Their Frontier Family

by Lyn Cote

  Sunny didn’t blame her. She fought the fear that whispered up her spine. I’m not alone and neither are you, Bid’a ban.

  After supper Bid’a ban sat by the fire, sewing the final details on Miigwans’s new pants. Sunny tried to do some mending but her needle kept poking her. Noah and the boy led the dog to the creek to take a bath with them. When the three returned, the dog hesitated at the door. Noah beckoned her in by the fire.

  Noah’s adopting the stray didn’t surprise Sunny. She watched him stroke the dog and speak to it softly. She felt her love for him rise up inside her again.

  “We should name her,” Miigwans said.

  Bid’a ban scolded him in their language.

  “I mean you should name her,” the chastened boy amended.

  Noah ruffled Miigwans’s hair. “What do you think we should name her?”

  “She’s awful pretty,” the boy said, petting the dog.

  “It is time to sleep,” Bid’a ban said abruptly. “Can the dog get a name tomorrow?”

  “Fine,” Noah assented and led the dog to lie in front of the door. “I think it would be best if we all remained dressed tonight.”

  Sunny paused in putting Dawn in her hammock, anxiety bringing up gooseflesh on her arms. Noah meant trouble might come in the night. She looked at Noah. But he was busy barring the door and securing the shutters from inside.

  Bid’a ban came close to her and whispered, “I am better now. You should go back to your man.” She motioned toward the loft. “You belong there.”

  The suggestion hit Sunny, completely unexpected. She couldn’t think of a word to say, a word she could say. She looked to Noah, knowing that if she hesitated to do what Bid’a ban suggested, Noah would be cast in a strange light.

  “Thank you, Bid’a ban,” Noah said. Then he motioned for Sunny to precede him up the ladder while he received her blankets from Bid’a ban.

  Sunny felt as if she were on stage and a host of onlookers ogled her as she climbed the ladder to the loft, the loft where she had only ventured once before when Noah was in the cabin. Being up here alone with Noah would only sharpen her shame over his rejection of her. She swallowed hard, keeping her emotions in check.

  Noah came up the ladder and offered her the blankets.

  She busied herself arranging them several feet from his bedding. “I’m sorry,” she whispered lamely.

  “Sunny,” Noah said in a low voice, “Bid’a ban cannot stay here long.”

  “But, Noah—”

  “That is final. We will help her as best we can, but she cannot stay here indefinitely.”

  “But she needs our help, Noah!” She spoke in a heated whisper.

  “It is not safe for you, or for Dawn or for the other women and children who live nearby. We don’t know what he might do to force us to give her up.”

  “You don’t understand what Bid’a ban’s been through. You cannot put her out. She’s in danger. He’ll find her and hurt her.”

  Noah gazed into her eyes. “I know that.”

  Sunny waited for him to go on. In vain.

  “Good night, Sunny.” Noah wrapped himself in his blankets and turned his back to her.

  Tears moistened her eyes as she loosened her clothing and settled herself in her bedding. The soft wool blanket muffled her weeping. She hadn’t felt this lonely since the night her mother had died.

  * * *

  The next morning Noah had planned to meet up with the other men at Gordy’s, but he didn’t think he should leave the women and children alone. He lifted his coffee cup and gazed at Sunny. He noticed that she was looking everywhere but at him. Was she upset by their conversation last night? Or by having to sleep in the loft with him?

  He’d awakened several times as if aware—even in sleep—of her presence. He’d found listening to her breathing a soothing sound. But having her so close merely sharpened to a razor-edge his failure to perform as a husband. Well, there was one way in which he could not fail her: keeping her safe from harm.

  But how could he do that if Bid’a ban still lived with them?

  He considered how many weeks a letter could take to arrive in Washington, D.C. He concluded if they were lucky, the War Department would reply by snowfall. Conceivably, Bid’a ban and her son might need somewhere to stay till next spring. Two more mouths to feed and a long winter ahead. “Bid’a ban,” he began.

  Sunny lifted her eyes to Noah as if suspicious of anything he said to Bid’a ban.

  Before he could go on, the dog by the door interrupted, barking.

  “Hello, the house!” Gordy’s voice rang out.

  “Quiet, girl. It’s a friend.” Maybe Gordy had come to help. Noah rose quickly and opened the door. Growling low, the dog came to his side as if ready to defend against the intruder.

  “I thought I was supposed to come to your place today,” Noah said.

  Stepping inside, Gordy looked pained. And for the first time he carried a rifle to their door. “Martin brought his wife over early this morning and told me what happened here yesterday. We think the women should all come with you to our place today. Shouldn’t be left alone.”

  Noah faced Gordy. The younger man looked uncharacteristically stern. Noah felt his own face harden into harsh lines. “I think that makes good sense.”

  “Any man who will threaten decent women on their own land is trouble. Can’t be trusted to act normal.”

  Noah frowned at Gordy and gave the tiniest shake of his head. He didn’t want Gordy frightening the women any further.

  Gordy nodded a fraction, letting Noah know he understood.

  “Sunny,” Noah said, “I’ll do the outside chores while you and Bid’a ban get ready to spend the day at the Osbournes’.” This solved the problem of how to protect the women today, but this crisis demanded a permanent solution. Just how permanent a solution this stranger would make necessary remained to be seen.

  Sunny came close to Noah. He walked outside and waited for her. Gordy politely remained inside. Beside Noah, Sunny stood on tiptoe. “Thank you for not putting Bid’a ban out today.”

  Noah looked shocked. “I never meant to. How could you think that?”

  Sunny felt helpless to explain. “You wouldn’t answer me last night. What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know. But something will occur to us. I can’t believe you thought I’d knowingly let any man take advantage of a woman.”

  She recalled how he’d confronted that awful man on the main street that day he returned to Pennsylvania. She tried to form words to let him know how much his helping Bid’a ban meant to her. But she merely touched his cheek and then hurried back inside to prepare for the day away from home.

  * * *

  A little over an hour later, Noah, Gordy and Martin stood in a tight circle, contemplating Gordy’s garden of stumps. Noah had set Miigwans to stay in front of Gordy’s cabin with the dog to sound the alarm if the stranger came back. The little boy had looked determined to protect his mother.

  Now Noah’s real intent was to discuss privately with his two neighbors what he planned to do. And the last of his doubts as to whether they were friends or not had vanished with one look at their faces when he’d explained exactly what had happened, and who the man was. Their expressions had said clearly that the threat to Noah and his family was deemed a threat to them all.

  “So what’s the plan?” Gordy asked, his rifle on a strap slung over his back.

  “I’m going into town to see if I can find the stranger. Sunny described him in detail to me. I’m going to persuade him to leave us alone,” Noah said.

  “How’re you going to do that?” Martin asked, gripping his rifle with white knuckles.

  “I’ll start with words,” Noah replied, his lungs constricting. He breathed deeply, trying to loosen
the tension.

  Gordy nodded. “I’m comin’ with you.”

  “Me, too,” Martin said. A heron squawked from the creek over the hill.

  “No.” Noah stepped back from them. “I don’t want to leave the women alone.”

  “I see,” Gordy said, folding his arms. “Well, then one of us should stay here with the women and the other two should go into town and see if the stranger has cleared out. Or not.”

  Noah held up a forestalling hand. “I can handle this—”

  “No,” Martin said, edging forward. “You’re not doing this alone.”

  Noah stared at them and realized they were dead serious. “All right. Martin, will you stay behind and guard the women and children?”

  “I will.” Martin looked determined.

  “So we’ll just ride to town to mail a few letters Nan and me wrote to family,” Gordy said with false nonchalance, the tacit understanding in his stance that this is what they’d tell the women so as not to worry them.

  Like a bow string at the ready, anxiety tautened within Noah. He’d been called to arms again.

  * * *

  Noah and Gordy rode through the forest, approaching town. He couldn’t get out of his mind the look on Sunny’s face as they’d left. He’d seen fear in her eyes. But something else was there, too. Admiration. Gratitude. It warmed him. She’d merely whispered in his ear, “Be safe.” But he would do what it took to protect his family.

  Would that mean adding another killing to his soul? A weight settled over his heart.

  “I been in something like this before,” Gordy spoke up from behind Noah.

  “Oh?”

  “A gang of thieves set up in our county. We didn’t have no law nearby, either. Finally they...hurt a woman...bad.”

  Noah understood the implication and his own resolve to settle this intensified.

  “So the decent men got together and one night ambushed them. I was just sixteen and scared stiff.”

  “Did you get the job done?” Two crows landed in a tree overhead, complaining stridently about something.

  “Yes.”

  Lord, help me run the man out of town, nothing more.

  When they rode into town, the dirt street along the river appeared as usual, nearly empty.

  “Where do you think we can find him?” Gordy asked.

  “We’ll ask Ashford. He doesn’t miss much.”

  “Doesn’t miss anything,” Gordy added with a hint of amusement.

  The two dismounted, hitched their horses and entered the store. Ashford looked up warily. “Hello, what can I do for you gents?”

  “We’re looking for a stranger,” Noah said, focused, intent. “He’s got longish dark blond hair, a mustache and wears a woman’s scarf around his neck.”

  “I’ve seen him all right.” The storekeeper’s tone announced his low opinion of the stranger loud and clear. “He rode into town a few days ago and spends most of his time at the saloon. Came in here once to buy tobacco. Didn’t have much to say about himself.” Ashford paused. “But he asked me about that Indian woman you have at your place. He’d heard about her, I guess.”

  Noah stilled. He refused to ask Ashford what he’d told the man.

  “That stranger came out to Noah’s place and threatened his wife,” Gordy said.

  Ashford’s face expanded with shock. “That’s not called for. A man threatening a decent woman? We can’t have that.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Gordy said.

  Noah turned, heading for the door. “Thanks, Ashford. We’ll see if he’s at the saloon.” As he and Gordy marched down the street, he heard Ashford’s door slam again. Behind them Ashford had taken off running to another store.

  Noah’s gut constricted as it always did before a fight. But he wouldn’t stop till he’d settled this threat. Sunny wasn’t going to live in fear. He couldn’t do everything a husband should do for a wife, but he would protect her and Dawn.

  Noah pushed through the doors into the nearly empty saloon. He spotted the man sitting alone at a table in the back, shuffling cards. Sunny’s description fit him perfectly. “Let me handle this,” Noah muttered to Gordy who nodded but stayed by his side.

  The two of them went straight to the man. “You trespassed on my land yesterday,” Noah said, staring hard into the man’s eyes. “I’ve come to tell you not to come near my place or mine again.”

  The man’s face sneered. “I came for the Indian—”

  So much for words. Noah upended the table toward the man with a crash.

  The bartender shouted. The stranger leaped up, face fiery red. He reached for a gun on his side.

  Striking his hand away, Noah grabbed the man’s collar and yanked him around the table. He flung him back against the bar, grabbed the man’s gun and tossed it to the barkeep, who caught it.

  As Noah fended off the man’s every attempt to get past his guard, he said, punctuating each movement with a word, “You-are-going-to-leave-town. Now.”

  “I’m going to get my Indian!” the man roared.

  “No, you’re not.” A voice from the door startled Noah but he didn’t need to look around. It was Ashford. The stranger’s face drained of color. Now Noah stepped back and glanced over his shoulder.

  Ashford and a few other men he recognized stood in the doorway. Each one carried a rifle or a club.

  “We don’t want your kind in our town,” Ashford ordered, slapping his club in one palm. “Not a man who threatens a decent woman on her husband’s land. Now clear out. All of us know what you look like and we can describe you to the county sheriff. Clear out.”

  The man looked cowed. He reached for his gun only to remember he didn’t have it. The barkeep emptied the chambers and then handed it to him. The man let loose some choice words and bumped into Noah on purpose but kept on moving. All the men followed him outside and watched him get on his horse and ride north, away from town.

  Noah tried to take in what had just happened. He couldn’t find his voice. He’d put himself in the line of fire again and hadn’t flinched. Sudden relief loosed through him.

  “Well, thanks a lot,” Gordy said to the men. “I think Noah was quite able to run the troublemaker out—”

  “I got the other men in town to come, too,” Ashford spoke up. “We wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t just you and Whitmore that wanted him gone. We got a peaceable town here and we don’t need his sort.”

  Noah nodded. A powerful reaction he couldn’t describe flowed through him. “Thanks” was all he could say.

  * * *

  That night Sunny settled Dawn in her hammock and looked up into the loft, her stomach tying and retying itself into knots.

  “Good night,” Bid’a ban said, tucking Miigwans in beside her on the floor.

  Sunny returned the same wish. Her relief over the stranger leaving town had been tempered by the worry that he might not have gone for good. That question just wouldn’t leave her alone.

  The still-nameless dog lay against the barred door. Sunny walked over and stroked the dog’s head. She appreciated having her. If anybody approached by stealth in the night, she would sound the alarm.

  Noah had preceded Sunny up into the loft. When she climbed up near him, she found him lying on his side. He didn’t look away.

  She must voice her concern even though he might not like it. Kneeling beside him and bending close, she whispered, “Do you think that stranger really left for good?”

  Noah leaned up on one elbow. “I don’t know. But the fact that more than just Gordy and me came against him might make him realize it’s not worth the trouble. Starting a fight with one man is different than taking on a whole town.”

  “None of them would have stood up for Bid’a ban if you hadn’t first,” she said, her v
oice low yet strong.

  “I’m no hero, Sunny. You’ve heard me. I have nightmares like a scared kid.”

  His tone so filled with anger at himself hurt her and made her brave. “You dream about the war, don’t you?”

  He didn’t answer.

  She wouldn’t give up this time. “It’s the war, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” The one word sounded dragged from deep inside him.

  Longing to touch him, show him comfort, strangled her. “I don’t know how you did it, how you faced death over and over.” Noah, please talk to me, let it out.

  “I couldn’t talk about it—when I came home. I was just supposed to forget it. But some things a man can’t forget.”

  Sunny inched closer to him, encouraging him to trust her.

  “The first battle, I just froze. I should have died, but an older man shoved me behind a tree and told me to get myself under control.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t die,” she said simply.

  And then something wonderful happened.

  Noah opened his arms and drew her close. “Don’t worry about that stranger,” he whispered close to her ear. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you or Dawn. You know that, right?” He rubbed her back tentatively.

  She nodded against his chest, nearly afraid to inhale, not wanting to break this connection as delicate as a breath. For several moments he held her and then he kissed her forehead. “Now go to sleep. You’re safe.”

  She moved away from him with reluctance. As she lay on her back, looking at the darkness, she savored the fact that Noah had held her for the first time, and kissed her and spoken of his nightmares. She could find hope for their future based on these small acts. Maybe there would come a day when they truly would be as normal as their friends believed them to be.

  * * *

  The next day was even warmer than the day before. With Miigwans and the dog at his side Noah stood at the edge of his clearing, looking things over, dismissing yesterday’s drama from his mind. Still his rifle rested against the nearest tree, close at hand.

  His cabin and spring house stood against the clear sky and leafy trees, well built to last. But he needed a barn before winter. When he’d visited this area in March, the snow had been deep and the wind bitter. His oxen and his horse would need more shelter—the lean-to just kept the rain off them. And he wanted to get more chickens and a cow of his own, or a goat. Dawn would need milk when she stopped nursing.