“There was a meadow place where an old doe lived with two spotted fawns,” Thunder Horse continued. “On this day the young brave saw the doe, but not the fawns. He knew they must be hidden somewhere in the long grass in the meadow. The afternoon was warm. Mosquitoes bothered him a great deal, but he knew that the fawns would not move from their beds until their mother came to them. So he waited.”
Thunder Horse paused, slid a slow gaze at Jessie, whom he found as taken by the story as was Lone Wing, then turned his eyes back to his nephew and continued. “A rabbit bobbed across the trail not far from Proud Boy,” he said. “When it entered the bushes, it turned suddenly and almost ran into Proud Boy’s foot. Something had scared the rabbit. Proud Boy’s eyes searched the bushes. He wanted to see what might have frightened the rabbit, because it might be something that he also should run from. His eyes widened when he thought he saw a man’s nose.”
Thunder Horse smiled at Lone Wolf and Jessie. “But Proud Boy knew that sometimes shadows and sunshine play tricks in the forest,” he said. “He looked steadily at the nose and waited. Then he thought he saw an eye, but it did not wink. It did not move, but stared straight ahead.”
He chuckled when he saw Lone Wolf get up on his knees, his eyes wide and filled with wonder. “But Proud Boy knew that if it was a man’s eye, it had to blink sometime,” he said. “Suddenly there were more mosquitoes than ever. But Proud Boy did not dare brush them off for fear that the eye would blink and he would not see it.”
He paused, then continued. “A breeze suddenly moved the leaves on the bushes,” he said. “A braid of hair was then revealed to Proud Boy. And he thought that the eye might have blinked! Proud Boy spoke to the unknown one, but the unknown one did not speak back. Thinking that he was imagining all of this, Proud Boy rose to leave, but a voice spoke to him from behind the bushes. The voice said that he was one of the Echo People. He told Proud Boy that Echo People always hide behind rocks and bushes, that they speak every language and make every note the large birds make.”
“Echo People?” Lone Wing asked. “I have heard of them. They are everywhere.”
“Ho, nephew, wherever there are voices or birdsong or coyote calls, there are Echo People,” Thunder Horse said, nodding. “But this day, Proud Boy did not actually see or hear one of the Echo People.”
“Then who was it that hid behind the bushes?” Lone Wing asked, his eyes widening even more.
“Proud Boy’s imagination conjured him up,” Thunder Horse said, laughing softly.
“But the Echo Person spoke to him,” Lone Wing said, settling back down again on the blankets.
“Nephew, Proud Boy did not have only a vivid imagination, but he also sometimes talked to himself,” Thunder Horse said, then reached a hand over and patted Lone Wing’s bare shoulder. “Think about that when you walk to your lodge. And, Lone Wing, hakadah, look closely at everything you see and hear. Notice which side of the tree has the lighter-colored bark, and which side has the most regular branches. Now answer me this, nephew: How do you know there are fish in yonder lake?”
“Because they jump out of the water for flies at midday,” Lone Wing said, pushing himself up to stand beside his uncle, who smiled proudly down at him.
“Ho, that is so,” Thunder Horse said. “Go now. Think about your lessons today. Soon you can repeat the story, but put your own twist to it, nephew. Make it interesting and fun.”
“I will,” Lone Wing said. He smiled at Jessie. “I will see you again soon.”
“Yes, soon,” Jessie murmured. She said nothing else until the youth was out of the tepee; then she smiled at Thunder Horse. “That was all so very interesting.”
“I did not get as serious as usual in my lessons today because I wanted to make your time listening to them more relaxed,” Thunder Horse said, shoving a log into the flames of the fire.
“I did enjoy it,” Jessie said, nodding. “And Lone Wing is such an astute student.”
“He is already well enough prepared to become our Historian should fate require it before he grows into full maturity,” he said thickly. “One never knows what tomorrow may bring, especially in these days when so much has been taken from my people.”
“And I am blood kin to one of those who took so much from you and your people,” Jessie murmured, lowering her eyes.
She looked quickly up at Thunder Horse again, her heart skipping a beat when she found that he had come around the fire and was now sitting beside her on the pallet of blankets.
She felt a blush heat her cheeks. He was so close she could reach out and touch him, and she was so tempted to do it.
She loved touching his smooth copper skin. She loved everything about him.
“Ho, Reginald Vineyard is one of those who took much from my band of people,” Thunder Horse said, nodding. He gazed into the flames of the fire. “But he is paying for it. Every night he pays.”
“What do you mean?” Jessie asked, suddenly picturing Reginald crying out as he ran down the corridor after having a frightful nightmare.
“Your cousin is visited by the spirits of my people’s sacred cave,” Thunder Horse said, slowly turning his eyes back to Jessie. “Does he not experience the dreams that whites call nightmares?”
“Yes, he has nightmares,” Jessie said breathlessly, her heart pounding in her chest. “How would you know that?”
“Because that was what was necessary to make him realize the evil he did by entering my people’s sacred burial cave and disturbing the dead. He took white gold from the walls where the stories of my people were drawn long ago,” Thunder Horse said thickly.
“The cave where he found the silver was—”
“A sacred burial place for the chiefs of my people,” Thunder Horse said, interrupting her. “It is the cave where my own father will be placed when he finds peace in death.”
“Then it is a curse that causes Reginald’s nightmares,” Jessie said, now recalling Jade telling her something about an Indian’s curse.
“Let me tell you everything,” Thunder Horse said, reaching over and taking her hands in his.
“Yes, please tell me,” she murmured.
She swallowed hard as his eyes searched hers. Then he began the tale that explained Reginald’s nightmares.
“The curse is having the effect you wished it would have on Reginald,” Jessie said once Thunder Horse came to the end of the tale.
“And you?” Thunder Horse asked, gazing deeply into her eyes. “How do you feel about it?”
“I hate to say it, because of what Reginald once was to me, but he has become an evil man, deserving of what you have chosen to do to torment him,” Jessie replied.
“Tomorrow a hunt is planned,” Thunder Horse said, suddenly changing the subject. “I do not want to leave you here at the village without me. Will you join me on the hunt?”
“I thought it was taboo for women to join in the hunt,” Jessie murmured.
“Not if the chief requests her company,” Thunder Horse said, placing his arms around her waist and drawing her closer to him. “And I am requesting it of you. Will you come?”
“Won’t I be in the way?” she asked, feeling his breath hot against her lips.
“Do you truly think I would ever see you as someone ‘in the way,’ as you call it?” he asked, then brought his lips down upon hers in a fiery kiss.
With an effort, Jessie forced herself back to reality. She was not yet ready to give herself to him completely, especially since she had the child to consider. She eased from his arms.
She gazed into his eyes. “It . . . is . . . too soon,” she murmured.
“I understand,” he said. “It is enough for me just to have you with me, where you are safe.”
“Yes, I feel very, very safe,” Jessie said as she snuggled against him when he placed an arm around her waist and drew her close to him. “Never have I felt as safe as I do when I am with you.”
“You have brought more into my world than you can know,” Thunder
Horse said thickly. He left it at that, for he did not want to reveal everything he felt for her just yet.
He knew now that he had plenty of time to do that, for he could tell that she was not planning to go anywhere. It was the way she had said, “It is too soon,” that told him there would be something more, later.
He had learned the art of waiting long ago. He smiled when he thought of how he felt when he had to wait for something special . . . waiting always enhanced the pleasure!
Chapter Eighteen
As the sun came through the dining-room window, casting light on the empty chair where Jessie normally sat, Reginald frowned and drummed his fingers against the tabletop.
When Jade came into the room carrying a platter piled high with bacon, flapjacks, and fried eggs, Reginald gave her a quick questioning frown.
He slammed a fist on the table just as she set the platter down, causing it to bounce. Some of the eggs slipped from the platter, their yolks breaking and running like orange tears across the white linen tablecloth.
“Where is she?” Reginald shouted, then suddenly began wheezing. “Jade, where is Jessie? She knows she’s supposed to take breakfast with me.”
Jade clasped her hands before her, wringing them as she glanced fearfully at Reginald. “I don’t know where she is, sir,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Are you telling me you haven’t seen her?” Reginald demanded, his eyes narrowing angrily. “You normally help her dress in the morning. You brush her hair. So, where is she?”
Jade lowered her eyes, swallowed hard, then dared to look into Reginald’s angry eyes again. Through the thick lenses of his spectacles his angry eyes seemed ten times larger than normal this morning.
“Nay I have not seen her,” she murmured, still clasping and unclasping her hands.
“Stop that nonsense with your hands!” Reginald shouted. He coughed into his palm. “Stand still. Answer my questions. Do you hear? Tell me where Jessie is.”
“As I said, sir, I have not seen her this morning,” Jade gulped out, her heart pounding like a sledgehammer. “When I went to her room to awaken her, she . . . she . . . was gone.”
“She was gone?” Reginald said, jumping from his chair so quickly it tumbled to the floor behind him. “Are you saying she’s gone from my house?”
“Seems so, sir,” Jade said, swallowing hard as she hid her hands inside her apron pockets.
Reginald threw his white linen napkin on the table, then swirled around and stamped from the room. Wheezing almost uncontrollably, he hurried to Jessie’s bedroom.
He stared at the bed.
Either Jessie had made it upon first arising, which he doubted, or she had not slept in it at all.
His eyes slid slowly over to a window that was open. As he stuck his head out of it, he shouted Jessie’s name at the top of his lungs.
Realizing now that she had run away, he paled. But then another possibility occured to him.
Yes!
No doubt she had risen at dawn and was even now out riding the lovely horse he had given her. He felt stupid for having gotten so alarmed just because Jessie wasn’t at the breakfast table. Yet . . . it did appear that she had not slept at the house. And why was the window open?
The nights were cool, so she wouldn’t have slept with it open.
His mind aswirl with questions, he hurried from the room and went out to the corral, where he found the horse he had given Jessie gone as well. Yes, she was horseback riding and would surely return soon to have breakfast with him.
It was foolish of him to think otherwise. She had no one to go to should she decide to leave his home. And she had no money to pay for her passage back to Kansas City.
Yes, she was horseback riding and he would wait for her on the porch. He would scold her and tell her never to do this again. He needed to know where she was at all times. She was not familiar with this land and she could get lost and be attacked again by outlaws, or . . . Indians.
His heart went cold to think that someone might do harm to his cousin. Although she had tried his patience recently, and he had not been all that kind to her at times, he did love her and wanted nothing to happen to her.
And . . . she was with child. She had to think about her baby. She would do nothing to endanger it.
He stood and stared into the distance, watching for any signs of someone approaching on horseback. Surely she would return soon.
But as the sun rose higher in the sky, and then began making its descent, and still there was no sign of Jessie, Reginald’s anger began to swell within him.
He was feeling duped. He no longer believed she was only out horseback riding. She had left him for good.
“But where could she have gone?” he said, scratching his brow.
His jaw tight, he hurried to Jade, who was preparing food for their evening meal.
He took her by an arm and swung her around to face him. “You know all about it, don’t you?” he said, wheezing hard as he waited for her reply.
“All about what, sir?” Jade asked, feeling weak. She was afraid that he was about to try to force answers from her, but no matter what he did, she wouldn’t betray Jessie.
Jessie was the lucky one. She had escaped this madman. Now if only Jessie could find a way to include Jade and Lee-Lee in her plan!
“You knew about her plan to leave, didn’t you?” Reginald said, his hand squeezing Jade’s fleshy arm.
“Nay sir, I did not,” Jade said, her voice small because the fear inside her was so great.
“Are you saying that you had no idea she was planning to leave me?” Reginald shouted, releasing her arm.
“Nay I did not,” Jade said, flinching when he raised his hand as though he was going to hit her. She breathed a sigh of relief when he dropped it back down to his side.
“Oh, well, she’s not worth bothering over anyway,” Reginald said. He turned and glared out the kitchen window toward the corral where his prized horses grazed on thick grass.
“Are you saying she’s gone . . . forever?” Jade dared to ask, trying to pretend innocence.
“More than likely,” Reginald said, shrugging as he walked away from Jade and left the kitchen.
He went to Jessie’s room and opened the chifferobe, where the clothes he had recently purchased for her were hanging.
Angrily he yanked one from a wooden hanger and pitched it to the floor. He continued doing so until everything he had bought was piled in the center of the room.
He went to the corridor and shouted Jade’s name.
She hurried to him, her eyes fearful as she gazed at him. “Yes, sir?” she said. “You called me?”
“Take all these clothes and burn them,” Reginald shouted, gesturing toward the lovely creations. “I don’t want anything in my house to remind me of her. Do you hear?”
“But . . . what if she returns?” Jade asked, playing her role to the hilt.
“If she does, I’ll buy her some more,” Reginald said, shrugging. “Go. Take them. Get them out of my sight, and yourself as well. You sicken me, Jade. Sicken me!”
Jade cowered beneath his glare, then gathered the clothes into her arms and ran from the room.
When she reached the kitchen stove, she began shoving one dress at a time into the flames, then stood back while tears rolled down her cheeks. How she felt Jessie’s absence now! She feared she might never see her again. If only she could believe that Jessie would remember her and Lee-Lee, living with Reginald a few more days would be worth it.
But if Jessie didn’t come back to help her, Jade had her own ideas as to how she would escape and rescue her daughter. Jessie’s success had given her the nerve to try.
She heard Reginald stamping down the corridor toward his room, then flinched when he slammed his door. Afterward, the house was silent.
Reginald sank down in his rocking chair before the fireplace in his bedroom and began slowly rocking back and forth as he tried to figure out what he would tell his friends about Jessie
’s sudden strange disappearance. Although he had decided to forget her, and was even hoping the coyotes would remove all traces of her from this land, he had others to think about.
He had been stupid to allow Jessie to interfere in his life, yet she could have added so much to his parties. She was so pretty and all. But soon she wouldn’t be pretty. She’d be fat with child.
The one thing that now concerned him about her disappearance was how he could explain her absence to those he so badly wanted to impress. It was crucial that he keep people’s attention away from what he did besides attending church and giving parties.
If any of the decent townsfolk heard about his cribs, he would be ignored or treated like trash for the rest of his life. And he couldn’t bear that thought. He enjoyed the kind of attention the upstanding citizens of Tombstone gave him.
“What can I tell them?” Reginald asked himself, wheezing.
He would have to make up some sort of story. He would say that Jessie had been called back to Kansas City because of a friend’s death.
Yes, that would work. That story would save face for him.
“But if I ever come face to face with you again, you’ll pay, Jessie,” Reginald grumbled, suddenly wheezing so hard he could hardly catch his breath. “Damn it, you’ll pay!”
As Reginald’s hate for Jessie swelled inside his heart, Jade was crying from fear of what might happen to Jessie. She prayed Jessie had found a safe haven.
If only she could gain the courage to try her own plan of escape.
Soon.
Ai, she would, and soon!
“Lee-Lee, please have the strength to live another day,” she whispered as she gazed out a window toward the town where the cribs so brazenly displayed her daughter’s beauty. “Do not be one of those who commit suicide because of hopelessness!”
Chapter Nineteen
It was early evening. The meadow hummed with crickets. Cottonwoods shimmered along a creek that ran glassy-smooth through bear grass and camas.
The hunt was now over, and Jessie sat beside the huge outdoor fire where the overnight camp had been set up.
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