Winter Love Part 6

Daniel swore long and loud when he saw the snow that reached past the porch floor. "Dammit, Fletch," he raged, "we're stuck here for the winter. How am I supposed to provide for Maida?"

"You're not thinking straight, man," Fletch said. "You'll take care of her the same way you did in Canada. Do you think that's the only place a man can lay his trapline? There's real good trapping around here. The men mostly catch wolverines, but there's otter and mink and silver fox and beaver. And another thing. Maida might like spending a long winter where she can have female company for a change. She's got to have been awfully lonesome while you were out running your traps all day. And the cabin will be weather tight once we do some caulk patching and tightening the window sashes and mending the shutters. You've got to admit it's a h.e.l.l of a lot bigger than your place in Canada."

"All right!" Daniel held up his hands in surrender. "I get your meanin'. You reckon I can buy traps and a pair of snowshoes at your pa's store?"

"Yes, you can, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can't find all you'll want in that shed back there in that stand of birch. Sam Crock was a trapper."

Daniel rubbed his hands together, excitement building in his eyes. He'd be able to do what he most loved doing. The only difference was that he'd be doing it in a new locale. "Maybe we'll find some shovels in there too so we can start digging out of here."

"I expect so. Every cabin has two or three shovels. The snow is powdery soft, so it won't be too difficult to wade through it."

"I'll get some clothes on and be right with you," Daniel said, rubbing his arms, beginning to feel the chill of the room. "But first I'll roust up the fire in the fireplace and build a fire in the stove. I want it to be warm when Maida gets up."

Fletch's lips twisted in an amused smile as he left the cabin. Daniel sure took good care of his gal.

They found two shovels in the shed and noted the many traps hanging on the walls. Daniel would have to grease them up, but they all seemed in good condition. Three pairs of snowshoes were hanging with the traps. Daniel grinned. He was in business.

Fletch and Daniel had been shoveling but a few minutes when other men and their sons were out doing the same thing. The younger boys were making a game of it, whipping s...o...b..a.l.l.s at each other, wrestling around in the snow.

Greetings were called to each other as shovelsful of snow flew in the air. Fletch kept looking toward the post and the Thomas cabin. Smoke curled from the home place chimney but none showed from the post. Nor was his father out shoveling. Was he still with b.u.t.terfly? He wondered then if Taylor had tried to make it home last night and couldn't make it. What if he'd become lost in the storm and lay exhausted and freezing somewhere?

Fletch had made up his mind to make his way to the cabin and find out if everything was all right when through the snow-laden pines back of the post he saw Taylor approaching the post. The snow was only half as deep on the forest floor, and Taylor was moving at a fast clip.

"You'd better hurry, you stupid old man," Fletch muttered. "Someone is going to spot you sneaking along any minute and start asking a lot of embarra.s.sing questions. Like how did you get to the post without leaving any tracks in the snow from the cabin."

He watched Taylor push his way through the deeper snow of the clearing, and he was reaching for the post's doork.n.o.b when suddenly he was slipping and falling awkwardly into the snow. Fletch saw his father clutch his right leg, his face contorted with pain.

Concern in his voice, he called out to Daniel who was shoveling a path to the privy. "Pa just fell-I think he's hurt. Let's go take a look."

Taylor's face was pinched and white when Fletch and Daniel reached him. He looked up at Fletch through pain-clouded eyes. "I think my leg is broken, son," he said, his voice ragged.

"Let me take a look." Fletch knelt down beside him and ran his hands over the twisted leg. After a couple minutes he looked at Taylor and said, "It's fractured just above the knee. There's no bone sticking through the skin, so I think it's a clean break."

"d.a.m.n." Taylor grimaced. "Just when I'll be busiest at the post."

The other men who had been shoveling had waded through the snow and now stood looking down at Taylor. In their concern for him they hadn't noticed that the snow was untouched between the post and the cabin.

"Shall we carry you into the back room of the store or get you up to the cabin?" Fletch asked.

"Best put me on the cot in the storage room. I can at least keep an eye on what goes on in the store."

Fletch nodded and lifted Taylor's broad shoulders while Daniel carefully took hold of his legs. One of the watching men jumped forward and supported his back and waist, and Elisha opened the post door. Taylor was carried inside and carefully laid on the narrow cot.

When Fletch straightened up he asked Daniel, "Do you know anything about bone setting?"

"I've set a few." Daniel nodded. "A man has to be able to do a lot of things when he's living in a Canada wilderness. If it's a dean break like you think, there won't be nothin' to it. I'll need two fiat boards about fourteen inches long and about five inches wide. And several strips of cloth around four inches wide."

"Fletch," Taylor said, pain evident in his voice, "try to make it to the cabin and tell Laura what's happened. She'll be worried. She'll also tear a sheet into strips for you to bring back."

The last thing Fletch wanted to do was see Laura, especially alone. He knew, however, that he had no other alternative. Their neighbors would flap their tongues if he refused.

Drawing a long breath, he left the post and started battling his way through the snow toward the cabin.

Gray morning had arrived by the time Laura awakened and found the snow up to her windowsill. She hadn't rested well last night, half awake, listening for Taylor to come home. For though she had told herself he was sure to stay with b.u.t.terfly until the weather cleared, she couldn't help worrying that he was out there somewhere in the storm, maybe in need of help.

She had toyed with the idea of going to Fletch and asking him to go look for his father. Two things warned her not to. One, he'd probably refuse to and they would get into a heated argument, and two, she didn't want him to know that Pa still made his trips to visit b.u.t.terfly. He'd really chew on that piece of information. As would everyone else if they learned of Pa's long a.s.sociation with the Indian woman and that it still continued.

The second time Laura went to the window to gaze in the direction of the post, hoping to see smoke rising from the chimney, the village men were out shoveling paths, Fletch and his friend among them. She wondered if Daniel and Maida had fulfilled their arrangement with Reverend Stiles to marry them. It occurred to her that the couple wouldn't be able to leave Big Pine now. She hoped that they wouldn't mind, because she would like to know the young girl better.

Jolie fussed, and Laura picked the little one up and sat down in the rocking chair before the fire, talking nonsense to her as she laid back the lapel of her robe and undid the ties to her gown.

By the time the baby had finished nursing and had been changed and laid back in the cradle, close to an hour had pa.s.sed before Laura went to the window again and gave a startled, "Oh, my G.o.d."

She saw Taylor being carried into the post. Her mind raced with questions. Had Pa suffered a heart attack from fighting his way through the snow? Had he reached the post sometime last night only to fall exhausted outside its door? G.o.d forbid that he had frozen to death. She desperately wanted to go to him but knew it would be next to impossible to get through the snow that would reach her waist. Besides, she couldn't leave Jolie alone.

So she stayed glued to the window willing someone to come and tell her what had happened to Taylor. When the post door opened and Fletch stepped outside, she leaned forward, peering intently. He spoke a moment to the men standing around, then started plowing his way through the snow toward the cabin.

It seemed to Laura that it was taking forever for Fletch to close the distance between the cabin and the post. When he finally pushed his way onto the porch, she swung the door open, demanding in a shaky voice, "What's happened to Pa?"

Fletch stood a moment, catching his breath, then said derisively, "Pa? You call your husband Pa?" Laura wished she had the strength to grab his wide shoulders and shake them until his head wobbled. "I said Pa out of habit," she said impatiently. "Is he all right? What's happened to him?" Brushing the snow off his legs and stamping it off his feet, Fletch answered, "Let me inside and I'll tell you."

Laura stepped back, giving him ample room to enter. Still, he managed to brush against her, his elbow sliding against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She shot an angry look at his handsome, bland face. Had it been an accidental touching, or had it been meant as a deliberate action that a man would do to a loose woman?

However it had happened, she let it pa.s.s. She had more important things to wonder about. "All right, Fletch," she said impatiently, closing the door behind him, "you're inside now. What's happened to P... Taylor?"

Fletch deliberately took his time unb.u.t.toning his heavy fur-lined jacket before finally saying, "Pa slipped in the snow and broke his leg."

"Oh dear!" Laura's face paled. "Is it a bad break? Is he suffering a lot?"

"He's in pain, of course, but it's a clean break according to Daniel and should heal all right. Daniel is going to set it, and he needs some strips of cloth to bind the splints with. Pa said you'd give them to me."

"Of course. Is there anything else you need?"

Fletch looked at her slender form, the curves revealed by the robe wrapped tightly around her, and wanted to say, I need you. I need to bury myself inside you to take away my ever present ache for you.

He looked away and said, "He'll need bedding. That old cot in the back room only has a straw tick on it."

"Won't he be coming home?" Laura asked, a tiny frown forming between her eyes. "He says he's gonna stay there, keep an eye on things."

"How's he going to do that, flat on his back?"

"I guess he'll keep the door open between the two rooms. The cot sits right across from it, so he can see what's going on, keep an eye on whoever is gonna run the place."

"He'll probably ask Elisha to run it."

"Probably," Fletch said, then asked abruptly, "How come Pa is still seeing b.u.t.terfly? Don't you give him what he wants?"

Fire flashed in Laura's eyes. "I can't believe your gall, your crudeness." She glared at him. "First off, it is none of your business what goes on between me and Taylor. And as you know, he and b.u.t.terfly have been friends for years. It's only natural that he would like to see her once in a while."

"And sleep with her too?"

"You don't know that," Laura snapped and wheeled around, heading out of the kitchen. "I'm going to get dressed now and gather the strips and bedding."

Fletch made no response as he watched the angry twist of her hips as she pa.s.sed into what used to be his bedroom. A puzzled look came over his face. Didn't she and Pa share the same bed? What in h.e.l.l went on here?

Laura had barely closed the door behind her when Jolie began to fuss. Against his will Fletch was drawn to the cradle. When he gazed down at the tiny mite he received the same sensation he'd experienced the first time he'd seen the baby. What was it about this little one that gave him such a warm feeling?

He bent over and held out a finger to Jolie, who watched him with wide blue eyes. She grasped it and held on tightly. He was startled at the tenderness that rushed through him. He wanted to pick her up, hold her against his heart to mingle its beat with that of her tiny one.

Fletch forced himself to remember that Adam Beltran had fathered the child, and when Laura returned with an armful of bedding, he was back on the kitchen side of the room, staring moodily out the window. She laid everything on the table, then walked over to the cradle. When Fletch turned around and looked at her, she had taken Jolie up and was wrapping her in a heavy shawl.

"Why are you bundling her up like that? It's plenty warm in here."

"I can't leave her here by herself."

Fletch narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope you're not planning on going to the post."

"I certainly am. Taylor needs me."

"You're crazy, woman. You can't get through that snow."

"Yes, I can," Laura insisted as she shrugged into a heavy jacket and b.u.t.toned it up. "I'll walk in your footsteps."

Fletch looked at her small, mutinous face and sighed. Ever since she was a little girl, if she got a thing in her head to do, she was bound to do it. "All right." He scowled, picking up the folded bedding and walking to the door. "But you're gonna find it hard walking."

"I'll be right behind you, Mister Know It All." Laura gathered Jolie up and followed him outside.

They hadn't gone three yards when Fletch heard Laura puffing as she stretched her legs to step in his tracks. He tried to harden his heart against her struggling but found that he couldn't. He had looked after her too many years to break the habit now.

He stopped and turned around. "Give me the baby before you fall and hurt her," he ordered.

He thought for a moment she was going to refuse, but finally she said, "All right. I'll carry the blankets."

The transfer was made, and holding the little one close to his chest, liking the feel of the little body next to him, Fletch shortened his steps so that Laura could more easily place her feet in his tracks.

"Honey, what are you doing here?" Taylor ex-claimed when Laura pushed her way through the group of men gathered outside and burst into the storage room. "How did you get through all that snow, and where is Jolie?"

"Fletch has her," Laura answered, taking off her jacket and kneeling beside the cot. "Fletch has her?" Taylor said, disbelief in his voice.

Laura nodded with a crooked grin. "He was afraid I'd drop her in the snow." She looked up and smiled a greeting to Daniel and Elisha standing nearby, waiting to set Taylor's leg.

"You about ready to get on with it, Daniel?" Fletch asked gruffly from the doorway, strips of cloth he had torn from the sheet clutched in his hand.

"Where's Jolie?" Laura jumped to her feet.

"I put her in a basket and set her on the counter so she wouldn't get stepped on," Fletch answered indifferently. "She's still asleep."

"You put her in a basket like she was a little puppy?" Laura screeched at him.

"Settle down, she's fine." Fletch busied himself with taking off his jacket and hanging it on the wall. Elisha had built a roaring fire in the potbelly stove in the store and its heat now reached the storage room.

"Go look after her, Laura," Taylor said, "and close the door behind you."

She knew that Taylor didn't want her to see or hear his pain when the bone was set. Still she hesitated. She wanted to hold his hand, to com-fort him when Daniel ministered to the break. But when Taylor said firmly, "Go on, Laura," she walked into the store and quietly closed the door, leaning on it, waiting.

Her fingers clenched into fists a few minutes later when Taylor gave a harsh cry of pain. Daniel had set his break. She rushed back into what would be Taylor's bedroom for some time and sat down on the edge of the cot. She took a handkerchief from her sleeve and dried the sweat that had beaded on his forehead.

She watched Daniel and Fletch winding the strips of cloth around the splint that would keep the break together until it knit and healed. She looked back at Taylor's pale face and asked gently, "Can I get you anything, Pa? Maybe a swallow of whiskey?"

Taylor smiled weakly and shook his head about the whiskey. "Believe it or not, it's food I'd like. I'm hungry as sin."

"Fine. How does bacon and eggs sound to you?"

"Sounds real good, but first I'd like a cup of coffee. Haven't had any since last night at supper."

While Laura was wrinkling her brow, wondering how she could fry bacon and eggs and brew a pot of coffee on a 14-inch stove top, Daniel and Elisha left.

Laura remembered the potbelly stove in the tavern part of the post and looked at Fletch, who was pulling on his jacket, preparing to leave. "Would you build a fire in the other stove and put a pot of coffee to brewing before you leave?" Fletch frowned, but before he could answer, Taylor said anxiously, "Don't leave the post until we've talked, Fletch."

"I can't hang around long," Fletch said coolly, not looking at Taylor as he took his jacket back off. "I have to give Daniel a hand with the shoveling."

There was so much hurt and sadness in Taylor's eyes as he watched his son leave the room that Laura wanted to run after him and beat his broad back with her fists. He had no right to hurt Pa like that.

If only I could tell him the truth about everything, he wouldn't act so high and mighty, she thought, walking into the store area.

But that would never happen, she knew, and she set about taking the utensils she would need from the shelves where they had been placed for sale. She ground a handful of coffee beans and set them aside, along with the old coffeepot Taylor always kept on the stove.

She didn't look up from slicing bacon when Fletcher came to collect the coffee and pot. If she looked at his sullen face she would say something that would start an argument, and Pa didn't need to be any more upset than he was already.

She exclaimed impatiently when Fletch took the pot outside to pack it full of snow and slammed the door behind him. He had awakened Jolie, who had set up a wailing, hungry cry. Without thinking, she put the bacon aside and picked the little one up and sat down on a stool behind the counter. She had bared her breast to the tiny mouth when Fletch returned.

He stopped dead, his eyes fastened on the creamy mound of Laura's breast pressed against her daughter's mouth. He remembered his mouth there and immediately became aroused, his hard length pushing against his buckskins. Laura hadn't seen him yet, all her attention on her nursing baby. He made a sc.r.a.ping sound with his feet and pretended not to see her as he walked into the tavern room.

Jolie finally had her fill, and Laura laid her back on the blanket Fletch had folded and placed in the bottom of the basket. She begrudgingly admitted that it had been thoughtful of him to make her baby as comfortable as possible. At least he wasn't taking his spleen out on her.

When she brought a loaded breakfast tray to Taylor later and placed it on his lap, Fletch leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, watching her fuss over his father.

She doesn't treat him like a husband, he said to himself. She still treats him like a father. What in the h.e.l.l kind of marriage did they have anyhow? They didn't even share the same bed, for heaven's sake.

It came to him like a hard blow to the head.

In the biblical sense they weren't husband and wife. He hadn't really believed it before, but he believed now what was whispered about Laura and Adam Beltran. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had got Laura in a family way, and Pa had married her to save her good name. Everything fell into place, including his father's continued visits to b.u.t.terfly.

He looked at his father's pain-etched face and regretted the harsh accusations he had hurled at the kind man. Somehow he must make it up to him. As for Laura, nothing had changed in his regard for her. If anything, it had slipped lower. While he had lain awake nights, longing for her, praying that she would have him when he returned, she had been lying with Beltran, letting him get her with child.

He couldn't bear to look at her as she sat before Pa, talking to him in her low, sweet voice. How could Pa still be so nice to her, knowing what she had done?

When Taylor finished his breakfast and Laura took the empty plate away, Fletch began his atonement by walking over to the bed and saying cheerfully, "Well, Pa, it looks like I'll be running the post while you're laid up."