Frontier Agreement. Shannon Farrington
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Название: Frontier Agreement
Автор: Shannon Farrington
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Исторические любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Love Inspired Historical
isbn: 9781474064521
isbn:
“Your tea, uncle,” she said.
After he had accepted it, Claire started to move back. However, he motioned for her to stay. After taking a long draft of the tea, he then spoke. “You spoke words to the white hunter and the angry white chief then looked pleased. What did you say ?”
She told him about the misunderstanding with the meat. Running Wolf frowned slightly.
“Mandans take no more meat than needed. Did you tell all the white men this?”
Evening Sky looked up from her work. “She has an opportunity to tell them that and more, brother.”
“How?”
Claire’s mother then told him of the request from Captain Lewis. Running Wolf gathered his knees to his broad chest and thought for a moment, then said, “If the white chief with the three-corner hat wishes for it, then she must obey. The white chief has great power. Perhaps he is willing to share that power with the Mandan.”
“He will send his messenger for her in the morning,” Evening Sky said.
Running Wolf nodded. “Then it is decided.”
Decided? Claire looked at her mother, then her uncle and then back at her mother again. She knew why Running Wolf was eager to send her, but why her mother? She’d told Mr. Lafayette she’d pray about this. She hadn’t even had the opportunity to do so yet. The American captains appeared to be honorable men in search of peace, but what if they were not?
She wanted to protest the decision being made for her when she was still unsure—but she knew better than to speak her mind. Running Wolf would see it as a challenge to his authority, and the likelihood of him ever listening to her on spiritual matters thereafter would be nil.
So she held her tongue, but it was hard to do so. Claire moved about the lodge at a busy pace. She stoked the fire. She cleaned the cooking pot. Soon her cousins and the rest of her family would be arriving and it would be time to prepare the evening meal.
Her mother must have recognized her distress, for when Running Wolf finished his tea and left to visit the elders, she said to her, “All will be well, child. The Lord will supply all we need.” With those simple words, she returned to her beading.
There were times when Claire was envious of her mother’s strong faith. She had a prevailing sense of peace, one that had held despite losing her husband, her relocation to such a hard land and their uncertain future.
Such surety must come with age, Claire thought, but she prayed that God would grant her a little of that peace now.
Claire stepped from the lodge the following morning to find Mr. Lafayette waiting for her. The air was so cold that his nose and his cheeks above his black beard were as red as a choke cherry. The beard lifted with the hint of a smile the moment they locked eyes.
“Good morning, Miss Manette,” he said. “Have you come to a decision?”
“I have, Mr. Lafayette,” she said with much more confidence than she actually felt. Was her nervousness due to the fact that she’d actually had little say in coming to this conclusion or the unsettled feeling his smile provoked in her? Her cousin was right. He was a pleasant-looking man. Claire couldn’t deny that. “I will accept your captain’s invitation,” she said.
His smile broadened but quickly faded the moment her uncle stepped from the lodge. Arms crossed, eagle feathers in his hair, Running Wolf nodded curtly to the white man.
Mr. Lafayette responded the same way.
“My uncle will accompany us to the fort,” Claire explained, “to offer his greetings to your captains.”
“As you wish,” Mr. Lafayette said, and with that, he turned in the direction from which he had come. Claire and her uncle silently followed. After leaving the village, the only sounds were the fierce prairie wind and the snow pelting their clothing.
Whatever conversation might have been initiated by the Frenchman was discouraged by Running Wolf’s presence. For that Claire was grateful. It allowed her time to study him. What kind of man is he? Honest and authentic? Sly and deceitful? All she could tell at this point was that he was most likely a good hunter. His feet made no sound. He walked like a Mandan.
They arrived at the fort, where imposing sentinels still stood guard. One word from Mr. Lafayette, however, and Claire and her uncle were allowed to pass. They followed the Frenchman to the captains’ quarters. Once again she waited outside while he announced her arrival.
“These white men have made a small village,” Running Wolf commented as he glanced about. “Yet they have no altars for incense or prayers.”
“They address their Creator with words from their hearts,” Claire said. Or at least, she hoped they did.
Mr. Lafayette returned, ushered them inside. Captain Lewis was again at his desk. Placing his quill in his inkwell, he stood and greeted her formally. “Miss Manette, I appreciate your willingness to come. Your knowledge will be a great help.”
Mr. Lafayette introduced Running Wolf. Her uncle spoke his words to the captain.
“He says he has great respect for your power and wishes good health to you and your men,” Claire said. “He says that he hopes for continued peace between the white men and the Mandan people.”
Mr. Lafayette promptly translated her words into English. Claire listened carefully to the captain’s response.
“That is my wish, as well, Running Wolf, and why I appreciate your willingness to bring your niece to us. She will be well looked after and will return to you in a few days.”
Claire began repeating the message for her uncle but halted at the captain’s last sentence. A few days? So she—an unmarried woman, alone and unchaperoned—was expected to stay at the fort with all the soldiers? Her spine instinctively stiffened. No! That will not do!
She told Mr. Lafayette so immediately. Blinking, he stole a quick glance at his captain, then looked back at her.
“Tell him,” she said in French. “I will not stay. It is not proper.”
He repeated her message, but far less emphatically than how she had originally spoken. Captain Lewis looked taken aback.
Running Wolf didn’t need a translator to tell him something was wrong. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, but when Claire explained the circumstances, he was not offended by the captain’s thoughtless request. He was angry with her.
“Do as the white chief says,” he ordered.
But this isn’t proper! He wouldn’t ask such if I were a white woman. Where am I to sleep? Sharing quarters with her blood relatives was one thing, a fort full of soldiers quite another.
The icy chill of fear caused her to shiver. Had her uncle counted on this? Is this his way of finding me a husband?
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