Soaring Eagle (Prairie Winds Book 3)

by Whitson, Stephanie Grace

  Jim Callaway has often told me that my problems were centered on the fact that I was trying to live on my mother’s faith. He said that I needed a faith of my own. Well, thanks to the grace of God at work through D. L. Moody, I have got a faith of my own, and now I know, I really know what Mother was talking about all those years. My own faith is a new one, and not so great as hers, but I think it is genuine, and I am seeing differences every day in the way I respond to life. I am finally, fully at peace.

  God has not answered all the why’s I have been asking, but He has given me the ability to accept that “all things work together for good ,” whether LisBeth King Baird understands the details or not. Jim says that I have finally understood what he meant when he talked about the “peace that passes understanding .”

  Already in my letter I have made two references to Jim Callaway, and now I must refer to him again, and I do it with a trembling hand. Sarah, I truly love you as my sister, and I pray that you believe me when I tell you that I don’t mean to cause you pain, Jim Callaway has asked me to be his wife.

  I hope that when you come in the spring you will allow me to tell you all about it. Paper and pen provide such an artificial means of communicating the greatest life experiences. I wanted to come and tell you this in person, but we are hurrying to get another donation ready for the mission, and I have promised Charity that it will be there as soon as the snows melt and travel is possible. Some of the children and families are in dire circumstances.

  Sarah, can you forgive me? I know this news causes you pain. You have grown to be a woman since you first saw Jim Callaway. I am hoping that what you have felt for him was what we call a “crush .” I am also hoping that God will enable you to be happy for us, and that this news will not separate you and me. Please, Sarah, write to me at once. I need to hear from you.

  Your loving sister,

  LisBeth

  January 19, 1878

  Dear Charity,

  The ladies and I are working hard to collect another wagon full of clothing for your children. As soon as the weather will hold, we will start out.

  I am looking forward to seeing you and to telling you all that has happened since we were at the mission last fall.

  The greatest of these is that I have finally come to a fuller, more personal relationship with God. I will tell you the details when I see you, but now I believe I understand what it is that has motivated you to serve at the mission. The same faith has brought me comfort and started me on the road to a better life than I had hoped possible.

  The other news is that Jim Callaway and I are to be married. That will require one evening of visiting in itself. I have confided in your mother. Does that surprise you? Really, Charity, she has become such a dear friend. Who would have thought it possible? Thank God for his working in our lives.

  Last, I am writing to ask you to play a role in what I hope will be more great news for some future letter or diary page. Charity, could you ask Soaring Eagle if he would want to meet his sister in the spring? I don’t know what the proper channels would be for such a meeting, or how it could be arranged. Perhaps Pastor Thundercloud could advise us? I have enclosed a note to Soaring Eagle. Please ask Pastor Thundercloud to read it and, if he thinks it appropriate, to give it to my brother as a preparation for our meeting.

  I await your response with a hopeful heart, Charity.

  In the Love of the Lamb,

  LisBeth King Baird

  January 19, 1878

  Dear Soaring Eagle,

  I have just written the three words that open this letter, and I find my hand trembling and I must wait and pray before adding more. To think that I am writing a letter to my Lakota brother is almost too strange to be believed. It is certainly a testimony to the fact that “God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.”

  I am writing in hopes that God will perform yet another wonder, and that it will be a wonder for us both. I am coming to Santee as soon as the weather allows to distribute more clothing for the children at the school. It is a sincere effort, Soaring Eagle, but there is another and greater reason for my coming. I am hoping that you and I may at last meet. Last fall when I was at the mission and learned of your pres ence, I simply could not emotionally handle the revelation. In my selfishness, I didn’t stop to even consider what the news of my presence must have meant for you. If you can forgive my selfishness and my weakness, I trust you and Pastor Thundercloud to arrange an appropriate time and place for us to meet.

  I will most certainly be trembling with fear and emotion at that meeting, so I write to assure you that my emotions bear no trace of resentment toward you, Soaring Eagle. God has enabled me to forget those things that lay behind. I am trying to reach forward to those things that are ahead and I would like to do that with my brother at my side. If that is possible, please communicate through Charity Bond.

  If you do not wish to see me, Soaring Eagle, I will understand. You did not choose to be raised by a white woman, and you did not choose the pain and confusion that that has no doubt brought into your own life. If you want to leave it behind you, I accept that. You owe me nothing. Go in peace, knowing that your sister will pray for you always.

  Your sister,

  LisBeth King Baird

  Almost immediately LisBeth received a telegram from Charity Bond telling her that Soaring Eagle and Pastor Thundercloud would meet her in the spring.

  It was a few weeks before LisBeth heard from Sarah. When Sarah’s letter finally arrived, LisBeth went to her room and opened it with shaking hands.

  Dearest LisBeth,

  Of course I was surprised when you wrote, and, yes, somewhat shocked at the revelation of your engagement. But, LisBeth, how could you think that I would be anything but delighted? I admit to some attraction to Jim Callaway —he is, after all, a most attractive man. But working for the Braddocks and living in Philadelphia has presented new possibilities in life. I think you are right —I had a girlish crush on Jim Callaway. Now that I’ve matured I can thank God that He has given happiness to two of the people I care most about in life.

  LisBeth, nothing will ever come between you and me —not if I can help it. I know there are girls who would let silly jealousies destroy their friendship, but please think better of me. I wish you and Jim nothing but the best. I am so glad to know that you are once again smiling and living instead of just enduring life, as Joseph Freeman used to say of you and Jim.

  I assume that you also wrote to Mr. Braddock although he would of course not speak of it to me. He has been rather remote of late.

  Mrs. Braddock only says, “David has had a disappointment, Sarah. We must be especially kind to him. I’m certain he’ll be his old self in due time .” She seems truly happy for you, LisBeth. She plans on returning to Lincoln in the spring.

  I regret that it took me so long to answer your letter. I’m certain it caused you some concern. It took some thinking for me to sort through things so that I could write you a letter that was open and honest and reflected how I truly feel, rather than how I should feel.

  This letter reflects my true heart. There is no duplicity in the words when I say that I will be one of the happiest people in the church when you make your way down the aisle to become Mrs. James Callaway.

  Mrs. Braddock has said that we will open the house in Lincoln on April 1. She wants to be there in time to direct more plantings on the grounds, and I know that an invitation to your wedding would be welcomed. She is much too kind a lady to want anything but the best for you, and she is genuinely fond of you.

  With loving regards, your sister-in-heart,

  Sarah Biddle

  Chapter 37

  Tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

  Joshua 3:5

  I t was a spring evening at the Santee Normal Training School. LisBeth, along with Jim Callaway and Agnes Bond, had arrived at the mission earlier in the day. As the sun set, Agnes and Charity lighted a lamp and moved into the parlor at the Birds’ Nest, taki
ng with them a laundry basket full of mending. LisBeth sat on the front porch, tapping her toe nervously as she watched Jim ride away. He was headed to tell Soaring Eagle that LisBeth was there. Charity had already told LisBeth that Soaring Eagle and Pastor John Thundercloud had said they would ride up to the church early the morning after the travelers arrived.

  As she watched Jim ride away, LisBeth sat down at the edge of the rough-hewn porch. She looked about her at each building of the campus and tried to picture Soaring Eagle participating in the activities there. She thought back to every story her mother had ever told about Soaring Eagle’s boyhood. Finally, LisBeth jumped up and headed down the path that led to the spot where Soaring Eagle had saved Carrie and Rachel Brown from a rattlesnake. Carrie had told her the story, and now, as LisBeth sat alone on the creek bank, she tried to imagine her brother standing just on the other side of the creek. She tried to decide what she would say, but words failed her, so she sat quietly, listening to the sounds of water spilling over the rocks and birds twittering in the low brush.

  When an owl hooted, LisBeth got up and made her way back to the Birds’ Nest, where Agnes and Charity sat, still mending. The two looked up when LisBeth joined them, taking up a needle and thread and beginning to sew a button on. The women worked together in silence for several minutes before anyone spoke. Finally, Charity laid aside her mending, took up a book, and began to read aloud. After only a few pages, she laid it aside, picking up her Bible instead. She began reading, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. . . .” When she had finished the psalm, Charity said, “LisBeth, there’s really nothing I can say to help you through tonight and tomorrow. But I’ll be praying for you. Really praying.”

  With that, Charity patted LisBeth’s hand, stood up, and said, “Mother, I think we should retire and give LisBeth some time to think.” Agnes laid down her mending and the two women left LisBeth sitting in a chair, watching the shadows from the lighted lamp play on the walls. In only a few moments, she blew out the lamp and retired.

  LisBeth tossed and turned and prayed through the long night. She dressed at dawn the next morning and hurried out to the kitchen of the Birds’ Nest. Jim was already there, waiting with a cup of strong coffee in his hand. As LisBeth drank, the cup shook. Jim took the cup from her and set it on the table. He was seated across from her, and he took both her hands in his own. “Soaring Eagle is just as nervous as you are, LisBeth. It’s going to be fine. Let’s pray.”

  Jim waited for LisBeth to pray, but she looked up at him with shining eyes and said quietly, “I think God is just going to have to read my heart. I can’t find the words.”

  “Then we’ll just open our hearts to him and be quiet before him for a minute.”

  Jim prayed, “Lord, LisBeth doesn’t have the words, and neither do I. We’re just going to be quiet here with You for a minute and ask You to go before us and make the way straight.” He waited for a few minutes before squeezing LisBeth’s hands tightly and murmuring, “Amen.”

  LisBeth got up shakily and Jim wrapped his arm around her as they walked to the church. Soaring Eagle and John Thundercloud had already arrived, and their hobbled ponies grazed not far away. The two men had lit a lamp, whose light spilled out of the church door and cast a warm glow across the porch.

  Taking a deep breath, LisBeth stepped inside.

  He was sitting at the front of the church, in the same pew where Carrie Brown had reached out to put her hand in his. He heard LisBeth’s footsteps on the porch. When he heard the footsteps coming up the aisle, he stood up and turned around. He had risen shortly after midnight to prepare for this meeting, and he was dressed in every piece of finery he had saved from the old days. His hair was clean and shining, braided into two thick braids wrapped with red calico and decorated with beads and feathers. Gold rings hung from each pierced ear. The five eagle feathers earned in battle hung down the back of his neck from his scalp lock. A fringed and decorated scalp shirt hung almost to his knees. The heavily beaded moccasins and leggings fashioned by Prairie Flower’s loving hands completed the wardrobe.

  He started to walk toward LisBeth, but when he saw her hesitate, he stopped, too, and stood in front of the pulpit in the small church looking at her. John Thundercloud and Jim Callaway stood quietly, not daring to move or speak.

  LisBeth looked at her regally adorned brother and was amazed. Taking a deep breath, she stared at Soaring Eagle and realized that she had seen this face all her life, for it was her own face, molded into more masculine features and hardened by outdoor living.

  Soaring Eagle looked upon his sister and saw his father’s eyes in the face of a woman. He saw Rides the Wind’s cleft chin—even his hairline. Soaring Eagle’s eyes smiled with recognition.

  One would have expected Soaring Eagle or LisBeth to say something that would be forever quoted by their descendants as they retold the story. But Soaring Eagle was content to stand and take in every detail of the face before him without saying a word, and LisBeth was too nervous to remember what she had planned to say. She finally broke the silence with, “I wish Carrie Brown were here, Soaring Eagle. She would know what to say.”

  At the mention of Carrie, LisBeth reached into her pocket and withdrew the golden cross. With a trembling hand, she reached out to Soaring Eagle. “She sent this back to you.”

  When she opened her hand and Soaring Eagle saw the cross, he slowly reached up to pull the locket from beneath his shirt. As he moved, the thimbles woven into the fringe across the shirt jingled.

  He took the locket from around his neck and walked toward LisBeth. “This has traveled a long road of sorrow. I return it to you, my sister, in hopes that now it will make a way of joy between us.”

  LisBeth opened her hand and Soaring Eagle took the cross and chain, replacing it with the locket. When he touched LisBeth’s ice-cold hands, he said quietly, “Walks the Fire’s hands were this way when she tended my wounds long ago.” His eyes searched LisBeth’s, and he went on. “When I look into your face, I see the face of our father, Rides the Wind. He would have rejoiced to see you, LisBeth King Baird. I wish that both our father and our mother could be here now to see that God has ended our wandering and brought us together.”

  Soaring Eagle had pondered this meeting for a long time. He had prayed for God to show him a way to get across all the barriers between him and his sister. Prayer had reassured him, but he had been given no revelation of what he should say or how he should act in her presence.

  However, the God of all grace was there that spring morning in Santee, Nebraska. One testimony to that fact was what Soaring Eagle did after he took the cross and chain from LisBeth’s outstretched hand. John Thundercloud would later testify that any doubt he had of the reality of Soaring Eagle’s being a new creature in Christ was washed away by his next action.

  Soaring Eagle, Lakota warrior, raised to show little emotion in the presence of strangers—Soaring Eagle, great hunter, raised to maintain a stoic bearing in every situation, no matter how painful—Soaring Eagle, man of God—knelt before a white woman and with a voice that broke with emotion said softly, “I come to you this day, my sister, with a broken heart, knowing that I have done things that caused you pain. I ask you to understand that these things were done to defend my village. Even so, my heart is heavy knowing that I caused my sister to mourn. We shared the same father on this earth. We both knew the care of the same woman. But greater than these things is this—God is our Father. Please, Tanka —my sister—I ask you to hear what I say and to forgive me.”

  LisBeth Baird didn’t have the knowledge of Lakota society to appreciate fully what was happening. Jim explained it to her later. But LisBeth didn’t need knowledge of Lakota society to do the right thing. And she did it.

  Kneeling down in front of her brother she reached out to take the cross and chain from his hand. Putting it around his neck she said softly, “Soaring Eagle, my people have done things to cause you much pain. My heart is also heavy. We shared the same father on
this earth. We knew the care of the same woman. And, yes, God is our Father. Please, my brother, I ask you to hear me and to forgive us all.”

  There was more to be said, but it would have to wait. Neither Soaring Eagle nor LisBeth could manage more words. Dawn sent a faint light streaming in the windows and doorway of the little mission church. It illuminated a scene that neither John Thundercloud nor Jim Callaway would ever forget. Kneeling in the aisle of the little church were a Lakota brave named Soaring Eagle and his sister, LisBeth King Baird—holding hands and weeping.

  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

  Isaiah 40:31

  Reader’s Discussion Guide

  See the “rest of the story” by visiting the Pinterest page

  Stephanie created for Soaring Eagle here:

  https://www.pinterest.com/stephgwhitson/soaring-eagle/

  1.Publishers sometimes talks about the “take-away” value of a book. What do you think is the “take-away” value of Soaring Eagle ? What will you remember most about it?

  2.Jim Callaway is a homeless veteran suffering from what we call PTSD today. What do you think is essential in helping men like him recover?

  3.Is there a Scripture verse in one chapter that proved unusually meaningful to you? How did that Scripture apply to the events in the chapter? Why do you think it resonated with you personally?

  4.In Chapter 3, LisBeth talks about planting a pine tree at her mother’s grave as a remembrance. Jim Callaway puts engraved stones at the previously unmarked graves of LisBeth’s in-laws. What kinds of things have you or family members done to create a positive remembrance for a loved one?

  5.Were you surprised by LisBeth’s decision regarding a husband? Do you agree it was the best decision? Why or why not?