Anger exploded on Little Wolf's face. “No! This cannot be so.” Like a man bitten by a mad animal, he began to stamp the ground and pull at his skin.
Knowing Little Wolf would forever walk the ground tormented by losing this final battle, Two Moons closed his eyes. No longer hearing Mother Earth's voice around him or feeling any pain, he gave himself up to his animal spirit, who led him down his path-a path that led to Blue Eyes.
****
On a high butte, in the far off distance, a lone wolf stood with his head raised to the sky. And throughout death's silence one could hear his haunting cry floating in the wind like a beacon in the darkness, leading two destined lovers to their promised land. . .
Chapter Twenty one
Another coincidence? He doubted it. After Dean had dropped him off at the hospital, he had considered leaving, but first there was that phone call. And that was why he now found himself standing over a hospital bed, his search for Gabrielle at an end.
Roy glanced at Mrs. Camden, who stood out in the hall talking to a nurse. He still couldn't get over being there, in the exact spot, at the same time. When he had heard her mention Gabrielle's name to whomever was at the end of her line, he had thought he'd heard incorrectly. Then his boss confirmed it. Gabrielle Camden had been found at the site, in a coma and had been in the hospital for three days.
Needless to say, his boss was annoyed they didn’t get the story first. But, it didn't matter. He’d made a decision. He was going to open a gallery, fill it with art and his photographs. Any money made he would donate to the Native American Children’s fund. This was his dream-a dream he hoped to share with Gabrielle.
He glanced to the cold, stark white walls of her hospital room. He'd do anything to make her happy-make her want him, and he was going to make her see that.
His gaze settled on her sleeping form. Did she sense his presence? He brought her warm hand to his lips. Would she feel his kiss? The deep cutting ache in his chest was from no accident. It was from the fear that she would send him away without getting to know him.
“Gabrielle. Wake up. Do you hear me?” he whispered. “Give us a chance. I realize now that I've had feelings for you for such a long time, only I couldn’t tell you. Probably thought it was a one man paper, what with me hanging around so much.” He laughed. “Fact was, I asked to be assigned to you.” His throat felt like an old document, dry, dusty.
“You felt it, didn’t you, the connection? There’s something there between us. I know there is.” He raked his hand through his hair. “Hiding wherever it is that you are right now, isn’t going to stop me from visiting you every day till you open up those beautiful blue eyes of yours.”
He shook her gently. “Do you hear me?”
Gently he placed her hand by her side, then ran his fingers along her brow. “Come back to me. Please. You owe me that dance.”
****
“Welcome back Blue Eyes.” In the hazy, dreamlike state of her mind, Gabrielle heard him call her name. Two Moons! He hadn't left her. Her heart soared-only to crash like a comet, hurling to earth. Roy's face materialized before her. It was his voice she’d heard.
She struggled to sit, disoriented. “I don't understand?” She glanced around the room.
“You've been in a coma.”
A wild flash of grief ripped through her. “No.” Just her imagination? Images formed in a coma? It couldn't be. Two Moons, Chahanpi, Shadow Elk-they all seemed so real. It couldn't be.
“How long have I-”
“A couple of days. Your co-workers found you at the site.”
She dropped back against the pillow, turned her face from Roy’s questioning gaze and closed her eyes. How could she explain the pain she felt slicing through her and the loneliness that brought tears to her eyes.
Gentle fingers stroked her temple. “Gabrielle?” His touch sent tingles across her neck.
“I’ll go if you want. But I’ll not give up on you. This is one battle you will not win so easily.”
There was a vague familiarity in his words that made her heart swell with feelings of desire she thought dead. She turned to face him, noticed how he clasped and unclasped his hand as though tense.
He started to rise from her bed and she grabbed the collar of his opened shirt. “Wait. Don't go.”
Her glance dropped to his smooth bare chest and she tried to ignore the pulsating surge of blood throbbing at the base of her throat.
He tugged his shirt closed. “Sorry, the air conditioning’s broken.”
She brushed aside his hand and pointed to a set of marks near his left breast. “What’s that?” She bit her lip, fought to calm her racing pulse and swirling emotions. Two Moons said Roy would wear his totem. Could it really be? She knew from the very beginning there was something special about Roy. That unknown spark. That connection.
He glanced down at his chest. “A birthmark.”
Gabrielle’s spirit lifted. “They look like two crescent moons.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his chin. “I guess. I never saw it that way.”
“A good likeness, no?” a deep voice asked from the hallway.
A good likeness? Yes. Roy and Two Moons’ mannerisms were so similar.
Gabrielle turned, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the astonishment on Roy’s face.
“John? You’re-how?”
The doctor ambled over to her bed and Gabrielle took a quick breath of utter astonishment. The Shaman of the village had two different colored eyes. The thought froze in her brain. Had she dreamt the entire thing up?
Her mind reeled splintering off in a million different directions. Could it be? Had she really? Had she seen the doctor in her coma? Had her befuddled mind played tricks on her, sending her to a place that hadn’t existed, merging those around her, with those made up in a comatose state?
“So how are you feeling?” The doctor picked up her chart, studying the paper.
She stared. Screams of frustration welled in the back of her throat. What of little Curly? George had curly hair and Two Moons’ sister had George’s mentally. Was Rattling Blanket the mother, she wished she’d had? Was Shadow Elk just a reminder of the guilt she’d felt over her brother’s death? And Roy wearing that Native American neckband, wearing Two Moons’ mark. God, she felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
“In answer to your question. I did my rounds as you slept.” The doctor flipped the chart closed. “Today I took the shorter route here.”
She noticed how Roy’s brows fell; noticed how a ray of sunlight kissed his light blonde hair.
“All this time you had a car?” Roy asked, his voice tense.
“Car? No.” The doctor shook his head. “A motorcycle. No place to sit an injured man.”
“Injured?” Her gaze shot back to Roy. “What-?”
“I’m fine. I’ll tell you later.” He flashed her a smile, a familiar smile that brightened his face and lit up his eyes. And as she stared into those dark-brown pupils she felt a stirring in her breast-a spark of hope.
“So you two have much to talk about.” The doctor turned and placed his hand on Roy’s shoulder. “Take good care of her. I release her into your hands.”
As quickly has he had come, the doctor left and she was alone once again with Roy.
“Roy-”
He turned. Their gaze met and she remembered Two Moons’ words. “You but have to look into the eyes of the one with the yellow hair and you will see me there.”
“What is it that you see when you look at me?” Roy asked, his voice tender.
A man from another century that stole her heart. A man she grieved for, but who could have been a dream.
“Do you see a man who cares deeply for you, or just that pain in the neck reporter you wished so desperately to run from?”
His hand felt warm in hers. His beautiful long fingers, strongly interweaving through hers, sent a familiar tingling to the pit of her stomach. Run? No. She was through with running.
Gently
she brushed her fingers along his cheek. This man was her reality.
Hope glistened in his eyes. He leaned closer.
His kiss drew her breath away. An intense euphoria exploded around her as though at that moment, two souls instantaneously met, fusing. The dreamy familiar intimacy of his warm, moist lips pressed against hers made her head reel. She inhaled his musky male scent. Two Moons’ scent? Roy’s? And his touch upon her chin, so familiar, so comforting. There was no denying the strong magnetism between them. The sense of completeness she felt. No denying the desire igniting her soul. Dream or magic-the impossible-the hope of loving someone again, suddenly become a reality. She loved him. The admission dredged from a place beyond logic, beyond reason, made her heart thump erratically.
She drew away, staring deeply into Roy’s eyes. “I need to tell you what happened to me. I-”
He placed a warm finger upon her lip. “Hush. Lie back.” Gently he eased her shoulders back against the pillow. “There’ll be plenty of time for swapping stories later. And boy do I have a doozy for you. But right now I demand that you get some rest.”
She smiled. “And if I refuse?”
“Refuse? You refuse me? No. I think not. I’ll have that dance and your heart.” He grinned and took her hand in his. “Take all the time you need. I’ll wait for you.” He leaned forward.
His dark, warm eyes gazed deeply into hers. Eyes that brought her back to another time, another place.
“We lost each other once. This time if you’ll have me,” he said softly. He rubbed his cheek against the back of her hand. “I’ll not be so easy to get rid of.” His mouth covered hers.
“Gabrielle!” Their kiss broken, by the sound of Willimina's voice, he leaned back. The smile on his face, like a ray of sunshine, warmed her soul.
Her mother hurried over and threw her arms around her neck. Gabrielle stiffened. Disappointment mingled with anxiety.
Roy stood and backed away. Over Willimina's shoulder Gabrielle saw him discreetly leave the room.
Teary-eyed, Willimina fiddled with Gabrielle's collar and hair. “Thank God. Thank God,” she mumbled. “I was so frightened I had lost you. What would I have done without you?” Again she brought Gabrielle to her chest and hugged tightly. “I love you.”
“You love me?” Gabrielle sat back, momentarily baffled. “How can you love me when I caused you so much grief? Dad and Charles they’d-”
“Of course, I love you.” Surprise arched Willimina’s eyes. “I don't blame you. I never did. Charles' death was an accident. You weren't to blame.”
“It drove daddy away-I drove him away.”
“No.” she said, her voice hard. “Your father was having affairs on and off for years, long before I even had you. It was a mutual agreement, his leaving.” She reached out and stroked Gabrielle's cheek. “I'm so sorry you blamed yourself.”
Weariness began to settle in and guilt. “I'm sorry.” Tears clouded Gabrielle’s vision. “I've been so distant. All this time I thought you hated me, blamed me-”
“Have I been that cold?” A sad, tired look settled on Willimina's face.
Gabrielle sighed. “I think we both were.”
An uncomfortable silence hung over them; a silence that undeniably brought with it the truth. If she had learned one thing from Rattle Blanket, it was that she needed her mother.
“Do you think we can start over?” Gabrielle asked, somewhat hesitate. “Maybe be friends?”
Willimina nodded. “Friends.” She smiled weakly.
She reached into her pocket. The locket dangling from her fingers caught Gabrielle off guard. A sudden jolt of shock flew through her.
“Here. I want you to have this.” Willimina reached over and slipped the chain around
Gabrielle's neck. “I was up in the attic going through some old things and found that locket.
It belonged to your great-great-grandmother and was handed down through the generations. Open it.”
Gabrielle's heart raced. “The Colonel lived?”
A look of bewilderment crossed her mother’s face. “You know Jackson died at the battle.”
A twinge of pain tightened Gabrielle’s chest. Her fingers shook as she opened the locket.
“Her name was Woman-Who-Walks-With-The-Stars and this…” Willimina pointed to the woman she knew more intimately than her mother would ever guess. “This is her daughter, White Swan.”
Gabrielle blinked, confused. She ran her fingertip over the picture. A warm glow flowed gently through her as she shared a moment back in time with a man who had called her daughter. Dream or reality? Had she seen this picture at some other point in time? Had the image been hiding in the recesses of her mind? “What happened to them?”
“White Swan died during the Battle of Little Big Horn. Woman-Who-Walks-With-The-Stars lived on a Crow reservation until she died.” Her mother leaned back and sighed. “I should have told you this a long time ago. I just-”
Gabrielle placed her hand over her mother’s. “It’s all right, really. Tell me more.”
A pensive shimmer in the shadow of her eyes, Willimina’s lips pursed; then she continued. “Her oldest daughter, Bright Star-”
“White Swan had a sister?” Gabrielle asked, amazed at the thrill that news brought.
“Yes, born a year before her. The daughter of the Colonel. She is your great-grandmother. You know her as Anna. Anyway,” Willimina waved her hand dismissively, “she married an American soldier and had two children. Their daughter-your grandmother-eventually met an Englishman who took her away to London where they raised their family. By now no trace of their red blood showed on their faces.” Willimina frowned. “And don't give me that disgusted look. Times were different. They accepted only those of blue-blooded heritage into society.”
“You should have told me. I had a right to know.”
Her mother sighed. “I know. I'm sorry.”
“I think I'm tired.”
Willimina leaned forward, planted a kiss on Gabrielle's forehead, then stood up. “I'll be back tomorrow to take you home.”
“OK.”
“And Gabrielle?”
“Yes.”
Willimina hesitated. “When you feel up to it-I'd like to have you over for dinner.”
“I'd love to come, only…” Gabrielle glanced to the hall where Roy stood patiently, the man she had traveled a long and winding road to meet-the love she no longer needed to search for.
Disappointment clouded her mother’s face.
Gabrielle smiled. “There's someone I'd like to invite.”
****
Over the next couple months, Roy became her world. He was the air that she breathed and the sunshine that filled her life. He courted her by day, taking her on picnics in the park, or for long walks in the woods. They visited the excavation site where a white marker now bore White Swan’s name. At night he'd take her dancing.
He taught her the names of the birds he was photographing, about camera lights and angles. They recited case studies on reincarnation and soul mates. And by spending time with him came the realization that she had been given a great gift. The love of her life was two men, two men who were one in the same.
“Let me make love to you here and now beneath the sky.”
Roy’s deep voice, sensual, warm, blew against her ear.
The sweet fragrance of cut grass wafted in the air.
Gabrielle, ran her fingers through his hair, across the smooth expanse of his bronzed hairless chest. She leaned forward and kissed his well-developed peck muscles, kissed the crescent birthmarks nestled in the hollow of his chest. His breathing quickened as her lips trailed a path down to his belly, to the top of his groin.
He grabbed her shoulders, lifted her chin and pressed his hot mouth against hers. Gently his tongue coaxed her open and she urgently welcomed him.
The soft grass met her back as they fell upon the earth.
Their gaze met. Their fingers blended as they reached for the buttons on her blue s
ilk blouse. Quickly together the blouse came undone. Ever so slowly he slipped the straps of her bra from her shoulders, and blazed a path of warm kisses that left her breathless. She heard herself groan.
“So soft...” His voice trailed. He kissed the swell of her breasts. “Like satin against my lips.”
The cool air, his eager fingers, touched her hardening nipples.
“Wait.” Roy reached over for the picnic basket and pulled out a bottle of honey. A mischievous grin tugged at his lips as he squeezed the bottle over her breast. The warm, thick, sticky liquid dropped, hitting its mark.
She closed her eyes.
As he sucked and gently tugged on her nipple, a fire began to build deep down in the pit of her belly. A fire so right, she knew without a doubt that this man at her breast was the missing link in her life. Now she understood where her jaunt into the past had been leading to. It lead to this man.
Lying in his arms, with the afterglow of love still clinging to their bodies, Roy nuzzled the back of her neck. He ran his finger between her shoulder blades.
“How did you get this scar?”
She glanced over her shoulder, baffled. “What scar?”
“This small round one in the middle of your back.”
Dazed, she sat up. The bullet. She had taken a bullet in the back. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Gabrielle?” He reached out and gathered her into the circle of his arms. “What’s wrong?”
She closed her eyes for a brief second and Chahanpi’s face emerged in the darkness, only to evaporate by an onrushing wind.
As the sun set over the ridge, Gabrielle spoke of the battle and how she died. And with this new found knowledge, a peacefulness settled over the valley and over her heart.
A Find Through Time Page 25