Elam lit another lantern and carried it through the house to the front door, where he found Jael standing on the front porch.
He opened the door and stood back. “Why didn’t you just come in like you always do?”
She gave him a sassy grin as she stepped inside, her riding boots echoing on the wooden floor. “Because you’re married again, and I wouldn’t want to come barging in on—”
“What are you doing out this late?” He noted she had a fine coating of dust on her clothes, and several long strands of her brown hair had fallen from their fastener.
“I’m on my way home. I thought I’d stop and let you and Keara know that I hired one of the Johnson boys to ride to Clifty with a message about Timothy Skerit. The boy was already heading out when I left their house, so I’m sure the Skerits know by now. Did you know there’s only a part-time telegraph operator in Clifty? How’s Susanna doing?”
He drew her to the sofa and kept his voice down just in case all the commotion hadn’t already awakened the children. Quickly, he filled his sister in on everything that had transpired that day.
She whistled softly when he finished. “So you still don’t know what that fake marshal’s planning to do with the Skerit boy? Because I’m telling you, Elam, something’s all wrong. I stopped by the sheriff’s office just to drop a bug in his ear—you remember Sheriff Nolan and I courted for a few months before I met Kellen—anyway, he wasn’t happy to hear about the arrest. Folks think highly of the Skerits around these parts.”
Elam nodded. “I’m concerned White River Hollow may be in for trouble, and you should keep the kids close to home. I think you and Kellen need to be prepared for anything.”
“After Susanna got shot, you think we aren’t? Now, just let me tell David and Pen. It’s been killing me to keep quiet about all this—”
“Tell them. I want you to tell every family member along the hollow to keep their ears open for trouble. Don’t mention Susanna yet, though, except to David and Pen. One stray word to the wrong person could lead to trouble.”
“I’ll be glad for the day when that woman is out of danger.”
Elam thanked her and gave her a hug then saw her to the door. He’d be glad when they were all out of danger.
As he listened to the sound of hoofbeats racing away along the road—his sister always rode like she was running from a pack of hungry wolves—he stopped in the kitchen to mix another cup of Keara’s brew for Susanna with an extra splash of his wedding present from the men. She could use a couple more swallows to help her calm down.
At this rate, if they kept pouring alcohol down her throat like they’d been doing, her liver would be as pickled as Brute McBride’s.
Before he turned away from the stove to return to the sickroom upstairs, he opened the cooling oven door and pinched a bite of drying bread pudding. It had just the right blend of sweetness and spice—sort of like one golden-eyed Irish lady he knew.
He was smiling when he entered the sickroom. The women looked up at him expectantly.
“It was Jael,” he said. “She got word to Timothy’s family about his arrest. She and Kellen will spread word to the rest of the family along the hollow to be on the lookout for trouble. Don’t worry, Susanna.” He handed her the cup of Keara’s brew. “Your name is staying out of it for the time being.”
He returned to his chair as Susanna took a deep swallow of the tea. “Now, why don’t we pick up where we left off? We need to have an idea what Frey’s up to, and what we could be up against.”
Susanna handed the cup to Keara and dabbed at her lips. “I hesitate to reveal a secret about Gloria that you may not have known, Elam.”
“Gloria and I had no secrets.”
“You knew of our ancestry?”
“Of course. You and your siblings are American, with a little mix of many nationalities, including Italian and Cherokee.”
“You knew we were part Cherokee?”
“Yes. Cash had a Cherokee wet nurse over the winter. Her family was on their way to the Oklahoma Territory. We shared several stories over those long, dark winter months, and I found myself wondering if they might have been distantly related to Gloria.”
“She never told me that,” Keara said softly.
“Old history,” Susanna said. “She probably didn’t think to mention it. At one time, it wasn’t safe to reveal too much when the wrong person may be listening. Not that you would be the wrong person, but old habits don’t die easily. When Gloria and I were growing up, our Cherokee cousins lived on our land.”
“In Pennsylvania?” Keara asked. “All Cherokee weren’t forced to move to the Oklahoma Territory in the march of ’38?”
“Most were, and the government continued to move them out of the East for the next forty years. My family protected our own.”
As if by instinct, Keara pressed the backs of her fingers against Susanna’s forehead then nodded with satisfaction. “Good for them. I’ve heard too many horror stories of that death march. How were your ancestors able to hide them for so long?”
“When my great-grandfather moved to Pennsylvania from Northern Italy in 1834,” Susanna said, “he was a wealthy man. It cost a lot to buy land and settle it, but he knew how to handle money. He married a Cherokee woman whose family lived on the adjoining land, and they taught him what crops to grow on the soil, how to rotate those crops, how to use the native plants for medicines.”
“And yet you turned up your nose at my teas and treatments?” Keara asked.
Susanna gave her a grin. “Did I ever refuse them?”
“You complained a lot.”
“How was I to know you were truly knowledgeable about the proper preparation and use of the local herbs? I could have taught you, but I was a little under the weather.”
“So the American government wasn’t able to force your relatives to leave their homes?” Keara asked.
“No. It cost my great-grandfather everything he had left, but he purchased the land where his in-laws lived and kept them there. My grandfather followed his father’s lead. Our Cherokee relatives were saved from the forced move because of my great-grandfather, and because they lived so far out in the hills that they were able to conceal themselves. Some of my other ancestors also married into the Cherokee tribe who lived there. Even though they wouldn’t be forced to move now, many of my relatives moved west in the past couple of years to take private ownership in the division of Cherokee reservation land executed by the Dawes Commission.”
“After this much time, there must be hundreds of descendents,” Elam said.
“Many of them intermarried and blended in with the immigrants from other countries, but they were able to prove their lineage.”
“I thought Cherokee didn’t believe in ownership of the land,” Keara said.
“They don’t, but the white man does, and because of that he can take advantage of my Cherokee relatives. They’ve already lost so much.”
“I remember hearing a few years ago that the Dawes Commission was not able to convince the Cherokee to cooperate,” Elam said.
“Of course, so the commission delegates went back to Washington and requested more clout from the federal government.” Susanna shrugged then winced at the movement. “The final division of Cherokee reservation land was doled out to individual families last year, and the reservation land that wasn’t given to private Cherokee citizens was returned to federal hands for development.”
“But didn’t private land ownership also give the Indians American citizenship?” Elam asked.
“I don’t think my Cherokee relatives see that as fair,” Susanna said. “But much is unfair in this life, isn’t it?”
“What’s to stop the government from claiming eminent domain if they want more of the privately owned land?” Keara asked.
“The treaties were written in a way that would prevent that. They varied for each tribe, but the lands allotted to the Indians could not be taken away for a minimum of twenty-one years.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with Nathaniel’s decision to enter politics,” Keara said.
“Nathaniel’s brother Sikes is an operative in the Dawes Commission,” Susanna said. “Earlier this year, he let slip to Nathaniel about a small but powerful faction of our government that’s making noise about oil discovered on parcels of that privately owned land.”
“Oil?” Keara asked.
“It’s a commodity in the Oklahoma Territory that’s becoming more valuable by the day,” Susanna said. “These government men are after that oil, and they’re frustrated that Dawes may have handed over a great deal of wealth to people they consider to be below themselves on the social ladder. Nathaniel was worried about what might happen.”
“But the land division was legal,” Elam said.
“Greedy people can stoop pretty low when it comes to that kind of wealth,” Susanna said.
“What was Nathaniel afraid would happen?” Elam asked.
“Genocide. Or at least decimation.”
“Because of oil? And the American government would do such a thing?”
“Not again. There was too much public outcry against the Trail of Tears. Nathaniel was afraid that the next attempt would be more subversive, even more lethal, by a small number of agents.”
“In what way?” Elam asked.
“That’s what Nathaniel was trying to find out.”
“But you’ve no idea if there was an attack of any kind being planned?” Keara asked.
“None, but I don’t believe my husband would have been so willing to enter the political arena with his brother this year if he wasn’t convinced of the danger.”
“What did he intend to do about it?”
“Investigate until he found the truth and then stop it by any means possible. Nathaniel would have given his life doing anything he could to stop such a massacre.”
Silence filled the room so profoundly that they could hear the clock ticking from downstairs and Duchess whinny from inside the barn.
“And he did,” Elam said softly.
Susanna’s face reddened, and tears filled her eyes. “It seems someone must have thought he knew more than he did.”
“Did he tell you anything?” Keara asked.
“Only what I’ve told you. I’m afraid Nathaniel was too outspoken with too many people, except for me and for his family. I think he felt he was protecting me from the cold harshness he was encountering, and he didn’t want Sikes to know what he was doing, because Sikes dismissed the faction as a small group of riffraff. I suspect Nathaniel said the wrong thing to the wrong person.”
Susanna closed her eyes and breathed a weary sigh. “Personally, I don’t know why Sikes even wanted Nathaniel working with him, except to keep him closer so he could prevent his little brother’s outspokenness from interfering with family politics, especially after my father-in-law passed away last year.”
“You don’t think Sikes is part of this faction,” Elam said.
Susanna brushed the tears from her face. “No matter how I may feel about my husband’s self-righteous, controlling brother, I know Sikes would never do anything to harm Nathaniel. And he’s not a killer. The Luther family has nearly limitless wealth. There’s no reason for Sikes to be so greedy.”
“Too many folks can never get enough,” Elam said.
“No, you don’t understand,” Susanna told him. “The Luthers feel it is their God-given duty to take political power to protect the country from people like these land mongers. Sikes truly believes in his sworn duties to protect all. He’s a die-hard Roosevelt supporter, and I know he would willingly die for his country, just as his brother did. For all his faults, his heart is true.”
“Then if we need an ally with political clout, your brother-in-law is the one we need to contact,” Elam said.
Susanna scowled. “I’d just as soon leave him out of this if possible.”
“It may not be possible,” Elam said. “But we’ll see. I’m not sure I believe Marshal Frey’s claim that his main intent was to come out here to intercept you, a dangerous killer. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless he thinks I know something I don’t.”
“So you do believe he was sent by this group?” Keara asked.
Susanna nodded. “Why else would he come after me?”
“But there’s more than that,” Elam said. “Even if Nathaniel had told you what these men were about, who would listen to you once your reputation was destroyed? If this faction could convince others that you did, indeed, kill your husband, then no one would listen if you sounded the warning about their true intent. He told me you and Nathaniel fought a few weeks before Nathaniel was shot.”
Susanna’s eyes flashed and she tried to sit up. Then she winced and eased back to her pillows. “Preposterous! All married couples squabble. It doesn’t mean they’re going to shoot each other.”
“Of course not,” Keara agreed.
“Nathaniel was gone for weeks at a time,” Susanna continued, “leaving me alone to take care of the practice. He was even talking about actually moving to the Oklahoma Territory and setting up a watch to prevent anything from happening to the Cherokee.”
“Why?” Keara asked.
“That was my question, so of course we fought. It was a silly idea. What were we supposed to do if we weren’t even informed about what actions this group might take?”
“But with his warning, the army at Fort Sill could have been on their guard,” Elam said.
“Against what? We didn’t know. All I know now is that I’m in danger, as are you, and quite possibly every person of every Indian tribe who lives in the Oklahoma Territory, maybe even more.”
“Why did you shoot at the marshal?” Elam asked.
“It was a warning shot only. He surprised me, got around me and was waiting at the other side of a cliff bank when I rounded it.”
“Interesting that he told me you were the one lying in wait for him,” Elam said. “That’s how these people twist the truth around to suit their needs.”
“He had his rifle up and drawn,” Susanna said. “I had no choice, but I’ve never killed another human being, and I couldn’t kill him. I hit a ledge of stone beside his head, and it broke off and fouled his aim.”
“What are we going to do now?” Keara asked. “The man must know you’re here at the house or he wouldn’t have come here.”
“He may have guessed,” Elam said, “but he couldn’t know for sure.”
Susanna spread her hands. “Then I’ll have to be gone when he returns.”
“You’re in no shape to travel,” Keara said.
“I’ll do what I must. My brothers and Nathaniel have taught me well. I know how to handle that pistol of mine, and I can survive in the wild as well as any man.” Susanna looked at Elam. “Surely you’ve noticed that Duchess is a rare breed. She can nearly read my mind.”
“She’s an amazing animal, but Susanna, you’re a doctor. You know you can barely walk, much less ride yet.”
“Even if you were able,” Keara said, “Duchess would stand out in any crowd. You said yourself that she drew attention to you when you wanted to remain incognito.”
“I recently learned that a rogue US marshal was headed this direction,” Elam said. “I’m sure it’s Frey. He happened to mention to me that Timothy Skerit has been fraternizing with a gang of men who have begun to gather in Eureka Springs.”
“But we don’t believe that,” Keara said. “He told me he wasn’t running with any gang. I believe him.”
“And I heard from another source that Timothy had a falling out with that gang,” Elam said. “Susanna, if Frey is a rogue, then he might well be hunting you, but I don’t think you’re his only focus.”
“What is?”
“You’ve been riding in the direction of the Oklahoma Territory. Since Nathaniel was attempting to protect the Cherokee, Frey may indeed think you know more than you do.”
“You think he could be part of the splinter group that wants the Cherokee land?”
“It makes sense,” Elam said.
“Elam, what about the gang of men in Eureka Springs?” Keara asked. “They must be gathering for a reason.”
Elam spread his hands. “There’s so much we don’t know. Susanna, is Duchess of the Friesian breed?”
Susanna caught her breath softly. “You recognized it. I knew clipping her beautiful feathering, mane, and tail wouldn’t be enough to hide her breed.”
“I only suspected. My father-in-law knew.” He glanced at Keara. “I had to talk to your father. I couldn’t allow him to ride away without knowing if he had a place to go. I followed him before I went to get the children today.”
Keara’s eyes softened. “You heard all this from Pa?”
“Yes, and he heard it from the sheriff. If he got a job with Herman Dougherty, we may be able to use his help to distract Frey from you, Susanna. You can’t travel, but Duchess can.”
“What are you saying?”
“We’ve had a dry spell this past week, and there’s a lot of dust on the road to Eureka Springs. Jael was covered in dust when she stopped by here. Duchess’s tracks would have been blotted out by all our company Monday night, but now they would stand out. Anyone who’s skilled at tracking can tell the difference between the size and shape of Duchess’s hooves and the hooves of another horse. Even a draft horse would have wheel marks alongside or over its tracks, and this man must know the tracks Duchess leaves. I could ride Duchess into town and leave her with Brute.”
“How do we know we can trust Pa?” Keara asked. “He’s loose of lips when he’s in his cups.”
“I believe I saw a change in him today,” Elam told her. “I’ll have a talk with him first, though. You can be sure of that, Keara. He loves his daughter, and he won’t put her in danger if he knows what’s afoot.”
“The gang of men you mentioned,” Susanna said. “Could they be Frey’s own little army?”
“Frey may not be connected to them in any way,” Elam said. “Someone higher in the pecking order may have sent him on his mission, but we won’t take chances. I’ll ride Duchess to Herman’s stables, keep to the back roads and shadows.”
“Are you also going to wear a dress?” Susanna taunted. She glanced toward the curtained window. “That marshal could be watching this house right now.”
“He can’t see a rider in the dark.”
“If anyone were to recognize her breed in town,” Susanna said, “I could lose her. Horse thieves abound, and she’s worth a fortune. Last I heard there were only three Friesian stallions left in the world.”
“Your life is worth more than money,” Keara said. “If my father stays sober, nothing will happen to Duchess. I could ride her to Kellen and Jael’s place, but there are too many talkative children there.” She looked at Elam. “I should be the one to ride her to town. You should stay here and protect Susanna and the children, in case Frey does return here.”
“No,” Elam said.
“Absolutely not,” Susanna said. “I know how to shoot. I hit where I aimed on Monday, remember?”
“You’re wounded now,” Keara said.
“You know how to handle a rifle yourself,” Elam told his wife. “I didn’t see or hear anyone following me back home, so if Frey does plan to come, he hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Then it’s decided,” Keara said. “Elam will ride Duchess to town, trade horses with my father, and then we will all try to rest.”