Riverbreeze: Part 2 (5 page)

She moaned a little, but didn’t open her eyes yet.

He gently picked her up, saying, “I’ll kill that dirty bastard Connelly when I find him.”

He walked into the parlor, carrying her like a baby. He laid her down on her cot, being very careful with her. Then he realized that some of the moisture from his wet clothing had seeped through her clothes. He knew she kept a few extra blankets in her trunk, so he retrieved one and covered her with it.

As he was folding back the edge under her chin, her eyes fluttered open. “’Twasn’t him.” She breathed.

Her voice was a mere whisper. Robert almost hadn’t heard her. “What?” He asked.

She swallowed. “’Twasn’t him; ‘twasn’t Connelly.”

Robert dropped to his knees by her cot. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, licking her dry lips. “Connelly ran away right after you left. I saw him run into the woods, his sack of belongings in his hand.”

“God damn it!” Robert swore again, clenching his fists. His anger nearly boiled over, but then he looked down at Abby and remembered that she was hurt. He settled down and in a careful voice, asked, “Who then, who did this to you?”

“I know not.” She whimpered. “He had a sack over his head with just the eyes cut out. I was returning to the house from the privy when he attacked me from behind. I tried to fight him; I did, but…” She shook her head and couldn’t continue.

“Oh Abby, I’m so sorry. I should have never left you here alone. What can I do?”

She turned her head aside and tears filled her eyes and overflowed. She couldn’t have a man take care of her. She wanted to wash; she wanted to scrub herself clean. She would never feel clean again. “Go away.” She said, crying, covering her face with her hands. “Please go away.”

Chapter Seventeen: Strange Encounters

Elizabeth was a little miffed that Robert had run up to the house with Owasewhat or whatever his name was and left her behind. But she guessed she couldn’t blame him; the Indian had told him something using that sign language of theirs and she didn’t believe it was good news.

The servants finished securing the boat and then followed Robert’s orders, helped the girls out first, then covered their trunks, the pistols, and the crates with the blanket. Then they pulled Jamie up and supported him between them while they all followed a wide pathway through a wild area to the house. It was raining quite steadily now, but it was a light rain, and the two men kept up a swift pace, fast enough that Jamie’s feet dragged in the dirt, and Evelyn had to jog to keep abreast of them.

Elizabeth followed behind more slowly, huddled under her cloak and carrying the dogs on her own. Once she had seen the pathway to the house, she was afraid to allow the dogs to walk on it. It looked like it had been made using crushed oyster shells and there were plenty of sharp pieces that could easily slice through the dogs’ pads.

Once they made their way past the woods and up a sloping bank, the house came into view. Elizabeth was more pleased than words could say! She stopped for a moment, despite the rain, letting Evelyn, the servants and Jamie go on ahead. She wanted to take in the scene, and at the same time, catch her breath from that hike up the bank. She put the dogs down on the ground beside the path and they immediately tried to run from her, but she kept a tight hold on their leashes, not wanting them to run away and possibly get lost in this unfamiliar land.

The house before her wasn’t at all what she had expected. She and Robert hadn’t discussed what type of house he had, but she had assumed that he lived in a simple, frame house, something like her uncle’s but more rustic. But this house was brick! It was a beautiful brick house and she was thrilled. It had been built in the same style as her Uncle Francis’ house, a one and a half story structure with a steep, gabled roof. The large, sturdy front door, with wrought-iron strap hinges and a box lock, was located at the center of the house. Two diamond-paned, leaded-glass casement windows were on either side and two smaller dormer windows were cut into the roof for the upstairs bedrooms. Large brick chimneys rose up on either end of the house from the massive fireplaces, one projected outside; the other was set inside the wall. And semi-circular stone steps led to the front door, just like at her uncle’s house.

The front of the house faced the river as everyone traveled by boat and arrived from that direction. Everything was fresh and new-looking as if the house had only been recently constructed. The setting was truly lovely; the house sat up on the highest point of the property although when she turned around, she could only make out glimpses of the river through all the trees and underbrush. It was peaceful and quiet, or it would be if the rain and wind stopped and the sun ever came out again. Rain dripped down through the branches of the huge oak and pine trees on the property. Thankfully the trees weren’t close to the house. They had all been chopped down and cleared away years ago. There was a barn off to the left and another small one-room, thatched-roof cottage beyond that. Elizabeth wondered if Robert and Jamie had lived in that building while this brick house had been built. And then she wondered about Robert’s first wife. Where had they lived? Certainly not in that one-room house! Elizabeth couldn’t imagine that. How horrible! But if they hadn’t lived in that house, then where?

The rest of the property consisted of a few modest fields and woods, acres and acres of woods. She could see the ugly stumps of the tobacco plants in some of the fields and the rain was turning the red earth into red muck. A small crop of what looked like wheat or barley was growing in another field. There wasn’t as much open land here as there had been on Tyler’s plantation, but there was evidence of more clearing to be done. At the edge of the furthest field, there was a row of dead trees, their skeletal branches looking somehow eerie and sad at the same time.

The servants took Jamie into the house and Evelyn turned around for a moment to wave to Elizabeth, calling out, “Hurry, Bess, you’ll catch cold.”

“I shall be there in a minute.” Elizabeth responded, picking up her pace again. “’Tis lovely, is it not?” Evelyn said, smiling widely. She was just as thrilled with the house as Elizabeth was. And then she disappeared through the door, wanting to be with her husband.

Elizabeth didn’t mind; she understood completely.

Once at the steps, she stopped again to allow the dogs to sniff around and finish doing their business. She would be horrified if the dogs soiled the floor on their first day home! Already Robert was not happy with the dogs after Papillon had jumped in the river and she didn’t want to give him any reason to be further displeased.

Suddenly, she caught sight of Owasewas. She let out a little gasp, startled. He was standing at the corner of the house and he was soaking wet, but he acted like it didn’t bother him at all. She wondered why she hadn’t seen him sooner, then realized that he must have been hiding around the side of the house, perhaps even spying on her.

The rain dripped from his wolf-skin and plastered his hair to his finely-shaped head. He wasn’t bad looking, just strange with his darker complexion and tattoos across his nose and cheeks.

“Hello.” She said, not afraid at all. She wondered why he hadn’t gone in the house with Robert and again she was amazed that he didn’t appear to be cold.

He just stared at her with his piercing black eyes, so she continued, “My name is Elizabeth. I’m Robert’s new wife.”

He raised his eyebrows at that and appeared stunned. Elizabeth wondered if he understood her meaning or if he was just reacting to her speech. “Do you understand me?” She asked, staring at him in fascination. He was the most magnificent creature with all his strange adornments.

He nodded once, but remained silent. Then one soundless step at a time, he started to come closer. His gaze remained on her as if he would memorize every tiny detail about her. The dogs noticed him moving towards them, however, and suddenly they reacted by lunging at him. He stopped short and even took a step backwards; and even though their leashes prevented the dogs from reaching him, he seemed disturbed by their actions.

“Papillon! Fleurette!” She scolded them. “
Arret cela! Soyez immobile
!” And she yanked them back. Remarkably, they obeyed and sat down on the wet ground. But their noses never stopped working. They were lifted to the air trying to catch the scent of this curious new person.

When she looked back up at Owasewas, he was staring at her with wide eyes. “I’m sorry.” She immediately apologized, misunderstanding his expression. “The dogs won’t hurt you. They’re very friendly, really. Would you like to pet them?”

Owasewas tilted his head a little, not understanding precisely. “You speak…” He put his hand up to his mouth and moved it forward a little, then back to his lips and then repeated the action, while he struggled to find the word he wanted to say. “…new words. Not understand.” He finally said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I spoke French to the dogs. Have you never heard French before?” She asked, wrinkling her brow.

He just shook his head slowly.

“Oh.” She said quietly. She had thought that everyone had at least heard the language at some time in their lives, but she really had no idea how these people lived or who they had had contact with. “Well, I…” She started to speak, suddenly feeling awkward, but he interrupted.

“You stand in rain.” He said, raising his hand and slowly lowering it, wiggling his fingers a little.

It was the oddest thing for him to say, she thought. It caught her off guard and she laughed. “Oh, the rain doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it. It rains a lot where I come from. You stand in rain too.” She said, smiling and was pleased when a small smile appeared on his lips. “You come in the house?” She asked, then laughing at herself, corrected herself. “Would you like to come in the house?”

He glanced uneasily at the door, not answering. Elizabeth waited, thinking how strange it was that he would rather stay outside in the rain. But maybe he thought she was strange also.

He turned his attention back to Elizabeth, eyeing her face, her hair and her clothing. His stare was intense, but Elizabeth sensed that he wasn’t being rude; he was just immensely curious about her. She wondered if she was the first white woman he had ever seen. He was the first Indian she had ever seen in person, (other than Thomas Rolfe, but he was half Indian,) and she was enormously curious about him. For a moment, she forgot that she had invited him inside the house, but when she thought of it again and almost said something, she stopped because he started to move closer to her.

This time the dogs kept still, but Elizabeth wasn’t paying any attention to them, only to this young man who couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She held her breath as he stopped directly in front of her. She could smell him now, or maybe it was the wolf-skin that she smelled, and she tried not to wrinkle her nose. She saw the smooth skin of his chest and his flat stomach, and something greasy-looking had been smeared all over his body. Maybe that was what she smelled. Her eyes glanced over his nipples, dark and small, and she felt heat rush to her face in embarrassment.

His hand came up and she guessed that he was going to touch her or her clothing. She decided she would let him because deep down she wanted to touch him too, no matter how inappropriate, his hair, the wolf-skin, the shell necklace around his neck. She stood perfectly still, barely breathing, as he touched the fur lining of her hood. She had to look up to see his face because he was as tall as Robert was. Her heart sped up; she didn’t think he would hurt her, but there was that small seed of doubt in the back of her mind.

Then his fingers moved into her hood and he touched her hair at her temple. He petted it, feeling the texture on his fingertips, and suddenly he smiled, his expression full of delight.

Their eyes met and he said, “Hair of fox.”

“No!” She laughed, misunderstanding his meaning. In spite of the drizzling rain, she pushed her hood all the way back and pulled her hair out of the cloak, sweeping it all over one shoulder. “See? I do not have fox hair!”

His eyes widened again at the luxuriousness and the color of her hair. Indeed her hair did remind him of a fox’s bushy tail. He touched it again, rubbed it between his thumb and fingertips.

It was at that moment that the front door opened and Robert appeared along with Nathan and Dolnick. Owasewas quickly dropped his hand and stepped back so fast that he nearly tripped over his own feet.