Cowboy Creek Christmas. Cheryl St.John

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СКАЧАТЬ not leaving you alone,” he said. “I’ll be right here.”

      “Nor do I want you to go.”

      He slid one of the pallets several feet away from hers, in plain sight of all the women, and stretched out on top of the comfortable furs.

      He listened more than watched as Marlys washed her face and hands and used what looked like a porcupine tail that one of the women handed her on her hair. She was a curiosity. She didn’t conform to what their society would consider feminine fashion. Her hair was uncommonly short, and her clothing functional and undecorated. He’d never seen her wear jewelry or drench herself in perfume. Instead, she smelled always like lavender and hyssop and other natural scents. Her movements, her voice, everything about her was feminine, even without ornamentation or fripperies.

      Back during their short engagement in Philadelphia, they had discussed literature and politics, and he’d learned she was intelligent. She’d never hidden her desire for education or her interest in medicine, so he’d understood her ambition. But he’d never seen her as she’d been today. Fearless. Impervious. Undeterred. Compassionate. Kind.

      He reeled those thoughts in as soon as they’d slipped into his consciousness. This was the woman who had broken off their engagement because of her ambitions. She didn’t have time or patience for a relationship. She wasn’t inclined to set her career aside and focus on a marriage. It was plain that she was still as determined as ever to broaden her scope of understanding and knowledge, to discover as much of the world as was possible.

      People were who they were. She couldn’t be expected to change for him. He hadn’t expected it then. He didn’t expect it now.

      She had needed his help to travel here, to make this happen. Another protector would have done just as well. She didn’t specifically need Sam.

      That fact reached a nearly forgotten, well-guarded portion of his heart and carved a fresh slice. He closed his eyes against the shimmer of her hair in the firelight. The interior of this lodge was surprisingly warm, the skins beneath him soft. He dozed and dreamed of summer during his childhood.

      * * *

      Marlys slept lightly, checking on Little Deer and finding her sleeping more restfully. Before dawn she woke to sounds of the community outside the tipi and went to find the child’s fever gone. “Thank You, Lord.”

      She woke Blue Water by gently touching her shoulder. The woman’s dark eyes opened in fear, and she sat, her terrified gaze darting to her child.

      “No, she’s better,” Marlys told her. “Come see. Ho’eohe.”

      The woman scrambled from her bed and leaned over Little Deer. She touched her face and neck, rolled back her covering and examined her arms and legs. Tears of joy formed in her eyes, and when she looked at Marlys, they fell unheeded. “Néá’ee. Éévaéše’tovóho.”

      She touched her breast with the tips of her fingers and then touched Marlys’s chest.

      Marlys smiled. She didn’t need a translator to understand Blue Water’s mother’s heart was grateful. She was no different than any other mother of any other people or skin color. Her heart was no different. Love knew no boundaries. Love translated into any language.

      Sam and the other Cheyenne in the lodge woke and came near to see what was happening for themselves. She Knows shuffled forward in her fur boots, and Blue Water helped her lower herself to sit beside the child. She listened to her heart. Listened to her breathing, looked in her mouth, examined the bottom of her feet. She turned and spoke to one of the older children.

      He pulled on a robe and darted from the tipi. Several minutes later he returned with Little Deer’s father and the chief. Woodrow Black Snake held a conversation with She Knows and Blue Water. They all nodded and gestured. He exited as suddenly as he’d arrived. Sam left the lodge while the Cheyenne mothers washed and groomed themselves and their children.

      Blue Water brought Marlys fragrant mint water and twigs and indicated she should brush her teeth. She and another woman they called Neha brushed Marlys’s hair, while coating the strands with an unknown substance they lathered on their hands. They spoke in hushed tones, and Marlys guessed they wondered why her hair was cut so short. The process was disconcerting. Marlys’s mother had died when she was very young, and she’d taken care of her own needs for as long as she could remember. With persistent focus, however, they managed to secure short braids and fasten them with beaded leather strips.

      They brought her coat and led her from the lodge across the encampment in the crisp morning air. The aromatic smell of cooking meat made her mouth water. Together they entered the chief’s tent, where Sam already waited. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at her appearance.

      “I have no idea what’s going on,” she said. “I wish James would arrive.”

      “I have a feeling it’s a celebration of some sort, and you’re the guest of honor.”

      His assumption made sense after the women’s ministrations. “It’s a whole lot better than what I was imagining last night.”

      He brought his gaze to hers. “You never let on that you had any doubts.”

      She nodded. “No. I never let on.” She turned her gaze back to the gathering of Cheyenne before looking to Sam once more. “Thank you. For bringing me.”

      He made a noncommittal sound.

      They were seated across from the chief at the fire, and others crowded around them. The women served them roasted meat on a wooden platter, which they shared. Marlys tasted it and found it unlike anything she’d eaten, but tasty and tender.

      “What is it?” she asked.

      “Maybe elk or antelope,” he replied.

      “Do you think sharing this food is a sacrifice for them? I mean, are we taking away from their winter supply?”

      “They have meat hung in trees. If there’s no big game on the land where they’re allowed to hunt, the Army probably brought it to them.”

      “They’re buffalo hunters, aren’t they?”

      He nodded. “This tribe seems to have been left on their own and not relocated. The Army knows they’re here, so the Army is in a difficult situation, protecting the tribe while safeguarding settlers, as well. When the Indians are unable to hunt, they have to travel or starve. So if the Army is delivering supplies, they’re hoping to keep them here so they know where they are.”

      Their discussion continued until James arrived and was given food.

      “Red Bird told me the little girl is better today.”

      “Our prayers worked,” she replied.

      “And your Chinese remedy,” James added.

      Sam nodded, surprising her.

      “How did August fare the night?” Sam asked.

      “He ate supper and played with the baby. Ava laughed and smiled at him. Hannah read to them for a while, then she made him a bed, and he went right to sleep. She was planning to walk him to school this morning.”

      “Thank СКАЧАТЬ