"Eagle Heart!" she blurted out. "You are here."
"I...am," he voiced in English, though she still didn't see him.
"I am glad you remembered to give me this. It is my first gift from you, although perhaps not so much of a gift, as you do owe this to me."
"I...do," he agreed, using the English language again, though he was still not visible to her.
She shook her head. "I have heard, of course, that an Indian man's stride can be so silent, he can sneak right up on a person. But, until now I have not experienced it. Where are you?"
"I cannot...show...self...no breechcloth," he explained in English. "Naked, am I...without it."
She giggled, and, as though her laughter were a kind of magic, he dropped down to the ground, having been seated upon a strong branch of the willow tree. He came to stand in front of her. And, as the soft light from a few stars bathed him in a gentle luminescent glow, she thought he had never looked more handsome. But...
"Why," she signed, "you are fully dressed."
"I am not," he responded with the sign language. "I have given you my best breechcloth."
"But, you are wearing your leggings, your moccasins and your shirt, which hangs down all the way to your knees, and I suspect you have replaced this breechcloth with another." She smiled as she threw the blanket to the side and, jumping to her feet, quickly hobbled toward him. He opened his arms to her, and she went into them quickly, as though they both were magnetically attracted. "How glad I am to see you," she murmured. "Now, my world is right again."
Without warning, he picked her up and began twirling her round and round. When she laughed, he did, too.
"My woman." Again he spoke in English. "Woman...mine...now... you." He kissed her then, a long, hot kiss. Even when he set her feet on the ground, he didn't stop kissing her. Instead, his lips caressed her face, her lips, her eyes, her nose, her cheeks...even her ears. As he came up for air, he drew away from her slightly and signed, "I desire to do more than share kisses. I am bursting with the need to love you as a man and his woman should. But, I fear we are not safe here. We must go to another location where no one can find us. I do not wish anyone to come upon us, which might cause me to take my attention away from the beauty of you."
"I am glad to hear it, since I, too, believe we should leave here." She giggled a little. "But, can't we linger in this gully, even a little? I have fond memories of this place."
As he gazed down at her, she recognized the fire lit from within him, and he signed, "I would like to stay here, also, but we cannot. Dawn will soon be on the horizon. It will be bad if someone from your fort finds us, or worse, a band of my enemies comes to make war with me. We are finally together. Let us not allow someone to force us apart. But"—he hesitated—"we could ride one horse together to a place I know is safe from the eyes of others." He grinned at her. "That way you will be in my arms."
"Hmm. I like your idea. But, I fear I cannot do this because I rode my own pony here. I cannot leave her here and with no one to care for her."
"You will not have to," he signed. "She is with my own ponies. She will be happy to follow along behind us."
Laylah reached up and, placing her arms around his neck, came to stand up on her toes, then showered him with so many kisses on his neck, she had to pause to catch her breath. He set her a little away from him as he signed, "I cannot make love to you now. There is too much danger here. And, yet, when you kiss me like this, I am ready to make love to you."
"You are?" She watched as he shut his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "Show me," she said in English.
"I cannot." He whispered the two words in English, then continued in sign, saying, "You have not known a man yet, and I am in no hurry to rush into our lovemaking when there is not the time to do it right. Come here." He drew her in close to him, so close, the evidence of his need could not be mistaken.
"Oh," she breathed out against the softness of his velvety buckskin shirt. It was true she'd never known a man, so the evidence of his manhood could have scared her a little, but it didn't. Instead, it excited her.
And this, accompanied by his promise to make love with her, almost caused her to swoon. However, she didn't. Instead, she took a step backward. "Let me gather up my things, and let us go," she said, coming down flat-footed on the ground. "The sooner we get to this place you speak of, the sooner we might come to know a little bit of heaven."
"What...'heaven'?" he asked in English.
"It is where God lives," she answered in sign, speaking in English at the same time. "It is a place of peace and beauty, and I think you and I together will find a bit of it in each other's arms. I must hurry now to gather my things together."
"You must, but do not think I will let you go so easily...and without another kiss," he said in Blackfeet as he lifted her up off her feet once again.
Laylah didn't know what he'd said, but she suspected it had something to do with lovemaking, for he kissed her deeply, his lips over hers, his tongue tracing the inside of her mouth and her teeth, his tongue playing with hers. She sighed and he groaned.
"More love...I want," he said in English. He set her down on the ground and signed, "But, we must do no more here. Already, I see the silver rays in the eastern sky. Soon, the sun will rise, and we must be gone from here. Quickly, get your things."
Laylah turned away as though to go, but before she left she came to stand on tiptoes again and placed a kiss on his cheek. Then, she giggled and spun away.
But, he caught her around the waist before she had gone too far, and, bringing his head down to hers, ran his lips over hers yet again; he found her cheeks with his lips, then her eyes and even her nose. He stopped, inhaling deeply. "Go...now!" he said in English, releasing her slightly as he signed, "We have only a little more darkness left of the night, and then we rest."
"Why will we rest? I thought we were going to a place where we can be alone."
"We are," he signed, "but only a tribe with many warriors dares to be on the move during the day, and, even then, only when within one's own territory. When alone on the prairie, one travels by night, and a man must be careful to cross his trail often if he is in enemy territory. Where we go is a few days' travel."
