Someone tried to kill you?” Meredith clutched Amy as if she were hanging off a cliff right that very minute.
Tucker jumped from his seat at the table, knocking his chair over. His eyes were wary, his body tense, coiled for action as if the attacker might come into the room at any moment.
Amy decided someone needed to build sturdier furniture for this household, and she was just the one to do it.
She saw Ian’s eyes darken with worry as he hurried to Meredith’s side and slid his arm around her to calm her. Braden stood beside Amy, the two of them just inside the door. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head at Amy as if she were upsetting Meredith deliberately.
“He did not succeed.” Patting Meredith’s hand, hoping to calm her, Amy added, “From now on I will be on my guard. Do not get all in a dither.”
Meredith, always as sweet and cheerful as her name, squared her shoulders and clenched her fists. Despite Meredith’s bout of sickness caused by the baby, Amy remembered that Ian’s wife had survived the frigid Alaskan winter and cared for two men, all without complaint— and certainly without climbing on a roof and crowing the sun up in the morning.
Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “I am not in a dither.” She turned on Ian. “What are we going to do about this?”
“Well, I thought—”
“We are going to my father’s cabin and have it out with that man.” Amy cut him off.
Amy shifted her gaze from Braden to Ian to Tucker. “You know that is who pushed me. Until we prove that, no one is safe. Such a dangerous, ruthless man. He could harm anyone if his twisted mind told him to.”
“Ian, you’ve got to see to this.” Meredith wrapped her arm around Amy’s shoulders.
“You don’t know he did anything wrong.” Braden dragged his hat off his head and hung it on the peg beside the door. “You didn’t see anyone.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it, honey.” Ian slung an arm around Meredith.
Amy pulled away from Meredith and whirled to face Braden. “Are you going to accuse me of being a liar again?”
“We can’t go off and leave the women at home.” Tucker shouldered his way between Meredith and Ian. “You stay, Ian. You’re a married man going to be a father. Braden and I will go to Amy’s cabin and take care of this.”
Braden ran both hands through his hair, his agitated motions making the unruly curls wild. He raised both hands in front of him as if surrendering. “I never said you were a liar.”
“You called Amy a liar?” Meredith ducked under Tucker’s arm and scowled at Braden. “Why, she’s the most honest woman who ever lived.”
“That is not the way I remember it, Braden Rafferty.” Amy shook a finger under Braden’s nose. “You accused me of—”
“Now, honey, don’t go getting mad at Braden.” Ian circled Tucker’s huge frame and rested his hands on Meredith’s shoulders.
Amy jammed her fists on her hips. “Why are we wasting time talking when we should be heading for Father’s house?”
Wait on the Lord.
Amy shook her head to clear it of the impossible idea. Now was the time for action— past time in her opinion. “You are not going without me. Tucker, Braden, and I will go. Ian and Meredith can stay here.”
“I did not say you lied.”
Amy glared at Braden.
“We can all go.” Meredith wrung her hands as if she were afraid of being left out. “I have been in this cabin nonstop for six months.”
Meredith was practically confined indoors thanks to the bear tracks Ian had seen. The only time she went outdoors was when Amy cooked their meals. And then she sat in the yard, within feet of the house. Amy knew anyone living like that would be eager for a change.
“Now, we can’t do that.” Ian rubbed Meredith’s shoulder. “I wish we could, honey. I know you’d like to go to town.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Tucker turned on Meredith. “We’re not going on a picnic. You can’t come. It’s dangerous.”
Despite the rudeness, Amy saw how dearly Tucker loved his sister.
“We are wasting time.” Amy’s arms flew wide. “If none of you are going, fine. I’ll go myself.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Braden leaned until his nose almost touched hers. “You’re not going anywhere alone again as long as you live.” Braden’s orders only made her more impatient. “And I didn’t call you a liar. I wondered if you might be mistaken, is all. It’s hard enough believing someone is capable of murder, but to accuse a man with no evidence—”
“The evidence”—Amy jabbed the second button on Braden’s brown broadcloth shirt— “is his presence in my father’s cabin. I am telling you for the last time, my father would not have sold it.”
She pulled her hand back for another good jab.
Braden caught her hand. “Stop that.”
Amy jerked against his grip, and he let her go.
“When you said ‘for the last time,’ you didn’t even begin to mean it, did you?” Braden sounded exhausted.
Amy clenched her fists.
“Now, Amy, you can’t know that about your pa. He might have sold the cabin.” Tucker hooked his thumbs into his suspenders.
“He’s her father. Who would know better?” Meredith shoved Tucker sideways.
Not budging an inch, Tucker scowled at Meredith.
“And that means it was stolen.” Amy ignored Tucker and jabbed Braden again. “So if my father died under unexplained circumstances, then this man is suspect in his murder.”
Braden caught Amy’s hand. “I told you to stop that.”
“Amy’s word is good enough for me, Braden. We have to help her. Stop being so stubborn.” Meredith crossed her arms, the very picture of stubbornness.
“The law needs more than Amy’s suspicions.” Ian stuck his head between Tucker and Meredith.
Tucker quit glaring at Meredith and turned to Amy. “Don’t even think of going down there by yourself.”
Amy pulled against Braden’s grasp.
Braden didn’t let go. Fire flashed from his blue eyes.
Common sense said to give an angry man some space. She stepped closer and rose on her tiptoes. “Then you had better quit making excuses and come with me. Let us go see if the deed is still in the hidden drawer in Papa’s mantel. It is just an old paper given to him by the Russian trapper who lived there before him. Father would have signed it over if he’d sold. And if the man killed my father and stole the cabin, that deed will be tucked in there, all the proof you and the law need.”
Braden rolled his eyes. “We can’t just go off in these woods and leave everyone behind.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not safe to leave Ian and Merry alone. You, Tucker, and I would be fine, unless there’s really someone after you.”
Amy gasped. “You just called me a liar again.” Amy whirled to face Meredith. “Did you hear that?”
Meredith stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Amy. “I most certainly did.”
“Not a liar, mistaken.”
“Then we will go, just the two of us,” Amy said to Braden. “We will sneak up to his place, wait until he is away, go in, and have a look in the mantel. If everything is in order, we will leave. Tucker and Ian can stay here. That way, Meredith will be safe.”
“You can’t sneak into a man’s house,” Ian pointed out. “It’s against the law.”
“It is not sneaking in if it is my father’s house. I am welcome there.”
Braden shook his head. “But you can’t know if it’s your father’s house until after you sneak in. So it’s wrong. Finding something that makes it right later still makes it wrong when you first do it.”
“What are Ian and Tucker keeping me safe from?” Meredith threw her hand in the air. “Until this man attacked, I have felt as safe as a babe in arms.”
“What about those bear tracks Ian saw?” Tucker reminded her.
“That was days ago,” Ian said. “The bear must have moved on, because the tracks are old. This isn’t his regular territory. I can tell by his size he’s an old fellow, and I’ve seen no sign of him before.”
“Bears roam widely. Just because he has never been here before does not mean he is passing through,” Amy said.
Ian shook his head. “He’s miles from here by now, heading north. And I should be the one to go. Once we’re in the wilderness, I’m the one who can find a trail and keep an eye out for trouble. And now that the bear’s gone, whoever stays here will be perfectly safe.”
A crash shook the cabin and startled Amy into stumbling against Braden. He wrapped his arms around her as they whirled toward the sound. The cabin door hung on one hinge, and the paw of a polar bear poked through the opening. The fierce roar of the hungry bear nearly rattled the timbers that held up the cabin.
Tucker dived for the shotgun hanging over the door. “Perfectly safe, my—”
The bear slashed at Tucker, and he stumbled back. The door tilted open at the upper left corner.
Braden grabbed Amy around the waist. He tucked her behind him. Ian caught Meredith by the shoulders and shoved her at Braden. Snagging Meredith around the waist, Braden put his body between both women and the bear. Ian ran for the door.
The bear roared. A paw slammed. The leather hinge on the bottom broke. Only the rickety wooden latch held the door closed.
Tucker, landing his back with a hard thud against the sturdy row of cedar saplings that formed the door, shoved it into place. His body and the protesting latch stood between the rest of them and a thousand pounds of enraged bear.
Tucker reached over his head, lifted the gun down off its pegs, and tossed it. Ian snagged it in midair. Braden ducked beside the door and lifted the heavy bar they dropped in place every night to secure the cabin.
Amy dashed for the bag of herbs she’d been collecting ever since she’d arrived. Thrusting her hand deep in the bag, she dug until she found the leather pouch she’d so carefully filled.
The beast barreled into the door with a vicious snarl. The door shook, and Tucker staggered forward a step. Bracing his legs, Tucker jammed the door back in place.
“When I say so, let the door go.” Ian lifted the gun, keeping the barrel pointed upward over Tucker’s head.
“No!” Braden shouted, lifting the massive beam. “Let’s get this bar in place. It’ll be enough to keep the bear out. He’ll go away eventually. If we let him in, you might not get him before he hurts the women.”
Amy swung the wooden shutter in the bedroom aside and poked her head out the window, looking toward the bear.
Braden caught Amy’s movements out of the corner of his eye. “What are you doing?” He turned toward her.
“Scat, hintak xóodzi! Shoo, bear!” She tugged the slipknot that held the pouch closed. The bear swung its massive head at her. He fixed his beady black eyes on Amy as if he could already taste her tender flesh. The bear reared up on its hind legs. She threw the bane at the bear, pouch and all.
The pouch hit the bear full in the face, and a little puff of the bitter herb dusted its snout. The growling roar cut off and turned to a whine. He retracted his claws and swiped at his face.
Braden grabbed Amy around the waist. “Get away before he—”
The bear’s whining grew louder. Braden quit hollering and turned to see the animal drop on all fours and shake his head frantically, sneezing and rubbing his face on his furry foreleg. The bear looked up, and for a second, Amy stared into his eyes.
“I know it hurts, hintak xóodzi, old friend, but you should not have come here. The salmon swim thick just over the hill. Quit being lazy and go find your own food. Leave us in peace.”
Meredith shoved herself in beside Amy.
Ian stepped up behind his wife. Amy saw Tucker ease the door open an inch and peek through.
The bear seemed to be crying. Amy grinned. She knew the bitter powder would do no harm, but for a while it would sting something fierce. “Big baby.”
The bear shook his head again like a dog shaking off water. Huffing, his nose and eyes streamed. Then, with a wail as if he’d been soundly spanked by his mama, he turned and galloped into the woods. Amy hoped he was going fishing. The water would soothe the sting.
Meredith turned once the bear disappeared. “You have a bear repellant in your case?”
“Of course.” Amy laughed. “No one lives in the midst of wolves, bears, and wolverines without a supply of it. I call it water carrot.”
Tucker set the door back in place, and when it fell toward him, he dropped the bar across it with a loud clatter. “Water carrot?”
Ian stepped away from the window. “I’m really familiar with these woods. I’ve never heard of water carrot.”
Amy shrugged. “It resembles a carrot and smells of it a bit. That may not be its true name. It is something my people use. We also call it yán. Before the missionaries came and told my mother’s people about Jesus and the one true God, we used yán as a magic charm to ward off evil spirits.”
“And bears?” Meredith asked, shaking her head, still glancing nervously at the woods where the bear had disappeared.
Amy laughed. “Yes, all large dangerous animals. Now we know it is not magic; it just burns.”
“And where do you find this water carrot?” Ian’s brow furrowed.
Pleased Ian showed this eagerness to learn more about this new homeland of his, Amy said, “I will show you. It is dangerous though. I’m careful to never, never touch it with my bare hands. It is a deadly poison if eaten, and the juice would make you very sick if it touched your skin.”
Amy thought of the plant for a second and then added, “Oh, I remember now, one of the missionaries told us yán goes by another name in the English language.”
“What name?” Braden asked.
Amy carefully turned away from the group and washed her hands thoroughly as she tried to remember. “It was something about one of your ancient teachers. We studied him a bit in school.” She dried her hands and turned back to the four of them, only then noticing the way they were staring at her, as if she’d wrestled the bear single-handedly rather than just tossing the bane at him. And that’s when she remembered.
“Socrates.” She nodded with satisfaction.
“What about him?” Meredith asked.
Ian slipped his arm around Meredith and rested his big hand on her slender waist.
“He drank the potion from this plant.”
Silence stretched long in the room.
At last Meredith asked, “You mean hemlock?”
Amy snapped her fingers. “Yes, some people call it hemlock.”
Ian dropped his arm from Meredith and buried his face in both hands. “Bear repellant.”
“She’s got hemlock in a bag.” Tucker’s shoulders began to tremble in a way Amy couldn’t define, almost as if he were laughing. But what was funny about any of this? He ducked his head then turned his back and went to the door. He must be preparing to mend it.
“Well, he will not be back, and it is time to fix supper. I will get smoked salmon. It will cook up quickly.”
Braden rested his hands on her shoulders and turned her back to the dry sink Ian had fashioned out of a three-foot section of a hollowed-out bud gum tree. “First, before you cook our supper, why don’t you wash your hands once more?”
Amy reached for the pail of water, but Braden blocked her hands and poured the water for her, then carefully wiped the bucket where she’d grasped it moments earlier. Amy let him help as she washed again, though she couldn’t imagine why. Had he seen a smudge on her hands that she’d missed?
As Amy washed, Meredith came up beside her and handed her a bar of soap. “What else do you have in that bag?”
Amy accepted it and kept scrubbing. “Oh well, tundra rose, of course, and mooseberries. A bit of devil’s club, although not enough. I got tired of dodging the thorns and will go back later for more. I brought in a bit of spruce tip—hard to run a home without that. And there are crushed leaves that make a wonderful mosquito repellant. We can rub it on our skin and—”
“It’s not made out of nightshade, is it?” Amy noticed Meredith wringing her hands together.
“Nightshade? I have never heard of that. Does it grow around here? Does it make a good tonic?” Amy wiped her hands again on the flour-sack towel hanging on a peg near the sink. When she finished, Braden took it between two fingertips, held it far from his body, and tossed it out the window.
“How about foxglove?” Tucker kept his back to her, apparently fascinated by the door, his shoulders shaking harder now.
“Foxglove? My, no. That is not an Alaskan plant. Do you people know nothing about the northern lands?” Amy crossed her arms, wondering why they were all staring at her except Tucker, who ignored her as blatantly as the others stared.
“Wolf bane, maybe?” Ian asked. “That’d keep the mosquitoes away, I’m thinking. After all, it stands to reason that anything that’ll scare off a wolf’ll scare off a mosquito.”
Amy frowned at them.
“Any poisonous mushrooms in that bag, Amy darlin’?” Braden shook his head at her. “Or maybe you’ve stored up a little rattlesnake venom?”
Suddenly they all burst out laughing.
Just as Amy’s feelings began to pinch, Meredith threw her arms wide and hugged Amy until she could barely breathe.
Meredith whispered in her ear. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
The words and the tight hug were so sweet Amy hugged her back. She thought of Braden’s arms around her on the cliff, then later when he tossed her here and there as he stood in the breach between her and a savage bear. It was a completely different kind of feeling from Meredith’s hug, but he’d been trying to save her, even if it had slowed her down. It healed a lonely place in her heart to know he’d put her safety above his own.
The laughter quit hurting, and soon she joined in.
Meredith pulled away. “What in the world is a hintak xóodzi?”
“It is my people’s word for the great white bear.”
“Your people?” Tucker asked.
Braden and Amy exchanged a glance. Braden gave her an encouraging nod.
“Braden, you and Tucker run and fetch me the salmon. Ian, get a fire started in the fireplace. Meredith, you get comfortable at the table. I am hopeful the salmon will not upset your stomach as much as the mutton. When we are together, I will make supper while I tell you all about hintak xóodzi and my people.”