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Although she was able to recall that she’d seen him more than once near her home, she could not recall much more. Everything else seemed to be blocked from her mind.
She suspected her confusion was a result of the fever that was raging inside her body. She had had soaring temperatures before and knew that they sapped not only her strength but also her memory.
Now that she was so near to the Indian, she was even more awed by him than before. Up close he was much more handsome than from a distance, and she saw such kindness, such caring, in his eyes.
For some reason, she felt safer now than ever before in her life, even safer than she had felt with Virgil.
Although Virgil had been a kind and wonderful man, he had had many weaknesses.
She felt guilty for having such thoughts and cast them from her mind when the Indian moved closer to her and placed the palm of his hand gently on her brow, then drew it away.
She was surprised when he began speaking in perfect English to her.
“You have much fever,” Wolf Dancer said gently. “But it should soon be gone. My shaman, who would be called a doctor in your world, sits on your other side. His name is Shining Soul, and he is the one who will make you well and happy again.”
He paused, then said, “I am called by the name Wolf Dancer. I am chief of the Wind Clan of Seminole. You are now on my people’s island, which is named Mystic Island. All that you have to know now is that you are with friends.”
“Mystic Island? Who…brought me here?” Lavinia asked, searching his eyes. “Was it not you?” “Yes, it was I,” Wolf Dancer said. “I found you unconscious in a canoe with your small companion who goes by the name Twila. A snake had dropped down from a tree overhead and bitten you.”
“I…don’t…remember.” Lavinia said, trying hard to recall the events he spoke of. “I don’t seem to remember anything about it. Why was I in a canoe with Twila?”
It frustrated her that she could remember so many things past, yet she could not conjure up even a glimmer of memory concerning a trip in a canoewith Twila. She had never gone canoeing with Twila before, so why would she have…?
Suddenly images came to her in quick flashes, and what she remembered made her wince and want to cry out in despair.
Her daughter! She had left the sanctuary of her bedroom to search for Dorey when her daughter had not returned from canoeing.
She now recalled how dark it had been while she was in the canoe, looking desperately for Dorey. She remembered the anguish of each stroke of the paddle through the black water. Despite her efforts, she had never seemed to get any closer to Dor
ey.
“My Dorey,” she suddenly sobbed, tears flooding her eyes. She turned her eyes away from Wolf Dancer. “Oh, Lord, Dorey.”
And then she looked quickly back at Wolf Dancer. “Surely Twila told you why we were on the river after dark,” she blurted out, trying to see some hopeful sign in the handsome Indian’s eyes as she continued telling him what she remembered about that night.
But when she had finished telling him all that she recalled, and he still gave no indication that Dorey had been found, she wanted to curl up and close her eyes and never wake up again.
Seeing her despair and understanding it, because he had suffered such feelings himself, Wolf Dancer wanted to sweep Lavinia into his arms and hold her close to his heart and comfort her.
But he knew that was not the proper thing to do, especially since they were strangers.
Furthermore, he was an Indian and she was white. Such relationships were forbidden in the white world. If an Indian was known to desire a white woman, he would be hunted down by whites and destroyed, perhaps even tortured before being slain.
He could not allow himself to reveal his feelings to her. Not yet.
At this moment, the most important thing to do was comfort her about her daughter and convince her that he would find her and bring her back safely. “This is what I know…” Wolf Dancer said; then he told her all that he’d learned about Dorey; how she had been abducted, by whom, and how she had disappeared.
“No,” Lavinia cried, tears again flooding her eyes. “My Dorey is out there in the swamp…where…there are so many dangers?”
“The search for your daughter will resume at the break of dawn,” Wolf Dancer said, still longing to take Lavinia in his arms. He had to remind himself that this was not the time to do so.
Yet in time she would allow herself to welcome his embrace, for he knew that she had feelings for him.
He knew even before she knew!
Shining Soul brought her a wooden cup of white liquid. “Drink this,” he said. He held it to her lips with one hand, holding her head up with the other so that she could swallow more easily. “This will ease more than one pain inside you,” he said reassuringly.
“It will take away your worry, and allow you to sleep.”
