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IT WAS ESPECIALLY HOT the following afternoon, and when school let out, Catherine spent a few hours outdoors in the sweltering sun helping Nancy wash the bed linens and drape the heavy lengths of fabric over the bushes to dry. They sent Lad to the spring for more water to rinse the last of the laundry. When he returned, Catherine noted his sandy-colored hair was dripping wet. No doubt he’d taken a quick dip in the cool water, something she’d considered doing these hot summer days.
Although not common practice for young ladies to bathe outdoors, she recalled as a girl she’d more than once stripped down to her chemise and waded into the pool of cool, clear water in the meadow. She remembered how delightful the water felt rippling over her nearly naked body and how free and clean she’d felt when she lay back on the grassy shore.
“Water felt good, eh, Lad?” she teased as he slipped the buckets from the yoke around his neck.
“Yes, ’um, sure did.” He grinned.
“Just be careful you don’t step on a snake. Snakes also like to cool off in the water.”
“Snakes don’t bother me none, ma’am. It’s Injuns I watch out for.”
Catherine didn’t reply; she’d already turned to speak to Nancy. “If you can get along without me a bit, I spotted a patch of comfrey in the woods I’d like to dig up.”
“You go along, miss. I be nearly done here. I may rest a while m’self afore I start our supper.”
In no time, Catherine found the comfrey she’d seen when she’d been there earlier with her pupils. She’d only just squatted to her knees when she heard a rustling sound coming from near the ground. Her first thought, perhaps because she’d just been speaking of them to Lad, was that it might be a snake.
She raised her head to listen, but decided the noise was far too loud to have been made by a mere snake. She considered what to do, tiptoe over and investigate, or continue digging, when suddenly up popped the face of a dark-skinned boy.
Unafraid of a child, Catherine smiled brightly. “Hello, what’s your name?”
The boy, who looked to be about five or six, bravely stepped from his hiding place and stood staring at her, his black eyes round.
Like the Indian braves she’d seen in Werowocomoco, the boy was naked except for a scanty scrap of leather covering his loins. However, she saw no war paint smeared on his body, and he wore no feathers in his hair, which . . . was not black! Nor was it straight and silky and did not hang long and loose about his shoulders. Instead, his light-brown hair lay in soft curls close to his head.
Dismissing the oddity, she gestured to herself. “My name is Catherine. What is your name?” She extended a hand toward him.
The boy, his large black eyes never leaving her face, seemed to be considering whether or not to speak. Which gave Catherine additional time to study him. With his small button nose, it struck her that his features looked nothing like any Indian she’d ever seen. His cheekbones were not high or prominent, yet his skin was nut brown.
Suddenly, another Indian child, this one a girl, rushed into the clearing and began to scold the boy. “Nummacha! Nummacha!” The girl’s features looked as unlike his as they did Catherine’s. She snatched up the boy’s hand and attempted to drag him away.
“No!” he cried in plain English. “Sacani!”
Catherine’s ears perked up. She’d heard that word before. In Werowocomoco. One of the Indian guides had used the word, and Noah later told her it meant “stop” or “wait.”
Before the two Indian children scampered away, she decided to try it. “Sacani!”
Both children stared at her, their black eyes wide with surprise.
Catherine was again startled when an Indian woman stepped into the clearing. Catherine rose to her feet, leaving the spade on the ground lest the woman think it was a weapon. When she tramped closer, Catherine was relieved to realize she recognized her.
“Tamiyah? Do you remember me? I am Noah’s friend, Catherine. I was there when his baby was born.”
The Indian woman studied her a second, then her features relaxed. “How you know my name?”
“My sister-in-law Abigail Parke told me. Abigail is married to my brother Adam. I am Catherine,” she said again.
“Cat-a-wren.”
“Yes. Are these your children?”
Tamiyah nodded. “Boy, Pamoac. Girl, Tonkee.”
Catherine turned another smile on the children. “They are beautiful.”
The four stood in awkward silence for a moment, then Catherine glanced down. “I found this patch of comfrey and wished to dig up some for my garden.”
Tamiyah seemed to understand. “For many ills, good.” She pointed the opposite direction. “Wighscan. Root for snakebite good.”
“Oh, thank you for showing me! I was just telling our boy, Lad, to watch out for snakes. I should like some of that, as well. What did you call it? Wighscan?”
Tamiyah pointed out another herb she simply called “medicine plant.” But Catherine recognized it as yarrow and knew that a tea made from either fresh or dried blossoms relieved fever, stomach aches, and a woman’s monthly discomforts. She was especially glad to have some.
In the next half hour, Tamiyah showed Catherine where to find several other herbs, and Catherine gratefully dug up her new treasures. The children seemed to forget the grown-ups and began to laugh with one another as they played hide-and-seek amongst the trees and bushes.
When Catherine’s basket was full of greenery and roots, she thanked Tamiyah again for showing her where to find the new plants.
“I have learned so much from you today, Tamiyah, how can I thank you?” Suddenly, an idea struck. “Your children seem to know a number of English words. Would you let them come to my house for a few hours each day to learn more? I have begun a Dame School for boys and girls. The children could all learn from one another!”
Tamiyah considered. “I think about. Maybe one day come.”
“Splendid! My house is just . . .”
“I know where Cat-a-wren live.”
“Oh. Well, then, I hope you’ll let the children come. I would love to have them.”
* * * *
OVER SUPPER THAT EVENING, Catherine excitedly told Nancy about her chance meeting with Tamiyah and her little boy and girl in the forest. Of late, Lad had taken to filling his trencher and taking it outdoors to eat where it was cooler. Sometimes he sat on the doorstep; sometimes he sat on the ground in front of the lean-to in back, an area nicely shaded by tall trees. Catherine enjoyed having only herself and Nancy at the table in the evening, as they felt freer to openly converse with one another.
“Were the children . . . clothed?” Nancy asked.
Catherine laughed. “Partly.”
“Goody Smithfield told me when Tamiyah first began bringin’ her little ones to the village, the boy an’ girl never wore anything. Someone finally told her that if she continued to bring ’em, they had to wear clothes. From what I understand, it’s common practice for Indian children to wear nothing at all until they’re ’round ten years old.”
“I do recall seeing a number of little ones running around Werowocomoco without clothes.”
“At least half a dozen Indian women come to Jamestown every day now,” Nancy said. “I ’spect all the unwed men in town need help.”
“I think it quite a good sign that the naturals feel comfortable enough to move freely amongst us. The races should mingle and learn from one another. I do hope Tamiyah will allow her children to come to school. It would benefit all the children.”
Later that evening, while Nancy was busy outdoors washing the soiled trenchers, and Lad had gone off somewhere, Catherine busied herself indoors crushing the stems and flowers of a pennyroyal plant. She’d just begun to scatter the herb onto the straw at her feet when a long shadow fell across the floor.
She glanced up and was surprised to see Noah standing in the doorway.
“Noah, how nice to see you again.”
“May I come in?”
“Certainly.” She set the trencher on the table. “I was just spreading pennyroyal on the floor to ward off fleas.”
He grinned. “Still the little naturalist, I see.”
She brushed her palms on the skirt of her apron, untied it and let it fall to the bench. It was then she noticed he was carrying a small bundle. She gazed up at him, her eyes a question.
“I . . . wondered if I might leave this here?” He indicated the bundle. “It’s a few things I’ll need for my next expedition. No need to cart it home, then turn around and bring it back. If it’s no trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” Catherine replied, pleased that his leaving something with her would mean she’d get to see him again when he came to retrieve it. “Where would you like to put it? In my chamber, or . . . in the loft, perhaps?”
Noah glanced furtively about. “Does the boy still sleep in the loft?”
“No, for now, he prefers sleeping in the lean-to. With Adam’s horse no longer here, or a goat or chickens, the lean-to has rather become Lad’s domain.” She chuckled. “He says it’s much cooler sleeping outdoors at night. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to enclose it for winter.”
Noah didn’t appear interested in Lad’s doings. “I’ll just put it in the loft.” Already he was climbing the ladder in the far corner. “No need for you to come up. I’ll find a safe place.”
When he returned, Catherine was anxious to take him outdoors and show him the new plants she’d found in the forest that day. On the way around the house, she told him about seeing Tamiyah and inviting her two children to her school.
“Do you think that a good idea?”
“I believe Deputy-Governor Argall will think so. Or at least, Yeardley would have. It was he who leapt on the idea of my school becoming a missionary academy to bring Indian children to Christianity.”
Noah chuckled. “To my way of thinking, bringing the Indians to Christianity is not a likely prospect. The Indians believe in their own gods, with strange rituals and whatnot.”
“I see. How did your trading with the Chickahominies go?” Catherine asked with genuine interest.
“Better than expected.”
“They liked the rifles, then?”
“Indeed. Not a one asked about shot. The guns are all loaded, but they’ll only fire once.”
“When the Indians discover they need powder, are you not afraid they’ll accuse you of misdealing?”
He shrugged. “I’ll just say they broke them.”
Catherine worried her lower lip. “Seems to me you are taking quite a risk, Noah. The Chickahominies could accuse you of being dishonest.”
“And, you, my dear, are being naive.” He sounded amused. “The Indians are almost never honest in their dealings with us. They go back on their word every day.”
She abandoned the subject as they walked back around to the front of the house. Catherine heard Nancy moving about indoors, and she spotted Lad up the way with a couple of other boys.
A pang struck her. Noah stopping by these past two evenings had been a pleasant surprise. Although she knew his visits were odd occurrences, and she could not expect to see him every evening, talking so easily to him about the events of their day made it seem much like they were . . . well, married.
She looked up at him now, standing beside her in the lowering light. The long shadows falling across his face made him appear all the more handsome, even mysterious now that he was a man. The tug of attraction she’d always felt for Noah now made her skin tingle with an odd excitement. Suddenly, a need to tell him how she felt bubbled up like a hot spring inside her and before she knew it, the heartfelt words spilled from her lips.
“I’ve missed you terribly, Noah.”
A smile softened the angles of his face. “And, I you, Catherine.”
“If you had known I was coming, would you have waited for me?” she asked softly.
He laughed aloud. “How can you ask that of me when you married another?”
At the mention of her perfidy, she felt her cheeks burn with fire. “It was not my doing,” she muttered irritably.
He took a step away from her, then looked back. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for Tamiyah’s children to attend your school.”
Before she had a chance to reply, he’d headed off down the path. This time he was not whistling.