Part 8 (1/2)
”I think that little lady is becoming spoiled.”
”She's older now and wants more attention.”
”I'm surprised at the attention Fletch is giving her.”
”I am too, considering how he treats her mother,” Taylor griped.
Laura shrugged. ”Babies are hard to resist. Don't let his behavior toward me bother you. The two of you are getting along now, and that's what's important. I don't mind how he acts.”
Taylor knew she lied, but he said no more about it. ”Are you headed for the Indian village now?” he asked as Laura reb.u.t.toned her jacket. Laura slanted him a teasing look. ”Do you want me to give b.u.t.terfly any personal message?” Taylor shook his head. ”She knows I'll miss her.”
”I've got a feeling she'll slip over here tonight after the post is closed. She'll want to see for herself if your leg has been properly set.”
”You think so?” Taylor looked hopeful. ”I do,” Laura said and opened the door.
The store was empty except for Fletch and Jolie when Laura entered the store. With her head held high and ignoring the glowering look that Fletch shot at her, she walked toward the outside door.
”Are you leaving the baby here again?” he demanded when she was midway to the door. ”I don't have time to look after her.”
”You won't have to. She'll be going back to sleep any minute.”
”What are you doing up at the cabin that's so important you can't take her home with you?”
”Look.” Laura swung around and glared at him. ”I don't have to answer to you about anything, but I'm not going home. I have to go somewhere.”
”Now where could that be, I wonder,” Fletch sneered. ”You're not welcome in any of Big Pine's homes.” His eyes narrowed to glittering slits. ”Of course, you'd be welcome at Adam Beltran's place.”
”That's right,” Laura answered sweetly, then added, ”As well as at all the other single men's cabins. Do you think that you and Adam are the only two men around here who would like to make love to me?”
With those cool remarks she walked outside, leaving a fuming Fletch behind her.
”d.a.m.n you, Laura,” he muttered, going to the window to watch her walking swiftly away. ”Why do I still let you get under my skin, still want you with an ache that never lets up? You're a worthless piece. You let a man sire a child on you, then manage to convince Pa to marry you, to give your bas... Jolie a name.”
Fletch stopped short of calling the baby a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Something inside him wouldn't let the word come out. She was a sweet little baby and didn't deserve such a handle put on her.
He watched Laura pa.s.s out of sight, his gut twisting as he thought of her and Beltran in the man's bed, doing what they had once done together. He wanted to go after her, demand that she turn around, pick up her baby, and go home where she belonged.
You can't do that, you fool, his inner voice warned. You don't have the right. You lost that privilege when you went gadding off to Canada.
That was the d.a.m.nedest foot thing you ever did in your life. Fletch turned back into the room.
As Laura walked fast in the frozen forest there was no sound except the crunch of her feet and the creaking of pines rubbing against each other.
She had never been inside the Indian village and she became a little wary as she neared the settlement. How would b.u.t.terfly's people greet her? Would they a.s.sociate her with Pa and not hinder her from making her way to the woman's dome-shaped wigwam? This village was of a Chippewa tribe, and with the exception of a few renegades who had broken away from their chief, the rest were at peace with the whites at the present.
The village suddenly stood before Laura, spread out along the lake. The only signs of habitation were blue smoke spiraling from each hut, and the pack of thin-ribbed dogs that came barking toward her. She stopped short, her hand on the pistol in her jacket pocket. If she shot into the air, would that hold them until someone came to see why they were making such a racket?
The animals were only yards away when a strident order sent them skidding to a halt with only deep growls issuing from their throats. She recognized Red Fox, Fletch's friend, coming toward her. Her heartbeat slowed and she said with a nervous laugh, ”I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you, Red Fox. I thought my end had come.”
A slow smile curved the handsome brave's lips. ”They do look vicious, but they wouldn't have attacked you unless given the order to do so. What brings my friend's sister out in such weather, and alone? Has something happened to him?”
”No, Fletch is fine. It's Pa. This morning he slipped in the snow and broke his leg.”
”Ah, that is too bad,” Red Fox said, then grinned in understanding. ”It is b.u.t.terfly you want to see, and why you have come alone.” Laura nodded, and he said, ”Come with me. I will take you to her wigwam.”
Laura didn't explain that she knew where b.u.t.terfly's home was. She didn't want this son of Chief Muga to know that she had sneaked along behind Pa all those years back, prying into something that was none of her business. She followed him silently on the shoveled path and stood behind him as he knocked on the door of the wigwam that stood several yards away from the rest of the village.
”Who is there?” b.u.t.terfly's soft voice asked.
”You have a visitor,” Red Fox announced as he pushed the door open.
b.u.t.terfly's pretty face grew ashen when she saw Laura. She rose slowly from her seat of furs before the fire in the middle of the room. Her hands clasped together, she half whispered, ”What has happened to Taylor?”
”Nothing bad, b.u.t.terfly.” Laura hurried toward her. ”Early this morning Pa slipped in the snow and broke his leg.”
The blood flowed back into b.u.t.terfly's face and she breathed a deep sigh of relief Her man wasn't dead. ”Come sit by the fire and tell me about it. How bad is the break and is he in pain?”
”It's a clean break and should heal nicely, according to Fletch's friend Daniel who set it,” Laura said, unb.u.t.toning her jacket, then sitting down on one of the furs that ringed the fire. ”He does have some discomfort.” She smiled at Taylor's lover. ”He wishes that you could take care of him. He says that you would give him something for his pain.”
b.u.t.terfly nodded solemnly. ”That is my wish also. But I'm afraid it is impossible. I can, however, brew him a tea that will dull his pain. It would take a few hours, though, and you have a baby to get back to.”
Laura slipped her hand into her jacket pocket.
”Tonight when the post is closed and the village sleeps, you could take it to him yourself” She opened her hand revealing a key lying in her palm.
b.u.t.terfly looked at her in disbelief ”Is that a key to the fur post?”
”Yes, it is. You can visit Pa every night if you want to.”
b.u.t.terfly took the key, her lips tilted, her white teeth flas.h.i.+ng. ”I shall go to him tonight when the post grows dark. Now, before your cold walk back to your village you must have a cup of my herb tea while you tell me how things are going in your life. Taylor told me his son has returned and that he is angry about your marriage to Taylor.”
Laura gave a short, derisive laugh as she accepted a small steaming gourd cup from her host. ”Angry is hardly the word to describe how Fletch feels about our marriage. Outraged is more like it. Especially toward me. He, like everyone else in Big Pine, is convinced that Adam Beltran fathered my child and that I used Pa to give Jolie a name.”
b.u.t.terfly shook her head. ”As if this Beltran wouldn't gladly marry you for any reason. Jealousy is keeping Taylor's son from thinking straight.”
”Jealousy?” Laura looked at b.u.t.terfly as though the woman were dull-witted. ”Of course, jealousy. Why else would he carry on so? He wants you for himself.”
Laura's lips twisted into a crooked smile. ”Pa is always telling me what a wise woman you are. But this time you are very mistaken. Fletch had his chance to marry me and he wasn't interested.”
b.u.t.terfly studied her downcast face a moment, then said, ”We shall see who is right.”
”This tea is delicious.” Laura changed the subject as she drained the last of the herb mixture. ”I've got to get home now. Jolie will be waking up soon, hungry as a bear. She has a strong set of lungs.”