Finding Home (22 page)

Nat watched as Maggie took a length of
rope and with Marissa’s help they drug the bear from the path close
to a tree. Maggie then tied the rope to the bear’s hind legs and
using Hardy’s strength they hoisted the bear off the ground to
bleed and gut him in preparation for the travel home. Maggie
severed the head to make the carcass bleed out more quickly and
placed it on the cart close to Nat.

“
This isn’t your first
grizzly, is it?” Maggie asked, as Nat’s hand went to her
neck.

“
No, I killed the one that
mauled my father to death,” Nat said.

“
Then this has brought back
painful memories,” Maggie said, as she watched Nat stroke the bear
claw hanging around her neck. “You kill, only when necessary, to
feed and protect the people you love, which is right.” Maggie’s arm
slipped across Nat’s shoulder. “You gave the bear the opportunity
to turn away and when his instinct to eat kicked in, your instinct
to protect took over, just as your father trained you,” Maggie said
with a smile.

Nat looked up at Maggie with tears in
her eyes. She knew Maggie spoke the truth. As she had done with the
bear that took her father’s life, Nat would take a claw from this
bear’s body and add it to the necklace she wore as a memory of her
father. Unfortunately, she would also bear a scar as a reminder of
the encounter, from the wound she had taken.

“
Are you ready to go get
that wound looked at?” Maggie said.

Nat nodded her head and stood from the
cart. Maggie led Quincy to where the bear was hanging in the tree
and lowered his body onto the cart as Nat helped Marissa back onto
Buck and then mounted Hardy.

“
We head for town and you go
see the doctor while Marissa and I drop the lobster off at the
hotel,” Maggie said. “I will take care of the bear and buck while
Marissa takes you home for the night,” Maggie instructed. “You can
care for the horses correct Marissa?” Maggie asked.

“
Yes, I have seen Nat do it
so often,” Marissa answered.

“
Good. When we finish in
town, take her home and put her straight to bed,” Maggie said. “She
will probably insist on helping, but stand firm and make her
rest.”

“
You are worse than a
mother,” Nat teased.

“
Someone needs to watch over
you,” Maggie said with a soft chuckle.

Nat knew Maggie was correct. The side
of her face had already begun to swell and become painful. The
doctor would sew the wound closed after cleaning it, which would
not be pleasant.

“
Yes ma’am,” Nat said, as
she tried to relax back in her saddle as she held the compress
against her face.

They traveled for another two hours
before they passed the cabins on their way into town. It was just
after midday when they arrived and Nat went in search of the town
doctor as Marissa and Maggie pulled the cart in front of the hotel.
Smithy had witnessed their approach and walked out to meet them as
they hitched Buck and Quincy outside the hotel.

“
Nice haul you have there,
but where is Nat?” he said.

“
She is over at the doctor’s
office,” Maggie said. “She took a swipe from a bear who tried to
take the buck from her,” she added.

“
Dear child is she okay?” he
asked.

Maggie chuckled. “She is no mere child,
Smithy, you of all people should know that and yes, she will be
fine.”

“
Do you two need help here?”
he asked as his attention was drawn to the doctor’s
office.

“
No, you go ahead and check
on Nat,” Marissa said with a smile to Maggie.

Smithy walked across the street as Nat
sat down on the doctor’s treatment table and removed the poultice
Maggie had made.

“
What on earth happened?”
the Doctor asked.

“
I had a little run in with
a bear,” Nat said.

“
I certainly hope he paid
for this nasty little swipe he took at you,” the doctor said as he
examined the wound. “This will leave a nasty scar.”

“
His head will be hanging
over someone’s mantel piece soon,” Nat said with a grin that made
her flinch with pain.

Smithy walked in at that moment. “Dear
God, Nat are you okay?” he asked when he saw the swollen, bloody
side of her face.

“
I will be fine, Smithy, I
had no choice, he started to charge us, so I had to take him
down.”

“
The hell with the bear, are
you okay?”

“
I will be fine, once doc
here finishes with me,” Nat said.

“
I won’t lie to you,” the
doctor said. “This is going to hurt.” He looked at Smithy. “Will
you bring me that bottle of whiskey?” he asked, pointing to the
bottle in the cabinet.

Smithy walked over and took the bottle
from the cabinet and pulled the cork from its neck before handing
it to the doctor.

“
Thanks,” he said as he
poured some of the alcohol on a clean cloth. “You may want to take
a nice long drink,” he said as he handed Nat the bottle.

Nat lifted the bottle to her lips and
took a long drink of the whiskey, flinching at the strong taste.
She welcomed the dullness to her mind as the doctor cleaned her
wound then as gently as he could, applied ten stitches to close the
wound on her face. He handed her the bottle for another
drink.

“
Does she have someone to
help her home?” the doctor asked.

“
Yes, I will see to it,”
Smithy said as he paid her bill.

“
Very well, let her know to
return to me in two weeks and I will remove the stitches,” he said
as he helped Nat to her feet and Smithy guided her back out to
Hardy and helped her mount. The way she swayed in the saddle
worried Smithy. “This is not going to work at all,” he
said.

He carefully led Hardy to the hotel
where Maggie and Marissa were just completing their transaction
with the owner. “We need to use the cart to get Nat home,” he said,
as he gently took her off Hardy and carried her to the cart and sat
her up. “I will accompany you to get her home and then I will help
Maggie with the buck and bear, when we have Nat safely tucked in
bed.

“
Thank you for your help,
Smithy,” Marissa said.

“
No problem at all,” he
said. “Why don’t you ride back here with Nat and I will take the
horses.”

Marissa climbed in beside Nat and held
her close as they turned for home. Smithy took the horses to Nat’s
barn and cared for them as Marissa and Maggie got Nat into
Marissa’s cabin.

“
I will see to the meat and
be back as quickly as I can,” Maggie said as she left Marissa to
undress Nat and tuck her into the bed.

“
Thank you Maggie and tell
Smithy thanks again too please,” Marissa said.

“
I will see you soon,”
Maggie said and with a soft smile she left the cabin.

Marissa returned to the bedroom and
began undressing Nat. When she removed the work shirt from her
shoulders, Nat opened her glazed eyes.

“
I love you,” she
whispered.

“
I love you too,” Marissa
said as she lowered a night shirt over Nat’s body. “Rest now my
love,” she said as she kissed Nat and laid her back on the bed. She
pulled the warm covers over her body and looked at Gyp. “I know you
are worried, so for tonight, you can sleep on the bed,” she told
the dog and patted the bed.

Gyp jumped onto the end of the bed and
laid her head on Nat’s thigh.

Marissa lay wood in the fireplaces and
started fires to warm the chilly house. She placed the coffee pot
in the kitchen fireplace as she toiled putting away their supplies
from the trip. She prepared a batch of biscuits and went to the
spring house to bring bacon into the house. They would have fresh
biscuits, bacon and eggs once Nat awoke from her
slumber.

Smithy walked with Maggie back to town
and helped her unload the two carcasses. “Would you like help
skinning this monster?” he asked as they unloaded the
bear.

“
I will start on him if you
will hang the deer meat in the smoke house and get the fire started
for me,” Maggie said.

“
No problem,” Smithy said as
he went to work.

Maggie pulled out a sharp skinning
knife and began removing the pelt. She was halfway done with one
side when Smithy returned.

“
He is big even though not
fully grown yet,” he stated.

“
He was well over six feet
when he reared,” Maggie said. “Nat was fearless as she took him
down.”

“
Nathan would have been
proud,” Smithy said as he began cutting away the pelt.

“
Yes, he taught her well,”
Maggie said as she smiled up at Smithy.

Maggie cut away the large paws and took
a claw from one of the front paws and tucked it in her shirt. “To
add to her necklace,” she said to Smithy who nodded his head in
agreement.

They finished skinning the bear and
Smithy helped Maggie nail both pelts onto a wall to allow them to
dry. “Looks like you all will have a very profitable trip,” he said
with a grin.

“
Enough to keep Nat from
going into the woods if she chooses,” Maggie said. “I really don’t
see that happening though,” she added.

“
It’s too ingrained in her
blood,” Smithy said. “Hunting, trapping and living off what she
kills is her life.”

“
That is very true,” Maggie
said. “Do you want to take these heads and claws with you tonight?”
she asked.

“
I can and that will be one
less worry for Nat,” he said. “She knows I will treat her
fairly.”

“
More than fairly, usually,”
Maggie said with a grin.

“
If she wakes tonight, tell
her to see me if she needs anything,” Smithy said as he and Maggie
walked to the center of town.

“
I will,” Maggie said. “I
will stay with them tonight and drop by tomorrow with a report,”
she promised.

“
Thanks,” Smithy said as he
watched Maggie lead Quincy out of town.

PART FOURTEEN

Maggie knocked softly on the door and
stepped inside when Marissa opened it. “How is she
doing?”

“
Resting quietly so far,”
Marissa said.

“
Good, you will need to
watch her for fever tonight, in case an infection has set in,”
Maggie warned. “I will stay tonight if that is all
right?”

“
That would be great,”
Marissa said. “Would you like some coffee or something to
eat?”

“
Coffee would be good,”
Maggie said as she took the claw from her pocket and pulled an awl
from her bag.

She took the cup of coffee from Marissa
and took a sip of the steamy liquid. “Would you like to finish the
boot laces?”

“
Did you bring them?”
Marissa asked.

Maggie smiled and handed her the strips
of leather and watched as Marissa started to braid. Then she took
the awl in her hand and began to bore a hole in the bear claw. When
she finished drilling the hole, she stood and placed the claw on
the mantel. She opened her bag and began working on the boots. She
had one part of the leggings attached to the sole and was
reinforcing the sections where she would bore the holes for the
boot laces. If she were lucky, she would have the boots finished in
just a few days.

Marissa watched the ease of Maggie’s
hands as she worked the soft leather. “How did you learn so many
talents?”

“
Like Nat, my family lived
off the fruit of the forests for many years when I was a child and
we learned to use everything we harvested,” she explained. “We did
not have money for new clothing, so we used the hides of animals we
took for food, to sew our clothes and to make our
footwear.”

“
Were you ever married?”
Marissa asked.

“
I was in love once,” Maggie
said. “He went out on a hunting party one day and never returned.
The party he was with was ambushed by a warring tribe and he fell
during the battle. ”

“
I am so sorry,
Maggie.”

“
It was a great love, and
one that will last me to the next world,” she said with a
comforting smile. “You were married before, correct?”