How could she leave these children when she knew just how happy they were to have her there?
“I don’t know what to say,” she gulped out.
She was terribly conflicted now about what she had planned to do. If it meant so much to the children that she was there, how on earth could she disappoint them by leaving after she had taught school for only one day?
Jeremiah fetched the cake, then placed it in front of Nicole on the table. “I know it might be strange for you to have candles on a cake when it is not your birthday,” he said. “But as I said, in a sense, it is your birthday. It is a birthday for all of our children. That is how much having a teacher means to them. We are truly established now in our new settlement, because we have a teacher. And you are a part of our community, too, even though you are not of Mormon faith.”
“But she will be!” the children chimed in, almost in the same breath. “We shall teach her about our faith as she teaches us our reading and mathematical skills.”
That made the color drain from Nicole’s face. She hadn’t even thought about becoming a Mormon, but wouldn’t Jeremiah expect her to be a woman of his faith if she was to be his wife?
Now, no matter that these children had welcomed her so wonderfully with a cake and candles, she knew she must leave.
She must escape tonight!
Jeremiah slid the cake back to the center of the table. “We’ll cut the cake after we have all eaten the main meal,” he said as the children scrambled to go and sit now at their usual assigned table.
Several men came and took the empty chairs away, and then women began bringing the bowls of food into the room. The smell of fried chicken filled the room.
Nicole scarcely tasted any of the food as she forced herself to eat. She almost gagged on each bite as she thought ahead to what she must do.
Even the corn on the cob, which was dripping with delicious freshly churned butter, had no flavor whatsoever to Nicole. It was as though all of her taste buds had been removed because of her fear and anxiety.
Through the entire meal, Nicole felt Jeremiah’s eyes on her, as well as Nancy’s and Martha’s. It must be plain to all that she was the object of Jeremiah’s affection and the women’s resentment.
Yes, she must leave.
But another problem hit her like a slap in the face when she recognized that the man across the table from her was one of the sentries who guarded the community.
How would she get around him and the others without their seeing her? How would she keep from being caught by Jeremiah?
Chapter Twenty-two
The smell of roasted meat lay heavy in the air as the campfire shot sparks heavenward from the grease dripping into the flames.
Sam Partain was too restless to sit and idly chat with his friends. He paced back and forth while ignoring the complaints of his men, who said that he was driving them wild by acting so nervous.
But Sam couldn’t stop his brain from thinking about Nicole and the fact that they had found no sign of her on the mountain today.
He and his friends had split up, covering much of the land where she could possibly have gotten on horseback, but they’d had no luck. That only meant to him that someone was giving her sanctuary.
His mind kept wandering back to that Mormon community. There was something suspicious about the way that one Mormon took over and spoke for the rest of the group. The fellow had said that no young woman had come there. But while that man had been talking, Sam had studied the faces of the women who appeared at the doors of their homes, or in the large garden, in the midst of their autumn harvest.
He had most certainly not seen Nicole among those women. But if she had been there, she might have gone quickly into hiding.
Had he been lied to?
He went and sat down on a blanket before the fire, his mind made up. “I’ve got to go back there,” he blurted out, drawing all eyes to him.
“Where?” Ace asked.
“To that damn Mormon community, that’s where,” Sam said, his voice filled with anger that Nicole had eluded him so successfully thus far.
“Why on earth would you go back there and pester those innocent people?” Tom asked, his eyes narrowing angrily. “Sam, I have understood this thing about Nicole, and I’ve been willing to help you find her, but why must you go back to that community? They’ve never done anything to you. Let ’em be, Sam. Let ’em be.”
“I don’t believe they are all so innocent,” Sam growled out. “I remember something in that man’s eyes when he told me he’d not seen Nicole. It was the look of a man who is lying. That’s what I seen. I’ve got to go back there and figure out just what he was lying about. Then we’ll make ’em all pay for what he’s done.”
“I don’t want no part of it,” Ace said, scrambling to his feet. “I don’t want no part of any of this anymore. I’m itchin’ to play poker. Sam, let’s just go on to St. Louis and find us a game. Let Nicole be. Don’t you know that sooner or later you’ll run across her again? Get your vengeance then. Not now. Let’s go, Sam, tomorrow, to St. Louis.”
“If that’s what you want, no one is stoppin’ you,” Sam said tightly. “Go on. Git. But don’t expect me ever to loan you any more money once you’ve lost all of your own gambling.”
“Oh, Sam, why can’t you listen to reason?” Ace whined. He sat back down, lowering his eyes. “I’m stayin’. Whatever you feel you need to do, I’ll help.”
“That’s more like it,” Sam said, reaching over and patting Ace on the shoulder.
He laughed throatily. “I think that meat is ready to eat,” he said. “Ace, git me a piece and don’t be slow about it.”
He stretched his long, lean legs out before him as he took the chunk of meat from Ace, bit off a huge hunk and started chewing it.
“Yep, tomorrow I’ll pay those Mormon people another visit,” he said, while chewing. He looked around at his men. “None of you have to play a role in this. You’ll stay hidden whilst I do the dirty work.”
“You’re not going to harm any of them if you don’t get the answers you want?” Tom asked, chewing on his own meat.
“We’ll just have to wait and see ’bout that, won’t we?” Sam said, idly shrugging.
He laughed, almost choking on the meat in his mouth.
He then gazed slowly around at his men. “I’ve got to fess up,” he said, his eyes dancing with teasing. “I lied to you moments ago. You see, I ain’t going to that place alone at all. You are going with me. It’ll take more than me to search that place to make certain Nicole ain’t there.”
He laughed again as the men groaned and moaned after learning what was expected of them.
Tom didn’t groan or moan. He just stared angrily at Sam, who ignored him, apparently lost in thought about tomorrow.
“Sam, surely you don’t mean what you just said,” Tom finally blurted out. “Tell us you are just joshin’ us. I don’t want to do it, Sam. I’m sure the rest don’t neither.”
“If’n you ever want to be with me again at a poker table, draggin’ in the coins like we always do, you’d best not say another thing against what I plan to do,” Sam warned. “Do I make myself clear enough?”
Tom didn’t respond. He just yanked off another bite of meat and chewed on it, his eyes now gazing into the flames of the fire, somehow seeing the redheaded wench there, smiling flirtatiously at him.
Suddenly it didn’t seem all that wrong, what Sam had planned for that wench, for Tom would surely have a part of ’er, too, before killin’ her.
He smiled at the thought of touching her soft, pink flesh, then rolling her beneath him and doing what he had not done for so long.
Yep, he’d go with Sam after all, if it meant having a piece of that young thing as he had himself a piece of this meat he was still chewin’ on.
Chapter Twenty-three
The moon seemed to be the only light left in the Mormon community as Nicole looked from her window, checking to see if she saw any lamplight in any o
f the other windows. She sighed when she saw none.
This was the opportunity that she had been waiting for ever since she had returned to her house after finishing the evening meal. She had packed her things in her travel bag, had changed into warmer clothes for her night out in the open, and was now ready to make her escape.
Wearing a warm, lined jacket, she grabbed up her travel bag, in which she had shoved the barrel end of her rifle. Slowly, she opened the door, hoping it would not squeak.
She was in luck. There was not any sound at all.
The only thing she could hear now were the songs of the crickets, which seemed to get weaker as each night passed. She remembered back in St. Louis, how the chilly nights of autumn seemed to numb the songs right out of the crickets that she had enjoyed hearing all summer long.
She stopped and winced when she heard the yipping of a wolf. Its call of the wild was way too close for comfort.
Was this the same wolf she’d seen before? Or was it possibly another one that might be more aggressive?
She knew that she must get a grip on herself and be on her way. The longer she stayed in the Mormon community, the closer she came to being made Jeremiah’s wife.
She shuddered at the thought of that man touching her.
That thought gave her the courage to hurry onward. The very idea of marrying Jeremiah Schrock brought a sick feeling to the pit of her stomach. He was a deceitful man.
He had deceived her into believing that he was genuinely concerned about her, when all along he just wanted a woman he could coerce into being his third wife.
“Never,” she whispered to herself.
She moved cautiously away from the house, keeping alert for any movement in the night. She knew there were sentries posted in several strategic places in order to keep the community safe from the likes of Sam Partain and his men.
She was glad when she reached the corral where her horse was kept. She tiptoed into the corral and located the saddles that were stored in a small shed at its edge.
She grabbed a saddle and soon had her horse ready except for the travel bag that sat waiting to be tied to its back. After that was done, she took up the reins and led her mare through the gate, securing it behind her.
She cringed when one of the horses in the corral gave a loud whinny. Nicole stopped quickly.
She looked in all directions, praying to herself that no one had heard the sound. Thank goodness she saw no one, nor any lamp being suddenly lighted.
Everyone seemed to be fast asleep. She prayed they would stay asleep until she made her way into the shadows of the aspen forest that stretched away from the village on one side.
Her heart pounding, her knees weak from fear, Nicole kept walking her horse through the small community. She breathed a deep sigh of relief when she was finally outside its perimeters, standing with her mare in the shadows of the forest, where the moon’s glow was not able to penetrate the yellowing leaves overhead.
“We made it,” she whispered as she stroked her mount’s gray-speckled mane. “Now let’s get going.”
She had just put her foot into the stirrup when she heard a noise behind her. She stiffened and dropped her foot back to the ground when she realized what that noise was.
The snapping of a twig. Someone was close by.
She tried to mount the horse again, but jumped in terror when a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist.
She was turned quickly around and found herself face-to-face with one of the men appointed sentry tonight.
It was Jacob Jones.
“Please unhand me, Jacob,” Nicole begged, struggling and yanking as she tried to get free of his grip. “Please let me leave. I love the children and would love to be their teacher, but I learned today that Jeremiah Schrock plans to take me as his third wife. Jacob, I don’t want to marry Jeremiah. I could never be a third wife to any man, especially a man I could never love.”
Jacob gently dropped his hand from her wrist, allowing Nicole to step away from him.
“Nicole, I am not standing guard to keep you in, but to keep the evil men out,” Jacob said in a gentle voice.
Nicole could barely see his eyes. But she remembered that they were a striking blue color and always showed such kindness in them.
She also recalled his thin face, where reddish whiskers grew into a neatly trimmed beard. And as usual, he wore black, which blended into the darkness of night.
“Nicole, I will not force you to stay, but I fear for your safety if you leave. You know those evil men are looking for you,” Jacob continued in his soft voice. “You know they have no good intentions toward you.”
“I am very aware of those men and what their intentions are toward me,” Nicole said softly. “Sam Partain killed my parents, and I don’t believe that Sam Partain will stop until he finds and kills me, too.”
“Yet you will risk his finding you rather than stay here where you will be safe and well cared for?” Jacob said, his voice revealing how surprised he was at her choice. “Jeremiah has made Nancy and Martha a good husband. He would also be kind and caring to you. He has prayed often for a son. He believes you would bear him not only one, but many.”
“And that is exactly why I must take my chances against Sam Partain,” Nicole softly argued. “I don’t want to marry any man that I don’t love, and I don’t want a man marrying me only to bear him sons.”
“That marriage would bring much happiness into your life,” Jacob said in a pleading way. “The women of our community are very happy. I have never seen any of them cry. Nicole, you could be happy here, too. If you blessed Jeremiah with a son, he would never stop repaying you. Gifts, Nicole. You would be given gifts you cannot even imagine.”
“I want no gifts, I want no favors, I only want my freedom and the right to fall in love with whom I want to love. I would never be content with the life that is offered me by Jeremiah,” Nicole responded. “Now, Jacob, I am going to ride away from this community. The only way you can stop me is to shoot me. And I know that you wouldn’t do that. You are a man of God, a man of good heart. I just hope that Jeremiah doesn’t hold it against you too much that you let me go.”
“He is a man of God and he will accept God’s bidding if it is for you to be on your way and find happiness elsewhere,” Jacob said softly. He held the rifle tightly at his side. “Go, Nicole. Do what your heart tells you to do, and God bless.”
Nicole was so stunned that Jacob was actuallly letting her go, she stood there for a moment, staring at him. Then she went to him and flung herself into his arms.
“Thank you,” she softly cried. “Oh, Jacob, thank you for your sweet kindness.”
She felt his arm tighten around her.
She tensed, realizing at that moment he could actually lock his arms around her and force her to walk with him back into the village.
But to her relief, he was truly the kind man that she thought him to be. He released his arms from around her waist and stepped back.
“Jacob, oh, Jacob, will you be punished for allowing me to leave?” she asked, truly afraid for the kindhearted man.
“Jeremiah is a good man,” Jacob said, smiling at Nicole. “He would never mistreat a brother. Go, Nicole. Be safe. And when you find the man you can love, I hope you will find much happiness as his wife.”
She wanted to tell him that she had already found that man, and that she truly felt he was her destiny. But she knew that neither Jacob nor Jeremiah would ever understand how she could love an Indian. Most whites, even the kindhearted Mormons, saw Indians as savages.
“I truly believe that I shall find that perfect man,” Nicole said, putting a foot into the stirrup, and mounting her steed.
She gazed down at Jacob. “I shall never forget your kindness,” she murmured. “Jacob, thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I will not forget your brave heart,” Jacob replied, then turned and walked away, while Nicole rode in the opposite direction into the darkness of the aspen forest.
Nicole sighed heavily. She knew that if it had been anyone but Jacob who’d found her, she would even now be back at the house that had been assigned her.
“Oh, Jeremiah, what are you going to do when you realize that I am gone?” she whispered into the wind.
She realized that he might come searching for her again.
She would not allow him to find her.
Chapter Twenty-four
Seeking the safety of the mountain, Nicole now rode up a narrow pass that was scarcely visible in the night.
She wasn’t sure whether to thank the moon for being bright tonight, allowing her to see a few feet ahead of herself, or curse it for possibly making her visible to those who might be searching for her.
She hoped and prayed that at this time of night Sam Partain and his gang would already be settled in beside a campfire, having given up their search until tomorrow.
Her most ardent prayer was that Sam Partain had given up on finding her altogether. She knew the lure of the poker table for him. She doubted that Sam could stay away from it for long.
Her father had been cursed by the same compulsion. Perhaps in the end it would lead to Sam’s death as well.
She forced her thoughts elsewhere, for thinking of Sam Partain and the parents he had taken from her would forever cause a pain she could not describe. For this moment, at least, she was safe from all men who threatened her.
She reached down and rested a hand on the butt end of the rifle shoved into her travel bag. Were she to need it quickly, it was there, ready and loaded.
She thought of her father and how proud he would be of the backbone and bravery she’d showed at a time in her life when only she could make things right again.
And then she thought of someone else.
Eagle Wolf.
If only she could see him again. If only he cared enough to search for her.
Could it be that he had decided not to accept her disappearance in his life and was out there even now searching for her? But no, he would surely be in his home, sitting leisurely beside his lodge fire, possibly having already eaten a delicious meal of whatever the Navaho ate. No doubt his mind was on anything but her.
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