Chapter 8

16 January 1784 – Davenport Homestead, Massachusetts State

He entered the Homestead the day after with some relief. Johnson's wife's words from the previous day still echoed in his head.

The Homestead residents waved at him as he rode past and he gave a small greeting to each. He made his way down the track to Norris's mine to see if his friend had got the trade route papers that had been signed, before planning to go back to the Manor and look into the information that he had about the Templars in Boston and New York. Trotting down the track, he heard rumble of the mine cart and Norris's singing before he actually saw the man himself.

The mine soon came into sight and Connor spotted Norris picking up ore from the mine cart and putting it in the horse wagon that he usually took up to Big Dave's smelter.

"Norris!" Connor called out in greeting. Norris turned to look at him and grinned.

"Connor!" Norris gave him a quick wave before putting the last of the ore in the wagon. "Glad to see you're back."

"Did you get the papers I left for you?" Connor called back dismounting and walking towards the mine. Norris nodded.

"I've already sent them and I'm hoping to get the confirmation in the next week or so."

"That is good to hear. It sure the new route will help your mining business greatly."

"I hope so." Norris turned to collect his tools and Connor moved forward to help him, picking up the shovel and wiping it down before putting it in the shed that was near the mine that he had helped Norris build many years ago.

"I'm actually surprised your wife let you come out and greet everyone." Norris laughed after putting his pickaxe in the worn-down shed. "I thought it was definitely going to be a while until she let you leave the house again."

Connor was confused at the statement.

"Why would she try to keep me in the house?" He questioned. The laughter left Norris's face immediately and he grew serious.

"You haven't seen her yet?" The way Norris said was as if he hoped Connor would prove him wrong. But Connor couldn't, he just shook his head. Norris's jaw dropped open in a look of both horror and disbelief.

"Then what the hell are you doing here bête?!" He began to shove the confused Mohawk down the path but with little avail, Connor was taller than him and a lot bigger build.

"I will make my way to the house soon after I deal with business" Connor tried to pacify his agitated friend. But his words seemed to anger the man and he began spitting out French curses as he continued to attempt to shove Connor along the road.

"You need to go back now Connor!" he stressed, "She has been worried about your disappearance for days, Myriam found her looking for you in the forest near the ridge the wolf pack now lives a few days ago. You never told her you were leaving or when you were going to come back and she panicked!"

Connor face felt the blood drain from his face as the seriousness of the situation began to dawn on him.

How could he have forgotten?

He was so used to leaving whenever with no one minding, or sometimes not even noticing, that he was gone that he had just left without a word to Oni:dä. In her mind he must have just abandoned her one day without word. Leaving her in an unfamiliar place with people she didn't really know well and no way to know if he would ever come back.

Without another word to Norris he ran back to his horse and, giving a quick jerk of the reins, raced back up the road that led to the Manor. Startled residents quickly moved off the road as they heard the horse thundering by, confused at the urgency of the rider. But Connor had no time to stop and explain it to them.

The Manor soon came in sight, and instead of following the road he guided the horse jump the fence that surrounded the manor rode up towards the Manor. As he reached the stables he jumped from the mount before it had even stopped and, running up to the Manor, he pulled open the door.

Making his way inside he quickly searched the downstairs rooms for his wife.

He quickly scanned the rooms hoping that she would be there, but she wasn't. He paused as he entered the kitchen and noticed that the furs and candle that were usually in the bedroom were now crumpled at the large wooden table.

She must have been waiting for him to come back with no way of knowing when he would return.

How many days had she slept there waiting for the man who had just disappeared one day without a word?

Cursing his own lack of thoughtfulness, he made his way upstairs taking them two at a time. She wasn't in the bedroom or any of the other rooms upstairs and he racked his brain to know where she might be.

For a moment he considered looking for her at Prudence and Warren's farm when he recalled Norris saying she had been looking for him near the ridge and turned to head back outside worried that she might have gone back there to look for him. He was moving swiftly towards the stairs when he heard a noise that directed his attention towards the large window at the end corridor.

Moving towards it, he looked out of the large window and sighed in relief as he spotted his wife at the back of the house. She had cleared the freshly fallen snow from an area at the back of the house and was now crouched over it making mounds in the dirt.

Quickly going down again and striding out of the back door, he walked through the snow towards her.

As Connor came closer Oni:dä heard his footsteps and turned to see who was coming. As she saw it was Connor her face lit up and she moved over the mounds to run towards him.

"You've come back!"

She reached out for Connor as she approached and held onto his arms as if to make sure he really was there, and not a figment of her imagination. To his great astonishment she took his face into both of her hands and looked him in the eyes.

"You are unharmed." Oni:dä's hands dropped from his face and she put her face in her hands. "Thank the Great Spirit!"

He felt guilty as he remembered what Norris had said about how she had panicked and worried about him, the crumpled furs he had seen at the kitchen table and her reaction to seeing him proved those words. Oni:dä looked back up at him after a moment with more composed features.

"Where have you been?"

"I was in Boston, there was some urgent business that I needed to see to, that is why I left immediately." That's all he could say without going into detail about the Assassins and the conversation he'd had with Dobby and Duncan.

"Boston" Oni:dä frowned, "I thought that the journey to Boston doesn't take that long from here?"

"Not usually, but I stopped on the way back-" Connor stopped himself, he couldn't tell her about his stop off at Johnson Hall. It would come with more questions that he could not answer.

Oni:dä nodded in understanding, it seemed she hadn't noticed his abrupt stop. Before she could realise and ask him about it, Connor changed the subject. Looking towards where she had been working, he moved his head.

"Do you need help?"

"It's alright, I can do it myself. You are probably tired from your journey."

As she turned back to the spot of fresh ground she stumbled. Connor reached out for her, but she had straightened herself out before he could catch her, he pulled his hand back before she noticed.

"Are you alright? You need to rest."

"I'm fine"

"You don't seem fine-"

"I am fine" She interrupted him and turned to pick up the basket she had left on the ground. Connor took it out of her hands and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You are probably more tired than I am," he pressed her. Why was she being so stubborn about this? "I saw the furs in the kitchen, you have been sleeping at the table."

"I haven't slept at the table."

Connor looked at her incredulously. The bags under her eyes told a different truth to the one she had supplied him with, there seemed to be something she didn't want to tell him. Oni:dä saw his look of disbelief and sighed before talking quietly with a hint of embarrassment.

"I haven't slept in the kitchen. I've stayed up the past two nights in case you came back."

All annoyance left Connor as he felt another pang of guilt. They stood there facing each other quietly for a time before he spoke.

"I'm sorry. You didn't need to stay up." Oni:dä shook her head.

"I couldn't sleep anyway..." her voice trailed off as her eyes once again became unfocused. Connor quickly dropped the basket and stepped forward, gently held her arm to stop her from falling over. She nodded her thanks before moving her arm out of his grasp.

"I'm fine, I can still work." She repeated, but this time with less protest.

"No you are not." He objected softly. "You'll make yourself sick, you need to rest."

"I can rest later, there is still light in the day." Turning back to the patch of ground she began again to create furrows mindlessly whilst Connor stood above her. They stayed like this for a moment before Connor sighed and crouched down next to her.

"Oni:dä…"

Her movements in the ground froze, she turned back to him with a tired look.

"What's the point?", she questioned. "I need to get used to this if you are away often."

Connor took a sharp intake of breath at her words. He knew she didn't mean it in a cruel way or to blame him, but he still felt guilty. Oni:dä seemed to realise what she'd said and her eyes grew wider as she noticed his expression.

"I didn't mean that-" She stumbled over her words. "I am sorry-"

"No." He interrupted her. "You are right to think badly of me."

"I don't think badly of you," Oni:dä said quickly, "I just meant that if this is normal then I should understand that you are busy and be prepared for when you…disappear."

His wife's words trailed off as she realised that her words seemed to make him feel worse rather than prove she didn't blame him. Her eyes once again fixed on the floor and she continue working with the ground. Connor mindlessly moved his hands to help her in making the mounds of dirt as he tried to think of ways to make things right.

Eventually her voice broke him out of his thoughtful state.

"Ratonhnhaké:ton." He quickly looked at her, "It's getting dark, we have done enough for the day."

He looked around and realised that the sun was already beginning to set and that they had almost completed making all the mounds in the area Oni:dä had cleared in the snow. Connor looked at her in surprise and with some remorse as he saw that his wife looked even more exhausted than before, he was angry at himself for forgetting his original goal again.

Standing up, he brushed the snow and dirt from his knees and then held out his hand to help her up before picking up the basket and walking with her back to the Manor. Connor made sure he stayed slightly behind Oni:dä in case she slipped on the frosty ground in her wearied state.

Entering the Manor kitchen, Connor immediately put the basket on the table and gathered up the furs that had been discarded there. He turned back to his wife with a determined look.

"You are even more tired than earlier. You should go and rest."

"But we haven't eaten."

"I will make food for you." She looked at him dubiously.

"Ratonhnhaké:ton…"

He prepared himself to counter any more of her protests.

"…can you even cook?"

All the arguments he had made in his head vanished at her simple question. He looked at her surprised for a moment and then let out a small chuckle before responding.

"Maybe not as good as you could make, but it will be edible." He gently propelled her towards the stairs. This time she went without protest no longer having the energy to oppose him, after dumping the furs on the bed he returned to the kitchen and quickly made some corn porridge and grabbed a loaf of bread for their meal. Juggling the two bowls and the loaf, he slowly walked back to the room.

Oni:dä had lit the fire in the room and already fallen asleep in the chair that was placed near the fireplace by time he came back. He smiled at the sight thinking about her earlier protests about resting.

Walking towards the bed, he slowly placed the bowl of food on the table by the side before going to where his sleeping wife was. Picking her up he carefully walked back to the bed and gently placed her there, trying not to disturb her too much.

As Connor moved to the doorway, planning on going and looking at the files on the Templars, he heard her stir and turned back to look at her. She had sat up in the bed and was looking at him with bleary eyes.

"Don't leave" she murmured half asleep. He hesitated for a moment before moving back to the bed and pulling the furs over her, she laid back down obediently.

There were still things he needed to do, such as look at the files, and go scouting in the area. But as he looked at the woman on the bed, they seemed less important at the moment.

The Homestead had been fine without him for the past few days. Maybe he could forgo his usual nightly scout this time, and the files could wait until tomorrow. Looking at his sleeping wife he knew that it was right thing to do, he owed it Oni:dä after the stress he'd put her through over the last few days.

He changed and got into the other side of the bed, but this time he turned to face her, the exhaustion was clear on her face and Connor sighed. She was completely asleep by this point, but he felt the need to answer her request not leave all the same.

"I won't."

Hey everyone! Hope you all liked the chapter. Remember to leave comments and put it on your follow and favs if you like it. (Hopefully one day i'll have a normal schedule for this story, sorry the updates have been so random)