by Ana Seymour
He turned his head to look at her face. “You’re bluffing.”
“Try me.” She raised the gun, looked through the sight, and held deadly still.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ethan watching her with an admiring grin. But she kept her gaze fixed on her target.
Finally Trask lowered the barrel of his rifle. “Drop it on the ground,” Hannah told him.
He gave the rifle a shove and it clattered to the dirt. Ethan was there immediately to retrieve it. “Nice work, ladies,” he said with a wink at Hannah and a nod for Nancy, who was still sprawled in confusion on the ground.
Randolph retrieved Warren’s gun while Eliza went running to Seth’s side. He was sitting up, holding his head and weaving. “Lucky thing I’ve got a hard head,” he said, sounding groggy.
Eliza knelt beside him and held him in her arms, and said, “Thank the Lord.”
Ethan had brought a length of rope and began tying Trask’s hands. Hannah covered him with the rifle until he was finished. Then her body began to shake. She was gradually beginning to realize that she’d been a fraction of a second away from pulling the trigger and killing another human being. The shaking grew more violent, until Ethan came to her, pulled the rifle out of her hands, and put his arms around her.
“Shh, it’s all over now,” he murmured.
From the other side of the clearing, Randolph watched them, his face impassive.
Warren groaned and began to crawl toward his rifle. Randolph snatched it away. “What about this one, Reed?” he asked.
Ethan took his arms from Hannah and walked over to Warren. He knelt beside him to look at the man’s wound. “It’s just notched his arm,” he said. “We’ll clean it up, then tie him up, too.”
Hannah took a deep breath and willed herself to regain her composure. There was poor Nancy lying on the ground, and she could see the children’s little faces peering anxiously out the door of the cabin. She supposed the Trask girls, too, would be frightened. And someone should explain to them what had happened before they came running and saw their father all tied up.
Eliza was seeing to Seth, so Hannah turned to Nancy and pulled her up. “Are you all right?”
Nancy nodded. “I feel like my shoulder got blasted off,” she said with a wan smile, “but I’m fine. I need to go see to my daughters.”
Without a glance at Hugh, she went off in the direction of her cabin. Hannah turned toward hers, where Peggy and Jacob had now emerged. She ran to them, holding out her arms.
“Did Mr. Trask try to shoot you?” Jacob asked, his voice a mixture of disbelief and excitement.
“We think he might have,” Hannah told them calmly. “But everything’s all right now.”
The three embraced. “I was so scared, Hannah,” Peggy said with a little sob.
“I was scared, too. But we don’t have to be scared anymore—it’s all over.”
Suddenly there was a look of panic in the children’s faces as they looked past her. Hannah whirled around. While Ethan tended to Warren, Hugh had evidently cut his bonds with the hunting knife he’d still had in his belt. Hannah watched in horror as he drew back his hand and sent the deadly blade spinning straight toward Ethan’s back. In almost the same instant, Randolph raised Warren’s rifle and shot Trask dead center in the chest.
Trask swayed back and forth for an endless moment, then pitched face forward in the dust. Hannah cried out and ran across the clearing to Ethan, who had fallen heavily to one side, the knife buried to its hilt in his back.
Randolph retrieved Trask’s rifle from Ethan’s side. Then he walked over to Trask and carefully turned him over with his boot. His eyes were rolled back in his head and a crimson pool had formed in the center of his buckskin shirt. He was decisively dead. Randolph blanched at the sight and said under his breath, “Well, I didn’t miss that time.”
He looked over at his gaping children. “Peggy and Jacob, I want you to run down to the Trask cabin. You can tell Mrs. Trask what happened, but don’t let her or the girls come up here.”
The two took off running, their faces white and serious. Randolph then turned to where Hannah rocked Ethan in her arms. She looked up at him. “Tell me he’s not dead, Randolph,” she said, great tears rolling down her face. “I couldn’t bear it if he were dead.”
Hannah didn’t know what they would all have done without Randolph’s calm leadership after the horrible confrontation with Trask and Warren. With every other man disabled, he had taken charge without hesitation.
First he’d tied up Warren, trussed him up like a turkey so there wouldn’t be any repetition of the mistake they’d made with Trask. Then he’d used detached, soothing tones to calm Hannah, and together they had removed the knife from Ethan’s back. Ethan had lost so much blood that they didn’t see how he could possibly live, but Eliza, who joined them after she had tended Seth’s head wound, said that the blade must have missed the most vital parts, because his heart was still pumping out the blood and there was no telltale red coming from his mouth.
He was unconscious, and his body was cold and clammy. Hannah felt a tremendous sense of dread, but she forced herself to follow Randolph’s calm orders.
After the knife was removed, Eliza brought her needle and thread. Randolph left the two women to stitch up the wound while he and Seth, a bandage tied around his forehead, dragged Trask’s body off into the woods. “We’ll come back and bury him as soon as we make sure that everyone’s all right,” Randolph told the older man.
Hannah refused to leave Ethan’s side. She clutched his moist hand and tried to force some of her own life power into his drained body.
Randolph came up behind her and tapped her gently on the shoulder. “We should get him to a bed,” he said.
She nodded and stood up, but kept fast hold of Ethan’s hand. Randolph lifted the wounded man’s shoulders, Seth picked up his legs, and they carried him into the Webster cabin. “Put him in my bed,” Hannah said.
Randolph nodded agreement, his expression inscrutable.
While Hannah and Eliza huddled over Ethan, Randolph walked to the Trask cabin. Nancy was sitting on the little front step, hugging Janie and Bridgett on each side of her. All three looked pale and frightened. Peggy was holding Janie’s hand and Jacob stood nearby self-consciously.
Randolph addressed his remarks to Trask’s daughters. “Your pa’s dead, girls. He got involved in some bad things and with a bad man. But this is not something that’s a reflection on you girls or your family or your fine mama here.” He glanced at Nancy, then back to Janie and Bridgett. “The most likely thing is that the liquor got to him. Liquor’s been the ruin of many a fine man, and I think it’s what turned your pa.”
All four children were listening intently. Randolph walked over to Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder. “Now you women got no more menfolk—at least until little Wally gets his first breeches. But Jacob and I will be pleased to help you out with whatever you need. Isn’t that right, son?”
Jacob pulled himself up a little straighter and smiled at Bridgett and Janie. “Sure,” he said.
“I’m going to go up with Mr. Baker and bury your pa. When we’re finished, we’ll come for you, so you can each be thinking of a few words you’d like to say over his grave.” He rubbed his whiskers and looked at Nancy. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked gently.
She nodded, her eyes full of gratitude.
When Trask had been placed in a shallow grave, Randolph told Seth to fashion a cross while he went to fetch the family. He stopped first at his own cabin to ask Eliza if she would come out to stand with Nancy. He didn’t suggest that Hannah join them, but stood for a moment watching her as she hovered anxiously over Ethan. She turned her head toward him for just a moment, then resumed her vigil.
The burial service was short and subdued. Randolph recited the Twenty-third Psalm and each of the girls placed wildflowers on the grave.
While silent tears ran down Nancy’s cheek, Janie whispered, “Go
odbye, Papa. I’m sorry the liquor turned you, and I hope God forgives you so we can see you in heaven.”
Randolph asked Bridgett if she wanted to say anything, but she timidly shook her head. He smiled at her, then nodded once more over the grave and said, “Amen.” One by one they turned and walked solemnly away.
When they came out of the trees into the clearing, Jacob said, “I’ll help you pack up your horses, Mrs. Trask. I do really good knots.”
Nancy acknowledged his offer with a sad smile and a pat on his head. “When do you think we’ll be leaving?” she asked Randolph.
“I don’t know.” He glanced at the four children who had started down the path to the Trasks’. “I don’t like to stay around here any longer than we have to, but we can’t leave Reed, and he’s hurt pretty bad.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No. Hannah and Eliza are seeing to him.” There was just a touch of bitterness in his voice as he added, “Especially Hannah.”
Nancy’s intelligent hazel eyes regarded him with a look of sympathy. “I don’t know what we would have done without you today, Randolph.”
He gave her a tired smile. “We’re not through this yet. We’ve still got to get safely back to the fort with a prisoner and a badly wounded trail guide.”
“You’ll get us through,” she said, putting her hand lightly on his arm. “I know you will.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ethan had insisted that they start upriver only two days after the showdown with Trask. He was still feverish and weak. Hannah, who had scarcely left his side, had protested vehemently, saying that it was too soon to move him. The bleeding could start again and he could die.
She had argued first with Randolph, then with Ethan, himself, saying that the others could start back and she would stay behind with Ethan. He had shown his first signs of returning spirit when he lifted himself in the bed and told her not to be a damn fool. He had then ordered Randolph to tie him on the back of one of the horses and to keep moving, no matter what, until they reached the safety of the fort.
Randolph had made no comment to Hannah about her sudden devotion to Ethan. She had hardly slept in order to be available for anything her patient might need. Her face was drawn and her usual good humor had totally disappeared.
Randolph concentrated on the other members of the party. Seth and Eliza, now that they had made the decision to head back to Philadelphia, seemed to be quietly content. They endured the grueling pace Randolph set without complaint, and in the evening spoke with determination of starting their lives anew.
Nancy Trask, too, seemed to have found a new measure of peace. Now that she was truly alone, she no longer stayed totally in the background. She shared her opinions with Randolph when he was trying to make decisions for the group. She even spoke up more confidently with her children.
Each mile they had floated down the river seemed like ten as they worked their way back along the sometimes rough terrain of the bank. But with Ethan weakly assuring them that they were making headway, they kept moving and finally emerged one sunny afternoon to see the welcome V-shaped point of land and five-sided structure of Fort Pitt.
Randolph waited until all were settled and Ethan had been put under the care of the fort’s doctor to talk privately with Hannah. He asked her to walk with him out in the yard after supper, and he went directly to the point.
“So it was true, Hannah—those ravings of Trask before he died. You were involved with Reed last spring.”
Hannah looked into Randolph’s honest, kind eyes. The sorrow in them made her heart ache. “Yes, I was.”
“And are you in love with him?”
“I…I don’t know. I didn’t think I was, and, please believe me, Randolph, all this summer with you, I never thought to see Ethan again.”
“And I thought we were building something together—you and I.”
“I did, too. I wanted that. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life than these past weeks with you and the children. I was beginning to feel as if I really belonged somewhere, that I finally had a home of my own.”
“But you weren’t falling in love with me.” His voice was quiet, pained.
They were walking along side by side, not touching. She thought of all the times through the long summer twilights that they had strolled hand in hand, content after a hard day’s work at building a future.
“I don’t know what to think anymore, Randolph,” she answered simply.
“Because of Reed?” He stopped walking and waited for her answer. She looked down and nodded.
He winced and said, “He’s not exactly the kind of man who will provide a life for you, Hannah. A home of your own the way you say you want.”
“I know. I don’t expect anything like that to happen.”
“But he has your heart?”
Again she nodded, this time looking into his face. “I’ve discovered that hearts are not wise.” Her eyes filled with tears.
Randolph gave her a sad smile, then broke the barrier that had grown up between them by putting a comforting arm across her shoulders. “No, I don’t think love has much to do with wisdom.” He resumed walking, pulling her along with him. “What do you intend to do?”
She looked over at him with surprise. “Well, I…I still have almost three more years to work for you. I certainly intend to honor my contract and go back with you to Destiny River next spring.”
“From what I hear, the treaty the British are going to sign with the tribes might forbid settlement west of here.”
“You mean we might not be able to go back?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Well, then I’d go back to Philadelphia with you and the children. Or wherever else you go.”
“But not as my wife.”
She was blinking to keep the tears at bay. “It wouldn’t be fair to you, not now, anyway. Perhaps with time…”
“Or perhaps if Reed doesn’t make it,” he said with his first touch of bitterness. “They say he’s in pretty bad shape. I might get lucky.”
Hannah turned toward him and gave a little stomp of her foot. “Randolph Webster! You know you don’t mean that.”
He put a hand on each side of her head and held her there, studying her face. Then he pulled away and gave a rueful smile. “I hope I don’t,” he said.
After some improvement when they first reached the fort, Ethan had worsened and had again lapsed into a fevered delirium. At Colonel Bouquet’s insistence, he was moved to an upper bedroom in the commandant’s house. With Randolph’s permission, Hannah had taken over as his principal nurse, but the fort doctor had ordered that she could not spend more than half a day at the bedside without taking a break for food or rest. He wasn’t about to end up with two patients instead of one, he had told her sternly.
She was too exhausted and too worried to argue, especially when Colonel Bouquet added his admonition to the doctor’s. The commandant had been a frequent visitor to the sickroom and had observed Hannah’s devoted nursing with some concern.
“You’re quite fond of Ethan, aren’t you, my dear?” he asked her on the third day of their vigil. Ethan lay on the bed semiconscious between them.
“I’ve never met a man quite like him,” she answered.
Bouquet looked amused at her careful reply. “I’ve never met a braver soldier, nor a finer tracker, but those are not usually qualities that women find most appealing.”
“I don’t know where we’d be without him. He came back to Destiny River to save us, and it has almost cost him his life.”
The colonel shook his head. “Ethan’s tough. He’s not going to let a knife prick kill him off.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Having a nurse like you’s enough to make a man recover from just about anything, I would think.”
Hannah gave Bouquet a weary smile. “I don’t think he’s even aware that we’re here.”
“Just make sure that you don’t wear your
self out so that you can’t be here when he does wake up.”
“I’ll be here.”
He leaned across the bed and put his hand over hers on the coverlet. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you, my child?”
Hannah made no reply, but turned her head to study the unconscious man. Her emotions were written on her face.
Bouquet sighed. “You’ve not chosen an easy man to love.”
“As long as he gets well, that’s all I care about.”
“And then what?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. You know him, Colonel. He’s a free spirit. He’s going to wander this beautiful West of his until it gets too crowded, then he’ll move beyond to something else.”
“And you?”
“And I will probably be going back to Philadelphia with the Websters. After your warnings, I don’t think either Randolph or Nancy Trask intend to return to Destiny River.”
Bouquet nodded. “The time’s not right. In spite of the pacts we’re making with the Indians, I know in my heart that someday the Ohio River valley will be settled by Englishmen. It’s as inevitable as the tide. But for a time we’ll try to keep the peace and hold the settlers back.”
“And Destiny River will be forgotten.”
“Not forgotten. Someday new settlers will find it again. A thriving community will grow from what you folks started.”
“Perhaps someday I’ll come back and see it happen,” she said wistfully.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, Mistress Hannah.” The kindly colonel gave her a fond smile. “I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.”
Hannah had not left Ethan’s side all evening, and not even the officious Dr. Fulton dared order her away. It had been over eighteen hours since he had shown any signs of consciousness. Shortly after suneown his fever had spiked dangerously. His body had convulsed violently, rattling the frame of his bed. The straw mattress he lay on was so dampened with his sweat that the room had begun to smell like wet hay.
The doctor had reluctantly decided that the patient should be bled. He didn’t use the practice much himself, he had explained to Hannah, but in cases as grave as Captain Reed’s there really was no other remedy left. He had left to fetch the equipment from his dispensary, leaving Hannah watching Ethan with a heavy heart.
