I thought we’d at least have a peaceful night together at Three Deer Point before Eric would have to start dealing with whatever trouble Pete was going to cause in the morning, but the phone call from Decontie came two hours after we’d fallen asleep.
“Damn,” said Eric after I passed him the phone. Sleepy-eyed Jid poked his head around the door and came in to snuggle against Sergei, lying on the old settee the dog had appropriated as his bed.
“And you did what we agreed on?” Eric continued.
While he listened to the police chief ’s lengthy reply, I snuggled closer, while keeping an ear open to find out what was happening.
“Good. Guess Pete’s smarter than we give him credit for. Where’s Robbie now? In his cell?”
The mention of Robbie started me guessing. And when Eric said, “As much as I hate to do it, I guess we’d better bring the provincial police into this in the morning,” I’d pretty well reached my conclusion.
So when he hung up, I hazarded, “Despite what you told Pete about taking Robbie to Montreal in the morning, you and Will had actually decided to take him down tonight, hadn’t you?”
“Yup, we figured it the best way to avoid trouble. But Pete outsmarted us. Already had blockades in place.”
“Where?”
“On the main road, just before the boundary line between the band lands and your property.”
Now it was my turn to swear. “Shit. They aren’t going to damage my property, are they?” Although there were no nearby buildings, I still didn’t like the idea of a bunch of troublemakers camping out in my woods.
“Nope. I think Pete is smart enough to know that any trouble he causes you would make things doubly worse for him. The SQ would have every legal right to arrest him and his men for trespassing. As it stands now, sympathy might be more on their side if the SQ arrest them on reserve land.”
“So why bring the provincial police in?”
“Basically as a deterrent to prevent the confrontation from spreading beyond reserve borders. I’m hoping we won’t need force.”
“What do you plan to do then?”
“Decontie is going to try to take Robbie out again in the morning. We’re hoping the light of day might bring reason to Pete and his men. That, and of course the confiscation of the two cases of beer Sergeant Whiteduck found in the back of Pete’s truck.” He chuckled. “But if they still won’t let Robbie through, then I’ll get some of the elders to help convince them.”
“You know, there is another possible solution.”
Eric raised his eyebrows.
“Bring him down the lake from the Fishing Camp to my dock. Your Jeep’s already here. And my road joins the main road well out of sight from where the blockade must be. They’d never know.”
“Maybe not at the time. But eventually they would, and I’d be afraid of the anger that would be directed against you. Besides, it’s going to be difficult enough getting the band to accept you as my wife without giving them another reason not to.” For a second I continued to enjoy his warmth before I froze. Wife! I backed away from his touch and braced myself for the ages-old words that I knew would lead to disaster. Instead he said, “Is something wrong?”
Perhaps he hadn’t realized what he’d said. “No…no not at all.” Maybe if I said nothing, the dreaded word would sink back into the big black void from whence it had come.
“It’s the word ‘wife’, isn’t it? Sorry to spring it on you like this, but it just slipped out.”
I tensed as his fingers played up and down my arm. “Meg, you know how much I love you.”
I nodded dumbly, unable to return his words of love. Afraid of where they would lead.
Eric’s searching grey eyes sought out my cowardly blue ones. I turned away. His fingers came to rest on the scar where the broken bone had pierced my skin. “Our relationship means a lot to me. I guess I’m hoping that someday we could make it more permanent.”
In a panic, I leapt out of bed and sought the security of the boy sleeping beside his buddy. “Shsh…shh you’ll wake up Jid. Let’s talk about this later.”
“Maybe we should talk about it now.”
“Please, Eric, no.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to marry me?”
“Yes, I mean, no,” I quickly blurted out. “Shit, I don’t know what I mean. Let’s not talk about it now.”
“Is this your way of saying I’m not good enough?”
“Oh, Eric, how can you say that? Of course not. You’re the only person that matters to me.” I was the one who wasn’t good enough.
“Then why don’t you want to get married?” Jid muttered something and shifted his position beside the dog. His eyes, however, remained closed.
“Shsh… we’re waking him up.”
“Damn it. It’s because of that bastard, isn’t it?” he growled and jumped out of bed.
I clamped my hand over the scar Eric had just touched, the scar Gareth, my ex-husband, had caused when he’d thrown me against the kitchen counter and broken my arm.
“Why can’t you forget the man? He’s long out of your life.” I rubbed the scar. The memory of the pain was still sharp. “I get it. You think I’ll abuse you the same way that bastard did.” By this time, the old hockey scar beneath his eye was glowing white, a clear sign of the extent of his anger.
“Eric, how can you say that? I know you’re not that kind of man.”
He pulled on his jeans, grabbed his T -shirt and headed out the bedroom door.
“Where are you going?” I called over the noise of his footsteps pounding down the stairs.
“I’ve got things to do,” he yelled back from the downstairs hall.
“At three in the morning?”
The slamming of the front door was my answer.
I remained frozen at the top of the stairs, too stunned to run after him. Too stunned to cry. One moment we were a loving couple—the next moment… I didn’t want to think about it. Why was I so afraid to tell Eric the truth.? But I really didn’t need to ask myself the question. I already knew the answer.
I thought back to the ceremony performed more than twenty years ago, when, with no forethought, I had promised to obey my lawful wedded husband. Gareth, however, had heeded those words and had exacted every ounce of that promise until I was nothing but a bowing, scraping female with no will of my own. Alcohol, lemon vodka in particular, had become my only escape. I jumped at the soft touch of a hand on my arm and looked down to see Jid’s beseeching eyes staring up at me. At his side stood Sergei, casting the same sorrowful brown eyes in my direction.
“Please,” Jid said, "don’t cry.”
My fingers reached up to my face and felt moisture. I hadn’t realized I was crying.