Tamanen. His symbol. His unmistakable mark.
A small storm burst inside Clay. He ran hot, then cold. His turmoil wasn’t easily hidden. Jude knew. Their eyes met in weighted understanding.
“Wash it clean,” Clay said with a calm he didn’t feel as Jude did away with the dangling paw.
With a nod, Jude turned the horse over to Lemuel. Clay took to his heels and returned to Hester’s, wanting to make sure Tessa was all right.
When Clay did finally tumble into bed at dawn, Tessa kept him awake. Lying on his back, arm behind his head, he let the sweet memory of her on harvest day return to him, overriding the horror that had followed. Their easy if heartfelt banter. The way she’d taken his hand at the last. And then her parting words, so softly spoken yet arrow-sharp. They’d gone straight to his soul, rattling his carefully constructed defenses that Maddie had first begun to tear down.
What are you afraid of, Clay?
He wasn’t afraid of the wilderness or Indians or tomorrow or any matter that might be brought to him that begged resolution. He wasn’t even afraid of Tamanen and his outright, personal declaration of war.
He was only afraid of loving a woman with soulful eyes and hair as black as moonless midnight.
24
Even an expected siege didn’t keep the fort’s inhabitants from table. The next morn, Hester served up a formidable mound of biscuits made from newly ground wheaten flour. Slathered with butter and molasses, they satisfied the fussiest appetites. With Cyrus asleep in the corner and Lemuel at the wall, the rest of them sat down together. Ma was now among them, another reason to give thanks, as she and Westfall had made it in by midnight.
The tragic details about the Clendennins were revisited, and Tessa listened with deep-seated horror. She couldn’t abide a renewal of war. She desperately wanted to cover her ears.
“So, the savages have finally struck,” Hester lamented. “And struck hard.”
“All killed,” Jasper told them. He reached for the bread, but the news turned Tessa’s stomach so she could not eat. “The colonel helped bury the dead.”
“So many young ones . . .” Ma looked like she might cry. “And a new babe too.”
“Wonder why they didn’t take ’em captive?” Ross said. “The colonel says they oft adopt whites into the tribe to replace their dead.”
Jasper shot him a warning look. “None of that heathen talk at table.”
“If they’re traveling fast and captives can’t keep up, they’re killed,” Zadock continued despite Jasper’s irritation. “Only the hardiest survive.”
“I’ve lost count of all the raids, the burned-out homesteads, since settling in this valley. Seems like we could just abide together in peace.” Ma’s worn hands cradled her steaming teacup. “Reckon the colonel’s going to send out a party to track them?”
“Nay. Such would weaken defenses here.” Jasper swallowed another mouthful. “He’s doubled the spies and now all the border is on alert, nearly everyone forted up.”
“Which gives the Indians freedom to plunder whichever farm they please,” Ma said.
“Nothing short of the king’s army can halt that,” Hester told them. “And those redcoats have their hands full in the East, trying to maintain order with rebel colonists.”
“King’s men don’t know how to fight.” Ross shook his head in disgust. “Standing all in a line waiting to get mowed down by Indians smart enough to take cover behind brush.”
Jasper stared at him. “Like they did us in last night’s ambush.”
“The colonel thinks that was a different party than raided the Clendennins.”
“All the worse then,” Jasper returned, reaching for another biscuit. “Too many redmen overrunning the country.”
“It was theirs to begin with, remember.” Zadock echoed Keturah’s line of thinking. “If Pa had property where he’d staked his claim and put in crops, how would you feel if somebody rode in and pushed him over and proclaimed it his own?”
Jasper flung down his fork. “You’ll do well to keep your red-tongued—”
Ma stood, chair scraping hard across the floor, bringing an end to the matter. “There’ll be no arguing amongst ourselves with the enemy at our gates. You’re worn to nubs, all of you, which is why I’ll excuse your fits of temper. Now go on and be about the business of this fort.”
“I’m needed at the wall,” Jasper said with another ugly glance at Zadock.
Hester began spooning the last of the fried potatoes onto Jasper’s plate. “If you’re going to die, at least go to glory with your belly full.”
