The Cry of the Wolf Chapter 26

"What are you doing here? I mean, how did you get here?" Adelaide leaned forward, squatting as well.

"It's a long story..." Jaira hesitated, not sure how much she should say, "but the problem is, we don't know how to get back. After we...um...disappeared, we found ourselves at a fort where we have been for the past few months. What about you? How long have you been in this place?"

"I'm not sure. I'm guessing at least a few months," Adelaide glanced down at Meg's extended stomach, "More than a few months..."

"How?"

"Arlana sent me this odd-looking Mohawk necklace. I put it on my desk and started the children's next lesson when the fan started blowing harder and the next thing I knew, I was in a church service in this...century? Brother Brebeuf was preaching. Maggie and..."

Adelaide stopped herself short, "Anyway, they invited us to have dinner with them when we were attacked."

She didn't have to explain further.

Jaira looked at Maggie differently. She knew her sister well enough to know which parts she had purposely left out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Jaira murmured, smiling sadly at Maggie.

The poor woman wasn't intending to be bothersome, she was apparently just very lonely.

"William is a soldier now. He left a few weeks ago to help the English deal with some squirmish. I was hoping he was going to return today..." Jaira didn't complete her sentence.

Adelaide shook her head, empathizing with her sister.

"You won't see him again most likely. They are going to marry you off to one of the men. Apparently, we are replacements for their dead wives. We had cholera hit us this month and..." She glanced over at Chief Long Knife.

Would he be upset she was confiding all their secrets in her sister? She had better be more cautious.

"Anway, the man they will give you to has lost his wife. I know we are still married, but there is no one who is going to rescue us. I fought it for as long as I could, but Chief Long Knife is good to me and the kids."

"Chief Long Knife? That savage brute?"

Adelaide frowned, surprising herself as she grew defensive. Had she grown to love him?

"He is neither of those things! He has loved me more than... No, he just needs to be taught to do better."

"No thanks. You can have him!" Jaira lowered her voice but her features were twisted in a scowl. "I will never give in. It's a sin Adelaide and now I'm seriously worried about you. What are you going to do when you go back to our time? How will you tell Gavin about your unfaithfulness? Have you thought of that?"

Maggie's mother-in-law walked over, assisting Maggie to rise from the floor. She motioned with her hand, trying one of the words she had learned.

"Come."

Reluctantly the woman followed her to the beds she indicated.

"I'll see you in the morning, Jaira," Adelaide lowered her voice, "Don't fight it...."

Then she silently crossed the room, slipping under the furs beside her husband.

Silence.

****

Adelaide turned her back, stiffening when he touched her.

"Tell me your heart," Chief Long Knife breathed in the stillness.

Adelaide ignored him. Let him realize tonight she was appalled by his brutality.

Laying awake she let her mind wander. Did he truly love her? Did he still love his first wife? Did she mean nothing more to him than a worthless replacement? Was he still trying to search for this woman he had loved?

Adelaide had tasted the sting of rejection for years. The middle child, she had often been left out. The long-forgotten insecurities resurfaced.

Chief Long Knife didn't give up easily, drawing her against him, ignoring the fact she was stiff and had her back turned to him. He smoothed her hair aside, kissing the back of her neck. Adelaide's skin tingled beneath his warm breath, but she forced herself to pull out of his embrace.

She needed to teach him a lesson. Adelaide wanted to be left alone, yet when he turned over, his breathing deepening, she only had herself to blame. He had fallen asleep far too soon, most certainly not long enough to think about why she was upset. Chief Long Knife had no regrets.

For the first night in months, Adelaide slept outside of her husband's arms, now regretting her resolution.

Sheepishly, she turned to face him, inching forward until she clung to his back, arms encircling his chest.

Chief Long Knife sighed, stirring in his sleep as he reached his arm behind him draping it across her hips. It was enough to soothe Adelaide into a restless sleep. She'd speak with Brebeuf in the morning. It was not enough to baptize the converts; they needed to be discipled as well.

A sheep without a shepherd, Chief Long Knife wasn't to be condemned for what had happened earlier. It was their fault for not telling the tribe Christians didn't behave like that. Instead, they were wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

****

As Adelaide had predicted, the new women were married the next evening, the men also taking the native widows as their wives.

Jaira had no place to run and hide. Her eyes blazed, refusing to look up at her bridegroom. Elizabeth, her friend from the fort, reached out holding Jaira's hand. Maggie smiled encouragingly, stroking her swollen stomach. Jaira blanched at the sight.

This is what you are all going to be like nine months from now whether you like it or not!

The thought was horrific, although part of Jaira's heart yearned to know what it was like to have a husband who looked at her the way Falcon gazed at Maggie.

No this is wrong! I will never fall for it! Every moment that I am here, I will pray for forgiveness. This man will regret marrying me. I'll be a cold, lifeless frog…

Jaira's lips curved in a grin at the image.