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While with Fire Thunder, Kaylene felt as though she had the world. Surely she should be content enough with that. She had found roots with him.
She slipped an arm through his as she continued to watch Dawnmarie and Moon Glow, surprised that Moon Glow had been allowed to stay this long among the people.
“Tell me about your mother,” Moon Glow murmured. “Where she went after she left our people. Were there any more children besides you? Was she happy, truly happy, away from her people?”
“My mother was kidnapped by a trapper,” Dawnmarie said, her voice breaking. “I was born of their union. I had no brothers or sisters. And, yes, for a while, my mother was happy. She loved my father. But she always pined for her people. She came looking for you. But she discovered that you had moved faraway. She gave up her search. She then even gave up her reason for living.”
“That is sad,” Moon Glow said, tears splashing from her eyes. “If we could have gotten together, perhaps both our lives would have been different.”
“She would have been so happy to have seen you again,” Dawnmarie said softly.
Moon Glow leaned close again. “I must return to my lodge,” she said, looking guardedly around her. “It is forbidden for me to mix with the others, especially guests. Before I am ordered back to my lodge, I will return.”
Dawnmarie’s lips parted to ask why, but before she could, Moon Glow had hurried back to her lodge, her cats trailing close behind her.
“I don’t understand,” Dawnmarie said, gazing at Fire Thunder.
“Do not question it,” Fire Thunder said flatly. “Now tell me everything about your mother.”
Dawnmarie looked with quiet sadness toward Moon Glow’s lodge, then into Fire Thunder’s eyes again. She told him about her mother’s feelings about her true people, and again, this time, a more lengthy explanation about why she felt it was so important to be there herself.
Fire Thunder embraced her once she was finished. “You are welcome among my people and you are welcome to stay as long as you wish,” he said softly.
Dawnmarie hugged him back, then stepped away and stood beside White Wolf again. “You are very kind and generous,” she answered. “But on my long journey from Wisconsin to Mexico, I have had time to think things through. I appreciate your invitation to stay, but once my mission is fulfilled, that of getting the Kickapoo to give their consent for me to enter the afterlife as a Kickapoo, I will most definitely return to Wisconsin, so that I can be with my children.”
“If that is your decision, then so be it,” Fire Thunder said. “We will all first celebrate the New Year, and then we will celebrate the Feast for the Dead, which should be enough for you to know that your hereafter life will be secured, as Kickapoo.”
“Thank you,” Dawnmarie said softly, still finding it hard to believe that she was there among her people. As she had told Moon Glow, she truly felt as though her mother’s spirit had followed her from her resting place in Wisconsin and was happy for her daughter. Soon Dawnmarie would finally lay to rest her fears of her hereafter life.
“White Wolf, Dawnmarie, I would like for you to meet the woman who will soon be my wife,” Fire Thunder said, placing an arm around Kaylene’s waist, drawing her close to his side. “This is Kaylene.” He then gestured down at Little Sparrow. “And this is my sister, Little Sparrow. She can speak only through sign language and she reads lips when one who speaks to her does not know the full art of signing.”
Kaylene was thrilled at being introduced officially as his bride-to-be. She smiled half bashfully at White Wolf, and then Dawnmarie.
She felt Dawnmarie’s eyes linger on her, and she knew why. Dawnmarie was part white and she had married an Indian.
Kaylene was anxious to talk alone with Dawnmarie and question her about her life among Indians. It did appear, though, that her answers were there, in the way Dawnmarie clung to her husband’s arm, and gave him an occasional adoring glance. She was happy, so intensely happy.
The introductions over, Fire Thunder looked nervously over his shoulder, at those who were still tending to the wounded before carrying them inside their lodges.
Troubled, he gave White Wolf a wavering gaze. “Kaylene will escort you to my home,” he said thickly. “There we will shall later share food and conversation. But I must first see to my people. I must comfort and help those who need it.”
“I shall go with you, if you do not mind,” White Wolf said. “My wife can go with Kaylene. We can join them later.”
“That is fine. I welcome you,” Fire Thunder said. He placed gentle hands on Kaylene’s shoulders. “This will give you time to become better acquainted with Dawnmarie, and she with you.”
“I look forward to it,” Kaylene murmured. She so badly wanted to give him a comforting kiss for his pain for his people and their wounds. “Again, I am so sorry about what happened today. I feel somewhat to blame. If—”
“No if’s,” Fire Thunder said, placing a gentle hand over her mouth. “Remember that it was I who brought you here.”
She smiled as he eased
his hand from her mouth.
Little Sparrow clung to Kaylene’s hand as Kaylene and Dawnmarie walked toward Fire Thunder’s cabin.
“The panther is beautiful,” Dawnmarie said as she gazed down at Midnight as he strolled in his dignified fashion somewhat ahead of them. “I have never seen one that could be tamed enough to be a pet.”
“His name is Midnight,” Kaylene answered. “I found him when he was hardly larger than a house kitten. We became fast friends. Nothing could part us now. And whomever I choose as a friend, is his.”
