“Hinta Nagi, the Ghost Timbers,” Wolf’s Blood replied with a grin. “I remember when our uncle, Swift Arrow, would come there with a whole tribe, and Mother and Father would join them. That was when Zeke’s brothers, Red Eagle and Black Elk, were still alive. Those were good times! Good times!” His smile faded, and he held Jeremy’s gaze. “I want you with me, Jeremy, whatever happens. I had a dream …” He rose, wincing at the pain in his knees. “I will not say what it was. I can only say it is important that you are with me. Will you be able to leave Denver if you have to?”
“Of course I can. I’m just glad as hell I’ve been able to see you again.” Jeremy felt a little uneasy. What was the dream his brother had had? One thing he knew, dreams were very important to the Cheyenne. They could predict the future, and were often right. Before he managed to question his brother further, Margaret appeared at the door.
“Lunch is ready. Meals are beginning to be quite a chore around here, one big table in the kitchen for all the children, another big table in the dining room for all the adults. If it were not for Mother’s help and that of my sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law, we could never keep all these mouths fed in one sitting. You two get in here now and eat.” She put her hands on her hips. “By the way. Where are Hawk and Sweet Bird?”
“I think they’re coming now,” Jeremy answered, watching the hills again.
“Well, at least they are not lost,” Wolf’s Blood commented, a sly look in his eyes. He glanced at Margaret; he knew she suspected what he was up to. She gave him a chastising look and left the doorway. “I will wait for them,” Wolf’s Blood told Jeremy.
Jeremy turned and grasped his shoulder. “Don’t take too long or there might not be any food left.”
“The way my sister cooks? She probably made enough for fifty people.”
Jeremy grinned. “The way this family is growing, that might not be such a stretch.” He went inside, and Wolf’s Blood watched the little group approach, noticing Hawk’s pants looked wet, and Sweet Bird’s hair had been wet and had dried in stringy, unbrushed layers. Little Eagle was riding facing Hawk, his arms and legs wrapped around his big brother.
Wolf’s Blood frowned, walking down the steps to greet them when they rode up to the house.
“Father!” Little Eagle said, letting go of Hawk and reaching for Wolf’s Blood. “I almost drowned! Hawk saved me!”
“Is that so?” Wolf’s Blood lifted him down, ignoring the pain in his arms and shoulders. “Look at you! You have a cut on your head. How did this happen?”
“We went swimming,” the boy answered, as his father set him on his feet. “It was hot, and Hawk took us to a place where he said he swam when he was little. Do you know where it is?”
Wolf’s Blood grinned. “I know of it. I took Hawk there myself once. Hawk’s mother liked to go there.” He thought how most Indian women liked to swim naked, and he glanced at Sweet Bird. “I see you went swimming also.”
She handed Laughing Turtle to Hawk, their gazes holding for a moment before she slipped down from her horse. “More of a dunk than a swim. It felt good to get wet,” she told her husband. “Little Eagle was playing by a log, and it slipped. It cut his head and he went under. Hawk pulled him out. It was so terrible! I thought we had lost our son.” She embraced Wolf’s Blood. “Thank goodness Hawk found him quickly. The pond was deeper than he remembered.” She turned and knelt in front of Little Eagle, stroking his hair. “Hawk got him to cough up most of the water, but I think he should rest this afternoon. Do not eat too much when you go inside, Little Eagle. It might not be good to fill your belly right now. Eat only a little, and then go upstairs and lie down.”
“I will, Mama.” The boy looked up at his father. “Mother and Hawk were glad I was okay. They were so happy, they kissed each other,” he said innocently.
Wolf’s Blood met Sweet Bird’s eyes, and she quickly looked away. He glanced at Hawk, who turned from the hitching post to cast his father an angry look.
“You and I have to talk,” he told Wolf’s Blood boldly. “Right now! Forget about lunch.”
Wolf’s Blood’s eyebrows arched, and he was inwardly amused at his son’s obvious frustration. He struggled with his jealousy, yet secretly rejoiced to know there truly was an attraction between Sweet Bird and Hawk. “That is fine with me. We will go to the barn, where no one will hear us.” He looked at Sweet Bird, touching her arm. “Do not look away from me. It is not necessary.” She met his eyes, and he saw tears in hers.
“I love you more than my own life,” she told him.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I have no doubt of that. Take the children inside and tell the others Hawk and I will come later.”
Sweet Bird turned away and chased after Laughing Turtle, picking her up and carrying her into the house, where Little Eagle had already gone to tell the others about his mishap. Wolf’s Blood looked at his son, who still stood at a distance, watching him sullenly. “Untie the horses. We will take them to the barn with us.”
Hawk obeyed, handing his father the reins to Sweet Bird’s horse. It pained him to see how much slower Wolf’s Blood walked now. He said nothing until they reached the barn; then his anger showed in the way he jerked the saddles and blankets off the horses. Wolf’s Blood only watched silently as Hawk slapped the horses on their rumps and put each into a stall. “They need to be brushed down, but I’ll have to do it later,” he said. He turned then, facing Wolf’s Blood and folding his arms. “What the hell are you up to? I am not blind, Father! You’ve been getting me and Sweet Bird together for a week! Sweet Bird is your wife, not a piece of property! I respect her as your wife, the woman who loves my father and gave him two children!”
“Of course you do. I would not want my wife to go with any man who did not honor her. And I honor you above all men.” Wolf’s Blood held his chin proudly. “I am Indian, and you are Indian. The Indian way is for a man’s wife to be taken care of by a relative when he dies, usually a brother. I have no brothers Indian enough to take this duty upon themselves. Jeremy is too white in his thinking, and Jason also is, even though he is himself married to an Indian woman. Your own grandmother went to Zeke’s brother Swift Arrow after Zeke died.”
“That was years later, and it was of her own choosing!”
“And you do not think being with you would be of Sweet Bird’s choosing? Do you think I would want her to go to you unwillingly?”
Hawk threw up his hands. “I don’t know what you want! I saw the look in your eyes when Little Eagle told you we …” He hesitated, turning around and slamming shut a stall gate.
“Told me you kissed Sweet Bird?”
Hawk sighed, his back to him. “It just … happened. We were both relieved that Little Eagle was all right. She was crying, and I felt sorry for her.”
“You wanted her. You even wanted her five years ago when you visited us in Canada. I also am not blind, Hawk.”
Hawk shook his head. “I just thought she was very pretty and awfully sweet. I left thinking what a lovely woman she was. I cared about her because she cared about you and gave you happiness.” He turned and faced his father. “Back in Denver, I met Arianne. After her husband died we fell in love. I always thought I’d marry Indian, Father, but Arianne changed all that.”
Wolf’s Blood nodded slowly. “And then she left you, because you were Indian! Some white women cannot rise above that, no matter how much they love a man. Did that hurt not tell you something? Some people simply belong with their own kind, and you are one of them. Whether it is Sweet Bird or not, you will marry Indian. When you go to a reservation, that is where you will find the woman you love. All I am asking of you is to take Sweet Bird and my children with you, where they can live among their own kind. But I want you to always remain an influence in their lives, to teach them how to survive in this new world. And I want you to watch over Sweet Bird. Make sure she marries a man who will be good to her, not a drunken Indian with no job and no hope! That is all I want, Hawk.
I need to know my family will be taken care of and that Sweet Bird will be happy. My greatest wish is that you might be the man to bring her that happiness. With you she would always live well, and for her, being with you would be a little like being with me. She is still very young, still beautiful and pleasing in the night.”
Hawk rolled his eyes and turned away at the remark.
“And she can bear more children. Not only do I want her to be happy, Hawk, I want you to be happy; and I know how happy Sweet Bird can make a man, what a good wife and mother she is. You are of an age at which it is time you took a wife and had sons and daughters of your own.”
Hawk ran a hand through his hair. It felt damp from diving under the water to rescue Little Eagle. “I know that,” he answered.
“Tell me you could not love Little Eagle and Laughing Turtle as if they were your own son and daughter.”
Hawk remained turned away. “You know I could. I already do.”
“And tell me it would not be easy to love Sweet Bird.”
Hawk gritted his teeth, grasping the stall gate. “Damn it, Father, she’s your wife!”
“Of course she is. Do you think I would want you sleeping with her while I am still alive? I am not asking you to do something so against your honor, son, nor would Sweet Bird ever consider such a thing. I only need to know that you both have feelings that might grow into something much more precious if something happens to me. I can see that this is so, and it pleases me greatly. For now I only need to know you would always look after my family.”
Hawk hung his head, not replying right away. Finally he faced his father. “I will always look after them. You should know you don’t need to ask it of me. As far as the other … yes, I do have feelings for Sweet Bird. Up to now I had attributed them to the fact that she is the mother of my little brother and sister—and my father’s wife. I have looked at her more as a sister than anything else. She’s certainly too young to be called my stepmother, wouldn’t you say?”
Wolf’s Blood studied him a moment, realizing his son was beginning to joke with him. The idea of Hawk calling Sweet Bird mother was indeed amusing. He smiled. “It would seem very strange.”
Hawk sighed in resignation, a hint of a smile on his lips. His dark eyes drilled into his father’s gaze lovingly. “I would never, never dishonor you, Father.”
Wolf’s Blood stepped closer. “If I thought you would, I would not have seen that you and my wife were often alone. It is only that the Indian in me wishes to know his wife and children will always be protected and provided for when he dies.”
A look of determination came into Hawk’s eyes. “You aren’t going to die. I’m going to get you off, have the Monroe name cleared; and then we’ll get the best doctors in Denver to see what they can do for the arthritis.”
Wolf’s Blood smiled sadly. “You will not get me cleared. You can try, but I did what I did; that cannot be erased, especially since I am Indian. I will at least get the truth out, maybe make a few people understand why I did it. And nothing can be done about arthritis, Hawk, except perhaps to drink something for the pain; then, instead of dying just a crippled old man, I would die a drunken or drug-filled crippled old man. That would be even worse. I have often thought of turning to whiskey to dull the pain, but I do not want to go the way of so many other Indian men. Stay away from the firewater, Hawk. Never lose your pride. Promise me that.”
A lump rose in Hawk’s throat. “I promise.”
Wolf’s Blood grasped his arm. “I do not know exactly what will happen, Hawk, but you will know when I choose the right time. I have asked Jeremy to be with us through all of it. Your uncle loves you as his own. He has been like a father to you, and that is good. You will still have him to turn to. You have not had me as a father for many years, but you have done just fine. I am proud of you, very proud.”
Hawk drew a deep breath. “And I am proud of you. You have never been afraid to be the Indian that you are, and by Indian law everything you have done has been right. But you have suffered so much over the years, Father, losing three different women you loved to white man’s bullets. I am glad you had your days of glory, your days of riding as a warrior with Swift Arrow.” He paused and frowned. “It’s grandfather, isn’t it?”
Wolf’s Blood’s eyebrows arched, and he stepped back a little. “What do you mean?”
“You want to be with him. You want to be with Cheyenne Zeke, with Lone Eagle.”
Wolf’s Blood’s eyes teared. “I miss him as much today as I did when I held his dying body in my arms at Fort Robinson. My father and I were one spirit, just as you and I are, Hawk. And as I know my father has always been with me, know that I will always be with you. When you hear the wolves howl, you will know that I am near, as I know my father is near when the eagle’s shadow passes over me.”
Hawk closed his eyes and swallowed. “Do you know what is really strange?” He looked at his father again, a tear slipping down his cheek. “All these years we’ve been apart, I haven’t been able to talk to you, ask your advice, turn to you for anything; and yet I can hardly imagine life without you in it.”
Wolf’s Blood only nodded. He stepped closer, embracing his son, and they hugged tightly, both crying quietly.
“Does Grandma Abbie know?” Hawk asked.
“No one understands better than my mother.”
“She thinks as much of you as she did of Zeke. It would kill her if something happened to you.”
“No, son. It would kill her to see me die a crippled old man.” Wolf’s Blood pulled away. “Come. There is food waiting for us.”
Hawk quickly wiped at his eyes, then put an arm around his father to help him walk back to the house, where they were greeted with stares of worry and wonder. “What’s everybody looking at?” Hawk asked, irritated.
“Little Eagle told us how you rescued him,” Abbie said with a grin. “It sounded like quite an adventure.”
Hawk shook his head and took his chair. “It wasn’t anything. I got to him quickly, so he was easy to find. It scared us to death at first, but he’s all right.”
Wolf’s Blood looked at his mother, suspecting Little Eagle had told everyone that Hawk kissed Sweet Bird. He decided to change the subject. “I remember the story you told us once about rescuing a little Indian girl when you were first married to Father,” he said.
Abbie smiled. “What a long time ago that was! I was only sixteen. Zeke’s Indian stepfather gave me a knife and a blanket for saving the girl, and a warrior named Two Feathers gave me a coup feather to honor my bravery. I still have the knife and the coup feather in my trunk.”
Wolf’s Blood stood behind Hawk. He squeezed his shoulder as he spoke. “So my son gets some of his courage from his white grandmother.”
Everyone smiled. “Sit down and eat, Wolf’s Blood,” Margaret told her brother. “Sweet Bird went upstairs to put the children to bed for naps. Little Eagle needs to rest this afternoon.”
Wolf’s Blood nodded. “I will go up and see him again first. I will say, Margaret, it is a good thing I did not have to live in a house like this. Climbing those stairs is not an easy task for me. I hate to admit that.” He sighed, leaving Hawk and heading toward the double sliding doors to the dining room. “I must tell you all I have decided I will go to Denver in two days. It has been good seeing all my family again. The time is near now to do what must be done.” He turned and left, and everyone sobered. Margaret looked at Hawk.
“What were you two talking about out there?”
Hawk reached for a biscuit, although his appetite had suddenly left him. “It’s personal.”
“You can get him off, can’t you, Hawk?” LeeAnn asked.
Hawk just stared at the biscuit in his hand. “I don’t know. It isn’t likely, but I’ll try.”
“All we can do is pray the Lord’s will be done,” Abbie told them all. “Whatever happens, we all have each other, and we’ll all be here for Sweet Bird and the children, and for Hawk.”
Wolf�
�s Blood could hear the conversation as he made his way to the stairs. Yes, this was a good, strong family. He would never have to worry about his wife and children. He painfully climbed the carpeted stairway to the room where Little Eagle and Laughing Turtle lay in a big bed together. Sweet Bird straightened from kissing them both. He watched her eyes as he came closer. Yes, she loved him. “It is all right,” he told her.
She ran to him, breaking into tears. “He is a good man,” she whispered.
“Of course he is. He is my son. Someday he will be your strength.”
Twenty-seven
“No, Mother, you will not go. If I have to have Morgan tie you to a chair, I will do it.” Wolf’s Blood sat on the porch swing with Abbie, watching the family members who lived in Denver and Pueblo load their baggage. The adults had responsibilities to go back to, and no one knew how long the situation with Wolf’s Blood would take to resolve. They would have to await the outcome. Wolf’s Blood had asked that only Hawk and Jeremy go with him to Cheyenne.
“You are my son, and after so many years without you, I have to be with you through this, Wolf’s Blood.”
Wolf’s Blood faced her, taking her hand, hating the agony in her eyes. “Father would not have wanted you at Fort Robinson, and I don’t want you in Denver or Cheyenne. Trips are too hard for you now, and if something should go wrong, perhaps your heart could not bear it. Stay home, Mother. Do it for me, and for Sweet Bird. She will also stay here, with the children. I do not want them to go through this in public. Besides, a place like Denver would frighten them. If the news is bad, they will need you. Please promise me you will stay with them.”
Abbie squeezed his hand, leaning forward and putting her head on his shoulder, unable to stop the tears. “My God, Wolf’s Blood, you mean so much to me. I might never see you again, and I’ve had you such a short while. All my life I’ve only had you for a few days or months at a time, then you were gone again. You’re like the wind, as Zeke was.”
Eagle’s Song Page 34
