Sweetbriar Read online

  His head came up sharply. “You don’t have to tell me nothin’ about anythin’. You’re my teacher and that’s all, and whatever you do is your own business, not mine. I got no claim on you. Now, let’s just keep our conversation to matters of interest to us both, like givin’ me another piece of that pie.” He smiled at her but the smile did not spread to his eyes.

  “All right,” she said after a while. “I understand your feelings.” She cut him another generous slice of the pie.

  “Gaylon said you probably went to see your great-grandfather,” she said.

  Devon ignored her.

  She angrily snatched his empty plate away. “Perhaps you are uninterested in my life, but as your teacher I am concerned about yours. Is your grandfather as blindly stubborn as you are?”

  Devon leaned back in his chair, looking at her in surprise. “I went to get them children you wanted so much. Turned ’em over to some missionaries to take back east.”

  She was so astonished she could barely speak. “All of them?” she whispered.

  “Your six and a couple of others Crazy Bear took on another raid.”

  Chapter Eight

  BY SILENT MUTUAL AGREEMENT, DEVON DIDN’T return to Linnet’s cabin for the next few weeks, and her life began to fall into a pattern. She felt she owed him more than ever for rescuing the children; so three times a day she left hot food with Gaylon. And Devon always seemed to be out of the store when she arrived.

  When the Christmas season arrived, she and everyone else looked forward to the planned festivities. Agnes came to the store and gave orders to everyone. Gaylon was sent into the woods to bring in fresh game, while Doll was told to practice his fiddlin’ and Linnet was ordered to decorate Devon’s store, where the dance would be held. Agnes fixed Devon with a glare. “And you stay beside Linnet and help her.”

  Linnet could have sworn she heard deep chuckles from Gaylon and Doll.

  “All right, what do you want to do?” Devon said nastily.

  Linnet tightened her mouth. “I need nothing from you. I am quite sure I can manage alone.” She quickly went across the room and nearly slammed the door behind her.

  “Linnet?”

  She whirled to face him. “Don’t come out here to say any more hateful things to me. I am quite sure I can manage alone.”

  “You said that already. I just brought this.” He held up her shawl. “I thought you might need it.”

  She realized she had been so angry that she hadn’t noticed the cold. She slung it about her shoulders. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She swept away from him and went into the woods, but to her further anger, Devon followed her. “You do not have to stay near me.”

  “I know—you are quite capable,” he mimicked her crisp accent. “But, last I heard, it was a free country.”

  She tried to ignore him as she considered some greenery for the mantel. To her disgust she found she had forgotten to bring a knife. Rather than return to her cabin, she tried to twist one of the lower branches from an evergreen.

  Devon watched her struggle for a while, then stepped forward. “Can I help?” He held a razor-sharp knife and quickly cut the branch away. “Or maybe you’d rather Cord helped you.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I’d much rather have Cord, or anyone else for that matter.” She didn’t watch as he turned and left. With shaking hands she carried the evergreen back to the settlement.

  The store was full of people when she returned, the children running around, excited about the dance that was to be held the next day.

  “A hoedown,” Doll said to Linnet. “Put your hoe down and come to town.”

  Caroline Tucker spent the day with Linnet, and they cooked, using ingredients the women had stored all winter. Jessie constantly stayed underfoot, and soon Lonnie Emerson joined him. Lonnie felt that he had saved Linnet’s life and therefore she was his personal property. Jessie didn’t take to the idea at all and, that being as good an excuse as any, they had to be pulled apart from several fights.

  Once Devon kicked open Linnet’s door, a squirming boy in each hand, and demanded she do something with them. He also had a few remarks to say about how she had all the males in Sweetbriar fightin’ over her and he’d be damned if he was gonna join them. He stomped away before she could answer him.

  The night of the festivities dawned clear and cold, and Linnet donned the new dress she had made for the party, a lightweight blue cotton, gathered at the low neck and the waist. It had big, puffed sleeves that stopped at her elbow. She knew it was more for summer, but guessed the room would be very warm with so many people. She combed her long freshly washed hair about her back and shoulders, and it curled softly about the edges.

  She stood by the fire a moment, nervous, chiding herself for the giddiness. As she turned around, the full skirt swirled softly about her. If only Devon would think she was pretty, if only Devon—She laughed aloud. She wondered what he’d say if he knew how much time she spent thinking of him, how she had spent so many hours on this dress, just for him. Would he ask her to step outside for some fresh air tonight? She’d go. She’d go wherever he asked.

  She opened the cabin door and breathed deeply of the night air, not aware of the cold as she walked the few yards to the store. Timidly, she opened the door, and many eyes turned to her, but none of them were Devon’s. He sat in a secluded corner with Corinne and hadn’t even noticed her.

  Agnes Emerson came to Linnet. “Lynna, why don’t you come walk with me a bit? You ain’t thinkin’ of marryin’ him, are you?”

  Linnet was confused for a moment, then smiled absently at the boy Worth Jamieson who’d come to stand near her.

  “How did you know he’d asked me?”

  “Ever’body in Sweetbriar knows ever’thin’ about ever’body else. Like I know you and Mac been quarrelin’, hardly spoke a civil word to one another.”

  Linnet bent her head to stare at her hands. “Devon has some misconceptions about me and, besides, I think he’d rather have someone else.”

  “He don’t want Corinne, ’cept the way any man wants her.” Agnes went to the heart of the matter. “If Worth or any other man asked her to marry him, she’d probably drag him to the preacher’s. It’s just that she thinks she’s gonna get Mac and she thinks he’s rich.”

  “Agnes, do you think I’m so obvious to everyone?”

  “You shore are. You look at Mac and you nearly melt at the sight of him.”

  “No! Please don’t say that.”

  “Can’t help but say it, it’s the truth. Now let’s go see him and see if we can get him away from Corinne. One look at you, and I don’t think he’s gonna see anybody else. Mac,” she called, “get out of that corner and come here and look at our Linnet.”

  Devon looked up and his eyes registered surprise.

  “I think you got ’im now, just don’t let him go,” Agnes whispered to Linnet as she walked ahead to intercept Corinne.

  “You’re pretty, Linnet,” Devon said quietly.

  “Better than a tar baby?”

  “Much better.” He grinned.

  Doll started his fiddle going and Devon grabbed her arm. “You ready to dance?”

  “I think you’ll have to show me the steps.”

  “Ain’t no steps, just stompin’.” He caught her hands and whirled her around. The dancing was more than strenuous, and she became very thirsty.

  Devon held her hand and pulled her to the barrel of cider and filled a mug for her. They looked at one another over the rims when, suddenly, he set his cup down, put his arm around her waist and drew her close to him. “I think your eyes are honey-colored with little flecks of silver, but I swear once they were almost red.”

  “No more of that,” Floyd Tucker called to them. “You can see where that leads to, Mac.” He pointed to several young children sitting in a row beside the heavily pregnant Esther Stark.

  Linnet’s face flooded pink, but Devon squeezed her to him and grinned. “Best idea I’ve heard all night,