And then the valley stretched out to mountain peaks and more valleys. As the wagon went higher and higher, now on narrow canyon paths, Jolena's pulse began to race. Suddenly she began to see butterflies flitting around everywhere, their colors brilliant as the clouds melted away in the sky overhead, spilling the sun's rays down to create bright and certain light in which to see the butterflies more clearly.
Jolena's heart lurched when her eyes caught sight of the euphaedra, which had finally come out of hiding! "Kirk, stop!" she shouted, waving her arms in the air frantically. "I've seen it."
Kirk yanked the reins and stopped the mules, but he showed no signs of being happy about Jolena's announcement. The wagon was in a precarious place, a ledge of rock on one side, a sheer drop on the other, with barely enough space for anyone to move safely around.
Jolena already had the butterfly net in her hand. "Get the jar and follow me, Kirk," she said, her eyes bright with excitement. If she could catch this butterfly, she would forget the other one, after all. Today could be the final day of the expedition and tomorrowoh, tomorrow, she might be able to go to her true father and reveal herself to him. She would be able to be with her true people!
"Sis, this isn't wise," Kirk said, not budging from the seat. "This isn't a safe place to go butterfly catching."
"Kirk, I saw it," Jolena insisted, annoyed at Kirk's further proof of cowardice. "Get the jar and let's go!"
Her eyes caught sight of something else as it flitted only a few inches past her nose. She gasped and her knees grew weak, realizing that the nymphalid was there again, teasing her again.
"I'm going to catch that butterfly also," she said, sliding easily from her seat, watching her feet as they reached the slippery rocks that gave her anything but sure footing. She did not look past her feet, for she knew that the steep drop would take her breath away.
She gave Kirk a quick glance, remembering that he was afraid of heights. "Don't get out on your side," she hastily warned. "Stay over there. I'll come to you."
"This is damn foolish," Kirk argued, yet he knew that he had no choice but to join her or look the fool again in his sister's eyes.
He reached beneath the seat and grabbed the bottle that already had a piece of cotton soaked with alcohol in it. Grumbling, he left the wagon.
When Jolena came to him, he began following her, catching glimpses over his shoulder of the other lepidopterists busy swinging their nets, catching everything but the two that Jolena was so determined to snare.
"Up there!" Jolena shouted, pointing up the steep side of the bluff as it loomed overhead. "I've got to climb up there and get it!"
Spotted Eagle had been watching everything with caution, knowing that if he should show too much concern for her, Kirk could cause much trouble for them.
To save Jolena undue embarrassment, Spotted Eagle had stood by, silent until now. But when he heard Jolena say that she was going to climb the side of the cliff, that was all the fuel he needed to go after her.
"Care for my horse," he said, giving his reins over to Two Ridges.
Two Ridges had been watching Jolena with concern also and did not like the idea that Spotted Eagle was going to once again get the glory for saving her from what might be a close brush with death. If she attempted climbing the side of the cliff and lost her balance, she might not just fall to the narrow path. She might miss it and plummet to her death below, where rocks jutted out in cone-shaped peaks, waiting to pierce her body like sharpened lances.
Spotted Eagle went to Jolena and grabbed her by one wrist, stopping her as she walked determinedly away from Kirk. "I cannot allow you to do that," he said, ignoring the looks and frowns of everyone who now stood by watching. "It is too dangerous."
Jolena gazed up at him, her lips parted with surprise that he would come to her in such a way, knowing how it must look to everyone else.
Yet he was their guide, looking out for their interest. She hoped that everyone would see that as the reason he had come to her with the commands of a lover!
Frustrated and angry, Kirk frowned at Spotted Eagle, then looked slowly over at Jolena. There was clearly something between his sister and this Blackfoot guide, and it tore at his heart. This drove him into doing something which under other conditions he would never have attempted.
He set his jar aside and went to Jolena, grabbing her net away from her.
"I'll get both butterflies for you," he said, his voice tight.
Jolena reached a hand out to Kirk in an effort to stop him, but Spotted Eagle would not allow her to.
As the nymphalid fluttered higher and higher along the sides of the steep slope of rock, Jolena held her breath, her heart pounding as fear suddenly gripped her. The damnable butterfly was behaving in a teasing fashion again, but this time it was Kirk who was the recipient of its sultry charm.
Perhaps there was something to the myth that the butterfly caused bad luck. The thought sent icy shivers up and down Jolena's flesh.
"Kirk, don't!" she cried, but it was already too late. Kirk was fitting his feet in tiny holes along the side of the rock wall. As one hand searched for something solid to grab, the other firmly gripped the handle of the net.
Scarcely breathing, Jolena watched as Kirk climbed higher, his eyes watching the nymphalid fluttering closer and closer to his face. "The damn thing!" he shouted, turning to give Jolena a look of frustration. "How can I catch it if it continues trying to land on my nose!"
Just as he made eye contact with Jolena, the butterfly began flapping its wings against Kirk's face, over and over again. Jolena's heart sank as she watched Kirk momentarily forget that he was holding on to the sheet of rock to keep himself from falling. Instinct led him to slap at the butterfly, and when he did, his body fell backward away from the wall, plummeting quickly toward the rock path below.
"Oh, Lord," Jolena whispered, her eyes wide and terrified as she watched Kirk land clumsily on the rock, his head making a strange thud as it hit.
Wrenching her wrist out of Spotted Eagle's firm grip, she ran to Kirk and fell to her knees beside him. She covered her mouth with her hands as she watched blood trickle from the corner of her brother's mouth, concerned over how quietly he layhad he only been rendered unconscious by the fall? Would he wake soon?
Tears rushed down Jolena's cheeks, and she was filled with guilt for having neglected Kirk's attentions of late and actually keeping her distance from him when they had made camp so he would not preach to her against the Indians.
"Oh, Kirk," Jolena sobbed. She started to reach out to cradle his head on her lap, but stopped when Spotted Eagle knelt down beside her, a canteen in his hand.
Wide- eyed, Jolena watched as Spotted Eagle emptied the water from the canteen onto Kirk's face, then gasped with happiness as Kirk's eyes began to flutter open, his hand re
aching for the throbbing knot that was forming on the back of his head.
"What happened?" Kirk asked, gazing questioningly up into Jolena's eyes, then past her at Spotted Eagle, who was screwing the top back onto his canteen.
Jolena did not take the time to answer him. She leaned down and gave him a big hug. "Thank God you're all right," she said, sobbing as she cradled his head close to her bosom. "That damn butterfly. I never want to see it again, much less try and catch it. Kirk, I'm sure it meant for you to die!"
Kirk eased from her comforting arms and moved to a sitting position. "Hogwash," he said, yet his insides were cold with the memory of the butterfly attacking him, as though purposely. "Butterflies have no sense of logic. Something frightened it into thrashing itself against me. That's all."
Jolena placed a gentle hand to his elbow and helped him up from the ground. "Are you truly all right?" she murmured. "You had quite a fall."
Kirk looked at Jolena. "I'd say it was worth it," he said, smiling softly. "Seems I've got my sister back."
Jolena smiled weakly at him, knowing that it did appear that way, yet she knew that this closeness was only temporary.
Even after they continued on with their journey and made camp for the night, Jolena continued to pamper Kirk with all sorts of attention. She was thankful that he was all right, and she could not help but feel somewhat guilty for how she would soon abandon him. So for now, at least, she was trying to make up to him all at once.
"Here's another cup of coffee," Jolena said as she brought the tin cup back to Kirk, where he was leaning his back against the trunk of a tree, resting before the slowly burning embers of a campfire. "Can I get anything else for you? There's plenty of rabbit left. Would you care for more?"
"Sis, sit right down here beside me," Kirk said, patting the blanket that was spread out beneath him. "All I need is you."
Jolena lifted the hem of her travel skirt and plopped down beside Kirk. When he reached an arm around her waist, drawing her close, she allowed it. They sat quietly watching the fire as they had so often as children in their granite fireplace in their plush parlor in Saint Louis.
"We've shared so much," Kirk said, his voice thick with melancholy. "Remember how we used to share our dreams? Do you wish to share them again, sis? I… I feel as though I am losing you. As each day passes, I sense I have lost a little more of you to this land of your ancestors."
He reached for one of her hands and clutched hard to it. "Oh, God, Jolena, please don't let it happen," he pleaded. "No matter the color of your skin, in every sense of the word you are my sister. You are my best friend." ''I know," Jolena murmured, easing into his embrace. "I know, Kirk."
She hugged him as though it might be her last chance to do so.
She wanted to whisper to him that she was sorry for the decisions that she had recently made in her life that would sorely affect his. She wanted to beg him to understand, yet she felt that this was not the timeif ever there would be a right time.
Spotted Eagle watched, but did not grow jealous at the sight of his woman being hugged by another man. He could see the desperation in the brother and sister's embrace.
And he understood why.
Without Kirk being aware of it, it was the beginning of the farewell between him and his beloved sister.
Spotted Eagle glanced over at Two Ridges, who sat sullenly at his right side, staring aimlessly into the fire. Spotted Eagle had not yet told Two Ridges the truth about Jolenathat she was his true sister. He wanted to savor the secret that was now only Jolena's and Spotted Eagle's for as long as possible.
And he feared that a chain reaction might be started should he reveal the news to Two Ridges or Jolena too soon. Kirk Edmonds would then know also and would realize that Jolena's days and hours with him were numbered.
It was best delayed, this telling of truths that could hurt and possibly jeopardize Spotted Eagle's future with Jolena. Kirk could become crazed enough with the knowing and steal Jolena away, forcing her on the large, white canoe that would take her back to Saint Louis, where she would be lost to Spotted Eagle forever.
He nodded, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that this secret was best left alone, for now.
Chapter Eighteen
The next morning, a mist filled the air, so that in the uncertain light objects seemed shrouded in mystery as the wagons moved slowly alongside a steep cliff, then momentarily away from it as the mules ambled along, squealing as the wagoners swore at them and uncoiled and snapped their whips like fusillades of rifle fire over their heads.
Jolena clung to her wagon seat, fear entering her heart as black storm clouds began gathering more thickly in the sky overhead and lightning moved in bright zigzags between them.
"Kirk, I don't like the looks of the sky," Jolena said, breaking the silence between them.
She looked over at Kirk, whose lips were pursed and whose eyes squinted angrily as he stared ahead, tending to his team of stubborn mules. "Kirk, did you hear what I said?" Jolena persisted. "It seems as though you are in a different world today. Is it because of what happened yesterday? Because of your fall?"
She glanced at the purple knot on his head, knowing that it must be throbbing painfully. Kirk had not allowed Spotted Eagle anywhere near him when Spotted Eagle had brought herbs gathered from the forest to place upon the wound. Even though Kirk had not been told anything about Jolena's plans to stay with Spotted Eagle when the time came for everyone else to return to Saint Louis, Kirk seemed to sense it. When Spotted Eagle had offered to help him, Kirk had shunned him.
"It's this whole damn mess of an expedition," Kirk finally said in a low grumble. He gave Jolena a frowning glare. "I've had enough. I want to return to Saint Louis. Both you and I have almost lost our lives trying to find that damnable butterfly. And now it's not only the euphaedra that you are so obsessed with, it's also the nymphalid."
Kirk paused, his eyes locked momentarily with Jolena's. Then he looked ahead again, watching the procession of the wagons that were traveling in front of him and Jolena today, instead of following. Somehow he felt safer lagging behind instead of being the lead wagon.
Jolena started to comment on what her brother had said, but stopped when he began talking again in a monotone. "If you ask me, sis, the nymphalid is living up to its legend," Kirk said exasperatedly. "It has not only almost teased you to your death, but also me. I don't want to be around when it appears again, as though out of nowhere, with its teasings."
He gazed at Jolena again, his eyes pleading. "Let's turn around right now, Jolena, and return to Saint Louis," he said softly. "Once father hears the dangers we put ourselves in to catch the butterfly of his obsession, he will know that our decision to return home was right. He would not want it any other way."
Jolena reached a hand over and patted K
irk's knee. "I know that what you experienced yesterday was frightening," she murmured. "And when I almost plummeted to my death, I was petrified. But both times it was an accidentnot the doings of a butterfly. Surely nothing else will happen."
She moved her hand away from him and clung to the wagon seat again when the wheels sank into a pothole, then rolled free again, the wagon swaying dangerously from side to side from the jolt.
"I can't return to Saint Louis, Kirk," she said, forced to tell him truths that would hurt him. But she could not continue with this charade. If he was determined to return to Saint Louis this soon, she had no choice but to tell him that she would not be aboard the riverboat with him, no matter when he chose to travel on it again.
Kirk gave her a quick, wide-eyed glance. "What… do you mean?" he said, his voice drawn. Jolena started to speak, but was stopped when rain began pouring from the sky in blinding sheets, as though someone overhead in the thick clouds was overturning monstrous buckets of water onto the travelers.
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