On the Mountain

by Peggy Ann Craig

  As per Prescott’s request, she made up a pot of tea and brought it along with two china saucers out to the reading room. She had never entered the room before, but had seen it many times walking past it to the kitchen. It was far bigger than her few glimpses indicated, and housed many floor to ceiling shelves full of books. Behind the door the room extended further where a set of very expensive chairs sat in front of an elaborate marble fireplace. A fire had already been started and was warming the room nicely. Enormous glass pane windows flanked by long red velvet curtains drawn open to allow the morning sun to enter, substituted an entire back wall. Anna had always known the home was beautiful, but it grew more magnificent in every room she entered. Kathleen stood in front of a row of books with her back to Anna when she entered but turned upon the sound of her entrance.

  She placed the tray of tea on the small, elegantly carved table between the two chairs. Anna found it hard picturing Wade sitting there with a book perched in front of his nose. No doubt, the reading room was for the benefit of Prescott and their sister when she visited.

  “Thank you,” Kathleen said, turning away from the shelf with a book in her hand.

  Anna lifted the tea pot and poured the hot liquid into one of the elegant saucers. Glancing around the room, she noticed Prescott missing and hesitated before pouring the second cup.

  “I’ve sent Prescott to Lantern,” his sister explained. “My brothers are so fond of you, I thought maybe you and I could get acquainted.”

  Anna couldn’t stop the sad crease that formed on her forehead.

  “Wade will come around.” She seemed to have read Anna’s mind. “He’s far more stubborn than Prescott. As I’m sure you’re probably aware.”

  She dropped her chin in order to conceal the emotion in her eyes. His sister was far too astute.

  “Won’t you sit and have tea with me?”

  Her head lifted, surprised.

  “Please?” Kathleen shared the same blue coloring in her eyes like her brothers, however hers held so much more softness. It was easy to be drawn into her warmth. She hesitated, then nodded, uneasy about the situation. What would Wade think to see a servant sitting and having tea with his lady sister?

  “Good.” Putting her book down on one of the chairs, she stepped over to the tea tray. “Let me pour you a cup. Is black fine?”

  Anna nodded but felt uncertain.

  “I was thinking about your name,” she said and handed Anna a china cup perched on a small saucer. It felt like glass and it occurred to Anna that she had never drank from anything so fine before. “We can’t continue to refer to you as girl, for obvious reasons, and I refuse to call you Peter.”

  She smiled and Anna felt the urge to return it.

  “Prescott tells me you do not know how to read or write so I thought while I was here, I would teach you.”

  When she was younger, she recalled her father bringing home a book in the hopes of teaching his children to read. Anna was never certain if her father actually knew how to read or not, but it was the only book Anna had ever seen. Her mother had refused, saying it took away from time needed for more important tasks. So the book had gone away and never mentioned again.

  “Perhaps your first word will be your name.” When she smiled this time, Anna smiled back.

  Kathleen got up and walked over to a desk where some paper lay neatly stacked. She took a sheet and a pen from the ink holder and proceeded to write something on the blank paper. When she was done, she returned to the chair and showed it to Anna.

  “This is my name,” she said. “Kathleen.”

  To Anna, it simply looked like a combination of straight and curvy lines, but she was willing to listen.

  “Words are made up by using the letters of the alphabet. Each word we speak has letters that represent the word in written form. Such as my name.”

  She withdrew the book from the chair where earlier she had placed it and opened it to the first page. “There are twenty-six letters and each have their own pronunciation and use.”

  Anna frowned and Kathleen clarified. “Their own sound. Such as the first letter in my name. The K has a ‘k’ sound which you hear when speaking my name.”

  She repeated her name and Anna nodded, hearing the sound at the beginning of her name. She looked at the first letter of Kathleen’s name and tried it against her own. It did not match.

  “This is an alphabetical book and each letter shows a word that begins with that letter.” She turned it around and showed Anna a page with a huge black letter and a picture of an apple beneath it. “The first letter is A. Apple begins with A.”

  Anna’s eyes lit up. With excitement she pointed to the letter and then at herself.

  “Your name begins with A?” Kathleen looked surprised, then smiled brightly when Anna nodded. “That won’t be too difficult to guess. Is it Alice?”

  Anna shook her head.

  “What about Alexandra?”

  Again she shook her head.

  “Agnes?”

  Anna cringed and shook her head.

  “Anne?”

  She hesitated before responding. It wasn’t quite accurate. Nodding she pointed to the letter again.

  “Your name is Anne?” Kathleen looked pleased with herself, but Anna pointed to the letter A once again. “Yes, that’s right. You’re name begins with A.”

  Frowning she looked at Kathleen’s name and pointed to the last letter then pointed to the A again.

  At first, the woman did not follow Anna’s meaning then it occurred to her with a cheerful smile. “Your name is Anna?”

  It brought such joy just to hear her name again.

  “How lovely.” Kathleen shared her smile. “Much more elegant than Peter.”

  Anna had never seen more beautiful eyes. They smiled even when she did not. Kathleen had turned her attention back to the book and turned the page to the next letter. Anna watched her with admiration. Wade had referred to her as a lady, however, Anna discovered there was so much more to his sister. Unless of course, all of her wonderful traits embodied the essence of a lady. And if that was the case, Anna had no hopes of ever becoming one.

  Chapter 12

  Wade entered the doctor’s office without bothering to knock. Dr. Patterson sat at his desk and looked up in surprise. “Hello Mr. Haddock. Come to see your patient?”

  “Morning doctor,” he greeted him in return. “I apologize for our early morning disturbance.”

  “Nonsense.” The doctor shrugged him off and stood up to come around and shake hands with Wade. “My door is always open.”

  “How’s Chuck doing?”

  “I think he’ll live.” He turned and led Wade to a back door. “He was struck several times in the head, which resulted in a concussion and a temporary state of unconsciousness, however, he is awake now and speaking irrationally. His sense of sanity might have taken a permanent blow. If you like, I can have a specialist come out and take a look at him.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Wade answered. “He’s leaving town as soon as you give the okay.”

  The doctor looked surprised, but replied, “Well, he can certainly leave at any time. Most of his abrasions were not deep lacerations. There were a few open cuts or scratches which caused the bleeding but nothing serious. Most of his injuries were bruising to the upper torso.”

  “Good.”

  He led Wade down a small corridor to a door at the end.

  Before opening it, Dr. Patterson turned to Wade. “Just to let you know, the constable has been to visit. Chuck was unable to offer him anything substantial, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes a trip out to the ranch.”

  “I would have been surprised if he didn’t.”

  The doctor nodded, then proceeded to open the door. Wade saw Chuck Rhodes lying on a bed, his crooked body stretched out beneath a blanket. He looked upon Wade with leery eyes. Turning to the doctor, he said, “If you could please give us a few minutes.”

  “No problem. Take all th
e time you need.”

  “This won’t take long.”

  Wade waited until the door shut quietly behind the doctor before he turned his attention to the old man. He was still watching Wade with wariness.

  “I am only going to say this once old man, so listen carefully. I’m not repeating myself.” Wade worked hard to keep his rage under control. “The doctor says you can leave at any time. When you do, I want you as far away from the Circle H as is humanly possible. If I so much as see your scrawny ass within a mile of my property I won’t hesitate to shoot you down like the animal you are.”

  Chuck Rhodes retreated further back on his bed, his eyes growing round with fear as his crusty voice crackled, “The beast will kill you all.”

  He looked hard and long down at the old man then said, “If you ever so much as touch her or go near her again, I will gladly tear you apart myself.”

  He turned and left the old man cowering in his bed. He left a few bills for the doctor’s assistance then bid farewell before pounding the boardwalk toward the saloon. Far too early for a drink, but Wade didn’t care. It had been one hell of a day. His mind kept going back to the scene in the dining room. It still seemed so surreal. He couldn’t grasp the concept that the boy was gone.

  As suspected the bar was empty with the exception of a few faithful card players at a back table. The bartender greeted him and offered to make his usual. Wade nodded, then took an empty stool. Removing his hat he placed it on the counter and ran a hand through his hair.

  Just as quickly, the hat was plucked up and dropped on the top of a head of wild red curls. “My, don’t we look all fancy this morning.”

  Wade glanced down at his attire and remembered he was still dressed for breakfast in the homestead with Kathleen. He gave Marion a nod in greeting before thanking the bartender and throwing his drink back in one gulp.

  “Bit early to be in town, ain’t it?” She raised her painted face and looked at him seductively from beneath the brim of his hat.

  “I had an errand.”

  “Heard about old Chuck Rhodes.” Raising a hand, she ran a finger up and down his arm. “Got into a fight with one of the ranch hands.”

  “What else did you hear?”

  “Nothing else much. Except he gone crazy in the process.” Marion lifted her leg and hooked a heel on one of the rings on his stool. “Says there’s evil lurking up in that mountain.”

  Wade looked away and gestured to the bartender to fix him up another drink. Marion came closer and lifted the lock of hair behind his ear to run her tongue along the skin beneath it. “Said there’s a beast roaming your ranch and she gorged on his wretched body.”

  He studied the liquid in his glass and gave the glass a swirl.

  “Said she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had consumed each and every one of you men up there.”

  Throwing the last drop of his drink down his throat, he went to get up, having heard enough.

  “Not leaving so soon, lover?” She stepped away, but gave him her best pouty look.

  He reached out and removed his hat from her head. “I’ve got to get back.”

  “Now, Wade, don’t insult me.” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him slightly. “That prig of a boy of yours hasn’t gone and influenced you in the opposite direction, has he? Haven’t gone all moral on me, now have ya?”

  This made him pause. The memory of his last visit to the saloon came back to mind. A visit where a boy refused to have adulterated sex with a prostitute and went racing out into the freezing night after witnessing an indecent scene in Wade’s room. A boy who was not a boy, but a girl. His lids came down hard and he felt a surge of disgust wash over him. He couldn’t comprehend the reason why, after all, he had no idea at the time the boy was actually a girl in disguise.

  “Some other time, Marion.”

  He left the bar without looking back. Leaping upon Sty’s back, he headed out of town. He followed the trail that led through the Durand Pass to the valley where his ranch sat at the foot of Mount Louis. A mountain that had been something of beauty and tranquility since he was a child. Today, it held fast a secret that imprisoned the memory of a young woman.

  He took his time along the rocky and, at intervals, steep path and allowed his mind to wander back over the past two weeks trying to recall anything that should have hinted at her true identity. Hell, unlike his sister implied, he wasn’t that primitive to not recognize the difference between a boy and a girl. Truth was, maybe there were signs that he chose to ignore. The biggest coming to mind was his male reaction when in close contact with the boy. He had shrugged it off as the boy’s youthful form and his own hankering need for female companionship. Hell, he was getting older and his body didn’t have the control it once did. Where in actual fact, it was his body recognizing the womanly shape of a female body beneath his own.

  But she hardly seemed like a woman, contrary to Kathleen stating as much. She was far smaller than any he had ever seen. Not much taller than five feet and less than a hundred pounds, it was no wonder she could easily pass as a boy. If she possessed any female curves, she hid them well under the oversized men’s clothing. Her face was pale and sunken, showing off a very good bone structure. On a boy, it seemed unhealthy. On a girl, it was a mark of beauty.

  Though he would not have called her that for she was very simple looking. Her hair was short and dull and her skin was far too white. Though it was flawless and looked as soft as the clouds hovering over the mountain peaks. Her eyes had caught his attention from the moment he first saw them. Not merely for the volumes of words they spoke that her voice could not, but because of their rich color and intense stare.

  His thoughts went back to that first day when he had found her hiding in the barn. She was dirty and frightened, her hair completely cut off. Though she had never indicated that she was a boy, she also never denied it, leaving him to assume the chopped hair must have been her doing in helping the transformation from girl to boy.

  He left the path and headed north through the thick and naked branches of the forest until he reached the river’s edge. He drew his horse to a halt and looked down the river to see a herd of caribou cross the ford toward the eastern peaks. He stayed to watch until the last disappeared over the mossy hilltop, then turned Sty north along the river and followed it upstream.

  He formed an image in his mind of a frightened woman running for her life on a dark and horrific night. Nothing but the moon to guide her. He drew Sty to a halt and jumped down to look at a trail of grass that had been recently flattened. More than likely from his own men when they had gone north along that very river to extinguish the fire burning madly on the mountain. What they came across instead, had horrified him. He turned and looked up the riverbank as if to see a woman racing frantically toward him. Of course, there was none.

  He climbed back on his horse and continued northward. Several hours later the first sign of the fire’s remnants appeared. Bare trees stretched up from the mountain, but unlike those of its neighbors who also stood naked due to the late autumn temperatures, these trees were charcoal black. Around the base, the usually brown earth was scarred black.

  Wade turned Sty toward the village. It was quiet. Not a sole around. Not even a squirrel scattering from tree to tree could be seen. The sod houses were still intact, however the vegetation surrounding them was gone. He dismounted and went over to the first home. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing there or what it was he was looking for, perhaps it was the old man’s insane comment regarding a beast or Marion’s savage account of the mythical creature. He sincerely didn’t believe any of the foolish talk, but he had witnessed the fury in the girl’s eyes after nearly tearing a man apart.

  Wade chuckled at his own ridiculous thought. After all, the doctor told him Chuck Rhodes’ injuries were minor, and the cuts and scratches he received were superficial. He was letting his own imagination get the better of him. But what he did need was some link between the village and the girl
. Something that said she was here. It was easier for Wade to picture the boy escaping such a heinous crime, it was much harder to see a woman.

  Wade found a hairbrush and picked it up. The wrath of this crime had directed the worst of it toward women. An image of a terrified set of eyes came to mind. He felt a surge of anger. What abominations exactly did the girl endure before she was able to escape?

  * * *

  Kathleen placed her hand over Anna’s and helped her to trace the letters that she said would spell her name. It didn’t look like anything to her, but she hoped her efforts made the woman proud. And consequently her brother.

  “That’s right, Anna, the ‘a’ on the end is shaped differently and is a circle with a stick attached.”

  “Kathleen.” Wade’s scolding voice drew both their heads up. He stood in the entrance to the reading room, leaning against the door frame. “You haven’t gone and named her as well, have you?”

  “We couldn’t very well continue to call her Peter. But in actual fact, Anna truly is her name. She told me.”

  His brow lifted and he glanced at the girl then looked away. “Did she?”

  “Not in words, but rather in letters.” She held up the sheet of paper on which Anna had written her name. It had taken the major of the day, but she eventually learned the letters of the alphabet and how those certain letters formed sounds that put together said her name.

  He frowned and looked suspicious. “I thought she couldn’t read or write?”

  “She can now.” Kathleen smiled and got to her feet. “I’m teaching her.”

  Instead of looking pleased, Wade looked annoyed. “That may not be a good idea.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Why ever not?”

  Again, his focus centered on Anna momentarily before looking away. “I just don’t think it is.”

  His sister brushed him off. “Well, since that is the vaguest reason you could come up with, my big brother, I shall ignore it and continue with her teaching. She may need it someday.”