Sunflower (45 page)

Analisa’s hushed voice broke the stillness. “When you came in through the door, I thought you were him ... I thought you were the leader, Red Dog.” A shudder ran through her as she recalled the experience for Caleb. “It was like that other time, just tike before. I almost remembered it all, I almost saw the man who attacked me, but when you spoke, and I knew it was you, Caleb, all of the memories vanished.”

He fought to keep his breathing even, his movements slow and steady as he gently rocked her back and forth. What if someday she did remember the face of the man who raped her and fathered Kase? Caleb realized then with sudden clarity that the sooner his job was over and he moved his family away from the Sioux, the better for all concerned.

His only comment was silence. He hoped it would be enough. Moments passed and soon he felt her relax against him. In an hour or two he would make his move. Red Dog had not forbidden him to take Analisa out of the village. Caleb fully intended to try. Somehow he had to get her away and intercept Hardy before the man reached the settlement. Red Dog’s messengers had carried word to the agent that the renegade chief was ready to trade him a white woman. Red Dog felt that Hardy’s cruelty to Mia would only be avenged by the man’s death, and all of Caleb’s work would have been for naught if he could not stop Hardy before the Sioux killed him. For now he would let Anja sleep and let Red Dog think that he was having his way with this white woman whom he’d all but begged to possess.

He laid his wife gently on the ground near the fire and placed a deer-hide robe over her. He then lay down beside her and sheltered her within his embrace. Sleep would not come to him. Instead, he remembered his exchange with the volatile young chief. When Caleb had asked for the white captive in exchange for Mia’s life, Red Dog was adamant. No, he’d said; he would use her to bait Hardy and then give her to the highest bidder.

Caleb had been hard pressed to control his anger, forced as he was to barter with Red Dog. The memory of his own words still rang in his ears.

“I want her. Is Red Dog such a poor man that he must sell the captive? I delivered your own woman to you. A life for a life.”

“Why do you want this white scarecrow?” The younger man had scoffed at Caleb, deep loathing burning in his eyes along with the mistrust that he no longer hid. “Is your father’s white blood so thick in your veins that you lust for her white skin next to yours?”

“Is my choice of women a concern to so great a leader?”

Red Dog turned away, part of his hair braided alongside his face, the rest left to sway free behind him. “She will be offered to Hardy.”

“That’s a lie. You don’t really need a woman to draw him here. Word alone will bring him running to you.”

“I wish to toy with him. To watch the puffed-up toad gloat and strut before he dies. He will strike a bargain, pay us in rifles, and then I will turn the rifles on him. But slowly ... he will die slowly.”

Frustrated, Caleb tried again, inwardly seeking calm to match his outward control. He would succeed. He had to, for Anja. “I say again, you owe me this woman. You don’t need her. Is your word of so little consequence? Or do you want her for yourself? I hear she is beautiful.”

Red Dog turned on him, anger dark and brooding in his eyes. “She is a white scarecrow. Her eyes are colorless, her skin pale as ground corn. She is filthy. Maybe she
is
the fitting woman for you, Raven’s Shadow.” Red Dog looked Caleb up and down before he offered a cunning smile. “Take her.”

Caleb pulled Analisa close and tried to forget the heated exchange. There was little chance Red Dog would deal with him now as a government representative. Why should the man trust any white or even half-white official after the treatment his people had received from Hardy? Now Caleb had personally angered him, as well. Reminding himself that he must awaken within an hour, Caleb shut his eyes and tried to sleep. First things first, he thought, his father’s words echoing in his mind. Always handle first things first.

A gentle hand was shaking Analisa awake.

“Anja? Get up.”

“Ga weg.”

“No, Anja, I won’t go away. Wake up. We have to get out of here.”

She forced her eyes open, recognizing the urgency in Caleb’s voice, and stared up at him in the dim light cast by the glowing embers in the fire ring. Fearful, she glanced around the circular expanse. They were alone. Every bone in her body ached, every muscle cried out in distress, but she forced her arms up and wrapped them around his neck as he leaned over her. What was he saying? They had to get out of here. But it was so warm, so quiet. And she was so tired. She tugged on his neck and knew he would be unable to resist the invitation to kiss her. He did kiss her, but quickly, then raised his head and looked toward the door.

“Come on.” He swatted her rump and she groaned. “Up.”

“
Ik houd van jou.”

“I love you, too. But I’ll love you more when we are safely back at Sully. Let’s go.”

He rose to his feet and reached down to pull her up. Standing beside him, Analisa experienced a wave of dizziness and reached out to him for support. She watched as he unwrapped the cold pheasant meat and held it out to her.

“Eat. Then drink some water.”

While she did as he asked he moved about the room, grabbing the deer hide and the water bag, rolling them up in preparation to leave.

“Do you have anything I can wear?”

“Here.” He tossed the hide in her direction.

She threw it across her shoulders like a shawl and wrapped the ends about her. It covered her from shoulder to ankle. “Caleb?”

“What?” He’d moved to the doorway and flung the flap back to peer outside, then signaled for her to join him.

She whispered in his ear. “How are we going to get Meika out of here?”

“We aren’t. Step through here and I’ll follow. There are no guards.”

“No.”

He stared at her. “Anja ... what in the hell do you think you are doing? What do you mean, no? This isn’t the time or the place to—”

“I will not leave here without my sister. If I do, all of this will have been for nothing.”

He took a deep breath and held it as his eyes bored into hers. Analisa took a step backward.

“All of this
has
been for nothing. Try to understand, Anja, that your sister would not go with you even if we tried to force her. Her place is here, Analisa. This is her home now. She accepts that; now you must.”

His words hurt her so that she could only shake her head in denial.

“It’s true. She’s married now, Anja. Just as married as you are. I saw her tonight, walking through the camp with her husband at her side. Do you think she’d just ride off and leave him?”

He was lying to her. He had to be. “She has been forced to live with them. She is afraid of what might happen if she tried to leave. We must find her. I know if I could talk to her that she would go with me.”

“Where? Back to what? Do you remember the treatment you had to learn to live with? Do you remember what people thought of you for living through something that was over with in minutes? Anja, she’s been here since she was twelve. Do you know how long it takes for a child of that age to become assimilated into a new culture? Sometimes a year or two at the least.” He grabbed her forearms, pulling her down to kneel with him before the doorway. “She’s seventeen now, Anja. Married. And pregnant, or didn’t you notice? Even if she wanted to leave, which she doesn’t, do you think the whites would ever accept her?”

Analisa felt hot tears course down her cheeks and suddenly realized she was crying. Again. She wondered when it would end. Caleb’s words stung her, but she could not deny the truth that she heard in them. Before Caleb, her life had been hell. Although she could not fathom her little sister choosing to live among the Sioux of her own free will, she could believe that Meika had learned to adapt to the Indians’ way of life. But Analisa needed to hear it for herself. Let Meika tell her she wanted to stay with the Sioux. Wouldn’t Caleb grant her that? It seemed little enough to ask.

“Caleb, please ... let me talk to her.”

“No. We haven’t time to waste. I’m telling you the truth, Anja. Let it be.”

“I won’t, Caleb. I cannot. She is still my sister, and I must know for certain that she wants this for herself.”

He pulled her close, his fingers rough on her arms as they bit into her flesh.

“I’m leaving
now,
and you, wife, are coming with me.”

She tried to pull away, the tears flowing faster as she defied him.

“Let go, Caleb. I’m not leaving until I speak to her. You cannot make me.” Analisa knew her voice was getting louder as it broke the stillness of the night. She felt as if for the first time in a long while she was losing control.

When he released one of her arms, Analisa was nearly convinced that Caleb would acquiesce. His eyes, deep blue now, as dark as the midnight sky, caressed her face. For a moment she thought she saw the glitter of tears reflected in them.

“I’m sorry, Anja,” she heard him whisper.

As his words died away, blackness engulfed her.

Pausing to shift the burden he held in his arms, Caleb took in the surrounding landscape. The walls of the narrow canyon were bathed in milk-white moonlight. The deep shadows cast by jagged outcroppings of rock were fathomless against the ravine’s silver walls. A breeze blew across the land, rustled the leaves of the trees lining the riverbank behind him, and gently lifted his hair as it brushed his shoulders. He looked down at Analisa, wrapped in deer hide and cradled in his arms, then glanced at the sky and offered a silent prayer to the moon and the stars that she would forgive him.

As he worked his way upward, leading Scorpio behind him, Caleb was ever wary of his footing on the rocky path, which was all but nonexistent. He climbed slowly along the gentle rise toward the plain above. Forgive him? He knew he would be lucky if Anja didn’t put him under with a frying pan once she was safely back at Sully.
You had to do it,
he told himself. Ever since his fist connected with her jaw, Caleb had been trying to convince himself that knocking her out had been necessary. It was no consolation knowing he hadn’t hit her half as hard as he would have a man. He touched his lips to her forehead without breaking stride.

As he walked on, his mind wandered. Caleb envisioned Analisa, regal in her crown of braids, presiding over the dining table, an older more mature Kase seated between them, himself dressed in a three-piece suit, looking every bit the successful Boston lawyer.

“Remember the time I knocked you out, dear?” he would ask.

The Analisa of his fantasy would smile and nod. “Of course, darling. What a night! But you had to do it. I realized that the moment I came to.”

The scene faded, and Caleb groaned inwardly. What if Analisa did not understand? He hoped she would not go so far as to leave him. He’d never struck a woman before and hoped he would never have to again.

Caleb stopped to listen to the night sounds carried on the breeze. Analisa moaned and shifted slightly in his arms. He glanced back toward the river, illuminated now by the moonlight. He had nearly reached the plateau that stretched eastward, away from the river, a flat roiling expanse. No one had followed him.

The hint of a sound alerted Caleb. His attention was drawn to the river valley far below. Two men rode along the narrow, winding trail along the riverbank. They moved slowly toward the Sioux encampment from the direction of Fort Sully. Quickly veering to the right, he continued to follow the Missouri southward, all the while remaining just below the rim of the plateau. Scorpio followed behind, surefooted on the narrow pebble-strewn trail. The cave was just ahead. Caleb knew that he could safely leave Analisa there while he intercepted Hardy and convinced him not to ride into Red Dog’s camp. Caleb formulated a plan as he carried Analisa out of harm’s way. If luck was with him, or, as Ruth said, if it was written in the stars, everything would soon fall into place.

Moving carefully, he quickly arrived at the well-hidden opening in the wall of the bluff. Tall cuttings masked the mouth of the low-ceilinged cave from view. Pushing them aside, he left Scorpio at the entrance and carried Analisa inside. Swiftly, he knelt on one knee and carefully laid her on the cool, sandy floor of the cave. He drew aside the deer hide that covered her face and smoothed back the golden hair that fell across her forehead. She was still unconscious, but he knew she would not remain so for much longer. Locating his saddle and saddlebags, which he’d hidden near the back wall, Caleb pulled aside the worn wool blanket that he had covered with sand to hide his belongings. He picked up a coil of rope and then searched through the clothing folded beneath the saddle. From the pocket of his dark trousers he withdrew a cotton bandanna. Pulling two of the corners taut, he quickly flip-rolled the bandanna and carried it to where Analisa lay.

Caleb gently worked the twisted cotton between Analisa’s teeth and then tied the ends behind her head.

Gingerly he pulled the deerhide about her and bound her securely with the length of rope. If his plan succeeded, he would lure Hardy back to the cave and the man would mistake Analisa for a captive.