“And now you have a new protector. Wesley will help you as much as you need. And if you’ll help me now I’ll…” She couldn’t think of what she had to bargain with. “I’ll cook for you. While you’re building your house and barn I’ll give you meals.”
For the first time ever, in the moonlight, she saw the men smile, and they looked even younger. Their size made them frightening and she guessed they were used to stares and odd remarks, but she was rapidly growing fond of them.
“On the way down here,” she said slowly, “I saw a patch of wild strawberries. Have either of you had strawberry cobbler with a thick crust on the top, little holes cut in it with hot strawberry juice oozing over the crust? Or maybe you’d like something called chicken in a coffin. It’s a chicken baked with—.”
Bud cut her off. “What do you want done?”
“We do not murder people,” Cal injected.
“No! I didn’t mean—.” She saw they were teasing her. “Does Revis know what the two of you are really like?”
Cal’s face hardened. “Revis thinks we are his, as his mother did, but Revis does not treat us like slaves. We make him pay us well for what we do. You should not return to him.”
She wanted to explain things to him. “Cal,” she said quietly, “if Bud were in trouble would you risk your own safety to help him or go somewhere safe? Wesley is the man I love and I believe I can help him.”
“I would die for my brother,” Cal said, “and he for me. We will help you.”
“We will take you back to Revis and when your man returns—.”
“Returns! Where did he go? What’s he up to?”
“He did not tell us. He said only that he would be back in two days. You can stay at Revis’s cabin until then or we will hide you in the woods.”
“I’ll go back to Revis. At least there I can help Verity and see that everyone is fed. Shall we start walking?”
Bud looked down at his foot. “Perhaps we should wait until morning, when there is light.”
“But I’d like to get back in case Wesley…” She stopped. “I guess we can’t pick strawberries at night, can we?”
“No,” Bud said with a smile.
“What did you boys eat when you were growing up?”
“Gray things,” Cal said grimly. “Big bowls of gray.”
Leah tried not to laugh at his bleakness. Someday perhaps they could visit Stanford Plantation and see the vast quantity and variety of food there. And too, they might like to meet Clay Armstrong’s pretty young niece.
She sat down. “I guess we could get some sleep.” Without another thought she curled into a ball on the damp ground and went to sleep. One thing about having guardians half the size of a mountain, it made one feel safe.
Leah had just finished putting another meal on the table in the little cabin, but she hesitated calling the men in to eat. Wesley had just arrived, sunlight flashing off his buckskins, his face serious as he talked to Revis. Leah could see the tension in the cruel smaller man; Revis’s shoulders were hunched together as if he expected a blow any minute.
Over the past few days Leah had stayed close to Bud and Cal. She was amazed at how deep her hatred of Revis went now. Again and again she saw him kill the settler and shoot the woman. Once he tried to sweet-talk her into believing he’d done it out of his growing love for her, but Leah knew he’d murdered the travelers because he couldn’t abide being turned down.
The closer Leah stayed to the boys the more she liked them. They were silent while Abe spoke to them and of them as if they had the intelligence of the floorboards. A few times she caught Bud’s eyes twinkling.
Revis brought a load of fresh eggs and cream to the camp and Leah made a big custard covered in burnt sugar. But before she’d allow Bud or Cal to have a morsel, she made them tell her what they knew about Wes. They knew only that Wes was pretending that he was from the Dancer and would work with Revis.
“I’m sure Revis will welcome him with open arms. He’ll just love sharing his command,” Leah had said with disgust.
Now Wesley was outside explaining something to Revis, and Leah’s throat was dry in anticipation of how angry he was going to be with her. Maybe she should have obeyed him and gone to Sweetbriar, but then she’d had another look at him. Neither Kimberly Shaw nor any other woman was going to get him if she could help it!
“Abe,”
Leah said as she saw her brother walking toward Wesley. Abe would tell Revis who Wesley was. She was almost to the door when she heard Abe say, “Who’s this, Mr. Revis?”
Leaning against the door, Leah breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. Somehow Wesley had taken care of Abe. What in the world had Wes promised Abe to make him go against his precious Mr. Revis?
Now the only unaccounted problem was Leah. She smoothed her hair, her dress, and tried to brace herself. She hoped he wouldn’t be too surprised to see her.