“Please tell me everything,” Lavinia said, searching his eyes. “I…I…am alright. I need to hear it. I want to know what you know about Dorey. You do know what’s happened to her, don’t you? It’s there in your eyes and in your voice. Please, oh, please tell me she is alright.”
“I cannot tell you that because I myself do not know how she is,” Wolf Dancer said.
His reply made her wince and brought even more tears to her eyes. He placed gentle hands to her face and wiped the tears away.
“I am not certain you are well enough to hearwhat I am about to tell you,” he said, his voice tight. “Perhaps you might want to wait until later.” “No,” Lavinia said, swallowing hard. “I want to hear whatever you know, now. This is my daughter we are talking about. If anything has happened to her, I…need…to know.”
She reached a desperate hand to Wolf Dancer and clutched one of his hands. “You must tell me,” she said urgently. “Please tell me now.”
He knew he had no choice but to tell her what he knew, even though it might turn her against the two young braves who’d caused such sorrow, and possibly against himself and his entire band.
“There are two young Seminole braves…” he began and didn’t stop until it was all said, even the worst of it—that Dorey seemed to have disappeared into the Everglades and had not been seen again since the boys left her alone in the tree house.
“No!” Lavinia cried, turning away from everyone and sobbing. “No. She can’t be dead. Not…my…Dorey.”
Then she turned back to Wolf Dancer. “It is my fault,” she cried. “I never should have given her permission to leave our home, especially alone…yet I have always trusted that she would be alright.”
Then a sudden fire replaced the guilt in her eyes. She sat up straight and gazed directly at Wolf Dancer. “And…those …two boys?” she demanded. “Where are they? Are they being punished? Do they know the wrong they have done my daughter …and me? I may never see my precious Dorey again!”
“The young braves have been shamed for what they did, and they are out in the swamps even as we speak, helping to search for your daughter,” Wolf Dancer said, understanding her need for vengeance. He was going to wait awhile longer before making a decision about what the young braves must do to atone for their reckless behavior.
“Lavinia, for now, all that is important is finding your daughter,” Wolf Dancer quickly added.
Tears filled Lavinia’s eyes again. “Where can my daughter be?” she asked, feeling sick to her stomach because she was so upset. “Could she have made it back home in the dark during the treacherous hours of night? Or…is she lost? Could she have died in the Everglades all alone?”
Suddenly a voice spoke up from outside the shaman’s lodge. Shining Soul was away for the moment, saying prayers in private, so Wolf Dancer went to the door and opened it, finding one of his most trusted warriors standing outside.
“Singing Waters, you have left your sentry post,” Wolf Dancer said. He gazed intently into his warrior’s eyes, seeing trouble in them. “What brings you to your chief?”
“A small canoe has been found beached at the far side of the island,” Singing Waters said. “It is not one of our canoes, and no one was found anywhere near it.”
Wolf Dancer was filled with sudden alarm, for he had always feared the day when whites might find his village and invade it.
He stepped outside, quickly looked beyond SingingWaters, and slowly scanned the village. When he saw nothing unusual, he turned back to Singing Waters. “Go,” he commanded. “Get several warriors. Tell them what you have seen and instruct them to search every part of Mystic Island.”
After Singing Waters left to do his chief’s bidding, a new thought came to Wolf Dancer. Could that canoe be the one in which Dorey had traveled? Could Dorey even now be on the island, hiding and afraid? He went to Lavinia and knelt beside her. “A canoe was found beached on the opposite side of the island,” he said, and saw her eyes light up at the possibility he’d just been considering.
“Could it be Dorey’s?” she gasped. Wanting to see the canoe herself, she started to get up, but her weak knees buckled and she fell back down onto the bed of pelts.
“If it is, she will be found,” Wolf Dancer reassured her. “I will go myself and search the island, to see if she is here. But you must not get your hopes up. The empty canoe might have floated down the river on its own, and the waves might have carried it onto the sandy beach of my island.”
He nodded at Joshua. “Come with me,” he said. “We shall look together.”
Joshua’s eyes lit up as he went to stand beside Wolf Dancer.
Lavinia smiled up at Wolf Dancer. “Thank you,” she murmured. She found it incredible that this young chief could be so kind to her, when it was whites like herself who had forced his Seminole band into isolation, and others onto reservations. She wished shecould somehow find a way to make it up to them, especially Wolf Dancer and his people.
Twila settled down close to Lavinia and held her hand.
“She’ll be fine, Miz Lavinia,” Twila said optimistically. “I just can’t imagine anything happening to our Dorey. She’s a strong person. She’ll be alright, I just knows it.”
“Me too,” Lavinia said, yet she was not sure at all that her daughter was even still alive.
Chapter Twenty
Give me a kiss and to that kiss a score.
—Robert Herrick
The morning air was suddenly filled with a woman’s scream. The sound filled Lavinia with alarm.
She looked up questioningly at Wolf Dancer. They could all hear the woman shouting that there was a stranger in the garita, in the food supply!
Wolf Dancer and Lavinia exchanged quick glances, both suddenly thinking the same thing, yet not saying it out loud in case it was a false hope. Could the stranger be Dorey?
“I shall go and see,” Wolf Dancer said, leaving with Joshua.
Somehow, Lavinia found the strength to get out of bed and make her way to the door. Just as she stepped outside she saw a warrior leading Dorey toward Wolf Dancer. Her daughter’s eyes were filled with fear, yet she appeared unharmed.
Lavinia’s eyes lit up when Dorey spotted her, and then Dorey saw Twila. She was shocked to see them there. She had spent the night so afraid and alone,and all along, her mother and her best friend in the world had been so near!
“Mama,” Dorey cried as she ran toward her, her arms outstretched. “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry that I didn’t listen to you.”
“It’s alright,” Lavinia murmured as Dorey flung herself into her arms and clung to her. “Everything is going to be fine now that I know you are safe and well.”
“But you?” Dorey asked, stepping away from her mother and seeing how pale she was. She had felt the weakness of her mother’s embrace, and knew that something was wrong. “Mama, how did you…how did Twila and Joshua get here? Mama, are you alright?” She stopped and stared at the Indian robe her mother wore instead of her own clothes. “Mama, tell me why you are here and whether you are alright.”
Wolf Dancer was happy for both the mother and child, that they were reunited and nothing had happened to Dorey while she was lost and alone in the Everglades. But he noticed that Lavinia was struggling to stand. He knew it was too soon for her to be on her feet for any length of time.
Yet he also knew she was well enough to leave the shaman’s lodge so that it would be free for others who were ill and needed his magical touch.
“Come with me,” he said, hurrying to Lavinia’s side and sweeping an arm around her waist. He was glad to feel her relax against him, glad to know she accepted his touch.
He wanted much more than this, and now believedthat she wanted the same. It was in her eyes when she gazed into his. It was in her voice when she talked with him.
“You aren’t taking me back into Shining Soul’s hut?” Lavinia asked, relishing the strength of his arm around her waist as he walked beside her.
“You are wel
l enough to give up the shaman’s care,” Wolf Dancer said. He glanced over at Dorey, who fell into step beside her mother, while Joshua and Twila walked behind them.
Then he looked at Lavinia again. “I am taking you to my own home. It is spacious. You will be comfortable there, as will your daughter. There is room enough for us all there.”
Dorey was taking all of this in, realizing there was more than just respect between her mother and this handsome man. She believed he must be Chief Wolf Dancer, for he had an air of command about him.
As they made their way through the village, people stepped aside, their eyes on him, showing affection and love. He walked onward toward the larger two-storied home Dorey had seen from the garita. She had assumed that this was the chief’s home, and she had been right.
“Dorey, oh, Dorey, where have you been?” Lavinia asked as Dorey stepped closer to her side. “I was so afraid for you. Twila and I looked for you in the swamp, but there was no sign of you or your canoe anywhere. And then…I…had the misfortune of being bitten by a snake. If not for Twila, who sucked the poison out of my wound, and thenWolf Dancer, who rescued me and took me to his shaman, I would be dead.”
“I’m so sorry, Mama,” Dorey said, swallowing hard. “I had not meant to travel so far, and then suddenly I was taken captive by two young braves.”
“I know all about what they did, and I am sorry you had to go through such an experience,” Lavinia said, sliding her free arm around Dorey’s tiny waist. “But now we are all going to be alright. Even Joshua. Did you see him, Dorey? Wolf Dancer saved him after he was shot down by an arrow.”
Having been so excited to see her mother, Dorey had been aware of nothing else. Now she realized that Joshua was there and that he was alive, when all along no one thought they would ever see him again.
She looked over her shoulder at Joshua and Twila. “I am so happy that you are alright, Joshua,” she murmured. “We all thought—”
“That I was dead,” Joshua finished, interrupting her. “I would be, if not for Wolf Dancer and Shining Soul. They saved me, Dorey, just as they have saved your mammy.”
“Mama, I can’t believe that you left your room to go into the Everglades looking for me,” Dorey said, gazing up at Lavinia. “What about Uncle Hiram? If he knows you left your room, he will expect many things of you. Mama, what are you going to do about Hiram and his plans for you?”
“Hiram is no longer a threat to any of us,” Lavinia said, her voice a little weak. She was finding each step harder to take, and she realized just how tired walking was making her.
“What do you mean, Mama?” Dorey asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Lavinia said, gasping in alarm when her knees began buckling.
She was so glad when Wolf Dancer realized what was happening and reached out for her. He took her quickly up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way; everyone else followed quietly behind them.
When Wolf Dancer reached the door of his house, he turned to Joshua. “Go inside with the children, and we will eat and talk as Lavinia rests,” he suggested. He looked at Dorey. “This will be your home as well as your mother’s for as long as you wish to stay here in my village.”
Dorey was stunned to see that her mother had deep feelings for the Indian chief, perhaps even deeper than Dorey had first thought. Their attraction was evident in the way her mother looked into the chief’s eyes and the way he held her so tenderly. Dorey realized that while she’d been away from her mother, lost and afraid, Lavinia had grown close to this man who had saved her from the horrible snakebite.
It made Dorey feel warm inside to see her mother so happy with this man. Dorey could hardly wait for Hiram to know that Lavinia had a new protector, so he could forget about ever having her himself!
Suddenly all that had been wrong in their lives since her father’s death was righted. Knowing that her mother had never truly loved her husband in a passionate way, Dorey could accept the idea that her mother had fallen in love so quickly after his death.
“We be glad to come and sit for a while inside your home,” Joshua said, speaking for himself and Twila.
“And I thank you for being so kind to me and my mother,” Dorey blurted out.
Lavinia clung to Wolf Dancer’s neck, feeling a contentment that had long been foreign to her. She was especially happy that he welcomed her daughter with open arms, because if all went well, she never wanted to return to the world she had left behind.
She was in love for the first time in her life. She felt its sweetness all through her body.
“Let us go inside now,” Wolf Dancer said. He opened the front door and stepped aside to allow the others to enter first.
And then he went inside, where his morning fire was burning in the firepit of the large, central room. The home consisted of several rooms, including one on the second floor far to the left side, away from where the smoke spiraled up to the smoke hole above.
As everyone stood aside and slowly admired the many comforts of his home, Wolf Dancer carried Lavinia to his bed of pelts near the firepit. He had never felt comfortable sleeping away from his central fire and the front door. He didn’t like the idea that someone could come in during the night and he would not be the wiser if he were sleeping far away from the door.
And soon he hoped to share this bed and room with Lavinia as his wife!
For now, it was enough that she was there withhim, away from that madman Hiram Price. He was glad that her daughter had been found, too, safe and happy to be reunited with her mother.
He saw nothing standing in the way of his hopes. He would not have to work hard to get Lavinia’s daughter’s acceptance, for he could see that she wanted only her mother’s happiness.
After getting Lavinia comfortable on his bed, Wolf Dancer went back to where the others still stood. They seemed to be awaiting his permission to sit on the mats, filled with the down of cattails, that were positioned around the fire.
“Sit,” Wolf Dancer said, gesturing toward the mats. “Be comfortable. And, Joshua, know that you and your daughter are welcome here anytime you wish to visit Lavinia.”
He turned and smiled at Dorey. “Your mother will want you here with her,” he said softly. He reached a hand out for here. “Come and sit beside her. She has worried so much about you.”
“Thank you,” Dorey said, smiling as she went over and settled down on a pelt beside her mother, while Joshua and Twila made themselves comfortable beside the fire.
“Mama, I was so worried about leaving you alone with…with…Uncle Hiram,” Dorey said, swallowing hard.
“You never have to worry about Hiram again,” Lavinia said, taking one of Dorey’s hands. “I’ve made a decision, Dorey. I don’t ever want to return to that plantation, or that house where I never felt much happiness.”
“Where will we go, Mama?” Dorey asked, her eyes wide.
“For now, we’ll just leave it at that…that we aren’t going back there. We will work things out later,” Lavinia murmured. “For now I feel at peace here with Wolf Dancer and his people. Until I am stronger, we will stay here and know that we have nothing to fear.”
“What if Uncle Hiram hunts for us and finds us here?” Dorey asked, searching her mother’s eyes. “You know he’ll be so angry—”
“Let him be angry,” Lavinia said. She brought Dorey’s hand to her lips and gently kissed its palm. “Just be happy that we have found each other and that we are all alright.”
“But you, Mama,” Dorey said, her eyes filling with tears. “You could have died.”
“Yes, but I didn’t,” Lavinia said, gazing over at Wolf Dancer as he came and knelt beside Dorey, a cup in his hand.
“Drink this,” he said, handing it to Lavinia. “You should drink a lot of water in order to make your body completely well and strong again.”
“It’s only water?” Lavinia asked, easing her hand from Dorey’s and leaning on an elbow. “I remember something Shining Soul gave me that made me sle
ep.”
“That was only because you needed sleep at the time,” Wolf Dancer said. “Now you want to stay awake and spend time with those you love.”
Lavinia smiled sweetly at him, took the cup, and swallowed the water, enjoying its cold sweetness.
Then she handed the empty cup back to Wolf Dancer. “Thank you so much for all that you have done for me and my loved ones,” she murmured.
“You do not have to keep thanking me for something I did from the heart,” Wolf Dancer said, setting the empty cup aside. He sat down beside Dorey. “Now do you feel like talking, or do you think you should rest?” he asked Lavinia.
“At this moment I am very much awake, for I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life,” Lavinia said, smiling into his eyes. She felt so much for him now, it almost frightened her.
She knew it was forbidden for a white woman to care for a man with red skin. She had heard of women being murdered after falling in love with Indians.
But she truly didn’t care about going back to life as she had known it. She was finding everything about the Seminole village fascinating. And she could never fall in love with anyone else, because she now knew she loved this handsome, wonderful Seminole chief.
“Mama, do you think those two boys will try to bother me while I stay here?” Dorey blurted out.
Wolf Dancer responded to that question before Lavinia had a chance. “They will never cause you trouble again,” he vowed. “They know better.”
“You can trust Wolf Dancer’s word, Dorey,” Lavinia said. “You have nothing to fear while you are here in the Seminole village. You are even safer here than back at the plantation. As long as Hiram has breath in his lungs, he will not stop wantingeverything for himself, and that includes me. We will not give him the chance to hurt us, Dorey.”
“But what if he finds out where we are and comes for us?” Dorey asked.
“He doesn’t have the courage to stand face-to-face with any Seminole warrior, especially Wolf Dancer, their chief,” Lavinia said, then sighed. “I am much more tired than I thought.”
Savage Flames Page 11
