CHAPTER FIVE

That afternoon, Mercy followed Arrow around the village. To say she was intimidated was an understatement. She tagged after him around rows of longhouses and moved between drying racks where strips of venison hung in different stages of curing. There were dogs and children everywhere. Each ran haphazardly around barking and screaming with no telling who the parents or owners were.

Considering how children were kept here, Mercy wondered what Arrow had done to be considered a bad father by his family.

Mercy tapped Arrow on the shoulder. "Why do they consider you a bad father seeing no one is even around to watch the children?"

"It is our custom that all the adults watch our children."

"Then why do they want to take yours away?"

"It is my sister, Standing Deer." He spoke her name like it was something vile on his tongue.

"She wants them?"

"No. Not necessarily." He sighed. "I have no doubt that she would take them and raise them as her own, but it is more than that. Deer was best friends with their mother, and when their mother left my sister said it was my fault."

"Why?" Mercy couldn't help but notice that Arrow rarely spoke his ex-wife's name. Elina, he had told her. Mercy wondered what it meant. She did not even know the woman but Mercy disliked her immensely.

"Come." He did not bother to answer her. Instead, he motioned her toward a longhouse.

Mercy stood her ground. "Where are we going?"

"I will introduce you to my sister, and then you can see for yourself."

Mercy found herself following him, too curious to refuse. Arrow crossed the length of the village, stopping at the door of an extremely huge longhouse.

"Come. You will be safe. I promise."

Mercy cautiously followed him into the longhouse.

Women were working everywhere. Tending fires, cooking, weaving corn husk mats together. They all stopped and stared at them as Mercy followed Arrow down the wide middle. Some spoke to Arrow. Arrow briefly carried on conversations with them in his native tongue.

Finally, they came to two women where Arrow stopped. One was stocky and middle-aged. The other perhaps mid-twenties but with the resemblance of the older woman. They both wore deer hide dresses and their feet were bare.

The stocky one was stirring something in a large clay pot. The other one was sewing pieces of leather together. They both stopped what they were doing and stared at Mercy.

Mercy had no idea what they were thinking. Insecurity hit her hard and fast. Had Arrow told them of his plans to kidnap her as a mother to his children? If so, what could they possibly think of that?

Arrow stepped in front of them. He spoke rapidly. Their responses were short, clipped, especially coming from the younger one. The woman glared at her the entire time.

This must be Deer.

"Mercy, this is my mother, Ray of the Sun." Arrow said. The woman nodded to her. There was no hint of a smile on her lips, just what seemed like complete curiosity. Mercy nodded back, relieved she was not as hated as it first seemed.

"This is my sister, Standing Deer." Arrow gestured.

Arrow's sister did not nod, just continued to stare at her. Mercy raised her chin, refusing to be intimidated. Deer said something to Arrow, and Arrow shot back a heated remark in his own language.

Deer moved between Arrow and Mercy, standing in front of Mercy. "You are not going to take away my niece and nephew. They are our family. Not yours. Not white."

"Deer," Arrow's tone was warning.

"I cannot believe you would want a white woman to raise your children. Have you really sunk this low?" Deer spoke English, and Mercy had a feeling she did so because she wanted Mercy to understand every venomous word.

"Is this how you feel as well, Mother?"

His mother shrugged, glanced at Arrow then Mercy. "We do not know her. How is it that you do?"

Mercy did not know why but she felt the need to defend Arrow. Perhaps it was because of his loss and struggles he had endured. Perhaps it was something more. "Arrow came to the trading post where I am employed. We spoke often and we became friends."

Ray of the Sun's mouth turned up in the slightest of smiles. "It is good to become friends first." She turned to Arrow. "I am glad of this, my son. You were never friends with Elina, and that was always a grave concern to me."

"How could he be friends with her?" Deer shot back. "He was never home. He drove her away. That is why she is gone now."

"If he drove her away, why did she not take her children with her?" Mercy spoke up. Anger came hard and piercing. How dare his sister judge what happened in their relationship? She wasn't there. She was just a bystander and didn't know what went on behind closed doors. "You have children, do you not?"

"Three." Deer's tone was cutting.

"Would you ever abandon them?"

"Never."

"Exactly." Mercy simply said. The look on Deer's face told her she had won this battle.

~ * ~

Arrow could not believe how Mercy faced Deer and stood up for him. No one had ever done that. Feeling of gratitude, of hope filled him. It made him want to fight for her, fight for them. He could easily learn to love this woman. Despite her being white, despite her still mourning the death of her husband and daughter. He loved everything about her. He wanted to make up for the terrible hand that life had dealt her.

He wanted to make her happy.

"Mercy will be with me." Arrow switched to speaking Gageagaono so that Mercy would not know what was being said. He had not known what to expect coming here. Some kind of closure, peace. This was anything but. Embarrassment and regret fought for dominance with him. Deer was going to raise his children if he did not do something. She had gone to the head matriarchs and they had even permitted her to hold council in the council lodge, something that was simply not done for women. The entire village agreed that Arrow was a bad father, often taking to the warpath and leaving the children unattended for days on end.

The entire village thought he was a bad father so why would he not go outside his race to find someone who did not have a preordained opinion of him?

"Mercy will be living here, with me and my children, permanently. She will be the mother to my children, and they will become her children just as if she had borne them herself. Deer, you will treat her with respect, and you will honor her. If you cannot honor her then you will not be in our lives, including that of our children's lives."

Deer's expression was full of venom. " Our children?"

That surprised Arrow as well. Arrow had said our like second nature. Something struck deep inside of him. He recalled kissing Mercy, the same feelings of possessiveness, of oneness, of the dark loneliness leaving for just one moment in his life.

Family. Home. It was all he wanted. Why did it come so easily for others but not for him?

"Yes." He stared down his sister. " Our children. They are Mercy's children now, and you will respect her as one of your people."

"It sounds as if you are claiming her as your woman." His mother said. She touched his elbow. "Are you sure? You have been hurt before. I want nothing but your happiness but I am fearful of a white woman being with you. It could be dangerous to both you and your children…and to all of us. You know war with them is imminent."

Arrow placed a kiss on the top of his mother's head. He appreciated her concern, as well as understood it. "There is nothing to fear from Mercy Whitstone."

"I hope not."

"I give you my word, Mother."

Giving his sister a cool nod, he left the longhouse. Mercy obediently followed.

~ * ~

Mercy did not have to understand Arrow's language to know the conversation with his mother and sister did not go well. She followed him back to his lodge willingly, impatiently awaiting the moment she could confirm that she had been right all along.

Arrow did not say anything, just held the flap of hide to his lodge door aside so she could enter. Mercy entered to see the children still had not come back. It was late afternoon. She wondered when they came home for supper. Did he even prepare supper for them?

"Where are the children?"

"Sometimes they come back late."

"They don't eat supper here?"

"Not usually."

"Where do they eat?"

He shrugged. "Others are always willing to take them in."

"But what if they run off or get hurt?"

"Are you judging me like my sister does now?"

Arrow's sarcasm stung. Even if he was gone often, he should know where his children are when he was home at least. If they were not within sight, he should go look for them.

If Arrow wasn't going to do something about keeping his family safe, she was. It was not because she was willing to do Arrow's bidding. It was because she cared. She didn't want his children in danger. She didn't want any children in danger.

She thought of Evan. She would have been nearly two years old now. Time had lessened the pain of loss somewhat but it was still there, and it often hit her at the strangest of times.

It would likely always be there. And every day Mercy tried to cope with a future of being alone.

Without telling Arrow where she was going, she left his lodge. She hurried through the village, scanning the people for signs of the children.

" Yakon kwe . Hey, white girl."

Mercy did not realize she was being spoken to until someone shoved her from behind. She tripped forward, turned to see three women behind her.

One of them said something that Mercy could not understand. She raised a hand up as if to intimidate her. Mercy wasn't about to be bullied. She hadn't come this far and she had to see if Talise and Tarlo were safe.

She turned and continued walking. The women were quick on her heels. One of them stepped on the back of her heel. Mercy turned around, raised her hand ready to strike.

"Talise. Tarlo." She said the children's names in hopes they would recognize Arrow's children.

The women stepped back. Two started speaking. Confusion clouded their expressions.

"I don't expect that you will understand me. I'm going to find the children. You can allow me to go or you can try to stop me. However, I should warn you I once fought off two British soldiers, and they ended up the worse for wear."

Mercy knew they could not understand her, but she didn't care. She thought of the soldiers she had driven off from the trading post shortly afterTrevor had been killed. They thought they were going to intimidate a woman alone running the trading post while John was away on a supply run. A shot in the air had blown a hole through the roof but it was enough to chase them off, and they never returned. She had been just as scared then as she was now. But this time it was the sake of two little lives that mattered.

Leaving them talking amongst themselves, Mercy quickly went to the edge of the village and scanned the forest perimeter.

No sign of the children.

She circled back with no avail. Then she heard laughing along the edge of a field of corn.

Mercy had never seen so much corn. She had heard that the Iroquois were expert planters, but this was like nothing she had ever seen. She entered the near perfect rows of corn.

"Talise? Tarlo?" Mercy wasn't sure she was saying their names correctly.

She heard giggling. She hurried toward the sound. She saw Talise cross in front of her. She stopped and waved at her.

"Talise. Come here."

Talise took off in the corn. She saw Tarlo behind her. She ran faster, catching up to them. She caught Tarlo by the shirt sleeve and he fell face first. He started crying.

"I'm sorry." She tried to calm him to no avail.

Talise came over. She scowled at her. "You made my brother cry. I'm going to tell my father on you."

Exhaustion and exasperation took its toll on her. "Well go ahead. See if I care."

"I will, and you will be in trouble." With that, she marched off.

"Young lady, get back here." Mercy picked up Tarlo and dusted him off.

"No."

Mercy got up and followed her. "Come on," she called to Tarlo.

To her surprise, he slipped his little hand in hers and walked alongside her. When they got out of the corn, she saw Talise marching toward her lodge. Fine. Let her go back home. At least she knew where she was now.

Mercy passed by more women who just stared at her like she had horns growing out of her skull. Some stopped what they were doing. No one attacked her this time, but Mercy was more than ready if it happened.

She followed Talise right up to the lodge. Arrow stood outside. Confusion furrowed his brow.

"What is wrong?"

Talise approached him first. " Nihstenha ."

"What?"

Talise turned and pointed to Mercy, as if that should explain everything.

"What?" Arrow's patience seemed to be growing thin.

"Tell him." Mercy challenged Talise. "Go ahead."

Talise looked at her as if she would cry. She looked back at her father.

"What is wrong?" Arrow was clearly angry now.

"I found both of them running in the cornfield."

"So?"

"So, they could have gotten hurt."

Arrow looked at her for a long moment, as if trying to understand but falling short. "But they did not."

"But they could have."

"She does not want us to play." Talise accused.

"That's not true."

"She does not want us to play. I do not like her. She is mean!"

"Oh, I cannot deal with this." Arrow took off.

Mercy followed him. "Where are you going?"

"Away from this."

"So you're just going to walk off? Just ignore the fact that your children are running amuck?"

"I am a bad father." He turned, closing the distance between them with one step. "Is that what you want to hear? Well I am. I am a bad father. I never said I was not."

Mercy let him storm off at a loss for words. Confusion, hurt, anger all fought for dominance within her. She felt used. Here he kidnaps her and expects her to fix his family while he just walks away. Just pitches a tantrum like one of his own children.

She felt a small tug on her hand. "Me hungry."

Mercy looked down at Tarlo. Of course he was hungry. She didn't expect Arrow would have fed his children.

"Come on." She led him toward Arrow's lodge. Talise was standing outside. She watched Mercy as if she were waiting for her to say something. Mercy ignored her and went inside. .

To her surprise, Talise followed them.

"What do you both like to eat?"

"I do not know." Talise shrugged. Mercy was surprised that she answered her.

"Well let's see what we can find, shall we?" Mercy wondered where Arrow had stormed off to. To her surprise, focusing on the children made her less angry at him.

Mercy was answered by a look to kill from Talise.

"Did your father tell you anything at all about me?"

"No." They both answered.

Of course not. Why would he prepare his children for bringing home a complete stranger? That would, after all, make perfect sense.

In search of food, Mercy began rummaging through Arrow's belongings. "All right, so let's see what we can find to eat, shall we?"

"You going to cook for us?" Tarlo asked. It was the first time he had really spoken to her.

"Yes, I am."

"How can you?" Talise scrunched up her face. "You do not even know what we like."

"What do you like?"

"We like Grandma's and Aunt Deer's cooking."

"Well, I'm going to cook for you today." Mercy looked around the room. She found a random brass cooking kettle, a teapot with a broken handle, and various clay pots. There were baskets on the walls filled with ground corn.

Cornmeal cakes. All she would need is water. There was water already boiling over the fire pit. Euphoric over her discovery, she began mixing cornmeal with water and flattening it out to fry. Talise watched her the whole time.

"What are you doing?"

"Making cornmeal cakes." Mercy was proud of her accomplishment. There was no telling what Arrow's people ate but she could figure this out with the limited supplies in his lodge.

"We don't like that."

"Have you ever had it?"

"No." Talise's tone was sharp, full of venom. Tarlo shook his head as well.

"Well, if you never had it how do you know you won't like it?"

"Grandmother or Aunt Deer does not cook this for us."

"Well, I am, and I'd like you to try it and see if you like it."

Talise shook her head. "No."

"No," chimed Tarlo.

Mercy felt her defenses rise. I am a stranger to them. Of course it was normal for them not to trust her.

Giving a deep sigh, she cooked in silence. The children watched her every move with intense curiosity and judgement. When the corncakes were done, she piled them up into a wooden burl bowl.

"Grandmother would not put them in a bowl." Talise was the first to point out. "She would put them on something that was flat so they could be served better."

"This was all I could find. Your father doesn't have very many dishes that I see."

"That is because we do not eat here. We eat at--"

"Grandmother's or Aunt Deer's. Yes, I know." Mercy was ashamed that she was losing her temper with a little girl. Talise glared at her.

Mercy set the bowl in the center of where they sat. "Dig in everyone."

"What does that mean?" Tarlo asked.

"It means have some."

Gingerly the children picked at the corncakes. Neither looked eager to take a bite.

Mercy broke off a piece with her fingers. She hadn't found any eating utensils in Arrow's lodge. She chewed thoughtfully. Dry and tasteless.

"Mmm." Tarlo remarked. Tarlo took another bite then another. Soon he was eating like he had never had a meal.

Talise continued to play with her food. "Grandma makes this better. So does Aunt Deer."

"I thought you had never had this before."

"Well," Talise thought for a moment. "If I had, it would be better. They make everything better than you."

"Of course they do. This was the first meal I ever prepared for you, so how do you know they make everything better?"

"I just do." Talise answered matter of factly.

Mercy took a deep breath. No doubt Evan would have given her a hard time over something similar. Children were all the same at heart regardless of race. And these children had not had a mother figure in years.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be cross with you."

"What is cross?" Both children asked at once.

"Miserable," was Mercy's only explanation. Tears filled her eyes and she felt like the worst person in the world.

Both children were likely afraid of Mercy's presence here. She didn't have to lose patience with them as well. Without thinking, she opened her arms and to her surprise Talise ran into them.

"I'm sorry. I know this is hard for you."

Talise said nothing, just broke down crying hard.

"I'm sorry about your mother. Having her gone must be very hard for you."

Talise nodded against her chest. Tarlo moved in close and Mercy opened an arm to him. He easily snuggled in.

"You didn't deserve to be abandoned."

"What is abandoned?" Talise looked up.

"What your mother did to you. You didn't deserve that and you must remember that it is not your fault."

"It isn't?"

"Certainly not. Your father must have told you that by now hasn't he?"

Talise shook her head. "He doesn't talk about mother. And he gets mad if I ask questions."

Mercy didn't know what to say. That sounded just like Arrow.

"What would you ask about your mother if you could ask without fear of him getting angry?"

Talise shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I would want to know what her name was and I would ask her why she left us."

"I'm sure her leaving had nothing to do with you, Talise."

"How do you know?"

"Because it was all about her. Something within her made her want to leave, and you mustn't ever blame yourself because it is not your fault. Do you understand?"

Mercy was holding her out at arm's length, and Talise nodded. Mercy gave Tarlo a squeeze. "Are you all right?"

He nodded and smiled. It was the cutest smile she had ever seen. And for this first time since coming here, Mercy felt at peace.