'I must take the colt foals into York,' Jamie said all too soon. Two of the foals were colts, and had to be sold. The fillies could be kept and bred from. Soon they would have a good herd, and their tenants would have crops for sale, and be able to pay rent. Gradually they would be able to replenish their stock of cash.
Flora had enjoyed watching the mares and the frisky youngsters. She often sat outside as she skinned rabbits, or plucked fowl, or in her few leisure moments did some of her embroidery. As she worked she watched the foals grazing on the fresh new grass, or frolicking together, racing one another across the paddock as they discovered the power in their legs.
It was high summer before Jamie went, and this time he stayed away for several nights. Then, well before the sun went down on the fifth day he'd been away, Flora heard the sounds of horses approaching.
'Dada, horses,' Jenny screamed in delight. She had been playing in the small compound outside the cabin, where she and Matthew could be safe and not stray while Flora worked. Flora came out of the cabin to stare along the track from the road.
'One horse, the waggon horse,' she said absently. Yet there did seem to be more noise than one horse would make, a greater clatter of uncoordinated hoofbeats.
The waggon came into view round the bend in the track, where they had to circle round a huge spreading oak. Tied on behind, tossing their heads, were six mares, black, grey, two chestnuts, and two piebalds. Flora blinked. No, she was not dreaming.
'Where did you get them? How did you pay for them?' she demanded as Jamie halted the waggon and jumped down.
He caught her in his arms and swung her off her feet, swirling her round until she begged to be put down.
'I won them,' he said casually, going to pick up Jenny and Matthew, who were demanding his attention.
'Won them?'
'Well, I won the money to buy them.'
'But – who from?'
He grinned at her over Jenny's dark curls. 'I met an old friend from London days. He's an Army Captain, and has just joined the garrison in York. Edward always had more money than was good for him, and he insisted he wanted to play cards with me, to get even for what I won off him before. Two evenings, and I've doubled our herd. All of them in foal. Now let me settle them, and then I need food, I'm ravenous.'
Later, when the excited children were in bed, they sat on a bench set against the outside wall of the cabin, looking at the sunset reflected in the lake.
'You haven't played cards for years,' Flora said quietly. 'I thought that was all over.'
'It is,' he said sombrely. 'But this was an opportunity not to be missed. There are not many men here I can play with, and know full well their loss will make not a scrap of difference to their lives.'
'We can manage with what we had, surely,' Flora said. She was not at all happy at the thought that his old life might, even in such a small way, be beckoning to Jamie.
'We're doing well, yes, but with more horses we can prosper much more quickly. I need a reserve too, which I have now, not just for me, but in case I need to help any of the others. They might not do so well, they might lose a harvest. I've been worried for months at how close we are to having nothing to fall back on. The only other way to raise the money for more horses would be to ask you to sell your jewels. I can't do that, even though there is no chance of your wearing them in this wilderness.'
Flora was silent. Dare she confess at this moment? But he was talking again.
'There will be times for you to wear them again. But there is bad news, too, another reason I want to be before the world. The Americans declared war on Britain in June, and invaded Upper Canada a month later.'
'War?' Flora stared at him in dismay. 'Invaded? Where, and why haven't we heard of it?'
'We live a very secluded life. But from the news I heard in York the American leader, Hull, didn't get far, and it's a long way from here, near Detroit. We'll soon push him back across the river. The British and Canadian armies are well-trained, and they have the help of the Indians too. Tecumseh is with them.'
***
With the extra horses Jamie needed more paddocks, and he spent long hours each day felling trees, burning the roots, and stacking the suitable logs for the extra barns he needed. Flora was kept busy turning their second crop of hay, or working in the vegetable garden, thankful that their first crop was doing well. Both of them worked every hour of daylight, and Meg often came to help.
Flora suspected she wanted to be away from her own home. Jane was pregnant, and both she and Bruce glowed with happiness. Isabella fussed round her and her own children, and Meg inevitably felt excluded. Gordon had met and married a girl from York, and all the other settlers were busy with their first harvest, so crucial for their ability to make a living in this new land.
Meg had put the children to bed one evening and came to help Flora dig up potatoes and store them in an earth clamp.
'I wish I could live with you,' she sighed, straightening her back and stretching when Flora told her that was enough for today.
'It wouldn't be right,' Flora said firmly. 'Your father is naturally anxious about Jane at the moment. She's old to be having a first child. But he would miss you dreadfully. Has he heard from Malcolm at all?'
She pouted. 'No. We don't know where he is, whether he's in the army, if he's alive or dead.'
'So it's even more important for your father to have you near him. He loves Jane, I know, but he also loved your mother dearly, and you are his last link to her.'
'They don't need me,' Meg muttered, but she left soon afterwards, and Flora rested for a few minutes on the bench before dragging herself to the lake, where she needed to check the fish traps.
She was coming back to the cabin with half a dozen trout in her woven rush basket when she sensed movement in the trees beside the path.
'Jamie? Is that you?'
She was not alarmed. He'd probably come to find her, knowing that she liked to check the traps as a final task before going indoors. As a tall man stepped out onto the path she began to smile, and then stopped abruptly.
'Andrew! You're quite a stranger here. You startled me. We don't have many visitors.'
He grinned. 'Have you missed me, Flora?
She ignored the question, though her heart was racing. It was the shock, she told herself firmly. She hadn't expected to see him.
'How is your mother? And the rest of the family?'
'Well enough. Have you seen your Indian braves again? I heard there were some of Tecumseh's Redskins in the area again.'
'I heard no more after Mary helped them,' she said, wondering at the bitter note in his voice.
'That surprises me. The wounded one, Tier, could not sing your praises enough. What did you do for him the day Jamie went off into the forests with his brother?'
Flora frowned. 'I cleaned his wounds and bandaged them, that's all. What else should I do?'
Andrew laughed. 'Don't pretend to be the innocent with me. What would you expect a man left alone with an attractive woman to do?'
Flora flushed, but before she could reply Andrew stepped up to her and blocked her way.
'I've missed you, Flora,' he said huskily, taking the basket from her and dropping it onto the ground. 'Haven't you missed me, just a little?'
He put his hands on her shoulders and though she knew she ought to resist, she could not. Her legs were weak, trembling so much that if Andrew had not slid his arms about her and held her tightly she'd have collapsed onto the ground.
It was so long since a man had held her to his body. Jamie now did no more than kiss her goodnight, and she had ceased trying to entice him. He stayed with her out of duty. He probably pined for Arabella. If there was a garrison at York she might even be there, and he could be visiting her.
She sobbed a little at the thought, and Andrew pulled her even closer. His warmth was comforting, and for a wild moment she wanted to respond, to let him make love to her.
'Don't, my love. It won't hurt that cold
fish of a husband of yours, and it's what was always meant, from when we were bairns in the glen.'
His hand stroked her back, then before she could push him away he was lifting up her chin, and bending down to kiss her lips.
She dreamed for a moment it was Jamie, and clung to him. As he felt her response he gave a small crow of triumph and pushed her down onto the ground, fumbling for the strings of her bodice and dragging it over her shoulders.
'You always had lovely breasts,' he whispered, and bent to kiss them. Suddenly Flora came to her senses and tried to push him away, but he had flung one leg across hers and was pinning her to the ground.
'Let me go!' she begged, trying to struggle, but he was big and strong, and one hand was dragging up her skirts.
'You like it rough?' he asked, chuckling deep in his throat.
She opened her mouth to scream but he brought his mouth down on hers, and she felt his tongue invade her, crushing all sound.
She thought she would suffocate. Unable to breathe, her head was pinned to the rough ground and a root of a tree right next to her ear prevented her from twisting away from him. He had heaved his body until he was lying on top of her, crushing what breath she had left out of her lungs.
Then, miraculously, the weight was lifted and Andrew went sprawling to the ground beside her.
Dizzy, Flora looked up at Jamie. He was glaring impartially at her and Andrew.
'Get inside!' he ordered, and then, as Andrew struggled to his feet, he turned away and faced the younger man.
'Jamie, don't!' Flora gasped as soon as she had breath enough to speak.
He ignored her, and as Andrew flung himself forward, fists flying, she rolled swiftly out of the way.
The harsh pine needles on her bare skin made her conscious that the neck of her bodice was almost round her waist, pinioning her arms, and her skirts rucked up to leave her legs bare from the tops of her stockings up to her thighs. Flora struggled to her feet, fastened her bodice, and retreated to safety, out of the way of the men. They were struggling together, swaying as they fought, neither giving way an inch.
Then suddenly it was over. Jamie moved too swiftly for Flora to see quite how he did it, but Andrew tripped, fell, and twisted his body as he hit the ground. She heard the snap of bone, and winced.
Jamie was breathing hard as he stood looking down at Andrew.
'Leave my wife alone,' Jamie said between clenched teeth. 'Next time I'll kill you, not just break your bones.'
Andrew struggled to his feet, clutching his left arm. He was deathly pale under the tan, but he managed a grin.
'She was worth it,' he said, turning away to walk unsteadily along the path towards the road.
Jamie took a step after him, and Flora suddenly came back to life.
'No, don't!' she exclaimed, running to catch his hand, which was clenched tightly into a fist.
He looked down at her, then took a deep breath. 'I told you to go inside,' he said curtly and seized her arm in a cruel hold.
Flora gasped, but said no more. If she protested her innocence he would not believe her. She stumbled along beside him, and made no protest as he pushed her inside the cabin. Then he let her go, and she walked unsteadily across to their bed behind its fragile partition. It was dark by now, very little of the last daylight penetrating the small windows, and she was trembling too much to light a candle. Besides, that would mean walking across to get a spill from the fire, and she did not believe she could move so far.
She sat on the bed to take off her shoes and roll down her stockings. Dimly she was aware of Jamie undressing on the far side of the cabin, and she stood up to remove her gown. Before she could untie it, though, he stood before her, naked, unspeaking.
Flora backed away in alarm, caught her legs on the bed, and collapsed unto it. Then Jamie was beside her, grimly silent, intent on subduing her. It was the first time since long before Matthew was born that he had made love to her. But this wasn't love, Flora knew. When Andrew had kissed her she had, for a while, responded. The almost forgotten sensations had been strong enough to overwhelm her sense, her willpower. If he had not tried to force her, she was miserably aware that she might have submitted to him. And, she thought, suppressing her sobs as she endured Jamie's roughness, she might have enjoyed it more than now.
At last, spent, Jamie rolled away from her and left the bed. Flora curled up into a ball and lay sobbing, her gown pushed up to her waist, as far on the edge of the bed as she could. She heard Jamie pulling down the palliasse he had made for the Indians, and since he did not come back to bed she knew he would be sleeping there.
It was almost dawn before she fell into an exhausted sleep, and when the children woke her, Jenny demanding to know why she was asleep in her gown, Jamie had gone.
***
Chapter 14
'Jane's had a son,' Meg announced glumly one day late in the middle of December.
Flora glanced at her. The girl had been crying, her eyes were rimmed red. Something more had upset her, clearly. She had in an odd way been looking forward to the birth of her father's new child.
If only she'd been pregnant herself. Flora pushed down the thought. For a week after Jamie's lovemaking she'd hoped, then her flux had come, and for the first time since that dreadful night she had allowed herself to weep.
Jamie had found her, crouched down by the pool where she bathed, clutching her belly and rocking backwards and forwards.
'Flora, what is it?' he exclaimed, jumping down beside her.
She shook her head, mute.
'Flora – are you hurt? Is it what I did to you? God forgive me, I didn't mean to be rough with you. I must have lost my reason.'
A brief apology on the night following, when he'd returned to the cabin, had been all either of them had said. Apart from essential matters, there had been no more talk between them for a week. Flora had performed her tasks, her mind numb, refusing to think of either Jamie or Andrew, and Jamie had left the cabin at dawn and never returned until it was deep darkness.
'I'm – not – pregnant,' she whispered now, seeing he was determined to force her to answer.
'Not pregnant? Good heavens, Flora, do you want to go through that again? Risk your life like you did with Matthew?'
'I want another baby,' she said quietly.
Jamie stood up abruptly. 'I see. So thinking I would not oblige, you employed Andrew as your stallion, did you? How would you have explained it to me if he had made you pregnant?'
'No! It wasn't like that!' she cried, but after a moment Jamie swung away and left her alone. Since then they had lived side by side in virtual silence, and now he didn't even kiss her goodnight, and had made up a bed for himself near the fire, explaining that as he was often out before she woke, he preferred not to risk disturbing her.
She longed for the glen. It was unremitting hard work here in Canada, but the country had its own beauty, she loved the lake and watching the life on it, the many boats and canoes. They were never short of food, but she missed the companionship of her clan. Would she, if she had the means, go back to what she still thought of as home?
She could not, she decided, despite it all, leave Jamie. It was unheard of for a wife in her position to desert her husband, and he loved the children sincerely, she could not deprive him of them. And Matthew needed a man's attention. At two years old he was an adventurous, demanding little boy, into far more scrapes and worrying her far more than Jenny had ever done.
'Your father must be pleased,' she said now to Meg.
'You'd think he never had a son before,' Meg said, and laughed slightly.
'Jane? Is she well?' It clearly was not the birth of her brother that had upset Meg.
'She's tired. But Eliza has given her something to make her sleep. She's staying for a day or so.'
'Eliza? I haven't seen her for months,' Flora said as calmly as she could. 'Are they all well?'
Meg sniffed. 'Andrew's arm is healed. He was an idiot, to fall so awkwardly. But
he's gone to join the army.'
'Oh no! Poor Eliza! She must be so worried. Where is he? Do you know?'
'In York. I suppose he has to do some training. William went to see him, she said, but once he'd enlisted there was no chance of getting him to come back home.'
'What of the other boys? Do any of them want to go too?'
'They're still at home. Flora, I'm so terrified! Do you think he'll be killed?'
'It's a risk all soldiers take,' Flora said slowly. 'There's no point in pretending it might not happen,' she added as Meg's face crumpled. 'Meg, surely you're not still pining for him?'
'I can't help it!' Meg wailed, suddenly flinging herself into Flora's arms. 'I love him, Flora, I do, really. I thought, when he didn't stay in Quebec, that I had a chance, but he doesn't even know I'm here! He never talks to me, no more than to bid me good day!'
Flora patted her back. She sympathised with the girl's anguish. She felt much the same about Jamie. In a way, she thought, having him living with her, but in such a fashion, was worse than not seeing him at all.
'The Americans are winning,' Meg went on tearfully. 'Eliza hears the news. One of their frigates beat one of our ships in August, and the British navy has never been defeated! And Mary heard from some of her relatives that your Indian friends, with Tecumseh, were beaten when they attacked some fort. We'll soon be captured, and what will happen then?'
'It's not all defeat,' Flora said bracingly. 'My neighbours and Brendan tell me the news. We hold Detroit, and the Americans were defeated near Niagara, so they can't attack us by land or across the lake.'
'They're coming from New York, Eliza said, up one of the river valleys. There are hundreds of places where they could cross, you know how far it is from here to the sea! It's impossible to have guards everywhere.'
'And silly to worry about it, or we'd never think of anything else.'
Meg sighed. 'I suppose so. Jane wants you to come and see her. And the baby. They're calling him Angus.'
'I thought she was sleeping?'
'Yes, but she wants you to come tomorrow. Will you? And bring the children, please. Jane says she has seen so little of you all the last month or so. But she wants to show off Angus, really!' Meg added with the first real smile she'd produced all day.
To A Far Country Page 18
