1,831Twenty-Three
~.~
It was a beautiful morning and bright sunlight flirted through the wind-dancing trees. The world was waking from its winter slumber and here and there, green could be spotted peeking up through last year's leaf litter. The sweet songs of birds provided the music for their journey.
The caravan rolled slowly down the narrow road, creaking and groaning. It was rough going. The road had been created by widening a trail originally made by the indigenous people. The unavoidable trees had been chopped low to the ground but were still hazards to axels where the spring rains had turned the soil to mush.
Bella strolled alongside one of oxen pulling their wagon, her hand on his neck. He was telling her about being shod, which had entailed the utter indignity of being pushed to the ground and held there until the shoes were fitted to his hooves. After conversing a bit with Bella, he said he would be willing to lift each foot as shoes were applied in the future as long as no one pushed him. Bella chuckled to herself, imagining the reaction the humans would have when an ox cooperated like a horse.
Edward walked beside her, with Emmett perched on his shoulders. He was smiling, smiling at nothing. Perhaps simply smiling to be free of the anxiety that had darkened their days for so long. Ahead of them, one of their fellow travelers began to sing and Edward picked up the song. He even bounced a little as he walked, making Emmett giggle. It was probably as close to dancing as a Saint could come.
Their route hugged the coastline. Bella could smell the sea and longing pierced her heart. She wondered if she could slip away from camp tonight for a quick swim but doubted it. There was always so much to do when they set up camp: clearing the campsite of obstructions, gathering wood for a fire, collecting water, setting up their tents — and that was before cooking dinner, feeding the children, and getting the animals settled.
The men had, at first, performed only what they saw as the male duties of tending to the livestock and patrolling the camp's perimeter before settling down for a comfortable chat around the fire, but a few baleful glares from Bella had turned that around. In the evenings, the men now shared the "domestic" duties and could be found washing pots or sitting with children perched on their knees, being fed their dinners.
She had lost track of time since they left Plimouth, swept up in the rhythms of the journey. Each day, they made their way along the primitive roads, often having to stop to clear a treefall or even unload the wagons so they could be lifted over it. And sometimes a wheel would break and they would all have to wait until it was repaired. They often traveled less than fifteen miles per day.
Still, Bella would have been content to spend the rest of her days on the road. She felt more alive than she had since she came to this place, being out in the wind, under the stars, amid the song of the insects. But she knew her fellow travelers were not quite as happy. Esme, especially, looked drained by the effort.
A few days before they left, Bella had found her at Carlisle's grave, her hands pressed against the earth as she sobbed. Those of her faith were not supposed to be attached to the earthly remains of the Saints who had ascended to their eternal reward, but Bella understood all too well. She had slept several nights on the Duke of Cullen's tomb. She had sat beside Esme on the still-raw earth and simply held her while she wept.
She paused to collect a few slivers of willow bark, excellent for treating pain. She wished there was a herb that could help heal Esme's heart, but the only cure for the anguish of loss was time. Time wouldn't heal it, but it would help her to get used to it.
Alice caught up to Bella and gave a little groan with her hands pressed to her back. "I feel I must have slept bent like a camocke[1]. Have you any mercy to extend with your twigs and leaves?"
Bella gave her a sympathetic smile. "I can make you some hot stones for your back and some medicine when we settle in for the night. Not willow bark, though, for it may harm the babe."
Alice stroked a hand over her stomach and gave a soft smile. "I thought the child would be lost after …" She trailed off, unable to say the words. "Once again, I owe you a debt I can never repay. God bestowed a great gift on our family when he brought you into our lives."
Bella slipped an arm around her waist and smiled back. "And grateful I am to be a part of it. All is well and soon we will be in our new home, and perhaps all of the sorrow may come to feel like a half-forgotten nightmare in the light of the morning."
She was already dreaming of it. Perhaps they could build a little cottage to their own tastes. She had once lived in a little driftwood hut by the beach, not much more than four walls and a bed to sleep in. But she had been content. But she lived with humans now and they would want stout walls that kept out the breezes, furniture and fireplaces, a well and a privy.
Edward had broached the topic of their home last night as they lay in their tent. "Bella, sweeting? I know you're awake."
"Hmm, how can you tell?" she replied.
"You flop like a fish, woman," he said with a smile in his voice. "Can you not get comfortable?"
"Not particularly." Their bed was a pile of blankets spread over the ground in a small clearing by the road. Judging by the extant fire ring, it had been used by travelers before, but there hadn't been enough traffic to smooth out the ground. And Bella was pretty sure there was a stone digging up into the small of her back.
"Sleeping on the hard ground is a difficult adjustment," she admitted.
He nuzzled his face into her neck so that he could whisper into her ear and make sure he wasn't overheard. "Where would you sleep if you were out in the world, my fair selkie maid?"
She was so much more comfortable now, feeling his breath on her skin. The hard earth seemed to vanish and all she felt was his arm beneath her neck and his hand resting on her hip. "Hmm. I would find myself a soft drift of sand beneath the sea. Perhaps within the kelp forest, so that I could watch the long fronds sway above me as I faded into my slumber. They're like trees, you know. Long, thin, and willowy, dancing in the currents. And the fish glide within their leaves."
She knew Edward could scarcely imagine it. It was a world he would never know. Oh, how she wished he could be reborn as a selkie and they could play together in the wind and waves, but his existence was here, on the dry earth. A place of bewildering customs and clothes, of hard edges and fire. And thus, her life would be here as well, down through the generations, exiled from the cool depths of the sea.
"If only we could find a home as easily," Edward said. "I have concerns for those who travel with us. Many of them sold their property quickly and were given little of its true value. Buying new lands and homes in New Amsterdam may be a struggle."
Bella waved a hand. "I have plenty of money."
"Our funds are not limitless," Edward said. There was enough in their strong box to ensure they could buy themselves a comfortable home and there would be income from Bella's lands, but …
"I can always get more. There's more in … I can't remember the name of it. A money storage in England."
"A bank[2]?"
"Aye, that. And my son ensured I can always ask for more funds from the duchy." She yawned and snuggled in closer. "So worry not about it."
Edward was a little dazed. "I suppose it is the Christian thing to do to assist our companions."
Bella shrugged. "Christian or not, money is useless if unspent."
Then he had whispered something else in her ear, something that made her breath catch and she had —
Bella whipped around and stared off into the woods.
Edward noticed. "What? What is it?"
"I heard something," Bella murmured, her keen eyes searching the trees. She cocked her head and held her breath.
"A deer, perhaps?" he asked, likely hoping for venison. He unslung his gun from his back.
"No, it wasn't a deer. Too heavy for that."
"A bear?"
She shook her head. "I think I'll go off and search about."
Edward put his hand on her arm. "Everyone will wonder where you've gone. I'll send one of the men to scout if you're worried."
She huffed with impatience. Humans and their ridiculous rules about what women can or cannot do! And she was certain that a human would make a poor scout, stomping around with their heavy feet and crashing through the underbrush. But the sound was gone, though her ears strained for any hint of it.
"I'm not worried," she said. "I don't hear it now."
But later in the afternoon she did hear it and felt a tight tingling in her spine. They were being watched. She told herself that they were approaching settled areas and it was possible they were being viewed by New Amsterdam's scouts. But she couldn't help the feeling of unease. Surely a scout from the colonies would make themselves known and come to the fire for a chat and some stew? Whatever the source of the sound, it had an unfriendly feel that raised the hairs on the back of her neck.
As she gathered kindling that evening, she wandered as far as she dared, watching for movement, listening with dismay as the birdsong abruptly stopped. Her heart pounded and she knew they wanted her to hear. There was another sound of leaves being crushed beneath a slow step. She dropped her armful of kindling and ran back to the camp site.
They had arranged their camp at the base of a large boulder. Her friends were completely unaware as they collected things from their wagons and started fires. Alice was singing as she set up a trivet, Emmett and Rose seated on a small log beside her.
Bella jumped atop the boulder, still searching the trees, uncaring that the group would see her do it.
Edward stared up at her. "Are you —"
She jumped back down to his side. She spoke quickly, her voice low and soft, but crackling with urgency. "Walk around to the men. Tell them to arm themselves. Quietly. Quickly. There's something wrong."
"Are we under attack?" he asked.
"I cannot say as of yet, but alert the men."
Edward gave a small nod and walked away.
She edged over to Alice, who turned to her with a smile. "Can I have another cup of that tea when —"
Bella grabbed Alice's upper arms and squeezed tightly. "Gather all the women and children. There's a spot between the wagons and the boulder that should be safe. Pray, hurry."
Alice didn't even pause to ask what was amiss. She walked off swiftly.
Bella watched as the men pulled their guns from the wagons. They weren't subtle about it, but the time for subtlety had probably already passed. The chatter had ceased. Knuckles were white as they gripped gunstocks.
Alice pressed her charges back behind the wagon. She held a large branch as a club in front of her, one hand clutching her belly as though to armor it.
A howl broke the silence like a knife through the fabric of the night. To human ears, it sounded like a wolf, but Bella's preternatural hearing could make the distinction. This was no wolf. There was a shifter in the darkened forest. More than one.
Bella closed her eyes. "No."
"What is it?" Edward took a spot in front of her, his musket clutched in his hands.
"It's Jacob's people. Get behind me." She grabbed a large knife from the pile of kitchenware that had been collected for dinner.
"What? Bella —"
She shoved him back and he blinked rapidly in surprise. Ordinarily, such a move would cause a man to lose the respect of his peers, but as another howl shattered the silence, the other men joined him behind her, their wide, terrified eyes glittering in the darkness. The men ringed the group behind the wagon, their guns at the ready, held in shaking hands. Some held only shovels and hoes, but they were all prepared to fight whatever terror lurked in the darkness.
From the shadows of trees, large shapes emerged. The giant wolves, their fangs gleaming in the firelight. Low growls rumbled in the silence.
"Christ's blood!" one of the men swore softly. This was the first time most of them had seen the protectors of the Wôpanâak.
Jasper's voice was flat and grim. "Wolves are not that large."
"Jacob!" Bella shouted.
The wolves inched closer. Their heads hung low, below their shoulders. Their feet were braced apart and their shoulders tensed for the lunge.
Bella saw Alice in the back, held tightly to Esme, both of them gripping Emmett and Rose. She moved as she hadn't moved since she came to Plimouth, with the strength and speed of her kind, almost too fast for the human eye to see. She grabbed both of the women by the backs of their bodices and hauled them up with her to the top of the boulder. A large crack ran down its center, just large enough for what she intended.
"Get in there." She whispered urgently, but both Alice and Esme were dazed to find themselves apparently jerked by an invisible hand to a spot above the heads of their men. They didn't respond. Esme's mouth gaped and she seemed to be struggling to speak.
Impatiently, Bella dropped Rose into the crack. The little girl gave a squeak as she slid down the side of the stone and landed in the leaf litter below. Her small face gleamed in the moonlight as she peered back up.
"Now you." Bella took Alice by the shoulders. Alice gave a little cry of alarm as Bella fed her down into the crevice. Her hand scrabbled at the rock wildly as she plummeted, but it was only a drop of a few feet. Esme didn't want to go, but Bella didn't have time to convince her. She shoved her down, none too gently, and dropped Emmett down on top of her. "Stay there until I come back."
Alice lifted a hand toward her and Bella grasped it for a moment, squeezing hard to make sure she paid attention. "Stay here! Promise me!"
"Aye," Alice said and squeezed back. It was enough.
Bella swept up her skirts and ran as hard as she could around the camp, toward the line of shifters advancing their way. She threw herself down and slid under a set of fur-covered feet, not even noticing how the rough earth scraped her legs.
A wolfish face stared down at her in befuddlement, momentarily too surprised to attack. Bella slapped a hand against his leg and screamed in her mind as loudly as she could, putting her entire power behind it. The nearby wolves whined and tossed their heads from the force of it.
"JACOB! Jacob, hear me!"
It was a long moment before he answered. His voice seemed distant. Was he not here with them? But he could hear her. "Sea Woman, I warned you. I warned you what would happen if our paths crossed again."
"Just let us pass," she begged. "We mean no harm. We —"
His voice cut hers off, louder now. "I am uninterested in your promises. Your people know nothing of keeping their word. You just take more and more. I warned you."
"Jacob." Bella felt tears hot on her cheeks. "You don't understand. I don't want to do this."
"I warned you."
"Jacob!"
He did not reply.
"JACOB! I will kill every one of them. I don't want to do this. I beg of you!"
She could feel the ripple of amusement which passed between the warriors. They thought it a silly, empty threat. A surge of sorrow flooded through her. They didn't understand. How could they? They couldn't know she was built to protect, that she had a deep well of strength and power beyond what she had ever used, but would now unleash to save those she loved.
In a distant part of her mind, she had a fleeting thought: I will never be the same after this.
"I pray you, just let us —" she whispered aloud.
Above her, the warrior began to growl. He bent his head down, his vicious teeth bared in a snarl.
"Don't." It was all Bella said.
He lunged. She grabbed and twisted. There was a small, sharp whine and the light faded from his eyes as his body collapsed to the ground. The others stared for just a moment. She didn't need to be connected to them to feel their unease. And then the boldest attacked. She was on top of him before he knew what had happened.
She heard screams and shots as two others charged into the campsite.
She didn't let herself pause to think or to feel. Tears blinded her, burning like hot glass. She gasped as teeth sank into her shoulder and stabbed into her thigh, but it didn't slow her. Blood soaked her dress — hers, theirs. She was snarling too as her hands sank into fur, pulled at throats, slashed at bellies. She lost her knife at some point but didn't care. She didn't need it. She ran into the camp and a bullet whizzed by her cheek, so close she could feel the heat of it. The wolf it struck didn't have time to yelp in pain before she was on top of him.
She whirled back to the woods and there she stood shaking and gasping in the stillness. She looked around wildly for the next, but there was nothing. Nothing but broken bodies lying around her, slowly changing back to men and boys. The final body shifted and Bella saw she was a girl. Was. Bella knelt down and pushed a tangle of hair out of the eyes that stared at nothing.
"Bella?"
Bella gasped again and whirled. Her bloody skirts slapped against her legs. Edward stood outside the ring of dead, his hands still clutching that useless gun. He stared at her. She couldn't read his expression. She raised her hands as though to reach out to him. They were red. Cold numbness spread through her. He must think she was a monster. A demon. And maybe she was.
She looked up at him again and tried to find words. Tried to find something to say.
He ran over to her and pulled her into his arms, squeezing her hard against his body. He murmured something she didn't hear, but she felt his lips press against her bloody hair. She broke into wild sobs, sobs that were also screams, great wracking cries that shook both of them as they sank to the blood-soaked forest floor.
~.~
She wept past the point of exhaustion, until her eyes could produce no more tears and her sobs were soft hiccups. He picked her up, holding her high against his chest and she hid her face against his neck as he carried her back to camp, what was left of it. She steeled herself to look around. Her first glances told her that the tents had been scattered and the wagon that had been parked near the boulder was smashed to splinters. A body lay near the fire, the skirts tangled around pale shins, but she couldn't identify it because Edward's body was blocking the carnage from view, perhaps intentionally.
Edward lowered her down onto a blanket. His hand hovered over the wound at her side, as if he wanted to do something but was stymied by his own lack of knowledge. "You're hurt."
She gave a brief shake of her head. She pulled up her skirt to glance at her thigh and saw an almost perfect impression of a shifter's bite. The punctures were deep, but they would heal without aid. If she donned her pelt and dove into the sea, it would be a work of moments to heal these wounds. But that wouldn't be possible.
"Not badly." She soothed her skirt back down and sat up, wincing, and craned her neck to see around Edward. "Who?"
"Lauren," Edward said. "One of the wolves —" He looked away for a moment, trying to reconcile what he was certain he had seen with what lay before him now. "They were wolves. I'm sure of it. But their bodies … I don't understand."
She didn't reply. She noticed her hands were still red with blood and rubbed them against a clean spot on her skirt.
"Our men shot it — him. He took half a dozen shots and naught a blink. He headed for the women and Lauren … Bella, she had a hatchet. Only a hatchet. But she ran forward and … It was over quickly. And then the wolf acted as though he had heard something and ran back toward the woods."
She had had heard it, too. The screams and pleas of the dying in her head. She pushed up to stand, though Edward tried to stop her and limped over toward the fire to survey the damage. She saw that their wagon had burned and there was a moment of fleeting sorrow for the gifts her son had given her, but there was also freedom in it, an unfettering of the past. She put the thought aside, something to digest later when she had time to think.
People were silent because they, too, were having trouble digesting what they had witnessed, or even understanding it.
Bella jumped back up on top of the boulder and reached a hand down into the crevice for Alice and hauled her up, and then Esme. Both of them gaped in horror at the scene before them. Esme saw Lauren and let out a small cry. She hastily put Rose down and clambered down off the boulder to kneel at Lauren's side.
"I don't understand what I saw," Jasper said. He dropped his gun into the dust by his feet, then sagged to the ground beside it. He spread his hands as he looked around at the lifeless bodies strewn around. "The wolves … and then these men … God grant us mercy." He looked over at Bella and she saw his forehead crumple in confusion, and he rubbed at it with the side of his hand.
The other men gathered around him, except for Edward, who clutched Bella's shoulders. Bella could sense his anxiety even without a mind link. His posture was taut and stiff and his breaths were shallow.
She waited for the looks to become suspicious, for fingers to be pointed in her direction, for the muttering to begin. She and Edward would have to leave. It was the only way that they could —
But it didn't happen.
Jasper took a deep breath. He seemed to decide something, and it was as though he were picking up a cloak and settling it over his shoulders, slipping into the decision and clutching it to him. "These men – they must have moved so fast to come from the woods that we didn't see them because we were looking at the wolves."
"Aye, but what —"
"Our shots brought them down."
One man gazed at the bodies for a moment — bodies that had no visible gunshot wounds — and said slowly, "Aye."
Everyone came closer to the center of the camp. Everyone seemed to be clutching another person, hands clasped, arms around shoulders. Tears glistened on their cheeks.
Bella knelt beside Lauren's pale and still body. Esme had a blanket in her hands and tenderly laid it over her, tucking it around her sides and smoothing the wrinkles.
She knew what she had to do.
"Alice Cullen Whitlock died in the attack," Bella said. She looked around at the group. No one said anything. No one protested, not even Alice.
She heard the words repeated and watched their slow nods as they grasped her intention. "Alice … It was Alice."
~.~
Ten Years Later
Through the window, Bella spotted Edward as he came up the dusty street toward her. She put aside the bread dough she'd been kneading and wiped her hands on her apron. He carried a bundle tied up in a brown wool blanket, which he held out to her as he came through the door.
"I was able to secure most of what you asked," he said after kissing her smiling lips, and then he turned to the herd of children that had come running when they heard his return. Two were their own, aside from Emmett and Rose, and the rest belonged to Alice and Jasper.
She supposed it was a good thing they'd built such a large house. But even this great structure bulged at the seams with such a large family.
Large and happy. Her heart always lifted at the light and joy in the children's eyes as they all took turns pecking kisses on Edward's cheek. Even Emmett, who was now a teenage boy, was not embarrassed to embrace his older brother.
Both Bella and Edward had thought it the most important thing they could build — a family that was joyous and loving and free in a way that hadn't been possible in the more repressive environment of Plimouth. A family that could openly delight in education and music and dancing. The little ones even put on plays for fun.
Bella picked up little Carlisle whose arms had strained upward for his father. Edward gave him a big, smacking kiss on his cheek and the toddler giggled from the tickle of Edward's beard. Their youngest, Esmerelda, was still asleep in Bella's arms despite the joyful chaos.
Alice came back down the stairs and shooed the children back up toward the schoolroom. Her expression held annoyance at the interruption, but she also gave Edward a kiss on the cheek. She no longer held Bible study meetings, but she seemed to get a similar fulfillment in acting as the children's tutor. Her gentle, encouraging methods had created a group that loved learning. Bella sometimes had to blink back tears at how much Rose's passion for books mirrored that of a little girl she had once helped raise back in England.
They were learning from books that had been replaced by the Duke of Cullen from the original shipping lists once created by Bella's son, Ward. Sent without comment when they learned of the loss of Bella's library — an obligation now, rather than a gift of love. But the estate still functioned in the way it had been set up, sending money, furnishings, and any other thing requested.
Hers hadn't been the only house it had furnished. There were several around the town that had teapots and candlesticks with the Cullen ducal crest and Bella supposed it would make for an interesting story passed down through the generations.
Bella handed Edward the baby to tend while she put away his purchases. In the bottom of the bag, she found a present for herself: a seashell strung on a leather cord as a necklace.
She tied it on, still smiling. "Thank you."
"Domingo made it for you. He's been keeping it for you in his vegetable stall."
Domingo Anthony was one of the eleven formerly enslaved men from the Caribbean who had been granted "half freedom" by the Dutch West India Company. He was permitted to work for himself and had been granted a plot of land in a parcel on the south side of the island known as The Land of the Blacks[3]. The produce he grew there was sold at his vegetable stand in town. Domingo's prosperity, however, was held in check because he had to pay special taxes to the company that whites did not, and he was still required to provide free labor wherever the colony required.
It made Bella's blood boil, but she had no influence with this colony and no power to change it. They wouldn't allow her to purchase his freedom because the governor said the enslaved men's labor was essential to the survival of the colony.
She had hated the system of indentures in Plimouth, but this was far, far worse. Indentures at least had an end date and the children of indentured servants didn't become indentured themselves.
Something had to change, she thought. Surely, this wouldn't be tolerated much longer. Perhaps once the colonies were more established …
She tied the necklace around her neck and lifted the shell to admire it. "I shall give him my thanks when I see him next."
"He said he was still in your debt for that spice bread you gave him."
She chuckled, thinking about how much Domingo loved that bread. She was getting better at backing and trying new things. So many people clamored for the extra left over that she was considering opening her own bake shop.
"Join me for a swim tonight?" she asked, admiring the way the shell gleamed in the light. Their little farm was situated alongside the Hutchinson River in Jonas Bronck's[4] settlement. Occasionally, she swam as far as where it joined with the sea, but with Edward along, it would mostly be a splash near the shore. Still, it always gave her joy when he was with her.
"A swim sounds lovely." Edward shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the rack by the door.
Jasper walked by the window, a hoe propped over his shoulder as he headed for the garden. She gave him a wave and he tipped his hat to her. Jasper and "Tanya" had married as soon as decently possible after "Alice" was slain at Split Rock. They lived with Bella and Edward, ostensibly in their employ — Jasper as a farmhand and Alice as the children's governess — but truthfully because Bella wanted her family with her and couldn't bear it if they weren't under this one large roof.
Jasper had just returned after several months away, fighting in King Jacob's War. [5]Tensions with the Wôpanâak had only gotten worse, and Jacob had led attacks on several settler towns. It escalated into an all-out war. Nearly ten percent of Plymouth's men were killed, but the loss to the Wôpanâak was so much greater with perhaps five thousand people dead of conflict or starvation. And afterward, at least a thousand Wôpanâak were sold into slavery.
And Jacob himself … Bella had heard that as the tide turned against the Wôpanâak, he had fled with his family and a few followers —probably the remaining shifters — to live in a swamp, hoping the difficult terrain would protect them. It didn't. He was killed by a Wôpanâak man who had sided with the English, who kept Jacob's hand as a souvenir. And Jacob's wife and children were sold into slavery. That haunted Bella. She could still remember her dark eyes, the generosity with which she'd shared the herbs that saved Alice's life … Were her children still with her? Bella knew she'd never know.
Few of the Wôpanâak people remained. But just a couple of weeks ago, Bella had encountered a Wôpanâak woman at the market and when she realized who Bella was, the woman had quickly grasped her hand. A shifter, speaking with her mind-to-mind.
"He had a message for you," she said.
Bella was surprised by that. "He did?" After all that had happened, after that terrible raid on their traveling camp, she never imagined Jacob would want to contact her.
The woman closed her eyes and Jacob's image swam into her mind, so sharp and clear that Bella could see the puff of his breath in the cold air. "Sea Woman … Bella. I am sorry that you and I are destined to be enemies. I had hoped we could change our fates in this life."
"I had hoped so, too," Bella had replied.
Her duty dispatched, the woman pulled her hand away. The look she gave Bella wasn't friendly, but that was understandable.
Destined to be enemies. Bella hoped that he was wrong and perhaps in his next life they could be at peace with one another. She watched the woman's retreating back and longed to run and grab her arm and try to explain her regrets. She couldn't tell this woman of the terrible nightmares that woke her screaming, nightmares in which her hands were covered in warm blood and broken bodies lay at her feet and the knowledge that some line within herself had been crossed and there was no way to turn back.
Now, she watched as Jasper carefully worked the hoe between the plants in their garden. She wondered if he, too, couldn't shake what he had seen in battle, that it had become part of his soul in some wretched way. He'd never said.
She wished Jasper hadn't volunteered to fight, but couldn't convince him to stay. She understood how he felt because he knew some of the people whose homes had been burned, some of the men who had been killed in the battles. But she had no words to tell him about the changes he would experience. That he would come home, but some part of him would be left behind.
Would these conflicts ever end? She wondered about that sometimes as she lay in bed beside her Edward, mulling over the fears she wouldn't admit to him during the daylight hours. The settlers always wanted more and more land ever-expanding, razing forests for fields, devouring the game, and displacing anyone in their way. Would it ever be enough? Would there ever be a day when everyone was free and could exist peaceably together?
Here, in her big house filled with laughter and family, she had the life always dreamed they could have in this New World, which could be anything they wished to make it. But she couldn't help but notice the dark clouds on the horizon.
She turned back from the window. Here in her sunny kitchen with her husband at the table, holding their babe in his arms … here was the happiness she had sought, the happiness she would fight to protect. The life she had longed for through all of the sorrow and strife.
She lifted her chin and smiled at Edward. She would choose joy.
[1] A cammock or camocke tree was one that was artificially bent, like trees in an ornamental garden bent into different shapes.
[2] I should have told you – they didn't really have "banks" as we think of them, where you can deposit funds and valuables. People used goldsmiths as a banker. But I used the modern term.
[3] Domingo Anthony was a real enslaved person who was granted this "half freedom" in 1643. He was given 12 acres in The Land of the Blacks, which was located near Greenwich Village, where Washington Square Park is today.
[4] Later known as The Bronx. Of course, the Hutchinson River should be called something else in this story because it was named for Anne Hutchinson (Alice's character) after her death. But I knew calling it the Whitlock River would be really confusing.
[5] King Philip's war was about 20 years after this story is set.