Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] (25 page)

“It’s cool, honey. Go ahead and eat,” she murmured.

Mercy looked up at her with wide, twinkling blue eyes and banged the spoon against the side of the bowl.

“Fart, fart, fart,” she said proudly. The words came out loud and clear and so shocked Liberty that her lower jaw dropped and her mouth hung open while crimson rushed up and covered her neck and face.

“Shh . . . eat your stew.”

“Fart, fart,” Mercy said happily.

“Shh,” Liberty said again, dipping the spoon in the bowl and putting it to the child’s mouth.

Amy’s giggle was followed by a chuckle from Colby and then even Willa, with her face so low her chin rested on her chest, let out a gurgle of laughter. Juicy’s loud guffaws followed.

“Someone’s going to have to watch what they say in front of this child from now on. I wonder where she heard that?” Farr said matter-of-factly and helped himself to bread.

“I forgot to pour coffee.” Amy jumped up and turned her back to hide her red face from Rain’s piercing dark gaze that had lifted to it on hearing Farr’s words.

“She didn’t know it wasn’t nice,” Daniel said with a worried frown. He sat with his spoon in his hand and looked at each of the grownups with his serious brown eyes before they rested on Farr.

“I know that, Daniel”

“Now, I ain’t athinkin it’s all that bad. The little scutter’s a smart ’un, is what she is.” Juicy sat hunched over his bowl with a happy smile on his face. Now and then his eyes went from Liberty to Farr and back again.

The meal progressed. Liberty was happy to note the men ate heartily. They talked about the size and number of trees they had found suitable for the pickets that would surround the homestead, how long it would take to fell and trim them, and the possibility of the work being completed before the summer was over. After they had discussed building a sled to drag the logs up to the building site, Farr looked down the table and spoke directly to Liberty.

“Is there anything we can bring in out of your wagon before we go back to work?”

“Amy and I can move everything except the trunks and the chest. We brought in some of the cooking things and the rocking chair,” she finished lamely.

“Liberty and I were wed this morning.” Farr spoke in a tone he might use for discussing the weather and continued on in the same tone. “Obviously the cabin will have to be enlarged. I don’t see why we can’t extend it into the storage shed, do you, Juicy?”

Liberty’s face had turned red again, and she didn’t know why. It irritated her to be embarrassed. Farr spoke as casually about being wed that morning as if it were of no importance. She looked quickly at Juicy and then at Colby. Both were looking at her and had huge grins on their faces.

“Wal, dog my cats! I knowed somethin’ had took place cause you was so dang quiet, boy. Dang bust if’n that ain’t the best news I heared in a coon’s age. A sudden like, I got me a daughter ’n grandkids!”

Liberty’s eyes circled the table and then returned to rest on the old man. She smiled at him fondly. She had no doubt that he loved Farr like a son. He was probably very fond of Colby and Rain, but Farr was special to him. That he accepted her as Farr’s wife meant a lot to her. A soft, loving light shone from her eyes.

“Sly old dog!” Colby reached over and swatted Farr on the back, causing coffee to slosh from his mug. “All it took was a pretty blond woman to knock those dreams of climbing mountains and crossing rivers out of your ugly head.” Colby turned to Liberty. “I’ve known him all my life. He’s a good man in a fight, he’ll take on a pack a wildcats, can outrun a bear or an Indian squaw . . . Farr Quill’s pure hickory! But there’s something about him you should know, Mrs. Quill. His feet stink!”

It was strange to hear herself called Mrs. Quill. Almost guiltily, Liberty’s gaze lifted involuntarily to Farr. His head was tilted slightly and he was laughing at Colby. Then his gaze turned to her, and it never wavered beneath her direct stare. A deep inner restlessness flickered to life in the pit of her stomach. Why had she never noticed his beautiful white teeth? she wondered. Now that the news was out, she felt better. She felt a lot better, almost happy. She could speak now, without fearing there would be a quiver in her voice.

“There are sawed boards in the bottom of the wagon if you want to use them, Farr. We set the trunks and things right on top of them.”

He nodded. “They’ll be handy for making chairs. We’ll make a longer table too. What do you think, Juicy, about running a partition across the front of the storage room and later putting down a board floor, building in bunks, and a fireplace at the end?”

“Don’t know why it wouldn’ work out jist right.”

“We can make a room in the loft too. It’ll be nice and warm in the winter.”

“That won’t be no chore at all with the good stout ceiling we put in.”

Liberty watched closely for the men’s reaction to the work Farr was laying out. Colby looked at Juicy and winked when Farr mentioned the room in the loft. Rain’s face was unread able as usual. Liberty looked at him closely. He was a handsome boy. She wished he would smile more often.

“Dang it, Farr. It seems like you got the summer crammed full of work,” Colby said. “That’s going to shoot our trip to Saint Louis all to hell, Rain.”

“We wasn’t going to Saint Louis till he could go with us.”

There was silence after Rain’s softly spoken words. Liberty quailed inwardly as Farr’s words came back to haunt her.
I can still climb mountains and cross rivers.
A quick glance at Farr’s face told her nothing.

“There’ll be times when you men will wish you didn’t have us women underfoot.” Liberty said the first thing that came to mind in order to change the subject. “You’ve been here alone for a long time.”

“Too long,” Juicy snorted.

“We . . . ah, Amy, Willa and I will take over milking and watering the stock from now on, Juicy. I’ll set some hens and plant a garden as soon as we can get a spot plowed. I brought the seeds—” She stopped speaking and her eyes sought Farr’s at the other end of the table. Did she see a tender regard for her there? Her heart thudded painfully at the thought. “We’ll do our best not to make you sorry you took us in.”

A strained silence was broken when Juicy said, “Hellfire! This place’s been needin’ a woman doin’ fer it. God musta knowed we be purty nice fellers. He jist opened up a hole in heaven ’n dropped us three of ’em. It’ll be plumb comfortin’ ta have a purty woman takin’ care a me when I get old.”

“When you
get
old? Just this morning you were saying you were too old to work,” Colby said teasingly.

“Yo’re always ashootin’ off yore mouth, Colby Carroll. Ya didn’t get yore manners from yore ma, or yore pa, for that matter. Ya ort a show more respect fer gray hair, is what ya ort a do.”

Farr stood and moved his stool under the table with his foot.

“Let’s help Libby unload the wagon so we can get back to work. I want to start digging the trench for the poles this afternoon. I figure to hitch the oxen to the plow and dig as deep a furrow as we can before we start digging by hand.”

*  *  *

Farr guided the plow being pulled by the oxen. It was work that required very little thought and his mind was free to wander. Something strange had happened to him. Liberty’s face, framed with its crown of hair the color of egg-shells, had nudged itself past the hard crust he had built around himself as a protection against ever loving, wanting, or needing a woman again. From the first he had liked having her in his house. And today it had been pleasant to come up for nooning, to have the meal ready, and to see her at the end of the table with a child on each side of her.

He had given considerable thought about asking Liberty to stay on as his wife even before the arrival of Stith Lenning. Of late he had yearned for a home spot, not just a cabin with a place to eat and sleep, but a place where someone waited just for him. At times he was desperately in need of a woman’s body, and unlike many of the white men in the territory he refused to take an Indian woman to satisfy his lust. He thought about that now without the small, bitter flame of guilt he always felt when he thought of being closely entwined with another woman as he had been with Fawnella.

Time had dulled the pain of losing his first love. Fawnella was a part of his youth, a sweet and cherished memory. They had come together in mutual love for each other, and together had discovered the joy of consummating their love.

It would be different mating with Liberty. She did not love him and was too honest to pretend that she did. She had taken him as a protector to stand between her and a man she detested. He had no doubt that she would do her
duty
by him. After all she was not a stranger to a man’s desires. They had made a fair bargain, he told himself. She would make a home, give him children, take care of Juicy, and he would protect her with his life if necessary. What more could she ask for?

By the middle of the afternoon Farr had made three trips around the compound and the furrow was becoming too deep for the plow. He stopped to adjust the iron blade and saw Liberty coming toward him carrying a pail. He continued to work and didn’t look up until she was standing beside him.

“I thought you might like a drink of water.” Her glance wavered beneath his direct stare.

“I’m dry as a bone.” He took the pail from her hand, tilted it and drank deeply. When he finished he handed her the pail, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Thank you.”

“How many more times do you have to go around?”

“About three more times. Then we start digging by hand.” Farr studied her face but she avoided a direct glance.

“I thought I’d plow a garden tomorrow, that is, if you don’t need Molly and Sally,” Liberty said.

“I’ll start a spot for you tonight after supper and add a little to it each night. You can’t rake it and plant all at once anyway.”

Liberty looked into his green, somber eyes, then down to his large brown hand on the handle of the plow. She looked away from him, pondering her unease. He was an intelligent man; his eyes absorbed everything they pierced, his mind was quick and alert. She had a feeling he knew her every thought. He was starkly handsome. She couldn’t deny that her heart fluttered more quickly in his presence. That was a natural reaction, she reasoned. Then, thinking about what the night would bring, her heart beat wildly and a shudder rippled under her skin as she tried to retain her composure

“I’ve got to be getting back.”

Farr watched her go off toward the cabin, then turned back to the plow.

T
he sun had made its daily trip across the sky and was sinking low in the west when Amy came in to announce that their father was riding up the lane on one of Stith’s horses.

“Papa’s coming,” she said breathlessly. “He’ll be madder than a flitter about you marryin’, Libby! Do you want me to go get Farr?”

“Farr probably saw Papa before you did. No, I want to leave him out of it if I can. This is a family matter and I’ll handle it.”

“What if he wants me to go back to Stith’s with him?” Fear was in her voice and confusion on her young face.

“I’ll not let him do that. Take the children and go out to the barn.”

“No! I’ll stay and talk to Papa too. I’m almost grown up.”

‘I’d rather he think of you as a little girl, Amy. Now go before he sees you in that dress and realizes that you really are almost grown up. I’ll be all right. He’ll be angry and shout, but that’s all he’ll do. Go with her, Willa, and keep them away until Papa quiets down.”

Liberty watched them go to the side of the cabin where the children were playing in the dirt. Mercy squealed in protest, but Amy dragged her along determinedly. When they disappeared inside the barn, Liberty went out to stand in front of the cabin and wait for her father.

Elija reined in a dozen feet from where Liberty stood

“What’s Quill diggin’ round this place fer?”

“He’s digging a trench for the stockade.”

“Is that all the bigger it’s goin’ ta be? Why, that ain’t big enough ta skin a cat in.”

“I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. The barracks wall will be part of it.”

“Ya give him the loan of the oxen. Is that why ya ain’t come on up ta the place? Stith’d sent his men ta get the wagon if he’d knowed Quill was usin’ the team.”

“You led Stith straight to the Shellenberger place, didn’t you, Papa? You let him get there first and claim it, although you knew I wanted that homestead.” Anger and resentment were in her voice.

“You couldn’t a run a inn by yoreself, Libby,” Elija said with exaggerated patience. “Stith’ll build ya one, just like ya wanted. He’ll have a tavern with it, ’n a tradin’ station, ’n brin’ in a wench or two ta help ya out.” He paused when Liberty lifted her eyebrows, pursed her lips, and nodded her head.

“That’s mighty kind of him,” she said scornfully.

“I done tole ya that ya had Stith all wrong. He ain’t a bad sort. He’s awantin’ nothin’ but ta treat ya right, Libby. Ya coulda had ever’thin’ ya wanted back in Middlecrossin’, but ya up ’n wed Jubal. Stith come on cause he knowed Jubal couldn’t a took care of ya.” Elija got down from the horse and looked around. “Where’s Amy?”

“In the barn.”

“Get her. Quill’s unhitchin’ ’n I’ll put the oxen ta the wagon so we can be gone.”

“Where do you plan to take us?” she asked with a calm composure she was far from feeling.

Elija’s head turned and he looked at her cautiously. It was the smooth, indifferent tone of her voice more than her words that made him watch her uneasily.

“Down ta Stith’s place. He’s got it fixed up fer ya, and he be waitin’.”

“You haven’t heard a thing I’ve said for the last five years, have you, Papa?” Heartbreak made her voice shrill “I despise Stith Lenning. He is a cruel, hateful man who wants me because I don’t want him. How can you, my father, want me to marry such a man, bed him, live with him for the rest of my life, take his abuse?” Liberty drew in a deep breath, but never allowed her eyes to waver from her father’s.

“I know what’s best fer ya!” Elija cursed under his breath.