The weeks following Christmas were extremely cold. They experienced severe blizzards that lasted two full days. The wind howled and shrieked outside the cabin, and snow piled high against the cabin door. It required a lot of force and digging to free up their entrance when the blizzard finally passed. The animals all survived, and although the cow was in some discomfort, she seemed to be none the worse for her period of slight neglect. The winter seemed to continue interminably until early March when Linnett first noticed the faint sound of running water. The stream had started to thaw. Linnett ran excitedly into the cabin to tell John and met him coming back from the barn.
“Listen!” she called to him.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” John shouted, limping over to her, concerned.
Linnett shook her head, her eyes shining. “Just stand still and listen and tell me what you hear.”
John did as she asked and a dawning realisation spread over his face. “It’s thawing!”
Linnett nodded excitedly. “John, isn’t it wonderful? Now we can visit Sarah and Hans and soon we can travel to Boston!”
John kissed her swiftly and began to walk back towards the cabin. “I want to brush that snow off the cabin roof before it slides off and catches one of us unawares!”
Linnett caught up with him and asked him excitedly, “When do you think we will be able to travel, John?”
“Not for a while, love, the mud is almost as dangerous as the snow, and besides, although it is thawing now, the snow could still return. I should think perhaps we could leave at the beginning of May.”
“Not until May!” Linnett was disappointed. She had thought they would leave soon, perhaps even the following week.
“We could visit with the Lammers as soon as the snow melts,” John added upon seeing his wife’s disappointed face.
“I guess I should like that,” Linnett said and shrugged dispiritedly. She went into the cabin and placed the risen dough in the oven to bake. How nice it would be to see Sarah again and share their winter experiences with her.
John’s leg was healed now and the pink scars grew paler by the day. He was able to clear the cabin roof of snow and they waited to see if the thaw would continue. It did, and by the end of the week, they had made plans to travel down to visit the Lammers family on horseback. Linnett baked and cooked provisions and made a seed cake for young Peter.
Linnett had also sewn a pretty purse out of the same green velvet from which she had made John’s waistcoat. She had worked on the purse through the winter, along with a riding skirt and habit for herself from the grey serge. The riding outfit was as yet unfinished, but Linnett liked to have two or three sewing projects going at once so that she could diversify and keep from boredom.
She and John had made Hans a tobacco pouch between them. John had prepared the hide from a piece of deer skin, scraping it and soaking it, drying and oiling until it was supple enough for Linnett to sew. Finally, with all preparations complete, they were ready to set off on the first journey they had made for some months. Saddling Amber was rather like trying to hold onto a slippery wet fish, Linnett decided as she waited for her naughty horse to breathe out.
Amber had become a very spoilt filly through the winter months and she filled her lungs with air so that Linnett couldn’t tighten the girth. If Linnett had ridden her like that, she would have fallen along with the loose saddle as soon as Amber let out her breath.
“You bad girl!” Linnett scolded her. Amber rolled her eyes and danced sideways. “Oh, if only one could spank a horse!” Linnett snapped.
“I don’t know why you bother to scold her, Linnett; both she and I know you don’t mean a word of it! … here, let me.” John strode up to the horse and slapped her rump hard, “Behave!” he told her firmly.
Amber seemed to know he meant business and let out her breath, allowing John to tighten the girth. “Well!” exclaimed Linnett with disgust. “I’ve been trying to do that for an age, and all it took was a smack from a man!”
“Women and horses, they are much alike.” John said smugly.
Linnett immediately bristled but grinned at her puffed up husband. “Ooh you arrogant swine!” Linnett grabbed a handful of hay and deftly thrust it down John’s neck. John spun around and caught Linnett as she scuttled towards the barn door. He swung her against him and captured her arms behind her back, grinning down into her face with one eyebrow cocked.
“Just for that, a kiss is forfeit!” He lowered his mouth to hers, and when his hands slid around to her bosom, Linnett deftly stuck her foot through his legs and hooked it behind his knee, unbalancing them both. They fell into a heap as John over-balanced and ended up in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor. John tickled Linnett unmercifully until they were both laughing so much that their sides ached and they fought to get their breath back.
Eventually, John managed to stand and helped Linnett to her feet. They brushed one another down and Linnett helped John empty his shirt of hay. They returned to the task of saddling up and tying on their bundles of provisions. The fire was fully dowsed and the cabin made secure; they wrapped up warmly and mounted, setting off. Daisy the cow was tethered to John’s horse as they couldn’t leave her behind on her own.
The snow had receded, but there were still patches about making the ground slippery under foot and the journey tricky. They had left in the early morning, but because they had to travel so slowly they didn’t reach the farm until the afternoon. Linnett’s heart raced as they rode up to the house. She was slightly nervous about the reception they would receive, arriving so unexpectedly.
She had been hurt that Sarah hadn’t wanted them to stay with them throughout the winter. Although, now that she had experienced the isolation of the winter here, she could understand Sarah’s reservations. Linnett need not have worried; the door to the farm house was flung open and Peter ran out shouting with excitement, followed by a beaming Hans and a waddling Sarah.
Linnett gaped.
“Well, are you getting down or staying up there all night?” Sarah asked, grinning up at Linnett’s astonished face.
“You’re with child, Sarah!” Linnett squealed.
Sarah nodded delightedly. “Yes, isn’t it wonderful? I didn’t realise at first! Hans noticed that I was unwell most mornings and suggested that I might be with child, and I snapped the poor man’s head off! It turns out he was quite right after all!”
Linnett dismounted and hugged her friend, careful not to squeeze her too tightly.
“What are you doing here? You are mad to travel yet!” Sarah scolded them both
Hans came up behind Linnett and gave her a great bear hug, swinging her up off her feet. “It is wonderful to see you both. Is that man of yours keeping my cabin in good repair, eh?” he asked jovially.
John answered him. “It is in excellent repair. No thanks, though, to a large bear who tried to destroy both me and the cabin!”
Peter caught John’s hand excitedly. “A real bear? Did you kill it, Mr. Foster? How big was it? Was it a grizzly bear or a black bear?”
“Peter! Peter! Let us go inside and John can tell us all about it over supper.” Sarah ushered them all into the warmth of the house.
It was wonderful for all to have company and conversation once again, and the evening turned gaily into a party. Each couple shared their winter experiences, but Hans and Sarah seemed to have had rather a quiet time compared to John and Linnett’s adventures! Sarah was intrigued by Linnett’s encounter with the native child and asked her no end of questions. Hans was concerned by the sighting of natives so close to home. He had heard that a number of attacks had been levelled at white settlers farther inland, but John assured him that these natives had seemed reasonably friendly. Sarah’s talk was of the coming babe, which she judged would arrive some time at the end of May. She was full of pleasurable surprise that after all this time, she should conceive again.
Sarah observed a new maturity in Linnett and a new closeness between Linnett and John that had been lacking when she had last seen them together. She was relieved that they had achieved a good bond and wished them the good fortune that she and Hans now shared. Hans was delighted with his tobacco pouch and Sarah with her purse. She insisted that John keep The Iliad as a gift, and to Linnett, she gave a small peridot brooch that had been her grandmother’s. Linnett gave the cake she had baked to Peter, and he insisted on cutting it up and sharing it out. Finally, full of cake, he went cheerfully off out into the cold, slamming the door and disappearing outside. The adults settled down to chat, sharing news they could not share in front of the young boy. Hans presented John with a beautiful map for their journey to Boston, and the two men poured over it and sipped whisky together.
Linnett and Sarah sat and talked of children and men, fashion and remedies. Sarah suddenly reached out and placed Linnett’s hand on her swollen belly and Linnett felt the miracle of life moving within. Bumps moved across the tight surface of Sarah’s belly, rolling from side to side. The two women smiled at each other and Linnett leaned over and gently kissed Sarah’s soft cheek.
“I am so happy for you,” she said softly.
Sarah nodded and patted Linnett’s hand. “It will be your turn soon, Linnett, don’t fret, just wait and see.”
“Oh, I do hope so! Ever since I held that little one in my arms and cared for him, I’ve wished for a baby.” Linnett sighed.
“Much better to wait until you are returned to Boston, though. Carrying a child on such a journey would be too risky,” Sarah told her sensibly. Linnett knew Sarah’s words to be true. Such a long journey on horseback would not be wise if she were with child.
The outside door opened, letting in the fresh, icy, evening air, and they all turned to see Peter standing holding something that wriggled dementedly in his arms. Linnett gasped, recognising the creature straight away, and she flew off her chair to Peter, who grinning widely presented her with a fat pink piglet.
Linnett took the small, wriggling bundle and spun around laughing, holding out her prize for John to see.
“Linnett has a special affinity with hogs,” John proudly told Hans and Sarah. “When I first met Linnett, she showed me her friend Esmerelda. She is an enormous hog that was tame enough for Linnett to pet!”
Peter wandered over to Linnett’s side and scratched the piglet’s soft bald ear. “She’s yore’n if’n you want her, my Christmas present for you!”
Linnett placed her free arm about the boy and gave him a squeeze. “Of course I want her, Peter, she is so adorable!”
“The ‘varken’ must stay here with her mother until she is bigger, but you can take her to Boston when you leave here,” Hans said, reaching for the now squealing hoglet. Sarah translated the Dutch word ‘varken’ – pig. “I’ll just go and return her to her mamma. We don’t want her rejected because she has been missing from her and her siblings for too long.” Hans left the house with Peter trotting at his heels clutching a pig bucket full of kitchen scraps to feed the ‘varken family’ their supper.
“John, this is so exciting. My very own pig! I just can’t wait to mate her and have more piglets!”
John laughed. “Poor little thing, she’s only just been born, let her grow up first!”
John and Linnett spent two days at the Lammers’ farm. Starved as they had been of company over the winter months, it was balm for them all to talk and laugh again, both couples enjoying the close friendship that had developed between them in the early fall. They stayed two days at the farm but too soon the time came for Linnett and John to return to their cabin. They had the maps and guidance for the long journey to Boston packed away with their belongings.
A deep sadness prevailed upon them all, knowing they might not have the chance to meet again.
“When you leave for Boston, just set the cows free to roam. They will wander down and find the rest of the herd,” Hans instructed. They were taking two cows back with them this time because Hans felt that two cows released into the wild would have a better chance of finding the herd. Linnett and John each had a cow tethered to their horse for their journey to the cabin; it would be a slow return, matching their speed to that of the cows.
Finally, all was packed onto the horses and they made tearful farewells. “Write to us in Boston when the baby is born and tell us whether it is a girl or a boy. Perhaps you could come and stay when the child is a little older?” Linnett asked hopefully as she hugged her friend goodbye.
“Perhaps,” agreed Sarah, knowing even as she said it she could never leave the farm to travel all the way to Boston.
Linnett hugged Peter to her and kissed his fair head. “You look after your mother now, Peter, and perhaps you can visit us in Boston.”
Peter’s eyes shone “Can I, mother?!”
He turned excitedly to Sarah, but it was Hans who answered him. “Perhaps in a year or two when you are a little older ‘lieveling’!” he told his son, ruffling his hair. Amidst a chorus of goodbyes Linnett and John rode away, back to the solitude of their mountain hideaway.
John was anxious to return to their cabin; he had enjoyed the visit immensely but longed to have Linnett all to himself again. Seeing Sarah large with her coming child made him want to plant his own seed; he so longed for a son of his own.
They broke the journey back well over half way. Sarah had packed them the usual generous supply of food, and they lunched well on fresh baked bread, cheese and cold chicken. “John, I long to gallop a little, the ground is much softer now and there is hardly any snow about. May I please ride ahead a little way and leave both cows with you? I could light the fire and start boiling water if I arrive back before you,” Linnett said and looked pleadingly at her husband.
John hesitated. He hated Linnett roaming off on her own. Ever since he had come across her with Ned, he feared for her safety.
“I don’t know, Linnett, it’s not safe like England.”
“Well, I know that now! Look, I will be careful and keep to the trail. Please, John!”
Linnett knelt in front of John and grasped his hands raining kisses on them. John pulled his hands away laughing. “Enough! Enough!... Oh, very well then!”
“Thank you, John!” Linnett cried.
“Wait and let me finish! Only on the condition that you keep within my sight,” John told her sternly.
Linnett’s face fell. “But that’s not fair, John, that is so unnecessary!”
“Nevertheless those are my terms, you can take them or leave them; either that, or you ride with me and the cows.”
Linnett scowled at him. “Since I appear to have no choice, I agree.”
John nodded, pleased. He grinned at his wife’s cross face. “Oh and Linnett darlin’?”
“Yes?”
“Disappear from my sight for more than five minutes, and you’ll not be able to sit for a week!” John told her pleasantly as he mounted his horse. Linnett stuck out her tongue playfully as she turned Amber and rode off with a flourish. John watched indulgently as she rode away.
Linnett kept her word, returning to the horizon to wave at John every time she rode out of sight. Finally, when she realised she was almost at the cabin, she cantered ahead, intending to go in and relight the fire.
As she rounded the crest of the hill, she noticed a black plume of smoke rising over the trees. The smoke seemed to be coming from the direction of their cabin. Linnett kicked Amber into a canter and then into a gallop. She rode hard until the cabin came into sight. Flames poured out of the windows and curled up over the roof. Shocked, Linnett slowed Amber to a walk and stared incredulously at her home.
Had they left the fire in? Surely the embers were all put out but obviously not! With a cry of dismay, she kicked Amber and cantered up to the front of the cabin. Linnett jumped from the horse and ran forward towards the entrance.
She was almost at the door when strong arms swept her up and back away from the inferno. She screamed in horror as she turned and found herself looking straight into the red and black painted face of a native warrior.