Raised By Wolves Volume four- Wolves (43 page)

makes the next two childrenstillborn. Aye, why?”

makes the next two childrenstillborn. Aye, why?”
“Aye,”he sighed.
“It could be a mixing of bloodlines,” Gaston said. “I

would say that Jews are not different from Christians in any physical way, but perhaps there are differences that we cannot see because they have bred only with one another, and we have bred only with one another for many centuries. There are certain strains of animals that cannot be bred together and produce healthyoffspring.

“If that is the case,” he continued, “it is not that God is punishing anyone or even has a hand in it other than a thing is occurringthat is a naturaldevelopment ofallHe has created. It is simplythe waythings are.”

“But why were we able to have a girl and no boys?” Theodore asked. “The boys died.”
I was disturbed that he knew the body I had brought forthwas male.
Gaston shrugged, “Why are only female cats the color we calltortoiseshell?”
Theodore and I frowned.
“No one has seen a male cat with that coloring,” Gaston said, “and there are other examples in poultry and farm animals we know well. Males are different than females, and not only in their genitalia. We do not know whyexcept that God made them that way.”
“But I knew a man in England who married a Jew and theyhad a boy,”Theodore protested.
Gastonshrugged helplessly. “I do not know, Theodore. I am only saying there might be a reason. Hannah and Muri have am only saying there might be a reason. Hannah and Muri have heard of many women who had one child and then could have no more; and the stillborn babies were often male if the living child was female. These people were among their nations and not Christianand Jew. I amonlyspeculating.”
“He is saying it is not necessarily a thing unique to the two of you, or resulting from a thing you have consciously done inthe eyes ofGod,”I said.
Theodore considered that and nodded solemnly. He gave a deep sigh. “So, she should be wellnow?”
I sighed. “I do not know. We will not know until we see what occurs.”
As if to mock my words, there was cry from the hospital. We ran to the door and found Hannah trying to calm Rachel. Elizabeth was crying at being clutched so tightly by her wailingmother as Rachelhuddled inthe corner.
“She was sleeping,” Hannah said quietly but urgently, “and thenshe woke veryscared. She dreams bad things.”
“Aye,” Gaston said. “I think we will have to continue to give her small doses of the drug to help her sleep. We will see how she does whenshe is awake.”
“We need to wrest Elizabethfromher,”Theodore said.
I did not like his choice of words. “Nay, then someone will get hurt—probably the babe. And the child is her touchstone. Let us calm her instead. Go to her while Gaston prepares the drug. Hold her and tell her you love her and everythingwillbe well.”
“That is what I did that night,”Theodore said.
I winced. He had a very good point there. “You are
I winced. He had a very good point there. “You are correct, do not.”
“I will never be able to touch her again,” he said with suddensadness.
“Nay, nay,”I said. “We will… somehow, allwillbe well. Youmust give it time.”
“But she cannever have childrenagain.”
That again. I sighed. “Let it be for now. As I have said, there are other options.”
“I will not engage in sodomy with my wife!” he said

stridently.I was beginning to think we might need to keep him

drugged for a time. “Will you touch her pussy?” I asked with forced calm. “Willyouallow her to touchyour cock?” “That seems foul… somehow. And unclean.”
“It canbe muchcleaner ifyoubathe regularly,”I said.
“I do not think it will suffice. She truly enjoys lying

together.”I shook my head with wonder. “Theodore, then live

 

platonically if it suits you. Please, you are… This is not the time. Let us worryabout her heart healingfirst.”

He nodded. Gaston had returned with the drug and Hannah was helping him get Rachel to take it. Elizabeth was quieting. I led Theodore to a cot and told him to sleep. Then I escaped to the atrium.

Gaston emerged a minute later and embraced me. “I do not know if we have made things better or worse, but we have

 

tried.”“Oui, at the moment, I amtired,”I sighed. “This willbe a

“Oui, at the moment, I amtired,”I sighed. “This willbe a longprocess.”
Another child wailed in the night—either Apollo or Jamaica, and they were now sleeping in the room next to ours withAgnes and not the nursery, since there was no one to sleep there with them. I looked about and saw the sky was graying before the dawn. I sighed and followed Gaston upstairs. We might get some sleep ifthe child quieted.
Agnes threw her door open as we walked by. She handed me a sleepy Jamaica. “She needs her bottom wiped. Thenwe need to start the meal.”
I regarded her blankly. She awarded me a withering look. “Who else is about to do it, Will? We all agreed to do what must be done now that we have no servants.”
She went back to Apollo, who was wailing quite loudly. I cursed and heard it echoed fromGastonbeside me.
At midmorning I was still awake. My cooking skills had beendeemed unreliable and I had beenrelegated to watchingthe children. I was sitting with the three of themin a pen I had made of the atrium benches when Father Pierre arrived to speak with

Liam. A disgruntled but resigned-appearing Liam approached

 

a short while later. “The cow wants a fortune of three hundred pounds. She wants to returnto her people inManchester.”

I nodded. I was surprised she had not asked for more, but perhaps she had not realized she could gainit. “Let me speak to Gastonand Agnes and we shallfetchit.”

Liam nodded but he was frowning. “It is a right large sumfor ’er, but I do not want to bargainover myownson.”

I smiled. “And you shall not. I think,” I sighed. “I have not seen how much we have remaining, but surely we can spare that much. Ifnot… well, it willchange myopinionofthe future.”

I left Liam with the children and found Gaston and Agnes. We dumped the chest of gold and silver on her bed and attempted to make some countingofit. We quicklysurmised that though we could afford paying off Henrietta many times over, it would be best if we did not make a habit of it if this money was allwe would ever have.

“It would be best if we did engage in some gainful employment once we are settled after matters are resolved,” Gastonsaid.

“At the very least we should have land we can grow food on,”Agnes said.
I did not want to admit to themhow alarming I found the concept of having to work. Perhaps I could find a way to gainfullyfrolic.
We gave Liam the money and he returned with little Henry. I had not paid the tow-headed, plump babe much attention before, but I was sure I would shortly become well acquainted with his little arse. Liamjoined me in the pen and we sat eyingthe babes withmutualdismay.
“When ya were little, what di’ ya think ya would do when ya grew up?” Liam asked after a time. “Be a lord, sure, but what did ya think that might entail?”
“Not this,” I said. “The Gods have granted me a life full ofsurprises.”

Ninety-Eight Wherein We Receive LongAwaited Answers

I did become quite familiar with our babies’ bottoms, and their eating and sleeping habits. After a month I even began to enjoy my time with them. I also learned a great deal more about cooking. I even took to going to bed earlier in order to rise before the dawn with less complaint. And yet, I still frolicked, and every afternoon I spent time on the land we had taken to calling Gaston’s Gift, and worked on either our retreat hut or Diana’s temple. Sometimes I was there alone, and other times Gaston, Striker and Pete, or just Pete joined me. Once the hut was finished, Gaston and I played there once a week—often spendingthe night alone. Cayonne seemed to be anordinarysort ofparadise, one withchores and responsibilities, but no troubles. Our concerns with the unborn babe and the Church seemed to fade away; though we did prepare for inevitable leave-taking theywould cause.

While caring for babes or assisting with the cooking and laundry, I often engaged in lengthy conversations with Hannah about her people and juju; and I spent evenings reading Roman tomes about the old Gods. None ofit changed mybeliefs
per se
, but it all added to my knowledge of the world and how people but it all added to my knowledge of the world and how people perceived the Divine. For instance, I learned Hannah’s people practiced magic as a matter of course: they believed in charms and hexes; whereas the Romans had believed magic to be the providence of numinous entities and sorcerers in myths. It was considered hubris to practice magic and think one could affect the universe with one’s will. I knew I sided with the Romans, but I understood Hannah’s talk of manipulation of juju to be akin to prayer and imploring the various spirits and entities of a home and the land to provide aid.

As for the Temple, I knew I could complete nothing of suitable grandeur before we would leave. I endeavored instead to create a sacred space of stones and carved columns. I reasoned that Diana was a Goddess of the forest, and there was nothing any man could do to compete with the wonder ofnature. And, it was surely the thought that counted. I had set aside the land and I dutifullyworked ondedicatingit to Her.

I felt that was all that was required until I came across mention of temples being of import because they brought others to worship the God in question. This gave me cause for concern, untilI realized Gastonand Pete were helpinginthe endeavor and took the Temple quite seriously. Then I thought that condition had beenmet as well. Pete was actuallyquite the apt pupilonthe subject.

Pete also steadfastlyassumed he would travelto England with Gaston and me. I did not argue with him. I did not ask how he had resolved this with Striker. I told myself we had enough time to discuss it.

The
Magdalene
returned the first week of May—laden The
Magdalene
returned the first week of May—laden with cargo to sellat a handsome profit. We had not been able to locate another suitable craft and we were all relieved to see them; for their sake as well as our own. Our trading cabal was concerned but otherwise amused to hear our tales of woe with the Church and soup-pissing cooks. Cudro and the Bard were for retreatingto a Dutchcolonyuntilthe matter withEngland was resolved. As the remaining days of May dwindled away without word from the Marquis, I was inclined to agree with them. Still, we waited: the French captains had not returned with their ships capable of sailing across the ocean to England, and Sarah had not yet givenbirth.

For most of us, the waiting was without complaint. Agnes and Yvette continued to get on well; though, thankfully from my perspective, they did argue on occasion: thus proving they were actually talking to one another and that they were not so madlyinlove theyno longer possessed minds oftheir own—a problemI have oftenseenwithnew lovers.

With my misgivings, we continued to provide Agnes with my seed every few days. I was gleefully sure I would be spared the trouble of having another child by using this method; and as Gaston still insured I enjoyed the collecting of the jism, I did not complain.

Rachel’s heart did not healas fast as anyone hoped. She did not again mistake me for an angel or the like, or blame herself, or refer to her misfortune as God’s punishment; but the events of that night, the sensations and sights, had scarred her deeply. Without the laudanum she displayed an anxious and erratic disposition. She insisted, and Theodore along with her, that she could not face a dayor night without the drug.

Gaston was not pleased. He doubted her claims of phantom pains and night frights and told me privately she was suffering from an addiction to the laudanum now more than anything else. Yet he allowed it to continue while we all suffered on occasion from the tensions of not knowing where we would go next and when we would need to leave. Thus we became accustomed to Rachelwandering about smiling and nodding with nary a practical thought in her head. She was quite pleasant this way, but next to useless whenit came to chores.

I had long wished we could waste the laudanum on Doucette day in and out. He seemed to have far more need of it: he was always wandering about fuming and muttering. I ignored himand abandoned mythreats to killhim, as that would make us need to depart that muchsooner.

Striker remained relatively sober. He had stopped drinking rum, but he was still often inebriated on wine to the point of laughing too loud and smiling stupidly. Thankfully, he spent far more time withSarahdespite this.

Sarah at last gave birth to her second son on the First of June. Gaston and Hannah attended her, and allagreed with great relief that this child arrived quickly and easily. He was a big, healthy infant, and Sarah and Striker named him James and agreed he would be called Jim.

As May had waned, ships had begun to arrive with regularity, but we had still been left wishing for word from the Marquis and the return ofthe French Brethren. By the first week of June we all agreed we would leave if we received either. If it was word from the Marquis we would plan our destination accordingly and arrange to leave Gaston and me—and Pete—at some other port where we could find passage to England under assumed identities. Ifthe French arrived first, we would send our people to France to inquire ofthe Marquis while the war party— as it were—commissioned a trusted ship to take us to our destiny. Beyond that, we all agreed we would leave by the end ofJune ifwe received neither word fromthe Marquis or news of the Frenchcaptains.

I was alone working on the Temple on June thirteenth. There was a low, blackened smudge of a storm approaching fromthe east. It looked to be a good, strong one, though nothing like the terrifying monsters that would come thundering in from the ocean later in the season. The winds had begun to whip across Gaston’s Gift, and I was thinking I would make an early dayofit.

When I paused to stretch while sanding a column, I spied a ship racing before the storm. The next time I stopped to rest, she was in the passage and rapidly approaching Cayonne. I watched, at first simply trying to spy her colors, and then after I saw she bore the French flag, out of interest. She was a large three-masted craft capable of crossing the ocean. I doubted she had come from another colony. We had only seen two others like her in the past weeks. She trimmed sail and slipped into the harbor, and was immediately beset by a swirl of small boats like ants ona carcass. Forebodingclutched at mysoul.