To MohawkWoman: Thank you for always leaving reviews for the chapters. :)It´s such a pleasure to read them and I´m so happy, that you like the story, although the updates are not as regular as they used to be.

An unexpected guest

Only a few days later I was sitting with Ellen and Maria in Ellen´s house and let the ruche I had just made, slide through my fingers to check it. The three of us were working on Maria´s wedding dress. A dream made of fine, white linen, with a light blue robe made of the same material. Maria had already appended beautiful, tendrilous embroideries to the top, which were supposed to recur from the hem up to the skirt. The future bride had attended to this work over the last two hours on her own, while Ellen and I were sewing the fine ruches and attached them to the sleeves. We were sitting around the small table with the dress on it and had worked silently most of the time. But now Maria raised her eyes from the hem of the skirt and regarded the piece of art made of silk in my hands.
"You´re slowly becoming better in this", she praised me smirking and Ellen smiled widely at me, too.
"And you keep saying that you´re untalented in handwork."
"Well, even I can learn" I grinned impishly and grabbed the needle and stitch again, to attach the ruche to the right sleeve. I hadn´t as much fun in doing handwork as the two others, but it was something else to darn a hole instead of working on a piece of clothing that was supposed to be worn on a special occasion. It made this work special and helped me forgetting my excitement about the upcoming wedding.
In less than a week, Maria was going to marry her Ted and I probably was looking forward to this day with more excitement than Maria herself. She had hardly told me about her engagement and that the wedding was supposed to take place in the homestead, I had thrown myself into the preparations and only later on, I had noticed that I had done as much for Maria as the others had done before my wedding. But it didn´t seem to bother her. In the contrary. Right after her engagement she had started working on her wedding dress and according to her, she was glad that I was taken care of the rest, together with other women of the homestead and I was glad that she let me do it. The preparations were a welcomed distraction for me. They helped me looking forward to something and forgetting all the dark thoughts about my brother. Ray hadn´t shown up by now, neither here, nor somewhere else. Connor regularly got messages from his assassins in New York and Boston, but they all had the same content: No news.
I didn´t want to think about whether it was positive or not. I was only glad that the wedding was something positive in the near future and I wanted to stick to that. Although I had probably talked Connor´s ear off already with all my euphoria and excitement about what still needed to be prepared.

"I think that´s enough for today." Maria put her tools aside and her hand stroked over the embroideries she had just made. I made the last stitch, too and put the needle aside. Carefully, as if it was a fragile piece of glass, Maria lifted the dress and put it over the dummy in the middle of the room.
"You will look beautiful", I said, as I stepped next to Maria and laid an arm around her while we regarded the dress.
"Well, it can´t be a match for your dress."
"Brocade, silk and lace don´t make a beautiful bride." I lightly shoved my elbow into her side and gave her a warm smile, when she looked at me. "You have designed and sewed it yourself. It is your dress alone and so it is the most beautiful dress you could wear on this day. Furthermore, you don´t have a corset you have to tighten just to fit into the dress."
Maria laughed like I had intended and this tensed expression I had seen in her eyes vanished. Now there was a joyful sparkle when she kept looking at her dress and I wrapped an arm around her, to pull her against me. For a moment we regarded her dress before we started to tidy up.
While we put all tools aside, scissors and fabrics aside, the initial silence became interrupted by the quiet patter on the roof, that rose to a loud roar shortly afterwards. A look out of the window was giving you the feeling that the world was ending. I squinched up my face.
"I guess we have to hurry on our way home before it gets washed away."
I hugged Maria, gave her a kiss on the cheek and hugged Ellen, too before I grabbed my coat and put it carefully over Emily, who had been sleeping in her sling the whole time. I went to the door, but Maria´s voice held me back. "Let us go together a bit."
She bid farewell to Ellen, too and together we stepped outside into the pouring rain. Thick, grey clouds were low in the sky and held back the sunlight that was trying to make its way through them. Although it was early in the evening, it was already dark and through the thick veil of raindrops, pouring down in front of our noses, it became even more difficult to see where you were going. I gave a whistle to Noir, who had been waiting for me in front of the house and with lowered heads, Maria and I went home, the dog by our side. On the path, that was leading to Maria´s house, we bid farewell to each other and I went on alone.

I had wrapped my arms firmly around Emily who was protected from the rain by the coat at least. Only occasionally I raised my head to make sure that I wasn´t running against a tree or a fence in the next second, but most of the time I kept my eyes on my shoes, which made rain and mud splatter up with every step I made. Noir kept her big head down, too and in the face of the waterfalls which were pouring down from her fur, I felt sorrier for her than for me, who certainly didn´t look better.
"You can lie in front of the fire in the kitchen", I promised to her and as if she had understood me, she looked at me and quickened her steps. But when I just climbed the stone stairs to the house, Noir stopped all of the sudden. I only noticed it, when I had reached the front door and wanted to open it.
"What are you waiting for? The weather doesn´t get better."
But Noir kept staring towards the stable and I winced when I heard the muffled growl coming from her throat. Then a bark followed and the big dog stormed to the stable. Rooted to the spot I looked after her and my hand on the doorknob began to shake while I felt fear spreading inside of me. Was Ray here at last? Noir´s bark became louder and angrier, but I couldn´t see her anymore through the rain. But I didn´t follow her either.
I just wanted to open the door to call for Connor when the doorknob was torn out of my hand and Connor was standing in front of me. Shortly he appeared surprised when he almost ran into me, but this surprise was quickly replaced by tension.
"Are you alright?", he asked and his gaze shortly turned to Emily, who was still hidden underneath my coat. I nodded and pointed at the stable.
"Noir found something."
Connor´s eyes followed my hint and he pushed me past him into the house. "Stay here", he ordered me to do, before he ran to the stable, his tomahawk in his hand. His order had been unnecessary. I couldn´t move. In my mind, I saw Ray waiting for Connor by the stable to outwit Connor somehow to get to Emily and me. My shaking arms wrapped around the bundle in front of my chest, that began to wriggle uneasily and then to cry, when I uttered an appalled sound. Caleb had appeared next to me all of the sudden, his bow in his hand.
"Is Connor outside?", he asked and when I just nodded silently, he wanted to follow the assassin. But he already came back and he was carrying something. No. He was carrying someone.
"Caleb, get Doctor White. Tell him he has to treat stab wounds", were Connor´s only words, when he pushed himself past us into the house and climbed the stairs to the upper floor. Surprised Caleb and I looked after him, until at least the boy woke up from his immovability and followed the order. I threw the coat into a corner of the hallway and lifted Emily from the sling to my shoulder, while I already hurried upstairs. I had only seen some strands of wet, blonde hair from the person Connor had carried inside, but I recognised her immediately when I entered Caleb´s room, where Connor had laid her onto the bed. It was the blonde woman from Boston and it didn´t seem like she was in a good condition. Besides the obvious fact that she was drenched by the rain, she was deathly pale and her lips were blue. Her eyelids fluttered as if she was struggling for consciousness. In the face of the blood-drenched side of her shirt, it wasn´t quite surprising.
"How did she come here?", I asked, when I stepped to Connor next to the bed. He had pushed the shirt a bit upwards and scrutinized the two small wounds, which were still bleeding, with knitted eyebrows.
"I do not know", he answered shortly and grabbed the blanket to press it against the wounds. "Could you get some rags? And we need hot water, too."
I nodded silently, even though he wasn´t looking at me, but with a last look at the woman, I turned away and went into our bedroom to lay Emily into her cradle.
"I will be right back, my angel", I tried to calm her when she started to cry loudly and I tried to ignore it as good as possible, when I went downstairs again.

In the kitchen I stoked the fire of the hearth, before I filled the water from the last full bucket into a big pot and hung it over the fire. Almost in the same moment, the front door was opened and I heard the steps of two persons hurrying upstairs. Dr. White and Caleb. I took some clean rags and waited until the water boiled, before I took the pot from the hook and carried it upstairs. There the doctor was kneeling next to the bed and examined the wounds of the woman who still wasn´t entirely conscious. When I entered he looked up shortly and nodded.
"You´re coming in the right moment." He beckoned me over and I put the pot next to him on the floor and laid the rags down on the bed.
"How bad is it?", I asked the doctor, while he took one of the rags and dipped it into the water.
"I can´t say it yet. She already lost much blood and we don´t know how long she has the wounds already."
I watched him cleaning the wounds and looked shortly into the pale face of the wounded. I could still remember this mocking and self-confident smile of hers. Even her current condition couldn´t change that I didn´t trust her. Why did we found her in this condition in our stable? Had Ray done this to her and was he nearby?
"No matter who did this to her, they must be close, right?", I asked. "She couldn´t have come far like that."
"You would be surprised of how far you can get with such an injury." This answer came from Connor, who was leaning at the wall close to the bed, his arms crossed. His serious gaze was fixed on the young woman and I asked myself, if he was asking himself the same questions as I did. If Ray was close, maybe even in the homestead. If he was, I was sure that there was nothing that would keep Connor in this room for much longer. I sighed inwardly. It had been so calm lately, but suddenly this illusion had been destroyed. By a badly wounded woman in our stable.
"I´m with Emily if you need something", I said flatly and with a last look at the woman, I left the room. It was hard for me to feel something like helpfulness or even sympathy for her. I just couldn´t forget that she had followed Ray´s orders and so I would prefer to have her as far away from my family and me as possible. I didn´t like that she was in our house now, although I wasn´t against helping her. But I was going to be glad when she was well again and left us. I probably wouldn´t be able to calm down before. But despite my inner trouble, I somehow managed it to smirk as I found Noir in the bedroom, lying on the floor next to Emily´s cradle. Always watchful and once again she had shown that I could be glad to have allowed to keep her. I felt safer to know that she wasn´t only keeping an eye on the house but also on us. I bent down to Noir and tenderly patted her side. Her fur was still wet, as well as my own clothes. I hadn´t been able to get changed and warm myself up yet. I was freezing and so I ignited the fire in the fireplace before I slipped out of my wet clothes and into the dry nightgown. It wasn´t time to go to bed yet, but I didn´t intend to leave the room either. Dr White was taking care of our unexpected guest for now and certainly, there was nothing I could do for her after that and even if it was the case, Connor and Caleb could take care of it, too. Emily was more important for me.

I wrapped myself into my dressing gown and lifted Emily out of her bed, to sit down with her on a chair in front of the fireplace to nurse her. At the moment I only concentrated on her and enjoyed the warmth of the fire and the calmness that was spreading inside of me and this calmness stayed when I was just holding Emily in my arms and gently rocked her to sleep. Only when she was lying in her cradle again, I thought about the wounded woman again. It was already dark outside and so I only saw the light of a lamp shining through the open door into hallway, when I peeked out of the bedroom´s door. Dr. White had certainly left already and still I could hear quiet voices. Connor´s voice and the voice of the woman. So she was conscious. Did she tell him what had happened to her and how she had got here?
Curious I went along the hallway and to the room, but on half of the way Connor stepped out of the door and closed it behind himself.
"Is everything alright?", he asked when he noticed me and as he saw that my gaze moved to the dagger and the pistol in his hands, he explained: "They belong to her. I thought it is safer to take them from her." So he wasn´t sure either, if he could trust her.
"Did she tell you something?", I asked, when Connor went past me and to the bedroom. There he put the weapons on a commode and waited with his answer until I had closed the door behind me.
"Her name and that your brother was the one who stabbed her. He somehow found out that I have been in Savannah and his house and that Olivia was the one who told us about it."
Olivia then.
"Did she tell you where Ray is?" I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Connor taking off his own weapons and his robes. He shook his head.
"She was not able to tell me more. She is too weak."
"And what about Dr. White? Is she going to survive it?"
"Time will show." Connor had slipped out of his shoes and leggings and hung them over a chair, as well as his shirt, before he opened the door again and uttered a quiet whistle. Noir, who had made herself comfortable in front of the fire, lazily raised her head, stood up slowly, stretched herself and finally trudged past Connor, until he closed the door behind her.
"We will see how she is feeling in the next days and maybe she can tell us more then." Connor stepped to the bed and slipped under the blanket, while I was still sitting on the edge and silently looked at the fireplace, where the fire was only flickering faintly and the crackling of the wood became more and more quiet. The thought of having Olivia with us for now wasn´t to my liking. I would prefer we had brought her to the doctor, where she certainly would be in better hands. But maybe a transport wasn´t possible. For now.
"I don´t want to have her here longer than it is necessary", I made clear with a determined voice. "Whatever happened, for me she is still someone who supported Ray and his doings."
"And someone who helped us", Connor replied, likewise determined. "If she had not tell us about Savannah, we never would have learned about your brother´s plans for you and Emily. Eventually I would have been away, would have left you alone and it would have been easy for him. Now I can take care that he does not come closer to you."
"And now we´re already waiting for weeks and he didn´t show up."
"He cannot be far, if Olivia has been able to come here."
"I thought you can make it quite far with such a wound."
"It is worse than I thought."
I had to bite my tongue to hold back another comment. This discussion didn´t lead to anything and was the result of my own trouble. It was going to be such a relief, when this whole disaster was over soon...

Olivia stayed more or less unconscious for two days. When she was awake, she wasn´t really responsive or just too weak to speak. But still Doctor White was confident that she was going to recover from her injury, but I lost my confidence that we could accommodate her somewhere else. She stayed in Caleb´s room, while he had created a bed made of pillows and blankets in the room next to his and was satisfied with it. So I had to adjust to this situation, whether I wanted it or not. Although I was doing it rather reluctantly, I cared for our guest as good as possible. I checked on her regularly, prepared extra meals for her and changed her bandages.
I was just doing the latter, as Olivia was suddenly torn back into consciousness. Her delicate hand darted forward and wrapped around my throat with a remarkable strength. My appalled scream mingled with her painful one, as she raised her torso. Her hand let go again and Olivia fell back into the pillows, gasping hard. Entirely surprised I stared at her with wide eyes, when she opened her eyes, too and looked at me.
"Sorry", she uttered between clenched teeth. "Thought someone else wants to kill me."
I laid my hand on my neck, where I still felt her grip and I took a deep breath to calm my rushing heart. Her sudden reaction had scared me to death.
"So that´s what someone gets for helping you?", I asked and once again my sharp tongue gained the upper hand. It had sounded bitchier than I had wanted it, but Olivia wasn´t impressed by it.
"Maybe deceitfullly attempted murder are running in the family", was her likewise bitchy answer and it seemed like we were even for now. Silently we looked at each other until I attempted to her bandages again. She let me do it without resistance, although I could feel that she was still in pain.
"How long was I gone?", she asked into the uncomfortable silence after I had turned away from her and had thrown the old bandages into a bucket of cold water to soak them.
"Two days", I answered and her eyes fluttered shut. She mumbled something in Spanish before she opened her eyes again and looked at me.
"Thank you for taking care of me. I really didn´t expect it, although I came here on purpose. I thought, if anyone is able to help me, then someone who hates Ray as much as I do."
I pressed my lips together when she said this, because I wanted to prevent me from telling here, what I was thinking about her and her former work with Ray. Instead I turned away and acted as if it was of the greatest importance to plump op the curtains.
"Connor wouldn´t have let you bleed to death", I just answered.
"But it didn´t seem like you´re pleased with my stay here."
I paused in my pretended activity and turned around to her. "No", I answered honestly and stayed by the truth. "I always have to think about your initial support of my brother´s delusion. That makes it hard for me to trust you. No matter if you´re wounded or not."
Olivia nodded slowly and pursed her lips. "Understandable. I would feel the same. But I think you should understand why I did it, before you´re judging me."
"Explain it to me then."
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked at Olivia expectantly. She returned this gaze, but first she sat up with her expression twisted in pain, before she followed my request.
"I lost so much because of the war, but I hoped that everything was going to be alright after the departure of the loyalists. Not only for me but for everyone in this country. But it wasn´t. It became worse. After I hadn´t much after the war, I had nothing left now and I started to doubt that the new developments were good and right then, Ray showed up and made me believe that the old regime needed to be rearranged. That the crown had to return. He had so many plans and so many beautiful words so that I wanted to join him and I wasn´t the only one. He was a preacher. He was able to elate everyone who was listening to him and we were all sure that we could reach something." She paused and squinched up her face as if she didn´t like all these memories. "Eventually, we began to realise that Ray´s words were those of a madman. After he was so convincing and apparently clear, he became more and more insane and all his plans led to nothing. We had no success and with every doubt came the certainty that we had got on the wrong track. But it was already too late. They were chasing us as the criminals we were and not as the heroes we had wanted to be. And Ray? He stuck to his delusion and didn´t hesitate with killing everyone who got into his way."
Olivia laid a hand over the bandage on her side. Bitterness had been in her voice and now on her face. It seemed like she detested herself for following Ray. But when I thought that she was going to say something again, she stayed silent. Olivia was lost in her thoughts and I hadn´t the feeling that I wanted to watch her. She needed to be alone.
Hesitantly I stepped to the bed and gave her the bowl of warm stew I had brought with me. She took it, thanking me quietly and I grabbed the handle of the water bucket to leave the room. But Olivia´s voice held me back.
"He´s not here anymore", she said and when I frowned in confusion, she lowered her eyes to the bowl in her hands. "Ray. When I last met him, he was just on his way to New York to sail to England. He said he wanted to search for his mother and bring her to his house in Savannah. So you don´t have to search for him for now and for now you don´t have to fear that he could harm you somehow. He has no one left who would support him. He´s alone and he will be alone when he comes back."