Dawn on a Distant Shore Read Free Page A

through
the small grove of beech, pine, and blue spruce to the far cabin, built less
than a year ago for his new bride, Elizabeth Middleton. She had come from
England to join her father. Well educated, able to speak her mind and willing
to listen, with money and land of her own, and plans to teach. She had called
herself a spinster without flinching, showing him sharp edges and soft ones,
bone-deep curiosity and a well of raw strength and courage. From Chingachgook,
his Mahican grandfather, Elizabeth had earned the name Bone-in-Her-Back.
    On the porch Nathaniel
kicked off his snowshoes and threw open the door to fading firelight and
warmth. The cabin smelled as it always did: of woodsmoke, pine sap, lye soap
and tallow, curing meat, corn bread baking, dried apples and herbs, of the dogs
and of pelts newly stretched and scraped, and of her smells, for which he had
no names but a hundred images. And there was the smell of blood recently shed:
copper and hot salt.
    Nathaniel put down his
weapons and dropped his overcoat and mitts as he strode across the room,
scattering ice and clots of snow. He paused before the open door of the small
bedroom to breathe in. To force himself to breathe. His own blood hammered in
his ears so that he could hear nothing else.
    They were there,
asleep. The banked fire showed him his Hannah, curled at the foot of the bed, one
arm across the long line of Elizabeth's legs. Her face was hidden in the
shadows.
    He crossed the room
without a sound and went down on his knees. Elizabeth was breathing, her mouth
slightly open, her lips cracked and beaded with blood. There was no fever
flush--she was pale, her skin cool to the touch. The fist in his gut began to
loosen, finger by finger, to be replaced by a warm wash of relief.
    Nathaniel pulled his
gaze away from Elizabeth's face to the bundle at her side. And blinked.
    Two infants, swaddled
in the Kahnyen'kehâka way. Dark hair, rounded cheeks, white and pink faces
smaller than the palm of his hand. One pair of eyes flickered open, unfocused.
A tiny red mouth contorted, the cheeks working, and then relaxed.
    Twins. Nathaniel put
his forehead on the bed, drew in a long breath, and felt his heart take up an
extra beat.
     

2
     
    The winter morning
came with a pure, cold light, setting the ice and snow aflame with color and
casting a rainbow across Hannah's face to wake her. She lay for a moment,
listening to the morning sounds: Liam was feeding the fire, humming to himself.
The dogs whined at the door, and then a woman's voice: familiar and welcome,
but unusual here, so early in the day.
    The events of the
previous night came to her in a rush and she stumbled out of her loft bed and
down the ladder, pulling her quilt with her.
    Liam held out a bowl.
"Porridge," he said, without the least bit of enthusiasm. Since he had
come to live with them Hannah had learned that Liam's first allegiance was
always to his stomach, but she could not keep her gaze from moving toward the bedroom
door. It stood slightly ajar.
    Curiosity appeared as
if Hannah had called for her.
    "Miz
Hannah," she said formally. "Let me shake your hand, child. Are we
proud of you? I should say so."
    Hannah found her
voice. "She's all right?"
    "She is. And
those babies, too." Curiosity laughed out loud. "If the Lord had made
anything prettier he would have kept it for hisself."
    There was a feeble cry
from the next room. Hannah stepped in that direction, only to be caught up by
Curiosity, who took her by the elbow and steered her back toward the table.
    "Just set and
eat, first. Pass some of that porridge over here, Liam, and stop pulling faces.
It's honest food, after all."
    "They are awful
small," Hannah said, accepting the bowl and spoon automatically. "I was
worried."
    "Twins tend to be
small," said Curiosity. "You were, when you come along. Nathaniel
could just about hold you in one hand, and he did, too. Carried you around
tucked into his shirt for the longest time."
    "He carried you
up to