Apalachee

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

She took her hand from her eyes and glanced at him. ‘‘Do you believe that?’’ ‘‘I hope for it,’’ he answered simply. She nodded. And so would she hope for it. How else could they imagine any future at all? ‘‘When the slave-catchers are gone,’’ she said, ‘‘we will make a homestead out here. Shall we choose the spot for it now?’’ ‘‘At this moment? In all this heat? Tomorrow morning we will come out and do that. I will even start clearing the land for you, if you want.’’ Reaching out, he put his hand behind her neck and drew her to him and kissed her. She laughed, pulling free. ‘‘If they see you doing that, they will tease you forever. They will say I have you too much in my power.’’ ‘‘Then we should go back to our house. We will do it properly with no one looking.’’ ‘‘In the Apalachee way,’’ she said smiling, and she turned to start back up the path. ‘‘If this were our homestead,’’ he said, ‘‘we could do whatever we wanted right here in the cornfield.’’ She stopped and turned around, her eyes playful. ‘‘It is very much the Apalachee way to do it in a cornfield. Anyone’s cornfield at all. It is only a matter of being discreet.’’ He looked to see if she meant that as an invitation. She did. ‘‘You go first,’’ he said. She kissed him flirtatiously and then left the path and walked into the corn, making her way among the high stalks, keeping on a long way, going deep into the field, beyond any chance of discovery. And as she walked she could hear him coming behind her, a steady rustling of the corn at a distance that was properly discreet. 118 chapter fifteen It was the middle of the night, almost a month after they had come to Salvador’s camp. Lucia awoke suddenly in a fright, her heart pounding, her eyes wide and searching the darkness. She reached out and felt Carlos in the bed beside her and then lay still for a moment, trying to collect herself. What had it been? She had no memory of a dream. A sound, perhaps, but all was silent now. The town was still, like any other night. Out in the darkness there were sentries guarding. There was nothing to fear. But her heart would not stop its pounding, and her breath came quickly. Fear was on her like a cougar on a fawn. Again she put her hand on Carlos and the fear quickened. He was leaving. Could it be that? At dawn he was going out to hunt. For a few days, he had said. But that was not unusual. In a few days he would be back again. What was this fear? Carlos lay with his back to her and she turned to him and slipped her arm around his chest and held him tightly, pressing her face against his back. She was trembling. He stirred and reached back for her, pulling her more tightly against him, and then, waking a little more, he felt her trembling. ‘‘What is it?’’ he said. ‘‘Take me with you when you go.’’ And with that, the fear began to subside. He turned around to face her in the darkness, resting his hand on her hip. ‘‘You want to come hunting with me?’’ There was amusement in his voice, but she did not mind it. She did not want to tell him about the fear. She could not explain it even to herself. ‘‘When I was a little girl,’’ she said, ‘‘I used to go hunting with my father.’’ ‘‘And did you kill much game?’’ ‘‘He did. I had no strength for the bow. But I could move as quietly as he could, and we would go a little apart, or at a stream at dawn we would wait in different places for the deer, and if I saw something I would make the sound of a chickadee to tell him.’’ ‘‘You can do that? A chickadee?’’ He was moving his hand lightly down her leg, then up again over the curve of her hip. ‘‘Tomorrow in the woods I will show you.’’ ‘‘Do you truly want to go hunting?’’ He seemed amazed, and pleased. She felt easy now. Her fear was almost gone. ‘‘There is much a woman can do on the hunting trail,’’ she said. ‘‘There is meat to be dried...