He fidgeted, and stammered. “I… needed water.”
Did he worry she would think he followed her? “Yes.” His obvious discomfort must result from not wanting to be near her. She pushed past him, choking back the hurt that returned so fully, it surprised her.
She had other worries, she told herself.
“Why did you return?” he asked.
Her lip quivered. Had he not expected her to? Not wanted her to? Did he fear she’d interfere with his happiness? “I didn’t belong there.”
“But you could have been everything Pratt wanted us to be. Made a business from teaching piano.”
“I don’t care what Pratt wanted. I belong here. Not with the wasichu.” She spat the final word and stood.
Unspoken words hung in the air between them. When he gazed at her, her heart pricked with longing.
He stared, but said nothing. Why did he torture her with his silence?
“I… have to get back.” She gripped the skin buckets and fled, both relieved and disappointed that he didn’t follow.
All day, she expected to see him approaching, or standing at a distance, watching. Walking by, glancing her way.
He didn’t.
She stayed up when her father retired for the night. The stars were so beautiful, she hated to go inside. How she’d missed their friendly twinkles. Tonight, so many fill the wide sky, it reminded her of the night she and Black Bear walked together beneath them. It seemed like another lifetime ago. They’d both died and been reborn, but who were they now?
Saddened, she went inside and lay down. After a time, a sweet sound pierced the night. The mournful yearning tones of the flute.
With a gasp, she sat up. She wasn’t dreaming, though it felt like it. She followed the song to the field, where Black Bear sat on a blanket. He finished and lowered the flute, staring.
Had he still nothing to say to her? Why had he played, if not for her? She gasped. For another.
“I’m sorry. I heard it and came without thinking.” She turned.
“Quiet Thunder, wait.”
Shaking her head, she glanced back. “No. I’ll go.”
“I played it so you would come. To see if your heart would lead you here.”
What was he saying? “Of course it did.” Her heart always led her to him. “I thought I dreamed it at first. It sounded like the same song…” The words fell away. To tell him the song sounded the same as the one he played years ago would make her appear weak. She must stay strong, if she intended to survive alone.
He stiffened, as if to rise. “Please sit. There’s much we need to say.”
She knelt and sat back. “Many questions to be answered.”
His gaze flicked to the ground. “The night I sat by your father’s fire, I said I didn’t know who I was while I was away from the tribe. But I spoke only half the truth.”
Afraid to look at him, she cast her gaze to the sky. Some things might be better left unsaid. “The stars are so beautiful tonight.”
His features stern, he nodded. “Like the night we were together so long ago.”
“It seems a lifetime ago.”
“Our lives are still ahead of us.”
“Yes.” Though she felt so much older. Those six years seemed like fifty.
“Years that can bring much happiness.”
His words tore at her heart. “Yes.” For some.
“We’re young enough to marry.”
Holding back a sob, she turned away. He’d marry some girl, have beautiful children, and she’d be forced to watch at a distance.
He crept closer. “Don’t you want to hear the other half of the truth?”
“No.” Fear fluttered in her head like a trapped bird.
“I have to tell you,” he insisted. “When I left the school, I joined the Wild West show. Every night, I’d pretend to attack a stage coach with a band of Indians, and race horses like I used to with Yellow Bird, and even danced. All for an audience.”
She studied him, trying to discern why, suddenly, he told her more than she wanted to know.
“It helped me remember who I was, and who I wanted to be. A Lakota man. The man you loved.” Though soft, his voice shook with urgency.
“We can never be those people again.” He had to know that. If she had to listen to one more word, she’d scream. She pushed upward, wanting only to run far away, bury her face in her buffalo skin and cry herself to sleep.
He grasped her arm. “No. Much has happened to change us. But my love has never changed.”
Confusion constricted her throat, choked back her response.
“I want to marry you, Quiet Thunder.”
Her knees collapsed to the blanket.
He added softly, “If you still want me.”
Her words came out in a breathy rush. “I’ve always wanted you. Only you.”
Swift as a soaring eagle, his lips met hers. Year of unspoken yearning poured from him in between kisses. “I thought I’d lost you. I was sure you’d stay in the east with the wasichu. Or with William. He loved you.”
Breathless, she laughed and returned his kisses. “But my heart was always yours, Black Bear. And I belong here. With you.”
“We are of one blood. One mind. And our two lives shared will be one.” He pressed her hand against the scar on his chest. “My heart beats only for you, Quiet Thunder. I will never leave you again. I swear by the stars.”
“And I swear to follow you no matter where you go. After this life, even into the stars.”
~ The End ~
~~~
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