Chase the Wind (31 page)

“That’s fine. That way I can think about the story.” Jenny had
not missed the beads of sweat that had gathered at his temple and
trickled down his face. He was terrified of the flame, and she
couldn’t say she blamed him.

Day after day passed in the same manner. Jenny remained within
the infirmary, terrified to go out, and Jamie came and read to her
in the evenings until he could no longer see the words in the coming darkness. Sister Mary Frances never offered to light the lamp until he had left to find his bed. They all had seen his fear, but left it to Jamie to work it out. Marcus and Mary came to visit also, but they never mentioned what had happened to Jenny. The nuns who
lived and worked in the mission all went about their duties as if
nothing had happened, but the older children saw the fear in their
eyes, and noticed that they seemed to spend more time in prayer.
Sister Mary Frances mailed her letter to Boston, voicing her con
cerns over Father Clarence and his unreasonable obsession with Jenny. There was nothing they could do now but wait.

Soon December was upon them. A few weeks before Christmas,
Marcus and Mary were summoned to Father Clarence’s office. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the little group had been gathered in
the infirmary when Sister Abigail had come looking for Marcus and Mary with a special surprise. Jenny’s hands had healed by this time,
and she had gone back to her sewing. Sister Mary Frances had
made good use of Jenny’s talent with needle and thread, and Jenny
filled her time with making shirts and dresses for the younger chil
dren.

Once Marcus and Mary had left, Jamie went back to reading the
book and Jenny let the words carry her off to exotic places as she
worked. After about an hour Marcus returned.

“My uncle has come for us!” he announced breathlessly as he entered the room. The twins dropped what they were doing as
Sister Mary Frances said a prayer of thanksgiving.

“You’re leaving?” Jenny asked.

“Yes, we’re going to Denver with him and his wife. He’s settled down, and said he felt bad about abandoning us, They brought us
all kinds of gifts and stuff. He has a small ranch there and wants us to come be part of his family.” His brown eyes were glowing
with excitement as he went on about his uncle and his beautiful young wife.

“I am so happy for you, Marcus.” Sister Mary Frances hugged him as Jamie and Jenny looked at each other in bewilderment.

“I came to say goodbye.” He looked beyond the nun to his friends. “Mary is already in the wagon, she’s so excited.” The nun hugged him again and went out to say goodbye to Mary. Jamie shoved his hair back and extended his hand to Marcus, who returned his firm grip. “I’ll write you when we get settled.” Marcus looked at Jenny and shifted his feet uncomfortably. He seemed at a loss for words when suddenly Jamie’s face split into his wide grin and he walked out of the room.

“I’m going to say goodbye to Mary. I’ll see you outside,” he tossed over his shoulder as he left. Jenny looked after her brother with a puzzled look. She was still reeling from Marcus’s announcement and thought Jamie’s leaving was a bit strange. The way Marcus was looking at her was strange, too, now that she had time to think about it.

“I’ll never forget you, Jenny.” Marcus was standing with his hands jammed in his pockets and was looking down at the floor.

“You’ve been a good friend to us. I won’t forget you either.”

“Would you mind... I mean, if I don’t, I’ll always wonder about...”

“What?” Jenny had to smile, he was acting so strangely.

Marcus took a deep breath. “I was wondering if I could kiss you.”

Jenny suppressed the urge to giggle that suddenly came welling up from within. He was being so serious. “Yes, you may kiss me.”

Marcus walked over to where she was standing. They were the same height, so that was not a problem, but he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. Finally he placed them on her upper arms, and leaned forward. Their noses touched, and instinctively they both tilted their heads. Jenny shut her eyes and felt the cool touch of his lips gently brushing against hers, like a butterfly landing on her, its fragile wings moving slightly, like a whisper.

“Thank you,” he said so softly that she almost didn’t hear him. She opened her eyes and saw his brown eyes shining in his sweet face. She was suddenly overcome with the realization of how much she would miss him, and she threw her arms around his neck.

“Oh, Marcus, I’ll miss you so much.”

“I know, me too.” He squeezed her to him. “I’ve got to go, they’re
waiting. Are you coming to see Mary?” He held out his hand.

Jenny took it and they went out to where the wagon was waiting.
Mary was in Jamie’s arms and raining sweet kisses on his cheek. He pretended to drop her, bringing squeals and giggles as he handed her up into the buckboard. Marcus hugged Sister Mary
Frances again, then Jamie, then took a seat in the wagon. His uncle
turned to say something to him, and their joy at being a family
again was obvious to all who were around. The wagon pulled out
to waves and promises to write and take care. Jenny had to wipe
tears away as they faded out of sight so Jamie put his arm around
her as they turned to go back inside.

Father Clarence was standing in the doorway, and he turned a look of pure hatred on Jenny as they made their way to the door.
She felt the tightening of Jamie’s arm against her shoulder as they
approached the man, and she couldn’t help the tremble that made
its way through her body.

“It’s such a wonderful blessing for those two children,” Sister Mary Frances said to the priest as he watched the twins go by.

“Yes.” He seemed distracted. “We should all rejoice and be glad
for them.”

“We will offer prayers of thanksgiving,” the nun said as she watched the twins turn the corner that led back to the infirmary.

“Yes, prayers,” the priest agreed. Sister Mary Frances followed
her charges back, all the while hoping that her letter had made it
safely to Boston.

They were quiet the rest of the afternoon, Jenny and Jamie giving
in to the sadness of missing their friends. Jamie tried to read but
his heart wasn’t in it, so he went out to the barn, which had always
been a balm for him. Jenny went back to her sewing, but she became restless and began to pace the confines of the room. She
finally gave up and went to bed, leaving Sister Mary Frances to her
private devotions.

Jenny tossed and turned, then let the events of the day replay in
her head. She smiled to herself when she thought of how sweet
Marcus had been and let her mind go over her first kiss. Suddenly
she remembered a conversation she had had with her mother.
“You’ll know when you kiss him if you love him,” her mother had
said. Jenny went over the kiss in her mind and realized that al
though it was sweet, there hadn’t been anything else to it. Her toes
hadn’t curled as her mother had said.
I guess
you’re not my true love, Marcus,
Jenny thought. She went
to sleep with visions of a dark-haired, dark-eyed prince from
The
Arabian Nights
haunting her dreams.

Christmas was a somber affair for the Duncans that year. It was
their first one without their parents, and with Jenny’s seclusion
they missed out on a lot of the festivities around the orphanage.
Jenny presented Jamie with a new shirt she had made, and he gave
her a fossil he had found that summer near the pond. Jenny added
the polished stone to her mother’s carved box, which led to the
two of them going through the things it contained. They found the marriage certificate, along with the Bible. There was an envelope that contained a lock of golden hair and a soft red curl, both tied
with a blue ribbon. There were also two tiny pearl-like baby teeth.
They found their mother’s silver wedding band, along with a
feather and a few pressed flowers. They realized they would never
know the story behind some of the things, but Jenny remembered how her father would sometimes surprise their mother with a bouquet of wildflowers and how her eyes would glow as she inhaled
their sweet fragrance. Jamie opened the Bible and read the Christmas story aloud before the light of the day faded away. Sister Mary
Frances presented them each with an orange and a small bag of sweets that had been delivered by a local Santa.

Before Jamie left for the night, Jenny gave him the box and asked
him to hide it with the other things he had stashed away. He
thought she was being silly at first and told her so, but the look of
desperation in her deep blue eyes made him agree, and he took
the box to the hiding place in the barn that contained his gun and his father’s knife. He decided that night, as he made sure to cover
his tracks, that as soon as the weather turned warm, they would
be leaving. They would both be fifteen come the end of January,
were both strong and willing to work. Anything that the world had
to offer would be better than the fear Jenny lived with now.

Without Marcus to act as a buffer between him and the rest of the children, Jamie was lost. He hadn’t realized how much he de
pended on the younger boy to shut out the rest of the world. As
he went to class and sat in the dining hall, he felt the stares of the
other children on him, and heard the gossip about him and his
sister. Logan and Joe slowly gained more confidence around him
because he was so unsettled. For the most part he ignored them,
losing himself in his books and hiding in the barn with the animals
whenever possible. Jenny saw how he was withdrawing from the
world, but she was so unsettled herself that there was nothing she
could do for him. Outside, winter had come with a vengeance, making the afternoons shorter that ever with the dreary, cloudy
weather that had settled over the countryside. Sister Mary Frances
anxiously waited for word from Boston, but with the weather being
so bad, she was doubtful of hearing anything until spring.

Sometime soon after Jenny and Jamie’s birthday, the sheriff showed up with a new resident for the orphanage. He had been found him lying in the snow beneath a small cliff where a flood had washed out a hillside. Above him on the rise was the body of a woman, riddled with arrows from an Indian attack. The sheriff
didn’t know what to make of it because the young man looked like
an Indian but was dressed like a white man. He was unconscious and badly injured, so the man figured the best place for him was under the care of Sister Mary Frances until they could figure out who he was and what to do with him. Jamie was called to help
carry the patient into the infirmary, and he was soon deposited on the bed where Sister Mary Frances could make an inventory of his
injuries.

“Gosh, he’s almost as big as me,” Jamie commented as he helped
Sister Mary Frances cut away the young man’s clothing so they
could get a better look at his injuries. He was indeed tall, with the same muscular build as Jamie, although he was a bit leaner. They
found an arrow wound in his shoulder, the shaft still in the skin, and a leg that was broken so badly the bone protruded through
the skin of his shin.

“I figure the impact of the arrow knocked him clean off his horse
and into the gully,” the sheriff volunteered.

“Any clue as to who he is?” Sister Mary Frances asked as she
discreetly covered the young man’s privates with a sheet. Jenny had
been hovering in the outer office, waiting with the tray of instruments that the nun would need to treat the young man. She motioned for Jenny to enter when she was sure that the girl wouldn’t
see anything unseemly. Jamie grinned at her as she placed the tray
on the bedside table.

“I think the woman was his mother, their hair was the same color. He might look Indian in the face, but his hair is not black
like the rest of ‘em,” the sheriff pointed out.

Sister Mary Frances raised the lamp to get a better look at her patients face and hair color. His features, though lined with pain, were sharp, with a long straight nose, full mouth and high cheekbones. His skin had the same bronze hue that Jamie’s had in the summer. His hair, which was matted with blood from hitting his head when he fell, was neatly cut. The color was a warm deep brown that glowed in the light of the lamp.

“Let me know when he comes ‘round. I just didn’t know what else to do with him,” the sheriff said as he took his leave. The nun assured him that they would do what they could for the patient, and he left to consult with Father Clarence about the new arrival.