"A child not being able to name her father with certainty does not seem to me a good way of ordering things, no," Elizabeth agreed.

"Oh, but ye've misunderstood," said Robbie. "If the woman has took guidman then her bairns are his. He will claim them, and be glad o' them, too, and provide for them a'."

"But why would she want another man," Elizabeth said, and she heard the confusion and irritation in her own voice. "If she had the choice to start with, and if she loves him?"

Robbie inclined his head. "’Gin she loves him, why I suppose then she wa dna want another," he agreed. "Unless he could dna do for her wha' she needed done."

Elizabeth drew in a sharp breath. "Are you saying that Nathaniel wasn't enough of a husband to Sarah?"

"No," said Robbie clearly. "I didna say that. Tae be clear, lass, and nae mistake. it wasna Nathaniel alone wha' was at fault. They call him Deseroken, but it was Sarah wha' was caught betwixt the red and the white."

Nathaniel was very clear to Elizabeth suddenly. She saw him, still bloodied from the lacrosse game, his face drawn and tired. I married her because I wanted to be red and she married me because she wanted to be white.

She did not realize she had spoken those words out loud but Robbie was nodding.

"That's the short and the long o' it," he agreed. He sighed, and gestured with his chin. "The needle is showing you north and south from east and west.

Elizabeth blinked hard.

"Come, lass," said Robbie gently. "Ye've got a fine man an a', and ian' tae live on, and your school, and a bonnie dauchter tae raise, wi' more bairns tae come."

She glanced up at him, her eyes glittering with tears.

"You're sure of that?" she asked.

He nodded, his color rising and falling like the tide. "I am," he said. "And so must you be."

* * *

Within three days, Elizabeth felt as if she had always lived on Robbie's mountain, and that she might always live here. The old soldier was good company, with interesting stories to tell and things to teach her. Some of the lessons she perhaps did not enjoy as much as others: there was a long discourse on the best way to remove ticks, an exercise which Elizabeth found distinctly distasteful, but which she finally mastered to his satisfaction. Bears came and went, bringing the results of his hunting with him so that the lessons Elizabeth had long anticipated were no longer avoidable. She would never have to butcher such large game herself but she put her hand to the rest of it, learning to deal with the details of drying and smoking meat and curing the hide. It was hard work, smelly and dirty, but still it was engrossing in its own way. The worst thought was that she would not have Robbie's caves available to her when she had to put her hand to this kind of work at Lake in the Clouds.

"I will miss the hot springs," she said to him on the morning of the first—week anniversary of her wedding.

"Are ye' awa', then?" he asked, looking up from his corncake.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure what Nathaniel has in mind. But he did say we should stay away from Paradise for a month or so."

"Weel, as much as ye wish him here, I'll be sad tae see you awa', lass."

"Why do you live up here so much by yourself?" asked Elizabeth, a question she had been wanting to ask for days.

He smiled. "Have ye no seen the truth of me yet?" Although he did not blush as strongly or as often as he had the first days of their acquaintance, Robbie's color was still a thing to behold. Right now Elizabeth noticed how mottled his neck was with it, there where the soft folds of skin disappeared into the hunting shirt.

"I was a sodjer for so lang, and I had enough o' men, and their doin's," said Robbie. "Sometimes I'm bored wi' masel' and lonely for conversation or a bonnie face, and so I take masel' awa' and find it. But mostly I'm content tae live here tigither withe beasties. If only I could read, but ma eyes wilma have it. If I gae amang people agin, it will be because o' that, because I canna live wi'oot voices, if I canna have books."

Elizabeth had been spending the evenings reading to Robbie, and she knew what pleasure he took in it. Often he would stop her to recite in a strong voice, with great emotion and certainty.

"Perhaps we could get you some spectacles."

He turned slowly to her, nodding. "Aye," he said. "I've had that thoucht, masel'. But tae tell ye true, lass, I dinna much like the idea o' Albany. Havena been tae such a place for ten year, or more. However," he said with a sigh, "wha' canna be changed maun be tholed. So, there's work tae be done. Nathaniel will be by sometime soon tae fetch ye hame, and he'll be verra surprised tae see what's been made o' his guidwife."

"What's been made of me?" asked Elizabeth, curious.

"Why, a woods woman o' course," said Robbie with a smile. "Or the beginnin's o' one, at the verra least."

Chapter 28

On the next afternoon Elizabeth went down the mountain to the river by herself taking a fishing line with her and Robbie's instructions to bring back some catfish or trout for supper. The path through the woods was familiar to her now, and she moved along quickly and quietly. Too quickly, she thought later, thinking over what had happened.

With many blushes, Robbie had warned her about the dangers of surprising bears as they foraged, especially bears with young. While black bears were generally timid creatures who would rather run than confront a human being, he said, she must be careful not to disturb them, and that especially when she was in her courses. The smell of blood would make them curious at the very least, and aggressive, in the worst case.