"What?" Red Fox's arms dropped from around her. "You are marrying a man who takes two women to be his? I thought your God forbade this."
"Well, not exactly does He forbid this. She is not married to him; she is merely his love partner."
"It is the same. To love a woman is to make her his woman. They are married in the eyes of their God, and I know from my friends who are married to white women that He forbids a man from taking more than one wife."
"Yes, well, you see, in the New York culture, to make love to a woman does not necessarily make her his wife. In that society, one is only married if they are declared to be so by a priest who performs the marriage ceremony within their church, and this they have not done."
When Red Fox seemed to be at a loss as to what to say, she dropped what might have been her most explosive confession, and she said, "I plan to marry him and let him and his mistress—who, again, is not considered by the society back East to be married to him—return to the city of New York, where I will never see them again. Instead, I wish to remain here and pretend to be your woman."
"Pretend? What does this mean?"
Briella gulped. Then, looking up toward the willow branches, she said, "It means I would not, in truth, be your woman."
"Not my woman? I do not understand. How can one pretend to make love? A man either makes love to a woman or he does not."
Briella shut her eyes, inhaled deeply, then murmured, "It would be as though I were your slave."
Red Fox laughed outright, then he signed, "You, a slave?"
At last, Briella realized the concept of what she was suggesting was so foreign to Red Fox he could not grasp it. Gulping down her pride, she said, "Think of it this way, my love. I would be acting dishonorably, and I—"
"No! I would be the one who would be dishonorable. Not you."
"It is not thought of in this way in the world of my fathers."
"Nor in my world, either," he countered. "But, it would be dishonorable to me, not you. What it would imply is that I am not man enough to discover a way for us to be married in both our worlds. Do not misunderstand, I know what you say."
"But—"
"Listen to me." He shifted her position until he had turned her around, and, placing a finger beneath her chin, he stared down into her eyes. "I say we are married. You say we are married. The world of our fathers might declare we are not a man and his woman. But, they are wrong. What matters is what you and I believe is true. The world can say it cannot be, but this world can be wrong, too. It is now my duty and yours—mostly my duty—to shift the viewpoint of the world. How I am to do this, I do not know. I must pray to the Creator about it."
With tears running down her cheeks, Briella whispered, "You are so wise. I do not deserve you."
"No! It is I who does not deserve you…yet. I failed you two winters ago, causing you to do what you say you have had to do to return here. If it is within my power, I will not fail you again. If what you say has happened to you is true—and I do believe it is—our way is blocked, but it does not have to be thwarted forever. Now, this man you have brought here is a white man?"
"He is."
"Then, I would suspect his kind of war will be both silent and violent at the same time. This is what is happening to the Lakota, and it shows the mindset of this kind of man. I will have to pray to the Creator for His help in understanding this well enough to envision how we can fight it and win. You must pray, too."
"Oh Red Fox." Briella turned around so she was lying back against him once more. "I fear you do not understand me. What I am saying is that in appearances I would be married to you, but it would be a lie we would present to both your family and tomine. I would actually be married to Maximillian even though I would be living with you and loving you."
She heard him clear his throat before he said, "I know this. I have understood you."
Shutting her eyes, she jumped in with both feet and murmured, "There is more I have not said about this. Please allow me to explain this problem further. I have to marry Maximillian because I have promised to do so. Do you understand? I have promised. I have to do it. It has nothing to do with love. He loves another, as I do, too. Once the prenuptial agreement is set out in writing between us, he will leave here and I will never see him again. But, I will still be married to him. Not to you, I fear, but to him. To your people, I would be married to you. But, to this world, if I were to marry you too, I would sin greatly against my God because you are right: He does forbid me to marry two men. I confess I must seek out a priest and confess this, because what I am suggesting is a sin against my God."
"What means this word 'sin'?"
"It means to commit an act the Creator forbids."
"And, you are of a mind to commit this act against your God?"
"I am."
He said not a word.
And, into the silence, she whispered, "It is the only way I could return home. I had to find someone who would marry me, because my father and my brother would not allow me to return here without being married, or at least engaged. But, no one offered to become my husband. I was too different from those people in New York, and most men were threatened by me, I think. And so, when Maximillian suggested this arrangement, I knew it was a gift sent to me by the Creator. I grasped hold of it. It wouldn’t be as though I were marrying him, you see. He is already in love with another woman, but she is not from a titledfamily, and he needs a title in order to inherit the bank where he is a junior partner. It seemed perfect. We marry…he gets his title…he and his mistress go back to New York and live there. I stay here with you."
"What means this 'title'?" asked Red Fox.
