Inhaling a quavering breath, he stared at this woman who only a short time ago he had thought was lost to him forever! Here she was, as though an offering to him, or an answer to his prayers to the fires of the sun!
And never had she looked lovelier!
Beneath the splash of the moonlight, she stood like a copper princess attired in the clothing of the Blackfoot. Her long, dark hair was hanging free and fluttering around her shoulders in the gentle breeze. Her expression was filled with sadness as she gazed upward, and as Spotted Eagle drew his mount to a halt and dismounted, he could see tears streaming down her cheeks.
Jolena was so caught up in her feelings that she had not heard the horse's approach, nor did she hear Spotted Eagle now as he dropped his reins and left the horse behind as he walked toward her.
Feeling as though he were being swallowed whole by his thunderous heartbeats, Spotted Eagle took one more step, then stopped and trembled when she turned sudden eyes to him and discovered him standing there.
Jolena's heart seemed to leap into her throat. She became dizzy from the surprise of finding Spotted Eagle there. She was so stunned, she could not speak, nor could she move! She had just been praying that he would be all right and that he would come to her.
And there he was, as big as life itself, standing so close, his eyes brimming with his own tears of happiness!
"Jolena?" Spotted Eagle said softly.
"Spotted Eagle?" Jolena said softly.
Then both broke into a run and flung themselves into each other's arms.
Jolena sobbed as she clung to Spotted Eagle.
Spotted Eagle clung to her as though, if he let her go, he would discover that this had all been a figment of his imaginationa savage illusion! "You are really here," Jolena cried, gazing up at him. "Oh, darling. You did not die?"
"I did not die, nor did you," Spotted Eagle said, laughing softly as his hands now moved gently over her face, his forefinger stopping at her lips, tracing them. "My woman, I thought you died with the others."
"I was thrown from the wagon before it went over the cliff," Jolena said, placing a hand to one of his cheeks, testing to see if he were real. "And you?"
"It all happened so quickly that I was forced to watch, instead of to act," Spotted Eagle said, again drawing her into his embrace, hugging her to him. "I thought you were with the others. I… I went down to the foot of the cliff and looked for you. I could not find you. And there was no way to tell if you were there or not. Most of the bodies were unidentifiable."
A shudder soared through Jolena at the thought of what he was describing. "My brother?" she whispered, daring to seek the truth, not sure if she could face it if she found out that Kirk was truly dead.
"Could you tell if Kirk…" she began.
"No," Spotted Eagle said, placing a finger to her lips, stopping her next words. "I do not know the fate of your brother."
He held her away from him and gazed into her eyes. "Did you walk all the way here from the site of the wreckage?" he asked. "I do not see how you did. That is a long way to travel by foot." Jolena was not sure how to tell him about Two Ridges and what he had tried to do. Two Ridges was supposed to be Spotted Eagle's best friend. She did not want to be the one to tell Spotted Eagle of a best friend's deceit!
Before she decided what to say, or how, the warriors bringing Two Ridges' body back to his people came riding into the village.
The arrival of many horses into the village brought the people outside. Chief Gray Bear came from his tepee ahead of the others. There was a happy, joyous reunion of father and son as Spotted Eagle and his father embraced.
And then Jolena saw Two Ridges. The moon was so bright that she quickly recognized him. She placed her hands over her mouth to stifle a scream when she discovered Two Ridges' bloody back as he lay across the horse on his stomach.
Jolena then gazed quickly up at Spotted Eagle, questioning him silently with her eyes.
"A Cree's arrow that was meant for Spotted Eagle killed Two Ridges instead," Spotted Eagle said sullenly.
Jolena was rendered even more speechless, now recalling her dream in which Spotted Eagle had died from an arrow's wound.
"Two Ridges saved your life?" Jolena blurted out, finding that hard to believe now that she knew of Two Ridge's darker side.
Having decided not to tell anyone the truth about Two Ridges' attempt to kill him, Spotted Eagle's jaw tightened and his lips became tightly pursed. "Spotted Eagle, why don't you answer me?" Jolena murmured, then grew cold inside, thinking she already knew the answer without his actually saying the words.
Footsteps behind her drew her thoughts and her pity elsewhere. She watched Brown Elk's expression as he stepped into the moonlight just as Two Ridges' body was lifted from the horse and was carried toward him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Everyone stepped aside as Brown Elk moved at a dignified pace toward the horse on which his son lay. He made no sound as he lifted Two Ridges from the horse and carried him in his arms toward his dwelling, stopping before entering his tepee to gaze up into Spotted Eagle's eyes.
"Did my son die with courage?" Brown Elk asked softly, his eyes hazed with a sadness that he was trying to keep within himself.
Spotted Eagle's insides stiffened, feeling everyone's eyes on him, especially Jolena's as she shifted hers upward, gazing up at him as she awaited his response.
Although Spotted Eagle was a man of truth and honesty, this time he had to lie, for to tell the truth meant causing pain that was not necessary. "He died with both honor and courage," Spotted Eagle said, his voice drawn. "Your son died in place of Spotted Eagle, for Long Nose's arrow was meant for me, not your son."
"He died so that you could live?" Brown Elk said, his voice breaking. He lowered his eyes. "My son died for a good purpose then. He keeps the son of Chief Gray Bear alive so that he can one day be chief of our people!"
Jolena listened to everything that was being said, realizing that most was false. She knew the evil that lurked within Two Ridges' heart. She could never see him as courageous or one who might do an honorable deed for the man who stood in the way of his having the woman of his desire.
Jolena had to believe that Spotted Eagle was covering up some horrible truth. She could see it in his eyes, in how they had wavered as he spoke to Brown Elk. She had heard it in his voice, that what he had said was pretense, surely to save hurting Brown Elk.
For now she held her tongue. But later she would question Spotted Eagle about it.
She could also no longer keep to herself the horrible secret of what Two Ridges had attempted to do to her.
"Let me help you with your son," Spotted Eagle said, moving closer to Brown Elk. "Let me carry him inside your dwelling for you."
Brown Elk firmed his hold on his son. "No," he said firmly. "I need time alone with my son, and then I will
go to a high place away from the village for my private mourning."
Brown Elk shifted his gaze to Jolena. "Tomorrow you will prepare your brother for burial," he said softly. He lifted his eyes to Spotted Eagle again. "Tonight take my daughter with you and see to her comfort. She has spoken well of you, Spotted Eagle. It is good that she has found a friend in you, just as my son also saw you as a devoted friend. The friendship between our families will become even closer as we all become more acquainted with my daughter."
Jolena was filled with dread at what Brown Elk had saidthat she would be preparing Two Ridges for his burial!
How could she? She could hardly stand to be near him when he was alive, much less now when he was dead!
Brown Elk smiled down at Jolena. "I spoke to you of warriors coming to my door to court you?" he said softly. "Perhaps there is no need to look further for a perfect husband. Spotted Eagle would make the best of husbands for my daughter."
Jolena's lips parted in surprise, and her heart pounded as she felt a blush rush to her cheeks. Although she had just been filled with an apprehensive dread for what would be expected of her tomorrow, everything else in her new life seemed to be falling into place easily.
She had found her true father. She was loved by a wonderful man. Her father had even blessed their union without knowing it! The only missing ingredient in her happiness was her relationship with Two Ridges. If only she and he could have known each other as brother and sister!
His attraction to her had surely been because he had misinterpreted their natural close feelings as lust!
She shook her head slightly, sorrowful for that part of her life that she would never knowof sisterly affection for a brother other than Kirk.
Kirk! she thought desperately to herself. So much had been happening, her sadness about Kirk had slipped from her mind!
She turned her eyes up to Spotted Eagle, wanting to beg him to go and look for her missing brother. If she and Spotted Eagle had survived the storm, perhaps Kirk had been as lucky!
But now was not the time to bring up one brother when another was lying dead and being mourned by her true father.
Later, when she and Spotted Eagle were alone, she would then talk of another brother.
Everything became quiet as the renegade Cree's horse was brought close for Brown Elk to see and to accept as his.
"This is the horse of the Cree renegade who killed my son?" Brown Elk said, his gaze moving slowly over the white stallion, seeing its sleekness and its worth.
"Yes," Double Runner said solemnly. "It is your now. The Cree loses not only his life, but his means of travel to the Sand Hills." Brown Elk nodded his approval, then turned and went inside his tepee.
Quiet, their heads bowed, the people turned and went to their own dwellings.
Gray Bear gave Spotted Eagle a father's hug, stared down at Jolena questioningly for a moment, then wandered away toward his own dwelling.
Spotted Eagle placed an arm around Jolena's waist and ushered her to his tepee at the far edge of the village, where a meandering stream passed behind it, silver in the moonlight.
As Spotted Eagle held the buckskin entrance flap aside, Jolena paused and grew even more somber and quiet when she heard the sudden sorrowful wails of her father. She cringed and tried to close her ears to the sound, but nothing stopped the mourning cries from reaching her.
'' Oh, ah! No-ko-I! Ah, Ah! No-ko-I! My son! My son!" cried Brown Elk, over and over again, filling the still night air with the sound, as though thousands of arrows were piercing it.
Spotted Eagle placed a firm arm around Jolena's waist and whisked her inside his tepee.
Wiping tears from her eyes, Jolena found two Indian women there. One was readying the fire, while the other held a large black kettle with pleasant aromas wafting from it.
Spotted Eagle gestured toward a couch cushioned with pelts beside a fire that was now taking hold, sending its flames around the logs, as though in a sensuous caress.
Jolena sat down. Recognizing one of the two women as Moon Flower, she found it easy to smile as the women cast her humble glances just before leaving Jolena and Spotted Eagle alone.
After the women left, Spotted Eagle sat down beside Jolena. Taking two wooden bowls that had been placed close to the fire, he ladled out enough soup for them both, then handed a bowl and wooden spoon to Jolena.
"Eat," he said softly. "Sometimes it is good to feed the physical body at times like this, if not the soul."
Jolena nodded and took the bowl and spoon. Without reluctance she began sipping the soup from the spoon, finding it rich and delicious, and in a way it filled part of that empty void that the day's events had caused. Her gaze swept around her. Spotted Eagle's lodge was the same as her father'svery large and handsome, well supplied with parfleches, saddles, food, robes, and bowls. It was comfortable and cozy, what Jolena would have expected in the lodge of her Blackfoot warrior.
Spotted Eagle ate in silence, then set his empty bowl aside as Jolena set hers down on the floor at her right side.
"Tell me how you happened to find our village of Blackfoot," Spotted Eagle then asked, not able to hold in the questions that were eating away at him any longer. "Tell me what you know about Two Ridges' feeling toward you."
Jolena turned her eyes slowly to Spotted Eagle. "I, too, have questions," she murmured. "And, darling, do you remember how we have both said that we should never keep secrets from each other? I will tell you things that need to be said, if you will also empty your heart of feelings that are troubling you."
"About Two Ridges?" Spotted Eagle said, stretching one long, lean leg out before him, leaning back so that he was resting on his right elbow.
"Yes, about Two Ridges," Jolena said, swallowing hard.
"Besides myself, you are the only one that will know the truth," Spotted Eagle said, his voice drawn.
"And you know that it will go no farther," Jolena said, moving to her knees beside him. She gazed intensely into Spotted Eagle's eyes. "Darling, what I have to say can hurt you deeply."
"The hurt is already there," Spotted Eagle said. " Kyi. I know of Two Ridges' feelings toward you. I know that he intended to kill me because of you, yet I find it hard to know the exact reason he felt that this was necessary."
Jolena lowered her eyes and again swallowed hard, trying to find the courage to tell him what she needed to thrust from within her, so that she could enjoy some semblance of peace again. She wanted to be free to be happy with her beloved warrior and to be a part of her true people.
She raised her chin and looked Spotted Eagle square in the eye again. "I was thrown from my wagon on the day of the accident," she explained. "Two Ridges found me before you did. He took me to a cave." She was finding the story difficult to tell, because telling it seemed the same as reli�
�ving it.
But she finally found the courage to continue.
"Two Ridges was gentle at first," she said, her voice soft and quavering. "But then… then he began kissing and touching me. He tried to rape me, Spotted Eagle. I… found a rock. I hit him over the head, then escaped."
A quick rage heated up Spotted Eagle's insides. His eyes were lit with fire as he sat up and reached for Jolena's hands and clutched them tightly. "He did that?" he said, his jaw tight. "Two Ridges was capable of even that sort of deceit?"
"You wondered what would make him feel that it was necessary to kill you?" Jolena said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He could not face you knowing the truth, and he knew that I would tell you if ever I had the chance. He had to know that it would be either you or he who would die. I don't guess he liked the odds. By ambushing you, he was going to be sure that you died, instead of him."
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