Black Horse
Page 24
Meadow’s gaze rose up to his face as he spoke the harsh words, but his expression and the tenderness in his actions told her that he was not as angry as he sounded. “What happened?” she repeated. She attempted to sit up, but the back of her head felt as if it was about to explode like a cannon, and Black Horse’s hand against her shoulder gently pushed her back to the ground.
“The soldiers are dead.”
Black Horse’s brief statement did not register for a few seconds. But as his words slowly began to sink into her foggy brain, she whispered, “All of them?”
Black Horse nodded his head. He stared down at Meadow as if he was afraid to speak. She wondered if he had understood any of the exchange between her and Robert. But before she had a chance to ask him, he responded as if he had read her mind.
“I heard the words you and the soldier spoke,” Black Horse said in a low tone of voice.
Not only had he understood their words, but Meadow sensed by the way he was looking at her that he was finally beginning to understand just how devoted she was to her adoptive people—and most of all, to him.
“I have killed your brother,” Black Horse whispered as he leaned down closer to her. He slid his arm under her neck and carefully raised her up so that their faces were only a couple of inches apart.
“He would have killed me without a second thought,” she answered. “He would have killed you, too. You only did what had to be done.”
Black Horse did not respond with words, but rather by pulling Meadow up tight against his chest. She could feel the pounding of his heart against her cheek. The throbbing in her head almost seemed to disappear now that Black Horse was holding her as if he was never going to let her go again. But when she heard Walks Tall clearing his throat loudly, she knew that this tender embrace was about to end.
As Black Horse slowly released his tight hold, Meadow tilted her head back and looked into his eyes. There she saw the man that she had missed so desperately, and as the reflection of her own face became evident in his ebony gaze, Meadow felt there was nothing that could ever tear them apart again.
“We should leave here as soon as possible,” Walks Tall said.
“Sha,” Black Horse replied as he pushed himself up from the ground. He extended his hand down to help Meadow to her feet.
Standing up made her head swim, and the fall against the hard ground had also made her entire body feel as if she had just been kicked by a wild stallion. When her legs threatened to give out, she once again felt Black Horse’s strong arms encircle her floundering form as he swept her up and carried her to their horse.
With a nervous glance around, a trembling sigh escaped from Meadow. There was no evidence of the deadly battle that had just been fought.
“I have asked my warriors to bury your brother and the others,” Black Horse stated as if he could read her mind.
“Thank you,” she whispered as a fiery tear escaped from the corner of one of her eyes. An engulfing sadness filled her as she thought about the boy that she did not remember, and the man—the brother—she would never forget. In some ways, she realized now, he really had died with the rest of her family on that October day long ago. Only his hatred for the Indians had kept him going all these years, and it had finally been his demise. Still, a part of her would grieve for him, now that she had learned of his existence, and she would be eternally grateful to him for the brief glimpse he had given to her of her past life.
“I will not be going up into the mountains with you,” Walks Tall said as he rode up beside the couple. “Not yet, anyway. I have something I must take care of in Canada.”
Meadow glanced over at the warrior and met his gaze. When he winked at her, she knew what he planned. “We will look forward to seeing you and Gentle Water soon. Then, we can have those two weddings we talked about,” Meadow answered.
“I see there is much I have missed,” Black Horse added. He nestled his face into Meadow’s golden locks. “You can tell me all that I need to know when we reach the safety of the mountain camp.”
As she reached her hand up to cradle his chin in her embrace, Meadow replied, “All you need to know is that I love you with all my heart and that I will never leave you again—not intentionally, anyway.”
“I know,” he whispered, and then he kissed the inside of her palm. “I will never doubt that again.”
Walks Tall began to turn his horse away from them as he said, “I will bring Dusya when I return. He has missed you, my brother.”
Black Horse smiled and nodded. “I will be glad to see that evil horse again, too.”
Walks Tall met his friend’s gaze as he loosened Hawk’s reins and let the stallion break into a trot. “We will meet again—soon.”
As the rider and stallion became a small dot on the distant horizon and then disappeared altogether, Meadow was finally able to swallow the heavy lump that had settled in her throat. “What do you think will become of us?” she asked Black Horse as they continued on their endless journey.
A heavy sigh echoed from the war chief before he finally spoke. “I wish I could tell you that everything would turn out the way Wakan Tanka meant for it to be for our people…that our bellies would always be full of buffalo and sweet berries and that the white men would go back to their own lands and leave us to live in peace on the lands that have belonged to us since the beginning of time. But that is apparently not what destiny holds for us. We will continue to fight with our enemies, and every single day will continue to be a struggle for our people. Yet, in spite of all of that—and because of all of that—we will always, always find a way to survive. We will have many children so that our people will never fade away completely, and most of all, we will love one another with a passion that cannot be equaled until we take our last dying breath.”
Meadow felt Black Horse’s hand gently touch her stomach as he spoke of the children they would have. Maybe they had already planted the seed of their first son last night. His brave words filled her with hope and gave her the courage to face whatever the future held for them. She felt the warmth of his strong arms surrounding her, and knew that wherever this trail led them, she was exactly where she belonged.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my parents, Ortencia and Cecil Bettger; my children, Brian, Tiffany and Jason Blake; my daughters-in-law Heather Blake and Charlotte Thomas for their love and support and for always believing in me. Thanks to my dear friend, Helena Silva Bond for being my biggest fan and giving me the extra push that I needed to finish this book. And, a special thanks to my editor, Alicia Condon, for giving me a chance to pursue my dreams.
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
January 2008
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2009 by Veronica Blake
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E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0749-4
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