Frontier Bride (Harlequin Historical)

by Ana Seymour

  “Should we go back and get Webster and Trask?”

  Ethan shook his head. “They’ll be a good piece downriver already. By the time we find them and get back here, we may have lost our chance.” He retrieved Jacob’s gun and motioned for Seth and Hannah to follow him.

  Hannah’s heart was pounding, and she found the walking more difficult than before, but in less than half an hour they emerged from the woods into a meadow, much like the one they had hunted in the other day. It sloped to a little stream in the center, and there, relaxing in the bright midday sun, was a band of eight or nine Indian braves. They looked just as Hannah would have imagined—brown skinned, starkly black hair and handsome, strong faces. They were gathered around two small figures. Jacob and Bridgett sat cross-legged, smiling, looking up at the Indians with total fascination.

  “Thank God.” Hannah held a hand over her heart.

  “They’re not Wyandot after all,” Ethan said. “They look like Potawatomi.”

  “Are they friendly?” Hannah asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t know.” He pointed his rifle at the ground, held up his hand, palm outward, and shouted a word that Hannah did not understand.

  Two of the Indians had already gotten up and were coming toward them. One was an older man. He had strains of gray showing in his black hair, which was pulled back in a knot on the side of his head except for a fringe of short bangs covering his forehead. A single eagle feather hung alongside his face. He answered with the same word Ethan had used.

  “Do you speak their language?” Hannah asked with amazement.

  “A few words, here and there.”

  By now Jacob and Bridgett had seen them and jumped to their feet. “Hannah!” Jacob called, waving his hand excitedly.

  Bridgett didn’t join in his enthusiastic welcome. She looked guiltily down at the grass as if she knew that she had done something wrong.

  “Can I go to them?” Hannah asked Ethan.

  Ethan had kept his hand in the air as the two braves approached. “Wait just a minute,” he said. “They’re obviously all right. We’ll just be sure that these men don’t misinterpret our arrival.”

  The two Potawatomi men stopped a few feet from them. Ethan pointed to himself and then to the children. The Indians nodded, and one of them began speaking. When he stopped, Hannah asked, “Could you understand what he was telling you?”

  Ethan continued looking at the Indians but said to her, “Not very much. But I think they were telling me that they found the children along the trail and were watching over them until their people came for them.”

  Hannah let out a deep breath. “So they didn’t kidnap them?”

  “I don’t think so.” He set his rifle on the ground, then reached behind his shoulder to pull off his pack. Digging inside, he pulled out a leather pouch full of tobacco. Taking a step forward, he offered it to the older man with a half bow and a few halting words.

  “What are you doing?” Hannah asked.

  “I’m thanking them for caring for our children.”

  The older brave took the pouch and answered Ethan with another flood of strange words. The other Indian had his eyes fixed on Hannah.

  Ethan was nodding to the older man and both were smiling. “You don’t usually see Potawatomi this far east,” Ethan said quietly to Hannah and Seth. “But they seem peaceful enough.”

  The braves wore clothes made of some kind of skin—breechclouts over tubular leggings and loose shirts painted with bright designs. The older man had a pattern of colored porcupine quills around the neck of his shirt. The younger had parallel blue stripes painted on his cheeks, making him look fiercer and more alien. Suddenly he looked at Hannah, stepped back and held out his arm, as if telling her to go to the children. She walked between the two men, her eyes avoiding the painted brave, who continued to stare at her, and quickly made her way toward Jacob and Bridgett.

  They ran to meet her as she approached, and she caught one up in each arm, hugging them to her side. “Are you all right?” she asked, her voice shaky. “You’re not hurt?”

  Bridgett had started to cry. “We were awfully scared, Hannah. I thought we weren’t going to find you again.”

  Hannah blinked back the tears that threatened in her own eyes and eased her hold on them. “What happened to you?” she asked.

  Bridgett looked at Jacob, who looked away, his face red.

  “Did these men take you off the boat?” Hannah asked.

  Jacob shook his head vigorously. “They didn’t do anything bad, Hannah. They’re nice, and they talked to us with their hands, just like Captain Reed said.”

  Hannah looked around in confusion. “But how did you get here?”

  Jacob lowered his head and mumbled, “I wanted to see them. I wanted to see the Indians.”

  Bridgett took over the story. “We woke up real early, Hannah, and Jacob said we could go into the woods and see if there were any Indians. He said we’d be back before anyone else got up. But then we didn’t know which way it was back to the river.”

  Now the girl’s tears came in earnest, and Hannah gave her another hug, resting her chin on her shiny brown hair. “Oh, sweetheart,” Hannah said. “Your mother was so worried about you. We all were.”

  “I didn’t mean to make Mama worry,” the girl gasped through hiccuping sobs.

  The men by the river were watching them with curiosity. Hannah tried to smile at them as she rocked Bridgett back and forth, comforting her.

  “My pa’s going to whip me,” Bridgett said, her sobs finally subsiding.

  Jacob’s eyes grew round. “He wouldn’t do that, would he?”

  Bridgett nodded.

  “I’ll talk to him,” Hannah said soothingly. “No one’s going to get whipped. But you children made a bad mistake going off by yourselves.” She put her hand on Jacob’s head. “Remember we talked just a couple days ago about having to be responsible out here on the frontier?”

  Jacob nodded and looked ashamed. “I wanted to see the Indians,” he said mournfully.

  “I know. Well, now you’ve seen them. And the rest of the trip I expect you to stay within a stick’s throw of me or your papa. Is that understood?”

  Both children nodded vigorously. Hannah let them loose just as Ethan and Seth came up behind her, followed by the two Indians.

  “They’re fine,” she said to Ethan. “They left early this morning to go exploring and got lost.”

  “We’re damn lucky that these men are in a amicable frame of mind,” Ethan said soberly.

  “They’re really friendly, Captain,” Jacob said with a tentative smile that indicated he knew he was in the wrong.

  Ethan looked at him sternly and handed him the gun he had picked up off the trail. “Not all Indians are friendly, Jacob. And a good woodsman never leaves behind his gun.”

  Jacob took the musket. “I…I dropped it. We were pretty scared at first when the men came out of the woods. We didn’t even hear them coming. Suddenly they were just there.”

  Ethan nodded. “As I said, you two were lucky. But it will be a good lesson for you.”

  The younger Indian said something to the older one. Ethan turned around to face them again, then shook his head as the older one spoke.

  “What’s he asking?” Hannah asked. The young brave was still watching her.

  “They want to know if you’re my woman.”

  Hannah gave a little jerk of surprise and felt her cheeks grow warm.

  Seth looked from Ethan to Hannah. “What did you tell them?” he asked with a grin.”

  “I told them not yet.”

  By now all of the braves were standing and some had moved close to Hannah and the children. Some of the others had the odd-looking stripes across their faces. The young brave who had come out to meet them reached behind Hannah and lifted her thick blond braid for the others to see. He said something and the other men laughed.

  She pulled away. “What did he say?” She was starting to feel uncomfortable a
s the men circled around her.

  “I didn’t understand,” Ethan said with a frown. “But I think it would be a good idea if we got on our way.”

  He turned back to the older man and spoke, motioning toward the woods in the direction from which they had come. Hannah listened intently, as though she might be able to understand some of the words, but all she could tell was that they seemed to be taking a long time for a simple goodbye.

  Ethan began motioning with his hands. Hannah could tell he was not happy, but he kept his demeanor calm. She turned to Seth, who raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

  Finally Ethan took her arm and drew her away from the children and the crowding Indians. Seth followed them. “They want us to stay for a meal.”

  Hannah looked around for signs of a fire. “How long would that take?”

  “It could be hours, even days, if they felt like making it that long. Indians have a different sense of time than we do.”

  Hannah was shaking her head before he had finished his statement. “We have to get back to tell Nancy that Bridgett is safe. It’s dangerous for her to be worrying so long.”

  “Do we all have to stay?” Seth asked. “Someone could go back and let them know that we’re all right.”

  Ethan glanced at Hannah. “They especially want the woman with sunshine hair to stay.”

  “Sunshine hair?” Hannah asked with a smile. She thought the reference was rather pretty,

  Neither Ethan nor Seth appeared to share her pleasure at the term as they exchanged a significant look. “What happens if we just try to leave?” Seth asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  The noon sun was hot, but Hannah felt a sudden chill. “I’ll stay, then,” she said. “Ethan, you take the children back to the camp.”

  “No,” Seth said firmly. “I’ll go back and tell Mrs. Trask that the children are well. By now Randolph and Hugh should have returned, and we’ll all come for you.”

  Ethan shook his head. “If they see more white men, they might start to get less friendly.” He thought for a moment. “Seth, do you think you can follow the trail back to the boats?”

  “Of course.”

  “What about the children?” Hannah asked.

  Ethan looked at her soberly. “I’d feel better if they went back with Seth.”

  Seth nodded his agreement. “But are you sure you don’t want us to return for you? What if you have trouble getting away?” He lifted an eyebrow and tipped his head in Hannah’s direction.

  Ethan looked over at the group of braves. Most were looking back at them. “I think there’d be more chance of trouble if they saw you all coming for us,” he said slowly.

  “And you don’t know how long you’ll be here?”

  “You just keep everyone at the camp. We’ll be there as soon as we can get away.”

  Finally, saying that Ethan knew best, Seth shrugged and agreed to the plan. The children did not want to leave Hannah and voiced their protests, clinging to Hannah’s skirt.

  “Mr. Baker will take you right back to the river, and your mother will be waiting,” Hannah assured Bridgett.

  “But what’s going to happen to you, Hannah?”

  “Nothing. We’re just going to stay here and talk with these men for a while. Then we’ll be following you back.”

  “Talk with your hands?” Jacob asked.

  “I suppose so,” Hannah said with a smile. “Now you stay right with Mr. Baker and don’t give him any trouble. Promise?”

  Ethan had been communicating with the older Indian, who seemed to be the leader of the group. They were looking at Seth and Hannah and then the children. Finally the brave nodded and made a motion of dismissal with his hand. “It’s all right for you to leave,” Ethan said, nodding to Seth, who looked uncertain. “Go on quickly before he changes his mind.”

  Seth hung his rifle over his shoulder and took a child’s hand in each of his. “You young’uns will have to help me follow the trail back to the river. You think you can do that?”

  They followed along with him, their heads turning back toward Hannah. “We’ll see you in a little while, then,” Jacob said anxiously.

  Hannah smiled and waved. “We’ll be back with you soon,” she agreed. She kept the smile on her face until the little group had disappeared into the trees, then she turned to Ethan. “We will, won’t we?”

  Ethan had been right about the different ideas of time. It was late afternoon and the midday meal was still underway. After Seth had left with the children, the Indians had gathered around Ethan and Hannah once again, motioning toward Hannah and pointing at her hair. The young brave who had first greeted them had finally addressed Ethan directly and, emphasizing his words with band movements, had told him to tell Hannah to take her hair out of its braid. Ethan had asked her if she would be willing to comply with his request. It seemed a small enough thing, so, with the nine Indians watching her intently, she had unbraided her hair and shaken it out around her shoulders. There had been murmurs of approval from the men, but when several of them had pushed forward to touch it, Ethan had stood in front of her and barked a couple Indian words. Fortunately, no one had objected to either the words or his tone. They had maintained their distance while Ethan and the old Indian began to speak.

  The older man was a sachem, or chief, of his particular clan, which was called the Turtle clan. Ethan had not understood the word for turtle, and the chief had bent over to indicate a shell and moved his head comically back and forth. They all had laughed, and it gave Hannah a curious satisfaction to realize that she could be sharing a joke with people who were so different from her.

  The laughter had set a jovial tone for the rest of the afternoon. Ethan and Hannah had sat alongside the stream and watched as the Indians gathered wood, built a fire and began roasting wild potatoes wrapped in corn husks.

  They had brought out smoked meat, parched corn sweetened with honey and a kind of berry that Hannah had never seen before. She was completely full, but the hours went by and the food continued to appear.

  The young brave who seemed to be so interested in Hannah urged her with signals to eat more. She smiled at him and shook her head. When he persisted, she put her hand over her stomach and puffed out her cheeks. Finally he laughed with her, imitating her gesture, and threw aside the piece of meat he’d been holding. His name was Skabewis, they’d determined, and it seemed that the others in the group had ceded him interest in their pretty female guest.

  As the others cleaned up the remainders of the meal, he went over to one of their packs and took out a small wooden object, then presented it to Hannah. It was a carved needle case with several finely carved bone needles inside. Skabewis watched her intently as she examined it, evidently waiting for some kind of reaction. Hannah looked at Ethan for advice on what she-should do.

  “It’s a fine gift,” he said. “Just nod and say thank you. He’ll understand the sentiment if not the words.”

  She did as Ethan suggested, but the gleam in the young Indian’s eye was making her increasingly uncomfortable. “When do you think we can leave?” she asked Ethan.

  “They seem to be drawing this meal out extra long,” he said. “I think they like looking at you.” He grinned. “Can’t say that I blame them.”

  “I just keep thinking that they’ll all be worried back at the boats until we get there. In spite of what you told Seth, Randolph might insist on coming after us.”

  Ethan nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.” He turned to the chief and started to talk. The chief listened politely to Ethan, then turned to Skabewis, who spoke for a very long time. Hannah could tell that Ethan was making an effort to stay calm. When the young brave stopped talking, Ethan spoke in cool tone of voice, but with emphasis, punctuating the words with chopping hand signals.

  “What’s happened?” Hannah asked, mystified.

  Ethan waved her to silence as the debate went on for several more minutes. Skabewis kept looking over at Hannah, and she was certain that the dis
cussion was somehow about her. Too impatient to wait, she asked Ethan again, “What does he want?”

  He stood up and paced down to the stream, then came back and let out another torrent of the strange words. The chief’s sentences seemed to grow calmer as Ethan’s grew more agitated.

  Finally Hannah could take no more. She stood and grabbed Ethan’s arm. “Tell me what you’re talking about,” she demanded.

  He looked down at her. “Skabewis wants to buy you,” he said stiffly.

  Chapter Eleven

  “To buy me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “No, it’s no joke. They have a cache of furs near here, and he’s offering them for you.”

  Like every other colonist, Hannah had heard the tales of white women who were carried off to live for years with the Indians. What if these men actually insisted on taking her? Even with his rifle, what could Ethan do against nine of them? Hannah glanced over at Skabewis’s stoic face. He nodded at her and she looked quickly away. “What did you tell them?”

  Ethan saw the fright in her eyes. They reflected the fear that had started uncoiling in his gut the minute he had seen the young brave’s eyes on Hannah, fascinated and hungry. Ethan knew the look. He’d looked at her that way himself. There was a chance that when they realized he would not accept their offer, things could start to get difficult. But he needed Hannah to be strong and keep her wits about her.

  “I’m negotiating,” Ethan said, a glint of humor turning up his mouth. “Holding out for a better offer.”

  Hannah did not return the smile. “They can’t…they can’t make you give me to them, can they?”

  “Not while I’m still alive,” he answered calmly.

  “What are we going to do?”

  He looked over at the trees, gauging the distance. “I want you to start walking toward the trail we came out on. Do you think you could find your way back to the river by yourself?”

  “By myself? But—”

  He interrupted her. “You won’t have to. But just in case, remember that the river is due east of us here. Watch where the sun is setting yonder and go the opposite direction, as quickly as you can.”