Savage Illusions
Page 35
She gently touched the leggings, sighing as she discovered the softness of the buckskin, but her eyes were elsewhere as her father slowly lifted a beautiful Indian dress from the trunk. It was made of antelope skin and was as white as snow and ornamented with at least three hundred beads made from elk tusks!
This, too, was laid across Jolena's lap for her to gaze upon and to touch, but again her attention was drawn to something else her father was taking from the trunk.
It was a summer blanket made of elk skin, well tanned, without the hair, and with the dew-claws left on.
Brown Elk reached into the trunk one last time and drew out a beautiful pair of black moccasins. They were of deerskin with parfleche soles and worked with porcupine quills. "These were your mother's on the day of her marriage to your father," Brown Elk said, gently stroking his hand down the full length of Jolena's unbraided hair. "This old man never thought there could be another woman as lovely as your mother… not until now. Not until you. You will be as beautiful. And your mother will be watching from her place in the heavens as you become a radiant wife to Spotted Eagle. She will bless this marriage, as I have already."
Jolena was at a loss for words. Tears splashed from her eyes. She felt both happy and sad. The clothes gave her a sense of her mother's nearness, yet they also made it all the more real that Sweet Dove was not there to witness her daughter's happiness!
At this moment, Jolena realized just how cheated she had been by fate. Her mother had been taken from her before she had known the wonders of her touch, her kiss, her blessingseven before Jolena had been able to drink that first drop of milk from her mother's breast!
She turned her eyes from Brown Elk, willing herself to stop crying!
This was a time meant for happy thoughts, not a past that she had never had any control over!
When the tears had dried, she turned a smile to her father. "I love them all," she murmured. "Thank you, father, for allowing me to wear the clothes my mother wore when she became your wife. I wear them with much pride and love."
A soft voice outside the tepee speaking Brown Elk's name made him smile broadly. He rose to his feet and walked toward the entrance. Then he nodded at Moon Flower. "Go to Jolena," he said softly. "Take the clothes from her arms. Her arms must be free to accept the gift One Who Walks With A Limp has made for her. Lay the clothes aside and go with Jolena and assist her in setting up her lodge, for she has no knowledge yet of how this is done."
Brown Elk gave Jolena a glance over his shoulder. " Ok-yi. Come, my daughter," he said. "Come and see what One Who Walks With A Limp has brought you."
Moon Flower went to Jolena and carefully took the clothes from her arms, then gave her a quiet smile as Jolena got to her feet and moved toward her father with soft steps.
As the entrance flap was lifted, Jolena saw an elderly lady with waist-length gray hair and wrinkled face, burdened down with a beautiful cowhide decorated with elaborate drawings.
"These are for the daughter of Brown Elk," One Who Walks With A Limp said, as she smiled a toothless smile up at Jolena. "The lodge poles, back rests, and inner lining for the tepee lies where you will build your tepee."
Jolena stepped from the lodge and took the burden from the slight, elderly lady. "Thank you so much for doing this for me in the absence of my mother," she murmured. "It is something I shall never forget."
One Who Walks With A Limp nodded and bowed her head humbly, then slowly lifted it and gazed at Brown Elk as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It is with much joy that I made this for your daughter,'' she murmured. "It was good to be singled out for such an honor. Thank you, Brown Elk. It is as though I was a young girl again, making my own lodge, for my own man. It was good… feeling young again."
Brown Elk drew the woman into his arms and gave her a generous hug. "You will always be young in your heart, and in my eyes," he said.
When he eased her from his arms, she turned and walked away, limping heavily with each step.
Moon Flower moved quickly to Jolena's side and helped relieve her of some of the burden by taking one end of the cowhide into her own arms. "Let us go and build the tepee so that the dowry can be soon placed there," she said, giving Brown Elk a laughing smile.
Jolena raised an eyebrow, still not knowing exactly what this talk of a dowry was all about. "Yes, let's," she said, laughingly walking away with Moon Flower, clumsily sharing the hide as they half stumbled along across the stamped-down ground of the village.
As he watched Jolena and Moon Flower, Brown Elk smiled and folded his arms across his chest.
Spotted Eagle watched from his tepee as Jolena and Moon Flower stepped into the center of the village and began erecting the lodge.
Then his gaze shifted as he looked over at Brown Elk, wondering what the dowry might amount to, for he wanted to send over to his father-in-law's lodge twice the number of gifts his bride's father would pay his son-in-law.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jolena had tried to sleep but found it impossible, so she'd spent the night preparing the special meal for Spotted Eagle, with Moon Flower giving her hints in cooking the sorts of meats that Jolena was not familiar with. The morning sun was now splashing its golden light down the smokehole, and Jolena's father's dwelling smelled pleasant with fragrances of the best of foods taken from his food supply, some choice berry pemmican, and the tongue and "boss ribs" of the buffalo, said to be the most desired parts by the Blackfoot warriors.
"I see that my daughter is ready to take her offerings to the man who will soon be her husband," Brown Elk said, as he came to the fire, yawning and stretching. He gave Moon Flower a pleasant smile and nod, then continued talking to Jolena. "Spotted Eagle surely has not ever had such a feast as that which will be placed before him today."
Jolena turned from her preparations and gave her father a bright smile. "I've never been so excited," she said, giving her father a hearty hug. "Will I actually become Spotted Eagle's wife today? It isn't just one of my dreams?"
"If this is a dream, it is a good one, is it not?" Brown Elk said, chuckling as he eased Jolena from his arms. He reached a hand to her brow and smoothed some loose locks of her hair back in place.
"Oh, yes," Jolena said, clasping her hands together behind her. "It is all so wonderful. But it is real, and so much better because it is."
"The lodge you prepared for my son-in-law is handsome," Brown Elk said, sitting down on a couch cushioned with soft pelts. "You have placed your wedding attire in it already?"
"Yes, father," Jolena murmured, watching as Moon Flower devotedly ladled Brown Elk a large bowl of buffalo stew. "I am now ready to take the meal to Spotted Eagle. Do you think he will be awake?"
Brown Elk accepted the bowl of stew and a spoon, then gave Jolena an amused smile. "Will he be awake?" he said. "Daughter, I doubt he slept a wink all
night."
Jolena nervously brushed her fingers through her hair, then noticed some stains on her skirt that had splashed there while she was cooking. She turned anxiously to Moon Flower. "Perhaps I'd best take a bath in the river and change clothes first," she said.
"Your bath should be taken just before you change into your wedding attire," Moon Flower softly suggested. "You will then smell fresh and clean like the river for your husband when you go to him later, after you move your tepee beyond the village, close to the outer fringes of the forest, where you can have privacy from prying hearts and listening ears."
"I must move the tepee after having taken so long to erect it?" Jolena asked, her eyebrows raised in puzzlement. "I have even gone many times through the night to add wood to the fire, so that the tepee would be warm and cozy when Spotted Eagle went inside. I wanted everything to be perfect. Why must I change it?"
"Moving into the middle of the circle is considered an honor," Moon Flower explained. "Only important people build the marriage lodge in the center of the village. Next to his father, Spotted Eagle is the most important person in this village. He will one day be chief. You have erected a wonderful lodge for him to show off to his people. And there are other reasons for the lodge which you will discover through the day."
Jolena had felt that her efforts with the marriage tepee had been wasted. But now she understood.
"Your warrior should not be made to wait much longer for the meal his woman has prepared for him," Brown Elk reminded her. "Go to him, Jolena. Accompany her there, Moon Flower. Fill both your arms with platters of food for this man who will soon be a husband."
Jolena nodded. Her heart hammered inside her chest as she placed her many offerings of food into a basket. After Moon Flower had her own basket filled, Jolena and Moon Flower left the tepee. They stepped out into a glorious morning of cool, soft breezes, a clear, blue sky, and the songs of birds as they began awakening in the forest beyond.
Jolena walked beside Moon Flower with a proudly lifted chin, racing heart, and trembling fingers, feeling many knowing eyes on her. She could hear the hushed buzzing of voices as everyone pushed closer to observe the first stages of the wedding ceremony. Jolena could feel a hot blush rise to her cheeks as more and more people pressed closer, the children giggling.
Doing her best to ignore her audience, Jolena set her eyes on Spotted Eagle's tepee. She felt her heart do a flip-flop when she noticed that the entrance flap was open, held back by a young brave.
Not knowing how long this lad had been forced to stand there holding the buckskin flap open, Jolena hastened her steps.
When she finally arrived at Spotted Eagle's tepee, she smiled a silent thank-you to the handsome young brave, then went on inside, with Moon Flower following close behind her.
Jolena's heart melted when she found Spotted Eagle sitting beside his lodge fire in only a brief breechclout, his legs folded before him, his hands resting on his knees.
When he looked her way and gave her a slow, teasing smile, she almost swayed with the force of the passion between them.
She had to swallow hard and will herself to continue with these chores that came before the actual coming together as man and wife. She had thought of nothing but being with Spotted Eagle through the long hard night while her hands had been preparing the food for him.
She had wanted to slip away and go to his tepee and snuggle up next to him. She had wanted to be held within his powerful arms as he whispered sweet nothings in her ear.
Jolena wrenched her thoughts back to the chore at hand. She followed Moon Flower's lead in placing the food before Spotted Eagle, taking one empty bowl away so that he could eat from another.
He spoke not a word as he enjoyed his meal.
He refrained even from gazing Jolena's way, which unnerved her.
Soon the feast was over. Jolena and Moon Flower left the tepee and rushed back to Brown Elk's dwelling, again watched by everyone of the village.
Jolena and Moon Flower began taking the empty bowls and platters from the basket to wash in a basin of water that was already sitting beside the firepit. As Jolena was doing this, she wondered about her father's sudden silence as he prepared himself to leave. "Do not question him now about anything," Moon Flower whispered to Jolena as she busied her hands washing the dishes, while Jolena dried them with a thin strip of buckskin. "It is a solemn time for your father and Spotted Eagle. Soon I shall show you why."
Out of the corner of her eye, Jolena watched her father leave the tepee, then she continued drying the dishes until they were stacked and ready to store away.
"I think we can look now," Moon Flower said, taking Jolena by the hand and urging her to come to the entrance flap. "Look toward your marriage lodge. See what your father places there as your dowry."
Moon Flower lifted the flap. Jolena's eyes widened as she watched her father instruct several young braves to lead fifteen horses to her lodge, tying them there on posts that had been hammered into the ground.
"My dowry?" Jolena whispered. "And… so many?"
"Hurry away from the door now," Moon Flower said, half dragging Jolena back to sit down by the fire, just in time for Jolena's father to enter the lodge again, followed by the same young braves who had placed her father's horses in front of her lodge.
Jolena watched breathlessly as her father gathered up his very own war clothing and arms, a lance, a fine shield, a bow, and arrows in an otter-skin case, his war bonnet, war shirt, and war leggings ornamented with scalps. He then sent his complete war equipment out with the young braves and followed proudly after them.
"We can watch again," Moon Flower said, giggling as she scrambled to her feet. "Come, Jolena. See what is happening!"
Stunned by all of this, Jolena moved to her feet and again went to the entrance flap and watched from it. Her lips parted in a gasp as she watched all of her father's warring gear being set up on tripods in front of her lodge.
"The gift of those things from your father to Spotted Eagle is evidence of the great respect felt by him for his new son-in-law," Moon Flower said, looking softly over at Jolena. "His respect is great, Jolena, for see what he has given? Everything that means so much to your father is now Spotted Eagle's."
Spotted Eagle was watching from his tepee, touched deeply by the gifts of his woman's father. Several young braves were standing before him, awaiting his orders as to the number of gifts that would be given back to Jolena's father. He had already decided that he would give back twice the number of horses that Jolena had brought with her into the marriage.
"Go," Spotted Eagle said. "Take the horses from in front of my woman's lodge, and also the warring gear of her father. Place them in my corral. Then choose thirty of my finest horses and place them i
n front of my father-in-law's lodge."
The braves scampered away. As soon as Brown Elk and the other young braves had left Jolena's lodge with the gifts that had been left there for Spotted Eagle, Spotted Eagle left his tepee and walked with a lifted chin and smiling heart toward the lodge of his woman.
When he entered, he found a good fire and soft pelts beside it, but as was the custom, he took his place at the back of the lodge, awaiting his woman's arrival.
Already he could hear the steady beating of drums in the distance, songs being sung by the women of his village, and the gay voices of children at play, all of which signaled the beginning of a long day of celebration among his people.