CHAPTER TWELVE
Once they were out of sight of the pony herd, Stands Strong repositioned Czanna until she was seated facing him, her skirt pulled up to her knees and her legs around him. Presently, she was hugging him, her breasts against his chest, her head nestled into the crook of his neck.
Bending his head, he whispered in her ear, "Is this close enough?"
She sighed before murmuring, "This is good, yes, but I'd like to be even nearer to you, though I know it's impossible. I do not understand it. I feel as though I would like nothing more than to crawl under your skin. Sounds silly, I know, but this is how I feel."
He chuckled. "I think I cannot grant you this wish. However, should I disrobe you and make love to you here, now, as we speed over the prairie? Do you think we might be joined together enough, then?"
"Could you?"
"Perhaps," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I have never tried to do it, nor do I know of a man who has done it. But, if it can be accomplished, I am certain there are men and women who have engaged in it and who have liked it very much. Such is the power of love between a man and his woman."
"Hmmm," she groaned.
"But, we must wait, I think," he said. "You are not yet accustomed to the act that unites a man and his woman, and I think if we were to attempt to make love in this way now, it wouldbe hard on you and maybe not enjoyable for you, either. And, I would have you like the act which makes you my woman.
"Also," he continued, "we are not far from camp. Do you see the hill?" He pointed.
"You mean the mountain? Isn't it a mountain?"
She felt him smile. "On the side of the hillish 'mountain' in that direction"—again he pointed—"is a coulee where there is water and grass for our horses and many cottonwood and willow trees to hide them…and us. This is where we will make our camp for this night."
"Oh," she said. "But, sir, then we will have to set up camp, which takes some physical work, and we might be exhausted after, and—"
His laugh was hearty and spontaneous. "Had I known how greatly you wish to become a part of me—"
"Oh, stop it," she interrupted. "You know very well you have caused it. Every day you have been teasing me…rubbing my shoulders and my chest, as well as running your fingers through my hair…rubbing my back…kissing me as though you would make love to me…making comments about wishing to see me naked…but then you have always walked away from me. Have you really thought all these acts, these words, have had no effect upon me?"
"I have hoped. But, you now know why I have had to walk away, as you say.Niitá'p, if you think back to it, have you not seen I have been experiencing the same as you?"
"I do not know. Have you? Do you?"
Again, he bent down slightly to kiss the top of her head. "Of course, I have. I do. Why do you think I have been teasing you? If I didn't wish to have you close to me also, I would have said no to your pact and walked away, never to touch you again."
She bit her lip. "Never to touch me again? Oh, please, do not even say it. Are we almost there?"
"We are. As you can see, we have only to climb down into this coulee. It is not too steep. We will hobble the horses once we get to the bottom of it and will let them graze while we get to know one another a little better."
"I am glad." She breathed in deeply. "I love you very deeply, Mr. Stands Strong. I love you, I think, more than I have loved another living soul. I know it took me a little while to realize I should leave my past behind me. But, I have done so. I wish now only to be happy and to create my life with you. I hope to make you as happy with me as I am with you."
"It will be my honor to do the same.Niitá'pt,it is my honor."
****
She wasn't really aware of how far down they had climbed into the coulee until he brought his buffalo pony to a halt, the other horse still following behind them stopping, also. This part of the canyon was wooded across the floor of the coulee to where the land extended out into the sparkling, babbling stream. The timber was thick here, consisting of many willow trees and tall majestic cottonwoods, and reached out in a line both east and west up to and against the north end of the canyon. And, the scatterings of numerous bushes and tree limbs from windfalls caused the ponies to have to step over or around them.
Czanna breathed in deeply, and at once her lungs were filled with the woodsy scent of the grasses and timber, whose green-colored leaves flickered in the warm breeze and showed off a reflection of the reds, pinks and purples of the late evening sunset. It was odd, this northwestern territory, in that the sky darkened so slowly and the sunset seemed to go on and on, well into the very late hours of the night.
However, once inside the timber, it wasn't long before they stopped again, and, after sliding down from his seating, Stands Strong reached up to help Czanna dismount. But, instead of letting her feet touch the ground as she came off the horse, he held her up against him and hugged her, her face on a level with his.And, then he kissed her lips, her eyes, her cheeks, and, holding her up and against him with only one hand, he reached up to massage her ears, her neck, her breasts.
She closed her eyes, reminding herself to breathe. For a moment, it seemed her body had forgotten.
He whispered, "If you have ever had any doubts of my love for you, let me show you tonight how much I adore you. Ease your mind, my beautiful woman, about my having to keep some distance between us. It, too, is now in our past. I take you for my wife now, for all my life and perhaps forever. Should I tell you more? Should I say to you how taken I was with you from the start, from the first moment I heard you singing, there upon thepisskan? So much was I charmed, I had to know more about you. I had to see this woman. And so, I climbed up thepisskan'scliff to see you. And, when I beheld the beauty of the woman who matched the allure of her voice, this was when I started to love you. And, though you wished me not to follow you, I could not let you go. I had to ensure your safety.
"And, why did I do this, you might ask?" he continued. "Because I loved you from that moment on. Come with me now to a shelter I have built. I set up this camp earlier today, hoping you might change your mind about becoming my woman. But if, by my earlier actions, you have thought I have not loved you enough, let me tell you the truth of my passion so you do not doubt it. It was and is my love for you which has led me. Though I have said this to you before, let me repeat it now: I would not ruin you. If you have wished to be close to me, I might tease you about it, true, yet I think your desire mirrors the yearning in my own heart. I, too, want you close to me…always. I do not ever wish to let you go, and I promise to not let you out of my arms this night, except perhaps only for the call of nature.
"And now, as the wise men of my tribe have often counselled to a new couple, let me tell you what I vow to you as my woman," he said, letting her feet fall to the ground. And, bringing hisforehead to hers, he began again, the baritone timbre of his voice soft as he said, "I promise you now before my God and yours to take care of you, and to keep you and any children we may have always in my thoughts. I promise to protect you and our children to the best I can so you might feel secure in your daily lives. As your God decrees, I promise there will be no other woman I will take into my life as a wife. And, I promise to never use a harsh word against you, but if we do disagree and I feel I cannot speak to you without bad words, I will leave so I might cool my temper. But, never fear I would go away never to return. I promise to come back to you so we might talk with our minds not influenced by anger. I am yours. I have been yours since the moment I first saw you. Whatever we must face, whatever comes, do not ever doubt my love for you"—he kissed her forehead gently—"and these are my promises to you."
