“I’d like to help too,” Faith said. Until now she’d been rather quiet. “I’m not that gifted at sewing, but I’m sure I can help in some way.”
“Of course.” Clementine couldn’t seem to stop smiling. “The more, the merrier.”
That night as Faith took inventory of her new room, she sighed in satisfaction to find her things were in order. Seth had just removed the last of the trunks and crates, and the room looked even larger than before. It was certainly larger than the room she had shared with three other girls down in Salem.
Faith went to the desk that stood beneath one of two windows. Atop it sat the black doctor’s bag her parents had given her. She ran her hand over the soft leather and smiled. She was doing what she wanted to do. She was studying to become a doctor so she could truly help people. Perhaps one day she would work on or near the reservation and offer her services to the Native people. But as much as this appealed to her, she couldn’t help feeling a little envious of her cousin Gabe and his engagement.
All of her life, she had longed for someone to love that way. But from the time she’d been old enough to share such thoughts with her mother, Faith had had to face the very real situation of her circumstances. It was illegal for her to marry a white man. She was half Indian, and such marriages were forbidden.
“But what if I just break the law?” she’d once asked her mother.
“Would you want to put the person you love at risk with the law? Would you sacrifice their well-being because of your selfish desires? If so, that isn’t love.”
Faith had carried that conversation close to her heart. She knew her birth—her very existence—had come from cruel circumstances. It wasn’t her fault that it had happened, but it was a part of who she was. She couldn’t change it and was just fortunate that she could pass for white, or the entirety of her world would be different.
She looked again at the black bag and thought about her previous conversation with Nancy. God did call many people to remain single. If that was His calling for her, then Faith would accept it and move forward.
Running her hand along the side of the bag, she smiled again. “This is where my future will be. This is who I am and who I will continue to be. It will be enough. It must be enough.”
CHAPTER 2
I’m so glad you decided to travel to Oregon City with us,” Clementine told Faith. “Gabe always finds someone to go off and talk to. I swear he’s never met a stranger.”
Faith laughed. “I remember that about him and his brother. In fact, I think most of the family was that way except Nancy. She always kept to herself. Especially after their youngest brother died.”
“I know. We were good friends, but she changed after that.” Clementine looked over the boat’s railing at the Willamette River below. “I missed her joy so much. I’m glad to see it’s returned.”
“Your brother did that.” Before Faith could say more, she heard a scuffle. It seemed to be coming from the deck above them. “Sounds like a fight.” She tucked her black bag under one arm and moved toward the stairs. Where there were fights, there were usually injuries.
“Faith, wait. Maybe you shouldn’t go without Gabe.”
“I don’t have time to chase down Gabe. Someone could be hurt.”
When she stepped onto the upper deck, she could see that she was right. A bearded, dark-haired man clutched his forearm while two other men held back a big, burly man. A bloody knife lay at the feet of the large man, and an old Indian man sat on a straight-backed chair just outside the wheelhouse.
“A man shouldn’t have to work on the same boat as a dirty Injun,” the large man said.
“You knew I had people of color working for me when you hired on,” the bearded man replied.
“Yes, but not Injuns.”
“I’m the captain, and I decide who works for me and who doesn’t. As it happens, this man has more right to be here than you do. He’s worked for me for many years.” The bearded man glanced down at his wound, then back up at the men who held the big man. “Take him below until he cools off.”