. “I’d like that, too, Laura, but I have no choice. I have to make the trip. I’m afraid that my supplies are waiting at the Landing; we have to go now.”
James stood up. He reached out and clasped her hand, which she tightened around his. But she said nothing to James and just held his big hand.
At the bottom of the incline, the horses were switching their tails and snorting as if they were impatient to take James away.
“Laura,” James said softly as they approached Queenston. He was letting the horses travel at a slower pace now.
“Yes, James.”
“I’d like to visit you as soon as I return.”
“I’ll…I’ll look forward to seeing you,” Laura mumbled. She could think of nothing else to say.
“I’m not sure just when that will be.” He appeared anxious and spoke with hesitation, looking straight ahead.
“I’ll be waiting, James,” Laura quietly promised.
He turned toward her with a smile.
Laura smiled back.
James drove the horses with one hand, holding the reins tightly. With the other, he reached out and clasped Laura’s hand. He held it next to him all the way home.
TWELVE
Laura, we need to talk.”
Laura looked up from the figures in her father’s account book. Mira stood in front of the desk. She was quieter than usual, and there was an urgency in her voice.
“I just have two columns to finish here, or should we talk first?” Laura asked.
“No. It’s not that pressing, but I’ve been trying to find you alone, and you hardly ever are.” Mira sat down in the captain’s chair and waited.
Laura rechecked her figures and continued with the next page. She was pleased to see that business was improving even more, now that spring had come. As many as sixty boats docked at the Landing every day to transfer their supplies to wagoners who travelled the portage route. Dozen of the sailors and business people stayed at the inn or stopped for a meal at the tavern. With the business doing so well, Father would be able to start up his farm that summer. Laura closed the book, satisfied to have completed her work. Then she turned to Mira.
“It’s Josh, Laura,” she said. “He wants to marry me in June.”
“At fifteen!”
“Lots of girls marry at fifteen, and I’m almost sixteen.”
“And how old is Josh?”
“Eighteen. Anyway, that’s not the problem.”
“Really. I thought he was barely seventeen. And if that’s not the problem, what is?”
“Well, I haven’t let him speak to Father yet. We’re waiting for James to return. You know how Father’ll want the eldest to marry first.”
“That doesn’t matter to Father or me. Besides, you know there’s nothing definite between James and me. I was silly to think there even might be. Besides, he said he would be back by now and he isn’t!”
“We could wait, Laura.”
“You don’t need to wait for me, Mira, but you certainly do need to wait! I can’t think of many girls who’ve married at fifteen.”
“We don’t want to wait, Laura. I love Josh and I want to be with him. He’s built a cabin already at the back of his father’s acreage. He hopes to buy more land next to it.”
“Well, you and Josh had better tell Father and Sally your plans. Josh is a fine young man, but you’re both much too young to think about marriage yet.”
Mira left with a smile. It seemed she’d hardly heard a thing Laura had said.
Josh was a robust young farm lad. He obviously cared deeply for Mira, but he was far from being the rich farmer Mira had hoped to meet. Still, they would have enough. Laura was happy for her sister. She felt certain that Sally could easily talk her into waiting a couple more years.
Then she thought about herself. A young businessman passing through on the boats last week had invited her to dinner and she had refused. She was almost twenty-one now, and if she kept refusing invitations from all men, they’d soon stop asking.
Laura knew that Elizabeth had received a letter from Thomas Mayo a couple of weeks ago. He told her of his upcoming marriage this summer to a girl who had moved to Great Barrington after they had left. At least Thomas had had the decency to write and tell Elizabeth. He hadn’t just left her wondering—like Red and James had.
From the hall, Laura could see a man at the counter in her father’s office. She moved closer to see. She grabbed the side of the door to steady herself. Her heart was pounding, and her legs had gone weak. James Secord rushed over and clasped both her hands.
“Oh, Laura, I’m so happy to see you—so happy to be back.”
“I’m pleased to see you, too, James. But you were gone so long. Much longer than I expected.”
“But I explained in my letters—”
“Letters? What letters?”
“Didn’t you receive my letters?”
“No, I didn’t!”
“But I sent them with two special deliveries of supplies to my store. I suppose Josh or that other boy my brother hired unpacked the supplies and misplaced them.”
“I received no letters and don’t blame it on Josh.” Laura’s voice sounded angry.
“I suppose they’re sitting under a bag of sugar on my shelves. I’m sorry, Laura.” He still held her hands in his.
“Under a bag of sugar! That’s the worst excuse—Oh, James, I was so worried about you. Phoebe said you were well, but then…for so long, there was no news.”
“Laura, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry! And now, I’ve so much to tell you. I’ve just come off the boat and I came straight here. Could we go somewhere to talk? It’s a little cool for a picnic yet.” He gave her a big smile and hoped she remembered.
“I guess so,” said Laura. “No one will be in our parlour.”
Laura led him down the hall.
“Laura, I wanted to speak to you last fall—”
He hesitated and cleared his throat. “But I felt I had no right…my business was in such poor shape.”
“And now?”
“I’ve received the backing to continue with my store. Richard has helped me raise the money from friends of his. I’ve borrowed $800 from Andrew and James McGill from Montreal and, with new ideas from Richard, I’m confident. I’ll work hard and continue in the business.”
“I’m happy for you, James.”
“And I feel strongly—” He hesitated and, turning toward her, he searched her face with his eyes. She could feel the intensity in his voice, and she looked up hopefully as she waited for him to finish the sentence. “—about you, Laura. I’d like to ask your father’s permission to call regularly.”
Acts of Courage Page 9
