If she had had the scow, she could have sold it for enough money to help her fend for herself for awhile. And, of course, she could sell her St. Louis home.
But somehow that plan did not seem appealing. Her family had never been close. In fact, she could count on the fingers of one hand how often her parents had invited their family members to their home.
So she doubted that any of them would relish the idea of Mia coming to live with them. She would be only an intrusion on their lives.
“Mama, Papa,” she whispered, gazing up through the smoke hole toward the blue sky. “What should I do?”
She was feeling more comfortable with the death of her parents now. Wolf Hawk had told her that after a person loses someone they love, they must carry on with life, for death was a natural thing.
He had told her that losing a loved one was difficult, yet one should be happy for the departed, for they were now without pain or sadness. They were with their ancestors in the sky, happy to see them again.
That should be celebrated, not regretted.
It was hard, but she knew that she must not succumb to the emptiness in her heart caused by her parents’ deaths.
Her deep thoughts were interrupted by the sound of whispering from somewhere behind her. She looked quickly around and her eyes widened when she saw several children standing just outside the entranceway to the tepee.
They were whispering to one another as they watched and listened to Georgina. The canary was still singing, and its song had reached outside to the children who were at play.
Mia smiled and reached a hand out toward them. She beckoned for them to come inside.
“Come and see my bird up close if you wish,” Mia offered. “She loves an audience.”
The children didn’t have to be asked a second time. They almost fell over one another as they scrambled inside, then sat in a circle around the cage.
Georgina didn’t seem at all perturbed by this sudden audience. In fact she hopped back and forth on her perch as she continued sweetly singing.
Mia stood away from the children, watching and smiling. She had always loved children but had never had the chance to be around many.
Even as a child, she had led a mostly solitary life. Her mother had taught her everything that other children learned in a school house.
She had felt a certain emptiness inside that came with not being able to associate with other children. But that, too, had passed, for she had accepted the life her parents had made for her. She had loved them too much to cause problems over anything that they had chosen for her.
Mia covered a soft laugh behind a hand when she looked at Georgina and saw how the bird seemed to be strutting as she moved along the perch. It seemed as though Georgina had missed having an audience, for she seemed to be singing her heart out, to entertain…to please.
Suddenly Mia felt another presence in the tepee. She turned and felt the heat of a blush rush to her cheeks when she found Wolf Hawk standing behind her.
He had apparently heard Georgina singing and had seen the children enter his lodge. He had came to join the happy group inside.
He saw the warmth in Mia’s eyes as she smiled and stepped back to stand beside him.
“Isn’t it sweet?” she asked, gazing into Wolf Hawk’s dark, beautiful eyes. “The bird loves the children as much as they love her.”
“They not only enjoy your bird’s song, but are also amazed to see a bird in a cage that is happy to be there,” Wolf Hawk said.
He took her hand and led her farther away from the children so that he could talk to Mia without disturbing them.
“Even I find that very unusual,” he said. “Yet I can tell the bird is happy. If it were not content, it would not sing such a beautiful song.”
“My canary has a reason to sing because she knows that she is safe inside the cage and will be fed and watered.”
She frowned a little as she glanced over at Georgina. “But I wonder what I shall feed her when my supply of birdseed runs out,” she said softly.
Then she gazed into Wolf Hawk’s eyes again. She smiled. “I know what I shall do,” she murmured. “I shall go to Talking Bird and ask him what I can feed my bird so that she will stay healthy and content.”
Wolf Hawk’s heart skipped a beat, for he felt that Mia’s words indicated she wasn’t ready to leave the village. There seemed enough food in the bag to last for a long while, for the bird ate only small amounts at a time.
It made his heart swell to believe that Mia did want to stay with his people, and with him.
Ah, but he felt so deeply for her! He was eager to let her know just how much.
Tomorrow. She would know tomorrow.
Chapter Twenty-two
I would ask of you, my darling,
A question soft and low,
That gives me many a heartache,
As the moments come and go.
—Anonymous
At first light, Wolf Hawk had awakened and left his lodge while Mia still slept.
Wearing only a breechcloth, moccasins and his knife sheathed at his right side, his hair held back with a headband that he had quickly slid into place as he walked from his tepee, he now made his way through the forest.
His eyes were ever searching for two plants that he was going to use for his courting medicine.
He smiled as he thought of Mia sleeping so soundly and trustingly inside his lodge. He had to make certain that she wouldn’t be aware of what he was doing when he knelt at her side with the medicine.
His Shaman grandfather had taught him which plants should be used once he found a woman he favored more than any other, one he trusted would be faithful to him until they were both gray and could only sit and smile at each other while others did the work they had once done.
Ah, but those years were still far ahead of them. First, they would share a lifetime of love and happiness.
He could already envision the children born of their love.
The girls would be heartbreakingly pretty, with their mother’s eyes and their father’s hair. Their skin color mattered not at all, for they would be the children of a proud Winnebago chief and his wondrous wife.
The sons would have all the traits required to be great warriors, and one of them would step into the moccasins of his father as chief of the Bird Clan of Winnebago.
It was good to think of these things as Wolf Hawk continued to travel light-footed in his moccasins over the various flowering plants that reached out beyond the forest, where sunshine washed them with its warmth and light through the day, bringing the smiling faces of the flowers fully abloom.
Wolf Hawk slowed his steps, looking more carefully for the two flowers he sought.
He carried a small pouch, in which he would place the flowers. Then he would carry them back to his lodge to prepare the magic potion with which he would anoint his true love. When she awakened from her night’s slumber and saw him sitting beside her, he would know without a doubt that she would favor him as her husband.
He was anxious to see her awaken, to witness the look on her face when she realized that things had changed between them, even though she would not know why, or how. She would just know how much he desired her. And the potion would ensure that she desired him just as much.
Then a few days later they would have the marriage ceremony that would make them husband and wife in the eyes of his people.
He knew that Mia would be thinking of her parents that day and wishing they could share these happy moments with her and Wolf Hawk, for women felt deeply about these things. He would reassure her that they were there, in spirit, holding hands, happy on this day that guaranteed their daughter would be loved and safe forevermore.
As he continued searching, he thought about the courting medicine. It was made of a plant that could be recognized by its blue flowers. The Winnebago believed that there was a male plant and a female plant.
He knew that when he found the plants, he could not dig them unless
he found them growing side by side, with the male growing to the east of the female. For this reason it was very hard to find the flowers.
As he continued to walk he heard a cardinal crooning loudly from the treetops. Hearing the bird reminded Wolf Hawk of Mia’s canary, whose song was as sweet as the cardinal’s.
Then suddenly his eyes widened. It was as though the beautiful cardinal had led him to the plants that he had been searching for.
Right there, at his feet, were the two flowers in question.
He gazed up at the cardinal, which still sat in the tree a few feet away, and said a grateful “thank-you” to him. Then he knelt and studied the two plants more carefully.
He looked skyward to judge the position of the sun. He was glad to see the two plants grew the way they should in order for him to be able to use them and know the magic would work for him. They grew close together and the male plant was at the female’s east side.
He smiled when he knew that all conditions had been fulfilled. He took his knife from its sheath.
Carefully, even prayerfully, he dug both plants from the ground, then laid the knife aside and tangled the roots of the plants together.
After that was done he pinched the blue flower from its stem and plucked off the center leaf of the female plant. Then he placed the flower, the leaf and the roots in the pouch tied to his breechclout’s waistband.
He held the small pouch in his hand and gazed heavenward and said a quiet wa-do, thank-you, to the Earthmaker, then tied the pouch to his waistband again and headed for home.
When he arrived at his village, no one was yet stirring from their beds. All was quiet except for the soft melodies of birds in the nearby forest.
Then a thought came to Wolf Hawk that made him stop almost in midstep.
The canary in his lodge. What if the bird was awakened by Wolf Hawk’s entrance into his tepee? Georgina might awaken Mia.
That would not give Wolf Hawk time enough to grind the plants together before placing the mixture on Mia’s body.
Then he recalled something else.
Mia had told him the bird would sleep until she lifted the cover from the cage.
Relieved, Wolf Hawk continued on inside his tepee.
He stopped and smiled down at the sleeping woman who would soon be his in every way.
She looked as lovely in her sleep as she did when she was awake. Yet he preferred her awake, for he loved to look into her eyes. They were mystically beautiful and seemed always to speak to him even when Mia was saying nothing aloud.
It was the sort of communication that was possible between two people in love, as he and Mia were!
He gazed over at the covered cage. He heard no sound from it.
Wolf Hawk stepped lightly past the cage to the back of the tepee and lifted a small earthen pot from many others.
He set it on the floor of his lodge. He removed the flower, leaf and roots from his small pouch, then dropped them all into the pot.
Taking a small rock, he quietly ground all of these together thoroughly, until a paste was all that lay at the bottom of the jar.
He put the rock aside, gazed at Mia again, then lifted the pot in one hand and tiptoed over to where she lay.
He watched her eyes for a moment, to make sure she was not awakening. When he saw that she was still very much asleep, he reached his fingers inside the jar and gathered some of the crushed remains between two fingers.
Then, ever so lightly, he touched several places on Mia’s body that were not covered by the gown she wore. Softly he slid a hand inside the gown and gently rubbed some of the mixture on the silken skin just above her heart.
She sighed in her sleep, but her eyes remained closed. Oh, how he was tempted to touch the fullness of her breast, but he knew he must keep his desires reined in for now. Carefully, he withdrew his hand from beneath the gown.
He sprinkled some of the mixture on the top of her head, and some beneath her nose so that she would smell it upon awakening. Then he put everything away so that once she was awake she would not see the pot or question him about its contents.
Smiling, oh, so loving her, Wolf Hawk went back to her and knelt at her side.
He bent low and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. He could smell the scent of the mixture that he had placed just beneath her nose.
Mia awakened with a start, then smiled when she saw Wolf Hawk sitting beside her.
“I had a strange dream,” she murmured as she leaned up on an elbow. She scratched idly at the skin just above her lips. “But now I cannot remember what it was, or even what it was about.”
She blushed as she lowered her lashes, then gazed at Wolf Hawk again. “Did you awaken me with a kiss or was I also dreaming that?” she asked, searching his eyes.
“The kiss was real,” Wolf Hawk said, then reached for her and drew her up against his warm body. “Do you wish for another?”
Mia nodded, then melted inside when his lips came down on hers in an all-consuming kiss.
She clung to him and crawled onto his lap, oh, so ready for whatever he wished to do to her this morning.
It seemed magical, somehow, that he was there with her today, his kisses awakening everything sensual within her. She knew that were he to ask, she would even surrender her virginity to him.
She ached strangely for him.
She felt as though she couldn’t go any longer without knowing the true joy of making love with this man…the man she would forever adore.
“I need you,” Wolf Hawk whispered against her lips, so happy that the magic potion had worked.
Chapter Twenty-three
Let wish and magic
Work at will in you.
—Driscoll
Seeing things in visions that no one else could see, Talking Bird always paid heed to his dreams. The night before he’d dreamt of two men approaching the land of the Winnebago. Talking Bird knew them to be the trappers who were responsible for the two young braves’ deaths.
Deep down inside himself he had known these men would return. How could they not? They had left many valuable furs behind.
Talking Bird smiled at his grandson’s cleverness in commanding his warriors to take the pelts from their hiding place and bring them to their village.
He knew that the men had many miles yet to travel on the Rush River before arriving back at the fort, where they thought their pelts were still hidden. Talking Bird had plenty of time to pray to the Earthmaker. He had his own way of dealing with whites who foolishly came on the land of the Winnebago.
The white-skinned woman with whom his grandson was infatuated was different. Although Talking Bird would have rathered his grandson took a Winnebago woman as his wife, it was not Talking Bird’s place to interfere or tell his chieftain grandson his opinion about such things.
Wolf Hawk was a grown man, a great leader, and a man of much intelligence. If his heart told him that he loved a woman with white skin, so be it.
But Talking Bird would not allow anyone else with white skin to interfere in his people’s lives. The woman was an exception. She was all alone in the world. No one would come to his people’s village to search for her.
She was now Wolf Hawk’s woman, no one else’s, and Talking Bird would give his grandson his blessings, soon.
The sun spiraled down through the smokehole onto Talking Bird as he prepared to pray.
Today his thick white hair was worn in a long, lone braid down his back. The tunic had designs of nature embroidered on it, which had been sewn there by several women of his village who were skilled at beadwork.
His moccasins were also beaded, as was the medicine bundle in which he kept his sacred pipe.
The beads were of beautiful colors. Red like the cardinals that flitted through the air, blue like the sky over Shadow Island, and green like the cool, soft grass upon which he walked.
Talking Bird had many supernatural powers. He could will the river to part with only one blink of his old eyes or cause the ground t
o quake and shake, leaving large cracks in Mother Earth.
Planning to use his powers today, he lifted his buckskin medicine bundle onto his lap. The fire’s glow shadowed his ancient face.
His long, lean fingers slowly opened the bundle. He reached inside. He took from it his sacred calumet pipe. He gently laid the pipe beside him, then again reached inside his medicine bundle and withdrew a smaller bag from it, which held the sacred tobacco.
He opened this bag, then lifted the pipe from the thick fur of the bear, and shook tobacco into the bowl until there was enough to smoke and pray to the Earthmaker. It would not be on trappers alone that he would cast a spell. He would also invoke the waters that cradled the boat carrying them closer and closer to the fort.
He smiled at their foolishness in returning.
He took a small twig from the lodge fire and held it to the tobacco in his pipe.
He puffed long and hard until he felt the tobacco smoke deep inside his lungs and knew the pipe was going well enough to be used for his prayers.
He took the pipe from his mouth. He held it heavenward and gazed up. He looked through the smoke hole and began speaking his feelings to the Earthmaker.
“Earthmaker, to whom my words are spoken today, I hold this pipe up to you,” he said softly. His old eyes watched the smoke spiral slowly through the smoke hole.
He again placed the pipe in his mouth, puffing hard on it, then exhaling so that the smoke wreathed around him.
Again, he took the pipe from his mouth. He turned it in all four directions, then held it down toward the earth. Once he had honored the spirits with whom he was communicating, he rested the bowl of the pipe on his knee. He could hear the spirits whispering all around him as he said, “There are two evil white men who have wronged our people, not only taking animals and furs on land that is usually hunted by the Winnebago, but also the lives of two of our beloved youths. I ask you to watch for these men as they grow closer and closer. It is my fervent desire that the river water shake with an earthquake of your doing, but not enough to harm my people who are on nearby land.”
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