Unexpected Company

by Ev and Donna

Waneta spent a pleasant morning in her gardens, harvesting.  About two-thirds of the corn was already harvested, a really huge amount for the size of the garden.  At least half of the beans were harvested already and there had been a huge number of squash of different varieties, with many more still to come. 

Hudson had been restless so she had shooed him off to go hunting, along with his wolf (who he refused to name).   He was a very nice man and the longer they lived together, the better she thought of him. She had never been in love before.  Maybe this is what it was like.

She was singing happily in the kitchen, when she saw him come back.  He had a deer across his shoulders and a smile on his face.   Grabbing a glass of water for him, she skipped out the door.  "The hunters return!"  She smiled.   "You want lunch right away?  You must be hungry."

"I could eat.  But I want to get this deer skinned and cut up first. That's messy work and I don't want to get bloody twice.   I want to put half of this in the smokehouse and dry most of the rest.   Any chance we could have some roast venison tonight for dinner, or did you have something else planned?"

She laughed.  "I knew you were hunting, so that's what I planned, silly. Just bring it in when you get a chance and I'll fix it right away.  There are plenty of other things I can do."  She hesitated a moment.  "You want help?"

"You've never done this, have you?" 

"No.  But it seems like I might need to learn here."

"I really want to finish this.  I don't know why, but something tells me to hurry today."  He frowned slightly.  "I've had an uneasy feeling for a couple of hours or so."

"About what?"

"I don't really know."  He shrugged.  "Whatever it is, I'll know when it's time."

Waneta looked thoughtfully at him.  "I was never taught anything about my people's religion.  After my mother died, I was sent to live with an aunt off the reservation.  She married an Irishman.  The gardening and recipes were all right, but nothing about any religion but Catholic in his house."  She sighed.

"I could teach you, if you want.  But later.  All right?"  He smiled, pleased that she was opening up to him more.  This could be an interesting evening.

"All right.   I should probably work on the wool while I have a chance anyway.  Pick out a nice roast for dinner, ok?"  She smiled at him and went back inside.

They both worked, lost in their own thoughts, while the weather began to change outside.  Hudson worked quickly, skinning the deer and setting the hide aside to work on tomorrow.  He soon had the meat cut up and some started in the smokehouse.  When he finished, he picked up a nice roast to take to the house. 

He stopped and looked up in alarm at the darkening sky as he stepped outside.  The wind was picking up and it smelled like rain.  This was what he had felt so uneasy about.  He rushed into the house.  "Waneta!  There's a storm coming!  We have to get the animals in!"

She laid aside her wool and followed him outside.  "This looks like the worst one yet.  I'll take care of the chickens and closing up the buildings and you can work on the sheep and cattle."

He paused a moment, studying her face.  She was a strong woman.  Not Inuit, but she was like them in many respects, but more educated and independent.  He had to remind himself to go before he lost himself in her.

She felt his eyes on her and smiled.  That had been happening for both of them more and more lately.  "Maybe we should get going."

He grinned and whistled for the wolf to help him round up the animals. "I won't be long."

They worked quickly.  Waneta finished first and before working on dinner, she closed the shutters and then got something ready for Hudson when he finished.  She made sure she had the roast started and the bread in the oven before he got in.

The rain was beginning to fall as he shooed the last of the cattle into the barn.   The closer he got to the house, the harder it was coming down.  By the time he and the wolf got to the house, they were both drenched, and fighting the wind for every step.

Waneta had towels ready for the wolf, and stood there with a very stern expression on her face, which didn't quite reach her eyes.  There was a definite look of mischief there.  "You're taking those wet clothes off right there!  I don't want the whole house a mess."

He chuckled softly.   "Right here?"

"Right there."  She grinned.

He started peeling the wet clothes off.  Buckskin was comfortable when it was dry, but wet was another story.   He could feel her eyes on him.  If it was anyone else, it would have bothered him. 

She couldn't help smiling as she watched him undress.   She wanted to touch his slender, firm body.  She found herself imagining what it would be like to feel his arms around her.  She had to force herself to turn away and find something to do.  "I ran the bathwater for you."

His eyebrows went up a notch and a slow smile spread across his face. "Want to join me?"

"You wish!"  Part of her wanted to say yes.  "Then who would take care of dinner?"

He grinned and padded off to the bathroom on bare feet.   The temperature of the water was perfect.  It felt so relaxing to his tired muscles after the cold rain.  He could have fallen asleep in the tub, if not for the thunder shaking the house and the wind roaring outside.

Waneta found plenty to do suddenly, getting the rest of dinner ready. She wanted to time it as closely as possible to the time he got out of the tub.

****

When the storm clouds started gathering, the men in the Singing Creek Camp split up.  Trapper Connor went back to Wyoming's cabin to make sure the mares that had been left there were safe while Coltec went over to where their horses were pastured to do the same.   Wolf went with him, and grabbed his mare out of the small herd and headed to the nearest neighbors to see if they needed any help.

Hudson stepped out of the bath, grinning as he caught Waneta peeking at him from the other room.   He took his time drying off and dressing.   By the time he returned to the kitchen, dinner was smelling wonderful.  He would have set the table for her, but the sounds of the storm distracted him and he peered out a crack in one of the shutters, marveling at its ferocity. 

Wolf managed to find the house he was searching for, even though the wind made it difficult to even stay on top of the horse.  He saw the barn and jumped off his horse, and struggled to open the door against the howling wind.   Once his horse was safe, he stepped back out into the wind and rain, and made his way to the house.  He was glad to see that they had managed to get shutters up at least.  He got to the door and started to pound on it.

Waneta jumped a little, startled.  "Who could be out on a night like this?"   She ran to get towels.

Hudson went for the door.  "I don't know."   He opened the door and was startled to find a man in buckskin with long black hair standing there. 

"You're crazy, you know.  Come in out of the storm!"  He had to push really hard against the wind to close the door again. 

"Just checking to see if you or any of the other neighbors needed any help," the man said. "It's goin' ta be a nasty one!"  Hudson looked at him oddly. He looked and dressed like a Native American, but his accent was pure Highland Scot!

Waneta frowned thoughtfully at their visitor.  "Neighbors?  I don't remember seeing you.  But then I've been busy here since I moved in."  She handed him some towels and a blanket.  "Here, get out of those wet clothes.  You're not going back out in that.  We're about to have dinner.  I'll set another place."

Hudson smiled.  "Nice to meet you.  I'm Hudson and this is Waneta.  And you are...?" 

"Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod," he said with a charming smile as he took the towels and blanket..  He then told them his Indian name. "I am called Wolf by the others at the Singing Creek Camp."

"Singing Creek Camp?"   Hudson and Waneta chimed in together, making each other laugh.

"Maybe you got here after I did.  I'm sure I would remember you.  Where is this place?  I never heard of it before."  Waneta  was torn between putting dinner on the table and talking. 

Hudson saw her dilemma. "Don't keep Wolf here making a huge puddle on the floor, Waneta.  He can answer all the questions we have while we are eating."

Wolf smiled his thanks and went to the bathroom to strip off his soaked buckskins.  He rolled them up and squeezed most of the water off, and then wearing just a loincloth under the blanket, he put them aside to dry.  He would have to put them back on while they were still damp though, or they would shrink to where he couldn't get into them anymore.

Waneta grinned and went back to the kitchen to set another place at the table and start putting the food on the table.  She set Hudson to work carving the meat while she sliced the bread.  By the time their guest came back out of the bathroom, the whole kitchen was filled with the aromas of the food. 

"Smells good," he said as he helped set the table. "Shiloh is a fine cook too.  She is the only woman in our camp so far.  Blackfoot.  We have a mixed group. I was with the Lakota before coming here, and Coltec is from an ancient tribe that died out a long time ago.  He is a holy man, a hoyoka.  We also have my kinsman there.  We call him Trapper Connor.  Apparently there are three other versions of him here on Edan."

Waneta smiled.  "I met one of them.  He is the captain of a boat and lives in another farm just down the road with Katherine.  I've heard there's another, much younger version around somewhere, too.  There seem to be quite a lot of men around with the same face."  She grinned at Hudson. 

"A few with mine too," Wolf chuckled.  "It was a hell of a shock comin' face to face with meself!  When the storm is over, you will have to come out to the camp and meet everyone.  What tribes are you from anyway?"

"I am Iroquois."  Waneta  smiled.  "Here, eat!"

Hudson started dishing up the sliced roast.  "I am half Inuit.  My father was a white man.  A trapper."  He paused, looking thoughtful.  "I think being here is better for me."

"It's better for Shiloh too.  Her father was a white soldier.  And also for Buck, one of the Pony Express riders.  He is back in the camp with Shiloh.  The two of them are getting to know each other better."  He chuckled, remembering the obvious attraction the two of them had had for each other.  But the smile faded as the still fresh loss of his own family, Little Deer and Kahani, threatened to overwhelm him. 

Waneta saw the look on his face and her heart went out to him.  It was the look of someone who had lost someone very precious.  She decided to turn the conversation in a different direction.  "You mind if I ask a question?   What brought you to live with the Lakota.  You're Scottish, aren't you?" 

"I was traveling the Pacific Northwest.  Learned to track from Karl the Hermit.  Then I became friends with the Lakota, and they took me into their tribe, making me one of their own. I..., I had a family."  This time, he couldn't control it.  The tears came unbidden down his face.  "Connor and I had just buried them and the other people from the village before we came here. Soldiers came and killed them all.  Anger and rage was beginning to war with his grief.  Now that he was here, he would never have a chance to avenge their death by shortening Kern.

Waneta reached out to take his hand.

Hudson rested a hand on his shoulder.  "The men who did it will be punished one way or another.  If not by you, then the Great Spirit will find his own way."  

He rubbed his eyes and nodded, them mumbled something in Lakota. "Smells great!  I'm hungry enough to eat a bear!"  He put on a smile, not wanting to burden these nice people with his problems.

"Well, we don't have any bear.  Just bean bread, squash soup, and roast venison.  And it's a good thing I made sunflower seed cakes today."  Waneta smiled.  "It feels good to use my mother's recipes again."

Wolf assured her that if it tasted half as good as it smelled, her mother would be most proud of her daughter. They sat and talked, mostly about their farm and the camp, and their plans for the future.  But after the meal, Wolf excused himself and went to put on his buckskins again. "I need to go back to the camp," he told them.  They tried to get him to stay, but he insisted he had to go.  As he was heading for the door, he turned to Hudson. "Take care of her," he said softly. And then he was gone. 

Hudson and Waneta stood together, each with an arm around the other's waist.  Waneta rested her head on his shoulder.  "You know, we should have tried harder to keep him here.  That storm is still pretty bad."

He sighed and kissed her forehead.  "Yes, we should."  He wrapped his other arm around her and drew her close.  "Now we'll have to find something else to do."