Wild Embrace

She turned and left the stables, dreading having to meet Frannie and her curiosity when she saw how Elizabeth was dressed.

But Frannie had to know, as did her father, eventually. For now, she had been given a reprieve. Hopefully she would at least get a night’s sleep in her bed before her father arrived home and she would have to face him.

Chapter 18

How can I live without thee?

How forego thy sweet converse,

and love so dearly joined?

—MILTON

The sun poured through the bedroom window in streamers across the drab furniture and hardwood floor. The forest beyond was alive with the music of birds. The pulse of the waves crashing endlessly against the beach below seemed to echo Elizabeth’s heartbeat.

As she brushed her hair in long strokes, Elizabeth stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had changed overnight, it seemed, to the person she had always been. She no longer wore a buckskin dress or moccasins. Today, for her planned outing on the beach, she had chosen to wear a light blue, eyelet wrap dress with white cotton-eyelet pantaloons and petticoat with crocheted trim.

“No matter what I wear, my heart will forever be changed,” she whispered to herself. “Strong Heart, darling. Oh, how I miss you.”

She shifted her gaze and looked with melancholy at the buckskin dress that she had laid ever so gently over the back of a chair the previous evening. Frannie had peppered her with questions as to where she had got the dress, and why she had been wearing it.

Elizabeth was silent, refusing to answer any of Frannie’s questions. So Frannie’s conclusion, that Elizabeth had been with Indians, had made Frannie almost faint with fright. She had grabbed the dress and announced she would burn it.

Elizabeth took back the dress and told Frannie that this dress belonged to a sweet Indian maiden, someone who was Elizabeth’s friend.

But she hadn’t explained any more to Frannie. That would have to wait until Elizabeth had been given the chance to first talk with her father. Once he understood that she was in love, then she would tell Frannie her secret. But not until then.

Elizabeth’s thoughts went to Maysie. “Sweet Maysie,” she whispered to herself as she lay the hairbrush aside. “If only I could go search for her.”

When Frannie had told her that Maysie had left without telling anyone, a sudden ache had risen in Elizabeth’s heart.

But she knew that she couldn’t go into Seattle for anything, not even to try and find Maysie. Yet Elizabeth could not stop thinking about that day when she had found Maysie walking into the Sound, and had discovered Maysie’s life of prostitution.

“And so’s you still determined to keep that dress I sees,” Frannie said, entering the bedroom with an armful of fresh linens. She laid the linens on the bed and turned to Elizabeth, folding her arms angrily across her thick bosom. “You still too stubborn to tell ol’ Frannie where you’ve been these long days and nights?”

Elizabeth went to Frannie and placed a gentle hand to her plump cheek. “Isn’t it enough for now that I am home safe?” she asked softly. “Please don’t ask any more questions until I am ready to tell you everything. First, I must talk to Father.”

Elizabeth turned and walked to the window and looked down at the yard below. “Father hasn’t returned yet,” she said, her voice full of concern. “I wonder what’s taking him so long?”

She was worried not only about her father’s delay, but also about Strong Heart’s welfare because of it. What if they had met on the trail?

What if her father somehow knew of Strong Heart’s guilt, and even now was ushering him into a cell at the prison?

Her imagination worked overtime. She felt that she must think of something else or she would go insane from worry. Elizabeth turned abruptly and walked determinedly toward the door.

“I need a breath of fresh air,” she said, grabbing a shawl from a peg on the wall. She wrapped the shawl around her shoulders. “I’m going to take a stroll on the beach, Frannie. I shan’t be too long.”

Frannie rushed after her and grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. “Don’t goes nowhere today, honey,” she pleaded. “Stay in the house where’s you’ll be safe. Ol’ Frannie don’t trust this land, nor nobody. Lordy, Elizabeth, ain’t you glad to be home, in the safety of your house? Why on earth would you trust leavin’ it again, no matter that it’s only to take a walk on the beach? Anything could happen to you. Anything!”

“Frannie, please quit worrying,” Elizabeth said, taking Frannie’s hand, clasping it tightly. “I’m not going to do anything to put myself in danger. All I want to do is take a walk and clear my head of a few things. Start my breakfast. I’ll be back to eat it before you can flip a stack of flapjacks onto my plate.”

Frannie sighed heavily and shook her head, then pulled her hand from Elizabeth’s. “If that is as long as you plan to be gone, I sees no tru

e harm in it,” she said, her dark eyes concerned. “Go on. The sooner you get your strollin’ over with, the sooner you’ll be back here with me so’s I can keep my eye on you.”

“Frannie, I don’t need anyone keeping an eye on me,” Elizabeth said. “I can take care of myself.”

“Hah!” Frannie said haughtily. “You sure do have strange ways of provin’ it.”