by Linda Bridey
They laughed together for a little and then Dean said, “You tell that fiancé that he did things kinda backwards and send him to see me for a talk, all right?”
Sadie smiled and said, “Okay. Please don’t scare him too much, Pa.”
“I’ll be as nice as I can, but you’re always gonna be my little girl and I want to protect you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, honey. I’m sorry we were fighting so much the past few months,” Dean said.
“Me, too, Pa,” Sadie said. “I love you.”
Dean squeezed her and said, “I love you, too. Come on back in the house.”
“I’d like to just sit here a little, Pa,” Sadie said.
Dean looked into her eyes and said, “You sure?”
Sadie nodded. Dean kissed her forehead and left her. As he walked back to his house, Dean felt like he’d aged a hundred years. So much had changed in such a short time. He’d just become the father of twins and now found out that he was going to be a grandfather. When he entered the kitchen, Seth sat in one of the chairs holding his newest niece.
Dean sat down by him and put his head in his hands.
Seth eyed his brother and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Tonight’s been one hell of a night.”
“Yep,” Seth said with a smile at the baby. “It sure has.”
“Sadie’s pregnant,” Dean blurted.
That knocked Seth for a loop and he couldn’t speak for a moment. “Oh, boy,” he finally said. “Tucker’s?”
“Yep.”
“Well, Dean, I can’t say that I didn’t see it comin’,” Seth said. “So what did you say?”
Dean blew out a breath. “I told her to send Tucker to see me. We got some stuff to iron out, but he’s a good boy. He’ll make her a good husband. I know they love each other.”
Seth nodded in that patient way he had. “That’s the most important thing sometimes. Plus, it’s not like they’ll have to do everything on their own. They’ve got two families that will help them. It’s nice to have two families that can work together like that,” Seth said, hoping Dean would get his point.
Dean’s eyes locked on Seth’s. “Where’s Marcus?”
“Gone. He and Lydia got Tessa all settled and then he left. Claire stayed to help, but Marcus left,” Seth said.
“Damn! I wanted to thank him,” Dean said.
Seth arched an eyebrow at him. “You know where he lives.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. I want to see my wife and hold our babies,” Dean said with a smile as he took his daughter from Seth. “And I have to tell Tessa about Sadie and Tucker. Tomorrow will be time enough,” he said, and disappeared into their bedroom.
Chapter Nineteen
Claire saw that Tessa and Dean were going to be fine since Maddie was there to help, so she decided to go home to her husband. She knew Marcus was tired and upset. He’d left with Aiyana as quickly as he could because of the tension that still existed with Dean. Claire wanted to comfort him. She was so proud of him for everything he’d done to help with the birth of the twins and for taking such good care of Tessa.
Thanks to Marcus, she’d become a better rider and didn’t mind traveling alone anymore. She took one of Seth’s horses because Marcus had left on Arrow. Confidently she rode the gelding through the dark. She wasn’t afraid of the night anymore and was able to find her way home easily. When she arrived at their house, she found it dark. Marcus must have gone to the camp.
Claire smiled and started on her way. It made sense that he would go there. Camp always made him feel better, and since he’d thought she was staying at the ranch, it was no surprise that he would want to see his other family. When she arrived close to the camp, she gave a low whistle like Marcus had taught her. She heard Owl answer and knew it was all right to go on.
As she emerged from the woods, several Indians looked at her and smiled. Wind Spirit saw her and warmly welcomed her.
“Hello, sister,” she said.
“Hello, sister,” Claire responded. Her Lakota still needed some work, but she’d come a long way. “Is my husband here?”
“Yes,” Wind Spirit said. “He wanted to offer a sacrifice of thanks for the birth of his niece and nephew. I am not sure exactly where he went.”
“That is all right. I will find him,” Claire said as she dismounted.
In their tipi, she hurriedly changed into one of her buckskin dresses and came out of the tent. Several of the Indians spoke to her and she chatted a little with each of them. Black Fox appeared beside her at one point.
“Hello, brother,” she said, smiling up at the big Indian.
“Hello, sister. Your Lakota is coming along,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“Are you looking for Silver Ghost?”
Claire nodded. “Do you know where he is?”
“He went to the ceremonial clearing to give a sacrifice,” Black Fox told her.
“Thanks,” Claire said and headed there.
*****
She heard his laugh before she saw him and smiled. Claire wondered what mischief he was up to now. She stepped out of the trees and stopped in her tracks. Marcus stood with a young maiden who giggled and teased him about something.
Claire wasn’t close enough to hear exactly what they were saying. She stayed where she was and watched.
“You are so funny, Silver Ghost,” Little River told him. “You always make me laugh.”
Marcus said, “I am glad.”
“And you are handsome,” the maiden told him.
He laughed. “And you are flirting, Little River.”
“You cannot blame a girl for trying,” she said.
“I am flattered, but I am married and you know it,” Marcus said.
“You could always have a second wife. I would not mind sharing you,” Little River said.
Marcus laughed and said, “I think my wife would definitely mind sharing me.”
Little River sidled closer to him and ran a hand up one of his arms. “Do you not think I am pretty?”
Marcus took her hand from his arm and said, “Of course you are, but I am not for you. I think there are some boys in camp who would like to court you.”
Little River’s face fell. “I do not want a boy. I want a man. I want you,” she said.
Marcus tried to be kind. “I am sorry, but I love my wife and I am not interested in anyone but her.”
Little River wasn’t taking him seriously. She grabbed Marcus and kissed him. Marcus was gentle as he extracted her from him, but his expression was not pleased as he looked at her. A gasp startled the both of them. Marcus looked up to see Claire standing just inside the clearing. She turned and ran back into the trees.
“Damn it, Little River! Now look what you have done!” Marcus said, and ran after his wife.
It didn’t take him long to catch up with her.
“Claire!” he said as he caught her arm. “Claire, it’s not what you think.”
She yanked her arm out of his grasp. “How could you do that? I can’t believe you!”
“Claire, please let me explain,” Marcus said.
“I know what I saw, Marcus. I never thought you would do anything like that,” Claire said. “I should have never trusted you. I guess you thought you could just keep up your end of the bargain and have a little something on the side, right?”
“No! Never! I would never cheat on you, Claire!” Marcus said.
Claire broke into sobs. “I loved you, Marcus. I loved you even when other people told me that you weren’t reliable or that you were a handful. I married you because I wanted to build a life and a family with you. I can’t believe how stupid I was.”
She started running again and Marcus followed her. They burst out of the woods into the camp again. “Claire, please listen to me. Please!” he shouted as she ran recklessly through camp.
Everyone watched their progress. They reached Wind Spirit’s tipi and Claire stopped and turned to him. Tears streamed from h
er eyes. “Leave me alone!” she screamed. “I hate you!”
Marcus felt as if she’d dealt him an actual blow. He staggered back a little and didn’t follow her any longer when she went to their tipi.
Claire entered their tipi, ripped off her Indian dress, and put her own dress back on. Then she ran to the horse she’d borrowed from Seth and mounted up. She kicked him into action and disappeared back through the trees as Marcus looked on. He would have followed her, but Black Fox said, “Let her go for the night, Marcus. Her temper will cool by tomorrow. Now come and tell us what happened.”
Marcus sat down at their fire but refused to tell them the events that had led to the horrible fight.
*****
Claire cried the whole way to their house. She tied the horse to the porch and then went inside. Everywhere she looked, Claire saw things from the life she and Marcus had shared. She tried to block them out as she went into their room and pulled one of her suitcases from underneath the bed. Tears fell on the clothes that she rammed into it.
In her anguish, she didn’t even really know what she was packing. She slammed it shut and took it back out to the porch. She sat it on the porch and then mounted. Once in the saddle, she leaned down and picked up the suitcase. Then she turned the horse around and galloped away to the ranch.
When she arrived, she banged on Maddie and Seth’s door because she didn’t want to disturb anyone at the other house. Maddie opened it, dressed in a robe.
“Claire, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Claire couldn’t answer because she was crying so hard. Maddie guided her inside and sat her down at the kitchen table. She began brewing some tea. Then Maddie drew a chair close to her sister and held her as her grief poured out.
“He cheated on me!” she finally got out.
“Marcus? He cheated on you?” Maddie was shocked.
Claire sat up and nodded. “With some Lakota girl. I went home, but he wasn’t there and I knew that he’d go to the camp and so I went to find him and when I did, I saw him kissing her and laughing.”
Maddie was able to keep up with Claire’s rambling explanation. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” She looked up and saw Seth standing in the doorway. From the grim look on his face, Maddie could tell he’d heard Claire.
Seth and Maddie exchanged a confused look. He would have gone to talk to Marcus, but he didn’t know where the Lakota camp was located and didn’t want to traipse around in the woods all night trying to find him. He figured that he would go to their house the next day and see what he could find out. Maddie was able to get Claire calmed down enough to get her to bed.
*****
Marcus didn’t sleep. He took Aiyana from Wind Spirit and went to their tipi. He put the baby in her cradle and sat near her. He hummed their daughter to sleep and thought about how he was going to explain things to Claire in the morning. By the time the sun came up, Marcus had it perfected.
He gathered up their daughter and headed home. When he got there, the house was empty. Marcus noticed some of Claire’s clothing was on the floor. He looked under their bed and his suspicions that she’d packed some things and left was confirmed.
“C’mon, Aiyana, we’re going to go get your mother,” he said, and mounted up.
*****
Marcus rode up the drive and stopped in front of Maddie’s house. He whistled Claire’s whistle, but Claire didn’t come to the door. He did it again with the same result. His third attempt was met with Maddie coming out of the house.
“Where’s my wife?” he said.
“She doesn’t want to see you, Marcus. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Maddie said. The disapproval on her face was powerful.
Marcus’ eyebrows rose. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Maddie said, “Maybe in Indian culture that sort of thing is all right, but not in ours. Leave her alone, Marcus.” Maddie went back in the house and closed the door.
Marcus sat in stunned disbelief.
“Marcus.”
He turned to see Seth standing by the barn. His brother motioned to him to follow him. Inside the barn, Seth led him to a couple of hay bales and they sat down.
“So is it true that you cheated on Claire?” Seth said point blank.
“No,” Marcus answered.
Seth looked into Marcus eyes. He searched hard for any sign of dishonesty. It was obviously hard to tell with his younger brother since he’d been able to keep so many secrets from his family.
Marcus never flinched or looked away as he said, “Seth, I’m telling you the absolute truth. I didn’t cheat on Claire, and I never will.”
“So then tell me what happened,” Seth said.
“No.”
Seth asked, “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I mean ‘no’. I’m not going to tell anyone but Claire what happened. This is between me and her, and I’m not going to have anyone play mediator for me. She owes me the courtesy of at least hearing me out,” Marcus answered.
“Marcus, I can understand, but maybe I can help the both of you,” Seth said.
Marcus shook his head. “All I’ll say is that I didn’t do anything wrong and leave it at that. I can see she’s already told her version of the story and that’s fine. That’s her choice to do so, but I’m not going to do it.”
Seth watched Marcus march from the barn with Aiyana still on his back. He realized that he never got to hold her. “Damn.”
*****
Marcus came to the ranch every day requesting to see Claire. She heard her special whistle but never came out to talk to him. The hurt was too deep and she just couldn’t face him. She remembered the conversation she and Marcus had had on the night he’d told his family about his heritage, when he’d told her that he’d been with a lot of women.
Doubts crowded her mind. Maybe she wasn’t enough for him. Maybe he was so used to variety that he couldn’t be with just one woman. They’d started out their marriage based on a lie. They’d made a deal and for him, that’s all it had been. She’d been so blinded by his charm and wit, that she hadn’t seen him for what he really was; a man who really hadn’t been ready to settle down but had to out of desperation. He’d needed someone to help him raise his daughter and to warm his bed whenever it was convenient for him.
She was miserable and Maddie’s heart broke for her. Seth had tried to get Marcus’ side, but his brother stuck to his guns and wouldn’t reveal anything except to say that he hadn’t done anything wrong. The problem was that she missed him so much that there were times when she considered going back and then knew she couldn’t because her trust in him was broken.
Claire had to admit one thing about Marcus; he never kept Aiyana from her. Seth would bring her to stay with them for a day or so, but it killed Claire when she had to give her back to Marcus. All of them were caught between loyalty to Claire and Marcus and they tried to not take sides, especially because they hadn’t heard Marcus’ version of the story.
Marcus took to writing her letters and leaving them on the porch for her. They entreated her to at least listen to him. He never used Aiyana as a weapon, however. Claire had to give him credit for that, as well. At night she lay in her bed and yearned to feel his arms around her and then she would see him kissing that girl in her mind and her heart would break all over again.
Marcus took to staying in the Lakota camp because he couldn’t bear to stay in the home they’d created together. Black Fox and He Who Runs were increasingly worried about him. The only time he smiled was when he was playing with Aiyana. However, when she was sleeping or with one of her uncles or aunts, he practiced wrestling with the other braves. His anger and hurt was channeled into his fighting and he became almost lethal in his skill.
With his high intelligence, he was able to figure out the best way to use torque, angle, and speed to achieve maximum pain and to take down his opponent in the least amount of time. It got so that other men wouldn’t face him any longer. He stopped bothering to go to the ranch because it wa
s apparent to him that Claire wasn’t going to budge.
*****
Seth was concerned with Marcus’ absence. It wasn’t like him to not bring the baby to see Claire. After four days without seeing him, Seth went looking for him. When he didn’t find Marcus at his house, he figured that he must be at the Lakota camp. He wasn’t quite sure where it was, but Seth felt he needed to find it and make sure Marcus was all right.
He had seen Marcus ride out of the woods in back of his house and thought it was as good a place to start as any. The trail was narrow, but Hank was able to fit through the foliage. Seth was at home out on the prairies, but the woods were another matter. He began to feel claustrophobic the further along he went. If it hadn’t been such a serious situation, he might have turned back.
The trail split and Seth was undecided about which branch he should take. He finally chose the right fork and urged Hank forward again. Seth estimated that he’d ridden another two miles or so and hadn’t found anything.
“I must have come the wrong way,” he said. He went to turn Hank around and was confronted by two braves whom he didn’t recognize. “Hi, fellas.”
His greeting was met by silence. “Just my luck. I run into ones that don’t know English.” They just stared at him and Seth began getting angry. “I’m looking for Silver Ghost,” he said. Silence again met his statement. “The hell with this,” he said, and turned Hank back around.
Slowly he began walking Hank in the direction he’d been going. He turned every little bit and saw that the braves followed him. Seth wasn’t going to keep messing around. He pulled Hank up and acted like he’d heard something off in the woods. The braves looked, too. Seth put his heels to Hank and the big gelding leapt forward. There was shouting behind him, but Seth didn’t stop. He rode low over Hank’s neck, making himself as small as he could. Hank’s long legs carried Seth so fast that they soon left the braves behind.
Suddenly they burst out into a huge clearing. People scattered as Hank ran through the camp. Seth brought Hank to a skidding stop and shouted, “Does anyone here know English?”
He Who Runs heard the commotion and came running. By the time he got there, Seth had been pulled off of Hank and lay on the ground at spear and knife point. The sight of the big cowboy lying there with his hands up was funny to the brave. He laughed as he walked up to Seth and looked down.