LeClerc 03 - Wild Savage Heart Read online

  It had been a perfect afternoon, one she knew she would cherish forever in her memories. Lightly touching her flat stomach, Molly wondered if they had created more than memories this afternoon. She had no reason to suspect that she carried Adam’s child but she hoped that her desire would soon be a reality.

  At the sound of the wagon entering the clearing, Molly looked up and smiled at Hawk. His intense, almost savage expression wiped the smile from her face. He pulled the team to a halt, jumped down from the wagon and began unhitching the oxen.

  Molly couldn’t overhear their conversation, but from the look on Adam’s face and the low mumbled of sound, she knew Hawk was angry. And when he reached into the wagon and walked over to her, she thought she knew the reason why.

  “You found my bonnet,” Molly said, reaching for her hat.

  Hawk threw the bonnet at her as if it was something repulsive. He turned to Adam who had walked up beside them.

  “You’re a bigger damned fool than I thought,” Hawk snarled.

  “She’s a better rider than I am,” Adam replied defensively.

  “I don’t doubt that, but no one gives a horse its head on these trails. You don’t know what’ll be around the next bend.”

  “Just a minute, Mr. Hawk,” Molly interrupted. “It was my fault, not Adam’s. I’m the one who set the pace.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me, Mrs. Royse,” Hawk growled, his black eyes burning holes through her.

  “You have a normally intelligent man so wrapped around your little finger that he can’t tell you no even when he knows better.”

  “Now, Nathan … “

  “If you can’t control your wife, Adam, then I will!” Hawk knew he was being unfair, making more of the situation than was necessary, but the events of the afternoon still held control over him.

  “You and who else?” Molly demanded, stepping past Adam to confront Hawk.

  Generations of Shawnee warriors coursed through Morning Hawk’s veins. Never before had he looked or felt as savage as he did at that moment. Black eyes burned through narrowed lids, knotted muscles strained at the seams of his shirt and pants while his chest rose and fell with each life-giving breath.

  Molly had to force herself not to step back from the man facing her. All he needs to complete the picture of savage Indian, she thought to herself, is a tomahawk in one hand and a knife in the other. She felt intimidated by his intensity but not truly frightened.

  “When the time comes, Mrs. Royse, I won’t need anyone’s help.”

  Hawk turned, untied his horse and mounted. Wrapping his long legs around the bare body of the animal, he urged it into a gallop, forgetting in his anger that he had just berated Adam for doing that very same thing.

  “I never hated anyone before I met your friend,” Molly muttered between clenched teeth.

  Adam smiled and wrapped his arm around her, nestling her head against his chest. “Don’t let him upset you, Molly mine.”

  “He didn’t upset me,” she replied. “He made me so mad I could spit!”

  “He didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just his way.”

  “Why do you always defend him? Why don’t you ever get angry at him?”

  Adam hugged her tightly then set her away. “You can get angry enough for both of us, sweetheart.”

  “I hope he gets lost!” Molly muttered to herself as she climbed into the wagon. “I hope he gets lost and his horse throws him.” She grabbed the pots and pans necessary to finish supper. “I hope he gets lost, his horse throws him and he breaks his leg!” She banged the pots and pans together to emphasize her words.

  “I hope he gets lost, his horse throws him, he breaks his leg and a skunk attacks him!” She climbed out of sthe wagon and faced her grinning husband.

  “A skunk?” Adam asked with a chuckle.

  “A whole family of skunks!”

  “Isn’t that rather much? Wouldn’t a broken leg be sufficient?”

  Molly couldn’t resist Adam’s smile. “All right, only one skunk then, but definitely a broken leg!” She walked toward the fire, her righteous indignation soothed.

  “If he broke his leg he’d be forced to ride in the wagon every day until it healed,” Adam reminded her.

  “No he wouldn’t,” Molly turned and grinned at her husband. “We’ll just shoot him!”

  Several days later Molly realized that Hawk rarely returned to camp until after dark and usually left before sunrise. The daily lessons he had insisted on had come to an abrupt halt. He spoke to Adam only out of necessity and he never even looked at her — which was fine with her, Molly decided.

  She was surprised when he rode up to the wagon early one afternoon, shortly after the noon meal. She was even more surprised because he had pulled back his hair and tied it with a piece of rawhide. The reason was evident as soon as he spoke.

  “There’s a family a couple of miles up the trail.” He spoke directly to Adam, ignoring Molly at his side.

  “Is that the reason you’re looking like a white man again?” Molly asked sarcastically.

  Hawk acted as if she hadn’t spoken. “They arrived a couple of months ago and already have their garden in. It’ll be a good place to stop for the night.” He gave Adam directions to find the homestead, which was slightly off the trail, then Hawk turned and left again.

  “Molly, what’s gotten into you?” Adam asked, as he started the team moving again. “Can’t you be civil?”

  “I can be completely civil to anyone but that man, just looking at him gets my dander up!”

  “He’ll be gone soon, Molly mine, then it’ll just be the two of us.”

  “I can hardly wait,” she muttered, feeling slightly ashamed of her attitude.

  They rode in silence, Adam watching carefully for the signs that would lead them to the unknown family. The cleared field was their first indication that they had found the correct location. Red dirt, plowed in neatly paralleled rows, showed the priority given the garden. Several logs had been felled and pulled over to the spot they had selected for their cabin. A wagon was pulled up to the base of a dead tree and as she studied the area Molly realized what she was seeing.

  “They live in a tree!” she declared with amazement.

  As they drew closer her words were proven true. A woman, with a baby on her hip and several young children hiding behind her skirt, came to the opening in the huge tree. The dead sycamore tree reached more than a hundred feet into the sky and was nearly ten feet in diameter. Its hollowed base made a perfect temporary home for the pioneer family, offering shelter from the elements and an instant home until their cabin was constructed.

  Introductions were quickly carried out and Adam moved their wagon slightly away from the tree house to give both families privacy when darkness fell.

  Gary and Nora Price and their four young children had left Pennsylvania the previous fall and spent the winter with family members in Charlotte, North Carolina. Knowing the importance of a garden for their own survival, they had headed west before spring arrived so that they would have plenty of time to clear some land and put in their garden.

  Molly waited patiently for an invitation to view the tree house but when none was forthcoming she could no longer curb her curiosity.

  “Mrs. Price, I admit to being uncommonly curious,” Molly’said with a grin. “May I please see inside the tree?”

  “Call me Nora,” replied the woman who was probably the same age as Molly. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong ‘bout being a little bit nosy. Find out some of the best gossip that way!”

  She bounced the baby on her hip and with a wave of her hand motioned for Molly to enter the house. Molly stepped into the interior of the old tree and was amazed by the size. The room was almost ten feet around and nearly as tall. The rough floor was uneven and sank in places, making walking difficult but Gary had laid planks on it to create secure sleeping places.

  The necessities of life were neatly stacked on wooden crates and an oil lantern hung from a peg driven
into the wall. Molly wrinkled her nose at the overly sweet smell of decay that wafted’ around her.

  “You should be here after it’s rained for several days,” Nora said with a laugh when she noticed Molly’s actions. “It smells so bad you’d rather be outside gettin’ wet!” She laid the baby on a bed and gently rubbed his tiny back. “And it gets mighty cold some nights so that we all snuggle together ‘neath all the quilts. Can’t have no fire in here or we’d burn it down. Don’t wanta do that ‘cause^ bad smell and all, it’s better than sleeping out in the open every night.” Nora smoothed the soft curls on her son’s tiny head, the humor leaving her face. “We left a goodsized farm in Pennsylvania,” Nora continued quietly. “Gary worked it with his pa and older brother, but he wanted somethin’ for himself.” She sighed softly. “You gotta follow your man when he’s lookin’ for somethin’ even though he don’t know what it is. But it sure is hard to say good-bye to everythin’ you’ve always known and head out for someplace you’ve never seen.”

  Nora looked up and her eyes locked onto Molly’s. “But what choice is there? — ‘pears to me that if you love him you made your choice when you said ‘I do.’” Nora’s irrepressible good humor returned with a blink of the eye. “Iffen we hadn’t come here I never woulda lived in a tree. Now I ain’t sayin’ I’d be happy to live here forever, but just think of the stories I can tell my grandbabies. They ain’t gonna believe their old granny lived in a tree like a squirrel!”

  Molly and Adam spent several days with the Price family. Hawk had returned that first afternoon. He spoke briefly with Adam and then left. Molly wondered if he would return or if he’d decided to leave them with the first family they’d found.

  Adam helped Gary fell several trees while Molly and Nora stripped the logs of branches, kept a watchful eye of the active children and cooked the meals.

  Nora was always cheerful, and her self-confidence was evident in everything she did. Molly found herself admiring the woman as their friendship grew.

  In the evening, after the children had been settled for the night, they all lingered around the fire. Gary spoke of the advantages of the area for homesteading. They were in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with rolling land and fresh mountain streams. Several small towns, including Rutherford Town to the south and Morganton to the north, were within less than a day’s ride.

  “Little Brittain Presbyterian Church is just up the road a piece,” Nora supplied. “And iffen you ain’t there on a Sunday morning come Sunday afternoon someone is here checkin’ to make sure everything is all right. Lordy Moses, a couple of weeks ago we just plumb forgot that it was a Sunday. That afternoon the preacher comes aridin’ up checkin’ to see why we weren’t in church. I was so bumfuzzled when he left that I sat right down and made me a marker to keep track of the days.”

  “Soon as everybody’s garden is in, the neighbors are gonna give us a barn raisin’,” Gary said quietly, as the smoke from his pipe drifted around his head. “The people here help each other but mind their own business. It’s a good place to set down roots.

  “Most of the land around here is already owned but we got lucky. We bought this parcel from Widow Bailey. Her husband died some time back and her only son was killed when his horse threw him. It took near to all the money we had to buy it but me and Nora think it was worth it.”

  Later that night, snuggled together beneath the warmth of a quilt while the stars twinkled overhead, Molly and Adam discussed the idea of remaining in Rutherford County rather than moving further into the mountains. They liked what they had seen of the area but Adam expressed his concern that it would be easy for Charles Gallagher to find them.

  “If Papa comes here we’ll just tell him to leave us alone,” Molly said firmly.

  “He can make things difficult for us, Molly mine.” Adam kissed the top of her head and pulled her more snugly into his arms. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “He can’t hurt us if we don’t let him,” Molly replied. “I like it here, Adam, and if this is where you want to stay, then this is where we’ll stay.”

  As he drifted to sleep, Adam decided to ride into Rutherford Town the next day and check the land office for available homesites. If they could find some land they would settle into this area of North Carolina and begin building their home.

  Early the next morning as Molly and Nora prepared breakfast and Gary and Adam discussed the trip into town, Hawk rode in. Nora offered him a cup of coffee. Adam smiled at his friend and Gary greeted him with a handshake. Molly waited apprehensively for the courtesies to be finished.

  “I’ve found your homesite,” Hawk said quietly.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “It’s on a good strong creek,” Hawk said quietly as he ate the meal Nora and Molly had cooked. Adam and Gary listened attentively while Molly helped Nora settle the children.

  “The land’s been partially cleared and we should be able to get a garden in without much trouble. There’s several good homesites, you just need to decide where you want to build your cabin.”

  “Are you sure the land’s for sale?” Adam asked, excitement threaded through his voice.

  “A neighbor said it was, but we’ll go into town and make sure. If not, we’ll see what else is available, there may be something better than this but I have my doubts.”

  As soon as they finished their breakfast, the men saddled their horses and headed for town. Molly watched them ride down the trail until they were swallowed by the forest. Trying to hide her disappointment that she had been left behind with Nora and the children, she gathered up the breakfast dishes for washing. She knew Adam would have taken her if she had expressed her desire to go along, but she would have felt guilty leaving Nora alone. Hawk intended to return by nightfall and if the children had gone along, it would have been impossible to make the trip in a day.

  It was easy for Molly to stay busy, helping Nora with the numerous chores that needed to be done. They took advantage of the warm spring morning and washed their dirty clothes. The river was just behind the unfinished cabin but it was several feet down a steep hill. Carrying the heavy buckets of water back up the hill was a tiring chore and the two women took turns until they had enough water to complete their wash.

  Nora seemed untiring as she completed one chore and went immediately to the next. By midafternoon, Molly was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to sit down and could only groan when Nora grabbed an ax and headed for the felled logs.

  Nora heard Molly’s soft groan and turned to the other woman. “You can sit and talk with me while I do this, if you’d like.”

  “Nope.” Molly grabbed an ax and walked over to a waiting log. “I can’t just sit back and watch you work.”

  “You wait,” Nora said as she swung the ax, removing the branches from the log. “When it’s your cabin and you know the harder you work the sooner it’ll be done, you’ll be findin’ all kinds of energy.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for that,” Molly mumbled as she tried to match Nora’s ability with the ax.

  Nora cleaned three logs for Molly’s one while the older children pulled the branches away. Later the larger branches would be cut up for firewood and the smaller pieces neatly stacked for kindling. Even the leaves would be used as mulch for the tender plants in the garden.

  Molly sighed with relief when Nora called a halt. They all walked back to the house where Nora soon began the preparations for supper.

  “What do you think about me taking the older kids down to the creek and let them play in the water?” The afternoon had grown warm and Molly relished the thought of the cool breeze that would be found down at the stream.

  “Sounds good. I’ll put the baby down for his nap and get supper cooking. You take your time and have some fun.” She admonished the children to behave and waved them off with her usual smile in place.

  The water was still too cold for swimming but the children stripped down to their drawers and played noisily at the edge. Moll
y removed her shoes and stockings and raised her skirt enough so that it didn’t get wet as she waded. Her thoughts drifted to the plans she and Adam had made for their future home.

  At the beginning it would be a one-room cabin but Adam would add rooms as their family grew. They’d have a big garden and Molly would put up the fruits and vegetables for winter. Someday they’d have a big home filled with lots of love. Her face warmed at the thought of the children her love for Adam would create.

  “Molly?” a tiny voice interrupted her daydream.

  “What, sweetheart?” Molly asked, looking at sixyear-old Wanda.

  “There’s somethin’ behind you.”

  Her heart pounding with fear, Molly turned slowly. Behind her and slightly uphill, a skunk and her kits were strolling down the trail Molly and the children had used to get to the river. The mother skunk was made nervous by her unaccustomed venture into daylight. The usually nocturnal animal raised her head and sniffed the air.

  Molly smelled the distinctive odor that identified the creature, as its bushy black-and-white tail rose defensively. Moving slowly so that she wouldn’t alarm the creature, Molly backed into the river and gathered the children with her.

  At its deepest point the water rose to Molly’s hips. Only Wanda was tall enough to stand on her own while Molly held three-year-old Timmy and fouryear-old Charles on her hips.

  “It be a polecat,” Charles advised knowledgeably. “Pa says the only good polecat be a dead one.”

  “I think it’s pretty,” Wanda said.

  “You would, you’re a girl.” Charles replied with a smirk.

  “Are you gonna kill it?” Timmy asked.

  “What she gonna use, dummy?” Wanda demanded. “She ain’t got no gun.”

  “Well, she could throw a rock, iffen she aimed real good.”

  “Could not,” Timmy supplied. “She’s a girl and girls can’t throw no good at all.”

  “Can too,” Wanda replied in defense of her sex.