"Actually, I was the
subject
of the polite gossip."
He laughed and nuzzled her neck with his nose. "I bet you were." He captured her lips, unmindful of Matthew, who watched them with a smile.
The storm left as suddenly as it had arrived. Maddie walked outside with an empty bucket. The rain-washed air smelled fresh with the odor of damp grass. Already patches of clear blue sky could be seen breaking through the storm clouds.
She tied the pail to the well just as the beating of the drums broke the serenity that had followed the storm.
The tempo was fast--too fast, she thought, to be beating out the rhythm of a new life or new love. Luke joined her at the well, and together they stood looking in the direction of the Cheyenne village. She squeezed his hand over hers. "Do you suppose the drums mean trouble?"
"I don't know, Maddie." He pulled her into his arms. "I'd feel better if you were somewhere far from here."
She looked up at him and felt her heart swell anew with the depth of her love for this man. "I won't leave you."
He studied her face. "We don't know what's going to happen."
"Whatever happens, Lefty won't let his people harm us."
Luke held her close. "Sometimes things happen despite our best efforts."
She sensed that he was not referring to the current situation with the Indians, not entirely. She brushed a wayward lock of hair from his forehead, but it was the worry for her that she wanted to push away.
"Luke, I mean it when I say I have no intention of leaving you. It took us so long to find each other." She flung her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. It was a crushing blow when her show of love for him was met with resistance, no matter how fleeting, before he kissed her back.
She pulled away from the circle of his arms.
"I'm sorry, Maddie."
"You don't trust me."
"Of course I trust you. Please understand, I'm not used to people who express their feelings so openly and easily. I was taught that showing love…wasn't something you did." He drew her into his arms again, and held her so close she could hardly catch her breath. "Do you think I like this any more than you do? I want to feel free to show my love to you…to Matthew…in every way possible."
"You can do that," she whispered. "You have so much love to give."
"But what I said…about my father--"
She drew back, fists at her waist, eyes flashing with green fire. "I don't care a fig about your father. I love you, Luke Tyler, and as far as I'm concerned, your father may have led a wretched lift, but he was responsible for one very good thing. He had a son who turned out to be good and kind and all the things I ever wanted in a man."
Something deep inside melted, the last part of himself, perhaps, that had been afraid to acknowledge his love for her. "God, Maddie. No one said anything like that to me before."
"Well, it's true."
"Even so, Maddie, there's a lot about me you don't know. There's a lot about myself I don't know."
"There's a lot about me I don't know either," she said. "I never knew until I met you how it felt to be in love."
"But you never had reason to think yourself a criminal. All my life I feared that I might be like the man who fathered me. I tried so hard not to be. I purposely kept myself from doing anything that might bring out my worst side including...loving someone." He grimaced as if in pain. "That's why I originally jumped at the chance to come to Kansas. I thought I would be safe here, safe from the legacy of my father, safe from that part that I don't even know. There's not escape for me, it seems."
"The doctor…that was an accident, Luke. I know it was."
"I keep telling myself that." He dropped her hands and turned his back to her. "If I ever cause you harm…"
She lay her head against his strong, powerful back. "I don't believe you're capable of harming anyone. Last night when we made love…it was the most wonderful night of my life."
"It was wonderful for me, too. You'll never know how wonderful. And I'm trying, Maddie. I don't want to pull away from you. I'm just so afraid that as long as I have these doubts about myself, I will always have to battle the urge to hold back when I'm with you."
She bit back the tears that stung her eyes. It hurt her that her love and faith in him weren't enough to relieve him of his doubts. "There's got to be a way to find out the truth… Maybe… Maybe Matthew can remember something."
"I told you, Maddie. I won't have Matthew put through that. He was so traumatized that he may never be the same again. I can't take a chance."
"Has it ever occurred to you that talking about that day might help him regain his speech?"
He turned and took her hands in his. "It's too risky."
She drew back. "Is that really what worries you, Luke? Or are you afraid that Matthew might confirm everyone's belief that you purposely murdered the doctor?"
"Of course, not. I want Matthew to speak! Besides, I have no way of knowing if he saw anything." His face twisted in denial, but she knew that whether or not he admitted it, even to himself, she had hit upon more of the truth than she could ever have guessed.
She slipped her arms ever so slowly around his waist so as not to alarm him. At that moment she didn't think she could handle further rejection, however much he might battle it. She lay her head against his chest and squeezed her burning eyes tight. What a complicated mess. She loved and cherished this man, and she wanted him to find peace more than she'd wanted anything in her life. Somehow there had to be a way to free him from his shadowy past.
The drums ceased after dark, but the silence that followed seemed strangely unnatural, much like the calm that preceded a storm.
After supper Luke stood guard at the open doorway. "I want you to sleep inside tonight. You can have the bed. I'll take the floor."
"That's not necessary."
"Please, Maddie. Don't fight me on this."
"And don't fight me," she pleaded.
The drums continued for the next week. Maddie hated the sense of foreboding that seemed to settle upon the prairie, the unnatural quiet and stillness after the drums stopped for the night. Even the prairie dogs remained underground.
To make matters worse, it was so hot that waves of arid air shimmered over the heat-wilted grass. Lordy be, she thought, peering across the sweltering plains. Where was Lefty? Why hadn't he made his usual morning run to inquire as to the day of the week? She hoped it was the oppressive heart that kept Lefty and his friends away. But in her heart she doubted it. She was standing by the windmill when Luke joined her.
"I think maybe someone should ride to the fort," he said. "Let them know that trouble is brewing."
"The army might make matters worse. Left and the others could be killed."
"It's more likely the Cheyenne will be forced to return to Indian Territory. I don't think the army would purposely kill anyone."
Maddie recalled the many times she had watched Lefty and Flying Hawk race their ponies across the prairie as free as the wind. "There are many ways to kill someone." "What choices do we have, Maddie? If something happens to you or--" "Nothing's going to happen. I trust Lefty and Flying Hawk and the others." "They're not the ones I'm worried about." "Do you think Red Feather will cause trouble?" "I don't know. He might. That's why I want you to leave the area. Go to Hays." "I won't go back to Hays."
"Then go to Washington."
She searched his face. "You want me to leave you?"
"I want to know you're safe."
"But--"
"Please, Maddie. If you do this one thing for me, I'll ask Sheriff Beckleworth to meet with Red Feather. He's good at that kind of thing. He talked a whole town out of lynching me. One angry Indian should be a cinch for him."
"You would do that? Ask the sheriff to talk to Red Feather?"
"So you'll go to Washington?"
"Only for a short while."
"And you'll take Matthew with you?"
"If you want me to."
"I'll feel better knowing that you and Matthew are safe."
"Thank you," she whispered. Her impulse was to throw her arms around him in gratitude and love, but she held herself rigid, not wanting anything to come between them--yet knowing all the while that the very act of holding back was barrier enough. "Thank you for wanting to help the Indians. I know it's going to work, Luke. I just know that once someone sits down with Red Feather, the problem will be resolved."
She awoke early the next morning to the smell of smoke. Praying that it wasn't a prairie fire, she scrambled out of her bedroll on the floor of the soddy and raced outside.
A column of smoke rose from the direction of the newly rebuilt town of Colton. She called to Luke. "Hurry!"
Like came on the run, followed by Matthew.
She clutched his arm. "It's Colton, isn't it?"
"I'm not sure. It looks too far south."
The lines on his forehead deepened, and she could guess why. A fire, any fire, in the prairie could be disastrous. If Colton was not yet in danger, it soon would be.
"We'd better go. Every hand will be needed to put it out. Besides, I don't want to leave you and Matthew here alone."
It was the newly built Eldridge barn that was afire. Lucy had her way, and the sod house had been abandoned. With the help of several families, the house, a fine dwelling with wood siding and a wraparound porch, had been built, along with a wood barn. The house was still unpainted, but lace curtains hung at the windows and a thin stream of smoke rose from its stone chimney.
Luke grabbed a shovel from the back of the wagon and rushed toward the barn, where dozens of men were already at work. Maddie and Matthew followed close behind. Maddie picked up two empty buckets, and she and Matthew raced to the stream. She filled up a bucket and handed it to him.
"Hurry, Matthew, take the bucket to your father."
The wind had picked up slightly in the last hour. Fiery sparks began to float through the air. A small portion of prairie grass caught fire, but the recent invasion of grasshoppers had thinned the vegetation, which kept the fire from spreading as quickly as it might have. It took the men only a few minutes to stomp out the flames with their boots. But no sooner had they put one fire out than three more began to blaze.
Everyone was too occupied to notice that the flames had leaped from the barn to the bare wood house. It was little Caroline Eldridge who called the alarm. A mad scramble ensued as the men grabbed buckets of water and dashed to the house.
Already the dry wooden shingles of the roof had burst into flames. A fireball exploded from inside, followed by the sound of shattering glass. Peter grabbed hold of Luke's arm. "Lucy and the baby?"
Luke's face turned ashen. "Lucy's in there?" Luke dropped his spade and raced to the house.
"Luke, no!" Maddie screamed, but Luke kept running. Maddie clutched Matthew to her and watched in horror as Luke took a flying leap over the flames and through the front door.
She spun around to face Peter, who stood frozen by her side. "Don't just stand there. Help him!"
Peter's face was drained of color. His glazed eyes appeared not to see her. It was obvious that he was in no condition to help.
"Stay here, Matthew." She raced to the house, issuing orders to the others, who seemed to be working in slow motion. Wood crackled as flames consumed the roof.
She raised her arms to protect her face from the searing heat. She screamed Luke's name, but her voice was drowned out by the roar of the fire.
Mayor Mettle shouted for water, but it was a futile gesture at best. By now the house was already engulfed in flames. Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, minutes into eternity.
Something snapped inside her. She started forward. Someone grabbed her by the arm. In the red glow of flames, she recognized the man who held her as Max Weedler.
Then a shadow dashed from the house. Maddie pulled away from Weedler and battled her way through the circle of men who rushed to help Luke.
Upon reaching safety, Luke discarded the gray woolen blanket he had thrown over his head. Lucy was flung over his shoulder and the baby tucked into the crook of his arm.