That got her thinking. Usually when they were together, others were around. His family or her family or Shakespeare and his wife. It was rare for them to be alone. The last time had been when they went on a long ride up into the mountains. She decided to go on another. Only she couldn’t just tell her mother and father and say she wanted to go off with Dega to be alone with him. She needed an excuse.
Over by the cabin the chickens were pecking and taking dirt baths. The rooster flapped his wings at her as she went by. She opened the door and went in and stood a moment so her eyes could adjust. Her mother, Winona, was at the counter chopping a rabbit into bits for a stew.
“Where’s Pa?” Evelyn asked.
“He went to visit your brother and see how Louisa is coming along,” Winona said in her impeccable English.
Evelyn pulled out a chair and sat at the table. Her sister-in-law was in the family way and everyone was doting over her. She wondered if they would do the same when she was in the family way, and blushed again.
“How was your walk?”
“It’s a beautiful day,” Evelyn said.
Winona turned. She had a bloody knife in one hand, and the fingers of her other hand dripped red drops. “Too beautiful to clean your room as you promised you would?”
“I said I would get it done by suppertime.”
“And you will stall until it is nearly time to eat and then do it,” Winona predicted.
Evelyn wanted to stay on her mother’s good side, so she said, “I’ll clean it in a few minutes. First I wanted to ask you something.”
Winona turned back to the counter and began putting the pieces and bits into a pot. “I am listening.”
“Pretty soon the weather will change,” Evelyn began by a devious route. “Winter will be here and we’ll have snow up to our necks.”
“Sometimes the snow is deep, yes. Do you want your father to repair that sled he made you?”
“What? No. I haven’t used that in years.” Evelyn traced the shape of a heart on the tabletop.
“Then what was your point?”
“Only that once the snow hits, we don’t get to go anywhere. We can be socked in for days or even weeks.”
“Winter is as it is.”
“I know that. I’m not griping about the snow. I’m saying that I’d like to get away for a day. Maybe ride up into the high country.”
Winona shifted toward her. “Oh?”
“Yes.” Evelyn saw the hint of a grin at the corners of her mother’s mouth. Or maybe it was her imagination.
“Would you go alone?”
“No. Pa and you wouldn’t like that. So I was thinking of asking Dega to go along. I was thinking we could pack food and make a picnic of it. The last outing of the summer, so to speak.”
“So to speak,” Winona repeated, and stabbed a juicy chunk. “It is fine by me if it is fine by your father.”
Inwardly, Evelyn smiled. Her father nearly always let her do things if she got her mother’s approval first. “I’ll ask him when he gets back.”
“Have you asked Dega yet?”
“No. If Pa says yes, I’ll ride over to the Nansusequa lodge later. We could go tomorrow morning and be back by nightfall.”
“All day? That is a long picnic.” Winona looked at her. “What will you do with yourselves?”
“Mostly we’ll ride and eat and admire the scenery and the animals,” Evelyn said, her cheeks warm yet again.
“You will go armed. Take your rifle and your pistols. And you will tell Dega to be on his guard at all times.”
“We’re not kids,” Evelyn said.
“You’re not adults, either.” Winona put down the butcher knife. She poured water from a pitcher into the pot and carried the pot and a large wooden spoon to the stove. “After all the things that have happened to you, you shouldn’t take the wilderness lightly.”
“That’s one thing I’ll never do,” Evelyn vowed. Over the years she had encountered bears and wolves and hostiles and more, and nearly lost her life on several occasions.
“I hope Dega’s parents will let him.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Evelyn asked. “They’ve always been as nice as can be to me.”
“I am sure they will,” Winona said. “They are dear people and have become good friends. We are lucky to have them as neighbors.”
“Yes,” Evelyn agreed. “We are.”
“You will be back by nightfall without fail?”
“I give you my word, Ma,” Evelyn said, averting her gaze. She couldn’t look her mother in the eye after telling such a bold-faced lie. She had no intention of making it back by dark. In fact, she planned on the opposite; she was going to stay all night alone with Dega in the wilderness.
She couldn’t wait.
Chapter Eight
Tihikanima found her son seated on a log in a sunlit glade. He was sitting so still and blended in so well, with his green buckskins, she almost didn’t spot him. He was gazing off toward King Lake with a longing expression she had seen many times of late. He wasn’t really looking at the lake; he was pining for the new female in his life. She strolled out of the trees, her arms crossed over her bosom, her doeskin dress the same shade of green as his. He was so enrapt, he didn’t notice her until she was almost on top of him.
“Mother!” Degamawaku stood. “What brings you here?”
“I was out for a walk,” Tihi lied. She had come specifically to see him, but he must not know that. “May I join you?”
“Of course.” Dega motioned at the log. “There is plenty of room for both of us.”
“What were you thinking about when I came up?” Tihi reminded herself that she must not be obvious or he would resent it.
“About a buck I saw this morning,” Dega said.
“Does this buck have a name?” Tihi countered. “And would the name be Evelyn King?”
Dega smiled and sat next to her. “I do not think of her all the time.”
“Only most of it.”
“I have made no secret of my fondness for her. She is a fine girl, Evelyn.”
“Yes, she is,” Tihi was quick to agree. In that, at least, she was sincere. She did think that Evelyn was a fine person: cheerful and courteous and caring. But to Tihi that wasn’t enough.
Out on the water, mallards were swimming and geese were honking. A large fish leaped clear and splashed down.
“What are you intentions with her?” Tihi asked. She had to force herself to keep her tone unemotional.
Dega shifted. “Why do you ask?”
“You are my son,” Tihi said. “You are my oldest. I have nurtured you from when you were a baby in a cradleboard. I care for you and want only the best for you.”
“Did Father send you to talk to me about her?” Dega asked.
“I am here on my own,” Tihi admitted. Her husband would be upset if he knew. She had broached the subject with him and he had made it plain that he did not want her to interfere. But she couldn’t stand by and say nothing. Too much was at stake.
“I should think you would be happy if Evelyn and I become close,” Dega said. “I could do worse than pick her as my wife.”
